I just signed up to try this. Thank you, Annie!

I just realized when I responded to your other thread that I hadn't to this one. I've been doing these meditations for a week now and like them much better than some other guided meditations I've done. Also sent them to a couple of friends. Thanks for these helpful posts Annie.

Yes, Stinky. That is pretty much me in a nutshell. Funny, while preparing for the party, I gave my niece and daughter assignments. My SIL was playing tourist in our town and wasn't there. Jaime was chopping olives, Aimee was tearing 6 heads of lettuce and I was assembling the eggplant and reheating sauces. The twins (8 yrs old) were entertaining us by speaking German with a Brittish accent. We were busy working and laughing when SIL walked into the kitchen. This was around 1:00 and the party was slated for 3:00. We had plenty of time! SIL announces that everything must be totally done by 2:00. The mood instantly changed as Jaime and Aimee suddenly felt stressed. I said, Marlene, the food will be done when the food gets done. Dinner is on us. She said, the olives are being chopped too small. Jaime's face turned beat red. I said, "Marlene, rest assured that I checked the specs and the olives are perfect. We are used to cooking together and you are just going to have to trust us. Can you do me a favor and set up the beverages on the deck? The bags of ice are in the freezer, the beer and drinks are in the fridge. The tub is on the deck next to the garden so we can dump out the water afterwards into the garden. That will help us finish faster." When she walked out, we didn't say a word about it but we all just started cracking up and went back to our conversation and tasks at hand. But sheesh, it was as if she had a rain cloud over her head when she walked into the kitchen. She set up the beverage center flawlessly and I was grateful. SIL and I talked on the phone about the incident later and I laughed and said, that was a true 'only child' moment. She admitted it was but still thought the olives were chopped too small. I laughed. I would hate to live my life around self imposed deadlines.

Annie, meditation is something I've been thinking about doing for a long time. Maybe now is the time. Yep, I'd say it is. Now I just have to learn how to do it. Is there any special trick to getting into that state of mind? I should add that when I get really stressed now, as soon as possible I plug my Bose (a gift from hubby for just these times) into my iPod that has only Dan Fogelberg songs on it. I close my eyes and slowly let the music take me away from whatever is stressing me, like I did yesterday after having driven through rush hour traffic from one side to the other of Omaha. I don't know how anyone can do that on a daily basis. I got out of my car, ran to the passenger side, sat down and cried! I'd forgotten to bring my iPod to play while driving. Thankfully I had my cell so I opened up Youtube, grabbed the Skull Candy headphones I keep in my purse and listened until I relaxed. I also pray and give my worries to the Lord, but I feel Fogelberg's music is a gift, from Him, to sooth my soul when I'm overly stressed like I was yesterday. I'm just shocked there aren't more deadly accidents during rush hour. Those people are crazy! And this was after 8:30!