Stress Can Obscure Openings

2022-02-18

I feel so much pressure. It’s like walls are caving in on me. How am I supposed to live my life and continue my journey with conditions like these?

What Stress Can Do

Stress is a limiter. It can debilitate us in a very short time. It affects us physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Stress is built into the nature of modern life – so much to do, demands on our time, information overload, instant communications and the speed of our global world. Stress is a powerful and destructive force in modern life.

Stress can limit us physiologically. We can experience aches and pains, our blood pressure can rise, our immune system can weaken, we can experience insomnia and sleep problems and serious fatigue can set in. The physical effects of stress can compound themselves. Once physical symptoms of stress set in, it takes a lot of effort to regain health.

The mental and emotional effects of stress are often focused on. Stress can cause anxiety, depression, panic attacks, poor judgement, irritation and anger and eating disorders. Here too, the effects of stress can compound themselves and be hard to counter. They have to be dealt with at the same time we find the source of our stress and recenter ourselves.

Stress and Time

The late poet and philosopher John O’Donohoe gave us unique insights on time and stress. Here’s an excerpt from an interview he did with Krista Tippett on the On Being podcast.

Stress is a perverted relationship to time. Rather than being a subject of your own time, you have become its target and victim and time has become routine. So, at the end of the day, you probably haven’t had a true moment to yourself to relax and just be.

When you slow it down, when you come into your rhythm, then you come into a different kind of time.

➟ Have you found your own rhythm with time? If your relationship with time can use some improvement, let’s work together to change that. Set up a free 30 minute call and we can discuss how you can get time to be on your side!

Centering

Stress affects our ability to see and choose Openings. Stress steals our attention, weakens us and knocks us off our center. In the midst of stress, centering is very difficult. We are not aligned in body, mind and spirit. Our senses are dulled. We cannot trust our reactions in situations we encounter. In this state, how can we function much less see Openings?

Sometimes, even in the midst of stress, an Opening can appear. But how can we make a good choice regarding whether to walk through the Opening? Are we in a place where we can accurately assess the Opening and if it is good for us? Most likely not. Bad choices then compound our stress in a vicious cycle of stress and more stress and, eventually, unraveling.

It is best to get ourselves out of stress and back to center to take advantage of Openings. This is no easy task, but it can be done with good practices, persistence, and commitment. Dealing with our stress is necessary to making healthy choices. Centering serves us in our journey through Openings.

Ready For Openings

We are not asking for perfection here. We are asking for awareness – of our bodies, minds, emotions, and spirits. This awareness allows us to discern what is good for us. It gets us to our best selves. If we encounter an Opening during a stressful time, we can address it. We just need to acknowledge the stress we are feeling and its effect on our decision-making capabilities.

In some cases, we may have to bring ourselves back to center before deciding on an Opening. It behooves us to have methods and practices to bring ourselves back to center. One of the simplest practices to relieve stress is stopping – curbing the momentum of stress and getting ourselves fully in the present moment. From there, we can assess our state of being and what we must do.

Why not be our best selves when we encounter and choose Openings? Managing our stress is not an impossible task. We can do it and be much better for doing so!

How can I expect myself to live the life I want to live if I allow stress to get the better of me. Centering is my goal, so that I can take advantage of the Openings before me!

photo: FreeNatureStock.com