Handling Stress
May 31, 2010 by selfimprove
I recently spent a couple of days with a client here in the Alps – an individual who regards his personal development as the major priority in his life, somebody who changed his daily routine, going to bed one hour earlier to ensure that he has an extra hour each morning for meditation. He has been regularly meditating for up to an hour every morning for the last couple of years. The benefits? His fitness and health have greatly improved. His mental focus at work and at home has become razor-sharp and he has recently discovered a new-found creativity – in terms of news ideas and problem solving. He is in “flow” .
However, some months back, he found himself confronted by a major career decision and, in the process, found himself reverting to the indecision and stress that had practically ruined his life some years ago, that had almost cost him everything. So, his point was this – why, when it came to the crunch, did his meditation have no effect in the rough and tumble of daily life? First of all, of course, he freely admitted that things would have even been a lot worse had he not been meditating. As I said to him, at the very least, he is one of a small minority of people who are fully aware of their thoughts and fully aware when what they are thinking is unhelpful or damaging.
But the key point is that, unless you put what you learn in meditation into the moment to moment living of your everyday life, you will not get the downstream and all-important benefits of clarity, focus and presence of mind. Of course, you don’t wait until everything goes wrong to start putting what you have learned in meditation into practice – you have to do it when things are just normal. It’s pretty much like training for a big match – you train in advance to ensure that you can play your best on the day.
This training consists of regularly checking your state of mind throughout the day – every day. If things are simply running normally, chances are that your mind will be wandering and distracted – after all, this is the normal adult default state of mind. Research shows that the normal adult pays just one percent attention to what is going on when all is running smoothly. Obviously, this level of commitment to your life is not going to create a great life – and this is why normal people tend to be “not-too-bad”. As a result of this, however, the ordinary of everyday life presents us with the perfect training ground. Simply stop yourself every-so-often during the day and become aware of whether you are clear, present and focused or not – how you feel when you meditate will be your benchmark for comparative purposes.
If you’re not in a clear and present state of mind, bring yourself back to that state by coming back to now. Practically speaking, this means that you take a few moments to pay full attention to the here and now – you could stop and focus your sight, feeling, hearing, senses of smell and taste on the moment in question, or you could simply take and fully experience a few deep breaths. Our contact with the here and now – and the opportunity it provides us with to live our ordinary lives extraordinarily – is through (and only through) our five senses. You need to come to your senses!
And, if you do this when nothing stressful is happening in your day, you will be fit and ready to be at your best when things actually do go wrong.
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