Thoughts on Stress

Everyone at some time experiences a stressful situation.  Whether that's visiting the dentist, a job interview, or a situation that regularly stresses you.  Stress is not something that is given to you, it's a symptm of a situation and when we become stressed our bodies do not function with a balanced flow of energy.  The stress builds and builds as we find we can no longer cope and this can manifest itself in many different ways.

Many people pay no attention to the messages their body is giving them, not because they dont want to, but because they are not aware of it.  We react to sicknness by trying to eliminate the symptoms as fast as possible with conventional medical attention.  We are all complex beings, the body is not a machine when it develops any form of illness it is trying to bring something to our attention.  It may be that something is not quite right in our life, or we are heading in the wrong direction, or we are simply ignoring lessons that need to be learned.  Obviously there can be physical causes to illness such as viruses and bacteria, but not everyone who is exposed to viruses and bacteria will develop an illness. Similarly not everyone exposed to carcinogentic toxins will develop cancer.

Healing is a very personal process as we become attuned to ourselves.  It is our attitude and lifestyle and we are responsible for approximately 85% of our illnesses.  There is a very popular belief that we are 100% responsible for everything that happens in our lives, that every thought determines the future, both good and bad.  This belief can be very helpful as it enables us to see where we are causing extra difficulties for ourselves.  It can teach us to stop blaming others or external events for our problems and instead to look at our own behaviour, to take responsibility for our actions.  It also proves that we cannot change other people or the world, but we can work on ourselves and our attitudes.

However, the moment we work on ourselves we are responsible for our own reality, we develop an inflated sense of self believing we are all powerful.  This generates egocentricity and self-centredness which sets the stage for guilt, shame and failure.  Blaming ourselves for getting ill, we them blame ourselves for not getting well!  We are in charge of our own attitudes and feelings, and of the way we treat ourselves and our world, but we cannot determine the outcome, just as we do not make the sun rise or set, keep the earth in orbit or make the rain fall.

A psychological wound is no different to a physical one, emotional hurts are real and often just as painful.  Most of us become very good at hiding our wounds, not just from others but from ourselves and these feelings become repressed inside out of fear of dealing with them and moving on.  They then can manifest themselves in illness or depression which in turn causes us more stress.

There are many practitioners available who can help you combat stress, from Councelling services to Crystal, Reiki, Reflexology and many more alternative therapies. The internet is a fantastic world wide library of therapists, information and directories where you can research where you feel you would like to find out more and perhaps try some alternative therapies.