Stress Management Through Altering Beliefs And Increasing Knowledge

Most humans experience unexpected setbacks which can cause huge stress and can halt their forward progress in life. Our attitudes, beliefs and knowledge can make a big difference to how we deal with these setbacks.

What means just major stress to one person can even mean death to another. Our beliefs and knowledge affect how much stress we experience in the face of problems, traumas, ageing and the threat of death.

Recently, I spoke to a friend who seemed knowledgeable about bullet wounds. I don't how much evidence he has for his views but they seem to make sense.

People are conditioned to believe that if they get hit by a bullet they will die. They think to themselves:

"I've been shot; I will die."

Films show us people dropping dead from a single bullet wound and our subconscious takes all this in and starts believing a bullet means death.

When we are hit by a bullet we think death is on its way and we die. A policeman in the USA shot himself in the foot and died. On the other hand a criminal was pumped full of over twenty bullets and was still firing back at the police.

No one had told him that you died from a single bullet wound. Either that, or he was on drugs and did not know what was going on.

People who do understand bullet wounds are less likely to die because they know that not all bullet wounds are fatal. Their extra knowledge can save their lives.

In Africa, the locals can survive horrendous crocodile bites. They have not been told that such bites will kill them. They just sew up their mutilated flesh and return to their fishing when they feel better.

We in the West are not so tough although we used to be.

Must of us are conditioned to believe we will get weak and feeble as we age but there exist individuals who are far stronger than those who are twenty years younger than them.

They have refused to accept weakness and have kept exercising and looking for ways to stay strong and even become stronger. Such men and women give hope to us all.

We can manage the huge stress of ageing and of death through managing and changing or at least altering our own beliefs.

Increased knowledge can also relieve stress although, occasionally, lack of knowledge about what we can't survive or achieve may be our best friend!

Increased knowledge about how our minds work will teach us not to dwell on the negative aspects of our lives. We should take note of our problems but not brood over them. Instead we should consider solutions and even imagine how we would feel if the problem had been solved.

In other words, we should not pretend our problems do not exist. They are usually only too real. We should not, however, waste good time and energy worrying about them. Instead,let's take action now to solve them and keep affirming and visualizing a happy outcome.

About the author
John Watson is an award winning teacher and martial arts instructor. He has recently written two books about achieving your goals and dreams.

They can both be found on his website http://www.motivationtoday.com along with a daily motivational message.

The title of the first book is "36 Laws To Ignite Your Inner Power And Realize Your Dreams Now! - Acronyms, Stories, Pictures And Quotes...Easy To Remember And Use Everyday To Grab Your Life And Soar With The Eagles"

The book can be found at this URL: http://www.motivationtoday.com/36_laws.html

The book uses acronyms, stories, pictures and quotations to help readers remember 36 laws that can gradually transform your life if you apply them.

Ezine editors / Site owners
Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety in your ezine or on your site but please include the resource box above.