What's your go to thing to help reduce stress of stuff you have no control over

My family and I joke that the news is just a dramatic soap opera that doesn't effect us.  Normally that's true and life goes on as normal, we are not to stressed about what the big wigs and millionaires are doing. Being mad at the bad guys of course is not really good for adults or children. But with the growing number of news stuff from all over starting to threaten our daily lives its hard not to worry. To a point that it is unhealthy and unhelpful.  I know that we can and have weathered worse! I know my family can be fed, clothed and sheltered come hell or high water. But that growing gnawing feeling of worry seems to grow.

Until I grab a shovel and dig a hole.

It doesn't even have to be a helpful hole. There's just something that helps my brain about physically moving the earth. The smell of dirt and the consistent strain on my body that helps me breath a bit better and keep a moving forward mindset. I cant worry if Im to tired to care about the things I can do nothing about! Swales and gardening was what brought me to permies originally while dealing with financial stress. I wanted a excuse to just dig and still be helpful to my family.

My husband digs into a new niche subject to learn. Right now he is training to get his pilots license and reading the FFA handbook cover to cover before his first lesson this spring.  Hes still worried. But hes more worried about falling out of the sky to be upset about the news.

I bring this up because when Im out of the house that it feels like there is more road rage and people seem less friendly and more angry. Alot of that seems to be from the stress of stuff thats happening in the world with no way to effect it. There's alot of talk about the stuff causing the stress. But there seems to very little talk about how that stress is effecting our mental health and how to work thru it in a healthy way.  Plus winter is coming up and I have discovered shoveling snow dose not have the same stress relief as digging dirt.  I need a new outlet ASAP!

So what ways do you and your people relive stress so we can keep doing our thing instead of being mad at the bad guys?

The stress of modern life affects different people in different ways. I am lucky in that I have an ability to ignore stuff, turn a blind eye, or bury my head in the sand. Very rarely do I find myself worked up about something, and it is usually something that will affect me (or I think it will). Some people do get more affected by all the bad things that are happening, whether or not they are directly affected, and really make themselves sick by worry. That frustration of being able to do nothing, or trying to do too much is the trouble I think.
One thing I do that I believe to be positive is posting on permies. It may not help the political situations around the world, but by raising awareness of less damaging ways of living, I hope that we may make a difference to the environmentally damaging things that people do. When I think about all the stuff in the news and what is going wrong I like to think about the positive things I do for my family and my community to help build our resiliance; running a grocery store, planting a garden, installing solar and battery backup.
You may also find this thread on peaceful moments of help perhaps.

I have always been a walker. For me, a 20-30 minute brisk walk is an effective, accessible tonic. When my muscles and tendons and joints start to loosen up, and the physical act of walking goes on autopilot, my mind starts to float and solves problems, sets priorities, and generally reboots into a state with more mojo and less stress.

Sam Potter wrote: Plus winter is coming......

The first most accessible stress buster I feel is humor... and relevant to the clipped phrase, the following is offered:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZTjcxjz_8U

Sam Potter wrote:
So what ways do you and your people relive stress so we can keep doing our thing instead of being mad at the bad guys?

Being mad at the bad guys is acceptable as a short realization of fear that their actions invoke.  Then time to move on.  Meditation comes in many forms,....have you tried any of them?  I used to think "But which meditation is the *right* one...?", then came to realize you need to find what's right for *you*.  A more classical 'sitting' meditation was what helped me get started, but I find now that attending to detail and sequence in tasks or even pleasant walks can help in this regard.  As an example, washing the dishes once was a task I despised and my mind could churn up all sorts of resentments and regrets while blindly immersed in the procedure.  Now, it's more about carefully observing and cleaning each utensil and tableware item with purpose. Same with walks....rather than have the mind spinning away on that road rager you experienced an hour earlier.....that ridiculous sneer they wore and self-riteousness they exuded....engage with the immediacy of the leaves falling around you or the feel of the northern breeze on your brow.  When the mind starts to drift, kindly tell it like a child "no...right now I'm engaging with *this*....." and bring your focus back to the observed entity at hand.  It seems simplistic and silly, but with repeated practice can have a remarkably powerful effect. Good luck!

