Intro Song: Rise & Fall or Break The Wineglass”
FUD vs. AIA
At the moment the world is balancing on a thin edge.
The next Corona Virus mutation or Avian flu, the non-nuclear fallout from the war in Ukraine, and the threat of actual nuclear fallout, could easily set off an avalanche of world events that could rock the very existence of the human race. Not to mention the previous overwhelming fear of irreversible climate change and rising levels of environmental toxicity, those looming threats that we are now putting on the back burner as the Russians and Ukrainians take the front of our minds at the moment…
What do we do in the face of so much Fear, uncertainty & doubt? What do YOU do? I know what I do.
Some folks go deeper into their escape mechanisms.
Others obsess about the news and keep their eyes and ears on CNN all day everyday.
Some of us are learning how to grow food and building local networks of people who are willing to take action right now, on the ground to ensure that we can not only survive the next unexpected calamity, but we can even thrive through it.
The other day an old familiar feeling of dread and hopelessness started to creep in…. that feeling of “What’s the point?” That little inner voice, what I call “little mind” started up it’s usual crap. “This will NEVER WORK!” “I TOLD you so!” mnwah. And that voice may be absolutely right. Starting a farm and recording and releasing my songs at my age may be a pointless exercise. I probably will just continue generating yawns and non clicks. I may just have freezers full of food I grew that nobody can afford to buy. I SHOULD feel overwhelmed. I SHOULD quit. I SHOULD just give up.
What a sad pathetic attempt I’m making. It will never make a difference. I don’t matter….
on and on and on. I can be quite critical and harsh with myself…
IF I ALLOW THAT LITTLE MIND to be my master. F@#k off little mind!
BIG MIND has another idea. I hear it calmly whisper, “You do not know what is in your best interests…”
I hear, “Move your body Mark.”
I hear “This will be fun!”
I may be a fool to start a farm church where I can grow and share my food and music in this strange day and age, but at least it gives me something productive to do. Something that could actually make a difference at scale. Or maybe it just gives me something to do that counters my old default programming.
Start small. But start. Start today. Do the thing that’s calling you to do it. Even if you think others are laughing at you. Because if you do something big enough, they WILL laugh.
My hero Pete Seeger used to say, “Take it easy, but take it!”
Keeping with my new practice of “3 simple things” Today I want to share with you 3 steps to flooding your neurology with feel good molecules instead of fight or flight chemicals…
These are just some of the techniques that I’ve used in my own path and that have worked with hundreds of anxiety sufferers over the years.
As someone with OCD, you know, “Obsessive Compulsive Distinction,” I feel compelled to share a few simple tools that I use to shift my thinking, my focus, my energy, my state, when anxiety starts flooding my neurology. I literally just used them the other day.
- anxiety is not a disease. Anxiety is thinking about what you don’t want to have happen. A little is good if it causes you to take some kind of appropriate preventative action. Like, I don’t want to freeze this coming winter so I’ll make sure I have plenty of wood, and warm clothes to wear. So The antidote to anxiety is to stop focusing on what you don’t want to have happen. We get what we focus on. So here we have to apply AIA. Awareness, Intention, Action.Start noticing the thoughts you’re thinking… the pictures and movies you’re running in your mind and you’ll discover your’ thinking about things you don’t want to have happen and your body is reacting as if they are real. INTEND to change your thoughts. and then CHANGE THEM.teach them the timeline tool here.
- Anxiety is also triggered by the things we say to ourselves and more specifically, the questions we ask ourselves. Most people ask victim questions like, “Why is this bad thing happening to ME?” But when we ask better questions we get better results. Why Does It Work Out Better Than I Can Possibly Imagine? literally programs your unconscious mind to begin to NOTICE the world according to the presuppositions in that sentence.And if you are chanting it like I do throughout the day (pretty much every day) it helps to replace the thoughts about what we don’t want to have happen. Let’s say it together:WHY DOES IT WORK OUT BETTER THAN I CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE?WHY DOES IT WORK OUT BETTER THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE?WHY DOES IT WORK OUT BETTER THAN WE CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE?
====>WDIWOBTICPI Music Video here?
- Take action towards what you want. Get busy. Get involved. Get to work. DO SOMETHING! Do something you don’t normally do. Move your body in the general direction you want to go. That may mean taking a walk or a yoga class or volunteering in some community organization. For me that means recording the 500 songs I’ver written since 1976 even though they don’t get airplay or make any money, growing enough food for myself, my family, my neighbors and quite possibly YOU.
Change your mind and change your life. Set aside the fear and strife.
Together we can change the world.
So this week, as the FUD, the Fear Uncertainty and Doubt swirl around you… and the little voice starts bitching and whining about this or that or the other thing…
DARE to sow a little A.I.A…. Awareness, Intention. and ACTION.