Yet another installment of Tommie Gary's Thoughts

“Happy Place”

A destination, location, world where all your friends and loved ones are together. This "place" is not one, but many. It is anywhere you feel the most "at home" and yourself. It is where you can have fun, smile, laugh, and get excited.
Whenever all of us are together, I am in my "Happy Place"

Sometime back while visiting my doctor (good friend) and registering very high on the blood pressure scale, ‘Doc’ (small woman able to boss me around at will with kindness and understanding) said that she would immediately put me on “High Blood Pressure Medicine.” I explained that I was felling very ill and run down with a cold, worked late and long hours, dealt with much stress at work, had an awful week and that was the reason for this one-time occasion of the dreaded ‘High Blood Pressure’ episode. She quickly thumbed through my medical chart and insisted that “if you have been in here in the last two years and had ONE occurrence of abnormal blood pressure you WILL be taking the medicine.” She couldn’t find ONE such occasion. I am Old, Overweight, Obsessive and all the other ‘O’s there might be - could not catch up with me. For some reason, I usually have the BP of a teenager despite my body problems. (“Not fair” someone shouts!) It’s just life. I should be paying for the abuse of myself by a daily dose of prescribed care, but not yet.

It is a proven fact (at least my test) that blood pressure can be controlled in some of us by just “going to our happy place.” Another episode experienced years earlier had produced that learning for me. A very busy clinic scheduled an 8:00 a.m. annual physical appointment for me. After working midnight hours I was barely able to arrive on time and without sleep. This initial visit to a new doctor was for a required medical exam to continue Life Insurance coverage. As I turned into the clinic parking lot I was able to narrowly avoid a potential tragic auto accident. As I sat down in the waiting room my name was immediately called and a very young, very attractive nurse swept me away to an examining room where she took vital statistics on my tired yet excited body. She exclaimed, “Oh my!” under her breath. When questioned, she said that my BP was at stroke level. I laughed at myself and told her of the near tragic traffic accident I barely avoided arriving in the parking lot after rushing there sleepless from an overnight stressful job. I didn’t find it necessary to tell her how attractive some nurses appear. My only plea was that I be allowed to lie quietly in a darkened room for twenty minutes and relax and collect my thoughts and then be reexamined. She hesitantly complied and left me lying there laughing at and praying about my own predicament. As I lay there in the dark (still laughing – and praying) I did begin to feel a calming nature rushing over my whole body. I actually seized the moment and consciously began to relax every nerve and muscle that was tense. Deep breathing felt really good. I almost went to sleep. Soon, the attractive nurse returned (I looked toward the wall.) She took my vital statistics again while I concentrated on peaceful days and restful nights. “You did it” she chuckled; “BP and pulse rate are near normal. How did you do that?” I answered that “I just went to my happy place.” She laughed and left the room. I was just glad that she didn’t ask “Where is your happy place?” I didn’t know. It just worked.

People relax by using many different methods. Over the years, I have developed some strange little tricks that work for relaxation or just to de-stress my other wise ‘normal’ days; Some are crazy, some make no sense, some are totally unfounded, but most all of them really work because I believe in them. At times, I have walked, exercised, drank water, eaten broccoli, (all to extremes) and all of those should continue to be my daily regimen. They help! I may have to go on the BP medicine some day; it’s just the medical facts of getting older for many folks. Actually, I think that most of us just forget to relax and believe that God will see us through.

In his book The Tao of Willy that strange Country Singer Willy Nelson says it’s really rewarding to just breathe in really deep, just a few really deep breaths every day. I thought, “He’s crazy,” but his music is really good and he has lived a long, hard life so far, so maybe I should listen. I do it; especially when I am stressed, tired, upset, or just needing some good, clean air. I do it on purpose. I stop and take two or three really deep good breaths of air when under stress. It works. I feel better.

There’s an acronym that I live by: H.A.L.T. It represents these four questions:
1. Am I HUNGRY? 2. Am I ANGRY? 3. Am I LONELY? 4. Am I TIRED?
If I am ONE of these items, that’s OK. If I am any TWO of these items I stop and do something about it. If I am THREE or MORE of these items, I get someone else to help me with them. It may seem like another silly thing I do, but it works. Good companionship or counsel can’t be denied. It’s good for the soul.

Philippians 2 translated in “The Message” version
12-13What I'm getting at, friends, is that you should simply keep on doing what you've done from the beginning. When I was living among you, you lived in responsive obedience. Now that I'm separated from you, keep it up. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God's energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure.
14-16Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night so I'll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns. You'll be living proof that I didn't go to all this work for nothing.
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That just might be my happy place.
Tommie Gary <’/))))><