loving art, science and creative kids
9/30/2023 6:37:03 PM
FLYING HIGH
Covid 19 flying alongside children’s kids during yhe summer of 2020, made for a frightening time.
Frightening Times
A few days ago, a young woman asked me if the world was more frightening today than at any other time during my life. The question made me pause and reflect on how I dealt with the past eight decades.
The Cold War came to mind first, with nuclear annihilation on everyone's tongue made me live under a cloud of fear that wouldn't go away. An ideological and political rivalry between democracy and communism escalated at the end of the Second World War affecting the world. Counties had to choose sides. Winston Churchill's 1956 speech chilled the world when he said that an iron curtain had descended. I didn't pay much attention to what was going on until I married and moved to Boston to finish college. I became terrified listening to the news, sure the city would be the first one attacked. I begged my husband to move to the suburbs. Bostonians were building bomb shelters and storing a year's worth of supplies in their basements. Television newscasts showed school children being drilled in how to drop, cover, and hide under their desks in case of an attack. Watching these programs kept my fear going. The war lasted until the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991, and fifteen independent nations were born. Though there wasn't a direct military confrontation between the United States and Russia, the Cold War cost the country billions of dollars. In 1945, when the Cold War started, the earth's population was about 2.3 billion.
Another tense event occurred during The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. It scared my family and friends more than it did me. A male acquaintance recently described his panic and belief that the crisis would lead to the end of humankind. I was pregnant and living in England during the crisis, oblivious to the severity of the situation. It wasn't until I saw news clips of President Kennedy informing the nation of developments in Cuba and his decision to enforce a "quarantine" that I understood the global consequences of the crisis continuing to escalate. In 1962, there were approximately 3.126 billion people around the globe.
The Civil Rights Movement didn't hit me in full force until the 1954 Supreme Court Brown v. Board of Education decision was passed. Tensions escalated in the 60s while I was in Boston. You could feel it in the air. Bobby Seal and the Black Panthers and the Nation of Islam, with Malcolm X as its spokesman, made headline news. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference was formed after the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The Selma march to Montgomery in 1965 energized the movement with painful footage of county posses and state troopers charging 600 unarmed protesters. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee began organizing students to participate in sit-ins and register black voters nationwide. The Ku Klux Klan and white Citizen's Councils kept espousing racist views while saying they didn't sanction violence. Though Black neighborhoods bore the brunt of destruction, the Watts Riots of 1965 and the Detroit Riot of 1967 shocked the nation, myself included.
Martin Luther King's 1968 assassination escalated the civil disobedience campaign with tent encampments. It was all we discussed at gatherings. Friends rode protest buses to the south and tried to get me to join in. My husband and I were chased by police with barking dogs at our heels when attending a rally at the tent city at the Boston Commons. We watched protesters next to us being grabbed by police and clubbed on the head before getting handcuffed and taken away. When I think back, I still feel the adrenaline rush accompanied by a knot in my stomach that made me want to throw up. The Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act were passed in 1973, effectively ending the movement. Many states still haven't adjusted to federally imposed desegregation and all citizens' right to vote. In 1970, there were 3.695 billion spread across the earth.
Anxiety reached epic proportions in the 60s and 70s due to the Vietnam War, a conflict that lasted 20 years. The college towns I lived in were in constant turmoil with anti-war protests. The conflict started in 1954 when the communist government of North Vietnam was pitted against the South and its allies. With the United States bringing in active combat units, county draft boards were set up in 1964, calling up 2.2 million young men. Riots ensued, with people burning draft cards and growing long hair to protest military cuts. Many friends fled to Canada. I was worried about my brother being drafted. When he graduated college, he avoided the draft by teaching in a rural community, but his exemption didn't last long. The lottery system was introduced, and my brother's number was one of the first to be called. He developed an ulcer almost overnight that thankfully kept him from harm's way. My husband and I watched the musical Hair, listened to Joan Baez and Bob Dylan songs, and joined protest marches.
At the time, I was a counselor in the emergency room of a community mental health center. Late one evening, a young man came in who had gone AWOL because he refused to kill North Vietnamese soldiers. He had become paranoid, believing everyone he passed on the street wanted to turn him. I hospitalized the youth and contacted a legal organization that helped soldiers avoid the draft. To get discharged from service, he had to return to the Marines. My patient was eventually released, but not before he was beaten and his arm broken. I was dismayed at hearing that. The war ended with 57,939 Americans and 250,000 Vietnamese declared dead. It cost our country a lot, and accomplished nothing. Today, we are friends and trading partners with communist Vietnam. By 1973, the globe contained 3.920 billion people.
