It is very common in our social circles to hear expressions such as "bad phase", "astral hell", "I'm in a bad" etc. Such expressions can either mean circumstances beyond our control that demand only patience and acceptance — such as natural disasters that generate a supply crisis in a country, for example — or they can also mean what sometimes manifests itself within us and makes make the most beautiful of landscapes turn into true gray and desolate deserts in our eyes. It's those moments when nothing is good, that we don't stop complaining and that we can't even stand ourselves. Moments like this can last for days, weeks and even months, if we allow it. I, for example, can't get enough of going through phases like this in my life and if I don't make a counter effort, it can lead to hard crises. Well, after being beaten so much in these phases that have lasted half a year uninterrupted, I developed a kind of escape protocol for these occasions.
What I am going to write in the next few paragraphs is not a miracle recipe that will take us away forever from these questions that plague us — I sincerely wish there was such a formula — but my proposition is just an exit strategy from the moment in which I already see myself in this condition. And it is very important to show that we are like this, acceptance is the first step to change anything, regardless of what it is, because there is no way to change what I don't even know what needs to be changed.
As a human being, I realized that we are endowed with several aspects that can define us. We are not just a body, nor just a mind or emotions… we are a mixture of all these and many more, each of them with different demands for food so that we can live to the fullest. For this reason, I've realized that when I'm at this stage, my tendency is to feed all these bits of me with only the worst foods possible. I am not referring to food only in the physical realm. Food, in my view, is everything we bring in from the outside. A bad food can be as much a greasy nugget as a news of police journalism or even gossip, for example. All this comes from outside, does not nourish us properly and attacks us when we absorb it. The difference is only in the type of absorption. Having observed this, I began to realize that the more I feed on things that nourish me, the faster I get out of this “bad tide”. It is not my intention here to say that we should stop doing everything that is considered bad, because in that way I would commit a great hypocrisy. The focus here, especially when we are at this stage, is not to stop doing it, but to do it, that is, I will not stop watching horror movies that I love or eating French fries or having that ice cream to live a almost stoic life. I can even do some things that deviate me from the ideal of health, after all we are all human. But, in addition, I will try my best to do things that edify me. A dirty cup of mud doesn't clean itself if I just stop filling it with mud, it needs pure water.
For more didactic purposes, I took the liberty of dividing the human being into four essential sections in this text. They are: the physical, the mental, the emotional and the spiritual. And in order for me to fully get out of this state of despondency and despair characterized by what we call a bad phase, all these clippings must be well nourished, without exception. But before starting to explain how I nurtured each of these aspects of myself, I must warn the reader that everything that is being written is based on impressions and reflections obtained through my own experience. So, feel free to agree, disagree, accept, criticize, enjoy or adapt what I approach as you see fit.
Physical:
For this cut there is not much mystery. It's quite common to be prostrate when we're in the bad phase, to the point that we just want bed and isolation. Any attempt to leave the house for a gym or any other space for physical activities would be torturous. For this reason, when I am like this, I focus only on food. I don't stop having my ice cream or my soda when I feel like it, but I try to fill my kitchen with plenty of fruits and vegetables. If it is difficult to achieve a nutritious diet in the first few days, multivitamins with medical supervision are a good option. Within a few days, keeping a good diet, the bed becomes less and less attractive and our body starts to respond more willingly.
Mental/Emotional:
I don't know about you, but I find it difficult to make a precise separation between these two areas. For me, one influences the other. The mind, associated with reasoning, interprets the outside reality received by the senses, which generate feelings and emotions, which in turn influence the mind and so on, in an infinite loop. But anyway… Good foods for our mind and emotions are those that stimulate our reasoning and also inspire us. In my case, I try to watch movies, learn new song lyrics, listen to talks on constructive subjects, watch videos without subtitles in a foreign language… The possibilities are endless and vary from person to person. In essence, to nurture this part of our being, we need to look for things that we like but that require a mental effort for us to appreciate. If you like football, try to listen to a game on the radio or find out more about the players and the history of the clubs you support, etc. We must, in theory, challenge our mind so that it expands and so that we look at our reality from several different angles.
Spiritual:
This is a tricky subject to deal with, especially for skeptics. However, the sense of spiritual that I give in this text has nothing to do with life after death, religions, out-of-body entities, or anything else that comes from human belief. For me, the spiritual part of the human being is that part that is more subtle, even than our own mind. Explaining what the spirit is is like trying to gesticulate with the body what the mind is. There is no way to explain it exactly. The very concept of explaining things is found at the mental level. But it is possible to describe some manifestations of what might be called the human spirit. What we feel when we are in a setting of exuberant nature or when we are listening to a song well made in its smallest details or when we observe a gesture of affection and attention from a stranger to another... For this part to be nourished, we need to practice what many call spirituality, for the religious it is easier, because a well done prayer, a well sung mantra or a well recited sutra takes us to very noble levels of consciousness, however, as I said in the previous lines, contact with nature, with the fine arts and good deeds also feed and feed back a lot in this area of ​​ours. A good reading of philosophy and meditation books are also good options.
- What would it be like to feel that something bad could be about to happen?
- Learn to neutralize negative energies
- Energy cleaning: do it at home!
- Life gives you double, the good and the bad
- See how to enjoy your days with more happiness
All these methods listed here can be done simultaneously or progressively. There is no right formula to practice. I just suggest that the person allows himself to stimulate all these areas, but without haste and self-demand.
I must warn you once again that everything said in this text comes from personal experiences. I am not a health professional or a coach or a spiritual leader. I'm just a person who has been through some very complicated moments in life, who learned from some mistakes and who decided to pass on some of those learnings. So, if you feel like you have a serious problem, never fail to seek professional help. The internet is an inexhaustible source of information that brings us countless benefits, but it will never replace a professional who has dedicated himself and studied his whole life to help other people. Always keep in mind that your most precious asset is your health, be it physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.
