Rage is all rage these days. Road rage. Lineup rage. Waiting-room rage. Even river rage. You may also have heard of parking lot rage, elevator rage and airplane rage. What gives? Is world getting angrier or just more crowded?

Both. It’s a fact that as our space and time grow increasingly crowded, our stress levels rise.

When it comes to space, we are cramming more people into more crowded cities, elevators, airplanes, stores. Our patience diminishes. Our good will diminishes. Our tolerance diminishes. Has anyone noticed they place chairs at conferences – you noticed! -- so close together that even skinny people get to know each other well. My theory is that hotels are trying to develop their own niche rage market: conference seating rage.

Let’s look at our schedules. What are we trying to do? We’re trying to see how many items we can squeeze onto our “to do” list, and how many activities we can cram into a day. And stress, where does it go? Right up there, exactly.

I want to share this one little thought with you. We are in process of moving, so we actually have two homes. Stress that builds in my stacked concrete box apartment they call a condo, I can’t get rid of. It sticks. I can’t shake it off. It won’t go. It sticks. When I’m at my farm house just a few miles south of here, surrounded by grass and trees, it’s amazing how quickly I can just excommunicate stress. Can I say that? Excommunicate? Why not?

OK. What have we learned today? Three lessons, so please take note.

Number one, don’t let your space get too crowded.

Number two, don’t let your schedule get too crowded.

Number three, and this is most important of all, don’t ever, ever let a hippopotamus sit on your lap.

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