Valerie Reiss: November 2009 Archives

This has been making the rounds for a while, but this music video of "Say Hey" by my fave band Michael Franti and Spearhead just gave me a nice Friday afternoon boost with its super-positive vibe. Enjoy!

One of the great ironies of writing this feature, Fresh Morning, is that I am sooo not a morning person and never have been. When I was in elementary school I recall loving the Garfield quote "I will rise, but I refuse to shine."

And here are a couple more that you might relate to if your engines are exactly full-blast when your feet hit the floor:

"I'd like mornings better if they started later."  - Author Unknown

"I don't think jogging is healthy, especially morning jogging.  If morning joggers knew how tempting they looked to morning motorists, they would stay home and do sit-ups." - Rita Rudner

"Early morning cheerfulness can be extremely obnoxious. " - William Feather

"Dawn:  When men of reason go to bed."  - Ambrose Bierce

"Luxury is an ancient notion.  There was once a Chinese mandarin who had himself wakened three times every morning simply for the pleasure of being told it was not yet time to get up."  - Argosy

Et tu? Night owl? Early bird? In between?

Need more morning inspiration?  Read our entire Fresh Morning collection!

Gallows humor, dark comedy--created for very good reasons. Something along the lines of "If I don't laugh, I'm going to cry." And because funny is hidden in the deepest crevices of grief and suffering sometimes. And in the nooks of stress and general despair. It's a way of distancing ourselves from the bad feelings that threaten to consume us, covering up insecurities, bringing light and perception into the shadows.

Today I'm trying to laugh because I am steeped in fear. I've got my bi-annual oncology checkup in a few hours and I can't think, can't really speak too well, and am just barely functioning (also, I've had a hell of a crazy week--my shrink looked at me today and said, "Wow, you're still standing."). And really, fear sucks. It's cold, it's depleting, it's contracting, it brings our energy down, causes our insides to squirt danger juice (cortisol), slows down our immune system, actually takes out brain cells. It's just a total buzzkill.

So when I came across this quote today, it was such a delicious, chain-shaking relief to spontaneously laugh, hard--fear's ultimate antidote:

"We're in the middle of nowhere, which is the safest part of nowhere." - Futurama (the Matt Groening show). 

I feel like it's still making my organs laugh it connects so deeply with the kind of fear I'm in.  Like, nowhere! Ha! Middle of it! Safest! That's the thing with darkish humor (even in its lightest form), you kind of have to be there (read: freaking out) to get it. But anyway, that's all I got.

Have you gotten through a tough time with dark humor?

When my stressy brain saw this, it just about dropped its ball o struggle. On a blog I love, ColorMeKatie, photographer Katie Sokoler created a tent in her apartment. Because she felt like it. I love that idea. A contained, cozy beautiful hideaway within a hideaway. I'd pile in fluffy pillows, a good book, markers, paper, and some music source.

What would your ideal cozy tent contain?

[Image via: http://colormekatie.blogspot.com/2009/11/tent.html]

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I forget who was the first person to really get across the importance of three deep breaths to me. But, man, life-saver, for real. So today, try this:

Before eating, take three slow, deep breaths.

Before picking up the phone take three slow, deep breaths.

Before sending an email or saying something in the heat of emotion take three deep breaths.

Or take them whenever you need them--they really are the perfect mental time-outs, physiological re-sets, spiritual re-connections.

Are you a stop-and-breather? When do you use your breath? (Other than to stay alive!)

Need more morning inspiration?  Read our entire Fresh Morning collection!