Sunday, September 25, 2011

Stress-Free Weekend

What happens to me is this... I'm going along fine and feeling pretty decent. The better I feel, the more I feel like doing. I keep doing, doing, doing, and suddenly I don't feel so decent anymore. This usually leads to a feeling of being unbelievably overwhelmed.. to the point that I'm not feeling so clear about anything anymore. By the end of the week my head is buzzing.

My grounding tip... Go to bed. Get some rest. Forget fun. Forget obligation. Sleep till you get that pressed-down feeling in your bed, and even if life is happening all around you, don't get up till you know you've slept late. Then get up and move slowly. Really slowly. Don't get too far away from a chair or a bed. I did it this weekend. I feel sooo much better. It works.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

A wounded heart is the most likely to wound....

Dozens of times I've read about the world being a mirror. That was very cryptic. Now I understand it. People project their beliefs out into the world. If my heart has been broken four times, then I'd expect the fifth love to come along and break it as well.That's the cycle... the self-fulfilling prophecy. And what's very strange is that the person who has been hurt will often say and do some very mean things to you. It's the "I'll get you before you get me" syndrome. Eckhart Tolle refers to "pain-bodies"-- the hurt places within that are triggered by the most innocuous things. So my grounding tip is to beware the walking wounded because they may just strike out. But don't take it personally because 9 times out of 10 (don't quote me on that), it's not about you at all.

The other day I told a student who has a very caustic attitude that he needed to stop addressing me in such a harsh tone. He said, "People are always yelling at me." I said, "But I don't yell at you. I never yell at you. I speak nicely to you." He looked at me with surprise and said, "Oh. I'm sorry."

Saturday, September 3, 2011

One well-lived day at a time rewrites your history.

That idea came to me a few months ago. And I believe it. There's a statistic about our only using some tiny fraction of our brain power. Couple that with the amount of time that our society actively encourages us to waste time, and you can see why so many people are not happy with themselves. Notice how there is nolonger a commercial interruption between television shows. Or notice how they play marathons of your favorite shows back to back to back. We are suckered into becoming passive consumers of whatever advertisers are paid to sell us. Such a lifestyle will leave you wanting for damned near everything you've ever desired... and never getting it. (I won't even mention addiction to the social media!)

So we've got to push ourselves against the 21st century tide. For me that means carrying my sneakers in the car so I can get some walking in at the end of some days. I have to set up my crockpot so I can have some slow food cooking, so I don't fall into the fast-food trap. I have to leave behind the idea of a comfort zone because, as I wrote before, a wide comfort zone won't get me what I want. And I also have to get enough sleep, because if I'm tired, I won't feel like doing any of the stuff that truly satisfies me-- like exercising, writing, and eating good healthy homemade food.

If I incorporate these things into my life, I am a happier wife, mother, family member, and friend. And I have well-lived days. If I don't I become irritable and annoyed, and generally dissatisfied-- creating ugly chapters in my personal history book. So I'm really trying to keep from falling for the easy outs that can take away my control of my desired destiny.