tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4969791916751333032024-02-07T05:19:51.632-08:00The Ridding of IgnoranceWe are amazing creatures. Our essence is truly good. Not a dualistic good, but inherently so. Years ago, I realized I had been mistaken my entire life. I had to do something about it. This is that something. It takes much concerted effort to change our lives, but once we choose to do so and continue making that choice with every breath and every step that we take, that is the essence of transformation. There are countless opportunities every day, and we are blessed to be in this together.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04278160017706972413noreply@blogger.comBlogger225125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-496979191675133303.post-3053435446266549392017-03-29T06:50:00.000-07:002017-03-29T06:50:00.550-07:00The Attentive Gardner: Breaking the Reactivity Cycle<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Times; line-height: normal;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgln4lq9dxedUDjyP5xR0zFpAOxsfegezE5sr1PSuZV5O08gNXgn27Qm4eEr5d2zf6bgb1EYi-AcW9N5b_5OxDQ9MJrKDCr2_7MXqcMTRAlZqj1muYK4vOq7VqIs0F9J7U_9tBRcDMDhAA/s1600/3aad5222-ca3b-43b4-bfcb-756aaf4a199f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgln4lq9dxedUDjyP5xR0zFpAOxsfegezE5sr1PSuZV5O08gNXgn27Qm4eEr5d2zf6bgb1EYi-AcW9N5b_5OxDQ9MJrKDCr2_7MXqcMTRAlZqj1muYK4vOq7VqIs0F9J7U_9tBRcDMDhAA/s320/3aad5222-ca3b-43b4-bfcb-756aaf4a199f.jpg" width="261" /></a><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">We never actually know if we're being manipulated or made to feel pain and suffering by others. Mostly, people aren’t deliberately attempting to harm others; it’s only a byproduct of not being mindful or aware. <i>That doesn't make it any easier though, does it?</i></span></div>
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The way we respond to these experiences is more important. An option is to understand that most people are simply coping. They are suffering, and they desperately need others to understand their pain directly. Or, they seek out the perceived origins, believing the source of pain and suffering is an external one.</span></div>
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Some people are deeply wounded: wounded by their misperceptions of others, wounded by their misperceptions of reality, wounded by their misperceptions of themselves. <b><i>This is the human condition. We’re highly mistaken creatures, and we’re surrounded by others with the same mistaken condition.</i></b> Mostly, we’re reacting to these conditions. We desperately don’t want to hurt.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+Wonderful World</td></tr>
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We often actually believe our unhappiness and our suffering is being injected into us. <i>I challenge that belief. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Feelings don’t come from outside of us; feelings are already within us. <b><i>Feelings are like seeds.</i></b> We water seeds within ourselves, we are watered by the people we surround ourselves with throughout each day, and our seeds are watered by our atmosphere.</span></div>
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We can't make another person happy, and they can never make us happy. We can't force someone to be angry, and they can never force us to be angry. However, our actions, our words, our thoughts, and our feelings impact others. We water seeds within others and within ourselves simultaneously. <b><i>We cannot possibly control another person, but we can determine which seeds are watered within us.</i></b></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+Wonderful World</td></tr>
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When people upset us, or trigger our anger and frustration, we can do something different. We can have compassion for the person that is triggering us instead of reacting with anger.</span></div>
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It has to be excruciating to just damage people so carelessly. Imagine that you're not the only one that has a similar reaction to someone lashing out at others and their surroundings. We don't have to continue this cycle. <b><i>And, only we can break these cycles for ourselves.</i></b> We may be unable to control others, but we too often don’t want to control our own internal states either. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">We don’t want to shut down; we need to open up instead.</span></div>
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This is a very narrow path, one in which we must with vigilance continuously check in as to where we are with both our thoughts and with our feelings as well. Our mistakenness can sneak back into controlling us again at any time. The only way we can counteract that mistakenness is to maintain our awareness with our presence.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+Wonderful World</td></tr>
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<b><i>We must do this without becoming the prison warden of our thoughts and feelings</i></b>. We want to become the caretaker, the attentive gardener, instead. This is not about controlling ourselves. It’s about getting to know ourselves. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>Why are we the way we are?</i> By even attempting to answer this question, we discover so much about others. This path is directly linked to the well-being of others, and that pathway starts here and now.</span></div>
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We</span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> simply begin making attempts to recognize what's going on inside of us. When people are mad at us, we just go back to knowing that we have no ill intent. We don't intend harm to anyone. That does not mean we haven't done harm</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333;">, but we absolutely know that we would not harm anyone with intention.</span></div>
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<b><i>We only want the best for all people. We don’t want them to suffer.</i></b></span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black;"> And, p</span><span style="font-kerning: none;">eople are suffering greatly. They're in so much pain. And, the way they manage can end up damaging others, but more than that, it's most damaging to themselves.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRyINXXE52Mh7boD06K0hIndN0HvHMcSjIezDukMw_rVgxeMLnHGa40VQC6537s_FNEsPjp3HLARCJA9GvnXNv6yE_7QEWm9LzJHZZlMv_aYoXeVC_BkU0CWNs5B9iwvwa33FR9qGQvuM/s1600/62f4f27d-57c6-489a-83af-174446fe171b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRyINXXE52Mh7boD06K0hIndN0HvHMcSjIezDukMw_rVgxeMLnHGa40VQC6537s_FNEsPjp3HLARCJA9GvnXNv6yE_7QEWm9LzJHZZlMv_aYoXeVC_BkU0CWNs5B9iwvwa33FR9qGQvuM/s320/62f4f27d-57c6-489a-83af-174446fe171b.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+Wonderful World</td></tr>
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Finding understanding for this doesn't take away the bad acts of others. It can, however, give us space: to own our own experiences, to see what they are doing for what it is, to not allow ourselves to once again revert into a mistaken way of thinking and feeling, to go back to the mistaken way we were before.</span></div>
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<b><i>We are just like them, and they are just like us.</i></b> If we keep coming back to that truth, we immediately cool down our reactivity, and we immediately begin taking care as opposed to continuing the cycle of pain and suffering, of mistakenness, and of ignorance.</span></div>
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Only we can break this cycle for ourselves. This begins to slowly decrease the damage we create for ourselves and for others. And, moment by mindful moment, we become a beacon in the darkness of ignorance. We can do this, we need only try.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04278160017706972413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-496979191675133303.post-44209683486094236782017-01-04T17:17:00.002-08:002017-01-04T17:17:44.405-08:00Insecurity Fruit<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(29, 33, 41); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/2dYcjRR21rP2LbVmDp5ty87sD9YIBunj9xdqjeSiXjsBLUAkZJavT0J2ojfmKbOcaGc1chOAq9aX76Q=w1440-h900-no" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/2dYcjRR21rP2LbVmDp5ty87sD9YIBunj9xdqjeSiXjsBLUAkZJavT0J2ojfmKbOcaGc1chOAq9aX76Q=w1440-h900-no" width="213" /></a><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Insecurity has exactly zero to do with anything or anyone else. Certainly, other people and situations can trigger our insecurities, but those insecurities were already within us. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Many will disagree, but consider where our thoughts and feelings actually originate. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Does someone really create our thoughts and our feelings? How does that process actually unfold? Do people thrust these into our minds and hearts then force us to experience both? And, that all comes about nearly simultaneously? Does this make intuitive sense? </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Insecurities are natural. We should not try and shutdown or blame others for what is natural. In fact, exposing these insecurities is a gift and a blessing. When someone or something triggers these, try being grateful instead.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">These ‘open wounds’ require our attention. And, not the negative attention of shame, guilt, or punishment. Exploring and ultimately understanding our natural insecurities will allow us to eventually let them be and to let go. Then, the dualistic nature we’ve applied to them begins to fall apart.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+Wonderful World</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">What does ‘dualistic nature’ actually mean? By labeling ourselves as more insecure or less secure . . . by believing others somehow make us more or less secure . . . we are living in an internal world governed by a false view of ourselves and of reality. “This is good. That is bad.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">It is this dualistic nature that we apply to ourselves, others, and reality that creates much of our pain and our suffering. Our insecurities are just an outgrowth of that applied dualism. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">If we were to end the finger-pointing and scapegoating — instead we own how we are as we are — we would be left with no escape. We would have to transform the way we relate to ourselves, our thoughts, and our feelings . . . whatever those might be. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+Wonderful World</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">What is it that alleviates the most pain and suffering for ourselves and for others? What is our role in that process of pain and suffering? What can we actually do about it?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Once we separate out the fruit from the roots, it is obvious that the two are connected, yet both appear strikingly different. How each of us grow and develop determines what fruits we grow — this in turn determines the fields of trees that will grow the fruits of our future. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">What we do about our insecurities today actually matters. We can do nothing, we can take care of them, we can blame others, we can even blame ourselves or our experiences. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">What we do is our choice — our fruit. </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04278160017706972413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-496979191675133303.post-69029500505878672122016-06-12T04:56:00.001-07:002016-06-12T05:05:45.350-07:00Focus on What We Can Do, Not What We Can Divide<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="ciup2" data-offset-key="c4usi-0-0" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/DZF0bKr5ox_3iEtIxdjYFvZvryq8AwSTndDO6BKJqmhy1WgOFhUFZhm_oomU8hI0GTZ7nAfTq2w=w1440-h900-no" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/DZF0bKr5ox_3iEtIxdjYFvZvryq8AwSTndDO6BKJqmhy1WgOFhUFZhm_oomU8hI0GTZ7nAfTq2w=w1440-h900-no" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+Wonderful World</td></tr>
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<span data-offset-key="c4usi-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Tragic stuff seems to happen all the time. 20+ dead at an Orlando gay nightclub. I just don't know what to say. </i></b></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="13ij4-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>These tragedies seem to occur almost daily. Some of them hit closer to home then others.</i></b></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="2a7of-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>We just find ourselves too divided. Some of us think others are just too wrong. So wrong, apparently, that those people must die. </i></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/ZUogm4GO9J-HnL1ASKcVLQXl1T0LFQv7OLpV9rDLJ2vpC7ByKIjkyCDnpdIEC5lmYdUeULqHKwU=w1440-h900-no" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/ZUogm4GO9J-HnL1ASKcVLQXl1T0LFQv7OLpV9rDLJ2vpC7ByKIjkyCDnpdIEC5lmYdUeULqHKwU=w1440-h900-no" width="320" /></a><span data-offset-key="fmjk4-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>We have to be better human beings. To one another, but above all to ourselves. It starts in how we really think and feel about ourselves and relate that in how we think and feel about others. </i></b></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="cckbg-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Who could brutalize others knowing they feel and think, suffer and experience pain in the same exact ways that they do?</i></b></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="8kfag-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Let's not focus on what divides us. Let's focus on what we can do together. </i></b></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="13idg-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Otherwise, we're all going to suffer and die without making the most of our lives. </i></b></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04278160017706972413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-496979191675133303.post-89737020475849631072016-05-25T22:49:00.000-07:002016-05-25T22:49:09.600-07:00The Weapon of Being Upset: Revisited<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/Kn4rD0ev0IX8A6gIAiN2UdDVBhj7pY6lqMLcOk1t8q0c27NxPMAfoqjJDpumwBWbiIIKKllkoH8=w1440-h900-no" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="288" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/Kn4rD0ev0IX8A6gIAiN2UdDVBhj7pY6lqMLcOk1t8q0c27NxPMAfoqjJDpumwBWbiIIKKllkoH8=w1440-h900-no" title="+Amazing World" width="320" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">People can easily and understandably become upset or frustrated. Sometimes, life doesn’t unfold the way we plan. Sometimes, people do not react the way we think they will react. However, people can use the idea of being upset or angry as a weapon to control others.