Manage Your Stress
Learn how to weather the storm gracefully by recognizing the burdens you carry and dealing with them constructively.
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What is stress?
Most of the time we will have fun at our job. However, every job has its ups and downs, and it’s important for our long-term physical and mental health to weather the storms gracefully.
Zen teachings have the concept of mushin no shin, sometimes translated as “mind like water,” wherein we respond to stimuli from our environment in exact proportion to each stimulus. To a martial artist, they would block or strike their opponent with exactly the right amount of force to accomplish the job—neither too little (thus allowing defeat) nor too much (thus succumbing to anger or zeal).
In our work, the mushin mindset means acting and reacting to the pressures of the job with neither defeat nor anger but instead as a level-headed professional.
Of course, this is easier said than done. Even the mushin professional who keeps their cool on the job can carry a subconscious burden. We need to recognize the burdens we carry and deal with them in a constructive manner.
Recognizing stress
Stress reactions may manifest themselves in physical ways: grinding our teeth, tension headaches, or clenched shoulder muscles, for example. While in a place we can relax, take a mental inventory of our body and try to sense muscle tension. Open your jaws wide, and let it come back relaxed. Roll your head gently. Bring your shoulders down. Overall, check in with your body a couple of times a day, and over ...