20 November 2012

Feeling Stressed?

Much has been written about stress - what it is, indicators, why it occurs, how to manage it, etc - and when I started researching the many and varied definitions of stress I got 580,000,000 hits on my initial google search! Talk about stressful ... !

Yet with all the information and help available today, it would seem that we are more stressed than ever. According to some recent research here in Australia: “Young adults 18 to 25 years of age reported significantly higher levels of anxiety and depression than the general population.” (Ref: The Australian Psychological Society)

Other research done by Medibank tells us: “Australian employees are absent for an average of 3.2 working days each year through stress. This workplace stress costs the Australian economy approximately $14.81 billion.” (Ref: Medibank)

So what’s going on?

My take on all of this is that many people just don’t get the power and possibility of our own minds, hearts and souls to consciously, consistently and effectively respond to what’s really going on, moment by moment from love. We are so scared of what we really feel that we distract ourselves with all the “stuff’ going on outside us to avoid going within and dealing with our own fearful thinking and feelings.

Stress is not a feeling. It’s a convenient catch-bucket response to the question: “How are you going?” or “How are you feeling?” and that sums up the source of the problem ... your own thinking mind. If you are feeling “stressed” it’s because you keep agreeing with your infernal, internal, ego-mind that keeps you focused on the past (“remember when ...’) or projected into the future (“what if ...”) and there is no peace or joy in either location!

Time to move on. Let go of the past and the future and BE. HERE. NOW.

Stop and breathe ... and breathe ... and breathe.

Let yourself BE while you observe the thoughts and the feelings. Let the energy move through you rather than attach to you and breathe ... breathe ... breathe.

Keep breathing until you feel the energy shift ... it will and so will you.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"If you do not go within, you go without."
Neale Donald Walsch