How to Reduce Stress/Anxiety – a Quick Checklist

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This is a quick checklist of things you can do to help reduce stress and anxiety. Use it as a reminder of steps and actions you can take daily to support yourself, regardless of what’s creating the stress in your life.

Important Reminders:

Anxiety is the result of your thoughts, nothing else. You can choose which thoughts you give your attention to at any time, this puts you back in charge.

Stress is the result of how we deal with situations not the actual situations themselves. You can choose how to respond to what happens in life, again this gives you a lot of control.

Checklist:

• Keep things in perspective, how important is it really? Will it be of any consequence in 1 year, 5 years time?

• Focus on your breath to calm down & remain unengaged with your anxious/stressful thoughts

• Let go of judgement. It is what it is. There’s no need to make judgements and create stories that feed into your stress/anxiety

• Keep your focus in the here and now – not worrying about what’s happened in the past or what might happen in the future

• Take time out daily to quiet the mind and practice being mindful. Integrate mindfulness into your daily activities such as washing up, walking, sitting down/standing up etc… Not sure what that means or how to go about doing it?

• Be more aware of the language you use and your self-talk – focus on what you do want/use positive language

• Let go of the need to be ‘Right’. The ego mind loves to be ‘right’ and will put lots of energy into finding ways to prove it’s right. This isn’t helpful, usually comes from a place of judgement and often creates a sense of conflict. It also uses up precious energy and attention that could be put to much better use reducing the levels of stress and anxiety you’re experiencing

• Practice compassion for yourself and others

• Keep a Gratitude journal. Develop an attitude of gratitude and find as many things as possible to be grateful for each and every day

• If there is something practical you can do to improve your situation/deal with the source of stress and anxiety, take action and do it. You’ll feel better for being proactive

A well chosen essence or combination of essences can be a great help when suffering with stress and anxiety. Each essence gently supports a particular mind-set/outlook and/or emotion. For example *Elm can help if we’re feeling overwhelmed/overburdened as it restores our strength of mind and ability to cope. *Mimulus supports us when we experience unnecessary fear and worry about everyday situations. And *Red Chestnut may help when we feel fearful and worry about the safety of others, such as family members, as it helps restore a sense of optimism and that ‘all is well’.

Bonus stress busting technique

Here’s an extra stress busting technique that can reduce anxiety and help prevent panic attacks taking hold.

All the above are great self-help tools that you can use straight away. Obviously it’s not an exhaustive list of ways to reduce stress but the above checklist will help you form a strong foundation of support for yourself on which to build. Remember that it’s all a work in progress, so be kind to yourself.

Want to reduce the levels of stress and anxiety you’re experiencing faster? I offer one-to-one support which is tailored to your unique situation and needs, if you’d like to work with me get in contact.