A couple of nights ago, I was teaching an MBA class. One of the student’s asked if I would go over the requirements for the next paper. Before doing so, I asked the if there were other issues the student’s wanted to talk about. In my mind, I was referring to assignments and other class details. A few more items surfaced and so I made a list on the white board. As I was writing the items down, a student said, "Stress reduction, can you talk about how to handle stress?"

The class laughed and I wrote, stress reduction, on the board.

At the end of the night, I went back to the list of items and hit them one at a time. The last item was stress reduction. Here’s what I said.

    1) Move your body. Whether it’s running or walking or yoga, it’s important to move your body and breathe.

    2) Enrich your soul. Do something that makes you happy, and creates a sense of renewal. Do it for your soul–not because it’s an assignment or something for work. Simply give yourself a gift.

    3) Talk to friends. Find friendships that enable you to share (appropriately) the issues you face. Creating safe places with friends to talk about life is essential to healthy living. Though "how" we do this will look different, depending on our personalities, we all need  friendships where we can give and receive.

     4) Have fun. No explanation needed.

So, what do you do to reduce stress?