Anger and fear permeated every waking hour throughout the 60s and 70s. Women joined those ready to fight for their rights. Though women had been seeking equity for decades, a wave of feminism was sparked by Betty Friedan's 1963 book, The Feminine Mystique, creating a landslide of activity. Women were not only enraged, they burned their bras, protested against the Miss America Pageant, staged a Ladies' Home Journal Sit-In, and organized The Women's Strike for Equality. Feminists worked for social equality, with sexual reproductive rights as its center. Much of their energy went to passing the Equal Rights Amendment, which still hasn't been ratified. However, they did influence the passage of the Equal Pay Act in 1963 and Title IX of the Education Amendment of 1972, which protected people from discrimination based on sex. The movement's crowning achievement was the pro-choice passage of Roe v. Wade in 1973, a right taken away last year.
As an educated woman trained to be a stay-at-home mother and housewife, I was caught in the middle of the feminist moment. My eyes were opened when a fundraising event I organized for Impression 5 Science Museum fell apart. The Detroit Playboys Bunnies had agreed to a basketball match against community leaders, all of whom were male. The event created negative press and initiated protests by high school and college women. Though less press was given to the women's movement by the 80s, it remained ongoing. The recent Supreme Court's vote to eliminate abortion rights brought it to the forefront again. By 1980, there were 4.444 billion people on earth. When pro-choice was eliminated in 2022, the world population was 7,975 billion.
The Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam, and the Women's Movement overlapped, causing tumultuous times like none other. Though upset and afraid during many of those years, I was also excited and energized by the thousands who joined forces to create a better world. It was a time of destruction yet an era of hope for those who believed change was possible. We felt confident that we were doing the right thing and that our voices would be heard.
Do I think things are worse today? After looking back, my answer is yes. Species are being eradicated at an alarming rate by something more worrisome than a bomb. It is hard to turn back the years of damage humans have inflicted on the planet. Global warming and pollution are hidden killers we have not effectively dealt with. Still, on the hopeful side, I believe a woman's right to choose will be restored. I also think the NRA fights a losing battle. With crime and homicides increasing, the country will have to get control of firearms as it did in the West when cowboys new to town turned their guns over to the sheriff until they left town. I see the campaigns for universal healthcare, child and senior care, and those against domestic violence as having positive outcomes.
With the world's population passing 8.045 billion this year, I hear little talk about the earth's carrying capacity, especially with rising temperatures making vast swaths of land uninhabitable. This means more people will have to coexist on a shrinking amount of usable land. What is in store for the planet hasn't hit enough people's consciousness to change the course of the catastrophic events that will plague the globe for the coming decades. In the quest for profit, we've allowed carbon products and chemicals to pollute the land and water, raising temperatures from the Arctic to the Antarctic. We let corporations and individuals poison citizens with toxic throwaways and look the other way when they drown in floods or die from heat exposure.
The homeless encampments and illegal border crossings we experience now are minuscule compared to what we can expect in the future. Wars over water rights and rising sea levels that bury islands and flood vast swaths of coastal land will cause millions of people to move to a moderate climate. The push for electrified cars may help some, but won't reduce the problem if we can't produce non-polluting batteries and create enough electricity to prevent power outages.
Democracy is being challenged by billionaires who don't care about the suffering of those subservient to them. Having a polarized and self-centered Congress makes everyone in the country feel worse. There is reason to be angry. Unfortunately, it shows up in unwholesome ways. I fear my children will have to survive ongoing natural disasters. I worry about how they will earn a living and occupy themselves when AI, mechanization, and Big Ag continue to take over jobs. I don't believe I'm being paranoid. This is the new reality.
With the world's population projected to reach 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion by 2100, there is much to cause anxiety. Our citizens need a paradigm shift from self-centered thinking toward collective concerns for the earth and all plants and animals on it. This is why I wrote about ethics in last week's blog. We have to find ways to get along with one another.
