Mounting Stress...

Mounting Stress...

has been linked to a myriad of physical illnesses and mental health issues.

Should you worry?

With the frenetic trance of the holidays safely concluded, we may delude ourselves that the delirium is over, but life has a way of always providing new stressors while the steady old instigators remain fanned by the billowing bellows of unrelenting upheavals.

The importance of lowering chronic stress levels has been highly researched for decades, and mandates securing practical means to allay the contributing causative factors that not only disrupt your mind and day but impinge upon overall wellness.

What measures help you deactivate the tension?

Daily stressful stimuli, such as looming deadlines, prolific ever-growing to-do lists, overcompensating, and ceaseless self-sacrificing, release cortisol and adrenaline, which trigger the propulsive and wired fight-or-flight response, an age-old firestorm that ignites extra energy by increasing physiological and catabolic processes like glycogenolysis in the liver initiating the instantaneous break down of stored glycogen into glucose to deal with all these surging urgent matters.

Although helpful in dire situations that require fleeing or fighting, when this sequence is perpetually firing and governing as the norm, the body is set ablaze with rampant inflammation and a significantly reduced ability to return to calmness.

Even if it is an under-the-radar burn, it still smolders and interferes with homeostasis by ignoring immune system protocols and reproduction pathways including hormones and neurotransmitters and deploys cellular aging that will accumulate and manifest visibly with dreaded sagging, wrinkles, and uneven pigmentation.

Inflammation negatively impacts internal organs and systems as well as exteriorly qualifying as an equal opportunity offender that wreaks havoc in the chromosomes, impacting its telomeres that trigger aging by shortening from routine cell division but can be spurred on and exacerbated by poor lifestyle choices and you guessed it - chronic stress.

Because cortisol stimulates the release of glucose into the bloodstream for that necessary energy burst, insulin then rushes in to store what is not expended as fat, and unabated production of the combination of cortisol and insulin can lead to insulin resistance and other serious health issues.

There is hope.

Mindfulness meditation is a psychological process that cognitively interrupts stress pathways and therefore can soothe the noise in the mind and the inciting chemicals that seize the body in a minute or so, by harnessing an intense awareness of one's thoughts, emotions, and feelings in the present moment but without judgement or analysis.

Simply observe them as they emerge and allow the feelings to come and gently pass after acknowledging and accepting them.

Feelings are neither right nor wrong and change by the minute.

It is important to keep one's attention in the present moment not the past or future where most overwhelming and usurping thoughts antagonistically dwell.

A quiet place in a comfortable sitting position in lose clothing facilitate the ease.

Take deep breaths while sensing your body and the environment.

It can be beneficial to envision tension falling from your being also.

Focusing on the breath promotes grounding and the ability to return to the task at hand should distractions arise.

Assess how you are feeling in the moment, tap into bodily sensations, and let the emotions flow.

Recall you are only observing, not interacting with or scrutinizing.

A wandering or distracted mind is common in particular for novices, but do not be discouraged.

Relax and redirect your mind back to the present moment and deep breathing.

Mindfulness aids in self-regulation and can be as long or short as needed, and will boast tranquility, which slants the body into the parasympathetic mode of rest, digest, and heal by reducing ruminating thoughts and stress arousal.

This simple technique can be done at anytime and anywhere, and even a brief sitting will dampen the flickering tenacity of stress and inflammation.

An internal focal point can be beneficial for some folks, such as an image or word like 'breathe' or a vision of a flower as well as external objects like a statue or picture.

This free and easy modality is powerful and effective.

You have nothing to lose except your stress and inflammation.

Even a minute can reset your system to a more tranquil baseline.

This quietude and stillness will clear a rushed and mindless agenda, permitting intuition to flow and revealing God's guidance and whispering wisdom to be heard.

How Divine.

~ "Pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words...for they are life to those who find them," Proverbs 4:20-22. ~

HEaling Link® will meet Tuesday, January 21, 2025, at 7:30pm via Zoom. For more information, please contact Jackie: HEalingLink03@gmail.com Isn't it time to get Linked?