Stress and Coping
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Wolran Kim
July 2011



The biological meaning of stress is mental and physical reaction from stimulus which is difficult to adapt for body. Modern times humans who are living in infinite competition global era, are under large and small various stress. There are people who do not have any stress in their lives, probably will be Jesus or Buddhist saint. Short-term moderate stress has the positive causes which enhance effectiveness to the immune systems and are appropriate for life energizing. But excessive stress is the source of all kinds of diseases such as cancer, obesity, and nervous diseases. Excessive, especially chronic stress degrades the quality of individual life as well as compromises the efficiency of productivity in tasks.

The best state would be that stress does not feel any more stress. The ultimate method about get rid of stress is this. Dr. Hans Seyle who was a Nobel Prize winner with the theory of stress in Canada in 1936, defined the stress is response to stimulus; There is no situation of stress but only response from stress. Stress which give us all negative emotions depends on whether we think is will be negative, rather than derived from 'because of who', or 'because of what'. This theory is really empathy.

No one can live peacefully all the time. Everyone meets some issues, the kinds of stress. It is solely on my choice whether to collapse or make an opportunity to leap to cohesive energy on a time of crisis. Plants respond to stress as well as animals. According to one report, plants grow and respond differently to watering with a loving heart or hatred. What about humans if plants feel like this? There are stress resulting from external causes and another person, but fatal facts would be emotional causes produced ourselves. Anxiety, agitation, tension, sadness, frustration, worry, envy, jealousy, hatred, all these negative feelings bring to us disharmony of adrenal hormones and nerves.

It is surprising that I made the most facts of stress. Most people have a contradictory concept that all stress due to external factors (weather, boss, spouse, children, stock market, etc.) whenever they are confused. My external stressors are interpersonal problems (the eerie encounters, making a slip of the tongue), big events in my life (child issues and retirement issues), or the complexity of everyday things (lose things, forgetfulness). My internal stressors are negative thinking, self-deprecation, anxiety about the future, and mind traps (unrealistic expectations, self-righteous possessive, thinking the best or nothing, exaggerating and rigid thinking, etc.), individualistic tendencies (perfectionism), etc....

The gratitude journal as psychology homework has helped a lot for turning into a positive mind-set. I like one story about the same two baskets filled with apples. One man picks and eats only the most beautiful apple in the basket, and another man picks and eats the most ugly one every day. The apples were the same quality and level, but one man ate the best ones and the other person ate the ugly ones for whole their lifetimes. Pretty simply, this is the change of awareness. I become irritated, annoying, angry, lose concentration or patience, lose interest in everything and self-confidence, negative outlook, and depressed if I think stress occupy me. And I have migraine, constipation, diarrhea, abdominal pain, indigestion, and fatigue physically.

Prevalent methods of coping with stress are crying, throwing dishes on to the wall (actually there are businesses let people break dishes in the room in Japan.), throwing pillows, screaming, having sex, playing with pets, specking an eloquent, drinking olive oil (helps blood pressure down), eating garlic (helps blood circulation), drinking green tea (removes stress and prevent cancer), eating ginseng (enhances immune function), praying (powerful anti-stress action), knitting, and shopping. Among them, I use some: crying, throwing pillows (never break), shopping, yelling, playing with my dog. There are copings that I devised: eating delicious food, stretching, reading and writing poetry, taking nap, reading humor in Internet and laughing, changing negative thinking to positively, and replacing unrealistic and abstract expectations to practical and concrete ones.

Stress is my enemy who must be destroyed. But it is a hypothetical enemy which I created and lives inside me.