How to Recognize and Handle Stress

Do you know when you are under stress? I am often surprised to discover high levels of tension in my clients that goes unnoticed until I point it out. For example, someone may say "I haven't been able to sleep, but I just don't know why," or "My stomach has been upset all week, but I don't think I've eaten anything bad," or "I've been getting these headaches for no reason." There is often little conscious connection made between physical symptoms and the stresses in our lives.

A second kind of statement is more emotionally-oriented. For example, "I just don't feel like myself," or "I feel off, but I don't know why," or "I feel sad and I can't seem to shake it. I don't know what's wrong." In most of these cases, almost invariably, a few questions will arrive at some stressful event that happened previous to these physical or emotional symptoms. Yet, again, the link between this event and the symptoms experienced afterwards is rarely made.

Stress often goes unacknowledged until it builds to a point where it is causing real problems. However, what if you could trace your symptoms to stressful events to get a handle on how to resolve them? Even better, what if you could identify stressful experiences as they occur and handle them successfully right then and there, so these symptoms never happen? In this brief article, we'll look at a simple practice that can increase your awareness of stressful events and give you insight on how to handle them better. The practice is keeping a "Stress Mastery Journal."

The key to this practice is to identify four things: a stressful "seed" event, your interpretation of that event, the symptoms that resulted from your interpretation of that event, and the action you can take right now to handle that. To keep a Stress Mastery Journal, get a small notebook that you can easily carry around with you. Any time that you feel stressed, tense, uncomfortable, unable to sleep, or any physical or emotional symptom that feels other than relaxed, positive, well-being, you can make an entry.

Your entry consists of five things:

1. The time, date, and environment you are in now.

2. Your current physical or emotional symptom, what you sense or feel inside, and when you began to feel this way.

3. A stressful "seed" event that preceded this feeling or symptom. One way to do this is to note when you began to feel this way and then note what happened just before that.

4. A statement that describes what you were thinking and feeling at the time of that "seed" event. In other words, what was your mindset at that time?

5. An action that you can take right now to make the situation better for yourself and others.

As you make notes on your symptoms, trace them to stressful events, and remember your mindset at that time, you may start to notice personal patterns. You'll likely find that you have a habit of having certain kinds of experiences and interpreting them in specific ways. As you identify actions that can make those situations better, you'll gain new ways to relate to whatever is happening in your life.

Taking time to be more conscious of the connection between stressful experiences, interpretations you make, symptoms you have, and actions you can take will empower you to be a more conscious participant in the creation of your life experiences, rather than being a passive victim of stress. Stepping back from your symptoms and shining awareness on "what is really happening" can make a huge positive difference.