However, after a while keeping up with all four blogs with multiple posts each month started to be too much. I began to feel the fun and joy of the process gradually being replaced by the stress of keeping up with the demanding writing schedule for four distinct blogs. In other words, I had created a situation that was beginning to stress me out. I decided that it was in my best interest and in the interest of my readers for me to work out a better schedule and I settled on one post for each Blog on a monthly basis (four blogs, four posts, one per month for each blog). As soon as I decided on this new schedule, I began to feel better about my whole process, especially my ability to provide my readers with well thought out and written post on each of the sites.
Now why did I bother to share the above comments with you? There is a very important reason. Of course I want you to be aware of the fact that I will be posting to this blog once per month during the first full week of the each month. But there is also a very important lesson to be learned from what I shared and that lesson can be found in the following statements. I chose to come into the world, but the world can only see me. ‘I’ am responsible for ‘Me’! Thousands of years ago, the great Egyptian thinker Hermes formulated a theory about the nature of the human mind. His theory, based on his observations of the relationships and interactions between males and females is referred to as Mental Gender. Hermes suggested that each individual, both the male and the female have two essential qualities, capacities, or characteristics of the self. These two work together to make each individual a whole and balanced human being.
The Masculine Principle of Mind or the ‘I’ Aspect of the Self
Your ‘I’ is the conscious, idiosyncratic, willful, and objective aspect of your self. It is the aspect of your mental processes that distinguishes you from everyone else. It is the decision-maker in your community of mental parts. Your ‘I’ aspect of self is the command-and-control center of your mental processes. At least it is suppose to function in that capacity (‘I’ am responsible for ‘me’!). Your ‘I’ aspect is one party in the conversation that is constantly going on in your mind. ‘I wonder how he (or she) will react to me.’
The Feminine Principle of Mind or the ‘Me’ Aspect of the Self
Your ‘Me’ is the subconscious, subjective, intuitive, and passive aspect of your self. It is the social self that results from internalizing the social expectations and demands of others. Your ‘me’ aspect of self is like a soldier under the direct command of a superior officer. At least it is suppose to function in that capacity.
With these two concepts in mind (no pun intended) you can begin to act more effectively in managing the stressors that may be undermining your health, satisfaction, and happiness because you have identified the two primary types or sources of the stress in your life, the ‘I’ and the ‘Me’. If you take the time to really reflect on this topic you will come to recognize that one of the primary sources of your personal stress is your ‘I’ aspect of self. You see, ‘I’ am the one who decided that it was up to me to write my weekly Posts to my Blogs. And as the responsibility of writing weekly posts to four different Blogs began to weigh on ‘me’, a conversation began to emerge in my mind. “I wonder what people will think of ‘Me’ if I miss my weekly postings.” Can you see your own similar self-imposed circumstance and hear your own similar internal dialogue?
We will follow up on this Post next month but in the meantime here is a simple exercise you can do to empower yourself and gain greater control over the stress in your life. Each time you feel yourself getting stressed-out, repeat the statement to yourself, “I am responsible for me!” What you will find is that you will begin to move away from playing the blame game (that is, citing he, she, your sister, your brother, or your mother, father, husband, wife, boss, co-worker, etc. as the reason for your stress). This is simply giving your personal power away and ensuring your personal misery. Instead your internal dialogue will begin to move away from ‘them’ and begin to center on the relationship between your ‘I’ and your ‘Me’ aspects of self. What can I do to deal with and relieve me (myself) of this particular stress?
When I began to recognize that my schedule of posts was becoming a source of stress for me, I took charge and came up with a solution (schedule) that would work better and feel better for me. Sometimes your stressors may stem from a more complex source or set of circumstances but that doesn’t really change the point I am making in this Post. Whatever the source or circumstances, your approach to solving the problem should always begin with the awareness that “I am responsible for me!”
Who is the Boss? You are!
To be continued!
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Peace and Health!
Article of the Month: June 2011
