* Relaxing * in Just Stuff

Close your eyes, and for about 20 seconds, try to tense up every muscle in
your body without stopping your breathing.

Mentally check off all the parts of your body. Start at your toes, making
certain they are tensed, and move upwards, checking off each muscle group as
you go. Flick downwards from time to time to make certain that the toes
etc. are still tensed.

Now relax and mentally say, “There, with all this released tension, goes
all my worries.”

Note how you feel emotionally and physically.

Repeat this a few times.

Ask yourself,
What is the connection between symbolic activity and reality? Do I actually
release some stress by such methods?

What is the reason that my emotions change when physical changes occur?

Is there always a tensing up of my body when I am emotionally challenged?
What would be the payoff to noting the bodily sensations I feel when I am
having a strong emotion?

Do negative emotions tense me more than positive emotions?

If I experienced the emotional equivalent of winning the lottery every day,
what would be the stress load on my nervous system compared to an ordinary
life’s stress?

Is there such a thing as too much happiness? Is happiness dangerous to my
health?

What would happen to an ordinary person if they had the following events
happen to them–one day at a time: win the lottery, give birth to a child,
get a new career started, attend a class reunion, meet a famous celebrity
who becomes a love-at-first-sight friend, save someone’s life and thereby
become a hero, invent a simple device that cures headaches instantly, and
find hidden within a cave a complete ancient temple from a long lost
civilization from over 10,000 years ago?

If a cave person was suddenly transported to the future–today–what would
all the wonders of life do, in terms of being stressful, to that cave person?

How much am I like a cave person? What is “getting to me” even with my “used to it” personality?

How can I take a vacation from “all this?”

Regards,
Rick