Everyday Anxieties Are Separate From You

Good stress is the kind that motivates us to take action. That means that the urges that come and go, the repetitive trains of thought, advertisement jingles, habitual worries, and everyday anxieties are separate from you. They are largely habitual inner forces competing for your attention, and it is your decision to grant them that attention or not. The goal is to develop the conscious ability to do just that. A perfect example is anger. You won’t accept ownership. Instead, you will be able to simply note that anger has emerged, or called for your attention now. As an objective observer, you will know that you have the choice of attending to it and indulging the feeling by allowing it to manifest in your words and deeds or not. Suddenly, this simple shift in your attention places you in the driver’s seat, not stuck as a passenger along for a ride determined by unconscious habit. We use the phrase attention commerce to describe what is going on inside our minds. Your attention is the pot of gold, the currency that your inner potentials can use to purchase their existence and opportunities. They can be creative or destructive, beneficial or harmful, but they are always longing to be expressed and anxious that we attend to them.

Dear Friends

Observe and feel the inner tension. Notice that when you focus your attention on one thing it looms large, and other things fall away in importance. Your choice of focus changes your internal feeling and emotions. Where can you turn your attention so that it is inherently away from the worry and anxiety that produces harmful stress? This is your true refuge from mental stress. Actual stressful situations may exist in the present moment, requiring action, but mentally generated stress does not exist there. This is true, because thinking is a slow and complex function that takes processing time. It lags the present moment by half a second or more. To become absorbed in the raw sensory input is to be separated in time from the cognitive universe where worry exists. That can happen, because we experience sensations much faster than we can think about things. These are simple facts that reflect the biological mechanics of our nervous system, but their implications and impacts are extraordinary. They relate directly to the practice of mindfulness, which refers to the mental state of being focused in the present moment. Tai chi and kung fu employ mindfulness.

The Sky is Crying

This ancient practice brought focused breath awareness to many Westerners as an integral component of physical training, yielding superlative results. Today, mindfulness is used in clinical psychology to treat anxiety, depression, and pain. Once we act, the situation soon ends, and we naturally cycle into a regenerative phase. Bad stress is mental anxiety, worry. This erodes our physical health and can shorten our lives. She began practicing mindfulness to deal with stress of deployment theaters like those in Bosnia and Macedonia. She found serious scientific partners in 2007 and was approached by funding organizations. The results from those who received the training were better than expected. This triggered two more studies of troops deploying to Afghanistan and another embedded into the United States Marine Corps School of Infantry. Stanley is an associate professor at Georgetown and founder of the Mind Fitness Training Institute. A focus of attention inherently allows us to leave behind internally generated anxiety and worry. This shift of attention is accomplished by focusing on physical sensations, which inherently occur in the present moment.

Living On The Edge Of The World

Stanley’s research partners also have studied the brain’s response to stress in average citizens, elite athletes, and members of military Special Forces. When faced with stress, those who had received the training maintained their center, which was verified by calmer heart rates and slowed breathing. Immediately after a workout, our brains are better able to build neurons and establish the rewiring that helps us handle stress. Applying this insight and integrating key aspects of mindfulness can importantly advance the development of training. Stanley and her work through retired lieutenant colonel Dave Grossman, a graduate of Ranger School who later became a professor of psychology at West Point. Since retiring from the Army, he has founded a research group and educates law enforcement officers and soldiers on how to achieve better outcomes when faced with potentially lethal encounters. He also speaks to civilian groups and teaches them how to deal with the aftermath of violent events, like school shootings. We now have a growing body of new understanding built on scientific investigation that shows us how to better handle our stress. These techniques can be applied by everyone. She is petite and thin. Mary spent the decade before the strength test working out. In fact, she had been hitting the gym 5 days a week for many years. The gym never really scared Mary. What was Cullen going to throw her way during a training session? What was in store for her when she arrived at the gym? And while nutrition wasn’t a fear factor for Mary, it continues to be the most challenging part of her fitness and overall health regime. She has to work on watching what she eats regularly. It’s hard to fight the cravings. She’s got that down. Since Mary already worked out regularly, she felt she was on top of her health. However, by being pushed to lift heavier weight, she suddenly discovered not only could she do more but that at 58, she was also in the best shape of her life. Mary has fibromyalgia as well as adrenal and thyroid issues. She said that despite a humid summer recently, the program seems to have helped diminish those symptoms. Just get to the gym, said Mary. Once you’re there, and you start moving, you’ll be able to increase what you’re doing. If you can swing it, Mary suggests using a trainer to guide you, because a trainer will push you to work harder than you might push yourself. She can now deadlift 170 pounds.