Survival Guide

My wonderful administrative assistant and very dear friend, Cynthia Burgess, gave me a terrific book yesterday entitled, The Bush Survival Bible by Gene Stone. It’s subtitled, “250 Ways to Make It Through the Next Four Years Without Misunderestimating the Dangers Ahead, and Other Subliminable Strategeries”. (Yes, sic!) It’s an anthology, really, of essays by a number of different progressives who offer true strategies for getting through while staying sane. In fact the first piece is entitled, “6 Tips to Maintain Your Sanity”. I give it to you here:

Before you do anything else, make sure you stay sane. Sanity is more important than ever, so follow these tips.

1. Don’t let yourself be overcome with fear. Bush won because he played the fear card – he ran on fear; he rules on fear. But fear creates negative energy – in you and in others around you. Don’t feed into this outright manipulation of your emotions. Just say no to fear. Instead, feel joy, or hope, or love. Don’t let them make you feel afraid.

2. Guard against energy vampires. These are people who suck your energy dry. Instead of talking to people who are stuck on the negatives surrounding the election, surround yourself with positive people who can talk about how to create change.

3. Counter the stress. Try a three-minute break. Take a breath, close your eyes, inhale, exhale, and if negative thoughts occur, focus on the breath and visualize something very positive, such as a free world, or peace, or a good president.

4. Avoid techno-despair. Don’t be overwhelmed by information overload. Take some breaks form CNN or online news now and then. You’re not a news anchor. You don’t need to know what’s going on every minute.

5. Stay in the now. Instead of catastrophizing about the future, focus on the here and now. Be kind to yourself. Take a moment off. Look around at the sky, the birds, and the sunlight. Think about something other than the presidency.

6. Always be of anonymous service. Keep giving. Spread the energy around. Leave small amounts of money in public places. Create happy surprises for others. Don’t just wait for the big opportunities, or you may never do anything at all.

I already do most of these and I’m definitely going to implement the other suggestions - especially number 4! I’ll share more strategies from this delightful book from time to time. After all, we gotta keep our spirits up!