steam ovenbird The key to a good shower is to slowly approach the edge of scalding so that your body escapes unscathed but your anxiety sublimates and disperses as vapour. This is what you do: You turn the water up as hot as you can bear and stand beneath the sibilant stream until your skin is pink and you no longer feel the need to press your body to the cold tile for relief. Then you increase the temperature…slowly…incrementally. This symphony of water is played larghissimo. You can’t rush it. You are a lobster in a pot. If you adjust the heat carefully enough you won’t notice that you’re being boiled alive. Keep going. Make the water hotter until you shiver when the hiss hits your back. Your body is now confused. The water is so hot that it might be cold and your muscles can’t quite decide what to do. Turn it up a little higher. At some point thought becomes impossible. You will cease to tell the difference between the blood in your veins and the steam in the air. You can step out with your mind empty, shiny like it’s just been abraded with baking_soda. This will buy you about five minutes free from intrusive_thoughts. Enjoy. 250909 what's it to you? who go blather from