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Group Stress Relief Games - Bring Out the Child in You

By Tess Thompson

Stress is an integral part of life. Irrespective of how hard we try, there is always some situation or another that presents itself in some unconceivable manner. Stress can surface at every bend and corner as we move along the path of life. It meets us when we are low and also when we think we have had all that we needed from life.

If we stop to ponder, we may as well realize that most of the stress that we feel is based on preconceived ways in which we have been trained to think. And therefore it can safely be said that we feel stress because we have grown up and ceased to be children. One has only to look at an infant in his face and it becomes obvious that there is a certain amount of simplicity that they ascribe to life. Children understand only two emotions – joy and sorrow. They feel joy at the smallest of achievements and sorrow when a pleasant experience is denied. Beyond these two emotions there is nothing more that they entangle themselves in.

There are many ways to relieve stress and managing stress levels. Daily stress does not require medication. Relaxation techniques, meditation and yoga are very effective ways of relieving stress. But stress relief, in most cases is just a matter of getting that old board game out of the attic and getting the family together to throw the dice.

Group games can be fun and they are an excellent and cheap way of having fun and overcoming worry. Remember the times when a game of ‘Monopoly’ was all that you needed to forget your homework worries. If you have grown out of that standard stress buster game, then there are lots of new board games that you can play in a group. Some of these games require a little bit of creativity and some are simply pleasantly silly.

Group games for stress relief are simply a matter of innovation. There are hundreds of guessing and memory games that can be played in small and large groups. Word guessing games like charades, where a player acts out a phrase for others to guess may appear silly at times but they allow for abandonment and refreshment – something that is essential for a daily dose of stress relief.

Whether tough or easy, creative or silly, group games help in bringing out the real ‘self’ in you. Your ‘self’ is not the tense person that you have become but the same small child who cried for a moment and then smiled the next moment. What you have become is probably a product of all the environmental conditioning that has layered your mind as you grew up.

The basic idea is to bring out the child in you and have fun, which your busy schedules do not allow otherwise. We owe it to ourselves to devote some time for ourselves and enjoy life because continuous stress can be as dangerous for health as any pathogen.

References:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Feel-Better-With-Stress-Relief-Games&id=735446