Moving is Stressful

During these past several weeks we have been moving the Counseling Center from our downtown location to a suburb location. This move is a good thing as it provides us with more room and handicapped accessibility. Moving is stressful. Hans Selye, a Hungarian Canadian physician, studied and wrote about stress. He described both eustress and distress. A eustress is the stress accumulated by a person during a good thing, such as planning for a birthday party. Eustress is beneficial stress, the prefix “eu” means good. We know about distress and when we use the concept of “stress” we usually mean distress. Both eustress and distress are stressful. They are primarily experienced by the body and may exhibit both physical symptoms and behaviors. This is the principle of ‘I think I am doing better than I am.’ Transitions, such as moving, are stressful endeavors. As a part of my adjusting to this move transition, I want to be aware of the stress, i.e., eustress as well as distress, which I am experiencing in my body as well as by my behaviors as I adjust and adapt to this move, which is a good thing, but which also has consequences of which I desire to be mindful.

War No More

One of my all-time favorite songs is Bobby Darin’s, Simple Song of Freedom and especially the line “We Don’t Want War Anymore.” I think of that song as I see the news about the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. I think the Israel government is creating a generational anger and hostility that will play itself out for generations to come. Today’s leaders are creating Palestinian young people who will haunt the middle east with their anger long after these present leaders have passed from this life. I think the same for the Ukraine young people who will have an angry and hostile attitude toward Russia. The Bible speaks of the sins of the fathers playing out by later generations. Numbers 14:18, “The Lord is slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children to the third and fourth generation.” I believe our world would be a better place for generations to come if we did not want war anymore and our leaders reflected this spirit.