Daily Herald | Posted: Thursday, August 28, 2008 11:00 pm
It has been said that it is not so much what happens to us as it is what we do about what happens to us. This world around us seems to be getting a little over-stressed. It is time to start having fun and get out of the ruts.
I had lunch with a great group of people a few weeks ago. One friend began to talk about the challenge of stress reduction and time poverty in his life. We all agreed that worry is a lot like a rocking chair. It gives us something to do but it doesn't get us anywhere. We decided to write down those things in our lives that just didn't seem quite right and then decide how to fix them. The list was very interesting. These were things that just seemed to give each of us some degree of stress in life. We just needed to take charge, get in the drivers seat and do something about them. In short, we needed to get out of the rocking chair.
The first thing that many agreed caused stress in their lives was spending the right amount of time with families. We agreed to start working with neglected children: our own. Debt reduction stood out next as a major stress generator.
Getting out of debt was huge. Cut up the credit cards. We all agreed to design a disaster preparedness program for some security in this uncertain world for both home and work. Too many meetings was high on the groups list. It was decided that it took a great meeting to beat no meeting at all. We all determined that we would do a better job at organizing and making more productive any meetings that we held.
A big issue was physical health and all agreed we should walk five miles a day regardless of the weather. In addition we agreed to get complete physical exams yearly to eliminate stress about possible health issues.
Reading 30 minutes a day was something that we all felt was important. Cutting TV way down or out of our lives was popular. Planting more flowers in the yard to create an environment that friends and family could enjoy at home came up on the list. Holding a garage sale to get rid of the vast array of stuff that had accumulated over the years and simplifying our lives seemed like a winner and it could make some extra money.
One friend wanted to eliminate all negative people from his life. It's a tough enough world without someone around to tear down everything on a regular basis. We all agreed that setting more worthwhile, predetermined goals should be a high priority. If we don't know where we are going, how will we ever get there?
Service and doing something for someone else secretly every day was one of those needed ingredients to give some satisfaction to our existence. Make friends with enemies that we had made was considered a great way to eliminate frustration in life. Taking a night class on something of great interest was recommended. One man felt like he would like to learn to play the guitar or piano. Look around the house and eliminate all those little things that are broken or in need of repair.
We all agreed that we needed to feel a sense of purpose and commitment and that we needed to take charge of our lives. We all need to keep life in perspective and concentrate on the positive or abundance that we have. Develop enthusiasm and work to see something good in every experience. It is time to get out of the rocking chair.