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Show Two Kinds Of Tension By REV. W. LEE TRUMAN There are two kinds of tension. ten-sion. THE FIRST is the kind that puts drive into a person and spring into one's step, causing caus-ing some people to excel beyond what they had even hoped they would be able to achieve. The second is the kind which gives some individuals the shakes and causes them to come to pieces rather than unifying "their energy for a great achievement. THE REAL key to over- -coming most of our anxiety, and a great deal of inward destruction tension is the power of excited enthusiasm. What this does is to get the person out of the state of thin-skinned sensitivity which is the fuel for the bad type of tension. The rule of thumb is that the less one is aware of oneself, the less likely the . second type of tension will be a problem. YOU CAN put it on the scale and graph it just like a person's per-son's temperature. When enthusiasm goes down, tension ten-sion will increase. This is when a person needs to get busy. The answer often is to get away from the tension producing situation even for a brief period. It can be a walk down the street under the stars, driving to a park and watching children play ball, or sitting by a lake shore. It is necessary neces-sary to break the negative power of the situation. This is to allow you to be able to deal with it a little more objec- tively and recover your per- spective. WHEN I am under more pressure than I can handle and when the responsibilities get heavier than what I can deal with, I find myself not being able to produce as I know that I am capable of producing. When I find myself not caring, I know that it is time for me to go for a walk, go skiing, or something diversionary. I can spend eight hours doing do-ing something which does not allow me to think of anything else, and be totally, physically fatigued, then come back and deal with things that I could not even face before. I THINK each of us needs to nave that kind of escape route where we can retreat for a few moments or hours, and find again the antidote for depression, despair and tension. ten-sion. Put in other words, tension is so much a part of our modern day life, sometimes we have to run away from the world in order to get our strength to live effectively in the world. THERE ARE retreat houses sponsored by various churches where a person can go and a strict rule of silence is imposed. You do not utter a word as long as you are inside the bounds of the retreat. There have been times when I have needed this, and only if a person has experienced this can he know how this can refresh and rejuvenate the inner person. An Episcopal priest, John Thomas, wrote: "Silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves." I thought of Isaiah 3:15: "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength." Silence does lead to confidence con-fidence and confidence is the basis of strength, and strength makes a person more competent and certainly happier, which is the matrix of an enthusiastic person. ONE in-resident saint in a local church had a series of misfortunes, but she still had that quiet, calm, deep com- essenraetit:1 chair philosophy .H each trabteEoL, e. take care of uS,?.?. l3 troubles come 'at ?hp time, I take cart i LMlne! them. I gue ."Ioir because yoa L ,m . jsn'tav'fe.fe. """gh. if I were rich v"" tefullyan,,, the hands of the n made each of is persons we are. ni1- |