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  • Stress blog

  • April 21, 2009

    Create a no-stress zone

    By Edward T. Creagan, M.D.

5 comments posted

Every once in a while, each of us has a sense of total peace and contentment — being "in the zone." This happened to me this morning. Let me explain.

As is my routine, I got up when my alarm rang at 4:50 a.m. I grabbed my weather-appropriate clothes for running, which I keep close at hand. (If I have to spend time looking for them, I will never get out the door.) The morning was overcast with a hazy mist.

The only sound I heard was my breathing. No horns, no whistles, no people, no dogs and, equally importantly, no cell phones or PDAs. It was one of those magical moments that we all experience when we are enveloped by a sense of peace and the feeling that, yes, we can achieve an inner happiness.

I deliberately did not drift off into the challenges of the day. The deadlines, the challenging clinical cases, the endless stream of e-mails and phone calls — all the intrusions on our peace, serenity and sense of well being.

The lesson for me has been well-articulated by great thinkers and writers and many of you in the blog community. The answer is really pretty simple: We need time alone, time to think and time away from the distractions of the boardroom, the classroom, the control center. We need time to simply "be."

Am I being clear on this or perhaps in the midst of some minor hallucination? Please speak up. We need each other.

5 comments posted

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April 21, 2009

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