Excerpt from Daily Cures, Wisdom for Healthy Aging by Connie Mason Michaelis
You probably remember the day when everyone had a telephone with a coiled cord. The new-fangled cord was invented in the ’50s to replace straight cords because they broke too easily. Today, most people have cell phones or portable phones that don’t have cords, but in the office, we have landlines with cords. Recently I was sitting at my desk answering my phone, and the cord had become so tightly twisted I could hardly get the phone receiver to my ear. I’m sure you remember the remedy. You have to take the phone off the cradle, hold it up in the air by the cord, and watch the spinning receiver until all the tension is released and the cord is straight. Voilá, the problem is solved for the moment. It takes a few minutes, but it is effortless.
This was the lesson for me, and perhaps you might identify. Put simply, when life is full of tension, stop, and unwind! It is such a simple but powerful principle. Sometimes we become so overwrought we can hardly put one foot in front of another, we need to stop and release the tension! Like the coiled phone cord, we are going through repetitive thoughts and motions that create anxiety. We are not able to solve the problem because our brains have become too rigid. Using the phone cord remedy metaphor, we may need to take the phone off the hook (maybe that means not talking about the problem for a while) and hold on to the top of the cord (that might be a prayer or an act of submission) and then let loose of it. If you release the tension, in a short time, you have a fresh attitude and new energy to solve the problem.
“Taking time to do nothing brings everything into perspective.” Doe Zantamata
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