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1. |
Addressing The Problem
04:28
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Only once you've accepted the powerlessness of your own disposition and situation can you begin to heal. If you have trouble accomplishing this on your own, you can seek external help. Help is a catch-all term we will use to refer to anything which offers relief or, ideally, long-term healing. You must face the fact that you have no idea why or how this is happening. Understand that the pain you feel is a product of variables beyond your comprehension. Nothing happens for a reason. Expecting finality and closure in life is like panning for gold in a bath tub. Only through acceptance and eventual internalization of your problems can you expect to find solace. Ruminating restlessly over alternate outcomes will only tear open the wound and force the healing process to restart. Like the adage about keeping your enemies closest, understand your dilemma. Visualize it. Recognize the futility of denial. Denying the existence of your pain is like covering an infected wound. It will continue to spread. Do not ignore the problem.
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2. |
That Fatal Straw
03:53
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Silent is the sound of that fatal straw which breaks the camel's back. It appears unassuming. Devoid of context, the straw is a small, thin, wispy strip. It does not look inherently threatening or worrying. Even with context, the straw appears to be just another in a long line. At face value, it is just straw, however, it is still undeniably the cause of the broken back. The accumulative issues which plague you, on their own, may not be a cause for concern. Take a step back and look at the larger picture. Are you carrying a lot of these problems around? Is it possible that you're nearly suffocating in their presence? It is, understandably, hard to understand a problem from the inside looking out. Once again, you may need to reach out to external sources for help understanding the stress you carry.
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3. |
Breathing Tricks
02:03
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Remember the breath trick. If you are ever overwhelmed, and are safely able to stop what you're doing, take a few minutes to work on your breathing. Breathe deep. Let it fill your lungs completely. Repeat this three to four times. Then switch to smaller breaths. Try breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth, or conversely, in through your mouth and out through your nose. If you want, you can do these interchangeably. Focus on this cycle of breath. Picture the air filling your lungs. Imagine how happy your body is to receive this air in such a quantity. Focus again on the cycle of breath. Let its repetition relax you. Take a moment and scan your body. Are you holding any stress or retention in any area? If so, relax the surrounding muscles. Picture yourself unclenching, slinking down in your seat, letting go of any residual stress, which may take the form of this flexing or clenching. Imagine you are a liquid, fitting any container you happen to be placed in.
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4. |
We Understand & Love You
05:18
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Nobody is without problems in their life. There are certainly different magnitudes of problems, and situations range drastically, both in terms of what each person is facing and how each person is experiencing it, however, if you ever feel alone in your problems, remember that the world is full of sympathetic, understanding people. Though they may not understand your unique pain, they can certainly relate it to their own pain to better understand and meet your needs. Choosing the right person is important. Look into the possibility of getting professional help, talk to your most trusted confidants. It can't be understated how important external help is. You can't repair a broken hammer with the same broken hammer. Similarly, you can't expect full recovery unless you look outside of your head. The head is where these problems incubate.
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5. |
It's Not Selfishness
04:24
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Never be ashamed to prioritize your own mental health and sound-mindedness, even at the risk of disappointing others. To clarify, this does not mean behave rude or uncaring towards others, rather, do not force yourself to behave in a way that ignores the problem. For example, if you have plans on Saturday night, and come Saturday morning you find yourself in a bad mood, don't force yourself to go out and engage with people. The brain is a muscle, and like any muscle, too much action can strain it. For this reason, don't be scared to cancel plans, and don't be ashamed to enjoy time spent alone. If you feel that you need or desire a distraction, or if thoughts turn ugly, by all means, follow through with plans, but if you find yourself putting on heirs, do not hesitate to cancel in lieu of rest or recreational time.
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6. |
Get To Know Yourself
04:43
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You can understand yourself better through deep, introspective thought. It is extremely easy to suffer a disconnect between the personality you outwardly display, and the person you actually are inside. It's a lot harder to complete a puzzle without the picture on the front of the box. Similarly, if you don't know who it is you're fixing, you won't really know how to fix them. To better understand yourself, sit or lie in a comfortable position in a location without many distracting surroundings. Too many loud sounds, bright lights, or flashy decorations can unintentionally disrupt thoughts. Once you are comfortable, start by asking yourself the following questions:
- What makes me happy?
- What are some safe, conscientious ways I can surround myself with the source(s) of my happiness?
- What are my long-term goals?
- Do these goals pertain to the source(s) of my happiness?
- What makes me unhappy?
- What are some safe, conscientious ways I can distance myself from the source(s) of my unhappiness?
- Do my long-terms goals pertain to the source(s) of my happiness?
