It's day 3 of my new discipline (I say discipline instead of diet because I'm attempting to change more than my weight) and though it's been rather difficult, I think I'm on the hump if I'm not over it.
Today I have a closing shift, meaning I won't get home until around one in the morning. That's alright, however, because I can stick to my diet here in the house and then have just a hot dog without a bun tonight with a cup of diet soda.
How glamorous.
It's worth it, however, because congruously I'm developing my meditative ability and shifting my thought processes.
On that subject, last night my parents sat with me to watch "What the (Bleep!) Do We Know", one of my favorite films and certainly a life changing experience. My parents, devout Christians, appreciated the science but all in all they felt the film was an attempt to hypnotize and sway "weak-minded people".
Ordinarily, I'd lash out at them for being close-minded, but last night I just felt like, "Oh, well," and let it go. Some people do not want to hear it. Some truths just are difficult to swallow, especially when you're entrenched in religion.
It's a lot like the gay marriage issue; no matter how scientifically sound the research or how popular the poll, some people just can't let go of their religious roots.
Ah well.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
Recreating Myself
One of the most fascinating things I've ever learned since graduation was the effect of emotions on the brain, and consequently, the body. When we keep falling to the same emotional patterns over and over again, our brains become dependent on the chemicals (the neuropeptides) released with said emotion. Think of it as an addiction: the brain, desiring more of the same peptides, rewires itself and signals every cell in our bodies to divide with the right "keyhole" for the peptides.
If you're someone who's chronically angry, you are constantly releasing that particular peptide into your brain and into your body. Your cells, when they divide, develop receptors for this peptide to the exclusion of other peptides. This has been shown to affect our bodies in a myriad of ways, from affecting the elasticity of our skin to the brittleness of our bones as we age. In fact, it's theorized that chronically angry, bitter or fearful people show signs of aging faster than people who are generally happy and feel a sense of well-being.
Keep in mind that every few years (most scientists say every seven years) your body is completely brand new. You do not have the body you had seven years ago; your cells have divided, grown, and died off.
So this begs the question: what are we becoming, every day, down to our most diminutive points? I've found myself asking this question a lot, especially as I am on the advent of dieting for the umpteenth time in my life. I am much more aware now of my body; more specifically, I'm more aware of how I feel about myself affects my body.
I've struggled to lose weight for so long, I almost gave up entirely on it. I decided I'd let the weight grow, maybe find some chubby-chaser on the internet through Craig's List to spend my days with.
Except I really didn't want that to be my life. So, for the past month, I've combined affirmations, meditations and practical weight-loss steps (like stairs instead of elevators, etc.) to create a different kind of weight-loss regime.
See, I've come to think of this as recreating myself: rebuilding my spirit, my heart, my soul and my body. The new science tells us we're all entangled with each other; I believe our hearts, minds and bodies are entangled as well. My body must be in sync with my mind and my heart.
That means I must be healthy on all levels.
This is day 2 of my new discipline, and every day I'll let you know how it's going. I'll be totally honest, and hopefully after a while I'll be able to track my journey on this path.
Brightest blessings,
E
If you're someone who's chronically angry, you are constantly releasing that particular peptide into your brain and into your body. Your cells, when they divide, develop receptors for this peptide to the exclusion of other peptides. This has been shown to affect our bodies in a myriad of ways, from affecting the elasticity of our skin to the brittleness of our bones as we age. In fact, it's theorized that chronically angry, bitter or fearful people show signs of aging faster than people who are generally happy and feel a sense of well-being.
Keep in mind that every few years (most scientists say every seven years) your body is completely brand new. You do not have the body you had seven years ago; your cells have divided, grown, and died off.
So this begs the question: what are we becoming, every day, down to our most diminutive points? I've found myself asking this question a lot, especially as I am on the advent of dieting for the umpteenth time in my life. I am much more aware now of my body; more specifically, I'm more aware of how I feel about myself affects my body.
I've struggled to lose weight for so long, I almost gave up entirely on it. I decided I'd let the weight grow, maybe find some chubby-chaser on the internet through Craig's List to spend my days with.
