As humans we have this marvelous ability to draw a quick, high powered burst of energy when in danger to fight or flee. From a purely chemical standpoint, this results in a burst of adrenaline that fuels our physical being with an upgrade when we need it most.
However, in our modern day, we have come to associated busy as the same thing as danger. I know it sounds silly when I put it that way, but really think about it. For the average modern individual, how often do they encounter life or death situations? There are exceptions, and if you are one of them you will probably resonate with this reflection, but for the most part the answer is almost never. So, why then are we employing our super power of adrenaline on an almost constant basis? It’s because we have come to see busy as the same thing as danger and given it a new name, stress. So, we go around metaphorically yelling “danger” all the time and develop almost an addiction to the super power burst of adrenaline.
The modern solution to this lies in the established opposite of stress, what we call relaxation. This has been defined as either resting, usually with some type of electronic program such as TV, social media or games or vacation, which is defined as a short term escape from your daily existence. Although there is nothing inherently wrong with either of these and balance in life is certainly recommended, these are a short term fix and don’t address the root of the issue, which is the framing of stress in the first place.
The question becomes how do we move from “stressed” to just “busy”. First, we have to recognize that stress is an emotion we experience, not something that is thrust upon us from our environment or experiences. It is, at its nature, a result of our response choice to our environment or experiences. This makes it, in definition, an emotion. You feel stressed rather than you are stressed. If stress is an emotion, then we have the power to release it and replace it with a higher frequency emotion of our choosing. It’s as simple as stating to yourself “I release all stress energy and return it to [insert the name of your higher power here] to be reused for [good/positivity/healing].” Next, choose another emotion. I particularly like gratitude as a replacement. This is something like “I am thankful I have the opportunity to _______”. However, reflection works will too. You can ask yourself a question like, how does this relate to my purpose?
Reflection leads to the next step. Releasing and replacing emotions is a good first step, but it is a temporary fix that must be repeated often. To really change your view and therefore your world, you have to understand the root cause of the choice to embrace stress is the first place. It comes back to the purpose for why you are doing what you are doing. It’s not that the tasks you are doing are necessarily right or wrong, it’s important to establish why you are doing them. Let’s take a simple example. As adults, most of us clean our homes. The question is, why do you, as an individual clean your home? Now, before you start giving me a plethora of excuses for this, take a moment to connect with your true being. Why are you cleaning your home?
For many individuals, if they are honest, the answer is because I am supposed to. There is a social expectation that my space should look a certain way, so they keep it that way to be accepted by others. This reason perpetuates stress because it resonates as “danger”. Danger of being unaccepted and forced out of the community. Danger of negative stereotypes. Danger of loosing the energy of others we use to establish our self-worth. Danger, Danger, Danger. Adrenaline jumps in to rescue the individual and wa-la cycle of stress.
The answer is to reflect on the tasks you undertake to establish your true reason for doing them. Before you jump to the other extreme, I am not suggesting you should stop cleaning your home. There are many reasons an individual might clean his or her home that do not produce the emotion stress. For example, an individual may like his or her space in a certain way to ensure his or her energy and mindset are healthy. See how this is the same task, but has a different perception? This reflection produces a mindset of gratitude for a healthy space.
This is a simple example, but if you apply the concept to everything (and I do mean everything) in your life, the result will be a balanced danger response when there is actually danger and a more peaceful, reflective response for the majority of your time. You will move from “stressed” to just “busy”.