Grandfather Great Spirit All over the world the faces of living ones are alike. With tenderness they have come up out of the ground. Look upon your children that they may face the winds, And walk the good road to the Day of Quiet. Grandfather Great Spirit Fill us with the Light. Give us the strength to understand, and the eyes to see. Teach us to walk the soft Earth as relatives to all that live.
Healing is rediscovering the True Self you always were but forgot.
Emily is a psychotherapist and homeopath who works with clients online and in-person in Glenwood Springs, CO.
Schedule a session. Affordable, efficient, effective therapy.
JFK’s American University speech, one his most famous, is still so relevant today. I recently read the book, JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why it Matters and it changed my view of the world we live in today, and what it would take to truly live in a peaceful world.
“War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.”- John F. Kennedy
Here is most of the speech, excluding his introductory remarks:
I have, therefore, chosen this time and this place to discuss a topic on which ignorance too often abounds and the truth is too rarely perceived–yet it is the most important topic on earth: world peace.
What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children–not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women–not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.
I speak of peace because of the new face of war. Total war makes no sense in an age when great powers can maintain large and relatively invulnerable nuclear forces and refuse to surrender without resort to those forces. It makes no sense in an age when a single nuclear weapon contains almost ten times the explosive force delivered by all the allied air forces in the Second World War. It makes no sense in an age when the deadly poisons produced by a nuclear exchange would be carried by wind and water and soil and seed to the far corners of the globe and to generations yet unborn.
Today the expenditure of billions of dollars every year on weapons acquired for the purpose of making sure we never need to use them is essential to keeping the peace. But surely the acquisition of such idle stockpiles–which can only destroy and never create–is not the only, much less the most efficient, means of assuring peace.
I speak of peace, therefore, as the necessary rational end of rational men. I realize that the pursuit of peace is not as dramatic as the pursuit of war–and frequently the words of the pursuer fall on deaf ears. But we have no more urgent task.
Some say that it is useless to speak of world peace or world law or world disarmament–and that it will be useless until the leaders of the Soviet Union adopt a more enlightened attitude. I hope they do. I believe we can help them do it. But I also believe that we must reexamine our own attitude–as individuals and as a Nation–for our attitude is as essential as theirs. And every graduate of this school, every thoughtful citizen who despairs of war and wishes to bring peace, should begin by looking inward–by examining his own attitude toward the possibilities of peace, toward the Soviet Union, toward the course of the cold war and toward freedom and peace here at home.
First: Let us examine our attitude toward peace itself. Too many of us think it is impossible. Too many think it unreal. But that is a dangerous, defeatist belief. It leads to the conclusion that war is inevitable–that mankind is doomed–that we are gripped by forces we cannot control.
We need not accept that view. Our problems are manmade–therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. Man’s reason and spirit have often solved the seemingly unsolvable–and we believe they can do it again.
I am not referring to the absolute, infinite concept of peace and good will of which some fantasies and fanatics dream. I do not deny the value of hopes and dreams but we merely invite discouragement and incredulity by making that our only and immediate goal.
Let us focus instead on a more practical, more attainable peace– based not on a sudden revolution in human nature but on a gradual evolution in human institutions–on a series of concrete actions and effective agreements which are in the interest of all concerned. There is no single, simple key to this peace–no grand or magic formula to be adopted by one or two powers. Genuine peace must be the product of many nations, the sum of many acts. It must be dynamic, not static, changing to meet the challenge of each new generation. For peace is a process–a way of solving problems.
With such a peace, there will still be quarrels and conflicting interests, as there are within families and nations. World peace, like community peace, does not require that each man love his neighbor–it requires only that they live together in mutual tolerance, submitting their disputes to a just and peaceful settlement. And history teaches us that enmities between nations, as between individuals, do not last forever. However fixed our likes and dislikes may seem, the tide of time and events will often bring surprising changes in the relations between nations and neighbors.
