Advantage 66 – Significantly less negative stress

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»The all-time drama has actually had only a single topic –

the inability of people to live together.«

– Gerhard Bronner

Austrian musician and cabaret artist

There are two kinds of stress –positive »eustress«, which motivates and spurs us on to do our best, and negative »distress«, which wears us down. This section is concerned with the negative kind of stress – distress. Distress results from pressure, fear, threats and so on. In earlier times it served as a way of reacting to life-threatening situations in an appropriate way. Our ancestors had three possibilities of dealing with dangers – fight, flight or play dead. These three survival strategies have proved to be successful and we can still observe them in wild animals today.

In today’s civilised world it is mostly not possible, or at least very inappropriate, to react to the threats of daily life with the fight or flight options. A person who has trouble with their boss can generally neither beat him/her up or run away. Hence, there only remains the third option of playing dead. However, our behaviour has an impact on our inner life. When we live in a situation where we frequently have to use this strategy we die inwardly and each time we play dead a part of us dies. We become frustrated and demotivated and in the end fall ill.

 

In the Natural Economy of Life we have a far greater freedom of choice as to how we want to react, for we are no longer as dependent on our jobs as nowadays. We still will not beat up our bosses but we can defend ourselves in another way when we feel that we are being unfairly treated. And if that does not help, we can quit without having to put up with social disadvantages.

Moreover, unconditional participation gives us the chance to do what we love and so there is already much less reason for conflict from the start. When we do what we love we do it very well and thus have great chances to receive recognition and appreciation. Should conflict situations still arise, we can defend ourselves since we have the right to unconditional participation and cannot simply be dismissed. Besides, we would only have to endure such a situation for two hours a day, if need be. Should the situation repeat itself, we would change our job and thus also the human environment in which we are acting. The normal state is therefore deep satisfaction and fulfilment in the self-chosen work; and we can cope with the rare stress situations.

If we work in the free economy, either instead of or in addition to the active basic income, we do not have to put up with unfair treatment from either our employer or customers. We are not obliged to do the work to assure our livelihood since our existence is always secured. For employers this means that they have to create a pleasant environment for their employees, otherwise they would lose them. For customers it means that they have to treat their business partners in a fair and friendly way. The customer is no longer the only king: we have all become kings.

Negative stress is a frequent cause of illness in our times. If we have no stress, we stay healthier both mentally and physically.