Stress is usually a reaction to mental or emotional pressure. It’s often related to feeling like you’re losing control over something, but sometimes there’s no obvious cause. When you’re feeling anxious or scared, your body releases stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol, which in small quantities can even be beneficial but if you find that it is affecting your life then you should take action.
We rarely experience stress or tension on their own. They are usually accompanied by anger, irritability, bitterness, jealousy and sometimes hatred. Feelings come in constellations, with one part of a pattern triggering the rest.
“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it, and this you have the power to revoke at any time.”
Marcus Aurelius
The so called ‘fight or flight’ response is not a conscious process and it is controlled by one of the most primeval parts of the brain (the amygdala). It interprets danger very simplistically as it makes no distinction between an external threat (e.g. an assailant with a knife) and an internal one (e.g. troubling memory or future worry). Both are treated as threats that either need to be fought or ran away from.
When threat is sensed (real or imaginary) the body tenses up and braces for action (e.g. frowning, shoulder tension, churning of the stomach, blood draining from the skin, etc.). A viscous cycle ensues as the mind senses the tension in the body and interprets a threat making the body tense even more.
Sometimes the mind switches to full alert but then does not switch off again as it is meant to. The result is that the brain’s alarm signals start to be triggered by a multitude of stimuli; the current scare, past threats (memories) and future worries (imaginary scenarios). This can in turn cause physical, mental and behavioural changes that can ruin your day, or even tip you into a prolonged period of worry or dissatisfaction.
The good news is that resilience to stress can be learnt, and you can dial down your stress reactivity. Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy is known to be one of the most effective interventions to help you destress, and more importantly it can also equip you with the coping skills that can help you deal more effectively with future stressful events.
👉🏾 WATCH HOW TO TAME YOUR WONDERING MIND (TED Talk)
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