Except I really didn't want that to be my life. So, for the past month, I've combined affirmations, meditations and practical weight-loss steps (like stairs instead of elevators, etc.) to create a different kind of weight-loss regime.
See, I've come to think of this as recreating myself: rebuilding my spirit, my heart, my soul and my body. The new science tells us we're all entangled with each other; I believe our hearts, minds and bodies are entangled as well. My body must be in sync with my mind and my heart.
That means I must be healthy on all levels.
This is day 2 of my new discipline, and every day I'll let you know how it's going. I'll be totally honest, and hopefully after a while I'll be able to track my journey on this path.
Brightest blessings,
E
Monday, May 10, 2010
On Tolerance
Recent events in my life have forced me to reexamine my life - more specifically, to reexamine the spiritual lessons that have come my way time and time again. Sometimes I heed the lessons the first time, and I save myself a lot of grief. Sometimes it takes two or three kicks of the mule for me to get the message. I'm sure there are some that I may not learn until my next lifetime.
But there's one message that keeps popping back into my life: tolerance. Yeah, tolerance is an easy thing to talk about among friends - who doesn't believe in being tolerant of others? But I find myself increasingly growing intolerant of people who are not tolerant of me.
Case in point: I made my obligatory appearance at my mother's church for Mother's Day yesterday, a task that believe you me, is no small feat. In the opening passages of the speaker's sermon, he immediately set me off when he said that the purpose of marriage is the family - and threw in the word "heterosexual" in the mix, for good measure.
Needless to say, that did not go over well with me.
Discussing this issue with my father, I was told that "tolerance goes both ways" and that if I want people to be tolerant of me, then I must be tolerant of others. It's a message that chafes me in my core. In my heart, I'm a warrior. How does a warrior live life without finding some things intolerable? Especially those who are intolerant of him?
It forced me to think deeply. Are there things that are just "intolerable" by nature, or is it all relative to the person or situation? And shouldn't we all agree that intolerance is intolerable?
Except we all don't. The religious right have no compunction about expressing intolerance of LGBT people, even going so far as to put a separation in their minds between the person and the orientation ("I don't hate you, I hate your homosexuality!") as if that's a sane or logical position. Try it in another context: "I don't hate you, I hate that you're black!"
It's a question that I think I will be struggling with forever: is everything tolerable, or are there things that we cannot tolerate lest we become a country we don't even recognize anymore?
But there's one message that keeps popping back into my life: tolerance. Yeah, tolerance is an easy thing to talk about among friends - who doesn't believe in being tolerant of others? But I find myself increasingly growing intolerant of people who are not tolerant of me.
Case in point: I made my obligatory appearance at my mother's church for Mother's Day yesterday, a task that believe you me, is no small feat. In the opening passages of the speaker's sermon, he immediately set me off when he said that the purpose of marriage is the family - and threw in the word "heterosexual" in the mix, for good measure.
Needless to say, that did not go over well with me.
Discussing this issue with my father, I was told that "tolerance goes both ways" and that if I want people to be tolerant of me, then I must be tolerant of others. It's a message that chafes me in my core. In my heart, I'm a warrior. How does a warrior live life without finding some things intolerable? Especially those who are intolerant of him?
It forced me to think deeply. Are there things that are just "intolerable" by nature, or is it all relative to the person or situation? And shouldn't we all agree that intolerance is intolerable?
Except we all don't. The religious right have no compunction about expressing intolerance of LGBT people, even going so far as to put a separation in their minds between the person and the orientation ("I don't hate you, I hate your homosexuality!") as if that's a sane or logical position. Try it in another context: "I don't hate you, I hate that you're black!"
It's a question that I think I will be struggling with forever: is everything tolerable, or are there things that we cannot tolerate lest we become a country we don't even recognize anymore?
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Creating Religion
I've been turning over and over in my head the stuff I've been reading about quantum physics and the Intention Experiment, and the more I do so, the more I realize how close we really are to a shift in consciousness for the human race. No, maybe even more than that - we're close to another phase in the evolution for the human race.
