The real cause of your stress

I lead a busy life with lots of demands for my time and attention…,family, work, studying .  Last week I noticed that I was feeling a bit stressed and started to look at what might be causing the stress.  True there were some difficult situations that I was trying to manage, and I could list a number of people that I found challenging but to my mind that was not the full picture.   So I sat with the effects of stress in order to gain a better awareness and understanding of what was happening.  I realised that the real cause of my stress was:

1. A mind that would not stop thinking and seeing those thoughts as my reality, rather than recognising they were just thoughts.

2. Making judgements about situations and people and then wanting to cling on to the bits I liked and push away those bits I did not like.

3. Seeing situations and people as problems that I needed to solve which reinforced the gap between what was happening and what I wanted to happen.

4. A tendency to dredge up past regrets or to worry about the future.

5. Not being able to switch off my body’s response to pressures and challenges.

Once I saw the real cause of my stress I knew where I needed to focus my attention if I was to be able to manage the stress.  Next time you feel stressed you might want to try stopping and allowing yourself to experience what is happening to you there and then.