Lower Your Blood Pressure, Read More Books

Have you noticed that people are way too touchy these days about everything? A guy walking to a shopping center earlier today stopped beside a car who had pulled a little too far into the crosswalk. He stopped walking and stood over the car of this poor woman and yelled all kinds of profanities, because she was in his way. He could have walked around without making a big issue about it, but he didn't. So, she and the rest of us who were behind her had to wait until he was finished ranting before we could go.

A couple of weeks ago, a guy in my one of my college classes got all bent out of shape because I was chewing a pretzel and he could hear it crunching in my mouth. I now try to sit away from his bionic ears.

My mom joined an aerobics class for seniors and when I asked how she liked it, she said she loved it, but she couldn't believe how rude some of the women in the class were. One woman, rather than welcoming her to the class, informed her that she had taken "her" chair from the stack that sat against a wall. My mom apologized and offered her the chair, and received a dirty look in return as the woman turned away. When she asked the instructor if they had specific chairs assigned, the instructor laughed and said that of course they didn't. They were all the same!

Then, of course, there are all the drivers that are so busy flipping people off that they practically get into accidents in order to let another person know that they are angry.

People seriously need to chill out and read more romances and women's fiction books -- LOL.
No really! There have been studies that reading reduces stress by 68%, even more than music or going for a walk.

It's gotten so bad that when I sat down at a coffee shop a few minutes ago to work on this blog and I went to plug my laptop into a plug that a guy at the table in front of me was using, I had to brace myself for what he'd say. When he, instead, reached across and plugged it in for me, I was shocked that he had been kind.

It's pretty bad when kindness, courtesy, or a nice word is the exception and not the rule. What's wrong with people?

My wish for the day: that everyone let at least one offense slip past without reacting to it. No flipping off or honking at a car that cuts you off (maybe they just didn't see you). No giving dirty looks to a poor mom with screaming kids (she's probably tired and overwhelmed and feeling horrible enough as is). No taking out your frustrations on being over billed on a clerk who isn't in the billing department (coming from a woman who found out her bank made a $300+ error this week - and no I didn't yell at the teller or even the manager, but I did clear up the error and got my money back).

If you're looking for a good book to read, I recommend Kathy Murillo's WAKING UP IN THE LAND OF GLITTER. I'm reading it and enjoying and I know my blood pressure goes down as soon as I open the cover.

Have a great weekend!!

Julia