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Stress Management Chaplain Paul G.
Durbin">
Stress Management Chaplain Paul G.
Durbin,Ph.D. Relaxation,
Imagery and Hypnosis: (2)
You can let go of the garbage 1) Does what you think have any effect upon your body? 2) Can the improper handling of stress cause illness in
your body? 3) Can the proper use of your mind and spirit improve you
health and well-being? To demonstrate the effect of the mind on the body, I would
like to have two volunteers come up front for a demonstration. Preferably a male
and a female. (Have volunteers stand before the group, put out dominate arm and
hand to the right or left at shoulder level. Ask the one that is to go first,
face the audience and the other look away so as not see the response. Have
volunteer resist as I push down and have volunteer to think a happy thought. Now
have the volunteer think a sad thought and resist. (The difference is obvious.)
It appears to me that if a sad though can cause one to lose power in his or her
arm, it follows that day after day, week after week, month after month of sad
and negative thinking can cause harm to one's body. The wise man of Proverbs
realized the relationship of body, mind and spirit for he wrote, "A
cheerful heart does good like a medicine but a broken spirit makes one
sick." (Proverbs 17:22) The foundation for my work in
hypnotherapy is based on what I refer to as the human trinity. Whether you are a
Christian or not, you would probably know what I meant if I referred to the Holy
Trinity: God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I also believe in the
human trinity. Each of us is a trinity within himself or herself. I am a
trinity; you are a trinity. We are made up of body, mind and spirit. We are
physical, emotional and spiritual beings. Accepting this theory of the
human trinity, one understands that life is more than just being alive mentally
and physically. In the world in which we live,
we can paraphrase an old hymn, "I got stress, you got stress, all God's
children got stress." At one time or another, everyone experiences some
stress in life. As long as we are alive mentally, stress is an unavoidable fact
of life which can be a help or hindrance. There are healthy ways to manage
stress which motivates us for mental, emotional, physical and spiritual growth.
I am sure that I would have never returned to school after that first day if my
parents had not exerted a proper amount of stress to get me to school on that
second day. It was not that I did not want to learn, nor was I afraid of being
away from home, I just enjoyed playing more than sitting in a classroom. Without
that stress from my parents, I would never have gone back to school. How
different my life would have been without the stress that motivated me to return
to school. Stress may hinder us, but it also has a positive side which we may
call excitement, drive, motivation, or competitiveness. Stress gives us the
prowess and energy to achieve goals. On the other hand, a failure
to properly handle stress can cause us harm. Stress has been compared to a
dangerous germ that is infecting many in our world today. You have seen its
symptoms and even felt them in yourself; the knot of tension in your stomach,
the splitting headache caused by the pressures of life, the tension in your neck
and shoulders which may lead to physical problems ranging from mild discomfort
to intense pain, the feeling that you are going to explode, the feeling that you
can't take it anymore. These and other such feeling go along with the improper
handling of stress. What is stress? Stress is
caused by any change, threat of change, or possibility of change in a person's
environment, thoughts or body. One of the best definitions of stress which I
have heard comes from a woman who attended a stress management seminar which I
led. When I asked for definitions from the class, she said, "Stress is
anything that throws the normal out of balance." Something that may be
stressful to me may not be stressful to you. On the other hand, there are things
that may be stressful to you, that may not be stressful to me. The stress which
we experience may be negative such as the death of a loved one or positive such
as moving into a new house and neighborhood. Though some stress experts
list up to a hundred or more stress-producing experiences, I feel that they can
be broken down into six major stress categories: Harmful stress depends not so
much on what happens to us, but how we react to it. It is not always the event
that is stressful, but how we view the event. Epictetus, the first century Roman
philosopher, recognized this fact when he wrote, "Man is disturbed not by
things, but by his opinion of things." Certain events such as
violence, arguments and illness are by their nature stressful. Others are not
harmful in themselves, but depending on our emotional makeup or our situation
may cause stress. During one of my regular morning runs, I saw a crooked stick
which I perceived to be a snake. I stopped suddenly, my heartbeat faster, then
turned around and ran in the opposite direction. I looked back to see if the
"snake" was following me. When I looked back, I realized that the
dangerous "snake" was a crooked stick. In spite of my discovery, I
felt weak in the knees and frightened. You see, I reacted physically and
emotionally as if that stick had been a real snake. That experience helped me
see that it is not so much the stress that brings us harm, but how we react
physically, emotionally, and/or spiritually to it. Ancient Job and Stress:
The book of Job in the Old Testament speaks to the effects of our handling of
stress as few other books in the Bible do. We, like Job, are often faced with
problems, frustrations, suffering, anger and fear. Suffering may come upon us
suddenly and unexplainably, or it may come gradually over a period of time as
our health deteriorates. Whether suffering comes upon us gradually or suddenly,
we may question, even as Job did, whether or not we have the resources to cope
with our situation. I have a feeling that many people see something of
themselves in Job. When we first met Job, he was
a wealthy and respected family man who was a powerful citizen of his community.
It looked as if everything was going his way, but in the midst of this picture
of the good life came one crisis after another, which radically changed Job's
life. Misfortune followed misfortune until at last came the worst news of all:
the message that all of his children were killed during a storm. Feeling the
shock of all his losses, Job cried, "Naked I came out of my mother's womb,
and naked shall I return. Nevertheless, the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken
away, Blessed be the Name of the Lord." (Job 1:21 NEB) When we think of Job, we
generally think of his patience. At one time or another, most of us have
referred to the "patience of Job." I propose that the essence of what
we call "Job's patience" in reality comes from one's immediate denial
or refusal to believe shocking or disturbing news. In a crisis situation, it is
difficult to immediately accept the reality of what has actually happened. When
one is informed of the death of a loved one, a dreaded disease, the loss of
their job, betrayal by a friend, or the end of a marriage, one's first reaction
is usually shock and/or denial. Following his financial loss
and the tragic loss of his family, Job developed large and painful sores which
covered his entire body. Job's self-fulfilling prophecy, "For the thing
which I fear comes upon me, I am not at ease, nor am I quiet: I have no rest,
but trouble comes", (Job 3:25-26 RSV) had come true. (Job's suffering) It is logical to assume that
the losses which Job experienced played a part in his illness. He lost his
wealth, his property, his position in the community, all his children, the
respect of his wife, his belief that God cared for him and his hope. Anyone of
these misfortunes would have placed great emotional stress on any person, but
put them together and they become an almost unbearable burden. Job certainly had
enough stress to weaken his natural resistance to disease. Stress' Effect Upon the Body:
Blair Justice states that many of our sicknesses are strongly influenced, both
in its beginning and duration, "by the way we think and behave - demanding
no frustration, seeing problems as overwhelming, looking for the worst,
alienating ourselves and others, smoking, overdrinking, overeating, no
exercising." Blair goes on to say that "if a person has poor coping
skills, deficient social support and high stress, then the internal balance of
our bodies may be easily upset and our resistance lowered." There is an old proverb which
states, "It is worry, not work, that kills." Louis Orton states that
worry wastes energy and puts a strain on an individual mentally and physically.
