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Stress
lobster
Crusty Veteran
As Buddhists [supposedly] we tend to stress meditation, mindfulness and visualisation from this list of techniques:
http://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/stress-management-relieving-stress#1
Is life stress/dukkha? I tend to think so, hence I welcome every tip going ... It is also a question of skilful stress reduction. For example what is temporary? Sex and drugs and rock and roll ... ? Is nirvanna permanent or does the bodhisattva ideal kick in?
All answers to these simple questions 
to the usual address ...
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I've simplified my life. Don't try and do too much on weekends etc.
Live minimally i.e. don't hoard or collect material things. Get rid of anything you don't use.
Having kids who like to stay at home has been helpful too.
I think people tend to try and do too much with/for their kids.
With todays technology its easy to be overvelmed be info, new trends, social media, sport, music, scary movies etc. But it all boils down to the present moment. Connect yourself to the heart/body/breathing and the mind will then calm more down, and its easy to see what brings hapiness. A overvelmed mind with all sort of stimuly? Or a calm mind connected to the heart/breath?
Often Peace its boring, its no friction, so we always like to get things we really dont need to mess things up.
Following politics has been a source of stress for me.
Appreciate the simple yet thought-provoking question, @lobster -
Half-jokingly, I do my best impression of someone who doesn't care, what I consider a 'zenny' response to the more extreme stresses... which in reality is just the usual 'me' - someone rather clueless, heh.
For example what is temporary? Sex and drugs and rock and roll ...
-Yes, in my case it was temporary :-) But seriously, on a good day I understand I am not my emotions and the stress I feel is all about attachment, yet everything changes, so in the face of this what is one to do? Speaking for myself, today I'll chop wood and carry water...
Thanks guys, appreciate the responses.
This really is one of our main problems. Well maybe just mine when run out of wood and water ... We seek stress/stimulation/excitement. Ay caramba!
Buddhist practice, return to heart/breath is so simple, as @Namada mentions. However we would rather watch 'The Young Pope', the tangerine tyrant trumpe or the latest twit on tweeter. Pah!
What is wrong with us? Are we some kind of uncontrollable monkey? Hint: all too often.
... and breath out ...
Yes, major problem!
I find that if I am almost 100% virtuous for a week, meditate all the time, and don't watch TV or consume little to no entertainment, I get almost numb and I have little to nothing to say to my wife, for example.
However, if I am lax in these areas, then I have trouble getting my mind concentrated in meditation and my mind is all over the place during the day.
Ay caramba!
What is a Buddhist to do?
I appreciate a balance between both - there goes that middle path again
The middle way eludes me, bro. I'm happy for you though
I think it is good to look into the causes of excitement seeking behaviour... ive noticed it in myself as well, during meditations and in dreams, that I sometimes go looking for unnecessary friction and I go to spaces where the energy is not entirely of the higher spheres.
Which leads me to think peace is an interesting thing. It is difficult not to fall asleep when truly at peace, to at least come to rely on automatisms. So we boost ourselves with a bit of high-tempo pop music, shocking ourselves awake, mistaking the increased energy for increased awareness where it is more like increased distraction.
Psychologists have noted there is good stress and there is bad stress. A little bit of stress such as a deadline once in a while can help focus you and allow you to perform at peak ability - while a lot of long lasting stress such as living in a war zone can grind you down.
So is stress entirely dukkha? Some Zen monks such as the Japanese "marathon monks" perform immensely stressful acts in their search for enlightenment. Stress it seems can be a skilful means, while for the unconscious it can form suffering.
Me too. So much so that I go out of my way to avoid it now.
I fall into reading too much political news, get overwhelmed and then come to this site and find it here as well. But at least here there are folks working on antidotes to news despair and helplessness syndrome (NDHS).
Me too @dhammachick. I used to be a CNN junkie but now all they talk about is Trump, Trump and more Trump. Where's the off switch....jeez
I simply see stress as the body's reaction when things are not going the way one would like them to, where the thoughts are racing, trying to get ahead of the body, increasing the heart beat( both feeding off each other)...
Stress is not good for the body ....and in many cases people who say "I work better when I'm stressed!" never take into account the suffering they inflict upon their work colleagues, with their snappiness, and irritability ....
Practising mindfulness, by bringing one attention back the the breath, back to the present moment, will help to alleviate the symptoms of stress...
If one's practice is haphazard, the results will be too ...It's a no brainer....
I can't begin to stress how important it is to have daily meditation practice, which helps to keep one focus on the "now" and not on the "later"...
Glad to know I'm not the only one! That somehow makes it better. Friends in political stress.
That should be a separate thread on NB, @jayson: the 'Friends in Political Stress (FIPS)' thread.
Just as the poor will always be with us so will political monkey business. Dervishes, who are sometimes called, 'the Kings of the World', refer to themseves as 'the poor'. Before you travel outside the USA, consider converting to Islam.
https://wahiduddin.net/saki/saki_date.php
Cod is great!
Here to help
Stress is in the eye of the beholder.
A deadline is a deadline, so I take as much time beforehand as I know I'll need to meet it.
The same applies to arriving on time for a flight, a film, an appointment.
For all else, I tune in to what the present moment brings.
I wake up every morning with a hazy idea of what I would like to do with my time, but I am flexible enough to wing it if the day presents other options.
And when in doubt, an early meditation session will help me put some perspective on what really deserves stressing about and not.
For me I've noticed there has to be a balance. A bit of stress, a bit of something else. I'm the biggest, laziest hedonist ever so if I have an option to just take it easy and chill out, I certainly will - and leave things undone, which causes stress, and blame myself a lot because you know, a couple of lazy days certainly makes me the worst living being in the entire universe. So, what was meant to be a stress-free time becomes a huge cause of stress.
But if I do even something I have to do, be it the laundry or university tasks or whatever and then chill out.... loads better.
It's all about balance, balance - and some harmless indulgence.
For me I've noticed there has to be a balance. A bit of stress, a bit of something else. I'm the biggest, laziest hedonist ever so if I have an option to just take it easy and chill out, I certainly will - and leave things undone, which causes stress, and blame myself a lot because you know, a couple of lazy days certainly makes me the worst living being in the entire universe. So, what was meant to be a stress-free time becomes a huge cause of stress.
But if I do even something I have to do, be it the laundry or university tasks or whatever and then chill out.... loads better.
It's all about balance, balance - and some harmless indulgence.
I find I would rather have both stress and stress reduction than to have neither.
The middle path, for me, is not a narrow path. There is room within its width for both adventure and chilling. Breathe in, breathe out. Wake and sleep. Accomplishment and relaxation. One sets the stage for the other. We need both.
I think we naturally encounter and amplify stress. We have to remind ourselves to de-stress because that doesn't come naturally. But I think it's a matter of adding more than replacing. Add some de-stressing time to the mix.
Dear Friends,
Once again appreciate everyones understanding.
I value those in particular advocating a Middle Way. I will always be ready with armchair dharma but know from experience that we are all over the place in how we practice. I will breath out with the stressed. I will practice. I will change ... and back to the middle ...