We're not much different than trees in this respect. The system of life-flow that is so essential to a healthy forest also applies to the two-legged mammals that walk the trails carved into its soil, and can be summed up in one word. TRIBE.
Science of the Spirit
We're not much different than trees in this respect. The system of life-flow that is so essential to a healthy forest also applies to the two-legged mammals that walk the trails carved into its soil, and can be summed up in one word. TRIBE.
Epidemics of mental illness are crushing the minds and bodies of millions. It's time to ask where we are heading and why
What greater indictment of a system could there be than an epidemic of mental illness? Yet plagues of anxiety, stress, depression, social phobia, eating disorders, self-harm and loneliness now strike people down all over the world. The latest, catastrophic figures for children's mental health in England reflect a global crisis.
© Andrzej Krauze
Powerful Words that Honor the Water and the Earth
"The people who have created this system, and who perpetuate this system, they are out of balance. They have made us out of balance. They have come into our minds and they have come into our hearts and they've programmed us. Because we live in this society, and it has put us out of balance. And because we are out of balance we no longer have the power to deal with them...
We are a natural part of the creation, we were put here on the sacred mother Earth to serve a purpose. And somewhere in the history of people we're forgetting what the purpose is. The purpose is to honor the earth, to protect the earth, to live in balance with the Earth. And we will never free ourselves until we address the issue of how we live in balance with the Earth. Because I don't care who it is, any child who turns on their mother is living in a terrible, terrible confusion. The Earth is our mother, we must take care of the Earth." ~ John Trudell, 1980
The following are excerpts from John Trudell's Thanksgiving Day Address, made in 1980.
© Stefan Wermuth / Reuters
In an article published in the journal Lancet Psychiatry, two psychologists criticize parents who use Santa Claus as a tool to control their children's behavior.
Psychologist Professor Christopher Boyle and social scientist Dr. Kathy McKay also argue that the enduring myth risks leaving a child open to "abject disappointment" and undermining trust in parents when they discover the truth.
In the article, they argue: "If they [parents] are capable of lying about something so special and magical, can they be relied upon to continue as the guardians of wisdom and truth?"
Many people feel like frauds when they are unable to internalize their own success. This sensation of being a fake, somehow in a position beyond one's true capabilities is known as "the impostor phenomenon". Some estimate that about 70% of people from all walks of life feel like impostors for at least some part of their lives. The sensation is far from pleasant, but a new study from the University of Salzburg, Austria that was published in Frontiers in Psychology, suggests that it might not only be detrimental to your self-esteem but to your career prospects and business as well.
Constantly seeking information and reassurance from our actions is a big part of the imposter phenomenon. This reassurance is typically short-lived, which only means we need more of it to feel better. Seeking reassurance just keeps the symptoms in our head, and usually makes us feel worse.
Comment: Of course there are people who are genuine imposters who wear a mask and are not just neurotics having difficulty coping with job stress. They're called psychopaths and no amount of talking about feelings with their colleagues will help.
© Reuters
The research, conducted by the American Psychological Association and published in the Journal of Counseling Psychology on Monday, involved a meta-analysis of 78 research samples involving 19,453 men over the course of 11 years.
Those samples focused on the relationship between mental health and conformity to 11 norms generally considered by experts to reflect society's view of traditional masculinity.
Of course, there are many educational games and programs that can assist with learning how to read, or count, or solve puzzles, but are our children missing lessons from the greatest teacher of all? What is the true cost of being disconnected from nature and how is it affecting children today?
Comment: Learn more about the healing benefits of being outside, both for children and adults:
- Ecotherapy: Go wild, Stay Well
- The Healing Effects of Forests
- 'Green' Exercise Quickly 'Boosts Mental Health'
- UW study reaffirms nature's stress relieving powers
- Spending time in nature calms and re-grounds us providing a sense of renewal
The stoic Epictetus
Stoicism's wide appeal and application is reflected in the diversity of its originators and early proponents — a Roman emperor and military leader, a celebrated playwright, a former slave who freed and sculpted himself into a prominent lecturer, a successful merchant, and a former boxer who put himself through school by working as a water carrier. Over the millennia, Stoicism has continued to influence minds as varied as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Martha Nussbaum, and Tim Ferriss. Today, the Stoics' wisdom is as valid and empowering as ever — Marcus Aurelius's advice on how to begin each day is a potent recipe for sanity in the modern world; Seneca's meditation on how to stretch life's shortness by living wide rather than long remains the greatest consolation for the fact of our finitude, and his advice on the mightiest antidote to fear continues to fortify the spirit; Epictetus's notion of self-scrutiny applied with kindness is perhaps the best attitude we can cultivate toward ourselves and the surest strategy for true growth.
While all seven have been game changers, that one claims the pinnacle. The fact is, it's the hardest one to embrace time and again, but it's never ceased to move my life forward in very clear, tangible ways. Still, every time I have to talk myself through the same process.... How can I possibly take on something this substantial? What am I thinking? That one's just too big, too complicated, too ambitious. This time, surely, you've overstretched, Sisson.
But in that moment I remind myself that those feelings don't drive the bus for me. They won't be the ones doing the work to make a vision happen (they never are). A stronger, bolder, more adept self-concept will be leading the charge. Because that's what formidable challenges call for. If I want something big, resisting fear will keep me from it every time. If, on the other hand, I can bluntly tell fear, "You've met your match," suddenly the game looks much different.
Comment: Ultimately we're faced with a choice in situations where we believe we aren't good enough, can't succeed, don't believe we should succeed, or any other negative self talk: believe it and never try, fulfilling the self-fulfilling prophecy in the process, or step into the unknown and see where it leads.
If you want to change your reality, then the only way to do so is to face the fear and make the choice to go into the unknown anyway and to see what comes of it.
Evolutionary psychologists from Singapore Management University and the London School of Economics and Political Science found exactly this when they studied more than 15,000 young adults.
They concluded that, while people generally feel happier when they spend time with others, very smart people are an exception to this rule.
The study said this could be because of evolution.
Smarter people can more easily adapt to their surroundings in the modern world, so they don't need close relationships to help them with food and shelter, like our ancestors did. Or, in the modern equivalent, the Wi-Fi password and a spare phone charger.
Comment: Lost, damaged, disordered and confused people digging their own psychological and emotional graves, legitimate social phenomenon or just bad research?
Surprising find: Smart people tend to be loners
Comment: