Managing Emotions-Strategy to Control Depression and Stress By GS Virk
This article begins by acknowledging that conflicting emotions, just like thoughts, are a strong limitation in our mind. It goes on to say that stress and emotional management can be achieved through a habitual practice of the awareness of positive and negative thoughts and that happiness is a measure of emotional control. Emotions are short-lived and are bound to be influenced by the environment we are in at the moment, meeting friends makes us happy while sad occurrences evokes emotions of sadness. Working with unwillingness sends negative thoughts to the mind, this creates anger and irritation thereby making one sad, but doing the same task later with acceptance creates peace and love in the mind, hence happiness.
The article mentions the first step in stress management as that of self-knowledge. Taking steps to understand the effects of negative or positive thoughts on our emotions is a major step in stress and emotional management and can make us have a stress-free life even in conditions of poor physical health.
Positive thinking is the best remedy for a mind born of negative emotions, we may not have control of the physical conditions, and neither can we completely find a solution to current issues in our mind. Therefore, self-consciousness is a crucial step towards stress and emotional management. Diverting our attention from the current conditions can bring emotional relief by preventing bad thoughts from flowing into our minds.
Virk concludes by cautioning us against continuing to focus on negative thoughts that may lead to stress, instead, we should focus on positive thoughts that counteract the effects of pain and stress in our mind. Humor is the best medicine to counteract stress effects (Virk para. 5).
Emotional Analysis-Understanding and Decoding the Information in Your Emotions From Stress Management
The article begins by making a declaration of the general perception held by many that emotions are bad since it blocks the intellect and affects the objective judgment of situations. It further goes on to say that excessive emotions can greatly influence or damage the integrated social relationships that we depend on (Stress Management para. 4). Emotions act as an early warning system and provide us with a quicker but rarely effective response to simple situations, at the expense of a complex response to more sophisticated situations. Therefore, negative emotions are a helpful source of early warning. Emotional Analysis is the strategy used to begin understanding and making meaning out of negative emotions and enables us to get to the cause of the emotion. We can then either alter the negative emotions if they were caused by erroneous assumptions but if the assumptions are right, one can learn to control these emotions while finding a solution.
Steps in Emotional Analysis
- Relax! When the emotion has been recognized, it needs to be let to pass so that a conclusive solution can be found. One should not focus wholly on the reason for the emotion.
- Recognize the Assumption. At this stage, one uses a systematic method to identify the assumption to which the emotion is based.
- Challenge the assumptions. This is done by analyzing the assumption to identify whether it is correct or not, the analysis should be done fairly.
- Take action suitably. When the assumptions are untrue, one should do with the negative emotions upon acknowledgement of the findings. When they are true, one should acknowledge this and proceed to find an acceptable solution; this involves applying one’s skills, such as anger management.
The article concludes by informing us that while acting immediately on a strong emotion may produce undesired results, emotion as a tool for early warning should not be dismissed.
Music as the Ultimate Stress Management Tool By Cherrica Williams
Williams begins by reminding us of the various sources of stress that we encounter on a daily basis, e.g. work, roads or from family situations, the symptoms of stress include headache and dietary problems. The effects of stress vary from mild to complex conditions such as high blood pressure and a drop in immune response, increasing the chances of one being ill (Williams para. 3). Music is able to bring tensional relief, drop depression levels and restore the body’s meditative condition. Besides, it calms the mind and creates a feeling of peace and tranquility.
Classical music is one of the best types of music that helps in relieving stress though this varies among individuals, if a certain genre is not a favorite one, then it can lead to more damage. Music that creates tension, anger and depression must be avoided; this includes those that focus on break ups or of a family member who just passed on.
According to research, music creates positive feelings in the mind by causing brain waves to become in harmony with the music’s beats. Not only does music relieve stress, it relieves pain too.
Stress Management: How to Manage Stress for Good Controlling Your Emotions By Inese
Inese begins by quoting Rene Dubos’ statement that relates man’s diseases to what goes on in his mind. Emotions play an important role in stress management and as a result affect the general health (Inese para. 2). When negative emotion is not discharged from the body, it can create negative thoughts in our minds. As one’s thoughts are controlled by the emotions, it is important to release negative emotions through an appropriate stress management tool. Unreleased negative emotions may create a high level of stress, a condition that cannot be sustained by the body. When an individual is faced with chronic stress, this may hinder actual body recovery. As a result, the individual in question has to endure a stage of exhaustion during which time they are not in a position to keep new causes of stress at bay. This further weakens the body, making it difficult to return to homeostasis- the state of body balance, a body-state known as burnout.
When the body is exposed to negative emotions for a long duration, adrenal glands continue producing stress hormones (adrenalin and cortisol); a steadily high level of these hormones negatively affects the body. Vital processes that keep the body healthy may be halted, creating a number of infections and diseases and speeding up the aging process. The body has a mechanism for healing itself and stress management simply involves mobilizing the body to heal itself. One’s attitude is the best way to tackle negative emotions. The ability to maintain positive thinking and keeping the eyes on a positive focus in spite of negative experiences permits the law of attraction to function in your life, this allows the body to heal itself from any damages caused by chronic stress.
Stress Management From HealthScout
Emotional stress is caused when a person finds himself in a condition that is difficult to manage, and these conditions vary from person to person. Physical stress is a physical response generated by the body due to these conditions, for example, the pain felt due to a medical condition is a physical stress and may cause emotional stress (HealthScout para. 5). Stress management entails controlling and lowering the tension caused by the stressful experiences. This is done by altering the emotional and physical conditions of the body. The magnitude of the stress and the yearning to make these changes will decide how much change occurs.
The first stage in stress management is to assess the stress and involves analyzing the person’s attitude as this can decide whether an emotion is stressful or not, for example, a pessimist will frequently report cases of stress. The physical health must also be checked, this includes diet, physical pain, and physical activity. The individual must be provided with support systems, this can be a friend who they can rely on. The individual should be given ample time to relax and participate in their hobbies with a friend or group of people. In summary, the stress management program is as outlined below:
- Positive thinking;
- Alter the negative thoughts to be positive;
- Try to stop the negative thoughts;
- Take some time to relax by having some fun by yourself, a friend or friends.
In case this procedure fails, help should be sought from professionals such as psychologists and psychiatrists. A person may also join a support group in the neighborhood.
Conclusion
While the stress management outlined above has been shown to work on reducing stress, they are only guidelines and cannot work positively on everybody. Before choosing a stress management tool, it is important to consult an approved professional (psychiatrist or psychologist) for proper guidance on stress and emotion management. Stress and emotion management methods have different responses on different persons and a stress situation may get worse in case incorrect techniques are used. These professionals advice should also be sought before making any dietary alterations.
Works Cited
HealthScout. Stress Management. 2010.
Inese. Stress Management: How to Manage Stress for Good Controlling Your Emotions. 2010. Web.
Stress Management. Emotional Analysis-Understanding and Decoding the Information in Your Emotions. 2010. Web.
Virk, G.S. Managing Emotions-Strategy to Control Depression and Stress. 2010.
Williams, Cherrica. Music as the Ultimate Stress Management Tool. 2009.