Last year I went through cardiac treatment. It was both worrying and stressful when one was in its midst. One morning I was on the bus on my way to do a vascular examination, and I admit that there was worry involved. On that bus however, which always seems to be the case with me, I started philosophizing the situation that I found myself in.

And as I always have a pen and paper stub, I jotted down some notes. I actually found that piece of paper just now and decided to turn it into a blog. The note read:

When we are stressed—we are worried. It seems we usually attributes stress to outer factors—whilst worry is seen as an inner process. But what if we turned it around, saying “I am worried” at such occasions that we normally would say that we are stressed? Maybe we should be more attentive to how we conduct ourselves in the face of stress.

I am actually glad that I found this little memory note. I think I can say that I have drawn some wisdom from it. Today I see clearly that I have been stressed out—allowing my heart to work too hard—which actually may be part of why I developed the heart-problems in the first place. And I can see that I have started to recognize the nature of inner stress—what we may call inner worry.

I cope with stress better today—I recognize its reasons—and I try to deal with it accordingly. I recognize that what we call stress often is this inner worry.

Pesonally, I used to put a lid on—not even listening to it. I am better at listening now—we respect one another—and we deal with the matters at hand in a more relaxed manner—my heart and me.