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Mother Nature, You Bitch

Well, isn’t this fun? First we get a good 2 feet of snow dumped on us, and now they are calling for another 10 to 20 inches tomorrow.

Yesterday I went out at 8 o’clock in the morning to shovel out my driveway. There is so much snow piled up in our neighborhood of townhouses that one is hard-pressed to find a place to put it. There was already a hill of snow to the left of my drive from when the neighbors dug themselves out, and the ex’s drive was to my right. So I took that snow, one shovelful at a time, and walked across the plowed street and piled it up over there. Sometimes I would get gigantic clumps of wet snow that stuck together like a humongous snowball and I would just drag it with my shovel to the other side of the street. It took me 2 1/2 straight hours to complete.

Now I sit here, still sore from yesterday’s ordeal, and hear that we’re getting even more snow tomorrow, and I can’t even imagine how we can handle another 20 inches of snow at this point. The roads here are still a mess, as in you’re driving along and all the sudden there’s a big snow pile in front of you.

Oh well. I’m still thankful because at least we have power unlike so many others who haven’t had power for days. And thank god I made it to the library at the last minute Friday afternoon. Looks like I’m gonna be doing a LOT of reading over the next few days.

Free Book for Depression/Suicide: How I Stayed Alive When My Brain Was Trying to Kill Me

I will ship my used copy of this book FREE to anyone in the United States who is depressed and/or suicidal.

Check out the book here on Amazon.

I bought this book for a dollar from a used book store last year, not because I was depressed, but because I used to be depressed and was playing around with the idea of writing my own book on how I overcame depression and suicidal thoughts. I had heard of this book and just happened to run into it a few weeks later! So of course I snatched it up so I could check out what was inside. (I must have excellent book karma because that type of thing tends to happen to me a lot. :) )

Anyway, I know there are people out there who could use something like this. It’s a good book written by someone who also suffers from depression. If you want it, email me with your mailing address at: mail [at] metaphysicaljunkie [dot] com

Please be someone who is actually in need of something like this.

Also, thanks again to DC Blogs for the shout out and promoting the free book. :)

Flying Solo

Next week I’ll be moving into my new one bedroom apartment. I can’t afford the rent with the money I currently make, but I have a money market account and a couple fist fulls of stocks thanks to a distant relative I’ve never met before who died last year.

I’m dealing with the pain of leaving the ex for good. It feels empty.

I guess it’s not as painful now as when things first hit me last week, but it’s a little scary moving out on my own again. However I’ve learned from the past how to look at fear. Fear means I’m about to see something about myself that is bigger than who I am right now. Fear indicates a hidden strength about ourselves we don’t yet know of. I look forward to finding out what it is.

In the mean time I try to look forward to the positive things, such as:

  • Being able to decorate the WHOLE ENTIRE APARTMENT the way I want. (Yes, this was an ongoing disagreement between the ex and me!)
  • The commute to work will only be 10 minutes as opposed to 30-60 minutes.
  • Being closer to DC and back in an eclectic city that I love. (For the past two years I’ve been living in what I consider boring suburbia.)
  • Finding me again. Just as a relationship can be fulfilling, there is also something deeply fulfilling about fully experiencing one’s self without another’s “energy” melding into the mix. Learning how to feel complete without a partner is a great exercise. (Of course do any of us TRULY feel complete unless we’re completely enlightened?) Being alone also allows us the chance to intensely focus on areas for self improvement and can foster growth that otherwise would not occur because of the time and energy it takes to be in a relationship.
  • Being able to see what it’s like to date with confidence. Before I met the ex I was extremely insecure about men and relationships. He helped heal me of that and now I am able to accept myself fully for who I am. I will finally know what it feels like to date without being afraid of rejection.
  • No more dealing with the ongoing drama with the Unhappy Ex-Wife and all her ridiculousness! YAY!!!
  • Being in a new environment that is conducive to meeting new people and having new experiences. Being closer to friends who live in the area, including my brother who will now live only a few miles away.
  • I will always be able to call or visit the ex any time. :)

There are several things I plan to start doing as soon as I move to keep myself busy, one being getting back into some sort of spiritual “practice”. The nature of my job at the seminary makes it very easy to do this. Not because it’s a seminary and all spiritual and stuff, but because it’s so dang slow there! I’m used to working at jobs where I’ve got several projects going on at a time while answering the phone and dealing with people on a constant basis. Here? Let me tell you that there are literally HOURS of downtime at this place. It’s very, very calm.

