According to Wikipedia, comfort food is food that provides a nostalgic or sentimental value to someone. It may be characterized by its high caloric nature associated with childhood or home cooking. Though neither are associated to my childhood, there is something about a grilled cheese sandwich and a bowl of tomato basil soup that can fit the bill. It is an easy meal that makes me feel better.
Another way that I manage stress is through music. The sound tone I selected on my last iPhone was the Pachelbel Canon. Why I haven't figured out how to import that to my current phone, I can't tell you. That may likely be my next order of business. I could listen to the music all day long and sometimes do.
I spent the majority of yesterday upstairs. I'm choosing not to call it my office. That has more of a work-related connotation than a man my age finds alluring, but it probably is my favorite room in our home. The room provides an incredible view of the golf course and has a panoramic view of the hills as a backdrop. The view promotes a sense of calm for me.
Without sharing details, yesterday was a day intermittently filled with emotion. It had the makings of a melancholy kind of day. In addition, the weather was overcast and gloomy. Perhaps that is why I chose to spend most of yesterday upstairs.
Though I was upstairs under the pretense of putting the room back in order due to stacks of paper I had taken out during the week that needed to be filed, I wasn't always on task.
Earlier in the week, I needed to find more space in my filing cabinets. I. have three in the upstairs walk-in attic. The filing cabinets are filled. Consequently, something had to go.
I thought I could easily discard a lot of files. The filing cabinets had been in storage during the 21-month gap between houses. I figured if I lived without access for almost two years, I didn't really need the files.
Why not start fresh with empty filing cabinets? That proved more challenging than I previously thought. How do you toss files without briefly examining what you're discarding? I found that mostly I couldn't.
For a better part of my adulthood, writing has been one of the ways I've processed my thoughts, experiences, events, and memories. To discard everything, I had written without at least reviewing it seemed irresponsible.
From 2018, I found some notes I had made written from Max Lucado's book "Anxious for Nothing." As a rule of thumb, if Lucado writes it, I read it. I don't even need to read the flap on the cover.
For other authors, I normally read the flap and the first three pages of a book before I purchase it. In three pages, I can tell if it is a must-read or not. I only purchase the must-reads.
Though I didn't need to read the flap on the cover of Anxious for Nothing, I did read it and then hurried home to read the book. The flap states:
'It's a low-grade fear. An edginess, a dread. It's a wind that won't top howling It's not so much a storm as it is the certainty that one is coming. Always...coming.
"The anxiety has its reasons. Airplanes fall out of the sky. Bull markets go bear. Terrorists terrorize. Good people turn bad. The other shoe will drop. Fine print is going to be found. There is misfortune to be had out there. It's just a matter of time.
"And what about the tsunami of personal challenges? You, or someone you know is facing a job loss, fighting cancer, dealing with divorce, battling addiction, or facing financial hardship.
"We worry, we even feel anxious about feeling anxious."
By the way, reading and writing are two venues for finding comfort. If you are at a place where comfort would fill the bill, you might start by writing about your circumstances and then reflect on what you've written. Reviewing other written sources can also make a meaningful difference.
Take for example the words of Paul: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God." [2 Corinthians 1: 3-4]
All My Best!
Don
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