A Viable Response to Today's Stress
The holidays are legendary for being times of stress. Add to that the economic stress related to declining housing prices and mortgage defaults and we get what I'm hearing; more and more competent and responsible people telling me they're stressed out.
We are well served by being conscious of how we choose to respond to stress. The two broadest categories are to compound the problem by denial (overeating, drinking, excessive sleep or excessive anything) or to resolve the stress by acceptance, re centering and appropriate action.
With all the extra food and rink available during the holidays, it's easy to try to "drink our sorrows away". Only one problem; it doesn't work.
More and more people I know are turning to meditation in one form or another. In meditation we slow down and listen. The more we do that the more aware we are of our blessings and resources. Personally when I slow my mind down enough I feel warmth inside and an over riding sense of well being. I am calm, at peace and confident that the decisions I make in this state will be good ones. My problems and difficulties are still there, but all of the sudden I'm confident in my ability to effectively address them. From all I've heard, read and seen; I'm confident everyone has the capacity to find this state within them selves. Sure, it takes work, commitment and discipline; and I can tell you from experience, it's worth it.
Deep down we know we are loving caring capable beings. We just need constant reminding of what we know. One of the greatest benefits of meditation is we become more aware of what we know. When I meditate I experience the strength and power of the light, truth. I feel the magnitude of that power overwhelm the strength of my difficulties. I know I'm OK and will continue to be OK.
If you would like to try meditation and don't know where to start, I recommend the book "Meditation" by Eknath Eswaran available at
www.nilgiri.org. There is no better use of our time, effort and money than to open the doors to our own wisdom, strength, love and peace.
Scott Friedman
Mortgage Broker
(Including Reverse Mortgages)
805 383 2545