STRESS

Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental illness. Emotional suffering is nothing but stress. Stress is the biggest killer in society today. Stress leads to illness. You suffer more from a thousand artificial anxieties and tensions. Stress weakens not only the muscles, but also exhausts the finer strength of the nerves. The constant anxiety that results from the uncertainty of something imagined.

Social circumstances, economic conditions, inner conflicts and adjustments do create stress and neurosis.

Stress have become an integral part of our life and need to be addressed without any inhibition, as it directly effects everyone personally as well as professionally. Quite a number of people have been suffering recently, many of them emotionally. Each one; be it a man or a woman undergoes a lot of psychological turbulence and are under immense inner pressure.

Stress initially increases reflexes, alertness, strength and the desire to survive. Senses become more acute(hearing becomes more sensitive, eyes become big, smell becomes sharper) so that you are more aware of your surroundings.

Most of the stress related problems that people face today are inter personal relationships, lack of self-knowledge, lack of confidence, lack of self-esteem, handling of guilt, anger and fear, negative thinking and attitude, burn out and depression. The most generic challenge that people face today is the sheer lack of acceptance and tolerance, self-introspection and self-analysis is totally absent. Factually, stress is nothing but the condition of one's own mind.

People with severe depression are incapable of experiencing pleasure.

A person who has experienced distressing conditions, show immediate signs of depression and traumatic stress disorder and are more likely to have psychosomatic ailments a year later. Mental stress can manifest in overt behavior.

Stress brings irritability, anger, sleeplessness, aimless anxieties, depression, and lack of energy, difficulty in concentrating, absent-mindedness crying spells, and feeling over whelmed or out of control; act which are contrary to your habits. Stress is an ignorant state. It believes that everything is an emergency. The body is constantly responding to the mind when it is not healthy.

Stress is an admission of weakness, a cry of defeat to the world. You may simply burst into tears, when you are asked any question. Even simple loud noise is enough to create panic. Sad thoughts bring tears, reduce the activity of the stomach and take away appetite.

Pain seems to exist in everything when you are in stress. Our ability to feel pain and react immediately to it is essential for our survival. When pain strikes, you often ask the wrong questions, such as: why me? The right questions are: what can I learn from this? What can I do about it? What can I accomplish in spite of it?

Let your lips close and heart open – Swami Vivekananda

When emotions run wild, it is useful and helpful to be silent and calm to reduce the mental stress. Calmness gives you the required attention and focus to your mind.

Mental stress commonly produces bodily disease. When you are in stress digestion slows down, blood pressure increases, heart beats faster. Anxiety and panic attack ‘symptoms’ such as sweating, hot flashes, nausea(sickness), giddiness or vertigo. Tunnel vision, dry mouth, chest pain are the result of a stressful situation. An acute crisis in the mind can produce instant paralytic stroke. When you face a threat, there is also a rise in the sugar level in the blood.

Unhappy memories, savage beating by a parent or any threat by a sadistic person in the family; has shown, years later, to produce large bruises with bleeding under the skin. The mind and brain can not only change the dimensions of selected capillaries, but also cause bleeding through them, based on the memory of the past injury. The repression of the feelings degenerates to become cancerous.

Mental imaging by patients, having cancer and other chronic ailments have improved their survival by practicing relaxation techniques, change of attitude, and symbolic visualization, reduces stress to recover fast with their physical ailments. Research has shown that mental imaging and mental practice enhances the effectiveness of numerous skills.

The root causes of stress:
S - Suspicion
T – Tension
R – Resentment 
E – Envy
S – Scare
S – Scorn, Sadism

Illness of the body gives you stress; tackle medical problems promptly. Have regular check ups. Follow the doctor’s advice meticulously.

Stress affects the mind, body and behavior in many ways. Mental stress and negative emotions affect the functioning of the internal organs in many ways. 

Hormonal changes: Hormonal changes regulate the functioning of other endocrine glands like thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal glands, ovaries etc. Hormones govern growth, response to stress, the constancy of our bodily temperature and internal fluids. They also govern functions of the brain itself. Endocrine glands influence personality and behavior. Infants with defective thyroid glands, deprived of the hormone thyroxin, produced by it, suffer mental deficiency.

