highly sensitive power

“No problem can be solved
from the level of consciousness
that created it.”

~ Albert Einstein

I take much of life to heart, feeling and sensing my way through the days, aiming for the miraculous place just before feeling fully spills over into feeling too much.

Cue the circus music.

What do I do when this balancing act, for whatever reason, can’t be sustained and I spill into the net, landing with my arms folded across my chest and a scowl on my face, peeved, frustrated, or sad.

The best and most immediate restorer of balance I know is a jolt of joy, delivered in the form of a list of things that make me happy. I go to my room, close the door, pull out my bliss reminders list and start reading. The list is pages and pages long – long enough to suck me into its vortex. No matter what the circumstance, reading the list never fails to shift my mood toward the positive. I feel my body lighten, and my mood along with it. The bliss list has the power of a catapult, and I’m airborne again in no time.

The blue dress and matching coat I had as a kid. Maps. Musée Fesch in Ajaccio. Campfires. Practicing whistling in the tent during the sleet storm. Monkey puzzle trees. Pamela’s gluten-free brownies mix. Illustrated journals.

Try it for yourself. Use a format you’re drawn to. Write the list into a blank book, for example, or keep the list on a computer and print it out. As you list joys, make them as personal as possible. Mine your past. Catalogue the joys of all your senses. Get specific. Keep adding to the list. Come back to it often for a lift.