The Mindfulness Coach is a weekly newsletter providing mindfulness practices you can do in the moments when your stress happens so that you can stay calm and steady at the exact time that the đ©sh*t is hitting the đȘfan.
Storytime - Over-Peopling
Iâm more of a nature person than a people person.
Sure, Iâm good with people, but given the choice of how to spend my time, Iâll choose a quiet walk in nature with my dog over going to a crowded concert or people party. Iâm one of those lucky people who doesnât get seasonal allergies.
So when I get sinusitis, I donât blame the plants or trees or pollens or danders. I blame the PEOPLE.
Hobbit and I have a joke about going into the âoutside worldâ and having to âact normalâ. We much prefer to stay home where our own version of normal is fully accepted and we donât have to adhere to social norms.
To clarify, the âoutside worldâ to us is anywhere that requires PEOPLING. Going outdoors is different. Digging in gardens, walking dogs, hugging treesâŠthat all fits nicely into our Mirth House world because we donât have to follow any rules. The trees and the flowers accept us just as we are.
Last weekend, I went into the outside world for an extended time. I left our sacred little Mirth House on Thursday morning and didnât return home until Monday night. Not only did I leave home, I left the state for a work trip to Chicago.
In other wordsâŠI engaged in a lot more PEOPLING than usual.
By Sunday evening, my throat got raspy. I blamed it on all the talking and teaching I did with clients and classes I led. But by Monday morning, it was more than a rasp, it was a sinus rattle. I knew everything was inflamed. My sinus cavity was telling me âyouâre done! no more!â
Donât get me wrong. I loved all the people I met last weekend. Every one of them is an amazing soul, on a really beautiful life journey. And I was SO blessed to have them share some of the more intimate details of their journeys with me.
Thatâs what I do.
I listen to life stories, and I make energetic sense of them, and help people be more mindful of their processes and practices in life.
And taking in that many stories is a lot of energy. Cuz I donât just take in what they say, I SENSE it all. I hear their stories through my hyperacusis (over-sensitive hearing) ears. I feel their feels in my bones and nerves. I see their journeys in their aura colors. I smell their moods in the most subtle scents. I taste the flavors of their lives as they share their adventures with me.
No wonder my sinuses get inflamed after an excessive amount of peopling.
Lesson: Sinus Issues = Over-Peopling
The merging of your senses is called synesthesia.
We all experience it on some level. For example, you can see a picture of some yummy gooey chocolatey goodness and your mouth salivates and you can TASTE it. Or, you hear a rustle of a candy wrapper and you can see its texture. This is synesthesia.
Synesthesia happens because all your five senses merge in one place, your sinus cavities. Your ear canals, eye ducts, nasal passage, and throat passage all come together in the complex caverns of your sinuses, and those caverns have many many nerves that run directly into your brain.
Norman Doidge, in his books The Brainâs Way of Healing and The Brain That Changes Itself details many examples of research where various senses can take over for each other. He describes how a man with intense tremors of Parkinsonâs Disease can calm his tactile tremors by being exceedingly mindful with all his senses on walks. Doidge also details how research has proven that sensors on your tongue can be rerouted in your brain to help you SEE if you go blind.
I know, crazy stuff. And itâs scientifically proven stuff!
Which brings me to my point about synesthesia and sinusitis.
When you experience an overload of sensory input
(such as an introvert being over-exposed to people),
your sinuses (your senses) - get overloaded and inflamed.
Over my weekend of sharing space with and listening to stories of many many people, dozens more than I usually encounter at one time, my sensory systems were taking in way more input than usual. By the end of the weekend, my sinuses were saying ENOUGH.
As many of you know, I am pharmaceutical free for 20+ years.
As much as possible, I treat my medical issues holistically,
through body, mind, and spirit.
In this next section (behind the paywall) I describe exactly what I did for myself in terms of both the physical and energetic healing modalities to clear my sinusitis and get myself back to balance.
If you are dealing with a sinus issue that you think might be the result of too much peopling, a 1-1 session with me could help you understand which specific âpeoplesâ are too much for your senses, and help you develop some mindful mechanisms to build healthy boundaries and prevent future infections.
Mindfulness Practice for Sinusitis
Hereâs how I balanced myself after a big dose of too much peopling.