Is Your Personality Wired for Stress?

Source http://www.sonima.com/meditation/worry-free/

I’m sitting in a sunny piazza in Rome, drinking a perfect cup of cappuccino, at the beginning of a long vacation. You’d think I’d be floating on cloud nine in total relaxation.

I’m not. Instead, I’m consumed with worry, eating me up inside, making me so queasy that I can’t even dig into the delicate fried zucchini flowers that are a Roman specialty. Instead, a persistent negative dialogue buzzes in my head as I contemplate the possible payback for my break from routine: What if I don’t get enough writing assignments to outweigh the expense of my Italian splurge? How will I pay the bills? What was I thinking?

It’s not that I don’t have projects waiting once I get home. I have plenty, the deadlines looming, and I worry about that, too, the nasty voice in my head continually hissing: You have work to do! Get back to the hotel.

The constant clamor inside my head robs me of the pleasure I know any normal person would be experiencing, yet however hard I try, it seems I can’t appreciate the feel of the sun on my skin, nor the cute little frothy-milk heart the friendly barista has formed in my oversized cup. Do I really want to spoil a trip that I worked so hard to make happen? Is there anything I can do to calm my anxious soul?

“Certain people do seem to be especially vulnerable to worry,” says Peg Baim, director of the relaxation response resiliency program at th…

Source http://www.sonima.com/meditation/worry-free/

I’m sitting in a sunny piazza in Rome, drinking a perfect cup of cappuccino, at the beginning of a long vacation. You’d think I’d be floating on cloud nine in total relaxation.

I’m not. Instead, I’m consumed with worry, eating me up inside, making me so queasy that I can’t even dig into the delicate fried zucchini flowers that are a Roman specialty. Instead, a persistent negative dialogue buzzes in my head as I contemplate the possible payback for my break from routine: What if I don’t get enough writing assignments to outweigh the expense of my Italian splurge? How will I pay the bills? What was I thinking?

It’s not that I don’t have projects waiting once I get home. I have plenty, the deadlines looming, and I worry about that, too, the nasty voice in my head continually hissing: You have work to do! Get back to the hotel.

The constant clamor inside my head robs me of the pleasure I know any normal person would be experiencing, yet however hard I try, it seems I can’t appreciate the feel of the sun on my skin, nor the cute little frothy-milk heart the friendly barista has formed in my oversized cup. Do I really want to spoil a trip that I worked so hard to make happen? Is there anything I can do to calm my anxious soul?

“Certain people do seem to be especially vulnerable to worry,” says Peg Baim, director of the relaxation response resiliency program at th…

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