So let us persevere. Peace need not be impracticable, and war need not be inevitable. By defining our goal more clearly, by making it seem more manageable and less remote, we can help all peoples to see it, to draw hope from it, and to move irresistibly toward it.
Second: Let us reexamine our attitude toward the Soviet Union. It is discouraging to think that their leaders may actually believe what their propagandists write. It is discouraging to read a recent authoritative Soviet text on Military Strategy and find, on page after page, wholly baseless and incredible claims–such as the allegation that “American imperialist circles are preparing to unleash different types of wars . . . that there is a very real threat of a preventive war being unleashed by American imperialists against the Soviet Union . . . [and that] the political aims of the American imperialists are to enslave economically and politically the European and other capitalist countries . . . [and] to achieve world domination . . . by means of aggressive wars.”
Truly, as it was written long ago: “The wicked flee when no man pursueth.” Yet it is sad to read these Soviet statements–to realize the extent of the gulf between us. But it is also a warning–a warning to the American people not to fall into the same trap as the Soviets, not to see only a distorted and desperate view of the other side, not to see conflict as inevitable, accommodation as impossible, and communication as nothing more than an exchange of threats.
No government or social system is so evil that its people must be considered as lacking in virtue. As Americans, we find communism profoundly repugnant as a negation of personal freedom and dignity. But we can still hail the Russian people for their many achievements–in science and space, in economic and industrial growth, in culture and in acts of courage.
Among the many traits the peoples of our two countries have in common, none is stronger than our mutual abhorrence of war. Almost unique among the major world powers, we have never been at war with each other. And no nation in the history of battle ever suffered more than the Soviet Union suffered in the course of the Second World War. At least 20 million lost their lives. Countless millions of homes and farms were burned or sacked. A third of the nation’s territory, including nearly two thirds of its industrial base, was turned into a wasteland–a loss equivalent to the devastation of this country east of Chicago.
Today, should total war ever break out again–no matter how–our two countries would become the primary targets. It is an ironic but accurate fact that the two strongest powers are the two in the most danger of devastation. All we have built, all we have worked for, would be destroyed in the first 24 hours. And even in the cold war, which brings burdens and dangers to so many nations, including this Nation’s closest allies–our two countries bear the heaviest burdens. For we are both devoting massive sums of money to weapons that could be better devoted to combating ignorance, poverty, and disease. We are both caught up in a vicious and dangerous cycle in which suspicion on one side breeds suspicion on the other, and new weapons beget counterweapons.
In short, both the United States and its allies, and the Soviet Union and its allies, have a mutually deep interest in a just and genuine peace and in halting the arms race. Agreements to this end are in the interests of the Soviet Union as well as ours–and even the most hostile nations can be relied upon to accept and keep those treaty obligations, and only those treaty obligations, which are in their own interest.
So, let us not be blind to our differences–but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.
Third: Let us reexamine our attitude toward the cold war, remembering that we are not engaged in a debate, seeking to pile up debating points. We are not here distributing blame or pointing the finger of judgment. We must deal with the world as it is, and not as it might have been had the history of the last 18 years been different.
We must, therefore, persevere in the search for peace in the hope that constructive changes within the Communist bloc might bring within reach solutions which now seem beyond us. We must conduct our affairs in such a way that it becomes in the Communists’ interest to agree on a genuine peace. Above all, while defending our own vital interests, nuclear powers must avert those confrontations which bring an adversary to a choice of either a humiliating retreat or a nuclear war. To adopt that kind of course in the nuclear age would be evidence only of the bankruptcy of our policy–or of a collective death-wish for the world.
To secure these ends, America’s weapons are nonprovocative, carefully controlled, designed to deter, and capable of selective use. Our military forces are committed to peace and disciplined in self- restraint. Our diplomats are instructed to avoid unnecessary irritants and purely rhetorical hostility.
