How can spirituality help manage work stress?

Spiritually inclined people express their belief in spirituality in different ways. They may choose to meditate, spend time with nature, pursue their artistic interests, and spend time with people of similar beliefs. They also pray. All these activities help people feel calmer and more secure. These help regulate blood pressure and manage stress. It has been consistently observed that spiritual people are generally grateful and express gratitude. Being grateful reduces stress.

Spirituality helps in many ways to manage stress. The most prominent way is that it creates peace within, which in turn allows us to strengthen the communication channel with our mental and physical self.

We spend a majority of our day either working or thinking about work. At work we are always on the move from one task to another. Sometimes we multitask as well. While working, we are listening to others with conflicting opinions; our mind is full of different thoughts.

Spirituality helps us find moments to breathe in existing chaos around us. The time we invest in meditating and other spiritual activities helps us to be aware and accept the reality around us. A spiritual person is well versed on how to manage the uncertainties of life, one does not try to control everything as this is the biggest source of stress and frustration. Spirituality, on the other hand, supports us to improve how to experience and respond to positive and negative events around us.

Undoubtedly, spirituality improves our sense of connection. The essence of spirituality is that we are part of something bigger, greater than us. The sooner we realise and accept this we start feeling connected and the feeling of being lonely and isolated is drastically reduced. The stressful situations around us start appearing manageable and smaller. Spirituality provides us the required strength to handle the stressful situation at work.

The sense of connection and meaning resulting from practicing spirituality allow us to look beyond us. It increases our sense of responsibility.

The spirit helps us in managing stress at work by modifying the perspective it creates. Spirituality helps us to see the overwhelming obstacles into manageable challenges. It helps us to remain focused on what is important for us. Stress is certainly not important in our lives.

(The author is a Master Coach and Motivational Speaker)