Shock Absorbers

     It's an odd thing to cross my mind.  Shock Absorbers.  If you think about it, we encounter shock absorbers in a lot of places in our lives.  Our cars, motorcycles and some of our bicycles have them.  You can get anti-fatigue mats and even insoles to protect your ankles and knees from the shock of walking on a hard surface.  Running shoes have them built in to protect you.  You can even get anti-vibratory gloves to protect your arms from the shock of using a jackhammer or riding a bike.  We go to great lengths to protect ourselves from the bumps and jostling that happens when we travel on a rough surface.  We don't even really notice they are there until they stop working.
     Our coping skills are also shock absorbers - just a mental kind of shock.  We travel through our daily lives and deal with bumps and rough spots all day long - even those of us who have not a lot to worry about.  Dealing with the alarm, getting ready for work or school, getting nourishment into us and then dealing with a commute or getting on a school bus or even just driving somewhere for whatever reason, we deal with little shocks.  Traffic can be a shock.  The car not starting or the bus running late can be a shock.  The train is crowded, there isn't a seat and you're carrying a heavy case or pack.  You get stuck behind a school bus.  You get stuck behind the kid on the bus who ALWAYS makes fun of you, or has an unfortunate body odor issue.  The lights don't go your way. Construction is blocking the road, narrowing three lanes down to one.  You get the idea.  All these little shocks, and you haven't even gotten to where you are going yet!
     So, our whole day is filled with these things, and they tax our coping skills.  Our shock absorbers get worn out.  With a car, or a bike, or even with a pair of running shoes, when they get worn out, we start to notice the ride or the run is getting rough, and we take care of it. It won't kill you if you don't replace them, but the ride or run gets very unpleasant and sometimes painful until you take care of it.
We replace the shock absorbers, and things get smoother again.  It's not perfect, but it's smoother and we can live with the ride or the run again.
     It's easier to replace mechanical, physical shock absorbers than it is to replace the mental ones.  We sometimes use physical things to replace the mental shock absorbers when they are worn out - we can escape into a book, or a movie or music that we enjoy.  That's pretty harmless for the most part.  We can be tempted to turn to drugs or alcohol to numb the shocks we feel, and that can lead to abuse of those substances.  The only way we can really repair our mental shock absorbers is to maintain our spiritual condition.  We need to make time to rest, to recuperate our mental balance, and we need to make time to connect with our Higher Power, in whatever form we understand that to be.  For me, that Higher Power is God.  Only by periodically connecting with our Higher Power, establishing and maintaining a relationship with that Higher Power, will our mental shock absorbers be restored.  The little bumps along the road will not throw us into the ditch - we will be able to ride through the rough patches with some grace and dignity.