For we can seek a relaxation of tension without relaxing our guard. And, for our part, we do not need to use threats to prove that we are resolute. We do not need to jam foreign broadcasts out of fear our faith will be eroded. We are unwilling to impose our system on any unwilling people–but we are willing and able to engage in peaceful competition with any people on earth.
Meanwhile, we seek to strengthen the United Nations, to help solve its financial problems, to make it a more effective instrument for peace, to develop it into a genuine world security system–a system capable of resolving disputes on the basis of law, of insuring the security of the large and the small, and of creating conditions under which arms can finally be abolished.
At the same time we seek to keep peace inside the non-Communist world, where many nations, all of them our friends, are divided over issues which weaken Western unity, which invite Communist intervention or which threaten to erupt into war. Our efforts in West New Guinea, in the Congo, in the Middle East, and in the Indian subcontinent, have been persistent and patient despite criticism from both sides. We have also tried to set an example for others–by seeking to adjust small but significant differences with our own closest neighbors in Mexico and in Canada.
Speaking of other nations, I wish to make one point clear. We are bound to many nations by alliances. Those alliances exist because our concern and theirs substantially overlap. Our commitment to defend Western Europe and West Berlin, for example, stands undiminished because of the identity of our vital interests. The United States will make no deal with the Soviet Union at the expense of other nations and other peoples, not merely because they are our partners, but also because their interests and ours converge.
Our interests converge, however, not only in defending the frontiers of freedom, but in pursuing the paths of peace. It is our hope– and the purpose of allied policies–to convince the Soviet Union that she, too, should let each nation choose its own future, so long as that choice does not interfere with the choices of others. The Communist drive to impose their political and economic system on others is the primary cause of world tension today. For there can be no doubt that, if all nations could refrain from interfering in the self-determination of others, the peace would be much more assured.
This will require a new effort to achieve world law–a new context for world discussions. It will require increased understanding between the Soviets and ourselves. And increased understanding will require increased contact and communication. One step in this direction is the proposed arrangement for a direct line between Moscow and Washington, to avoid on each side the dangerous delays, misunderstandings, and misreadings of the other’s actions which might occur at a time of crisis.
We have also been talking in Geneva about the other first-step measures of arms control designed to limit the intensity of the arms race and to reduce the risks of accidental war. Our primary long range interest in Geneva, however, is general and complete disarmament– designed to take place by stages, permitting parallel political developments to build the new institutions of peace which would take the place of arms. The pursuit of disarmament has been an effort of this Government since the 1920’s. It has been urgently sought by the past three administrations. And however dim the prospects may be today, we intend to continue this effort–to continue it in order that all countries, including our own, can better grasp what the problems and possibilities of disarmament are.
The one major area of these negotiations where the end is in sight, yet where a fresh start is badly needed, is in a treaty to outlaw nuclear tests. The conclusion of such a treaty, so near and yet so far, would check the spiraling arms race in one of its most dangerous areas. It would place the nuclear powers in a position to deal more effectively with one of the greatest hazards which man faces in 1963, the further spread of nuclear arms. It would increase our security–it would decrease the prospects of war. Surely this goal is sufficiently important to require our steady pursuit, yielding neither to the temptation to give up the whole effort nor the temptation to give up our insistence on vital and responsible safeguards.
I am taking this opportunity, therefore, to announce two important decisions in this regard.
First: Chairman Khrushchev, Prime Minister Macmillan, and I have agreed that high-level discussions will shortly begin in Moscow looking toward early agreement on a comprehensive test ban treaty. Our hopes must be tempered with the caution of history–but with our hopes go the hopes of all mankind.
Second: To make clear our good faith and solemn convictions on the matter, I now declare that the United States does not propose to conduct nuclear tests in the atmosphere so long as other states do not do so. We will not be the first to resume. Such a declaration is no substitute for a formal binding treaty, but I hope it will help us achieve one. Nor would such a treaty be a substitute for disarmament, but I hope it will help us achieve it.
