Sunday, October 26, 2008

Buddhist and modern perspective of stress

Buddhist perspective - stressful life

Four noble truth
I. Life is suffering
II. Suffering has a cause, the cause can be known
III. Suffering can be brought to an end
IV. The path to end suffering has eight parts

    1. right understanding
    2. right mindfulness which together are wisdom
    3. right speech
    4. right action
    5. right living which together are morality
    6. right effort
    7. right attentiveness
    8. right concentration which together are concentration

Stress coping - modern perspective
I. Stress is inevitable
II. Stress has a cause, the cause can be known
III. We can prevent, control and cope up with stress
IV. The way to cope up with stress

   1. knowledge –Wisdom, Self – awareness- know about one’s strength and weakness,                Knowledge about one’s own stress and coping  
   2. skills
           i. Critical thinking – clear thinking (minimum error and bias)
           ii. Problem solving & decision making
           iii. Communication – right speech
          iv. Interpersonal  
           v. Self – regulation
  3. objectives – values, plan, goal, purpose and meaning of your life
  4. practice – right living, practicing meditation, relaxation, exercise and diet etc
  5. social support – interdependence, giving receiving help
   
we are going to learn these five areas one by one in the following posts.