I build model airplanes and write music...
My latest model!

02 Track 2.wma
More Music!

Nice, bigtom ...

As for me, I de-stress by not stressing in the first place ....

Not getting up saves having to get back down ...

I also do t'ai chi and play the banjo and set tile and keep the fire going now that it is getting cold ....

And so ...

That depends on my financial circumstance...no really...believe it or not there are some de-stressing things you just can't do without money.

So, when I'm broke, like now, I do the following:

1. Come here and read, agree or argue with someone, and listen to music from the music threads.
2. Create something...doesn't much matter what.
3. Draw sketches of things I would like to create or invent.
4. Do crossword puzzles or jigsaw puzzles.
5. Call the Governor's office, the Senator's offices or the Mayor's office to see what they are doing about "________" (fill in the blank) but lately it's been about jobs.
6. Spend far too much time at Wikipedia learning new things
7. Watch a movie, especially the old black and white film noir or silent movies.
8. Read the occasional decent fictional book that I know has a happy ending,
9. Study French (lately)
10. Go for walks.

When I have some money (not much, but some), I do these things in addition:
1. Buy Jasmine plants and try to grow them inside, get them to bloom, and fight away the spider mites
2. Go to Dr. Sketchy's anti-art school and pretend to sketch.
3. Go teach English at the Kurdish Community Center.
4. Go birdwatching.
5. Go to any of the "Con's" they have here dressed up in some interesting costumes.
6. Go to Middle Eastern restaurants and watch the belly dancers.
7. Go camping and see if I can round up enough people to go white water rafting that know how to do it better than me.
8. Go dancing!
9. Go to the small theaters in town and in the city
10. Go buy people little gifts that I'm sure they will like and send them for no particular reason (sometimes I buy myself things too).

Hey, you asked right?

Soooo ......

When you are stressed out because you have no money, and because you are without money, you can't de-stress, what happens?

Does your head finally just pop?

Or what?

And so ...

No Livy, I do the first 10 things up there that I wrote because they are destressors that don't require money.

Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose ....

And so ...

Not really. I found out the hard way that wasn't true.

Too cold or hot, get sick and no doctor ect...

What on earth is this fixation with doctors?

Is life impossible if you don't have a doctor who will jam a bunch of meds down your throat every week?

Anitbiotics help alot, or if you need life saving medicine doctors would be required if it's winter and you can't forrage for herbs Livy.

If I were up there with you, I wouldn't have any worry. I'm sure you would have some herbals growing nearby, and some wood chopped. I can't lift the axe to chop the wood because of my shoulder. Before I hurt it, I wrote you a letter and told you I would come up there and chop your wood for you, and I meant it too. But, now, all I could do is use a body strap to haul collected fallen wood out of the forest.

Also, don't forget there are differences. You're a man....women always have something left to lose.

Yes, you certainly did, heart ....

And I am sorry to hear that you have hurt your shoulder ....

And so ...

I don't take antibiotics ...

I guess then I would be dead ....

And so ...

That was a long time ago Livy, we go back a long time don't we.

OK, so maybe someone else can tell us how they de-stress.

I have a list ready made (that's not like me, I usually don't rank things in order like that), and you do t'ai chi and play the banjo and set tile. BTW I LOVE TO SET TILE and do wood inlay! It's fun, except for carrying the tile.

What does everyone else do? I could use some ideas.

Many years, I would say, heart ....

Do you have a wet saw to cut tile?

Maybe nobody is stressed in the first place, heart ....

I don't think graham is, anyway ....

Or maybe people can't de-stress because the only ways they know how to de-stress require money and they don't have any ....

And so ...

No. I used to help out a guy that did and he taught me how to lay tile and do fancy scrolls and insert neat flourettes. It was a long while ago come to think of it.

I do have some nice pieces of wood veneer and the tools to cut them up, but I need a large magnifying glass to place over the table where I work so that I can cut the very small pieces that go into the type of Arabesque/Syrian woodwork that I like to do.

I think everyone has things they do to de--stress, even without money. If they don't, then maybe they can find some ideas here. I think everyone should have THAT list ready and waiting because when you are stressed out (and most people are at least sometime) that's not the time to start thinking about it.

Speaking as a (recovering) engineer, there is a difference between STRESS and STRAIN.

Stress is the force upon a body.

Strain is the resulting movement of that body.

