Laughter is an Instant Vacation

Mondays often seem like a good day to discuss stress-relief since mine are always busy. Last week I promised I would try to find some new hilarity for this week. This very short clip titled "Are Women Born Like this?" found at Richard's creations, fills the bill nicely. Happy Monday!

Living with Passion

Monday, Monday. Did you know that…

• Medical researchers estimate that up to 90% of illness and disease is stress-related.
• Stress is linked to the six leading causes of death.
• Stress is manageable, and reversible.

Did you get that? Stress is manageable, and reversible.

I’ve discovered that walking in joy instead of stress is dependent on making a place in my life every day for the truly important things. When we’re using our gifts and talents and have a constancy of purpose, the clamor of the small stuff is muffled to a tolerable level. It’s all about finding your “YES!”. Doing that thing which makes your heart sing, even if only for small increments of time, keeps things in perspective.

Have you ever awakened in the middle of the night and as you started thinking about your list of things to do, broken out in a sweat? You’re lying in bed wired and awake but it’s ludicrous to get up at 2 AM to start the day. Then you wake up at 6 tired from working on your problems all night. I think we’ve all been there, done that. But in the light of day, those details which grew to heart-stopping proportions in the middle of the night are in reality much more manageable. It’s all about perspective.

If God removed the rocks, the brook would have no song.

In making time for what we feel passionate about, it's usually necessary to sort the good things from the best. Not always a clear distinction. So that brings me to my question.

What are you passionate about today?

For me, it’s encouraging people through the vehicle of LifePoint. I have a vision and the best is yet to come! That puts fire under my feet.

As a follow-up note, thanks for your input when I asked for Team Brain help. I decided on Life Notes for my newsletter title and my tag line is
Motivation, Inspiration. Mastery.

Oh mercy, now I have people signed up for a newsletter that has yet to be created. But that's fun, since I'm not often at a loss for words.

Coming soon: My second major stress-management technique is to LAUGH! I’ll see what hilarity I can come up with for a post on that. : )

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. ~William James

Sitting Down on the Inside

A number of years ago, I selected an audio recording to take on a trip and I didn’t get what I paid for. I got much more.

I thought “Sitting Down on the Inside” would be about stress management and learning to relax. What I got instead was a lesson on pride. As I listened to the speaker, it was if a flashlight was shining on a piece of wood infested with termites. The infected piece was an attitude that had taken up residence in me; a spirit of being right.

It’s stressful to have to be right all the time. It’s a sure deterrent to effective communications with others. Maybe you’re too young to remember Archie Bunker, but his know-it-all attitude was ridiculous. Granted, my attitude was much more “polite and sophisticated” than his. Yeah, right. Wrong is wrong, no matter how you dress it or what tone of voice you give it.

The conviction I felt when I realized the damage I was doing to people I care about through my attitude of superiority is a lesson that is still fresh. That still doesn't make it easy or natural to sit down on the inside. But experience has taught me that things work out faster if I relenquish my need to be responsible for everybody. (In other words, my need to be in control!)

Sitting Down on the Inside set me free. Here’s what this phrase means to me:

Forgive, even if the other person is wrong.

Say “I’m sorry” first, even if I’m not the cause of a breach in communication.

Walking in love is a far more valuable than being right.

I don’t have to defend myself. It’s not about me.

What’s especially intriguing about this lesson is that a year later, when I re-listened to the same recorded message, I didn’t hear what I've just outlined! It was as if it was a different recording. That’s when I knew that God had used that time when I was listening and “tuned in” to get a message to me that would be an anchor to my soul and a life raft to relationships. That was a bigger Stress Management tip than I had bargained for.

Don’t Worry Be Happy

I coordinated my errands on Saturday around a visit to the beach. A short time with my toes in the sand and my face turned into the salty breeze is enough to make the cares of the world evaporate from my mind.

As I sat and watched families on the beach, I thought about the fine art of floating. I believe it’s an essential part of learning to swim, as it requires learning to relax in the water. It’s also a safety maneuver; if you get exhausted in the water and think you may go under, the answer is to turn onto your back and float.

The hard part is relaxing when your adrenaline is pumping and your body is screaming to MOVE IT! When floating, if you tense your muscles, you sink.

I remember teaching each of our children to float. Of course I’d start by literally holding them up; my hands under them, supporting their back. As they learned to relax, it wasn’t long before I wasn’t even touching them. I would still let them get really comfortable and practice a lot before physically moving away. This makes me think of that old hymn, “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.” Good to know His arms are always underneath us and He never moves away.

So this Monday’s stress management tip is FLOAT. It’s the best way to stay on top in these turbulent waters. The beach sang to me on Saturday. And the song was Don’t Worry Be Happy.

You Can Call Me Gumby

I laughed when a co-worker called me Gumby this week. She said I’m Gumby, because I’m so flexible. I won’t go into the circumstances that have stressed our staff out, but somehow, I am able to put this situation in perspective and realize it’s just doesn’t have earth-shaking significance. I like to look at things from the perspective of, “Will this be a big deal 5 years from now?” Many things that get us in a stew won’t even be remembered down the road.

Wikipedia has this to say about Gumby: "Gumby" is a common nickname for someone who is very flexible in any sense of the word – either double-jointed (someone with very limber joints), or very adaptable in different situations.

I didn’t realize what a nice compliment she was paying me at the time. You can call me Gumby.

Procrastination & Exacerbation

My mom thought about legally changing my middle name to procrastination, but fortunately it didn’t happen. I like Dru better. I could write a book on procrastination. The only problem is that I would have to write about how to procrastinate with excellence and flair. Couldn’t do much to help you overcome it.

A prime example of a task that exacerbates* this problem is tax preparation. Uggh. I have a short list of things that put me in a bad mood fast. Tax preparation tops the list. I have an accountant. I use Quick Books. Yet there still seems to be way too much to do on my part. I had 3 more paragraphs of rant going about taxes and was depressing myself and could have pulled you right into the pit with me.

To change direction, I got up and used a few of my favorite stress-busting techniques. Here are some things that top my list for tension-relief:
1) Take B-Complex vitamins. B vitamins are depleted by stress, sugar, caffeine, estrogen, exercise, breathing, etc. Deficiency symptoms are irritability, fatigue and mood-swings to name a few. I figure I need more B than the average person. : )

2) Sing or put on some music. (The choice depends on if anyone else wants to hear me sing.) A few rounds of “Just a Spoonful of Sugar Makes the Medicine Go Down” just perked me up. Good old Mary Poppins always had a remedy.

3) A hot shower or a run, depending on the time of day. A hot shower just did wonders.

4) Working on my gratitude list. Yep, I’m super thankful to live in America. Even if we have the IRS here.

5) I'm exiting to go read now. Reading is really relaxing to me! (Blogs count)

*Word for the day:
Exacerbates – (ex·ac·er·bates) Makes a bad or problematic situation worse.