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Many of us
are facing great uncertainty about our financial future. We may have lost money
in the stock market or have been laid off from our job.
How do we
survive in these challenging times?
What I know
about myself is that when I let myself get too deep in fear, I'm not good for
much of anything. Anxiety takes over and I can't focus or concentrate.
I recommend
a "Media Break". My dear friend, Ken, and his partner, take media breaks
frequently. They agree to abstain from any media for a week. Ken reports those
are his most serene times. I whole-heartedly agree.
That's why I go to
Yosemite once a year and on meditation retreats where there is no contact with
the outside world.
If I were a
member of Congress or on the President's Advisory Council, I would have to keep
abreast of what's going on. But that's not the case, so I take care of what is
mine to take care of. Getting enough sleep, eating well, exercising, working,
playing and spending quality time with my friends and family. If I don't take
care of myself, I don't have much to offer others. I get cranky, irritable and
resentful.
I've spent
too many years in the service of everyone else. When I suffered a clinical
depression in 1990, I believe I hit a bottom in my co-dependency. I've been
working at changing myself since.
Some days I
do well. On others, I allow too many boundaries to be violated and I feel
resentful. I'm getting much better at noticing when I've over-extended myself.
When I do, I pull back and spent time in solitude to regain my sense of self
again.
I had a
nightmare this month. There was a huge man, larger than life, outside my window.
His huge hand was extended through my kitchen window....... reaching for me.
I awoke screaming for my mother. Who is that bigger than life man at my
window? And what does he want with his outreached h*/and?
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