Stress

A lecturer when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked,"How heavy is this glass of water?"

Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g.

The lecturer replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it.

If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem.
If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm.
If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance.

In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."

He continued, "And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later,as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on. "

"As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again.When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden."

"So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can."

So, my friend, Put down anything that may be a burden to you right now.
Don't pick it up again until after you've rested a while.

Here are some great ways of dealing with the burdens of life:
* Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.
* Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.
* Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
* Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be recalled by their maker.
* If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.
* If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.
* It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply be kind to others.
* Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won't have a leg to stand on.
* Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.
* Since it's the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.
* The second mouse gets the cheese.
* When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
* Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.
* You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.
* Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once. * We could learn a lot from crayons... Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.
*A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

Thanks for this Mrs. G.!

PSU fun

Bryan just sent this photo of his intramural hockey team. They won the league championship this spring. He just sent it. That's Bryan in the left front row. Congrats boys.

Only 3 more weeks to go and his freshman year is done - already!

Transitions graduation

Last Tuesday was the last of our 12-week Transitions Lifestyle program. We celebrated by eating! Eating low GI (glycemic index) dishes, that is. We each had to bring a dish along with our recipe. I made zucchini boats - not bad.

We also did our final weigh-in and measurement gathering. For me I was thrilled to see that I lost about 11 pounds but more importantly I lost about 7% in body fat. I have gone down a pant size or 2 and feel soooo much better. I hope I can maintain this weight as its exactly where I had hoped to end up. The program was about eating and living well - a lot of info we already knew - but somehow it all made sense this time and having to stick with it for 12 weeks helped to create new, and hopefully lasting, lifestyle habits.

And another benefit was meeting a group of really fun people. Most of the people in our group were already health-conscious, active people who just wanted to be better. I think everyone is pleased with their results. I recommend the program to anyone who is looking for the knowledge to improve their overall health!

Nothing like getting the deck furniture out

Yesterday was one of those perfect early spring days here in the northeast. EVERYONE was outside. It took me 1 hour to do a half hour walk as I encountered so many neighbors out walking their pets, happy to stop and chat.

Often before dinner, Don and I have a drink first to pause and talk about our days. As soon as the better weather arrives we do this outside. Yesterday was our first day of 2009 having cocktails outside. You can see the trees are still bare but the forsythia and daffodils are almost ready to pop.

Yesterday was also my parents' 54th wedding anniversary! To H&B! To Spring! Cheers (from our deck)!

Greed - good or bad?

I love this for many reasons. It is a short discussion on capitalists. And it doesn't make any comment on social safety nets. There is a place for safety nets, but there has to be a place for capitalism for the benefit of us all.

This video is an interview clip with Milton Friedman (July 31, 1912 - November 16, 2006): American economics,statistician and recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.

This leads to my other belief "There's no such thing as an altruist," which sounds offensive on the surface, but we're all out to gain something even if its just to feel good about ourselves, and that's okay.

(Thanks Paul for sending the clip.)

When to offer constructive criticism

I saw these in the Sunday Star Ledger, 2 pieces of sage advice -

When to offer constructive criticism: "If it can't be fixed in five minutes, with the materials at hand, then don't mention it. So, an unzipped zipper, donut crumbs on your shirt, parsley in your teeth - all fair game to bring to someone's attention. Height, weight, stain on clothing, size of nose - off limits."

How to tell if one is gossiping: "If I'm not part of the problem and/or I'm not part of the solution, then there is no need for me to discuss it with anyone."

Back from Florida

We had a nice, relaxing week on the beach. Weather was perfect. Lots of walks. Lots of catching up with H&B over delicious dinners, cocktail hours on the beach and lazing in the sand.

Here's H&B and I on a pier overlooking the Intercoastal:

This is Thursday morning after Carolyn & Don joined Bryan & I on Wednesday night. Going to the Sailfish Marina for breakfast is a family tradition.

This is our little boat ... NOT! This boat is worth more than our house!

We spent most of our time at the beach but I didn't take as many photos there. H&B are doing great and it was a really good visit.

We arrived back in NJ yesterday afternoon, just in time to catch the state semi-final high school hockey game. Kinnelon won, so now they are off to the state finals at The Rock, home of the NJ Devils. Two years in a row! Very exciting! Then Carolyn went to the Britney Spears Circus concert. Said it was good.

Today was a day of laundry and saying good-bye to Bryan again as he went back to school. He'll be back next weekend for the state championship game. Last year's seniors have all made it a priority to be back to cheer the team on for another year! (And to heckle the opposing team.)