Sometimes when I am folding laundry or ironing I like to watch television or a movie. Today I was disappointed that PBS didn’t have the last night’s episode of Downton Abbey up yet. Then I noticed the TED channel on Roku and decided to look for Kelly McGonigal talk to watch. She was recommended to me last month. I just watched her talk about rethinking the effect of stress on our bodies. She said that we have commonly believed that stress can shorten our life. She suggested that is the belief that stress can shorten our life is  what will shorten it. If we look at stress as our body’s efforts to prepare us to face a challenge it will strengthen us.

Near the end of her talk she said that caring for others can delete the negative affects of stress on our health. Caring creates resilience. How we think and choose to act can transform the effects of stress. Our actions determine what stress does to us. By looking at stress in a positive way it allows us to say, “I can trust myself to face life’s challenges.”

This was a very interesting idea. I especially like the idea that, “Caring creates Resilience.” This goes well with The Birthday Project. Doing things for others takes the focus off of me and the challenges in my life.

We have a new YW president in our ward and today I am going to take her a note of encouragement and one of my personal progress holders.