Hi. Let’s talk about overwhelm. When it seems like too much work or too much life, should we “faint like goat”? Or try something else far less avoidant? I’m experiencing this right now. I’m allowing it, noticing a compulsion to fix it (which morphed into an urge to clean my countertops). So I: Did it with a giggle. Then I: Chose to notice but ignore my blowin’ up calendar and write this newsletter - start to finish - in 41 minutes. Including having Sora make this goat image. While the overwhelm just hung out, riding shotgun. Here’s a loose “process”:

1 ~ Notice. Allow. Watch. Fix Not.

This is going to sound obvious, but it’s a step that is often not acknowledged. Start by allowing whatever isn’t feelin’ peaceful: “I’m feeling a lot here. It’s ok.” Lots of “wellness” “therapies” suggest this. Great. But here’s what is important from here, and what takes a lot of vigilance: Do not try to solve it. Just let it be there. That’s the “work.” Those adorable fainting goats have the first part of this move on lock. From there they just avoid, though. CuteAF, but not helpful.

2 ~ Wait. Do Nothing. (Judging is Doing).

Now just hold it here. Carry on, do tasks, put things on your calendars, clean your house, water your plants, rub the poo off your pomeranian’s b-hole, order new dishwasher tablets. And just keep watching the mind spin its tales that this feeling should change. Watch as the part of You that’s really You. The part that literally CANNOT judge or label. NOTE: The “little-m mind” will always judge. It’ll label, squirm, blame, fight, resist and try to fix. It’ll say it’s awful and look for solutions. Or flip the other way and say “it’s cool, I got this, is what it is” and bypass like we all do. Either way, it’s judging this “un-cool” experience as just that: “Un-cool.” This is about noticing THAT and not judging THAT.

3 ~ (Bonus Layer): No Cause “Out There.”

The outer situation that seems to have “gotten your goat” is the effect. Not the cause. “An outward picture of an inward (ontological/meta) condition.” Don’t trip, this does not mean it’s “your” fault. “You” (the person) didn’t make it. You are, however, being asked to regard your seemingly individual “plot line” accordingly. Don’t try to figure this out (thinking is what made it, so thinking will never “get it.”). But if you can Trust this, fold it in. “There is no cause in the world. These feelings were already here.” If you have studied any form of pure non-dualism, you’ve been exposed to this. If you have this in your “kit,” it’s an unlock.

Brick & Mortar Work Tip 87: Say you have a small agency and just won the social media business for two new brands. Say you come from pre-internet creative school and used to be paid bucketloads to sit in an ivory tower and come up with innovative “ad” ideas, and execute them with top directors, photogs and designers. Say you thought you knew about how to “run” social media, but with this win you realize you have a LOT TO LEARN in a hurry, and you way underestimated the assignment. Well, this situation may seem to be a “cause” of overwhelm, right? But you know better. So here’s the tip: 1. Do not faint like goat. Look at the non-peace as prescribed above. 2. Do the worldly work to learn 2025 social media moves. 3. Do not reverse 1 & 2.

Check out Eckhart Tolle, Rupert Spira, Keith Kavanagh, Swami Sarvapriyananda (avoid conventional wellness therapies). The ancient non-dual teachings encourage this basic practice in various ways. Find one that speaks to you. Stick with it.