Stress management
It is possible to intervene in the “autonomic” process - to regulate your stress.
Stress
Fear and stress are the same, hormonally.
Let’s take a simple look at stress – as an autonomic response to actual or perceived DANGER.
Our autonomic nervous system has two divisions: Sympathetic and parasympathetic.
Here’s an example, for simplicity:
I am hiking in the mountains, and a bear comes storming toward me. In a split second, I know that I can’t fight it, and I can’t run away from it fast enough (fight/flight, sympathetic)
My legs flex beneath me, and my body freeze on the ground with minimal breathing and only enough heartbeats to survive. (freeze, parasympathetic)
The bear pushes me a little – and then walks away. It does not eat “dead animals.”
This is a survival system.
Lots of hormones are produced in these divisions. In the sympathetic, it’s adrenaline (and four others) that makes me able to run faster and punch harder.
If we only had a sympathetic nerve system, we would die of a heart attack when the stresshormones are high.
But we have two divisions. So an “automatic” shift to the parasympathetic occurs - producing cortisol (and four others), making the body freeze.
Unregulated stress in the Sympathetic is a lot of adrenalin hormone, which gives high levels of aggression. It inhibits the immune system and causes restlessness in the body, which disturbs the deep sleep we need to regulate stress.
Stress in the Parasympathetic is a lot of Cortisol hormone, which gives a “play-dead-mode.”
Our enemy knows about this. They have pumped out fear-scenarios in media for a very long time to pump up a sympathetic response.
And when people are overwhelmed by stress - i.e. the parasympathtic system has taken over - then our enemy has “offered” a lot of distractions in TV. So that people can sit in front of the screen in “play-dead-mode.”
They have added brainwashing - because when the stress is high in both systems, critical thinking is hampered.
When stress is high in both systems, all those hormones produce a state of helplessness, hopelessness, despair and emptiness. A psychiatrist would call that ‘a depression’ - and grab the prescription pad. But anti-depressants aren’t healthy!
So it is essential to regulate stress instead!
I have found a lot of stress regulation “tools” over the years. Although it is called an autonomic system, it is possible to intervene in that “autonomic” process.
The most basic I’ve learned is: The central nervous system does not know the difference between fantasy and reality. So imagine something wonderful - something that makes you feel good - such as to lie in the arms of someone you love, or hold your newborn child, or sit on a mountaintop and enjoy the view, or float in comfortably tempered water on a beautiful beach.
Fantasize something that makes you comfortable and fantasize in detail, sights, sounds, body sensations, feelings.
Or use one of these tools:
Stress management
1: Yawn, artificially, and stretch. Do it several times - and maybe it triggers natural yawns. If not, just move on artificially.
2: Fill the lungs with air and sigh, loudly, several times.
3. Sleep at least six hours – or eight if you have the opportunity. Sleep is a very effective stress regulator.
4. Have orgasms. They release oxytocin which has a stress-regulating effect.
5. Stand with slightly bent legs, shake the ass and let the shake propagate up along the spine - as a healthy animal does.
6. Place one hand on the forehead and lift slightly at the eyebrows. Place the other hand on the crown chakra. Direct your attention to the points of contact for a few minutes. If you realize that the thoughts have wandered off, return your attention to the contact surfaces.
7. Giraffe sleeping: Drop the lower jaw and breath through the mouth for a couple of minutes, slowly without any sound.
8. Look at a color for at least a minute (a vase, a field in a rug, a leaf on a tree. Anything. Just one color). Then shift your gaze to another color and keep your attention there while just breathing. Move your gaze to a third color, a fourth, and a fifth. This exercise is very effective when in shock.
9. Pay attention to the feet for a minute and let the breathing take care of itself. Shift focus to the hands and stay there for a minute. Then shipt your attention to the lap, the neck, and to the heart. It does not matter what body part you focus on - as long as you switch between at least five points of attention. And it’s best to end with the heart.
Then ask yourself, "Is anyone home?"
10. Walk for an hour without stopping. Walk - do not run or ride a bike. One hour's walk produces as much Serotonin as there is in an antidepressant tablet.
10. Imagine you are a crocodile drifting down a stream. Do not move a muscle, let the current lead you. Pay attention to the length of your spine, from neck to tail root. Then shift your attention from the tail root to the tip of the tail, pay attention to the length of your tail, and feel how heavy it is and how easily it rests on the surface of the river. Then shift your attention to the jaw, which rests on the water surface. Pay attention to the length of the head from the snout tip to the neck. And finally be aware of your whole length from snout tip to tail tip. Just drift lazily down the river.
You now see a bank with large, flat stones and steer with your tail up to the bank. Lie down on a large, flat, sun-warmed rock. Feel the sun bake on your back and the heat from the stone on the underside of your body.
A monkey emerges from the forest edge, slowly approaching. It picks up a stick and pokes at you. In an instant, you open the jaw and clap your teeth around it, shaking your head, so that blood and fibers fly to all sides, chewing a few times and then swallowing.
Whereupon you rest further on the stones.
Then say these words: That's enough!
And notice, that your voice is deeper than it usually is.