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This is not about the reason for being upset; it’s about being upset with the purpose to get others to back down or shut down or to control a situation or people. This is the same reasoning children have a tantrum. Their parents don’t want their children to be upset, and so immediately react to rectify the situation. The child has become the one with the power.</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/NH6Rs7QfeUNxGU5El70YN3-OIpY1ffXio1yQCMyKw6XAzVEAHBvE-XsbtkVgbsUx5-CwYOd2pFQ=w1440-h900-no" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="314" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/NH6Rs7QfeUNxGU5El70YN3-OIpY1ffXio1yQCMyKw6XAzVEAHBvE-XsbtkVgbsUx5-CwYOd2pFQ=w1440-h900-no" title="+Amazing World" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Who wants someone else to be upset? Not many are malicious, wishing ill on others. Mostly, people don’t want to see someone upset, which is where the source of power of this weapon lives. Someone that is upset tends to shake things up a bit. The mind wants to preserve the status quo. It wants to remain static in an ever changing world. It prefers to be lazy as opposed to adapt, evolve or even just to listen. When someone becomes upset, all of these habits are jeopardized.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The way in which we react in these moments is crucial. We, of course, have the option of backing down from what we’re saying or doing. Often, this is the wisest course because mostly it’s not worth a confrontation or engagement with someone. However, this option teaches others that if they simply get upset or appear angry they eventually get their way. This lesson can be difficult to break once it becomes routine.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/Eh48MRSbPsTBM06KYa4Veu912EHs4469EHYjumahN579br_nEcED3hDVInw20uv57bG6h_92hUE=w1440-h900-no" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/Eh48MRSbPsTBM06KYa4Veu912EHs4469EHYjumahN579br_nEcED3hDVInw20uv57bG6h_92hUE=w1440-h900-no" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/107030609203651940994" target="_blank">+Amazing World</a> </td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This dynamic can be highly destructive in families and small communities. We can see this same dynamic within groups of animals within nature. The loudest, most bombastic creature doesn’t rule purely by physical prowess, but more by intimidation and fear. If the pack leader had to prove his prowess to everyone within the pack, he would probably weaken and become defeated. This is a tactic.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We can also be very mindful in moments where people use this weapon of being upset. This is not easy. We must first know our thoughts and our feelings. These can easily be inflamed in these situations. Then, our reaction to the person who is being upset becomes the focus of attention in the engagement. This is a deflection and is highly common as it is very instinctual.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Whenever we expose this weapon in others or ourselves, we must be unshakable, yet remain open and aware. This can require so much effort if we’re not confident in our presence and actions. To remain still while still open and aware is something we must continuously reinforce within ourselves. As we face more intense situations, gradually our confidence will improve. We’ll be able to practice in the heat of someone being upset, or someone projecting their pain and suffering onto us.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/DhMxM6V1T8R_r6RprjUCAoEJq20_4lrmfSnbuMSFbaOgjSyH4fI5FXbzPkjOKmkT5KpRoNj1dXE=w1440-h900-no" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/DhMxM6V1T8R_r6RprjUCAoEJq20_4lrmfSnbuMSFbaOgjSyH4fI5FXbzPkjOKmkT5KpRoNj1dXE=w1440-h900-no" width="294" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+Amazing World</td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Once the mind acquires a target, all the senses focus on that target and all the defensive mechanisms begin preparing to fire. The mind is very good at dismantling something or someone, determining the weaknesses of the target. This skill can either work for us & others or against us & others. Again, these are deeply ingrained, nearly instinctual responses. By understanding the weaknesses of others, we can work through these weaknesses or we can exploit them.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In these most difficult moments, we must return to patience, compassion and understanding. These help stabilize the mind, diminishing the chance of becoming inflamed as defensive arrows begin flying in our direction. The arrows are designed to pierce the stability of our presence, to shake us up and expose our own defensive mechanisms. Often, these arrows keep being fired until the desired effect is reached. We can even back down or retreat, and this can make the situation worse. The mind can go into auto-pilot, firing all of the arrows until the quiver is empty.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/X0LCHw14WXeKISrGPZxtWTGdsUx3_0HRC5-0SBcgcSJ0sR0c7JR5Z6ClEkfvV-607fBlgykBcVw=w1440-h900-no" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/X0LCHw14WXeKISrGPZxtWTGdsUx3_0HRC5-0SBcgcSJ0sR0c7JR5Z6ClEkfvV-607fBlgykBcVw=w1440-h900-no" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+Amazing World</td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">When dealing with someone in the throes of being upset, we have to become the true spiritual warrior. Our quiver is filled with patience, compassion and understanding. It is so easy to set up the person that is attacking us as our own target. Certainly, it is easy to do, considering the amount of pain and suffering that is being spread. However, by setting up the target, we’re setting ourselves up for continuing the cycle of pain and suffering. We keep these alive whenever we retaliate, whenever we don’t see what’s actually happening.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We can apply patience, compassion and understanding for not just the person that is being upset, but for ourselves simultaneously. This is how we respond. We break the cycle, not continue it. We open up, not shut down. We don’t let someone gain control over our hearts and minds. We become the light of our presence and awareness. We can do this.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/2biQ2iQV4BqvLjpkafJQ43h8NENrIxdRcC0rANmBFX9_rIEKD0Oh5bdxUPw0K2cp0OONKE1LbkY=w1440-h900-no" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/2biQ2iQV4BqvLjpkafJQ43h8NENrIxdRcC0rANmBFX9_rIEKD0Oh5bdxUPw0K2cp0OONKE1LbkY=w1440-h900-no" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+Amazing World</td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">When the weapon of being upset is being used, we must retain our presence and awareness and apply patience, compassion and understanding. These arrows, these painful words don’t have to damage us. We can remain constant; we can weather this storm. This situation is impermanent; the arrows are mostly words masquerading as actions. These arrows are covered in sorrow, fired with pain and burning with suffering.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">We can be the peace and calm that is desperately needed. And, only we can supply this. The quiver of peace and calm is infinite, whereas the quiver of anger and retaliation is always limited. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">We can do this.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04278160017706972413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-496979191675133303.post-70436103580084440952016-04-09T12:31:00.004-07:002016-04-09T12:31:37.272-07:00Chaos, Make it Your Ladder<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/CrflynuBB-fVa4OcGSeDJcj77pFPoPTf5tMtmrwj9A33KMupty55C5d9MBzcc24cUrasrQ=w1440-h900-no" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/CrflynuBB-fVa4OcGSeDJcj77pFPoPTf5tMtmrwj9A33KMupty55C5d9MBzcc24cUrasrQ=w1440-h900-no" title="+Wonderful World" width="212" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">This life affords us many opportunities. It is up to us to be aware enough within each moment to see the chaos for what it is or to see our way through the distractions that often surround us in order to achieve what we can. Each moment is truly an opportunity for greater awareness.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Too often, we may enter into situations with attachments and expectations in how we desire the shape and feel of the resulting outcomes to be. This leads some to anger, disappointment, even despondency when our big plans don’t work out the way we want. What benefit do any of these reactions have or gain us, or anyone, either in the moment or especially in the long term?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Aren’t we punishing not only ourselves but also others for making the best choices that we could at the time when we think in this limited fashion? Why would we do that to ourselves or anyone else? Would it not be better to be open to any results in order to best learn from our experiences?</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/LFu70-exhqaurCZPOm43_N6FwS0nEq4tMFF6wdV6eMDbSPWVG32IbJ3wdQ9pCVP_SojN8w=w1440-h900-no" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/LFu70-exhqaurCZPOm43_N6FwS0nEq4tMFF6wdV6eMDbSPWVG32IbJ3wdQ9pCVP_SojN8w=w1440-h900-no" title="+Wonderful World" width="204" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Of course, it is natural when we are attached and the object of that attachment is missing, taken away, or never materializes to have a negative reaction or response. This is why training the mind to analyze those attachment dynamics is crucial when we enter into any endeavor, especially those endeavors that we have specific intent to do benefit for and with others. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">If our intentions are clean and clear of attachments, it allows us to seize on every opportunity presented to us by the natural chaotic factors present in modern life and from the natural effects from all of the causes we create from our actions. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">‘Okay, This path is done. Thank you for the lesson. Bless you. Now, up that chaos ladder to a more beneficial-for-others dynamic, thank you very much! Not after I deal with the anger and loss, but right now.’</span></blockquote>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/113824596544536913468" target="_blank">+Wonderful World</a> </td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">If there is no attachment, there is a freedom to be an intentional person. Every misstep, obstacle, obstruction, and absolutely every breath becomes but steps and stones on this ladder we’ve been climbing . . . to where . . . it does not matter because we have intentions connected to every action and every word. When we add, accumulate, and hold onto our attachments, it weighs those intentions down as well as our potential. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">More importantly, it obscures awareness. How does it do this? When faced with new information, experiences, or results that directly or indirectly contradict those intentions, we are immediately capable of absorbing this new data and adjust our actions as we breathe our very next breath.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04278160017706972413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-496979191675133303.post-91145069598293217512016-01-04T20:02:00.000-08:002016-01-04T20:02:08.097-08:00The Joy in Virtue: Waking Up from Laziness<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/JuCw-vF25dsMzWoGNKn6hNVMMXt3dOyWoLC0LffbKqRN2BnThL8rCXZ0EGPx0iyemUcEMg=w1440-h900-no" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/JuCw-vF25dsMzWoGNKn6hNVMMXt3dOyWoLC0LffbKqRN2BnThL8rCXZ0EGPx0iyemUcEMg=w1440-h900-no" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+Wonderful World</td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Laziness in Buddhism is unique. It is loosely defined regarding a mind that finds no joy in virtue. This may seem an extremely confusing way to approach the concept of laziness. However, in my exploration of the Buddhist approach to laziness, I found some astounding corollaries to modern life.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Buddhism identifies three specific types of laziness: indolence, unwholesome actions, and self-deprecation & defeatism. (<i>The Nectar of Manjushri’s Speech</i>, Pelden) </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><u>Indolence</u></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Being indolent is to have a disposition avoiding exertion, causing little pain or to avoid pain by remaining inactive.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Indolence is a very curious form of laziness. In modern culture, we have depression. One of the symptoms of depression is staying in bed, hence remaining physically inactive. It could be seen here that the pain and suffering of staying in bed and the isolation that comes from depression is far less than the perceived pain and suffering of leaving that bed. It certainly is worthy of further exploration. </span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/XdGE1cl7FOBUQbGuWhfrGQ2mxM_8HNy7uRvPRkiRVloXrCfHfh9fX4B0l2cfAyNyHu2Jeg=w1440-h900-no" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/XdGE1cl7FOBUQbGuWhfrGQ2mxM_8HNy7uRvPRkiRVloXrCfHfh9fX4B0l2cfAyNyHu2Jeg=w1440-h900-no" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+Wonderful World</td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">However, indolence here is not necessarily regarding physical exertion, which are limited. There are infinite ways we avoid exertion mentally and emotionally. We often don’t consider . . . anything. We hardly ever consider . . . nothing. That’s the laziness referred to here.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It’s actually possible to have so much joy from even the most mundane of human activities. In fact, it is through these daily activities that we should strive to experience joy every single day. Our lives don’t have to be some grand love affair or adventure on the big screen to have joy in every day.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><i>Imagine waking up and finding joy in what you can do today.</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><u>Unwholesome actions</u></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Many Westerners immediately misconstrue Buddhist terms like ‘unwholesome actions.’ Gossamer covers the minds when some hear these terms, thinking they can never live up to some expectation of always being perfect people. This is simply not the intention.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/r1DZD1ZCE0qC-XF7h_6kLCwW-mKC-9-hsiIm-oU-Xy8KOYH1htcmBLgZv1mJYACaytBc4g=w1440-h900-no" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/r1DZD1ZCE0qC-XF7h_6kLCwW-mKC-9-hsiIm-oU-Xy8KOYH1htcmBLgZv1mJYACaytBc4g=w1440-h900-no" width="214" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+Wonderful World</td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">However, intentions are crucial in all that we do, and that is what is meant by unwholesome actions with regard to laziness. What are we really after with our actions today? Tonight? When we rise in the morning? Knowing what the intent behind every action sounds exhausting, but it can be liberating and exhilarating. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><b>Imagine the freedom and the joy in making every action you take matter to you. </b></i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><u>Self-deprecation & defeatism</u></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Here, the defeatist attitude is becoming immune to the pains and sufferings of self and others. If we examine this closely, this ultimately becomes a conversation about greater awareness and emotional openness. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In our modern society, some focus so much on their own pain that it eclipses the suffering of others, even their loved ones staring them in the face or striving to help alleviate it. Others, avoid feeling and experiencing their own suffering, obscuring it through acts of kindness, hostility, or ambivalence. Both methods block awareness and create barriers between all of us. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><b>Imagine letting go of being perfect. Allowing yourself to not have to hold it all together and demanding the same of others. Imagine making a human connection with every person, first yourself. You deserve it. You need it.</b></i></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/yvtXohUYofLcWG2qEi3qv7AufIA6iHmxDyEVfT-3PZjqVP3kBfb_pLV1dZXdX42KxHbHzQ=w1440-h900-no" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/yvtXohUYofLcWG2qEi3qv7AufIA6iHmxDyEVfT-3PZjqVP3kBfb_pLV1dZXdX42KxHbHzQ=w1440-h900-no" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+Wonderful World</td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Laziness is not something to look down on yourself about. It certainly isn’t something we should look down on others about. It is only part of our human condition. What is wonderful and beautiful about this human condition is that we can break out of this laziness and experience the joys of the virtue of being here and now. We don’t have to be perfect because we are not. But, we can wake up to joy with every breath we take. </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04278160017706972413noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-496979191675133303.post-17447018681449390182016-01-03T19:34:00.000-08:002016-01-03T19:34:00.362-08:00Go Lightly with a Joyful Heart<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/ruhSV9EQk4lGbfd3s-I020Nlth7gsEPjUS5Jomr220AvXP_N0QzdOIEf9Vg7m8Ydtf6V1g=w1440-h900-no" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/ruhSV9EQk4lGbfd3s-I020Nlth7gsEPjUS5Jomr220AvXP_N0QzdOIEf9Vg7m8Ydtf6V1g=w1440-h900-no" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+Wonderful World</td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>The lichen hanging in the trees wafts to and fro,</b></span></div>
<b><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Stirred by every breath of wind;</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Likewise, all I do will be achieved,</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Enlivened by the movements of a joyful heart.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="letter-spacing: 0px; white-space: pre;"> </span><i>-</i><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Shantideva</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">As this year and every day begins, go lightly with a joyful heart.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Our intentions fundamentally shape everything we do, every word we utter, every thought we think, and every feeling we feel. </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Exploring what those intentions are can transform every moment. What once was lacking becomes abundant with possibility simply because we are present within it.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/iSzkKmkySmQ9giCXBEH9yga8hVtnIFVAmwFwb4JemjKNOjhlvgyUEIAlFuh95P5Xd5P11Q=w1440-h900-no" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/iSzkKmkySmQ9giCXBEH9yga8hVtnIFVAmwFwb4JemjKNOjhlvgyUEIAlFuh95P5Xd5P11Q=w1440-h900-no" width="205" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Open your eyes</i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Open your ears</i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Open your arms</i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Open your hands</i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Open your heart</i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Now,</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Open your mind, and let the joys of intentional living transform this world. </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04278160017706972413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-496979191675133303.post-62905696246898017432015-12-23T16:16:00.002-08:002015-12-23T22:34:50.984-08:00Seeing Through the Difficulties with Others<div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_WNi2BztGSF6-TT_zW4JMBhMi5dLPIB-CGEIJ7XTy6lFtX1e_wiAhBHaBCBPOdoLMcJi2w=w1440-h900-no" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_WNi2BztGSF6-TT_zW4JMBhMi5dLPIB-CGEIJ7XTy6lFtX1e_wiAhBHaBCBPOdoLMcJi2w=w1440-h900-no" width="213"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/107030609203651940994" target="_blank">+Amazing World</a> </td></tr>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Family and friends should be able to see through and around difficult issues. It's so sad and tragic that so many cannot. The way I see it, most people have not had the blessing to learn about themselves, others, and how to better relate with both. For that, they deserve patience, understanding, and above all compassion.</span><br>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">They also don't mean to do, say, think, or feel such terrible things either. They just don't know how to do any different. They also don't have enough awareness of themselves to acknowledge that they need guidance. It's actually completely understandable. </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">For that I knew I needed help, went out and received that guidance, and that even though repeatedly the system failed me so many times, I simply never gave up. I continued to get back up and fight for a better today so I could wake up and create a better tomorrow, not just for myself, but for everyone I meet.</span><br>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I really have so much to be thankful for every single day I wake up, with every breath I take, and with every person I have the pleasure to meet. That's my motivation for my daily living.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04278160017706972413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-496979191675133303.post-78726091296463657402015-11-21T14:14:00.000-08:002015-11-21T14:14:03.556-08:00The Healing of Relating: From Esoteric to Mental Retraining<div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-55aPQPZUAFM/VlBg_-wcRVI/AAAAAAADetI/FofgqJKeYHo/w530-h519-p/12004845_1024233917639715_1771114651186594289_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="313" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-55aPQPZUAFM/VlBg_-wcRVI/AAAAAAADetI/FofgqJKeYHo/w530-h519-p/12004845_1024233917639715_1771114651186594289_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+Wonderful World</td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Being how and what we are is not separated from the experience of those around us. Feeling and experiencing happiness is a state of being in most if not all cultures. It is an individual experience that has benefits to those in the vicinity of the person experiencing it. However, some people have varying capacities to empathize and relate to each other in reciprocal ways. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><i>This isn't a simply esoteric discourse, either. </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">There are biological and neurological components to how we relate to each other that are based in actual scientific evidence. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Mirror neurons are present in our brains that connect our experiences and sensations with each other, everything, and our perceptions of both. The presence of these mirror neurons have been proven in primates and other animals. Although direct proof of a human mirror neuronal network is lacking, there is ample indirect evidence. When human beings perform an action, certain areas of the brain are stimulated and are observable using fMRI. These same areas of the brain are also stimulated when the same person observes someone else performing the same action. </i></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zvJWi-usA7k/VlBgWm_oDmI/AAAAAAADeoA/YWDWzfVogfQ/w530-h799-p/10430489_1024232514306522_5167717581410100129_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zvJWi-usA7k/VlBgWm_oDmI/AAAAAAADeoA/YWDWzfVogfQ/w530-h799-p/10430489_1024232514306522_5167717581410100129_n.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+Wonderful World</td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">For some people in modern society, this reaction has become reversed for some reason. People instead experience the happiness or other positive characteristics of others as negative or harmful. These people have internalized issues regarding their own states of mind and being.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This can be seen through the lens of the over-personalization of the experience of others. In other words, somehow the feelings and states of mind of others are somehow focused directly and personally at oneself. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">These people are somehow shut off to the positive or beneficial emotional or mental states of happiness, joy, and relief within their own minds. They simply create the perpetrators as those experiencing the positive or beneficial states of being.</span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PYRFcHgbdLI/Vk8BflJXgxI/AAAAAAADeFI/QX-LCz8H6zY/w530-h932-p/11988697_1024107370985703_1946415033110936501_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PYRFcHgbdLI/Vk8BflJXgxI/AAAAAAADeFI/QX-LCz8H6zY/w530-h932-p/11988697_1024107370985703_1946415033110936501_n.jpg" width="181" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+Wonderful World</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This is similar to a negative feedback loop. Observing positive experiences and situations begins a mental-emotional process that has the reverse, compounding effect of previously existing negative thoughts and feelings. This would seem to indicate a general lack of empathy or even reverse empathetic response for those with this affliction. They have stopped relating with others and their environment in a realistic way. </span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Whether or not a person is openly happy or not will have no negative or positive effect on someone in that shut off, over-personalized state of being. In fact, the continued sheltering of people from the positive, beneficial mental and emotional states of others can foster and perpetuate those negative, self-defeating patterns. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>What can we do to break these patterns within ourselves and within others?</i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>We have to retrain our mind to relate in a more healthy, realistic, and beneficial way with others.</b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9ApqHlhMFwY/VlCwZClmvvI/AAAAAAADe2U/9lbNt22Rj3M/w530-h788-p/12003150_1024235350972905_4650628468927814317_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9ApqHlhMFwY/VlCwZClmvvI/AAAAAAADe2U/9lbNt22Rj3M/w530-h788-p/12003150_1024235350972905_4650628468927814317_n.jpg" width="215" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+Wonderful World</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It’s also crucial to understand that there are absolutely valid reasons why the human mind alters the way it relates to itself, to others, and to its environment. The mind does this to survive and to adapt to circumstances and situations. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">If we do not apply understanding and patience to ourselves and others at every step in this mental retraining process, we are setting ourselves up for relearning and reinforcing mistaken and broken ways of thinking.</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This is not a process as simple as turning on the lights with a simple switch. However, the more times we attempt to do something different, the more times our mind will learn this is what we want to be doing. We want to reconnect to ourselves, to others, and to our environment. We have to keep at it. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>For some reason it became easier to stop relating.</i> <i>Although that was understandable and is understandable to return to repeatedly, as it had become the routine and the new normal, we are deciding to do something different. </i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lMw7kp8qJ_Y/VlCw6zAM-yI/AAAAAAADe4M/rwvA40xXogQ/w530-h712-p/11218455_1024236377639469_3349435997783470928_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lMw7kp8qJ_Y/VlCw6zAM-yI/AAAAAAADe4M/rwvA40xXogQ/w530-h712-p/11218455_1024236377639469_3349435997783470928_n.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+Wonderful World</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><b>We are actively deciding this. We are making a new choice.</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It is in beginning to make those positive choices to reconnect and renew our relation, first to ourselves, then to each other, then to our surroundings, that we become reconnected to our presence and awareness in the present. Not based on some past hurt, either, but based on a belief and the actual reality that we are all connected.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><i>Initially, we may have disconnected to protect ourselves or others. </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><i></i></b></span><br /><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><i></i></b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><i>Today, we reconnect to heal ourselves in order for us to be more present and aware to clearly see ourselves and others.</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b><i>We can do this. We always could. We always have. We choose again. We choose today. </i></b></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04278160017706972413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-496979191675133303.post-60531117839076160422015-10-06T19:18:00.000-07:002015-10-06T19:18:25.202-07:00Moving Beyond Reactivity: The Atmosphere of Respect<div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-URcTxljgvac/VhQZhau1LgI/AAAAAAAJj3Q/23w43qWyZqs/w828-h620-no/10153247_495085350617648_416585849_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-URcTxljgvac/VhQZhau1LgI/AAAAAAAJj3Q/23w43qWyZqs/w828-h620-no/10153247_495085350617648_416585849_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+AmazingWorld</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Many people don't understand respect. It's an atmosphere you create around you. It's not really something you can barter back and forth. </div>
