Someday I may just get my stress under control.

And like Buddy Holly once said: “That’ll be the day . . . that I die.”

Stress is here to stay, my friend, and all we can do is to accept it and use skillful means to control it.

Meditation is one of those means. I’ve been applying it some five years now. I get a little better at it every day. I simply “don’t try,” nor “judge.” It ain’t easy. It takes practice.

Stress controls me untiI I meditate and choose like-minded friends

I can’t seem to let go some times; a thought crops up from somewhere. I really don’t know where it resides. I “see” the thought somewhere on a monitor screen in my mind, I guess. And then it dissipates. It goes way, that is, as long as I don’t grasp onto it, believing it is the most profound thought I have ever had.

Or, a thought will scare the hell out of me. It may even prevent me from sitting any longer. I start to believe that the world is going to hell in a hand basket unless I take action right then to prevent a near certain disaster from occurring in the immediate future.

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These thoughts never come true, you know. (They never will, but they still try to repeat on me!)

Worry causes much of my stress. Dwelling on the past does too. I have Post-Traumatic Stress. (That’s PTSD but without the D for “Disorder.”) I got it from serving in Vietnam a long time ago. Fear crops up. But when the perceived fear is gone, I can’t get back to normal. The “stressors”don’t let me. They don’t seem to go away, and they take a toll on my body.

My symptoms include irritability, anxiety, and depression. Sometimes, I overeat or drink alcohol. Neither works. I found the only thing that does work is meditating. I also try to stay in touch with like-minded people. People who won’t criticize me. People I can open to, and not be afraid of being vulnerable with. People who are spiritual but not necessarily religious, if you know what I mean.

They help me deal with stress by simply allowing me into their lives. I resonate with them. I take on their cares and worries and try to provide compassion by just listening. Really listening —  from the heart and not the head. I don’t need to talk about my problems. Somehow, those problems disappear. They vanish when I focus on someone other than myself and freely give loving kindness.

Stress? You’re out of my life for those brief shining moments. Meditating and mingling with those I truly care for can do that to stress.

I don’t have to die to experience it!

Neither do you, my friend . . .