Stress

Stress is far more harmful to our health than we imagine, and, worse, its effects accumulate.  Included in the term are anger, worry, fear, irritation, disease, inflammation, dehydration, insufficient sleep, etc. -- one notices that not all the sources of stress are mental.

I am not persuaded that meditation is the only solution, nor that it necessarily works for everyone, but, at a minimum we should learn at least a little about it and try it out.  Anger management and worry management (learning to see things in many perspectives) also help, but so do things like good hygiene and getting medical help for depression and other mental problems (yes, taking medication when indicated).  Just being organized does wonders.  So of course is being active.

I have gone to some extremes now to put stress out of my life.  I live in a quiet, peaceful farm surrounded by children and animals and people eager to teach me Khmer.  I have a garden, a special meditation room (just bigger than a closet with a cot and some family pictures and a couple icons), several pets, a completely dark bedroom used for nothing but sleep, a chestful of approved medicines for anything that bothers me (aches, reflux, sneezing, etc.), a near vegetarian diet (fish and field mice and shellfish and eggs are allowed) and a spectacular view of rice fields with woodlands in the far distance.  I also have the Internet and now a huge music collection.

Still, one does not escape stress.  It rained yesterday -- tropical rain, wonderful, unbelievably heavy, warm, muddy, and a blessing to the farmers, but also a signal to some sort of ant or termite to send out their males by the uncountable billions, and now my house and all the floors and everywhere are buried in their corpses.  It will be hours before we get back to normal.  The thing to do is find it funny, not find it a chore, and to wonder at nature.  

Well, that's my two cents worth on the subject.