We are all subjected to STRESS. It is a force of nature. But, how we DEAL with it determines how much strain we will experience.

I contend that it is STRAIN, not STRESS, that harms a body.

Well that doesn't answer the question?

What do you do to de-stress Jeff?

Interesting, jeffmoskin ....

Yes, indeed, it is how we let stress affect us that makes the difference ....

Especially cumulative stress ....

And so ...

You mean, what do I do to avoid letting the STRESS leas to STRAIN?

I mainly listen to my body, my nerves, my agitation that I (don't we all) get and understand that this condition is A SIGNAL - not a permanent state. A loud noise is supposed to get your attention (it is a primitive reaction), to get you to wake up, look around, see if t tiger is about to have you for dinner. Then TAKE action and move on.

There is nothing to be gained by worrying about either things over which you have no control, or about things which you have already experienced, acted upon, and moved on.

And there is Alfred E Newman - "What, me worry?"

So yesterday afternoon I went outside with the boss' son who is 12. We took the MIG and we were throwing it off the balcony and chasing it..
A man from another office walked by and asked me, "Aren't you a bit old to be playing with airplanes"?. I answered "NO"
He was stressing! I was laughing...

Each replication of the human Organism is genetically programed with a certain Stimulation/Activation Curve,
from the state of wakefullness to the state of sleeping...imagine a bell shaped curve, following a normal distribution...the height of this curve is normally distributed in the population...some people are like turtles, some are like rabits and most bunch up in the middle...after maintaining one's own Identity, maintaining one's customary
stimulation/activation level is the major, "Motivation" organizing our behavior and experience...followed by the need for Security...

Another point of individual differences is the shape of each person's stimulation/activation curve during the wake/sleep cycle. Some people wake up quickly, achieve their peak early in the day and slop off gradually while
others gain momentum slowly and at the end of their peak, drop rapidly into inactivity...

When the Organism is receiving slightly more than their customary level of stimulation/activation, they feel excited
and motivated...receiving a lot more than customary stimulation is experienced as Anxiety...when the person is
getting less than customary stimulation they feel relaxed...if this lack of stimulation continues, the person feels
bored...excessive bordom becomes depression...

Nonadaptive human behavior can best be understood as ineffective means of trying to cope with too little or too
much stimulation/activation...

Whereas Psychology and Theology, in the past, have mostly centeed on studying and correcting the infinite ways
that development can go astray, A Wellness Approach studies how the human organism optimizes the development
and integration of Socialization and Self-actualization...

I take that to be what Livyjr is emphasizing when focusing on avoiding the need for de-stressing. This requires the development pf concepts and skills for Self-management, Relationship Management and Life Management which in
a market ecomomy, includes Career Management...

heart .....

Thinking about having to have a list of things that I would do to de-stress if I were stressed is in and of itself quite stressful ....

And if I had such a list, then in all likelihood, when I needed it, I wouldn't be able to find where I put it, which would be as stressful as all getout ....

And so ...

And there are psychological studies that say a human being requires some stress in their lives to grow .....

And so ...

Well done, bigtom ....

I probably would have said, "NOT REALLY, HOW ABOUT YOU?"

And so ...

Is that MIG made out of balsa wood, bigtom?

Yes...

It is made of paper...Balsa is my OTHER obsession..



Another Paper Plane...

What forms the skeleton, or gives it structure?

The cardstock is thick enough to hold the shape. There is to internal structure in the flying models. The ones that people make for display have paper formers to keep them rigid.

Well, I think you're all stressing me out with the over analysis.

Here's a good question, but maybe it will produce some other answers.

What do you do, such that when you do it....IT is enough?

Liv, I know you may want to say everything and nothing, but I would say you gave the answers -for you. You don't get stressed because you have preventive measures that keep you from reaching that point.

Maybe to Jeff, I would say what do you do to unwind - though I may get an engineers explanation - or maybe a string theory explanation I'm not sure.

People have hobbies, but not all hobbies are what we do to relax....As was said, we do need stress to grow (I believe that too).

I guess I would have to ask the question in the specific vernacular of each individual person here. Except I KNOW you all know what is meant. SHeesh!

I blog at CGCS...

That's one of my best answers too!

BLOGGING at CGCS is also one way that I use to avoid the build-up of stress ....

I'm a mechanical engineer, heart ....

jeffmoskin is a recovering electrical engineer ....