I look forward to your comments. Are you more afraid now than you were at other times during your life? So others can learn from you, Please put them on my blog site
Art is always for sale. Flying High is a good way to remember the pandemic of 2020. Acrylic on canvas painting/framed/16" x 20" $596 includes shipping in the continental US. Contact me at [email protected]
Books: Over the Peanut Fence, about homeless and runaway youth, and Museum Junies about the rise of science centers are available in bookstores and on AMAZON.
References.
U.S. History website. The Cold War Erupts. Retrieved from https://www.ushistory.org/us/52a.asp#:~:text=The%20Cold%20War%20lasted%20about,the%20free%2Dmarket%20capitalist%20world.
Office of The Historian website. The Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962 . Retrieved from https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/cuban-missile-crisis#:~:text=
PBS American Experience website. Groups During the American Civil Rights Movement. retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/eyesontheprize-groups-during-american-civil-rights-movement/
Lehman, C. (2006) Civil Rights in Twilight. Journal of Black Studies.
, pp. 415-428 Published By: Sage Publications, Inc. retrieved from
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40035018
Vietnam War: Causes, Facts and Impact. History Channel. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-history
Women’s History website. Second Wave Feminism: Collections. Retrieved from https://www.gale.com/primary-sources/womens-studies/collections/second-wave-feminism#:~:text=The%20second%20wave%20feminism%20movement,spread%20to%20other%20Western%20countries
. ThoughtCo. Website. Significant Feminist Protests. retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/significant-american-feminist-protests-3529008
Worldometer website. World Population by Year. Retrieved from https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/world-population-by-year/
9/23/2023 6:31:43 PM
Family in a Turkish Village
Living in crowded communities requires residents to be polite, understanding, and respectful of different views.
You Can't Do It Alone
Ethics. It's a word not on the tip of an educator's tongue these days. Ethics are the moral principles that govern behavior. But there is such a fear of offending someone's beliefs that the topic takes a back seat. I rarely hear talk about a liberal education focused more on asking questions than giving answers. Such a curriculum aims to prepare students to deal with complexity, diversity, and change.
Liberal education programs aim to produce virtuous, ethical adults knowledgeable in many fields. It combines ethics, philosophy, psychology, and compassion by focusing on transformative thinking rather than concrete information--an approach that dates back to the Ancient Greeks. Arithmetic, music, and astronomy were added to the curriculum in the Middle Ages. The Natural Sciences and Formal Sciences were included during the twentieth century, though not to overpower the classical subjects. The liberal arts create wholesome thinking and tolerance that is hard to obtain if indoctrinated into a narrow way of thinking. Changing a communal ethos is not a speedy fix to be made in the privacy of an individual's office.
Unfortunately, the number of students enrolling in a liberal arts curriculum has shrunk because of jobs requiring specific degrees other than the arts and humanities. It doesn't help that the word "liberal" carries connotations that bother conservative parents. But most of the decrease is due to globalization giving rise to occupations in the tech sector. More students opt for a STEM curriculum leading to fields in engineering, computer science, and medicine, where they become narrowly focused and project-oriented rather than dwell on the big picture.
The arts, ethics, history, and philosophy are subjects focused on how to live. They strive to integrate practical achievement with the human condition. Around us, we can see what happens when people shift away from these topics. We've evolved into a tense society devoid of compassion.
With civility out the window, more people live in a bubble where they don't participate in worldly concerns. We have only to look at our streets and to see how far we have drifted. The way people drive and how we've let mentally ill and poor people camp on sidewalks instead of housing them are cases in point. Both situations demonstrate a lack of moral character. We act as though society owes us everything, and we owe nothing back in return. Drivers and bicyclists ignore posted traffic signs, speed through neighborhood streets, and weave in and out of traffic. The unhoused eat, sleep, defecate on the sidewalk, and wear trousers at half-mast. They bully passers-by with rude gestures.
As cities fall apart and people act disrespectfully, shouting and cursing increase, making the combatants feel frustrated and hopeless. According to Real Simple Magazine's website, the six rudest cities in the U.S. are New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Boston, and Detroit, with others not far behind. To experience the best, go to Raleigh, N.C. In 2022, The Brooking Institute reported historic population losses among large cities. And though there was some upward turnaround in 2023, wealthier Americans still leave downtown areas in droves, giving the streets over to the needy rather than building adequate housing and developing mental health services that would help them.