+1 for digging holes

I have a few things I do, especially because people are getting madder both online at each other and in person. I am super sensitive emotionally which is awful for dealing with news, social media, road rage, etc.

What helps me most is trying to do something that helps the local people around me directly. I go through my house and make a free pile in the front yard almost once per week for anyone to come take what they need at no cost. I don't care if they sell the stuff, they need the money more than I do. I sell items on eBay and get things from house clear outs so I'm starting to put extras out for free instead of funneling them through goodwill. 99% of the items are gone by the end of the day. Clothing is always gone. People are definitely in need. Food items and decor also go.

I also try to be actively nicer in public on a daily basis. Making sure to pay compliments I would otherwise maybe not say, or helping someone with a heavy bag etc. I had an elderly lady help me with carrying my multiple bags to my car one day and I still get good feelings from it. I think I get stuck in being quiet and "just getting through it" when a little kindness to others would go a long way for both them and me.

I also reduce or disable social media apps entirely. They are addictive and meant to exploit anger for the attention economy. I'm still trying to figure out how to navigate having a feeling of community without it. But moderated forums like permies certainly help!

Playing physical DVDs of comfort shows/movies in the background without ads or tracking from nefarious companies also helps.

Lastly I try to do things I CAN control. I finish some sewing repairs, clean the chicken coop, visit with my animals, batch cook some food for later, do small fixes or cleaning to the house etc.

It's still pretty awful out there but you're definitely not alone in your feelings. Sending care your way.

Steph Walker wrote: ...What helps me most is trying to do something that helps the local people around me directly.

... I also try to be actively nicer in public on a daily basis. Making sure to pay compliments I would otherwise maybe not say, or helping someone with a heavy bag etc. I had an elderly lady help me with carrying my multiple bags to my car one day and I still get good feelings from it.

Yes! We can all build instant community through small choices and actions. The energy of positive community moves like ripples on a pond.

Repetitive physical activity such as digging a hole, walking,  chopping wood, etc is a proven way to help one’s mental status.  I find a couple of ounces of quality bourbon to be helpful as well.

Digging a hole is an awesome way to deal with stress
I like to clean something, especially something that isn't a constant chore- for example taking everything out of a cupboard, vacuuming and reorganizing the contents. That way the next few times you open the cupboard you get a small bit of peace.
Hanging up laundry is another good one, if you focus on lining up the seams and hanging each piece up neatly.

If you play an instrument, half an hour of solid playing will set you into a meditative mode.

Even if you don't play, sing along with a favourite song in a loud voice. Better if your favourite song has harmonies, and you can choose different parts. Put it on repeat. Who cares if you nail it -- nobody can hear you anyway. It will do your heart good.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote: sing along with a favourite song in a loud voice. Better if your favourite song has harmonies, and you can choose different parts. Put it on repeat. Who cares if you nail it -- nobody can hear you anyway.

Hand out earplugs beforehand? 🤣🤣🤣

Even in the middle of a field, people may hear you.

Seriously, though, good idea if one is only into scaring the pets or wildlife. 😉

Very good tips.

But what if it's night  and  it attacks you and you need your sleep to keep a job. Things tend to look even darker at night. I have no partner so found out about humming. You can make that sound and follow it in your body. Feeling your body better already takes your mind of stuff and humming soothes. Moms hum, monks ohm.
Once you feel your body you might notice pain/ energy blockades. You can pitch your humm to remove that i found.
Sometimes i fall asleep like that.
Praying helps as well. Why worry if you can pray.

In the day/ morning  i do breathing work, my kind of meditation.
40 deep breathes to the feet and connect to earth, hold breath a minute.
40 deep breathes to the belly to open to feel what i feel, hold breath a minute.
40 deep breathes to open the heart, hold breath a minute
40 deep breathes to the head to be with the highest, hold breath a minute.

Just did that, coffee, time to see what the good people of the world have to say on the interwebs.

