A Message from Mt. Olympus

Hercules, Copper, More Salt & a splash of EQ

Welcome to DPP, a weekly newsletter about the real life trials and tribulations of pleasing, and how to leverage emotional intelligence for proper recovery. Letters land on Tuesdays, please allow me a first class seat with your inbox?

Dearest Bestie,

I almost did not have anything to publish this week. Almost. When I tell you that I have been feeling akin to the Hercules’ Underworld Souls- please know that’s an accurate depiction of my inner state of being at this moment in time.

Me. This is me.

I have written about people-pleasers not knowing how to practice self-care, because we have deluded ourselves into believing that doing so, would be seLfiSh. Annnnd, you already know that the cure to this squeamish lifestyle (thanks to me) is emotional intelligence.

I love to preach EQ. I LOVE IT AND I ALWAY WILL. Here’s the thing. Practicing it. Integrating it, into my very own REAL life. IT IS HARDER THAN A SQUIRREL TRYING TO CRACK A MACADAMIA NUT SHELL (

Megan Lee

- how did I do here?) Practice what I preach?? How dare you suggest I do such a thing.

Here’s what I did. In a macadamia nutshell:

1. I was feeling BLUE. DOWN. IN A LOW. Part of this I feel is the collective overwhelm of our world, and part of this is on me. Personal tribulations.

2. I nOtIcEd. This is step 1 of practicing EQ. Become aware of how we feel.

Now- here is where we would motion to step 2 of EQ: Self-Management. The thing is, sometimes when we are in a low, we CAN and DO recognize our current state, but we cannot CHANGE it. We know that self-management would be the next step. We just don’t have the mother-loving gumption to heave ourselves there.

So I didn’t. I let myself be. I let myself wither away in bed after work. Or on the couch. or floor. or grass at the park (which was only once, bc getting outside really WAS asking too much).

I drowned my self-pity in several episodes of Ugly Betty, whom my son and I have dutifully re-dubbed, “Beautiful Betty” because America Ferrera is a diamond, and the whole point of the show is to teach us losers that our physical bodies DO NOT equate to our WORTH as humans.

AND- in one of my sorrowful voice notes to my wifey-for-lifey, I complained about my sprouting gray (is it grey or gray??) hairs and how there are TOO many to simply pluck away, but not enough to need to dye my entire head…so how this ties into embodying Beautiful Betty’s entire mantra- I don’t yet know, but this part of the story is important because it leads to the ACT OF SELF-CARE I practiced:

Said Wife, recommends taking Copper supplements for the grays (both grey and gray are acceptable. I googled it. American’s mostly use “gray”). She also shares that our ancestors drank from copper cups, and this is how they got their daily intake of the trace mineral- which caught my attention. As a former barista, I love me a good cup. chalice. mug. vessel- if you will. They spark joy for me in an unspeakable way. I’m not talking just ANY ol’ cup. These vessels have to be unique in some kind of way, and they sing to my soul when identified. I am a bit (read: extremely) bohemian, and I was born cursed with expensive taste outside of my budget. I love ceramic, hand-crafted clay mugs to drink my coffee out of. Lucky for my family, and bank account, I have good friends who make these very vessels, and I get them at a discount.

Back to the copper cups. While shopping for my supplement, and also finally committing to the exact brand of Celtic Salt that I have had sitting in my shopping cart for over two weeks (why is it SO DAMN HARD to commit to SALT??) I think of our ancestors. And the cups. I want one. I type Copper Cups in my search bar. Mount Olympus, I have FOUND the chalice of my copper-deficient DREAMS:

There before my beady eyes, I see my Ayurvedic copper cups that look traditional (LOVE) and are affordable (ALSO LOVE). I feel an inkling of prana (read: life-force) spark up in me.

tell me this cup doesn’t DO something to you

I totally see how this could be coming off as my using retail therapy as a means to bump my endorphins and we know material things could never actually buy my eternal satisfaction. You’re not wrong. But in the very moment, after the low I’ve been drowning in- this option FITS and I am GOING FOR IT. Spending most of my life not wanting to practice any kind of self-care related my my health/wellness because it seems just too self-serving- this is a step, or swimming stroke, in the right direction. My intuition has clicked in and I feel a YES.

I ordered the cups. And Celtic Salt w trace minerals (finally, she is going to stop talking about this), and the Copper supplement.

Next, I am riding this magic carpet of (small) joy, and feel inspired to READ. Always a good sign. I open

Mesa Fama

’s letter Everything is Copy, and learned from my kind-hearted soul-sister, about the late, and great, Nora Ephron. She wrote. She directed. She did a lot, and lived a LIFE. She was funny??! I WANT TO READ ALL HER BOOKS, AND I WANT TO READ THEM NOW.

I am feeling iNsPiReD?? THANK YOU UNIVERSE. And thank you Mesa. And thank you dear reader.

I usually have an opening quote, but today we close out with:

We only notice salt when there is too much of it in our food, or not enough. Nobody says, “Wow, this meal has the perfect amount of salt.” When salt is used in the best way possible, it goes unrecognized. Salt is so humble that when something goes wrong, it takes the blame, and when everything goes right, it doesn’t take the credit.

-Radhanath Swami

From my copper cup to yours. 🖤

Cheers,

K. Alexandra

P.S. It has been a while since I have pressured you shared my Guided Emotional Intelligence Journal. While you are taking a gander at the cups and copper on Amazon (which btw, I do not earn any kind of commission on- I simply share with you for the fun of it), please consider supporting my self-published self by buying my journal and leaving me a five star review!