problems

Who out there is experiencing a high level of stress these days? Show of hands? Yeah, I thought so.

Well, you’re not alone. I had three—count ‘um—three Level-Five (Level Five being, there aren’t enough mantras, pharmaceuticals or fucks-to-give that can remedy this shitstorm)—stressful situations to handle before noon today.

That was AFTER I talked my husband down off the ledge.

So I feel you. I know what you’re going through, and I have one piece of advice. (Which I had to remind myself of every ten minutes).

Me: Mother of god, my mind is racing and it’s driving me nuts!

Better Part of Me: Stop and listen to it. That dialogue, diatribe, or sorry-ass monologue that the devil wrote and is repeating on an endless loop in your head right now? Ask yourself this:
Is it helping you—or hurting you?

Me: Shit. Thanks. I almost forgot.

Better Part of Me: Is it calling you names and telling you how much you fucked up?

Is it kicking you while you’re down?

Is it making shit up? Terrible; awful; life-or-death shit?

Is it making this problem seem like it’s the worst thing that’s happened in the history of the world; or since Donald Trump decided to run for President?

Then it’s NOT helping you and you need to tell it to “SHUT THE HELL UP!”

That voice is the voice of your childish, fear-filled mind. And it has NO IDEA what it’s talking about!

Would you take advice from a scared child? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

Take a walk.
Take a nap.
Take a drive.
Play some music.
Pet your cat.
Read a book.
Meditate.

Do anything you can to change the station. You will never find the solution inside the energy of the problem.

After a while the little brat will get tired; and then I’ll take out my earplugs and finally be able to get a word in edgewise.

That’s when the good ideas will come.

That’s when you find the missing piece to the puzzle.

That’s when you’ll be able to take a deep breath (I know this, and I still walked around blue, holding my breath for an hour).

That’s when you see the light.

That’s when you find forgiveness.

That is when you realize that you’re on a tiny blue planet, spinning in an insignificant part of the galaxy—and none of this shit really matters anyway.

Me: Whew! What a relief!

Carry on,
xox

We’ve all been there.

We have the practical knowledge coupled with the willingness, which is a tough thing to gather together at the same time really. We usually only have one or the other at any given moment.

We are ready to tackle – for good – a situation, relationship or problem that we’ve been chewing on for awhile.

Conquer. We are going to conquer it. For good this time.

We are ready to transmute it and send it back from whence it came.

So……what were we supposed to say?

How were things supposed to be handled?

What was that opening line that was going to finally start the conversation?

Oh shit. We’ve lost our nerve.

We’re not ready.

This will NEVER work.

We can’t do this.

Now We’re stuck.

Here’s a great tool that will help you become un-stuck.
My friends and I have become obsessed with it, it’s THAT good.
It’s a chant to Ganesh, the Hindu elephant God, the remover of obstacles; done beautifully by Deva Premal.

http://youtu.be/OTFWfD7L5QA

One of my friends had a sticky situation with an old friend, we chanted as a group, she downloaded it and chanted everyday, and in less than a week the situation had resolved….itself.
Favorably.
That’s some pretty good stuff.

Don’t say you don’t have the time. You do.

Don’t say you don’t like chants. This one’s gorgeous – and effective.

Don’t stay stuck.

Go ahead, unburden yourself – start the weekend with a chant.

You’re welcome. 😉

*Thank you Danielle LaPorte for turning me on to this.
DanielleLaPorte.com

Xox

I was discussing intuition the other day with someone I love.
I will call her: My sister. Yep, we had blabbed over salad, about the kids and my new class and we had worked our way to discussing intuition, you know, just like you all do.
I was reiterating how in my experience, intuition’s not loud, it doesn’t yell, it is never a question and it just keeps repeating itself, over and over.

She looked at me and said: How am I supposed to hear it, over that other voice in my head? The loud, snarky, judgy one, that says we shouldn’t order the cake.
Right?
Call him ego, call him the devil, call him whatever you want. He’s an asshole. Michael Singer in “The UnTethered Soul” refers to that voice as “The Room Mate” which I love. The ever present pest.

Here’s the answer. Short and sweet.
YOU ARE NOT THAT VOICE. You are the listener. Let that sink in.

Just tell that guy to: Shut the F up.
After he’s been on his endless, negative rant about my weight or my bank account or my age, I give him 10 seconds to say something positive, or he MUST shut up.
That’s a trick, because it’s impossible for him. Those words just don’t exist in his vocabulary and it renders him speechless.
Ahhhhh quiet.
THEN I can hear intuition’s voice.

I do it in the car, in meditation, in the shower and the bewitching hour…3AM.
My friend Sally and I did it on our hike.
We just demanded that that scoundrel: Shut the F up.
I’m sorry, but cursing is required here, he doesn’t respond to polite requests.
He’ll just call you a weak suck and criticize your grammar.
We then laughed through the rest of our walk.

Mind you, it takes practice and in the beginning he doesn’t stay away for very long.
He’s like a wild, untrained 8 week old puppy, peeing all over your hopes and dreams. He needs boundaries and it takes discipline. 
But we MUST, all, set these boundaries with the voices in our heads.

They are not us. We are the listener, we call the shots, we get to turn the channel.
This listener prefers the Positive Channel over the Worry Channel.
The Worry Channel has a 24 broadcast cycle with a huge audience, but it makes me sick…literally.
So now you know the secret. Cuss him on his way, and get some peace and quiet.

What’s the name of your pest? What tricks do you have to share?
Start a conversation in the comments, won’t cha?

XoxJanet