Finally, my fellow Americans, let us examine our attitude toward peace and freedom here at home. The quality and spirit of our own society must justify and support our efforts abroad. We must show it in the dedication of our own lives–as many of you who are graduating today will have a unique opportunity to do, by serving without pay in the Peace Corps abroad or in the proposed National Service Corps here at home.
But wherever we are, we must all, in our daily lives, live up to the age-old faith that peace and freedom walk together. In too many of our cities today, the peace is not secure because the freedom is incomplete.
It is the responsibility of the executive branch at all levels of government–local, State, and National–to provide and protect that freedom for all of our citizens by all means within their authority. It is the responsibility of the legislative branch at all levels, wherever that authority is not now adequate, to make it adequate. And it is the responsibility of all citizens in all sections of this country to respect the rights of all others and to respect the law of the land.
All this is not unrelated to world peace. “When a man’s ways please the Lord,” the Scriptures tell us, “he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.” And is not peace, in the last analysis, basically a matter of human rights–the right to live out our lives without fear of devastation–the right to breathe air as nature provided it–the right of future generations to a healthy existence?
While we proceed to safeguard our national interests, let us also safeguard human interests. And the elimination of war and arms is clearly in the interest of both. No treaty, however much it may be to the advantage of all, however tightly it may be worded, can provide absolute security against the risks of deception and evasion. But it can–if it is sufficiently effective in its enforcement and if it is sufficiently in the interests of its signers–offer far more security and far fewer risks than an unabated, uncontrolled, unpredictable arms race.
The United States, as the world knows, will never start a war. We do not want a war. We do not now expect a war. This generation of Americans has already had enough–more than enough–of war and hate and oppression. We shall be prepared if others wish it. We shall be alert to try to stop it. But we shall also do our part to build a world of peace where the weak are safe and the strong are just. We are not helpless before that task or hopeless of its success. Confident and unafraid, we labor on–not toward a strategy of annihilation but toward a strategy of peace.
Emily is a psychotherapist and homeopath who works with clients to heal on all levels. Online or in-person in Glenwood Springs, CO. Schedule a session. Affordable, efficient, effective therapy.
Gavin de Becker’s book, The Gift of Fear, is an incredible gift to us all. Not only a fascinating read, there’s so much to learn about fear; about how it serves us and when it doesn’t.
In addition to his books, he created a free Gift of Fear Master Class. I recommend this to all my female clients, in particular, but all can learn from it. If you’ve been traumatized, attacked, sexually invaded, or are in an abusive relationship then be sure to check out this series of short videos: The Gift of Fear Master Class
‘Fear will come and get me if there’s a reason.’ -Gavin De Becker
Emily is a psychotherapist and homeopath who works with clients to heal on all levels. Online or in-person in Glenwood Springs, CO. Schedule a session. Affordable, efficient, effective therapy.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
One doesn’t have to be religious to appreciate the power of this prayer. May we all learn how to be instruments for peace, in our immediate circles and in our own lives first.
More important than even taking action is our State of Being— where we are coming FROM.
Notice, moment by moment, are we trying to get, to consume, to force others, or to give and be of service and create something positive?
Are we choosing to see what we all have in common, or looking for that which divides?
If we look around and don’t like what we see, then the our Number 1 job is to change ourselves— to become the light that ignites a fire of acceptance and peace in humanity one by one.
Emily is a psychotherapist and homeopath who works with clients to heal on all levels. Online, or in person in Glenwood Springs, CO. Schedule a session. Affordable, efficient, effective therapy.
“I’ll suffer about that later.” (No one ever says!)
“Most people think they already ARE God.”
“You are a little like a camel in that you are a beast of burden who complains bitterly with every new bit of load that is added, yet you think the more you carry, the better person you are. There is nothing to carry and you do not get any better than you are.“
“Would you rather be happy or sad?
Happy.
But sometimes you are sad.
Yes.
Why is that?”
“Most honestly and accurately, sometimes you want to be happy, and sometimes you want to be sad.“
“The human power of limitation.”
