Hi. My name is David Simon.
I am not a guru or a meditation master. I am a working professional living in New York City, who has been stressed out to maximum levels — it was so bad I almost flipped out.
I wasn’t managing stress, it was managing me.
My health was failing and my mind… well I was losing it.
I wanted to keep my sanity and rediscover joy. I had no choice. Time was running out, I had to figure out what was causing my stress. Even more, I had to find natural, holistic ways to manage my stress and reduce its intensity.
Why am I here?
My purpose here is to help you overcome stress so you can find your calm — restore, relax and get back on track.
Stress is an epidemic that is out of control — it has affected you at some point in the past — or is affecting you right now.
It can affect you at home, at school, at work, even in your relationships. It stops you from living your best life and can also rob you of life.
Family members, bosses, and clients can place unrealistic demands on you — this is either the cause of your stress or adds to your problems.
In the past, the mere mention of the word stress got my attention — but not in a good way.
Just like you, stress has affected me. I tried to run from it, ignore it or overcome it with drink and drugs.
I was drowning in a sea of stress
I grew up in a very dysfunctional environment, which affected every aspect of my personal life. I was physically abused as a child and carried that trauma into adulthood.
Not surprisingly, my work life in a law office as a paralegal, is stress on steroids— let’s just say I was the victim of workplace bullying. I will write about that later on.
It got worse…
2011 was the worse year of my life. Within a three month period, I had to deal with death in the family, not just one but four family members past away— I lost a parent, aunt, uncle and a sibling. To top it all off, I was the only one left to care for a disabled relative. To this day, I don’t know I survived.
I was always angry and uptight
My approach to stress was narrow-minded — I thought only weak people succumbed to it.
So I never talked about it, I just sucked it up and kept it to myself. However, the effects of all that pressure were getting to me — I simply couldn’t admit it.
My life was falling apart — I drank away my feelings — which created a big hole that swallowed me up.
I stayed in that hole for years. My relationships suffered, and so did my health.
Stress brings out the worse in you
If you are anything like me, you are not at your best when you are in the midst of a stress storm.
I don’t care what anyone tells you — chronic stress sucks the life right out of you.
Undergoing too much stress will have a negative impact on your physical, mental and even spiritual well being — especially if you don’t know how to manage it.
The darker the night, the nearer the dawn
Although I am a Buddhist, I wasn’t really putting it into practice. I was floundering in the darkness. Then I reconnected with a Buddhist friend who reminded me that each person possesses the qualities of enligtenment.
He taught me to while it’s natural to try to avoid difficulties, however, by winning over our struggles, we can build an invincible self.
Daisaku Ikeda puts it this way,”When facing adversity, we may think we’ve reached our limit, but actually the more trying the circumstances, the closer we are to making a breakthrough.”
I met a wellness coach
I complained to her about my inability to sleep. I told her about my digestive issues — acid reflux was my constant companion. I finally admitted that when I felt pressured, my heart faced.
We spend hours together fleshing out every aspect of my life.
To make a long story short, I was stressed, and my coach helps me understand this. And my lifestyle choices were making it worse. Hence, drinking, drugs and bad diet.
Eventually, I discovered, it’s doesn’t have to be that way
As a chronic stress survivor, self-care and wellness are essential to me — but it wasn’t always that way.
Even though I write about ways to cope with stress — and how to be mindful — I am not stress-free. However, I discovered ways to read the signs of stress — now I can see it coming.
I observe it, and when I am at my best, I allow it pass me by — as quickly as possible.
I intend to share with you the principles and strategies that I use… to show you what works for me, what doesn’t — and hopefully what will work for you.
And how you can live your best life, one that is no longer affected in the ways that it once was.
Stress is something that you can master, right now, today
I will share mindfulness methods, wellness tips, tools, and strategies so that you can recognize the early warning signs of stress.
Once you can do this, you can manage stress, find relief from stress and its effects.
Imagine a stress-proof life
From my experience, it is possible to be calmer, and when that happens, you will see and feel the change in the way you handle life’s problems.
I started by making changes outside myself, by confronting my job, and the people around me. But somethings you can’t change — it’s not always possible to just up and quit your toxic job.
Nobody can bring you peace but yourself
Ultimately, I had to turn inward — with mindfulness to cultivate stress awareness and observe my reactions to stress. I practiced reflection techniques to encourage a quiet clear space in my mind.
I also took on the challenge of lifestyle design — I improved my daily habits and rituals. For instance, I meditate every morning. I also do Buddhist chants, which is a form of meditation — more on that later.
Just a little more peace of mind can protect you
Peace of mind will allow you to overcome the problems that life hands you… but it requires work, you must re-examine how you look at stress.
Discover methods to help you put some space between how things are and how you want things to be.
As Wayne Dyer says, “Peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is, rather than as you think it should be.”
A calm mind can achieve great success while dealing with adversity
I now understand the relationship between mindfulness, calm and success. I discovered that there is no such thing as a problem-free life — and you cannot achieve success without experiencing and overcoming difficulties.
Every obstacle you face provides essential lessons — problems enable you to grow. The best way to achieve great success is to face life’s problems head-on with a clear and calm mind
Now is the time to make a breakthrough
I am on a journey, discovering how to move forward… toward healing… toward success.
Come with me