What Your Mind Does in Moments of Change
Now (or within the next few weeks) is a time of one kind of transition for many: the end of a school year (whether your own or your child's). And for some, there is graduation, and the achievement of earning a degree. Any time of transition increases your stress. Why?
Any change, even a small one, creates a pause in the operation of the mental apparatus as it seeks a solution to a changed situation. For example:
The school year has ended.
BEFORE: You packed a lunch for Bobby to take to school:
NOW: You don't have to:
What Happens in the Pause?
It is the nanosecond pause that occurs as the previous response is no longer optimal that enables the mental apparatus to find a new, better solution. During that pause, the mental apparatus is disturbed (due to not instantaneously accessing a response), and that contributes to your base-level state of stress.
Is this a Bad Thing?
No, because it provides an opportunity for the mental apparatus to find a better response in associatively related areas, rather than one that might have previously been locked in. For example, if the mother making Bobby's lunch has become overweight, she could benefit from a new response of eating less. Or, if she has had problems with anorexia, she could benefit from a new response of eating more. In fact, such changes in response can and do occur, out of awareness. But because such a change would be so important, it is too overstimulating to enter awareness.
Two Ways Change Can Reach Awareness
One can occur if a person experiences an extreme event, such as the overweight woman needing quadruple bypass surgery, that results in thousands of "pauses." (For example: getting out of bed in the morning... pause... not getting out of bed this morning.)
If the magnitude of the number of pauses is sufficient, it can bring the beneficial change into awareness. (The change is not just that she knows she should change her diet–– it's that she has the motivation to do so.)
Your Inner Guide
In the absence of such an extreme event (and preferably) an Inner Guide can bring this kind of change into awareness. (It can't happen instantaneously; it takes time.) When you have transitions in your life that cause pauses that can lead to better habits and activities, your Inner Guide can enable them to enter your awareness!
If you haven’t yet acquired your Inner Guide, I offer a free resource that can help you begin:
Relieve Stress a New Way
