Oogloog’s Guide to Easing Panic

This guide is from a side of me who goes by “Oogloog”. I’ve come to know him recently through how he’s helped an often anxious side of me to calm down, relax, get patient, and reflect on reality from a more meditative, centered state. It can get easy to get caught up in emotion and the urgent picture one’s own perspective can sometimes paint, so it’s been extremely helpful to have this voice of calm that a more erratic side of me can turn to. Like many cases I’ve seen, this interaction seems to be an example of balance, where two perspectives can inform each other, and move towards greater equilibrium and harmony – in this case, through one side imparting a calming perspective.

In any case, when I queried my inner world recently about whether anyone might like to make a guide, this side of me seemed to speak up, answering that he wanted to write a guide to panic. Again, for those unfamiliar with what I’m doing – these are sides of myself, aspects of my being that I try to sense and distinguish as individuals, marked by their own particular energy, which can express itself in an individual way.

Oogloog’s energy is much like that of stone – patient, steady, solid, grounded. The name itself comes from an attempt to translate that energy into a name, and the throaty, deep pronunciation of “Oogloog” may give you some idea of where he’s coming from – or how to be in that place yourself, in a sense.

That said, this guide on panic is not a definitive guide. I try to let him talk in his own way, without many disclaimers or caveats. However, I encourage you to take this as you will, and not as something that will guarantee you better success with panic. It may help you, indeed, and this approach may give you something valuable for your toolkit. Just know, there may be many other aspects to the issues of panic, and more specifically your panic, when you encounter it.

Oogloog's Guide to Easing Panic
Step one.

Relax.
Take a deep breath.
Take one more, and one more. Another.
Relax.
Breathe.
Relax your mind.
Relax. Breathe.

If you cannot, try. Get yourself eased down into a calm, relaxed state. Even in your present circumstances, try, for now.

Step two Continue reading

How to (Really) Keep Calm and Carry On

Sometimes, your stress just needs a time out. Observing your stress stops you from engaging with it and creating even more stress.

When we get severely stressed out, for all kinds of reasons, we can get into a mode where nearly everything pushes our buttons – other people, our own thoughts, what we imagine might happen, or what we think might be true. At such times, it’s like the only thing we want is to run away, escape, and lash out at anything that disturbs us. Continue reading

Calming the Desire for Immortality

The source of struggle, the part of you who fears death and desires immortality. He also looks down on those “simple people” who don’t pursue great things like him.

When you think about death, what are some of the thoughts that come up? This can be for yourself or others. Perhaps one of the thoughts in there goes something like this: “It isn’t fair, it’s not fair that I should die, that anything should end. I’ll find a way to avoid that kind of finality…”

The force inside you that those thoughts come from responds to death and loss with the desire to become immortal. It wants to become “somebody”, to make its mark on history, or to simply live on through the memories of others. I can come up with all sorts of ways to do this, too. For instance, say you have a hobby you like, such as Badminton. Maybe this part of you thinks about training to be an Olympic level Badminton player, and to win fame and fortune through that. THEN it will be remembered, THEN it will have surpassed death.

Continue reading

Relieve or Resolve Tension

The part of myself who was pushing himself and feeling the tension.

When you get tense, it’s probably because a part of you is pushing themselves. Maybe they’re saying things like, “Just need to keep calm, keep calm, keep calm…” “Just keep calm… maybe look at some websites, maybe do something to distract me, that’ll fix it…” “I don’t need help, or advice, or consideration or sympathy, I just need to do something…” “I need to do something… something important… crap… why isn’t it working?”

You get the idea. This side of you can get pretty worked up.

But if you question its assumptions – that it needs to do something, that the situation is a desperate one – then it can finally relax and become renewed. When you feel terrible, and tense, trying to keep pushing yourself is like running up a slippery slope while you’re emaciated.

The problems with tension always seem to come up when you seek to relieve it, rather than resolve it. Then you might lean on that harmful habit of yours, run to an unfulfilling relationship, or constantly fight against the tension. But to resolve the tension, it’s important to question it.

For me, the other day, this conversation between a tense part of myself and a nurturing part resolved the tension. Now, keep in mind that for a long time I had put off actually doing Cartoon Processing during a tense moment, but this time I did. Here was the key part of the conversation:

Nurturer: “I know you think you don’t need help, but maybe I have a perspective, that, through no fault of your own, you haven’t thought of yet.”
Tense Guy: “You don’t understand. My life is only about doing things that are important. If I ever don’t do things, try to – no no no taking breaks is fine. To play games, and such. Gets me back on track. But just doing nothing for too long is unacceptable.”
Nurturer: “Is that so…?”

Shortly after that question, the tension went away, and the tense side of me felt better. Ungrateful for the help, but better.

This situation showed me that sometimes certain assumptions about life, assumptions one makes inside their head, actually cause tension and need to be questioned, even assumptions that seem reasonable. Looking at the effect of those assumptions will tell you what you need to know.

I have the feeling I haven’t seen the end of this guy, or gotten to the root of tension yet, so stay tuned.

Fear List

Since I found out a lack of calmness is usually due to fear, I set about today making a list of every fear-based thought that popped into my head, no matter how small. After maybe two hours or so I already have 32! Surprisingly I felt more calm just doing this, as it allowed me to get on paper things jumping around nervously inside my head. Sort of like a todo list. I don’t know how I’ll handle these yet, but I’m beginning to see some themes, such as fears about my character turning bad, about doing unnecessary things, about making mistakes that will come back to haunt me, about unknowns that could possibly cause me harm if I remain in the dark, about how much I really know vs. what I just think I know. These come out as silly things, like: “That I will get serious again.” or “That singing a song will get it stuck in my head.” or even one fear about how if not getting on a scary theme park ride in my dream last night will come back to haunt me. Just got one more – “Should I post this?” lol. “Is that really what I’m afraid of?” “If I post it now, will it be just for the sake of appearances?” 😐 “Am I missing anything?” Ok I think I’m good now. “Am I?”

Stress: A Disagreement with Peace

How I represent the peaceful force inside myself – as a white bird

There’s part of you who’s always calm, relaxed, and cares about you. When you get anxious or worried, it’s probably because you’re disagreeing in some way with this relaxed self. “Yes, I do need to get worried! Look at all these things I’ve got to do, how could I be calm right now??? I’d get nothing done! Ugh! I don’t know if I’ll get them done… oh no…” It seems that whenever you do something out of fear you are disagreeing with the way the calm part of you handles things. After all, it’s fight or flight at that point, as opposed to calm. And it’s not bothered at all in respecting your wishes and standing aside, letting you get fearful and worried – that’s what someone who cares for you would do, after all. Still, I get the sense that if you work through your differences with this side of you, it would stay with you all the time – now wouldn’t that be awesome?