Life in Geezerville: Pink Tutu Edition

*

Many years ago when I was a university administrator, I found lots of things about the job wonderful and controllable...but there were "things" or "people" I had no control over...and they were annoying. When one of them "went off" there was not much I could do. This was more than stressful because, like so many other people, I like to be in control. In an effort to reduce that stress, I learned biofeedback which has continued to be an important tool in my tool belt. 

Derek, my biofeedback teacher, was calm and patient with me. In every session, he outfitted me in a set of electrodes on my head and a thermometer between my thumb and index finger. He would have me visualize ways to relieve stress when I was confronted with an annoying and uncontrollable situation. The most effective tool for ME was to visualize the "annoyer" in a pink tutu dancing a merry ballet. It was an absurdly ridiculous visualization, but it worked. All the electrodes connected to me would twinkle light blue and my temperature would increase (indicating calmness) when I thought of that annoying person or thing dancing in a bright pink tutu.

Nowadays, I'm not dealing with lot of annoying people, but I learned there are things I can control and things I cannot control (like the news?). If I cannot control what is happening, I visualize that "thing," being person or object, wearing a bright pink tutu doing a pirouette. It does the trick every time. That visualization takes my mind off the problem, and makes me think of the tutu, and voila I calm down. I learned how to fight the battles I could win...and the others were not worth fighting. 

It took awhile to find the pink tutu...there were other visualizations that Derek recommended like a favorite location, or a magical moment, or a favorite person or car...but the absurdity of the pink tutu did the trick. I'm a believer in the pink tutu.

So, if you feel that things are spiraling out of control, find your inner pink tutu. It just might make things better for you. For things you can control, you can take other actions...but, when stuff gets out of your control, find your inner pink tutu and start visualizing away. It works for me. Remember, we're all in this together. 

*copied