“Progress is impossible
without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change
anything.” George Bernard Shaw
Your mind is your being, and your brain is
the most important of all your body organs because it controls your whole
being. How you think, what you do, how you act and react, and what you do with
all your life experiences—they ultimately become not only your memories but
also your realities.
Myasthenia gravis is caused by a dysfunctional immune
system. Its symptoms are often aggravated by stress. Therefore, stress relief
is the best way to control or ameliorate the disease symptoms of myasthenia
gravis.
Here is a simple way for stress relief: focused mental
attention.
We all have experienced moments of profound peace of mind
and total relaxation of the body when we look at a beautiful sunset or a
crystal-blue sky reflected on the still water of a lake, or even the crushing
waves against rocks by the seaside.
Do you recall those moments of internal peace and
tranquility? Maybe not.
Indeed. those moments are few and far between—especially
in the present world we are living in. The reason is that we can also
experience those rare moments only we experience a deep sense of connectedness
to nature, through which we are connected to everything else around us—just as Albert Einstein said: “A human being is part of a whole,
called by us the ‘Universe’—a part limited in time and space.” Without
that connectedness, there is no enhanced quality of mind that enables us to
experience the inner peace, which has eluded so many of us. The lack of inner
peace is due to scattered attention of our minds. The result is that we feel
unduly stressed and discontented with everything around us, instead of the
harmony that should have been the norm.
The good news is that you can focus your attention to
overcome the scattered attention of your mind. Changing the inner attitudes of
your mind can significantly change the outer aspects of your life, and thereby
creating the harmony and peace that may have eluded you.
Your mind is constantly thinking; it never completely
stops its thinking process even while you are sleeping. Truly, you can never totally
stop your mind from thinking for an indefinite length of time; after all,
you need your mind to think. That being said, it is important that you do not
develop a compulsive mind that constantly shifts back and forth between the
past and the future. It is also critical that you give your mind every now and
then a short, meaningful break, just as you switch off your computer when you
are not using it.
Given that your mind is
incessantly alternating between the past and the future, going back and forth
without consciously knowing it, you should learn how to re-focus it on the
present moment.
Why should you focus your mental attention on the present
moment?
Focusing on the present moment can help you obliterate
temporarily thoughts of the past and the future, just as people in dangerous
sports, such as car racing or sky diving, focusing on the thrills of the
present moment to the oblivion of everything else in their lives.
One simple way to focus your mind on the present moment
is by conscious breathing, which is directing your mind on your breathing.
Essentially, you pay attention to how you breathe in and breathe out, how your
body feels during inhalation and exhalation, and how the flow and rhythm of
your breaths are affecting your mind. You may also put some stick-on notes on
your computer screen or anywhere in your house to remind you to practice
conscious breathing every now and then throughout the day. Practicing conscious
breathing for 2-3 minutes every hour or so does not interrupt with your daily
work; just form this good habit of awareness and focus, which trains your mind
to relax.
Regularly practicing focused mental attention on
breathing is a simple way to relieve stress for better control of the symptoms of
myasthenia gravis.
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