Healing for your Mind, Body and Spirit

Here’s a question for you…

Is stress the enemy – something bad that needs to be done away with as quickly as possible?

If you’re like most people, the obvious answer is YES. After all, stress is right up there at the top of the list as a leading cause of almost all disease. Besides that, stress is… well, stressful. It just feels awful.

And, if stress were not the enemy, why would there be so many books and courses on stress reduction and stress management?

But, what if I told you, in spite of all of this, that stress may be your greatest spiritual ally – a true and faithful guide that will lead you closer to the Light and Love of your highest spiritual aspirations?

Let me explain…

First, let’s take a look at some of the common qualities of spiritual experience:

• A sense of meaning and purpose to life
• A robust sense of well-being – whether you are ill or well
• A sense of connectedness to your deepest self, to other people and even the whole world that allows you to go beyond your own limitations and find fulfillment in self development as well as putting someone else’s life, safety, and interests above your own.
• A sense of empowerment, self-control and self-acceptance
• A sense of hope and optimism – knowing that, no matter how bad it gets, things will turn out okay
• A sense of flow in your life that seems to be in alignment with some higher/divine purpose
• A felt presence of some loving force, some power, some higher intelligence that goes beyond human understanding

It should be obvious that these qualities are just the opposite of stress. They are life affirming and health enhancing, whereas stress diminishes our health and robs us of vitality and life.

Along with these inner spiritual experiences, there are many activities that have been shown to be life affirming and health enhancing. Many people would consider these activities to be spiritual in nature:

• Helping others, being of service
• Prayer and meditation
• Developing deep, meaningful relationships with others
• Regular attendance and participation in religious activities
• Being happily married
• Having strong family ties
• Practicing forgiveness
• Engaging in humor and laughter

These activities can lengthen our lives and keep us healthy.

On the other hand, the darker side of human nature creates many opportunities for the deadening effects of stress:

• Worry
• Fear
• Anxiety
• Anger
• Depression
• Despair
• Loneliness – the list goes on and on.

There are also many activities that have been shown to be life denying and health diminishing:

• Arguing
• Lying
• Cheating
• Stealing
• Fighting
• Being Traumatized
• The loss of a loved one
• Getting divorced, and may more

The interesting thing about these lists is that, for most folks, the spiritual experiences and activities feel good, while stress inducing emotions and activities feel bad.

It’s almost as if we have a built-in guidance system that leads us towards the Light and away from the Darkness. These two forces – Light and Darkness – form the foundation of most religious traditions: The Light is good and the Darkness is bad.

But, what if our mythologies about the eternal battle between the forces of Light and Darkness, between Good and Evil, were simply our limited attempt to describe and understand the universal forces of creation?

What if, in fact, the forces of Light and Darkness were not antagonistic, but complementary – two sides of the same coin that need each other? What if the universe as we know it would cease to exist without both of these forces being present? Could it be that in the absence of Darkness there would be no Light?

Of course, this would resolve the age-old question concerning the nature of God: If God is the Creator of everything both seen and unseen, then why did God create evil? Why did God create the Darkness?

Perhaps the Darkness is God’s way of helping us find our way home. In this sense, Darkness would be nothing more than a Divine tool designed to help us find the Light – just as seeing your shadow tells you exactly which way to turn to find the sun.

But, what is this Darkness that causes us to create stress in our lives? Is it some external force, some demon or devil that misleads us?

If you recall, I asked a similar question in a previous article on stress and mind/body healing. I concluded that, “An external event cannot cause a specific emotional response. It takes a mind to interpret the event first. And it is this interpretation that leads to an emotional response.”

This interpretation happens unconsciously. And, it is these unconsciously generated templates or models that direct our emotions and behavior.

So, rather than blaming some external agent, I’m suggesting that when an interpretation of an event leads to a stress response, the interpretation is based on a misunderstanding. It is a false way of seeing the world. And our Divine tool – the stress response – is telling us so.

Darkness is what we experience when we fail to see Divine Light and Love in every act, every thought and every word.

One of the grandest misunderstandings has to do with our own nature. I do not believe that we are simply human beings trying to have a spiritual experience. No, I believe we are spiritual beings struggling hard to have a human experience – and we’re not very good at it.

We are the essence of Light – we are awesome, mighty and powerful spiritual beings that have come here to rediscover and live our perfection. It is the Darkness within that keeps us from experiencing our true nature. And it is our limited beliefs, our unconscious patterns of thought and action that creates this Darkness.

This is what I mean when I call stress an ally and faithful guide. It illuminates the Darkness within – the misunderstandings about our true nature – and shows us the path to the Light.

So, you see that ridding your life of stress is not just a way to feel better. It can be your highest spiritual calling.