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<div>
Also, people that have known you for a long time are apt to discount any progress you make because it may expose feelings of lack of progress in their own lives. That's just one option. They also don't want to be left behind. The crucial lesson is that there are many reactions people have when you change. </div>
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Too often, we can over personalize what people do or don't do, say or don't say to us when mostly it has nothing at all to do with us and more to do with whatever their own issues might be. Taking it personally is often what some desire, either intentionally or unintentionally. </div>
<div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M82dCcy0mp8/VhQZIzJ-WZI/AAAAAAAJj0c/nKjtW8qlDHI/w493-h620-no/1012139_495086157284234_320508485_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M82dCcy0mp8/VhQZIzJ-WZI/AAAAAAAJj0c/nKjtW8qlDHI/w493-h620-no/1012139_495086157284234_320508485_n.jpg" width="254" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+AmazingWorld</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div>
Certainly, it seems personal when it's being said directly to us or being done to us, but most people are just acting out learned behaviors and responses based on their life of pain and suffering. We have that in common with everyone. If we can consider this before reacting emotionally, we will help not only ourselves, but possibly them as well.</div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">I try not to take anything personally by others, even family . . . especially family. Sometimes, people are looking for that reaction so they know they still have some control over you. Other times, people simply have no concept of the ripples and waves of their choices, words, actions, and intentions in the lives of everyone around them. Lacking the ability to connect causes and effects is also something we all have done at some point. </span></div>
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<div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ppnGs13RTFM/VhPYQmu0sOI/AAAAAAAJjvo/GsCFxLgnPUc/w600-h450-no/1901803_495699110556272_4047219869855594740_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ppnGs13RTFM/VhPYQmu0sOI/AAAAAAAJjvo/GsCFxLgnPUc/w600-h450-no/1901803_495699110556272_4047219869855594740_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+AmazingWorld</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">The key is to remove the knee jerk reaction, not just externally but internally as well. By allowing the mind to become aware instead of simply being reactive, we allow our natural state of awareness and objectivity to clarify and focus the mind. We then can more clearly see our thought process and what feelings develop, postulate as to why this is happening, and then determine what actions, if any, are actually necessary. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Over time, our ability to more accurately discern in the moment will improve, and we will be able to learn as we go from our seat of awareness. As we gain confidence in this process and path, others will either accept it or they will want no part of it. That's okay. Change and transformation are not something that everyone is prepared to embrace or have staring them directly in their face. </span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qqYvf-8HMf4/VhPVe4N3MVI/AAAAAAAJjtQ/Abb_Ez3rnPo/w905-h598-no/10155912_495699800556203_4499596135390159521_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qqYvf-8HMf4/VhPVe4N3MVI/AAAAAAAJjtQ/Abb_Ez3rnPo/w905-h598-no/10155912_495699800556203_4499596135390159521_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+AmazingWorld</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">That doesn't mean we go back to embracing our ignorance, does it?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Every step we take or don't take can be a conscious choice to become more aware, to broaden our understanding of ourselves and of all others. We are truly no different from anyone else. They just might be choosing a different choice. As much as we are okay with what we are doing, we must be okay with what they are doing. That is what the atmosphere of respect truly is. Being aware. Being okay.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04278160017706972413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-496979191675133303.post-10687484175594937342015-09-03T19:43:00.000-07:002015-09-03T19:43:18.646-07:00Abiding With Our Nature Amongst the Broken<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4m3SexdqS_Y/VeiC8p_zyCI/AAAAAAAC4x4/i19vPQUGpkk/s611-no/11986329_953992364677727_3549245665635928612_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4m3SexdqS_Y/VeiC8p_zyCI/AAAAAAAC4x4/i19vPQUGpkk/s611-no/11986329_953992364677727_3549245665635928612_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+WonderfulWorld</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">We stumble sometimes when we get out of bed. Sometimes, we can stumble if we’ve been sitting awkwardly for too long or if we’ve become unused to moving in certain ways. Whenever we begin doing any new projects or activities, we are capable of injuring ourselves in a multitude of ways. <i>It’s important to remain patient with not only ourselves and others but also our bodies and our environments in these moments.</i></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In this new, ever increasingly difficult world where bureaucracy increases while the gears and mechanisms of bureaucracy seem to work less effectively and efficiently than ever before, we often face a seemingly ceaseless drip-drip-drip of distractions, obstructions, and obstacles that seem to be both personal and aimed directly at our own personal progress. </span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yHEuhvik_t0/VeiE44t6ccI/AAAAAAAC42I/rGserCXdC5Q/w461-h635-no/1555506_654140318037026_333732063970331011_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yHEuhvik_t0/VeiE44t6ccI/AAAAAAAC42I/rGserCXdC5Q/w461-h635-no/1555506_654140318037026_333732063970331011_n.jpg" width="232" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/113357720416915864233" target="_blank">+WonderfulWorld</a> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">These may even be targeted at us, as bureaucracy often can be. More likely, though, it is the inefficient, ineffective, and thoughtless gears grinding away with no conscious target. Regardless, bureaucracy must keep itself alive by creating a need for itself to be fed. And, do we really want to fight that beast on this battlefield at this time?</span></div>
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<b><i>Clear your mind. Clear your heart. Let go of your reactionary nature.</i></b></div>
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<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">These stumbles can be dealt with appropriately and accordingly. It might be distracting us from a greater purpose, a lofty goal, or an objective for the benefit of others. It is only when we allow ourselves to feel assaulted that we become further victimized. This increasing victimization has been perpetuated in our minds, not by the bureaucracy, but by our reaction to the broken systemic nature of modern life.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VMVnDf4jLIk/VectA2QlQII/AAAAAAAC4dE/cpm_DkbAhD0/w618-h616-no/11987071_820361818081541_1396544891240206292_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="318" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VMVnDf4jLIk/VectA2QlQII/AAAAAAAC4dE/cpm_DkbAhD0/w618-h616-no/11987071_820361818081541_1396544891240206292_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+WonderfulWorld</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We can retrain our minds to let go of our reactivity and defensiveness. Sometimes, gears are just gears. When you slice your finger while slicing onions, you don’t blame the knife. When you begin to cry from the sliced onions, you don’t blame yourself, either. It’s simply a natural reaction to a natural stimulus.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Abiding with our nature and with the nature of the world and the society in which we find ourselves within is crucial to achieving our objectives. By not reacting or overreacting to stimuli, we begin to allow our natural awareness to begin informing us of where we are, how we are, and what we are in this whole system. Then, we just might discover there is so much more that we can actually accomplish, not just with ourselves, but with everyone we encounter. </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04278160017706972413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-496979191675133303.post-2522104034798240282015-07-27T11:18:00.001-07:002015-07-27T17:49:37.891-07:00Coping with Loved Ones in a Toxic Coma: Revisited<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IoRTT-h-aHE/VbRsWF1YtaI/AAAAAAAFnIU/iwTmCXVXdZc/w497-h638-no/1470321_657239077654587_425190332_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IoRTT-h-aHE/VbRsWF1YtaI/AAAAAAAFnIU/iwTmCXVXdZc/w497-h638-no/1470321_657239077654587_425190332_n.jpg" width="249" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>I needed to revisit this topic before writing my next article. </i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>I left it mostly as is, but added some photos. </i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>I also wanted to thank the world for such wonderful experiences that have helped me better understand myself. </i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<i style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Thank you, world. </i></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">There are people in all of our lives. Each is important but some we consider to be family. These bonds aren’t always by blood, as in our close friends or spouses. We love and care for each of them. If those loved ones are blessed enough, that love and care is returned. The return of that good will should never be the reason we are patient, generate understanding or compassion for anyone. These must be given freely, without the strings of attachment or expectation. It’s the difference between being selfish and selfless. </span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DbbtD3Lj3io/VbUZ_khIUtI/AAAAAAAFnis/fe9clRfzCUc/w700-h443-no/1470005_667772083267953_325471834_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DbbtD3Lj3io/VbUZ_khIUtI/AAAAAAAFnis/fe9clRfzCUc/w700-h443-no/1470005_667772083267953_325471834_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+WonderfulWildLife</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We may not even be in direct contact with a loved one in order to wish them peace, joy and happiness. Imagine someone in a coma. We can’t have any realistic expectation of a return for our love and care for someone in such a condition. That doesn’t mean we don’t care or that we don’t love and wish them to get better.</span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">There are other conditions and circumstances that our loved ones can be experiencing that are similar to a coma. Someone may have experienced a great loss, have been traumatized or sick from disease or injury. Mostly, we think we can see these diseases, injuries, losses and traumas very clearly in those closest to us. Sometimes, it’s not so obvious. Other times, the person with the condition isn’t even aware that they are sick. </span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In even extreme cases, people can be so unaware of how sick they are that they are capable of destructive acts, wreaking damage and potential devastation to those they love and that love them. These people are still worthy and in great need of patience, understanding and compassion. We sometimes lack experience in how to interact with them without causing even greater pain and more intense suffering as well as causing harm to ourselves in the process.</span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lI7DjNrmiBE/VaJxRLRLS_I/AAAAAAABl2U/wdpmwo5iP4o/w720-h480-no/943149_598544503513257_699555869_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lI7DjNrmiBE/VaJxRLRLS_I/AAAAAAABl2U/wdpmwo5iP4o/w720-h480-no/943149_598544503513257_699555869_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+AmazingWorld</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Some people are just so sick that they turn everyone into the enemy or a villain.</i> There can be symbiotic relationships that feed on one another’s sickness. As these relationships develop, instead of gaining insight into why they are both suffering so much, they back up their dysfunctional views of themselves as well as their mutual distaste for others. This has a very isolating affect, intensifying their conditions and increasing the potential damage. They see good will as condescending, misconstrue compassion for pity. There are infinite ways sick people push away their loved ones. When someone is in a coma, we can’t be pushed away.</span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">When we find ourselves at the end of all of that understanding, having been so patient, having really generated true compassion for a loved one in such an isolating situation, we need to begin treating them like a loved one that’s in a coma. This person is not capable of hearing us, nor capable of truly seeing us as fellow human beings sharing a common humanity. Further interaction only intensifies the hold of their conditions and isolating symbiotic relationships. Unless there is obvious evidence of injury or trauma, we even lack a mechanism where someone with authority can intervene.</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bdmA8dOJpqI/VbRsZvVT4bI/AAAAAAAFnIs/fzmZmK-IL8M/w507-h338-no/1468721_666338920077936_1325317115_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bdmA8dOJpqI/VbRsZvVT4bI/AAAAAAAFnIs/fzmZmK-IL8M/w507-h338-no/1468721_666338920077936_1325317115_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+WonderfulWildlife</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Most abuse is internalized, unable to be verified by simple observation.</b> Abuse is obvious when an arm or a leg is cut off in an angry rage. However, most abuse is emotional, as words leave no physical scars. Even bruises go away and external wounds heal. What compounds this terrible situation is the growing isolation that the relationship sustains in order to hide the dysfunction so as to not have to contend with those loved ones striving to alleviate some of the pain and comfort of the suffering that they both experience.</span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">These are such difficult situations for everyone. <i>What do we do?</i> We begin to treat them as if they are a loved one in a coma. We think about them, we generate compassion for what they are going through. <b><i>If they were to wake up, we will be there for them, but we don’t have to remain in the room.</i></b> </span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">When someone is filling their immediate environment with toxic fumes, we don’t just stay inside to reason with them. <i>That’s idiot compassion.