Fanciful Thinking: Falling For Fun

There's this doctor I know. He's a great friend, semi-retired,  and looks like he ought to be the serious type. He isn't. But he is smart.

Today we got on the subject of anxiety. Considering the fact that Israel and Iran might be on the brink of war, millions of people around the world are starving or at best struggling to survive, there is a meteorite (or some kind of giant thing) out there hurtling toward earth, and Barak Obama just might be a Muslim with a wife who isn't proud to be an American...

What-ifs came up. 

He leaned sideways in a chair, clasp his sturdy hands together and made that mischievous smile that I've learned means something is cooking in that well-balanced mind.

"I was driving along Sunset (boulevard in Los Angeles) the other day in my Lexus, with the sun setting on the horizon," he said. "Now since the earth is round and it's always turning, thank goodness for gravity."

He started laughing. His glasses bounced sideways on his nose. He held his arms out in front of him making a circle, fingers touching. 

"I imagined myself, in my car, falling off the earth, floating or something, just out there," he said in spurts and starts.  "What would happen, if gravity just let go, and I was on the underside of the planet?"

This was funny. He wasn't anxious about it all, it was just a fanciful idea. Laughter is contagious, you know. The whole anxiety thing had taken a turn on its axis which brought up the giant rock in space problem.

Now, the big deal with this meteorite is that when it hits, it will smash to smithereens the whole city of Los Angeles, assuming that's where it hits.

"Los Angeles is this tiny little place, but the desert is this huge area," he said. "So what are the chances it will hit some relatively tiny place within a great big mass of land? It's not even going to get close until something like 2029."

He's laughing again. 

Here's the point. It is possible to worry about all kinds of things, some of them really serious. But there are a lot of very capable, well trained people who are working everyday to make our world and the people who live on it, safer and more secure. Worrying, hand-wringing is pointless. Like they say at AA meetings, I'm paraphrasing here. Change what you can, let go of the rest, and know the difference.

Really now, falling off the world in your Lexus... 

What do you think?  

   

Yes, You Do Have a Third Eye. How to Use It.

I like to watch people. You're not supposed to do that in yoga class, so I make a real effort to watch myself. That's where the third eye comes in to play. It located just above the eyebrows (doesn't matter if you have one or two), right in the middle. This is supposed to be the place of wisdom. Since it is up there with the ears, noses, and eyes, it also relates to the sinuses.

So, here are some tips for those of us with sinus problems. 

1. If you're not sure whether you belong to this group, ask yourself if you sniffle like a puppy especially when you put your head on your pillow at night.

2. Okay, so you're in the sinus club. Here's the deal, you've got an imbalance. Might be hormonal which gets us women off the hook. We can be as nutty as you please and say it is sinus congestion. Or it may be connected to the nervous system which would explain the depression that could accompany the distress of puppy sniffling and the associated discomfort.

3. Now lets assume you get depressed from this malady. I do. It's so annoying. quite possibly you've lost touch with your creativity. Maybe you have problems focusing and concentrating, feel confused and negative. 

4. Does this sound like you? Have you lost track of direction and intellectual stimulation? In other words, do you hang out on the sofa, eat comfort food, and watch TV a lot? Do you hate your job and feel wiped out at night?

Here are some solutions.

1. Get in touch with your intuitive self.  Yoga is a good way to do this, but not the only way. Pay attention to what's going on around you. What part of it do you like, and hate. Admit to the truth, don't waste anymore time complaining.

2. Stay with this awareness and stand up straight. Hold your head up. Find your backbone and search out your heart's direction. Work at it with some kind of meaningfulness, even if it doesn't pay money, and talk about your high ideals out loud. 

3. Devote yourself to this endeavor and allow your intuition and imagination to flourish. You can still be straight-laced, even stodgy if you're more comfortable that way while you experience oneness with your higher self, gaining that sense of oneness that liberates the soul.

4. Now your integration, strength of self since you've let go of that outer depression and discouragement will allow you to release your anxiety. You don't need it anymore. You've found your self-realization and mastery. You could even do something out of your usual routine or comfort zone.

This may not be the answer to your lousy roommate problem or financial misfortunes, but by now a few weeks, maybe months have gone by, and you are probably healthier and happier.

So if the sniffles still bother you, then you may have a deviated septum or some allergy to grasses, or something else like that. I've heard that three tablets of beta carotene three times a day for three days helps cure allergies. I'm no doctor, I just heard that while watching and listening to people. 

At least this way, you might not support the pharmaceutical industry. I felt kind of dizzy after 90 minutes of third eye work, but it was a good dizzy and just for awhile.

I think I've gained wisdom, too, since I can pass this on to you.

Try it.  

Putting Pain in Prospective: Squats and Butt-Cheeks

I am not feeling so peaceful today, although I'm definitely in the moment. There were so many squats in yoga class on Saturday that it has translated to butt-check pain today. My mantra of looking better in jeans through yoga leaps to mind with a sharpness as I sit here. 

I will do squats again, but for now I've a real pain in the rear problem to solve.

Two pillows luxuriously wrapped my backside in feathers, but did nothing for the pain.

I've tried sitting on the front edge of the chair with only the smallest part of my rear-end touching anything but then my back hurt, and somehow at that angle my elbows stuck out at 45 degree angles that caused my arms to ache when I held them over the computer and typed. There's no room to scoot my laptop back for better leverage.

Shifting about halfway back on the chair and tilting my knees toward the floor raised my backside off the chair enough that it didn't hurt. The upper thighs took all the pressure. This caused them to splay out fatter than they have ever been. The wall mirror made it look worse than it probably was, but what a sight to see, or preferably, not to see. If that wasn't bad enough my boobs pooched forward, my back arched, and my shoulders hiked up to my ears. 

I'd have not looked toward the mirror and kept going but circulation stopped south of the mid-thigh area. Straddling the chair solved nothing, sitting cross-legged crushed the bottom ankle bone, one leg up and one leg down was just plain lop-sided and useless.

There is, however,  a solution to every problem, right? So, I asked myself... 

What would my elderly aunt do? She sleeps about four hours a night, works around her farm all day, cooks, shops and sits down only to do genealogy stuff on the computer for a hour or so at a time. She'd stand up.

What would my mother do? She'd find a position on the sofa and read all day.

My husband? He'd go to work and tough it out, then grumble his way into bed probably putting his pajama bottoms on wrong side out.

My son would eat pizza and brownies and sparkling cranberry juice, take Advil, then complain about his stomach hurting and ask me what to do. Meantime, he'd figure some way to play video games to distract himself.

My daughter would load up on Advil and go shopping for new bras. (she wouldn't have to sit down once she was out of the car)

My best friend would heave out one of her deepest sighs, laugh in my face, remind me about the similar pain of horseback riding, take a drag from her cigarette (we all wish she would quit), click her pink-painted fingernails, look right over my head all high and mighty, blow out that stupid smoke and say, "Get a freaking cushion, take the Advil (I'm very anti-medicine), unplug the laptop and work somewhere else." She's always been very earthy and grounded, so to speak.

I've decided I'm getting some iced tea and watching television from some position on the sofa. Guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.  Maybe I'll call my mom and we can chat, too. Hope she's home. 

 

Any ideas? I'm open for suggestions.