Ah, the good old days at the Funny Farm. But that’s another story. No basketweaving, these days. No therapeutic leather tooling. No drugs (damn)! But I did spend this weekend on other mental-health therapies.
To wit …
Category: Mind and Spirit
Spirituality, moods, feelings, and thinking free to live free.
On Monday I did something I shouldn’t have. It’s been gnawing at me all week. Monday morning, first thing after booting up my computer and before I even had a sip of tea, I clicked on a link. Yes, the same thing most of us do hundreds, if not thousands, of times per week. You’d think by now the brain would be numbed to any creepiness that might be hiding behind any link. But no. This particular link was to an anti-gun thread on a forum I used to (until that moment) visit daily. The forum generally has nothing to…
… the things that will help them become strong. Tell their families not to be so eager to define them by stereotypes — not the old stereotypes of sugary pink or the new stereotypes of gender identity. Two powerful pieces. (And not just for girl children and their families, either.)
Wendy McElroy’s latest. A good read for Independence Day. Spread it around. —– (I’m still deadlining. Two articles down, one to go. Plus Life. More soon.)
Dog just hanging out in its own backyard. Cops canvassing neighborhood for a lost toddler (who turns out to be snoozing in his own family basement). Guess what cop does? Yeah. Again. But once again, the dog’s dad is on a take-no-prisoners quest for justice. (H/T furrydoc) Okay, let’s have some better dog stories. Including this happy cop and “vicious” pit bull story via naturegirl. And how about … dog returns wedding ring missing for five years. New study warns against trying to cheer some folks up. Yeah, I can see that, for sure. Sometimes you just need validation and…
Here are three longish reads to keep you busy just in case you don’t have anything better to do this summer Sunday: “Secrets of the Creative Brain.” Ninety-nine things that make people happy. The article itself is short. Following the links will take you down various informational rabbit holes. After several decades of increasingly warlike violence against Americans, the ACLU finally takes serious note (pdf). (H/T RL) —– Bonus read (to cheer you up after the ACLU report): My latest at JPFO, “What We Owe Ourselves Alone.” That one comes with a hat tip to MJR, whose comment here the…
You’ve decided you need to say no. To new volunteer obligations. Impositions on your privacy. Visits from relatives. Extra projects at work. Co-workers who crowd you. Whatever. (Maybe even to government, but more about that another time.)
But somehow no never quite ends up meaning no. Because this request for your time is so vital. And that request is just one small thing. And because it’s easier to just do it than to put all that energy into refusing again …
Real change has to begin with an ultimatum to yourself: No means no. No exceptions. No special cases. Above all no “Just this one time, please?” No. Means. No.
Because the first time you make an exception, you are dead. After that, everybody knows they can get what they want from you. And worse, you know you won’t stop them.
If you haven’t given yourself an ultimatum even stronger than the ones you’ve probably been trying to give other people, you’re doomed. You might say no once. You might say no twice, but in the long run “Just this one time, please?” is going to win because you haven’t effectively said “no means no” to yourself.
I know this. I am an expert in this subject. I have a Ph.D. in the field from long years of failure.
Bloomberg’s (now-former) head anti-gun honcho blames victim disarmament failures on Obamacare and Edward Snowden. And admits that none of his efforts could have stopped a mass shooting, in any case. It seems that shooting helpless dogs is no longer enough. It’s apparently more good, sadistic fun to cut their throats. Can you even imagine? (Via David Codrea) Ten tricks to make your life better today. (James Altucher does this stuff better than anybody.) “I Love My Guns.” JPFO reprints a “recent classic” from MamaLiberty. Nice going, Susan. Somehow these two go eerily well together. It’s terrifying how much information Google…
I woke up this morning from a dream in which a friend of mine had won a horse in a drag race and somehow it was my job to transport it home for her. No useful vehicle being available, someone (without asking me) arranged for a semi truck to be delivered for my use the next morning. I kept protesting to anyone who’d listen, “I can’t drive a semi truck! I can’t drive a semi truck! I can’t drive a semi truck!”
Everyone but me seemed to think this was a trivial concern. Quitcher whining; just get in and drive the thing. How hard could it be?
Dream worlds being what they are, even I didn’t consider the greater problem — which was that we were all on one of the Samoan islands and I’d need to drive the semi truck home across the Pacific Ocean.
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David Codrea reports that the family of Joseph Wilcox needs help to pay for his funeral expenses. Wilcox is the young concealed carrier who decided to confront the Las Vegas spree killer in Walmart — but fatally failed to realize there was a second murderer nearby. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal: A memorial fund has been set up for Joseph Wilcox at Wells Fargo. Those who wish to contribute to the Joseph R. Wilcox Memorial Fund can do so using account number 8485852688. Morning show hosts Mark and Mercedes with MIX 94.1-FM also will be teaming up with the…