The breathing becomes quicker and superficial which affects the amount of oxygen
inhaled and of carbon dioxide exhaled. Worry interferes with the flow of
digestive juices and effects the digestive system. Worry alters the chemical
composition of blood and lymph. The continued effect of worry on the body can
"provide a suitable ground for many serious diseases." Accepting this view, one comes
to the conclusion that each of us is a participant in our own health, for better
or worse. Think of how you feel right now. Get a fix on your emotions, on what
you are feeling. There may be many different emotional feelings being
experienced by each one reading this now. Suppose that each of you began to feel
sick. Would your emotions be the same? I think we can agree that the emotions
would be different. Think back to your last
physical illness and consider whether or not you were under some emotional
stress or pressure prior to the illness. For minor illnesses such as a cold or
headache, the stressful situation may have occurred only a short time before the
illness. For more serious illnesses, the stressful situation may have occurred
several months before the illness. The Simontons, working with cancer patients,
write, "Our studies and others suggest that these critical stresses are
likely to have occurred six to eighteen months prior to the diagnosis of the
disease."
It seems that our bodies are
more susceptible to illness following an emotional crisis than at any other
time. It is not necessarily the stress, but how we handle the stress that tends
to lead to illness. It seems that the improper handling of stress can reduce our
natural immunity to disease. If and when emotional stress reaches such a painful
intensity that we cannot deal with it, our bodies tend to get sick so that our
minds can concentrate on our physical illness rather than on the emotional
stress. Quite often, we see people who
are sick because of guilt feelings that have not been resolved. A woman was in
the hospital because she had lost her voice. Though she had undergone many
tests, no physical cause could be found which would prevent her from talking.
After counseling, it was discovered that she had spread some gossip that was
very destructive for a friend. Her subconscious mind prevailed upon her from
further gossip by preventing her ability to speak. Once she recognized this and
felt forgiveness, she was able to talk again. Here is a case where a spiritual
and emotional problem, "guilt," caused a physical problem,
"speechlessness." Frank S. Caprio states, "Exaggerated feelings
of guilt - or even what you think - can make you physically ill." Guilt causes suffering because
it separates us from God, others, and ourselves. It limits our creativity,
diminishes our self-worth, creates self-hatred, and casts a shadow over our
lives. Whether we feel guilt about small things, supposed mistakes or serious
breaks with God, the feeling must be resolved for us to dance. If we do not
resolve our guilt through accepting our forgiveness and by forgiving ourselves,
we will remain outside the party with the older son, unable to dance. It is not
that God turns his back upon us, but we cannot experience God's loving presence
in our life when we feel guilt. So often unresolved guilt
creates a need to make amends, to make restitution, to suffer enough to pay back
the wrong, to set things right by damage to self and thus balance the account.
We humans are made up of body, mind, and spirit. If there is guilt at some point
in one's life, the individual may tend to manifest this spiritual disease by
some physical disease, or injury, in order to punish himself. This tendency has led Cecil
Osbourne of Yokefellows to write, "Guilt, whether real or imaginary, can be
handled in only two ways. It must be forgiven or punished." It is not God
who punishes us, but if we do not feel forgiven, we often find a way to punish
ourselves: physically, mentally, or emotionally. The older son's failure to
enjoy his younger brother's party and dance was not the fault of the father. As
he welcomed the younger son, the father went out to meet his older son and
invited him to the party. Because the older son was out of fellowship with both
his brother and his father, he refused to enter the party. He refused the dance
of forgiveness and so missed the joy of the party. To be forgiven, we must be
open with God through confession and repentance. In so doing, we release the
pain of our guilt to him and make our forgiveness complete. We accept his divine
forgiveness and forgive ourselves. We can either be open with God and begin to
dance, or we try to hide from God and shut ourselves off from his healing,
forgiving, redeeming love. I am not suggesting that all
illness is the result of spiritual stress, nor that emotional and spiritual
stress always lead to physical illness, but that we become more susceptible to
disease when we have been experiencing emotional stress. I am not saying that
our illnesses are an illusion and if we think correctly or if our spirit is
right with God we will not get sick. Let's say that we all ate poison mushrooms
which we sincerely believed to be good mushrooms. Would any of us get sick? Yes,
I think it is most probably that we would all be sick. On the other hand, if we
all ate good mushrooms at our last meal but someone came in and said, "I
hope none of you ate mushrooms for lunch because some of them were poison."
Would any of us get sick? I dare say that it is likely that a few of us would
get sick by just the suggestion that we had eaten bad mushrooms. As early as 1950, Dr. Hans
Selyes of the University of Montreal was saying that anger and frustration,
induced by stressful situations, increases the body's output of hormones. These provide a quick
burst of energy and strength that enables us to either meet the danger or
run from it. But in today's society, fight or flight are not always possible
reactions to stress. And when these hormones are not harmlessly discharged
through action, they create an imbalance, causing various kinds of damage -
including depression of the immune system, which helps protect us against
illnesses. Look at the emotion of anger.
What are some of the external manifestations of anger? The chief external
manifestations are a reddening of the face, a widening or tightening of the
eyelids, blood shot eyes, contraction and tightening of the lips, a setting of
the jaw, clenching of the fists, and a tremor in the voice. Whether the outward signs are
present, or covered up, more profound and remarkable changes are taking place
inside the person. What are some of these internal changes? The internal
manifestations of anger are the blood immediately clots quicker than normal, the
blood thickens, the muscles of the stomach squeezes down so tightly that the
stomach and the entire digestive track is affected, the heart rate increases
rapidly and the blood pressure rises markedly. The manifestations can often
produce bad results, such as a stroke or heart attack. Paul E. Johnson, in an article
for Religion and Medicine, adds his voice to those of us who see that
emotional stress plays a very definite part in our illnesses. He suggests that
emotional tension such as fear, anger, guilt, frustrated desire, may cause
peptic ulcers, vomiting, indigestion, loss or excess of appetite, diarrhea,
constipation, mucous colitis, high blood pressure, palpitations and irregular
beat of the heart, hay fever, laryngitis, chronic cough, skin problems,
convulsions, headache, genito-urinary disturbance, thyroid disorder, diabetic,
and so forth.
