In today’s post, I want to address the topic of stress. We all feel it, don’t we? The stresses and annoyances of everyday living. It’s just part of being alive and living on this planet. The thing about stress, though, is we can reduce its effects by changing how we think about it. Are you carrying heavy burdens that need to be put down?
The short story below illustrates this point…
I hope this encourages you to lay down what’s bothering you on a daily basis. This will increase your capacity to bear the weight of tomorrow’s burden more gracefully.
The Weight of The Glass
A professor of psychology paced back and forth on the stage while teaching stress-management principles to an auditorium packed with students.
She started her demonstration by raising a glass full of water. The students expected they’d be asked the usual question: “Is the glass half-empty or half-full?”
However, the professor, instead asked: “How heavy is this glass of water I’m holding?” The students started shouting out answers that ranged from eight ounces to a couple of pounds.
The teacher then replied: “From my perspective, the absolute weight of the glass doesn’t matter. What matters is how long I hold the glass for. If I only hold it for a minute or two, it’s pretty light.
But… if I hold the glass for an hour straight, the weight of it will start to make my arm ache a little.
If I hold it for an entire day, my arm is going to cramp up and become numb and paralyzed. This will force me to drop the glass to the floor.
So you see, the weight of the glass doesn’t change, it’s how long I hold it for that matters. The longer I hold it, without putting it down, the heavier it’s going to seem.
Everyone shook their heads in agreement. The teacher then explained: “Our worries and stresses, that we experience in this life, are very much like this glass of water. We can think about them for a while and nothing happens.
If we think about them a bit longer, though, our arms will start to ache.
And… if we continue to think about them all day long, our arms will become paralyzed and numb. At this point, we’ll be completely incapable of doing anything else until we release the weight.”
Carrying Heavy Burdens
The moral of this story is: It’s important to remember to let go of what’s bothering us – no matter what has happened during the day – to put all of our burdens down as early in the evening as we can.
Let’s not continue carrying the stresses and strains of today into the promise and possibility that tomorrow holds.
If you’re still feeing the burden of yesterday’s stress, it’s a strong sign that you need to put the glass down.
How good are you at “putting the glass down?”
May we all try a little harder, to release today’s stress, so that we can step into all that tomorrow holds without aching arms.
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The insights, understanding and camaraderie of other women who are in dysfunctional relationships will be an invaluable resource for anyone who is in an abusive partnership or recovering from one.