WAY OUT OF
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STRESS
An understanding
How is stress created in our being and how do we avoid it?
Stress is nothing but handling too much information without the capacity to be able to do so. When we don't know how to handle the large amount of information that we are constantly receiving, we miss it, and mess up the whole thing. Studies of the brain have found that the brain receives and processes about 400 billion bits of information per second, but we are aware of only 2000 bits of that information, which means we only integrate a tiny fraction of the information received.
How does stress happen?
You don't receive information only through eyes. You also receive it through smell, touch, taste and hearing. Sometimes you don't even need information from outside; stored information from your memory - chitta alone, is enough to cause stress. The unconscious space doesn't have
enough capacity and energy to
process all this information that
you are receiving. If you can
expand the unconscious zone
and infuse silence in it, stress will
be relieved because wherever you
receive information from, the
decision happens only in the
unconscious zone. This
unconscious is also called
reactive mind. For example, if
you had been hurt by someone
wearing saffron colored clothes,
when you see me, you will
suddenly get that memory and
you won't feel like sitting here,
because in the reactive mind the
memory is still alive. The reactive
mind is not conscious; if it were
conscious you would realize that
I'm not the same person who
hurt you; you will not generalize.
The problem is: when we think,
we generalize, but in life, we have
to live in a localized way; there is
a big gap between our way of
thinking and our way of living.
Paramahamsa To De-stress, It is Easier Than You Think 6 April 2005, Oklahoma, USA