Milder deficiencies of thyroxin even in later life - produce slowing of thought, loss of memory, inability to concentrate, lack of initiative and a general lethargy. The gland produce too of much thyroxin, the person is hyperactive, restless, and tremulous and loses weight. His/Her behavior is often modified drastically by fear. Fear of ridicule or brutal behavior could render him speechless or reduce him to a trembling hesitant and almost incoherent state.

Nourishing and nurturing him/her properly bring immense and immeasurable rewards of confidence, vitality, energy, good health and a positive feeling of well inside-out.

Overwhelming insecurity that stems from an unstable childhood or disruptive family life. Parental behavior can result in mental illness in children.

Parenting is not held responsible, can result in mentally in children. Fear and repression in early childhood leave a person prone to anxiety and depression in later life. Fear leads to isolation which in turn leads to low self-esteem and underachievement. Then in turn, worsen anxiety, depression and fear. Fearful and anxious children been shown to continuously overproduce stress hormones such as cortical and adrenaline and are prone to ulcers in the stomach, raised blood pressure and physical illnesses.

Negative attitude of a person, parents, or spouse do sometimes chasten the process of separation or desertion. Rehabilitation makes the patients aware of the abnormal behavioral changes that need to be corrected with medication and psychotherapy. This will certainly make the patient more complaint to treatment. Bring the patient back to routine and help them functioning independently towards taking decisions by becoming emotionally strong.

Caring parents, excellent nutrition and stimulating environment at home and work are conducive to healthy better life and intelligence.

Distrust, and lack of faith in ones’ own self: Faith is a critical part of health care. Fear of unknown, insecure feeling and suspicion destroys the pleasantness. Negative thoughts develop from suspicion and frustration. Suspicion gives restless mind and makes you miserable. Restless mind want things at that very moment.

Hurrying things makes your mind more restless. Mistakes are always the result of a restless mind and body. Desperation and restlessness removes the presence of the faith. Desperation snatches away the pleasure of waiting. You can see this everywhere.

Anger, bitterness, vengeance and quarrels are useless actions. Peevishness is a feeling of regret or injury in the past. Vindictive speech or actions can humiliate anyone.

Open rebuke is better than secret hatred. – Jose Vegetins
 

Hidden assaults create sad situations. Create lot of suffering and gives a sense of panic. He or she panics when his personal possessions are mislaid or destroyed. This is something to elude and an innocent fall prey to certain secret fears or suspicions. This is totally hidden, insignificant, uncultured and inhuman. Envy, hatred or aversion actions create lot of stress and agony. 

Shun envy. Of all the host of bad qualities, envy is the leader. - Gita

 

Suspicious and secretive actions are really painful, frustrating and also disgusting. Suspicion is a weapon to offend, insult(insulting remarks) to evict people. Secret fears of suspicion create mystery and intangible things. Suspicion gives so much of agony to the naive. Suspicion doesn’t rhyme with serenity but with sadness. 

Strong reasons make strong actions. – Yiddish Proverb

 

Actions speak louder than words. The action of a person may seem offending: ignore the happening. If the action is intentional then ignore the person and deviate. When you have repeated experience then it is guaranteed to wreck your health.

As you nourish memories of people who have hurt you or let you down, of circumstances that have betrayed your expectations, or of unfulfilled dreams, you are only draining energy to something that is, in fact, dead and gone. 

Feeling of guilt or self-doubt may relate to the fact that you have let someone down. You keep on feeling guilty throughout the life for anything and everything happened.

Often, mothers scold their children and afterwards feel so guilty. Because of lack of awareness. Awareness was missing, so the anger came up. When there is awareness, happiness dawns.

Guilt is one of the heaviest emotions that wear you down as you continue to carry it. Guilt feelings make most of your lives miserable. You go on tormenting yourselves and end in serious psychological disorders.

To be wrong is nothing, unless you continue to remember it. It is natural to feel guilt, but carrying it throughout one’s life is unhealthy. May be you are putting too much stress on your forehead to the point of creating worry lines. If you want to be happy with yourself, ask for an apology. A fault confessed is half redressed. It brings about harmony and equanimity with your surroundings and people.

"Confession of errors" is like a broom which sweeps away the dirt and leaves the surface brighter and cleaner. A man who is not afraid to face down his mistake. I feel stronger for confession. - Mahatma Gandhi

The wavering mind, will find hard to make a quick and right decision. If you have any doubt about a particular thing, particular relationship; then bring them into the open and you may see that there is nothing to worry about. Unless you open up no one knows the amount of suffering you have been through. Try to bring hidden things into the open, revealing secrets and uncovering the truth.

