For the most part my friends at UBC are not too stressed… yet. However, I’ve been thinking that before it gets tough it might be good to pre-load some different thinking about stress.

How you think about stress even what you believe about stress makes a difference.

Jesus was straightforward with His disciples on the matter encouraging them not to think that following Him was the end of stress. He said, “In this world you will have troubles.” Through the Gospel of Jesus we are encouraged to consider our troubles as an opportunity to grow in our faith. James writes,

“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.  James 4:2-4

Activating our faith in Jesus gives meaning and resets our outlook to being God-centered rather than self-centered.

I have wondered if our faith affects us physiologically, all they way to a cellular level.

In the talk below Kelly McGonigal, who has been talking about how bad stress is for us, shares how recent studies have changed her message.