Site note:

I think having no control is a thing of life we have to accept, we get born, no control, we die, no control. In the mean time we get to vote, the jury is still out on that one. I think what humans do is, we try to asses what danger is there for our families and direct community and country/ humanity. And if the danger seems so big and complex we can't work out how to keep our loved ones safe we tend to obsess. But it's all for the sake of love.

I couldn't go out and just start digging holes randomly . It would have to be a pond/ swale. Or make them tree distance of each other and fill them  with compost.

I have to have a range of strategies to balance my mental & emotional states,  and my actions.  This is because my chronic fatigue (ME) means I can't always go into the garden & potter even in the daytime (which would be my go-to thing otherwise).

So, I'm very relieved that pottering in the kitchen has come back as a go-to, because for a good while that wasn't really practicable for me either.  Very satisfying working with my home grown green grocery, of course, and now, also my living sourdough starter.

Watching carefully selected YouTube videos on my TV is an even lower energy go-to. For example, there is a local asylum seeker who is doing shorts on ancestral skills outside of built-up life.  How to find a snack in the woods, that kind of thing.

Even lower energy, when I have to lie down, is simple word puzzles.  Lowest energy is thinking myself around my garden making plans as I drift off to sleep.

Sometimes, though, I do need to let in and through a bit of the anger so I don't get numb to it all.  But I try to save that for when I'm with someone with whom I know I can express that anger productively e.g. they will both really empathise, and also, have or are seeking insight into the root causes and possible solutions of the problems.

Then doing something about those solutions, such as my daily walk to the local mini-market to rescue edible scrapped off foods (fruits, veggies, baked goods, herbs, spices mostly) to triage for our local Black-led Mutual Aid, for example.  It's really cathartic & uplifting to give food away for free to anyone who needs it, and do an end run around the system that keeps people hungry!

Finding a thread on permies that resonates is certainly helpful too.

the garden is genuinely my first go-to for this. Doesn't even matter what I do out there, just moving through it for half an hour and my whole mental state shifts. Something about the combination of physical movement and being outside that breaks the doom scroll spiral better than anything else I've tried.

Serenity Prayer.

That in itself instructs you how to handle what you have no control over.

Beyond that, when engaged in the moment from something that triggered the stress, you have to disengage from it. I think this is what the original topic might be getting at, although the statement seems a little broader than that making 'Serenity Prayer' an appropriate solution also.

To 'disengage', you have to pause or disrupt the flow of information or trigger of the stress in some manner. Close your eyes and envision a safe place. Turn off the TV (a huge stresser), Turn off the cell phone (social media. I know what you are doing), go for a run (or a walk), go outside and scream at the top of your lungs (not recommended if you are in a highly populated area), splash your face with the coldest water you can get out of a sink or ice water or take a shower (just get in and get out) with the coldest water you can set the shower to, jump in a very cold pool or lake (polar bear swim), read a book (doesn't tend to have an instant effect, but can/does after a few pages if its an interesting book), clean house, work on a hobby. The point is, disrupt the stressor and fill the resulting void with something else immediately.

Oh, another one! There's a British show called Repair Shop that we have been watching every night lately. It's on Youtube. There's a bunch of really amazing craftspeople in a big barn, and people bring in their heirlooms for repair. It's very relaxing 😆

I refuse to accept stress in my life. whatever happens happens .  You have control over some things and some you cannot control. control the things you can and deal with whatever it is that comes at you that you cannot have control over. planning ahead and executing that plan goes a long way for being prepared for whatever comes at you. accept the things you cannot change and change the things you can.

Our friends reminded me of a new one we do, Potlucks! Communal cooking and eating is a wonderful reminder that we are all in this together. Thru the easy times and the hard times.

