Fear and anxiety: coping, reframing, transforming…

Anxiety is basically a clinical term for fear which everyone at one time or another experiences with or without a diagnosis of some sort of anxiety “disorder.” Psychiatry pathologizes much of the normal human experience and in opposing fashion fear and/or anxiety is often referred to in Buddhism and other alternative philosophies as normal. Which is why many techniques to cope with anxiety have been inspired by Buddhism. There are many methods to learn how to be with these normal feelings, whether they’re very intense or not. As individuals some of us may be more prone to more intensity than others. We can all work with whatever it is we experience.

The Heart Has Its Own “Brain” and Consciousness

The more we find out about how our bodies work the clearer it is that we are holistic beings. I've written much about gut health and the gut has often been called the second brain. Well it seems that the heart too, has much intelligence! No surprise to all the lovers among us. Recent discoveries have shown that the heart generates a mysterious and powerful electromagnetic field. In this video, Rollin McCraty, Ph.D, Executive VP and Director of Research for the Institute of HeartMath, explores the scientific basis for understanding the amazing ways that we are connected.

See: The long shadow of massacre

A collective problem, if not recognized as such, always appears as a personal problem, and in individual cases may give the impression that something is out of order in the realm of the personal psyche. The personal sphere is indeed disturbed, but such disturbances need not be primary; they may well be secondary, the consequence of an unsupportable change in the social atmosphere. The cause of disturbance is, therefore, not to be sought in the personal surroundings, but rather in the collective situation. Psychotherapy has hitherto taken this matter far too little into account.

Singing in the Dark Susan McKeown

So beautiful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=affyiDgfIbE Susan McKeown was recently interviewed on Madness Radio. Is poetry the way to truly understand madness? Do rituals and music -- such as Ireland's tradition of keening -- have the power to heal emotional suffering? Susan McKeown, Grammy award-winning singer/songwriter and folklorist, supported her partner through an extreme state. She began a... Continue Reading →

The source of forgiveness

The source of forgiveness lies in the realization that we are not solely products of what was done to us, the realization that there is something essential within us that is not necessarily tarnished by calamitous experience.

Research in child abuse/neglect shows that violent people are created, not born

The good news is as the brain can be damaged in childhood, our brains can also heal at any time in life. Our brains are neuroplastic and we can turn around the negative wiring of our childhood and become whole again. We need healers who know this too. Psychiatric drugs can actually perpetuate and worsen these problems rather than heal them if used indiscriminately as they often are.

Saturday mellow

Lionel Hun dancer/ choreographer was performing in Tokyo during the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Four days after he evacuated to Macau where he decided to express his love for Japan by making this dance video « Hope ».

Liver and onions (gourmet style) — #foodie Friday

I've been eating lots of organ meats from grass-fed animals to get my B vitamins. I've never been a fan of beef liver but I'm finally getting liver right so that I actually enjoy it when I eat it. Here is a recipe.

Re-enter the woods that we might find our true nature

Until we understand what the land is, we are at odds with everything we touch. And to come to that understanding it is necessary, even now, to leave the regions of our conquest - the cleared fields, the towns and cities, the highways - and re-enter the woods. For only there can a man encounter... Continue Reading →

Top 10 posts of 2012 with commentary

This is a top ten posts of the year list with some additional commentary. Some posts with very important information got the attention they deserved this year. I was pleased to see it also included a FUN post...one that stars Henry the Cat! The readers of this blog may be interested in some very serious issues, but we also know how to have fun. So the top ten in order:

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