Pet cat definition: To touch a small domestic animal, commonly known as Felis Catus.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

The seas were angry that day.

Go for a walk with my yellow lab, Lily. Works for me every time.

quote:

Originally posted by mrbill345:

Wail on a heavy bag

Yes, I have heard that crying can be cathartic. But most people use a handkerchief or tissue.

Turn the nut counter-clockwise.

Come to Sigforum, go to the zen or memes threads.

+1 for yoga. The gym was a focus for much of my youth. Too beat up/can’t do what I could, so I just find it frustrating.

If anyone else did very stupid things in their youth, yoga can help, tremendously, if it’s not the simpering hippy junk, and a solid exercise focused one. (I usually try to find an Ashtanga class.)

walk/play with the dogs

clean guns particularly shine nickel revolvers

exercise

I usually pick up a guitar or cigar box guitar.

I do exercise almost every day. I have a dog who I swear is the only reason I am sane. I make sure he gets exercise before I do & he's a great cuddler. I also have motorcycles & they are great at taking stress away. However, if I am particularly stressed/upset, I find visiting an old cemetary really soothing. I look at all the dates & imagine life back then. When I am done I am totally relaxed & thankful. Sounds odd, but works for me.

quote:

Originally posted by apprentice:
Stop watching/listening to the news. You'll thank me.

This has also worked wonders for me. I watch some of the local news, but anything national, nope. If I want to find out things that are going on in the world I have sources, but to sit and watch the news. I don't think so.

Step 1: Stay off Facebook. Avoiding contact with idiots on social media works wonders.

Step 2: Don't watch the mainstream media. Not listening to biased liberal idiots who feel the need to sensationalize even the most trivial of issues will help your blood pressure immensely.

Now that you've cut out the artificial stressors in your life, you can focus on the real day-to-day ones. Everybody has them. My choice of coping methods consist of running (I hate it, but you feel better physically and better about yourself afterwards), range time, reloading bench time, fishing on our local lakes from my little boat, and time with my wife and kids. If I can combine the family time with the other activities, all the better.

About twice a year we try to get away and go on vacation as a family. My goal is always to drive somewhere far enough away that we won't encounter anyone we know, and remote enough that my cell phone won't work. We like to camp in the mountains or the high desert out west...it's a drive, but it's a great way to relax and spend time outdoors as a family without external distractions.

I'll pay to get a message if I'm carrying stress in my muscles. I listen to an audio book on my drive to and from work, which prevents me from thinking about work and is a good way to isolate work from the personal life.

Knocking out a bunch of little tasks can help me feel productive, which makes me less stressed. Wash a car, sharpen some knives, clean a gun, fold some laundry, wipe down a counter, scan some documents, empty a trash bin, polish my shoes, cycle batteries onto the charger, run a backup on the computer, put gas in the car, etc.

Damn near every day, come home from work, turn the computers/phones/iPads off and do some gardening. Pulling weeds, trimming, watering. This followed by a delightful sit in a hammock chair hanging from my live oak with an adult beverage in hand.

That I can voice in public...............
Just kidding, guitars and making knives!!!!!

Laying with my kitty reading SF, just what Im doing now.



These things are great for stress. Here's helping me prep for Black Friday.



Gray is OK too.

Back roads on a beautiful day on the old BMW motorcycle....

The bike is a 1967 R50, Black, not a fast type of machine. More a slow putt putt putt....

35 - 40 mph, nobody in front of me, nobody behind, twisty roads, some so rural they don’t even paint a line on them.

One particular ride last summer, in just such a place, I saw a flicker just 5-10 feet off the road on my left. Very rural, trees on both sides, houses few and far between.
I looked again at this flickering thinking it might be a bird on a limb, flapping its wings. As I come up on the spot (things happen slow at 35mph) I see two deer just off the road, the flickering isn’t, they are twitching their ears. Chasing away some flies.
So quiet and slow nobody spooked anybody.

quote:

Originally posted by Chris42:

Back roads on a beautiful day on the old BMW motorcycle . . . 1967 R50

What a great motorcycle!

My first BMW was an R50, I bought it new in 1960, from Butler & Smith (the U.S. importer). They had a retail store in NYC, where I was living / working at the time, fresh out of USN.

The price at the time was just under $1,000.00, new.

Fond memories.

• The guy in the Bentley who wanted to drag race for titles.
  
  
• The day that I was on my way to meet a friend for a beer at a tavern in Greenwich Village after work on Friday. A bunch of motorcycles turned in front of me from a side street, onto the street that I was on, so I inadvertently wound up as "tail end Charlie." Me, in dressed for work in a suit, on a practically silent BMW, trailing a line of obnoxiously loud Harleys ridden by actual or wannabe greasy bad-asses. Cop stops the line, moves from one motorcycle to the next, telling them that they have five minutes to get out of the area or be cited for noise. Cop gets to me at the end of the line, tells me to start my engine, I politely tell him it's running. Cop asks my permission, opens the throttle a bit, listens to the quiet purr of the engine, tells me it's nice, and when I ask, tells me no, I do not have to vacate the area within five minutes.
  
  A few minutes later, I am looking for a parking place near the tavern where I am meeting my friend. Same cop comes along, tells me to park in a "No Parking" zone. I point to the sign, he says that he is the only cop on duty in the area for the rest of his shift, so I won't get a parking ticket, he will keep an eye on my BMW and make sure that it is not disturbed.
  
  
• There were some great weekend rides up the Hudson River valley, in Rip Van Winkle country.

I really miss that bike. It was stolen while I was in class at Brooklyn PolyTech.

quote:

Originally posted by Pyker:
Stroke my cat(s)

Me too, though its only one cat. I enjoy chilling out on the couch with him in my lap purring away.

Swim 3400 yards 3 x a week and go to the gym twice a week.

If I don't I can really feel the stress building up. Swimming 3400 yards in an hour really clears the mind. You get to that point that you have to focus on just completing a set that you forget everything else. Better than drugs

I'll build stuff. Wire, Legos, wood, aluminum, whatever. Squeezing off a few magazines also helps.