Remember Who You Are

What do we do in "times of trouble" such as these, when there are protests in the streets of America that include guns, fighting, violence, and even death?  Well...in the words of Mufasa, the great Lion King and father of Simba... "Remember who You are!"

It can be very stressful right now for Americans to turn on their TV sets and see an ongoing--and what seems like never-ending--soap opera of daily drama, playing out on the stage of our political arena, and spilling out into the streets of our great nation.

Never-the-less, it's important to keep your senses about you and "Remember who You are".  You... are an American citizen!

What does this mean?  It means, that each and every one of us must dig deep into our very being and ask ourselves what we are willing to stand up for in this short and limited lifetime.  But more importantly, HOW we stand up, and with what morals and ethics will we do so as American citizens... is the more pressing question.

Perhaps you believe in white supremacy, or maybe you are leaning toward socialism these days.  We all have our various beliefs in this great country that has fought long and hard to afford us all the right to have the views we so choose.  Maybe you are Christian, or maybe you are Atheist, but who you are at the core of your being, will determine whether or not you head into the great streets of this country ready to kill your fellow citizen with guns, or beat your fellow citizen with poles, and bats and pipes, or... if you are the kind of American that has the tolerance to allow others to have their own views as well, in order that yours might also be preserved.

Be proud of your country, but don't forget its foundations.  It was built by all of us--free and slave.  It has a proud and shameful history, a peaceful and violent history, and a polarized history that has lasted to this very day.  And in order to find peace, we must as a nation begin to sort out how to live with these polarizations and the differences that seems to perhaps be a part of nature itself, and therefore will never NOT be a part of us.

Go into the streets as a free American citizen if you feel so compelled--it is your right.  In some cases, I even hope you do.  But "Remember who You are!"  You are an American citizen!  Don't go armed into the streets to harm your fellow citizens.  Have your voice, and hear the voices of others.  But don't insist with the price of death, that you're citizenship, and your voice, be of more importance than the voice and citizenship of your fellow American.

Remember Who You Are!

Thanks to Brett Jordan for the great photo - Lion 
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Reducing Anxiety by letting life Unfold

The one thing we can be sure of in life is that things will change.  Nothing stays the same.  Some change is so gradual that we can hardly see it unless we witness some kind of time-lapse evidence such as video or photos that show us "quickly" what we cannot notice when in the middle of the event itself.

Changes that happen more abruptly are harder on we human beings because we spend a large portion of our time living in a delusion in which we convince ourselves that once things are "good", we can somehow keep them that way, or that change will disappear and happiness will remain.

We seem to want the good things to last forever, and the bad things to end as quickly as possible.  So we spend our time striving for things we consider pleasant, and running from things we consider unpleasant.

But here is the truth--and you don't have to believe it from me-- look at it for yourself.  Nothing does Not change!  Or said differently, Everything changes.  Everything!

The torture takes place the most when we try to get things we like to remain indefinitely, and when we try to get things we dislike, to be different from what they are.  How many times have you gone back to repeat something fun, only to find yourself disappointed because it "wasn't like last time"?

From the day we are born, until the day we die, change is happening and we suffer the most when we don't want that reality to be true.  Instead, learning to move more gracefully with change can increase  your sense of well-being and reduce your stress and anxiety.

One way to re-frame this never-ending cycle of change that comes with life, is to think of it more as an "unfolding".  When something is unfolding it has a perpetual movement to it.  You can label the movement "good" or "bad", but it's not really necessary.  It's just what is unfolding.  Some of the unfolding is pleasant, and some is unpleasant, but none of these states are permanent.  Be it pleasant or unpleasant, it will change.  It's only a matter of time.

Thanks to Liz West for the great photo - Melting
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/