Laughing at Stress

I'm back and blissfully happy in love with my new husband. I'm also perfectly de-stressed. What a great time for me, now to reflect on the nature of stress on our lives. Particularly since it's a very timely topic in my and my husband's life right now.

We have only been back to work for two days now. And yet my husband had a panic attack last night, induced by stress.

Us urbanites live with a spectacularly huge amount of daily stress. Commuting is stressful. Our jobs are stressful. Our high living costs are stressful. Stress stress everywhere. Sure a lot of us are totally health conscious. We don't smoke, we drink decaf, we cut carbs, we work out... but there is one thing we just won't give up. Stress. Why is that?

Stress gives us a sense of importance. It's like speed chess - and most of us just keep moving and punching the clock, hoping we'll come out on top. Especially us North Americans, we work longer hours and more days a year than any other part of the country. We live to work. It's eating us alive.


But then again, maybe it's all just more opportunities for us to test ourselves. How do we find peace in the moment. How do we center ourselves when deadlines approach, bosses start pressing us for results, emails start piling up. I wonder what Buddha would have done in an office environment. I imagine he would just look at the paperwork and laugh - and ironic kind of laugh, a laugh to reflect on just how meaningless it all is. We're all just typing monkeys passing the time, trying to keep ourselves busy, fill ourselves with purpose.

It's easy for me to say all of this now that I've been out of the grind. Because I've forgotten how pressing it all is. Come next week I'm sure I'll get sucked back into it. And when that happens I'll have to just remind myself to do what Buddha would do. And laugh. Because we're all wonderfully ridiculous, just trying to pass the time between important moments.

And before I sign out I'd like to thank Darcy for his very kind review at Spiritual Blog Reviews. It's nice to have a little validation from time to time, to at least know that I'm not just shouting into a void. Thanks again. It made my day.

Live and Let Go...

I probably couldn't count how many times I had to ask myself to 'let go' yesterday. Letting go is such a powerful tool for so many situations, I find. It's simply the act of allowing yourself to be. I've heard some speakers refer to it as trusting god - or the universe - and trusting that everything will happen exactly as it should. You know, just letting go of expectations, letting go of worries about outcomes, just letting go of everything that keeps you from your peace.

In my case, yesterday, it was my need to stay in the moment. During yoga, I found my mind wandering to a million places - no surprise since I leave for our Vegas holiday tomorrow... But it was interfering with my practice. I had to let go of all of the worries, the distractions, the lists my mind was making.

Us control freaks have a hard time sometimes, letting go and letting things happen - but I think it can be a truly liberating experience for us when we finally do start 'letting go'.

Why the need to control everything? Out of fear, I would guess. I read somewhere that there are really only two emotions: love and fear. Every negative feeling, every worry, every anxiety is fear-based and every positive feeling is love-based. Looking at it this way, to let go is to let go of the fear.

We fear many things, on a basic human level, I think. We fear death, pain, loneliness, poverty, separation, failure, rejection, humiliation, persecution, judgment - some even fear the opposite: success, power, wealth (I know I do to a certain extent). These fears are the root for so many neuroses. And they cripple us daily.

To become more actualized in our spiritual lives, we have to start dealing with our fear. We have to start letting go of it - realizing that it's an artificial barrier, it exists only in the mind, and the mind has the power to overcome it and live a fuller life. Because we are so much bigger than our fears.

So just for fun, let's all let go of one negative thought today. I plan to let go of the constant whining happening in my head about how little sleep I got last night. Goodbye groaner!