I have missed only 13 days of
work at Pendleton Memorial Methodist Hospital in over 23 years. Looking back at
the first time I missed a "half" day, I had been under a lot of
pressure during the three weeks prior to the onset of the symptoms. The only
other chaplain working at Methodist Hospital had been admitted to the hospital
about three weeks prior to my catching the cold. He was in the hospital for over
a week and had spent two weeks recuperating at home. During that period, I was
"on call" twenty-four hours a day and had not taken a single day off. I needed some time off, but I
felt pressed to be present in the hospital each day. In the end, my body said to
me, "If you will not take a day off, I'll get sick and then you will have
to take some time off." The next day, I came to work with a bad cough, a
sore throat, and runny nose. Around noon, I told our secretary that I was taking
the afternoon off because I could not visit the patients with the cold I had.
Though I did not want to be sick, the cold gave me a legitimate excuse to take
the afternoon off for some rest. Perhaps if I had taken an afternoon off a few
days prior to getting sick, I could have avoided the cold altogether. To demonstrate how our
thinking offsets our body, try this exercise. Have a friend hold out their
left/right arm, depending upon their dominant side. With the arm held out at
shoulder level, have them resist as you push down. Ask the person to think a
joyful or happy thought, and resist. You will find a strong resistance to your
pushing down. Now ask the person to think a
sad thought and resist you. As you push down, you will find the person offers
very little resistance and the arm goes down easily. If at times one loses
strength with a sad thought, what happens if one's thinking is sad and persists
for days, weeks, or years? Lance Webb has observed that
our physical illnesses may be a cover to hide a deeper illness of mind and
spirit. He concludes, "We may take advantage of our illness either as a
means of drawing attention to ourselves or to hide a deeper fear of
insufficiency we thus are prevented from meeting." If one needs affection, but
only receives affection when he or she is ill, then illness may meet his or her
need. The subconscious mind says, "I will get the attention I need by
getting sick." The subconscious mind does not care that the body
experiences pain, for the person's deepest need for affection is being met. A very prominent man was
stricken with a stroke. During my first visit, I discovered that he was the son
of a famous man. The son had followed his father in their business, but over the
years realized that he would never reach the heights which his father had
attained. Though he was successful, he could not accept the fact that he was
unique in his accomplishments because they seemed small to him in comparison
with the accomplishments of his father. Feeling that he could never be the man
his father had been, he had a stroke. Now he had an excuse for his inability to
reach the heights his father had. He could now say, "If I had not suffered
this damn stroke, I would have been as famous as my father." Job's Illness and Healing:
Feeling defeated by his many losses, and fearing God had deserted him, Job lost
hope; with the loss of hope, he became ill. Bruce Larson states in his book,
There's a Lot More to Health, that our feelings about ourselves and others
and the importance of our relationships may have more to do with how often we
get sick and how soon we get well than do our genes, chemistry, diet, or
environment. Profound feelings of hopelessness cause changes in our
norepinephrine levels, a brain chemical which affects the transmission of
sympathetic nerve impulses. "So it seems that hopelessness can make us sick
even unto death, while hope is a powerful antidote to illness." It is logical to assume that
the losses which Job experienced played a part in his illness. He lost his
wealth, his property, his position in the community, all his children, the
respect of his wife, his belief that God cared for him and finally his loss of
hope which was the most destructive loss. When all of these losses are put
together, they become an almost unbearable burden. Reeling under the shock of his
losses, Job withdraws to be by himself. At first, Job could not properly express
the emotions he felt. As a result, Job became sick with large and painful sores
which covered his body. Leslie Weatherhead writes, "If emotion is neither
expressed in its appropriate action or even admitted to consciousness, it will
have its revenge by setting up some form of mental or physical distress."
Three friends came to visit
Job and a long time, they sat in silence with him. Believing that his friends
would understand, Job let out his feelings of frustration, anger, and his own
lack of understanding concerning the terrible misfortunes of his life. Job says,
"I am weary of living. Let me complain freely. I will speak in my sorrow
and bitterness. I will say to God, `Don't just condemn me - tell me why you are
doing it. Does it really seem right to you to oppress and despise me . . . are
you unjust like men . . that you must hound me for the sins you know full well
I've not committed?'" (Job 10: 1-7 TLB) Though it was clear to Job
that he was angry with God for his misfortune, many people facing a crisis do
not know who to be angry with. Not knowing who to be angry with, some will show
their anger toward family, friends, doctors, nurses, self, chaplains, God,
others, all. As I approached Mr. C.'s bed,
I could tell by the expression on his face that he was angry. I extended my hand
toward him and said, "Hello, I am Chaplain Durbin, the hospital
Chaplain." He responded, "Put your hand down, I refuse to shake hands
with anyone connected with the hospital." I said, "I am sorry that you
feel that way. What has happened to make you so unhappy with the services of our
hospital?" He answered with a number of complaints about the nurses, his
doctor, and food service. I told him that I would like to ask the patient
representative to visit him and hopefully some of his problems with the hospital
staff could be corrected. After several visits, Mr. C.
and I became friends when he learned that I had spent several years in the Army
and was a National Guard Chaplain. Mr. C. had retired from the Army after 30
years and shortly thereafter, he had a stroke. He had always been a man in
control of other men and now he could not even control his body. This was very
frustrating to him, so he took out his anger on anyone who was available. After
several visits he began to see the reason for his anger and was able to work
toward releasing its hold on him in non-destructive ways. From my experience as a
hospital chaplain, I have come to the conclusion that to properly express one's
anger is a healthy reaction to hurt. A person should not let out his or her
anger in destructive ways, but should discuss it with a non-judgmental counselor
whom they can trust. Through that discussion, the person may discover what he or
she is angry about and how properly to express it. By doing so, the person has
the opportunity to release the anger and therefore be freed of its hold. Job expressed his anger to God
before his friends. The reaction of Job's friends were very similar to the
reaction of many people today. Instead of being servants of God in love and
concern for Job, they felt they needed to defend God. As servants, we are
concerned with the hurt of people and how the hurt may be healed or endured. As
defenders, we are concerned about the hurt as a threat to our faith. When the
needs of the other person is the center of our concern, we respond to them in
love and care. When we are threatened by the needs of others, we react and
become defensive of our position. When a person asks, "Why, God, am I
having to go through this?", the response of the defender is usually,
"You can't question God." Job was not afraid to ask
"why", nor was he willing to stop with the question, but struggled
through it to a greater faith. Those who ask, "Why does wickedness so often
triumph?", will find Job wrestling with the same question. Those who cannot
comprehend why the righteous suffer beyond anything they could deserve will find
Job thinking their thoughts. Those who do not understand why they are suffering
will find their bewilderment echoed in the stirring prayers of Job. (Job
2:11-12, 20-21, Job 6:24-30, Job 7:1-6, Job 23:1-5) The first reaction of many to
these prayers is "How can anyone of faith say these things?" At times,
don't most of us feel like saying something similar to those prayers? Miss M.
was in the hospital because of a brain tumor and was scheduled for surgery the
following day. She began our conversation by telling me that she was afraid of
losing her faith. She had been a Christian for a number of years and came from a
background which taught that to question God was to doubt God. Her local pastor
had visited her earlier in the day and had reinforced that belief. She expressed
some fears and doubts about the success of her upcoming surgery to her pastor.