</i> Instead, we open the windows, open the door and try and get out of that deadly place. We can’t force someone to leave unless they are truly incapacitated or we are strong enough to lift them up and take them out of their toxic environment. In these extreme moments, it may become necessary to discontinue an active, engaged relationship with someone in such a terrible situation. In these most difficult of interpersonal relations, we must tread and consider carefully.</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xTL_xH88xpM/VbICHWBskWI/AAAAAAAFmBI/N1Mu_tppfsk/w400-h322-no/630fa779-972d-4595-918e-80df8d19deae" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xTL_xH88xpM/VbICHWBskWI/AAAAAAAFmBI/N1Mu_tppfsk/w400-h322-no/630fa779-972d-4595-918e-80df8d19deae" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+WonderfulWildLife</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">There are few singular reasons to make this break with someone. It has to be a preponderance of the evidence coupled with the history of not only our interaction with this individual but also our overall understanding of the personal histories, relevant capacities and skills balanced with their personal willingness and openness to gain insight or accept guidance. </span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">We may even discover our own current situation is incompatible with this person’s toxic existence, which raises the potential damage for us. </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">We cannot stay forever in the room with a coma patient, nor can we withstand relentless abuse and trauma from our loved ones. At some point, we really have exhausted all of our reasonable options. <i>We can’t heal the world if we’re being actively injured by our loved ones.</i></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>If the patient doesn’t want the remedy, doesn’t even admit to the sickness, we simply cannot force them to do so.</b> In fact, in some cases this could be highly counterproductive. We don’t have to have an active, engaged interaction to genuinely love and care for a person. We don’t have to sink our own vessel. <i>If there’s someone on board a cruise ship hell bent on killing others or sinking the ship, you throw that person overboard to save yourself but more importantly to save others.</i> We can throw that person a life preserver or give them a life raft, but if there is no willingness to grab hold or get into the boat, we cannot let our ship go down because of one angry and out of control person.</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gZqsgwZMi90/VbDYdqFVJnI/AAAAAAAFljw/BI3Jg4fYFdY/w876-h638-no/7ec7caa2-790f-4a17-8009-a11da5af3d45" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gZqsgwZMi90/VbDYdqFVJnI/AAAAAAAFljw/BI3Jg4fYFdY/w876-h638-no/7ec7caa2-790f-4a17-8009-a11da5af3d45" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+WonderfulWildLife</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>We must be careful to not simply think the worst of others.</b> </span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">There are no external relationships that can be salvaged by one person alone. We can love and care for loved ones without having direct contact. We don’t have to let someone back on our ship until we become satisfied they are no longer a danger to us or others. We don’t have to let someone back in the house when that person is actively spewing toxic venom. </span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>We can love and care for someone, even if that person is in a toxic coma.</b></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04278160017706972413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-496979191675133303.post-16775817942105322322015-07-14T13:38:00.000-07:002015-07-14T13:41:03.271-07:00The 'At Peace' Killer<div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--XRallHz8Dg/VaOP8rPuvuI/AAAAAAAFjSs/IVxCmiaqN8I/w493-h463-no/1238713_616360678409094_2143345780_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--XRallHz8Dg/VaOP8rPuvuI/AAAAAAAFjSs/IVxCmiaqN8I/w493-h463-no/1238713_616360678409094_2143345780_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+Wonderful WildLife</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We should never measure a human being against a memory we have concocted in our minds. By doing so, we've created the self-fulfilling prophecy of no one measuring up ever. Too often, the memory we cling to of someone in our past isn’t reality-based. We either focus primarily on the positive or the negative memories and attributes as opposed to the breadth of experiences that we have had with that person. </span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Our minds are both imaginative and creative as well as stubborn and ignorant. We can use them against ourselves as well as others simultaneously. There are other options. Chances are we’ve experienced mistakes, missteps, or traumas within and out of relationships and friendships; p</span>erhaps, we are widowed. <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Learning from our past is beneficial; becoming fixated on it is problematic. </span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>However, we’re all works in progress.</i></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Anyone who thinks that working on themselves can't coexist with working on a relationship is likely never going to achieve either objective. I’ve heard people claim that they must be ‘at peace’ with themselves or become ‘stable’ before they can do anything with their lives. </span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>What does being 'at peace' with yourself or becoming ‘stable’ even look or feel like? When you achieve that will you be static or dynamic?</i></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;">
<i><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></i></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Why are we trying to define ourselves? Trying to put ourselves in a box or a cage sounds a great deal similar to what we often attempt to do to others, does it not? Do you want to be quantified and tagged? </i></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Qa0vcgkmsug/VaLNbkn-KaI/AAAAAAAFi6Y/m-gYTeT7VPw/s645-no/1238029_626731917371970_1263169172_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Qa0vcgkmsug/VaLNbkn-KaI/AAAAAAAFi6Y/m-gYTeT7VPw/s645-no/1238029_626731917371970_1263169172_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+Wonderful WildLife</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Just learn to be. <b><i>Be aware. Be present.</i></b> Be a mess if that's what we are today. If we're trying to not be what we are, we'll never be 'at peace’ with ourselves, whatever that is.</span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Self-awareness is a killer of bad relationships, and that is great news.</b> It may not feel good in the moment, but embrace that feeling, learn to trust those feelings. Learn about ourselves and others by not ignoring our thoughts and feelings. Those thoughts and feelings are communicating something important to us about our environment and those within it.</span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>By linking positive and negative labels to feelings and thoughts, we've embraced a brittle life, not just for ourselves but for all those we encounter throughout it.</i></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">People feel all sorts of feelings. People thinks all sorts of thoughts.</span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><i>Being 'at peace' isn't about having it our way; it is about being okay with whatever comes about because of where we are, how we are and why we are.</i></b></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 16px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>Don’t let being ‘at peace’ or being ‘stable’ be the killer of your present.</i> </span></div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04278160017706972413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-496979191675133303.post-69575303309354458942015-05-05T13:56:00.000-07:002015-05-05T13:56:00.256-07:00Our Precious Blood Stained Bones<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ARIaL-_5ImU/VUe_xUctbWI/AAAAAAACPLw/Wn3PxGq3oh4/w420-h630-no/%3D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ARIaL-_5ImU/VUe_xUctbWI/AAAAAAACPLw/Wn3PxGq3oh4/w420-h630-no/%3D.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+WonderfulWorld<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><br />The corpse is bloated, blue, and festering.</i> </div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i></i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i>The corpse is crawling with insects and worms.</i> </i></div>
<i>
</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i></i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i>Crows, hawks, vultures, wolves</i></i> <i><i>tearing it apart to eat.</i> </i></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>
</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i></i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i>All that is left is a skeleton with some flesh and blood</i></i> <i><i>still clinging to it.</i></i></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>All that is left is a skeleton with some blood stains, but no more flesh.</i> </div>
</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>All that is left is a skeleton with no more blood stains.</i> </div>
</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><div style="text-align: center;">
<i>All that is left is a collection of scattered bones--</i> </div>
</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i></i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i>Here an arm, here a shin, here a skull, and so forth.</i> </i></div>
<i>
</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i></i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i>All that is left is a collection of dried bones.</i></i> </div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>The bones have decomposed, only a pile of dust is left.</i></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: right;">
(<i>Awakening the Heart, </i>Thich Nhat Hanh)</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
What we were was dust, what we are is dust, what we will be is dust. The truth that we have a consciousness and a mind that can fathom and comprehend that truth is precious indeed.<br />
<br />
<i>What are we doing with this collection of flesh, blood, and bones?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>How are we challenging this mind that clings to these blood stained bones?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Is our life seizing this precious opportunity or sucking it dry completely?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>What we think, how we feel, why we are . . . Do we even consider any of it?</i><br />
<div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
Some may think these blood stained bones and thoughts of decaying corpses are all too morbid.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Challenge those perceptions.</b> </div>
<br />
If our bodies and minds didn't change, we would never grow up. We could never never overcome. We could never fall in love.<br />
<br />
It's because of the very nature of our decaying, dying flesh that we can do anything with our lives that is much more than just consumption and destruction.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Challenge perceptions. Challenge the mind. Challenge the body. Challenge this life.</i></b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04278160017706972413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-496979191675133303.post-91976738729410006102015-04-07T20:54:00.003-07:002015-04-07T20:54:57.007-07:00Don't Punish, Acknowledge and Move Forward<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aZobqndaT-I/VSDXhbnnA-I/AAAAAAACF5s/xQjMs8Qa_DE/w407-h613-no/-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aZobqndaT-I/VSDXhbnnA-I/AAAAAAACF5s/xQjMs8Qa_DE/w407-h613-no/-.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">+WonderfulWorld</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Life and the modern world is very busy, complicated, and at times highly confusing, disorienting and distracting. All this work we've been achieving, every effort we've taken, and every moment we've created has not been lost, no matter how many days, weeks, months or even years have seemed to have been squandered by our lack of focus, attention and intention.<br />
<br />
<i>We must be certain to not punish ourselves when we do become aware again.</i> We then acknowledge what has happened then explore how and why this happened. If we take a judgmental approach to ourselves, we're apt to lose our objectivity. We may either ignore some crucial aspect of our behavior and circumstances in order to avoid accountability or we may apply extreme measures in response that are counterproductive to learning and moving forward.<br />
<br />
Meditation is something we do every day. We all do it if we're aware of it or not. Meditation becomes focused and intentional when we guide it with our intentions. As we learn new methods and new aspects of our mind through different methods and aspects of meditation, we can become renewed and refreshed anywhere and anytime. Remembering to do these intentional practices in the throes of anger, frustration, stress, physical pain, and emotional turmoil is very difficult.<br />
<br />
<b>Never punish yourself for forgetting to meditate.</b><br />
<br />
Slowing ourselves down, both mind and body, can help make our lives more manageable, even though that often feels counterintuitive when faced with mounting concerns, unresolved issues and relentless stimuli. We have to train our minds, and really even in our bodies, to do what we want and what we need them to do. This alters the dynamic in our daily lives.<br />
<br />
What we don't need is to be exhausted or distracted. What we don't need is to be tense or reactive. What we don't need is to continue to be active without thinking when we could do something different entirely.<br />
<br />
That's the entire path and vector that meditation takes us toward. We begin to see ourselves more clearly. Then, we begin to more clearly see our surroundings and others.<br />
<br />
Has what we have been doing been producing a more happy, fulfilling life for ourselves and others? Are we even able to be honest with our own observations about ourselves?<br />
<br />
<b><i>Meditation isn't necessarily about making us feel better. It's about allowing us to be more aware so we can do something about how we feel and how we are.</i></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04278160017706972413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-496979191675133303.post-32721481117193266742015-03-03T12:19:00.000-08:002015-03-03T12:20:54.712-08:00The Omnipresent Seat of the Full Awareness of Breathing<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eXsTeYW6C9E/VMx1CkKYpZI/AAAAAAABviI/oU9ITALoaOI/w758-h611-no/-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eXsTeYW6C9E/VMx1CkKYpZI/AAAAAAABviI/oU9ITALoaOI/w758-h611-no/-.jpg" height="257" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+WonderfulWorld</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In a few moments, any of us can reacquire our awareness in the present.