Emily is a psychotherapist and homeopath who works with clients to heal on all levels. Online, or in person in Glenwood Springs, CO. Schedule a session. Affordable, efficient, effective therapy.
Not attractive enough? Not smart enough? Not good enough?
Not ________ enough?
What do you do about it?
Do you try to accomplish something or improve yourself externally to make up for it?
Or do you identify with it, saying “that’s just who I am,” and feeling deficient?
Both these solutions are a mistake. You misunderstand the problem, so you’re applying the wrong solution.
It’s not that you’re missing something and need to get it, it’s that you’re disconnected from a deep part of yourself inside, so you no longer feel it as a part of you.
To understand this, we need to think about the fact that you have both a real self and a false self. The term real self refers to your spirit or essence, while the false self refers to your ego and your personality. The basic idea is that your real self, your essence, cannot be hurt or damaged in any way, so it is always whole, perfect, and completely present. However, as you go through the struggles of childhood and your personality and ego structures develop, they gradually obscure your essence. They mask it and make you less and less aware of it, until you begin to think you are your ego and personality, instead of your essence. (This idea comes from “The Theory of Holes” developed by A. H. Almaas, the founder of the Diamond Heart meditation school. For his description of it, see Diamond Heart, Book 1, by A. H. Almaas, Chapter 2.)
Everyone’s essence has certain qualities, and they are the qualities that we all like and want – qualities such as goodness, value, love, strength, courage, brilliance, beauty, kindness, and so on. And the reason we all like and want these qualities is that they are the qualities of our real self, our true self. They are part of who we really are, so not feeling them seems somehow wrong. Think about it this way: if being stupid was part of who you really are, being called stupid would not hurt. You would not feel insulted. You would feel seen, and you would say, “Yes, that’s right. Thank you for seeing me.” But that’s not what happens, is it? When someone calls you stupid, it hurts. Why does it hurt? Because it is not who you really are, not your true self. Your true self is brilliant, so being called stupid feels wrong. And this is true even if your false self (your personality) does feel stupid.
And the same is true for all the other qualities of your essence. Feeling ugly feels bad because your true self, your essence, is beautiful. Feeling weak feels bad because your true self, your essence, is strong. Feeling worthless feels bad because, in reality, you are value (not just valuable, but value itself). Feeling unloved feels bad because, in reality, you are love, and again, not just loved or loving, but love itself. When you feel who you (in your essence) really are, it feels good. It feels right. Not being able to feel a part of who you really are feels bad. It feels like something’s wrong or missing because you have lost contact with a part of the real you. So, instead of feeling that part of your essence, you feel a lack.
When we feel the lack of one of those qualities inside us, we either try to create it externally or we use the feeling of lack as our identity.
Ultimately, however, neither of these solutions works. Better clothing and make-up will not replace an inner feeling of beauty. External achievements and success will not replace an inner feeling of inherent value. And popularity will not replace knowing that you are made of Love. Likewise, collapsing into your sense of deficiency and saying “I’m not enough” may provide an explanation for your pain, but it does not heal it.
The good news is that the apparently missing part of you is not actually gone. You have simply lost your connection to it. Your personality and ego structure are masking it, making you unable to consciously experience it. Your false self has lost its connection to that part of your real self. You then experience this loss of connection as something missing in you, as as a lack, or even as a hole in your body.
So what’s the real solution? The real solution is to connect with that quality of your essence, so that you once again experience it as you. To do that, you have to both stop identifying with the hole and stop trying to fill it with something external. Instead, you have to go into the hole. You have to relax into the feeling of lack until you pop through it and reconnect with that quality of your essence. This is why accepting the current situation is the first step in all healing.
However, sitting into a deeply distressing feeling is not easy to do. During my 16 years in the Diamond Heart School, I spent an a whole year sitting into a feeling of terror that was running my life at the time. With the support and guidance of my teacher, I sat with it for an hour every week for a solid year until I popped through the hole of my terror into a state of uncaused well-being. And that inner state of uncaused well-being is still with me today. But getting there wasn’t easy.
