I consider myself a relaxed peaceful person, but can get wound up in high stimulation environments like events or social gatherings.

Sometimes even with The SD, we’ll have a crazy busy week and I’ll have trouble sleeping and digesting food or water. It feels like heartburn, and I can feel my stomach acid rising up towards my chest.

While there are immediate things you can do to reduce stress in the moment, it’s important to craft your life in a way that helps you avoid your stress triggers and weaknesses – which, I feel like I’m always working on.

Stress is defined as…

“A state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances.”

For me, this is usually caused by

1). Not accepting the reality of the situation (there are many things we simply cannot change, so as soon as we realize and submit to it we can stop worrying about it)

or

2).  Going beyond your max capacity and doing too much (and straining to keep up)

There are many ways to reduce the stress in our lives, here are my top 8 that I practice on a regular basis.

8 Stress-Less Tips for Living a More Peaceful Life

Take time outs

When I catch myself doing too many different things, for too long, I take a time out. It’s usually when I’m at my day job, which can be really stressful at times, and I need to distance myself from the computer and sometimes even the office. I’ll step outside and get some fresh air, or even just close my eyes and connect with my breath. For me, I can tell when I’m getting stressed out because my breathes become short, and my heart-rate starts to increase.

Do one thing at a time

Might just be a guy thing since I’m terrible at multi tasking, but everyone benefits from this. When you do 1 thing at a time with complete focus, it’s similar to meditation. This isn’t always possible, but when you find yourself with multiple projects going on simultaneously, do everything you can to bring it back to just one task; you’ll find you will be fresher for longer, in anything you do.

Find your breath and focus on it

This helps bring your heart rate down and allows you to tune back into your natural rhythm that you escaped from. Yogi’s are all about this, and often say that the movements without the breath is just stretching. Similarly, operating in our daily routines without paying attention to our breath creates tension in our body & mind.

Try Meditation

A regular meditation practice helps keep your mind focused on what’s important in life. It helps keep everything in perspective, and allows you to prioritize things effortlessly.

Reduce Clutter

Remove things from your home/work environment that don’t serve you. Everything should have a purpose, otherwise it’s just a distraction and disrupts your thinking by adding speed bumps which cause you to stop and make an extra decision.

For example, imagine you have a vacuum in the middle of your hallway, and every time you pass through it, you have to decide whether or not to put it away or just step over it. Or even having a bill on the counter for months on end, every time you look at it you have to decide whether or not you’re going to pay it today, but if you put it off, you’re just going to have to look at it again tomorrow.

Solution: spend a little extra time keeping your life in order, your brain will freed up and can finally take a well-deserved break :).

Use Relaxation Reminders

I like to have visual reminders of what’s important. I use rotating desktop backgrounds with peaceful landscapes, I have a toy horse on my desk at work to remind me to relax and let my inner child come through. I have an empty box of Holy Mate tea on my desk too, which could be considered clutter, but actually works as a tool to bring me back to the present moment because of the image on it.

Surround yourself with calm sounds

I have a fountain in my office at work, and Sarah and I have a big one on our deck outside our living room. I also often stream internet radio that is meditative and acoustical. Both of these provide light, soothing sounds to keep my spirits up and drown out other distractions around me.

Play with Aromatherapy

As you probably already know, Sarah and I are loving Essential Oils right now, and diffusing certain ones like lavender, peppermint, eucalyptus or wild orange oil can keep you calm and relaxed. I have one at work and one at home that are used on the daily, and the oils change frequently, depending on our moods.

We all know what causes our stress, but the ability to avoid those pitfalls is where we struggle most

I’m guilty of this as well. I know that I’m bad at multitasking, so when I’m doing too many things for too long, my mental state breaks down. I begin to slow down, my breath shortens, my temperature and pulse start to increase. But, when I realize that I’m “doing it again” I catch myself and take a time out.

I’m a very organized person, and the thought of dropping a ball, or failing to accomplish a task eats away at my core. I tend to find attachment to being perfect, and must continually remind myself that in the grand scheme of things, this isn’t a big deal.

That seems to help a lot!

So, what do you do when you’re stressed? Do you keep pushing forward?

Take a time out and switch gears to an activity you find comfort in; something restorative. Do whatever you gotta do, whether it’s these tips or not.

What about you? What are your tips for reducing stress?