Thought 22: The corrosive aspects of worry

Worry is like the static voltage. Voltage is basically a pressure or stress. As layer after layer of worry builds up, the static also keeps on building up - and you remain in a highly charged state. When the stress level increases further, you continue in the state of stress until break down occurs. It is like pumping some more air into an already fully inflated balloon. At some point, it reaches the bursting point.

Employers are now increasingly inclined to accept every employee as human resource or a human asset; and that work related stresses are making these resources or assets, highly tensed and fatigued. These resources or assets are known to depreciate rapidly under the influence of the occupational stress.

Dr Herbert Benson in his book, "Your Maximum Mind" says that when you get anxious or angry under the influence of stress, you display what is called, a "fight or flight" response, which is designed to prepare you for conflict. In these situations, your body secretes certain hormones called catecholamine (adrenaline and hydrocortisone), which prepare you to deal quickly and decisively with the perceived threat. The body suspends some functions (part of the immune system) and releases energy reserves, in short bursts.

However, if stress is continuous, the "fight or flight" reflex cannot cope with it. For instance, in the corporate world, the interval between two stress episodes is reducing - becoming almost zero for some persons. Consequently, there is no time for these persons to recharge themselves. They are under intense stress, almost continuously and the body has not yet devised a defense mechanism against such continued stress. When tensions mount and people find themselves in a pressure cooker, interest in work falls down markedly and their morale, even more markedly.

Stress related physical problems like irritability, high blood pressure, insomnia, cardio-vascular diseases, spondylytis, stomach ulcers, etc, slowly develop. This is the most corrosive aspect of making decisions mechanically without thinking - which give rise to worry. Corrosion on metals once started, keeps going until all the metal is eaten away. So it is with your mind too.

There are many well-intentioned persons who get into this kind of habit of taking decisions without thinking out the consequences properly. They do not make any effort to overcome this habit. As soon as the crisis is over, they think optimistically but unrealistically, that every thing is going to be alright. But they never realize that unless they start thinking, everything is not going to be alright. If you do not think, there is no way to learn - there is no way to take good ideas into one's life. The creative and analytical portion of their minds is drowsy by habit. They have to rediscover themselves - and awaken their lives.

The next thought is about “This crisis also will soon pass”