So I plan to use this as an opportunity to practice my little spiritual exercises, most likely from the Course in Miracles workbook, but probably also from this and him, and a little bit of whatever else looks interesting that I come across. A Course in Miracles is a pain in the ass for many reasons, but I’ve always gotten very positive results from practicing it. Unfortunately the last time I tried practicing it diligently was at my last job and I got hit with so many projects and classes to teach that I just couldn’t do it. I ended up doing the exercises on my days off and eventually got so frustrated that I stopped doing it completely. So here’s to giving things another try…again.

Anyway, this Sunday is my Birthday. I’ll be 37, which is so weird because I don’t feel 37 at all. Isn’t that funny? Like we expect that a certain age is supposed to feel a certain way. What is older supposed to feel like anyway? Nothing. It’s all up to the individual to decide. The older I get the more free I feel, so maybe that’s what I should be expecting from now on. To keep feeling more care-free and more free to be who I am. I can’t think of a better gift than that. :)

They Like it Juicy

Oh wow, am I blushing! I feel like I just walked out of a public restroom with my skirt tucked into the back of my undies, oblivious that the whole world could see my rear end.

DCBlogs featured my last post, the one about letting go of resentment during a breakup, on their front page last Thursday.

This makes me think twice about posting personal information. Not about myself really, but about other people. Does this make me irresponsible? The ex hasn’t complained…yet.

How to Let Go of Resentment During a Break Up

“Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.”
– Nelson Mandela.

Believe me, despite my posts on how grateful I am for the ex and how accepting I’ve become of his decision to be polyamorous, it hasn’t been all roses and unicorns and singing “Kumbaya”. It’s been more of a two steps forward one step back type of process. One of the things I’ve been dealing with lately is resentment.

Sometimes, even though I was initially a part of this decision to try an open relationship, I resent all the effort that I put into making his needs possible while we were still together (and even while we were drifting apart!) Sometimes I resent that he has already dated people, and so far Ive got NADA. But most of all, I have this fear and projected future resentment of him doing things with other women that I wanted more of while we were together. Because you know what THAT would mean. It would mean the she is somehow better, more deserving, more inspiring, more special, more something than I was.

That’s what the mind is thinking anyway…but whether those thoughts are actually true is another story. Or even better, does it even matter if he found someone “better”?! What makes me think she is better? The insecure part of me that feels “worse than”, small and insignificant? The part of me that needs validation? When I feel strong and confident in myself, I really don’t care. And so I sometimes go back and forth between feeling bad and then not caring one way or another.

So, when I feel this resentment I first acknowledge that it is taking too much of my time and energy away from ME. When I am resentful I am focusing on 1) the past and 2) how another person “victimized” me. Neither of those things are worth dwelling on even if the events were true. Resentment of things from the past takes your power away from the present. (Jeez, I think I read that in a book somewhere a long time ago, but I can’t remember where.)

Anger is good to feel and recognize, but you have to eventually let it go. Anger tells you that a line has been crossed, that something needs to change. I did feel anger during this ordeal with the ex, but I recognize that it served to tell me that either 1) I had to change a negative pattern of thinking towards something or 2) that I needed to distance myself from the situation or 3) a boundary was crossed that better communication could have prevented. I experienced all three of these things.

After recognizing resentment and acknowledging its negative effects I remember that I have a choice to feel differently. Too often people think they have to feel bad about something just because it is expected. You have to grieve someone’s death. You have to feel bad about breaking up with someone. You have to feel indignant when someone wrongs you. Well, the truth is you don’t HAVE to feel anything. You can choose to feel fine.

