| Your health improves when you are a loving person... |
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There is no stress in the present moment. Think about that for a moment. No stress. No draining your body's vital energy. No adrenaline, hyper-tension, headaches, or other "hard to explain" aches and pains. When you're "in the present", you are stress-free. How can this be? It's so simple, it's scary. In the present moment, you're fine. You have clothes on your back, food in your stomach and somebody somewhere who loves you. All stress is caused by past & future-based thoughts. Thoughts about past events (Oh-h - oh, she's mad at me!) and future anxieties (If I'm late, he'll be so ticked off with me!) or (If I don't get this done, I'm dead meat!) You are the one in control of these thoughts. No one is making you think what you think. Therefore it stands to reason that you are the only one who can do something to stop them - to break the overthinking, analytical, anxiety-ridden cycle that is wearing out your body - prematurely! The antidote to stress is acceptance. When you feel confident you can handle the consequences of what's happening, you'll start accepting what's happening, without feeling a wave of fear coursing through your veins. Here's what happened to my health over the course of six years as I began to live more and more in the present: I lost 15 pounds effortlessly AND I don't put weight back on, no matter what I eat. Of course, I eat sensibly because I'm centered and at peace and have no reason to gorge or pig out. My blood pressure dropped from 110/80 to 94/60 over a six year period. I should mention that I stopped exercising during the last 3 years. And my heart rate dropped from low seventies to high fifties.... I healed myself of Tinnitus (ringing in the ears), early signs of Colitis (bleeding from the bowels) and Bursitis (right shoulder). All gone. These are the weak spots in my body that began to break down under the stress and tension I was feeling. They have disappeared without medical intervention (I had each of these thoroughly examined by doctors- they found nothing). Do you know what your body's weak spots are? Take a moment and list them now. These are part of the REAl YOU. And your body never tells a lie. Your body is always in the present moment. Want proof? Try to feel yesterday's pain. Right now. It can't be done. Physical pain is always in the present, never past or future. These cures are not a miracle. They are the result of feeling clear, centered, calm and focused day in and day out, with almost no adrenaline aging my body at twice its normal rate... Dr. Richard Earle and Dr. David Imrie have proven the ravaging effects of stress on our bodies, and provide ways to measure your own "rapid aging" in their excellent book, Your Vitality Quotient. What is the underlying cause of stress? Thoughts. What are those thoughts about? I'm not good enough. What can you do about it? Discover who you are and accept yourself, flaws and all. By focusing on 'being present', you will begin to notice the Real You. This is most evident when you are "triggered". Someone's behavior, or an unwanted situation scares, angers you, saddens you, makes you exuberant. These are the moments that are your opportunities to see yourself "You make me so mad when you don't call me. It's like you don't even care!" - a past/future thought. "I feel angry when you don't call me and tell me where you are." -- a present moment thought. A past/future thought has two main characteristics. YOU are powerless. Other people make you feel the way you feel (e.g. "You make me mad.") and force you to do the things you do (e.g. "I had to work late") A present moment thought is one where You own your experience. Now, You are Powerful! "I feel angry", not "You make me angry". No blame. No judgment. Just present moment truth! "I chose to work late", not "I had to work late." No one made you work late. You did it willingly, even if you did it out of guilt, or manipulation by your boss. You still chose. You decided. Watch your stress drop as you begin to own and accept your present moment choices and experiences. Stress is anchored in one underlying thought - I'M NOT IN CONTROL! In the present moment, you are always in control....of YOU. Not your boss's pressure tactics, not your spouse's guilt-inducing words, not your child's temper tantrum, not your parent's disapproving look... Only YOU. Only Now. If you find this a scary thought, I sympathize. It is a scary thought! When you take charge of you, there is no one left to blame but YOU. Yet, the key to being capable of living in the present is to not blame yourself either. Your made your choice for reasons you likely don't even understand. That's because you don't know who the REAL YOU is. You are still driven to please, impress, hide, and hang on to the self-image you've built that covers the real you. The self-image you think will get you love, give you career success and "make" people like you. This is a FALSE YOU and it may be killing your health. Along with your happiness.
Learning how to notice
and accept YOU, NOW is the way to discover and embrace the REAL YOU. You can learn
the ideas from
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