Are you enjoying life?
Are you having a good time?
Are you having a difficult time?
Are you having financial hardship?
Are you having a hard time emotionally?
Do you have difficulty sleeping?
Are you struggling with relationships?
What if I told you that when we are struggling with anything, we are stressed?
What if I told you I could point you in the direction of relieving stressful times?
What if I told you that doing this particular thing every day would destress your stress? Would you do it?
What have you got to lose? The only thing you have to lose is your stress! Stress is strain, and strain comes when we have a hard time, whether it's financial, emotional, sleep, or in our relationships.
The purpose of life is to get better and better so that we may have happiness, joy, and vitality. Do you feel like you are getting better and better at life? If you are getting better and better, then you know how to do it and are taking steps to get there.
You might be saying, "Elizabeth! I know how to get better and better, but my circumstances prevent me! I have people around me that are making things difficult. My responsibilities at home are just too overwhelming, and I never have enough money to pay my bills, let alone to do something I enjoy."
Trust me, I totally get what you are saying! Devastation and difficult times can be super challenging. I get it, believe me! When I was a young single Mother, I had to work full time, pay the rent and, eventually, the mortgage, and make sure there was food on the table. I had to make sure my son wasn't neglected so it would be easier for him to live up to his potential while I attended college and did homework.
Kid you not; I probably didn't get a full night's sleep for about five years straight, from when my son was eight years old until he was thirteen. That, my friend, was not easy. I was so stressed out; I had anxiety attacks, I cried myself to sleep when I did get sleep, and I felt all alone- I mean, really alone.
To top it off, work was so very hard for me. I was a female EMT among primarily men and had a horrible reputation because I struggled with specific individuals at work. This girl was mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually exhausted.
Thank goodness my undergraduate degree was in Behavioral Science, so I began to observe my own behaviors from my beliefs, and this is what I found:
1) I was allowing society to not only teach me how to be angry, anxious, and depressed; I let it enable me to be.
2)Nearly everywhere I turned, people were getting angry; they were anxious, and they had depression because it was more and more the normal thing to do in the emergency field.
3)Television, especially movies and sitcoms, glorifies drama, including irritability, lack of impulse control, and moodiness. It's simply conditioning called entertainment.
4)This daily and weekly observation of behavior and entertainment became 'normal' to me; it crept into my subconscious mind. Then I lived by default habits, basically on autopilot.
When I lived on my mind's autopilot, I gave up my free agency because I acted on stressful habits rather than thinking before I behaved.
Do you think before you react out of habit? Let's examine this. If we think rather than react out of habit, we must think in terms of faith, hope, and charity. This way of thinking is the pure love of Christ, the only perfect person who has ever lived. If we are Christian, we ought to behave as we believe, right? If we aren't, it may be because we do not think before we react.
Faith, hope, and charity are the opposite of fear, hopelessness, and selfishness. Thoughts of fear create feelings of fear, which is where anxiety comes from. Thoughts of hopelessness create despair, and that is where depression comes from.
If we really think before we act, we know that thoughts of faith, hope, and charity create happiness, energy, and vitality, and that is what we want, right? So if that's what we want, we could intentionally think in a way that creates it.
If we are feeling stressed, i.e., anxious and/or depressed, we could be reacting from a habitual place of the subconscious mind. What do you think about that? Have you ever considered that? Better yet, have you ever thought about how to overcome the habitual, subconscious mind?
Please let me tell you about the one thing I mentioned earlier that can point an individual toward relieving trying times. One thing that can help nearly anyone destress is consciously choosing thoughts toward faith, hope, and charity, which will create feelings of faith, hope, and charity.
Why would anyone choose conscious thoughts of faith, hope, and charity? I choose them because they give me happiness, energy, and vitality, and it also gives me calm, confidence, and certainty in life, others, and myself. This is how I choose my thoughts and turn them into habits. This leverages the subconscious mind in my favor through desire.
Pretty cool, eh? Have you considered that for yourself? Wouldn't you enjoy that? Yes? Awesome! Let me tell you how you can do it.
You do it through a simple meditation that takes only five minutes a day. It's a five-minute meditation that helps you practice using your conscious mind, and practice makes it nearly perfect.
I have been meditating for over twenty-six years now and have taught meditation for over ten years. This is the most effective procedure I have seen. Meditation practice helps an individual transform an anxious, racing, and worrisome mind into a calm, confident, and quiet mind. I know this is so. Practice makes nearly perfect; you know that, and I know that because it is a big part of the science of behavior.
If you have been angry, anxious, or depressed for a long time, especially since childhood, it is very possible that you are nearly perfect at it from the years of practice. You can replace this negative emotion by practicing the opposite, and you can begin with meditation. Try it! In fact, dedicate yourself to it and watch yourself teeter into feelings of security, the opposite of stress.
I have seen many people come out of despair through meditation. Many of these individuals continue to meditate years later, and I am one of them. I shall never stop meditating because it gives me inner peace, which leads to considerable self-control.
This is how to destress your stress and help ease and prevent the effects of crisis, despair, and/or devastation. This is also a way to reduce moderate to mild stress and major chronic stress.
Meditating is conscious concentration and contemplation of a phrase or a word. We, humans, concentrate and contemplate, and if we choose our focus consciously, we can transform doubt, fear, and worry into faith, hope, and charity for ourselves and others.
If one could and would keep the words faith, hope, and charity intentionally at the forefront of his or her mind, thoughts to destress ensue. Try it for at least four days, and see how it can destress your stress. If you are brave enough, commit to doing it for thirty days.
Consider meditating and practicing calm and quiet by intentionally contemplating the words faith, hope, and charity first thing in the morning for five minutes. This practice can cultivate confidence and faith, which can help prevent and release stress. Try to focus on these thoughts throughout the day, and then when you go to sleep at night, practice the focus as you fall asleep, and you will fall asleep with ease.
Please consider that a great part of reconditioning and relearning is repetition. Repetition is the great law of learning. In my humble opinion, this great law of learning is a significant way to relieve strain, stress, and misery, basically destressing yourself.
Never beat yourself up!
Never give up!
This is enduring to the end and creates a spiritual life of energy, joy, and vitality. You cannot go wrong in this way.
This is spiritual research via experiments.
Take care, and speak soon.
Elizabeth
