Emotions, anxiety can be dealt with in variety of ways

Grief occurs most intensely through the death of a loved one, but it can also be experienced in other situations. There can be grief over a job lost, health issues or relationship problems. With these can come feelings of anxiety, stress or depression.
   
Author Joyce Rupp tells of a woman who took home a church bulletin because it featured this theme: “The light shall never be overcome by the darkness.” She felt drawn to it and placed the bulletin on her refrigerator door where she saw it frequently. The next day she went to the doctor for a physical and learned she had a tumor.
   
She told Rupp that the quote she saved was her greatest strength in the days that followed.
   
“Even as she went for surgery, she felt the light within her overcoming the darkness. … When she learned the wonderful news that her tumor was benign, she felt deep gratitude for the inner strength she had received from finding that simple quote,” Rupp wrote.
   
Often it can seem as though life conspires to induce in us a high level of anxiety and stress. Sadly, many people experience more anxiety than happiness. Yet, it doesn’t have to be that way. Sometimes all it takes is a simple sentence of faith on a church bulletin to offset fear and apprehension. Here are a dozen other ways to experience less stress and more joy in daily living:
   
1. Give yourself permission to be joyful.
   
“Joy and happiness are suspect in our culture, often regarded as childlike, indulgent or immature,” observed Charlotte Davis Kasl, Ph.D., author of “Finding Joy.”
   
“We are all born with a capacity for joy,” Kasl wrote. “Yet many of us feel uneasy at the thought of seeking more joy in our lives. That is not surprising because we have been taught repeatedly that growth comes through struggle and suffering.”
   
Today, reclaim joy. Give yourself permission to be a joyful, happy person, one who looks for and finds pleasure in everything around.
   
2. Simplify your life.
   
Get rid of the clutter in your life so that you will have less to maintain and to worry about. A person who radiated great joy and contentment was Albert Schweitzer, medical missionary in Africa and Nobel Peace Prize winner. He died in 1965 at the age of 90.
   
Schweitzer’s standard attire was a white helmet, white shirt and pants and a black tie. He had worn one hat for 40 years, the tie for 20. Informed one day that many men owned dozens of neckties, Schweitzer was astonished and replied, “For one neck?”
   
Think about his lifestyle and then review yours. Get rid of all the stuff that doesn’t work, that you don’t use and don’t need.
   
3. Ask and you will receive.
  
Jesus taught that our happiness can be greatly enhanced as we simply ask for what we need. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you,” Jesus said in Matthew 7:7.
    When the time for her annual review came, Meagan’s evaluation was outstanding. Expecting a sizable increase in pay, she was surprised to discover that her pay raise was extremely modest. Rather than fret, fume and allow herself to become frustrated, Meagan devised a simple plan. She asked her employer for a one-time bonus and stock options in addition to the modest increase — and got them.
   
By merely asking, Meagan received. The result? Her anxiety dropped and her happiness increased.
   
4. Be at peace with your life.
   
Everything will not always go smoothly or in the direction you wish. When the inevitable negatives emerge, go with the flow. Be at peace with your life.
   
Act like poet Robert Frost, who wrote, “Take what is given and make it over your way. My aim in life has always been to hold my own with whatever is going on. Not against, with.”
  
5. Ask God for renewal.
   
Whenever you find yourself feeling overwhelmed by feelings of sadness, depression or despondency, ask God to renew your mind and spirit.
   
The prophet Isaiah said, “Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Isa. 40:31).
   
6. Rein in the ego.
  
We can cause many of our own problems when our ego runs wild. Adopt a more humble attitude toward others and yourself.
   
The danger of an excessive ego is admirably demonstrated in the fable about a frog who asked two geese to take him south with them. They resisted, saying they didn’t know how it could be done. Finally, the frog suggested the two geese hold a stick in their beaks and he would hold on to it with his mouth. So the unlikely threesome went flying south over the countryside. It was quite a sight.
   
People looked up and expressed great admiration at the demonstration of creative teamwork. One person said, “It’s absolutely amazing. Who was so clever to discover such a fine way to travel?” Whereupon the frog opened his mouth and said, “It was I.” And he plummeted to the earth.
   
