Webs
Originally Written January 20, 2010
Dear Readers,
To set the stage where I am writing from: It’s ten minutes past midnight and since my DVD-Rom is breaking down, I watched a few podcasts, mostly TEDTalks, for any of you fans out there.
But there are a few things that I wanted to express in words. I can feel the wave moving away from me, or however I can describe the feeling that moves me to write, but I’ll do my best to pin down what I wanted to say. After listening to some the podcasts on education and technology and the environment and the other things that the speakers at TED presented, I listened to a talk that
I am currently probably the only person in my village who is awake right now. The rest of them have gone off to sleep, and after I finish writing this, I’ll myself be turning in. But elsewhere in the world people will be getting up. Some of them, over in Europe as it were, will be some friends who I love. And it’s like that all over this planet. People are constantly rising or going to bed, or going to work, or making lunch, or walking in a park, or on a boat, or an endless number of possibilities. The point I’m trying to make is that it’s like we are one giant organism: each one of us doing our own thing but part of a bigger whole.
The Bible refers to this as the Body of Christ. I’m not sure what other faiths or philosophies refer to it as, I’m afraid, but I don’t believe this is a Christian idea. I don’t think the idea of oneness is really a religious idea at all. We are linked even through the environment, in the ecosystem, and believe, although I don’t know how to illustrate it, through many deeper levels as well, probably levels that most of us aren’t consciously aware of.
Anyways, I think the idea of separateness is harmful because it creates a Me vs. You, Us vs. Them system. I’m not suggesting that we should all just run off to communes; societies serve practical purposes through distinct groups, clubs, nations, and of course families. People are joined, or excluded, through language, religion, common ideas, and so forth. I believe in individualism and in thinking for one’s self. But I think it’s prudent to remember that many of these differences are superficial. Deep down we all share a link to a common spirit of sorts. Something that makes us feel concern or empathy for other people, or even animals and plants, as the case may be, for people across the globe, across cultures. Some would say that caring for others is the moral thing to do, or that we can’t understand how someone or something feels and we are projecting our feelings. And both perspectives are valid. But why then the capability to feel?
Well, I feel a connection to this next part of the blog with the first part, but let’s see if I can show the connection in words. Usually when I write answers I’m looking for bubble to the surface of the page from I don’t know where. It’s funny that way.
I got a message from a dear friend of mine a couple of weeks ago. She was fairly vague in parts of it, but said she had decided to make a change in her life to embody positivity. I was proud of her, and it also inspired me to try to do the same thing. I’m a quarter of a century old. Much of that time has been lost from anxiety and depression at points in my life. Many of you can probably relate your own struggles to this, as well. Peace Corps has also been a very hard thing for me. It’s provoked a lot of negative and frustrated feelings, a lot of complaining and self-pitying and self-doubt. All of which is good, of course, because right on the heels of those feelings room to mature has opened up for me.
In my struggles in life I’ve learned a lesson that I’ve said everyone should learn. So I’m going to write this lesson down for all to read:
Your thoughts only have as much power as you give them.
This does not mean you can control your thoughts. But you can control what you indulge in. And if you can’t control them, start small, practice, and eventually you will, to a large degree anyways. Here’s the deal: Life isn’t going to be easier or more fun, it’s just going to be the way it was. What changes is your perception about it. When your perception changes – hopefully for the better – your attitude and actions improve as well. For example: I can be depressed about lack of things going on here and how the rain is such a downer and so forth. Or I can just accept it and then see what I can do about it. About the rain, that’s easy. I can’t change the weather. And many things in our life are “weather.” Many things in life we have precious little control over. About the lack of things to do: That depends on the individual. Either you then decide to find things to do, make ways to keep yourself busy, or adopt a different attitude about how life is where you are. In my case, I have been frustrated of the super-slow progress of the town library. It’s taken me a year to accept that things just happen at their own pace here. That doesn’t mean I give up. I’ll still have to help keep them on task, but understanding that life unfolds in its own way is helpful when dealing with challenging situations.
It’s a humbling lesson I’ve learned, and sometimes I have to relearn it. But relearning isn’t so bad because with time it becomes more second nature. When I have a negative, depressing or angry thought, I’m learning to ignore it, if it’s appropriate. Sometimes those feelings are telling important messages, but usually they are unproductive. If they are, I acknowledge they are there, and then tune them out, like a TV commercial. Or I try to anyways. Often I still feel like I’m in Don’t Take Life So Seriously 101.
I hope this helps. I hope it makes sense. If you don’t see the connection between the two parts of this entry, don’t worry about it. Basically what I’m saying is, it seems to me we are more tied related to everything than not, like we are all branches of the same tree, and that our thoughts flow over us like rain, but with practice we can choose what we let soak into the wood of that tree.
That’s what I believe. It’s made sense in my life.
One more thing: I want to put up a map or something to have readers pin-point where they are reading from. But until I can do that, or if I can do that, please respond so I can see what parts of the world my blog is reaching. This is going to be a standing request, and if you answer once, you don’t have to answer again. Some have answered already, and I really think that’s cool. It goes well with this interconnection theme I was talking about. Thank you for playing along!
