stress for dummies...

so i bought a book last week titled "healing back pain naturally." i do think there are a lot of alternative ideas that western medicine chooses to not embrace. so i decided to add this book to my arsenal of opinions and treatments. the premise of this book is that our emotional health (stress, happiness, anger, depression, etc...) has a direct impact our physical health. which isn't really that far reaching of an idea. and it goes on to say that when you are stressed about something it creates muscle tension and that can throw your whole body out of synch and that includes your back. causing a weakness that can lead to injury. so in addition to exercising your back (yoga, stretching), and seeing a chiropractor, doctor or therapist it is very imporatant to learn to deal with emotions. this can be done by meditation, deep breathing, relaxing techniques, decompressing, etc...

and well let's be honest. i am a big ball of stress with lots of tension...90% of the time. so i've been thinking about ways to deal with stress and how can i force myself to be more "relaxed." so i'm looking for ideas...i'm going to try to do some yoga and some deep breathing/mediation type things. but first i have to get through this marathon...sigh...stress level rising.

i was reading an article last night about...stress you guessed it. anyway, there was a statement that stuck out to me. "Stress is almost never in the present. It is usually anxiety about the future or it is about processing the past." hmmm. it reminded me of a quote i read years ago that completley changed my thinking process (back when i worried more than i do now) "anytime you let fear, worry or doubt enter your mind you are misusing your imagination." so my question to myself is why don't we live in the moment. why are we always so wound up about things that did happen or might happen. i'm afraid we lose really valuable time and moments being caught up in the should'ves or what ifs.


*what work can do to us - "As long as stressful experiences are brief and infrequent, the body quickly returns to normal. In nature, this phenomenon is known as the fight or flight reaction. But a person who is in a continuous state of stress throughout every working day may experience a wide variety of potential health effects. "(from a random website - not based on any factual data that i know of - so don't quote me.)

thank you for listening to my mid-day lunch ramblings.

planning on a long run/walk this afternoon - OUTSIDE. i love spring.