[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.23.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.23.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.23.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_accordion _builder_version=”4.23.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″][et_pb_accordion_item title=”2025 : A Year of Compassion” open=”on” _builder_version=”4.23.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
All posts and relevant context will go here in order of creation (or relevancy)<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”2025 : A Year of Compassion (Intro)” _builder_version=”4.23.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” open=”off”]<\/p>\n
2025 : A Year of Compassion (Intro)<\/p>\n
I initially wanted 2025 to be A Year of Focus.\u00a0 2024 got away from me;\u00a0 it felt like the bad news piled on, and I lost myself just trying to do my best day to day.\u00a0 My instinct is to try to work harder, but as I\u2019ve come to learn, that\u2019s been a contributor to the problems at times.\u00a0 If \u2018work harder\u2019 was the solution to everything, our world would look drastically different.\u00a0 I know in my heart if I could be doing something, I would be doing it already, so having a Year of Focus wasn\u2019t the correct answer.\u00a0 My second instinct is to ask, \u2018Why?\u2019\u00a0 Why can I not accomplish what I\u2019m attempting to at the time I\u2019m attempting it?\u00a0 Such a self-analysis led me to realize I\u2019ve been treating myself poorly, and before I can focus the way I want to, I must learn to be compassionate with myself.<\/p>\n
What is Compassion?\u00a0 At the level most of us have right now, compassion is some form of caring about something that doesn\u2019t impact us or forgiving something that does.\u00a0 However, compassion at a deeper level does not have to forgive at all as we never made a judgment to begin with \u2013 and being most of us sit with regrets about our past, we haven\u2019t reached this level yet.\u00a0 Compassion requires detachment, but westerners don\u2019t understand detachment either.\u00a0 Westerners think detachment is apathy, something elections show they\u2019re good at.\u00a0\u00a0 Detachment only means we remain stable in a changing world or put similarly \u2013 something else can change, but that change doesn\u2019t automatically force us to respond.<\/p>\n
My instinct to work harder stems from a powerful imposter syndrome, one that is going to take a lot of hard work to quell.\u00a0 As I sit here and meditate on it, I become saddened as I get a better sense of just how far-reaching it is, from my past to my work to my relationships. It is deep-seated and influential.\u00a0 I know one of the consequences of it is I refuse to allow to see myself as others do.\u00a0 Others compliment me, and while I generally do not doubt their authenticity, I refuse to allow myself to view myself in the same light.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not where I want to be with my health, my house, my ability to be creative, or my ability to rest.\u00a0 I have stripped my ability to enjoy life in multiple instances and have mainly become either anxious or exhausted.\u00a0 I address this by trying to \u2018soldier through\u2019 it and, get things done in spite of anything, and manage life waiting for the next bit of bad news.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad that through all of this my ability to be kind and thoughtful to others has remained a strongsuit, as such I know I\u2019m capable of doing it, I merely need to learn to apply it to myself.<\/p>\n
I harbor a deep inward anger and an equally deep outward hope.\u00a0 Yes, there are a select few others I am angry with, but those are the war profiteers and the exploiters making lives worse for us all \u2013 the everyperson trying to get by is generally good, even if they have trouble showing it through the scars of the system.\u00a0 I know I\u2019m a typically good person, too, but I\u2019m very aware my outward expressions have been more painful than I\u2019d like for far too long.\u00a0 Before I can (A Year of) Focus on it, I need to be compassionate with myself.\u00a0 Only endlessly working harder isn\u2019t the answer, even if my heart is in the right place.\u00a0 I know I have positive things to offer, and I\u2019d like that to be the core of how I see myself as opposed to accidental successes.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to believe in myself, and that will take time and practice.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”Watching Villages Burn” _builder_version=”4.23.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” open=”off”]<\/p>\n
18 Sep 2020<\/p>\n
