Create your Destiny

The stock market is going down and your investments
are going in the tank…

You’re physically sick and your body feels miserable…

Life has its ups and downs. When things are going great we’re supposed to feel good and when things go lousy we’re supposed
to feel bad, right? That seems to be the way most of us have
been conditioned to think.

Preconditioned Responses

Live in a bad economy = walk around feeling depressed.
Lose your home or job = walk around feeling miserable.
End a relationship = walk around feeling bad.
Becoming ill = feeling lousy and complaining about it.

First of all, I acknowledge that “bad” things can and do happen. All of the above have happened to me personally at one point or another in my life (plus a lot of really good things too). Its all part of life!  One of the greatest life lessons we can learn is that the significance of events lie not in the events themselves but in our responses to them.

What is Stress?

What exactly is stress anyway ? Can you touch it or see it?  Nope.
Stress is nothing more than your bodies reaction to your own thought processes. Sure, you may be able to point to things in your environment that you readily identify as being the source of your stress, such as an angry boss, rude co-worker, crying baby, your declining financial position or that looming deadline, but the stress you feel is actually your body’s response to your continued thoughts about those events and not the events themselves. If one person can hear that crying baby and not be driven crazy by the sound, or face financial uncertainty with a sense of gratitude and appreciation then you must realize that it is your choice of how to respond to events like these that either results in stress or allows you to live with a sense of comfort and inner peace.

Notice your Reaction, Choose your Response

I’m not saying that we as humans are above being affected by external stimuli. Not at all. In fact I believe we should acknowledge our initial responses to potentially stressful situations and learn from them what we can. Why are we feeling bad - is there something else we should be doing, or something else should have done differently? There may perfectly valid reasons for you to react stressfully in response to external events and you will want to acknowledge the presence of those feelings while learning whatever you can about the reasons they originated. Are they prompting you to change your behavior in similar situations in the future, or maybe reminding you that you made some regretful choices outside of your values? If so, acknowledge it as such and learn the lesson at hand. Then, realize that beyond the immediacy of the situation lies your freedom of choice and the ability to free yourself from the destructive burdens of stress and maintaining a negative focus.

Remember, Like Attracts Like

After noticing your initial response to something you define as “stressful”, take a moment to step back and ask yourself if continuing to feel bad is likely to make the situation any better. After you’ve avoided the danger or learned the lesson, what is the continued benefit of feeling bad and staying in a stressful state? Is it because society dictates that when X happens you are supposed to feel Y and you fear that you’ll either be labeled inconsiderate or irresponsible if you don’t? Or maybe you are choosing to punish yourself to reinforce your distaste of the outcome and thus decrease the likelihood that you will ever do something like that again?

The Way Out of Stress

The way out of stress? Simply remember that we live in an orderly universe where like attracts like and that thoughts become things. Notice that in such a universe, continuing to feel thoughts of anger, despair, or anxiety aren’t likely to improve the way things are but rather will increase the likelihood of the stressful stimuli being present both now and in the future. Choosing to feel bad and staying in a low energy state will ultimately attract more of that which you seek to avoid. An acceptance of how things are and a sense of gratitude for the lessons learned will ultimately serve you better than living in denial and despair. By changing your thoughts you can break the cycle of negativity that causes and perpetuates stress and instead create for yourself a present and future in greater vibrational harmony with the type of life you choose to experience.

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