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9/24/2021 9:59:26 PM
Eastern Oregon Contemplative
Expansive, settling, calm, beautiful, meditative—walking in nature helps maintain perspective and mental health.
Invisible Injustice
“Be prepared. The worst is yet to come,” are the message released by scientists getting ready for the UN’s Global Conference on Health and Climate Change in November. It will be a summit like no other, for it will ask us to get ready for unprecedented changes of a magnitude that are hard to fathom. There will be suggestions for containing COVID-19, for sure. But, most of us can imagine the pandemic eventually coming to an end. It’s the climate part, asking for global collaboration that will cause most of the nervousness. It is an invisible injustice that causes mental distress.
All nations agree that everyone has the right to live in a healthy environment free of pollution, yet plans to make that happen lack agreement and human activities continue to destabilize earth’s air, water, and climate to the point where there may be no return—certainly not in our lifetime.
Human beings have have dealt with nature’s tragedies before. Pandemics, earthquakes, tidal waves have occurred throughout history, but nothing we know of has ever been on the scale that is evolving. Never have we had a crisis with such misunderstood consequences. What now acknowledge that it is worse than scientists originally thought and that there is no end in sight. We are being told to prepare for the long haul—one lasting 300 or 500 years or longer. How do we do that?
The visible consequences of rising temperatures—fires, floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes are easy to see. Poor air quality, degraded food, inadequate water systems, and physical illnesses plaguing our lives are recognized problems we are trying to address. Fear of mass eco-migrants fleeing homelands due to global warming are more difficult to discuss. Instead of compassion, people respond with aggression when they feel community cohesion being threatened.
Where can people go who lose homes to rising waters? Who will support them when a fire burns down their house? Where will funds come from when they are ill and lack nourishment? From you? From me? These questions plague the mental health of Americans. Dealing with an invisible injustice requires resilience that is difficult to come by. It depends on overcoming the guilt and despair that comes from feeling helpless.
Eco-anxiety, characterized by severe and debilitating worry about climate and environmental risks, is a reason for seeking professional help. Loss of appetite, difficulty sleeping, and panic attacks are on the increase. Some psychiatrists consider anxiety an adaptive mechanism, a call to action that is an advantage for survival. They say if we don’t worry enough, we won’t take action.
The difficulty with climate change, however, is that there is no end in sight. We are on a steamroller gaining speed as the years go by. Children and marginalized communities will suffer the most, as they always do. But, all are affected, whether by conflict avoidance or by feeling powerlessness, by sensing loss and helplessness, or by feeling frustrated. The health consequences of these concerns are seen in increased injuries, asthma and cardiovascular disease, malaria, forced migration, malnutrition, drug and alcohol use, stress, mental illness, dengue fever, and other illnesses related to ecological change.
Given such dire consequences, it is important to learn how to maintain a sense of well-being. Suggestions by psychiatrists include walking and or biking rather than driving. Not only does it reduce fossil fuel consumption, but physical commuting reduces depression, anxiety, and stress. A second proposal is to spend more time in green spaces. Interacting with nature can significantly lower stress-related illnesses.
Using wind, solar, hydro, and other climate-friendly sources of energy can reduce particles and pollution in the air and make you feel good for doing your part. Meditation, yoga, or mindfulness twenty to thirty minutes a day is all that is needed to lower blood pressure and help you function with a clearer head.
Another tip is to become part of a community. As you adjust to the realities of climate change, it is important to know you are not alone and that others are struggling beside you. If your economic livelihood is threatened, don’t wait until you are penniless. Change your circumstances—relocate, go back to school, try a different line of work even if it means losing money in the short run. Change can be an adventure rather than a loss.
If forced to move, keep old cultural connections and find ways to celebrate new ones that are comforting. The internet provides ways to stay in touch with distant friends, but it cannot replace a new community of people with compatible interests. As human beings, we need flesh and blood companionship.
Family, friends, and support networks are critical to supporting resilience. We need people in our circle of acquaintances to whom we can let off steam. Children, especially, need support. They are growing up with the knowledge that the world is not as it should be—safe and secure. Many are afraid for their future. Adults can help them build confidence in their own resilience by fostering optimism and cultivating active participation and self-regulating behavior.
Lastly, it’s a good idea to boost personal preparedness by assembling short-term emergency kits. They add comfort when they contemplating natural disasters. Knowing you have done your best by preparing mind and body to accept change will helpkeep you calm and when facing unforeseen hurdles.
