In today’s fast paced world, there is no shortage of demands on us: demands we create, demands we agree to, and demands we meet out of obligation. I would like to explore a concept of ease versus resistance. That is to say, every demand we live up to or activity we engage in has two ways of unfolding: smoothly (with ease) without issue or concern, or not so smoothly(with resistance) with errors, interruptions or inefficiencies.
I think we’re all familiar with those mornings where things just aren’t going right:
-we’re late getting out of bed
-rush to get out of the house on time
-forget something important and have to go back
-proceed to hit every red light in traffic
When life’s events are coupled with resistance, there is an emotional toll on the body, typically in the form of stress.
Recognizing whether life’s demands are accompanied with either ease or resistance can be a very powerful way to combating stress. What would it feel like to let go of the little things that aren’t working? Have you ever caught yourself allowing the little annoyances of life to ruin your day? Have you ever considered how that impacts your body?
There is a whole new area of research surrounding our emotional state and the physiology of the body. The evidence is becoming clear that feelings such as joy, compassion, acceptance and gratitude are beneficial to the body’s autonomic nervous system. Perception, hormonal balance, digestion, respiration, immune system functioning are all controlled or influenced by the autonomic nervous system.
Understanding more about our internal processes allows us to see the value in monitoring our external behaviours and circumstances. It is important to monitor this flow, or lack there of, throughout the day. Learning to recognize resistance gives us the opportunity to slow down, take a deep breath and move forward. This allows our autonomic nervous system to have a fighting chance against our very well-tuned fight or flight stress response. Long story short: how you feel matters.
-Michael
