I see articles everywhere on topics like "stress management techniques", "stress reducation" or "managing stress". Nuts to that! Don't manage stress – eliminate it permanently. Easily. FOREVER! Think that's impossible? Well, it isn't and you can prove it to yourself.
What Is Stress?
Stress isn't what happens to us – stress is how we react to what happens to us. And we've been sold a pack of lies, the Big Lie being that we have no say-so over how we feel. Feelings just 'sort of happen' and we're at the mercy of those feelings, no matter how much we hate them.
But this isn't true! You can't control your feelings – but you can release them, if we chose to do so. I learned how to do that from a brilliant man named Lester Levenson who is the originator of the Sedona Method. I've been using it successfully for a year and I've modified it a bit to suit me. So take what I've learned and get rid of your chronic stress for good by simply answering the five questions below.
#1. What is your NOW Feeling?
When you're feeling a negative emotion, you can usually identify it: you're sad, you're worried, you're angry. So the first step in relieving those nasty emotions that create stress is to identify what you're feeling right this second.
There are even times when you just know you feel horrible but you can't identify exactly what you're feeling … you just know you don't like it. That's OK, too.
#2. Can you welcome that negative feeling? Can you "dive" into that emotion?
You might be thinking, "You're nuts! I hate feeling this way and I want to escape it so why would I welcome it?" You're right that we all hate feeling bad. But the reason we're all so stressed out is because we go to great lengths to avoid feeling that way. Why else would we have so much overweight, drug use, infidelity, etc., in our society? You've tried to avoid negative emotions and stress all of your life – how is that working out for you? The truth is that the only way to permanently remove negative feelings and stress from our lives is to go through them and release them. And that's what were doing right now.
Do You Know What an Emotion Is?
An emotion is your body's response to a thought. You might not even be aware of the negative thought but your body responds to everything you think. This means that there is always a location in your body for that negative thought. I almost always feel negative emotions in my chest whereas my son feels negative emotions in his stomach. If you will take a moment to simply observe, you will detect that negative emotion somewhere in your body.
An emotion is energy in motion, e-motion. That energy wants to move through you and move on out if you will allow it to do so.
"But What Am I Supposed to Do?"
You simply put your attention on that emotion. No story. No justification. No "should", no "ought to", just simple attention. Allow it to be there – it's just energy and nothing to feel bad about.
"Okay I'm Paying Attention – But How Will I Know When to Go on to Step Three?"
You may have never noticed, but energy always comes in a wave. It rises, it falls.
Simply put your attention on the energy until you feel it starting to descend in intensity and then it's time to go to Step #3.
NOTE: It's important to know that you might not release 100% of your negativity about this issue this time. But that's OK – you can use these steps as many times as it takes to release your negativity.
#3. Can I let this go? Yes/no
Step number three is simply pointing out that you have a choice. You CAN allow this energy to go, if you want to. The answer to this question must be a "yes" because we always have this choice regardless of whether we access it or not.
#4. Will I let this go? Yes/no
You might be thinking now,
"That's ridiculous. If you knew what he did you wouldn't be asking me to let it go. If I do, then he gets away with it!"
I understand that thinking perfectly. I've indulged in it many times myself. It's kind of like people yammering on about forgiveness when in your heart you're thinking, "No way, no how! How could anybody forgive that kind of behavior?"
But here's the thing … that angry emotion isn't hurting the villain – it's hurting YOU! At this moment he might be drinking coffee and laughing with some of his buds while you're stewing and raging. The stress hormones are racing through your body, not his. Adrenaline is pumping through your bloodstream, not his. You're the one who is aging and damaging your health, not him.
You can change all that by simply choosing to answer "Yes. I am willing to let this go". Keep in mind that we're not talking about all eternity here. You're only being asked to let go in this moment, or for the next 60 seconds, or the next 5 minutes, or the next half hour. Surely you can do that?
If you still aren't willing to let go, ask yourself this question, "Would I rather hold onto this negative emotion or would I rather be free?"
If your answer is still "no", that's okay. You'll get another chance later.
#5. When?
When will you let go? Now would be a good time.
Three Things You Need to Know About Using This Simple 5 Step Method
First, with a bit of practice this becomes very quick and easy. It takes much more time to read this article that it does to actually go through the five steps. The more you practice, the easier it gets. I can go out to dinner with friends or family and while I'm eating and carrying on a normal conversation, I am releasing.
Secondly this works with ANYTHING. The worst kind of the pain will heal just like a minor annoyance. True, you may have to release multiple times with the Big Stuff, but it just takes more repetitions, not more strength.
Third, you don't have to take my word for anything. I am just the The Universe telling you about an easy way to reduce and finally eliminate negativity and stress in your life. But these are just words until you actually experience it for yourself. After reading this if you don't give it a reasonable trial – say one week – then you have no right to ever complain about stress again.
The Promise: How To Get Rid of Stress FOREVER
Let's play "what if" for a moment and call each stressful incident a "unit". Today you add two more units of stress to your body; tomorrow you add three units; and the following day you add two more. So at the end of only three days, you have added seven more stress units to your poor, overburdened body and mind. And that doesn't count all the minor stuff like the jerk who cut you off in traffic, the rude receptionist and the post office that lost the handmade afghan you mailed to mom. No wonder we're all sick, tired and rapidly aging.
But it doesn't have to be that way. Right now you have a simple, five step method that will enable you to reduce stress, both past and present, as rapidly as you choose. You now know how to get rid of stress forever.
If you want to learn more about the Sedona Method, Amazon has a ton of materials about this excellent course.
Nick Othen says
With so much being written about stress this is a great article with some very good information and advice.