Stress!  Do you know your Process?

Stress is being termed as the next buzz word in health care. Somehow it is now ‘in’ to say that “I have stress!”

So are we really getting used to this guest called stress which has now found home in our minds? Are we coming to an agreement that there is no escape from this intruder?

Stress is not always an unwanted guest. It is needed at times to beat that finishing line; to cut that target; to grasp the goal in time. It becomes a problem when we allow this guest to act when in fact it needs to be just in the dormant state.

Is it really possible to define this Stress? Each one has his or her own definition of a stress reaction.  It could be a difficulty in making a decision for some;  for some it could be inability to adapt to the surroundings; for some it could be un-clarity of purpose of life or for some it could be recurrent unwanted emotions like anger, sadness, frustration or fear that keep resurfacing at unwanted times. You could have your own different context of stress. Each one of them however, results in one common outcome. It brings you in an un-resourceful state. A state, where you are not at peace and where you just cannot perform to your fullest.

Although there are innumerable contexts of individual stress, the process remains the same. Dr. Milton Erikson has given a very apt description of this process. He says, stress is when your conscious mind is not in rapport or agreement with your unconscious mind. When there is a constant disagreement between what ‘needs’ to be done and what ‘is desired’ to be done, it results in the reaction which is called stress. You could simply put your numbers in this equation and find out if you really are in stress!

It would be worthwhile, therefore, to understand what these two minds are. The unconscious mind is the one which functions automatically. You do not require thinking when the unconscious mind performs. It is like a preprogrammed device, which acts automatically in a particular way in a particular context. It is what ‘naturally’ comes to you. The functioning of this unconscious mind is based on your beliefs, values , perception channels , memories and many more aspects which have developed within you as you grew up to the current age. This determines your preferred choice about anything in any context. On the other hand, the conscious mind is the mind which thinks. It thinks about the pros and cons. It thinks about the expectations of the external environment. It weighs the positives and negatives and presents to you the ‘logical’ choices in any context. When this choice does not match with the choice that the unconscious mind prefers, it goes into disagreement and then we get a reaction known as a stress reaction.  Stress reduction is in simple terms, getting an agreement between these two parts of your own mind. Sometimes the conscious mind has to agree and sometimes it is the unconscious mind which chooses to comply.

So what exactly comprises of a stress reaction?

The human body functions on many chemicals called hormones. Suppose if there were to be a life threatening situation around all of a sudden, the hormones which come into action are called as the ‘fight and flight’ hormones. This is what you call the ‘adrenalin rush’. It makes us run away from this threat and keeps us safe. It is needed at that time. However, if these hormones get into action when they are actually not needed, for e.g. When you are back at home on your bed, or when you are supposed to have a nice family time, it starts eroding you from within. It leads to constant unhappy state.

What are the effects of this stress reaction on our body?

Such a state of the mind is known to be a host for a number of diseases, where the body immunity comes into play. The body immune system is like our army and the mind is the army chief. When the chief is not healthy, the army goes haywire and fails to protect us against disease. Therefore a simple infection could convert into a life threatening disease. This army gets confused between ‘own’ and ‘foreign’ antigens and this leads to a number of autoimmune diseases. This is the basis of stress being a major causative agent for diabetes, heart attacks, hypothyroidism and many such autoimmune processes.

What is the way out?

Learning to overcome stress is learning to be at peace. And the basic process of achieving peace is getting the conscious and unconscious minds in agreement. The first step needed in this direction is to actually understand what your unconscious processes are.  Once you observe yourself from a meta-position or detached position, your unconscious processes start becoming clear to you. The next step is to understand to chunk up. By chunking up, it means to understand the intension and purpose of your mind parts. In a meditative state, as you learn to find the higher purpose of your existence, agreement almost always occurs and peace is achieved.

It is important to understand that stress is never in a situation. It is how the situation is perceived. We can consciously choose to be at peace in any adverse situation. Eventually, as the unconscious mind learns this and being at peace starts coming naturally to you!