Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), the German author of Faust and other literary works, once wrote:

“Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.”

We need to have our priorities in proper order for our own individual goals and responsibilities. It is easy to become caught up in trivial issues that have no real impact on the more important issues that may actually affect our health and well-being. My understanding of stress is an excess of focused attention to a particular issue that may become a detriment to one’s health and well-being of their mind, body, or spiritual awareness. This extra attention can make its way into our thoughts through our senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. As our sensory organs receive potential negative input, and relay signals to the brain, our nervous system will make adjustments to the various organ systems and chemistry of the blood throughout our bodies. Stress hormones affect the organs and overall health of the individual leading us back to a potential vicious circle of our health affecting our thoughts and emotions and causing more stress back throughout the body.

Some stress is actually needed for us to be able to manage the ups and downs we encounter in daily life. I have come to understand that everyone manages stress with their own unique skill set of coping mechanisms and available resources. What is quite stressful for one person may be a minor inconvenience for others. Similarly, when someone experiences some type of traumatic event, they may later experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), whereas another individual with different coping skills may come to experience post-traumatic growth (PTG). PTG is the term for what may happen when a person who struggles psychologically from trauma and adversity, may come to experience positive, transformative changes in their behavior and mindset (Collier, 2016). Either way, I think that most people try not to be stressed or traumatized, but when they do experience either, there is a wide variety of self-regulation skills that one can access. I have been introduced to various theories such as self-efficacy theory (SET) and self-determination theory (SDT) where individuals can be active participants in how they manage their own thoughts, emotions, and relative actions (Simons-Morton & Lodyga, 2021).

I think everyone has stress on some level in their daily lives. However, I have been fortunate to figure out at an early age that the most important things in my life is my mind, body and spiritual awareness. Once I learned that this is a universal truth that is hard to debate, I realized that everything is connected to the balance and well-being of our physical body, our mental understanding, and an awareness of a higher power along with a sense of purpose or life direction. With the prior being said, I still do experience the daily mundane stresses of tasks, work-related circumstances, interactions with people, studying for this course and a host of other issues many others deal with also. However, I realize that I am the one controlling my thoughts, emotions, and actions, and consequently, I determine how much or how little stress I allow to manifest in my life.

I am currently managing my stress by monitoring my diet and appropriate nutrition, exercising consistently by practicing of sitting, standing, and moving meditation methods like tai chi, qigong, and other martial arts, as well as some resistance/weight training, and cardiovascular exercises, while trying to get about 7-8 hours of sleep. I have studied and practiced many sleep methods/behaviors and their relationship with exercise, meditation, and other mind/body practices. What we do or don’t do during our waking hours can determine the quality of our sleep at night. Conversely, how well we sleep, and duration can affect the quality of our waking hours also. Practicing stress relieving exercises and behaviors during the day such as yoga, mindful breathing, meditation, tai chi, (A Prescription for Tai Chi? A UCLA Researcher Works to Position This Ancient Mind-body Practice Into Mainstream Medicine Nationwide. – Document – Gale General OneFile, 2024) and many other physical exercise methods, can help the mind and body to better process information and rejuvenate during the sleep stages. Mental output and activity often become stressful when we try to work, manage family duties, solve finances, and manage hundreds of other daily tasks. A good night’s rest is most often earned by what we eat, what we think, and what types of physical activity/exercise we practice throughout the day. This is what I have learned and experienced from my own anecdotal experiences.

References:

Collier, L. (2016). Growth after trauma. https://www.apa.org. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2016/11/growth-trauma

Simons-Morton, Bruce; Lodyga, Marc. (2021) Behavior Theory in Public Health Practice and Research. Jones & Bartlett Learning. Kindle Edition. 

A Prescription for Tai Chi? A UCLA researcher works to position this ancient mind-body practice into mainstream medicine nationwide. (2024, March). Healthy Years, 21(3), 1+. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A783577598/ITOF?u=vol_vsc&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=07847cf8

I teach and offer lectures about holistic health, physical fitness, stress management, human behavior, meditation, phytotherapy (herbs), music for healing, self-massage (acupressure), Daoyin (yoga), qigong, tai chi, and baguazhang.

Please contact me if you, your business, organization, or group might be interested in hosting me to speak on a wide range of topics related to better health, fitness, and well-being.

I look forward to further sharing my message by partnering with hospitals, wellness centers, VA centers, schools on all levels, businesses, and individuals who see the value in building a stronger nation through a healthier population.

I also have hundreds of FREE education video classes, lectures, and seminars available on my YouTube channel at:

https://www.youtube.com/c/MindandBodyExercises

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http://www.Amazon.com/author/jimmoltzan

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https://mindandbodyexercises.wordpress.com/

http://www.MindAndBodyExercises.com

Mind and Body Exercises on Google: https://posts.gle/aD47Qo

Jim Moltzan

407-234-0119