Zen and Stress

There are some things in your life that cause great stress and it is essential that you learn to give it balance. By focusing on the good stress, less attention is given to the bad stress.

Good stress is a pressure you create, for example, to complete a project or accomplish a goal that brings you a benefit or a reward.

It is good stress because you initiated it and after the completion or accomplishment, the stress no longer exists, leaving you with a feeling of satisfaction.

Your awareness and how you balance the different stresses in your life is really the key to successful stress management.

It is important in stress reduction to keep everything in your life in proper perspective. This means minimizing problems and maximizing accomplishments and this will bring you a balance and a feeling of Zen to your world of stress.

When you do this you feel free. Free of an unconscious thought of the problem being bigger than it really is.

 If the challenges, problems, and setbacks seem to be smaller to begin with, it is easier to keep them small and in proper perspective.

There are many stress factors and there are other ways to reduce or relieve stress in your life. There have been numerous studies in recent years regarding meditation and the effects it has on stress reduction.

The American Heart Association published a report finding that meditation can significantly reduce the risk of heart disease. The most recent study conducted by the American Heart Association showed that consistently practicing meditation improves heart and artery health by 69 percent.

Regular meditation reduces pain, high blood pressure, and anxiety.

Another study conducted by the University of Wisconsin discovered that meditation boosts the immune system and brain function.

There are numerous studies and more being conducted all the time that support the outstanding health benefits of meditation. Harvard University conducted a study concluding that regular meditation can reduce pain, lower blood pressure, and lower the production of cortisol.

Cortisol is a bodily hormone produced by the adrenal glands. It plays a significant role in proper glucose metabolism, the regulation of blood pressure, immune function, and insulin release for blood sugar maintenance.

At first I thought wow, the body really needs a lot of it to maintain all that it does, and it is truly an important hormone.

Cortisol has been termed the ‘stress hormone’ because it is secreted into the blood stream at high levels during the body’s fight or flight response to stress and is responsible for stress-related changes in the body.

An increase of cortisol has some positive effects, such as a short burst of energy that helps with survival instincts. A small increase can help improve memory function, increase immunity, reduce pain sensitivity, and help maintain homeostasis in the body.

Even though cortisol is a vital and necessary component of the body’s response to stress; it is also important that we practice relaxation techniques and exercises so that the body’s cortisol function returns to normal.

The problem is most of us live and work in a high stress environment causing the body’s stress response to be activated so frequently that it does not have a chance to return to normal and the result is chronic stress.

The longer this increased amount of cortisol remains in the bloodstream, the more likely it will produce negative effects such as suppressed thyroid function, decreased bone density, blood sugar imbalance, a decrease in muscle tissue, high blood pressure, and impaired cognitive performance.

There are other health concerns created by the prolonged increase of cortisol, such as lower immunity, and inflammatory responses in the body, and increased abdominal fat which is actually a more significant health problem than fat deposited in other places of the body.

This increase in abdominal fat is associated with other health issues such as heart attacks and strokes. The best way to combat these health problems and keep your body’s cortisol under control, and at a healthy level, is to indulge in relaxation techniques as soon as possible after you experience increased levels of stress, or after what is called the fight or flight response.

It is important to understand the underlying cause of most stress is brought on by your own mind. Fear, anger, and negativity are self-generated and unwarranted beliefs created by the human mind.

Another negative stress is pain. Everyone knows that pain does not have to be life-threatening to cause great discomfort. The mind is incredibly powerful and I believe the more you focus on aches and pains, the more stress it will cause and guess what? The more aches and pains you will have.

So the best way to reduce stress in this area is to consciously try and not focus on it. It isn’t easy to do and it does take concerted effort.

Try not to worry about problems that do not exist. Try not to live in a ‘what if’ world. So many people get caught up in thinking something bad is going to happen and then when the outcome is good we realize that stress and worry was unnecessary.

There is an interesting psychological perspective at work here as well. I have heard people talk about a situation where a specific outcome or result is expected and for some strange reason, probably human conditioning, it is believed that it will not go well and the outcome will be viewed in a negative way.

I think it’s natural for those who live in a ‘what if’ world to view a concern in a negative way. In other words, people are likely to say “what if this goes bad or that goes bad or what if it goes all wrong.”

I have often wondered why we think that way, I know I have done it myself. Maybe what we should do is put a more positive spin on the outcome. This concept may be a bit difficult to grasp because we are conditioned to think negatively, but ask these questions. What if it doesn’t go badly? What if it doesn’t go wrong? What if it all goes well?

When I was younger I would become upset when someone would say something bad about me. Not so much anymore. In fact, the older I get the less I could care because I realized that people are going to say positively or negatively whatever they want. Actually this is a Zen approach to what other may negatively think or say.

Do not allow the negative things others might say bother you. Whether they are true or not, do not react to them.

The more you try to defend yourself regarding what someone may have said about you, the more you run the risk of validating those accusations, true or false.

What you are really doing is attracting more attention and that can really make things worse than if you would have just ignored it. Try to ignore the negativity and look beyond it.

If someone were to think badly of you, you could try to change their view. However, sometimes it would be better to spend what limited time you have with people that love you and that you care about, instead of spending your time trying to appeal to someone else for whatever reason.

Better still, let your family and friends, those who know you best, defend you. That gives you more credibility and you won’t waste energy trying to defend yourself against unwarranted and defaming remarks.

I have realized long ago that negativity is a part of life and focusing on the positive aspects of life creates a balance. I have also realized that perfection in this world is an illusion and you can reduce any stress dramatically by accepting the Zen philosophy and the natural law that there is no such thing as the perfect child, parent, spouse, job, or home, just to name a few. By doing so, you will find yourself feeling tranquil, happier, and you will have more peace in my life.