"Peace in oneself, peace in the world." -Thich Nhat Hanh

"Peace in oneself, peace in the world." -Thich Nhat Hanh

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Be Awesome!

Here's a video about an internet friend of mine from DBB.  Some people bring sickness and cruelty into the world, and some people bring awesome into the world.  When you see this video about Jesse Wareing, you'll know which category he's in.

Be kind. Be compassionate. Be loving.

As a mental health clinician, I worked with people with the most severe and persistent mental illnesses.  These are the people in our society who have suffered the very most. So I've seen far more than my fair share of suffering.

Over the last few years, I've spent a large portion of my time learning everything I can about emotions and emotional health.  

This morning, I heard a story of a person who was raised in circumstances that rival anything I've ever heard.  Despite my years of experience in dealing with these horrific stories and my years of learning how to take good care of my emotional health, I can't shake it.  I've been sitting here for the last few hours, trying to process what I heard, but I can't.  It won't release.  It won't go away.  There's just a hard ache in my chest.  I guess it's going to stay there.  At least for now.

There's so much suffering in the world.  You never know what a person has gone through, or is going through.  Try to be someone who mitigates the damage instead of someone who propagates it.

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Connection vs. Expression, Non-Duality, Wholeness

I've been struggling a bit lately and am having a hard time taking a step forward.  I'm doing things, getting things accomplished, but that's about it.  I'm even expressing my emotions fairly well, which has left me a little confused.  Why aren't things getting better if I'm expressing?  I've realized that the reason is because connecting to and prioritizing your soul is different than just expressing your emotions.

I was raised to minimize my soul, to push it down into my pinkie toe and leave it there, permanently.  To walk around as if I was nothing but a giant brain, leaving emotions to lesser beings.  But that's a terrible way to live.  Life is best lived with full awareness, being present in mind, body and soul.  I've made a ton of progress in this, but it's clear that I've slipped lately in regard to my soul.  So I'll be refocusing on bringing my full being to everything I do, not just my mind.  This attempt at non-duality takes a lot of effort, but I've done it before, so I know what to do.  I hope to be whole again soon.

Sunday, October 16, 2016

If you were drowning...

Would you rather see this elephant?


Or this presidential candidate?


Why do I have the feeling that these are the actions they'd each take every time they were in that situation?  The elephant would rush in to save a person and the candidate would look on impassively while giving a thumbs up.

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Cultural/Emotional issues

This article really upsets me.  No matter how someone feels about the racial issues going on in our country, the idea that shouting racial slurs at kids is a good answer is beyond understanding to me.  They had to call the police!  People were so aggressively shouting racial slurs at twelve year olds that the police had to be called in to keep the peace.  What is wrong with these people?

Actually, I can answer that.  What is wrong with them is that they are feeling attacked. They genuinely didn't understand that American society has always been set up to benefit them.  So now that people are speaking out against that, it feels to them that people are trying to take away their rights and their way of life.  That's not what's happening.  We're just trying to create a more equal society, but it's what they believe is happening.  So they're fighting for what feels to them like their lives.  

But it's not their lives that are the concern here.  It's the lives of every African American. This society needs to allow all of its citizens the rights of "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness", as stated in the Declaration of Independence:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
I understand feeling attacked and unsafe.  It's miserable.  But it's time for people to recognize that their feelings are their own responsibility.   It's not acceptable to take out their feelings on other people.  And any objective reading of this situation shows that demanding equality in our supposedly great nation is a correct action that every American should support.