To judge or not to judge... (or)

I don't see any reasonable concluding phrase to this precursing verbal gandering.

Perhaps we connect to that object/person/place when we judge it as right (or) wrong, good (or) bad, nice (or) mean... With final exams approaching, I wonder what the use (or) function that this process promulgates. Clearly, survival necessitates judgement between dangerous and safety-ous situations.

Take for example the capstone of judicial prowess, Judge Judy. This woman encounters sincere (or) fictitious individuals, their stories, and swiftly confronts incongruent evidence. Is this not dissimilar to a college student deeply analyzing what 1 hour of video games (or) 1 hour of paper revision will produce?

Proposition December 9th: I hereby declare a revision of decision. From this moment forward, my criticism of self (and) others will reinforce a unifying concept: we are one. You and I. Past and Future. From the minuscule through the universal, intentional collaboration begets courageous action (inward and outward).

The communities we create (again, internal and external) outline the product of intentional action. For example...

 (1) I see value in meditating, therefore I invest energy in it.

 (2) You see value in writing, therefore you invest energy writing.

 (3) If connected, these ideas support a new creation (i.e. guided meditation classes, written by you, led by         me). 

It seems simple, but in this time of final exam preparation, remember your resources (internal and external). 

When you prioritize an activity, that activity fulfills some sort of need that you have... physical, psychological, emotional, academic, social... Perhaps your self- and others- judgement helps define this moment (or) your intentional, creative organization supports REALISTIC, TANGIBLE SUCCESS.

"To be courageous is to be vulnerable."

Existential.Pruning.

Home... is this a quiet place where you should be alone?

Is this where the tortured and the troubled find their own?

Hey... give me space so I can breathe

Give me space so I can sleep

Give me space so you can drown in this with me

Something Corporate, "Space"

Identify.Home.

My purpose incorporates levels and varieties of how I identify with myself, my immediate surroundings. Throughout an ever-changing world, I carry a sense of home with me. In a sense, home expands and contracts much like the inward and outward breaths I breathe.

I identify with a curiosity about what it means to fully embrace Life on Earth. Following sage metaphor... through philosophy manifest... digging and resting in purposeful exploration.

The world is imaginary.

From the chemical interactions my body metabolizes, into bursting connective emotion; my experience crystallizes through object in field. Akin to Soren Kierkegarrd, I believe that, "Life can only be understood backwards; but must be lived forwards." Who I am is not defined by what surrounds me, but what surrounds me influences my adaptive awareness. Home roots itself in a paradox: the changing nature of change. That which we do not know often manifests in new experiences (i.e. seeing a sunrise or sunset in a new place). Once I experience the creation of a novel root, that which is new subtly twines to it's nearby neighbors. 

Whether or not I am aware of these ever-changing developments, their growth continues. I choose to cut the faulty roots (i.e. maladaptations, defenses) that grow alongside identifying roots. As I identify which roots to water, specific and adaptive changes occur.

Mindful.And.Intentional.Pruning.

Outer space

Inner space

I found myself today.

Speaking with students, professors, and in general, people, lately; I've returned to a conclusion of moving proportions.

I noticed that short phrases, quips, connectors lead my current and future understanding of how beautifully our interactions fuse what is and what is to come. As an example... yesterday in a group counseling class we discussed the use of the phrase, "I'm sorry." 

Within the context of empathy, "I'm sorry" functions in a variety of ways. When spoken sincerely, "I'm sorry" acts as a catalyst for connection between parties. In other forms, the phrase leads to a promulgation of avoidance. Fear, pain, and shame top the list of motivators for disconnected use of these words. From within, subtlety becomes reality: collective and individual reality.

Courage --> Vulnerability --> Trust --> Confrontation

Many anxieties and depressions stem from a deep sense of shame. Often conditioned, sometimes through the cognitive self, shame acts as a even-weighted slammer to the pogs of life experience. Brene Brown speaks eloquently about the courage associated with vulnerability. 

http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html 

Vacuuming empathy potentials, self-judgement stealthily creeps and jabs our awareness of ourselves; often leaving a survivalistic shield of defense up to the world. Freud called this phenomenon "defense mechanisms." 

As we evolve towards higher consciousness, awareness, and creativity together; we must not forget to gently foster self-compassion in the side-car of our speedy existence.

"Be a best friend to yourself"

"You are in control of your perspective"

"Control is relative"

"Through challenge; opportunity"

"In each breath, an evolution"

"I am as we are"

"Change changes"

Courage --> Vulnerability --> Trust --> Confrontation

Truth & Beauty

Lucy Grealy's Truth and Beauty confronts the truth about beauty... or is it the beauty about truth?

