Can Buddhism Help Me in Dealing With Stress?

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Can Buddhism help me in Dealing with Stress?In modern times, some individuals seldom look toreligion as being something as being useful orbeneficial in dealing with stress.Many will say that to a certain extent, religion issomething that has added to their stress, or at least,confusion, which is, among other things, a source ofstress.Some consider religion to be out of touch with thereality of modern life, or not practical in theirlives.Religion and religious orders and denominations aresometimes perceived as being judgmental and criticalof those who do not follow their ways and means, sowhen someone sincerely seeks or questions, they may beridiculed or made to feel stupid or sinful.Many individuals that this writer has talked with andcounseled over the

years have some of their greatestfeelings of confusion and aversion to religion and theclergy who lead it.And sadly, many recent events in the west over thelast 20 years have confirmed these suspicions andfeelings about religion and religious orders in somepeoples minds, as being hypocritical, exploitive, andnot having the best interests of their followers inmind.In looking more closely at Buddhism, it may bebeneficial for us to initially understand thatBUDDHISM IS NOT A RELIGION.It is a philosophy and path, made up of variouscomponents that we understand and apply in order tocultivate a stronger and more balanced state of being.In some countries, the way Buddhism has evolved, hasmade it start to manifest itself in what we mightthink of as being a religion.But what Buddhism does do, is give us a path and wayto deal with stress.In Buddhism, the word

suffering is used instead ofstress in describing its basic philosophy, which isso simple, so easy to understand.It goes as such:1. There is suffering (there is stress)2. There is a cause of suffering (there is a cause ofstress)3. There is a cessation of suffering (there is acessation of stress)4. There is a way to end suffering (there is a way toend stress)If we are reading this, we may have realized that weare experiencing stress, stress from our work andco-workers, stress from our home life, stress fromsome trauma in the past, stress from some unpleasantfeeling that chronically and habitually overwhelms us,making us feel inferior, unloved and useless.Simply put, what Buddhism does, is give us a set ofteachings and practices to weaken and alleviate thisstress.With this weakening and alleviation, we also accessand cultivate new insights which are

joyful, wholesomeand skilful.These are states of being such as tranquility,equanimity and energy.It gives us the capacity to be mindful, and use thatmindfulness as a basis to live and act in a moreskillful manner.It gives us the capacity to see that an unskillful ornegative thought, feeling or chain of mental states isa result of conditioning and lack of mindfulness.It gives us the capacity to see beyond our ownconditioning to the opportunities available each dayto become more balanced and focused, mindful andskillful in life and living.Buddhism can be easily explained as consisting of twothings.One is the understanding and practice of variousintentions, attitudes, morals and ethics, what we cansummarize as being mental and physical actions.These morals and ethics are not so strange and unusualat all, in fact, they are things that we have

beenexposed to at one time or another, in various ways,through out our lives.Things such as honesty, non stealing, non violenceand gentle and wholesome speech.These are known as morality and make a good startingpoint for those who want to study and learn more aboutBuddhism.The second aspect of Buddhism is the practice ofmeditation.This technique has become more widely practiced andunderstood in the last twenty years.Its objective is multi-dimensional, but simply put,its practice makes us more concentrated, so we aremore mindful about and can handle internal andexternal stresses more skillfully, instead of lettingthem overwhelm us.When we are less affected by stress, we are also lessaffected by the ways of the world.This is why we can think of Buddhism as being aspiritual path and practice, as it takes us away fromthe world and its

shortcomings.Some may frown on this, thinking that this is notgood, or fearful about what changes they may make intheir own life if they learn and practice Buddhism.They will still live and function in the world, andskillfully also, but with greater detachment andunderstanding from their practice.It is this detachment and understanding that will makethem less susceptible to stress and more skillful intheir work, home and social life.BY: Kimbrough