I crave a national movement calling for civility. We share a planet with eight billion people. That's a lot; the United Nations predicts that 89 percent will reside in cities by 2030. To live compatibly with so many people, tensions must be lowered so we can act ethically and instill compassionate behavior in young children. Let's provide youth with an education that doesn't sugarcoat history so they can learn from it, one tolerant of diverse opinions so they can understand the reason behind different beliefs and explore right and left-leaning economic systems. Doing so gives us a chance to have a well-balanced society capable of solving deep problems.
But why wait until our children grow up to solve the earth's problems? Adults are the ones to set examples and serve as mentors. Gather with neighbors to discuss positive discourse, philosophy, and behavioral expectations. Start a movement now to bring back civility. We can do something about rude, self-centered behavior and end the "me' attitude by insisting on polite discourse and behaviors benefiting the whole, even if it means compromising individual freedoms.
Movements start small, with discussions in homes and backyards. They can grow through online chats and community outreach. Imagine what could happen if we discussed what kind of society we want to live in instead of complaining about it. We can create vibrant, wholesome communities by listening to concerns, asking questions, and considering solutions from a broad perspective. Societal change rarely happens by going at it alone.
I enjoy hearing your perspective on my blogs. Do comment below.
Art is always for sale. In a Turkish Village is a 24" by 48 "framed painting on board. Available for $795. contact me at [email protected].
References:
Seaver, M. (2022) The Rudest Cities in the U.S.., Ranked by Americans. Real Simple retrieved from https://www.realsimple.com/work-life/work-life-etiquette/rudest-cities-in-america-survey
Thompson, D.(2022) Why Americans Are Leaving Downtowns in Droves. The Atlantic. retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/04/metro-areas-shrinking-population-loss/629665/
Frey, 2022, Big cities saw historic population losses while suburban growth declined during the pandemic. Brookings. retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/articles/big-cities-saw-historic-population-losses-while-suburban-growth-declined-during-the-pandemic/
Haidar, H. (2023) What is a Liberal Arts Education? Top Universities. retrieved from https://www.topuniversities.com/blog/what-liberal-arts-education
9/16/2023 6:40:05 PM
HOPE EXPLODING
Making Sense of Creation
Friday was not only my birthday; it was Rosh Hashana, the start of the Jewish New Year. The evening was the start of a two-day celebration that has been going on for 5784 years. It ushers in The Days of Awe, a time to reflect on the past year and make resolutions for the next. Ancient texts tell us that Judaism originated when the patriarch Abraham made a covenant with God. The agreement was confirmed years later when the Torah, or law including the Ten Commandments, was given to the Jewish people.
Creation stories exist as a way to make sense of the universe and how humans behave. They place planet Earth and its inhabitants at the center of the heavenly bodies. Lacking telescopes, satellite imagery, and mathematical calculations around the Big Bang, sharing myths was how ancient societies taught children to understand their world. With modern instrumentation and space exploration, most people consider myths parables, but the question remains as to when, how, and why we exist. The answer remains elusive. There is no certainty.
What we do know is that the craving for absolute truth resulted in a variety of creation stories In the Judeao/Christian tradition, how God created the earth in six days, resting on the seventh was told around desert campfires 3,000 years ago. It is the story of how a serpent enticed Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit of Eden. It only took a bite from an apple to be expelled from paradise, a reminder of how flawed humans are today. The tale is viewed as a love story by some and as evil by others, who blame the pair for being selfish, lustful, and bringing sin into the world. Eve, representing all women bears that mantle more than men.
Stephen Greenblattin. in The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve, says early Jews didn't take the story seriously since it didn't make sense to them, while early Christian thinkers read it allegorically. It would have been a minor story if it hadn't been for Augustine of Hippo, an Algerian Bishop who recast it as foundational.
There is some thought that the Babylonian creation story, Enuma Elisih, predates Genesis. Seven clay tablets dating back to the twelfth century B.C.E. accounts for a story that had been handed down for generation. The universe starts in darkness, where the God Marduk battles the chaos caused by Goddess Tiamat and her followers. Tiamat takes the form of a gigantic snake that Marduk battles and defeats using an arsenal of super-weapons. After he wins, Marduk is made the leader of theirs. He divides Tiamat's corpse into two portions, The upper half becoming the sky and the lower half the earth. Marduk then creates humanity from his blood and bone.
Many African Societies consider the sky to have been a world with powerful spirits and a creator god. The first human to descend from above had special abilities that let him establish connector communities between earth and sky. The tall plank masks made by the Dogon People of Mali and other nations represent a bridge to reach the heavens. Early believers viewed the universe as two disks, one forming the sky and the other the earth. The two were connected by a tree.For the Dogons of Mali, the God Amma, the sky god, brought forth the creation of the universe and the biological processes of reproduction. He ruled over the water god, Nammo, and the earth god, Lébé. Lébé Séru, the first human and priest, arose from a serpent. He is the reincarnation of the snake that guided them to the cliff of Bandiagara where they are found today.
The Primal Cosmic Egg arising from an early Hindu Myth is also found in Finnish, Greek, Polynesian, and Phoenician folklore. One version of the myth is that God, wishing to create the world, formed an egg as big as the cosmos. Known as Hiranyagarbha, or Golden Womb (egg), it was the source of all life. It floated in pitch-black emptiness of non-existence. After God meditated inside the egg for thousands of years, the shell split open, and the Lord was born as the Progenitor of the universe. The two have of the shell became the Svarga, sky and celestial home of the gods, and Prithvi the earth.
A Hopi origin story tells of their emergence into this world as coming from a people who used to live underground; when Eat Point went to the surface, he met Maasaw, the creator of the World. In exchange for agreeing to become caretakers of the Earth, Maasaw allowed them to stay above ground.
A North American tribal myth is mentioned in "Braiding Sweetgrass" by Robin Wall Kimmerer. It tells how Skywoman, carrying and safeguarding new life in her belly, looks down into a dark hole and slips (or is pushed). As she falls, she reaches out to the Tree of Life and grabs branches with fruits and seeds of various plants. Guided by dazzling light, she spins like a maple seed into dark waters where geese break her fall. After she transfers to the back of Turtle to rest, Muscrat dives into the water, returning with a small clump of mud to put on Turtle's back. While singing songs of thanksgiving, Skywoman plants her seeds and caresses the earth until the world called Turtle Island is formed.
Storytelling is a fundamental part of being human. It helps us make sense of our existence and provides an emotional connection to each other. and our ancestors. Myths remind us that we're not alone in the world and that other people will follow in our footsteps. Even when myths aren't accepted as accurate, they are cultural remembrances of how natural phenomena and creation have been explained through the ages. To our ancestors who accepted the myth as the truth, it gave order and meaning to a mysterious, chaotic world. Who knows if the Big Bang theory will one day become the myth of the 21st century?
I look forward to your comments below.
Art is always for sale. Click on the image for more information or contact me at [email protected].
References:
Ancient Origins. 10 0f the Wildest Creation Myths in History. retrieved from https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/wildest-creation-myths-0018116
List of creation Myths. Wikipedia. retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_creation_myths
Harris, K. (2023 website) Origin Stories from Around the World. Smithsonian Learning Lab. retrieved from https://learninglab.si.edu/collections/Origin Stories from Around the World/m45wVnFtvJM6b5xm
Majid, A. (2017) A Dangerous Couple: The Story Of Adam And Eve.Tingis Magazine. retrieved from https://www.tingismagazine.com/editorials/a-dangerous-couple-the-story-of-adam-and-eve/
9/9/2023 6:30:27 PM
Clarity
Our mind tells us we exist. What of it?
Cogito, Ergo Sum or "I think, therefore I am" is René Descartes' defining statement on existence. Considered the father of modern philosophy, the 17th-century Frenchman was noted for a mind-body philosophical theory based on scientific observation grounded in experimentation. Skeptical of the dogma spouted by religious authorities and earlier philosophers, his quest was to find truth. As a scientist and mathematician, he searched for "perfect knowledge." That meant finding answers that would leave no room for doubt.
Most of us view the human body as flesh, bones, organs, nerves, muscles, and blood. If you walk into a wall and bang your head, you feel the pain of hitting a solid, unmoving object. When scientists think of human cells, however, they imagine water and protein molecules that are a collection of vibrating atoms under an electron microscope. Since atoms also make up the wall you hit, theoretically, you should be able to pass between them.
Though Descartes could doubt the existence of a physical body, he couldn't doubt that he could think. He is credited for inspiring The Enlightenment, an era that embraced the belief that people could be improved by rational change.
He relied on reason to test the truth of what people say.
