The Secret to Sanity?

Have you ever gotten a song stuck in your head, so that you were silently singing the same song over and over until you thought you were going nuts? I hate when this happens, especially when I don't know all the words to the song, because then I wind up mentally singing the same 2 or 3 lines repeatedly.

I don't know about you, but for me this madness will sometimes continue for days or almost a week. Sometimes I experience a similar frustration while dreaming.

You know those dreams when you are stressed out in the dream so much that you can feel the tension remaining in your body when you wake up? Or the dream has you doing repetitive, tedious work over and over and over, so that when you wake up you are still tired after a full night's sleep? Or maybe tehre is constant "noise" in your dream--a TV, loud music, the sounds of typing or people talking. You may feel like you can't escape the noise and you can't get any peace and quiet.

If you experience any of these things, these are clear signs that should not be ignored.

These symptoms are ways for your mind to tell you to SLOW DOWN. Your brain is sending a message: YOU'VE GOT STRESS. Relax, decompress, stop working so hard. Everyone knows that dreams are usually not meant to be literal, but are symbolic representations.

In a nutshell, there are two parts to your mind: your conscious (waking) mind and your subconscious (sleeping) mind. Because the entire job of your ego (consciuos mind) is to protect itself and look good, the ego is somewhat blinded. However, the job of your subconcious mind (higher self) is to achieve your full potential. These two are often in conflict and while you're awake, your conscious mind typically rules your thoughts nad actions. However, when you sleep, your conscious mind is turned off for a few hours, giving your subconscious mind the ability to roam free.

Here's the fun part: your subconscious mind speaks to you in pictures, to disguise its message from teh ego. Because if the ego really knew what hte subconscious mind was up to, it would fill your head with monkey chatter and not let you pursue your higher goals.

If you think I'm full of crap, read The Power of the Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy, or read anything by Barbara Dewey.

OK, lesson is over, now back to the stuck song and the busy/noisy dream thing.

I've noticed that I only have the "busy" and "noisy" dreams when I have been going full-tilt, non-stop for days, usually working on or worrying about the same thing. The stuck song usually happens when I am too busy for too many hours in a day, or when I'm listening to the radio too much. For example, I have done almost nothing but unpack for the past 3 days, adn my dream last night was about busy-ness. That's my brain telling me to take a break adn do something fun today. But I really want to get unpacked (that's the ego talking) but I know if my subconscious is telling me to slow down, that's exactly what I shoudl do.

My intellect knows that my subsconsious mind is right on this one (well, it's always right, but my ego can't always rationalize why--see previous entry on intuition). For one, if I DON'T slow down adn take a break, the stuck song will never go away adn I just may go nuts. Plus, I'll keep having teh stressful dreams, which means I won't get my much-needed and much-deserved rest at night, which means I'll be less productive (and almost certainly more irritable!) during the day. So I pretty much have no choice but to listen on this one.

(Incidentally, the song stuck in my head right now is "I Love My Elbows" by Kermit the Frog. I haven't even heard it in 3 days, but it's there, stuck like a broken record. Anyone with a toddler understands how these Sesame Street songs can make you NUTS after awhile. I definitely have a love/hate thing going with Elmo.)

The next time you get a song stuck in your head for more than a day or two, or the next time you have a dream that is repetitive adn isn't restful, LISTEN to your subconscious telling you to take a break. Clearly, you've got too much stress right now. Call in sick to work, schedule lunch with a friend, take a massage or just go to the park by yourself on a beautiful day, but for pete's sake, don't ignore this sound advice. Relax and take care of you. Here are five ways to manage stress and take care of you.

My question for you today is: