Interdisciplinary Psychology:

 Activity 2: “Do Unto Others” 

 As I stated above, this past week has been quite busy and hectic.   The old adage “It doesn’t rain but pours,” described my life last week.  I had decided to concentrate on work, school, designing our house and building and let family and friends slide for a few days.  I planned to spend most of my time working and not much time with friends and family. I accepted this and was busy working when my very good friend called me and needed me to meet with her to help support her through a difficult time.  What happened next was almost comical.  In the following three days my oldest son called to ask my husband and I to go out to dinner with him and meet his new girlfriend (this was unusual since we usually ask him to get together not the other way around),  my parents asked me to go to lunch with them (to touch base and reconnect), my husband was working extra hard with some difficult clients and needed to get away and have some fun together,  some friends from work were having a get together and had asked me to come a month ago when they planned it and I had accepted not knowing I would be so over-worked,  my youngest daughter needed special attention with some of her school work, and the list goes on…. All with the outcome of causing minor disruptions to my well-thought out plan of work, school, house, etc. It is normal in my life for plans to change.  Especially with having/raising six children…this has happened quite frequently throughout my life.  I remember quite a few years ago having an epiphany!  I realized that it was not abnormal to have my plans changed…what was abnormal was when I was actually able to follow through on all my plans!  Some of these interruptions usually happen each week but certainly not all in the same week.   My first inclination was to postpone all of these chances to get together until next week when I felt I would have more time.  Then I remembered the times I had done this in the past and I usually regretted it.   Plus often the next week something else comes up to postpone the plans even further. Reminding myself of my priorities, what I have been learning in Positive Psychology and our activity “Do unto others”, I made plans to get together with each of these people.  This may not seem like a “sacrifice” but it was that way for me this week. 

There are several strategies I use for lifting my mood and slowing my cognitive processes and physiological arousal. Among them are prayer and meditation, controlled breathing exercises, walking (preferably with my dogs) , 12 step meetings, and music. Though out this last week I have felt the stress of deadlines. As a result I have had an opportunity to all of these techniques. I feel fortunate as a recovering addict I have had cause to examine the threat of stress to my recovery. The first thing I have had to learn is how I manifest stress. For me it seems there is an unlimited list. I think among the most common are my rumination, frustration, short temper/anger are just a few. When I find myself feeling tense the first think I have learned is to stop and take several deep breaths in 1234 hold 1234 out 1234 hold 1234 repeat. As I continue to do this I often use the tense and release exercise. This is where I tense and relax different areas of my bodies one after the other. This works to help me reduce both my Physical and mental stress. I also try to stop several times a day and turn my attention to nature sky and earth and just give thanks for being alive this always help put things in perspective. I also find the fellowship of friends in and out of my 12 step program reminds me that stress/pain shared is lessened. I will often put one of my ceremonial Cds in and sing along I have learned that music is medicine. As I seem to be very vulnerable to stress I use these strategies often (daily).

Captain Ecstatic here!

As I have been reviewing the entries, I have noticed a number of themes beyond candlelit baths. It appears many of you have become familiar with forms of meditation (especially mindfulness practices), are working to learn or improve strategies for rumination, and are invested in interpersonal encounters in relation to the elevator ride assignment.

I have also been intrigued by the different things you have chosen to do (or stumbled upon) in "Doing unto Others." Your responses confirm the research that shows philanthropic efforts tend to stick with us much longer than pleasurable experiences. It will be interesting to talk about this in light of the issue of self-interest, and self as a value base, which was reflected in "The Century of the Self" video we watched. Why have we chosen to focus so much on ourselves, when we feel better when we focus on others. An interesting paradox.