When one gets stressed, they are often suggested to calm down or take deep breaths. Another step considered is thinking of something that helps one to stay calm, assuming that it is a long-term solution. However, does replacing one thought with another act as a preventive measure for stress?
The greatest weapon against stress
is our ability to choose one thought over another.
~William James
This quote emphasizes the power of the mind in managing stress. It suggests that stress often arises from our thoughts. Therefore, by constantly choosing to focus on positive or constructive thoughts, one can effectively reduce its impact. So, in essence, thoughts are not merely reflections of circumstances but actively shaped by emotional responses.
Could this be true in all cases?
Let’s suppose that by the end of the day, you experience a headache. All you want to do is go home and rest. But your family already planned a fun dinner time at a restaurant. Not to displease anyone, you take an aspirin and head over to the restaurant with your family. They notice your exhaustion but somehow you pull through because the aspirin helped.
But the episodes of headaches pay their visits more than five to six times every month. Since you are not running out of aspirin, you continue to take it. What you notice by the end of the year is that the aspirin being available works its magic but only temporarily. What stays are the headaches, the underlying cause of which is likely to be stress or some other condition.
My point here is that while replacing negative thoughts can be helpful as a short-term strategy, it becomes essential to address the root causes of stress to achieve lasting relief. This requires deeper introspection, potential therapy, and certain lifestyle changes.
One of the major lifestyle changes is factoring in the enhancement of your Spiritual Quotient or SiQ.
Captain Grant: “Hey, you ever been shot in the line of duty?”
Axel Foley: “Yes, I have been shot.”
Captain Grant: “Ah. Let me show you something.” (folds back the pants on his leg to show a gunshot wound) “Almost broke my fibula. I thought I was never going to walk again. And you know what I got for that? A pat on the back and a ribbon.”
Axel Foley: “What do you think the cartel is going to give you? A 401K and a timeshare in Boca?”
Captain Grant: “I can’t even afford to live in the city that I got shot in. How is that for justice?”
Axel Foley: “I didn’t get no ribbon when I got shot. What kind of ribbon was it?”
Captain Grant: “I almost admire you, Axel. Still out here on the streets, running and gunning, and after what the job costs you.”
Captain Grant was the villainous character in a popular Hollywood movie called ‘Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F’. Axel F was the good cop who was wrongly accused of a crime he didn’t commit. While Captain Grant went to meet Axel in the interrogation room, he tried to drive a point to Axel that doing the right thing, fighting for justice, and fighting the bad guys never got him anywhere in life. He instead received a ribbon along with a pat on the back for getting shot in his leg which almost cost him his career.
On the other hand, Axel does not consider the reward of being a cop as he knows there is none. However, that does not help Captain Grant. He just feels helpless about his situation while also using it as an excuse to make profitable deals with the criminals of the underworld.
The Relentless Pursuit of Stress
If you observe, it is the relentless pursuit of Captain Grant to continue living as a corrupt cop. Here, Axel is the good cop who embodies a positive thought but that which does not make any difference to Captain Grant’s immoral decisions.
From this, we may concur that exchanging one’s stressful thoughts with a positive or happy thought won’t work for long. You are trying to spiral into living with a monkey mind. What does one do in this case?
It is the Spiritual Quotient or SiQ that counts here.
When you work on enhancing your SiQ, you can increase the intensity of gaining your ground of neutrality.
~Krescon Coaches
When the ground of neutrality is achieved, an individual is in a better position to transcend stress. He or she is able to deal with stressful situations as they look at the problem not from the point of ignorance but from the perspective of self-awareness.
With a high SiQ, you are able to identify yourself, by knowing who, and what you are as an individual. When this happens, you develop self-awareness and this self-awareness removes the worry, stress, and fears you may be dealing with every day. As a result, you gain the ground of neutrality which then helps you conquer stress that would otherwise in regular circumstances take you by storm.
Captain Grant was like the stress that refused to budge from its position. Similarly, the headache was just like a thought that could not be replaced by another thought (aspirin). As James William clearly stated ‘choice’ is a weapon of one’s freedom to replace one thought over another. However, with the freedom to choose, one must question the sanctity of snowballing with the replacement of thoughts.
Consider this if SiQ provides a permanent solution, why look for a short-term one?
So, do not allow stress to trigger you into thought replacement. It is as the English philosopher and physician, John Lock once said, “What worries you, masters you.”
