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Stress sucks. Could someone please explain to me how this automatic acceptance of stress works, how it ends your stress? From my 3 or so years of working with Buddhism in my life, I have yet to understand how to do it. Basically what I'm saying is that my impression is eliminating stress through Buddhist techniques such as meditation are long-term life goals, not simply a mental switch that a person can turn on or off instantly.
@buddhistok said:
Stress sucks. Could someone please explain to me how this automatic acceptance of stress works, how it ends your stress? From my 3 or so years of working with Buddhism in my life, I have yet to understand how to do it. Basically what I'm saying is that my impression is eliminating stress through Buddhist techniques such as meditation are long-term life goals, not simply a mental switch that a person can turn on or off instantly.
Is this a correct assessment?
The idea of acceptance, is a choice. As in meditation, you can hook onto your thoughts, feelings, worries and struggle with them, or live in peace with them. Allow them to be and let them flow through you without encumbering them. Believe they are a natural part of the human condition and embrace them without fear. To let that acceptance happen, is to become skillful with your emotions. If you begin struggling with thoughts, or feelings you are hooked and they will take you on to increased feelings of unrest. You can begin to worry about worrying.
Grief is a prime example of a stress that occurs. It is an emotion but it also represents stress. When a person comes to accept the reality of their loss, they begin functioning in a different way. Grief begins to lose a grip on their life and life changes. And the difference can be quite striking.
I suggest you actually try acceptance out to see if it helps you with troublesome emotions. Try acceptance not only on the cushion, but actually in your day to day life. There is nothing to lose but some bad old stress.
@dhammachick said: I invite the researcher to live in m house and rethink the theory.
Try it. Try changing your attitude about stress and see what happens for you. Maybe it works and maybe it makes your life worse, and maybe it makes your life better. Nothing lost by trying it.
@AllbuddhaBound said:
Exposure therapy is a well recognized "best practice" approach to treating PTSD.
As someone who has suffered and healed from horrific and debilitating PTSD, I have some misgivings about this statement. I don't reject it out of hand, but my experience has led me to believe that while skillful exposure therapy may be helpful, there's quite a lot of unskillful exposure therapy going on. The average results might be 'best' compared to even less skillful methods, but exposure therapy itself is not the godsend that some would claim.
Perhaps it is similar to the discussion here about stress. It is not stress that is good or bad, but our reaction to it. Likewise, exposure therapy can be helpful, but just as the Buddha personalized his message depending upon the individual he was speaking to - it too needs to be personalized. Many are going to have a poor reaction - or none at all, to a canned method.
I have found that in many cases, the positive results are a result of further damaging the victim, albeit in a different manner. Their PTSD symptoms diminish but suddenly, new symptoms, seemingly unrelated to PTSD develop. Like someone looking to lose weight rapidly... cutting off a limb will result in effective weight loss, but doesn't really solve the problem.
The Dalai Lama said it very succinctly when he stated the following:
"I write this as someone who lost his freedom at the age of 16, then lost his country at the age of 24. Consequently, I have lived in exile for more than 50 years during which we Tibetans have dedicated ourselves to keeping the Tibetan identity alive and preserving our culture and values. On most days the news from Tibet is heartbreaking, and yet none of these challenges gives grounds for giving up. One of the approaches that I personally find useful is to cultivate the thought: If the situation or problem is such that it can be remedied, then there is no need to worry about it. In other words, if there is a solution or a way out of the difficulty, you do not need to be overwhelmed by it. The appropriate action is to seek its solution. Then it is clearly more sensible to spend your energy focussing on the solution rather than worrying about the problem. Alternatively, if there is no solution, no possibility of resolution, then there is also no point in being worried about it, because you cannot do anything about it anyway. In that case, the sooner you accept this fact, the easier it will be for you. This formula, of course, implies directly confronting the problem and taking a realistic view."
With stress, the sooner you accept it, the easier it will be for you. Since it is inevitable as many have said here, resistance is futile.
@vinlyn said:> There's nothing wrong with "self-help" in certain situations by intelligent people. But all too often "self-help" results in people in need of treatment by professionals not getting the needed treatment. As I understand it, groups like AA are run by trained people.
Hi vinlyn. Just wanted to clarify here, twelve-step programs are not run by trained people. Just one untrained alcoholic (in the case of AA) helping another.
