#6 Counting Sheep and Feeling Good
I want you to try something. Hum a tune. Maybe Row, Row, Row Your Boat. Try a line or two. Now try it again and as you are humming try to think of the tune of another song while you are humming Row Row Row Your Boat. What happens? My guess is that like the rest of us, you can’t hear the other song in your head as you are humming the first. Maybe there are a couple of folks out there who can do that but most of our brains short circuit if we try to double up. While this may be a bit humbling it is also good news. The good news is that by occupying the mind with one theme you can successfully avoid other themes.
This is actually the essence of the age old idea of counting sheep to get to sleep. By counting the sheep you focus on one theme, the sheep, and all the other themes get put on hold. So many times the main problem in failing to get to sleep is a series of intrusive negative thoughts. Very difficult to sleep when you are being bombarded. These same intrusive negative thoughts wreak havoc on our feeling good.
So how can we use this to our advantage?
TRY THIS
Make yourself comfortable, lying down or sitting. Become aware of your breath. As you breathe in say to yourself or say out loud “one, one, one, one, one” repeatedly as long as you are breathing in. When you start breathing out say out loud or to yourself “two, two, two, two, two” repeatedly for as long as the exhale takes. Then on the next inhale say “three, three, three, three,” and the exhale “four, four, four, four.” Continue this pattern at least until you reach 25. Don’t be surprised if your thoughts intrude on your counting. That is expected. Just smile and go back to the numbers! Once you reach 25 take note of what you are feeling in your body and what emotions you might have or not have. My guess is that you will feel pretty good but see what your results are.
Red Pill Relationships #2 NAGGING
The Price of Pacifism:
By Paul Nathanson
The Great War produced several fine movies during the 1920s and 1930s (before the next war became a topic of greater urgency). Notable among these are Wings (William Wellman, 1927), Sister in White (Victor Fleming, 1933), A Farewell to Arms (Frank Borzage, 1932) and, most notable by far, All Quiet on the Western Front (Lewis Milestone, 1930). Like The Birth of a Nation (D.W. Griffith, 1915) this was a cinematic landmark with political consequences. Critics have compared other war movies to All Quiet ever since.
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Men Must Fight (Edgar Selwyn, 1933) begins during the Great War and continues until the outbreak of another war twenty years later. Laura works as a military nurse just behind the front line in France and soon falls in love with Geoffrey, an American pilot. The two plan to marry. Before they can do so, however, Laura becomes pregnant with his child. Meanwhile, Edward, an officer, falls in love Continue reading The Price of Pacifism:
Plastic is eternal (TM):
Back in the baby-batter days of my ramblings on whatever the green-skinned fuck is going on with our societies at present, I wrote a piece (Rebellion? We can get it for you wholesale!) in which I opined and pined, wailed, howled in frustration and snark, that whatever passes for rebellion in whichever generation, will eventually find its way into corporate hands and, as such, become a trend.
It will, without a doubt, spawn a multi-billion dollar industry, selling wholesale rebellion to eager edgy teens with hardcore rebellious tendencies – as long as they come home to mommy and daddy before their curfew. Rebellion sells stupid shit, not least of all (to my endless Continue reading Plastic is eternal (TM):
Feeling Good in a Red Pill World #5 the Breath
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Our lungs are an amazing organ. I believe they are the only major organ that functions automatically or allows us control if we wish. You choose whether to take complete control of your breath, or just let it do it on its own. What most people don’t know is our breath, and the way we breathe is intimately tied into our emotions and our feeling good. Future newsletters will focus on some of those connections but for today we can just say that by slowing the breath down we move into a state of calmness that gives us at least a partial break from our thoughts, our feelings and our anxieties.
Continue reading Feeling Good in a Red Pill World #5 the Breath