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Freedom from Stress . . . Yours for the taking!
Is stress getting the better of you?
According to the experts at the Statistic Brain Research Institute, American Institute of Stress, NYStatistic Brain, here are some numbers, disturbing as they may be, that confirm that you’re not alone:
| Percent of people who regularly experience physical symptoms caused by stress | 77 % |
| Regularly experience psychological symptoms caused by stress | 73 % |
| Feel they are living with extreme stress | 33 % |
| Feel their stress has increased over the past five years | 48 % |
| Cited money and work as the leading cause of their stress | 76 % |
| Reported lying awake at night due to stress | 48 % |
Most of us experience temporary stress from time to time, but these numbers indicate that 77% of U.S. citizens experience ‘regular’ on-going stress . . . the kind that can and often does lead to illness and chronic disease. These numbers support the findings by researchers that 85-90% of physical illness has an emotional cause.
And, as you may have discovered on your own, stress can impact not only your personal relationships, but your work life as well:
| Percent who say stress has a negative impact on their personal and professional life | 48 % |
| Employed adults who say they have difficulty managing work and family responsibilities. | 31 % |
| Percent who cited jobs interfering with their family or personal time as a significant source of stress. | 35 % |
| Perccent who said stress has caused them to fight with people close to them | 54 % |
| Reported being alienated from a friend or family member because of stress | 26 % |
| Annual costs to employers in stress related health care and missed work. | $300 Billion |
| Percent who say they are “always” or “often” under stress at work | 30 % |
With stress so rampant in our culture, what’s a person to do? Can we change those statistics, our health and our lives? If so, how?
What if the ‘problem’ of stress is all in your mind? No, I’m not minimizing your experience; I’m simply stating a fact.
Whether you’re one of the 77%, the 33% or the 48% who lie awake at night because of stress and worry, the benefits of Mindfulness Meditation can help you take control, rather than your mind controlling you. With practice, Mindfulness will not only help you relieve stress, but bring more enjoyment — the moment to moment joy that you’re missing right now — into your life. In addition, Mindfulness Meditation offers a healthy alternative to prescription drugs or over-the-counter sleep aids that leave you groggy and still out-of-sorts. Mindfulness can help you find peace of mind even in the midst of a thought storm.
Since Mindfulness has gone mainstream, you can find practitioners and teachers just about everywhere. If you live in or near Greensboro, NC, there’s an eight-week Mindfulness series starting Saturday, July 8 near downtown. For more information and to register, contact Lina Landess @ 336-688-8159. Give yourself the gift of peace.