Rein in the ego and avoid the dangers of a superiority complex.
   
7. Turn on the music.
   
Music accesses various parts of the brain and, thus, has a lingering positive impact on us emotionally and physically. Various studies show that music is a stress buster, muscle relaxer and immunity booster.
   
In his book “Messenger of Paradise,” Charles Levinthal explains how the process of listening releases endorphins that relieve pain and induce euphoria.
   
Research by Ceryl Dileo at Temple University found that people who listened to just 20 minutes of music had significantly higher levels of IgA, a disease-fighting antibody.
   
8. Take care of your body.
   
This means eating sensibly. Abusing food may seem to reduce stress, as does abusing alcohol, but it actually adds to it. If you engage in a bad habit such as smoking, make the decision to stop. Add some exercise to your life. Choose noncompetitive exercises such as jogging, walking, cycling and weight lifting. A fit mind and fit spirit are usually found inside a fit body.
   
Also, take time to express gratitude for your body. Author Molly Strode tells of attending a spiritual retreat at which the leader directed those present in a unique exercise.
   
“He told us to touch our eyes and to thank that part of our body for all those years of faithful service. We thanked our eyes for the years of eye-strain in studying for exams and being subjected to chlorine in swimming pools. We thanked them for the beauty they had brought to us and how our sight had kept us safe on many occasions,” she recalled.
   
The leader had them pause before moving on to another part of the body to thank. “By the time we reached our shoulders, tears were streaming down my face. How hard I had been on my body all these years, with never an expression of appreciation. For the first time, I experienced compassion for my body. In doing so, I experienced compassion for myself.”
   
9. Limit television news.
   
In her book titled “You Are Not Alone: Words of Experience and Hope for the Journey Through Depression,” author Julia Thorne cited a 66-year-old woman identified as “Pearl.”
   
“One night I stopped watching TV — it was too depressing. I don’t know why, but that evening I was stunned by the amount of violence and negativity in the news stories. All I was seeing and hearing was death, economic disaster, famine and rape. There was a rapid pace to the stories, as if it was exciting to tell this kind of news,” Pearl said.
   
“I began to feel so depressed that I turned off the TV. It was lonely in the beginning because the TV had kept me company, but I’m not nearly as frightened as I used to be.”
   
10. Create solitude for yourself.
   
Time alone and away from phones, computers, faxes and other daily demands is joy-restoring and emotionally renewing.
   
Writer Sue Monk Kidd tells of her grandfather who was a lawyer, judge and farmer. “He was frequently busy,” she said.
   
However, he often retreated to the little ponds on his farm where he would sit and hold a cane pole over the water, fishing. One day, she grew bored with the fishing and retreated to her grandfather’s old black truck to play. 
   
There, she noticed that his fishing bait was still on the seat. She was surprised that he had been fishing at the pond for an hour or more without bait.
   
“I grabbed the basket and raced over to him,” she said. “‘Granddaddy, how can you fish without the bait?’ He tilted his hat and smiled as if he had been caught in some delicious secret. ‘Well, sometimes it’s not the fish I’m after,’ he said, ‘it’s the fishing.’”
   
11. Get more sleep.
   
We are a sleep-deprived society and this works against feelings of joy, peace and contentment. Lack of ample sleep makes us irritable, tense, sad and anxious. Dr. Neal Barnard, president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, D.C., explained why sleep is so beneficial.
   
“During sleep, your brain rebuilds its stockpile of mood-elevating hormones, plus it sorts through the day’s experiences and decides how to deal with them,” he said.
   
12. Be accepting of yourself, no matter what.
   
“Many people have an unrealistic notion of what it means to be human,” Kasl said.
   
“They think a day will come when they no longer misplace their keys, lose their temper, offend other people, get scared or feel at a loss for words. They might also think they should be able to stick to a diet, have a stimulating job that pays well, be liked by everyone and wake up every day feeling bright and alert,” Kasl said. “If you really think these things are possible, look around you. Does anyone fit this description? If you want to be happy, kiss these thoughts goodbye and send them to the wind.”