I did not grieve much after my father’s death in part because it meant he was done suffering from cancer and it’s complications. (I was more saddened before his death seeing him lose his ability to write because of nerve damage.) I’m not upset about my mother’s schizophrenia because there’s nothing I can do about it and because getting upset wouldn’t do anything anyway. You get the point. There are still some things that get to me from time to time, but simply knowing that how we feel is a choice can do a lot sometimes.

Often, the way I get myself to stop feeling bad about something is to stop thinking about it in a negative light. This did not used to be so easy for me, but became easier over time with lots of practice until it was almost an automatic response. It is hard to get out of the victim state when your mind set is stuck on but he (or she) did this to me! but this bad thing happened to me! And it was SO AWFUL!

Eventually the mind has to learn not to put those events in the category of “so awful”. Nothing is so awful that it is worth destroying your well being and sense of peace. (However I know that there are some pretty awful things in this world and that it would probably be impossible to heal completely from certain things such as the loss of a child.) But for most situations the mind can eventually associate those events as just being events, and not something awful that happened to you.

If you continue to feel awful and like a victim over a long period of time, a few weeks to a few months depending on the situation, then I think it’s time to learn how to strengthen your inner self. I’ve gotten to the point of being able to recognize old thought patterns and insecurities and then change them around using techniques very similar to The Work. Different techniques work for different people and it might be useful to look into some self help books. For example, I know The Little Book of Letting Go is very good. In addition, studying A Course in Miracles is EXCELLENT in teaching people how to let go as well (by teaching forgiveness).

I choose not to feel resentful because I made a commitment to myself that my inner peace comes first. I’ve also seen what happens when people choose to hold on to resentment. Resentment is a trap and it turns people into monsters. I don’t want to be this monster.

You Can’t Move On if You’re Facing the Opposite Direction

Well the polyamory experience was short-lived and I’ll tell you why. I quickly realized that continuing any intimate involvement with the ex prevented me from moving forward with my life. Our relationship was no longer as satisfying because I have not felt the same since he decided to become poly. I suppose most people would say Well DUH!. However I try to look deeper on why I feel a certain way rather than taking it at face value. A certain connection I used to feel towards him was lacking, and I’m not even sure exactly what that connection was. It eludes identification. But there seemed to also be this sense of something more out there that I needed to experience, and it would never manifest while staying with him.

These changes are not just with him, but with a lot of things. Like my job, where I live, how I feel about myself and even what’s going on with my friends. Everything seems to be changing.

We are conversing with each other, my gut and heart and I. We don’t speak with words but with pulling sensations and stopping sensations. My gut says Do not pursue [fill in the blank] or stay in this situation any longer, while my heart says Go this way! I feel very strong and confident in this area since all these changes have been occurring in my life lately.

But back to what I was saying, I suppose I needed this “polyamorous” experience with the ex in order to bring this more feeling out onto the surface.

Polyamory is not something I actively sought out, nor plan to actively seek out in the future. If being poly was something I identified as being, then maybe things would have been easier. Instead, as long as I identify as being monogamous, trying anything else just becomes awkward. Eventually I had to explain my situation to someone who was interested in me. I couldn’t just say, “I’m polyamorous so take it or leave it.” It was more like, “Well, this is the situation I’m in and is this going to be OK with you? Because I’m not really sure where this is going.” I’m just more comfortable being in a plain old monogamous relationship. It feels more serious, I know how to do it and I’m content with it. And there are less factors to deal with–being poly can get emotionally complicated, especially when so many people’s emotions are involved. Like I want to deal with more than one person’s emotional drama!

So after a few days of being with the ex and then feeling awkward with this man I barely knew, I decided to let go completely of the situation so I could move on to the more that’s waiting somewhere out there for me. I’m more seriously looking for a place to live now, a CHEAP ROOM since I can only afford about $500 a month. LOL Ridiculous! I’m also thinking of putting ads up on this blog to see what that might generate. In fact, I am SO much more motivated to find ways to make more money now, even more than when I was looking for a job just recently!