Grow in faith, Grow in light, and consciousness. – Sri Aurobindo

Some people are neurotically secretive about everything. They always have fear, afraid of people prying into their things and affairs. But at the same time they never like people to keep secrets from them. This type of paranoid negative imagination makes you feel nervous to be around such people. Accept, everyone needs some privacy and freedom in varying degrees.

To one sharing is happiness and to another hoarding is happiness. – Swami Vivekananda

Money and luxury is only not enough to bring cheer in your life. A person who has lots of money cannot even smile properly. He may be surrounded with so many people, but internally he is aloof. He doesn’t trust people. He doesn’t really know whether the people are there for him or for the money. Have a positive attitude towards others. Be like a child. All the practices you aim at making you like a child. Naive and childlike innocence saves you from any stress and depression. – Ravi Shanker, the Art of Living

Outwardly you lead on appearances, personally crave for true companion ship. As you rise to the top you are unable to distinguish between real friends and false friends. As a result you become more and more lonely and your attitude towards life changes and inclines increasingly towards the negative. You begin to see everything and everyone in a pessimistic light, all the while becoming bitter and unhappy.

The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart withers if it does not answer another. His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his own thoughts and finds no other inspiration.

Share your life experiences with everybody so that they are useful to the people around you. An intelligent person with positive thinking is open to everyone and not being rigid in his beliefs. A fixed rigid idea about anything stops your growth and limits your possibilities. Keep on changing every moment and you must keep the possibility of change open. Status will get you nowhere, only an open heart will allow you floating equally between everyone. Maturity is achieved when you accept life as full of tensions.

An old saying: Good decisions come from life’s experiences and life’s experiences come from bad decisions.

Doctors say, the skin changes every year, the cells in your body undergo some sort of transformation. Your body is like a river, always flowing, always changing with every passing year; your body is new. Your mind is new. As you are awakened to this truth, you can identify your old fears or yourself. – Art of Living Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Wrong understanding: Wrong understanding is to know the unreal in a form that is not its own. A variation in circumstances of fortune at different times in your life or in the development of something “the project was subject to the usual vicissitudes of exploratory, research”. Vicissitude explains mutability in life or nature. (Especially successive alternation from one condition to another) Most of the time you impose your own ideas, views and feeling on others and you think that is how they are. When you try to interpret what is seen or felt in the light of preconceived notions and reach a false conclusion. Vainly you get angry with your impatience. Develop an equal mind towards all the things and fairness in thinking.

The man who suffers from inferiority complex cannot succeed in any walks of life.

You have an inferiority complex or you suddenly see some one else behaving very arrogantly. They might not be arrogant and you are not being ill-treated by them. But you suddenly feel that you are being ill-treated. You are not respected because you do not respect yourself; you think that others do not respect you. This tendency of your mind is mutability in nature. Like wise you feel that you are not being loved. Learn to respect yourself. – Art of Living, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

You often hear what you desire to listen to instead of what is actually said to you. Negative imagination really intoxicates the mind and makes the person believe things that aren’t true, and act on those things in an extroverted way, like schizophrenia, it is a spectrum. You will be keeping on seeing double meanings in everything. Everything, anyone said, you could hear something else, what they were really saying or thinking. It is reclusive, living in a cabin in the wilderness.

If you know what hurts yourself, you know what hurts others. – German Proverb

To cover-up their inferiority complex, some people make themselves appear superior by giving needless suggestions. Superiority is generally interpreted as a defense against deeper feelings of inferiority. All this is done with the view that 'offense is the best form of defense' and hurts you emotionally. They elude any sort of analysis and will take all the fun out of everything. They also make comments that are uncomfortable to others present. Repeated hurt causes stress. Learn to express yourself when there is hurt or disrespect; reduces stress.

Sometimes you may not recover quickly from a broken heart, even though if you try very hard. You will sink into severe mental and emotional anguish, leading to despair, is a very real danger. You will look to a warm and steady hand to hold for emotional stability, while you’re soaring. You must literally, exist to an atmosphere of hope and happiness or your spirit will die. Your health will be severely effected on all levels.