Twenty years ago, I was the Editor for the newspaper, discussing Bush v. Gore and trying to ensure maximum voter participation. I could not have guessed how against the will of the popular vote, court-ordered cessations of recounts in a state with direct family ties to the would-be winner. The election was gifted to an administration who could continue the GOP time-honored tradition of burning down villages. I was angry, but I didn\u2019t understand the gravity of what was about to be set in motion; few of us did.<\/p>\n
The anger had not yet subsided when 9\/11 happened. I remember how 9\/11 was presented didn\u2019t feel right; the images, the narrative, and mostly what the Bush administration did in response left a deep unsettled feeling in me. Shortly after, I was a part of the intelligence services hoping to learn a greater truth. Whether I like it or not, I\u2019ve learned vastly more than I ever bargained for, and there is no returning to a state of ignorance. I was helpless as in the wake of 9\/11, the USA\u2019s ugly authoritarian side was given fresh life to rise and become even more ruthless and exploitative. As mass surveillance was given the green light and other rights continued to be stripped, I was off to war.<\/p>\n
War is hell, a sentiment shared by countless individuals spanning the length and breadth of the human experience for hundreds of thousands of years. In the chaos of all the moving parts and the speed of the operational tempo, my base persona shone. I demonstrated myself to be relentlessly compassionate and deeply troubled, likely the only things still accurate today. I understood we invaded the wrong country. I was angered by those in my uniform who killed out of racism and revenge. I wanted to help those who acted in a manner virtually identical to how we would if we were invaded. The value of people because they are people was reinforced down to the core of my being.<\/p>\n
Those trying to carve out a small pocket of solace and stability in a swiftly de-stabilized homeland were given ogre\u2019s choices, ultimatums, from bad-faith actors on different fronts. While we were no saints, making widows and orphans in another man\u2019s kingdom, extremist forces on their side would also kill them for working with us. I saw that in real-time, in person. I experienced people who proclaimed themselves authority figures use fear to manipulate people and do their best to destroy whoever did not comply. They would label whoever did not conform and then eradicate all those with said label. I watched with a growing despair, a confused helplessness as burned wreckage and human remains were left as messages to those who dared to defy. The Defense Contractors were the only winners in the war, and eventually, I came \u201chome.\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve spent many years trying to get past despair, confusion, and helplessness. I am far less confused, but only because I have a greater understanding of how deep the rabbit hole goes on fear being used to manipulate people into compliance here in the USA. One needs not look far, a cursory look at how Christianity, White Supremacy, or any resistance to Late Stage Capitalism has been wielded and fear is in the DNA of the USA. One or multiples of those three had caused villages to have been burned here since at least 1619 when slaves arrived at the Virginia colony, but likely even earlier when white men devalued indigenous peoples.<\/p>\n
Now, a new digital landscape arises in Social Media. This instantaneous gratification satisfies the American appetite and gives a hungry and radicalized audience everything they need to gorge themselves. Instead of just individual isolated voices or outlets, like Limbaugh or Fox News, the firehose is endless. Overnight, people were inundated with techniques they\u2019ve never seen before, and it worked. You no longer need strictly nuanced approaches like Reagan\u2019s War on Drugs, which was a dog-whistled way to go after minorities, while at the same time doing nothing about the AIDS crisis. If the prisons fill with \u2018them,\u2019 the justification is always going to be, \u201cthey shouldn\u2019t have done anything illegal.\u201d I imagine these same people would turn over German Jews and Jesus, that is following the law. Villages were burning, but it was ok; it was \u2018their\u2019 villages.<\/p>\n
I watch with the same despair and helplessness as there are still some dog-whistled approaches, voices screaming about the dangers of suburbs dying and different types of housing \u2018invading.\u2019 Those don\u2019t need to be as prevalent anymore. As the Senate has abdicated its responsibilities to govern, it is poisoning the judiciary branch with malicious intent, and we have a malignant narcissist in the Oval Office who views a pandemic approximately seventy 9\/11s in casualties as \u2018acceptable.\u2019 The Late Stage Capitalists are cheering as they hoover up wealth at the expense of us all with no moral compass other than the one that points to themselves. People who view themselves authority figures are killing people in the streets with wanton abandon. Citizens in the streets with a clear desire for peace shout their consent to be governed via authoritarianism is not being given. I watch villages burn here, and the parallels between here and there hurt.<\/p>\n
