Stressful events!

Following the thunderstorm and heavy rain yesterday evening, I took a walk in the garden. 

I found some flowers above least affected by the rain. They remained radiant bearing the water drops as a decoration on their colourful flowers. 

As against that resilient feature, there were some flowers whose photographs are below which seemed to droop in the rain, but the flowers escaped from being damaged in the rain. They too withstood to some extent the harming effect of wind and rain. 

The flowers below looked battered by the rain, although the buds did not get affected probably! The fragile petals of the flowers got soaked and had their life shortened!

This sight gave me an opportunity to reflect on stress upon our lives! Each of us experiences and  processes stress differently ! 

There are some who are resilient and encounter stress as formative and challenging, to live above the dragging effect of stress. They by habit and orientation find stress as an occasion to gather the inward strength and stay anchored soulfully. Being present to the stress with an inner resolve to face it, dissolves the traction of the stress. Facing a stressful situation for such people is an invitation to grow in inner strength ! Life is a journey through mountain and valley experiences for such people. 

Then there are the wavering group who feel threatened by the situation of stress and feel weary to engage the situation resourcefully. When the acute stress creates an inner flutter and chaos, they feel held by the imagination of hope beyond the current situation. They oscillate between hope and dismay initially, but settle down when supported and cared for. They feel carried when friends and family become their resource to move on !

A third group succumb to their vulnerability to stressful situations and loose the momentum to move on! They can get stranded or feel lost! It is when people stay too long in such a depleted situation of hope , they slide further into a gloom or despair. Many face such situations alone without anyone to lean on. If such a situation is on account of marital stress, the care of children becomes another responsibility to which many respond thoughtfully and some fall short of upholding children.

Since living in a rural setting for the last 13 years we listen to stories of people belonging to all the above three groups. 

It was this awareness which created within us a desire to be available on on-line for those who have a story to share and need a debriefing experience. The listening times we have created weekly for regular callers and others seem to offer us a link with people who suffer silently! Often the financial stress gets attended to; but the emotional stress or grief stays on!

Dr Sunny Philip a former chaplain at CMC Vellore, currently living in Melbourne, offers trauma awareness and support course through an organisation, Transform 4 Life. The team of professionals in his team is active to make trauma care an activity through friendship support. The volunteers who get trained in trauma care become activists to initiate friendship through listening. 

The Post-traumatic Stress Disorder is a well recognised state of emotional disorder; but there is a spectrum of symptoms of distress following a stressful experience. 

What is needed is to be familiar with them to befriend people at their level of need and support them to find their recovery path! 

It was while noticing the effects of yesterday's thunderstorm upon flowers in our garden, I was awakened to the reality of a spectrum of impact of stress upon human soul!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)