Two Suggestions to Help Reduce Stress

Spirit(Ling): Greetings.

As you know I am very much for ‘Discipline’, ‘Balance’ and ‘Compassion’ in our lives – our life, yours on earth and ours – it applies everywhere.

When you get the opportunity think of them in connection with the ‘Principles’ that you are busy trying to dissect and understand. But the ‘Compassion’… you immediately think of the people around you, the animals, etc, yet we would ask that you also have it for self.

Over the last few months, each one of you in your own way has been under stress, and has coped – just – not really as you should. So I am going to tell you what I was told when I was a youth about nineteen, and I used it all my life, and I assure you that my life on earth was long. As I have told you before, I led the life of a scholar and was reasonably protected, but stress comes into everyone’s life one way or another.

But I was told by a Buddhist Master that there is a way, perhaps not to control the stress, but to put it from your life, completely, for short periods of time, and in doing this you are enabling the physical body to heal itself, or start healing itself, because ‘mind’ is causing the stress, as it is not able to discipline itself sufficiently to not work upon the body, but you with practice, can do this.

Perhaps you may want to start with as little as five minutes a day, but increase it to at least half an hour, possibly an hour.

Now one way is to pick on some area that you are fond of. It may be a workshop. I’m not saying what the work is you do in it, but it is a room that you are fond of, and you enjoy working in it. You work in it for pleasure, and you don’t get there as often as you would like, but make a point of spending at least five minutes a day not necessarily working in it, but maintaining it. It may be a garden, it may be the room you live in, but wherever, spend time, maintaining, beautifying, enjoying that place, until you think “I’m fond of being here, I like being here”. It becomes a joy and you sit down, and you enjoy it.

Your garden, you may not be able to do it all through the year, weather may prevent it, but can go to a window that looks out on that little area. If you have a big property, just have one little bit that you have got as perfect as you can make it, the same as a room in a house, or your place of work, your workshop… and enjoy it and relax in it, and most important… breathe in it! The oxygen that you take in to your bodies is vital to your physical health and to your spiritual health, because it enables your spirit to work in a good healthy body.

Don’t go deep breathing for hours at a time, two or three deep breaths, in, out, with a pause at each end while you count to two, three, what you can comfortably manage, but no more than four, then let it go.

And another very relaxing way that I found was to have one object, (and this again was told to me by a person who had a very high standard and was a spiritual teacher), and this is, in my case a small bonsai tree. I had that tree for sixty years. I looked at it, I shaped it, I manured it – and I looked after it. Occasionally I changed its dish. As I had more money to spare I made it more beautiful, and you may wonder why.

But while you are doing these various things that I have suggested, if you are doing them properly, you have disciplined yourself to cut out the stress that’s in your life for that short period of time while you attend to your small tree, your needlework, whatever it is that you get pleasure out of.

It may be sitting in a boat, it might be baking a cake, but do these things, whatever it is that relaxes you. Start in a small way because I’m sure that each and every one of you is saying, “When do I fit it in?” “What time have I got?”

We ask that you start with five minutes. If necessary get up five minutes early, or go to bed five minutes later, or in your lunchtime find that five minutes, it’s not long, but it will help you. Remember, breathe deep, relax and enjoy whatever it is that you choose. I found it was a great help to myself and I know of many others who have a peaceful tranquillity about them sometimes in very stressful situations, and it is because for a very short period of time when the opportunity is there, they can withdraw, and we would like you people to teach yourselves to do that.

If it is illness that is worrying you, it is even possible to withdraw at those times also but it takes practise, it takes discipline. But don’t go overboard initially, be balanced, and have compassion for yourselves.

Well God bless you all, and may you be relaxed and happy.

Goodnight.