mindfulness
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Weeping Loons
I have a nostalgic memory, both pleasant and painful, that occurred a couple years ago. I was sitting on the porch of our most heavenly cabin enjoying a strong summer rain storm. The Loons came to me and wept. There had been a squall, unlike anything I had ever seen. I love water, I love…
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Feelings VII: It’s Not All About Hurt
How odd it must seem to start this blog with what seems like a contradiction to the title of the previous blog, “It’s All About Hurt.” All about hurt? Not all about hurt? What am I trying to say? I am saying that both are true, however paradoxical that sounds. In Feelings 6 we talked…
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Feelings 6: It’s All About Hurt
We have talked about the phenomenon of hurt in previous “Feelings” blogs, primarily in Feelings: 2 (Expressing Feelings), but it behooves us to return to hurt and unpack it a bit. I will cover the following things about “hurt”: Hurt is another of the important undefinable words that we can have an understanding about without…
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Mind over Matter IV: Addictions
This is the fourth blog in the Mind over Matter series. Initially we discussed the theory of mind and brain, noting that the “mind” is a real entity but undefinable, along with the different functions of the mind and the brain. In Mind over Matter II we discussed how the brain creates anger, anxiety, and…
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Mind Over Matter
The most important thing I learned in physics is that the central ingredients of the universe are undefined. My high school physics teacher always had us write out definitions of various ingredients, like space, velocity, and weight. He also included three requests for definitions of time, distance, and mass. It took me some time…
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Who’s in Control
I’ve heard a lot about “control,” most of it negative. Like, “He’s a control freak,” or “She just has to control everybody in her life.” And then there is the other side, which seems to affirm that you can’t control anything and shouldn’t try like, “What’s going to happen is just going to happen” or…
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Happiness II: Pleasure and Joy
This is the second of two blogs on happiness, the first being on “Wanting and Liking.” Here I want to discuss the experiences of pleasure and joy. Know, however, that all four of these words (wanting, liking, pleasure, joy), and probably many more, are approximate ways of understanding this feeling of happiness. We know a…