“In psychology, stress is a feeling of strain and pressure. Small amounts of stress may be desired, beneficial, and even healthy. Positive stress helps improve athletic performance and plays a factor in motivation, adaptation, and reaction to the environment. Excessive amounts of stress, however, may lead to bodily harm; increase the risk of strokes, heart attacks, ulcers, and mental illnesses such as depression. Stress can be external and related to the environment but may also be created by internal perceptions that cause an individual to experience anxiety or other negative emotions surrounding a situation, such as pressure, discomfort, etc., which they then deem stressful” (Wikipedia)
Stress is an inseparable part of the human experience. It is a state of alertness to a dangerous situation appearing in the present time. It may be a real life threatening challenge or an imaginary perception provoked by negative thoughts and feelings. These thoughts create physiological changes in the body and evoke responses in order to enable us to better deal with the situation at hand.
The human brain receives messages from several sources, each dealing with separate types of information. Input dealing with everyday matters such as news, weather, music, jobs, relationships etc. these messages come from the external world. Our own bodies as well provide data concerning movement, digestion, tension, pain, and more, all in the form of message units sent to the brain.
The conscious mind deals with reasoning and logic, goal planning and conscious activities. The unconscious mind, which includes both the subconscious and the super-conscious, wields the greatest influence. It receives all the message units from our social, spiritual and genetic background, all the conflicts and disturbances which enter our consciousness each day. The unconscious mind receives and holds its information, neither accepting nor rejecting the messages. It does not evaluate nor judge. That procedure is served for the conscious mind.
From primitive times humans as well as animals possessed an escape mechanism that under severely threatening conditions can cause a regression to this primitive behavior. This response is called the Flight, Fight, or Freeze syndrome. It is a means to dealing with fears, threats, attacks and other dangerous situations. When the conscious mind can no longer handle the message units overloading the brain this mechanism kicks in preparing us to deal with the new situation by increasing the heart rate ,blood pressure, cortisone levels, sugar, providing us with super strength to fight, flight or freeze. It is a very important natural response in dangerous and life threatening situations. However, in situations that are caused by negative thoughts and emotions the same response will occur and the person will experience major stress, anxiety and even a panic attack.
Medicine today recognizes stress as a major cause in many diseases, if not most. And the answer to this dilemma is to reduce stress and change the beliefs and behaviors that have been part of the client’s subjective reality.
The most effective way to reduce stress is to practice daily self-Hypnosis and Meditation.
In Hypnosis the focus is on relaxation, positive images and feelings, while the subconscious mind creates a new realty free of stress and anxiety. It takes time and effort to quiet the mind but the benefits are beyond the imagination.
Take 20 minutes a day practicing self-hypnosis and you will find tremendous changes and positive long lasting effects in all areas of your life.
I can help you achieve this goal and change your life.