Nasty Monkey

This is my third attempt at writing this post. The two times before this they got deleted by accident Gaahhhh! To cry or laugh? This time I think I choose laugh (and am typing on word and saving the file).

 Last time though I got so frustrated and before I knew what was happening I was spinning around like a bad mood twister turning everything around me into various shades of grey. Walking around like a self-righteous zombie lacking any motivation whatsoever, the only sane option: nap. Waiting for something to happen to snap me out of it, here is a list of what doesn’t work:

Waiting for something to happen

Fighting it

Ignoring it

Logically solving the issue

And what I have learnt from my trial and errors with previous bad moods is that all it takes to snap out of it is a shift in perspective. Sometimes physical (nature, open space etc.) but mostly mental, it requires lightning up and not taking everything so personally. Creating space for myself to see that ‘I’ am not defined by my ‘issues’. ‘I’ am much, much more and my potential is infinite J. The moment when I am able to see this is when I feel so truly awake.

'Waking up 1'

A bad mood or ‘The Black Monkey” (Megha!) as we call it is so very addictive that the effort required for perspective shift feels as difficult as dunking oneself in a cold pond or getting out of a warm and comfy bed early to go running :S. Needs to be done though. Hopefully gets easier with practice.

Travel time is when things seem miraculously clear to me. I absolutely love lone airplane travel. The reasons for my love are so numerous that im grinning madly just thinking about it. Okay heres a short list: view from window (at any time of day), airplane food, inflight entertainment, legal naps at any time, catching up on reading, looking out window, listening to dreamy music and choreographing imaginary music video etc. So a few days back when flying out to Mumbai from Chennai, I was all geared up for a happy 2 hours of flight time. I was not disappointed. 

Calorie laden breakfast (check)

Good music courtesy Florence+ The Machine (check)

Reading epic book, A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle (check)

Sky doing some crazy cool things (check)

Enthusiastically wrote a cheesy poem about sky (check)

It went something like this :)...

Stretched, swirling in slow motion

Puffs, popcorn machines couldn't contain themselves,

Spilled over to fill oceans and build cities of dreams.

Blankets, tapestries of life stories stuffed full of light;

Will I bounce? My pockets are empty,

I yearn to launch into the blue...

Now while all this enjoyment onboard might easily be mistaken as escapism, I say its all about aerial perspective :D. Let me explain, travel time I find allows me to become silent enough to detach from my problems and gain new perspective on what really is important. Those "Aha!" moments where the bigger picture suddenly becomes clear.