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Mindfulness
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Here is a wonderful YouTube Video on Brain Integration, and what it is, exactly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfrojqTevZE
If you get the chance, I highly recommend it: )
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I'm finally reading the book ENERGETIC KINESIOLOGY by Charles T. Krebbs, and Tania O'Neill McGowan. I've been going about this new enterprise backwards... experiencing the work, learning how to perform the work, then researching the history of the work, and how it came about in a flurry of MORE information on doing more advanced work.
Energetic Kinesiology provides the history, and explanations about the subtle energies surrounding, and running through the body.
I was shocked at the price.... over $50.00. If you can find it used, at a bargain, you might find it good fireside reading.
In the meantime, I'm trying to catch my negative thought patterns, and flip them into positive ones. I don't wish to attract more negativity in my life. I'm ready to attract positive things.
The moss is thick and happy after the very wet summer. Mostly crowding out weeds that would typically grow... at least in the back and side yards.
The front yard is lush as well, but the weeds are just too many to handle. I intend to expand the leaf island, and perhaps build up taller mounds around the Oaks to plant with happy moss that runs up their trunks. It's truly lovely when it's all neat, and maintained. Getting a plan, I can maintain, is the goal.
The girls have started helping more with the house, and the yard. I've been gone a lot of the summer, they've had no choice. They're also maturing.
We went to a Burlesque show last night, and the oldest dd loved it. Youngest disdained it. They can't agree on anything, still. There were comedians, and a ribbon dancer, and ring dancer, and scarf dancer, and most excellent host, singing like a very funny angel.
Tonight we go to a Japanese Dance show... not sure what it is, but interested to check it out.
The Haunted House around here is excellent. I think the plan is Tues night for that.... maybe Halloween, but the girls not sure what they want to do. This seems to be a pattern in my life. Me, waiting on one foot, for others to make up their minds. Not complaining, mind you. Just noticing.
The journey continues.
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This is from JUST ONE THING by Rick Hanson. I love his site. In regard to feeling anxious around people.. new, close, distant, business associates, etc.... how to determine if anxiety is warranted, how to deal with it, and how to limit it.
Does it feel safe with other people?
The Practice:
Relax Needless Fear Around Others.
Why?
We all know this fear. You step into a meeting with people you know and still there could be a watchfulness, a restraint, a certain carefulness in how you speak that comes more from subtle anxiety than reasonable prudence. Perhaps someone disagrees with you in this meeting – and you feel uneasy, off balance, unprotected; maybe later you worry what others thought about how you responded to the disagreement: Was I too irritated and pushy? Do they think I’m defensive? What should I do next time? When you get home, let’s say your teenage son is quiet and prickly as usual. You want to tell him that the chilly distance between you feels awful, and you want to open your heart to him . . . but it feels awkward, you’re afraid of making things worse, and when you spoke from the heart while growing up it did not go well and the fears reaching back into your childhood shadow and strengthen your fears today, so you say nothing, again. (I have had to deal with this myself.)
And these are just the milder social anxieties. Consider stronger ones, such as common fears about others getting angry, public speaking, being vulnerable, talking with authority figures, what others might think about your body, or being around people who aren’t like you.
Sometimes these fears are justified. People in your life might actually want to pressure, dismiss, mistreat, hurt, or exploit you. If you belong to a group of people that has been systematically discriminated against, harassed, assaulted, or even worse, it is perfectly understandable to be wary of this happening to you, perhaps again – and again. On a larger scale, think about the recurring theme throughout human history of authoritarian leaders revving up grievances against “them” in order to increase their own power and wealth; it’s prudent to be alarmed about this when it’s happening, especially when there is still time to stop it. Safety is arguably the most fundamental need of any animal, including us, and it’s vital to be clear-eyed about threats and strong and skillful in dealing with them. Nothing in what follows is meant to minimize this.
All this said – it is also true that very often our fears around other people are not really justified. Much of the time, they couldn’t care less about what we did – we are usually just a bit player in their own personal drama, anyway – or if they do care, it’s a passing feeling. Even if the other person does react, most likely you could handle it fine. Further, if there truly is something to deal with – a conflict, issue, broken agreement, betrayal – it is possible to be clear-eyed, strong, straightforward, confident, and secure without being anxious about it (see the chapter on kindness and assertiveness in Buddha’s Brain [LINK]). Anxiety is something added to our response to situations; sometimes it’s helpful, but usually it clouds thinking, adds needless suffering, and fuels conflicts with others.
