I am under stress right now. Please don't bother me. I am facing real bad stress at my work place. Please tell me what can be done? Our relationship is under great stress. Can we not try anything to reduce it? My kids put me under so much stress. I feel helpless. And so on. Stress is one of the most commonly used words. Let us try to understand how to fight it. And this article is timely as April is Stress awareness month.

How is Stress defined? Pressure, strain, anxiety, worry etc. All those negative states that make living difficult are commonly termed as stress. Any time, when the locus of control goes beyond our capacity, we feel stressed. As far as we are in control, we are able to cope it, and as soon as we begin losing control, we experience stress.

The worst part of stress is the common methods used to fight it. Smoking and alcohol are common stress busters. Even overeating for some of us is a stress buster. All these put more pressure on our mind and body and lead to diseases.

What are the easy ways to beat stress? Would getting away from the stressful situation for some time help? Yes it can, and if we add an exercise of imagination where we imagine of someone else facing stress and visualizing his/her responses, that can give us many insights to our situation. Try this. Imagine that someone else is facing the situation of yours. Observe that person carefully. Read the mind of that person. Note the physical signs. Observe how she/he is reacting. Keep yourself totally uninvolved, though it is yourself you are thinking about. This exercise may give you some key insights to your reaction to stress. Now imagine of this person responding to the stressed person relaxingly. Watch the stress dissolving. Note how the person has suddenly begun looking in control. Do this few times when ever you face stress that may be overwhelming you. Visualization helps many of us. If you also get some help with such an exercise, you will beat stress in the initial stage itself and keep your control with yourself.

A very good method of reducing stress is listening to peaceful music and reading motivational text messages. You can do that sitting right in front of your desktop with good screensavers and wallpapers of motivation, living, daily thoughts, success thoughts etc.

Stress takes away control from us. When we get the control back, stress disappears. Control may be got back only by fighting the stress causing situation and finding solutions. That can be done only if we are confident and relaxed. Visualization helps us achieving that state. This is a simple exercise. Try it. Never take stress lightly. As soon as you find that stress is causing you more damage than you can cope up with, take professional help.