November 7, 2014 Chautauqua

Beth's Ponderings 

Will this matter in 100 years?

   The statement above, along with multiple variations of years (5, 10, 20, 50, etc), has been repeated often in our family after many seemingly horrible or embarrassing events.

   One time when I was having difficulty with the university over something regarding my Masters program, and I was pacing around the house grumbling about the university staff making my life miserable, my mom asked if it would matter in 5 years.  I responded that it wouldn't matter in 5 minutes, however it really mattered right now!

   I was reminded of that situation when my computer stopped working unexpectedly the day before I had to have this issue finished.  Catastrophe in the extreme!

   Long story short, the problem was easy to fix - a single button had been accidentally pushed that had disabled most of the functions on my laptop.  Button pushed again and all was quickly returned to proper working order.  Whew...

   When looked at from the perspective of a longer bigger-picture view, it is true that the vast majority of what we fret, stew, worry, and get upset about isn’t that big a deal.  Within a few minutes, hours, weeks or years, it will have made no obvious difference to our lives.

   However, it does matter in that particular instant.  And that is the key. While it is always a good idea to look for the silver lining and not wallow in worry or gloom, it is also important not to suppress how we feel when things seem to go wrong in our lives. 

   A study I read once said that it takes a mere 90 seconds for an emotion to be felt and dissipate through our bodies - provided we allow ourselves to feel it.   If we don’t, it is stuck within our muscles forever, and the only way to remove, or process, it is through manipulation of the muscles by massage or other body work.

   By being honest and feeling what we feel in that brief 90-second moment, we can clear our minds and bodies like a summer storm clears the air, before moving forward to either finding a solution to our problem, or realizing that there isn’t actually a problem there at all.  

Beth

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