Stress - the popular name for the new American status symbol. Everyday conversation is peppered with references to lack of time to accomplish goals, the frustration of poor communication and a general sense that no matter how fast we go, we will not get it all done and no one understands. Defining the word in one sentence is difficult for it is actually the unification of multiple human responses to life into a single concept that nearly everyone experiences. There are very few people who do not know what stress feels like.
The use of the word has become a catch phrase for all of the pressures we experience in life. Sometimes that can be confusing. Is stress the cause of the pressures or the effect of those pressures? In other words, is stress the stimulus or the response? Most people, physicians and lay alike, feel that stress is a response to pressure or mounting demands. These stimuli can be external or internal further complicating the event especially when the internal feeling is caused by an external event.
Stress
As medicine has traveled the path of psychoneuroimmunology (the study of the immune system as it relates to the nervous system and the mind), we have become aware that stress compromises our immunity. It stimulates the perpetual release of the hormones adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol which tear through the body like a firestorm. If not controlled, chronic stress, together with the anger and depression it perpetuates, leads to illness and even death.
Research at the Institute of HeartMath in Boulder Creek, CA has concluded that the amount of stress we feel is based more on our perception of an event or a person than on the actual event itself. Our ability to respond to disastrous events or changes in our life is directly related to our perception of what occurred. It is the daily accumulation of little stressors, much like the termites that finally eat their way through the foundation of the house, that take the major toll on our health. We must learn how to neutralize our reactions as they occur or risk compounding the stressful interactions within our bodies' systems, draining our health. How much daily stress we live with determines how much resilience we will have when a major crisis occurs.
Clinically, stress can be analyzed on three levels - psychological, physiological and social. Each person combines these states of being in different ways and it is this combination that creates the individual options for handling stressful circumstances. We have built into our psychological and physiological makeup the power to affect a point of balance between our resources of coping with stress internally and the daily stress that we encounter. By consciously exercising this ability, we can control our perception of life's events and the degree of stress that we might experience. The first step in beginning this process is learning to recognize what causes the stress initially. Then, we can develop a general way of dealing with pressures, changes and the issues of life.
Often, simply knowing that it is possible to have some sense of control over a situation can lead to a dramatic reduction in the stress level experienced. By becoming conscious of the options inherent in a stressful situation and by being aware of the effectiveness of our responses to these situations, we may be able to exert more control over what we experience and thereby influence our own stress level.
To handle stress effectively, we must understand what we are going through. We must cultivate an ability to perceive the entire experience, not only the piece that is personal. In this way we can begin to understand the relationship of the whole and receive feedback that we would have otherwise missed. This allows us to see our life situation more clearly and directly influence the level of stress we habitually create. It is helpful that we keep in mind that it is our perception of situations and how we react to them that determines our stress level. If we are able to change our perception, we are able to change our response.
Stress - The American Status Symbol
Toni Elizabeth Sar'h Petrinovich, Ph.D. is a visionary, weaver of grace, quantum physicist and multidimensional traveler. Born with memory of the etheric worlds intact, Toni uses her gifts to expand the same re-membrance within the consciousness of other beings. She is the owner of Sacred Spaces in the beautiful San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington State where she conducts personal sessions, retreats and etheric readings for all those drawn to the authentic Self. She is the author of The Call - Awakening the Angelic Human and its accompanying CD, DNA Re-Awakening. Toni is also a direct channel for the Light Orbs who are the Guardians of the Soul. She does long distance healing, spiritual counseling, soul readings, light orb readings and chakra readings by appointment.
For more information regarding Toni's work or to contact her by telephone or email, please see her websites: http://www.sacredspaceswa.com and http://www.angelichuman.com