LIFE WITHOUT STRESS
The Far Eastern Antidote to Tension and Anxiety
Dr. Arthur Sokoloff
Broadway books New York
National bestseller
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Western culture considers life to be a challenge, filled with problems to be solved and obstacles to be overcome. This viewpoint often leads to a feeling of unfulfillment, that something is missing from our lives. Taken to the extreme, this attitude can result in illness, ulcers, and heart attacks.
Conversely, the wisdom of the Far East teaches harmony with nature, rather than opposition to it. Obstacles and stumbling blocks are in fact stepping stones. Lifeisfulfilling, and we lack nothing.
This book offers insight into the wisdom of the East, presenting it in a readable, nonmystical, Westernized manner. It is meant to enrich, not replace, our traditional outlook.
From the moment we cease trying to swim upstream and begin to flow with the current, something changes within us. By combining our Western drive with the Far Eastern sense of tranquility and inner peace, we gain the best of both worlds. Our everyday lives are enriched, and we find that what we have been seeking was within us all the time.
Inner serenity is inner strength.
Introduction
A window to the East
Stress is, literally, a killer. Until recently, the mechanisms of its workings were unclear, but we are now beginning to understand that prolonged frustration, anger, feelings of helplessness, grief, and other negative emotions cause the brain cells to produce chemicals that affect the entire body, including our immune system. With the body’s defenses weakened, heart attacks, stomach ulcers, lower back pain, colitis, periodontal disease, and a host of other physical illnesses manifest themselves. The mind-body relationship becomes clearer when we recognize that stress influences the mind, which in turn chemically affects the other cells of the body.
Because I have practiced dentistry for enough years to have treated four generations of patients, stress is not a strange to me. Three of its many faces are especially evident.
Many dentists face, on a daily basis, psychological challenges that they are unable to cope with effectively. Depending on which statistics are used, my profession is at or near the top in the rates of suicide, divorce, alcoholism, and drug addiction. As the anxieties of my colleagues increase, their need to find solutions grows as well.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION: A WINDOW TO THE EAST