Hello,
Nobody seems to be able to tell us exactly why we spend so much of our time in a stressed state, but stress is reaching epidemic proportions, particularly in the younger generations.
It could be the effects of social media, it could be that we hear too much in these days of 24 hour news updates about all the sadness in the world. Certainly our desire to control everything plays its part: if we constantly seek safety, worry about the safety of our loved ones, manipulate this and that to try to create the perfect conditions for life, then we are going to end up stressed and tired.
The yogis of old were correct in their teachings that acceptance leads to peace. We don’t always get to know what is going to happen before it happens, and seeking to control what happens, how people will react to what happens, saving people from the reactions of other people when something happens is a fruitless waste of energy. What will be will be.
This is where practice comes in. If you can stay calm when the world goes to hell in a hand cart, then you have changed your entire experience of life.
What’s more, if you can stay centred when difficult times come, then you become a beacon, a safe place for others less adept at holding their peace, to come and feel more calm.
Lastly, if you can hold your calm centre in the face of challenge, you begin to teach your children how to do the same.
Understand that this is not some otherworldly preternatural state of never feeling anxious, you have not failed if you experience stress. Everybody gets stressed, everybody feels sad. This is not failure, it is just how life is.
The trick is knowing how to stay connected to your inner peace during these times - the world buffets you around like a boat on stormy seas, your practice keeps you afloat, lets you bob upon the waves rather than sinking beneath the deluge.
You can’t change or manipulate what happens in life - there is no rule book you can follow that will save you from the fact of loss, sadness, illness and pain. But you can change the way you respond to it. And that inner shift changes everything for the better.
Love,
Sarah x