The Stress

Stress comes stealthily, furtively, secretly at times and grips surely, confident ally. From where it emerges and takes hold of the whole being-mind, body and soul -is generally  baffling and time consuming groping. No wonder that its take over is so strong that one feels at times devoid of desire, too to search for cause of its inception and initiation. All human species are prone to be affected by this malady regardless of caste, colour, creed, gender or age. Like scorpion tentacles Stress besieges, surrounds and encompasses and lays one weak, devoid of strength to speak, take command, express, or do things the way one does in normal parlance. From outer demeanour its not ascertain able but like termite it eats from within the positive of a being (albeit temporarily) and jeopardizes his/her ability to be, to behave and do things as per one's forte. So demonic is the impact of Stress that the good angel in an individual becomes limp, takes a back seat letting the Stress have its way in behaviour, work , rest or sleep pattern. It has the ability to empty, fill with negativity, close and shut silently but firmly! 

Stress sneaks out in many a forms like rude tone, loud tenor, sarcasm, insulting behaviour, anger, cries, moans and tears or at times silence deep, permeative and penetrative. Stress can never make but only mar things, it can never create but only destroy, it can never make one feel good but only bad, bad, bad. There is something like positive stress as prevalent in sports to excel the competitor but even that has the capacity to block the best in us from coming out and thwart victory and let down at the last and opportune moment. Sometimes I feel stress is like that line of  negativity which can in no way be lessened or made short except by drawing a bigger line of positivity which can make it dwarf, smaller, diminutive, powerless. 

Its very important to pause and ponder over what stresses and besieges our confidence and strength; its imperative to think and deliberate upon how best to guard ourselves against the causes and reasons which have ample power to stress and strain us; its a must to try to understand what, where, when, why and how stress is generated,  nurtured and whether we can see it coming from a distance or close proximity. Who are the people who cause stress, whose behaviour and what kind of attitude triggers set the ball rolling for Stress to take over us; its as important as to understand who are our friends and foes and whose energies inspire or demean us as to save ourselves before its too late. For sure prevention is better than cure! ‎

They say Time is a great healer but I feel stress is something which needs to be immediately addressed, taken by horns, dealt with firmly as it may swallow ‎the energies so vehemently that it can become difficult to get out of its cudgels. Sooner its handled and done away with, the better it is. The challenge that stress poses is serious. It threatens to engulf in such a way that the very sanity is put to stake and good energies are sapped leaving one unsure of how to do and what to do. If it is not handles timely, it can lead to what is abhorable-depression. The spiritual tools are many like meditation, chanting, healing at the pranic or aura level et al. But it is definitely more necessary to guard ourselves against it, our own positive energies should be channelised in such a manner that we are able to gauge this enemy's threat before it overpowers. Are we ever so ready and prepared is doubtful though. 

Stress demands action and response not reaction. The action may be in terms of activities of physical nature-cleaning (the wardrobe or house), writing, cooking( my God! This really a stress buster I realised so late!), playing a game, doing workouts and exercise ( dicey it is as it may further distress), playing with pets, walking ( not my cup of tea! ), ‎playing some instrument, listening to music( beware! It wud reveal your mood to everyone in the family!)and yes, breathing-inhaling, exhaling in open with eyes closed. The thin line lies between the inability to comrehend the root and the ability to analyse the situation and it is challenging to gain the latter and avert the former. 

I donot think there is any mortal who is 'deprived' of falling in the trap of stress or fortunate enough to overcome it as soon as it is encountered. But it is very important to know the Achilles' heel of  (this) enemy lest we  are defeated by it. It is so common and pervasive that we are at times prone to be treated as dustbins to others' stress and sure we have to be determined not to let this happen-come what may.

Stress has strong tendency to make us feel aloof, withdrawn,'alone alone all all alone‎/on a wide wide sea of misery'. This is the time when we need to get up and tell ourselves how precious we are, how very valued and a simple 'I love you' to oneself is suffice to bring back the energy to gather a smile and take the task of handling the stress head on! Humility doesn't mean we are weakling nor silence or non reaction means we are defeated. It is our primal duty to safeguard ourselves from feeling low and frail. It is  important  to be and also 'look' brave and bold and understand that this is going to pass. And sure it will. Amen.