¶ … Self-Awareness of Stress-Prone and Stress-Resistant Personalities
What can be learned from the Tibetan culture about the mind and stress?
The age-old culture of Tibet fostered a powerful and deep integration of practical and spiritual understanding, valuing both facets of humanity's nature, together with their capacity for facilitating healing and good health. Further, Tibetans employed other spiritual customs (which may not be regarded as forms of "meditation"), but could benefit development and promotion of well-being and health, as well as cure illness. Construction of stupas, establishment of huge prayer wheels, hoisting of prayer flags, and pilgrimages are some fine examples of traditions that cure the mind, body and spirit. Even herbal medicine in Tibetan culture combines physical and spiritual healing. Healers constantly chant prayers or mantras while collecting ingredients, preparing medicines, and working on the sick (DharmaHaven, 2003).
What do the views espoused by theorists have in common? Explain your perspective.
Tibetan theorists define stress as the tension between the greater mind and the self, with anticipated outcomes and expectations that point to the tension's specific cause. Frank claims that elements required for dealing with stress entail the ability of choosing one's attitude, which eventually distinguishes individuals who seek meaning. In Dyer's view, worry and guilt represent the two emotional stress-perpetuating elements. Buscaglia is of the opinion that development of self-esteem constitutes a crucial...
Lastly, Seligman asserts that positive personality traits, institutions, and emotions make up positive psychology. My personal opinion is that the key element common to the aforementioned theorists' perspectives is positivity, which helps relieve stress (Seaward, 2006).
1. Describe one or more ways to cope with, manage and/or resolve fear.
1. Taking Time out: An individual cannot possibly think clearly under conditions of anxiety or fear. Sweaty palms, accelerated heartbeat, confusion, and panic result from adrenalin. Therefore, the foremost thing one must do is devote time to physically calming down. Some ways to distract oneself from worry include: taking a 15-minute walk in one's neighborhood, taking a shower, or making and having a cup of tea. After physically calming down, an individual will be better capable of deciding on how best to deal with fear (NHS, 2014).
1. Exposing oneself to one's fear: A fear that is avoided gets scarier. If an individual panics when getting into an elevator, doing the same thing the very next day and, in fact, every other day until the fear finally goes away, is an effective coping strategy. Facing fears head-on ought to make them fade.
1. Welcoming the worst: Whenever an individual embraces his/her fears, it facilitates coping. Intensity of fear will decrease each time the fear strikes, until it finally ceases to cause trouble. Imagining the worst-case scenario -- possibly panicking and suffering a stroke -- followed by considering oneself in…
