Stress COSMOPOLITAN JULY 2008

Good morning Karen. By reading your questions, I realise that you know quite a lot
about the subject. Your questions are very precise and complex. Maybe you only
need more of a justification or a reference. I am therefore going to answer the
questions and we can speak later.

Q: Can a low level of stress be good for us by pushing us to achieve?
Most definitely. One needs a form of stress to get up in the morning. Maybe it is called
different things. When there is an exciting thing or a deadline to be met, the
motivation is good. Adrenalin can pump and we work faster and better. So, a low
level, or a certain level of stress is not only good for us it is absolutely essential for us.

Q: When does good stress become bad stress?
When you as a person experience it. When you as a person experience the deadline
as a challenge and you know your adrenalin is pumping and you work faster and you
think clearer, then its still good stress. When it becomes bad stress, it is when it is
continuously over a long period of time on a high level. In normal frequencies, the
brain is in beta hertz the way we measure the brain waves. In stress times, it is in high
beta in other words 32+. That might be good at a time of the lion chasing you but
you cant continuously run away from the lion. You will get exhausted and burn out.
And thats exactly what happens to us in todays modern life.

People are living too long on deadlines and demands and challenges and this does
not allow the body and the mind to come back to the alpha or even the delta and
the theta state. Therefore, we develop distorted perceptions of who we are and who
other people are. We measure people by the rate of their success, by the rate of their
endurance. Super people super women have to be a fabulous wife, a fabulous
mother, a fabulous employee and manager. All on the extreme level. The toll it takes
you know better than I do. We therefore develop perceptions about ourselves that we
are only accepted when we are performing very well and constantly living in high
beta and constantly living under the cloud of stress.

Q: What we believe others are trying to do to us in the form of crime?
In South Africa, it is a very complex, challenging and interesting situation. However, it is
presently not good for most of us. I would come in from the angle saying the form of
crime is violent. Violence happens when a person feels out of control, hopeless,
helpless, powerless. For me personally, there is a difference of the woman stealing or
taking bread to feed her kids, which is desperation, compared to robbers breaking in
to steal the TV or cell phones and so on. We might regard these as luxuries. For them it
becomes necessities. And for them it becomes I am entitled to So the things of
entitlement, the ego and the judgement comes in from the criminals as well as the
victims. It becomes a very complex dynamic but nevertheless, it is neither good for the
mind, the body, the spirit or the economy.

South Africas present political situation most definitely not only increases the levels of
stress but causes more anxiety and more depression. The number of people we get
knocking on our doors, the number of people that have to be hospitalised, has
increased drastically in the last year. The uncertain economic situation, which is linked
to the political situation of the split in the ANC, brings additional uncertainty. It is like a
cloud of dark heaviness above us. And that is even excluding Eskom! So while that is
there and the thoughts of I dont know when I will be retrenched, I dont know if the
import/exports, the investment of this country is going to go on (and many people
dont think so directly about it) what then happens when the person experiences
stress, anxiety or even depression, is that it is deepened and darkened because the
overall climate of vibration of the whole nation is dark and heavy.

The same with the so-called inconvenience of Eskom. It was really symbolic, we are
going into periods of darkness and it is beyond our control. We cannot do something
about it.

Q: As you say, these are all things we are powerless to change. Does this
powerlessness adversely affect our stress levels?
I think I have answered that that is does adversely affect our stress levels. But I dont
think people realise to what extent it affects our stress levels. It actually affects our
daily behaviour, our levels of irritation and irritability. With that, as I say again, a
climate, frequencies floating around, black energy people want to know whatever I
do I have less patience with the next driver; I have less patience with the person
reporting to me and I am more afraid and stressed out to the people that I report to.

Q: Is it possible that we could forget peoples names in times of distress?
We cannot only forget their names we can forget situations, we can forget places. We
can literally forget how to get to the workplace. We can forget how to get from point
A to point B. It is not only names that we forget, it is dates, events, appointments. It is as
if our brain has reached a point of overloading in the way that Eskom cuts out it is as
if our brains also cut out because they cannot manage more. It becomes a very very
dangerous situation. It can make one extremely panicky if we dont know how to go
to familiar places.

Q: What can we do if this happens?
God has given us the miracle, or the instrument of breathing. When you breathe out or
when you breathe in imagine that you have a balloon in your stomach that is
expanding and contracting. Or a bird spreading out its wings and bringing them in.
Immediately switch to stomach breathing and then start with words that you say to
yourself differently. Please dont say, what the hell, how do I dare or hopefully you
dont have anyone say them to you. Rather say, this will come clear to me very
shortly. I just keep on driving and keep safe. I am in the right direction and I am able to
handle it. Should it mean that I am late, I will also be able to handle that. My anxiety,
my stress for the moment, can cause accidents, it can cause damage to myself and
to others. My calmness, the opposite.

Q: How these symptoms affect all of us?
Our work levels are lower. Our levels of enjoyment are lower. Our levels of stress are
higher. It affects our relationships with our loved ones, our children, our friends. Some
people become too tired to go out and socialise. Others drink more to socialise more,
to forget more, to let the day go by. The glass of wine becomes a bottle of wine. We
find little addictions and runaways in all kinds of things. More people are on pills. If you
dont treat stress it can become extremely dangerous. It goes over in anxiety and into
depression. Stress is the bodys symptom to tell us to do something. It can manifest
physically, not only in the skin, not only with epilepsy but with all kinds of things from
stomach ulcers, even to some cancer is emotionally suppressed anger and feeling of
hopelessness and helplessness.

We all have that at the moment, but the question is, how do we handle it now?
Almost every illness that we have has an emotional component to it.

Q: What can we do to counter the above symptoms?
Reading all the health articles that you write the right diet the hamburger patty,
biting through it is not going to release your stress. Dont give your power to external
food or drink. The release is very temporary. Rather ask, what will this drink or this food
do to me and my body over the long term?

When I exercise, when I sleep enough, when I eat properly, I have won half the battle.
The other thing is what you say to yourself. Meditation, prayer, but also the internal
dialogue lets call it an internal strategy. For example, if someone says something
nasty to you like How can you be so stupid as to do that? Can you imagine how you
feel? Can you imagine if you run yourself down with your self talk for 14 to 16 hours. I
would suggest move to deep breathing, change the dialogue in your head. You have
different components of energy in your head use these.

Q: Pinpointing the causes of stress how can we rationalise this?
The causes of stress are very difficult to pinpoint. But when there is a mind/body
connection, when we come in from all the angles even including massage,
physiotherapy, chiropractor on a physical level. And meditation, prayer, exercises,
quiet time, socialisation and the feeling of I can handle it, we can counteract stress.
We have to accept stress is part of life.