The Five Elements of Stress
(Moving from Stress to Success)

Excess stress is a serious problem many of us deal with on a daily basis as we try to meet the often-competing needs of our personal and professional lives. And today, with the added stresses of a potential war, threatened terrorist attacks, and the strain of a long-sluggish economy - stress has become an epidemic in our society.

It is well beyond the scope of this article to address national or international reasons - or cures - for stress. However, I thought it might be helpful to write about some ways each one of us can learn how to cope with stress better on an individual basis - that is, regain and maintain our own balance in the face of the diverse and escalated pressures surrounding us.

The 5 Elements of Success® is a helpful tool for "stress management" because it is a systemic approach to finding and maintaining a new kind of balance in your life, relationships, and work. The cross-cultural metaphor of the five elements has long been used as a balancing and healing tool that describes the key building blocks that make up all living systems. These vital elements are symbolized in the four directions and center that turn up in such common templates as the compass, Medicine Wheel, clock, and cross.

Any system that ignores (or over-emphasizes) any one of these essential aspects of itself will quickly become out of balance. This can result in serious malfunction under prolonged or acute stress. However, finding a dynamic balance among these five elements will allow us to enjoy a more healthy, aligned, and integrated life.

The 5 Elements of Success is an elegantly simple, practical, and instinctive methodology - making it easy to understand and apply. It can help us move from stress to success, by changing our perceptual lens, that is, by seeing stress also as a gift that can point us to the real, underlying "root causes" of our difficulties. And it is with this new clarity that we have the possibility of finding enduring solutions that will help us change our lives.

What are The 5 Element of Stress?

Stress can occur in - and come from - any one of these five key elements of ourselves. So - what are these five elements that can cause - or cure - excess stress? I'll start with the most obvious of these five elements and move to the most subtle.

5. Structure/Body. This includes physical resources, personal resources (including finances), personal health, the external visible aspects of a person, individual structures, order and habits. Bodily stress symptoms show up in ill health, poor cash flow, a really messy office or home - or alternately, in a focus on making more money or accumulating "things" to the detriment of other aspects of life.

4. Interactions/Emotions ... Ability to work with others, maturity of relationships, emotional depth, range, appropriateness, and control of self ("emotional intelligence"). Stress symptoms here can show up in emotional outbursts, excessive envy, fear, anger, sadness, an inability to connect with others, inappropriate social behavior, a lack of understanding our own inner workings - or alternately, a "merging" with others, a loss of our own boundaries.

3. Mission/Will ... Self-discipline, focus, desire, personal mission, "fire in the belly", level of energy, how handle conflict, a can-do attitude, sense of personal power, discipline, commitment. Stress symptoms in this element could include a complete lack of ambition, care, purpose, meaning in work or life - or alternately, workaholic behavior, "burning the candle at both ends."

2. Vision/Mind ... Personal beliefs and worldview, balance of hopes and fears, ability to direct own mind, creativity, willingness and ability to learn (adapt), individual knowledge and capabilities. As Winston Churchill challenged his people in WWII - we have nothing to fear but fear itself. Attitude is everything in the successful management of fear. Stress symptoms in this element could include excessive or irrational worry and looping thinking, lack of vision or hope for future - or alternately, escapism, getting lost in dreaming or planning.

1. Essence/Soul ... Sense of self (self-esteem, respect); personal identity and values; the most constant, genuine aspect of a person; feeling at home in oneself; being centered, unflappable, content, calm; sense of context, feeling part of whole. This element is the "driver behind the wheel" of life. An extraordinary amount of stress can be dealt with rather gracefully if this element is strong. Symptoms of problems in this element could include a sense of existential anxiety, a feeling of separation, alienation, or despair.

Determining Symptoms versus Sources

A key to using this methodology as a healing tool is:

a) knowing that there are different forms of stress,
b) paying attention to symptoms vs. sources of stress, and
c) tracing the stress to its source and addressing it there for a lasting cure.

