One of my favorite stories is the one where the family comes to the old Rabbi in town who hears and judges all the woes of the townspeople. The head of the family says"Rabbi our house is too small...we have to move away" the Rabbi says "before you go try this...take all the animals in the farm and put them inside your house...then take all the outdoor farm tools and equiptment and put them inside the house as well" the head of the house says "ok" and goes home and puts all the farm equiptment and tools inside the house along with all the farm animals. He goes back to the Rabbi and says "Rabbi...my house was too small before but now it is really too small!". The Rabbi says "Good... now take out all the farm equiptment and take out all the farm animals and let me know what happens". So the head of the family goes home and takes out all the farm animals and all the farm equiptment and suddenly they have all the room they need! The head of the family comes back to the Rabbi and tells him how happy they are now in their big new house!
I laugh every time I hear this story because, of course, the size of the house never changes just the point of view of the family. Rabbis are so wise... people forget point of view changes by the hour and the circumstance. Perspective is hard to maintain, particularly, when we are under stressful situations. How we feel right now is not a true indication of how we will always feel. Yet hurt feelings and words spoken in fear or anger may change relationships with the ones we love for a very long time.
Situations change and people change and what may lie ahead for us might not be in our control. Acknowledging this and being okay with it will help lower stress. Stress is an emotion, but it is also a physical assault on the body. Inflammation is a direct response to stress. We can view inflammation by site when we see a cut on our skin and the redness that results. If the cut goes untreated we feel soreness and perhaps infection. These symptoms happen inside the body as well. We feel pain and could have infection in areas of our bodies that are affected with stress if left untreated. Medical science is linking many diseases such as Diabetes, Heart Disease and Alzheimers to inflammation as a source. To reduce the inflammation, research is finding is to reduce the stress, and that requires some form of quieting of the mind. Meditation and yoga or exercise everyday for even just ten minutes can help center your spirit and lower your stress. Try it what can you lose?
