Easy STRESS REDUCTION plan …

Recently I decided to try out this easy plan for reducing stress. You simply settle back in the most comfortable position of your choice, close your eyes and start counting slowly ... the whole time visualizing your stresses taking wing.

I do as instructed and start counting ... ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR ... I barely make it to FIVE before I see my auto insurance payment sprouting wings and drifting away.

“Wow, this is really working” I think. SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT ... and suddenly I’m taking flight. I can’t see my own wings, of course, but I trust that they have sprouted. I feel myself lifting high and I float with ease and complete serenity. I wonder where I am but it doesn’t really matter. I am stress free and it’s an amazing feeling.

I continue to count ... THREE HUNDRED AND TWO, THREE HUNDRED AND THREE .. and I find that the fog seems to be lifting and I am gently settling back to earth. But, wait, this is not earth that I touch but a sort of heavy wood.

I'm on a ship and if I’m not mistaken I’m “walking the plank”! I try desperately to stop counting. I can see the water roiling below me but I can’t stop the count. I’m up to THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY and a great weight is pushing me off the edge.

As I plunge to my death I wonder what happened to my wings. I hit the water and realize that nothing can save me now. I can’t swim and I’m taking on water fast. I can’t remember a more stressful time but I keep on counting … FOUR HUNDRED AND EIGHT…FOUR HUNDRED AND NINE …

Suddenly, with a jolt, I awake and find that I am back in my own room. I breathe a huge sigh of relief. I’m alive and the stresses of my live seem mediocre at best.
“I can handle those”, I say to myself… ”THIS COUNTING THING REALLY WORKS !”