Here's an example. Let's say you have a job that doesn't pay you much beyond your monthly budget, and cash is very tight right now. That's a symptom that lands in the 5th element of stress. If you address the problem at that elemental level, perhaps you would design a different monthly budget, or find a second job. That's a structural cure.

However, the problem could have its roots elsewhere - which means your cure will not have a lasting effect. It would be similar to noticing a skin rash, going to the store for a salve, and applying that salve daily. That won't help if the rash comes from a deeper source.

In the example of your low paying job/cash flow, stress could also be the result of any - or several - of the below elements:

5. Structure/Body - The problem could be caused by another aspect of this element, for example a low-grade physical illness that's sapping your energy.
4. Interactions/Emotions - Perhaps you have burned so many bridges with friends and colleagues that you're unlikely to be promoted into, or network into, a better paying job.
3. Mission/Will - Maybe you don't know what kind or work you really want to do, no work is particularly exciting, and you don't feel ambitious about much of anything.
2. Vision/Mind - You could be afraid to lose what you have now by making a change; you don't believe things will be better elsewhere; you have more fear than hope about your future; your mind is always restless, agitated, looping.
1. Essence/Soul - The problems here come from rarely having a quiet moment to yourself; you fill your time and stay constantly busy; you lack a strong sense self-worth; you don't feel connected to a whole that's larger than you; your inner resources are weak.

Moving from Stress to Success

There are so many things that can throw us off balance! But what tips the scales for us, the one little thing that gets an undue amount of our laser-focused attention, often has little to do with the real, underlying problem. Stress often accumulates slowly, over time. This phenomenon is much like that one last straw that finally broke the proverbial camel's back. Stress functions like invisible termites in a house. It eats away at us, causing small tiny cracks in the structures of our lives. These tiny cracks, in turn, can make us collapse "suddenly" under continued stress.

Such below-the-surface stresses cause untold wear and tear - until something minor sets us over the edge. It's not really the car that cuts in front of us during our commute that throws us into an explosion of road rage. That reaction has been building up for a long time. Indeed, the last straw that sets us off - a whining child, a surly employee, someone who pushes ahead of us in line - is rarely the real problem. It's the excess stress that's been wearing us down over time. Such stress can surface in a thousand ways - it can erode our internal resources, deplete our hope and creativity, hurt our relationships, make us very ill, or cause us financial woes.

We can move from stress to success - and regain our balance - by testing potential "cures" in any one of the five elements. The below suggestions are given, not as specific recommendations, but as a way to jump-start your own thinking about how to design a stress reduction program that is tailor-made for you.

5. Structure/Body - Start a low-impact exercise program; reduce sugar in your diet.
4. Interactions/Emotions - Take an anger-control or communications class, learn more about yourself through a personality system such as the MBTI or 10 Core Types.
3. Mission/Will - Establish priorities you really care about; move into action on an over-due goal (just do it!); set the alarm clock away from your bed so you have to get up.
2. Vision/Mind - Pay attention to repetitive thoughts that make you suffer. Write down your fears - so you can move them into logical solutions rather than have them stay in a mental loop. Challenge your assumptions by learning other paradigms.
1. Essence/Soul - Set up a quiet time per day (even five minutes will help). Learn breath control techniques you can use anywhere. Walk in nature. Pray. Listen to soothing music

And one last point. Excess stress builds up over time. A successful remedy may also take time. For now, start to untangle this web of cause and effect by selecting just one strand - just one thing to fix. Chose something doable. When successful with that, add the next improvement. This is the formula for deliberately transmuting the vicious cycle of stress, imbalance and break-down into a virtuous cycle of accumulated successes.

In summary, when you use The 5 Elements of Success to think about stress and its causes, you are more likely to find systemic, lasting cures for the difficulties in your life, relationships, and work. I wish you great good fortune in using this methodology to take good care of yourself. One person at a time, we can move from stress to success. And in so doing, we can also reduce the amount of stress in our homes, in our workplaces - and maybe even in the world.

We welcome your comments