30 Ways to Relax Easily

The need to relax is becoming more essential in the midst of the pressure in the external environment. It has perhaps one of the basic needs but stated implied among the hierarchy of needs for it can be considered a physiologic need but has strong association with the other higher level necessities.

In this blogpost, I will try to exhaust myself in creating a list on how to feel relaxed. My objective to aid people to relax easily and perhaps immediately after they have gained awareness of this article. Here are some of my tips:

1. Control your hand gestures. Your hands shiver or sweat as a manifestation of anxiety. Do simple mind exercises geared towards controlling your fine motor skills.

2. Breathe deeply and abdominally. Be conscious breathing especially when you are about to sleep or in the middle of a stressful situation. Imagine cool air coming in, while warm body heat goes out.

3. Soothe and pamper your skin. This can be done through shower, massage or simply skin-to skin contract with someone you can trust with.

4. Drink a lot of water. This is an ancient remedy but keep your stomach not bloated as this disrupts energy flow and relaxation.

5. Eat adequately. Do not binge-eat especially when confronted by stress. The general rule is eat only when you are hungry, not during stress.

6. Walk at a slow pace. Everyone must walk without the need of being in a hurry. You must have enough time for everything, especially on unspecified and unplanned slow walks, either alone or with someone.

7. Minimize noise and distractions in the immediate surroundings. This is immediate remedy. Relaxed mind functions well with minimal triggers and stimulations.

8. Know how to take your own pulse and respiratory rate. In this way, you gain awareness of your own body and how it functions, especially when the need for relaxation is at its highest.

9. Close your eyes and focus. This is a test. When you do not feel any anxiety doing this, then these remedies would work. Otherwise, keep reading and make a realization later on what is really your problem and how to cope with it effectively.

10. Know who you can trust and talk to. Sometimes the people we most trust are not available to talk to. So, it is important you know how and where you can have a conversation with them when the need arises.

11. Keep communication open among closest family members. This only applies when your family members are not your source of stress. Should they be, talk to first to the least stressor and progress cautiously and slowly in a long-period of time.

12. Have time-out period in social media. Nowadays, our actions are influenced by others. Keeping yourself from social media helps us to focus on ourselves, rather than on others.

13. Learn to make days short and easy. Many keep a to-do-list everyday. Making a reasonable list of important tasks in a day is important. Perhaps about 3 to 5 is enough per experience.

14. Control your spending with conscious effort. Overspending is a manifestation of an anxious impulsive mind. Buy what you need and want according to your financial capacity, neither exceeding beyond or pushing a lifestyle that others show to you or want.

15. Never be afraid to tell others how you feel, but be conscious on how your emotions affect others positively or negatively. Do this through relaxed face-to-face conversation. Converse, rather than confront. One must learn to talk objectively, rather present subjective feelings unnecessarily.

16. Do things that help express your creativity. Engage in simple artworks. You do not need to be the next Da Vinci or be known or be appreciated of it. Just use your right brain to balance with structured logical left brain.

17. Keep notes on your plans and feelings. A journal aids one to keep a proper mindset and practice dealing with important decisions and vulnerable emotions in a proper objective way. This is the reason why I keep this blog anyway.

18. Embrace change, rather than avoid it. Whenever there is change, learn to restrain yourself to prematurely react. Let the change unfold first before making any action. Sometimes, the greatest mistake on change people do is either simply avoid it or deal with hastily without gaining full awareness of what is it.

19. Be clear on risks and mistakes that you can afford to do sometimes. Recognize and create a buffer of mistakes for nobody is perfect. Be clear on what wrongdoings you can permit yourself doing, without affecting your self-esteem and peace of mind later on.

20. Recognize certain bad habits and tendencies. It takes a humble and honest heart to do this. Being self-righteous would not contribute in anyway to feel relaxed. If there is a bad habit, try to cut it by changing the way you think and react, unless you want to be stuck forever in it.

21. Consciously avoid mingling with people who are either too loud or too weak in contrast with your own personality. Forcing oneself to deal with a person incompatible to one's personality or pushing oneself to help a vulnerable person beyond our capacity is like lying to oneself about life truths. Avoid people who seems to be imposing their thoughts on you, or consuming excessive space in your memory. Remember no one owns your thoughts except you.

22. Compare yourself to no one. Although we have role models to look up, it is our responsibility to shape our future, as well as our ideas and actions. It is also fine to admire someone, but not to the extent that you are longing for a person within or outside you to be almost exactly the same person as admired.

23. Break long-standing daily routines. Routines are risk-free but counterproductive. Find ways to challenge oneself either physically and mentally. However, just take care not going beyond your limitations, so you end not being frustrated and unsatisfied.

24. Indulge on what happens in the present times, rather than dwelling on the past or future. Indulging means doing what you can do today and postponing things tomorrow. There is simply no right time to decide, for what we need to learn is to decide that today is the right time.

25. Learn to say no. Take responsibility of your own decisions. Negating is the same with agreeing. It is equally important with saying yes. Rejecting other's favor or offer is sign of taking care of oneself and being responsible of our own actions.

26. Evaluate your needs and wants objectively and set realistic goals accordingly. The name of the game is to keep expectations within reality. If you dream high, keep time frame longer, because bigger dreams take time and requires more effort.

27. Say a simple and sincere prayer regularly. This acknowledges that there is a Supreme Being, who oversees everything in a planned and orderly manner. Talk to Him through prayers. It helps and works.

28. Decide to be happy today, rather delay gratification in the future. The beauty of our lives lies today, not on the fulfillment of our future plans and dreams. It only takes a decision to be happy to feel happiness.

29. Forgive yourself about periods and actions in the past. Regrets are products of the past that can never be undone. What happened is for us to learn and ponder, such that we do not repeat them in the future.

30. Be truly inspired. Do not just merely utter or share inspirational words. Live with it and truly reflect and integrate it through your daily activities.

Lastly, one should realize that relaxation is a sum of all physiologic and mental processes an individual undergoes. Knowing the stress source and addressing it effectively is still the best way to relax in the long-run. However, it is important that one keeps an eye to keep oneself relaxed, even the stress source has not yet been adequately overcome. Hence, this list may serve as form of distraction or a quick relief for someone needing it, but this does not eliminate the fact that effective coping is still a must in the end.

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