@yagr said:
Hi vinlyn. Just wanted to clarify here, twelve-step programs are not run by trained people. Just one untrained alcoholic (in the case of AA) helping another.
Perhaps that's why "AA doesn’t work for everybody. In fact, it doesn’t work for the vast majority of people who try it." -- Brendan I. Koerner
@yagr said:
I have found that in many cases, the positive results are a result of further damaging the victim, albeit in a different manner. Their PTSD symptoms diminish but suddenly, new symptoms, seemingly unrelated to PTSD develop. Like someone looking to lose weight rapidly... cutting off a limb will result in effective weight loss, but doesn't really solve the problem.
Most talk therapy is a form of exposure. When a person, tells their story again, they are willing to experience it once more. There are many varying levels to exposure. In EMDR, a person re-experiences the stressful events again, in relaxation therapy, one is encouraged to experience stressful events under controlled conditions.
I believe what you describe as exposure therapy, is the behavioral exposure therapy where a person physically places themselves back in the situation which traumatized them. This approach can also work, but it can also be introduced too quickly and re-traumatize the person causing even more damage.
The thing is though, research suggests the most effective approaches utilized in treating PTSD, are based on being willing to re-experience the stress. Accepting the stress in a calm and controlled environment. I do not know of one therapeutic approach which suggests suppressing our feelings.
I also think it is fair to say most people do not suffer from PTSD so it is not the only condition that can benefit from approaches to stress. Grief, depression, anxiety are all conditions that can benefit from Buddhist approaches.
@vinlyn said:
Perhaps that's why "AA doesn’t work for everybody. In fact, it doesn’t work for the vast majority of people who try it." -- Brendan I. Koerner
nods It's success rate is about the same as every other method with any success at all - about 2-3%.
Yes, I just read that (well, 5-10%), and was interested to see that AA does not allow any studies of their results.
0
HamsakagoosewhispererPolishing the 'just so'Veteran
@Lobster said: In a similar way pointing out that we disagree or find a study of limited value is not a criticism of the gift or bestower.
Well of course it doesn't sound like it now that you put it that way. What's up with the apparent 'meaning' shifting like that?
Well, in the end, it seems impolite, to me. Not the fact of disagreement -- but the method by which it is delivered.
If a member here posted a debate or written piece in support of something I find to be several sandwiches short of a picnic, it seems rude and disrespectful to jump in and laugh derisively or pick it apart.
People in general personalize what they offer -- it's unnecessary but hey, it's what's happening. There's a bit of the person in the offering, necessary or not, and that bit of the person is quite valuable and worth of respect -- whether it should be there or not.
The criticism is EQUALLY personal, which is why it looks to me like two 'me's' going at each other, rather than a discussion of the idea.
@vinlyn said:
Yes, I just read that (well, 5-10%), and was interested to see that AA does not allow any studies of their results.
It's a bit difficult due to the anonymity thing and the nature of alcoholics (who're a feckless lot in general). It's also very difficult to quantify. For me it took about four months from my first A.A. meeting, till my last drink. I've a friend who it took 17 years from his first A.A. meeting till his last drink. Very few people come to A.A. and never drink again. In one survey the date of the person's first meeting and last drink was asked and it was found that only 5% of alcoholics never drank again after their first meeting. I think that's where the 5% figure came from.
And I wouldn't trust all that you read either with regards the efficacy of A.A.. The treatment of alcoholics is a multi-billion dollar industry and there's plenty who would like to knock A.A. (and do) because A.A. is free (okay, we pass a hat to cover our expenses). And of course there's alcoholics themselves, who come to A.A. with 'back problems' (their family is on their back), but don't really have a desire to stop drinking, so they'll blame A.A. for their failure, rather than themselves. It's the nature of the illness.
But I would suspect that most sober alcoholics we meet have had some positive contact with A.A. at some stage. I don't seem to have met many who have gotten sober by some other route, like Smart Recovery (the founder of which wrote a book, appeared on Oprah, then killed a father and his young son while she was drunk behind the wheel of a car).
Unlike what I've just done, A.A. doesn't get involved in politics - not even the politics of recovery - it's primary purpose is to help the still suffering alcoholic. In our literature it says "we know very little"; A.A. does not claim to be the only way someone can recovery from alcoholism. But given that there's meetings everywhere, all over the world (there's over 100 meetings a week in my nearest small city), it's a good place to go if anyone is having trouble with their drinking.
