A lecturer showed the audience the impact of a little stress over a long period of time. He raised a glass of water and asked, 'How heavy is this glass of water?' Answers called out ranged from 8oz - 16 oz. 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. 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. Go Go Go, get away to a place with fresh air, fresh views and restore your soul by letting GO! A place where you can go to let STRESS OUT! The mountains, among the trees, to a park, a garden, a day at the beach. As with the glass of water, you must put stress down, off your shoulders, out of
your mind and rest before choosing it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on and lift our cup of toil with ease. Choose to lay the burden of work/life down for awhile. Pick up whatever worry you have again tomorrow. Give it a rest for a day. Life is short and sweeter when we lay down a burden that only weighs a mere 16 ounces - Yet when we drop a pound of stress, we rebound with vigor and increased HOPE. Be assured that the sun will rise, regardless of where you are, what you are doing, or what you are thinking. 1 * Accept that some days you're the pigeon,
and some days you're the statue.
2 * Always keep your words soft and sweet,
just in case you have to eat them.
3 * Drive carefully. It's not only cars
that can be recalled by their Maker.
4 * If you can't be kind,
then have the decency to be vague.
5 * Never buy a car you can't push.
6 * Don't put both feet in your mouth
because you won't have a leg to stand on.
7 * Nobody cares if you can't dance well.
Just get up and dance.
8 * When everything's coming your way,
you're in the wrong lane.
9 * Birthdays are good for you.
The more you have, the longer you live.
10 * Happy people enjoy taking detours. They get refreshed by the rainbow that appears ONLY after a rain! Real or imagined, stress cannot keep us caged. Reality and fantasy are two worlds that we dance in. When we lay down our burdens we can hear the chamber music in our hearts. When we choose to let go of reality for a time, we experience the glorious empty space contained within our self!
