What is stress?
A state of unease. When you are not in your natural state - the state of perfect ease.
What causes stress?
First, let's understand where the stress is experienced. It's clearly experienced in the mind, not in the body though the body may show some symptoms of stress. Mind is the domain of only 'thoughts'. So, a thought must be the cause of stress.
What type of thoughts causes stress?
A thought of rejecting what is in the present moment. When we don't accept whatever is presented to us in the present moment, we automatically entertain a thought of what should have been presented to us in that moment. We call this thought an expectation which is different from the reality of the moment. This thought (expectation) takes us away from our natural state of ease and we experience stress.
How can we de-stress?
We can de-stress by countering the thought of expectation with other thoughts challenging its validity. Did I have control over everything that were required to meet my expected result? Can I change the present result by rejecting it? Obviously, the answer to both these questions is NO. This mental process will prepare the mind to accept the 'reality' of the moment. With such acceptance, mind will return to its natural state of ease. Stress will disappear.
Can we live without any stress?
Indeed, we live better without any stress. Our performance improves when we do anything while being in the natural state, as we are able to commit 100% attention to the job at hand. We can apply ourselves better in shaping the future course of events to meet our goals.
