A teacher was walking in a forest with three of his students. They came upon a big boulder. The teacher stopped and he asked, “Do you think that boulder is heavy?”

The students looked at each other, thinking what a dumb question it was. “Extremely heavy,” answered one student with a chuckle.

“It’s only heavy,” said the teacher, “if you pick it up.”

He went on to explain how all of us try to carry the heavy weight of too many burdens in our lives. In an article by Joshua Becker, he says that death, loss, illness, worry, politics, financial hardships, grief, guilt, marital tensions and traumatic events are some of those burdens we carry upon our shoulders.

Becker points out that many of those burdens are outside of our control.

In a recent survey, elementary school children were asked, “If you were granted one wish for your parents, what would it be?” The number one answer from the kids was for their mothers and fathers to be less tired and less stressed.

Becker says that what consumer products we want and get for ourselves also brings us another certain level of anxiety. If I buy a new car, I will check it for scratches every day for at least a month. If I load up my house with high tech equipment, I’m thinking what’s going to malfunction and how will I fix it? I bought a new washing machine. Well, why isn’t it working? I just bought a new TV yesterday and today I see the same set in another store for much less than I paid.

Emotional burdens weigh the most upon us. While standing in a checkout line the other day, I glanced around at all the people and I thought that every one of them is carrying burdens that I know nothing about, some worse than others.

The lady smiling behind me might have lost her husband to cancer a few weeks ago. The man to my left? Maybe he lost his job. How about the little girl, looking so sad and clinging to her mother’s leg? It could be that they had to put down the family dog just yesterday.

But we hear others tell us: “Be strong. Don’t let your burdens weigh you down. If an ant can carry one hundred times its weight, then you can carry burdens many times your size.”

This kind of rallying cry might be motivational, but it’s often impractical. I saw what worrying did to my father. Unemployed for two years, he went to a trade school to learn how to service oil burners. Already in the beginning stages of emphysema, the soot from the oil burners that got into his lungs eventually cost him his job because the disease got so bad that he couldn’t walk 10 steps without having to stop and catch his breath.

I thought that my father would die from this specific illness, but that wasn’t to be the case. From the stress and worry, he developed bleeding ulcers and died at age 52 on the operating table from internal bleeding.

The American Psychological Association reports that three-quarters of American adults suffer from stress with symptoms of headaches, tiredness and depression. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration reports that 83% have daily work-related stress, and when we get older and retire, we take the physical and emotional consequences of that stress with us to the doctors and to the pharmacies — and even to the liquor cabinets in our homes.

So, what can we do about all that weight we are carrying?

Good Housekeeping offers some suggestions that science supports. Try breathing by blocking one nostril and breathing through the other. Then repeat with the other nostril. This activity has scientifically been proven to lower blood pressure and heart rate.

GH says that we should get up and dance! Get off the couch, put on good music and start stepping. Movement helps blood circulation, and if you might feel silly, that’s good, too. Being silly makes us laugh, and laughter is a great medicine to help detach us from our burdens.

If you’re not into dancing, GH suggests going for a walk. It’s an exercise that can boost the neurochemicals we have in our brains. Even in winter, a walk around the block can be invigorating.

Be creative. Paint a picture. Write a story. Sing karaoke to anyone who might agree to listen, or just sing along with the songs from your car radio.

Of course, there are other things to try. Meditation relaxes the mind. Yoga comforts the body. Take naps whenever possible. Pet your animal or someone else’s. GH says try chewing sugarless gum or splashing ice water on your face. There is scientific evidence that gum chewing releases helpful neurons to the brain and ice water activates your body’s relaxation system.

The most practical thing to do is to cross out some of the menial day-to-day tasks that occupy time and add to the stress level. If possible, do most if not all of your house chores on a Saturday. Leave Sunday to be a “do nothing” day.

Writer Mehmet Murat Ildan says, “There is an important difference between the burdens life puts on us and the burdens we put on our lives.”

So, the next time you see a big boulder in the woods or on the side of the road, take a heavy burden you are carrying and place it right next to the rock.

Your mind and your heart will thank you.

Email Rich Strack at richiesadie11@gmail.com