Cultivate a Stressless Life

[Anders Lindman]

Aim at reducing stress in the now AND in the future. So that you gradually shift more and more into inner peace.

[size_of_light]

Everywhere you look something is trying to catch your attention and agitate you into a restless state, which is stress.

[bulletproofheart]

Easier said than done.I could attract trouble on a desert island.

[Anders Lindman]

Everywhere you look something is trying to catch your attention and agitate you into a restless state, which is stress.

Yes! The external world has programmed us to become very stressful and KEEP us stressful. :eek::mad:

[Anders Lindman]

Easier said than done.I could attract trouble on a desert island.

We have and are cultivating stress, moment by moment. So a radical reversal of that is needed. Not so easy perhaps, but it could be done bit by bit, a small step at a time.

[size_of_light]

Yes! The external world has programmed us to become very stressful and KEEP us stressful. :eek::mad:

The problem doesn't lie in the things that we look at, it lies in the looker himself.

(stops to catch a fly between two chopsticks. Eats it.)

[unusual_suspect]

Aim at reducing stress in the now AND in the future. So that you gradually shift more and more into inner peace.

Do you not think that there are also positive stresses, I have to say that while I hate being overly stressed I do enjoy feeling a certain amount of healthy stress.

I don't know whether stress is the correct term, maybe tension or excitemnet is a better way of describing it, it's what makes you feel energised, motivated and alive.

Maybe we need to get better at discerning whether stresses are healthy or unhealthy?

[Anders Lindman]

The problem doesn't lie in the things that we look at, it lies in the looker himself.

(stops to catch a fly between two chopsticks. Eats it.)

Yes, but the looker himself/herself has been programmed from the external world with stress-promoting 'programs'/memes.

[Anders Lindman]

Do you not think that there are also positive stresses, I have to say that while I hate being overly stressed I do enjoy feeling a certain amount of healthy stress.

I don't know whether stress is the correct term, maybe tension or excitemnet is a better way of describing it, it's what makes you feel energised, motivated and alive.

Maybe we need to get better at discerning whether stresses are healthy or unhealthy?

I'm suspicious about the term 'positive stress'. I believe there is such thing, but that the term positive stress is wrong for that state. A better description would be a high activity state. High activity doesn't need stress. The difference between stress and healthy high activity is that stress doesn't feel good, while healthy high activity feels good.

[unusual_suspect]

I'm suspicious about the term 'positive stress'. I believe there is such thing, but that the term positive stress is wrong for that state. A better description would be a high activity state. High activity doesn't need stress. The difference between stress and healthy high activity is that stress doesn't feel good, while healthy high activity feels good.

That's exactly what I mean :) I am a firm believer that passive activities are not always the most relaxing and best for dissapating stress. I really enjoy physical activities, I am going for a run when I have finished this post, once I am running through the forest I will be entering an almost meditative state even though I will be hot and sweaty.

Sincve I have moved to the forest I have been out for loads of walks and have really cultivated more of a connection with nature, it's been highly beneficial, I can recommend it as a good way of reducing stress.

[Anders Lindman]

That's exactly what I mean :) I am a firm believer that passive activities are not always the most relaxing and best for dissapating stress. I really enjoy physical activities, I am going for a run when I have finished this post, once I am running through the forest I will be entering an almost meditative state even though I will be hot and sweaty.

Sincve I have moved to the forest I have been out for loads of walks and have really cultivated more of a connection with nature, it's been highly beneficial, I can recommend it as a good way of reducing stress.

That's an important distinction. Reducing stress isn't equal with low activity.

[size_of_light]

Yes, but the looker himself/herself has been programmed from the external world with stress-promoting 'programs'/memes.

(sorry...still swallowing that damn fly - urrrch!)

Yes, but there is a looker behind that looker who sees what's going on, and that looker is free. The programmers know this and know that their powers can never extend into who you really are, which is why they spend so much time and so much intense and desperate effort trying to draw you outside of yourself and into a fabricated, external identity that they can completely control and manipulate.

But the looker who sees this is free.

And that looker is you.

(spits out a fly wing in disgust)

[Anders Lindman]

I have observed in myself that my mind is working in stressful directions. It would be smarter to steer the mind towards reduced stress. So that the thinking becomes directed to stressless actions and plans.

[Anders Lindman]

(sorry...still swallowing that damn fly - urrrch!)

Yes, but there is a looker behind that looker who sees what's going on, and that looker is free. The programmers know this and know that their powers can never extend into who you really are, which is why they spend so much time and so much intense and desperate effort trying to draw you outside of yourself and into a fabricated, external identity that they can completely control and manipulate.

But the looker who sees this is free.

And the looker is you.

(spits out a fly wing in disgust)

That's the trick. To start to recognize the programs that have been hammered into us. The 'normal' way of being is to just act through the stress programs without questioning them.

[Anders Lindman]

One benefit with reducing stress is that we then can start to feel MORE. It's a mistake to believe that reducing stress makes us feel less. The opposite is true. When our stress becomes too high the body starts to numb out feelings, because the stress has made them too painful for the mind and body to handle. So the stress makes the body stiff and rigid, and the hidden pain can sometimes appear as back pain, neck pain and so on, but usually the pain is numbed out.

[Anders Lindman]

A tricky thing is that the mind uses past experiences to plan future actions. So our stressful actions perpetuate themselves into the future. The mind thinks: "That required a lot of strain and effort in the past, so it will require the same things in the future."

It's better to look for less strain and effort for our future actions. The less effort we need for our actions, the more powerful we can make them.