Is It Possible To Eliminate Stress From Your Life Forever?

As a stress relief “expert” (that’s self proclaimed by the way) I see people all the time who come to me with all sorts of problems. Everything from money issues, to relationship problems, phobias, anxiety, and even physical pain. What do all of these “problems” have in common? That’s right; they are all due to stress.

So, what is stress then?

For the purpose of my work, stress is any feeling or sensation in the body or mind that causes discomfort and, if left alone to fester, can and will eventually lead to the manifestation of physical symptoms.

What we need to ask then is this; where do these feelings or sensations come from?

I believe that the sensations and feelings that cause stress are brought about by the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind is the part of the mind that does all the “automatic” stuff. Things like breathing, driving a car, blinking, or even your morning routine of shower and brushing your teeth.

The job of the subconscious is to help us react to our environment in a way that keeps us “safe”. Most of the programming of your subconscious happens when you are a child.

Your earliest subconscious programs were purely for survival and you learned them quickly in order to adapt to your surroundings. For example; you may have learned that crying meant you got to eat or be coddled and comforted by mom.

You can think of these programs as frames of reference.

Here’s another example, when you first learned to drive a car it probably took most of your concentration. The gas pedal, the clutch, steering, the brake pedal…all of these things were an individual process. Contrast that to when you drive a car now and you think of the process as a whole and not as the individual pieces. It has become a “program” or frame of reference. Make sense?

So, we grow older and we have these programs that in effect guide our behavior. What happens if we consciously try to go against these programs?

Bingo…Stress!

Fear, anxiety, overwhelm, guilt, sadness, helplessness, headache, muscle ache, back pain, etc. can all be lumped into the category of “stress”.

Now the question becomes; what can we do about stress?

There are a myriad of ways to handle stress. I have found that by far one of the most effective ways of handling stress is with Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) also referred to as Meridian Tapping (or just “tapping” as I like to call it). Tapping is an extension of the ancient Chinese technique of acupressure combined with western psychology.

Bottom line is…it works. It works for me and more importantly it works for my clients.

I have also found it very beneficial to combine tapping with my understanding of hypnotic language and Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques.

So now we have an understanding of what stress is AND we have a technique to help eliminate it.

But, can we eliminate stress from our lives forever?

Some might have you believe so. They might say; “just focus on all the candy, flowers, and rainbows!” while in the mean time your car, house, and everything you own is being repossessed.

Here’s the bottom line: Human beings (most of us anyway) came to this physical reality to expand. Expand our awareness, our consciousness, our creative abilities, our experiences.

What happens when we try to expand? We come across those old pesky subconscious programs don’t we? Some might call it “leaving your comfort zone”. We feel stress.

This is absolutely normal. The difference here is how you handle it. Some people run away from the stress and go back to their “comfort zone” until, ironically, the pain of staying where they are out weighs the pain of stepping through the perceived stress.

It is at this point where most people begin to look for ways to cope with stress. Some turn to drugs and alcohol, or sex. The problem with these is that they usually don’t fix anything but rather they are a temporary “feel good”. Ultimately their behavior or situation never changes and they become addicts.

Others turn to different forms of coping but with the idea that they will get through it and past their perceived level of comfort. This is where you see the great achievers in life and the people who overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles. I call these people “emotionally intelligent”.

I feel blessed to have discovered and continue to use “Tapping” for this very purpose.

Once you understand what stress is, where it comes from, and how to release it, you become “emotionally intelligent”.

So, to sum up:

  • The subconscious mind guides our behavior.
  • When we attempt to go against the programs of the subconscious mind we experience Stress.
  • We can choose to deal with the stress with techniques such as Meridian Tapping (EFT).
  • As long as we are growing we will always experience some type of stress. It is how we deal with the stress that determines our success in life.
  • Once we learn to recognize the signals for stress and pass through them with techniques like “Meridian Tapping” we become emotionally intelligent and truly successful!

I sincerely hope that this article has helped bring you clarity in your own personal journey to living a happy, fulfilling, successful life.

Alan Combies