Shining the Light on Stress

2008-01-22

Good Day Everyone!

After all the news today about the economy, I thought I might talk about stress as a timely issue. (Ya think?)
Then this evening I saw this article about how stress in the work place can do nasty things for you.

Stress is when we tense up. We hold our breath. We resist what we are seeing, hearing, or perceiving. I think Jesus taught us to “resist not” evil? Hmmm, a clue.

The key factor is our internal response. It seems to always a fear response. We name it many things: overwhelm, panic, worry, indecision, but it is always a fear. We do this instantaneously as an automatic response to what we are seeing in the world (the office, the news, etc). (I think Jesus also said, “Fear Not“?)

We believe we cannot rise to the situation. We may believe that there is not enough: time, money, love, opportunity, or we are not enough. We may believe that what we are seeing or hearing is “bad” news. The doctor delivers a diagnosis. The judge returns a verdict. The boss delivers a deadline or ultimatum. The bank account says we can’t afford it. You child’s teacher calls. You child doesn’t call. Ad infinitum are the beliefs in lack and fear of the human mind.

Obviously the work place is not the only place we have experiences that we respond to with stress:  tensing up, shallow breathing,  and resistance, as a result of a fearful and lackful belief response. This happens to us many times within a day.

When I was in Hawaii learning Huna, the Ancient Hawaiian Religion, I learned that “ha” is breath; and the ancient Hawaiians breathed Life into their everyday chores and events – deliberately. Meditation is all about breath, as well. Relaxing, allowing and breathing IN the fullness of Life.

A tensing reaction to anything causes you to shallow your breathing. This restricts the flow of Life Force, the vital energies that define you as alive. Like in any situation of “restriction,” friction is the result, and when friction takes place, heat is created (oxidation) and inflammation results. This is why we are being told the benefits of antioxidants, to counteract the damage of free radicals which is sort of like rust, the free radicals are the result of all this tensing up. All this, because we are automatically afraid because we believe we are not enough, not able to meet the demand. We believe, we are alone and separated from our Good.

During the past 6 years Americans have been fed a steady diet of fear via the medial and news makers. We are now told many times a day all the things we have to be afraid of: terrorism, oil shortages, the economy; global warming, even my stupid weather alerts are of a tone that makes me think I should have put in a storm cellar. We are always on red alert for something. The food we eat. The people we date. The air we breathe. The love we have or don’t have.

Ahoogah! Dive! Dive!

What to do?

Breathe.

Why breathe? Because as the ancient Hawaiians knew, we LIVE on the Life Force that’s carried on our breath. This is the vehicle that carries us back Home to Well Being (our natural state) when we’ve stepped out of the flow of Life.

The news makers and tellers would have us believe the ultimate worst at any given time. It’s hype. It’s the tone. It’s dire. It’s only to sell today’s paper. Tomorrow it will be something else.

Haven’t we learned by now that “this too shall pass”? The idea is to not get “hooked” on it as it’s passing. I used to do some white water rafting when I lived in Montana. My friend would point out to me huge logs or trees that were downed in the river by beavers (who by the way are always in well being). These were called sweepers. Sweepers hook a lot of debris as it floats down the river and are very dangerous. We were to avoid sweepers at all costs.

Avoid the sweepers. They are logs in the Flow of Life. They are temptations to get pulled off your course of Well Being and into chaos and fear. There are infinite number of sweepers waiting to hook you. Jesus, it is said, spent 40 days in the desert confronting all manner of temptations. This is exactly what this “human mind stuff” is. Just that. Temptation to derail you from your focused path of Well Being , which is joyously creating.

“Look over here, here’s a problem”. When you refocus onto “that problem” you are no longer focusing on your creation. And sorry folks, we are single focus beings, despite what they tell you about multi-tasking. If we truly want to create, we need to be in the Zone with pure positive focus.

Ok. So back to your ordinary day. You have a plan. You have a focus. And then – TEMPTATION STRIKES. A troubling story, a bad boss, a lousy thought. You could go there, which most of us do, and do the whole “stress” response.

Or – you could say to yourself, “That feels rotten. I’m going to breathe. I’m refocusing on what I chose to focus on, and that which makes me feel good.” It’s free will. That’s where it’s practiced; right in that very moment. Right Now.

You can choose “human mind” fearful, lackful, distracting thoughts – or – you can breathe IN, connect to your Godchip and get back to creating…..or co-creating…

Practice. Practice. Practice.

It takes being aware of how you are feeling at any given moment. This is self mastery.
This is, simply put, what Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, and Mohammad achieved while in the body, and so can you, as well.

You’ll feel better. You’ll function better. You’ll enjoy the day more. And best of all, you’ll be creating your own reality and good health as well. Happiness is your birthright. Wellness is your natural state. The only thing separating you from all your Good (that being a noun) is your choice to be sidetracked by the temptation out of well being.

Thanks for reading!Kath