Do you see connections everywhere you look? Are you wondering about the great awakening and how it will affect you? Thanks for joining me, Anne Corbin and my guests. As we offer you different perspectives and analyses of current issues, together with advice on health, wealth, and relationships, as we navigate those storms together, not forgetting the systems available to us from metaphysics Anne our own higher selves. So what exactly is stress?
Well, it's the body's way of responding to any kind of excess demand or threat. It's automatic, and it's part of the way that our reptile brain, that's our oldest brain, keeps us safe. That's all it's worried about, actually, keeping us safe. It doesn't care whether we're happy or not, In fact, it doesn't do anything to promote happiness. It just keeps us safe. It's the so called fight or flight mechanism.
How, adrenaline and cortisol are released from those little glands that sit above the kidneys, the adrenal Anne. And This, mechanism makes the heartbeat faster, digestion and anything that's not necessary for running really fast. Is also shut down. Blood supply to our large muscles, like the muscles in our legs, that's increased so that we can run for our lives, and blood supply to the brain and so forth is reduced, and that's why you can't think straight when you're really, really stressed.
So when, the fight or flight mechanism has been activated we're then in a position to run for our lives away from that saber toothed tiger or the modern equivalent, which is, probably a man with, a knife or an axe or something like that.
However, in modern life, what happens is that on a daily basis, all kinds of low level stress is thrown in our direction Anne We never use those muscles or the massive potential energy spurt, which was intended to burn up the hormones, that is the adrenaline and the Corbin, and I mentioned that because both of them are coursing around in our veins. And that physical exercise will make them dissipate.
But when we're basically not moving around, we might be sitting in our cars, for example, in a traffic jam Anne we're late for a meeting, and we've had an argument with the family, and there's there are numerous pressures building up but we're not taking any physical exercise, which will cause the, the hormones to disappate and allow us to relax. So the cortisol just remains in our them for hours longer than it should do.
And this causes symptoms such as depression, autoimmune diseases skin conditions, and, yep, even weight gain. And what many of us don't realize is that stress also depresses the body's immune system. So why do you think the government wants to keep us all in this never ending state of fear? There's always something to worry about these days, especially if you turn on the news. You're either distracted with something completely inconsequential or you're told about climate change.
We're burning up. The Anne only got, 5 more years. I think prince char sorry, King Charles has just sign something with Sediq Khan. Oh, and everyone in London is worried about the U Less, the Ultra Low Emission zone, which is absolutely ridiculous. Why are they bringing in this stuff? It's to keep us depressed and susceptible to disease.
But even without all these extra external pressures that we're suffering, not least the cost of living crisis, which is real, Anne anyone who says that it isn't is either a richer than they should be or living in cloud cuckoo land, even back in normal times, shall we say pre pandemic? Everyone was affected by stress to some extent.
So learning to manage it is one of those essential life skills because despite all the technical and mechanical aids available to us, we're almost all under some kind of continual pressure, whether it too much to do in too little time, overwhelm from taking on too many, chores and commitments. Balancing scarce Anne, it's always been an issue. It's just got out of hand at the moment.
Exhaustion loneliness, fear about the future, the fear that they're ramping up, or, well, here's a big Anne, having insufficient or low quality nutrient deficient food. So many suffer from what can be called generalized anxiety for which they can't, actually identify a reason but they just find themselves unable to unwind and relax. And that means they can't sleep Anne they can't concentrate, and it becomes a kind of a vicious circle.
So we need to recognize the different ways that stress can manifest Anne then learn to seek out how to deal with those causes. On the positive side, stress isn't always a bad thing. In short bursts, it can help. It can actually help with concentration. And performance, it can increase strength, but it doesn't last very long. We can speed reaction times, athletes can run particularly fast in a sprint situation, or perform really well at whatever sport they're doing.
A lot of people who present on stage will get themselves really hyped up so that they can give the best possible performance. But once the, so called danger, you know, the, the pressure point, has passed, then we need to take steps to discharge, and then everything will settle down. If you don't learn the techniques to unwind, you'll find that you're, you're buzzing and you're hyper for hours longer than you should be, and not good for you.
It's all these chemicals that are coursing around in your blood system. So back to the negative sides of stress, One of the issues is that with ongoing or chronic stress, it often creeps up on us and We just get used to the feeling. It becomes normal and familiar just something that you have to cope with and not think about.
And common external causes include, well, major life changes, for example, Even fairly pleasant ones like moving house, it's also very stressful, changes in your marital situation, not just divorce, but, well, obviously, bereavement, but even getting married is very stressful. Anne there might be ongoing issues at school or work, ongoing relationship difficulties, or, well, family and child related challenges, which will this seem to be never ending.
Anne gets sorted out Anne another one happens. And the larger your family is This also, applies to extended families. The more opportunities for stress exist Anne the situation that arose from COVID 19, the pandemic and the lockdowns, has called all kinds of additional physical stresses ranging from loss of freedom to lack of structure regarding education for the children, and this unfamiliar, at least it was to begin with, the balancing of working from home with family Anne.
