I suspect my internal well looks something like the oil spill off the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.
We so often hear talk about our “well” going dry, but what about our well getting clogged up with emotional oil spills and daily life garbage of all sorts?
My well has gotten to the point that I’m afraid to raise the bucket and look at the sludge in there. But if I don’t take steps to empty the gunk in there, it’s gonna overflow and create an even bigger mess.
Ok, so how to dredge up the detritus to clear it out?
Writing. Julia Cameron swears by (or for my Mennonite peeps, “affirms”) “morning pages” — 3 handwritten free-flow pages of anything and everything that’s on your mind. No internal censor. No right or wrong. No good or bad. Just writing, getting it all out, a word purge if you will.
Meditation. Don’t panic — you don’t need to change your religion or spiritual beliefs. Meditation can be as simple as 10 minutes of quiet time alone just listening to and feeling your breathing. When you really pay attention, each breath can empty a bucket of gunk out of your soul. Skeptical? Then try it.
Exercise. Ok, I admit — as a landscaper, exercise sometimes becomes part of the yuck in my well since I’m physcially active most days a week for more hours than I care to think of. So for me, this one becomes REST. Time to let my muscles heal, my physical energy rebuild.
Visualization. Mind pictures. Seeing myself hauling up that heavy bucket of bleah and emptying it. Over and over until it comes up empty. Then feeling soul sunshine as I picture rinsing out the bucket and the well… spotless…shiny…enticing!
So now there’s a well to fill. Now it’s all about the good stuff, the life-giving stuff. Like
Word snacks:
Ink runs from the corners of my mouth.
There is no happiness like mine.
I have been eating poetry.
(from Word Poetry by Mark Strand).
Tweets (or *any*thing!) from Martha Beck (@MarthaBeck):
“My email inbox is the Aegean Stables of interpersonal data. Hmm…what rivers can I divert to clean it out?”
“I’ve really got to learn French now. Be right back…okay, French is hard. This may take a while.”
Rumi. ’nuff said.
And if there’s any room left after a buffet of word snacks, add in some flowers, plants, greenery. And conversations with friends. And sessions with your life coach (look out, Nancy!). And whatever else it is that makes you sing — literally or figuratively.
We each have the power to contain our own emotional oil spills… what will *your* tactic be??
tooyoungtobewise said,
May 12, 2010 at 9:19 am
*PAINTING!* especially finger painting. You should try getting some really expensive acrylic paint on your fingers and then spearing it all over the canvas. It’s so wrong… and SO right!
Starla J. King said,
May 12, 2010 at 7:17 pm
oooh, Nieceling, that sounds fantastic!!!! That will need to be a near future “artist date” for me ….
Rebecca P Cohen said,
May 12, 2010 at 9:40 am
A brisk walk with my dog during the day and a one minute pick me up like Get Out of the House http://www.rebeccaplants.com/getout.asp to get out with my kids when thy get home. At night, snippets of exactly what I want to see on TV thanks to DVR: I can catch hilarious stuff like Betty White on Saturday Night Live an yes, Oprah lifting people up for a fabulous, cleasing cry and the beauty is I can forward through any stuff I don’t like.
Starla J. King said,
May 12, 2010 at 7:18 pm
Rebecca, I love the variety of all of those things! Keeping it fresh keeps it fresh.
Hope said,
May 12, 2010 at 9:54 am
Scott.
Starla J. King said,
May 12, 2010 at 7:18 pm
I can understand why, Hope.
eli said,
May 12, 2010 at 12:30 pm
A good solid novel the kind you can curl up with and a walk with Wylie. Makes me realize that there is always another point of view that I’m not seeing which will work like Dawn dish detergent to clean up that oil spill and a child who will point out that different view piont.
Starla J. King said,
May 12, 2010 at 7:20 pm
“A good solid novel” — Eli, I’m drooling! What a great visual with Wylie being your Dawn dish detergent (and love the significance of “dawn” as in “dawning on” as in “AHA!”).
Debbra Dunning Brouillette said,
May 12, 2010 at 8:38 pm
Saw your blog link on Twitter and thought I’d stop by… I love this analogy, Starla…
Tactics for containing my own emotional oil spill: 1. Having “happy hour” every night with my husband, especially when it’s a r-e-a-l-l-y good wine and not the everyday “swill.” 2. Taking a 10-minute time out in the recliner. 3. Communing with nature, in whatever form that may be at the moment. 4. Praying… for wisdom, guidance, peace. 5. Writing… musing… daydreaming… envisioning.
Starla J. King said,
May 13, 2010 at 7:24 am
Debbra, great to see you here! Absolutely love all 5 of your containment tactics… and I’m particularly taken with the simplicity — and undoubtable effectiveness — of the 10 minute recliner break. Ok and the non-swill wine. Ok and the nature and prayer and writing.