How to Overcome Stress

Human ingenuity seeks different avenues for mitigation of stress. These are partially due to habits and partially due to the indoctrination received in the past and the opportunities encountered for the same. Here the methods are not important but the goal. We all sincerely wish that everyone should become free from the killer disease called stress. Even death is not so painful as a life in stress. Following are the methods by which attempts are being done to overcome stress: There could be other methods that may not be under that notice of the author.

1. Diversions: They are like entertainment, sex, alcohol or drugs, holidaying, religion and sleep.

- Sleep is the nature’s way of overcoming stress but this is certainly not complete as stress lingers on even after the duration of sleep. This provides temporary relaxation that is nonetheless so very important, however, it is not complete.

- Alcohol altogether is not bad and can be used as a stress reliever in the immediate period. Care should be taken to keep check on the consumption so that it does not damage the liver and other organs. Tantras prescribe meditation after a little consumption of alcohol so that not only stress is relieved but also help in opening up the darker areas of the brain. Such practices should be done only under adepts. Negative side effects can be expected if consumed in larger quantities.

- Drugs that are of the nature of medical drugs and Consciousness alternating drugs, can be useful for relieving stress but they can become addictive and dangerous over a period of time. This must be done only under the guidance of a good medical practitioner. Negative side effects can be expected.

- Entertainment, holidaying, sex and religion are just diversions and certainly do not remove the stress that has seeped in. However, they may be useful in the immediate time period.

2. Psychoanalytical Therapy: This therapy is good in the immediate time period. However, most persons practicing psychotherapy are not aware of the root cause of stress and do not have any understanding of the higher dimensions of the human being. However, it is not holistic and not always beneficial. Moreover, it also causes a sense of dependency in the patient.

3. Yoga: It is the only holistic solution to the problem of stress. It takes care of stress at all the dimensions and is free from any negative effects. If practiced properly it is not only the capable of tackling the problem of stress but also takes a person to the state of super-Consciousness and Beyond, the state of self-actualization.

4. Understanding: The most potent and jet speed approach is that of Understanding, the understanding of Vedanta. It is knowledge that is the cause of all our problems. The knowledge of relationships, of our illusory ego, of what we are and what we need to achieve, the knowledge of our present supposed unhappy state and the need to attain a state of supposed perfect happiness etc., strangle us and keep us in a state of complete freedom. Life then would not be a play of individuals but a unitary play of energy. If the causes and effects of stress were to be clearly perceived then one would transcend stress in a second. But this requires a lot of sincerity, guts and intuitive intelligence that is not vouchsafed to the larger set of human beings.

5. Tantric Attitude: An attitude is very efficacious in tackling the onslaught of stressful situations. Tantras have the most holistic approach to life. Tantras consider life to be an endless stream with nothing good and bad. In the tantras everything is an experience that needs to be fully experienced without guilt and later transcended. Life is a series of polarized opposites and experience of both will happen. A positive and correct attitude helps the person in crossing over both good and bad experiences with gumption.

Effective stress management demands that the individual should use all the energy and arsenals at his command to fight the dreadful disease of stress. The combination of the methods used to tackle the problem of stress is strictly according to individual preferences and there cannot be any intransigence in it. What is important is that the individual strive for a life free from stress so that he can live a life of freedom and spread the fragrance of joy and happiness around.