Relaxation

In today’s scenario it seems that every sphere of our life is glued to tension or anxiety. We are straining ourselves for our so called obvious reasons. But what we do not realize is the extent to which we are over pressurizing ourselves and its eventual consequences. We must understand that our body and mind is a complex system. After being strained beyond a threshold, it stars showing adverse implication. Irritation, mood swings, lack of concentration, short attention span, lose of appetite, insomnia etc are the endless outcomes of tension.

Relationship of stress and mental attitude is significant. Some of the situations that lead to stress or effect the mental attitude of a person are self generated or their occurrences are beyond human control; for example death, incurable disease, natural calamities, accidents, injuries etc. During these stressful situations, arising due to grief, people show their innate responses in a negative manner. The intensity of grief or sorrow decreases after some time. But for most of us our daily life is very stressful because of our day-to-day experiences. In other words, our anxiety level is determined by the way we give meaning to our experiences.

Relaxation is the key word for rejuvenating ones mind and body. As a step to eliminate stress from our life, it is important to estimate our own responsiveness towards it. Tried and true method for combating stress includes - conversation with friends and relatives, engaging in some form of exercise and taking up self-comforting & relaxing activities (such as favourite hobby, cooking, gardening, music, etc.). Anybody can have little space in their busy day – just sipping a cup of coffee or a short span of siesta or spending some time with family and pet makes a huge difference. Having little time for your personal space is essential. One should realize the importance of health, as it is the only way to enjoy wealth.

Mode of relaxation can be anything. But for any individual it is important to relax one’s mind and body for a while, so that it can be recharged for facing the challenges of a new day absolutely fresh

An Individual's Well Being

An individual‘s stress is in response to a threatening or challenging environmental condition. To understand and explore more about the stress, it is important to know about the association of stress and fear. Both are correlated to each other. But in many cases we are responsible for our stress. We encounter both positive and negative stressors; circumstances from where the stress is originated.

Stress impacts our physiological system. In a long run it has a negative impact such as high blood pressure, metabolic disorders (like diabetes, indigestion & impotency) and increased incidences of cold and flu. Prolonged stress can be observed in post traumatic stress disorders, major depression and in some cases aging, lack of appetite, severe hair loss etc.

Our response to stress depends on many factors like genetic inheritance, family & childhood experiences, overall physical & mental health and our perception of stress. As it is medically proved that our thought and emotions influence our health. This is so because there is a strong physical link between brain and the immune system.

Stress is not always harmful. Short term stress has its benefits. Little anxiety and work pressure enhances the performance of an individual. It has a positive impact as it leads to more dedicated effort from an individual who strives for higher achievement levels. Also, sometimes acute stress is good for gearing up body’s immune system.

I would again like to emphasize that in many cases stress is created by us and it can be eliminated by our behavior and attitude. Our mind is mirror of ourselves, and responds in the manner we think. An individual’s well being plays a crucial role in successful adjustment. Positive attitude and behavior are vital for mind and body. So it’s well said, a person creates his heaven and hell in his mind; it depends in what he wishes to choose and the way he wants to lead his life.

Need Of Counseling

Today due to the hi-tech innovation, scientific revolution, changing nature of human behavior, the pattern of the society is changing rapidly. This is affecting person's adjustment with his family, community and society. Thus, counseling has become the basic need of an individual. Counseling is required for better adaptation of an individual. It concentrates on ones well being.

Counseling comprises of personal help given by professional experts. It is designed to assist a person in accomplishing his purpose. It does not answer the dilemma of an individual, but facilitate the individual to resolve the problem himself. Center of attention for guidance & counseling is the client, not the problem. Its objective is to promote the growth of an individual by self- direction.

This distinct profession has its interdisciplinary base, interlinked with other fields such as sociology, history, anthropology, psychometric, psychology, ethics, etc.

Guidance counselor, an expert who practices counseling, supports an individual by systematic professional process through education and interpretive procedure. This is meant to enable the individual to gain better understanding of his own characteristics and potentialities. Further, in accordance with social & moral values, this helps him to relate himself more satisfactorily to social requirement and opportunities.

Counseling: An Introduction

The term ‘counseling’ is very popular amongst people these days. But everyone is not well acquainted with this term. In today’s jet age, it is extremely important that every individual is made aware of counseling.

It is a professional assistance to an individual, a client, which is meant to provide self direction to him, so as to develop understanding of problem and the related solution. Counselor is the professional who provides this assistance. Counselor’s trainings and experiences make her qualified to help others to arrive at solutions for various types of personal problems or hurdles. She assists her client to become aware of his existing problems. She helps him to develop an insight of the nature and solution of the problem. A client uses counselor’s eyes to see his private world. Counseling is interpersonal relationship between client and counselor wherein genuineness and transparency are the primary characteristics.

Profession of counseling is concerned with an individual’s mental wellbeing, personal growth and situational difficulties. It also involves extending help to dysfunctional individuals, meant to make clients capable of realizing their problem and solution.

The process of counseling refers to the joint quest of client and counselor to identify the distress or problem faced by him and to find the way out. It is a process which takes place in one-to-one relationship between the client beset by a problem with which he can not cope alone and the counselor.

Basic elements of counseling are:
1. Client (also referred to as counselee) and Counselor
2. Assisting clients to solve their problems themselves
3. Self direction and self realization of the client
4. Development of insight of client
5. Understanding of relation of self and environment by clients
6. Reorganization of personality for better adjustment