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7. |
Mind Vacation
02:57
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One proven method for treating stress involves closing your eyes and visualizing yourself somewhere else--somewhere tranquil and tucked far away from the routes of your daily life. To demonstrate, close your eyes and follow along. As the following scene is described, try to imagine it in great detail. Interact with it, add onto it, but do not stray too far from the core scene. Imagine the following:
You're walking at a comfortable pace down an unpaved trail, in the beautiful countryside. The sky is baby blue. It is a warm day, just shy of one o'clock in the afternoon. The sun hangs almost directly overhead. Occasionally, there is a slight breeze which serves to break up the monotony of the warmth. To your left, and the left of the trail is a strip of forest. Some of the branches are bare or thin. Looking down into the forest reveals a small stream. You hear a frog ribbit. To your right, and the right of the trail is a meadow filled with tall grass and dandelions. You can see and hear dragonflies flap happily along the surface of this meadow. The trail you're on continues to recede into the hill ranges. The air in this area is fresh and slightly floral. It feels good to breathe in. You feel good. You feel happy and lucky to be a part of this grand design.
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8. |
Recovery Vs Distraction
03:02
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Remember that there is a difference between recovery and distraction. Depending on what type of person you are, you may have a natural inclination towards one or the other, however, distractions are generally not as beneficial as recovery. Unfortunately, it is not as easy as simply listing examples from both categories. This is because the activity is not the determining factor, it's your intention. If you attend a party for the purpose of ignoring a problem, you are just prolonging a breakdown. If you attend a party to break up the monotony of your week, or to offset the stress from your daily life or job, this is recreational and therefore, beneficial. Playing loud music or vacantly scrolling through your social feeds as a means of procrastination is always going to be to your detriment. The same activity for the purpose of resting your brain can be healing. Rest well, but don't ignore a lit candle until it becomes a house fire.
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9. |
Frames In Time
03:29
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If you ever find yourself missing or mourning the loss of another person, remember that frames of time behave like stases, or like snapshots, memorialized forever. Even as people grow, drift apart, or die, and relationships end or weaken, its participants are still attached at the metaphysical hip by shared events and memories. A version of this dynamic exists forever, and those shared memories can be accessed at will by either party, at any time. Whether good or bad, whether objective or misconstrued, memories are always yours to have. They are to be cherished. Treat memories with respect, view them, and return them to their designated slot, the same as you would at a library when using books, movies, or slides.
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10. |
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Try to find humor in life's strangeness. This should be easy because everything in life is inherently absurd. It is like a silly picnic comprised of many unique, strange dishes, and fun, unfamiliar games. If you are worried that you somehow lack more control than the average person, rest assured, nobody really knows what they're doing. We are all just playing make-believe in a place we can't identify, in bodies we don't own, in a superposition that will only make less sense the more you look into it. Life is at its best when it's absurd and strange. There is no malice to life's design, only an unflinching disregard for what its occupants want. Life creates you, then it loves you, then it sends you away, but it never stops loving you. Its love is not a composite thing, but you can envision it like an invisible blanket, swaddling you and keeping you warm in the face of a turbulent winter. Life took inanimate matter and gave it a greater purpose, and you are the product. And you're beautiful. And the rest of us are beautiful. And we will be beautiful forever, even long after our lifetimes.
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11. |
Trying Your Best
01:29
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When in times of doubt, just try your best. It's all anyone can realistically expect out of a person. It's all anyone's ever been able to offer. Their best. Your best. You are capable of your best all the time. Even when you feel sapped of energy, you have a maximum amount of good you can deposit. Your best may take many forms. Even when quality appears to falter, you are always capable of being the best version of you. Do not second-guess your ability to do your best. It's called your best for a reason. Nobody can do it but you. You are an indispensable, irreplaceable part of life's machine. Without you, things simply wouldn't be the same. And you are firing on all cylinders when you do the best that you're able to do.
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12. |
Say It Out Loud
03:45
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Talking through your problems, even if only out loud to yourself, can be instrumental in the healing process. Sometimes, in fact, just describing your situation out loud can relieve stress, like cracking a valve and releasing the pent up pressure inside. If you are not comfortable recounting your problems out loud, you may be better suited seeking external help in the form of mental health professionals or trusted loved ones. More importantly than speaking out loud about your problems is your well-being moment-to-moment. If a cause of stress or trauma troubles you to address out loud, by name, it will most likely be better handled by a specialist in the field of mental health.
