Many articles have been written, many books have seen the press and many shows have had their guests talk about the devastating effects of stress on our health and in our lives in general.
Stress can be physical, mental or emotional. It changes the body’s chemistry, causing symptoms like high blood pressure, overeating or under eating, insomnia, depression. Stress can and will alter the quality of your life, unless you take the helm!
What do we perceive as stress? A job we do not like, a kid not doing well in school, not enough money, a quarrel with a friend, the death of someone dear, not enough time, too much to do, too many requirements, an illness, moving from a house to another, from a city to another, not getting what we want, not having a life partner, something that happened many years ago.
A very interesting fact is that all of the above are normal occurrences in our human life. And yet, many of us are not equipped to deal with them.
It is not these events which are normal to our existence that can ultimately cause a heart attack, depression or a chain of physical injuries. It is what we CHOOSE to do when faced with one of these challenges. It is our chosen response to a stimulus that changes the hormonal balance and our state of well being and health.
As humans, we have within us the possibility to be at the helm and respond to life’s flow of events and conditions in a balanced and grounded manner. The key is to get hold of that helm and turn our lives from being stressful, hard, sad or painful to being joyous, empowered and fulfilling.
In order to achieve this important task we need proper instruments that will facilitate our efforts to gain balance. We need to spend quiet time by ourselves, meditating, writing in a journal, or simply just getting in touch with our inner being while sitting quietly. We need to pay attention to the quality of the foods we eat, the thoughts we think and the methods of physical exercise we choose.
Being at the helm of one’s life means being in balance, which can be achieved only by creating resonance and harmony amongst all areas of one’s life.