HUMAN2HUMAN

Be Mindful of Your Thoughts. Part 1. There are four thoughtful practices we can apply to our thinking to help us to be more mindful and present.  They can be applied to what we think about the external world, the world at large; our interior Heart-Mind world, and how we think and feel about ourselves. Stop thinking habitual negative thoughts: i.e. “I am never going to get anywhere in life”.  This stinking thinking does not help.  Most of our internal dialogue – “The Critique” is negative.  Be Mindful of the habit of always seeing the proverbial glass as half empty.  Be grateful that you have a glass at all.  When you are able to monitor your thoughts and catch a negative thought arise, compassionately hit the pause button, and try to see the inverse, or opposite, turn it around or upside down.  Instead of thinking that you are not “… going to get anywhere in life”.  Think or say to yourself instead – “You know, I do not need to go anywhere, because I am fine with the r

When I was young a friend referred to me as a delicate flower because I appreciated the simple beauties that life had to offer.  I grew up a sensitive child, and later would be called an over sensitive adult.  In time the delicate flower grew to be a strong yet supple reed. I learned not to let life wilt me, or snap me like a twig.  After many trials and tests, I learned to know when to bend, and give, and yield to the circumstances that life would present. I had a poet’s soul.  I spent my childhood in my head, in my room, or alone in the park, or in the woods.  I adored animals, the natural world and felt in tune with the rhythms of the wind, and weather.  I had few friends and seldom ventured far from my room when I needed companionship.  That I found in books. I read Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and the Encyclopedia Britannica that my father bought when I was very young.  Through those volumes, I could explore the world, the human body, outer space and beyond.  Who n

As the wise sage once sang “Give peace a chance”.  I am here to say that – without Peace, we have no chance. Peace is not the opposite of war, it is our salvation.  But, peace begins with every individual, when we see, hear, feel, and understand its value.  No deity from above is coming to rescue us if we believe in some ancient literature, and accept him as our redeemer.  Salvation comes from within.  The first step is the hardest and the most important step towards our evolution, that first step is peace or it will mean our demise. As the saying goes hate cannot be healed with hate, it must be healed with love.  And, there can be no peace without love.  Love for ourselves and love for others.  For we are all one.  Each of us is a cell in the body of man. There is no other.  Politics, religion, race, education, can create boundaries and fences which separate us and can cause derision.  Philosophers and plowman each must do their part; to eradicate the perception

YOUR FIRST PRINCIPLE. When I feel my life is bereft of meaning or purpose I have no feeling. I feel empty. My guiding principle is to be kind, caring and compassionate.  I must be engaged with others to do better, or why bother? But, sometimes I find myself alone. The mission is to stay healthy and to be positive. Which means turning off the cable news and social media and being present. I do my best to be a good single-parent, son, brother and friend, employee, boss, or co-worker. There are a lot of challenges to deal with and balance. There are times I need to be alone to charge my batteries and other times I need to be helping someone.  “I am here to help “is my mantra. It is true – if you want to feel better, help somebody. I always do or try. However, there are times I forget to take care of myself. That North Star leads me astray and I find myself lost in the wilderness of self-doubt and I am overwhelmed by the big picture. Big dreams and big expectations are a l

Life is hard enough without any further difficulties. Those who struggle with a brain disorder, depression and anxiety have an even harder time because besides dealing with the rough terrain of the every day, we - all of us have an added degree of difficulty. We have an unhinged person in the oval office. Whatever your political leanings, he is making an unstable world that much more tedious to navigate. Personally, I have a hard time finding a way of tuning this craziness out. I am a Humanist and an Optimist, but I do not understand how someone people actually are ok with this and support this person. I care about children at the border, the environment, the LGBTQ community, equal pay for women, Pro-Choice, the poor, the unemployed, increasing the minimum wage, etc.. call me a bleeding-heart liberal if you must. I care what happens to this world.  In the meantime, I struggle to keep a job to pay my bills and take care of those who rely on me while I am trying to create a comp

The other day I was listening to a podcast and they were discussing mental health. The question at hand was - if mental health, or a brain disorder, is caused strictly due to a chemical imbalance? The eventually landed on the idea that it is a combination of chemical imbalance and a person's emotional state. Of course, one's emotional state has a lot of different contributing factors. If a person's emotional state is not steady or stable it tends to fluctuate. Depending on the individual or one's state may cycle rapidly i.e. a person who is Bipolar may go up and down like a roller coaster. A person who is not Neuro-divergent and who is relatively healthy - mentally wise may only have a blip or a mild disappearance throughout their day. Come what may - it is similar to the chicken and the egg paradox. If someone has troubling thoughts, that may cause them to get emotionally upset. Which inturns stirs the cauldron of neurochemistry causing one to enter a state that