I don't know about them, but mechanical engineers are very big on safety factors and blow-off valves that do not allow pressure to build to dangerous levels ...

If one knows enough to design a blow-off valve into a piece of equipment, would one then know enough to install the same in one self?

And so ...

And I use breath, as well, to de-stress at the time of noted onset ....

And so ...

Another thing that I have done to avoid the build-up of stress is to stop pretending that I have any power or control over anything on the face of this earth but myself ....

And I don't expect anything I encounter to make a lick of sense to me, especially now here in America where incompetent greedy grasping lunatics seem to be in charge of everything ....

And so ...

I think this is important in terms of preventing one's self from transforming preferences into demands (which is the most common neurotic mechanism).

The other side of this coin is to be aware that you do have influence in terms of how you control (manage) yourself...

Yes, indeed, rla ...

*I* sleep. i have somewhat hectic schedule at times, and sleeping has become an award.

i read a book. my library's limited (for me), so quite often (often means rather rarely) it's a book i've read times before. had a period of 2 years or so, when i almost daily (sometimes more than once a day) read a certain book, "Sui" ("Summer") by Oskar Luts. It was written in 1918-1919. usually sth, that doesn't require much contemplating (no, not those pocket-book things).

i listen to music

i do handicraft, sometimes

every now and then i do something that involves cartridges and people with a great sense of humour, in itself almost a therapy

there are people you can joke with - but sa sense of humour IS a prerequisite

live a day at a time

appreciate the little things in life - if you cannot do that, you'll never be happy. i have something i call my hobby, thanks to it i know what it means to be tired, wet, dirty, and cold. Makes you appreciate simple walls that keep out the draft, taps rith running, WARM water, a random bed that's oh, so soft, dry boots and feet of normal size

don't bother about idiots, people who have no experience in the field they talk about

see someone you treasure as a person

study something, never know when you need it

and stuff

oh yeah, and in cgcs, ignore a couple...

Or even quite a few, actually ...

I have found that quite theraputic, myself ...

And so ....

That would sure be nice ....

Except unforunately for us over here, our government is saturated with them, starting right at the top ....

And so ...

those typos - "Suvi" it was.

actually, sui also means summer, but in informal or dialect speech (even in error, can't make a mistake ; ) )

do The Sunday NY Times Crossword Puzzle in Pen

Ken Ken puzzles

Without a doubt, watch The Honeymooners old episodes.

Watch the Young&Restless

Watch Hitchcock's Strangers on a train or DePalma's Obsession or Vacation or American Pie movies.

Listen to Neil Sedaka's "The Hungry Years" and everything is 100% spot-on in that song.

Eat soft swirl cone

Play with the cats and argue for another dog (but haven't won that argument in a long time)

Watch professional bowling on Sundays on ESPN

Argue politics

and crave the H1N1 vaccine to remove the last little bit of stress

You're going to stress yourself right out to the max with that craving, graham ....

I just heard OBAMA-ITE Katherine Sibellious on the radio news telling the nation how the federal government ****ed up with respect to how much flu vaccine is really going to be available ....

KATRINA all over again, graham ....

They got the life boats to NO just after the last of the water was gone ...

And so ...

i'd take that vaccine - if i could

as it is. i spent over 8hrs today 'getting' up - had a MAJOR headache that just might mean i'm coming down with something. no fever, unfortunately.

so i'm doing my best to speed things up having a beer downtown

darn typos

hate those morning headaches
they ruin a good day

conversing with livyjr eases stress
the proverbial "sitting on the stoop shooting the breeze" especially if its a nice breeze in the spring and fall

I was in the west of Ireland years back ....

There was a pub over there run by a woman named Mrs. Marrinen ....

She would mix us up a hot Irish whiskey toddy just in case we might be coming down with something ....

And it sure did work, because I never did come down with anything over there drinking those things ....

And so ...

There you go, graham ...

And it works both ways ...

By the way, it was a beautiful fall day up here today ....

A fantastic clear blue sky ....

The sun shining on the golden leaves of the oaks and maples ...

That alone can serve to strip the stress from me, seeing that sight ...

And so ...

yeah, i don't have headaches, usually, unless i'll end up with a virus or so

otoh, no migrene's a good thing

otoh, having a beer downtown decimates my budget

otoh...

today was beautiful here too a "ten" day the calm before the winter that is coming and the preview we had the last week