Topic: Poems on Stress Management
Article 1: A Glass of Water: A Stress Management Theory
This short story illustrates the concepts of stress management. The longstanding effects of physical and/or emotional stressors can create chronic tension patterns in the body. Best to address them earlier than later..."set the glass of water down"
A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, “How heavy is this glass of water?”
Answers called out ranged from 8 ounces to 20 ounces.
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 management.
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 as we were intended.
As with the glass of water,
you have to put it down for a while...and rest...."
Carol is committed to helping clients "set the glass of water down" by refreshing themselves thru reducing the effects of daily stressors There are many avenues to accomplish this, one very effective way is through massage and another is thru wellness counseling thru exploration of the underlying dynamics contributing to current stressors.
Whatever burdens are being carried, its so helpful to be present with them in a way that allows the body time to reconnect with its innate healing powers.
Article 2: : Poem of "Two Wolves"
Two Wolves
The father said to the son,
inside we have two wolves..
One is aggressive and
the other is friendly and good.
The son asked, which one wins?
And the father replied,
the one which is fed.
This poem is very well known and its message is simple but not necessarily easy to do at times.
The thoughts to which we choose to give our attention and focus, the thoughts we choose to believe as true even if simply
out of habit, these thoughts themselves can be one of our biggest potential sources of stress.
Sometimes it is not easy to make a switch in a long held pattern of "wolf feeding"...
I am reminded of Echardt Tolle's comment "We don' need to believe every thought we think"...This reminder alone can help us refrain from feeding the "aggressive wolf" inside.