It is stress awareness day today and it couldn’t come at a better time with the second wave of lockdown.
Here are a few things to help you understand how stress affects us
Beware of what your mind is doing.
Suffering can come from the mind – How we see the situation.
What is stress?
Stress is wanting the present moment to be something it’s not.
How does everyday stress affect us?
When life become busy and we feel there is too much going on because we struggle to say NO. The everyday stresses will drive the mind and body in to overload.
This is when Fight or Flight kicks in.
Fight or flight is designed to help us cope in stressful situations, when the stressful situation is over the Cortisol level drop and body calms down.
If the stress stays the fight or flight stays and the cortisol keeps pumping, draining the body and causing the organs to malfunction. The brain also starts to cloud over and we then struggle to think clearly and function properly. This is when anxiety can kick in.
What is anxiety?
Anxiety / Worry is creating a narrative in the mind of what will happen, then the emotion kicks in (e.g. Fear, Abandonment, etc) and reinforce the narrative.
So, being aware of what your mind is doing we can help ease the suffering, as suffering can come from the mind and how we see the situation.
What can we do to help ease this suffering?
Acceptance! – accept
Who you are.
How you feel.
What works for you.
And accept Change, it’s going to happen even if you fight it.
Be kind to yourself!
‘Stop fighting life or yourself. So, life isn’t such a struggle’
Take time to understand how you feel, why you feel it.
Take time to calm the brain and body, relax, meditate.
Here is a short mediate for you to try.
For more help with anxiety and stress take a look at my Self-help download
Hayley Bennett wellbeing