Managing Stress

Oh no! I can feel that I'm stressing. That makes me stress that I'm going to get stressed, and that might affect by health and the ability to be happy and live a productive life. I've already had one stress related disease. So I know it can happen.

OK. What's happening? I'm baking these tiny loaves of bread for Christmas presents, for people at work. Since they're gifts, I want them to look nice and taste good. And it looks like that's not happening. Some dough spilled out of one of them already. Messes dropped on the oven floor stink up the whole house and make me worry. I've already burnt my index finger on the oven rack. Santa better bring me some new oven mits because these are getting too thin.

They're still not done. It's taking these small loaves longer to bake than large loaves!

As soon as these are out of the oven, I'm destressing. How?

This is how to manage stress according to the Book of Faith.

1. Blog Yes, get on my computer and rant. I didn't even mention how I got stuck going to the children's Mass, this morning. It was the only time I could make it. Almost an occasion of sin. Then when I went to go to Chapter, I wasn't allowed in. It seems there was a mix-up of times. And now, my Christmas baking is testing me. So it's good when no one wants to listen to me (Hubby's watching the football game.) that I can blog.

2. Go outside and walk around the block.

3. Telephone someone and chat.

4. Eat an apple. Yes, I'm a stress eater and I'll eat something unhealthy unless I can eat something more readily available. Always have a fruit bowl.

5. Go to the movies. Today that wasn't practical.

6. Drink. Tea or wine is relaxing. Yesterday at a Christmas party I drank a Reisling called Relax. I think it's better than a Blue Nun.

7. Change your clothes. Take an inventory of your closet and see what you need. Get on line and do some shopping. When I don't have the money, I make a list of what I want to buy for when I do have the money--some day.

8. Plan something. Plan how to decorate the house for the next holiday. Plan what to do for someone's birthday.

9. Think of someone in a nursing home and think of something nice to do for them.

10. Pray a Rosary. It's particularly relaxing to listen to a CD of the Rosary. The ones I have are very calming.


The important thing is to take my mind off myself. I have to enjoy and not stress. Life is too short. Nothing matters except saving my soul and taking along a few others. Focus. Focus. Focus.

All is passing. God alone sustaining. God alone abiding.

Stress

Work is offering a Stress Reduction Program.  It's just what I need but I don't have the time to fit it in my schedule.

I know; that's a sign that I need it.  I already have a stress related disease, so I do need stress relief.  But I have my own coping mechanism.  It's called prayer.

Faith's Stress Relief Method:

• Rosary
• Lectio Divina
• Centering Prayer
• Eucharistic Adoration
• Our Lady of Hope Prayer Group

Tonight I went to OLHPG to relieve some stress.  We prayed a Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.  Afterwards, in circle, we shared Mary stories, since today is the memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows.
Ester told the story of her grandmother's devotion to Mary.  Marie told the story of leaving a rose at the foot of a statue of the BVM and the priest finding it and thinking it was a miracle--because on that date (Marian Feast) a rose appears every year.  And I told the story that Father John Randall tells.  Father Randall was a passenger in a car full of priests.  They were all traveling somewhere.  They were discussing apparitions.  Some of them believed in them and some were skeptical.  All of a sudden, the car was filled with the scent of roses.
    That was a conversation stopper.

How to have a Stress Free Holiday

I went to another Stress Class today. It was called Holiday Survival. Some of their suggestions are useful. Here are some that will work for me.

1. Don't go to a party hungry. I use to not eat all day because I was going out to eat. But if you're watching your weight, then eat good food before you go out so that at the party you'll be too full to eat junk.

2. Don't stand around the food table. Distance yourself as far away as possible.

3. Don't forget to keep up with your exercise program. Besides keeping calories in check, it regenerates your spirits and is overall good for your physical and emotional help.

4. Get organized and stick to it. Shop online. Shop early. You don't have to wrap every single present. The cat doesn't care.

5. Get plenty of sleep. Not enough sleep makes you grouchy and depressed. Nobody feels like doing anything in that foul mood.

6. You don't have to send out Christmas cards. If you do send out cards, you don't have to write a letter in each one. People who are late and send out their cards after Christmas, do that to assuage their guilty consciences.

7. Be mindful of the season, each day. Enjoy the moment.

8. Don't waste your time blogging.

Mindfulness at the Dentist

What a joke? I still say the teachers of mindfulness and those that think that stress is cause by the future are wrong. The premise is wrong. It's more stressful to be hit with the unexpected present: accidents, unexpected happenings, and just plain "life", than the future.

Who worries about the future? Or rather, why would anyone worry about stuff that may never happen? Like I said in my previous posting, turn it over to God. He's the only One Who can use the bad to make good.

This was all brought to mind, today, as I sat in the dentist chair. I wasn't that worried, or anxious. The dentist was fitting me for my bridge. No pain involved.

Then he took a hammer. That's right a HAMMER! That tool that you hit a nail with. He took a hammer and started smacking my teeth with it. Now tell me honestly, would that cause stress, or would you be thinking about tomorrow's stress? The dentist was trying to loosen my temporary bridge. See if you can practice mindfulness with a man smacking a hammer on your teeth.

Good Lord. Thank God I'm Catholic and believe in redemptive suffering.

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