See? And I’m figuring this other thing out now too. That the so-called bad things in life aren’t necessarily there to bring up pain, but to steer us into different directions. You can see the thing that is not working out for you as painful, something that is hurting you (Hello, victim!), or you can just see it as a sign that things need to change, whether externally or IN YOUR HEAD. In fact, I look back at the break up and getting a job with crappy pay and I’m still happy about it. This whole time I’ve been marveling at how relatively well I’ve handled it all. It’s all whatevs, people.

I’m appreciating everything now and it’s awesome. Suzanne said something in her blog about appreciating lack and I’ve turned it into a habit. I appreciate even the so-called bad times. Or when I waste my evening away playing video games. I appreciate that I don’t make a lot of money or have perfect friends. I even appreciate and FULLY ACCEPT my own awkwardness and imperfections, something I’ve never really done before. For the first time I truly could care less what anybody thinks of me, including my tendencies at being socially awkward. (If I were in The Breakfast Club, my character would be the girl played by Ally Sheedy.) YET, the more I accept this awkwardness, the less awkward I become. Interetsing. How freeing! I appreciate it all, and I can’t even describe what an awesome perspective it creates.

Haiti

One of the stops on the cruise I took back in November was Labadee, Haiti, a secluded peninsula that Carnival and Royal Caribbean made into some sort of “beach amusement park” for it’s cruise passengers. We never got to see the real part of Haiti which I was kind of disappointed about. (I quickly learned on that trip that you don’t go on a cruise if you want to learn about culture!) Of course, Haiti is too dangerous of a place for strolling around and exploring anyway. Nevertheless, I remember thinking that evening as our ship left port what a pity it was to be so close, yet so far away, from experiencing the images and customs of this land. But the fact is that’s the closest most people will ever get to seeing Haiti.

I came across a blog post via Dooce on ways to help Haiti. IIf you are interested in helping and haven’t figured out how, please take a moment to look at Chris Sacca’s Six ways you can help in Haiti and the comments.

Like Dooce said, Haiti, you are in our hearts!!!

Update: Today I found out that a co-worker of mine from the Dominican Republic got news that two uncles three cousins living in Haiti died from the earthquake. A school building they were working in collapsed on them. Children. Tonight I did what I meant to do last night and donated $50 to Unicef.

If you can afford to go out to eat, then you can afford to donate. To donate $10 to the Red Cross, text-enabled users simply text “Haiti” to 90999, and 100% of the money is passed through to the Red Cross.

Adventures in Polyamory

OK, so here’s the dealio.

The ex and I both decided several months ago to try having an open relationship in order to repair a faltering relationship. The idea behind this was to generate more independence, and therefore LESS expectations from each other, because we both discovered that we were actually happier as a couple the LESS we depended on each other for stuff. It had nothing to do with wanting to have sex with tons of different people. It had to do with freedom.

Now, this was more his idea than mine, but I’m an extremely open minded person so I thought I’d give it a shot. Except that while he went on dates with other women, I had no interest in dating other men at all. In fact, I wasn’t even thinking about polyamory or open relationships. This should have been a huge sign that I wasn’t ready for polyamory at all. Well, long story short, this is why we broke up, because polyamory was something he felt strongly about and I couldn’t deal with it. And believe me, I’m not going to try to make someone change for me. If he wanted to be polyamorous then fine, because I wasn’t completely happy with the relationship anyway and why was I going to stick around trying to fix something that wasn’t working.

So we broke up a couple months ago and lived our lives together in the same house because I’m fricken broke and can’t afford to up and leave just like that. I make $17 an hour by the way. And I work part time. The average price of rent for a one bedroom in this area is a little over $1000 a month. You can do the math. :) By the way, this just proves that the amount of education you have doesn’t guarantee squat about what you’ll make. :) Especially when you graduate in the middle of a recession. This is part of the reason why I was FREAKING OUT about the job and living situation.

So anyway, we broke up and I was generally doing OK about it, except for this other poly woman he started dating long-distance. Hearing him on the phone with her and knowing that they eventually, uh…became physical…that just drove me crazy.