Shout at the TV News - does no good but I feel better afterwards.
Deep breathe under the lemon scented gum in the paddock - this works best.  There was one where I worked, stress all the time, so this was my go-to.
Go for a walk, have a nice cup of tea - herbal or otherwise,   and that old remedy - 'Keep Calm and Carry On"

Lord's Prayer

Ellie Mag wrote:Oh, another one! There's a British show called Repair Shop that we have been watching every night lately. It's on Youtube. There's a bunch of really amazing craftspeople in a big barn, and people bring in their heirlooms for repair. It's very relaxing 😆

My late Mum adored The Repair Shop.  I always used to put my distance vision glasses on my head on top of the screen glasses I was wearing when we video-chatted, to give her a giggle whilst we talked about her favourite recent repair ..

The answer for me is to listen to music or take a long walk.

--Learn about how our attention is manipulated and used to control us.  Fear is the #1 weapon.  Thus I eschew the news, even from "alternative" media, except to stay abreast of what is really going on out there.

Resource:  Jason Christoff, a mind control expert.  His movie, Planet Mind Control will shock you.

--Learn about what is being planned by those who run the world, and what has already happened.  Learn about what we've been told versus what has worked in the past, but is now suppressed.
Resource:  Makia Freeman, Sasha Latypova, The Highwire with Del Bigtree.

--Accept the truth, no matter how heinous (this is the hardest).  This brings up strong emotions of fear, anger, grief.  OR behaviors and patterns of distraction and ignoring (such as excessive shopping, sex, gambling, media consumption, drug use, drinking, sleeping, pretending everything is okay, discounting anything that upsets you, etc.)

Best is to find some practice to help to feel those emotions and work through them, rather than suppressing them.  Walking/exercise, doing something, journaling, crying, punching a pillow, doing martial arts or working out, self-help books/workbooks/tapes/seminars/classes.

Resource:  EFT (emotional freedom technique, aka tapping)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02bN4JFx10Y

--Take specific action to help myself and others for what is likely coming our way.  Build community of like-minded others.
Resource:  these forums!!

--Take responsibility for myself.  Do the research before making decisions.  Listen and learn from multiple sources, then make my own decision and act on that.
Resource:  Yandex search engine; subscribe to various podcasts, Substacks, channels, etc.

--Maintain a spiritual practice, connecting to some higher powers, spirits, gods, energies, forces...whatever works.

--Let go and use positive mental programming to remind myself that our ancestors have all survived through hard times and challenges and tyranny and made it, and we inherited those survivor genes, as well as the collective resilience that got us here so far.

--Know that there are energies and powers and capabilities that are hidden to us, that we have the ability to tap into.  Find and use them.
Examples:  psychic abilities, remote viewing, visualization, energy healing, tai chi/chi gung and other energy-body practices, universal laws.

Humans are AMAZINGLY resilient, creative, capable, and miraculously made beings, and self-healing organisms!  We do ourselves more harm by believing that human-created chemicals, systems, stuff is the answer, rather than working with Nature and removing the hindrances to our own wellbeing, and coming into balance.

Besides, we are not immortal, so we WILL die at some point.  Decide where is that line you will not cross, because it is likely coming your way soon.

Maintain periods of quiet to connect to your internal wisdom, your body, and to the higher powers.  Be willing to listen and follow directions from those sources.  Be ready to stand firm.

--Try to be in this world what you want to see (kindness, patience, compassion, generosity, ability, respect, responsibility, etc.)  Follow the Golden Rule.

--Find a healthy way to express yourself, your opinions, your creativity.  Many people use hobbies, crafts, music, art, dance, journaling, writing, producing something.  (This has become increasingly censored, however, making it sometimes dangerous to do so.)

--Forgive myself and others for falling for the lies and mistakes and errors and ignorance, past, present, and future.

--Do the best you can, yet strive to improve always.

--Let go, let God, and then find ways to be grateful for the blessings and the lessons in the "curses."

Simple, right?  hahahahahaha

For me, it comes down to my attitude and the way I view things.

I find the humor in the situation. Nearly every mess has something funny in it if you wait long enough, and laughing at it takes some of its power away.

I remember that “Nothing is forever” and “This too shall pass.” Hard seasons end, just like the growing ones do.

