Stress Two

Part Two of my Stress Class was today. I understand what they're trying to teach me, but it doesn't apply to my situation. Today we worked on being present to the moment. (They must have read Flannery O'Connor's The Habit of Being.) The idea is that thinking about the future is causing the stress. What lies ahead is worrisome and causing anxiety. So if one focuses on the present, the stress is lessened.

Wrong.

The present is causing the stress. The future is retirement, or vacation, or the next day--a new day away from the stressful present. Think of a woman in labor. What could be more stressful than that PRESENT. Ugh. What keeps her going is the future. She's probably thinking of 24 hours from now this will all be done and I'll be holding my baby, far away from this STRESSFUL PRESENT.

We also talked about attitude. We should be grateful. We should notice in our "present" all that we have to be grateful for: flowers, weather, etc. I can't find fault with this attitude. But I'll add my philosophy: Always expect the worst. That way you're always prepared. Percentage-wise, I know the worst is unlikely to happen, but if I'm prepared to handle the worst, then I can handle anything. So actually, I'm an optimist because the worst, which I expected, didn't happen, thus I'm happy. I'm an optimist because I'm a pessimist.

Besides, if one is religious, all they have to do is hand over all their concerns to God. Let Him handle it. Religious people know that everything is according to God's plan. He's in charge. Whatever happens, the good, the bad,... is all part of the grand scheme of things. We only see our little part of it.

That's what I'm grateful for: believing in God, being a pessimist, being able to blog, for my kids, for my husband, for my health, ...oops, we're only suppose to list four things a day.

....to be continued