Stress has a wicked way of sneaking up on us, especially around the end of the year as the holidays approach. One moment, you're basking in the glow of pre-holiday excitement, the next, you're panicking over travel plans and dinner parties. Spiritual people like Deepak Chopra like to suggest meditation as a way to relieve stress year-round, but -- as powerful as meditating is -- even Chopra himself knows it's something many people have trouble committing to. And luckily, there is an even easier alternative.
During a talk for OWN's "SuperSoul Sessions" speaker series, Chopra discussed what we can do to zap str. As he says, it comes down to asking yourself one simple question.
"Stop and ask yourself: 'Am I aware?'" Chopra instructs. "That's it."
It may only be three little words, but its impact is quite powerful.
"It'll bring you to the moment. It'll bring you to presence. It'll bring you to who you really are," Chopra says. "And you'll see in that presence that everything else is ... just arising and subsiding. You can enjoy it [or] not enjoy it, but you don't need to be bound by it."
Once you've asked, "Am I aware?", Chopra says you should follow it up with one more question.
"Then ask yourself, 'What am I aware of?'" he suggests.
How you answer this is almost as important as asking it in the first place, Chopra adds.
"Look around, feel your body, just see what's happening in your mind -- but don't try to describe it," he says. "As soon as you describe it, then it won't be awareness. It will be a description."
Also on HuffPost:
