I find that daily exercise works the best for me. I still experience stress but I am confident that it has lessened stress because of the physical activity that I put into my workout.
perspective on a personal side and taking care not to assign motives to those I don't know.
When I was working at the bank we had those motivational speakers. I always detested the waste of time because we always had to finish our work, and taking out an hour or two just frustrated rather than helped. One lesson I did learn though over the years.......one speaker talked about choices. When we get up in the morning we pretty much make the tone for the day. If you get up and there are toys left on the stairs.......you can yell at the kids and get in a bad mood, making then in a bad mood......or you can pick up the toys and have a word with the kids later about safety and leaving stuff around. Each thing that happens, your reaction is a choice that you make. You spill your coffee.....just mop it up, its no big deal....or rant and rave about it..........you get stuck in traffic, you can make some phone calls or plan out some task, say a prayer or just meditate......or honk your horn and rant about it getting to work in a foul mood and so as you build your day so goes the rest of it.
Its so true.........
I have a very stressful job and agree that exercise is good, but there's not much energy left at the end of an 11 hour workday. My stress reliever is my dog. Her antics make me smile and the stress dissipates. Attitude is important, too, but sometimes keeping one's attitude positive can be a challenge. Nature, for me, is another stress reliever. I have bird feeders in my yard and watching them helps me put things in perspective.
I cope with small daily stressors (like traffic) by reminding myself there's nothing I can do about it, trying to keep things in proper perspective, & looking for anything positive. I might be stuck 8 blocks from the traffic light, but maybe there was an accident - those poor folks would be having a worse day than me, & I'm grateful not to be in an accident or getting a ticket. A broken water main? I'm grateful to the guys who are fixing it, instead of being pissed that they've got the street blocked. Glad I'm not the one down in that muddy hole being cursed by drivers.
Yes, there's a general trend to very poor behavior today. I think it started with the '60's 'do your own thing' mantra, the disillusionment of the '70's & end of the Vietnam Era, the corporate selfishness of the '80's , & today's global economy with the media pounding away at how everything is all about 'me, me, me.'
People act out & blame stress, which is generated by their frustration at not being able to control things to their liking so they can have everything they want. Few people realize that you can't really control anything but your own reactions to life circumstances. Their values & priorities are completely skewed because they've never taken the time to truly think about what happiness is (& isn't), or what makes daily living worthwhile. They remind me of very young children who have not yet learned about impulse control & still throw tantrums without consequences.
With constant encouragement to 1)be completely self-centered & 2)never take personal responsibility for anything, people generally lack any insight. It's much easier to always blame something else. They don't realize it's ALWAYS been this way: life is simply a series of problems/challenges that you accept & deal with as best you can.
Things haven't changed much from 60,000 years ago. We need resources to survive, & go about getting them the same way. There are still plenty of predators & diseases to kill us off. Our reactions are much the same, unless we as individuals consciously seek self-enlightenment.
posted by Sylk
2 months ago