He told her that she must not feel that way and she should not question God's
ability nor His willingness to bring about her healing. I allowed her to talk of her
fears and tried to assure her that she was experiencing normal feelings of
anxiety. I shared with her some of Job's questions. I told her that when we have
a question on our mind, it should be acknowledged and released before we can
really feel that God loves us and cares for us. If I need to ask you a
question, but I cannot trust you to accept my question, then I have built a
barrier between you and me. I feel that the same thing is true when I have a
question for God, but cannot trust him to accept my question. How can I trust
God to accept me? It is as we are able to trust God to accept us with our
questions that we can get beyond the questions to greater faith. To question is not to doubt,
but to seek meaning in the midst of our situation. Some have called Job,
Jeremiah, Habakkuk, and the writer of Ecclesiastes "the skeptics of the Old
Testament." For most people, skepticism or doubt of any kind means
unbelief, and this leads many to fear questions. For some to question is to
doubt, so they fail to bring to light the unspoken questions which lie buried
somewhere inside themselves. By leaving their questions buried inside, they fail
to bring them to God where they can be resolved and released. Following anger, the next
response to crisis is usually an attempt to make a bargain for a better deal. In
Job's case, his friends told him that he should stop being angry and should make
amends to God. They promised that if he would only repent, God would restore his
health and wealth. The person who considers bargaining says to himself. "If
I cannot change my situation by denying it or by being angry about it, maybe I
can make a bargain with God to change my situation." Listen to Job, "Behold I
go forward but he is not there; and backwards, but I cannot perceive him: on the
left hand, when he hath work, but I cannot behold him, he hideth himself on the
right hand, that I cannot see him." (Job 23: 8 KJV) Job's problem was that
he felt cast off from God and with that came feelings of abandonment,
helplessness, and hopelessness which almost overwhelmed him. In the midst of his
despair, God came to Job in a whirlwind. In the valley of the shadow of death,
Job had an experience of God's presence. If you go to the book of Job
to find an answer to the question, "Why do we suffer?", you will find
no theological answer. The voice from the whirlwind asks us to recognize our
limitations and to trust God when we do not understand. God calls upon us to
hang on and not give up on our faith even when there is every reason to give up.
Without answering our questions, faith allows us to live in a world where evil
exists without being beaten by it. Perhaps the true test of faith is whether
faith can continue without proof or demonstration to back it up. As Job shared his burden with
God, God came to him in a whirlwind and assured Job of God's presence and love.
Job proclaimed, "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, now mine
eyes seeth thee." (Job 42: KJV) In reference to the theory that emotional
stress can cause or add to our physical illness, I believe that the proper
handling of stress can help us move toward health. It is interesting to note
that once Job had experienced God and was convinced that God had not forsaken
him, his hope returned and healing began. Blair Justice states that
research shows that people who live long lives characteristically have a sense
of hope, order, and control in their lives. "The Hope Habit" seems to
encourage long life by reducing the effect of stress on the body and by turning
on the self-healing system. It is important to note that
hope in the religious or spiritual sense of the word is different from the hope
of everyday usage. The spiritual understanding of hope is an expectation of the
fulfillment of the desire. St. Paul wrote, "With unflagging energy, in
ardor of spirit, serve the Lord. Let hope keep you joyful; in trouble stand
firm; persist in prayer." (Romans 12:11-12) Hope is the outreach of our
inner life for courage, meaning, and wholeness. Hope is the reality which
transforms mere existence or even self-destructive tendencies to a life lived by
positive affirmation. This positive life affirmation is more than giving lip
service to hope but it is a way of life. Sometimes our hoping is for something
specific while at other times, it is more our openness to life's opportunities.
In either case, the person of hope lives in a world of open doors and hopeful
expectation for the good in life. It has been said that there
are no hopeless situations: there are only people who have grown hopeless about
their situation. In the light of experience, it is easy for us to despair when
things go badly. There are times when we are tempted into a cynical acceptance
of a situation and to say, "What is the use?" These are the times when
we are tempted to accept a defeated attitude that neither people, nor the world,
nor our situation will ever be better. I believe that if we earnestly seek an
open door, we can have hope and find meaning in our life. Someone once wrote,
"If God shuts one door, He opens another." We can use hopeful expectation
for our physical, emotional, and spiritual improvement and well-being. We are
discovering that many of our body's functions which we felt we had no conscious
control over can be significantly influenced by our mental attitude. Through
relaxation and visual imagery and hypnosis you can learn to control body
functions to include the ability to raise or lower temperature and blood
pressure, to reduce tension, stress, and pain, and to speed up the healing
process. By the use of relaxation,
imagery and hypnosis, we can have greater affect upon our body and life than we
ever thought possible. To follow this procedure you should become as relaxed as
possible in either a bed or a chair. When you are comfortable, close your eyes,
relax, and let your mind's eye begin to help you. See the discomfort vanishing,
see your illness healed, see your broken bones mended, your wounds healed. As
you visualize or imagine these things with hopeful expectation, your body begins
to respond in a positive helpful way. You are not totally under the control of
your distress. Your mind can help you to improve and heal. Visualizing what you
want to happen as if it has already happened helps your subconscious mind have a
model to work toward. It is part of God's healing plan. It will help you
experience a better quality of life. A few years ago there was a
story in Guidepost Magazine by Lew Miller entitled, "In Tune with the
Infinite." Lew was wounded during World War II, and was told that he would
never walk again. At first, he experienced despair and was tempted to give up.
Lew began to pray for his recovery by means of mental images. He states, "I
saw myself walking, speaking, in public to audiences, writing articles and
stories, running, driving a car, raising a family, and directing civic and
charitable projects." He pictured these things over and over again. Though it took a long time,
changes began to happen. Healing came and Lew did walk again. It was not all at
once for it took months. Throughout the time of his recovery, he kept his image
in his mind. He believed that he would be healed and said, "To believe is
to have complete faith in your prayers (thoughts). To believe that you have
already received, you need only to visualize yourself as possessing it now.
