I bet you expected me to put a question here, didn’t you?

Well, the question is just “what is YOUR question of the day?”

I’ve adopted a new practice of deciding each morning what would be an important question for me to ponder that day. Not something like “oh my, what should I wear today?” but a more in depth type of question.

Before you groan and mutter “I don’t have time to spend on answering a dumb vague question”, hear me out.

I’m not suggesting you spend time contemplating your question as you contemplate your navel, although feel free to do that.

What I am saying is to simply take a minute or two to look beyond the day and think of a question that involves your life in general. Just come up with question, write (or type) it down and then let it sit in your mind. You don’t have to do anything else on a conscious level. Your brain is powerful enough it can ponder this while keeping you breathing, your blood flowing and your kids picked up. You may never officially answer the question. But the seed will be planted.

Try it for a day or two and see what comes up.

Here’s some examples:

“Do I want to continue doing all these long distance runs and more importantly train for them or is it time for me to move on to something else.” Notice i didn’t even include any question about “what else” might there be.

“Am I doing what I want to be doing most of the time? How do I feel about my days?” Ok so that’s two questions. You can make it one just by sticking an “and” in there.

“Is there something I really want to do before I die?”

“Are there people I need and want to make amends with?”

“What is my strongest quality?”

“What is my greatest weakness?”

“Who is someone that I know and really admire and why?” See, there, i put the “and” in.

“What subjects would I like to learn more about?”

“Can I sit still or do I have to be busy all the time?”

There are so many things we can ask our inner selves to think about. I imagine you’ll be surprised if you do this for awhile. You’ll most likely find yourself wanting to do more and live your life to a greater degree. Or maybe to give more to other people. Or, you may realize how happy you are with what you have and you don’t want to change anything. Only you will know the results.

 Who doesn’t think puppies are cute?

Most people will agree and if they are allergic or have some other aversion, they might secretly think that at least they are adorable in pictures.

I’ve been watching 3 litters of Huskies in the past 2 weeks – what a blessing. I don’t think I’ve smiled that much in a long time.

People are like puppies once you remove their camouflage.

A puppy has only one goal. To get to mom and get her love and nourishment. You can tell that nothing else matters. If you sit with yourself and remove all external stimuli, I think you’ll realize that is also your PRIMARY goal. We just seem to have so much other garbage that gets in the way.

Puppies surprisingly are very dependent. Their eyes aren’t even open for about 2-3 weeks! They can’t poop or pee on their own. They need mama’s stimulation for that (I don’t think they care either – until, of course, it hurts too much..lol). Horses, on the other hand, can see and even walk almost immediately at birth.

Even at my own old age and with my previous puppy experience, I didn’t know those facts. It’s amazing they survive in the “wild”. Thank goodness for mothers.

It’s not that we humans need help pooping and peeing – most parents are probably laughing at this. Infants have absolutely no problem performing their bodily functions. But, we are dependent in so many other ways – often ways we don’t want to admit.

Often our eyes aren’t open either. The eyelids might be but is there a connection there between the outside world and the brain? The eyes don’t see, they just carry signals (another neural circuit – you’ve heard me talk a lot about neural circuits). The brain receives the signals and then interprets those signals. That’s where things get individual. What I see may not be what you see because you don’t have the same framework I do. You haven’t been to all the places I’ve been and vice versa. I wasn’t taught the same things you were.

Puppies squirm and crawl all over anything and anyone including their family members. It’s not that they want to hurt anyone else, they just are focused on one thing – getting to the milk and warmth that mama provides.

People squirm and crawl all over anything and anyone including their family members. Sometimes, though, they do hurt others, but really deep down, in the majority of the cases, they don’t do that intentionally. We may not realize that, again because of the experiences we have. In actuality, though, we are all after the same thing – love and nourishment – physical, emotional and mental nourishment.

Puppies and people just want to cuddle. Before you cringe and go “oh no, not me, I don’t like to be touched” realize that this is your camouflage. It’s all about love!

A word about camouflage – we don’t always choose our camouflage. Often the first layers are applied by our parents, siblings, peers, teachers, religious figures and media. Unfortunately we don’t have a lot of choice about that layer. By the time we get to where we can pick our wardrobe, that feels great. But, you don’t realize that you have those base layers and now you’re hiding them. They are still there though. When you get hot (things are not going so well), you may not understand that you have to shed some of those base layers just as we do in Texas – where it’s 40 degrees in the morning and 80 by 2 in the afternoon. But the layer issue is for another post.

Be a puppy!

(I bet you expected my photo to be of puppies..Sorry to disappoint but if I had puppy pictures, I wouldn’t have time to be posting)

 I have been having way too many headaches lately and they aren’t relieved by my migraine medicine. Inherently i know they are due to the deep emotional issues that are hidden in my soul.

Do I know how to get to them? No. I would love to get to the bottom of the abyss so that I could eliminate these headaches. But, alas, I know they are there for a reason and I have to chip away at the wall gradually.

What’s interesting, though, is that living in my head is like playing Whac-A-Mole. My medical mind keeps throwing up an idea as to what’s behind these continual headaches – let’s see “maybe it’s all the trigger points I have”; “maybe it’s my diet”; “maybe it’s too much salt”; maybe this, maybe that. I have to sit there and knock each one away repeatedly telling myself to stop it, that these are just camouflage uniforms trying to distract me from the deepest issues.

It is discouraging, though, because no matter how hard I’m trying, I don’t seem to get anywhere and my headaches continue.

Now that I have recognized that this is what I do, i seem to do it in all areas of my life. “What is that person thinking of me? What is it they really want? What did I do wrong? etc.”

I know that it’s my parts (IFS/internal family systems) all competing for attention but it’s like a big arena where people are throwing balls back and forth to each other and against the walls. All these thoughts and ideas are continually bouncing around inside my skull. No wonder it hurts. It’s my job to realize this and calm each part recognizing that all parts are welcome and all are doing what they are supposed to do – protect me. I can’t be upset with the parts because they are necessary for my existence until I get to the heart of everything and each protective part can find a new and more useful role. It will take time and it’s important not to rush the process.