Prepare for ‘The Madness’

Every Spring like some sort of dark magic, people get weird. The season and the change of light and temperature that it brings with it, open our coats and our minds to the possibilities before us. Some people use The Madness to create amazing prose or works of art, (T.S.Eliots’ “The Wasteland”, and Shitao’s “The Daffodils” for instance) but most of us thrash in agony over the thought of yard work, finals tests, swimsuits, and our ever ticking biological clocks. Couples fight, teenagers get depressed, school kids fidget, adults drink, and everyone says, “I can’t wait for summer.”

If you know it’s coming, and you know why, you are better prepared to fight The Madness. It’s natural, and it’s coming. Arm yourself.

Make a list of things you can do instead of lamenting lost time or feeling apprehensive about the future. Tell your loved ones how wonderful you think they are in case they are feeling the stress too. (Nip that contagious crazy that comes from insecurity!)
Read a cheerful book (or write one) draw or paint your own master work. Pamper your winter stressed body; take longer baths, go to bed a little earlier, eat a healthy diet. Hold your face up to the sun and say, “Welcome back you wildly beautiful ball of gas!”
Fight The Madness with The Gladness and make Spring your favorite season again.

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Hold a newborn baby.

Even for those who “don’t like babies” something magical happens when you take one in your arms. The frailty, the innocence, the complete dependence of a tiny human being is transforming. When you hold a baby you can’t help but feel protective of it’s little body. You can’t help but to think of someone other than yourself.
Babies awaken in us the idea that we all have a similar experience here, we are all born, we all die. Those first few weeks when a baby is unable to express anything but wonder at the new world are a great time to reflect on all the things you haven’t seen or done. EVERYTHING is new to a baby, what’s new for you?

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Appreciate Pain

Empathy is the feeling of relating to another person’s experience. When someone we love hurts, we hurt for them. Without the pain we have endured in our own lives we have no point of reference to help someone else, therefore, everything you have experienced puts you in a unique position to help others.

When you look back on the most painful times of your own life, you might remember a friend or family member that was there for you. They helped you through the pain. Because you felt it, you can now be that support person, experiencing the other side of pain is an important part of your souls evolution. Appreciate every experience.

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Keep Dreaming

When you fully give up on your future, you will not have one. Things will stay the same in your world and nothing will change, nothing but the quality of your life. Eventually the things you have attained will fall away, the people you know will move on, and you will be forced to choose another present, probably not one you will find satisfactory.
However…
When you allow yourself to dream of the future, where you want to be, the type of person you want to be with, you are virtually ordering from a menu that is before you. As you define what you want, you will look for opportunities to get it, and they will present themselves.

As Hank Bukowski so eloquently said, “The gods wait to delight in you.”

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Recycle from the start!

You’re in the market for a new microwave for your apartment, where do you go? For many it’s the local discount store or Walmart for a cheap modern appliance.

Six months later, when it breaks, you just go back and get another one, microwaves are cheap right?

No.
Each time you buy a new appliance you use resources, landfill space and healthy land for the sake of decoration and convenience.
When you buy used, on Ebay, Amazon, Craigslist or from other local classified boards, you help someone with cash and disposal of an unused item, no new resources are used and that’s more healthy usable space for all of us.

Who is going to notice if your microwave has a ding in the side? Only you.
Who is going to notice when there is no more viable land on the planet for animals and people because of rampant consumerism. ALL OF US!

Put out the word, “I need a microwave.” who knows, you may get one for free!

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Free does not always mean no cost.

Beware of ads offerings things that seem to be free. Always read the fine print and help others that may not be as astute to see the hidden cost behind what seems like an amazing deal.

Since the passage of “Citizens United” corporations and news stations are allowed to be dishonest by law and many take full advantage of that “freedom”.

Always read the small print, look for the catch and look over merchandise carefully before accepting a freebie. A friend received a free couch from an online advertiser only to find it was full of bedbugs.

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Fix things quickly.

You’ve heard, “A stitch in time saves nine.”? It means if you fix something small, you will prevent it from becoming large and it’s true!

Check your tires and fill them when they become low or you may lose the seal and the expensive tire in the end.

Fix a leaky faucet with just a little 17 cent washer and prevent rising water bills and ugly stains on your sink. (Fix a leak under your sink and prevent having to replace your entire floor!)

It works as well for little tiffs with your friends and family. A minor disagreement can fester into a resentment that can separate you from the ones you love.

Fix your boo boos before them become disasters!

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Be the kindest driver on the road.

When you set out on the road today and every day, also set it in your mind to be the kindest driver on the road. There are many mean selfish people out there making the world a more angry, hateful place. You can erase some of that damage by being a contagious example.

Back off and let someone merge, allow someone to enter from a business in front of you, wave through that fellow that stopped just after you did at a four way.
Courtesy catches on. If you are fed up with rude drivers, be a kind one and see what a difference it makes!

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Take 5 seconds and breathe.

Did you ever notice that sometimes when you are concentrating on something, watching television, or absorbed in your thoughts that you will find yourself talking a huge deep breath? It’s as if you forgot to breath!
Breathing is involuntary and forgetting to breath is impossible, but shallow breathing is it’s equivalent. When we breath in a shallow manner the body slows down to conserve the little bit of oxygen it is getting. It slows your metabolism, your digestion and your brain!

Take five seconds now and just breathe in…..doesn’t that feel better? For the rest of the day, every time you remember, take a deep five second breath, at least two and a half seconds in and at least two and a half seconds out.
You will have more energy and you will be sharper and stronger!

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Touch an animal.

Unless you are allergic, petting an animal is a very beneficial thing to do.
Studies have show that people with pets live longer, healthier lives. It’s good for the animals too!
If you have no pets, there are other ways to connect with animals. Walk your neighbors dogs, volunteer at a shelter or just visit a pet store and hold an un-adopted kitten!

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