The _S_ Word (not a word game)

 

Seriously, we are talking about STRESS – Our world is spinning out of control with stress.  It’s the noisy voice masking and obliterating that silent still voice of reason within us.

On Google, alone there were 234,000,000 entries for stress.

The system makes money from stress. 

We are told by advertisements that if we have this thing or that thing, our lives will improve.  Or, we are told about a new disease that we must see our doctor about and add this prescription to our list.  I actually don’t care about those green guys in my toenails.  They don’t bother me.  I don’t bother them.  They seem to be living without stress.  I say bravo!

Seeing a doctor in general severely stresses me.  My blood pressure goes sky high in the doctor’s office; yet when I’m at home or in a bookstore or café, or something else I enjoy, it’s perfectly normal; maybe even a tad low.  We’ve been told that it’s all illusion and we merely need to awake.  I have silently repeated the mantra “awake now,” over and over while in the dentist’s chair.  It hasn’t happened yet.

Okay, I’m using the medical establishment as a stress example.  There are many more.  We all have our own stress stimuli.     

So, how can we actually deal with this phenomenon?  Sitting in a yogi pose in a cave might work.  That wouldn’t work for everyone.  I would start thinking about what else might be in the cave or if my husband is managing horribly without me, or worse managing better without me while I’m on this self-exploration trek.

Unplugging from the system is key, if only for a brief while. Thinking in only the present moment instead of the past or future is also key. 

I remember times when I functioned much better.  Once, my television went out for three months.  Another time, we had an ice storm.  We were without electricity for seven days.  At first it was an adventure.  After a couple of days it got quite old, and the stress returned.  The ice; however, knocked the telephone line down.  We were without telephone or Internet for twenty-one days during snowy weather with our wood burning stoves. All was so quiet out.  I reconnected with peace for a brief period.