How's The Weather in Here?

My, my how time flies when you're fun is having, huh? It's "this type thing, I'm a thinkin' so," ya see. Let's look at the human psyche as a weather system, shall we? With different stratas of activity, from upper level lows to Gulf of Mexico moisture being sucked inland as the low moves towards the Texas Hill Country from the Panhandle. Throw in a trough or two and you've got yerself some weather! By god, I've had me some weather in the head these last couple of months. But it looks like the front has moved on through, and Spring is POPPING all over Lake Travis!

So..."like I say, if I'm 'sessful - yer 'sessful." And before I forget, and erupt in a volley of brainfarts followed by a middle-aged moment, allow me to posit this explanation of one's survival of an authentic nervous breakdown:

It's all about two things - protecting the mind and the survival of the very organ we know as "the brain."

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THE MIND'S PROTECTIVE MASTER CIRCUIT BREAKER

Ya see, the rational mind believes that it's in charge of itself, the heart, and the place that cannot be fooled. BUT, in truth, the mind is our mental model of survival. It certainly has its place, above the heart, but by creating an opaque membrane between itself and the heart, the mind can trick itself and the heart...buying into the "power" of this mind...this feeble leaf in the wind...while bloated and bellowing, hoping to avoid any contact with the place that cannot be fooled - at ALL costs.

Well, dammit, that just doesn't work. So, when one has been grabbed by the short hairs, uninvited, and with no way out, by a huge burst from the place that cannot be fooled...bubbling up through the heart directly to the mind, whether or not the mind is ready to listen, look, and experience that nasty bubble of unvarnished, tactile truth...well the mind's circuit breaker goes off, and the hard drive shuts down in an attempt to salvage as much of the rational mind as possible - WHOOPEE!

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SURVIVAL OF THE VERY ORGAN KNOWN AS THE BRAIN

When all of the above converges in one's psyche to form a perfect storm, the brain automatically performs a fundamental shut down in order to survive. This shut down is fundamentally more powerful than the mind's attempt at saving itself, because the entire organ is at stake. The brain knows what it's doing. The organ itself survives in almost all cases.

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TELL ME, HEATHEN MONK, HOW DO YA COME BACK FROM ALL THIS SHIT?

Well, my sweet SaddlePals, it ain't easy. First the brain restarts when the storm passes. Then the mind's circuit breaker reconnects. The heart starts up again, bruises and all, and the rational mind begins to get the lay of the land. As one begins to find just enough focus to read a menu from Denny's, the mind assesses just how much of itself has been salvaged, how much of itself laying there in tatters is salvageable, and looks around the the burnt embers of places it once thought were necessary in order to engage with the world, crying like a newborn baby. If you're lucky, in this state of fragility, you may have salvaged enough to work your way back into the everyday world within 6-9 months. And you may find your groove in about 18 months...if you're lucky that is. And I sure as hell hope you're lucky. I know I am.