Coping with Stress:
How to Deal with War, Terrorism, a Worsening Economy, and All the Other Stuff Going On
By Bill Harris
Director, Centerpointe Research InstituteCoping with stress right now is important, so I thought it would be timely to discuss something that's on everyone's mind right now--the war in Iraq, plus the other related troubles in the world. I'm not going to take sides on these issues (though I have my opinions). What side I take--or what side you take--is much less important, in my opinion, than to what degree you allow the current troubles in the world to affect your level of happiness and inner peace.
If there is some action you want or need to take regarding the troubles in the world, you'll be much more effective if you are happy and peaceful inside and coping with your stress.
In addition to the war, we're faced with terrorism, a lower stock market, governmental and corporate scandals, a worsening economy, and growing conflict between various societal groups, religions, countries, etc. If you allow this increasingly pessimistic social mood to influence your level of happiness and inner peace, you could easily become afraid, angry, or anxious. All these things that are happening are part of a much larger historical tide of events over which you, individually, have little control.
You do, however, have complete control over how you respond to these things--if you choose to exercise it.
As I've said so often in my writings, most people create their reality unconsciously and automatically, creating a life that reflects the contents of what I call their internal map of reality. This reality, since it happens unconsciously and automatically, seems to just happen and to be outside your control.
You don't, however, have to accept the results that are automatically created by your internal map of reality. This internal "software" was formed while you were growing up--before you knew enough to evaluate the consequences of each of its parts. You can, instead, DECIDE what beliefs, values, decisions, strategies, and so on, will give you the experience of life you want, and by adopting them, create the results you want.
In other words, your experience of life comes from inside of you, not from what is going on outside. And, you can change what's inside if you don't like the results it is creating.
So I urge you not to allow outside events--no matter how grim they may seem--to rob you of your happiness and inner peace. How do you avoid doing this? Put your focus on what you want, not on what you are afraid of or worried about. Realize that your mind is very powerful in its ability to create what you focus on, and then consciously and deliberately choose that point of focus.
Coping with Stress
Your control over external events is limited. Six billion people are creating a very complex matrix of events over which you have minimal influence. But you do have total control over your own mind and what you allow it to focus on. Exercise that choice. Decide what you want, and direct your mind toward it. When you notice yourself thinking about what you do not want, or what you are worried about, re-direct your mind toward what you want.
Realize that your mind will create whatever you focus on, and direct that power toward being happy, peaceful, compassionate, and successful. Right now, you are already creating whatever is happening in your life. You're doing this very skillfully--in fact, flawlessly. Unfortunately, you're probably doing so automatically and unconsciously, and basing what you're creating on your current internal map of reality. Some of what is being created you may like, and some you may not like. Instead of accepting what your mind automatically creates, based on your current programming, decide that, beginning right now, you will choose what you want it to create. Take the reins.
Most of what is happening in the world, if you think about it, doesn't even directly affect you. If it weren't for the media, you might not even know a lot of it is happening. And what does affect you, even if it seems to be negative, might just turn out to be a blessing in disguise for you. After nearly thirty years of considering this question, I am firmly convinced that every adversity, every failure, every hardship, contains the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit Your job is to look for that seed, and germinate it. If you do this, you will thrive, no matter what happens around you.
It really is possible to be happy and peaceful, regardless of outer circumstances. It is an illusion that what goes on around you creates and determines how you feel, think, and act, or that it creates the results you experience. Why, then, does it look as if what how you feel and what happens to you is the result of external events? Because the creative part of you, for most people, is unconscious. Since you don't see the creative spark that leads to your feelings, your thoughts, your actions, and your results, it seems as if it all just "happens," as a result of outer circumstances.
This is why I stress the importance of becoming more consciously aware, through meditation (especially with Holosync), as well as through conscious self-examination (the subject of most off my articles). As you meditate and continue your self-examination, and begin to become consciously aware of how you create your life, it will become obvious to you how to create whatever you want.
I see history as a broad movement in social mood from extreme optimism to extreme pessimism, like the tide going in and out. These movements are huge, and they are relentless. They can no more be stopped than you can stop the ocean tides. We seem to be moving from a peak in social optimism toward the other pole right now, and this trend toward pessimism may continue for several years. But just because social mood may become more negative doesn't mean you have to be more negative along with it. It also doesn't mean you have to be more afraid, or more angry (unless you enjoy such emotions).
You don't have to allow society's mood to be your mood. You can choose to be happy regardless of what goes on around you.
If you do this, you'll also be more able to help those around you--those who have allowed social mood to shape their experience. You'll be more effective in alleviating their suffering, should you decide to do so, and in helping others maintain their balance. The more centered you are, the more effective you will be in whatever you do.
So resolve to consciously exercise your power to create whatever you focus on, for your own sake, and for the sake of those around you. And please know that all of us at Centerpointe are here to support you, in whatever way we can, as events unfold.
I don't usually make much of a pitch for people to join (or continue to deeper levels of) the Centerpointe program in what I write in Mind Chatter. Instead, I generally focus on practical ways you can become more conscious and learn to consciously direct your life--leaving the sales pitch for other times and other places. But realizing how powerful Holosync is in raising your threshold for what you can handle coming at you from the world, and knowing how powerful it is in increasing your awareness of how you create your life, I want to urge those of you who are not already using Holosync to join the program now. Those of you who are in the program already, be sure to use your soundtracks regularly, re-read the support materials, and follow their suggestions.
More than ever, the world needs a core group of resilient, conscious, compassionate people, and I've honestly never seen anything that creates these qualities as powerfully as does Holosync. Since a tool exists that can help you become happy, conscious, and successful, please take advantage of it. Also, please commit yourself to mastering the life principles I've been teaching you in Mind Chatter and the other Centerpointe support materials. If you will do so, they will change your life.
Finally , remember that chaos always precedes reorganization at a higher level of functioning. See the chaos in the world as a prelude to better things.
Be well.
Chet's Comments
I began a regular meditation practice in November of 1980, and I've sat in silence almost every day since then. My meditation practice took a quantum leap forward when I added the Centerpointe Holosync® program to my practice in July of 2001. The Centerpointe program is the only adjunct to serious meditation that I've ever recommended. Click here to learn how modern technology can aid your search for self-awareness and coping with stress.
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