“Don’t get upset”—how many times has someone told us this? And how often has it only irritated us more, usually because of our own helplessness?
We are perfectly aware that nervousness diminishes us, limits our abilities, but—exactly—we don’t know how to control it. And when we hear “don’t get upset,” we succumb to overwhelming irritation because we know we have no control over our nerves, and they drain our energy, making even the simplest actions difficult—actions that could, after all, lead us to success.
Nervousness and excitement are ever-present in our lives, and we cannot break free from their relentless grip, which drains our strength.
I remember an overwhelming feeling from the time when I was driving my first car. Sleepiness. Even after a relatively short distance (Podkowa to Warsaw is about 25 kilometers), by the time I returned home, I sometimes had to lie down and sleep immediately—as if I had done some hard physical labor. Naturally, I began to analyze this, and a simple accident, which I still can’t forget, helped me understand.
One day, suddenly and completely unexpectedly, a young boy ran right in front of my car—he didn’t even notice me. I always wondered where I got such quick reflexes combined with immediate action. I managed to brake in time. For a moment, I felt a cramp in my stomach and involuntary trembling in my hands and legs. I thought to myself: Wow, that really hit me. What a massive tension—maybe that’s what triggered such an incredibly fast, almost instantaneous reaction. I continued driving.
After running some errands for a few hours, I stopped in front of a shop, under the shade of some maple trees. It was a beautiful evening, the streetlights were coming on. Suddenly, I felt sick. My strength was leaving me, I started sweating—within seconds, I was drenched. A slow sense of fear crept in—What’s happening? What if they find me dead here in my car?
A note, I needed a note quickly—I had to write down who should be notified. I focused on finding a piece of paper, on making sure my family would be informed, and this somehow distracted me from my worsening condition. Finally, with my last bit of strength, I wrote the note, placed it where it could be easily seen, and exhaled with relief. At that very moment, I noticed that I had stopped sweating, and I felt slightly stronger.
I looked into the rearview mirror, staring at myself in disbelief—I’m alive. Nothing’s wrong with me. I glanced around again, but by then, the streetlights were fully lit. In the thickening dusk, under the sprawling maple trees, it was just me and my car.
The next day, I visited a well-known cardiologist in Milanówek, Dr. Czyżewicz. He examined me thoroughly and said: “You have such a strong heart that even an axe couldn’t harm it.” But he didn’t answer my question about what had happened to me. I had to answer it myself. Stress!
HOW TO DEFEND AGAINST STRESS?
Stress can be compared to a short-circuit current, which can melt electrical wiring. Stress is the sudden need to release a massive amount of energy to overcome a problem when the body lacks the necessary energy capacity or the means to transfer it.
As we know, we derive energy from food, through its mechanical and then chemical processing—a process we call absorption. Imagine what happens in our intestines when there is a sudden, enormous demand for energy to cope with an effort beyond our organic capabilities. A simple breakdown occurs, caused by excessive, uncontrolled power consumption, and perhaps this is what leads to sudden intestinal cramps. The resulting absorption disorder and its consequences are just a natural outcome of that cramp.
And yet, the primary consumer of the energy produced in our intestines is our heart. Have we ever asked ourselves why we say that the heart beats? It’s because, for its heavy workload (pumping about five liters of blood per minute), it requires an immense amount of energy.
Where does it get it from? From the intestines. And yet, due to our stress, a cramp has just occurred there. The heart starts to ache, sweat beads form on our forehead, fear sets in. We can’t explain it—our health has suddenly worsened. What’s happening? We conclude that we are dying. Panic sets in, we think about calling someone, fear consumes us…
Mistake! It’s just an absorption disruption, leading to a temporary energy supply shortage to the heart. The pain is simply its way of signaling: I need power from the intestines, I’m getting weak. But instead of understanding this, we listen to our bodies, convince ourselves we are ill, and fall into a vicious cycle—one that leads us straight to heart neurosis.
HOW TO AVOID THIS STATE?
The simplest way, requiring no special preparations or sacrifices, is what I call the mirror method. I talk about it at all my meetings and recommend it to everyone—no exceptions.
The mirror method is a way to protect yourself from the destructive effects of stress—more precisely, to safeguard the body in advance, before stress even strikes. All it takes is placing a small mirror next to your bed and remembering to use it as soon as you wake up.
In the morning, the moment you open your eyes, look into the mirror and smile at yourself. Smile sincerely. Of course, this is not always easy. Life is full of problems, everyday worries. We often go to sleep feeling that the next day will be neither easy nor pleasant.
But try looking at it differently. Before falling asleep, find at least one pleasant thing that might happen tomorrow—even if it’s something small. Then, in the morning, when you look into the mirror, smile at that thought.
This simple act arms your mind against adversity, builds a shield against stress, nervousness, and negative thoughts. It makes daily struggles easier, helps us push through difficulties without pain. Some problems will suddenly seem less intimidating; some will disappear entirely, proving that they were never truly our burden to carry.
The shield created by a morning smile will also protect us from the destructive stress of others. It will help us resist the bad moods they may try to pass on to us. We’ll go through the day calmly and confidently, without exposing our body’s energy balance to unnecessary short circuits and overloads.