Is Peacefulness Scientific?
According to a study reported last Friday in National Geographic, if we want to live longer, we need to stop worrying. As I read that, fellow blogmates, I wonder if death-blows to longevity might include the various stress-cases in our lives which press us into serving neuroses, rather than pursuing our own healthier strategies for nurturing physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.
In these heavy duty times, it seems scientifically correct to take a peace break -- one in which nothing -- not even the news -- can deter us from investing dedicated time to daily manage stressors, and to plan for some happiness, too. I'm going to do Pilates today, meditate, and eat salads. How about you, what strategies can you share? What gifts will you give to yourself today to lighten your load, and lengthen your life?
Best, as ever,
Tish
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Well... I haven't read the article, but from personal experience I'd have to agree that stress seems to "age" me prematurely. I had a rough year or two where I almost lost everything I'd worked for... but I learned a lot!
This whole "Being An Adult" thing is WAY Overrated!
Part of what I've learned is: Don't push myself to the edge... Sure, nothing ventured nothing gained, but at what sacrifice? Different people have different skill sets and different ways of dealing with the stresses of it all... I just learned that I shouldn't necessarily take on so much all the time... Slow and steady... I try to minimize the stress in my life that I can control... don't bite off more than I can chew... etc... I feel much better.
I'm convinced it's stress that puts us in an early grave. Sometimes it's financial... sometimes it's social...
Social stresses are sometimes beyond our control.
April 13, 2009 5:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Social stresses are sometimes beyond our control...
Man, so true! I'm an elementary school teacher, and I get real proprietary about my free time, when I don't have to be the "adult in charge."
Translation: Just because I have some time, doesn't mean I have the energy to volunteer for more bratties or happy clappies.
Guess I'm a still kid at heart, I usually sleep like a baby. btw, did you know that fruit flies have sleep issues? Something about cicadian rhythm genes.
Thanks for stopping by, lkyyma, I used to blog here a lot more, but still stop by when I can.
April 13, 2009 5:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
er,that's circadian, here's the cite:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/22/science/22side.html?fta=y
April 13, 2009 5:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
All through my kid's teen years I kept telling them to slow down, growing up wasn't all it was cracked up to be. They are now 31 and 32 and wonder why they were so anxious to be adults!
April 13, 2009 10:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
TICIA ASKED: How about you, what strategies can you share? What gifts will you give to yourself today to lighten your load, and lengthen your life?
(Proverbs 1:30-33) . 30 They did not consent to my counsel; they disrespected all my reproof. 31 So they will eat from the fruitage of their way, and they will be glutted with their own counsels. 32 For the renegading of the inexperienced ones is what will kill them, and the easygoingness of the stupid is what will destroy them.
33 As for the one listening to me, he will reside in security and be undisturbed from dread of calamity.. . .
(Galatians 5:22-25) 22 On the other hand, the fruitage of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, 23 mildness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.
25 If we are living by spirit, let us go on walking orderly also by spirit.
(Galatians 6:7-10) . . .Do not be misled: God is not one to be mocked. For whatever a man is sowing, this he will also reap; 8 because he who is sowing with a view to his flesh will reap corruption from his flesh,
but he who is sowing with a view to the spirit will reap.......EVERLASTING LIFE
from the spirit. 9 So let us not give up in doing what is fine, for in due season we shall reap if we do not tire out. 10 Really, then, as long as we have time favorable for it,
let us work what is good toward all, but especially toward those related to [us] in the faith.
Love and respect for others brings on the fruitage of the spirit PEACE
That is how you LENGTHEN YOUR (EVERLASTING) LIFE
A PROMISE
PEACE
April 13, 2009 7:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hello, Resistance,
Thanks for stopping by. I see your strategy is Bible study. Remember this one? "Do not worry ..."
April 13, 2009 7:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for the change of subject.
I will nap, exercise, and avoid any more testy exchanges with others here.
April 13, 2009 8:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, T, with all the touring you do, you need portable exercise:
http://www.allegromedical.com/images/products/AQUA_BELLS_STANDING.jpg
*winks*
April 13, 2009 9:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, Ticia, I don't think we've met.
You have a couple of things going for you right off the bat in my book...You are interested in health, and someone made a religious reference and you were polite and didn't try to make him feel like an idiot. Hurray for you!
I'm spending time with my grandchildren. To hear them laugh is to feel the weight of the world fall off your shoulders!
April 13, 2009 10:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Lovely, stillidealistic. I'm trying to remember, was is Emerson who called us to a "plus" condition of mind and body? +
April 13, 2009 10:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is so easy to make some folks with religious ideas look like idiots, especially the weak, misled by stories. People always looking, people lacking the knowledge to transcend the basics of human existence.
To move on beyond flesh and its limits, by just seeking out the other WAY
Power to conquer. I have sought and I have found the sacred Secret. Have you?
If your not seeking, then you will not find. Easy enough isn’t it.
Limitless power and insight beyond what is normal.
Ralph Waldo Emerson called the Bible “the most original book in the world.”
It appears that Mr. Emerson appreciated and very likely benefited from his readings of the Bible for he paraphrased a truth stated some 1800 years before his existence
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “Every man I meet is my superior in some way. In that, I learn of him.” His comment is in agreement with the apostle Paul’s divinely inspired exhortation that Christians do “nothing out of contentiousness or out of egotism, but with lowliness of mind considering that the others are superior.” (Philippians 2:3)
Emerson once declared: “Shallow men believe in luck . . . Strong men believe in cause and effect.” Cause = GOD
Emerson also stated “Every violation of truth is not only a sort of suicide in the liar, but is a stab at the health of human society.”
He must have had in mind the many false religions of the world?
Emerson must have discovered and appreciated the Sacred Secret.
Ralph Waldo Emerson may have achieved life everlasting.
April 14, 2009 2:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm going out to my shack in the country to sleep tonight, (as I did last night as well), so I don't stay up till 3 AM reading blogs/editorials/etc. Thanks for the post, Ticia.
April 13, 2009 11:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
miguelito, fab! zzzzzzzzzz
April 14, 2009 8:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, Ticia: Thanks for the reminder. Instead of updating entries on Edline tomorrow, I think after class I'll go feed carrots to a great horse, and maybe save a carrot for myself.
April 14, 2009 2:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, wwstaebler, fun!
April 14, 2009 8:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
"I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is there's no such thing as bad news." -Maynard James Keenan
Thanks Ticia. I wish I could make this information part of my muscle memory!
April 14, 2009 3:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
Tone them muscles, MBH, btw, do you talk to yours, like I do? lol
April 14, 2009 8:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
Play with the grandkids, sleep in the shack, feed carrots to a great horse, make muscle memories, read inspiring words, put T. down for a nap ... I like this list! Thanks, all, for stopping by.
April 14, 2009 8:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hike, feel some cool rock, listen to birdsong and some water fall.
April 14, 2009 10:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hi, Michael -- so good to see you!
April 14, 2009 9:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Release tension and violence? That's you basic Xbox experience.
I knew I was a man of peace.
April 14, 2009 1:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for dropping in -- tell me about your nick?
April 14, 2009 9:44 PM | Reply | Permalink