Stress and our response to it is a fascinating subject

Like, how much is it to do with the way we respond to what is happening to us? Or at what level of response is it happening? We have some control over our attitude and how we perceive the stressor event but what about conditioned responses and the body instincts?

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What percentage of a stress response is linked to the survival response and what percentage to learned ways of responding picked up from our parents, the media and so on? What is the link between our emotions and our bodies, our mental state and our spiritual orientaton?

Is living in the comfort zone good for us or do we need to stretch and grow for fulfilment?

Stress and health are very closely related. A human being can be seen as an intricate and wholesome system of balance. The state we are in when we don’t feel unwanted pressure outlines the comfort zone. When additional pressure comes to affect us, we can react in three basic ways: we can resist, we can avoid, or we can let through and adapt.

Avoidance

Avoidance, when seen through the perspective of the law of attraction, is actually an invitation for the very thing you are avoiding to come into your life. How so? Well, the universe is constructed according to positive principles and doesn’t hear negatives, so a statement like "I don’t want that to happen" is heard as "I want that to happen" and bingo, you are more likely to be given what you have ‘asked for’! Think of stress as an accumulation of energy. If you spend a lot of time focused on avoiding you are simply spending a lot of your energy here. On the physical side, this energy is linked with a fear response which suppresses the immune system and compromises health

The resistance response

When we resist, we try to match the external pressure by producing internal pressure. This is the common state of stress, and it is the most damaging way to react, since we are basically multiplying the pressure we place ourselves in. This makes our healthy balance rigid, inflexible – and prone to breaking. Emotional, mental and physical health become affected by this process.

Resistance has no flow and we become blocked. If you can imagine that we are made up mostly of water and electromagnetic current then you can appreciate how important it is to be in a state of flow

The conscious component of stress is very important: in most cases we assume the state of stress voluntarily, and sometimes get lost in it. Our health is impacted by stress only as much as we let it.

The key lies in awareness. Once you become aware of why you are feeling stressed you gain the ability to change it

Don’t resist; let through. With this simple attitude change the damage to balance caused by stress can be minimized.

Water isn’t stopped by a rock in the way, it simply flows around it and there is no damage, just flexibilty and ease

Stress and pain

Unlike the local pain we feel when we physically hurt ourselves, the pain associated with stress is more dull, blunt and seems to affect us everywhere.

Pain is most of the time a sign for immediate danger. If you burn your hand, prick your finger with a needle or fall and hurt your knee because were daydreaming and didn’t notice that big rock ahead, pain is your body’s way of saying "Hey, pay attention here, take care and make sure the it doesn’t get worse!"

With stress-related pain the situation is different, it’s more like the body’s way of telling the conscious mind "Anybody there? What the heck are you doing?"

It is an invitation to become aware, which gives you the choice to do something about it and restore the body, mind and emotion to balanced health. Not listening leads to prolonged stress

Long term stress and effects on health

Prolonged stress turns the body’s own strength against itself, because it is constantly preparing for a danger – yet the danger never comes because it’s not physical. When mental or emotional stress goes unresolved for a longer period of time, it takes it’s toll on the physical body, and as the toll grows higher vaguely defined pain appears and demands attention. As the adrenal glands begin to work overtime in response to continually perceived threats, the body may develop sympoms of adrenal fatigue, such as aching muscles and excessive sweating.

If left even longer, chronic pain and chronic body conditions may develop. The body is shouting even louder

Dealing with the pain caused by stress instead of the cause of the stress is very much a downward spiral if it is done without awareness and is just being applied  ‘on top’ of the problem, like a sticking plaster, hoping it will go away

The power of EFT

One of the best remedies for this, I have found, (although there are various other natural routes to wellness that work well too) is to make use of a natural healing therapy called eft, otherwise more popularly known as Emotional Freedom Technique.

This involves tapping on the acupressure points on various places of the body which works by stimulating a release of any blockages that have arisen in response to the stressors and traumas we experience in our environment. This quick process, which is very easy to learn, quickly restores the body’s natural energy flow and often as a result, pain disappears and the body returns to a more relaxed and healthy state

For anyone who would like to check it out you can access a free ‘follow along’ video training by going to www.instantnaturalpainrelief.com

Other natural stress relief techniques

Other natural pain and stress relief techniques I would recommend are meditation,  walks in nature and the active and conscious practice of laughter

Laugh your way free of stress and pain

Meditation helps by relaxing you deeply and helping you to develop the practice of ‘inner’ focus, or listening to your body and becoming more aware of what you need for your own best health

Learn how to meditate

Walks in nature are uplifting and serve to boost the immune system and have a feel good factor that helps to relieve stress