Stress is not what you think it is. No one or Nothing outside of you is stressful. There is no one or anything that makes you stressed!
Stress is simply a feeling that’s caused by your own thinking.
Hmmmm. OUCH!
That means you are creating the stress that is killing you! How crazy is that??? And WHY? The why is because most of us have been taught by society that we need the approval of others to be okay. We have been taught to be other-dependent. So we make ourselves sick with worry wondering what others are thinking about us. This worry becomes stress. And stress is overrated and misunderstood. Why do you think the same old resolutions keep showing up on your list every year?
I want you to take a look at the purpose for including them on your list.
1. How many of them are about seeking approval from others?
2. How many of them are on your list because you’re worried about what others are thinking about you?
3. How many of them are on your list because it’s important to look good, not only to yourself, but to others for their approval?
4. How many of them are on your list because you need to be right in order to look good to others?
5. How many of them are on your list because you want to control the way things turn out in order to control the way others think about you?
When any of the above is the purpose for including them on your list, you are other-dependent. You depend on others to make you feel good about who you are.
My book, Good With Me: A Simple Approach to Real Happiness from the Inside Out, is all about learning how to be happy with who you are without needing approval from anyone outside of yourself. You like you from the inside out. You feel good about who you are because you exist. You would rather be you than anyone else on the planet!