Breathe, Calm Down, Do Something

Breathe, calm down, do something - this is a pretty reliable solution to the problem of "monkey mind" and the stress that accumulates when I feel overwhelmed by demands on my time and attention, both from without and within.

As I wrote about yesterday, I wasn't successful at applying that simple recipe, which tosses a lifeline down the pit I'm in so I can climb out.

Today was better.  I recognized that the scattered clutter of papers around my office was a strong sign that I was leaving too many things half done - physical artifacts of the jumping around of attention called "monkey mind."  So I started with the nearest paper, which turned out to be notes from the day before about things that were no longer relevant.  So into the recycle bin went that bit of disorder.  It didn't take long to take care of several more things, and I left for the day feeling better, and that with some focused attention tomorrow, I might make it up the lifeline and out of the pit.

Meanwhile, outside it is very cold.  We had temperatures down in the single digits a couple of weeks ago with the polar vortex, and then it gradually warmed up and we had some nice days with temperatures in the 50s before the recent snowstorm.  Now it is cold again, with low temperatures around 10 degrees for several nights - tomorrow's high is forecast to be 22 degrees.

We haven't had a prolonged stretch of really cold weather for a few years.  One potential benefit is that some of the invasive plant and insect species may not survive the winter as well, which could help our gardening next summer.  It's too soon to tell, and the current long term forecast for February has it warming up quite a bit - to more normal winter daytime temperatures in the 30s and 40s.

When we first moved here, I thought I might ride the bus to work on bad weather days, but in 10 years, I never have.  Even on these really cold mornings (9 degrees today), I put on several layers and some good cold weather outerwear from my skiing gear, and my walk to work is fine.

Walking is another good way to clear out mental and physical stress - and is one of the main ways I have dealt with stress going back to my childhood.  It's a regular part of my day now, helping me to arrive at work with a clear mind, and to leave most accumulated junk from the day somewhere along the path before I get home.