Millions of people have discovered the benefits of meditation and mindfulness as ways to de-stress. Today’s pacey lifestyle is hardly a recipe for a happy and healthy existence. Pretty much everyone from top managers to wise monks and homemakers, right through to athletes competing at the highest level, is setting time aside for meditation. Scientists have come on board, documenting and proving time and time again, that meditation changes the brain, improves health, and lowers stress levels significantly. In this article, I’ll give you advice on how to destress instantly.

Picture this: You’re late for work, the car breaks down, your heart races, panic sets in…. What now?

Now, I could go into the ins and outs of what happens in the brain when we get stressed, but I would rather just equip you with some “how to de-stress instantly tips”. You know what it feels like when the mind starts spinning and fear and panic set in. For many people, this is a daily occurrence. Ever since we’ve started living our lives at a faster than healthy pace, we began to struggle. The pressure to succeed combined with a lack of time to take a breather compounds the stress we suffer from. Pile financial demands and relationship troubles on top of all that, and you find yourself at breaking point. Everyone does. The expectations we place on ourselves to succeed in all areas of our lives are driving us forward so violently that we find ourselves unable to breathe. Burnout has become common. Unfortunately, we continue to seek unattainable perfection, especially because – through the media, social media included – we pitch our lives against the lives of others, convinced that they have mastered the art of being superhuman.

The result: unbearable stress, mental health issues, illness, and burnout, to name but a few. Throughout your day, your mind is racing ahead, you’re on a hamster wheel and can’t get off. The good news is, you can.

In this article, we give you a few basic tips on how to destress instantly, while introducing you to a new kind of existence. Mindfulness, meditation, yoga, and other practices can help enormously, however, you first need to make a conscious decision to embrace a slower pace and make time to nurture your soul. When you do, you will find yourself more at ease and better equipped to handle challenging situations. What’s more, your resilience and joy will grow, and your work will improve. Relationships are also likely to deepen, while the way you view yourself will soften. All in all, by using the following simple techniques, you’ll feel at peace which is more valuable than you can ever imagine.

How to Destress Instantly – Tip 1: Commit to Investing Time in Nurturing Your Heart and Soul

Before you can use the techniques here, you’ll have to recognize the importance of nurturing your heart and soul. The same way you exercise and feed your body and brain, you need to nurture your heart and soul. To do so, you need to set time aside, ideally about 1 hour per day, to engage in an activity that does just that. If you stick to dedicating a set time each day to soul/heart nourishment, you’ll set a strong foundation from which inner strength and resilience can grow. I would suggest you start and end the day with some soul nourishment activity. This can be meditation, yoga, prayer, mindfulness, or other similar activities.

By doing so, you recognize the crucial role your inner world plays in your overall wellbeing.

How to Destress Instantly – Tip 2: Stop Allowing Your Brain to Dominate Your World all the Time

Your brain is important, I know. However, allowing your brain to dominate completely means that your heart and soul don’t get a chance to make their valuable contribution. The wisdom of your heart and soul cannot be overestimated. Therefore, it is crucial to set time aside each day during which you listen to your heart and soul. When you do, you’ll find love there and over time, that love will begin to reduce the power of racing thoughts. The stronger the connection to your heart, the more time and space you give it, the more at ease you will be with yourself and those around you.

People who live solely in their brain, tend to overthink and suffer from stress, caught up in a web of thought, unable to release the tension. Only by integrating the body, heart, and soul can you live a balanced life.

How to Destress Instantly – Tip 3: Adopt an Acceptance of “Sh*t Happens”

We get ourselves caught up in a lot of stress because we live under the illusion that life is, or at least should and can be plain sailing. That is a silly illusion propagated by the imagery we are bombarded with – day and night. The reality is, in fact, entirely different. If you watch a toddler learning to walk, you’ll soon see that the little darling falls, tumbles, trips, and falls again. This pattern continues throughout everyone’s life in pretty much every aspect thereof.

If we then expect ourselves to never fall or fail, we crumble and fall apart when something goes wrong. In contrast, each setback won’t push you to the point of crisis, if you embrace the fact that you’re in a learning process, bound to struggle sometimes. The “sh*t happens” attitude will reduce your stress levels dramatically because you won’t put yourself under the same amount of pressure, to begin with.

How to Destress Instantly – Tip 4: When in Crisis, Shift Your Focus Out of the Mind and Into the Body

Back to the “car breaks down on the way to work scenario.” Let’s take it, you suffer a panic attack. One way to de-stress instantly is to decisively shift your attention away from you panic-thoughts to your body. Use your senses to connect to your surroundings, drawing your attention away from your panic-stricken mind.

Smell something
Find something to look at
Listen to the noise around you
Eat something
Touch something

Use all your senses to reconnect with the physical world around you. This is the “out of your mind into your body” technique which has served me well on many occasions.

Breathing exercises can also be helpful.

How to Destress Instantly – Tip 5: Exercise or Physical Work

Another way to de-stress instantly is to exercise or do some physical work. Any activity that tires out the body, will help to bring stress levels down. This has been confirmed by a significant body of research.

How to Destress Instantly – Tip 6: Share Your Troubles

Another way to de-stress instantly is to talk about it with a friend or professional. The old saying “a problem shared is a problem halved” still applies. Don’t be afraid to share that you’re struggling, you’ll soon discover that tons of people suffer the same way.

How to Destress Instantly – Tip 7: Have a Laugh

Last but not least, we’ve got humour. Even scientists have discovered and documented the stress-busting benefits of having a laugh.

Final Thoughts

De-stressing is all about embracing your own humanity and being kind to yourself and others. Shifting your attention away from your head to your heart is a sure road to a more relaxed way of life. Please share your stress-busting techniques too.