A Better To-Do List

Prioritise your list. You can put more important things at top, or put a mark next to them. Then start doing important things first every day. If, like myself, you need satisfaction of crossing off small things on list, do those only as a reward - after you do one of important tasks.

Make sure most important things get on your lists. That big trip to Nepal you're going to take "someday," may never happen until you break it into steps you can put on your list. In fact, it may be worthwhile to stop list-making altogether, until you clarify what IS important to you.

To break my list-dependency, I put things on my list just so I can ignore them to do more important things. You don't want to just "get busy," do you? If you want to move towards real values, you need to make your to-do lists work for you. Put that on your list for today.

Cough CPR.

There is such a remedy. It is a simple mechanical response, which can subdue destructive effects of emotional upheaval. One hint of this possibility appeared in a procedure advocated by Dr. Tadeusz Petelenz at a meeting of European Society of Cardiology to save lives of people having a type of heart attack brought on by rapid and erratic heart beat. He suggested coughing vigorously until an ambulance arrived. The technique, called cough CPR, forced blood to brain while heart was beginning to fail and kept patients conscious long enough to call for help. Other experts said concept was provocative, but unproven and doubted whether it would have practical value. But, could this process provide a clue to a response to stressful situations?

A simple response.

The muscle movements involved in coughing could also dissipate adrenaline. But, you could hardly cough on receiving a dismissal notice. But, at first sign of an uneasy emotion, you could pump your stomach. Repeatedly expel air by tightening stomach muscles close to pelvic area. Stomach pumping helps spread adrenaline in system and subdue that tension. It is a practice with endless benefits. When you pump your stomach, muscles that do not participate in process, relax. After you finish pumping, those muscles involved also begin to relax. So, action takes place in two stages. Both beneficial. With habit, it could be a simple, built in response to any stressful event. Long after Paul's window had opened, this habit could help still unbidden turmoil of your mind. Laughter is not easy. But pumping your stomach is. Even if you find it difficult to laugh in face of imminent danger, you can still become calm and ready for battle.