Luckily, we now have a tool to make sitting through a hole much, much easier and faster. Since the disconnection was originally caused by trauma, and EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) dissolves trauma, we can use EFT to ease and speed the healing process. We just identify the raw sensation of the lack or the trauma and tap on it until it dissolves so completely that you pop through the hole and reconnect with the missing quality of your essence. In working with my clients, I have seen this happen in as little as two or three sessions, even with complex trauma.
If you are an EFT practitioner, you will probably find it very helpful to re-frame your client’s problem as a disconnection from essence, instead of as a deficiency. If they say, “I’m not enough” or “I’m not worthy,” they are probably experiencing the hole of Value. If they say, “I’m not lovable,” they are probably experiencing the hole of Love. If they say, “I’m bad,” they are probably experiencing the hole of Goodness. Using this understanding, you can re-frame their problem to make it much less daunting for them, because it is not actually a deficiency in their real self, but only a disconnection from it.
If you are a client, you may find that re-framing your complaint in this way finally allows you to find your way to a real solution, to a lasting inner experience of exactly what you’ve been missing, not something added externally to try to make up for an inherent lack.
I always enjoy Steven Kessler’s perspective and utilize The Five Personality Patterns in my practice. The 5 patterns originated from followers of Freud, and have had many iterations. Kessler’s version is very accessible to the lay person, and knowing your patterns (fundamentally how you cope with and respond to stress) can open up possibilities for understanding yourself and others and for healing– which is what it’s all about.
Emily is a psychotherapist and homeopath who works with clients to heal on all levels. Online, or in person in Glenwood Springs, CO. Schedule a session. Affordable, efficient, effective therapy.
Drug use is really no joke. I can’t tell you the number of people I see in my practice and my life who are suffering from; the numbness of having been on antidepressants for 15 years; the serious side effects of ADHD drugs (amphetamines- ie. speed); gradual mental decline, bordering on schizophrenia or bipolar, from habitual marijuana smoking; the acute fear from recent mushroom (or other) trips that went bad.
I used to be very open-minded about drug use, but further research and direct experience has changed my mind. I quit even drinking alcohol in 2020, when I hit a point in my consciousness of no longer wanting to be less conscious. (And it was terrible for my sleep.) We may tell ourselves we need these drugs, but I will tell you in 99.999999999…% of the cases we do not. There are other and much better ways to cope with the intensity and suffering of life in this world.
We may not know it, but we are sacrificing the blissful experience of our True Selves and our best life by telling ourselves why we need drugs to get by. We do need support and guidance, but from those who know the way, not from sources that lead us down a deluded and sometimes very dark path.
When I finally recognized that a family member was going quite literally crazy from regular drug abuse, I started to wake up to the unseen epidemic that is all around us. Opioids may get headlines, but dependence and addiction are everywhere. This is a helpful read to explore further the topic of the dangers of marijuana (which have been recognized for a long time in some cultures), and which are a more acute problem today due to the extremely high THC content compared to the ‘old days’.
What follows is a long quote from Guru Jagat, who recently died at the young age of 41. She and Kundalini Yoga were instrumental in my rise in energy and awareness to the point where I no longer wanted or needed any consciousness-altering substances. The non-religious and totally scientific Truth of what I AM, and what we all are, is beyond our wildest dreams.
‘Life is not a joke. Your life is sacred and precious. You were created in infinite beauty and wisdom by the awing universe or creative force. Drugs and alcohol are often addictive and physically/mentally damaging. Loving yourself is what gives you the ability to navigate life.
It’s crucial, necessary and important for children who have never tried drugs yet to at least hear once, somewhere, that drugs are actually negative. Literally 100% of the education & advertising out there is either moralistic/dogmatic (i.e. fear-mongering and not fully explaining what the physical dangers are: the equivalent of abstinence-only education), or actively pro, positive, pushy and anti-fact: excusing drug abuse as positive with health benefits or as “spiritual experiences.”
