Hey, welcome back to

your Daily Mindfulness.

In today's session, we're going to

talk about how stress can help us grow.

I remember watching this video on Facebook

a couple of years ago about this rabbi

professor talking about how lobsters grow.

And it was a pretty funny story.

And he says a lobster just starts

out at this, as this small squishy

thing, but it has a protective shell.

And eventually, in its lobster

life starts to feel some pressure.

Going around, feeling

pressure, pressure, pressure.

Doesn't like it.

So what does it do?

Sheds its shell gets another one.

Ah, feel some ease.

Then continues on going about its day.

It starts to feel more pressure again.

Pressure, pressure, stress, stress.

What does it do?

Sheds the shell, gets another one.

Ah, feels ease.

And continues this process for

most of its life until it's

a full grown adult lobster.

Now where it gets funny is he goes on to

say, you know, if at any point during that

time of feeling pressure and stress, the

lobster went to a doctor, got a Valium,

made the stress go away, the lobster would

never turn into a full-grown lobster.

It would just stay small.

And I thought this was just

a great way for us to think

about stress in our own lives.

A lot of times when we consider

stress, the relationship to it is

something that is getting in the way

of our wellbeing, hurting our health,

getting in the way of our happiness.

And there's truth to that, which is

why we do focus on how to reduce stress

in this app and through meditation.

But we could take a different perspective

in relationship to stress that I

think can conserve as much better.

Now, talking about that story, I

do think there's times and places

where we do need to actively reduce

our stress, where medication might

need to be implemented or be useful.

So I'm not here to make any

claims or arguments about that.

But when I think back to some of

the points in my life that were

the biggest turning points, where I

felt the most growth, where I made a

change that was extremely necessary.

Almost all of those moments were

proceeded by great amounts of stress,

doubt, confusion and discomfort.

Those moments offered space for

reflection, questioning, and a

desire to change in a positive way.

So an overwhelming amount of stress

can feel toxic and should be mitigated.

But there are healthier forms of stress.

And if we relate to those moments as

opportunities for change or growth or

reflection, it really can change our

perspective and have those moments lead

to something positive in our life, rather

than taking us in a downward spiral.

So see if you can take this

perspective toward the stressful

moments in your own life.

In addition, in addition to using

some of the breathing strategies and

ways of relaxing and distress that we

talk about, what would it be like to

also bring a change in perspective?

I'll talk to you in the meditation.

Thanks for your practice and take care.