My Answers to "Life"

Today and yesterday I noticed that I have been anxious, which is strange, because really I don't have anything to be anxious about.

Sure, I have the day to day stresses of chauffering kids, being cook and maid, mommy and wife, but those typically don't get me down. I am thinking that it is a combination of the impending doom that the radio talk shows and the paid advertisements are selling me, along with the weather.

Who hasn't heard all of the conspiracies of the economy and isn't a bit shaken about it? Thankfully my husband has his job...but all of his fellow programmers were laid off a couple of weeks ago. He had seniority.

And then there is the worry of terrorist threats. I have heard of gatherings where "experts" are talking to people about impending biological weapons: mostly pneumonic plague. A friend told me that the expert said that a pandemic threat of pneumonic plague isn't an "if", but a "when". So as I researched it I discovered that to survive you have to determine the illness and treat the sick person within 24 hours of onset of symptoms for survival. Who can determine illness within 24 hours unless there have already been deaths with the same symptoms?

Combine all of those worries with barometric change and there is a recipe for ostrich and turtle syndrom, because if you can't see the evil that is out there, it can't hurt you. Unfortunately, anxiety and depression can follow.

The barometric pressure change really CAN cause people to have mood swings! As a preschool teacher at a commercial daycare, I would see the kids in my class boucing of the walls and being down right naughty. I would later talk to the other teachers and found that they had the same thing happen in their classes. Later when I picked up my kids from daycare, my friend, their babysitter, remarked how naughty all of the kids had been that day. She lived in the same area of town as my daycare, and it happened regularly enough that I considered my scientific theory to be fact.

So for the past two days of cloudy, stormy days, my claws and fangs have been out. I have been snippy with the kids and pretty blue and anxious.

I have tried to combat the blues with baking...I've gained about 5 pounds, so that really isn't working for me.

I have also tried "house cleaning therapy", and slowly the problem areas in my home are becoming manageable, so that one is successful.

Other than those coping techniques, I am praying more and trying to keep "abundance" in my mind. That is my word: Abundance. It seems to combat fear and frustration in my mind.

I am also excited to read more about "The Yoga of Cooking" like Beauty that Moves was talking about today.

Some quotes from her post that really moved me was, "'When we practice daily tasks like cooking or washing dishes while doing mantra, chanting, or focusing on the breath, then the whole task changes. It becomes yoga. It is taking yoga into our daily lives, having a sense of serving something larger than our small selves.' ~ Narayani Levine" and "Certain foods support mental clarity and spiritual practice, they provide balance and awareness. Other foods can drain energy, create mental fog and physical sluggishness. They can also drain your sense of peace" and "I'd love to write more about the yoga of preparing and serving food, the kitchen as sacred space." I am looking forward to more of her posts about this.

I'm also hoping that my worries will be burned off with the sunshine in the spring.

So, I guess in answer to my own question in this post from today, I clean, meditate, pray, think happy thoughts, try to find beauty and blessings around me, and visit with friends on the phone.

I would love to hear your feelings on the things that I worry about, along with ways that you cope with lifes stresses, be they big or small, real or borrowed trouble.

Have a great night. I will enjoy it more, now that my dresser is clear and dusted! That area was my cleaning therapy for today!