At times, I yearn for understanding truth: and then I feel it. At others, beauty peeks its head out from under a fallen leaf, and I am comforted. My understanding and passion for experiencing truth and beauty lie together in a bed sewn of patience, love, and wisdom. Without acquiescing the cynic within, I experience life's moments with an unfolding and dynamic conceptualization of what it means (to me) to live with, through, and in these idea-manifestations. Un-truth is to truth as ugliness is to beauty. I argue now that un-truths have truthful aspects as ugly-perceived exudes beauty. The question behind truth is whether or not it is begotten from a singular root or perceived through the variety of senses that species with "thought" conceive. Again, in my experience, it is both. Ideas are not essentially exclusionary to me: rather, ecological and interconnected. If I believe there are ultimate truths, then it is a level of reality for me. When we experience truth, you and I... does the context in which the experience occurs influence us towards a singular moment, or rather separate perceptions of that moment? I posit that the intention of those people involved in an experienced moment supports the foundation of which singular truth is constructed. In this sense, if I am living on an island and experience pain (i.e. stepping on a coral in the ocean), this pain is a real, tangible, honest moment that no one else experiences on the island. If, by chance, a visitor views my pain, how much can s/he emphathize with this pain?

I suppose empathy and experience live under the same roof in the understanding I hope to communicate. If someone shares with me a story that is "true" to them, I can choose to engage myself in that truth. Whether or not the truth that person shared is "true" to someone else (e.g. perhaps the other experienced the "truth" through a different mechanism) influences that "truth" on a variety of levels. Again, intention influences truth. Weaved winding-ly through a web of individual and collective cognition, truth and beauty are inclusionary in nature. Wherever and however you experience truth and beauty in this world, you have a choice. A glass is half full of water: half full of air.

Bazinga,

http://www.ted.com/talks/fabian_oefner_psychedelic_science.html

Addiction to Education

Quite literally, I review addictions literature every single day of this semester. From methamphetamine to tobacco, these academic behaviors pervade. To understand addiction is to understand the continuum of human mind-body system. Some addictive behaviors are learned. Others coagulate under more conspicuous terms.

Actively searching for neurological research on the changes within the brain, I find myself considering how much "scientists" really don't understand. It is in a scientist's search that understanding is gathered. Paradoxically, scientific understanding historically breeds a spectrum of incertitude.

Perhaps their is an order, rhyme, or reason to "Life on Earth". Perhaps the search itself fulfills some innate human need to reason, hypothesize, generate knowledge, etc...

Perchance wisdom lies within the search, within the mis-understandings, within the diversity of human experience. Life on this Earth, through its beauty, is a mystery among mysteries. Quite breathtaking upon reflection...

Studying in the Bat Tower

From studying counseling theories to watching a flock of bats corrugate around UNO's clocktower, this week signaled analysis and wonder...

x

How about the movie Cloud Atlas? It's plotlines compete and connect, waiving constructs of time aside & weaving a theme of reincarnation throughout.

My interests lie in the delicate mixture of logic and intuition. Clearly, individuals and 'individual' value cognitions, stories, wisdoms...

I believe that we understand through the lens of our aggregated microcultures. Our expressions of 'self-and-other' intertwine delicately (and quite beautifully), puzzling together individual and collective realities.

I read a powerful quotation this week... "Those who sit in silence speak as powerfully as those with words; however subtly, their purpose is expressed." It helps me to think of a football stadium whose team just lost on a game-winning field goal.

Throughout this semester, I hope to communicate my purpose to others through my words, actions, and silences.

Today's sponsor is the letter "F"

Have we entered fall yet?

Classes have begun, students and teachers arrive, collaborate, achieve...

Lunar cycles pass, becoming more orange and striking as I can ever remember. The air is quite heavy, although it seems a natural step towards what Autumn brings...

Autumn in German is "herbst". Since last blogging, many moons ago, I have architected an interest of sorts. One might call this a yearning or longing to identify with my family's history...culture, etc.

Language is quite a magnificent phenomena. I emphasize its plurality because it is my belief that as we use these words, place them together, form ideas... we commit not only intention to change and understanding; but rather inevitably, that intention acts as an investment towards our own education and learning...

Within intentional action, we become more informed and aware of our own (& others) purpose. I follow reason and intuition in each day, believing that through their interplay great things can, will, and do occur.

This fall semester, it is my personal intention to create a calm, creative, and collaborative environment in which the learn<-->teach continuum continues to evolve and goals continue to be attained.