Does this mean anything more than knowing your brain confirms your existence? Or does it make you wonder what type of existence the brain will conjure for you next? Thoughts pigeonhole us and can render us helpless. It is easier to be classified, eliminating the worry of finding a Mr. Hyde beneath the surface instead of the Dr. Jekyll we profess to know. We trap ourselves into thinking a single trait or activity is the essence of our personality. Examining and sharing your complex inner nature with the outside world takes courage.
Not questioning the labels attached to you by yourself or others can handicap you. He's a gay teacher; watch the kids. She's an assembly-line worker and never thinks for herself. He's smart because he's Asian. Of course, she has a bad temper; she's a redhead. He's a millionaire, so he must know the best person to vote for.
It's also common to define people by their profession. For some, that becomes such an important definition they don't develop other interests. I've met many people like that who face difficulties when retired. Feeling unappreciated, they become bored and go about their days without purpose. Young adults feel at loose ends when they can't find work in their chosen field of study. A football athlete, I knew, had to give up the sport due to an injury. With his dream of turning pro shattered, the twenty-one-year-old shot himself on the field behind his dorm.
During a recent commencement talk, a College president in China advised the graduating class: "You must not aim too high or be picky about work." With one-fifth of China's youth out of work, he spouted China's economic and political policy to young people, telling them to"suck it up." In our country where job loss is increasing due to AI and robotics, it is time to stop defining people by what they do for a living. We are not in the Middle Ages, where men with Carpenter for a last name worked with wood.
"I think, therefore I am." I read more into the phrase than my existence when acknowledging that it's my mind that defines what I think about myself and my environment. It's thought processes, not employment, that turn us into who we are. It is possible to do a routine job yet find meaning in bird watching, cooking, hiking, or teaching a child to swim. It is your mind, with its thoughts, emotions, and values, that makes you unique. It can make you energetic and able to glean beauty and pleasure from your surroundings or push you to depression, where you are bored and mired in ugliness.
Take a moment to think about how you define yourself. Is it a true representation? The certainty of the truth depends on how you think about it, Descartes reminds us. When you believe in your multiple abilities, you can plow through foot-deep mud and keep going as some attendees did at last week's Burning Man event in the Nevada Playa. For them, it was an awesome, though challenging experience. Their thoughts looked for meaning in the generosity of their neighbors and the creative way they entertained each other in the rain. Other minds focused on how miserable it was. Their fear and anger made their existence torturous. It is difficult to adapt if your thoughts turn sour.
Last week, I was engrossed in a Netflix Korean mini-series about a seventy-year-old retired postal worker who, to his family's horror, wanted to be a ballet dancer. It was a dream put on hold since he was eight. Though his family frowned at his ambition, he went for it, thinking, "What am I waiting for? I'll only live once." Believing he could do it, the elder practiced ballet moves and observed younger dancers preparing for performances. He existed. Spurred by passion, his days were filled with pleasure. By acting on his thoughts, he showed an unknown part of himself to the rest of the world--and it was good.
Do comment on my website at www.eichingerfineart.com/blog
Art is always for sale. Clarity is a framed, 48” x 36” acrylic on canvas painting available for $795. Shipped free in the continental U.S. For information, contact me at [email protected]
References:
Hu, R (2023) The jobs data China doesn’t want people to see. Opinion Today. retrieved from https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGtwznFlMFZLtGpJJnbghFMJPlg
Asshcroft, R. (2022) What Does “ I Think, Therefore I Am” Really Mean? The Collector. retrieved from https://www.thecollector.com/what-does-i-think-therefore-i-am-mean/
9/2/2023 6:31:16 PM
It’s a New World
Why do we fail? So we can pull ourselves up again.
The Bounce Back Effect - Resilience
Several weeks ago, I mentioned that people attend boxing matches to watch battered fighters rally and win. They want their heroes to be as resilient as they wish they could be. It's easy to speak of resilience as a trait to possess, but it’s difficult to pull yourself up when down. Why? What makes one person able to survive challenging ordeals while others crumble?
Though it may be difficult, most of us recognize the importance of not dwelling on failures. Psychologists agree that inner resilience is the basis of mental health and the secret of success. Parents lecture children to rise and face the demons keeping them down. They comfort children when they don't win a spelling bee, or their team loses a match, admonishing them to try harder next time. People advise friends and partners not to dwell in self-pity when they lose a job or experience a loss. They may commiserate at first but will tolerate "just so much" of the person's depression before turning away.
