Tom reached for his phone. Then this happened...

Tom was having a bad morning. Not really bad, but bad enough.

He’d been having mornings like this a lot recently. Which didn’t really make sense as he had a pretty good life: a lovely wife, two gorgeous healthy children and a job that bought all-inclusive holidays; a four-bed house on the right side of town and wine from the upper-middle shelf at the wine merchant.

But, like I said, Tom was having a bad morning.

And the bad-morning-feeling meant his stomach was churning and his mind was racing as he got ready for work. Like it always did these days, from the moment he woke up.

And, like he always did, Tom ignored the feeling. Instead, he looked in the mirror and saw how tired he was, smoothed some remaining hairs over his receding hairline. He thought about the day ahead, his boss, the meeting with the stressful client that afternoon, how the years and his hair had shed fast. He swallowed. His stomach churned again, his breath quickened and his chest started to tighten.

And then the urge came.

The urge to self-medicate.

Tom wasn’t taking medication. Social media on his phone, or eating croissants too fast, or upper-middle wine were what pacified him.

So, he picked up his phone.

And then. The strangest thing happened.

His phone spoke.

“Put me down!” it commanded, with the scholastic gravitas of Stephen Fry.

He dropped it on the floor, stepping back as it buzzed and jumped and flashed.

Then it stopped and the screen went black.

Tom shook his head, rubbed his eyes. Realised the time.

Bending down to pick up his phone, it shook as Stephen Fry whispered,“Want to feel better old chum?”

Tom could hear the children downstairs having their breakfast, pictured his boss wondering where he was, considered calling his GP, but something about this felt important.

“Yes, I want to feel better,” he said, hanging his head.

“Ok...” said Stephen Fry, “I must ask you two questions. Just promise you won't pick me up.”

Tom nodded.

“The first: What is happening right now?”

Tom cleared his throat. “Well, I appear to be talking to Stephen Fry on the phone but there’s no caller on the screen, I don’t even know Stephen Fry, so I’m clearly having a breakdown.”

The phone laughed.

“Well, I’m not Stephen Fry, I’m just whoever you think your Higher Self would sound like.”

Tom breathed a sigh of relief, then wondered why he was relieved.

“You're my higher self?”

“Bingo my old friend! And back to the question: What is happening right now? In your body?”

Deep down Tom knew it was high time he listened to his Higher Self, especially as it sounded just like Stephen Fry.

“Well, right now I’m feeling stressed. My stomach is churning and my chest is tight.”

"I see, yes. So now, can you be with it?”

As the urge came in to grab his phone, run out of the house all the way to the tube and croissants, Tom swallowed.

But he let himself be with his churning stomach and tight chest.

And the feeling of them curiously changed... moved. After a minute or so, they became less intense.

And then after a little while, by some miracle, they disappeared.

“How did you do that?” Tom asked, feeling better.

“I didn’t, you did,” said HP Stephen Fry.

“Well, err, thank you,” Tom said, leaving the phone on the floor.

Tom looked in the mirror and took a deep wonderful breath. He realised he'd discovered the power of insight.

And then realised his hairline didn’t look so bad after all.

What’s happening right now? (What emotion and where?)

Can I be with it without self-medicating? (Watch how it moves and changes)

Happy Tuesday.

Love, Jo x