Because of everything that’s going on in the world right now, many people are experiencing stress and its side effects on the body and mind. In this episode, I discuss the causes of toxic stress and offer a few suggestions for dealing with it.
Highlights
- Toxic stress often starts early in childhood and continues throughout life. This can lead to many physical and emotional problems.
- Most major diseases are caused by stress. I give examples.
- Stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol are meant to be released for short periods. When you’re under constant stress it wears out body parts and systems.
- You can teach yourself to manage stress, but first you have to make the decision to do it.
- If you’re always trying to make things happen rather than allowing things to happen, that can cause stress.
- When you feel uptight that’s a signal that you are responding to the external world in an unhealthy way.
- Notice when you feel contracted. That’s when you’re under stress. Take a deep breath and imagine you’re expanding.
- It’s the pushing to make things happen and to reach specific goals that cause a problem.
- Wanting to be the best parent and being hyper-vigilant about your children’s activities can cause stress.
- You get to decide how you want to respond to the stressors in your life.
- If you decide to treat yourself differently and do things like eliminating negative self-talk, within a year or two you’ll feel entirely different from the way you feel now.
- If you’re taking responsibility for other people’s feelings or outcomes, that’s a stressor.
- When you’re with people, look for commonalities not differences.
- Having more money is not going to solve your problems. As a matter of fact, it often causes more problems.
Having body work done is a way of reducing some stress.
