Someone has stated a concern that I am not clear enough about my level of expertise and says I don't have any authority to say what I'm saying. So this is my disclaimer: I am a human being. I read and study and experience life. I am not a doctor and never claim to be.
So...how to be in the present moment? I like simply starting by suggesting paying attention. If formal meditation feels like too much how about just taking a moment -- right now -- to pay attention? What can you hear in your environment, right now? What does the air feel like on your body? ...
Everyone has an opinion about diet and most of it is simply only that. There's so much we simply don’t really know about how our bodies heal. Once you have a reasonable working understanding that whole real food is good it's best to then go out and do your own experiments with your own body and try not to go down too many dogmatic rabbit-holes. ...
By Lewis Mehl-Madrona M.D. (psychiatrist) -- Many of us were not surprised when the research failed to support the currently dominant biomedical model of psychiatry. A 2015 panel at the American Psychiatric Association's annual meeting in Toronto confirmed that even more research is accumulating to question the benefits, if any, of the long-term use of anti-psychotic medication. Paris raises the question, why doesn't research change anything? ... [click on title to read the rest]
So being that this is the case, I practice surrender, acceptance and letting go. Because like it or not we are not in charge. This is perhaps my most important practice ...
Sometimes I hear people say that nothing is changing. That psychiatry continues to harm and that for this reason despair rather than hope is warranted. -- I don't see it this way at all anymore. ...
And so I no longer hide. I finally made the decision. And soon after, it was clear to see that 90% of the stress I’d carried through out the years was because I hid myself, pretended, smiled when I didn’t want to, silenced myself when my song was emerging from my very skin. I denied myself and so my world inside was a crumbling mess. I stopped hiding and was blown away by how easy it was to live. Living became natural again. And being me was no longer a problem. They don’t teach this stuff in schools but they should. They really, really should. Real living is about unhiding. That’s when everything starts to make sense. -- S.C Lourie, Soul Notes of the Butterfly
"Fortunately, some are born with spiritual immune systems that sooner or later give rejection to the illusory worldview grafted upon them from birth through social conditioning. They begin sensing that something is amiss, and start looking for answers. Inner knowledge and anomalous outer experiences show them a side of reality others are oblivious to, and so begins their journey of awakening. Each step of the journey is made by following the heart instead of following the crowd and by choosing knowledge over the veils of ignorance." ...
Ecstatic dance is awesome in the literal sense of the word and I consider it a body oriented mindfulness practice as well. I've also referred to it as self-directed body-work in conversations with friends. Sometimes my "dance" is about moving and stretching my body in some really odd ways to get at something that is tightly held in the body and needs release. Dancing can sometimes be me not moving at all (on the surface) while the music courses through my body and my cells and neurons DANCE. ...
Part of coming to understand our profound capacities to heal and transform is to first know that it's possible. I know 1000s of folks who've been able to discover this now. I have met them in mental health circles and chronic illness circles both. I've also met them among people who've never suffered in these ways but were lucky enough to be born into situations where they simply learned how to do it right from the beginning. Imagine that. We can create a world where we teach children how to profoundly take care of themselves and others. ...
Everything Matters 
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