First Response

Your first response to a new piece of infor­ma­tion or sit­u­a­tion is usu­ally to tense up. That is nor­mal. So many things come across to us as a threat. Also, we are con­di­tioned by our enter­tain­ment. Hav­ing an adren­a­line rush is kind of fun. The prob­lem is that it becomes an auto­matic response to just about every­thing else. We go from relaxed to uptight in less than a sec­ond. Going the other way takes quite a bit longer.

Cri­sis junkies abound! Many peo­ple love the drama of con­tin­ual over-focus. They go through life on an emo­tional roller coaster — always in search for the next per­ceived threat. They stay pretty worn out…and they wear out their friends and fam­ily rather quickly too.

Life is like snow ski­ing (a free fall with boards strapped to your feet). When you learn to have the oppo­site response to fear, you can have a lot of fun. When you make relax­ation your first response, life flows a whole lot bet­ter. The sooner the cri­sis mode passes the bet­ter. We all have our Geth­se­manes, but they are few. Every­thing we do need not lead us to some ulti­mate gar­den of struggle.

I quickly find humor in most new infor­ma­tion. If you keep up with the news, you will have a lot of raw mate­r­ial for com­edy and a lot of oppor­tu­ni­ties to prac­tice relax­ation as your first reac­tion. Pon­der the calm resolve of Jesus. Many pseudo-threatening things are out there in your path. You can out-faith what­ever they might be.

Relax your way through what­ever “cri­sis” presents itself and notice the smile that opens the door to some deeper wis­dom. Relax. This life is just a prac­tice run.