Hey, welcome back to

your Daily Mindfulness.

Today, we're going to talk about stress.

Chances are, if you're a human being,

you have some experience with stress.

And while sometimes a little stress

can be useful, helping us to meet a

deadline or indicating when we need

to make a change in our life, too

much stress can compromise our health,

our productivity, and our wellbeing.

So let's start with what stress is.

One definition we have is that

stress is when our perceived demands

are greater than our perceived

resources to meet those demands.

Perceived demands greater

than perceived resources.

So what's the key word perceived.

Now, why is that the key word?

Well, often what we perceive to

be demanding is very different

than what is actually demanding.

So for instance, when you're

in the shower in the morning or

you're actually in the shower.

Okay.

Lost you there, Cory.

Yeah.

I have no doubt that your body

is in the shower, but is your

mind in the shower with you?

Mm, probably not.

Or it might be, but you might be bringing

other things in the shower with you.

Uh, your, your 401k

might be in the shower.

Uh, that person you don't want to see

later, they might be in the shower.

Your boss might be in the shower.

Your kids might be in the shower.

Your kids might literally

be in the shower.

So here you are standing in

the shower, but what happens?

Your perceived demands become: I got

to have that meeting with my boss.

I need to take care of the kids.

I need to plan out my retirement.

And then be angry, I can't

retire when I want to retire.

Right?

Who has the resources to be able to meet

all of those demands in any given moment?

No one, but your brain is not very good.

We're good at distinguishing

the difference between the

thoughts about those things and

the reality of those things.

However, when you drop your attention

into what is actually happening right

now, you're just rubbing soap on your

body, you're just shampooing your hair.

You're just standing in the shower.

Most of us have the resources to

be able to meet those demands.

Now you might hear this and go, alright.

Well, it's easy for me to

be calm in the shower, Cory.

I don't have an issue with that.

What about real life?

When things are fast paced and I

have a lot going on and I have a

hundred emails to take care of?

Well, let's look at it in those contexts.

We'll take the example

of the hundred emails.

So you sit down, you start

working on your first email.

But are you only doing one email or

are you also thinking about the 99

other emails you have to take care of,

how much you hate email, how much life

was better when you didn't have to

deal with email, et cetera, et cetera.

In those moments, your perceived

demands are not one email.

They actually become a hundred emails.

None of us are going to have the resources

to be able to meet those demands.

But if you really drop your attention

to what is actually happening

right now, you're just doing one

email and not just one email.

It's just one sentence.

And not just one sentence.

It's just one word.

That's not Pollyanna.

That's not putting on

rose colored glasses.

It's not positive thinking and it's

not denying the reality of your life.

If anything, it's dropping more

intimately into the reality of your life.

Often what we see when we bring this

quality of mindfulness into our moments

is that the catastrophe that the mind

is making this moment out to be is

a little less than it actually is.

So my encouragement to you today

is to see where are you creating

more stress for yourself by being

caught up in your perceived demands.

And when that happens, can you drop your

attention into what is actually here.

Oftentimes, I think you'll,

you'll see this moment as a little

less of a catastrophe than your

mind is making it out to be.

So thank you for your practice.

I'll talk to you soon and take care.