This book was a life changer for me. When I read When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress by Dr. Gabor Mate, I made a decision to fundamentally change the way I responded to stress.
In this book, Dr. Mate shares his experiences as a doctor who has worked with people who have experienced trauma and chronic stress throughout their lives.
He explains the connection he has seen between the mind and body and the impact stress has on our health, including serious illnesses such as cancers and different auto immune diseases.
My biggest take away from this book was a huge increase in motivation to handle stress in a healthier when when it comes up.
My first step was recognizing my warning signs for stress – see how here.
Next, I decided to deepen my meditation practice – try a simple meditation here so that I could learn how to respond to negative emotions, instead of being hooked by them (I used to have road rage:).
Of course there are days when I don’t feel like doing self-care activities and I’d rather lay on the couch and watch Sons of Anarchy on Netflix, but I think of his words and know that I value my health enough to make the effort to stay healthy and reduce the impact of daily stress. Click Here to Access my Free Weekly Self-Care Plan.
I highly recommend his book to anyone who wants to learn more about the mind/body connection and stress. Just a heads up though – there is a decent amount of medical lingo in there:)
If you’ve read his book, please leave a comment below and let me know what stood out for you and how it made you think about stress differently.
Cheers,
Charlene
oxox