Tschüss,
Tristan
Dear Readers,
To set the stage where I am writing from: It’s ten minutes past midnight and since my DVD-Rom is breaking down, I watched a few podcasts, mostly TEDTalks, for any of you fans out there.
But there are a few things that I wanted to express in words. I can feel the wave moving away from me, or however I can describe the feeling that moves me to write, but I’ll do my best to pin down what I wanted to say. After listening to some the podcasts on education and technology and the environment and the other things that the speakers at TED presented, I listened to a talk that
I am currently probably the only person in my village who is awake right now. The rest of them have gone off to sleep, and after I finish writing this, I’ll myself be turning in. But elsewhere in the world people will be getting up. Some of them, over in Europe as it were, will be some friends who I love. And it’s like that all over this planet. People are constantly rising or going to bed, or going to work, or making lunch, or walking in a park, or on a boat, or an endless number of possibilities. The point I’m trying to make is that it’s like we are one giant organism: each one of us doing our own thing but part of a bigger whole.
The Bible refers to this as the Body of Christ. I’m not sure what other faiths or philosophies refer to it as, I’m afraid, but I don’t believe this is a Christian idea. I don’t think the idea of oneness is really a religious idea at all. We are linked even through the environment, in the ecosystem, and believe, although I don’t know how to illustrate it, through many deeper levels as well, probably levels that most of us aren’t consciously aware of.
Anyways, I think the idea of separateness is harmful because it creates a Me vs. You, Us vs. Them system. I’m not suggesting that we should all just run off to communes; societies serve practical purposes through distinct groups, clubs, nations, and of course families. People are joined, or excluded, through language, religion, common ideas, and so forth. I believe in individualism and in thinking for one’s self. But I think it’s prudent to remember that many of these differences are superficial. Deep down we all share a link to a common spirit of sorts. Something that makes us feel concern or empathy for other people, or even animals and plants, as the case may be, for people across the globe, across cultures. Some would say that caring for others is the moral thing to do, or that we can’t understand how someone or something feels and we are projecting our feelings. And both perspectives are valid. But why then the capability to feel?
Well, I feel a connection to this next part of the blog with the first part, but let’s see if I can show the connection in words. Usually when I write answers I’m looking for bubble to the surface of the page from I don’t know where. It’s funny that way.
I got a message from a dear friend of mine a couple of weeks ago. She was fairly vague in parts of it, but said she had decided to make a change in her life to embody positivity. I was proud of her, and it also inspired me to try to do the same thing. I’m a quarter of a century old. Much of that time has been lost from anxiety and depression at points in my life. Many of you can probably relate your own struggles to this, as well. Peace Corps has also been a very hard thing for me. It’s provoked a lot of negative and frustrated feelings, a lot of complaining and self-pitying and self-doubt. All of which is good, of course, because right on the heels of those feelings room to mature has opened up for me.
In my struggles in life I’ve learned a lesson that I’ve said everyone should learn. So I’m going to write this lesson down for all to read:
Your thoughts only have as much power as you give them.
This does not mean you can control your thoughts. But you can control what you indulge in. And if you can’t control them, start small, practice, and eventually you will, to a large degree anyways. Here’s the deal: Life isn’t going to be easier or more fun, it’s just going to be the way it was. What changes is your perception about it. When your perception changes – hopefully for the better – your attitude and actions improve as well. For example: I can be depressed about lack of things going on here and how the rain is such a downer and so forth. Or I can just accept it and then see what I can do about it. About the rain, that’s easy. I can’t change the weather. And many things in our life are “weather.” Many things in life we have precious little control over. About the lack of things to do: That depends on the individual. Either you then decide to find things to do, make ways to keep yourself busy, or adopt a different attitude about how life is where you are. In my case, I have been frustrated of the super-slow progress of the town library. It’s taken me a year to accept that things just happen at their own pace here. That doesn’t mean I give up. I’ll still have to help keep them on task, but understanding that life unfolds in its own way is helpful when dealing with challenging situations.
It’s a humbling lesson I’ve learned, and sometimes I have to relearn it. But relearning isn’t so bad because with time it becomes more second nature. When I have a negative, depressing or angry thought, I’m learning to ignore it, if it’s appropriate. Sometimes those feelings are telling important messages, but usually they are unproductive. If they are, I acknowledge they are there, and then tune them out, like a TV commercial. Or I try to anyways. Often I still feel like I’m in Don’t Take Life So Seriously 101.
I hope this helps. I hope it makes sense. If you don’t see the connection between the two parts of this entry, don’t worry about it. Basically what I’m saying is, it seems to me we are more tied related to everything than not, like we are all branches of the same tree, and that our thoughts flow over us like rain, but with practice we can choose what we let soak into the wood of that tree.
That’s what I believe. It’s made sense in my life.
One more thing: I want to put up a map or something to have readers pin-point where they are reading from. But until I can do that, or if I can do that, please respond so I can see what parts of the world my blog is reaching. This is going to be a standing request, and if you answer once, you don’t have to answer again. Some have answered already, and I really think that’s cool. It goes well with this interconnection theme I was talking about. Thank you for playing along!
Tschüss,
Tristan
posted by Tristan | 8:34 PM
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