Stress and health

FOOD FOR THE JOURNEY

You all know what stress can do to us… you may have come to the workshop last Tuesday – (As much as I wanted to go, my son turned 6 that day and we celebrated that evening once everyone was home; ice cream cake, battery operated toys and that fly and drive, and a dinner with the family- what else could you ask for?):

Under stress, in the short term…

· Our muscles tighten,

· Our circulatory system focuses on feeding the internal organs,

· The nervous system prepares for either attack or a quick exit,

· Our bodies release stress hormones to help us in the short term to basically either fight or flight.

· Our awareness is heightened possibly.

In the long term, if the stress is prolonged, we can feel tired or even exhausted. Ironically we may not be able to sleep well. Our appetites are affected. And all those stress hormones in our bodies were mostly meant to deal with a single-incident, where we have to decide if we’re going to fight the threat or flee from it. And once we decide – and physically act on that decision – the hormones expend themselves and levels go back to “normal”.

But we weren’t meant to carry these hormones in us over long term. We weren’t meant to be hunched over with tight muscles for so long. All this can really do a number on our bodies… and minds… and souls too I think.

In a word – we weren’t meant to live as we are now. Too much! But that’s not news to most of us – we all carry a lot of stress! The burden of our culture, I suppose.

And it is a burden! But what about the other burdens we carry?

When I was a kid, around 8 I think, I was preparing for my first communion. Then, in the Roman Catholic tradition -maybe still the case- one did not receive first communion until coming to the “age of reason”, around 8 (plus or minus one or two years). And this was the time one also made one’s first official confession.

So I confessed to the priest- a relatively young and very friendly and kind guy- that I had accidentally broken a window in either my house or a neighbor’s house (can’t remember any more) when I was a little guy like my son’s age. I suppose I was like him; getting into things, and seeing how this worked and how that worked, and what would happen if I did this, etc. My mother described me at that age as a nice “Dennis the Menace”… whatta ya gonna do!?!?!

Anyway, back to the story… so on this, my first official confession in the church, I confessed breaking the window. I didn’t confess to breaking the window… since I admitted dong that at the time I did it, I didn’t try to hide it, and everyone knew it was me. So why would I confess something I wasn’t “hiding”?

Because it “weighed” on me! I was 6 when I broke the window, and it was an accident, but it still weighed on me. So I told this to the priest. I don’t remember what I said, or what he said afterwards… but I do remember one thing more than anything else… I remember feeling lighter! I remember feeling as if a literal weight had been lifted from me. And I remember that to this day!

That was my first experience of a burden being lifted.

So here I am, almost 40 years later, weighed down by more than just “broken windows”. I have taken advantage of this private confession thing since then. Even as a Lutheran! (You know… we Lutherans have this rite too… for this very reason!) And every time, I’ve left as if a weight had been lifted. Whatever it was that burdened me prior, has never had the same weight on me afterwards.

Imagine the effect that one burden had on a little boy of eight… and the effect of that burden being lifted; emotionally, and physically. If a kid felt weighed down by one event… imagine how much more we all feel burdened by the collected actions, words, and events that the years bring as we grow older. The older we get, the more there is weighing us down!

We all carry too much! This isn’t so much a plug for “Confession” as much as a plug for something that helps us to “unburden”. We need to find a way to lighten the loads brought on by life-choices and events. Counseling, talking with a friend, the rite of private confession, make things right with those whom you’ve offended, or whatever… find something to help you unburden.

We just passed the highest holiday of the Jewish year… Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement… the day all observant Jews are called to basically do the hard work of the 12 steps (not exactly, but you get the idea)(the meat of the 12 steps are steps 4 through 11).

Just by living with others – through our choices, our words, our deeds, or those heaped on us – we collect burdens that can weigh us down, beat us down. How can we

When you’ve been weighed down, burdened by life-stuff… and then seen the light… when you’ve felt what it was like to have a weight lifted off you… you know what “come to me all who labor and are burdened… and I will give you rest” means. Some events in life can be very hard, heavy! We can make it more burdensome! But with help, with love, with the center of faith in a life-giving God, we can enjoy being free once again! We were meant to live life well… to live life standing straight, not burdened… to live life looking forward to tomorrow, not in dread or fear of what is to come… to come to the end of our lives, and be able to say, it wasn’t perfect, but with God’s help, and the help of the people I love and who love me, I worked on it.

Here’s to believing in a new day! Here’s to life in the healthiest sense!

Peace,

Pr. C-