The thought of creating religion is a relatively new - and controversial - one, calling to mind mental pictures of spooky cults in suburban houses drinking poisoned wine. But if we were to take a step back, we would all realize that ALL religions were, in fact, created.
This is not to say that man created God (and by God I mean the universal consciousness that binds us all together at the quantum level), but rather that man created the trappings in which God appears. From Jehovah to Allah to Dionysis, God has many outfits to don...but maybe it's time to design a new one.
If we were to apply the basics of Noetic Science to our new religion, the most revered tenets would likely be as follows:
1. We are all interconnected at our nethermost being; we affect each other with every breath and every choice.
2. Our thoughts have mass and can create change in the physical world with proper focus and strong intention, as demonstrated by Gary Schwartz, Masaru Emoto and Lynne McTaggart.
3. Therefore, what we think about ourselves affects our bodies and the bodies of the whole. Thinking loving, uplifting thoughts about ourselves, our bodies, will elevate everyone else if intention is focused properly.
We now have tenets that are free from dogma because we now understand that the only "sin" one can commit is to be unloving to oneself, because not loving yourself equals not loving the world.
This is far from a prophecy, just a hope or an idea. But what if 2012 heralds not the end of the world, but a passage into a new realm of consciousness? What if we could become Vulcan or Alderaan or any other famous planets and societies with ancient wisdom, "supernatural" abilities and peaceful inhabitants?
In other words, what if Planet Earth finally GROWS UP?
Let's see if it happens...I know I'll be watching, waiting, and intending.
The thought of creating religion is a relatively new - and controversial - one, calling to mind mental pictures of spooky cults in suburban houses drinking poisoned wine. But if we were to take a step back, we would all realize that ALL religions were, in fact, created.
This is not to say that man created God (and by God I mean the universal consciousness that binds us all together at the quantum level), but rather that man created the trappings in which God appears. From Jehovah to Allah to Dionysis, God has many outfits to don...but maybe it's time to design a new one.
If we were to apply the basics of Noetic Science to our new religion, the most revered tenets would likely be as follows:
1. We are all interconnected at our nethermost being; we affect each other with every breath and every choice.
2. Our thoughts have mass and can create change in the physical world with proper focus and strong intention, as demonstrated by Gary Schwartz, Masaru Emoto and Lynne McTaggart.
3. Therefore, what we think about ourselves affects our bodies and the bodies of the whole. Thinking loving, uplifting thoughts about ourselves, our bodies, will elevate everyone else if intention is focused properly.
We now have tenets that are free from dogma because we now understand that the only "sin" one can commit is to be unloving to oneself, because not loving yourself equals not loving the world.
This is far from a prophecy, just a hope or an idea. But what if 2012 heralds not the end of the world, but a passage into a new realm of consciousness? What if we could become Vulcan or Alderaan or any other famous planets and societies with ancient wisdom, "supernatural" abilities and peaceful inhabitants?
In other words, what if Planet Earth finally GROWS UP?
Let's see if it happens...I know I'll be watching, waiting, and intending.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Rousing the Wolf
We are on the precipice of losing our rights as individuals in this society, and most of us are cheering it on.
As the new decade shifts into second gear, the old arguments against marriage equality have been trotted out over and over again, and they still make no sense to the logical mind. People are hiding behind their religious zealotry and ideology to try and deny the gay community the rights affirmed to them by the Constitution of the United States. It's ridiculous that people will scream shrilly, "Gay marriage isn't written in the Constitution! It's not a Constitutional right!"
*eye roll*
This shouldn't be so difficult to get across, but it appears the lack of adequate education in this country has rendered logical thought processing impossible for a huge percentage of the population. People, listen to me: it doesn't have to be specifically written in the Constitution for it to be a Constitutional right.
There is an implicit understanding amongst most people that despite what is literally read in the text of the Constitution, there is a deeper meaning to every section, article and amendment - to wit, you have the right to do whatever you want to do, so long as you don't hurt anyone else in the process. Here's an example: you can oppose gay marriage all you want, but you can't tell someone else they can't marry the person they want to marry. Your rights end at your fingertips.