Believe in your mental images is the perfect expressions of faith." He took
Jesus' statement in Mark 11:24 seriously and used it as a model for his imagery.
Jesus' words were "What things should you desire when you pray, believe
that you receive them and you shall have them." This hopeful expectation and
visual imagery enhances a person's own immune system which helps one fight germs
and infections, decrease tension and stress and helps one alter the stance of
helplessness and hopelessness. These methods along with traditional medical
treatment and faith in the God who cares can help in healing. Even with those
illnesses and injuries which cannot be helped, hopeful expectation brings about
an improved quality of life. As we use relaxation, imagery
and hypnosis, and faith, the horizons of our hope will expand as God is allowed
to be creatively at work within us. In the midst of frustration and conflict,
there is hope for inner unity and harmony. In the midst of destructive and
threatening human relationships, there is the hope for mutually enhancing and
fulfilling relationships. In the midst of the pain and wonder of human
existence, we live by hope which is based upon faith. Whereas the person of despair
lives with a sense of being trapped, the person of hope feels that somehow there
is a way out or a way through, and there is the potential for meaning in his or
her situation. The person of hope is able to wait, not simply in defeat and
resignation, but in anticipation of what is not yet, but can be. This hopeful expectation can
be used not only for health but for every aspect of your life. See what you want
to happen in your life is not as daydreaming, but as a goal to attain. By doing
so, your subconscious has a model to work with. What you think about deeply
enough and often enough, you tend to become. No longer feeling abandoned by
God, Job was released from emotional stress and could concentrate on his
healing. Healing may or may not come to us in our illness, but a positive
hopeful expectation allows the body to respond more positively to treatment
received. The writer of Proverbs might have been thinking of hopeful
expectations when he wrote, "He who diligently seeks good seeks favor, but
he who searches for evil, it will come upon him." (Proverb 11:27 NAS) and
"The spirit of man can endure his sickness, but a broken spirit who can
bear." (Proverb 18:14 NAS) Dr. Norman Vincent Peale
wrote, "Some people have found health, vitality, and increased strength
through right thinking, especially spiritual thinking." Goethe, the German
philosophic poet wrote, "There is no predicament that cannot be enabled
either by doing or enduring." Viktor Frankl has said, "Everybody can
be helped, if not directly by psychoanalytic approaches, then indirectly by
helping the patient change his attitudes." That is what happened to Job. He
found the motivation for change through his relationship with God, which renewed
his hope. With hopeful expectation, both his attitude and situation changed for
the better. Saying that we participate in
the state of our health is not intended to produce guilt for being sick, but to
give hope that we can move toward health. Though we continue to rely on medical
procedures, we can add our own hopeful expectation which increases our ability
to overcome our illness or to better endure that which we cannot overcome.
Chaplain Carl R. Stephen writes: Holistic medicine views
illness as an opportunity for discovery as well as misfortune. This
resonates with Judo-Christian tradition. Holism desires to enable persons to
understand that psychological stress - loss, unemployment or simply change -
may take the forms of organic pathology and emotional problems. There is no
place in holism for accusation. Holism wants to enable the person to
appreciate how he participated in becoming ill in order to insure
participation in getting well again. We are discovering that many
of the body's functions over which we felt we had no control over can be
influenced by our mental attitude. Judith Glasser writes, "One of the most
widely accepted methods of gaining control of one's inner state is biofeedback.
Using the technique, patients learn to affect such internal activities as brain
waves, blood flow and heart beat, functions long believed to be outside
conscious control." Through the use of the mind and imagination, patients
have been able to raise or lower temperature and blood pressure. Even without
the biofeedback machine, we can help patients have more control over their body
functions by relaxation therapy, image therapy, and hypnosis. The relaxation, imagery
therapy, and hypnosis tend to decrease fear and bring about an attitude change.
The Simontons have found that it can effect physical changes, enhancing the
person's own immune system, altering the cause of the disease, decreasing
tension and stress, and helping to confront and alter the stance of hopelessness
and helplessness. These methods along with traditional medical treatment and
faith in the God who cares can help in healing. Even for those illnesses and
injuries which cannot be healed, these methods bring about an improved quality
of life. Again, I would like to emphasize that to say one participates in his or
her own health situation is not intended to create guilt over being sick, but to
give hope for healing and help for dying. Many in our world are sick:
some physically, some mentally, some spiritually. Millions of people feel lonely
and unacceptable. Others feel a lack of satisfaction with jobs, marriages, and
life. Doctors say that over half the people suffering from an illness are sick
because they have an emotional or spiritual problem that keeps their body or
mind from functioning properly. This does not mean that the sickness is just in
their minds, but that the body is weakened and illness comes. Often when the
person gets their emotional or spiritual problems straightened out, healing
takes place. It is an accepted fact that a person's attitude does have a
profound effect upon the body for good or bad. Helps for Reducing
Stress:
As
we live in a world where stress is ever present, what are some of the things a
person can do to reduce the harmful effects of stress? (1) Exercise. Recall that your
body often manifests a "fight or flight" response to stress. Regular
physical exercise helps you burn off extra sugars and fats in your blood caused
by stress. I like to walk (ran for several years, but knees slowed me down to a
walk) a couple of miles a day which helps me reduce stress.
If I am angry with someone I just picture his/her face on the street and I step
on it as I walk. After two miles, it is hard to be angry with someone you have
been stepping on for fifteen to twenty minutes. This method of releasing anger
is more beneficial to the other person and to me. When I walk, I talk to myself
by repeating positive suggestions. For one mile, I repeat, "Day by day in
every way, I am getting better and better, healthier and healthier, wealthy and
wealthy, happier and happier." During the mile back home, I repeat,
"God's love, joy, peace, prosperity, health fill my body mind and spirit,
keeping physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritual healthy." I like to walk, but for your
exercise you may be active in various sports, work at your hobby, or just take a
walk. Of course, before beginning any strenuous activity, you should see your
doctor to determine what is best for you. (2) Balance work and play.
Schedule times for play and recreation. Learn to play and have a good time. All
work and no play makes you a nervous wreck. I enjoy country music and have a
large collection of records and tapes. Often when I am down and depressed, I
will put on a record or tape and just let the music renew me emotionally. Viktor Frankl speaks of humor
as one of the souls weapons in the fight for self-preservation and health.