However, connecting knowledge with both action and actualization of practice in
the heat and throes of pain, suffering, turmoil and conflict is terribly
difficult if not seemingly impossible for most. This is why exercising our
awareness of breathing can be so potent in aiding us in our daily lives. Simply
put, we continue to breathe during all of our daily experiences, even the most
difficult and most terrible.<br />
<br />
Sometimes, the mind attempts to remind us of this when we're under extreme
stress. We become short of breath, panic attacks begin that feel as if we
cannot breathe, or we become all huffy and heavy with our breathing; our mind
is communicating to us to pay attention to it. Instead, we often continue to
ignore it. In this way more systemic, chronic conditions begin to develop. Our
capacity to breakthrough these conditions can become limited or obscured as a result
of our general inattention and daily lack of awareness. We can retrain our mind
if we consistently apply effort to do so. One such vehicle for retraining is
through a renewed awareness of our breathing.<br />
<br />
Breathing is what connects all of our moments, from birth to death. We
should pay attention to it. In fact, we should take every available opportunity
to become fully aware of our breathing. Further than that, we have to create
those opportunities consciously and consistently for ourselves in an ever more
distracting world. Then, when we encounter those inevitable high stress
situations, we will have our daily relationship with the full awareness of our
breathing to draw upon.<br />
<br />
<b>How do we build this relationship with the full awareness of breathing?</b><br />
<br />
<i>We seek guidance from others.</i><br />
<br />
There are those who have contemplated and researched the potency of the
awareness of breathing thoroughly, but we should not simply take the words and
experiences of anyone as truth; we have to experience these ourselves. However,
we can use what others have already accomplished as a starting point of our own
exploration.<br />
<br />
There is one Buddhist sutra, or scripture, that may assist in exploring a
full awareness of breathing. <i>The Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing</i>
is a powerfully, direct step-by-step guide to begin this process of
exploration. Commentaries accompany Buddhist sutra. Modern commentaries can be
quite useful, Thich Nhat Hanh, for instance, has a very accessible perspective
on this topic.<br />
<br />
It may seem crazy to spend hours reading about how to become fully aware of
your breathing. However, many others have written books on the topic. An aspect
of our lives that is omnipresent: it transcends barriers of language, skill
level, capacity, gender, age, and race. We all breathe or we're not
alive.<br />
<br />
Explore different voices and perspectives on the awareness of breathing.
Find one that resonates with your daily life. The goal here is not to be
abusive or harsh to ourselves but to make what natural work toward our
wellbeing, not against it.<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">We must explore our awareness of
breathing on our own.</i><br />
<br />
Breathing happens naturally without any conscious effort on our part. When
we explore that breathing, we're really exploring our mind's awareness using
our breathing as a focal point. Is our mind able to focus at all? Is it
stressed or relaxed? What else is rolling through our mind besides being aware
of our breathing?<br />
<br />
Self-exploration is not only recommended, it is imperative. We cannot take
anyone's experiences or guidance as factual. It is critical to apply what we
think, what we read and what we've been told so as to gain our own experiential
information to ascertain a direct understanding. Otherwise, we will never rely
upon it during difficulty.<br />
<br />
When we become aware that our mind has wandered off again, don't judge or
punish the mind. Simply acknowledge this as thinking or feeling and refocus
awareness once again. If the mind continues to gallop off repeatedly, try
paying complete attention to it. Let it go without trying to restrain it. Why
is it doing this? Maybe, there is a very significant reason for this
distraction. Explore it thoroughly. Be curious. Don't judge the mind, explore
it instead.<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">We can develop our own working,
adaptive understanding through exploration and contemplation.</i><br />
<br />
If we don't create multiple opportunities to explore just our own personal,
individual relationship with breathing and its interaction between our body and
our mind, we've missed taking that omnipresent seat in our lives. From that
seat we can be, see, feel, touch, taste, think, expand, and understand any and
every aspect of our lives.<br />
<br />
We begin by not working at or worrying about this process. This is not about
forcing our mind to do something unnatural. In fact, the objective is to
reclaim the natural state of our mind-body connection. Then, we can reforge our
connection to our daily lives and to the people within those daily lives.<br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Breathing, I am aware I am
breathing. </i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Breathing in, I am aware I am
breathing in.</i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Breathing out, I am aware I am
breathing out.</i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Breathing in, I am aware of how I am
breathing in.</i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Breathing out, I am aware of how I am
breathing out.</i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Breathing in, I am aware of my body.</i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Breathing out, I am aware of my body.</i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Breathing in, I am aware of my whole
body.</i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Breathing out, I am aware of my whole
body.</i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Breathing in, I calm my body.</i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Breathing out, I calm my body.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Try the above exercise.</b> Do you feel better? Does your body feel physical
relief? How about your mind?<br />
<br />
This is the expansive power of returning to the omnipresent seat of the
awareness of our breathing. We begin to clear our minds of the cumbersome
thought processes that aren't beneficial or productive; we relate directly with
our bodies; we connect better with others, helping us to navigate a more
complex and distracting world.<br />
<br />
We begin ridding ourselves of ineffective and ineffectual mental habits,
instead, forming new mental habits that have real, tangible physical, emotional
and mental benefits. This is only the beginning steps in this exploration of
the full awareness of breathing. We need only crack open the door on the
potency of our awareness in order to take our seat and reap the rewards.
This doesn't mean we won't experience pain and suffering, but it will
give us a better opportunity to understand and appreciate it.<br />
<br />
Source: <i>Awakening of the Heart: Essential Buddhist Sutras and Commentaries</i>, Thich Nhat Hanh Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04278160017706972413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-496979191675133303.post-63287346445103929122014-12-11T02:36:00.003-08:002014-12-11T02:36:38.546-08:00The Awake Space of the Presence of Awareness<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CwUwBswBVaQ/VHgMkw693xI/AAAAAAABXZA/ubvD-YTLeE4/w444-h683-no/-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CwUwBswBVaQ/VHgMkw693xI/AAAAAAABXZA/ubvD-YTLeE4/w444-h683-no/-.jpg" height="320" width="208" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+WonderfulWorld</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="Ct">
Our choices, past present and
future, are all within us in this very moment. The future and the past
are no more important than the present, but it is the present where we
can make an active choice to be fully aware and completely awake.<br /><br />When
we make choices from the awake space of the presence of awareness, we can
see more clearly where we've been and where we're going because we know
where we are right here and right now.</div>
<div class="Ct">
<br /></div>
<div class="Ct">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
When we begin seeking to benefit all others we encounter,
the vibrant nature and extra-ordinary texture of every moment, every encounter,
ever step, every breath and every beat begins to resonate throughout all
aspects of our actions.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Our intentional living is beginning to spread. The
reverberations echo into the distance wherever we go, and have been all along</i>,
<b>that is karma</b>. That is why the negative and destructive waves from before will
ultimately be felt by us again . . . and thankfully so . . . so we can absorb
what we could not before.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We no longer have to transmit our pain and suffering, our ignorance; onto others as we, our parents, families, our communities, our
countries and our species have always done. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i>We can do something different.</i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By continuously opening ourselves to all people, especially
those that actively attempt to harm us, at least emotionally and mentally, we
show that we will not be dissuaded by petty antics of intimidation.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b>We can be something different.</b></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By returning to that awake space, even after difficulty and adversity of experience, we can realize that we have always been this way.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b>We are something different. </b></i> </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04278160017706972413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-496979191675133303.post-59262271615889317832014-11-13T12:05:00.000-08:002014-11-16T22:37:40.421-08:00Tackling the Big Problem; To The Farmer's Market<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/LQ3AabDv2QkLwYreFA902P4qFhq35bVZT7702bGWtxmZ=w259-h207-p-no" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/LQ3AabDv2QkLwYreFA902P4qFhq35bVZT7702bGWtxmZ=w259-h207-p-no" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">+WonderfulWorld, 16 November 2014</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We encounter problems every day. Mostly, these problems are
simple choices. However, some problems are more complex or are broader and
impact more than just today or just our own life. In these situations, some of
us can easily become overwhelmed by the size and scope of what is at stake. In
my experience it is the idea of the 'big problem' which must be let go first.