Gossiping: The speed of several communications like telephones, mobile phones, and internet has negative impact also, creating so many noisy problems among people. Too many interactions makes life disturbed and noisy. Coming together is a beginning and keeping together is a progress. Sobriety is most important for good everlasting relationship. The demand to be loved is the greatest of all arrogant presumptions.

Ego is concerned only with your sense of individual identity. You expect unconditional love from everyone around you. Well, others also expect the same. People with unstable mind cannot keep their balance without arrogance and rudeness.

Some people for emotional survival and personal security entertain themselves with mental games. Mental games create distraction and disparities among people. People forget to trust one another with guessing games. Worthless gossip(often saying bad things about someone) has now become a matter of habit. A little wind kindles, much puts out the fire. A lie travels round the world while truth is putting her boots on.

Rumors go in one ear and out many mouths. – Chinese proverb

Rumor is the most fastest spreading word, ignore it. Destructive mental attitude gives misery, and makes everybody’s life miserable.

A positive personality attracts, a negative personality repels. - Brewer

What can you do with the negative person? One who over hears, gossips, abuses, carries tales, sets one person against another, neglects his own work, and feels an intense jealousy, is impossible. Shortcut to ruin is jealousy. Jealously makes life mean and perverse. The best course for such personalities is to avoid them. – Art of Living, Sri Sri Ravi Shanker

Issues will be there. People will come and go. You will be discouraged. The world will be vindictive. You will be judged, be-little and laughed at. People will engage in ridiculous loose talks, passing sarcastic comments. Some do not even notice that their speech and activity is going to pain others. Everyone turns into foes. You may feel slightly resentful, at the apparent ease with which other people able to exploit you, giving you uncomfortable feeling of rejection. It is fine to be naive; but not if you allow yourself to be exploited. Never listen to anyone and just follow your inner voice.

Never be put off by rejection. Embrace rejection; it must be used as a positive force, energy and strength. – Amitabh Bhachan

Nothing happens to you which you do not invite. Laugh at negative people that your distress and pain have given them some entertainment, to forget their own vices and miseries for sometime.

It is better to have a bad name and live a good life, than to have a good name and live a bad life. Good life is one guided by knowledge and inspired by love. - Bertrand Russell

Worrying gives you lot of mental stress. Your discriminating mind gets clouded when you are in stress; you do not know what is what. If you have a problem, look for a solution without worrying.

Being at one with you is the core of a healthy life. Learning to listen can be hard, especially if you come from a family who doesn’t respect each other. But you can learn from others, accepting some criticism and remain watchful. Learn new ways to act and react, and learn to listen is a good place to start. There is no end of expectations: unhealthy comparison and competition became normal now a days.

Competition brings out the best in products(results) and the worst in people. Competition would only create more controversy.

Make pleasant and surprised change; take the opportunity to learn from others. Take a leaf out of someone else’s book as far as emotional issues are concerned. You cannot prove your efficiency, capabilities, and success in every aspect of life.

Needlessly struggling to prove complete in every role you play, gives you pressure, tension and that creates stress. Comparisons bring nothing but upsets. Unhealthy comparison with others removes your pleasant feeling. Your self-sufficiency and satisfaction makes all difference; make priorities to reduce stress. Enjoy your life seeing others talents, elevation and success.

When everybody becomes a painter world looks very ugly.

Some people who are tied with work and social obligations usually cannot have enough time for their personal life. People feel stressed when meeting with high demands of work and challenging work life styles. Most of the time is spent in meeting social commitments, getting very little time for personal relationships. People get tired and become restless to adjust in stressful situations. Recreation gives some relaxation to their mind.

Just be yourself: Just be yourself so that you are not burdened with tension and anxiety. If every action and decision of yours, depends on what other people think; you’re no more in control of your emotions. In fact others control it. This is certainly not a healthy way to live life. You will never be happy if you do things only depending on others response. While you go on satisfying others, you will become unsatisfied. Please all and you will please none. Forcefully adjusting to anything and anybody gives you stress.

When you are accustomed to disguise yourself to others in the end you become disguised to yourself. The majority of you are required to live a life of constant duplicity. Hides reality, pretends, poses, always giving the impression of being well, perfect, easy-going etc. Your health is bound to be affected. If you grovel before what you dislike, that brings you nothing but misfortune.

