A Jekyll & Hyde Day

Ever had a day where you felt a little like two different people? Without being glib about mental illness or trying to seem dramatic, today was one of those days for me. I'll begin with the part that put me in an empty glass frame of mind early this a.m.

According to Time magazine this week, since the dawn of man 50,000 years ago, an estimated 108 billion people have walked the face of the earth, including the almost 7 billion alive today. For whatever reason, those incomprehensibly vast numbers had a pronounced negative effect on me. I almost blogged right then but what came to me was way too somber. I took a walk and wrote in my journal instead and then busied myself with other stuff, recalling a pertinent line of dialogue from the movie "The Human Stain":  "Action is the enemy of thought".

Later in the day I was reviewing my notes from Nina Sankovitch's book "Tolstoy & The Purple Chair" for an upcoming book club discussion. In those notes I re-read a question I promised myself I'd remember & use in the future. My question was inspired by something the author of "Tolstoy..." said early in her book:  "How can I use my memories of times when I was filled with peace or overflowing with love or suffused with gratitude to sustain me when I'm low?" I summoned one of those memories and the glass filled to the brim. After shaking off the mental whiplash, I thought about what I might write later here. And I wondered - Have you had Jekyll & Hyde days like this?