My life has been a constant struggle to put out the fires. I am one person in a world of people who profit from the fires and who view equality as oppression. I am not alone; I am a part of a long lineage of honorable women and men who have wanted little more than to be valued as people because they are people, and the opportunity to contribute to the chorus of the world with their unique voice. It is difficult right now when everywhere you turn, there are the forces of religious, racial (social), and economic oppression and their defenders, and they\u2019ve allied, mainly, in one political party.<\/p>\n
I used to think this period was just a dark stain on our history, instead of understanding it\u2019s an accumulation of decades of effort from people rotting us from the inside. When I returned from living abroad, the culture shock that hit me was tangible. The America I returned to wasn\u2019t the one I left. In truth, the America I departed was just a naive romanticization from a youthful idealist whose innocence hadn\u2019t yet been entirely destroyed. I was not a social child, but even as a kid, I had little patience for immaturity. As a teenager, I was frustrated by a church that had no answers for applying critical thought to mythology. I was learning how difficult it was to reason your way out of a position when one did not reason themselves into that position. I have this struggle now with the theocrats, the racists, the authoritarians, etc. We are often at an impasse wherein their views of a white Christian utopia does not exist, but if I\u2019ve learned anything lately is reality is a village that has to match their agenda, or it gets burned. I\u2019ve had enough of watching villages burn.<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
I was working on this piece for sometime when the news broke of RBG\u2019s passing. I started crying as I knew life was going to get even worse. I want to take tonight to celebrate her accomplishments before I wake up tomorrow to mourn her passing, but I can\u2019t. Plato is quoted to have said only dead men know peace. The forces of evil determined to prevent America from being a better version of itself are a constant reminder he was right.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
[\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”Toward What or Who am I being Compassionate? (2025 : Part 2)” _builder_version=”4.23.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” open=”off”]<\/p>\n
I am reminded of why monks live in monasteries. Monastic life, on the one hand, has its tasks to accomplish while never letting you forget that you and the environment are one and the same. On the other hand, monastic life does not inundate you with news of outside events.\u00a0 The news is painfully negative at the best of times, but what\u2019s truly sad is the almost gleeful coverage of events during the worst of times.\u00a0 Having compassion means our hearts go out to those suffering, but it is easy to become drained hearing one negative outcome after another.\u00a0 The real tragedy is that\u2019s by design.<\/p>\n
Southern California burns; it\u2019s a topic difficult to discuss.\u00a0 Obviously, we don\u2019t want to see anyone get hurt in the fire.\u00a0 Seeing people online take pleasure in watching those they politically disagree with suffer like this is another daily reminder of the social wildfires started and spread constantly by those who don\u2019t want us as a united people.\u00a0 Matters are only made worse when, at the bottom of my heart, I know the everyperson who was living in those communities and lost everything will be priced out of coming back a lot more than the exploiters who will rebuild themselves into a more exclusive community.<\/p>\n
France recently took to the streets and celebrated the death of Le Pen.\u00a0 \u201cGood Manners\u201d and \u201cDecorum\u201d say we shouldn\u2019t do such things.\u00a0 I\u2019ve thought about this for some time, and I am torn about the matter.\u00a0 The French aren\u2019t afraid to show outward anger towards a system that is profoundly flawed and want people to believe they are powerless to change it.\u00a0 Here in the USA, such anger is directed toward wildfire victims, or worse \u2013 shooting a school or attacking the capital.\u00a0 So, celebrating a death seems very rude on the surface, but the relief of knowing that person isn\u2019t going to do harm anymore is a powerful feeling that many of us don\u2019t express openly.\u00a0 I think we should.<\/p>\n
Beyond the principle \u201cDemocracy progresses one funeral at a time,\u201d Toward what or who are we being compassionate?\u00a0 Recently, I was at an aquarium with a special soul.\u00a0 Part of the aquarium\u2019s message was about invasive species and what the local biome would look like if conversation efforts failed.\u00a0 I look out my window at birds flying around and tree branches dancing in the wind, and I wonder how much worse the California fire is due to the removal of Oak Groves and us imposing our will on the environment again and again (*1).\u00a0 When I think of \u2018us inserting our will\u2019 as a form of invasive species, I immediately think of the Trumps, the Le Pens, the Limbaughs, and a whole host of others starting and spreading wildfires that are now out of control in their way and the damage done is already great, with no signs of containment ahead.<\/p>\n
Toward what or who are we being compassionate?\u00a0 The answer has to be, first and foremost, ourselves, but how do we accomplish this without being ignorant or consumed?\u00a0 Detachment is part of the answer, but fostering a positive environment is another. When news large enough arrives requiring us to act, we can give earnestly and return to something rejuvenating.\u00a0 Another part of the answer is emotional integrity; when it is time to celebrate or mourn, we allow ourselves to do so.\u00a0 We\u2019re not going to be in the streets celebrating every death, but for those select few that deserve it, be honest with our feelings.\u00a0 If we can\u2019t be honest with ourselves, we have no hope of being truly compassionate.\u00a0 Unless we tune out entirely, I think it\u2019s ok to be angry that more of the world is on fire than needs to be (*2).\u00a0 However, it\u2019s also ok not to take on the weight of the world all on yourself; we are capable of wonderous things together.<\/p>\n
\u2014-<\/p>\n
(*1) To be clear I\u2019m not trying to place blame on any one person, developer, etc.,\u00a0 I understand this situation was complicated by incredible winds and other factors.<\/p>\n
(*2) Yes, we do set things on fire intentionally!\u00a0 In fact California, among other places, is in an area where regular burn cycles is part of its natural health.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”2025 A Year of Compassion : Part 3 \u2013 The Pressures We Put on Ourselves.” _builder_version=”4.23.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” open=”off”]<\/p>\n
Today is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We get to celebrate it by inaugurating a convicted felon, rapist, and fraud who is legally unable to operate charities in the state of NY. Exit polls demonstrate the criminal-in-chief\u2019s primary support was uneducated white people, which have been the republican\u2019s core base since before I was born. In April 1963, from jail, Dr. King wrote, \u201cI must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro\u2019s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen\u2019s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to \u2018order\u2019 than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
The choice between Pain and Progress couldn\u2019t have been any clearer, but Populism invents problems to give you solutions. The Right-Wing media sphere (social media especially) went into overdrive, blaming all of your problems on someone or something else \u2013 Trans people, Immigrants, etc. However, roughly 1.14% of the population (3 million people) are Trans, and yet they got the McCarthyism treatment. Immigrants were presented as lazy moochers draining tax dollar-funded resources and crafty job stealers simultaneously \u2013 but never a mention of the businesses who hire them.<\/p>\n
The Fear and Hate Populism gives you is manufactured. If they can keep you focused on stripping Women\u2019s Rights, Religious Equality, LGBTQ+ Rights, and more, then you won\u2019t notice the worsening Wealth Inequality, Climate Change, and other pro-wealthy protections. President Lyndon B. Johnson summed it up nicely, \u201cIf you can convince the lowest white man he\u2019s better than the best colored man, he won\u2019t notice you\u2019re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he\u2019ll empty his pockets for you.\u201d However, even back in the Roman days, Juvenal satirically remarked, \u201cTwo things only the people anxiously desire: bread and circuses,\u201d showing if you can keep people fed and distracted, you can get away with much.<\/p>\n
So, where does Compassion come into all of this? We, as people, typically want our lives to have a sense of meaning and purpose. When we are confronted with an understanding time and effort we spent on something \u201cdidn\u2019t matter,\u201d we tend to become angry about the waste (*1). We put enormous pressures on ourselves to perform in all aspects of our lives, trying to maintain a standard often given to us in our youth. We wrestle with moments in the past wherein we didn\u2019t live up to this arbitrary standard, and we are wracked with guilt (*2). We look ourselves in the mirror and redouble our determination to do better; we reinforce that arbitrary standard in our minds. We could be continuously setting ourselves up for failure.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s inauguration in the shadow of Dr. King strips meaning and hope from many. The question isn\u2019t if things are going to get worse, but how much worse. The incoming grifter has exposed deep systemic corruption, but it\u2019s mainly for his personal benefit. Compassion goes beyond forgiveness, healthy detachment, and positively reinforcing environments; Compassion helps us feel comfortable in our being. I continue to struggle with the concept of Atonement. I caused irreparable harm to others, and part of me survived to suffer the consequences of it. I\u2019m in pain every day, I struggle with sleep, and I put in a great deal of conscious effort to combat my mood instabilities, anxiety, and internal struggles. I try my absolute best not to take my struggles out on anyone else, but I slip up here and there, and it destroys me inside.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s inauguration of an actual evil man demonstrating accountability is sadly optional, but it has perversely pointed out an important point of the Compassion-Forgiveness relationship. Self-Compassion also means we can stop putting so much pressure on ourselves. Apathy is a popular drug in the USA, and I\u2019m not advocating we go from white-knuckle grip to \u2018who-gives-a-f,\u2019 but there is a healthy middle ground. I have tried to do the right thing for decades, but I can\u2019t, alone, combat the media bubbles people create for themselves. I have felt tremendous guilt for spending money, but one cruise missile costs more than anything I\u2019m going to spend in my life.<\/p>\n
Self-Compassion means we can let ourselves remove the pressure we place on ourselves. Self-Compassion also means we can create meaning and purpose for ourselves instead of the manufactured fear and hate being pumped at us. By assigning meaning not only for ourselves but to ourselves, we can erect healthy boundaries and foster a conducive environment within them; we can forgive ourselves for the things in which there are no more lessons left to learn and let go of the pain which serves no more purpose. We can try to feel comfortable in our being, which we will need in the dark times ahead.<\/p>\n
(*1) Quick Reminder: Anger comes from a place of protection. In this case we\u2019re protecting our desire to put our time and energy into meaningful things. The waste is the point.<\/p>\n
(*2) Quick Reminder: Guilt is the burden of change. Feeling guilt about the past beyond a certain point only hurts the self uselessly as we can\u2019t change it. Forgiveness is the answer to guilt.<\/p>\n
P.S. \u2013 Dr. King also wrote \u201cshallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.\u201d The next time the choice between Pain and Progress (could be the Midterms in two years) presents itself, I hope we will choose progress with enthusiasm. We and the environment are one and the same. If we want to be Compassionate \u2013 we aren\u2019t just voting for our interests but for the Trans community, The Immigrant community, the children from whom we are borrowing the planet etc.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”2025 Part 4 : Of Compassion and Chronology” _builder_version=”4.23.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” open=”off”]<\/p>\n
Compassion is a skill;\u00a0 being compassionate is succeeding in using said skill.\u00a0 Skills take practice to develop proficiency, and we shouldn\u2019t expect perfection from ourselves (or anyone, really).\u00a0\u00a0 In the West, we are used to flipping a switch and things working instantly.\u00a0 Beyond that, we\u2019re often conditioned to respond (and expect responses) from people swiftly as well and negatively react when we don\u2019t receive immediate feedback.\u00a0 We also carry in our pockets a device which will give us immediate feedback on demand 24\/7.\u00a0\u00a0 We have become accustomed to a request for stimulus to be met in a short timeframe.<\/p>\n
Theodore Roosevelt once said, \u201cNothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty\u2026\u201d\u00a0 A more modern adage is, \u2018there is no free lunch.\u2019\u00a0 Compassion is, at its core, something that relieves pain, but that does not at all mean the journey to get there is painfree.\u00a0 The journey to make a medicine takes significant effort to research, test, refine, review, and finally help as intended;\u00a0 compassion is a medicine of the heart, and it too takes effort to let go of the judgments and the pain and try to see more than just the immediate negatives.<\/p>\n
Bad days or slip-ups are not in and of themselves indications we have abandoned the compassionate path.\u00a0 Sometimes it is hard to see our efforts reduced the severity of the slip-up in question as we were trying our best, but a little bit (of things we didn\u2019t want) got through anyway.\u00a0 All we are focused on is the bit that got through as opposed to all that didn\u2019t, how many times it didn\u2019t, and how sincere our efforts are to mend internal and external bridges.\u00a0 The \u2018perfect or catastrophe\u2019 approach is another consequence of the modern busy lifestyle.<\/p>\n
It is ok to slow down.\u00a0 The anxiety we feel is something that can fade in time as we let ourselves stop trying to \u2018keep up.\u2019\u00a0 If we\u2019re honest with ourselves, the ones who benefit most from all of us trying to \u2018keep up\u2019 don\u2019t need the extra help anyway \u2013 especially now when they have the best government they can buy.\u00a0 By slowing down, we give ourselves a crucial opportunity \u2013 to ensure our actions align with our intentions (*1), which is itself a form of self-compassion.\u00a0 Working toward a goal we do not share will never bring us the peace and joy we yearn for.<\/p>\n
Compassion takes time to implement fully, and we will know it is in full effect when it is effortless.\u00a0 If we\u2019re still torn about something, we\u2019re not there yet;\u00a0 if we still feel anxious about something, we\u2019re not there yet.\u00a0 It could be we still have yet to learn everything about a lesson from the past; it could be we still have not let ourselves experience the totality of how we sincerely feel; it could be we have not taken action deep down we know we need to initiate.\u00a0 Compassion is a skill, and all skills only benefit from how earnestly you practice them.\u00a0 Take a breath; practice compassion.\u00a0 You are worth it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
(*1) \u2013 Activities in which our actions and intentions align is a definition of Meditation.\u00a0 Meditation can absolutely be part of a self-compassion practice.\u00a0 You could be deliberate and have a \u2018Self-Compassion Meditation!\u2019\u00a0 What would that look like?\u00a0 Take a moment to reflect on yourself and the day \u2013 look at what you did that day in a positive light.\u00a0 Maybe you got some backlog done that you\u2019ve been meaning to do.\u00a0 Maybe you successfully navigated some stressful moments (or people), and you can acknowledge yourself for it.\u00a0 Maybe you let yourself rest, breathe, and put the weight of the world down for a moment \u2013 which is important and overlooked in today\u2019s world.\u00a0 Maybe you made progress on a big goal or project, and you feel good about it!\u00a0 We do things every day, and all it takes is a moment or two to stop and practice a bit of self-compassion in the form of acknowledgments and affirmations.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”Dear Diary, Compassion in an Age of Cruelty” _builder_version=”4.23.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” open=”off” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
The last thing most people want to do is look inward and confront themselves, and as such, we live in an age of unnecessary cruelty.\u00a0 How did we get here?\u00a0 A lack of accountability for the wealthy and powerful developed into a lack of shame at all.\u00a0 Absent shame, the behavior continued to get worse until facts themselves began to come under fire and eventually ignored and replaced.\u00a0 Now, we live in a world where people read at a sixth-grade level and are fed constant lies by people who profit from a system that protects them.\u00a0 The system, meanwhile, has been corrupted to be self-serving rather than public-serving.<\/p>\n
A corrupt system inspires its people to throw up middle fingers and say, \u2018Why bother?\u2019 while those who profit from the corruption get more powerful and entrenched.\u00a0 It is easy to say, \u2018Why bother?\u2019 when challenging the system, the message, and ultimately yourself means holding yourself to a higher standard to which leadership is currently held. However, nothing will ever change if nothing changes.\u00a0 So where does change start but with us, acknowledging the status quo is wrong and can\u2019t continue as is.<\/p>\n
Part of compassion is listening to that inner voice telling you what we\u2019re doing or seeing is wrong.\u00a0 Change is often uncomfortable, and if we\u2019re not willing to look inward for ourselves, \u00a0look inward for others.\u00a0 Confront the reason you\u2019re actually uncomfortable with a tax on billionaires is because it\u2019s a tax on your dream of being a billionaire one day versus the reality of wealth inequality and how bad it is for us politically, environmentally, and socially.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s an old joke that says, \u2018It is 0458(GMT) in Tokyo, it\u2019s 1958(GMT) in London, and it\u2019s 1958(A.D.) in The USA.\u2019\u00a0 A key aspect of growth is vulnerability.\u00a0 A sad truth about the American Culture is vulnerability is actively discouraged by a section of men.\u00a0 Toxic Masculinity is alive and thriving here in the USA, and its tenets are simple \u2013 you are capable of everything individually and independently.\u00a0 The consequences of this isolationism are plain to see, including but not limited to a refusal to admit wrongdoing, a lack of empathy and emotional availability, and a strong desire for a well-defined hierarchy.<\/p>\n
When people are incapable of admitting wrongdoing, looking inward to confront themselves is going to be nigh impossible.\u00a0 As such, the lies they are fed will be a source of comfort.\u00a0 They can, despite the fear and anger, find solace in being able to point the finger elsewhere and never inwardly.\u00a0\u00a0 Such devoted division allows the liars and the system as a whole to continue to be plundered and rotted from within as the opposition is too busy being held up by those content with the lie.<\/p>\n
Compassion requires assuming degrees of responsibility, as doing the right thing is not a passive pursuit but an active and considered path met with constant resistance. If the finger is always pointed elsewhere, it will be extraordinarily difficult to develop anything more than a transactional-level interaction, which isn\u2019t compassion at all.\u00a0 We are not always the primary beneficiaries of an act of compassion, which makes compassion unappealing to the so-called \u2018manosphere,\u2019 and those they influence. Sometimes, an act of compassion is non-action, which is also unappealing to those who feel they always need to demonstrate control and dominance.<\/p>\n
Living in objective reality, understanding not just our actions have consequences but we and the environment are one and not avoiding the accountability of such a life will foster compassion organically by virtue of being connected with the big and small here and now.\u00a0 Caring is a burden to bear, but it\u2019s not a burden we have to bear alone.\u00a0 We all do better when we all do better, and the more of us who care, the higher we can reach. Having moments of anger or fear doesn\u2019t mean we stop caring; we will feel a range of emotions at points in our lives.\u00a0 The important thing is to stay present as opposed to locking ourselves away and, by extension, stuck in the past.<\/p>\n
It isn\u2019t the 1950s anymore,\u00a0 and it\u2019s ok for other countries and cultures to thrive with us.\u00a0 In truth, it was always ok for other countries and cultures to thrive.\u00a0 Life is not a zero-sum game.\u00a0 If others do well, it is not at your expense. It is a primary lie spewed from the \u2018manosphere\u2019 to maintain the division necessary for the system to remain corrupt and plunderable from within.\u00a0 The only minority actually causing real harm are the billionaires.\u00a0 We can stand up to them and maintain our principles; I\u2019d argue standing up to them is part of our principles of mitigating and restoring the damage done.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s ok for your inner voice to tell you things aren\u2019t right and for you to listen to it.\u00a0 What is currently happening is not right, is not normal, and it\u2019s ok to acknowledge it.\u00a0 If you were on the wrong path before, it is ok to get off that path and do things differently.\u00a0 Compassion has to start somewhere, and often, that place is looking in the mirror and having an uncomfortable, honest conversation with ourselves.\u00a0 From there, we can branch out with a smile and an open hand instead of a closed fist and clenched teeth.<\/p>\n
Practice Compassion. You are worth it\u2014and so are others who may need that helping hand or simple acceptance.<\/p>\n
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All posts and relevant context will go here in order of creation (or relevancy)2025 : A Year of Compassion (Intro) I initially wanted 2025 to be A Year of Focus.\u00a0 2024 got away from me;\u00a0 it felt like the bad news piled on, and I lost myself just trying to do my best day to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"project_category":[],"project_tag":[],"class_list":["post-29017","project","type-project","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n