What's the Hurry?

One woman tells how she sought to convince her continually harried friend that she needed to find ways to relax.
So she gave her a videotape on stress management and relaxation techniques and encouraged her to watch it right away.
 Fifteen minutes later, her friend handed back the tape. "It was good," she said, "but I don't need it."
 "But it's a 70-minute video," the woman replied. "You couldn't have watched the whole thing."
 "Yes, I did," her friend assured her. "I put it on fast-forward."

 A major social problem of the 21st Century is Hurry Sickness. We hurry through work by "multi-tasking." We gulp down fast food. We shop at convenience stores. We lament that we haven't enough time. We race through the days and weeks until one day we look back in amazement and comment, "My, how the years flew by."
 Or until we hit a "speed bump" -- like illness -- that stops us cold. Then we realize the heavy toll we paid to travel the express lane.
 Hurry Sickness. Its symptoms include stress and anxiety, ailing relationships, lowered work performance, and numerous physical maladies.
Some people don't survive it. What is the cure?
"For fast-acting relief try slowing down," quipped comedian Lily Tomlin.
But then, perhaps that's not so funny. Slow down and live, for life is too short to be lived fast, and too precious not to be lived well.
 "I have no time to be in a hurry," said John Wesley.
 I agree. Slow down and live. It's a guaranteed remedy for Hurry Sickness.

(from globalhealingcenter.com)

Hurry Sickness

It's 1:19 a.m. and I've been going strong all day.  And I'm thinking about what to do about this pattern I'm in.  Maybe I need to make some changes to my life.  Maybe I've got  a touch of something doctors call "hurry sickness" and need to slow down.  My body is crying for a break and some of my habits can't be helping.  And maybe you struggle too.  If so, let's you and I decide to make some changes.  Take a closer look by taking the quiz below and decide for yourself.

"Hurry sickness" is a phrase coined 40 years ago by a prominent cardiologist who noticed that all of his heart disease patients had common behavioral characteristics—the most obvious being that they were in a chronic rush (so much so that they wore the chairs in the doctor's waiting room down on the front first from sitting at the edge of the seats).

The increased pace of life has brought with it a rash of serious health problems, including heart attacks, palpitations, immune disorders, digestive ills, insomnia and migraine headaches. 

A prominent doctor, Barton Sparagon, said, "When you look at our heart rates, brain wave patterns—our basic physiology has not evolved to keep pace with the technology…we are hard-wired to be able to handle a "fight-flight" response where the stress ends within five to ten minutes. In our current culture though, we struggle for hours on end."

My good friend Ron Walborn, who heads up Nyack Seminary in New York teaches on this subject because it's so pervasive and pastors have to deal with it all the time.  Here's a quiz he put together to diagnose yourself:

1. Do you often feel in a hurry to get things done?
a. Never or rarely b. Occasionally c. Often

2. Do you tend to walk fast?
a. Yes b. No

3. Do you tend to talk fast?
a. Yes b. No

4. Do you get irritated or upset at other drivers or when stuck in traffic?
a. Never or rarely b. Occasionally c. Often

5. Do you find it difficult to just sit and daydream or recall memories?
a. Never or rarely b. Occasionally c. Often

6. Do your spouse, friends, or colleagues ever tell you to take it easy or slow down out of concern?
a. Never or rarely b. Occasionally c. Often

7. How often do you find yourself interrupting the person with whom you are talking?
a. Never or rarely b. Occasionally c. Often

8. Do you get impatient while waiting in line or in traffic?

a. Never or rarely b. Occasionally c. Often

So how did you score?  And if you are in a big hurry much of the time, what do you do?  Well, you weren't meant to live this way and you really owe it to yourself and your family to begin changing.  Walborn makes the following suggestions:

1.    Do not wear your watch for the day.
2.    Do not drive in the fast lane. Smile and wave at people who pass you and/or cut you off.
3.    Seek out the longest line to wait in. Recall fond memories, observe other people while you wait and pray for them.
4.    Listen to music in solitude and do nothing else for 15 minutes.

5.    Before adding a new activity, subtract an old one.

I'm sleeping in tomorrow morning and I'm going to drink some coffee and show up at the office late. I'll keep you posted...
(Taken from sethbarnes.com)