And to finish; A.A. has a program of recovery; you don't get sober just by sitting on your ass and expecting to 'get it' by 'ass-mosis'. It's like you don't get Enlightened just by going to a Sangha; there's some commitment and work involved. But sadly, many come, just drink the coffee - they don't do anything - and they leave. And what makes me annoyed is they say, "I tried A.A. and it didn't work". Yeh, no shit Sherlock.
The best cure for stress is to use meditation, logic & positive planning, & logically plan to remove or change what's stressing us out or change ourselves..Very hard to do when under severe stress, but it is the only real cure..Resistance is futile, because it will eventually wear a person down mentally/physically..So don't resist stress, because it's there to tell us something we need to know & that is to get on top of our lives..I honestly reckon that boredom, loneliness, depression, anger, sadness, stress etc are all feelings we give ourselves, because without them we wouldn't progress with our growth as human beings..Never stress learn from your stress, & eliminate your stresses as you grow..Stress is steering you when you get it, away from things you don't really want in your heart..So as said on here already accept your stress, because your stress if you get any is trying to help steer/guide you towards what you do want in your heart. :-)
@AllbuddhaBound said:
Try it. Try changing your attitude about stress and see what happens for you. Maybe it works and maybe it makes your life worse, and maybe it makes your life better. Nothing lost by trying it.
Thanks for your quick fix. I wish I'd though of it sooner.
@AllbuddhaBound said:
The Dalai Lama said it very succinctly when he stated the following:
"I write this as someone who lost his freedom at the age of 16, then lost his country at the age of 24. Consequently, I have lived in exile for more than 50 years during which we Tibetans have dedicated ourselves to keeping the Tibetan identity alive and preserving our culture and values. On most days the news from Tibet is heartbreaking, and yet none of these challenges gives grounds for giving up. One of the approaches that I personally find useful is to cultivate the thought: If the situation or problem is such that it can be remedied, then there is no need to worry about it. In other words, if there is a solution or a way out of the difficulty, you do not need to be overwhelmed by it. The appropriate action is to seek its solution. Then it is clearly more sensible to spend your energy focussing on the solution rather than worrying about the problem. Alternatively, if there is no solution, no possibility of resolution, then there is also no point in being worried about it, because you cannot do anything about it anyway. In that case, the sooner you accept this fact, the easier it will be for you. This formula, of course, implies directly confronting the problem and taking a realistic view."
With stress, the sooner you accept it, the easier it will be for you. Since it is inevitable as many have said here, resistance is futile.
I use a similar thing to interpersonal relationships when I worry someone will leave me or not like me. I focus on how I can be a good person to them rather than worry they leave me. My mind gets more positive.
@Jeffrey said:
I use a similar thing to interpersonal relationships when I worry someone will leave me or not like me. I focus on how I can be a good person to them rather than worry they leave me. My mind gets more positive.
An attitude like that makes life much easier. This is what I believe Buddhism is. A way of thinking which makes life easier. There are all kinds of Buddhist writings that suggest acceptance of all manner of things, even if we don't like them.
Ajahn Sumehdo speaks of it this way:
"I remember in my early monastic life I wanted certain things to be different. When things weren’t very good, I didn’t want them to be like that. I would be very critical of other monks, thinking that I didn’t want them to be the way they were. I wanted them to be some other way. I also didn’t want a lot of the things in myself—these thoughts, feelings, emotions. But in this reflective awareness, this embracing quality, the irritations are part of it—the frustrations, the worm in the apple, the snake in the garden, the fly in the ointment, the hair in the soup, the cement mixer in the monastery . . . You find a tremendous ability to endure situations that you think you cannot.
I remember so many times in an emotional state saying, ‘I just can’t take any more of this! I’ve had enough! I’m fed up!’ And then I notice that I’m still here and I can take it. Maybe I shouldn’t go around believing that stuff. Then something else would happen and once again I would think, ‘I’ve had enough, fed up, can’t endure any more!’ But I can. When I really look at myself, I can endure a lot of things that my emotions say: I can’t endure, had enough. I can endure these things."
The Okinawa study, that has concluded that the Japanese population of Okinawa are the longest-living people in the world, has proved that stress need not necessarily impact your health.
Included in the study were people who had survived two atomic bombs and still managed to blow over hundred candles for their birthday.
What some people call "stress," others call "opportunity to stretch my comfort zone."
Yes.
