STRESS

I feel the need to address this regular opponent that we face - STRESS - but I'm not sure I have clear solutions for wiping it out entirely.  Sometimes we just need to recognize that Stress is the enemy, not the enemies that we think we are facing.

Stress is something that we often do to ourselves.  But it also comes at us in waves from the thought atmosphere around us.  Right now I'm watching a lot of people buckling under the onslaught of a recent wave.  Actually today, I feel the winds have shifted.  And it is important to realize that as powerful as a wave of stress passing through our life seems to be, it is a wave.  It will pass and the tide will shift.  If you watch closely, you can see these stress waves in all kinds of different time frames.  Some waves come and go quickly, others go a few days and are followed by days of relief.  And of course there are the long term waves.

I like to compare this to the wave motion in the stock market because in life we make the same mistakes that beckon to investors.  Those long term stress waves are similar to the boom & bust that leads from a basic bull-bear cycle.  Please note that there are rallies within a bear market and corrections within a bull market.  Stress-wise we seem to be in a bear market right now.  Stress has been tearing at people heavily of late and may continue at a relatively elevated level for a while.  But we can use these relief rallies to anchor ourselves in the spiritual place that will allow the next rush of challenge to roll off our backs.  That is the key isn't it?  This too shall pass!  Don't let it derail my focus on where I'm going.

Investors are known for panicking at the low and selling everything & then, casting caution to the wind and buying everything at the high.  Handling stress is harmful if we fall prey to the same emotional triggers.  We need to know that God is in charge during the lows and solidify our spiritual gains during the highs so as to handle well whatever life throws our way.

In handling our lives we have one further option.  We can rise above the game entirely by concentrating on gratitude, beauty, love, & joy - and the realization that reality is much, much broader than this little bit of Stress that we are currently facing in this possibility that we are currently living out.

But, you know, your greatest challenge may not be handling your own stress.  It may be fielding all those around you who are buckling under the wave.  You must have compassion, yet not join them.  It's a delicate dance.  Remember a drowning man often tries to drag down someone swimming out to rescue him.

I don't know that I've got any clear answers here other than to know the waves for what they are and not give them any more power than they very temporarily carry.  Concentrate on the qualities that lift you above the challenges.  Detach from the drama and watch for the sunrise that follows each night.  Calm those around you as best you can.  Hold your life on course and in harmony with your high ideals.  And rally the cries of joy in those around you as the tide shifts.

It's never as dire as it seems, even when it is truly dire.  Expand your vision and realize how insignificant this all really is.  Do everything in life "as if unto God" and depend only upon God & yourself for approval.

Yes, I know that in a perfect spiritual world no wave of stress has any power over us - that a truly spiritual being maintains peace no matter what he or she faces and that we "do not have to participate" in the folly of what the world is doing around us.  But we are also riding this horse called personality.  And the horse still lurches away from a snake in its path, and chomps at the bit trying to run home.  Occasionally the horse must be calmed and reassured, or want to run with the herd.  This is "spiritual horsemanship" here.  First you must know you are the rider, not the horse.  Then you must master the needs of your horse's innate character so you can safely guide it through the various terrains that you must traverse to get to your destination.  In the end a well disciplined horse is a happy horse and a safe one.  Much the same is true for these personalities we are riding.

The soul doesn't have a problem with stress.  But we owe it to the horse (our personalities) to teach them how to traverse a stressful terrain.