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13. |
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It is well-known that crying is a reliable method for relieving stress, and this has a chemical explanation. The act of crying releases both cortisol and adrenaline, lowering your brains contents of these two hormones, and reducing the perceived stakes of a situation. Crying is especially effective if you are experiencing anxiety, and/or would currently describe your body as tense or rigid. By depleting your body's natural reserve of stress hormones, you are lowering the percentage of them in your bloodstream, lulling your mind and body into a state of stillness, collectedness, and relaxation. Crying for a longer period of time will eventually trigger the release of endorphins as well, and these are partly opiate, which should act to strengthen and prolong that sense of calmness and well-being.
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14. |
Overcoming Goliath
02:37
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Obstacles are to be expected in life. Hurdles and pitfalls exist so that success can feel more rewarding. Exercise the following with caution. If ignoring a problem is the only way to prevent a crisis, by all means, ignore the problem, but if you are able, and you are interested in amplifying future elation, address the pain directly and engage with it. When you deny yourself the feeling of frustration that comes out of a difficult situation, whether through denial or any other coping mechanism, you are preemptively numbing the feeling of satisfaction you will feel during your next success. However, it is also important not to live life chasing adrenaline or dopamine highs.
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15. |
Nutrition And Sleep
02:16
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A clean diet and adequate water intake are as paramount to your well-being as breathing and sleeping. The bottom-line is, even if we disregard the chemical ramifications of dehydration or malnutrition, the discomfort you will feel when these sensations are combined with your pre-existing condition will make things much worse. The recommended amount of water for a healthy, semi-active individual is about 10-15 cups of water a day. Recommended caloric or vitamin intake is based on your body's specific composition. In a similar vein, and it was mentioned briefly earlier, adequate sleep is a must. A poor quality or an inadequate amount of sleep can cause irritability, aggression, anxiety, and restlessness. A prolonged period of sleep deprivation, or accumulated sleep debt can cause irreversible damage to the mind and body, which will only serve to worsen your mental and physical health. The recommended amount of sleep per night for both children and adults is 7-9 hours. This amount only begins to raise around the age of 60.
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16. |
A Social Species
05:26
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Loneliness and hunger share a lot of qualities. Both are general feelings of emptiness brought on by a lack of something. Both feel situated somewhere in the torso, even though only one can be observed and labeled in a medical setting. Both can also prove to be deadly if left untreated. Whereas hunger is satiated through the consumption of food, loneliness is satiated, in equal parts, by a daily dose of menial social interaction, and the long-term developing of relationships. For some examples of the latter, think of friends you've had since childhood, immediate family, trusted loved ones, significant others, or even yourself. Remember that you are a person the same as any other and sometimes you have to observe yourself from an outsider's perspective. At any rate, for most people, interacting with other humans on a regular basis is imperative to their mental acuity.
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17. |
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If you're able to look past the specifics of your problem, the qualities which are unique to your life, you will see that your problems share many commonalities with the problems of others. Much of this can be attributed to the human condition. As humans born with self-importance, it can be hard to grapple with mortality. It is incredibly jarring to be issued a name and identity with the knowledge that it will one day be erased. Some people lance their self-importance through meditation, during which, the goal is to forget the self. One intended effect of this practice is to demonstrate how cessation of thoughts is not scary or personal. Life is a beautiful window of opportunity.
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18. |
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Do not serve the self
Fulfillment is a barbed and stickered branch beneath the foliage
Clinging tight to passing ankles, near invisible til then
And if noticed, you would swear it's just a root under the umbrage
But it cuts its way through clothing and then digs into the skin
Once it penetrates, it rearranges all to fit its needs
Parasitic, underfed, and with a penchant for fresh blood
And worst of all, you're now a vessel for dispersing all its seeds
"Serve the self," you say. "The self!" you shout. "I want, I need, I should."
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19. |
Ebb And Flow (bonus)
01:27
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We sway and rock to rhythm that's as old as time
And time is even older than its face
For epochs it was carnivorous raging to survive but
Blissful, mute, and ignorant of space
So pleased to be in rhythm that's as old as time
A time that predates everthing you know
The only useful thought when you remember where you are
Is to dissolve into the ancient ebb and flow
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20. |
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When all amounts to none
Begin the ritual of one
Wherein, absorbed into the Earth,
You admit softly that you're done
And into dirt you disappear
And into ether without form
An exit not unlike the entrance
That you took when you were born
And through this exit, boundless black
A spotless dark which knows no end
You travel soundlessly and speedily
Absolved of all your sins
What once was memory is gone
What was organic now is done
No definitions, thoughts, or objects left
When all amounts to none
The universe's sweet caressing form
When all amounts to none
The cost of fear is now unknown to me
When all amounts to none
I was a stand-in, crow, and camgirl and
It all amounts to none
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Jugboy Ohio
A depository for all my music regardless of the moniker. Suck n fuck.
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