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Medication to Meditation... Causes and Cures For Stress
Everyone experiences stress and the human body does not know the
difference between one stress or another. Whether a wedding or
a funeral, adapting to a new baby at home, or preparing for a marathon,
when your heart starts pumping, and the sweat breaks out on your
brow, you are experiencing stress. The symptoms of stress are varied
and have an impact on almost all aspects of your being. Fortunately,
your spiritual side remains untouched, albeit it seemingly unavailable
to you for as long as you allow stress to control your life.
Symptoms of stress include:
Mental symptoms
Emotional symptoms
Physical symptoms
Memory loss
Irritability
Pounding heart
Poor concentration
Anxiety
Sweaty palms
Unorganized
No humor
Skin breakouts
Confusion
Nervousness
Breathlessness
Disinterest
Overly emotional
Insomnia
No zest
Vacillating emotions
Fatigue
Negativity
Depression
Tight muscles
Even this short list of symptoms will give you an idea of the impact
stress can have in your life. And if stress is allowed to continue,
it will eventually break the body down and you will suffer illness
and possibly even an untimely death. Stress, regardless of the cause
is a warning. You are not now, nor were you ever intended to simply
accept stress as a fact of life and live with it indefinitely.
Tranxene, Valium, Lexapro... the list goes on. These are just
three of hundreds of medications that help mask stress. Popping
pills is an American way of life and an overused approach to coping
with stress. "Coat it, don’t cure it" has long
been the silent mantra in Western culture. If it doesn’t feel
good, fix it with medication. Medications will never cure the causes
of stress; they will only mask the symptoms. With medication, your
symptoms will crop up in another area of your life like a slippery
bubble under ice. Stress may appear to shift or move, and even seem
to disappear, but it will be back, and is often more disruptive
the second or third time around.
Fact: creating and curing stress are both inside jobs.
How you experience challenges in life is related to your perception.
For example, as you go about planning your upcoming wedding, you
can choose to accept that all things are working perfectly or you
can come unglued with each small hitch in your plans, resulting
in stress. Funerals are another stressor. From the customary dark
funeral to the Irish wake, our reaction or celebration of death
is a demonstration of our beliefs and perceptions. The ways in which
we say goodbye to a loved one will determine how well we will adapt
to natural grief and loss, and the stress of change.
The permanent solution to the effects of stress on your mental,
emotional, and physical life is right where the stress originated
within.
Views are rapidly changing about the causes and cures of illness
and stress in our society. We have been witness to our own self-destruction,
and many are taking the quality of their lives, their feelings,
and their reaction to challenges back into their own hands. Throughout
the West, there are increasing numbers of meditation classes and
groups, yoga gatherings, prayer circles, self-awareness groups,
biofeedback rooms, huge spiritual gatherings - you name it! We are
reclaiming our lives through personal awareness and self-responsibility
and gaining ground toward peace rather than stress, and you can
too.
The next time you call the doctor for stress, or reach out for
the bottle on the nightstand to force a good night’s sleep,
instead learn how to explore your vast inner self through methods
that will work for you, rather than against you. Get to know you,
your fears, your unfulfilled fancies, and your beliefs in your Self.
Whether through meditation, prayer, chant, or a weekly drum circle,
once you make the connection between your beliefs, your perceptions,
and your stress, you can choose new and more stress-free ways to
cope and live in peace. |
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