Do you ever have those days where the thoughts rush thru your head so fast that no thought gets finished before the next begins? Like there is a monkey in your head spinning a radio dial back and forth while making that insane laugh noise that only monkeys can make? Like the mystic being in charge of your brain has decided to play 52 pickup with a deck of flash cards? Like you gave a room full of four year-olds kegs of Mountain Dew and an unlimited supply of Pixie Stix?

Welcome to my world today.

I am resisting the urge to forcibly shut the voices down with wine or Valium or the fishing channel . Instead, i am relying on tea and nature sounds and fresh bed sheets. This is how i self-comfort. I am moderately successful. Sometimes. Well, more than half the time, anyway. I am still learning.

Do we ever really stop learning?

Baby steps.

You may remember when i first started on the road to self-soothing. My unsuccessful attempt to learn meditation (Stream of Consciousness ).  I still suck at it. But i have learned a few tricks that make my mental state more like a ballad by Meatloaf and less like a Megadeath concert. Still not zen calm, but better than mental thrash metal.

Why did on Earth did Marvin Aday want to be called “Meat Loaf”?

Baby steps.

I may never learn to truly quiet my mind. I may never master meditation. And i may end up taking something to help me sleep tonight. But i am still better than i was. More tranquil than i was. The voices are softer and there are fewer of them.

No – not those kind of voices. My own voice. Just multiplied. And i won’t shut up.

I talk too much. Even to myself. Like a one-woman Broadway show that no one wants to see. Carrie: The Musical.

Why would anyone think that was a good idea?

I think i have that book somewhere. Where did i put it? Oh, an i must find that book of funny poems while i’m at it.

There once was a girl from Glen Hart…

Baby steps.