Stressed Out?

Take Action

“Action on behalf of life transforms...As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us.”

Robin Wall Kimmerer (Braiding Sweetgrass)

I live in an old neighborhood in Birmingham. Many of the houses around me were built in the 1920's and 30's. Mine is a little newer—built in the '50's. What that means is that the original soil in the neighborhood is utterly depleted. The old oak and pecan trees here are beautiful, but over a couple of hundred years, they have sucked all the nutrients out of the soil around them. When you dig down an inch or two, you find only red clay and sandstone. To restore the soil, people scrape off the spindly grass, add topsoil, then lay new turf on top of that. Old hippies like me compost to make rich soil to add to flower beds and garden plots. Suffice it to say, even a small yard is a labor of love. It is action on behalf of life, and we feel good when we see results, but it is still work.

Like old soil, we humans get depleted, too. We work too hard, stay up too late, eat and drink too much, then get up the next day and do it all over again. I have heard the words, “I'm tired,” so often it doesn't even register any more. We're all worn slap-out. And now, we're facing the holidays with all their extra demands, but no extra time, and no extra energy to accomplish them. No wonder we feel stressed out. The way this shows up in me is that my brain becomes non-stop-busy—so busy, in fact, that it won't shut off when I lie down to sleep at night. I wonder if you have that problem, too. Recently, I had an entire week when my brain sang Lenard Cohen's song “Alleluia” around the clock. No matter what I was doing, it was playing in the background. I love the song, but that was maddening.

Author and activist, Germany Kent, suggests these six ways to give your mind a break: 1) stop stressing, 2) stop worrying, 3) give a rest to the problems weighing you down, 4) lighten up, 5) forgive yourself, 6) forgive others. Here are some things that help me to do that—daily exercise such as walking, rowing, but not extreme exercise routines that exhaust us; time alone, quiet time with no talking and no media; and making time for fun. For me, fun takes the form of getting together with friends for good conversation and lots of laughter. A question I like to ask myself when I'm flying around like a fiend is, “In the big scheme of things, how important is this really?” Most of the things that stress us out are simply not life or death—not even critical. Take some deep breaths and let it go. Then triage—what's important, what can wait.

Figuring out ways to keep ourselves calm and grounded is especially important this time of year. Many more accidents happen when our minds are disconnected from our bodies, and instead, are preoccupied with what must be done by such-and-such time. Make your own sanity a priority. When you are rushing ahead of yourself, pull back, and take a quiet moment to reconnect your parts—body, mind and spirit. This is “action on behalf of life” as much as composting and laying new sod. Healing ourselves also contributes to the healing of others and our world.

                                                   In the Spirit,

                                                       Jane