References:
Ingle, H & Mikulewicz, M Mental (2020) health and climate change: tackling invisible injustice. The Lancet Planetary Health. retrieved from https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(20)30081-4/fulltext
(2017) Mental Health and Our Changing Climate: impacts, Implications,, and Guidance.American Psychological Association. retrieved from https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2017/03/mental-health-climate.pdf
Art is always for sale. contact meat [email protected] Eastern Oregon Contemplative / 21” x 25” gold frame/ acrylic on canvas/ $425.
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9/18/2021 10:01:08 PM
The Cherry Tree above is part of a series of 28 paintings. Painting them added purpose to my walks in the woods. I study details of how trees grow and feel the texture and strength of the bark that protects and carries nourishment to their leaves. Like fingerprints, trees fill me with awe and wonder at nature's diversity.
Searching for Purpose
Revisiting Purpose
Last week was unusual in that five people spoke of confusion and how they didn't know what to do with their lives. Three were recent retirees, one was in his late thirties, and another was a recent college graduate affected by the pandemic. They all mentioned feeling hollow inside. Deflated by circumstance, their energy was gone, making it hard to test the waters to try something new. They flailed around, thrashing at empty starts, searching for happiness rather than purpose. Afraid of failing, they didn't consider their situation as an opportunity to do something new and exciting. World events weren't helping them feel optimistic.
The thirty-nine-year-old was a savvy programmer who frequented clubs and parties hoping to meet a magical someone who would provide a six-figure salary and a meaningful job. The recent college graduate, employed as a barista, didn't know how to find employment in marketing, the career she had gone to school for. She knew she didn't want to market products that people didn't need, was concerned about global warming, the pandemic, and wondered how she was going to get a life partner wearing a mask.
Two people were recent retirees who had left careers they had been in for forty-plus years. One had been a teacher, the other a social worker. They both had been passionate about their jobs, working long hours to improve the lives of others. In retirement, they wanted a change of pace but craved being needed and the feeling that comes from being wrapped up in what you are doing. Qualified for little beyond their professions, they didn't know how to find a new passion. A third retiree had planned to travel, but the onset of COVID-19 put her plans on hold. Flights were unreliable, state and federal parks crowded, and the fear of getting sick pulled on her mind.
My grandparent's generation would have said, "Suck it up. Life's not about happiness, it's about survival." A modern Russian adage says, "a person who smiles a lot is either a fool or an American."
Eleanor Roosevelt wrote, "Happiness is not a goal, it's a by-product."
Though philosophers like Aristotle and the Dali Lama say it is life's primary motivation, chasing it seldom creates the desired result. The first lady goes on to say, "Paradoxically, the one sure way not to be happy is deliberately to map out a way of life in which one would please oneself completely and exclusively…For what keeps our interest in life and makes us look forward to tomorrow is giving pleasure to other people."
How often do you hear a parent tell their offspring, "All I want is for you to be happy," rather than guide them with, "Search for a purpose in life that is meaningful and you'll find happiness." Though Mrs. Roosevelt's words may ring true, finding purpose is not easy.
The way I proceeded is by never making a change before planning what comes next. It often meant continuing to engage in something I had lost interest in, but I stayed until sure of what I wanted to do and how I was going to get there. Sadly, I've been privy to the grief of many people who quit jobs before thinking through their transition. Without an income, they floundered and eventually depended on the kindness of parents and friends to bail them out. Too often they went back to jobs they were not interested in doing.
According to Harvard Business Review, American expectations about happiness are modern phenomena. Disasters have always existed, but the way people dealt with them in the past differs from the way they do now. In 1973, when Philadelphia experienced a yellow fever epidemic, survivors were told to keep up their spirits and avoid excessive grief. It wasn't until the 1920's that literature stressed the individual's responsibility to gain happiness. It was then that marketers began playing on people's emotions by associating it with purchasing products.
Stressing happiness makes reality more stressful and harder to deal with sadness in yourself and others. Finding purpose, as Ms. Roosevelt suggests, is having goals that positively impact other people. Helping an elderly parent or newborn baby, raising children, teaching struggling kids to read, researching cures for disease, cleaning city streets of trash, organizing for political change are activities that take you outside yourself.
The first step in finding a purposeful pursuit is self-awareness, knowing that it is what you want to do. For instance, before selling my business I set three retirement goals to become an accomplished write who could stimulate discussions, to show emotions through art, and to build deeper friendships. Though I often had false starts, I didn't suffer from a lack of motivation.
A second step is being curious. Start by reading, talking to people, researching options, and trying a few out. Decide what individual or group you want to help and do something to alleviate someone else's pain. Aiding others often leads to purpose.
The third step is cultivating gratitude, awe, and altruism. These positive emotions promote health and well-being that connect you to something larger than yourself. They help build the emotional foundation necessary to gain a sense of purpose.
