Some Thoughts on How to Get More Happiness From Life

Redirecting stress and channeling it differently can improve the quality of your life.

Most people are stressed almost to their breaking points these days with everything that is happening in their lives and the world.  Some of what is going on is out of the average person’s control.  However, we are the ones that have control of our daily lives. Therefore, we can either let stress dictate how we live each day and confine us to our misery or view life differently.

Start by pinpointing the source of your tension. Of course, there will be problems beyond your control such as finding yourself or a loved one stricken with an incurable disease, injured in an accident, a victim of murder, etc.  

Yet, there are lots of other ones that can consume us from things like an unreasonable boss.  Perhaps, he or she makes you work those last few extra minutes by taking one more call, despite your computer system is in the process of shutting down.  This unfair action could cause you to miss your bus or be caught in rush hour.  A possible solution is seeing if your boss will allow you to start earlier to avoid that rush hour traffic hassle.  

Juggling schedules to take a child to the dentist, doctor or to a school activity by always being the one designated as the official driver for your children can lead to stress, not to mention resentment.  Demand some consideration by taking turns with your spouse can be wonderful for you and the entire family in general with more bonding.

Those are only two common examples, but ones that can spoil our lives.  

Another prime example of how we let stress to negatively affect us is through little things.  Think of your average day at home.  Perhaps, your child left their toys scattered on the floor instead of back in their toy box.  Yelling at their crime only solves to raise your blood pressure.  Of course, you can have dad scold them but you keep the tension and increase his as well.  Then again, you could try simply sweeping the toys off to the corner or box them up and threaten to give them away.   Instead, release only one toy at a time until the children understand if it is not back in the toy box they will not get another toy returned.

You also might want to read my earlier post on stress-busting techniques.  Stress is a killer if we let it continue to dominant our lives.  Learning to ease up on ourselves and the way we deal with stressful situations can be improved upon.  It may take practice to see a brighter side to what is going on and handling our anxiety, but it is a more productive emotion than the negative impact of stress.