So, life’s been pretty shitty lately. The project that was going to save my bacon vanished
into thin air and then the back-up plan obviously figured that looked like jolly fun and
promptly followed suit. My body decided
this would be a good time to throw a hissy fit so exercising, my usual happy
place, was a no-go area. The kitchen
ceiling is leaking. The dog bit me
(again). And, to cap it all, one of my
eyebrows decided to emulate Denis Healey’s.
But, worst of all, I lost my spiritual mojo. Gone. Vanished (probably following the
money). Effed off. And I found myself…bereft. No, not bereft, because that implies a depth
of feeling that I simply couldn’t feel.
Numb. Empty. Blank. Not
comfortably numb – not blissfully distracted; but numb in the way I imagine one
might feel if one became paralysed from eating wild honey in the South American
jungle and were awaiting death by cannibalistic ants. Did any of you ever read that story, by
Horacio Quiroga? No, thought not. J
You know me…I love to meditate, to hike into the
universe, to shimmy my chakras, to walk through the woods and go, ‘Ooh, look!’
imagining oneness with leaf and stone, finding supposed meaning and
synchronicity and surprise and wonder.
And, instead…meh. Nada. Just the numbness and that sense of waiting
for ants. An eternity of ants.
And the mind starts mocking…well, aren’t you the
prize numpty? So bloody arrogant with
your fine spirituality and…for what? You
have burned your bridges with the mundane, the ordinary, the everyday and you
are left with…nothing. A cosmic
joke? Except there’s nobody playing it on
you except yourself. All your worldly
ambitions seem…stupid, childish, pathetic.
And all your spiritual ambitions seem…boring. There is just a creeping apathy that spreads
over your will.
I’ve been here before, of course. But before I’d have been racing through that
jungle, stumbling over lianas, flinching at giant spiders. Or I’d have been violently sobbing into some innocent pond or
flailing my puny fists at a bemused bystanding tree. I’ve never been quite so numb.
So, what do you do?
Well, I suppose everyone finds their own way but I have been doing…nothing
really. Just reading mindless books and
watching mindless TV and drinking wine and eating toast mindlessly. And sleeping.
Lots and lots of sleeping. And then more sleeping. Mindless sleeping. And laughing my head off at really deeply silly things on the Internet. And I have been avoiding people who would, I
know, offer well-meaning solutions. And yes, there are tons of people in far
worse situations. And yes, one can live moment by moment, in the Now, being
terribly Zen about it but really…(and yes, of course, nothing is real except
when one feels it) there are no easy pat solutions. No Battersea Dogs' Home for Lost Psyches. And that word…solution…made me think about chemistry
which made me think about…well, Breaking
Bad actually…(and isn’t that a bleakly mesmerising series?) but then it
made me think about alchemy and it occurred to me that one could - at a push - think of this state
as a kind of fermentation.
And if it is
fermentation (and not just a common or garden state of depression brought on by
being a washed up fifty-something with a sagging jawline) then the next stage
should be sublimation, followed by radiation.
Well…beam me up, Scottie.
Just more mind games probably but still...What else can you do, right?
Btw, I'm still sort of fermenting (thank you kindly) so any suggestions for good mindless (as opposed to bad mindless - you get the distinction, right?) TV series or movies or books are welcomed. Along with any funny mindless Internet thingies...
Oh, and if you're wondering...yes, of course a fermenting fifty-something woman can still be a holistic hero! For pity's sake (if nothing else) - do vote for me...see right for the voting button thingy.