Well on night of New Year’s Eve something so crazy happened that I couldn’t have ever imagined it possible. I started warming up to the ex and by the end of New Years Day we were hanging out just like we used to, and I didn’t care about him seeing this other woman at all. I asked all kinds of questions about her, to the most intimate detail, and I was fine with hearing all about her and him and cathching up on what they’d been up to. And my ex and I are still hanging out, talking, going out to dinner and the movies and what have you. And, Hello! TMI moment, but our sex life is better now than it’s been in the past year. :)

I don’t know if I’m being polyamorous or just in a noncommitted relationship with someone I love. I still consider us broken up and I don’t think I see myself being polyamorous long-term. In fact, why define this at all? I’m OK with what’s going on now. And when I need things to change then I’ll deal with it. One thing I do know, is that life sure has a way of proving me wrong about things. I NEVER thought I’d ever see myself in this kind of arrangement.

I never thought I’d be in love with a republican* or tolerate living in an upscale neighborhood and being surrounded by rich people either. I grew up poor and thought all those things were evil and if I had my own choice I would have never gotten myself involved with them! But thank God life knows what’s good for me. It’s opened my mind in ways I never knew possible. And that’s why I can trust what’s going on in my life right now, even if it’s weird. I know life won’t steer me wrong, because whatever’s coming will be good for me. It always is. Even the painful experiences have been good in exposing what needs to be worked on. That’s how I see pain, those raw areas of ourselves that need healing and growth. Feel it, and then work on it.

There have been some painful moments in this polyamory experiment, and every single time it comes up, it has to do with old insecurities I’ve always had with dating and men. This includes feeling insecure and like I’m not good enough. To tell you the truth, the relationship I had with my ex healed me of these erroneous thoughts. I now accept myself, when before I couldn’t. I can now be open and vulnerable, when before it was impossible. I trust someone now like I never trusted before, because he is that good of a person.

And this situation is like an opportunity to even further refine those areas that need healing. If something comes up about the other woman that makes me feel bad, which really doesn’t happen now, I take a strong look at what it is. Often, I recognize them as feelings from the past. And I don’t do anything special with those feelings. I just feel them and then they eventually go away on their own. And then it’s done.

This is not a situation that everyone can understand. That’s OK. I have friends that are freaking out, but they don’t have to. I’m not freaking out.

I’m hoping I don’t offend any readers by posting this. But whatever. This is my life. All the raw gritty details of it. And it’s been an interesting life, that’s for sure!

*I used to have really strong feelings against republicans. Now I really don’t give a crap (that much) about politics. It’s all part of that letting go and being more care free thing. There’s no need to care about anything, really.

Edit: He didn’t like that I called him a republican and says he doesn’t identify as one anymore. lol :)

Relieving Social Anxiety by Remembering the Dream

Yesterday I obsessed over something I said that was really stupid. I just couldn’t stop thinking about it and then every time I did think about it, a huge pang of guilt and embarrassment washed over me. I think this obsessive thinking is an old remnant from having social anxiety. Growing up I couldn’t stop obsessing over the most minuscule thing in an overly self conscious way. Did I have a little bit more eye shadow on one eye than the other? Did my shirt look stupid being tucked in? Were people looking at me because of something weird I did? But most of all, I was self conscious of the things I said, how I expressed myself verbally. And I felt like everything that came out of my mouth was the most stupid thing ever. And every single time I thought a self conscious thought, an overwhelming sense of guilt, shame and embarrassment accompanied it. You would think I did something horrendous! These obsessions did not last just a moment, but days or weeks and sometimes even months.

I didn’t know what was wrong with me, and nobody knew this was going on. These thoughts became so painful that the only way I knew how to get rid of them was to try to forget as much as possible. A thought would come up and then I’d force myself to forget the past and focus on something else. Today as an adult, I have a horrible memory. But I’m not so sure it is because of trying to forget as a child because my brother has a really bad memory too, so maybe it’s genetic. Who knows?

This morning I remembered that I didn’t have to feel anything about what I said. In fact, I was probably making it out to be a lot more than it really was. But even if I wasn’t, even if I had said the stupidest thing in the world, it doesn’t matter. We all have the choice to remember that it doesn’t matter. Besides, other people have the choice to be patient, forgiving and nonjudgmental with us when we do stupid things. Just as we do with them. But when it all comes down to it, this is all a dream anyway. No, I haven’t experienced life as a dream by having that whole awakening experience thing happen. However, I can know conceptually that nothing that happens here really matters. Knowing this helps me to let things go, to laugh it off and not take things so seriously.

