Category Archives for stress

Stresses of Country Living

I moved out to the country to live in peace and beauty away from the stresses of the suburbs. It is pretty quiet out here. Unfortunately I discovered country living is not stress-free by any means.

Country living is quite different form living in the suburbs or in a subdivision with houses in your back yard! I get to look out at farmland, hear the cows mooing, all kinds of beautiful song birds singing and the honking sound that gorgeous pheasants make and occasionally coyotes howling. Thankfully I don’t hear that sound too often.

I never knew how stressful living in the country can be.

Every now and then I hear a loud thump against the front picture window. Dang! Another bird that didn’t see the pane and killed itself Not only does that death leave me feeling sad but the awful part is I have to dispose of the dead body. Yikes. That still gets to me! Freaks me out, actually.

Then there are the mice. When the neighborhood cats leave me gifts (dead mice on my patio or near the front door) that too freaks me out.

Of course it is way worse when the dead mouse is in the house! Thankfully I manage to turn on lights to see them rather than find them underfoot. Usually the lights surprise the living mice as much as their presence surprises me. Scream time!

So I also had to learn to dispose of dead mice and to be able to get to sleep when I know I saw the mouse scamper across the room but cannot find it. (I miss my cat who used to catch them—except then he would bring them to me!)

At first I did lose sleep. The sleep deficit built up my stress level. How would you feel about sleeping when you know a mouse is running around your house?

And then there are the spiders everywhere. I pulled back my bedcovers and there was another spider. I moved a rock in my garden and there was a huge black widow spider sitting on that rock.

I never used to kill anything. I still do not like to. But after being bitten multiple times by spiders last year and having been sick from the after effects of those bites for eight months I now kill any living thing in my house that is not human. Note: I did talk with all of them about being in my house. I did warn them.

Remarkably, what freaked me out when I first moved here making me wonder if I wanted to stay, now just bothers me. I can deal with all the animals (oh yes, the raccoons and squirrels too) both alive and dead.

I may not enjoy it but I can do it. And I still jump when I see a mouse zip by—especially because they are so fast I not only cannot catch them I cannot even determine where they went to hide!

My stress level is considerably lower now that I decided I would rather live out here in farm country than closer in to town. I also see how clearly I alone control whether or not some experience is a stressor or not for me.

Stress In Your Environment

Environmental stress appears in many forms. Sometimes it poses a physical threat and sometimes an emotional threat.

As I sat outside writing today I suddenly smelled smoke. Why would that bother me? People often fire up their grills to cook meals.

Yes, true. However I live in the high desert. The hill across the street from my house used to be covered by sagebrush – until fire destroyed all life there.

The hills across the street are very dry since they depend on natural rain to allow them to grow green. Rain in frequently falls here in summer time in the high dessert.

So all that land is very dry.

Here on our residential street our water supply comes from a well. One well feeds all the homes.

If a fire happens that well will not go far to protect homes. Consequently, if I smell smoke I check it out to make certain someone is tending that fire. And yes, I feel stress until I make a determination.

Farmers often burn brush that blocks their irrigation systems. And I noticed many people burn their discarded plants and weeds. So seeing smoke is not really so odd.

As I said I do checkout any smoke source.

So I stopped what I was doing and went down the road looking for smoke. At first I felt very alarmed as I thought I saw smoke pouring forth from a front yard. Thankfully, as I approached that yard I saw it not only was not smoke, it was water spraying a fine mist on the yard and street.

Phew. Stress gone.

I wish it was always that easy to remove stress.

Right now I am wondering if the two dead mice the pest control person removed yesterday are the only mice in my house. I hear noises and I cannot tell if they are squirrels running across the roof or mice in the walls.

Did you know a mouse can fit through a space as small as the diameter of your index finger?  If you live in the country I recommend getting a cat to calm your mind and eliminate the stress.

While I personally don’t feel terrific when a cat brings me a gift of a mouse (and I have no idea if the creature is alive or not) the alternative is not knowing rodents live in your home – destroying your property while leaving unhealthy messes behind.

Hmm. I never realized how critical a part my cat played in keeping my stress levels low. I knew how love and cuddling always left me feeling good. Now I recognize his expert hunting skill kept my house neat, clean and rodent-free.

I guess it is time to look for anther cat.

Stress: Does It Cost Too Much To Avoid Stress

No matter where you live or what you do, stress is part of your life every day. You cannot avoid situations that leave you feeling overworked, overwhelmed or even worried and anxious.

What you can do is change the way you face life’s surprises, ups and downs. You can learn to respond rather than react. And you can take charge of your life by living only in the present moment.

When you live in the now no crisis can exist. In the present you act. Stress happens when you anticipate some future pain. Stop misusing your imagination to create fear, worry and anxious moments!

Instead, spend time and energy enjoying life. Get massages to remove toxins that put stress on your physical body. Relax your muscles. Feel pampered. Regular messages are very beneficial mentally as well as physically.

What?  You say they cost too much?

