Dealing with Stress in Your Life

5 ways to Avoid Rapid Aging

The warmth of the fading summer sun brings about many pleasant memories of summer exciting activities.  In many cultures, the summer is a time where families get together and share their various experiences throughout the year.  With each passing year, you can see the type of life a person lives from the way their face might have aged.

Enjoying the summer sun, I was at a cook-out at a friend’s house.  A conversation concerning work lead into a few common concepts that troubled my mind: “Life is stressful and always has been.” or “Your job should be stressful, that’s why you get paid.”  I ask you to consider this: should life really be filled with stress?  Could one have a job and a life with minimal stress and filled with enjoyment?  Don’t you deserve a life as such…

Defining Stress

No surprise – stress is one of the major causes for aging, amongst a huge number of other major diseases.  According to the Oxford dictionary, stress is defined as “Hardship, straits, adversity, affliction.”  It is also stated as “The overpowering pressure of some adverse force or influence.”  Both definitions are well understood.

Stress can also be viewed as negative energy.  As a living being, your life force is derived from energy.  From the Frankenstein movies to the defibrillator that doctors use when a patient’s heart has stopped, energy is what makes atoms and molecules come to life.  Even with your most basic brain function, all actions are initiated by a simple electric shock within the brain.  The negative energies of stress inhibit the normal abilities of the body to heal.  Aside from the basic health concerns, the aging process is accelerated with increased stress.  Our Presidents are a perfect example – for most Presidents, a four-year chronological term yields significantly more years on their face.

Band-Aids to Stress

As a $300 billion health care industry related to dealing with stress, the research focus of many experts is tremendous.  Yet, we’re barely making a dent in this massive epidemic.  Looking at some further studies, 72% of Americans are on some form of pain medication.

Is life really that bad that one cannot get through the day without some medication?

The costly bandaid solutions are common in this society.  For example, live-cell therapy is used to reduce aging on the surface.  This process involves the injection of fetal cells of animals into human beings.  Other treatments such as hormone therapy, plastic surgery and caloric restriction are all surface bandaids intended to mask the outward signs of stress. Yet, do any of these address the causes of stress?

Systemic Medicine

In order to have a better life worth living, consider systemic medicine that goes toward the root cause of stress.  This medicine tends to look at stress as an energetic violation into the human body. 

#1.  Conscious choice.  A basic tenet of this method is to consciously choose the activities that you invest your time into.  For example, you may find stress in your workplace.  Rather than engage in these situations consistently, slow yourself down and ask these following questions: Is this worth my time?  How does this situation help me in my purpose/goal in my employment?

#2. Garbage in, garbage out.  Your diet has a lot to do with your ability to channel negative energy.  If you do not give your body the right types of basic nutrients, it has no chance at being happy.  Sure, this is an easy concept to understand, but here’s the trick – how do you know if something is good for you or not?  First, learn to read the labels, most artificial ingredients are not good for you.  Second, do not listen to the manufacturer, as it’s their intent to sell you the product.  For example, is milk good for you?  The producers of milk like you to believe so, and yet, independent research has shown otherwise (see: www.pcrm.org or www.wellnessforum.org).  A few basic rules to follow – eat ample fruits and vegetables and stay away from food with long shelf life.

#3. Slow down your breathing.  Your body is the ultimate radar for positive and negative influences.  For example, are you aware of your physical response to stress?  Tense shoulders, tight back?  Slowing down your breathing will allow you to think with a completely different mind set.  A common philosophy that I heard on an educational CD by Dr. Wayne Dyer is: You can’t solve a problem with the same mind that created it.

#4.  Journal on a regular basis.  Studies have shown that journaling has multiple benefits such as increased T-helper cells and fewer doctors visits.  Allowing any stress to flow into a journal keeps the holding of negative energies from occurring.

#5.  Refrain from judgment.  In a previous article, I discussed in detail some of the impacts of judging.  Much of stress and aging is also related to constant judgment.  I read this interesting thought in a recent Time magazine article concerning Buddha’s belief on judgment:  Incessant habits of judging every experience as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral creates unhappiness. One cannot attempt to hold on to the pleasant ones while shunning the unpleasant. 

The key to living a long, stress-free and happy life is about allowing negative energies to flow.  Whether it’s making a conscious choice or to enable the body to heal, all of these methods deal with stress at the root level.  The best part of this medicine is that it is very cost-effective.  The worst part is that these are not overnight cures.  Learning to live a stress-free life takes time and a conscious effort to be healthy from all perspectives.  Start with one method at a time and master a method with each passing month.  In time, you can live that glorious life that you’ve dreamt about before coming to this country.

 By Dr. Ted Sun 

January, 2006

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