So there are two kinds of mistakes we can make: having too little or too much anxiety around others. We should do our best to avoid making either kind. But which mistake is more common?
It’s the second one: needless anxiety stirred into the sauce of life, making it bitter.
How?
Be mindful of anxiety around others, especially subtle unease, concern, tension, nervousness, or worry. Tune into your body, that little jump in heartrate or funny feeling in the pit of your stomach. Watch the thoughts passing through, the quiet murmuring in the back of the mind that overestimates threats and underestimates resources, that predicts problems which are actually unlikely.
Be aware of the costs to you of unnecessary – not useful, not valuable – anxiety. Besides feeling bad, it makes a person play smaller with others, hold back his or her truth, and hunker down – or go to war, in ways small or large. Then really decide in your heart if you want to be free of this worthless fear.
With someone who you know cares about you, try saying to yourself (adapt my suggestions to your needs): I know you’re not going to attack me. Find your way to having the statement ring true, and then see how you feel. Do it again with this statement to yourself: Even if you did attack me, I would still be OK in the core of my being. Let the truth of this and related good feelings sink into you. Here’s another one: I can take care of myself around you. Let this, too, sink in. And: If you hurt me, I’ll still be OK in my core. And: I wish you well. If you have any difficulty with this practice, try other people who love you. The essence here is to feel your way into a place in which you recognize others and situations as they truly are, you take care of your own needs, and no needless anxiety is added.
Then try this practice with one or more friends . . . and then with a neutral person, such as a stranger on the street . . . and then even with someone who is difficult for you. If there is truly something to be anxious about, so be it. Otherwise, keep opening to the experience of being realistic about others and strong on your own behalf – without feeling any pointless fear.
Also try this approach when interacting with others. Can you talk with a family member, a friend, a neutral person, and a difficult person without one bit of unnecessary worry, alarm, sense of threat, or uneasiness? As you deepen your sense of being appropriately fearless with others, keep letting this experience sink in so you become increasingly grounded in this way or being.
Enjoy the sense of freedom this practice brings, the greater ease with others, the confidence. Notice how you can be more relaxed, patient, open, and caring with other people when you are not afraid.
What a comfort, and what a relief.
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Hopalong:
"Appropriately fearless." I like that.
I think my anxiety is more fear of myself.
Quite the emotional puzzle but I'm confident a deeper
conversation with the new T, whenever that gets scheduled,
will help me untangle it better.
Hugs
Hops
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We shredded an entire savoy cabbage, and cooked it with carrots, pork, garlic, fresh ginger, hot sesame oil, tamari, streamed in eggs, then topped off my own bowl with an easy over egg. SO GOOD. I have to say, it's good leftover... like great leftovers, and flavored up easy peasy.
Very much like eating the inside of an eggroll, or like Moo Shu without the pancakes. I'm adding this to the weekly rotation, for sure.
It would be good vegetarian too, Hops. Tempeh.
::nod::.
After breaking down 6 chickens, we have a huge pot of bone stock on the stove for Thanksgiving stuffing, gravy, and chicken pot pie. The house smells amazing, and we have chicken salad coming out our ears.
My sister made chia seed pudding. If anyone's seen the movie Nannie McPhee.... it's pretty much like eating the frog eggs from the tea pot scene. The texture is so bad. The optics are worse. I channeled witch pudding, and ate two bowls, but no one else could do it.
Finally made peace with expanding my leaf islands.... that pretty much means my entire front yard, with stone circles around the base of my big oak trees for lush, happy moss features. I moved rocks around yesterday, then worked on moving moss in the morning rain. The weather cleared up, and it was beautiful the rest of the afternoon.
I've given up on the vertical moss too, and it's a relief. No regrets. Just learning curves. Youngest dd and one neighbor are a bit sad about letting so much of the yard go wild. We had it all beautiful several times... it's just too much work, and no one can say we didn't do our best.
I realize how much time I spent pulling weeds over large areas. I wasn't moving rocks, or playing in the moss any more. I'm doing that again, and it's exactly how I wanted a moss yard to feel.
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