Meet the stress hormone cortisol. But don’t marry it!

Stress arises when we’re unable to cope with our circumstances; and being unable to cope is familiar to us all.

It’s helpful, however, if we allow stress, when it arrives, to pass through our body, without it staying.

Why?

The stress hormone cortisol is useful for short-term defensive behaviour.

It mobilises fats, energises the body and focuses our attention. Good if we’re being chased by a tiger…

But if it remains in our body for too long, cortisol damages the immune system, which is why illness often accompanies stress.

Our good defences are disabled.

It can also damage the brain.

So today, we’re going to encourage our stress to pass through us.

Can you imagine walking by the sea, in your local park or on a mountain you know, somewhere where the wind blows through you…and blows away your stress?

Imagine it for a moment…imagine being free… for this is how you were born.

Had you forgotten that?

You were born free… it’s your birth right.

And while you need cortisol sometimes, you don’t need it now.

Breathe deeply…dwell neither on the past nor the unwritten future …and imagine being free.