Who ya gonna call? Stressbusters!

As far as weeks go, the last seven or so days have been rather stressing. Nothing too sad or serious, just the sorts of things that make you have to work just that much harder to have a little fun. More than a few times I was tempted to pour a giant glass of wine, retreat to bed with my new old copy of Vonnegut's novel, Player Piano, and never leave my room again.

As nice as that sounds, somehow having kids make that scenario a fantasy for another day.

At those moments when I thought I could not take another minute, what did we do instead?

Somehow, just the right thing kept coming along. Here is my list of the top stress busting activities of the last week:

• ladder and sack painting: fill old socks or nylons with a variety of items from around the house. Some examples are oatmeal, beans, marbles, bottle caps, rice. (one type per sock) lay a large piece of cardboard on the ground outside or in a garage type area. put a ladder over the cardboard. dip the socks in paints. climb the ladder. drop sock onto cardboard. let your children have a turn too, as tempting as it may be to leave them out of it. repeat.repeat.repeat.repeat. repeat until someone gets hurt or bored. then walk away and clean it up later. the next day or several days later if at all possible. it is more fun to clean it up later because the paint is all dry and it is fun to try and remember which socks made which kinds of marks.
  
• put a few drops of peppermint oil in your coffee. mmmmmmmmm. have an extra cup.
  
• when your child comes to you and wants to dress up in a crown, six scarves or play silks, and carry a wand, say yes! and then when they say they want to walk to a place really far away, say yes! follow them. grab a camera, or video camera if you have one. be prepared to carry them back home once they have reached the destination though. however, the extra work out will relieve extra stress.
• make rice and beans entirely from scratch. try new ingredients. ever thought of adding baking cocoa? invite someone over to eat it who won't make puking reflexes when they notice it has mushrooms in it.
  
• pack art supplies into a handy carrier sack and go to the local cafe for some yummy snacks and a chance to make art together in a cafe setting.
• pick up garbage along the streets with your entire community, or just a few friends.
• go to a children's theater production.
  
• have friends over for wine after the kids go to bed, even if it is a week night, and even if you do have to get up early. ask them to bring music.
• sit outside after dark and look at the stars.
• plant flowers. count new buds, try and guess just precisely which flower will be the next to bloom, and which day it will be on.
  
• manifest your stress into some whacked out dream that will give you something to dwell upon for days.

It is nice at the ripe old of age of 31 to be finally entering a state of awareness that tells me that I can control my stress, or I can let it control me. I guess some of us figure these things out earlier in life, but for me it has taken a lot of mindful intention. I hope my week and yours just keeps getting better and better and better from here! Peace and love to each of you and each of yours!