I focus on what’s mine to handle. I can’t control most of what’s out there, but I can take care of myself and my family with the skills I’ve built over the years. Being prepared for whatever comes means I can face it calmly, because I trust myself to figure out the next step.

I’m also grateful for the blessings I’ve received, and I try to remember them on the hard days.

And when it all feels like too much, I go to the garden or the greenhouse. Plants don’t care about the headlines, and they always remind me to take things one day at a time.

You could always get into ‘prepping’, there’s plenty of overlap with permaculture and the things you decide to prep for will give you a sense of control along with accomplishing something that you may need one day. And there are plenty of naturally occurring compounds to help mitigate stress (among other things )

I'm working on a list of effortless go-to actions too; things that recenter me when those moods hit. Might have to add "dig a hole" to my list!

Here's what I have so far:
- 30min Walk (in the woods, if possible)
- Meet a friend for coffee (catching up on the phone is a good backup)
- Listen to song ___ - you'll have to pick your own here, very personal!
- Trash Pickup: Anything from 10min to 2hrs. This is a concrete action I find very meditative. I have a regular practice of doing this very thoroughly.

The author David Cain calls these "ripcords." I love that framing. Worth a read: https://www.raptitude.com/2025/07/give-yourself-a-ripcord-to-pull/

Reaching out to a friend just to chat
Hugging someone you love
Houseplants, especially edible ones
Sitting by a cozy fire
Talking to pets
Cozy activities like coloring or crocheting

I've stopped watching the news.  I used to be a news junky, but I have been so much calmer since shutting it down. I get the NYT online and read the "Daily"....well...daily.  If I want to know more about a topic, everything is linked, but usually I get the gist from just reading through the topics.  My reward for this is a wonderful recipe and some fun games at the end!  One day, I was done with all that I wanted to do and it was around 7, so I went in and watched the evening news; I had realized this, but it seemed like they give a sound byte of news--a few sentences and then cut to commercial for about five minutes.  I swear, about 20 minutes of the half hour weree commercials for some pill or candidate, and ten minutes were the quick sound bytes of doom and gloom; they rarely cover stories that I care about.  I was anxious and angry by the end and decided that I would stick to my "Daily" email.

I have started to realize how important it is to do what gives me my greatest joy.  That thing that makes time disappear. For me, that might be reading, enameling, gardening, sewing or cooking.  I have also started watching some videos about spirituality.  I particularly like Lee Harris and the Z's, Miyam Bialik, Darryl Anka and a few others.  Their messages are positive and have helped me clarify my thoughts about death, the afterlife, ET's, our purpose and our planet, consciousness, etc.

I've learned to listen to my inner guides.
So in addition to all the wonderful posts, listen to yourself. If digging is your therapy, how about a cold frame or two. It requires planning and tending it daily. With opening during the sunny days and pulling a blanket over at night. My connection is also growing and nurturing, so seeing little sprouts and taking care of them is tending to our spirits inside.

We had our runoff election here on Sunday and I spent the day digging holes and planting plants and getting my spring plants in. If we want to eat, we need to plant, and I hadn't had a chance up to then.

When the rain got too intense, I came inside and worked on my crocheted blanket while listening to podcasts until the results were in. Normally I would have cooked but I was so upset that I couldn't eat and wasn't up for it.
My husband's method involves watching All The Sports, which is good for him, but I don't watch TV, grew up without it and just cant fathom sitting still and watching a screen for hours.
Which is ironic, since my work involves sitting and watching a screen for hours. But I'm creating, so it is not quite the same.

