By 
Stress is something no one is immune to. We all experience it in one way or another, and we have different triggers that set off our stress alarms. It all comes down to how we react to the situations we find ourselves in, and believe it or not, it’s not the situation we’re stressed about, it’s our emotional reaction to it. Personal triggers play a huge role in “why” we allow stress to overwhelm us. We’ll talk about personal triggers in detail in the next article.
Learning to deal with stress is difficult for most people because we are programmed at a very young age to react to certain stimuli in a very specific way. Once we become aware of these programmed response patterns, we can overcome them. Stress management has to become a conscious act on our part, otherwise the patterns will keep repeating themselves. One of the first steps to overcoming this programming is to become aware of our stress habits.
Stress habits can range from programmed emotional responses, such as anger and fear, to physical responses, such as headaches and muscle tension. Our bodies are trained to react in a certain way, and will always follow what the mind tells them to do. This is why it is so important to become aware of our thought patterns. We literally need to teach our bodies to react differently to personal triggers generated by our minds.
We can change programmed emotional responses, like anger and fear, by catching ourselves in the moment it starts. It may feel uncomfortable for some, but since our bodies react to our thoughts, we need to start talking internally with our bodies. When we feel angry or fearful, we should stop and ask ourselves why we feel that way. It’s easy to justify our own anger and fear by blaming someone or something else, but at some point we must take responsibility for our emotional reactions. Sometimes people will make us angry and we will feel like we have every right to be angry. But if we are ever going to control our reaction to stressful stimuli, we have to control ourselves. A person or situation will only make us angry if we allow it to. That is something we are always in control of.
We also control our physical reactions to stress. Reactions like tension headaches and muscle pain can be controlled once we allow our bodies to relax and react in a different way. No matter what situation we find ourselves in, we can usually take a moment to stop and get in touch with our mind/body connection. The key is to stop the stress response before it spirals out of control and ask ourselves what is causing our emotional reaction to the situation. Why are we angry? Defensive? Fearful? Frustrated? Locate the answer to that, and suddenly we are in control of our emotions, instead of our emotions controlling us. At this point, we can change the way we react to the situation.
Unresolved chronic stress will lead to an overwhelmed nervous system, and an overwhelmed nervous system will lead to anxiety and negative physical reactions. Our bodies will always respond this way, and until we take conscious steps to change it, they will continue to do so. Our bodies don’t know how to do it differently until we teach them. Our thoughts play a powerful role in how our bodies react. Telling our body, “No! We’re going to react differently this time!” will start a chain reaction within the body. Most people feel that our bodies are a separate entity that we have no control over. This is not the case. Remember, our bodies react the way we tell them to. Therefore, taking control of our emotional reactions and telling our body to react differently will lead to better control of our stress. Better stress management will lead to a healthy, well-balanced nervous system, and a healthy, well-balanced nervous system means less anxiety and negative physical symptoms.
Our minds and bodies are not separate. The thought process that takes place in our mind will dictate how the body reacts. Reprogramming the mind/body connection requires effort on our part. But if we stay focused and aware of the signals we are sending to our bodies, we can change this programming. It won’t happen overnight (at least for most), but keep it up. If our intention is strong and focused, our ability to handle stressful situations will be under control.
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