Something is not working.
From a futurist.
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Everyone must be wigging out right now with you, said a recent client. How do you handle it?
I’ve heard variations of this question for over 21 years. This political switch. That war. That divorce. That schism. That attack. Religion. Horror. Pandemic. Parents. Economic downturn. Upturn. Stock market. Taxes. Sickness. Death. Law. Money.
As I am a reader and do not give concrete advice as to why things are as they are — my clients are capable, thinking adults — I am the listening ear, for the most part. Still alive, still able to handle the stress because we all are in this together.
Why am I here? What is the purpose of this existence? Where am I going next? Next? Next? When will it get better? When will it change?
It will. It won’t. It will. It won’t. It will.
Try to sit for 5 minutes every day, I said. Just 5 minutes. No phone. No music or distractions. See what comes up.
Oh, I can’t do that. I’ll go crazy, they answered.
I understood. It can be frightening to enter the mind — as nothing but silence surrounds. Then the voices start, the whizzing of words, recriminations, the past, the future, that memory, that anger, all the things to do that must get done at that very moment, the bills, the kids . . .
No time for silence.
Something is not working.
What I can say is that the discontent of many clients is at an all time high. The worries and fears. The ennui, distractions and cravings. The wanting of more, more, more — whether it’s a relationship, connection, money, likes, safety, another political this and that, fear of death, fear of a life we cannot reach before we die.
I adore my clients. I understand.
I am encouraged by stress — err, forced — to live in the present moment.
I may live in seclusion but that doesn’t exempt me from stress. I still have to live with myself and it is an ongoing practice to corral my mind — despite prescient dreams, work as a Tarot reader, intuitive nudges and such for the “future” — into today. Just today. My needs are met — just today. I have bills and taxes and other worries. Just today, I say out loud. Everything is met. I have awesome home-cooked food, lovely shelter, pure water. I’m healthy. I had a great sleep. Wonderful dharma talks. I continue this conversation with myself until I feel more at peace, though it may take some time.
Then I go sit. Breathe in, breathe out. Home, I’ll inwardly say. I’m home.
As Thich Nhat Hahn once advised — Stop running.
That’s how I deal with the stress. That how I don’t wig out, over and over. That’s how I can meet my clients where they are. That’s how I can stay relatively happy.
When I start to feel that low grade stress thrumming in the background, ready to pounce — I sit in silence or go for a walk. In and out.
I’m learning to relax. I’ll spend the rest of my life — learning to relax.
