A blog category featuring meaningful (at least to me) quotations.
But first, isn’t today’s date so very cool and all “Twosday “?! Ex-wife/retired math professor Donna (I’m still struggling to find a better term than “ex-wife”) explained today, 2/22/22, on our family’s joint text thread. That’s me saying, “Happy, Healthy….” and then Donna answering:
[Fyi: I had Just finished PREDICTING that I would win tonight’s Mega Millions before reading her text.]
A blog category of pics I’ve taken of Hubby Robert and … well, just about anything.
Robert with an awkward smile on his face, just below neighbor Barbara perched atop a blue ladder, while cuddling her teetering poodle at Robert’s head.
A little explanation. This … “event” occurred back in early December 2018 as our Washington Square neighborhood was doing our yearly decorating of the square with fresh greenery and red bows. Barbara and Robert were in charge of putting bows at the top of street lamps.
This blog category is the journaling and journey-ing of my quest to say (with cautious sincerity) “Hello, Anxiety” and to take a look at the condition from my “me-andering” views.
So, I remind you that a while back my therapist gave me a homework assignment to come up with some strategies for dealing with my anxiety when it shows up, an Anxiety Protocol, so to speak.
“Don’t make it too long with too many items or strategies. Or too complicated,” Rubi advised. (I’m good at droning on and on. And I excel at long lists and complications. I’m actually kinda proud of all that.) He also told me to make sure I begin each of my strategies with “intentionality.” That I need to be deliberately attentive and to intend that each strategy or effort be effective.
Okay, no problem, I can be short, uncomplicated and deliberate, if you insist, I thought, a little peevishly on the drive back from Statesboro.
I divided my protocol into three parts. The first deals with strategies which can help with both the physical and mental aspects of my anxiety. The second with mental, and the third with physical. Of course those divisions are academic only. The mental and physical ebb and flow into and through each other. But it makes for a neat three-part outline, which I will share as a printable handout when I finish posting all three parts.
Today’s blog post briefly examines NPA Part One.
I. FOR BOTH THE MENTAL AND THE PHYSICAL PARTS
(How I can attend to the experience of anxiety in my mind and my body.)
• Meditation — Any of my saved meditations from “10% Happier,” “Buddify,” “Apple Fitness+” or meditation on my own without guidance.
I LOVE the practice of meditation. But I’m TERRIBLE at it. My mind keeps wandering far, far off: “Will Season Four of ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ FINALLY address Susie’s sexuality?! Stop it, back to your breath, Neal.”
Seriously, apps actually help me tremendously with navigating the confusing world of meditation. “10% Happier” with Dan Harris is my favorite. It’s a bit pricey at $100 a year, but it’s worth it. The app offers courses on meditation, as well as single, short meditations on just about any subject you can imagine. Also podcasts and lectures. It has been a lifesaver for me.
• Slow Side-to-Side Head Movement — Noticing colors, shapes, pictures, loved items, etc. as you move your head left to right.
This short practice is so easy and simple, but incredibly effective for me. As you begin to rotate your head slowly from side to side, try to notice any items that bring joy or peace or color, etc— inhale as you move your head to one side, then exhale as you turn your head back. Simple, distracting and calming. I love it.
• Inhaling and Exhaling
— “Breathing in, I calm the mind. Breathing out, I calm the mind. Breathing in, I calm the body. Breathing out, I calm the body.”
— In through the nose. Out through pursed lips (like through a straw).
— In, cool. Out, warm.
— In, yes, Out, yes
Joyful, slow, deep breathing. Calming for my mind and body.
• Hot soothing teas
I continue to be amazed at how a simple hot cup of tea can also bring about soothing calm to my mind and my body. Slowly holding the warm cup and savoring the aroma and taste and ethos help to bring about needed peace.
My three favorites: Green Tea Matcha (with toasted rice), Peppermint and Echinacea.
Here’s my Tea Carousel.
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Your thoughts, ideas, suggestions? (Was I short and deliberate enough?)
Robert and I got to know Susan and her husband Fred (who passed away a few years ago) when we moved from the southside of Savannah to the downtown historic district, just off Washington Square.
Susan was a beloved Savannah teacher and author.
Robert and I were fortunate enough to be married in the courtyard of one of those crooked little houses — the beautifully tiny house on Saint Julian Street where Susan and Fred lived—after they sailed the world and settled in Savannah, that is.
A while after Fred passed, Susan cornered us in the square one day and heralded us to her little house.
“Robert, I want you to have Fred’s old cashmere overcoat.”
It smells of adventure, travel and a life well lived.
We loved and love you, Susan Johnson. Tell Fred we said hello and miss his glorious stories.
Morning walk along nearby Savannah River, with the Savannah Bridge to South Carolina in the distance.
“When I go out on sunny days, Why, there it is beside me: And there it skips and there it plays, And from it I can’t hide me. I cannot run away from it, It runs as fast as Fido; And if I stand or if I sit It stands and sits as I do.”
NealEnJoy 