The stress of life

He was sitting alone in a dark alley with only the light from a nearby road creeping onto his right side and the left barely lit by an open restaurant door that lead to the busy kitchen. He was crouched down on a milk crate eating a tray of noodles, likely from a cook inside the restaurant.

I could not understand much of what he had to say, but he was very talkative so I simply listened to what sounded like meaningless chatter. But, it made me wonder what has caused him to become this way? Did it start before he became homeless while working as a diesel mechanic or did it happen due to one extreme stressor in life or multiple stressful situations with negative outcomes?

Have you ever thought about how unnerving our world is today? So many people fall into emotional and physical disrepair because of an inability to handle the things around us. Politics, natural disasters, physical ailments, declining health due to age or bad habits, addiction, loss of employment, false ideas of how religion should be verses how it is viewed in our churches, fear of relationships – I could continue typing for hours naming things that bog us down. But, why do we let these things get under our skin?

The simple answer is that not all of us do – some are better equipped with handling today’s times.

A Yale University study found that some people had brains that were able to process stressors better than others. What was interesting is that the study allowed researchers to see which three areas of the brain responded to stress during a functional MRI (fMRI).

The Yale study saw a decrease in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) area of the brain at first and then a huge increase in that same area by most of their study participants. That huge increase could be seen on scans that were overseen by doctors and scientist. For those that had the hyper increase of activity, it meant that their brains were blocking the stressors or protecting the person from stress.

The ventromedial prefrontal cortex area is involved in brain management, in a way. It is utilized when dealing with self-related processing or figuring out when to feel stress or not to feel stress. This area of the brain also causes disruptions in individuals with autism and those who function poorly in social settings. In other words, the vmPFC is not building that wall to block the stress as it does in some people.

Basically, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex either goes into overdrive to protect the brain from extreme emotional response, or fails to go into overdrive (fails to build that wall), which equals a flood of stress and emotional reactions to the stressor.

The Yale study found that those whose brain failed to guard against the stressor, they likely had an increased risk of binge drinking, binge eating or other self-destructive behavior after being stressed.

So if you react poorly to stress and find yourself acting out in self-destructive behaviors after a hard day, your ventromedial prefrontal cortex area is not guarding your brain. A quick fix for this problem is not available, but it is now the spotlight of more research.

For those who experience one extreme stressors daily, weekly or even monthly – these stressors add up and cause serious health issues. Those health issues can include high blood pressure, diabetes or heart disease which can lead to more stress. More stress then leads to depression, anxiety or the onset of an underlying mental illness that did not make itself known until that stress in life continued to build up. So, if not tackled in the beginning, it can quickly become uncontrollable for an individual.

The end result of accumulated stress that is not handled properly… we break.

“Stress is the trash of modern life-we all generate it but if you don't dispose of it properly, it will pile up and overtake your life.” ― Danzae Pace

Wisdom: You Know Nothing

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing." - Socrates, Greek Philosopher (469/470-399 BCE)

Have you met Red?

Red was struck by a car a few years back and spent weeks at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville on and off during the first twelve months of his recovery. His leg is much better today and he has not used a wheelchair in about 10-months or longer.

For those who have never met Red, he has a huge heart for people. While he often drinks the afternoon away, I have seen him give his last dollar to someone in need on multiple occasions. He has allowed other homeless to stay in his tent numerous times until they were able to get a tent of their own.

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He has style

While he lives on the streets of Tennessee, style is not beneath him. He looks like someone one might spot playing a bass in a jazz club or perhaps a guitar in a blues band.

"My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style." - Maya Angelou

A swamp in the Delta of Mississippi

It looked like a painting both in life and in picture. The swamps of the Mississippi Delta. 

"I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in." -George Washington Carver

Lost her husband upon his return from Vietnam

She is one of nearly 11,400 residents in Yazoo, Mississippi, between the Yazoo River and the Mississippi River.

She has been a widow since her husband died shortly after his return from Vietnam. However, she was quick to tell me that he took very good care of her.

When asked if she would like to move, the answer was, “If I could move to D.C. where my kids are.” Like many children in the Delta region, once they are old enough to move on, they quickly do in search of better jobs as employment is scarce in the Delta. She told me that if she had the money, she would make the move to Washington D.C., but she doesn’t, so she will stay put. 

100 Pound Watermelons in the Delta of Mississippi

He is a former Sheriff’s Deputy in Tunica County, Mississippi and he is now retired. He carries a small handgun in his left pocket at all times, as crime is quite high on the Delta. Health problems like diabetes keeps him home many days, but he has a love for his garden and his small dog.

He lives alone with his Chihuahua, but finds joy in his garden that sits in the front yard of his camper. He has grown everything from okra to watermelons. He said with a smile from ear to ear, “I have grown everything from sweet corn, green beans, whole beans, you name it and I have pretty well grown it.”

He recently grew several 100 pound watermelons that he took to a local school in Tunica County. He said, “I had some special seed that grew some extremely large watermelons and I donated a couple of them to the local private school over here (Pointing South) and after football practice one day they enjoyed some big watermelons.”

We are all similar

The Mississippi Delta: “I’m from Memphis,” he told me with a slow country slur. He moved to the Delta of Mississippi for a slower pace of life and less crime than the big city.

We are all human beings working on our hurts, sins and life together despite of our current living arraignments. Some of us live in the Delta while others live in large cities at a faster pace. But underneath our hats, many of us have similar past.

“Practiced on our sins
Never gonna let me win, uh huh
Under everything
Just another human being, uh huh"

"Yeah, I don't want to hurt
There's so much in this world
To make me bleed”

-Eddie Vedder, Just Breath

Working off fines in the Delta

Living in the Delta of Mississippi is tough due to a lack of jobs that are currently available. Things that many of us in most cities could avoid like paying a simple fine can quickly equal headaches and sometimes jail time in the Delta.

This man lives in Indianola, Mississippi and was jailed for a speeding ticket and driving without a license as opposed to simply paying the fines. Due to a lack of income, he is working off the fines through the workhouse.  

What does poverty look like?

What does poverty look like to you? 

“The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty -- it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There's a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.” ― Mother Teresa, A Simple Path: Mother Teresa

A grandmother and her peek-a-boo grandson

Having a positive family during your ups and downs in life is a big deal that most of us either take for granted or don't have at all.

In foreign countries like Korea, families cling together out of support and seldom separate from their children the way that separation is seen in America.

According to the non-political organization known as Asia Society, “Koreans adhere to traditional Confucian principles of family organization. Confucius (6th century B.C.) and his followers taught that only a country where family life was harmonious could be peaceful and prosperous.”

“A man should never neglect his family for business.” - Walt Disney

I love for people to see my smile

You would have thought I gave this man, age 39, a million dollars.

I was walking down a busy city street with the temperature outside in the 80's and this gentleman caught my eye. He had on a winter toboggan and two coats, layered. He was not asking for money, just leaning against a store window watching people walk by. I had two bucks in my pocket and I handed it to him.

When he saw me lift my camera to my eye he quickly held up the money and said, "Can I do this when you take my picture?" I laughed and said, "Sure you can." He then told me that he loves for people to see his smile. 

As I walked away, he was still smiling. 

William Arthur Ward author of Fountains of Faith, is one of America's most quoted writers of inspirational statements in the world. Ward, who died in 1994 at the age of 73, stated "A warm smile is the universal language of kindness."

Nice cigar friend

"Happiness? A good cigar, a good meal, a good cigar and a good woman - or a bad woman; it depends on how much happiness you can handle."  - George Burns