we are so connected that we can’t do much with ourselves if we aren’t… we think.

yet.  if faced with that space in our lives, we have to re-learn what activity to choose:

• do nothing (that’s scary, uhm, isn’t that like meditating?)
• go find others to do something with… (hmmm, sometimes scary)
• go be by yourself and in a focused way, do something that is a solitary relaxation activity (ahhh, now we are getting somewhere)
• follow the lessons learned, being an only child (could write a book about this)
• work on that book or some other book (ok, maybe there isn’t a book to work on…) write a poem?  haiku?  riddle or limerick?
• play games
• …

in times past, and in times now, and in times forward into the future, we must, individually, face change.  change is life, life is change – how much have we heard this and it is true.

think of it.  every nano-second, inside your body and mind, split second changes occur.  outside of yourself in the world around you, change is happening in multiple dimensions and it is chaotic, yet it is somehow mostly organized, with predictable phases and even behavioral characteristics.

interesting conversations.  many changes in thoughts.  anxieties.  anxieties settled by something in the next second.

i remember well, a time, years ago.  we had a group of children engaged in a day out from the hospital where they were patients for behavioral and psychiatric treatment for dysfunction and conditions that made them not able to live at home.  on our way back, one of them began to have a psychotic episode where one minute he was okay, the next, he began hallucinating, then became panicky, then expressed himself by being paranoid and acting out.  one of our staff got the brilliant idea to try opening an orange drink, then offering it to the boy, stating that this would make him feel better.  change the scene, change the sensations, hoping to change the progression of the episode.  amazingly, when the boy, who trusted the staff member, took the drink, tasted it, and swallowed it, it somehow did settle his anxiety and the psychotic expressions seemed to lift.  amazing.  change of sensation tipped the brain somehow.  not very scientific, but something worked.

this stuck in my mind from that day forward.  whenever i get anxious i remember that time.  what is going on.  stop.  take a break.  do something different.  change.

every one gets anxious at least once in their lives.  most of us get some sort of anxiety once a day, most days.  it is hard to relax in a connected and chaotic world with so much stimuli coming at us all the time.

being by yourself for a brief time, when you don’t expect it, can be considered a small activity like going to a movie, or doing anything else.  short duration. seek to get the best out of the time.  read a book.  write a book.  sketch.  meditate.  what else?  the list can go on.

take that opportunity to relax.  chill-out.  remember.  it won’t last.