Somehow that wasn't what I had in mind. But it does seem like the one area of my life I excel at. I can create worries out of nothing. It's almost like I'm afraid to let my guard down, that if I start relaxing and enjoying that things will turn to crap. Kinda warped, huh? I'm not sure, but I'm not thinking abudant stress is on the list. Most of my stress comes from needless worrying. On the plus side, I usually have several backup plans if things go wrong, but I spend so much time waiting for them to go wrong that I forget about enjoying the here and now. I think one of the keys of the abundant life is living in the here and now. Let today's worries be sufficient for today ..hmm, think I'm a bit of an overachiever on this one. I mean I understand that worrying can't change the situation and that if the worst does happen, I'll deal with it. Why can't I just enjoy today for today, though. What am I really gaining by all this contingency planning? Does it make me expect the worst, trying to plan for the worst? Is there a happy medium between overplanning and stressing and thumbing your nose at tomorrow? What is the proper amount of worry? Does worry have any place in the abundant life? I think it does but certainly not the seat of honor I seem to give it. Yeah, yay me, I'm prepared ... too bad I forgot to enjoy the now worrying about the might be.
I think the abundant life is living in the now. That doesn't mean there's no place for worry, but it should be twisted a bit into planning ahead. Worry expects the worst. Planning says bad things happen, but you can mitigate it somewhat (not avoid, mitigate). You don't have to plan for EVERY eventuality - in fact you can't. Trying to do the impossible is not part of the abundant life. The abundant life has to be achievable, otherwise why would it be mentioned as one of G-d's promises? If it's an impossible dream, it isn't much of a promise.
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Hmmm. Is it possible that the abundant life contains a certain amount of stress just because the more you're exposed to stimuli, the better you're able to handle it - and other things - that come at you? Just thinking aloud.
I'm not sure we can really expect a no-stress situation because I fully believe that the human condition carries with it a certain amount of stress, frustration, etc. Heavenly Father never said life on Earth would be PERFECT or supremely easy. And, if we don't have stress, then how would we know what "relaxation" means - or how much we value it?
Again, just thinking aloud.
I love reading your posts because you're such a deep thinker. Keep it up! =)
Interesting idea. I have to admit that my response is colored by my post on hope. The more you're exposed to, the more you see that things DO work out eventually, and the easier it is to let go of a bit more need to control.
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