UPSB v3
Serious Discussion / De-stressing & maintaining awareness
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Date: Thu, Jan 21 2010 13:23:05
1. What are your methods for keeping calm/calming down?
2. What are your methods for focusing/being aware of your surroundings and yourself?
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I'm naturally anxious esp. around ppl. It makes it hard to concentrate on being aware of other people and my surroundings, and sometimes even the rational sided of my mind. -
Date: Thu, Jan 21 2010 13:24:23
psing,,,, ummmm realizing that there really isnt any like reason to be anxious.... go through a few months of depression and come out the other end you get a really nice outlook on life ^_ ^
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Date: Thu, Jan 21 2010 13:33:16
@Essence: I have a melancholic personality; you could say I've been depressed most of my life lol.
Oh yeah, I was taking Fluoxetine & occasionally, Clonezepam, but I missed my last appointment & I'm running out of meds. I'm considering yoga/martial arts/meditation/Zen Buddhism. -
Date: Thu, Jan 21 2010 13:41:58
1. punching the wall/floor/chairs/tables
2. grab my balisong
^^^ stupid way
serious way
1. meditate
2. follow the marga( 8 fold path; buddhism)
learned this in social studies/ history lol -
Date: Thu, Jan 21 2010 16:04:09
I'm from Singapore too and being in the stressful Singapore environment, I've naturally grown to being aware to my surroundings while focusing on whatever i'm doing. Most of my friends are the same as well which is quite surprising to hear that you aren't aware of your surroundings.(no offence)
As for staying calm, it depends on what your worried about.In terms of my future: you know that Singaporeans have a mentality that if you don't work hard, you won't succeed in the future which is true in our country. For this case, I'd choose to live in the now, not to worry about the future and work as hard. In terms of current situations: deep slow proper breathes always help. You might think that it's lame but if you breathe through your nose and exhale through your mouth continuously and slowly, it biologically slows your heart rate.
When I'm very stressed, like during my 'O' level period, I take a lot of time of to do something that doesn't require any brain juice. This really helps me to refresh my brain for later use. It's literally like when you shut down a computer too let it cool down after using it for hours.
When i'm very angry, (only at home) I get my long hard stick in my room and I whack my bed with every ounce of energy in my body. Surprisingly it is very VERY calming.
But the first thing I do when I'm down, angry, anxious, stressed or depressed is to turn to God and pray for I know that he will never leave nor forsake me.
Hopefully this'll help you. -
Date: Thu, Jan 21 2010 16:13:48
I've been taking deep breaths from time to time, but I don't think I exhale through my mouth. I'll try that, thanks.
@Clyde: What is Buddhism + meditation to you and how does it help you? -
Date: Thu, Jan 21 2010 16:26:29
Deep breathes + spa + massage + plenty of red wine is my de-stresser. Life is tough everywhere right now. Studying + work + pw + other businesses = 19-20 hour work days but think about the + aspects of your life no matter what they are lol. I always think that hey there's food on the table, family has health coverage, got a home, got transportation so life's not that bad. Recent happenings in Haiti also should remind us that while some of us may not be super well off in terms of life or happiness there's always a lot worse. Just be a positive contributor to society and it makes yourself feel better=p
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Date: Thu, Jan 21 2010 16:58:06
1: Just waiting... I cannot be angry for a long time, the rage just disappears in a few minutes. Although only very few things can calm me down in the time of anger... And even fewer of them can be done by me. Practically the only thing that helps me is to think about someone(/something, but that doesn't work so often) I like, to redirect my thoughts away from the current situation.
2: I'm VERY anxious person... What helps is to clear my head of any thoughts and let only the important one stay inside of my head... It's hard though, and most of the time I just end up doing stupid things/being quiet just to throw all the attention on someone else.
Not much of an advise, but hope that helps... In any way =) -
Date: Thu, Jan 21 2010 17:34:20
hmm, well i'm a naturally stressless person, i rarely worry about things at all, but here's the way i kinda maintain that
i think about everything. some people will say that leads to more stress, but i don't "worry" about it when thinking, just sit back and objectively think about all possible outcomes for things, and decide on what i'll do in any given situation. that always makes me feel better, because i'm confident that a. i can handle whatever comes at me, and b. since i thought about it i'll wind up with the best possible outcome.
it's nerdy, but flowcharts help me alot.
though, you were talking about general anxiety when around people and such, not about certain situations, so that's not much help to you i guess, but situational anxiety is the closest thing i ever have, so i figured i'd share how i go about i -
Date: Thu, Jan 21 2010 17:53:38
I have my magic little phrase I just have to remember.
"Whatever, I don't even care"
Apathy can work wonders for stress. -
Date: Thu, Jan 21 2010 19:40:09
guess things change once you have family hah
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Date: Thu, Jan 21 2010 19:44:11
If im nervous or scared or anything like that, I just think "what is the worst thing that will happen". When you think of it it isnt actually that bad. Also I dont really get stressed because nothing that ive experienced is that important tbh.
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Date: Fri, Jan 22 2010 02:58:22
i think music helps me alot, to change my mood
calm relaxing songs usually calm me down
reggae helps, (bob marley's kaya album)
but taking deep breathes is the best way -
Date: Fri, Jan 22 2010 05:51:37
deep breaths, in nostrils out mouth
punching things
meditate
massage, spa
alcohol
focus on 1 thought/person
objectively sort things out (w/ flowchart)
apathy
Ok got it I'll try each out thanks all. <3 -
Date: Fri, Jan 22 2010 15:55:36
lol don't overdo the alcohol....=p a glass of red wine is soothing and good for your heart=p
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Date: Fri, Jan 22 2010 23:10:48
I'm not a person that gets angry or something, but whenever I'm in a bad mood, reading and music always helps me.
Reading helps me get all the problems off my head, and simply relax and let my imagination work for a bit. later you'll get a better perspective on things.
And music, well, music is awesome. only you know which songs make you fell better, so just listen to some good music and try to relax, don't think about whatever stressing you.
all of that is in case it's not an immediate case obviously =P
I've always wanted to try some meditation or similar stuff... did it once and it was kind of cool (my sister tried a meditation video tape a friend gave her, all it said was basically sit, relax, breathe, similar stuff, but I sat like 15 minutes or more without moving, felt like I wasn't attached to my body, it was kind of cool~) -
Date: Sun, Jan 24 2010 19:53:04
Apparently its pretty good if its endorsed by a government, but who knows, could just be attempts at pushing religion.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/22/2798479.htm -
Date: Sat, Jan 30 2010 01:24:46QUOTE (Sadistic @ Jan 25 2010, 03:53 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Apparently its pretty good if its endorsed by a government, but who knows, could just be attempts at pushing religion.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/22/2798479.htm
Haha 'Prisoners in an Indian state' seems to refer to prisoners in a yoga state.
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I've sort of figured out what I need to do to maintain awareness and, through that understanding of the world, reduce my anxiety. I just ask myself:
What do I see? (then quickly name the things I see in my mind)
What do I hear? (then quickly name the things I hear)
What do I think? (etc.)
What do I feel? (etc.)
What do I know? (etc.)
What do I do?
Of course, this is just a starting point. Each situation calls for different sensory input/rationalisation. I'm more partial to thinking/feeling before being fully aware. Because we gather all information about the world through our 5 senses, ought we not make the most out of our sensory perception? The amazing thing is that when I start to fully physically PERCEIVE my environment, I also gain a deeper insight into what other people perceive. Empathy FTW.
I feel that I've been half awake most of my life. Time to wake up!!