Having resilience is more than just bouncing back from adversity. For psychologists, it's the ability to remain flexible in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors when faced with life disruptions and pressures to emerge stronger, wiser, and more able. A severe illness or unexpected death can invigorate a resilient person who, though knocked down by the event, grows from it. They discover hidden abilities within themselves and seek out friends who help them rise to meet their challenges. Over time, they alter their priorities, embrace meaningful values and goals, and eliminate unimportant things.
Finding a renewed purpose isn't easy for people who aren't naturally resilient. They may fall into a depression, not knowing how to emerge from it. I consider myself one of the lucky ones, though I worked hard to get here. I may cry for months when a door closes, yet I start an immediate search for another opening to walk through. I push myself out the door rather than sit around waiting to feel better.
Timelines vary for returning to normalcy after a loss. When a friend was depressed after her infant son's death, her doctor said that, on average, it takes five years to get over grief. She was advised to reconfigure her days and assign the loss to a smaller part of the healing process. Reframing her situation and broadening her outlook enabled positive emotions to creep in. Though still grieving, she returned to work and spent time with friends.
Physical activities reduce the impact of stress, improving self-esteem and confidence. Participation in trusted social networks helps grieving people feel less isolated. I found it difficult to sell my company and retire. After the ink was dry, I enrolled in a pottery class and joined a writer's group, where a new friendship circle developed over time. Knowing my strengths and using them developed new skills and the controls I needed to overcome the hurdle of being unemployed. Recognizing that setbacks are usually temporary, I remained optimistic about the future.
It's easy to give advice but difficult to manage emotions to get to step one. Resilience starts with self-care: getting adequate sleep, eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, and making time for relaxation and exercise. Emotions and stress can be regulated through meditation, mindfulness, exercise, and cognitively reframing challenges and opportunities. Learning to communicate your needs and to express your feelings promotes healing, leading to resiliency. By all means, seek help if you can't get there yourself.
Setting well-defined and achievable goals and then taking small steps builds confidence and is rejuvenating. Being aware of negative thoughts, practicing gratitude, and considering setbacks as opportunities for growth and learning will take you out of a dark place. No one is born with a resilience gene. It is a trait that has to be developed and nurtured over the years, involving serious thinking about how to thrive in the 21st century. This era of rapid technological change with a burgeoning world population and climatic disruptions is challenging for everyone.
Those of us in a good emotional space need to be understanding of those who aren't. People are experiencing unprecedented levels of PTSD due to the pandemic. Some are losing their homes due to extreme weather conditions. The news is full of stories of people with debilitating illnesses, losses due to accidents, and victims of crime. Immigrants are fleeing to our borders from war-ravaged countries and parched lands where livestock and plants no longer thrive. I have neighbors losing jobs due to artificial intelligence, robotics, age or gender discrimination, and racial bias. The flight from rural areas to cities continues to stress housing because big ag has taken over family farms, and companies are buying up water rights.
An employee who used a wheelchair used to call me a TAB, a temporarily able-bodied person. Looking at elders my age, I understand what she means. We will all struggle with mobility loss as we age. Your compassion can help friends and family develop the resilience to move on, and it will strengthen your skill to face adversity when it hits.
I'm in tune with the growing field of positive psychology initiated by Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. It's a discipline focusing on states of normality and happiness rather than mental and emotional dysfunction. PTG (Post-Traumatic Growth) provides a way to find purpose in pain and look beyond the struggle. Their primary interest is identifying and building mental assets emphasizing meaning and deep satisfaction, not just fleeting happiness.
I look forward to your comments on my blog site at www.eichingerfineart.com
"It's a New World" is in a private collection.
To reach me for information about pieces of art on my website, contact me at [email protected]
References:
Staff. (2023) Positive Psychology. Psychology Today. retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/positive-psychology
Wilson, S, MD. From Post-Traumatic Stress to Post-Traumatic Growth. Vital WorkLife. retrieved from TRAUMA
Sutton, J. Ph.D. (2029)What is Resilience and Why is it Important to Bounce Back? Positive Psychology. retrieved from https://positivepsychology.com/what-is-resilience/
Doyle, H. (2016) How to Thrive in the 21st Century: Educating a new generation of global citizens prepared to create, collaborate, and navigate the world's complexities, Harvard Graduate School of Education. retrieved from https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/usable-knowledge/16/11/how-thrive-21st-century
