Are you stressed out? Have you been saying yes to too many things, biting off more than you can chew, juggling faster and faster, freaking out?
Or maybe you have a low-grade tension or grumpiness buzzing through your body, needing only an idiot driver or one more person making one more request to ignite into a towering flame of rage and profanity.
Yeah, I’m there. Although I love many of the things I’m doing, there are others I don’t love, and too many overall. (And meetings! So many meetings! WTF, job? Why now???) Whenever something really bothers me, I look for the best advice on fixing it and then pass it on in a blog post. But in this case, who am I kidding?
We all know how to cure this, really. Exercise. Get more sleep. Eat better. Don’t procrastinate, and make fewer commitments from now on.
So instead, I give you a 5-minute assignment. Listen to this video of the ocean. Watch, too, if you want.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWZAz9Qbzos
There’s a reason this is trite: it works. You may not be able to solve your problems, but you can feel a little better. Feeling better is better! So why not?
Ideally, you might sit still, watch, listen, and do absolutely nothing else. If you can do that, great! This is another form of cheater meditation, because even if your eyes are closed, you’ll know when time is up because the sound will stop. The nice thing is, there will be no harsh sound like if you used a timer or alarm, just silence.
If you’re too wound up for that, just let it play on the side while you fidget around or work on stuff. I’ve listened to it three times while writing this blog post, and it’s taken me from near-meltdown to near-dreamland.
This is my gift to you, dear readers. Happy Friday.
Next Friday, get ready for an even bigger gift: my free eBook makes its debut! It’s called How to be Happy (No Fairy Dust or Moonbeams Required). There will be a special bonus for newsletter subscribers, so sign up now to make sure you get it. (Psst: the newsletter is free, too, and no spam ever. Sign up below.)
Photo credit: the photo associated with this post on the main page was taken by bark on Flickr, and is used under the Creative Commons 2.0 license.
I don’t know why, but the ocean waves clip just made me laugh- which you know, YES I am feeling overwhelmed and laughter is a good thing. For me, sometimes it just gets so rough it’s funny- and that’s how I cope..I joke about going to my “zen place,” and ocean waves will take me there! Haha.
I am feeling a bit spread thin with all of the commitments, I’m on information overload- so much to learn, see and do and feeling as if there’s little way to prioritize since all of it needs to get done.
I totally agree- you can’t always “solve,” your problems, but you can at least make getting through them a bit easier through laugher, youtube clips or whatever makes you calm down enough to know the world isn’t coming to an end.
Wooosh…..wooosh….. that’s me making the ocean wave noise. Good post, carry on! 🙂
Hey, whatever works, right? Actually, your comment made me laugh, too. Rock on to that! 🙂