A University Professor of Psychology walked around a room full of students while teaching about stress management.
To begin his lecture he grabbed a glass of water. As he raised that glass of water, everyone expected they’d be asked if the glass was half empty or half full as part of the lesson.
Instead though, with a smile on his face, the professor asked: " How heavy is this glass of water? ".
Students called out answers "6 ounces" and "10 ounces" but he shrugged them off.
He replied, " The actual weight doesn’t matter. What really matters is how long I've been holding it. If I hold it for just a minute it feels very light. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my arm. If I hold it for a whole day, my arm will feel numb and paralyzed. Any longer than that and I will be very tempted to give up and drop it. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn’t change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."
The professor continued: " The stresses and worries in life are like this glass of water. Carry them for only a short while and they're managable. Worry about them a bit longer and they begin to hurt. And if we think about them all day long, or longer, we can begin to feel paralyzed and hopeless – incapable of concentrating or focusing on anything else."
The professor reminded his students: " It’s important to remember to let go of your stresses (follow the link to learn a few stress relieving techniques) whenever possible. As early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down. Don’t carry them through the evening and into the night. This can certainly be easier said than done in some cases, but in many cases it's actually quite easy if we're mindful about it. "
He replied, " The actual weight doesn’t matter. What really matters is how long I've been holding it. If I hold it for just a minute it feels very light. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my arm. If I hold it for a whole day, my arm will feel numb and paralyzed. Any longer than that and I will be very tempted to give up and drop it. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn’t change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."
The professor continued: " The stresses and worries in life are like this glass of water. Carry them for only a short while and they're managable. Worry about them a bit longer and they begin to hurt. And if we think about them all day long, or longer, we can begin to feel paralyzed and hopeless – incapable of concentrating or focusing on anything else."
The professor reminded his students: " It’s important to remember to let go of your stresses (follow the link to learn a few stress relieving techniques) whenever possible. As early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down. Don’t carry them through the evening and into the night. This can certainly be easier said than done in some cases, but in many cases it's actually quite easy if we're mindful about it. "
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