This week continues crazy busy, but I'm making a point of reaching out to friends of mine to catch up. Talking to the neighbors I don't know so well.
I need to get out of my head space and out into the human space. I'm still working on it.  

good on your husband for trying new things. i have about 3000 hrs in a piper cub & another 1000 Aerostar and seaplane shenanigans. it is super cool to fly the mountains and surf the wind on the windward side. my flight instructor/dad taught me to fly back in the 80's. flying is only briefly stress full when landing or taking off, rest of time it's super peaceful. stress relief for me is usually physical activity like chopping wood, hiking the woods or the like. if I'm tired or sore then fishing, archery or rocking chair on the front porch. as for the news turn it all off. (except permies, they have the scoop on world domination) I get enough local news at the local hardware store, like: "Bill's cow broke the fence last week" "Sue's daughter is getting married this spring"

If I cannot be outside -fall rainy season- I relax with “old” music from the 1970s and 1980s or “old” movies. I think of them as timeless but I am 70. I am spending most of my time fighting local attempts to turn soil into ugly, poorly built apartments or data centers.  I do need stress relief.

Imagine, if you will, a random workman.  He gets up, goes to his job at the Tower of Babel, and comes home speaking a diffeerent language.

The world has been weird for a long time.

Me, I meditate.  Various forms,mainly mindfulness.  I'm learning about qigong and zhan zhuang.  Prayer is also good, though it can turn into a bitch session.  Like the man said "Me and God, we be mates."

I am grateful for this forum.  Reading Permies is a sure way to chill and realize that there are still good people out there.

World events are very troubling, but honestly, my biggest stress is in my own home - my handicapped youngest daughter (adult), who also has serious medical issues and is autistic and - when she's unhappy or not feeling good - screams, cries, and generally fusses like a toddler. Sometimes 24/7 for weeks (we are just starting to come out of one of those cycles, though she's still not completely out of it). Add to that, I'm not getting any younger (I'll be seventy next year), and have a bad back that has me just about crippled.

My response to both world issues and home stresses is the same - prayer, Bible reading, and remembering that God is in control. He has a plan both for the world and for our individual lives; we are in His hands; and we can trust Him completely. I still worry sometimes. I'm still very troubled by all that is going on the world - I can't imagine how scary it must be for people who don't know the Lord and aren't familiar with Bible prophecy. (And even scarier for people who do have some familiarity with prophecy, but haven't put their trust in God!) I still get tired and stressed with the care of my daughter, and frustrated by my own physical limitations. But I have Someone who I can turn it all over to - I keep going, one day at a time, with what is within my own sphere of responsibility, and let Him take care of the rest of it.

It's a daily thing. Sometimes hourly. We have small 'hope and trust' batteries, LOL! They need to be recharged frequently. But as long as I remember where my charger is, and use it, I don't run out completely.

Barbara Simoes wrote: I get the NYT online and read the "Daily"....well...daily.  ....  My reward for this is a wonderful recipe and some fun games at the end!  

I had to stop the email alerts, and the NYT often gets me hopping mad, but I keep it because of the games, which are part of my daily workda routine (the wordle and connections after lunch as a treat). I used to pause my subscription when it got me grumpy but now apparently can't do that anymore.... we'll see how long I keep paying.

For me it is prayer and exercise to help with stress.


I also ask myself questions when I am stressed....

1)   How much control do I have over this thing I am angry about?

    Sadly many of the major things I am angry about I have little input on, so yes I am angry, but I can't change this and my blood
    pressure going up is not helping.


2)   What things do I have control over that can bring benefit?    
     
    I want to focus my energy on things I do control,  how I spend the money I have,  how I use the time that I have,   how do I use food / energy    
    I generate.        These things I have control over and can change and how I effectively use these things can give me more options,  help a
    neighbor,  and make a difference.


Often when I am stressed I reach for the wrong foods to cope with the stress...     Much better to grab a hoe and walk out to the garden.

Well, here is what I do for the stress, and often grief and frequent grief and frustration of living with a covert malvolent narcissistic husband who is truly off his rocket. He can be cruel to me and to the animals. He has killed so many of my beloved animal friends over the years.

And no, I am not able to leave him. However he is slowly killing himself as well. I am determined to outlast him, and become single and peaceful and happy!

Mybgo-to for strong emotional distress and despair are applying 3 Jin Shin holds. I am a retiree now, but used the art on human clients back in the day, and am branching out into applying it to my animals these days. It works on all mammals, however the specific points of contact are a little varied in the 4-legged critters.

