If we are human, we experience stress. Stress is a reaction that puts us on alert so we can manage and act with an experience, and when we manage the experience, the stress level will subside. You could say it is our chimp alerting us to do something, but if we do not work with it and settle the situation, it can build to become chronic stress and have an impact on our health and behaviors. Stage Four from the book A Path through the Jungle by author Prof Steve Peters looks at the neuroscience of stress and how to work with stress reactions. It looks at how to prevent stress from occurring, and how managing our environment, making lifestyle choices and giving ourselves a chance to recuperate with down time, sleep, and rest or relaxation can aid in a more stress-free life.
Stress has three stages: the alerting stage, the resilience stage, and the stress stage. The mind alerts us through the release of hormones and neurotransmitters, and we feel unsettled. In the resilience stage, the mind release resilience hormones and gives us an opportunity to react so we may take on whatever is challenging us. When we take it on, we return to a steady state of mind and the release of hormones subsides. If we do not act, stress hormones take over the resilience hormones and we move into the stress stage with anxiety and worry. These can cause physical symptoms and exhaust us. And if we still fail to act, this can become long term stress, creating negative health symptoms and moves us out of a state of wellbeing.
We need to become aware of our stress signals and behaviors and create a plan to address them. Again this really means getting to know ourselves and our reactions and responses. What is normal for one, is not necessarily normal for another, so we need to do our own work. We can learn to find the real cause of stress in our lives and make changes and do some “self-work” to learn how we react and how we respond.
We can also prevent stress from occurring by realizing our basic needs, what makes us feel good and what makes us happy, and by finding our own personal trigger points which gives us insight into how to remove persistent stress. We can find the truths about life and program them in so life experiences are not so dramatic. One of mine is asking myself, “Is this really going to make a difference a year from now, or even a week from now?” If it isn’t, I just take a deep breath, make a plan, and handle it. You can make a list of your “truths” and review them each morning, reminding yourself how you want to play in life throughout the day, and you can review your day at night to see how you might have handled things better for the next time you might come across a similar situation. You can also create a stress-free environment to build resilience by adding things that make you feel good, look at how you might make a task more enjoyable, or review and create a plan for your day.
Finally, working in ways to recuperate so you feel rested can help remove stress. These include, but are not limited to, adding brief rest periods during the day and longer rest periods as well, getting enough good sleep, maybe adding meditation or relaxation techniques, and taking a vacation or sabbatical to help you rehabilitate. Again, so many options to consider.
Please join us, Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha, me and the other international co-hosts, to create our better self and a better world on Quantum Leap Book Club on Law of Attraction Radio Network at https://www.loaradionetwork.com/quantum-leap or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/thequantumleapbookclub
Co-Host – Tryna Cooper – Ca’Nu’Ye Image by StockSnap from Pixabay