I feel that is what the original talk is about and ultimately NT2 (though I feel that also reduces the conditions of arising as well as the internal response)
People with a good attitude change the world just as the karmically tied and unaware evil and stress inducers do.
Which side do we think is more aware and skilful? .
^^^ :clap: . This is the small, personal, attached ego as you know. We all have degrees of this tendency to be stressed by our interdependency with this lesser being.
We can increasingly, note it and not be swamped by its tendencies. Interestingly we become more welcoming of stress or dukkha as teachers. Sure being overwhelmed is no fun but dukkha is a great mentoring . . . always available . . .
I find this video excellent, and the person presenting explains things far better than I can.
I had not thought of stress as an offshoot of anger but it makes a lot of sense.
1
HamsakagoosewhispererPolishing the 'just so'Veteran
Stress as a product of 'anger' sounds a lot like 'stress as a product of aversion'.
Ah, one of the three poisons rears it's oogly head.
It would follow then, that the Buddha's prescription applies to 'stress', and that we have accountability for our own aversion.
If stress is a product of our own aversion, our own participation in a poison, then it follows that stress itself has no independent existence, apart from our participation.
Comments
Stress sucks. Could someone please explain to me how this automatic acceptance of stress works, how it ends your stress? From my 3 or so years of working with Buddhism in my life, I have yet to understand how to do it. Basically what I'm saying is that my impression is eliminating stress through Buddhist techniques such as meditation are long-term life goals, not simply a mental switch that a person can turn on or off instantly.
Is this a correct assessment?
The idea of acceptance, is a choice. As in meditation, you can hook onto your thoughts, feelings, worries and struggle with them, or live in peace with them. Allow them to be and let them flow through you without encumbering them. Believe they are a natural part of the human condition and embrace them without fear. To let that acceptance happen, is to become skillful with your emotions. If you begin struggling with thoughts, or feelings you are hooked and they will take you on to increased feelings of unrest. You can begin to worry about worrying.
Grief is a prime example of a stress that occurs. It is an emotion but it also represents stress. When a person comes to accept the reality of their loss, they begin functioning in a different way. Grief begins to lose a grip on their life and life changes. And the difference can be quite striking.
I suggest you actually try acceptance out to see if it helps you with troublesome emotions. Try acceptance not only on the cushion, but actually in your day to day life. There is nothing to lose but some bad old stress.
Try it. Try changing your attitude about stress and see what happens for you. Maybe it works and maybe it makes your life worse, and maybe it makes your life better. Nothing lost by trying it.
As someone who has suffered and healed from horrific and debilitating PTSD, I have some misgivings about this statement. I don't reject it out of hand, but my experience has led me to believe that while skillful exposure therapy may be helpful, there's quite a lot of unskillful exposure therapy going on. The average results might be 'best' compared to even less skillful methods, but exposure therapy itself is not the godsend that some would claim.
Perhaps it is similar to the discussion here about stress. It is not stress that is good or bad, but our reaction to it. Likewise, exposure therapy can be helpful, but just as the Buddha personalized his message depending upon the individual he was speaking to - it too needs to be personalized. Many are going to have a poor reaction - or none at all, to a canned method.
I have found that in many cases, the positive results are a result of further damaging the victim, albeit in a different manner. Their PTSD symptoms diminish but suddenly, new symptoms, seemingly unrelated to PTSD develop. Like someone looking to lose weight rapidly... cutting off a limb will result in effective weight loss, but doesn't really solve the problem.
The Dalai Lama said it very succinctly when he stated the following:
"I write this as someone who lost his freedom at the age of 16, then lost his country at the age of 24. Consequently, I have lived in exile for more than 50 years during which we Tibetans have dedicated ourselves to keeping the Tibetan identity alive and preserving our culture and values. On most days the news from Tibet is heartbreaking, and yet none of these challenges gives grounds for giving up. One of the approaches that I personally find useful is to cultivate the thought: If the situation or problem is such that it can be remedied, then there is no need to worry about it. In other words, if there is a solution or a way out of the difficulty, you do not need to be overwhelmed by it. The appropriate action is to seek its solution. Then it is clearly more sensible to spend your energy focussing on the solution rather than worrying about the problem. Alternatively, if there is no solution, no possibility of resolution, then there is also no point in being worried about it, because you cannot do anything about it anyway. In that case, the sooner you accept this fact, the easier it will be for you. This formula, of course, implies directly confronting the problem and taking a realistic view."
