Why are we constantly stressed?
“ You can’t always control what goes on outside but you can always control what goes on inside”
— Wayne Dyer
Why are we constantly stressed? Even when we take care of ourselves, even when eat well, exercise regularly, do the things we are “supposed” to do. Why do we still feel on edge so often?
Recently, I was talking to a friend who just had gone through a series of health problems, all stress related. As she described the succession of happenings, she also mentioned how she didn’t think she was (that) stressed.
It turns out we have a very high tolerance to what I like to call, “familar uncomfortabilty”, a place we can really hang on to for a while.
We often think of stress as an outside source, despite knowing in theory it’s not, often it’s either the work, the traffic, the lack of time, a difficult person. (I’m not talking about deep traumas issues for this matter here)
When, in fact, stress has to do with our internal reality, with our reactions based on the accumulation of emotions we didn’t process, creating this pressure inside of us which needs to be released. It has very little to do with outside circumstances but everything to do with our responses, our patterns.
I find for myself it has to do with the need to control, with saying yes when I want to say no, not setting boundaries, not carving time to be alone which can lead to resentment. When I resent, my stress level is really high. Every single thing irritates me, taking me off my center much easier.
The reason we stay in this cycle is because instead of treating the cause of stress, we treat the reactions of stress in the body. We turn to all kinds to treatments, exercise regime, diet (which it’s all great to improve our health) but we somehow avoid/skip looking into what’s underlying in all of these emotions. What are they telling us? What are your strategies to avoid them? What are the patterns of reactions to all the triggers? It's giving us information the whole time, talking to us, we are just “too busy” to listen.
This is why leaning into our emotions is the foundation work for true healing, real expansion. How do we lean into emotions? By practicing, by meditating, by being compassionate, by opening up.
Stress makes us harsh, defensive, makes us crawl right back under the shell so we can avoid feeling like anything can set us up on fire, so we try really try hard to protect ourselves while at the same time avoid going to where it hurts, where it’s uncomfortable and by doing so we get fragmented, we lose our center, we lose our energy, our body gets sick.
Start noticing the signs, what are your emotions are telling you, listen to your body, change the perspective when finding yourself in a stressful moment, it's not coming from outside, it’s simply telling you how you interact with life’s circumstances.
With Love,
Mariana
This and other concepts are what we are working on EGO: online workshop. This is a 5 day online workshop, you can access from anywhere in the world at your own pace and schedule - it doesn't need to be done in consecutive days. It's a series of practices, guided meditations and texts to support you to expand. $38 More info and sign up here.