"It is well known that humor, more than anything else in human makeup, can
afford an aloofness and an ability to rise above any situation, even if only a
few seconds." The fact that these words were written by Frankl while he was
in World War II concentration camp adds to their validity. Let me add that play is what
you do or yourself. You may do it with others but is primarily for your benefit.
When my boys were young, they liked to play Monopoly and so did I. There were
times when I would ask them to play and at times they asked me. When I really
wanted to play Monopoly with them, it was play. On other occasions when I was so
tired and just wanted to watch TV, they may ask me to play. I usually did for I
felt it was important to be with my sons, but that time it was not play for me. (3) Learn to accept what your
cannot change, but change what you can. To accept does not mean to like. It
means to do the best you can under the circumstance. A person who loses a hand
may never like the fact that he has only one hand. The person who has accepted
the situation works through the question, "Now that I have lost my hand,
how can I best live life with one hand?" What we can change to make
life better, we should change. Though we may not be able to change our
circumstances, we have the abilities to change our attitude. How many people
have failed to experience fulfillment in life not for a lack of knowledge or
ability or ambition, not even from a lack of opportunity, but because of
negative thinking. Negative thinking, discouragement and despondence are among
the greatest sources of human pain, suffering and defeat in life. By accepting when we cannot
change, or changing what we can, or changing our attitude toward our situation,
and learning to encourage ourselves, we can bloom where we are and new hope and
meaning will come into our life. As we encourage ourself, discouragement and
despondency will begin to fade and a new attitude of hope will emerge. Here is a man who from
childhood has been told that he is no good so acts out these prophesies without
knowing why. How is he to get off this failure cycle if he has no one to share
with? There is the woman who in her youth was raped and who felt guilty about it
all these years because the first words she heard from her mother were,
"Oh, what shame you have brought upon our family." How is she going to
be released from this false guilt without someone to share with? Rapunzel's imprisonment was
really not that of the tower, but her fear off her own ugliness, which the witch
had described so often and so effectively. When Rapunzel sees in the mirroring
eyes of her lover that she is beautiful, she is freed from the witch and the
tower of own imagined ugliness. This is true not only in the
case off Rapunzel, but of many others. We desperately need to see in the mirror
of another's eyes our own acceptance and goodness. Until we can be open and
honest at least with God and a few significant others, we remain locked behind
walls of our own making. We need to have others to share our feelings and
concerns with, for we tend to act out the problems that remain in us when we
cannot talk them out. We tend to act out our
hostilities by destructively criticizing or by indifference to others for fear
of our hostility. We act our need to be loved by emotional over-dependence upon
others or by pushing others away for fear that they will not love us. We act out
our sense of inferiority by being shy or by trying to humiliate others. We act
out our sense of guilt by punishing ourselves in various ways or by projecting
our guilt to others in condemning ways. Faith, loving, accepting,
sharing helps us to break down walls and helps us live more healthy lives. As
you talk about your concerns with a trusted person, you are better able to let
go their destructive qualities. (5) Avoid over using
self-medication. When I suggest that you avoid over using self-medication, I am
not referring to an occasional aspirin or the occasional use of Preparation H. I
am talking about the need for a pill to go to sleep each night and a pill to get
going in the morning. I am talking about the need for four or five drinks to
really enjoy a party. I am talking about alcohol, tranquilizers and drug abuse.
Although there are many chemicals such as alcohol, tranquilizers or drugs that
can mask your symptoms, they do not help you adjust to stress. Christian and Hopeful, in John
Bunyon's Pilgrim's Progress, were imprisoned by the Giant Despair in
Doubting Castle. They finally fell on their knees and prayed. When they rose,
Christian said in astonishment, "Fool that I am thus to lie in their dark
inn when I might walk at large. I have a key here in my pouch . . . that I feel
sure will turn the lock of all the doors in Doubting Castle". Christian and
Hopeful used their key and escaped Doubting Castle. Note that it was after he
prayed that Christian mustered his resources to meet his situation. Prayer is a
key each of us can carry with us. With prayer, no one need be imprisoned long in
Doubting Castle or remain in captivity to the Giant Despair. When you are hypnotized, you
are in a high state of susceptibility to suggestion. Self-hypnosis can be used
to improve your attitude so that you can better deal with the stress that you
experience. It can help you during illnesses or injury to reduce apprehension,
to reduce and eliminate pain, and to increase your hopeful expectation. When
used to reduce pain or improve healing, self-hypnosis should be used with proper
medical care. Katie was a 50 year old female, married with a 20 year old
son who lived at home. Katie saw me once a week for two weeks and every other
week for several months. Her presenting problem was allergies which were
intensified with current stressful situation at home. Katie and her husband were
friendly but there was little affection between the two which was a problem for
her. Her son was without a job and that was also a concern. She said that her allergies went back at least to her high
school years and she had frequent headaches. She tested 50/50 on the
suggestibility questionnaire and the suggestibility exercises. She responded
equally well to direct and indirect suggestions. From the "Taste the
lemon" exercise, I determined that she was a visual person with facial
response which indicated that she could almost taste the lemon. I converted a
"Heavy hand, light hand" suggestibility exercise into an induction. After a progressive relaxation exercise, I lead her
through the "Walk in Country: Backpack" imagery which will be recorded
in the weight control case history. The suggestion was that if she was ready to
be released from the conscious and subconscious need for he allergies, her first
finger of her right hand would rise. The finger rose with a jerky motion and
remained up until I suggested that it go down to her lap. (1) Overcoming
Allergies: The word, "Allergy" pertains to a condition or
sensitivity to some substances, called, "allergens". It can be
emotionally induced or intensified by stress. A person who is allergic reacts in a way different from
the way others react when they eat, inhale, or touch the allergen...Allergy is
actually a normal reaction of the body. However, there are times when it is
being misused by the body...I'll explain what I mean by that... If a person
inhales a harmful irritant or bacterial toxin, it is normal for a watery
secretion to come out of the nose... That's the way the body reacts to cleanse
the harmful irritant or bacterial toxin out of the body to keep the body in its
normal, healthy condition... That is a normal reaction, a natural allergy... But it is
abnormal and can be very distressing for a person's nose runs just because he or
she gets near fresh cut grass, or near a dog, or near a cat... The reason some
people become allergic and others don't has been a mystery for many years...The
medical profession has been baffled as to the reason some people develop a runny
nose because of rag weed...mold...dust...or other triggers; while others are not
bothered by any of these things... In recent years many studies have revealed that thoughts
or ideas in a person's mind can cause allergic condition to develop... By saying
that thoughts or ideas cause allergic conditions to develop does not mean that
the person wants to have those allergic reactions...People do not want to have
hay fever, runny noses, or other allergic symptoms... It is misunderstandings in
the subconscious level of the mind that causes those condition to develop... Tension and stress have also been found to contribute to
allergic reactions.. Emotional factors, anxiety, or even grief are often found
to be the cause of these conditions. In most cases involving allergic conditions, it has been
found that the situation or circumstance caused the condition has changed, but
the person continues to have the allergy because it has become a learned
reaction of the mind. In other words, the subconscious mind caused the allergic
condition to continue merely because it has become a habit... However, anything
the mind has caused, the mind can also cure... Your subconscious mind is understanding what I've been
telling you, and is causing all of your body processes to function properly and
to cleanse all impurities out of your body and eliminate the allergic symptoms
you have been experiencing... You're noticing changes in your life, because your
mind is releasing those ideas, thoughts, imprints and impressions that caused
the allergies to develop... The usual pattern of being allergic is progressively
decreasing... Beginning right now, your subconscious mind is understanding that
you want to get rid of all unnatural allergies... Allergies are progressively
having less and less control over you... In going through various experiences during your normal,
everyday living, your subconscious mind receives information that caused you to
develop the habit of allergies, but your subconscious mind is understanding that
the information was misunderstood, and you can see it from a more knowledgeable,
more mature point of view, and you want it changed and corrected. You want the
processes of your body to function properly and cleans all impurities and
substances which have any allergic effect eliminated from your body through the
natural process of your elimination system... Your subconscious mind is causing you to become
desensitized to all substances and conditions which, in the past, have caused
you to suffer abnormal allergic reactions... You desire to be released from the
harmful effect of these allergies, and your subconscious is getting rid of the
habit of responding to situations and conditions that has been causing you to
experience allergies... You are continuing to relax more and more, and your
subconscious mind is accepting these suggestions, and is improving your health,
and enabling you to live life in a more peaceful, more calm, more relaxed way...
