Is It Stress Speaking? The Physical and Emotional Signals

Your emotions are signals  directly related to how you respond to stress in any given moment.  Stress can build due to a hectic lifestyle or  resonance with  the chaos of  problems in life. When you feel as though you cannot effect change, anxiety and fear can increase.  The work of Dr. Claire Weekes, an Australian MD  who is known for her healing work with people with panic attacks addressed the emotional and physical components of stress. The physical signals of anxiety include an increase in adrenaline production, quickened heartbeat, and activation of the Sympathetic Nervous System.

The emotional signals  take many forms including agitation, anxiety, fear, and lead to fatigue and depression. When your body is  increasingly sensitized to the cycle of physical alert, this leads to spiraling down into feeling more tense, upset, and frustrated.  This affects your thinking, creates memory imprints and activates fight or flight reactions.  Dr. Weekes called this “Second Fear” manifesting as confusion, bewilderment and fear through de-energizing thoughts, feelings and physical tension.

According to Bruce Lipton, a molecular biologist and author of Biology of Belief, the impact of stress over time impacts your health, sense of well-being, and even the interpersonal relations in global communities. Biology of Belief book link

4 billion bits of information travel into your Nervous System per second, yet  you are only able to process about 5% of that information consciously. Much of this information stored within your body-mind system are beliefs, early teaching, the unprocessed residue of material from earlier experiences, and/or generational imprints. Additional factors include your attitude and concept of time  about what is happening.

As an example, it’s the difference between believing  ” There’s a light at the end of the tunnel”  and “The light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train.”  Your sense of urgency, completion and intensity affect the impact of your experience. Shifting perspective makes all the difference in the world to your body-mind system!

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lie our growth and our freedom. ~Viktor E. Frankl

The analogy of cellular function and communication offer a good perspective. Cells respond coherently when orienting towards life and engaging in communication between systems more optimally  when there is a felt sense of safety. Perceived unresolved stress or threat, however,  creates a disruption of life energy flow and the need for protection or shutdown. This, in turn, decreases communication between internal systems, and results in life-depleting or disrupted flow of  life energy.  Coping with challenges and  conflict issues  in a way that leads  to experiencing a greater sense of safety, trust and perspective based on the present is vital.   When you are  seen, heard and feel  understood, this creates a space for resolution and healing. When this happens, your emotional outlook changes, and  the functioning  of  your immune system also benefits.

Anxiety and stress can manifest in repetitive emotional reactions to patterns or beliefs in relationships, finances, cultural interchange, expectations  for  life, gender, and groups.  When you feel overwhelmed, depressed and disconnected from others you are cut off from energizing relationship.  Blame, anger, and chaos limit the ability to sustain life-energizing interactions.

   So what can you do when faced with stress or overwhelm? Dr. Weekes recommended acceptance instead of resistance, letting time pass, and allowing the body to  let go of tension in what she called the sensation of floating. 

An empowering tool that will help you is a “Pause for Centering.”   Listen to this recording to experience this modality and its benefits: https://kimberlyrex.audioacrobat.com/download/PauseforCentering.mp3

The next time you are feeling stress over a conversation, sitting in rush hour traffic, put on hold on the phone, or need a few minute’s solace, give yourself this gift of peace. It is a way to activate positive life energy, to create greater inner peace and harmony in your life and relationship with others.

• A Pause for Centering comes from Resonance Repatterning© material.  Check out more of Claire Weeke’s work, Hope and Help for Your Nerves, and her CD entitled, Pass Through Panic: Freeing Yourself from Anxiety and Fear.  Claire Weeke’s book

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Kimberly Rex, MS is a Certified Resonance and Person-Centered Expressive Therapy Practitioner. She works with clients by phone, in-person and proxy to support creating positive change for wellness and well-being. Her website:  https://www.windowstotheheart.net