With stress, the sooner you accept it, the easier it will be for you. Since it is inevitable as many have said here, resistance is futile.
http://fieldwork-on-tibetan-buddhism.blogspot.ca/2011/01/dalai-lama-on-countering-stress-and.html
Hi vinlyn. Just wanted to clarify here, twelve-step programs are not run by trained people. Just one untrained alcoholic (in the case of AA) helping another.
Perhaps that's why "AA doesn’t work for everybody. In fact, it doesn’t work for the vast majority of people who try it." -- Brendan I. Koerner
Most talk therapy is a form of exposure. When a person, tells their story again, they are willing to experience it once more. There are many varying levels to exposure. In EMDR, a person re-experiences the stressful events again, in relaxation therapy, one is encouraged to experience stressful events under controlled conditions.
I believe what you describe as exposure therapy, is the behavioral exposure therapy where a person physically places themselves back in the situation which traumatized them. This approach can also work, but it can also be introduced too quickly and re-traumatize the person causing even more damage.
The thing is though, research suggests the most effective approaches utilized in treating PTSD, are based on being willing to re-experience the stress. Accepting the stress in a calm and controlled environment. I do not know of one therapeutic approach which suggests suppressing our feelings.
I also think it is fair to say most people do not suffer from PTSD so it is not the only condition that can benefit from approaches to stress. Grief, depression, anxiety are all conditions that can benefit from Buddhist approaches.
nods It's success rate is about the same as every other method with any success at all - about 2-3%.
Yes, I just read that (well, 5-10%), and was interested to see that AA does not allow any studies of their results.
Well of course it doesn't sound like it now that you put it that way. What's up with the apparent 'meaning' shifting like that?
Well, in the end, it seems impolite, to me. Not the fact of disagreement -- but the method by which it is delivered.
If a member here posted a debate or written piece in support of something I find to be several sandwiches short of a picnic, it seems rude and disrespectful to jump in and laugh derisively or pick it apart.
People in general personalize what they offer -- it's unnecessary but hey, it's what's happening. There's a bit of the person in the offering, necessary or not, and that bit of the person is quite valuable and worth of respect -- whether it should be there or not.
The criticism is EQUALLY personal, which is why it looks to me like two 'me's' going at each other, rather than a discussion of the idea.
It's a bit difficult due to the anonymity thing and the nature of alcoholics (who're a feckless lot in general). It's also very difficult to quantify. For me it took about four months from my first A.A. meeting, till my last drink. I've a friend who it took 17 years from his first A.A. meeting till his last drink. Very few people come to A.A. and never drink again. In one survey the date of the person's first meeting and last drink was asked and it was found that only 5% of alcoholics never drank again after their first meeting. I think that's where the 5% figure came from.
And I wouldn't trust all that you read either with regards the efficacy of A.A.. The treatment of alcoholics is a multi-billion dollar industry and there's plenty who would like to knock A.A. (and do) because A.A. is free (okay, we pass a hat to cover our expenses). And of course there's alcoholics themselves, who come to A.A. with 'back problems' (their family is on their back), but don't really have a desire to stop drinking, so they'll blame A.A. for their failure, rather than themselves. It's the nature of the illness.
But I would suspect that most sober alcoholics we meet have had some positive contact with A.A. at some stage. I don't seem to have met many who have gotten sober by some other route, like Smart Recovery (the founder of which wrote a book, appeared on Oprah, then killed a father and his young son while she was drunk behind the wheel of a car).
Unlike what I've just done, A.A. doesn't get involved in politics - not even the politics of recovery - it's primary purpose is to help the still suffering alcoholic. In our literature it says "we know very little"; A.A. does not claim to be the only way someone can recovery from alcoholism. But given that there's meetings everywhere, all over the world (there's over 100 meetings a week in my nearest small city), it's a good place to go if anyone is having trouble with their drinking.
And to finish; A.A. has a program of recovery; you don't get sober just by sitting on your ass and expecting to 'get it' by 'ass-mosis'. It's like you don't get Enlightened just by going to a Sangha; there's some commitment and work involved. But sadly, many come, just drink the coffee - they don't do anything - and they leave. And what makes me annoyed is they say, "I tried A.A. and it didn't work". Yeh, no shit Sherlock.
Deleted; I talk too much!
Alas it's easier said than done!
^^^ Should I stress @AllbuddhaBound said that?
