Relaxation

I cannot emphasize it enough: the importance of relaxing..

We learned to do this by the minute. Make a minute into a vacation. Think on things that are lovely. God never intended for us to be in a continual state of tension, agitation or depression. 

 Relaxing and enjoying the home and regular life can:

- keep the tension away, 

-keep memory alert, 

-increase patience and kindness.

Use tension as a signal. The minute you feel it, go back to a pleasant thought.

Learn to relax while you do anything, even the unpleasant tasks, and find that your feeling of well-being and happiness improves.

Mentally go on vacation and renew your mind, and you will find your face relaxes and the worry frown decreases.

When tempted to flare up, puff out your breath as long as you can, with short puffs through pursed lips.  Remember the midwive's coaching through childbearing, to breathe in slowly and then out in short puffs. Breathe away the pain, they said. Breathe away the pressure. Do you have someone to coach you? Maybe you can get a friend on the phone or on Skype or a personal visit, where you can excercise breathing away the tension.

It isn't good to be on stress alert all the time. It can cause health problems from kidney infections to headaches and worse.

Treat the moments and the hours and the day as if it were a holiday, in the sense that you relax more. I do not mean neglecting your family or your love to others, but a physical state of relaxation.

I asked my stalwart husband once how he managed to be so relaxed all the time in spite of being busy, having deadlines, with so many tasks to accomplish and people to please. He thinks on things that are pleasant and has a song in his heart. I am more of an active type. People tell me to get a cat to help me relax, but I would make the cat nervous.  

I like to be busy and I have to include rest and relaxation on my list of things to do. It has been hard to include it, because it does not seem like something to accomplish. But when I realized it was part of keeping a sound mind, I had to relax as a matter of ritual.  I encourage you to do it.  

Sadly we live in a crazy world that does not permit anyone to relax unless they are on vacation. They have compartmentalized relaxation. It does not need to be that way. Relaxing can be in every part of your life. 

This is why I have always taught about making your appearance uplifting, the home cheerful and your words gentle.  If ugliness surrounds you, create beauty for the sake of relieving tension.

Here are some scriptures I found today that might make sense to you, depending on the way you look at them. You can look up the context and the background.

"...nourished on the words of the faith, and of sound doctrine, for which you have been following." 

First Timothy 4:6

"...bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ..."  2 Corinthians 10:5

Most of us are nourished on anxiety. Anxiety produces fear, which produces a false perception.

Painting by Susan Rios