How to lighten up your life...

​In college I had the fun experience of living for a year with pretty much non-stop panic attacks.   

The term "adulting" wasn't a thing yet, but I had a lot to learn about it, nevertheless.  Most of my time was spent wishing for a relationship with a guy who wasn't that in to me, hanging out with exciting people I couldn't keep up with, and getting myself to art history class. 

Fortunately, at some point during that year I happened upon a book that pretty much saved my life.  It was a little Zen book called, simply, The Depression Book.

The premise of the book is that a lot of our suffering is actually the result of a process.  De-pressing emotions is a thing we do.  And we can choose instead to take time with ourselves to vent our emotions, like letting steam out of a pressure cooker. 

I know this sounds pretty basic, but these days it’s almost a revolutionary concept.  Take time out of our crazy-busy lives just to feel?  Cry a little, comfort ourselves, and heal from all the little wounds we pretend don’t affect us as we power through our days?

Yeah, I don’t know about you, but I need this revolution.  I need time to stop and feel like shit for a minute, and then let it go.

My favorite quote from the book is this, “We are sentient beings, trying not to feel.  Living beings, tensed up against life.”

I recently decided I would start again to practice the kind of meditation recommended in the book.  It helped cure my panic attacks in college, so how could it hurt?  So for 1/2 an hour a day, I've been focusing on feeling the sensations in my body, accepting how I feel, journaling about anything going on, and then letting it go.

Almost immediately I felt a difference.  Then yesterday I had this little moment of feeling completely carefree. 

What??  I don’t know about you, but a spontaneous moment of carefree-ness in my world is EPIC.

If you, too, would like a little more lightness in your life, I recommend this ½ hour a day practice.  Climb in bed with your journal, plug 30 minutes into the timer app on your phone, relax, and feel. 

It’s amazing how much lighter you can feel when you let yourself be heavy.

xoxo,
Jen

P.S. The Depression Book by Cheri Hube is worth its weight in gold, but available on Amazon for only $9.99!  Get it here.