We live. We do stupid things. And then we die. That’s it. And nothing that ever happened while we were alive will matter when we’re dead anyway. Nothing that ever happened in the past few hundred years will matter a trillion years from now. It’s all so very insignificant, especially if you remember that it is only just a dream in the first place.

A New Year & Metaphysical Junkie Turns One Year Old

ON BLOGGING

Today last year I published my first post. I wasn’t sure what the focus of my blog would be but I wanted to share all the invaluable things I learned about overcoming depression and anxiety with others, to let people know that it IS possible to change and heal and feel whole again. But I didn’t want to come across like those typical self-help blogs with the constant “How to” this and “How to” that. I wanted to share my own actual experiences of healing to make it more real for readers. I know that during a struggle it always makes things so much better when you have an actual human being to relate to.

Over the past few months my blog has shifted somewhat away from the self-help side of things and more towards my own spiritual growth and interest in nondualism. Although I still have an interest in helping others, especially if they come to me for help, my enthusiasm for “saving the world” has waned significantly since discovering that the most important goal for myself is inner peace and experiencing Truth. I’m not even going to try guessing where this blog will go in the next coming year. :)

IN CASE YOUR CURIOUS: TOP VISITED POSTS FOR THE YEAR

According to my stats, these were the top blog posts for 2009:

Understanding Critical and Judgmental People
This isn’t even one of my favorite posts but it gets a lot of hits. An even better post on the same topic would be Why Mean People Suck: What I’ve Concluded about Understanding Difficult People.

What Question Should I Ask?
This post reflects the start of me “letting go” of trying to understand nondualism and enlightenment.

Words of Hope for People Who Get Depressed: Things CAN Get Better
If there was only one message I’d want people to really get, this would probably be it.

5 Coping Methods to Get Through a Rough Patch

Letting Go of The Ego’s Game

Dealing with Depression and Anxiety in 4 Steps


A FEW PERSONAL FAVORITE POSTS FOR THE YEAR


new year’s resolution: stop looking outside that window and get inside the house!


Thinking about Finding Joy

This one just makes me happy. :)


My Experience of Healing Depression

I like this one because it outlines my story of healing in a really down to earth way that I wasn’t able to fully capture in my other “self help” posts.


PERSONAL CHANGES AND MILESTONES

May of 2009 was the last time I experienced a full-blown episode of depression. It’s been over 6 months, which I think is the longest time I’ve ever gone without being depressed! What helped? I think it was letting go of expectations of myself, letting go of feeling that I HAD to do this or accomplish that to be a worthy person. I’m telling you, the secret to life is to be carefree. Be free of your cares = being free of everything!

We broke up last summer and then we broke up for good just recently. It’s all good though. There has been so much good that came out of our relationship. We both had a tremendous amount of trust and respect for each other, and our communication was so open and honest. It is the first REAL relationship I’d been in that wasn’t abusive or dysfunctional, I think the best either of us had ever experienced. I’m a better person because of it. I’m so appreciative of that experience and am so happy and we are still friends. It is the best gift ever.

I realized the most important goal for myself: Inner Peace. This decision has stuck with me and changed my focus and perspective on life, and also consequently led to an interest in finding Truth. Special thanks to all that stress from the unhappy ex-wife, which helped realize this. :)

And I finally found a new job! It isn’t the best paying by any means, but in this economy I appreciate that I actually got something in my field that is at least a step up from what I was doing before. Also, I didn’t mention this in the original blog post, but it’s in a religious learning institution. Isn’t THAT something?! Hm, could it be a sign about my own spiritual growth? A unique spiritual learning opportunity? I won’t provide more detail than that (job security!), except to say I wasn’t trying to look for work in that type of environment. It just happened that way.

I am so excited about the coming year. I have a feeling a lot is going to happen and I look forward to sharing it all with you.

Happy New Year everyone!

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