Regular vacations from the routine reduce stress. Every day you do the same old thing. Monotony actually causes more anxiety than new challenges. You need a change of pace, a change of scene and a change of routine to keep your brain working well, to stay alert and keep expanding your horizons.

What?  You say vacations cost too much?

Exercise gets the kinks out of muscles, oxygenates your body, keeps your blood bright red and lets you sleep better at night. Yes, exercise takes time and effort. Yes, you will have to plan it and actually write it in your schedule. And then do it!

What? You say gym memberships or home equipment costs too much?

Treat yourself to something special when you accomplish goals. They do not need to be large goals. After all, small steps get you to the same destination as giant leaps.

Only small steps better fit your stride. Besides you can take those now. Most important, you can handle the small steps, gain victories and increase your self-confidence for taking the next step.

What? You say celebrating your small victories cost too much?

Do you realize if you fail to counter the effects that stress takes on your body you will wind up with a huge medical bill, maybe lost work, a stay in the hospital or maybe even a heart attack?

How sad a comment that people think it is a waste of time and money to take care of themselves with massages, vacations, exercise, and gifts for themselves. Yet they will spend ten times that amount on the medical bill to recover from the effects of NOT spending the money and time on themselves in a joyful, feel good, I am important manner.

Stress: The Fun Way to Eliminate Stress

You can actually use this one technique to eliminate stress and enjoy yourself in the process. Yes, you read that right. This stress elimination technique can be fun for you and downright entertaining for the partner who assists you in the process.

“Okay then, what is this magic answer?” you ask.

First ask someone to make a commitment to you to assist you when you are ready. It is often helpful for you to choose someone else who, like you, wants to get rid of some stressful issue in their own life. That way you will assist each other creating a win-win situation. Situations where all come out winners usually go smoothly and efficiently.

Take a pen and paper. Write down the stressor. Maybe it is an event or maybe it is circumstance. If it is person then write down the name of the person.

Next go into great and thorough detail describing what happened that left you feeling stressed. Think of every little point no matter how small, that contributes, even today, to your feelings all about the stressor.

The more information you write down the more effective your elimination of the stress will be.

Take your time.  No one will set a timer or criticize you for taking too long.

Let your partner know when you are done writing all the details. As soon as your partner agrees he or she is ready for the next step simply decide who gets to go first.

Okay, now the person who goes first, take your full story about the event that continues to stress you out. Get comfortable and tell your partner to get comfortable too.

Now read what\you wrote –include all the details! Just plow right through it until you finish revealing every item and feeling on your papers.

Your partner’s job is simply to listen – no commenting, no opinions – just listen.

When you finish your partner says, “Thank you. Will you please share it again.”

Okay, so you read it all over again. And when you finish your partner offers the same response, “Thank you for sharing. Please read it again.”

After about the forth reading your words will begin to sound silly. As you continue to read your story over and over again you will find yourself becoming detached from the emotions of the story, seeing the event for what it truly was – just a meaningless event in time and space. Not relevant to your life today in this moment.

As you read your tale of woe you will notice how silly it sounds and chances are you and your partner will start to laugh out loud. Each reading will bring more laughter until you decide to chuck the stressor and the story because it no longer wields any power over you.

Stress and Time

The concept of linear times leads to most of the stress in life. Living in the now eliminates what drives us to fear and worry .

Stress happens when you misuse your imagination. When you take a memory out of your past and project it into your future as a possible event you feel stress. You worry about something happening.

In fact, you experience the awful scenario in your imagination. Only your imagination has not way to tell what you are making up and what you actually experience in the moment. So for you, that imagined event is really happening.

You cause your stress by failing to live in the present moment. All life happens ONLY in the present moment. When you remember to live in the now you eliminate your main source of stress.

What if you knew that all time is simultaneous and everything happens no? What if you had no vocabulary to expresses either a past or a future? What if you only had a present tense language? Could you function in such a state?

If you had no way to refer to what already happened – all the misery and hurt, all the pain of your past that burdens you today, zapping your energy before you even get out of bed each morning – all of it would cease to exist.

Similarly fear would fail to materialize. Fear is anticipation of pain. If there is no future in your paradigm then you cannot anticipate any pain.

Do you know there are cultures and some religious sects that do not have any tense except the present? The Native Navaho and Native Hopi Languages only use a present tense. Some Buddhists Monks too live in that belief system.

For them trying to comprehend how you and I think makes no sense. Thinking about your past, dredging it up to re-experience it now or worrying about a future that likely will never come to pass all seem incomprehensible.

Just as you see their world as an impossibility.

Last night I was listening to Dr. David Anderson speak about Time Travel. Yes, that reality exists and he is an expert in the field. He said he often asks people to carry on a conversation without using any past or future tense words.

Dr. Anderson remarked that people cannot make it past 20-30 seconds without going either into the past or into the future when they talk. What a powerful commentary on how unfamiliar living in the present moment and only in this present moment is for people in Western society.

No wonder you endure so much stress! Dragging around all that luggage and dreading the future – it zaps your energy. You have nothing left for the present moment.

How would your life be different if you live in the now to the exclusion of past and future? How would living only in the now impact your level of stress?