The Easiest Way to Decrease Your Stress
Do you have trouble controlling your stress level? Do you ever snap at people or get jumpy? Lisa B. Marshall, aka The Public Speaker, will tell you how to easily improve the situation.
Lisa B. Marshall
Let’s face it: we all have to deal with stress in our lives. But when we’re uptight, nervous, or stressed out, our ability to think clearly and communicate properly decreases. We become edgy with others, thus hurting or offending them. Or we can actually misread other people’s communication and cues, seeing negative messages that aren’t there, which instead hurts or offends us. The best way to get off this roller-coaster is to reduce the stress.
Easier said than done, right? Actually, wrong! It is easier than we realize to begin to control the stress-monster within. How? Breathe!
Yes, breathing is automatic, but you can also control how you breathe, and that’s what makes the difference. For thousands of years, cultures have developed techniques of prayer or meditation that have incorporated deep breathing, but medical science now knows why breathing in certain ways makes such a difference in our bodies. In Forbes Magazine, Dr. Herbert Benson, author of “The Relaxation Response,” explained that the “fight or flight” response in our nervous system can be countered by a “relaxation” response, triggered by deep breathing. This slows the heart rate and blood pressure, and calms the brain.
There are many different ways to put this deep breathing into practice.
Harvard-trained physician Dr. Andrew Weil pioneered one technique; he even claims his method will put you to sleep in 60 seconds. Many professionals, including Dr. Weil, recommend taking a a minute or two, two times throughout the day, to perform this quick exercise. Try it. See how quickly your stress decreases, and your relationships with your colleagues improve. And let me know what happens. By the way, the first few times I did it, it made me feel light headed. It gave me a headache—the trick is to stick with it.
This is Lisa B. Marshall, helping you to lead and influence. If you’d like to learn more about compelling communication, I invite you to read my bestselling books, Smart Talk and Ace Your Interview and listen to my other podcast, Smart Talk. As always, your success is my business.
Just breathe clouds image courtesy of Shutterstock
About the Author
Lisa B. Marshall Lisa holds masters with duel degrees in interpersonal/intercultural communication and organizational communication. She’s the author of Smart Talk: The Public Speaker’s Guide to Success in Every Situation, as well as Ace Your Interview, Powerful Presenter, and Expert Presenter. Her work has been featured in CBS Money Watch, Ragan.com, Woman’s Day, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, and many others. Her institutional clients include Johns Hopkins Medicine, Harvard University, NY Academy of Science, University of Pennsylvania, Genentech, and Roche.