There are those who successfully have chosen to work from home Anne they can manage it, but generally, the children were sent away for at least parts of the day, and that's when the moms or the stay at home parent could really get work Anne. But when suddenly everyone's living in the same space, 20 fourseven, it's a whole different ballgame. Some were lucky enough to be on furlough, not so.
Anyone who was a director Corbin a small for example, there was precious little help around, so the stress from worrying about paying bills and how long the situation would be ongoing, or even for those who were employed, what would the work situation be after furlough And for most people, apart from the very rich, who profited madly, the lockdowns resulted in reduced income, Anne, well, that alone just brings with it intrinsic problems, assuming even that there's a regular income coming in.
Because most people are in the habit of spending just slightly more than they earn, and hence they've been using their credit cards now suddenly comes a time when they've got no choice, but to rack up those debts. And of course, the interest rates are crippling. Then again, because hundreds of thousands of people live alone, they've suffered from escalating feelings of depression and isolation. The suicide rate began to rise Anne nobody was talking about it.
Anne what about those in abusive relationships? Lockdown caused terrible things for those. Anne really, frankly, we must fight. It mustn't be allowed to happen again. Back to stress. We should be aware of the many internal causes of stress, including pessimism, inability to accept uncertainty.
I think it's Tony Robbins who says that the quality of your life is determined by your ability to deal with uncertainty, not being able to cope with change, rigidity of thought you're not flexible and willing to go with the flow, here and there, you will suffer for it. People who are perfectionists people who have unrealistic expectations, they're continually being dashed, and it causes them to get depressed. Some of us make excessive demands on ourselves.
We use continual negative self talk, like, oh, you silly fool, even for slight slip ups Anne, you know, you lose something or you forget to do something you promised, and you just never relax the pressure, and it's only pressure that you're putting on yourself. Worry is a particularly destructive habit because it's a total waste of energy. Anne it always tends to focus on the negative, even on the the worst case scenario Anne a stress builds any number of health problems start to appear.
You get anxious, racing thoughts, memory, concentration, and judgment issues moodiness, anger, irritability, and feelings of overwhelm. You get aches and pains Rapid heart rate, nausea, diarrhea, constipation, and lack of sex drive, not surprisingly.
I'm not saying that all these symptoms show up at once heaven forbid, but that's a, a, a kind of a fairly comprehensive list of all the things that you wonder why they're happening if you just think and examine your life they're probably caused by stress. So having woken up and recognized that, you can seek help and do something about it. One of the first things to do is work out the specific cause and consider how it can be mitigated, if not fixed.
Even simply talking matters through with a friend or a family member or a professional, if you have no other choice, it a good starting place. Recognizing the symptoms might alert us for the first time that stress has actually become an issue in our lives. And sometimes it shows up just as a nagging, explained pain, for example, in your shoulder or your neck or your lower back.
Usually, we recognize headache cause a symptom of pressure or over work Anne we reach for some sort of tablet, but beware, if this has become a daily habit, it's important to work the cause of the pressure and the headaches and take steps to make it disappear. There are simple daily practices, like just staying hydrated, breathing deeply whenever we remember, and addressing our sleep environment, and these will help enormously. An improved diet will result in all round better health.
Proper nutrition allows us to perform at higher levels. Just speak to a committed athlete or a body builder about how much time and attention that they pay to their diets. Wait in the right proportion to height, places less stress on the body, those who are carrying around too much, weight, when it kind of tips over a particular, threshold, there the structure of the body starts to complain. The average doctor has no time.
This is in the days when we could see doctors, but if you go and see your doctor, They can't treat you holistically, even if they know about it, and they rarely consider diet during a consultation. The most likely outcome that you'll get is he'll reach for his prescription pad and give you some kind of chemical remedy, but If your goal is mind, body, and spirit in harmony, then the answers are to be found in relaxation, diet, yoga, and meditation.
So we happen to be living in a unique time in history. Okay. There have been other pandemics. There have been worse diseases, like the plague that killed off vast numbers, but our society has been in a state of chaos and transformation for many, many years pre pandemic. Think, for example, of the threat from nuclear capabilities, they've come back now having kind of, been, I don't know, pushed on the back burner for 40, 50 years.
There's the specter of global Corbin, if you believe in that kind of thing, the, oh, there are numerous ongoing wars, There's ever growing. Population increase. Challenges with producing food. It's getting much worse now. There's widespread pollution. They've stopped talking about that for the moment. There's destruction of the rain forests. They're not talking about those either. They should be.
But there's the expected financial meltdown Anne the whole world economy is in a very precarious state. What can we do as individuals? Well, I'd say the most significant and achievable influence that as individuals, we can have on improving the world situation is to play our part in raising vibrations. Meditation. Raise vibrations globally, and love. It's the highest vibration. And if we wonder what that really means, I'm gonna do a whole podcast about it in the very near future.
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Keep sending me those suggestions for subjects that you would like me to discuss in future podcasts.