How To: Determine Your Stress Level In 2 Seconds

Are you stressed out right now? How stressed are you? Are you “I need a vacation” stressed or “I need to go to the hospital” stressed? This is a way for you to find out in 2 seconds, thus avoiding a time consuming visit the doctor. Of course, this is all in good fun. I wouldn’t trust this to make any kind of accurate medical or psychological prognosis, but you know that.

When I first found the website with these images, it was 3:30am, completely dark in the room, and I was just about to make coffee. I saw these pictures moving very slowly, and then I read the text. These images were designed by a Japanese psychiatrist named Akiyoshi Kitaoka.

Bottom line, if you look at these and they are not moving, that means you are relaxed. If you look at these and they are moving slowly or even moderately, you are a little bit stressed and could use a vacation. If you look at these and they are moving really, really fast, you better call 911 cause some shit is about to start falling off of you at any minute. Just kidding, but it does mean that you are seriously feeling the stress. Take a chill pill immediately.

The really crazy part is that when I relaxed and took a long deep breath, they stopped moving. When I purposely thought about something stressful, they started moving fast. Once again it goes to show how powerful our brain is, and how what you are seeing with your eyes may not be what the person next to you sees. This, along with our life, is all a matter of perspective. It reminds me of an article I wrote last year called Right Brain vs. Left Brain. It has a video of a ballerina dancer in it. By changing the way you are thinking, you can see her spinning in a different direction. It’s wild trippy stuff for sure!