Jin Shin has brrn calked “the Art of the Ceeatir,” and can be compared to accupuncture, but WITHOUT NERDLES!

Various points on the body access our physical and emotions, and can strengthen healing and emotional balance.

Ready to give place your hands where they can help in moments of frustration or despair or grief (I use these often!) ? Here’s where to put them…

First put your fingers on the back of your neck, half way down from your head and your shoulders. Elbows out, and just rest your fingers there. Pressure is unncessary (one can do this tgrough clothing, a plaster cast,etc. Still works.

This hold is the “Thy Will be Done” (or .”it is what it is, let it be”) hold.

B patient. After a bit you will probably feel a pulsing underneath your fingers. This is energy which overflowed tge banks of its regular channel being pulled back where it belongs by your fingers.

Every 3 minutes or so, briefly remove your fingers, tgen put them back on your neck., until the flow underneath your fingers is relaxed (no pounding) and gentle.

Step one done. Good job!

The next hold is forearms crossed so that your left fingers are touching where your right neck meets your right shoulder and left neck meets left shoulder. Again, hold until the pulsing is gentle and quiet, loosening contact briefly, then reapplying if contact is more than 2 minutes to get to gentle pulsing.

This hokd releases old baggage. Often emotional, even the stuff we are not aware of. But it may also release the body’s  over guarding of an old physical injury.

The last hold is calked “Wash Our Hearts with Laughter.” It gives us back our sense of humour - our ability to chuckle at things once again. As one cannot chuckle when depressed or despairing, this lightens us up.

Place your fingers where your body joins your leg. Again, wait for the pulsing may thump under your fingers for a while as your fingers are drawing the errant energy back where it belongs. Periodic breaks with immediate re-contact are, again, the thing to do so that the body does no become de-sensitised to your touch and ignore it.

You do not have to actually set a timer for how many minutes before breaking off and then reapplying or touching again the point. The goal is a relaxed pulsing which pulses under both hands at the same time. Not two different pulses.


You can MEVER hurt your body with Jin Shin holds. You are simply touching your body. There is nothing invasive or foreign that would force it.

p.S. For worry, such as sitting in the doctor’s office, or whatever worries are besetting one, HOLD YOUR THUMBS!

A habitiual worrywort will sooner or later fevelop curving thumbs! Because their thumb energy has been diverted from worry.

Gripping one thumb (doesn’t matter which-choose one!) with your other hand, gripping your thumb like holding a bicycle handlebar is the hold for worry.

Do BOTH thumbs because you have identical energy flows: one on the right and one on the left side of the body. So energise BOTH sides, first one and then the other.

Calms the emotions and the body. 😊

I'm half way through a Sunday Times Best Seller by Hannah Ritchie, called "Not the End of the World", first published by Penguin random house in 2024.

'Truly Essential' says Margaret Atwood. 'Very interesting, more than a little uplifting, and surprisingly challenging to many of my beliefs" says me.  

From the blurb on the back cover: "We are bombarded by doomsday headlines every day but in this bold,  radically hopeful book,  data scientist Hannah Ritchie zooms out and shows us a very different picture. 'Not The End of the World' will make you rethink almost everything you've been told about the environment and show you what works,  what doesn't,  and what we urgently need to focus on so we can leave a sustainable planet for future generations."

Pray the rosary. You don’t have to be Catholic to need a refresher course on the good news of the Gospels and Our Lady is the patroness of the Americas. Like St. Pio always said “pray and don’t worry!”

Great topic!

Anything physical works well, or just going outside. I find that when I'm indoors, my thoughts have a tendency to move in circles, making me feel trapped in my own head. This gets expoinentially worse if I spend too much time in front of a screen.

I remember this one time when I had just gone through something very stressful and traumatic. I called this nice old couple I knew, and said "I need to work with something physical. The heavier, the better. What do you need help with?" They had me break off pieces of rebar sticking out of some concrete blocks by hitting them repeatedly with a hammer, and then me and the old guy used those concrete blocks as support for one corner of their sauna, which had been sagging a bit. It was brilliant stress relief.