WHAT IS STRESS? _________________     I believe that the word stress is merely a convenient way of explaining away certain behaviours and feelings that people get when they are bombarded by a plethora of data from which they cannot construct information. This leaves them confused and unable to cope.     The notion of stress (the feeling of the inability to cope) is that it contains s number of issues (data) which are at logger-heads with each other and appear to be un-resolvable at the time. This leads to anxiety.     Any sort of relief from this feeling of not being able to cope (i.e. some sort of 'stress' management) must reflect the knowledge of the above points. Most 'stress' management programmes do not address this. The issue would be to treat the various factors producing the 'stress'. One cannot treat the whole thing but the individual causes. In other words, performing certain rites, such as meditation, may alleviate the feeling for a brief period but it does not help in the long-run. Unless the issues can be resolved individually, then there can only be temporary relief.     I have been to a few 'stress' management courses (not something I would normally do, but part of my work) and they have done nothing for me at all (except annoy me). One thing is that I do not suffer from stress because I do not allow myself to be bombarded by useless data over which I can have no control.     This useless data is what is produced by the media (especially, corporate media; that is, media that is owned by one or a very few people and over which only they have control). It is mostly negative. Without some positive thoughts, the negative ones conflict with each other, providing the ground for the so-called 'stress'. Positive thoughts tend to stick together and do not conflict.     I believe there may be some (small) entertainment value in media (T.V., radio, newspapers, magazines and so forth) but otherwise it is negative and useless. We have enough to think about living our own lives, without worrying about other people over whom we can have little or no control.     Dreaming is a natural remedy for resolving everyday conflicting data. When the day is finally under the bed-covers, we dream; every night, at various times. The myriad data of the day is resolved into dreams that seem to make sense at the time but not later. Thus 'dream interpretation' is highly suspect, in my view. The most well-known dream interpreter was Freud, but then he only analysed people with severe problems, not 'ordinary' people.     Here's a little story I read years ago in a Reader's Digest magazine; I loved it!     A man went to bed and dreamt that he had solved the mystery of the universe. When he awoke he could not remember the answer. Determined, he put a pad and pencil by the bed and eventually had the same dream. He managed to wake and write down the answer. Satisfied, he went back to sleep. In the morning, he awoke and remembering the dream, he reached for the note-pad. On it, he had written: 'The skin is mightier than the banana'. Interpret that as you will!     A possible strategy for feeling better able to cope with your life     Forget listening to the news, reading newspapers and so forth; forget listening to the constant racket from the radio. Choose your time to listen to what you wish to hear. You do not need all this other stuff.  Try is for a few days, the withdrawal symptoms will soon disappear. See how much better you feel. If you don't feel good, nor will those others around you.     'But I'm in a stressful job,' I hear you say. Why? What elements of your job cause you to feel this way? Unless you can determine what they are, you cannot feel better. These things will not go away until you try to understand them. What is happening, is that you are probably taking in too much conflicting data, most of it some form of back-ground noise. Perhaps one thing at a time. Some people can take in more, most can't.     Replace negative thoughts with positive ones. You know thoughts are negative when they make you feel 'bad'. The opposite, for positive ones. It may take time but it is the only way to remain sane. Everything you have ever experienced from pre-birth is recorded. This recording stays with you every second of your life from thereon. You cannot erase it (if you could, you would not be the person you are now).  However, you can change your neural pathways for the better and make new ones. Positive experiences (and how you look at different experiences is up to you) make new recordings. Enough of them can block the negative thoughts and leave you feeling that your life is worthwhile. It is surprising how small a positive thought has to be to make you feel better. Looking forward to doing something, for example, that you like doing can take a large chunk of negativeness away.     It does not matter what awful experiences you have or have had, these can all be changed by creating new, positive ones.     It is your choice to do this. Time perhaps, to take a look at yourself but not be frightened by what you find or what others may or may not think.

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