Listening to what other people appreciate about you is also helpful, for it holds a mirror up to how you are perceived. Ask yourself what energizes you and what you are willing to sacrifice. Do you like the perception others have of you or do you need to find a community that looks more kindly at your interests? Joining a writers group was reinforcing and one of the most rewarding things I did in retirement. Members help each other develop skills by critiquing their work.
Leaving the world better than you found it can't be done in isolation, though that desire can influence who you befriend and how you act on and off the job. Finding a purpose takes energy and courage. Leaving your comfort zone to plunge headlong into something new is rarely easy. Baby steps may be necessary to take you there. It also helps to remember you're never stuck and if you can't find purpose in a dream job, you can outside of work.
Curious people have the ability to travel many paths. They know that the future is about learning something new and blending it with what they know about themselves. Nothing from their past ever goes to waste. Finding purpose is a quest to be cherished, embraced, enjoyed, and never rushed. The tragedies we've all witnessed over the past few years have opened the door to opportunities that need attention. No matter your age, the future is a blank canvas that is yours to paint.
References:
Stearns, P. (2012) The History of Happiness. Harvard Business Review, retrieved from https://hbr.org/2012/01/the-history-of-happiness.
Smith, J, (2018) How to FIndYour Purpose in Live. Greater Good Magazine, Science-Based Insights for a Meaningful Life. retrieved from https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_find_your_purpose_in_life
Davis, T.(2017) FIve Steps to Finding Your Life Purpose. Psychology Today. retrieved from
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/click-here-happiness/201712/five-steps-finding-your-life-purposefrom
9/11/2021 5:40:36 PM
"Roots hold me close, wings set me free." Unitarians repeat this phrase each Sunday during services. It always makes me question what roots hold me close and what set of wings have set me free. I remember my mother washing my mouth out with soap when I was six. She was horrified when I came into the house shouting profanity. "We don't do that," she said. "People who curse are crude and have no manners. Though we live in a neighborhood where people curse, you should never stoop to their level."
Since then, I've not been comfortable around people exploding with bathroom, sexual, and religious expletives. My mother wrapped roots around me by shaping my behavior and opinion of people who utter profanities. But, as I aged, I wondered if I was being fair and questioned my assumptions, asking why people curse, and if spouting profanities like a nightclub comedian would somehow set me free. Would cursing release toxins from my body?
My way of dealing with anger had always been private. In my twenties and thirties, I bicycled through empty woodland trails shouting and screaming at the top of my lungs until my fury dissolved and I calmed down. In later years, I adopted a more gentle path through meditation.
A psychiatrist told me that it's old-fashioned and prudish not to curse and those who do so shouldn't be judged poorly. He proudly told me that he and his wife let off steam by shouting obscenities. Through my lens, they seemed to enjoy breaking social taboos and didn't mind making each other uncomfortable with strong emotional tirades. He was more interested in having the angry individual feel better than hurting his or her spouse with stinging words. He believed cursing was important for good health. I warned against his continuing the practice and was sad when the couple got divorced.
Historically, foul language transited from religious curses, like Holy Saints! or Christ! (they became more acceptable), to physical and sexual words like F and S. In our times, contextually offensive profanities based on racist language became unacceptable and legally so, as well.
There are four main types of swearing. Expletives like Shit! show frustration, anger, pain, or shock at something unexpected. Abusive phrases like That bastard let the air out of my tires, use name-calling in an intentionally derogatory way that's meant to offend or wound. Social swearing is the most common use of curses. Directing obscenities against outsiders--Hey whitey!--is a way of showing solidarity. Within a group--you N***a, get on over here, it's been a long time, man--can be a sign of friendly bantering. When adopted stylistically, profanities display attitudes like disapproval, surprise, or exasperation. We're bloody going to take that bloody trip no matter how bad COVID gets!
Words-words-words. As a writer, I'm fascinated in how words are used. Linguistic, physiological, and neurological studies show there is no more evocative way than swearing to shock or arouse emotions. You sewer rat! doesn't carry the same force as Mother fucker! Curse words color speech and express sentiments that ordinary expressions can't. They can serve a useful function to the curser by alleviating pain, reducing stress, and replacing physical violence, however, too much profanity has the opposite effect. When used with regularity, abustive words lose their cathartic value and make the person who says them appear to be ignorant with a limited vocabulary.
Profanity is more commonly used on the job today, with 66 percent of millennials openly swearing compared to 54 percent of those over 30. Despite changes in employee attitudes, employers considerer it unprofessional. Workers jeopardize their reputation and lose power when going on foul-mouthed tirades rather than holding their tongues. According to a survey by CareerBuilder, people who shout obscenities are thought of as less intelligent. "Maintaining composure in the worst of times is seen as a good example of demonstrating grace under pressure," says Diane Gottsman of The Protocol School of Texas.
