by Monk Anchorwind | 29 Dec, 2021 | Dear Diary |
Dear Diary, Fear is an absence of trust in the process of resolution. In other words, we believe or suspect some step in the resolution process to fail and thus leave things unresolved. Fear and anger are intrinsically related, as anger gives us the drive to protect...
by Monk Anchorwind | 19 Dec, 2021 | Considered Thoughts |
I have come to understand I have hated myself for almost forty years. I have been exploring anger, guilt, shame, and hope, but the more I tried to know what they are and what to do with them, I felt I was missing something important. Hope is the mechanism for...
by Monk Anchorwind | 1 Dec, 2021 | Dear Diary, The Mindfulness Journey |
Dear Diary, All of us, at one point or another, lost hope. I wrote earlier, “Hope is the mechanism for meaning.” By losing hope, we destroyed or no longer invested in the meaning of ourselves and the situation. We devolved back into basic survival...
by Monk Anchorwind | 25 Nov, 2021 | Considered Thoughts |
At the end of his Ted Talk, Brady Wilson said, “People rarely leave your presence neutral. They either leave engaged or depleted.” One of my favorite songs is by Underworld, in which the lyrics are, “What don’t lift you drags you down, keep...
by Monk Anchorwind | 14 Nov, 2021 | Dear Diary |
What is an identity? On a basic level, it is ‘who we are.’ However, we are fluid entities constantly changing with each new situation. We express ourselves in part on the experiences we have but also the pressures we feel. Identity, then, is a measure...
by Monk Anchorwind | 10 Nov, 2021 | Considered Thoughts |
Fear drives us to act in ways we wouldn’t normally behave. Fear pulls us towards our base actions of a fight-flight-freeze response. We operate in response to potential, or known, consequences in favor of our survival. Fear does not enable growth; it merely...
by Monk Anchorwind | 31 Oct, 2021 | Considered Thoughts |
Pursuing Peace Under Pressure The Buddha teaches us “attachment is the cause of suffering.” The Tao informs us “to see the limits of things, desire them.” My therapist adds “relate but don’t attach.” I have struggled with...
by Monk Anchorwind | 23 Sep, 2021 | Dear Diary, The Mindfulness Journey |
Dear Diary, Why should we practice forgiveness? People need to benefit from their actions, so how does forgiveness payout? Calmness is the reward for forgiveness. Calmness is not living in a vacuum, devoid of stimuli, but instead having the mental and emotional...
by Monk Anchorwind | 18 Sep, 2021 | Considered Thoughts |
Of Anger and Helplessness For far too many years, I felt alienated because of my lack of anger. As a young man, I saw first-hand the results of outward, destructive anger and vowed not to resemble that crowd. Anger would give me anxiety, and I’d convert one...
by Monk Anchorwind | 16 Sep, 2021 | Dear Diary, The Mindfulness Journey |
Dear Diary, What does forgiveness do? I have written about what it is and how we experience it, but what happens after the emotional dust has settled? Paradoxically, it allows for change even though us feeling the need to change was part of the problem as we were...
