Stress

Stress~strain...Dictionary.com

 I recently watch a documentary produced by the National Geographic Network called "Stress: a portrait of a killer.

Stress according to Dr. Sapolski out of Stanford University is not a state of mind. Stress is specific and is built into our bodies in a particular place, the adrenalin, put there to protect us. Stress was meant to get us through and then leave. In our human society, we cannot seem to turn stress off.

Dr. Sapolski is a scientist, who works with students at Stanford University and who also works out of Kenya, Africa with a population of Baboons, which he says is a good model for human beings.


Dr. Sapolski found in studying these Baboons that there was a correlation between stress and hierarchy in the Baboon community. He found that the aggressive Baboons were able to release their stress as the lower ones on the ladder were not able to quickly release their stress therefore clogging their arteries. This is also true in humans. Through his studies with Baboons, Dr. Sapolski also found in humans that stress killed off some of the brain cells and unraveled the chromosomes. He also found that stress in the Baboon community was created within the society just as human beings create stress within their society.

Dr. Sapolski returned each year studying the same population of Baboons. This particular year the Baboon population had decreased by a significant amount due to disease. The dominant group of males were now dominated by females who were lower on the ladder and had been more compassionate than their male counterpart. At first, Dr. Sapolski thought his study was ruined until he discovered through observation that this Baboon community had transformed its community into a compassionate and giving community.

When Dr. Sapolski tested some of the Baboons, what he found astonished him. The arteries of this new society were clear and this new group were healthier. In the Baboon society, males go off and join new communities. This new society allowed the new males in but would not let them change their new way of life, a utopian society, sort of speak.

Dr. Sapolski's conclusion was that if we give rather than receive and were compassionate, we could create a new society in which our stress would protect us and then release. He also concluded that being satisfied where you live and work made a difference in how stress works for us and not against us. The question that Dr. Sapolski and other scientists raised was, "are we as human beings willing to change our society into this society were we are all happier and healthier"?

Meditation

Contemplate on: I am compassionate, loving and a giving person. All is well with me.

Affirm: As the flow of love and compassion surrounds me and flows through me, stress is on and is turned off at the right time. I am whole and perfect in every way.

Path to silence: Take 3 deep cleansing breaths. Go into the silence for at least 3 minutes. Lovely LadyFran