Last July 1-3, PSSP held their very first conference on ginhawa (Unang Kumperensiya sa Ginhawa). Within the past year, the COVID-19 virus has changed and shaped the lives of individuals and society as a whole. With that in mind, the conference was held with the goals of understanding the experiences of Filipinos during the pandemic, modeling the means of achieving kaginhawaan in the different aspects of one’s life.

We often hear from others that we should be happy and comfortable in our own skin, that we should remain positive at all times and cherish what we have. However, these are easier said than done. Every now and then, we’re subjected to pitting ourselves against our peers, trying to measure up how we’re doing relative to them. Sometimes, we realize we’re ahead, and we feel great about ourselves. But, more often than not, we find ourselves on the more negative side of these evaluations.

Have you ever misplaced something only to find out it was in your pocket all along, laughing to yourself to shake off the silliness? Have you ever called out to a co-worker only to mistake them for someone else? Have you ever submitted a project late, failed to understand a task but still continued to perform it without help, or have gotten scolded and criticized for all your little mistakes?

Have you ever felt jealous over a few compliments a colleague has received for their performance and wondered why you haven’t gotten as many compliments yourself? Have you ever finished a day at work and felt envious over the new bag or watch an officemate bought with their recent pay raise? Have you ever messed up an important project, forgotten to deliver a key material, or miscommunicated a report and felt like you just wanted to shrink, hide, and disappear out of embarrassment?

Our lives feel like a race against time. We speed through work hours in an attempt to finish as much output as possible, allot time for family and friends to get the most intimacy out of what little moments we may have with them, plot schedules as if they were building blocks, trying to make sure we can jam each and every brick of our life plans into one cohesive structure.

Everyone has their fair share of managing difficult people, be it a family member who refuses to listen, a friend who doesn’t share the same opinions as you, or a colleague you don’t see eye to eye with. While there are times that these issues get resolved, there are also times when it doesn’t.

Distress is not just a mental response but also a physical one, so you can actually trigger stress relief through certain body actions like laughter.

How exactly do we deal with stress? How do we even know we’re stressed, and how do we alleviate it?