This is deep stuff. And I note that to express that this post is pretty surface level when it comes to exploring this topic fully …
People usually feel stress for 3 reasons: The grind of hard work, the grind of adversity, or the grind of caring about reputation & being understood. For the sake of this post not going on forever, I’ll focus on the 3rd reason & briefly touch on the 1st two.
To resist the stress that comes from hard work, you’ve got to accept that hard work is a requirement for anything worth striving for. You must have faith that when you get ready to, you can do all things …
Ray Lewis – “He gave us an opportunity once He breathed life into us and anytime that we have His spirit inside of us, there is nothing that we can’t do ourselves. Nothing – no thing! However you want to break it down!” (9:53 – Ray Lewis Speech at Powered By Me! Conference)
Even through the grind of the toughest circumstances, adopting an it is what it is mentality, eliminating worry, and valuing your struggles is advised. I explained this idea in an article I wrote last year that focused on Viktor Frankl’s psychological survival through the Holocaust (Honor your Cocoon Time, Viktor Frankl Inspired – Part 2). He maintained faith that there was meaning in his adversity.
In my last post, I touched on open-mindedness & how an understanding mentality leads to self-development. Open-mindedness goes hand-in-hand with the development of inner peace, grounded energy, and a Too Blessed to be Stressed spirit. You can’t be open-minded without faith – Faith in yourself ultimately. Faith that you don’t have to be right, faith that you don’t have to understand everything, faith that you can understand without losing yourself as a person.
I see how being close-minded and this absence of faith is weighing people down; it’s just stressful always needing to prove your worth or validate your opinions. People’s egos are out of control and it’s self-destructive because it keeps people from developing inner peace. The root of close-mindedness is people’s lack of faith in the process of understanding. Understanding is challenging & starts off bumpy because your mental model is challenged. But you gotta’ have faith, stick with the process, and not fight a war inside your head as you hear certain opinions/facts.
For me, I’m a highly spiritual person & I know this contributes to my open-minded attitude and absence of stress. I have faith that I’m on the right path & that my self-development grind is worth it. I know who I am.
And it’s important to note that being Too Blessed to be Stressed is not en egotistical mindset. It does not mean a person is self-centered. It’s the opposite; a person is humble enough to appreciate life itself & not feel the need to resist challenges or be validated.
Karrine Steffans’ energy and articulation in this clip sums up this Too Blessed to be Stressed attitude. If you’re not familiar with her, I suggest you look her up yourself – As her controversial/adverse history only adds value to her response. Skip to her answer at 2:45 (I abbreviated it below)
Karrine Steffans on the impact of faith on her life – “My faith is everything … Understanding and knowing that I just don’t care about STUFF you know? And I don’t have any anxieties or angers. There’s nothing binding me because I have this enormous faith and I understand what’s happening & what God is doing. And I understand that I don’t understand everything, which is really important. It releases a lot of tension. And I understand how important it is to stop trying sometimes, and let God do what He does … Because He’s gonna’ do it, and you can’t do everything, and you don’t know everything, and you’re not capable and so when it gets too difficult if you have faith you just know – like I can’t worry about it. It’s gonna’ work out the way it’s supposed to work out & you just give it up.”
I’m gonna’ close with this: Out of all the inspirational/powerful people out there I closed this post with perspective from … Karrine Steffans, perhaps an unlikely source of wisdom given her infamous reputation. But that is an intentional, clear message. Being open-minded is about not dismissing anybody/anything based off reputation. It’s important to let go of all preconceived judgments/expectations & start from a blank slate when viewing anybody/anything. But that’s all if you want to live an open-minded journey & reap the benefits (inner peace, grounded energy, stress-free, knowledge) that come with that. The choice is yours …