Stress

Stress is nothing more than emphasis. (Don't believe me? Look it up in the dictionary!)

If you are feeling stress (actually, most often it is distress), it is because you are emphasizing something, making it seem really important.

Few things are really important. Few things are worth, as the saying goes, dying on a cross for.

Before you decide that something is worth all that emphasis, consider how it will look to you in 5 or 10 years. Consider how it will look to you in 10 minutes. When in the heat of passion, this can be very hard to do. When in the heat of passion, everything seems important. Everything seems time-critical.

Overemphasis (stress, distress) is the most important mistake you will make in life. To your passions at the moment, it will seem entirely justified. Nothing will seem as important. If it is really important, slowing down will not diminish it's importance. Most things that create distress become forgettable events just a few hours or days later.

Don't sweat the small stuff (and most of it is small stuff).

Because the future is not possible to predict, it is likely that the things you emphasize will not be the really big things you should have focused on. It is best to keep a low emphasis so that you will be ready when the real issues arise.

Slow Down

This is probably the most important idea for dealing with the stress of life. When you feel stressed about something, slow down. Take a break. Walk away to clear your head. Take at least a few minutes to center yourself. Don't shoot from the hip; don't counterattack. It may seem that you don't have time to consider what has happened, that a response is immediately expected or needed, but that is rarely the case. Remember the old adage:

"The tongue is the enemy of the neck."

Welcome!

I have created this blog to help my children (and granddaughter) cope with the world. Over the years I have learned some ways to maximize enjoyment of life that seem to work for me. I believe that passing this information on to you, my children, is the most important thing I can do.

This blog is dedicated to my daughters, their husbands (my sons), and my granddaughter.

If anyone else comes across this blog, welcome! I hope that I can give you some alternative ways of looking at life that may be amusing or possibly helpful.

Much of the advice on this blog is my own ideas, but some is from other sources. Where direct quotes are available, I will try to attribute to the sources. Many of the thoughts will include paraphases of ideas that I have learned from others. I owe much to many people, many books, and many years.

So, here we go!