Stress is known as the silent killer: a cause for heart attacks, strokes, cancer, and Diabetes.

So, where does stress come from? Here’s a deeper look at the causes for stress, which are still being studied and examined scientifically over time:

Environment — is your home and/or outside environment too hot or cold? Too messy or nice and organized?

Hobbies — do you choose hobbies that alleviate stress or cause more of it? For example, if your hobby is hunting, you might find yourself relaxed in one way and crammed into an uncomfortable position while hiding in a tree in another?

Social life — do you experience social anxiety each time you go out? Or do you alleviate feelings of being recluse by spending time with others?

Feelings — do you take notice of how you feel throughout the day? Or do feelings seem to happen automatically and without your control? Do you have sudden bouts of crying, tantrums, or feel joy throughout? How about love? On a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 = no love for yourself whatsoever and 10 = I love myself completely and unconditionally, how much do you love yourself?

Food — do you eat foods that lead to digestive difficulty, unhealthy bowel movements, or stomach pangs? Or do you force yourself to eat ‘extra’ healthy, at another extreme, and lose the joy that you might otherwise experience during meal time?

Movement — do you find that your body is unable to move fluidly, symmetrically, or without pain? Or do you exercise to an extreme and are you always undergoing “repair”?

Thoughts — if you think back about the last 5 thoughts you had inside of your own head, what did your internal dialogue sound like? Were you self-critical or were you fulfilled, non-judgmental, and simply observing that which is around you or life itself?

As you can see, stress can show up for many reasons. There are sources of ‘eustress’ (which is considered to be ‘good stress’) and there are sources for distress (which is considered to be ‘bad stress’). Here is an example of each:

• Eustress: exercising in a way that your body enjoys, without getting too sore or experiencing much discomfort.
• Distress: exercising in a way that leads to prolonged muscle soreness (more than 48-72 hours), too frequently that the body has not undergone repair, or without enough rest to rejuvenate before the next set.

Interestingly, both examples are exercise, which is thought to be good. And both are sources of stress, just like eating food. It takes energy to digest food, albeit ‘good’ or ‘bad’, which means that eating is causing stress; and starvation even more, especially when compared to foods are matched with your body in the right proportions.

Cumulatively, all stress adds up (that’s right: even eustress counts as stress).

Fascinatingly, there is something called ‘oxidative’ stress, which means that by breathing oxygen, we are also stressing our bodies. So does this mean that we are not supposed to move, eat, or breathe?

Certainly not.

We must choose that which alleviates the greatest stressors in order to prolong both quality and quantity of life. And we must also understand that aging is a natural process, beginning with birth, growth and development and ending with death.

How we perceive the events of life often affects our health more than the events themselves. And through perception, we can unmask our healthiest or unhealthiest genes.

So the next time you catch yourself in thought consider this: are your thoughts adding to or detracting from health?

A quiet, fulfilled, and observant mind is a healthy mind. Love yourself through healthy thoughts and in doing so, you will also be loving your body.

Sent to you in service and in hopes you’ll pass this along,