I’m willing to bet you know what this is about.
In the show “Seinfeld,” George’s father is advised by his doctor to say “serenity now” whenever he feels his blood pressure rising. But George’s dad, Frank, yells it every time, causing all kinds of new stress for himself and a snowball effect of problems for the people around him.
Frank Costanza was willing to use the words, but he failed on a huge factor–he didn’t actually want to be stress free. You’ve probably been there. It’s a totally frustrating situation and all you want to do is vent, vent, vent. It’s as if calming down won’t work unless the spinning-up happens first. I can relate. Plenty of times a friend tries to talk me through a problem, and my reaction is, “I’m not ready for that yet. I just want to be mad for a while first.”
Is there a way to achieve “serenity now?” There is! It’s gratitude, gratitude in the face of the most unworthy circumstances. That seems as crazy as Frank Costanza–being grateful for the things that stress you out. Believe it or not, it’s possible, and it works.
Look back at one or two very stressful or frustrating events in the past few months and think about how you benefited from the experience. The answer might be obvious, or you may have to do some mental gymnastics to tease a benefit out of it. But think about it until you can genuinely say that there was a positive side to that crappy situation. And then spend a moment being grateful for having had the experience.
Try to develop a mental habit of looking for a benefit when you are in a bad situation. If there’s no obvious answer, you may have to get a little creative or silly. Regardless, the process of doing this will help transition you from stress to calm—IF you are willing to release the frustration and accept the calm. And, well, it might take a little practice. In the meantime, you can simply yell SERENITY NOW!
What stressful event did you find a reason to be grateful for? Please tell me about it!
