Are You Programmed For Stress? Relabeling Your Perceptions For the Better
By Dr. Ben Lerner
In many ways, the way you look at the world and the people who live in it has been programmed. Most of us look at events from our own point of view: A perspective that has been programmed to judge things in a certain way. That's why, when five eyewitnesses are interviewed following an accident, you get just as many different versions of the same incident and no one can agree with who's at fault. (Does that argument sound familiar?)
These views have caused you to label things. You may call them good, bad, important, insignificant, fun, boring, safe, dangerous, "It's me," "It's totally not me," worthy, unworthy, popular, unacceptable, right, wrong and the list goes on and on...
These judgments we're all prone to make are necessary on some level for reasons of survival and making good decisions. However, this natural mechanism can also lead to a miserable and defeated life, judging and alienating all kinds of people, events and opportunities designed to lead to fulfillment, health and all that God created you to do.
For example, many classic TV sitcoms had episodes in which a crazy relative from California came to visit who drove everyone nuts because they made the stars of the show drink carrot juice, eat oatmeal for breakfast and exercise. That's why, to this day, I suspect many people have labeled nutritionists, chiropractors, naturopaths and massage therapists "quacks." Meanwhile, faulty judgments are causing these same people to continually suffer from illnesses that these health care providers could be easily correcting.
Is That Glass Half-Empty or Half-Full?
Labeling has caused people to walk around feeling shamed, defeated or inadequate because they've judged and named something from the past, or a characteristic about themselves, as being bad, unacceptable, unfair, abnormal, incapable, tragic or unrecoverable and, somehow, that makes them less worthy of blessings than other people on the planet.
This low self-esteem, poor self-image and mindset you've labeled unworthy is merely a fantasy. God does not dwell on past performance. My God is unconditional and loving. He is a past-is-forgotten, "let's step boldly together into the future kind of force for all that's good in this world and beyond" kind of God. If you take a minute to change the label you've put on yourself and past events, I believe you can almost completely change your life that same minute.
When someone loses a child, they may very well be facing the most horrific tragedy one can confront in this life. A person going through this level of stress has every right to a life of depression and whatever number of drinks or medications is necessary to help them get through the day. On the other hand, some of the greatest charities, foundations and support groups in the world today were founded on heart-breaking misfortune of this nature. These are people who turned their stress to a mission.
Endless numbers of rape victims, families of alcoholics and drug users, severe burn sufferers, divorcees, ex-convicts and people who have gone bankrupt or failed in business have gone on to lead victorious lives and start incredible movements that help to create victorious, prosperous lives.
They've done this when they stopped judging and changed the way they labeled other people and situations. They replaced the word tragedy with other names:
Something that can be overcome
An opportunity
An education
A turning point
A stepping-stone leading in a different direction
A call from God to help others who have experienced the same challenge
To call the disastrous events I've listed previously as opportunities may seem rabid and maniacal to you. Nonetheless, millions have done just that.
To live in congruency with our natural, God-given nature is to be an over-comer. An over-comer is a man or woman with a purpose and who's on a mission. Moses, David, Joseph, Jesus, Paul (the Apostle not the Beatle), Lincoln, Beethoven, Ray Charles, Helen Keller, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King, certain families of 911 victims, and trillions of others you've heard of and never heard of have turned personal tragedy into triumph.
Not that they haven't lived with searing pain or they haven't suffered intense moments of loneliness, regret and despair. They've just chosen not to go quietly into that good night. They've chosen not to give up without a fight. They've translated failure into purpose and re-labeled their setbacks into a lifelong mission.
Purpose and mission, such is the story of the over-comer, the un-depressed.
Dr. Ben Lerner, along with Dr. Greg Loman, owns Teach The World About Chiropractic, a Chiropractic training company. They have helped build the largest spinal correction clinics in the history of Chiropractic.
