Swallowed by your insanity

You get swallowed up in the events of the moment, wrench yourself in several directions, and wish you can escape. It's the choosing to extricate oneself out of an emotional whirl that many people forget is an option. Yes, your world is going to hell but you don't have to dwell on it. You don't have to live it every moment. It's only part of your world as a whole. Focus on a small part. A tiny teeny part. A part where you felt peaceful. A part where you saw wondrous beauty that took your breath away. Remember it. When other thoughts intrude, push them away and return to your peaceful spot.

I've been using this method to get through this time. My perimenopause has put my emotions into a real roller coaster so events that normally would not have caused much turmoil in my life are triggering waves that threaten to swallow me. I obsess. I can't focus on the tasks at hand. I don't hear people around me as I dwell on the event that has upset me so much.

My point of calm is an image of a waterfall cascading down a wooded cliff. When I find myself obsessing over something, I put a rubber band onto my left wrist and snap it, then bring up the image of the waterfall. The next time the obsession comes back, I snap the rubber band and remember the image. I've gotten now to the point where all it takes is the snap of the rubber band to stop the obsessing. Thank gawd!

The construction guys are busy installing sewer pipe and banging and beeping away. My neighbor Ruth was taking pictures of it this morning. She has pictures of the bank robber being cornered and captured by the CERT team and police Tuesday too. She has a lot of pictures of interesting things. I was glad she wasn't shot.

Tonight I'm off to go see Robert Altman's film "A Prairie Home Companion". Saturday I'm off to check out an Airdyne bike I found for sale in Newberg. Hopefully it's in good condition, for I need to exercise and I have very few options.