Stressed on Starbuck's?
So, we humans have two complementary aspects to our nervous system: the sympathetic and the parasympathetic.
Our sympathetic, known as the “fight or flight” component, ideally keeps us safe from mammoths marauding through our real estate and unfriendly tribes seeking to co-opt our uteri (is that a word?) to fatten the tribe’s population.
In our culture, however, we have turned this sympathetic function into an over-adrenalized lifestyle that equates excitement and stimulation with a life well lived.
I call this the “Starbuck State of Mind” or the caffeine driven rush to “DO”, at all costs.
In small doses, the sympathetics are a valuable asset to staying alive and well, but as a dominant way of moving in the world, we are left with sleepless nights, mind- numbing fatigue, sexless sex, and lives designed in a cuisinart. Sort of a chronic PMS state of mind!
Parasympathetic Mind
The balance resides in cultivating the other aspect of our wiring, the parasympathetic mind. It is in cultivating the 4 R’s of PSM that we flourish.
We feel creative. We feel that “let me at this day “ feeling. Inspirations well up. Visionary thinking appears. Deep wells of loving connection flood the numb spots.
Just think about the last really good massage you had or moments after deeply focused love- making and you will remember that you felt still, open, and connected, euphoric even, with an “all is right with the world” mind state. That is a parasympathetic state of mind!
The “gift of the 4 R’s” is the reward for cultivating PSM: REST, RELAX, RELEASE, & REPAIR. When we cultivate experiences that evoke the parasympathetics, we receive bliss free of charge and the more we conduct our lives from there, the deeper the rest, the relax, the release and the repair for whatever in our psyche (soul) or body needs repair.
Cultivating PSM in our lives begins with 4 questions asked lightly and gently of ourselves:
- What wants to rest?
- What wants to relax?
- What wants to release?
- What wants to repair?
Sit easily with these questions. Let the answers for TODAY bubble up, no efforting here. You are listening to a deeper truth rather than your mental myths. Be patient. Answers will come.
You have begun cultivating parasympathetic mind. Think of it as a seed bed that you cultivate. It is a garden requiring space and aeration and tending so that creativity, deep feeling, and deep rest can bloom.
Here are a few experiences that have helped me in my own cultivation.
- Go to Nature, it is your natural habitat and your true homeplace! Sit with a tree, your plants or near your bird feeder—any aspect of Nature. Go early in the AM before our planet revs up for its day or go at dusk when activity is waning. Breathe deeply as you say to yourself: “I live from my soul’s pleasure.” “Circumstances in my life come and go like the weather.” “My feelings come and go like the weather.” “Doors open. Doors close. I am safe. It is only change.”
- Make up your own phrases that create feelings of ease, release and comfort. Cultivate “habits of healing” replacing learned “habits of harm”.
- Discover music, movies, and animal relationships that move you, not stimulate you, but move you, evoking tears that well up and spillover, a deepening of your breath, and inspiring felt moments of release; delicious liberating release like a 3 day orgasm!
- Buy a giant bubble wand and bubbles. Go to your deck, yard or to the water and wave bubbles madly into the air. Watch them float skyward, catching each breeze, or bouncing on the water’s surface.
- Add words of love for yourself to each bubble. “I am well.” “I am kind and gentle in my thoughts.” “I am tender with myself.” “Every day above ground is a good day!”
- Cultivate the art of laughing deeply and crying the same. Be the actress, play the part until you feel it. Empty yourself regularly. Risk it. You will repair psychically and physically. You will live more for your soul’s pleasure.
- Download “Turning Depression Into Expression” www.MorganaMorgine.com FREE FROM ME to THEE!
Be Well. Espresso in moderation, but espress you exuberantly! OMG, that is so cheesy…..
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