Stop The Presses

Photo by Jordan Pulmano on Unsplash

The Joker is mesmerized by the photo of Vicki Vale in a photo and says …
you guessed it,
“Stop the presses!!!”

That was from the Batman movie of 1989 with Jack Nicholson falling in lust for Kim Bassinger.  That was when we knew what the phrase meant and where it actually came from.

Even with the decline of print media it is still a great phrase to communicate your amazement at something that takes you by surprise – like when you walk by your teenager’s room freshly cleaned room?!:)

The ‘presses’ being alluded to here are a few incumbent processes on our developing lives.  Depression is getting more air time these days and that is great for those who can use the relief of being able to just talk about what they are feeling as a way to ‘take out the garbage’ and move on.  That is one of the presses: depression.  One of the pressures we feel as we grow and struggle with everything from identity to career choice to life partner choice to adding and subtracting to our beliefs.  Unto itself depression is sickening but it can somehow deliver a sense of belonging that can confuse us into thinking we want to stay under that cloud. That we are happier where we are depressed?!?

Repression of emotions is another effective and common press – ure we feel on a daily basis.  We don’t speak our mind at work about our feelings regarding incompetent politicians that seem to be multiplying internationally. Or we resist challenging cultural assumptions like polite Canadians, ignorant Americans, feminism or manism (what it means to be putting authentic man into the world).  These are daily emotions that we may not speak, we repress, for fear or repercussions.

Repression continues when we resist answering any kind of higher calling.  A higher calling doesn’t imply the priesthood – but it comes from the same source for the same reason.  This is where our society (education, religion, corporate) is failing – in a big bad way.  Soul satisfaction is calling, is available, is normal/natural/necessary and we aren’t sure who is calling, why, what the message is and how to respond.  We repress our searching urge with elegant distractions like shopping, social media, hobbies, travel and even religion.  In fact none of these things is bad and some are excellent manners of personal growth but not at the expense of souling.  Feeling lost is the best thing that can happen to you if can locate the desire, the external help, the internal resources to forge your path into the future.  We can’t kid ourselves – there are very few of us in our daily lives who use same the tools and techniques of living a modern life to investigate and understand what to do about fate and destiny.  We repress the real reality of being called to a development journey and its painful.

Compressor – compression – compress – that’s the name of the game.  Take life and get the residue out of it that is valuable for daily success and elevated connection. Go for it!  Try it.  Think about it.  Ask the morning breeze about it as you walk through the park early morning, lunch break, late evening.