Sunday's Sermon - Disconnecting

"The brain is a computer - an organic one." Walter Bishop

Last week, a few of my readers noticed they did not see any facebook tags for blog post from me and they questioned me about it. I said to them simply, I was temporarily disconnected.

Through my blog I have made online connections and people who talk to me and ask me questions know me as a positive, upbeat young woman, who makes them see the glass as half full, but certainly they know my life like everyone else's is not always sunshine and rainbows. I often have situations that make me want to scream and throw in the towel.

Chances are I will scream, loudly. I have done it once in the middle of the street with no remorse for passers by, nor fear of their opinion of my level of sanity. In fact I suggest a good loud scream and a cry to everyone every where.
Anyone who knows me personally knows I am a person of extreme emotion. For me happiness, sadness, anger, and a wide spectrum of other emotions, is very intense.
For this reason, from time to time, when I am overcome by great anger or sadness I am a person who will disconnect.

For the last two weeks I was battling some physical and emotional issues and even though they did not affect my ability to blog, I simply choose NOT to. For a few days I lay in bed with my clock chiming every four hours to remind me to take my medication, and in between hours, I slept or stared at the ceiling thinking of either the pain I was in, the things I had to deal with when I got better, the new novel I was going to write, or just nothing at all.

I did not answer mail, I did not watch You Tube. I did not take any phone calls. I DISCONNECTED myself entirely. And this may seem strange to you, but have you heard of the word retreat? Are you aware people pay hundreds of dollars to go to some remote island or new country and stay in the country side where there are no televisions, radios or any form of internet connection just so they can spend a weekend doing exactly what I did at home for free?

 Sometimes, we as people cling to other people and things to much to get by. Some people cannot go two seconds without checking their phone for messages. their life has become consumed by the internet.
Other people can only handle difficult situations at the end of a bottle of liquor or legs up in another persons bed.
When we lose touch with ourselves we loose the ability to overcome difficult situations.

Note I said OVERCOME and not just deal with or handle. Everyone deals with situations daily. For example, a woman may be dealing with being in an abusive relationship, but she needs to OVERCOME being in that situation for her life to change or be better.

Now if you are still thinking I and the people who pay to shut the world out need Dr. Phil or some form of physiatric help, go tell it to the Chinese, who have been teaching the art of meditation for over countless centuries. When you sit cross legged in a quiet room or open space devoid of distraction and "clear your mind' you are putting into practice the art of disconnecting.
Meditation is the way that people who cannot leave their businesses of families and run off to a weekend retreat can disconnect temporarily and put their qi back in order.

(Qi - the Chinese word pronounced che or chi used to speak of the circulating life force of a body or being. Google it)

This is more important than you may think. Just as our bodies need a balance of food and nutrients, it needs psychological balance as well. This is what prevents us from killing people (or ourselves) among other things that will have us imprisoned or committed to a mental hospital.

 You see, like Mr. Bishop said in the opening quote, with all our electrical impulses and constant downloading and uploading of information, our brains are much like computers (of the organic type). We know all too well what happens if your computer is overloaded or overheated. The same goes for our minds and bodies.


You don't have to sit crossed legged with fingers touching and hum or recite some ancient ritualistic phrase. But every now and then you can turn off your computer, your cell phone, your kids (and yes, you can turn off your kids, tell you more about it later) and do one of two things -
1. Let your mind wander free to think of anything and everything. You will be surprised the money making ventures or solutions to problems you may come up with.
OR 2. Let your mind think of nothing at all. You will also be surprised the things you come up with when you're not thinking.

The point of it all is to have a selfish moment where YOU, YOU and YOU are the only thing that matters in the entire world. Not your kids, not the dog, not the people on facebook or at your workplace.
DISCONNECT.
Try it.