If you’ve ever done drugs, please keep scrolling because no one wants you to feel bad; that’s not a helpful way to navigate your wonderful and blessed future.
The issue with drugs is that they take you out of your own hands; the number of people who have accidental overdoses or unintentionally harm themselves or others is unbelievably sad, tragic and astonishing for themselves an everyone around them. There’s nothing recreational about hurting yourself and leaving children, friends and family behind.
One time someone asked Yogi Bhajan why people think it’s fun to party and drink too much, and he said that deep down they just don’t like themselves that much. These are socially-accepted relatively “minor” ways of harming the self that accumulate over time into self-destructive behavior that is very difficult to reverse.
As yogis you would never want to tell someone what to do or to stop drinking or doing drugs, you just present an alternative way to get high (pranayam, meditation, yoga) if they ask.
There are maybe two drugs out there that aren’t “that bad” for you. Marijuana is one of the worst drugs to even try once because it stays in your fat cells, kills brain cells and interferes with brain function and cerebrospinal fluid in a way that is very, very difficult to reverse the effects of completely, and never 100%.
Other drugs are even worse because they’re addictive, so you physically can’t stop even if you want to. Class A-D & some E class drugs are life-threatening, mentally and physically and you need to put a little forethought into your choices if you’re going to, say, smoke marijuana while pregnant as is somehow the casual fad nowadays.
Medical science is always behind; we prescribe Ritalin to 10 year olds and highly addictive barbiturates to people who don’t need it so pharmaceutical companies can make a buck off the lives of everyday people. The human body is extremely sensitive.
As a yogi, you become extremely sensitive to internal and external energies. Yoga is essentially the science of manipulating your internal energy. This is a very exact and precise system of moving energy and substances just impede your future yogic progress in practice, point-blank.
There’s a self-sensitivity & gentleness we’re tuning into with yoga practice and trying to allow a space for. Be nice to yourself. Then be nicer to yourself. We want to create a space where being kind to yourself is rewarded or at least accepted, unlike in the rest of the world where it is actively punished.
If you’re a child or young person wondering why the whole world seems so crazy, please keep in mind almost all of it is due to the mental and physical illness drugs, alcohol and fast-paced culture create in the system. Drugs are a short-term solution to short-term non-realities that universally end up doing far more harm than good.
If you have any drug history, of course, please do not ever feel bad. We have plenty techniques to help undo the effects.
“You’re not allowed to use [this technology] to feel bad about yourself.” – Gurujas Khalsa
Letting everyone have their own opinions, obviously. You would never walk up to someone about to have a Brazilian Butt Lift & remind them of the high mortality rate; give people space, acceptance & respect.
Opinions are not facts anyway; facts are facts and from there everybody gets to make decisions about how they navigate their lives. We just want you to know where reality is.
We want people to have self-esteem and common sense. From there, you’re nice to yourself and others and you can develop and make progress. Common sense and deep, lasting self-esteem are virtually non-existent in society at large.
Politics has used us all as pawns, and the issue is taking control of your own health & consciousness. We want you to become empowered; empowered people are not nosy, controlling or pushy.”
There are ways to heal from addiction that go way beyond talk therapy. Homeopathy is a potent and safe system of medicine that actually works to uproot mental and physical ailments. With even a little willingness, you CAN overcome dependence and the pain and trauma that led to the desire to go unconscious and escape oneself in the first place. Learn how to transform negative feelings back to unbroken wholeness and uncover your innate clarity of mind.
Emily is a psychotherapist and homeopath who works with clients to heal on all levels. Online, or in person in Glenwood Springs, CO. Schedule a session. Affordable, efficient, effective therapy.
The One-Room Phenomenon, also related to the ‘Echo Chamber’ is described well here by Paul Rosenberg.