You want to do something, but you are bound to do something else. Something hurts you, you know it shouldn't. Be what you are, do what you think and say what you feel. Be what you are, is the first step toward becoming better than you are.

Just be true to yourself, and everything will fall into place.

Assertiveness is not only a good character trait, but it is a basic human right. Saying 'No' frees you from making insincere commitments and it ensures you commit only to things' you can put your heart into. In fact, it may be the most beneficial thing that you can do for yourself and your other commitments. Saying 'No' is not a selfish act. 'No' is a small word with a big consequence. It gives you emotional freedom.

An assertive attitude can save you from many a confrontation. Do not be over assertive also.

Stigma: Stigma is paranoid personality disorder that develops negative belief systems. Ignorance and fear leads to prejudice that in turn generates stigma which leads to discriminatory behavior against the affected person. People with mental disorders include behavioral personality disorders, depression, substance abuse and major illness like schizophrenia and other forms of psychosis.

Families of people living with mental illness experience stigma and discrimination at various levels of social interaction-marked by reduced or restricted interaction with extended family, friends and increased incidence of eviction by own people.

Mental illness is also a health problem. Individuals with mental illness are more vulnerable to social rejection, under employed or unemployed, income loss, status loss, separation. People tease and poke fun at them, and it is painful to these individuals. No body thinks about inhuman and unkind actions.

A man who has his head on his shoulders never gives trouble to his neighbors. A good citizen never intrudes upon the rights of his neighbors. We must always try to get on with our neighbor peacefully.

Stigma is a matter of perception. Reducing stigma and discrimination is everybody’s responsibility. There is a life of quality and hope after mental illness. Contemplate future with optimism and patience, even if someone close is behaving strangely. Even silent moral support makes lot of difference.

Schizophrenia: Wilson's disease is caused due to excess copper metabolism in the body. This may lead to mental problems(derangement of the mind) like schizophrenia and physical disability. In schizophrenia, internal imagery gains dominance over the real world and person is unable to distinguish one from the other. Schizophrenia persons can be enabled to return to a world of life, with warmth and color. Kindness heals all ills.

Alzheimer's disease: Alzheimer's disease superficially similar to senility strikes relatively, above the age of 60's. Insufficient supply of sugar glucose to brain may trigger Alzheimer's disease. People hear loud voices, dramatic emotional scenes, forceful to live in the midst of clutter and confusion tears tranquility. Adults with hobbies that exercise their brains were less likely to have Alzheimer's disease.

Mental health issues only visible when someone is in a crisis. The majority of the public is unaware of how many people with mental health issues they know and come cross every day. A man/woman who is truly religious and spiritual are less likely to develop a neurosis.

H – Humanity E – Esteem A – Affection L – Liberal listening I – Immunity N – Naive G - Gentle

Some relaxation techniques to reduce your stress: Be calm; beat stress. And be at it to beat depression.

Relaxation and meditation to silence the mind. Relaxation means falling into a state of inaction not doing anything. Do not under estimate the value of ‘Doing Nothing’. Rest is not idleness; sit on the grass in the early morning, vision your eyes on greenery, watching different birds’ and listening to wonderful musical sounds they create. The joyfulness of a man prolongs his life.

In all your life, the most wasted days are those in which one hasn't laughed.

Love yourself, you feel wonderful and joyful. Spend maximum time with children; you can enjoy their innocence, and loving minds. Your heart starts to feel so happy and peaceful. Fill your life with vitality and smile when stress develops; and feel more active, outgoing and sociable to reduce your stress.

Active life and frugal diet hold the key to peaceful and healthy long life.

Studies demonstrate that life style changes increase your life span. Low-calorie healthy diets, high intake of vegetables, rainbow diet of fruits, seem to explain protection from diseases and stress. Weight reduction, sodium and saturated fat restriction, smoking cessation can lead to healthier lives later on.

He that lats till he is sick, must fast till he is well. - Thomas Fuller

The Bhagavad-Gita has even advocated a regimen of a balanced diet, and is against too much of fasting or too much of eating. It is against long hours of sleep and too much of wakefulness. Strength your inner-self with yoga, meditation, stillness, developing good reading habits, listening to music, good sleep, humor, laughter, and vegetation; mainly by being at peace with yourself; relish health to living better.

The secret of detachment frees your mind from tensions and stress.