Each day these suggestions become more effective... You are learning to use
these principles of relaxation which you are now experiencing in all phases of
your daily life, and that keeps you calm and relaxed during your daily life.. In every situation or circumstance that comes up in your
life, you are calm and relaxed... Your nerves are relaxed and steady, and you'll
be able to do things in a relaxed way... You are able to cope with your everyday
changing circumstances in a peaceful way... Regardless of what comes up in your
life, you are in control of your emotions and feelings...That causes the
allergic reaction to keep fading away more and more, and soon is gone
completely... Over the next few weeks, Katie reported feeling better
with fewer allergic attacks occurring. We did an age regression and she went
back to age five. However, she opened her eyes and said, "I am not ready
for this now." I said, "OK, just let the scene fade out and relax even
deeper. Relaxing more and more with each breath you take." To close out
that session, I used "Therapy Between sessions." (2) You
Can Let Go Of The Garbage: A group in New York City once advertised that
they were taking reservations for a trip to the moon. Prospective travelers were
warned that the moon was a cold and arid place where movement would be difficult
and conversation without radio transmission would be impossible. In spite of
these drawbacks, over 18,000 people requested reservations. Those making reservations were asked to explain why they
wanted to go to the moon. There were a number of reasons given, but two reasons
emerged as leaders. Many stated that they wanted to go because of the adventure
involved, but most wanted to escape the earth and their own problems. Remember
the man who went to the other side of the world to get away from his problems
only to find that he had brought his biggest problem with him - himself. You don't need to run away from your problem, but to use
your mind to help you overcome or endure your problem in a constructive way. You
can do this by a change in your attitude from defeat to hope and meaning. You are carrying a lot of baggage which you can get rid
of. A woman with a heavy suitcase boarded a bus. Once on the bus, she continued
to hold her baggage. The driver said to her, "You can put your baggage
down, lady, the bus will carry it for you." You can let it go. Suppose we tried to keep our garbage in our homes, hiding
the scraps and litter away in various parts of the house: day after day and week
after week. Think of the smell and disease that would poison the entire
household. The simple principle holds true in our emotional life as well. If we
let the garbage of life keep piling up inside us, it eventually works us harm.
Let the garbage go. Feel good about yourself. As you do, your self-confidence
increases and you grow emotionally and spiritually. You can change your mind and
change your life. St. Paul wrote in Colossians 3:8-10, "But now you also
put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your
mouth...since you laid aside the old self...and have put on the new self who is
being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the one who created
him." Close to the end of her therapy, Katie asked to be
regressed as she felt that she was ready for it. She went back of being a baby
in her mother's arms. As her mother was crying over the absence of her husband
who was fighting in the war, baby Katie wanted to cry but could not. This was
the Initial Sensitizing Event (ISE). She then went forward in her regression to her
God-Father's death. She loved him very much. On the night of his wake, she stayed at the house of
a friend and had lots of fun for which she felt guilty. She did not cry at the funeral.
This occurred at the age of five and was the Symptom Producing Event (SPE).
Following that she would occasionally have an allergic reaction which
intensified during her high school years. She then recalled several events when
she wanted to cry, but couldn't. These were the Symptom Intensifying Events (SIE). During these sessions, Katie's spiritual life had changed
and she was experiencing a real closeness to God. I concluded our last hypnotic
session with the story of the Velveteen Rabbit. (8) The Velveteen Rabbit: Margery Williams wrote a child's
story which presents a great truth about real life. The Velveteen Rabbit is the
story about a rabbit who was made of velveteen and stuffed with sawdust. The
rabbit felt insignificant among the other fancier toys of the boy's nursery. His
best friend was Skin Horse who had lived in the nursery longer than any other
toy. "What is real?" The rabbit asked Skin Horse,
"Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?" Skin Horse
responded, "Real life isn't how you are made, it's something that happens
to you. When a child loves you for a long time...really loves you, then you
become real." The rabbit continued his questioning, "Does it happen
all at once, like being wound up, or bit by bit?" The Skin Horse answered,
"It doesn't happen all at once. You become, it takes a long
time...generally by the time you are real, most of your hair has been loved off,
your eyes have dropped off, and you get very loose in the joints and very
shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are real you
can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand." In time the rabbit became real. He knew it one day when he
had been left in the yard after a day of play with the little boy. Nana, the
nurse, had to bring the rabbit to the boy before he would go to sleep. As she
handed the rabbit to the boy, Nana said, "Fancy, all that fuss for a
toy." The boy took the rabbit and responded, "Give me my bunny. You
mustn't say that, he isn't a toy, he's real." When the rabbit heard that,
he was overjoyed because he was real at last. He was no longer a toy, he was
real. The boy himself had said it. God says to you that you are not play things
of fate, you are real and as such, you can experience life more abundantly.