This is the important factor: this whole thing is not about gay marriage. Well, it is, but on an abstract level. The true principle at stake is this: our personal lives can be intruded upon by a bullying majority. Once we cross that bridge, there's no coming back from it. Our personal lives are not up to a vote. If I want to marry a man, it's my business, not Maggie Gallagher's, not whatshername from the Miss California pageant, not Pat Robertson. The fact that the majority of people in my homestate of Florida and in California have no problem bullying other people into acquiescing to their philosophy (all while accusing us of bullying them) is a scary one.
I am calling this blog of mine the Big Bad Wolf as an answer to the old question, "Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?", because I want people to know that they should be afraid. They should be afraid of us, those of us who challenge the heteronormative standard, those of us who believe that true freedom means we do what we want without hurting anyone else, and if you don't like it, you don't do it yourself. All our lives we've been told that freedom and responsibility go hand in hand, and this is what that means: you don't believe in gay marriage, you don't get one, but you keep your mouth shut if your next door neighbor does, indeed, marry someone of the same sex.
It is time to rouse the Wolf. The Children of the Wolf are sick and tired of the bullying. We are sick and tired of being told that we must limit government by people who only want government limited so that the church can take over the vacant spots.
It is time to awaken and speak out. Peacefully, of course, but without fear or trepidation. We can educate and enlighten and be forceful all at the same time.
Join the pack with me, the Bad Wolf (watch Doctor Who if you don't get that reference), and let's get the revolution started.
As the new decade shifts into second gear, the old arguments against marriage equality have been trotted out over and over again, and they still make no sense to the logical mind. People are hiding behind their religious zealotry and ideology to try and deny the gay community the rights affirmed to them by the Constitution of the United States. It's ridiculous that people will scream shrilly, "Gay marriage isn't written in the Constitution! It's not a Constitutional right!"
*eye roll*
This shouldn't be so difficult to get across, but it appears the lack of adequate education in this country has rendered logical thought processing impossible for a huge percentage of the population. People, listen to me: it doesn't have to be specifically written in the Constitution for it to be a Constitutional right.
There is an implicit understanding amongst most people that despite what is literally read in the text of the Constitution, there is a deeper meaning to every section, article and amendment - to wit, you have the right to do whatever you want to do, so long as you don't hurt anyone else in the process. Here's an example: you can oppose gay marriage all you want, but you can't tell someone else they can't marry the person they want to marry. Your rights end at your fingertips.
This is the important factor: this whole thing is not about gay marriage. Well, it is, but on an abstract level. The true principle at stake is this: our personal lives can be intruded upon by a bullying majority. Once we cross that bridge, there's no coming back from it. Our personal lives are not up to a vote. If I want to marry a man, it's my business, not Maggie Gallagher's, not whatshername from the Miss California pageant, not Pat Robertson. The fact that the majority of people in my homestate of Florida and in California have no problem bullying other people into acquiescing to their philosophy (all while accusing us of bullying them) is a scary one.
I am calling this blog of mine the Big Bad Wolf as an answer to the old question, "Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?", because I want people to know that they should be afraid. They should be afraid of us, those of us who challenge the heteronormative standard, those of us who believe that true freedom means we do what we want without hurting anyone else, and if you don't like it, you don't do it yourself. All our lives we've been told that freedom and responsibility go hand in hand, and this is what that means: you don't believe in gay marriage, you don't get one, but you keep your mouth shut if your next door neighbor does, indeed, marry someone of the same sex.
It is time to rouse the Wolf. The Children of the Wolf are sick and tired of the bullying. We are sick and tired of being told that we must limit government by people who only want government limited so that the church can take over the vacant spots.
It is time to awaken and speak out. Peacefully, of course, but without fear or trepidation. We can educate and enlighten and be forceful all at the same time.
Join the pack with me, the Bad Wolf (watch Doctor Who if you don't get that reference), and let's get the revolution started.
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