You can never be free of stressful situations. That’s right. As long as you are alive and breathing there will be events in your life that will be difficult, people who will be toxic, and environments that will be harrowing. Of course, these situations, people and environments are located outside your body.
You’ve probably read articles in many noteworthy publications. A few quotes from those articles: “Insurance claims for stress, depression and job burnout are now the U.S.'s fastest-growing disability category.” (Time, 2007). “People who face serious life stress are more likely to develop a peptic ulcer over the next 15 years.” (Psychology Today, 2005). “World Health Organization (WHO) says employee fatigue and stress can also affect performance, especially as organizations try to do more with fewer employees in a difficult economy.” (HR Magazine, 2009), “Forty-eight percent of Americans say they're more stressed now than they were five years ago, and the same percent report regularly lying awake at night because of stress, according to a new study by the American Psychological Association.” (New York Post, 2007).
All this information you’re reading, seeing on television, or hearing on the radio can be really daunting, very concerning,, terribly frightening. Well, it is if that’s your perception. You’re perception of the world around you causes your internal response to that outer world to be one of anxiety (stress) or neutral (calm).
Let me repeat that. Your perception of the world located outside your body produces the stress response or the opposite, depending upon your perception of that external environment. Our perceptions produce our mind-talk and mind-movies.
Aristotle (384BC-322BC) said it long, long before quantum physics and neuroscience proved it. “A vivid imagination compels the body to obey it, for it is a natural principle of movement.” Another way to say that, “The thoughts that we think produce physiological responses.” Here are a few symptoms of stress and anxiety from the AMA: indigestion, hair loss, tremors, premature aging, neck and back pain, headaches, infertility, etc;, etc., ad nauseum. Sounds physiological to me.
There is a light at the end of the proverbial tunnel however. You have the power within you to change your perceptions. That’s right. It’s an inside job. Inside your body is your internal environment. Only you can know if that environment is calm, peaceful, and harmonious, and only you can know if it’s more like a war zone. As you begin to change your perception of situations, people, and the world around you, you can look forward to enjoying a self-empowered life.
Perceptions are just ideas that we have collected during this journey called life; most of which were developed with only fragments of information, but have become our “truth” and are buried in our sub-conscious. We’ve all changed our minds about something or someone when we have learned more information that changed “our picture”, and we suddenly relaxed about it.
There are many ways to help you say goodbye to stress. One of the most effective ways is to change your mind-talk and mind-movies. Therapeutic hypnosis can help you strengthen your ability to become aware of old patterns and thoughts no longer appropriate or healthy for the adult you are today, and to change old internal reactions to new and healthy ones. This is your body, you own it, and only you know when there’s peace and happiness inside. YOU CAN SAY GOOD-BYE TO STRESS.
“Creating Sacred Space” by BOA of Object Interiors
Whether you are Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Yoruba, Atheist, Hindu or otherwise-if you live in the Western world you probably get stressed out once in a while. We are constantly bombarded with negative messages by the media. We never seem to be able to stay on top of all the “shoulds”: eating right, regular exercise, career development, financial solvency, spending quality time with family and friends, regular appointments with various health practitioners, preventative maintenance for our vehicles, setting aside personal time and most importantly, time also to nurture a spiritual, religious or philosophical practice in our lives. Who can keep track of it all? If you’re like most people, you’ve probably good a good handle on one or two of those areas and barely grasping the rest. The key in life is balance. They way we live and relate to our home environment is changing. Especially in this economic downturn, more of us are using our homes for entertainment as well as it being a sanctuary from a chaotic outside world. Why not designate a space especially for you to de-stress and re-calibrate before or after a long, demanding day? A sacred space where you can sit and commune with your inner thoughts or-if you’re religious-the spiritual world. For want of a better term-let’s use the generic word altar and review the basic furnishings needed to create one.
table-puja table, meditation table, prayer table
cushion-samadhi cushion, zafu, zabuton
mat- prayer rug, yoga mat
candleholder or candelabra
Depending on your particular tradition you will want to personalize it with other items. But the main focus is to have a specific area in your house where you can escape the pressure of the daily grind. You will be amazed at how it will contribute to you living a peaceful and inspired life.
Pictured are components of the “Spirit Series” designed by BOA for Object Interiors
OM meditation table, Five Candleholder and the OM ergonomic cushion.
Pat Sullivan and Dorthy Tyo
