What is wrong with feeling a bit stressed?
Did you know that the human body is a complete machine? No part is completely independent from the rest, and the unfortunate fact is, that while the stress is created in your mind, it can cause serious illness in your body if it is allowed to go on unchecked for a long period of time. The Law of Attraction and Health are inextricably linked. What we hold in our mind we create so the potential for storing up trouble is huge!
Why do we feel stressed
So, you may be aware of our inherent stress response of fight or flight which goes back to the days when we were hunter-gatherers who, if we didn’t act on this response could easily end up being killed by a wolf. Our body produces adrenaline and cortisol to enable us to get away at high speed (in theory!) and to safety.
Now, today, ‘wolves’ come in all different guises – it could be a boss who is treating you badly, a teenager who has gone off the rails, illness of a parent or loved one, redundancy, or any number of everyday situations. That very same adrenaline and cortisol is released, and we feel the same responses – our heart rate quickens, we can sweat, our blood pressure goes up and we breathe faster but we don’t run and these hormones are then stored in our body.
You can handle an occasional episode like this but when it is prolonged, it is essentially like an elastic band being pulled to it’s full extent – both it – and you – can only take so much. Something has to give.
I remember some years ago when I had been accused of doing something wrong at work – in my heart I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong, but unfortunately I was off for the festive holidays and got myself into a complete state about it and I let it completely ruin my Christmas break. I still get stressed nowadays but not to the same degree and I know what I need to do to get back to my old jolly self.
What can you do to combat stress?
First of all, you can make a decision at the start of the day that you will not allow trivial things, particularly things that you have no control over, to get you upset. If you haven’t tried this before, I can tell you that it takes plenty of practice! Also, picture you day going great – don’t dream up all the scenarios that could go wrong! I used to be dragged around all day by my feelings – if a flight was delayed or someone canceled a sale that I thought was in the bag my day would be absolutely ruined.
It’s also helpful to get some perspective. If it won’t matter in 5 years from now, it really isn’t worth spending time grieving about it now. I recently read in Hal Elrod’s fabulous book, The Miracle Equation, that his old boss gave him 5 minutes to get over any issues at work. He had to set his timer for 5 minutes and go could absolutely crazy for 5 minutes and no longer. At the end of this time he had to say ‘can’t change it’. After using this strategy for a short time, he soon found that there was lots of time left on the timer as he bounced back from these situations more and more quickly.
Incredibly, Hal used this strategy following a near fatal car crash and was told he may never walk again. It didn’t mean that he was happy about this diagnosis but by giving up the resistant feelings that he felt, he freed himself up to focus on getting well and indeed he made a tremendous recovery. The doctors thought that he was in denial due to his cheerful demeanor and were very worried about him – as you can imagine, most people would go through a period of feeling very sorry for their selves.
Meditation to relieve stress
If you are like I used to be, you may think that meditation is for people to practice yoga and that it didn’t have anything I would be interested in. I am not normally a sit still person! I first discovered it when I was following a success guru type person called Carrie Green who had a guided visualization as part of her program. I gave it a try and I have to say that I can’t remember ever being so relaxed in my life!
Nowadays I love the hypnosis work of Joseph Clough, Michael Sealey and Jason Stephenson who you will find on YouTube. I won’t be giving them up any time soon as I feel less wobbly all round.
In fact, I have even gone on to bigger and bigger kicks with some plain old meditation on my own! Is it easy? No. My mind is still sometimes like a pinball machine and it can take some time to get it to slow down and (hopefully) stop. Nothing can describe the place of absolute peace and stillness you can reach with practice. Meditation is also a key piece to the Law of Attraction because when you are able to still your mind, you naturally achieve great clarity about what you want in your life. You just need to sit up straight, focus on your breathing and just watch your thoughts as they go by, rather than following them (not easy at first!).
A great resource for newbies to meditation is an app called Headspace. You get a number of free sessions which will give you a good start in understanding what you are doing.
Do things that bring you joy
Have you ever noticed that when you are with a bunch of friends, perhaps laughing raucously or dancing, singing or even just taking your dog for a walk, that you are just enjoying yourself in the moment and your troubles are completely forgotten? This is absolutely key to de-stressing and attracting more fun times. Make a point of doing something every day that brings you joy – especially if you don’t feel like it!
The Law of Attraction and Health
Top tips:
- Picture yourself enjoying your day, relaxed and happy and in perfect health
- Decide ahead of time that you are not going to get upset by silly day to day events (and don’t beat yourself up if you still get upset – this process takes time)
- Take time out to learn meditation techniques and plug into sleep hypnosis (you don’t have to do anything!)
- Do something fun every day – even just listen to your favorite song and sing along
- If you are suffering from long term anxiety or depression, by all means do all of the above but also seek medical help and make sure that you talk to someone about how you are feeling. Do not keep it to yourself.
