I had some messages like this recently, ones which caused me to seriously question my assumptions about my job and relationships to others at work. I’ve found that e-mail is the worst possible way to express emotion and discuss sensitive topics, so I also didn’t immediately respond over e-mail. In fact, some of the most helpful resources I’ve found are to reconnect with people I know are supporters - my wife, some friends, and so on. My challenge is to get past the bitching and whining as quickly as possible, to move on to thoughtful and constructive action.

You also talked about the difficulty of emptying your mind. I’ve experienced this as well, and the solution I’m currently using is to use highly repetitive prayer as a means of spiritual connection, and filling my mind with thoughts that I *want* to have rather than all the random stuff that wants to pop up when I go to bed. It’s been very helpful, and also for helping me go back to sleep when I awake in the middle of the night.

I’ve also found it very useful to leave messages for myself from one day to the next - that keeps me from trying to spend mental cycles trying to remember things. This is VERY useful. My wife is now not surprised when I call my voice mail at 10pm to leave a message for myself. It’s weird maybe, but it works.

Thanks for the great shows!