STRESS

It’s everywhere. And it’s getting worse.

I just read a study that said 1 out of 10 people are plagued with stress, and the rest of us “are dealing with it.”

But stress isn’t something that happens to us. Stress is something that we ALLOW to happen to us. 

The interesting fact is: our bodies react to the PERCEPTION of a threat, not to the reality of it.

That means it is controllable, and since we are the creators of Self, and get to choose, we are choosing to allow ourselves to be affected by the PERCEPTION that there is something to be stressed about over this thing causing imaginary fear. 

Threats about lack of money, going to a family get together, not “being good enough” etc. are simply not the same as the tiger eating you or the bear mauling you or freezing to death because you can’t find a cave to live in. Humans have the ability to manifest danger in their minds even when it is not present.

But we are reacting to these imaginary threats as if they were actually hazardous to our lives. The response to the perception of danger is a remembered response that does not correlate with the reality of today.  Remember, water (and we are 80% water) retains its memory forever. Those memories have to be redirected!

It will help to realize that anxiety and stress are quite different. Stress comes from an outside threat, like the grizzly bear who wants to eat you. Anxiety is our internal alarm in anticipation of a threat that never materializes. We are in control of whether we choose to dive into the toilet with anxiety that can create the cause of stress to be real.

This week stop and objectively ask yourself: am I anxious about anything real that is going to harm me? 

Or am I allowing the memories of the caveman and the bear to run my life unconsciously?

We will never be free and safe until we know we are. 

Blessings,
Dee

“Remember that stress doesn’t come from what’s going on in your life. It comes from your thoughts about what’s going on in your life.” 

-Andrew J. Bernstein