This post follows on from my earlier article Why Stress Does Not Exist.
It was Hans Selye who first coined the word ‘Stress’ in relation to non-specific illnesses. Contrary to popular myth, Selye did not say that ‘Stress’ caused illness. What he meant was that if the individual fails to adapt to adverse Life Events then a breakdown in body functions could occur. Examples of ‘bad’ life events include job loss, relationship breakdown, financial disaster, overwork and illness.
When the brain is working properly you will be grounded, happy, self-aware, decisive, passionate, magnetic, clear-thinking and focused on achieving your goals. But more than this you will be resilient – able to ride all the disasters that come your way and overcome what people used to call ‘stress’.
In this article I summarize the mind-skills you need to practice to make your brain work properly.
I wrote in my last article my that ‘stress’ is a meaningless term.
When we say we are ‘ill with stress’ we mean that we have anxiety, depression, or something like chronic fatigue syndrome, all of which have solutions and on all of which I have written elsewhere.
When we say ‘I am stressed’ what we mean is that we are overwhelmed with life-problems. Which means that we lack resilience.
Resilience is what survivors and other successful people have. You won’t hear resilient people say ‘I am stressed‘. Instead they will say something like: ‘Life’s tough at the moment but I’m dealing with it’. That’s because these people know about the power of words – telling yourself that you are stressed can make you ill, while telling others that you are working on resilience will keep you well.
