Have you noticed lately people in your life (and perhaps yourself) have been especially struggling emotionally and things have been pretty fucked-up in a lot of ways? At the extreme end, there have been a number of suicides in and around my life and quite a bit of suicidal ideation among people I have personally spoken with. How about you?
Why and why now?
Whether its origin is biological or circumstantial, most manifestations of mental and emotional distress is a direct result of a person’s inability to de-stress. It may be caused by disease or a lack of understanding how deadly stress can be. Research indicates 70% of ALL disease is psychosomatic. In other words, it originates in our heads. It’s not that the illness is not real. It’s just that it was started by mismanaged stress between our ears. Think about that, though. 70 per cent!
In the same vein, we also know the number one cause of disease and premature death statistically is due to mismanaged stress. Similarly, researchers know the number one cause of stress is change—even “good” change. And the one thing we ALL know is that the only constant is change. Therefore, the number one cause of the thing which kills and harms more people than anything else—mismanaged stress—is the one thing that always exists, change. Amazing!
So, what to do?
- Be aware of the above realities.
- Take a regular “brain poop”
- Embrace, learn and practice stress management techniques which can be readily accessible like deep breath work, meditations, kinesiology, smiling, laughing, sex (including masturbation) and literally hundreds of other modalities to manage the constant of change and its accompanying stress.
How often should you employ these techniques? As often as you need to, that’s how often!
Relieving ourselves mentally and emotionally is like relieving our bladders or bowels. How often do you have to use the restroom? As often as you need to!
When we were infants, we didn’t recognize the signs of needing to go to the bathroom. That is why our parents put us in diapers and why they potty trained us. Eventually, we learned the physiological “warning signs” that we need “to go”. We learned if we didn’t get to the toilet quickly enough we would poop or pee our pants. This would cause a mess, could cause distress and even embarrassment. So, at a relatively young age, we learned to get ourselves to the bathroom.
However, nobody taught us to recognize the symptoms and signs needing to take a “brain poop” or what I also call a “brain bath” and what to do about it. These symptoms can be anxiety, depression, anger, wrathfulness, vengefulness, worry, fatigue, being “out of sorts”, general malaise, all the way up to suicidal ideation. They are there. Now we just need to train ourselves to be aware of them and what to do about them when we are aware of their insidious presence.
In the same way being “backed-up” may cause some serious health problems, so, too, can mental and emotional constipation. If mental distress is not de-stressed, disease and early death may result.
Change, whether it is “good” or “bad” change, is indeed constant. So is its accompanying stress. It is high time for us adults to not “poop our pants” mentally and emotionally. It is time for us to “potty train” our brains. Again, how often do you need to de-stress? How often to you go to the bathroom a day? One, two or three bowel movements daily? Five, six, ten trips to urinate? You go as often as you need to, right? Because you know (without really even “thinking” about it) if you don’t go, it will be a mess! The same is true with your need for a brain poop and the mess which comes from not relieving yourself mentally. It can be even more messy, stinky, long-lasting and embarrassing than shitting yourself.
Some days you need to use the restroom more than others. Maybe you ate something which didn’t agree with you or caught a bug or drank more liquids than normal. For whatever reason, you go! Some days you may have less need to de-stress. Other days, there is so much change (and therefore stress) happening in your life, you may have to take a brain bath, or utilize the stress management techniques significantly more, even dozens of times.
But Why Now?
So, why has so much emotional tumult seemed to have intensified lately?
It is because once every quarter of the year we experience a big change in the universe called Mercury Retrograde, and we are right smack dab in the middle of a big one right now! Whether you have heard of Mercury Retrograde or not, please know it is a real phenomenon which we can be better equipped to cope with and to benefit from. In addition, there are five other planets in retrograde from the Earth right now! Be aware this is no more astrological “mumbo jumbo” than suggesting if you are going to be outside on a sunny day for any length of time at all, you may want to protect your skin from burning.
I am going to do an entire blog on Mercury Retrograde. However, in the meantime I suggest you check out Episode 73 of Sex in the Pews where we dealt extensively on the whole issue of mental health AND effectively functioning during Mercury Retrogrades: https://sexinthepews.podbean.com/e/73-recalibrate-with-owen-rivers-and-glenn-klein/
Plus, there is this brief video brief video explaining Mercury Retrograde without astrology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtV0PV9MF88.
Finally, you may read this excellent article with some great insight and suggestions: https://astrostyle.com/mercury-retrograde/
No matter what, though, MAKE SURE ALL YOUR ELECTRONIC DEVICES ARE BACKED-UP!
Effectively dealing with change and stress is no easy feat. If it was, everybody would be doing it. It was not easy to potty train you, either, but it was essential. If you hadn’t learned how to control your bowels and bladder your progress as a human would have been severely stymied. However, it was a helluva lot easier when you were young to get potty trained than it would have been if you started decades later as an adult. Same with this. It may be later in the game, but what are going to do? Blow it off because it’s a tough thing to do? Stink like shit the rest of your life? Or are you going to start reducing the amount of emotional toxic waste in your life? You and yours will benefit immensely. This is where the growth and maturation happens!
Again, this is not easy. However, if you want to stop pooping your pants mentally and emotionally, it is doable. But you must start! To paraphrase Nike, “Just Fucking Do It”.
If you want an assist in getting started, I would be honored to help you. This is one of main and most important coaching strategies for my clients and audience. I know how to help you. Call or write me.
Let’s poop together.
Love you people!
Coach Glenn