5/21/10

Eustress or Distress

4 shared love by: Ruby at 6:05 PM


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 20g to 500g. 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 with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again.
When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden.
So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down.
Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow.
Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can.

Relax; pick them up later after you've rested.
Life is short.
Enjoy it!”

 

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12/11/08

False Fears...

9 shared love by: Ruby at 9:58 PM



"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

Business professors Gary Hamel and C.K. Prahalad wrote about an experiment with four monkeys. In their cage was placed a pole with a bunch of bananas suspended at the top.


When one of the monkeys climbed the pole, just as he reached out to grasp hold of a banana, he was doused with a torrent of cold water. Squealing, he quickly scampered down the pole. The same thing happened to the three other monkeys. After several more attempts, they abandoned all hope of reaching the bananas.



The researchers then replaced one of the monkeys with another monkey, and as soon as the newcomer monkey began to climb the pole, the other three monkeys pulled him away. After several more attempts, he too gave up. A second one of the four original monkeys was replaced and the same thing happened to him. He, too, was pulled away from the pole when he attempted to climb it. In time all four of the original monkeys were replaced … none of whom dared climb the pole even though they never knew why and had never been doused with cold water.

False fears, which may have had validity at one time but are no longer valid, are not only taught and learned by monkeys, but also by people. Such fears can be learned through an early traumatic experience—or learned from a parent—and be firmly programmed into our unconscious mind, and hold us back from becoming and doing all that God envisioned for us to be and do. For some people, irrational fears can be crippling. Only as we see and know the truth can we begin to be set free.

 

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