What researchers discovered about twenty years ago was that putting people of the same opinion into a single room had a striking effect: The opinion in the room moved, inevitably, to the extreme. And this effect was the same no matter what the original opinion may have been.
So, then:
If you put a bunch of right-wingers in a room, the shared opinion in the room will become stridently right-wing.
If you put a bunch of left-wingers in a room, the shared opinion in the room will become stridently left-wing.
If you put a bunch of save-the-planet advocates in a room, their opinion will become all the more adamantly save-the-planet.
If you put in a bunch of the-planet-is-just-fine advocates, their opinion will become all the more adamantly the-planet-is-just-fine.
This happens because of human insecurity and status-seeking: Anyone taking a contrary opinion (advocating “right-wing” economics in the left-wing room, for example) is instantly branded as a traitor and suffers heavy shaming within the group.
Gaining social status in the closed room, however, is simple and obvious: You just adopt a stronger, more polarized, version of the original opinion.
Because of this, the opinion in a closed group becomes more and more severe. That is, it becomes increasingly polarized.
Being polarized makes people cold and cruel. Anyone who’s on the other side of what their group thinks is not just wrong, but evil. And whoever fails to agree with them is their opponent… an object of disgust.
Thoughtful, observant and intelligent people are noticing that social media makes humans hateful, as well as lonely, insecure and miserable. I hope that knowledge spreads. I further hope that people will realize the past ten years of their life have been polluted by social media.
No, there’s nothing wrong with talking to friends and sharing ideas, but Facebook and other social media companies have weaponized this. They are intentionally abusing human instincts.
So, don’t get angry and hateful in response; just stop rewarding them. People who addict and polarize you are precisely the wrong ones to empower.
Social media is a polarization machine. Separating from it would be a very good idea.
In my experience working with a wide variety of clients in my Psychotherapy practice, I agree that social media can have a very detrimental effect. Not just on young people (where it truly is a problem), but also for adults who get caught up in the ‘Echo Chamber’ or ‘One-Room Phenomenon’ which can brew anger, hate and discontent, as well as the stress over ‘likes’ and the number of ‘followers’ one has, comparisons to others, and seeming visions of everyone else living a ‘perfect life’ through their posts.
You are not your pain, you are not your thoughts, you are not your experience, you are not your social media profile! Learn how to transform negative feelings back to unbroken wholeness and uncover your innate clarity of mind. Emily is a psychotherapist who works with clients to discover their own evolution in consciousness through the lens of therapy. Online or in person in Glenwood Springs, CO. Schedule a session. Affordable, efficient, effective therapy.
Yes, enlightenment is a real thing. And just like the athletes who inspire us to higher physical achievements, the spiritual masters/gurus/teachers have seen the heights of what is possible for the evolution in consciousness and are here to share and lead the way.
A few of these guides stand out in their frequency level + ability to teach simply and clearly + desire to be of service. Bentinho Massaro is one of those teachers. He also happens to still be in physical form to guide us.
If you are no longer content to just live out another mundane life (or one full of suffering), I strongly recommend checking out his teachings. Bentinho offers many free courses, including an excellent eight part series (also free) that is a beautiful breakdown of practical meditation, spirituality and enlightment for both the novice and the advanced seeker.
This is the real deal– the science of spirituality– of how to attain the reproducible experience that is possible for all– condensed for those of us who aren’t dedicating every waking hour to the path, yet still are on the journey.
Be sure to check out the Free 8 Part Enlightenment Retreat (link above) and his other offerings as well. I’m adding this to the RESOURCES for SELF-HELP page too.
You are not your pain, you are not your thoughts, you are not your experience. Learn how to transform negative feelings back to unbroken wholeness and uncover your innate clarity of mind. Emily is a psychotherapist who works with clients to discover their own evolution in consciousness through the lens of therapy. Online and in person in Glenwood Springs, CO. Schedule a session. Affordable, efficient, effective therapy.
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