Sometimes you walk around and everything feels heavy, like the weight of the world is on your shoulders. It doesn’t make your knees buckle but it makes you strain mightily to stand upright. You don’t know quite where this feeling comes from but it’s there. Your friends will stop you and say “Hey,dude, (if they still call you dude) you feeling heavy today, or what.” or “Whatsamatter Atlas, the world a little much today.”

That’s when it’s time for you to go to your quiet place. That place where you can sit back, close your eyes, and contemplate your navel, or any other body part you wish to dwell on. Maybe have a nice hot cup of tea, we recommend Twinning’s English Breakfast, but there are no requirements in the quiet place. Have what you want. Eat spaghetti if that’s what makes you feel good. The important thing is to be alone with your thoughts and convert them from dark, heavy, brooding thoughts to something light and airy and easier to handle.

Some people use drugs to do that. Don’t do that. It’s bad for you. Instead we recommend using the method brought forth in The Once and Future King, by T. H. White. That ‘s where Merlin taught Wart how to change into different animals so he could learn and understand some of the facts of life. You can use it for that too if that’s what you need, but you can also use it as a break and a get away from those heavy thoughts, the ones making you sad and irritating your friends.

Personally we like the to turn into a bird, in this case a raven, and leap off into that great wide open space over the Grand Canyon. Yeah, over that part that’s a mile deep. That’s the rush that changes your outlook. You’re light as a feather, or maybe a whole bunch of feathers, and all those heavy, ugly thoughts are spiraling down into the depths of the canyon.

You can glide in great swooping circles or hover in one place against the wind, or dive and soar or tumble in huge somersaults over the yawning maw of the canyon. Man that feels good. Now we like the bird part best but your mileage may vary. If so pick something else to change into and go at it. The deal is when you’re all done, all those miserable thoughts should be history. Unless you let them back in again. We  would caution against that. Be happy. It feels better.