The obstacle is our idea of the size of the problem, making it feel
insurmountable and impossible to solve.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If it truly is a broad-based issue, the solution must have steps that allow for
flexibility and a multifaceted approach, taking the macro-problem and
initially breaking it into micro-units that are easier to consider. This can
make the first steps less daunting, and once there is some progress or movement
on the issue, a broader re-examination can take place. The key is to begin making
headway, learning to adapt on-the-spot. Instead of attempting to solve the
entire ‘big problem’ all at once, which may only be possible with objectivity, experience
and intuitive insight, we’re allowing ourselves to be human.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Whenever we stop reacting to problems and situations, we allow ourselves the
opportunity to let our natural presence and awareness to apply itself to the
situation. All of our experiences, our intuition and our observations can be
critically important in dealing with the ‘big problems’ we encounter. These are
all vital when encountering each small choice and daily dilemma as well.
Instead of reactivity, we are present and aware enough to begin to learn to
know what our intentions are and what actions should be linked to those intentions.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Imagine if we applied ourselves to every step we take, to
every human encounter we have, wherever we go and throughout our entire day.
Immediately, the entirety of the day becomes a vibrant, workable field that we
are actively engaged in with attention and care. We apply physical resources,
mental resources, emotional resources and spiritual resources to achieve
outcomes we determine are achievable and worthwhile. <b><i>Imagine that!</i></b> That is our
day. It’s our field, the outcomes of which are the fruits, the vegetables, the
crops that we feed ourselves, our families and our communities with each and
every day. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our lives are our farmer’s market. Our ‘big problems’ are
our biggest asset. Our choices are what make all the difference. We determine a
great deal in our lives and in the lives of others. <i>What is it that we’re really
after? Do we wish to help ourselves and others, or to blame ourselves and
others?</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Let’s start to do something with our day to
bring to the human community farmer’s market. It will sustain us, it will
sustain others, and it helps to perpetuate what we all want . . . happiness and
joy, togetherness and progress.</span></b></i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04278160017706972413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-496979191675133303.post-54355905394811311722014-11-08T08:27:00.000-08:002014-11-08T08:27:13.823-08:00The Age of Death by a Thousand CutsOnce a person is in the cross-hairs, anything and everything they do can
be shredded and parsed. Maintaining objectivity becomes terribly
difficult.<br /><br />I remember in 2004 when George W Bush won re-election.
I was freaking out about the future of the nation. I watched every
communication out of his Administration and shredded it, pounced on it,
outraged upon it. Early into 2005, I realized I had to stop . . . for
not only my own well-being, but for the well-being of the country.<br /><br />I
made George W Bush my Patient Zero for generating understanding,
patience, and compassion. I stopped doing Death by a Thousand Cuts, as that
only served my ego and not for the progress for America. This is the
Age of Death by a Thousand Cuts. It’s a painful one. It’s why I was so
outraged in 2004, and why nearly everyone is so outraged today.<br /><br />Instead
of us talking and discussing about how to resolve our common problems
or how to make progress as a country, a society and a culture, we’re
relegated to this blame/scream fest. If you’re in the middle, as I am,
it can be disheartening. Many just stay on the sidelines instead of
engaging because the fever on both sides is so high and the pitch is so
intense.<br /><br />I maintain my objectivity, mostly, and remain
non-reactive, emotionally. This is through years of mental and emotional
training. I am out to learn.<br /><br />I’ve been mistaken my entire life,
even up to this very moment. I do wish my words to be as correct as they
can be to make my intentions clear.<br /><br />This is an engaging and
energizing process because I’m learning. I appreciate each and every
word you all write. Thank you!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04278160017706972413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-496979191675133303.post-63227909341527084692014-11-03T08:36:00.002-08:002014-11-03T08:36:52.835-08:00Wake Up to Our Natural AbilityI think the reason hurt persists for some is in trying to suppress it instead of understand and really feel it.<br /><br />When
we are emotionally or even physically hurt or wounded, there's a reason
for it. I mention physical wounds for a reason . . . if you don't know
where the wound is, say a splinter, it can be difficult to impossible to
remove that splinter and to begin to heal.<br /><br />It's the suppression
of our feelings that takes reasonable emotional pain and turns into
persistent and chronic psychological conditions, such as depression and
anxiety.<br /><br />Our modern day society has taught us to suppress our
feelings not because it is healthy to do so but I would suggest because
emotional openness can trigger emotional responses of others through
what are called "mirror neurons." These mirror neurons are how human
beings feel and relate with not just one another but with animals and
even objects.<br /><br />Our minds are these amazing vessels that are wired
to help ourselves and to help others. There are elements within our
society that are more scared of the prospect of everyone waking up to
that truth because their control of others would end. <br /><br />When we wake up to our natural ability to benefit the well being of others, anything is possible.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04278160017706972413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-496979191675133303.post-11843029581225786702014-10-31T17:06:00.000-07:002014-10-31T17:23:53.595-07:00Being Good To All.<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>"Being nice is an overrated experience to people who don’t
deserve it.”</i></div>
</blockquote>
We should never be ‘good’ with the expectation of extracting
something for being so. Simply because someone is mean or vicious, does not
mean we should be cruel in return. This does not mean we don’t respond, and at
appropriate times, with great vigor. However, being cruel or vicious, simply to
‘vent’ our personal frustration, anger or rage, compounds the pain and
suffering, not just for the other vicious party, but for ourselves as well. We
are watering our own seeds of self-destruction when we act with such disregard
for others
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Vicious people do not become vicious all on their own.
Barring some genetic abnormality that damages the amygdala , for instance,
human beings are not born as vicious, angry and without regret creatures. We
are taught and trained to behave in that destructive way. People that have the
misfortune of leading a life that has led to these destructive acts absolutely
deserve both compassion and understanding. There is much that we can do to at
least not add to their suffering and to ours simultaneously.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is much more that we can actively do to help others.
Sometimes, it is as simple as saying kind words. Other times, performing
thoughtful actions can make a difference. With most in modern day society, the
damage is severe and has been ongoing for a sustained period of time. This
requires a strategy designed and set in motion over a prolonged and sustained
period that is flexible to changing conditions and variables. A person must be
willing and able to opt in at an early stage of development of this strategy
for this approach to be successful. Others we encounter maybe running on
autopilot. It doesn’t matter what we say or do, how we behave or act unless we
wake them up. Sometimes, using the mirror approach can be useful to break them
out of their automatic state.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If we consider these options after we encounter people that
have ‘hurt’ us, it gives us an opportunity to contemplate how to benefit their well-being.
Many may bristle at the thought of those that ‘hurt’ us deserving something
seemingly worthwhile. Others depict compassion and understanding as pity. People
appropriate these dualistic labels (positive, negative) to words that are either
not easy to comprehend or to disregard and categorize these as to not be
bothered to think. It’s fairly simple to have compassion for someone with an obvious
physical injury. Not many people make fun of a one-armed man for having one arm
to his face. Internal injuries, however, aren’t obvious at all. These emotional
and mental injuries are far less likely to generate compassion or understanding
without direct intention and mental effort.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We attempt to generate understanding for people by actively
trying to ascertain why and how they behave in the way in which they do. This
can be very difficult in the moment, but as we review situations and our reactions
to people in those situations, we have increasing opportunities to not simply react
to someone’s behavior but be more active to disrupt the negative programming,
to disrupt the hatred and hostility of others, to even save ourselves in the
midst of a criminal act.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you have been a ‘victim’ of a crime, this can assist you
in understanding the broader context of the crime. Otherwise, the crime is only
about you, and you must understand that you are not to blame. We can only reach
for a broader context, of course, only after we are out of harm’s way. Certainly,
if our welfare or the welfare of others is actively and presently being threatened,
we must act accordingly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes, it is not the perpetrators’ fault what they’ve become. It
is not their fault, but it is their responsibility. This is a subtle
difference, but it is an important distinction. However, it is their
responsibility how they behave and for healing their initial internal damage
and the lingering damages from all of their damaging behaviors over all of
these years.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">There are some
people, though, that are incapable of helping themselves. They are too much a
danger to themselves and to others. The pain and suffering is just too great
within them and that they have caused others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Those cases are special, and not something that we can handle on our
own. That is why we have hospitals, police and judicial systems. Here, we’re
discussing those people that can potentially help themselves.</i>)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We should be good to others because it simply is the best
option available to us, not because we get a great Zagat score or pass the state
board of health inspection. Allow your mind to refute that statement by
answering the question: <b><i>How would being good to others NOT be the best option
for us?</i></b> Everyone should answer that question. Don’t simply accept that doing ‘good’
to others is the better option, we must believe it. Otherwise, we’re continuing
the approach that has fed our ignorance for most of our lives. <b><i>Challenge your
assumptions. Challenge others' assumption</i>s</b>. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By thinking of others, (<i>specifically, how to better relate
with them, how to make their lives easier, how<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>to soothe their pain and ease their suffering</i>) we have to actively
engage our mind into not only what we’re doing throughout our day but how and
why we’re doing what it is we’re doing. Consider the number of people we simply
walk by every day that we don’t even acknowledge, not verbally, but even with
any awareness whatsoever. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is truly a transformative effort to embark upon if
we’re serious about this endeavour. We must be careful to be serious but to
take that seriousness very lightly. Lightly is in how we enforce the
application of that seriousness. That may seem contradictory, but it is not. Seriousness
implies intent. We take this seriousness lightly because we do not want to be
abusive toward ourselves or apply punishment or reward for any of our outcomes.
We want to break away from the notion of expectations, which set others and
ourselves up for failure. If we’re serious, we’ll keep at it regardless of our
mistakes and missteps as well as our rewards and accolades. This doesn’t negate
our outcomes, but it negates abusing ourselves for those outcomes or resting in the laurels and the medals. We learn and
grow, not abuse and cower. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We’ll be keeping track of our successes, our ideas and
hypotheses, make bold attempts or minor experiments to see what happens. If
we’re so focused on what we want out of all that we do, we open ourselves to
skewing the results, losing our objectivity and ultimately spreading our own
ignorant views back into every aspect of our own daily lives. This is what we’re
trying to be rid of after all. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04278160017706972413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-496979191675133303.post-64204561197395358722014-10-15T20:45:00.000-07:002014-10-15T20:46:04.408-07:00Screw Doubt, the Status Quo and Suffering<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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There can be no doubt while being present and aware. Doubt
is an internal process that obstructs our awareness. We can only hope to open
up to our innate awareness when we’re completely present. And, it is our
presence and awareness that frees us from the shackles of our ignorance<br />
<br />
We have to be okay with being mistaken, as it is the only
pathway to being rid of it. Truth isn’t something we can ever learn; it is
something we already are. What we must learn is to trust in our innate
awareness once again.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Despite the potential for mistakes, which will absolutely happen,
we have to let go of being right as much as we have to let go of others being
wrong. It is our unwillingness to broaden our understanding and being curious of
alternative perspectives that strengthens division and derision, first with
ourselves but with others as well. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We can only ask to do more with each and every moment. This
begins with ourselves and extends to our surroundings, ultimately spreading to
others. Reverberations and reactions should be expected as part of the cause
and effect nature of reality. However, if we maintain our presence and awareness,
we will be able to learn, adapt and broaden our understanding in these
aftereffect moments.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Removing doubt with the intention of expanding awareness and
ridding ignorance is a very empowering and potentially transformative endeavor.
