Life View
How we view life determines, to a large degree, how much stress we have, as well as how anxious and depressed we become. We know that stress, anxiety, and depression—especially chronic stress, anxiety, and depression—can weaken the body and certainly may worsen many chronic medical and psychological conditions. Mindfulness may not only diminish stress, anxiety and depression, but may also transform a person's actual approach to life itself.
Mindfulness Overview
Two years ago, a 44-year-old physician in my community, who was known by his colleagues to be fairly bright, but also intimidating and short-tempered, began a program of mindfulness-based stress reduction. He had high blood pressure and was willing to try anything before resorting to medications to control his condition. A few weeks after the completion of his program, he wrote to me that his blood pressure had fallen from a high of 160/100 to normal values around 120/80. His blood pressure has remained at these normal levels for more than three years. He also wrote, "my life feels so dramatically changed and transformed. My all too frequent experiences of tension and sense of constant urgency, irritability, frustration, and outright anger have given way to an overall calm and equilibrium I could not have foreseen. I feel a sense of peace and ease I have never been able to attain [before]. And I feel like a kinder man."
