Log Your Stress
Keep track of the things that caused you stress and the techniques that helped get you through. In a journal, create your Stress Log with four columns and spaces below each heading to write in your answers.
See the examples below to get you started. Use your Log as often as you need and refer back to the techniques that worked best.
Situations
My son got hit with a baseball.
Bodily Reactions
My hands were sweaty and I got a stomach ache.
Emotional States
I was fearful.
Stress Breakers That Worked
Deep breathing and picturing my son happy and playing baseball with friends.
Unique Stress Breakers
May 2010
by Helene Lerner and Roberta Elins
Reducing stress is one of the most common aspects of life that women struggle with. Everyone knows the typical ways to get relief—exercise, eating healthy, meditation, bubble baths. But, if you’ve already been implementing these strategies in your life and still feel tense, why not give some of these alternative techniques a whirl? All you have to lose is your stress!
Make an enjoyment mug.
Write something fabulous you would like to do or have already done on a strip of paper, and fill a mug with these folded strips. Add promising horoscopes and slips from well-wishing fortune cookies, or fill the mug with positive slogans to motivate you, honor past accomplishments, or spark excitement about an upcoming event. Each morning, pick a strip and refer to it throughout the day. Focus on the good feelings it brings. Refill your Enjoyment Mug with new material on a regular basis to keep it full of fresh, thoughts that will help you de-stress.
Go with the flow.
Try this adaptation of an ancient T’ai chi exercise. Sit in a quiet place. Interlock your fingers as if to pray. Point your index fingers upward, leaving space between them. Study that space for a minute or two, then allow your fingers to close slowly on their own—don’t push them together. Now, name your stresses (did you lose your job, have a fight with your spouse, etc.) open your fingers again and imagine all the feelings related to your tension flowing out through the space. Calmly close your fingers once more and let go.
Get physical.
Is your stress causing tension in your body? Loosen up and relax with these unstressing exercises.
- The Jaw Drop
Imagine lying on a quiet beach, being warmed by the sun and pillowed by the sand. Relax. Now open your mouth and drop your lower jaw slightly. Keep this position for ten seconds.
- The Funny Face
Contort your face into an exaggerated mask, tightening your facial muscles. Hold your “funny face” for three seconds, then relax. Feel the tension release.
- The Healing Hand
Close your eyes and locate the precise area of any throbbing or tightness in your face or neck. Place your finger on the area and apply light pressure.
Lose track of time.
Take time out of your life each week—remove or cover all visible signs of time in your house. Remove your watch and put it in a drawer. Enjoy yourself, paced only by your natural rhythm, not by the imposition of the sixty-minute hour. If you have an appointment or other necessary ending to this exercise, set an alarm. It will signal you when it’s time to get back into time.