It’s not the stress, but how you see it and handle it which influences your short and long term habits, health and the effects on your mind and body.
It’s Our Reaction
We need to learn to respond rather than react. The way to do this is to try to use mindfulness. Recognize the reaction for what it is, which is usually a trigger from past conditioning.
First step:
Recognize when you are stressed, or what emotional eating triggers are there
Tune in.
Become aware.
Next Step:
Use mindfulness instead of going on autopilot:
When a stressful or challenging situation comes up, you can say to yourself, “Here is a stressful situation". Conditioning yourself to observe becomes a muscle that you can develop. Each time the situation comes up again, it becomes a little easier to be mindful and aware that the same pattern is surfacing.
Kabat- Zinn suggests, stressful situations become like wind on the ocean creating waves on the surface when a challenging situation arises. When you react, the waves start.
How can you go deep down into the calm below the choppy surface, to the swelling of the belly, to your deep abdominal breathing perhaps? Take a minute to locate your peaceful center in the sea of madness. And this time, make a better choice!
When we are being conscious in the present moment we are able to recognize the agitations for what they are:
• thoughts
• feelings
• sensations
• opinions
• jumps to a conclusion
It's all about practice, the more you practice the better you get at it. Let me know how you make out!
