…today’s secret…Lions, gazelles, Thanksgiving, and stress.

Every day in Africa lions chase gazelles for supper. Every day in Africa gazelles run fast so not to be that supper.

Each has high-crisis stress during the chase. But then it’s over. One eats or doesn’t. One lives or doesn’t. Then it’s back to life in the savannah.

Thankfully, our brains also kick in like theirs with some coping hormones when we have a lion/gazelle physical crisis like blood loss or victimization.

Our problem is that we humans continue to worry about everything else. Money. Relationships. Work. Safety. Politics. TV remote missing. Yada. Yada.

One would think we would be smart enough to not let these things dominate our life. Not so. Over time we allow these stresses to create heart disease and/or some body disorder we can’t spell.

Thanksgiving week is upon us again – kicking off the annual holiday stress season.

So, this week is a good time to remind ourselves that the people we help also face the same seasonal stress as us – compounded by their basic chronic stressors like poverty, shelter, food, transportation…

But, unlike seasonal stress, their chronic stressors are prolonged. They can’t take some time off, exercise, meditate, play the guitar, or stop by the local bar and drink with friends.

My guess is that this time of year many see themselves as a slow-footed gazelle in a world full of lions.

I’m thanking you this Thanksgiving week for not being a lion.

I’m thanking you this Thanksgiving week for keeping them moving at whatever speed they can muster…