We take this as lightly as we do seriously. None of what we do is to abuse
ourselves or others. Our intensity and passion are wonderful and powerful
motivating forces. Use this as momentum when the world becomes static or
resistant.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The world is often a mirror of our self. If the reaction we’re
experiencing from the world is creating unbelievable frustration and anger
within us, this is usually a sign that we’ve become static and resistant. When this inevitably happens, “<i>they just don’t get it</i>!” seems to apply
and anger begins to boil, this is the time to remember <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">we take this as lightly as we do seriously</i>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Challenging our own status quo is very difficult. When we do
that, we’re also challenging the status quo of everyone that is in our life. We
must have patience for ourselves and for everyone else during such upheaval.
When we do, it’s ok. When others do, that’s ok too.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If we continue to make the most of each moment, we will
encounter difficulty. If we don’t, we will encounter difficulty as well. The
only difference is our effort and willingness to adapt and learn. If we’re
attempting to broaden our understanding, we at least have an opportunity to
decrease our suffering moving forward. That seems worth the effort.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04278160017706972413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-496979191675133303.post-39846346074777646632014-10-07T13:54:00.002-07:002014-10-07T13:54:41.991-07:00Out of Wasted Time<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>"When you think time is something that can be wasted, you'll always be out of it."</i></div>
</blockquote>
<br />
We just put our best mental and emotional 'feet' forward in all our interactions with everyone in every day. Screw thinking what <i>we</i> will get out of it. If everything we do is always about what <i>we</i> ultimately get out of it, doesn't that set up the worst dynamic between us and everyone else? Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04278160017706972413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-496979191675133303.post-62799568834161532362014-09-29T11:58:00.000-07:002014-09-29T11:58:37.538-07:00Wanting More Every Day<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i>Want more from yourself each day, not the best.</i></b></div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Often, people want the best out of themselves, never quite living
up to such impossible expectations. Expectations are a major source of
self-imposed pain and suffering, an important topic of merit. However, here, I
wish to transform our mental perspective of ourselves and what we’re capable of
accomplishing on the spot.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We start with the aspiration of wanting more from ourselves
each day. Aspirations are a great place to begin this transformational process.
Aspirations are meaningless without intention. Intention is really an internal
moment that consists of an emotional or mental choice of a desired outcome. “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I really feel like or think I want to do
more today.”</i> Intention is very simple and direct. There’s nothing before or
after. It is only an emotional or mental moment in time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Intention only begins to make an impact when we bring that intention
consistently into mind. We can see how intention can easily slip away. We
really want (aspiration) a cup of tea. We have every intention of steeping some
tea. We even pour the water into the teapot. We even put the teapot on the
stove. The water eventually boils, and we pour the boiling water over the dried
tea leaves. If we lose our original intention of wanting a cup of tea, we may
lose track of that cup of steeping tea. Intention only matters if we consistently
keep that intention in the focus of our mind. We may do all the work necessary
but never enjoy the fruits of our labor, that cup of <i>intentional tea</i>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Throughout the day,
we must consistently reacquire the intention of wanting more from ourselves. It
can be so easy to let that intention evacuate the building where we work,
wonder off while we eat lunch, become lost to and from everywhere we go . . .
the list of what we do can be extremely long or very short, but we can all do
more with what little we do or how much we do. We might be doing too much, or
we could better manage our time. If we can name one activity that cannot be
improved upon, why do we even do anything? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We can all want more from ourselves without asking more from
others or objects. That’s the key here. We don’t want to increase our
dependence. We want to empower ourselves, to see that we are still these
amazingly capable creatures that can do more than we ever give ourselves credit
of doing. We need only to try. By asking ourselves to be the best, we’re
setting ourselves up to be better than every other being on the planet. What
are the odds in that? That’s self-abuse on the highest order.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By wanting more from ourselves today, we’re saying, <i>“let’s
do this, let’s get started, because <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>know we can!”</i></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04278160017706972413noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-496979191675133303.post-58418602568788318652014-09-15T13:23:00.001-07:002014-09-15T16:38:49.466-07:00Untying the Knots of an Unintentional Mind<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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<![endif]--><span class="uficommentbody"><span class="uficommentbody"></span><span class="uficommentbody"><b><i>We are the only way, and we are in the way.</i></b></span> </span></blockquote>
</div>
</blockquote>
<span class="uficommentbody">The mind loves to runaway with just about any
thought or any feeling, sometimes one after another after another. Our mind is
designed to think, to consider, to feel, to contemplate, to play, to lounge, to
relax, to stress, to fight, to flight.</span> <span class="uficommentbody">Some
of what we think is real or possible; most of it is just '<i>la la la bang bang
bang smurf berry realness</i>'.</span>
<br />
<span class="uficommentbody"> </span><span class="uficommentbody"> </span>
<br />
<span class="uficommentbody">These thoughts and feelings can be made in a concerted
effort or made randomly and disconnectedly. When applied with intention, we can
actually accomplish nearly anything we apply our mind toward achieving. It is
possible to train our minds to not work against our intentions. We can train
our minds as gymnasts train their bodies and minds to achieve remarkable feats.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="uficommentbody">Some of these mental gymnastics can be quite
productive and useful. We can build and grow things, feed ourselves and others,
bring people together. We can also deconstruct reality in ways that can yield
new opportunities for understanding ourselves, others and our environment, learning
how to better maximize and utilize all that is available to us.</span> <span class="uficommentbody">Other times, these mental gymnastics can become an
obstacle to achieving anything substantial or useful. We can even harm
ourselves, others and our immediate environment in ways that are damaging and
even irreparable.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="uficommentbody">We have the superior role in redirecting these
mental misadventures. It can be quite difficult to halt or even slow these
completely natural functions of mind. When our mind seems to set off on one of
these misadventures, attempt to focus your mind on watching your body breathe.
Our mind will want to return to its galloping, and that’s not only predictable,
it’s natural. When this happens, acknowledge it for what it really is, '<b><i>thinking</i></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">,</span>' and go
back to focusing on the breathing again. Try this out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes this method can work quite quickly
and easily.</span><br />
<span class="uficommentbody"> </span><span class="uficommentbody"> </span>
<br />
<span class="uficommentbody">Make certain to have fun with how the mind wants to
gallop off into the mental wilderness of thought and feeling. <i>Absolutely do not
be mean to the mind.</i> Training our mind happens gradually and naturally, but it
does take intention. We’re not trying to beat the life out of ourselves. What
we do with our mind is so important. If we train our mind to abuse ourselves or
others, we’ve missed not only the point but this opportunity. We are not trying
to rid ourselves of our true nature, but to redirect that nature with our
intention infused with patience, understanding and compassion.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="uficommentbody">When I struggle with this, I often don’t even
realize that I’ve become lost. That’s why at the end of every day I try to just
sit and take note of the current state of my mental well being. On those
difficult days, especially the days I haven’t realized I’ve become lost in the
mental wilderness, I find my mind is all tied up in knots. I can literally feel
the tension of attachment and desperate grasping, of what, I really don’t know
and couldn’t tell you. </span><br />
<span class="uficommentbody"> </span><span class="uficommentbody"> </span>
<br />
<span class="uficommentbody">To tackle this requires a bit more than just
focusing on breathing. When our minds are knotted up, we have to visualize
loosening that mental grip. This can take some real concerted mental effort.
Often, when we find our mind in this condition, we’ve become completely
exhausted and are possibly in a great deal of pain. However exhausted or in
pain we might feel, it’s important to loosen these strangleholds if we can. </span><br />
<br />
<span class="uficommentbody">Allow the mind to wholly embrace these knots . .
. to become one with these knots. This may seem counter-intuitive, but these
knots are actually parts of our minds. We ignored them throughout the day, or even
longer. We need to bring them closer to our awareness, not to push them away or
suppress them. As we embrace these painful knots with awareness, we can
visualize the knots loosening. Just like an actual knot in a shoe lace or a
rope, you sometimes have to work at it for awhile before you’re able to make
some progress. If you begin to struggle with the knot, it often makes it much
worse.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="uficommentbody"><i>The idea is never to struggle against our nature,
but to understand and work with it instead.</i> We’re not trying to break our
spirit. We want to do something with this mind, with this life. We don’t want
to beat our minds into submission; we want to free our minds into action and
exploration. We want to use our nature as an asset and not as an adversary. </span><br />
<span class="uficommentbody"> </span><span class="uficommentbody"> </span>
<br />
<span class="uficommentbody">It can be so easy to fall back into old familiar
patterns, unaware we’re tying ourselves up into mental knots once again. When
we catch ourselves returning to these mental misadventures, simply call it for
what it is, ‘<i><b>thinking</b></i>,’ and <i>let it go</i> once again. As we become more accustomed
to being gentle with ourselves in these moments, we begin to transform our
lives with our intentions on the spot.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="uficommentbody">These knots may be comprised of aspects of our
mind, but these knots aren’t the natural state of our mind. That is why it
requires so much concerted effort and intention to heal. These exercises can be
used wherever and whenever we find ourselves. We are the only ones that can do
the work. It starts with the intention, and then we have to apply the action.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="uficommentbody">When are we going to do something about our life?
Where do we start?</span><br />
<br />
<span class="uficommentbody"><span class="uficommentbody"><b><i>We are the only way, and we are in the way.</i></b> </span>It can begin right now, and it starts with intention.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span class="uficommentbody"><i>Other Related Ridding of Ignorance Articles </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span class="uficommentbody"><i><a href="http://ignoranceridding.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-daily-exercise-for-mind.html" target="_blank">A Daily Exercise for the Mind</a> </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<a href="http://ignoranceridding.blogspot.com/2013/05/vigilant-presence-in-hostile-world.html" target="_blank"><span class="uficommentbody"><i>Vigilant Presence in a Hostile World</i></span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span class="uficommentbody"><i> <a href="http://ignoranceridding.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-beauty-of-irritability.html" target="_blank">The Beauty of Irritability</a></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span class="uficommentbody"><i><a href="http://ignoranceridding.blogspot.com/2014/03/starting-where-we-are-beginning-right.html" target="_blank">Start Where We Are, Begin Right Now</a> </i> </span></div>
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