Sample piece: stress - an introspection of a process

reading time: 5 minutes

This is a sample piece. It is only here today as a preview for the upcoming posts, which will be uploaded over the next four days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday at 4 pm) . I am happy to accept suggestions for improvement to ensure a better and more pleasant experience!

part I.

Stress for one person is not necessarily stress for the other, nor do large problems equal great stress either. Stress patterns are highly individual. They arise from within our thoughts and emotions and can cause a lot of pressure with us having little to hardly any ability to resist them. Naturally, we have our ways of relying on energy helping us to keep a reasonable degree of optimism as long as this pressure does not turn into an excessive habit pattern.

But once a person, hence their thoughts and emotions, exhaust the natural defense, ultimately the person does no longer receive support and finds themselves surrendering easier to negative moods. It seems that we are probably more aware of those values subconsciously than we are in a conscious state of mind, as negative and neurotic situations are not supported by a functional body and mind.

Undoubtedly, it will help us in real emergency but will show no interest in upholding the functions and energy of the pessimist, chronic worrier, and nitpicker.

Through my very own experiences but also observation of the people around me, I find that most mental problems rely on the inability to release and to let go of the negative thoughts and uncomfortable feelings. The tensions arising within and around us, largely depend upon how we accept the circumstances, as well as the degree of importance that we have signed to them. Negative thoughts and haunting records are only deep and lasting if we give them a great deal of attention, emotion, thought, and energy. By refusing to vitalise these situations, they have a tendency to fade out and leave less scar in our psyche. All of this is at it’s at its core a process of determining the nature of things to be remembered or forgotten. Much information and many thoughts that we have stored away can be quickly brought into focus by means of receptivity of attitude.

Relaxation will bring these facts back to our conscious awareness and that might be most likely the reason why a lot of people do not like to relax or are afraid to. The moment we go past the surface of thinking, we have all our memories, associations, and phantasies in our subconscious available to us… for most people, this is not a fortunate and happy place. So therefore we believe it is more important to remain stimulated in order to avoid that which comes to mind when we are not consciously controlling our mental state.

One only thinks according to the thought available and lives life according to what he/she thinks. Cultivating a poor quality of thought cannot possibly lead to a good conclusion and a profound and meaningful life.

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A casual letter contemplating and reminiscing about life, encouraging a good attitude and a joie de vivre :)

Certainly, we cannot walk through life without episodes of disappointment, frustration, or danger. One is bound to be under stress sometimes. But the problem arises in the attitude towards these episodes as they unfold.

The practice of rationalising while experiencing the unpleasant becomes, therefore, a key element in self-awareness and honesty. Perhaps we realise that the situation is of our own making, and with that, we have no right to regard this episode as unreasonable or unfair. So if we take the injustice out, the (personal) jealousies out, the self-pity out, even while still experiencing the problem, we will essentially be left with the factual and immutable.

Facts are not dramatic, unpleasant perhaps, but nothing a person unreasonably ever gets worked up over. This is the way it is and so we must accept it, whether we like it or not. If we manage to supply our subconscious with mostly factual material unclouded by our egoistical emotions and first impulses, we will find ourselves in a safer mental state. This doesn’t mean that we have to become a purely rational being but only, that the real impact consists of the actions following the process and realisation of the fact.

So if we are able to look back on past events (I believe you are familiar with the sudden embarrassing haunting memories from the past as you are about to fall asleep) and can honestly admit that this was a landmark of our own stupidity; Man, rarely did I do anything worse than the way I handled this situation.

This type of reaction is not inclined to generate and foster a psychosis - even better, if you are able to laugh about it.

If however, we succumb to the threads of our imagination and personal thoughts/emotions, we will shape the incident into a narrative of suffering, self-pity, and injustice towards us. This type of thinking ensures gradually a less honorable and virtuous attitude towards the World, the Universe, Nature, and God.

Once such a state of denial is reached and we are no longer at fault or rather, we find ourselves in the condition to be strangely and mysteriously right, where most other people are bad or wrong. This is a very dangerous mental habit, that will ultimately lead to misery, loss and distance of loved ones, break up of your home situation, destruction of business, and consequently to a neurotic and limited life. The further the progress and justification of such a state proceed, the deeper we delve into problems and stress which lead to the conviction that the world is opposed to us.

It is of utter importance then, to immediately withdraw and think it through as soon as an apparently hurtful, uncomfortable, and heated situation arises. Because the sooner we can reflect, the better we practice damage control, provided we come up with an honest and reasonable conclusion of some sort.

Judgment and condemnation is an easily reachable emotion. We often judge and condemn others too quickly and little do we sincerely care or are willing to invest energy and time to reach profound insight. It is easy to judge, as well as it is easy to read the worst into a situation. Ultimately, all of those motions of projection are not fair and reasonable. More importantly, we are doing ourselves an injustice by preparing the way to be less likable, less happy, and less healthy individuals.

There may be a certain satisfaction from retaining bitter memories but can we afford it at any time and in any way? Is there really any satisfaction when we hold a negative attitude against another person or situation?

We are probably not harming that person with our negative attitude nor do they know and care about it. Even worse, when it is directed to a situation there is nothing that could possibly react to our negativity. We are doing ourselves serious injury!

These situations are not revenging themselves on us, though we are destroying ourselves with this attitude, committing psychological suicide by nursing grievance and hatred. We can’t afford to do this.

So every once in a while, when we are not finding ourselves in a fair degree of harmony and optimism, it may be well to do a little housecleaning in our subconscious and get rid of these attitudes… this junk in the attic. There is just simply, no amount of nostalgia in our own misery compensating for the harm it is still doing to us.

Once we relieve ourselves from the clutter, we will become much more confident and comfortable to spend our time in peace and relaxation without the neurotic need to devote our time to addicting distractions and harmful habits.