"Stress Symptoms"by Clifford Kuhn, M.D.The Laugh Doctor 
Stress symptoms are familiar to you aren't they? If you're like most Americans you're taking yourself too seriously and you're restless, frustrated, angry, depressed, tired and unhappy. At least some of the time. It's true that stress can give us a temporary relief of our anxiety, but it is not a positive, lasting natural medicine. It is not a powerful, impactful natural medicine like humor.
Stress relievers are big sellers, primarily because people do not understand the causes of stress and how to relieve stress symptoms. Why Do We Get So Stressed? Most of our stress syptoms come from how we deal
Why Does Change Stress Us Out? Call it progress or growth. It doesn't help. Progress is fine and growth has my full support. But I hate change. Change is tough. It's painful, frightening, and provokes stress symptoms. Why? Because we love and crave familiarity and predictability. When we find something that gives us comfort, pleasure or security, we attach ourselves like ticks on a dog. Our hope is to keep it forever, or longer, if possible. But life won't allow it. Everything changes. And every change - large or small, dramatic or subtle - forces us to give up what is familiar and valued. This is loss. Loss from change has many faces. We can lose control, comfort, status, security, freedom, choice, function, acceptance, connection, pleasure and love.
How Do We Typically Deal With Change? To resist change strenuously is natural and understandable. We dig in our heels and refuse to budge. Or we find something or someone to blame and then attack the "cause" of our distress. Whenever possible, we ignore the change. None of this works. Change continues, no matter what we think of it. It crashes our party like an uninvited guest. Resisting it only increases suffering and invites stress symptoms. And resisting change circumvents our inate, powerful natural medicine. What Can We Do Instead? It doesn't have to be this way. We have a alternative medicine for our fears and pain, a natural medicine that can put us back in control of our destinies. All we have to do is remember to use it. What is the resource? Humor. Perhaps this strikes you as frivolous. I don't blame you for having so little respect for humor. I once felt the same way. But before you dismiss this idea, let me tell you how I learned different. Lisa Taught Me How To Face Change Less than a month after the persistent pain in her right leg was diagnosed as a tumor called sarcoma, 15-year-old Lisa sought my help. Lisa would've been excused for having horrible stress symptoms with the news her doctor gave her. Her oncologist told Lisa she had 18 months to live; she promptly informed me, however, that she had other plans.
Our work together spanned more than five years until her death at age twenty. Those years were filled with incredible moments for Lisa: high school graduation, college, romance, marriage, a honeymoon in Hawaii and lots of laughter. What Did Lisa Teach Me? Of the many things that Lisa taught me, the most important was to laugh during serious moments. That staying serious aggravated her stress symptoms and blocked the most powerful alternative medicine available, humor. I later turned this into a unique, custom prescription, called the Fun Factor - which you can use to relieve your own stress symptoms .
I had always "approved" of humor, but only in its place and time, after all responsibilities had been met. Perhaps that why my stres symptoms often became severe. Lisa, on the other hand, believed that if we waited for my criteria to be satisfied, we might never laugh. She thought laughter's place was everywhere, and its time, any time. In a term paper, Lisa wrote: "A sense of humor goes beyond the ability to tell an amusing anecdote and includes a capacity to see the positive aspects of otherwise adverse situations. I use my own sense of humor to help me remain sane through the difficult times in my battle with cancer." Lisa was not laughing away fears and burdens. Nor was she making light of a painful experience or avoiding serious issues. Her cancer was real and serious; she could've justified disabling stress symptoms - no one would've blamed her. Instead, using humor as a natural medicine,and her chief resource, this remarkable young lady chose to live the years she was given by transcending her circumstances. Humor Can Transcend The Pain And Fear Of Change Though it may seem a bit mystical, transcendence is the right word. Lisa literally rose above her fear and pain. Transcendence differs from avoidance. In avoidance, we ignore, deny or skirt the unwanted experience. In transcending it, we acknowledge fear and pain, but maintain a perspective that prevents immobilization. If you are thinking Lisa got cheated out of life, that's because you did not know her. She packed more living into her twenty years than most of us manage in four times that long. Her life was not limited by stress symptoms for one minute! Her secret was that she understood her sense of humor - what it was and what it was for. We are all like Lisa. You may not be facing cancer, but if you are going through an uninvited change in your life or suffering a loss that is beyond your control, you are up against the same forces and the same stress symptoms. Nobody asked Lisa if she was agreeable to a cancer diagnosis. No one worked out a negotiated settlement or a transition plan for her. Her losses could not be resolved or compensated. She had to transcend them or become mired in stress symptoms like resentment, self-pity and despair. Apply Lisa's Secret To Your Life...As I Did Recent national events have touched us all with overwhelming loss. If we are to recover, we must learn to rise above our lingering fear and pain. Our stress symptoms will not abate unless we use the powerful alternative medicine Lisa taught me about. What worked for Lisa will work for any of us. We can transcend fear and sustain a quality of life never deemed possible in the face of relentless change. It only requires learning to appreciate, respect and trust humor as she did. If you suffer from more stress syptoms than you'd like, then I highly recommend you check out my Fun Factor prescription today. It will help you lead a better, more happy, successful life. Check it out here. Nothing can defeat you when you rely on the natural medicine of humor. Your circumstances become almost immaterial; you develop a reservoir of energy and resilience capable of carrying you through just about anything life can serve up. Stress symptoms become short-lived reminders that you just don't have to live like that anymore.
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