The best cure for stress is to use meditation, logic & positive planning, & logically plan to remove or change what's stressing us out or change ourselves..Very hard to do when under severe stress, but it is the only real cure..Resistance is futile, because it will eventually wear a person down mentally/physically..So don't resist stress, because it's there to tell us something we need to know & that is to get on top of our lives..I honestly reckon that boredom, loneliness, depression, anger, sadness, stress etc are all feelings we give ourselves, because without them we wouldn't progress with our growth as human beings..Never stress learn from your stress, & eliminate your stresses as you grow..Stress is steering you when you get it, away from things you don't really want in your heart..So as said on here already accept your stress, because your stress if you get any is trying to help steer/guide you towards what you do want in your heart. :-)
Thanks for your quick fix. I wish I'd though of it sooner.
I use a similar thing to interpersonal relationships when I worry someone will leave me or not like me. I focus on how I can be a good person to them rather than worry they leave me. My mind gets more positive.
"Each time you stop being angry, by practicing patience, this becomes your most practical contribution to world peace." - Lama Zopa Rinpoche
An attitude like that makes life much easier. This is what I believe Buddhism is. A way of thinking which makes life easier. There are all kinds of Buddhist writings that suggest acceptance of all manner of things, even if we don't like them.
Ajahn Sumehdo speaks of it this way:
"I remember in my early monastic life I wanted certain things to be different. When things weren’t very good, I didn’t want them to be like that. I would be very critical of other monks, thinking that I didn’t want them to be the way they were. I wanted them to be some other way. I also didn’t want a lot of the things in myself—these thoughts, feelings, emotions. But in this reflective awareness, this embracing quality, the irritations are part of it—the frustrations, the worm in the apple, the snake in the garden, the fly in the ointment, the hair in the soup, the cement mixer in the monastery . . . You find a tremendous ability to endure situations that you think you cannot.
I remember so many times in an emotional state saying, ‘I just can’t take any more of this! I’ve had enough! I’m fed up!’ And then I notice that I’m still here and I can take it. Maybe I shouldn’t go around believing that stuff. Then something else would happen and once again I would think, ‘I’ve had enough, fed up, can’t endure any more!’ But I can. When I really look at myself, I can endure a lot of things that my emotions say: I can’t endure, had enough. I can endure these things."
http://buddhismnow.com/2013/09/21/the-cement-mixer-by-ajahn-sumedho/
I don't understand why these beliefs have created so much dissention, but I guess the lesson for me is to accept it without struggle.
“When you realize how perfect everything is, you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.” – Buddha
And another article from Harvard:
http://blogs.hbr.org/2011/06/turning-stress-into-an-asset/
Is stress in the eye of the beholder?
The Okinawa study, that has concluded that the Japanese population of Okinawa are the longest-living people in the world, has proved that stress need not necessarily impact your health.
Included in the study were people who had survived two atomic bombs and still managed to blow over hundred candles for their birthday.
What some people call "stress," others call "opportunity to stretch my comfort zone."
Yes.
I feel that is what the original talk is about and ultimately NT2 (though I feel that also reduces the conditions of arising as well as the internal response)
People with a good attitude change the world just as the karmically tied and unaware evil and stress inducers do.
Which side do we think is more aware and skilful?
.
What does NT2 mean?
It's Lobster shorthand for second Noble Truth.
Whichever one annoys me the least.
Whichever one I'm a member of.
Whichever one causes me the least reason to focus upon that which pisses me off about others because it is one of my own worst traits
Whichever one gives me permission to be 'right'
:buck: .
^^^ :clap: . This is the small, personal, attached ego as you know. We all have degrees of this tendency to be stressed by our interdependency with this lesser being.
We can increasingly, note it and not be swamped by its tendencies. Interestingly we become more welcoming of stress or dukkha as teachers. Sure being overwhelmed is no fun but dukkha is a great mentoring . . . always available . . .
I find this video excellent, and the person presenting explains things far better than I can.
I had not thought of stress as an offshoot of anger but it makes a lot of sense.
Stress as a product of 'anger' sounds a lot like 'stress as a product of aversion'.
Ah, one of the three poisons rears it's oogly head.
It would follow then, that the Buddha's prescription applies to 'stress', and that we have accountability for our own aversion.
If stress is a product of our own aversion, our own participation in a poison, then it follows that stress itself has no independent existence, apart from our participation.