9 Best Stress Management Strategies

Article from Dr. Wayne W. Dyer – Excerpted from The Power of Intention.

Today, our lives are filled with stress and anxiety, having feelings of despair and depression, making some of us need pills to tranquilize ourselves. Agitated thoughts that produce high blood pressure, a nervous stomach, persistent feelings of discomfort, an inability to relax or sleep, and frequent displays of displeasure and outrage are violating our natural state. Believe it or not, according to Wayne Dyer, we all have the power to create the naturally stress-free and tranquil life we desire. You can utilize this power to attract frustration or joy, anxiety or peace. When you’re in harmony with the seven faces of intention, you can access and pull from the Source of all in order to fulfill your intention of being stress free and tranquil.

Step 1: Your natural state is joy. 

You are a product of joy and love; it’s natural for you to experience these feelings. You’ve come to believe that feeling bad, anxious, or even depressed is natural, particularly when people and events around you are in low-energy modes. Remind yourself as frequently as necessary: I come from peace and joy. I must stay in harmony with that from which I came in order to fulfill my dreams and desires. I choose to stay in my natural state. Anytime I’m anxious, stressed out, depressed, or fearful, I’ve abandoned my natural state.

Step 2: Your thoughts, not the world, cause your stress.

Your thoughts activate stressful reactions in your body. Stressful thoughts create resistance to the joy, happiness, and abundance that you desire to create in your life. These thoughts include: I can’t, I’m too overworked, I worry, I’m afraid, I’m unworthy, It will never happen, I’m not smart enough, I‘m too old (young), and so on. These thoughts are like a program to resist being tranquil and stress free, and they keep you from manifesting your desires.

Step 3: You can change your thoughts of stress in any given moment, and eliminate the anxiety for the next few moments, or even hours and days. 

By making a conscious decision to distract yourself from worry, you’ve inaugurated the process of stress reduction, while simultaneously reconnecting to the field of allcreating intention. It’s from this place of peace and tranquility that you become a co-creator with God. You can’t be connected to your Source and be stressed at the same time—this is mutually exclusive. Your Source doesn’t create from a position of anxiety, nor does it need to swallow antidepressants. You’ve left behind your capacity to manifest your desires when you don’t choose in the moment to eliminate a stressful thought.

Step 4: Monitor your stressful thoughts by checking on your emotional state right in the moment. 

Ask yourself the key question: Do I feel good right now? If the answer is no, then repeat those five magic words: I want to feel good, then shift to: I intend to feel good. Monitor your emotions, and detect how much stress- and anxiety producing thinking you’re engaging in. This monitoring process keeps you apprised of whether you’re on the path of least resistance or going in the other direction.

Step 5: Make a conscious choice to select a thought that will activate good feelings. 

I urge you to choose your thought based exclusively on how it makes you feel, rather than on how popular it is or how well advertised. Ask yourself: Does this new thought make me feel good? No? Well, how about this thought? Not really? Here’s another. Ultimately you’ll come up with one that you agree makes you feel good, if only temporarily. Your choice might be the thought of a beautiful sunset, the expression on the face of someone you love, or a thrilling experience. It’s only important that it resonate within you emotionally and physically as a good feeling.

In the moment of experiencing an anxious or stressful thought, change to the thought you chose, which makes you feel good. Plug it in. Think it and feel it in your body if you can. This new thought that makes you feel good will be of appreciation rather than depreciation. It will be of love, beauty, receptivity to happiness, or in other words, it will align perfectly with those seven faces of intention I’ve been harping about since the opening pages of this book.

Step 6: You don’t need a reason to be happy . . . your desire to be so is sufficient.

This means to suspend the demands of your ego, which keep you separated from intention. When you have a choice to be right or to be kind, pick kind, and push the ego’s demand out of the way. Kindness is what you emanated from, and by practicing it, rather than being right, you eliminate the possibility of stress in your moment of kindness. When you find yourself being impatient with anyone, simply say to yourself: “Be joyful,” and immediately laugh at the piddly little ego that wants you to be first, faster, number one, and to be treated better than the other guy.

Step 7: Accept the guidance of your Source of intention.

You will only come to know the Father by being as He is. You’ll only be able to access the guidance of this field of intention by being as it is. Stress, anxiety, and depression will be lifted from you with the assistance of that same force that created you. If it can create worlds out of nothing, and you out of nothing, surely the removal of some stress isn’t such a big task. I believe that God’s desire for you is that you not only know joy, but that you become it.

Step 8: Practice being in silence and meditation. 

Nothing relieves stress, depression, anxiety, and all forms of low-energy emotions like silence and meditation. Here, you make conscious contact with your Source and cleanse your connecting link to intention. Take time every day for moments of quiet contemplation, and make meditation a part of your stress-reducing ritual. 

Step 9: Stay in a state of gratitude and awe.

Go on a rampage of appreciation for all that you have, all that you are, and all that you observe. Gratitude is the tenth step in every ten-step program for manifesting your intentions, because it’s the surest way to stop the incessant inner dialogue that leads you away from the joy and perfection of the Source. You can’t feel stressed and appreciative at the same time.

About Author:

Wayne Dyer, Ph.D.
Affectionately called the “father of motivation” by his fans, Dr. Wayne W. Dyer was an internationally renowned author, speaker, and pioneer in the field of self-development.  Over the four decades of his career, Wayne Dyer wrote more than 40 books (21 of which became New York Times bestsellers), created numerous audio programs and videos, and appeared on thousands of television and radio shows. His books and audio books include, Memories Of Heaven, Manifest Your Destiny, Wisdom of the Ages, There’s a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem, and the New York Times bestsellers 10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace, The Power of Intention, Inspiration, Change Your Thoughts—Change Your Life, Excuses Begone!, Wishes Fulfilled, and I Can See Clearly Now were all featured as National Public Television specials.