Because God loves you, you receive the gift of life and begin the process of
real life. | ||||||||||||||||
These three aspects of our
being are so different and yet so integrated that one part of the human trinity
cannot be affected without having some effect on the other two. If you have a
physical problem, it affects you emotionally and spiritually. If you have an
emotional problem, it affects you physically and spiritually. If you have a
spiritual problem, it affects you emotionally and physically.
These three aspects of our
being are so different and yet so integrated that one part of the human trinity
cannot be effected without having some effect on the other two. Dr. Herbert
Benson writes that the body and mind should never be disassociated. "The
mind and body are inseparable." A psychologist, Leslie LeCron, in his book
on self-hypnotism writes that a person is a unity of mind and body, each
influencing the other. The whole individual must be considered in dealing with
emotional disturbances. The inner mind works through the brain to control the
body and to effect it.
Lawrence LeShan in his book, You
Can Fight for Your Life, is one of the "others" referred to in the
Simonton statement. He states that there were two major characteristics that
emerged in his study of cancer patients. The first characteristic concerned the
patient loss of his reason for being. This loss of the sense of purpose in life
predates the first symptoms of cancer. Quite often the loss of an important
relationship was interrupted so that the person's life was shattered. Among
those losses was the death of a spouse, child growing up and leaving home, the
loss of a job, graduation from school. The second characteristic was an
inability on the part of the individual to show anger or resentment.
Cecil Osbourne in his book, The
Art of Understanding Yourself, writes that there is an inner mechanism
within us which tends to enforce the idea, "confess or be punished."
Either we must feel a sense of forgiveness or cleansing, or we will find a way
to be punished or to punish ourselves. We punish ourselves whether it is fake
guilt or real guilt, for the subconscious does not know the difference.
Alfred Adler states that to
some degree every emotion finds some expression in the body. The emotion will be
seen in some visible form such as in the person's posture. The emotion may be
seen in the face or trembling of a person's legs. Changes can also take place in
the organs of the body and the circulation of blood. "If we examine more
closely, we shall find that every part of the body is involved in an emotional
expression, and that these physical expressions are consequences of the action
of the body and mind."
The Simontons and Arnold A.
Hutschmecker would add cancer to the above list. Hutschmecker wrote, "We
ourselves choose the time of illness, the kind of illness, the course of illness
and its gravity. We are moving toward a recognition that illness of any kind,
from the common cold to cancer, emotional stress plays a part." Saying that
we participate in the state of our health is not intended to produce guilt for
being sick, but to give hope toward health. Though we continue to rely on proper
medical procedures, we can add our own hopeful expectation to stay healthy and
to have an effect upon our healing process when sick or injured. The writer of
Proverbs put it this way, "A cheerful heart does good like a medicine, but
a broken spirit makes one sick." (Proverbs 17:23 TLB)
Hippocrates,
the father of medicine, said, "The affections suffered by the body, the
soul sees quite well with shut eyes." So if that be true, maybe if we
took a little time and closed our eyes and looked for what was going on in our
life which might be contributing to our illness or why we had an accident, we
may discover the cause and with proper adjustment of our thinking restore our
health. Some of the following examples seem to back up Hippocrates
statement. 
Viktor Frankl, speaking of a
man who was trying to keep his fellow prisoners alive in a World War II German
concentration camp wrote, "He talked about many comrades who had died in
the last few days, either of sickness or suicide. But also he mentioned what may
have been the real reason for their death; giving up hope."
Job refuses to consider any
kind of bargain and moves directly from anger to depression. Job felt that he
had enough. He was despondent and wished for death. This feeling is in line with
Hutschnecker's statement, "Depression is a partial surrender to
death." Job felt insecure and hopeless for he believed that God had
deserted him in his suffering. He felt that he could accept his suffering if
only he could be assured or given hope that God had not abandoned him. I know
that there are times when we feel that God does not hear our prayers or is not
concerned with our situation. Many have said to me, "Chaplain, I don't feel
that my prayers mean anything to God. God just doesn't seem to be listening to
me."
William James once said,
"The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter
their lives by altering their attitude of mind." We can alter our lives by
altering the attitudes of our mind. This is true of any physical, emotional or
spiritual situation in which we find ourselves. As long as we can think, as long
as we have mental capability, we can change the effect of the situation in our
lives.
Norman Cousins, the editor of
the Saturday Review used humor to help him recover from a
life-threatening and crippling disease. Cousins came to the conclusion that if
negative thinking could produce negative reaction in his body, then positive
thoughts could bring positive response in his body. He watched tapes of comedy
shows and laughed a lot. Cousins discovered that ten minutes of heavy laughter
produced an aesthetic effect for him that lasted up to two hours. It has been
discovered that hearty laughter increases the levels of endorphins and
enkephalins in the brain which is the body's own pain killer.
(4) Talk about your worries.
It helps to share worries with someone you trust such as a friend, family
member, clergy person, teacher or some other trusted person. Don't keep your
stress and worry locked up inside of you. You can find some relief by getting it
off your chest. You don't want to be a complainer, but you do need someone to
talk to concerning your worries.
(6) Get enough sleep and rest.
Long ago a book of prayers was written that still speak of faith, hope and
courage. It shows people expressing their doubts and their faith, their anger
and their love, their joy and their sorrow. We call it the book of Psalms. Its
words thrill and inspire those who read it. It is one of the most read books in
the Bible. No Scripture is better known than the Psalms and none of the Psalms
is better known nor more helpful than the 23rd Psalm "The Lord is My
Shepherd". Early in that Psalm, David writes about the need to relax and
rest. "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want, he maketh me to lie down
in green pastures."
(7) Prayer and meditation.
Prayer is an expression of the divine-human love event. It is communication with
God. There are many forms that this communication may take place. Sometimes, it
is a formal written prayer and sometimes it is verbalizing our thoughts and
feelings to God. At other times, it is a mental attitude of thinking only
thoughts to God. The most meaningful prayers are those that come from the heart
and soul. It is communicating in an intimate manner with God. Prayer and
meditation allow us to nurture our spiritual life.
(8) Learn to relax and use
your mind to help you deal with stress. The use of relaxation, imagery and
self-hypnosis is available to each of us and it is very easy to learn. The
hypnotic state is a condition of relaxation where attention is concentrated and
the individual is more susceptible to suggestion. It is not a bizarre
experience. You are conscious of what is happening and your are in control. If
the telephone rings, you will hear it and can choose to answer it or ignore it.
If you hear a cry for help, you can respond.
