Causes of Stress: Whatever You Resist, Defy, Withstand, Fight, Oppose, Defend, Protest, Controvert, Contradict, Fend, Balk At, Rebel Against, Criticize or Fear

by

Kathy L Kirk

Pick the synonym that best describes your habitual response to life “out there”.

What makes you mad? What sends you into a panic attack? What makes you nervous? What keeps you up at night? It’s not that thing that is the problem, it’s your response to it that is causing your stress; and stress, folks, is the number one killer. In fact, I would go so far as to say that stress is a synonym for dis-ease, and at the precursor to all disease.

How does a subject like stress land in a spiritual magazine? How could this possibly be relevant to people on a spiritual path?

We are spiritual creatures, to be sure; but then so are the birds, the trees and the fish in the ocean. The big difference between them and us is that they have no human mind that tells them to be afraid, anxious, guilty, or worried. Just watch a goldfish swim about in his bowl for awhile and you’ll get the picture. They’re not worried or anxious about anything. They are simply Connected to Source. The non-human creatures are busy being.

Whilst humans have this human mind which is our biggest blessing. This human mind with its ability to think, reflect and ponder teamed up with free will choice makes us significantly different from the rest of our natural creature friends. We get to choose, either deliberately or by default.

What do we get to choose? We get to choose everything; but most importantly we get to choose what we believe.

If you’ve been on a spiritual path for awhile and you’re still harboring fears and concerns, it’s time to take your spiritual practice to the next level. Freedom. Every religion or spiritual practice is supposed to make you feel more empowered, stronger, and peaceful in this “real world”. If yours hasn’t done that for you, read on.

Stress is when we resist what we are observing be it not enough money, a poor diagnosis, a bad relationship, mean people, a government that we disagree with, people we find repugnant or stupid. It really doesn’t matter what’s appearing to you, it’s your response to it that either allows you to remain peaceful, centered and Connected to Source or causes you stress.

Imagine that you have a big fire hose connected to you that flows Source Energy – God, if you will, into your body and mind. When you’re born, that hose is wide open. You are connected to Source and you feel Good. As you progress through life, the other humans teach you that there’s plenty of stuff to be afraid of here on Earth. As you learn this, you form beliefs in your human mind. With every belief that is not True (aligned with Source), you squeeze that hose down just a little bit. Now you’re thinking about accidents, illness, poverty, calamity, lack of love. With every false belief that hose flowing Life Affirming Source Energy into you gets smaller and smaller. Less and less Life, less and less Love, less and less Goodness.

As that hose gets smaller and less Life is flowing into You, your body starts to reflect this contraction, as well. Your blood pressure goes up reflecting that exact process of what you’re doing in your human mind. As you restrict the Flow of Well Being, proportionately your arteries are clogging up and your BP is climbing. The human mind is controlling how you are being – in the Flow of Well Being or not (stress).

Here’s where the good news comes in. You get to choose what you’re going to believe. Does it feel better to think that the Doctor’s diagnosis is true; or does it feel better to believe that you’re the Creator of your own Reality and you’re now about the business of creating complete and perfect health? Does it feel better to think that the ozone layer is depleted and the world’s coming to an end; or does it feel better to believe that we are creating everything and this, too, we are changing for the better. Does it feel better to think that your lover found you lacking; or does it feel better to believe that your best lover is now on the way?

No matter what you’re busy creating, you are creating it all. If you’re in the human mind set of fear, lack and limitation and busy shouting at protestors, criticizing people and ideas that you hate, you are busy cranking your stress levels through the roof, because you’re out of alignment with Source.

There is only a Source of Well Being where everything everyone needs, wants and desires can be fulfilled at the same time. No exceptions. You can choose to believe this; or you can choose to believe that their good is going to be at my expense and do serious damage to your biology and the quality of your Life.

The next level of your spiritual practice is to remember that you are the Creator of your entire experience; and you are the Co-Creator of everything here on Earth. When you know this, you know that you can affect change just by holding that Good thought for yourself, for them, for all of Us. The next level of your spiritual practice is to become the master of your human mind; the deliberate and intentional thinker of your thoughts.

As Mike Dooley says, “Thoughts become things; Choose the Good Ones.”

The liberty in this is unlike anything you’ve experienced before; and it only gets better and better. Most likely, though, you’ll have to give up a lot of old beliefs that have kept you on the treadmill of stress. Come on! Hope off and into the Light of Well Being where all things are possible, if you would but believe.

Kathy Kirk has led both an ‘ordinary’ and an ‘extraordinary’ life.  At first glance, her background as an entrepreneur and mother living in the Midwest may sound like someone you know.  Yet during the past 25 years she has been developing and evolving teachings and principles to help all people live life to the fullest.  In every activity, her focus has been observing the human Spirit and its interface, application and effectiveness in the individual Life on Earth. 

Her first book, The Earthling’s Quick Start Guide: Master Operating Your Unit On Earth is Introduction to Applied Spirituality written for all people to learn and apply to their own lives.  The book functions as a user’s manual and comes with a complete online, interactive course.  In addition to her books, Kathy is a contributing editor to Women’s Radio and a contributing writer to Kinetics Magazine.   She writes regular articles for ezinearticles and her two blogs, A New View and A New View of Things for The Cleveland Plain Dealer.

  Kathy is available for public speaking events and also gives seminars, teleconference classes and individual coaching.  Kathy can be reached at www.appliedspirituality.com, via email at support@appliedspirituality.com.