Most of all, nasty barbs hurt. What is said is remembered, can't be taken back later even with an apology. Words that help one person and cause pain in another are likely to lead to an unhappy ending.
There are better ways to solve problems than with profanities. I can't overcome roots about not cursing that ground me. They were planted deep within me, saying they are more harmful than good. More effective than a soapy mouth, wings let see the pros and cons of using profanity. Freedom came from my ability to make an informed decision--I can't go wrong by keeping my language clean.
I have deep roots--a great many. And, as I've aged, I've struggled with which ones to keep and what to cut. Actress Ruth Gordon wrote, "Courage is very important. Like a muscle, it is strengthened by use." The more we do, the less frightening it will be, and the more we can grow.
Wings can take you outside your comfort zone to see further and learn more. But the mind has to analyze what is new and compared with past information. It's not good to cut roots until you are certain of gaining freedom by making a change.
References:
Staff Blog (2020) Questions about Language: Why do People Swear?CRC Press and Routledge Taylor & Francis Group retrieved from https://www.routledge.com/blog/article/questions-about-language-why-do-people-swear
Gottsman, D. Think Swearing Makes you Look Powerful? Think Again.INC. retrieved from https://www.inc.com/diane-gottsman/talking-*-at-the-office-can-damage-your-reputat.html
SOARING
9/4/2021 10:13:35 AM
Soaring
Freedom by Mastery
Discussions about individual rights and political freedom plaster the news, while other types of freedom are rarely discussed. Infants standing upright to take their first steps, gain freedom by moving beyond their crib or parent’s arms to explore on their own— freedom gained. An elder who falls and can’t get up without help will lose the confidence to move without fear of freedom lost.
I remember my 11-month-old-son learning to crawl backward in order to go down the eight stairs to our living room. For a half-hour, he went up and down while my husband and I watched to make sure he was safe. At the bottom of each trip, he would look up at us and grin. He cried when we got bored and picked him up to go somewhere else. Building muscles and the ability to master steps gave him great joy. The increased freedom he gained results from practice that strengthened his muscles and brain.
Dancers practice for years before they can leap and twirl with abandonment across a stage. They spend grueling hours focused on stretching, building muscles and training their brains to tell their limbs what to do. With each advance comes a greater ability to execute moves they imagine in their minds. They work hard and concentric to eliminate outside static and center on the moment. A dancer who gets in “the flow” or “the zone”experiences true freedom.
Musicians, artists, cooks, athletes, gardeners, and computer programmers speak about the transformation that occurs when the body they inhabit performs as they desire. They crave moments when they are so completely focused on the task at hand that they are unaware of what’s going on around them. When in the zone, you can float above the cares of everyday life until an insight frees you to create something unique. This is a freedom I enjoy when painting and writing.
Freedom can also be obtained from synergy. The effect of that comes from working together can be greater than the sum of the individuals in the group. Yet, as the group grows in stature and abilities, the individuals amazingly do too.
A teacher described to me what it was like to lead a jazz band of talented high school students. The youth were exceptional musicians who had been enrolled in private lessons since childhood. That they had mastered their instruments, led him to believe that if his students were free to express themselves, his band would create exceptional music. The result of everyone doing his or her own thing was chaos. It wasn’t until he took control and added structure, that their individual talents were able to shine through. With skills that perfectly matched the performance requirements set forth, the musicians entered a state of flow felt by their audience. They played so well the students didn’t need to think about how to execute notes but could give themselves over to feeling the music and to expressing their emotions. Within the constraints of the piece they were playing, the youths were free.
We cannot all be masterful artists, musicians, or athletes, but most of us are capable of nurturing body and mind and developing skills that match the performance requirements we set for ourselves. Establishing challenges, learning skills, practicing, and mastering tasks is a recipe for joy. Dopamine levels in the brain increase to make you feel good even when small tasks are accomplished. It is like a drug that makes you crave more. So, you set new goals initiating a cycle that increases freedom with every success.
The infant learning to crawl backward downstairs will later find joy in balancing a bicycle. The elder who practices how to spin slowly while going down and getting up will gain the confidence to move more freely. A quadriplegic with a functioning brain can find ways to transpose himself from the world he inhabits to the one he wants.
As the country struggles with issues around political freedom, remember there are other ways to judge how free you are. It is up to you to open your mind and soar.
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Art is always for sale. Soaring is a 38” x 49” framed acrylic painting on canvas with feathers. Available for $765. For information, contact me at [email protected].
