Ok Ladies, here’s a little shot in the arm if you’re open for it!
“In particular, the onset and course of disease are strongly linked to a person’s ability and willingness
to cope with stress. Stresses that we choose evoke a response totally different from those we’d like to avoid but cannot. Helplessness is worse than the stress itself.” (Italics added – isn’t that an amazing insight?)
“The interpretation of stress is always tricky for an outsider, for the same circumstances can be detrimental to one and neutral or even beneficial to another. Johns Hopkins University psychiatrist Jerome Frank notes that “stress comes mainly from the patient’s interpretation of events.”
These quotes are from the delightful book, Love, Medicine and Miracles by Bernie Siegal, and they fascinate me because I can see the truth of them in my own life and health.
A few things to consider:
1 What is easy for you to deal with may be difficult for someone else to handle, and vice versa. One more reason we cannot know the burdens of others.
2 If you are feeling stress, do your best to re-frame it in your mind and change it into something you can handle without as much discomfort.
3 Resorting to a belief of helplessness is not only unhealthy emotionally, but physically too. Remember the Eleanor Roosevelt quote that says that no one can put you down without your permission? It seems that slipping into helplessness is also a choice. The greatest among us stay out of the victim role of believing they have no control. It’s a worthy goal for all of us!
4 Finding meaning in any event can change the level of stress we feel. If you believe that the challenge you have now will in the long run be turned to your good and give you valuable experience, you will have greater energy to apply yourself to learning and be more flexible and teachable.
5 Changing our habitual thinking patterns also changes our chemistry and circuitry! Know that you can create new pathways and stir up a different chemical soup for your mind to live more comfortably than running from one adrenaline pumping stress to another. Retraining your belief is what it takes.
“I am a life-long learner.”
“I am learning new ways of responding to stress.”
“I am re-framing my interpretation of the events in my life.”
“I am strong and resilient.”
“I care about my future and my health.”
“I am a great role-model for my children!”
A new mantra requires rehearsal! Over and over and over again. It took years of saying negative things to yourself over and over and over again for them to take hold in your belief system. So it follows, that shifting things to the positive will take some effort.
Are you ready for better days? Awesome! Let’s get to work and remove helpless from our thoughts and our vocabulary.
Be well!
Love,
Jacque
I recently learned that a way to be done with problems is to turn them into projects. That allows me to be in control again and I can set a plan of action, first steps to move forward. Sometimes those first steps might simply be to pray for guidance but It is a new mindset that puts me in an active role rather than a victim role.
Wow, that is a great perspective! Thank you for chiming in, your ideas add so much to the discussion!