I’ve been reading a lot about stress lately.

I have been learning that the stress we feel today is complex and difficult to deal with. Our bodies react as if we are running away from a saber-toothed tiger….but since we are not actually running away or bracing for a battle, our system gets quite confused. Not knowing what to do with all those physical and mental results; hormones, enzymes, thoughts, worries and fears, we store them away, where they can eat at us secretly.

I am trying to learn to release my stress, but I am only just learning what stress is to me. There are no saber-toothed tigers in my world. My stresses are; trying to figure out how to make a slideshow on i-movie when I don’t know how and getting frustrated when I press the wrong button and loose 4 hours of work….. or, waiting for an email come, which never seems to come, even though I have told the sender how important it is that I get it ASAP….. or making a long list of all the things that need to get done for a production I am staging and realizing that I can’t possibly fit everything into the time I have left…..

OK, now I am stressed…..

Just thinking about all of that made my chest tighten and my breath quicken.

Give me a minute I need to breathe…..

Three cleansing breaths later, “in for 4- hold for 4-out for 7”, I feel better.

I am on my deck. There are so many trees in my backyard I can almost believe I am in a forest. There are so many birds singing me a lullaby I can almost feel like a part of it all.

Wait…..I am a part of it all! That’s what I sometimes forget, I am not an isolated “me” standing in the world. I am one part of the whole, perfectly aligned, totally connected.

Now, if I can only get that damn i-movie to play……