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Thursday, March 21, 2019

Challenges stress us.
Sometimes that stress prods us to reach our highest potential, making us better students; better athletes.
But when the demands placed on us exceeds our ability to cope, we over-stress to a degree that leads the way to strokes, heart attacks, ulcers, and mental illnesses such as depression.

Today we’re not talking about stress brought on by crises like hostage-taking, or catastrophes, like earthquakes.
Nor even major life events like marriage or going to college or a break-up of a serious relationship.

We’re thinking run-of-the-mill events like getting to work or school, meeting deadlines, annoyances.
Because all stress is an enemy and best way to best this enemy is avoidance.

Stress is an enemy and best way to best this enemy is avoidance.

Take our morning challenges of getting to work or school on time.
We know how long it takes us from the time we wake up to toilet, dress, breakfast, and ready to walk out the door.
Should be easy to get through this part of the day smoothly.
Simply wake up early enough to get everything done smoothly and easily.
And leave early enough to easily get to work or school on time.

But we too often don’t provide enough time either to get out the door or to commute in a controlled fashion and so regularly rush about to toilet, dress, breakfast, and commute, bringing unnecessary stress upon ourselves.
By the time we get to work or school, we are already frazzled, perhaps just a bit; perhaps a lot more than that.

If the idiom we work within doesn’t allow enough time to accomplish our chores or if we set goals beyond our ability them, we’ll pay for it in stress points.

Let’s avoid that cost.
Let’s adjust our early morning timetable to reflect reality.
And then we won’t care that challenges stress us.

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Postings Count, Weather Brief, and Dinner
Thursday, March 21, 2019

My 343rd consecutive posting, committed to 5,000.

Time is 12.01am.
On Thursday Boston’s temperature will reach a high of 48* with a feels-like temperature of 43* under a mix of clouds and sun.

Dinner of London Broil with Pesto Sauce, made without cheese, set on a bed of chopped tomato salad.

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Tick Tock : Marking Calendars and Deep Weather 

After 343 posts we’re at the 6.86% mark of my commitment, the commitment a different way of marking the passage of time.

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Question of the Day:
What is peace?

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Love your notes.
Contact me at existentialautotrip@hotmail.com

This from Sally C, keeping the conversation re: technology alive:

Dear Dom, 

Ah, yes. Manuals and technical instructions.  Too often wrong, in my experience. Your bevy of techo-geeks probably already knew what to do, relying very little, if at all, on the instruction sheet.  I am most pleased that they were available to assist you. 

I can't count how many times I've struggled with the sheet of instructions to assemble something, only to discover that the instructions were printed backwards or out of order.  I may be (am!) a techno-ninny, but after building naval vessels and drafting plans in several engineering disciplines since the 1980s, I do know how to read and apply instructions.  The primary reason for poorly written or drafted instructions is this:  By the time the product gets from R&D development to market, there is no money left in the budget for the accurate development of the how-to., to say nothing of the usual errors in the translation of same from Chinese (or whatever language is prevalent where the product is manufactured) into English. 

Have you run out of elephant jokes?  I hope not.  I'm still bubbling over the canary comparison. 

Sally

Web Meister responds: Started today with a replacement. Hope you enjoy them as well.
Thanks for the notes on technology. They will add substantially to the conversation.

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Chuckle for the Day:

Taken from “Unijokes.”

This guy gets a parrot but it's got a bad attitude and foul vocabulary.
He tries everything to change the bird's attitude and clean up its talk but nothing works. Finally, in a moment of desperation, he puts the parrot in the freezer.
For a few moments he hears the bird squawking, kicking and screaming and then, suddenly, all is quiet.
He opens the freezer door.
The parrot steps out and says, "I'm sorry that I offended you with my language and actions. I ask for your forgiveness."
The guy's astounded at the bird's change in attitude and was about to ask what changed him when the parrot continued,
"By the way, may I ask - what did the chicken do?"

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Answer to the Question of the Day: What is peace?

Peace is harmonious well-being and freedom from hostile aggression.

In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or heterogeneous (relatively foreign or distinct) groups.

Peace can also pertain to an individual's introspective sense or concept of her/himself.
The early English term is also used in the sense of "quiet", reflecting calm, serene, and meditative approaches to family or group relationships that avoid quarreling and seek tranquility — an absence of disturbance or agitation.

In many languages, the word for peace is also used as a greeting or a farewell, for example the Hawaiian word aloha, as well as the Arabic word salaam.
In English the word peace is occasionally used as a farewell, especially for the dead, as in the phrase rest in peace.

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Good Morning on this Thursday, the Twenty-First of March.

Today we talked about avoiding morning stress, an immediate view of the date with tonight’s dinner, and a strategic view of time passing.
We talked about the weather and calendar.
We posted the start of a new set of jokes and a pic of a ring-necked parrot.
We posted a letter from Sally C on technology, she’s pretty comfortable with it and for good reason.
And, finally, we helped define peace.
 
And now? Gotta go.

Che vuoi? Le pocketbook?

See you soon.

Your Love