Author: 1zenwoman

Peace? Where… when?

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Let’s begin with this extremely distressing, but very moving brief clip…

 

I grew up in the Midwest when America was still proud to be a melting pot of immigrants. We weren’t taught to hate or discriminate. I was wide-eyed and hopeful just like little Rachel in this video. I had friends who went to the Peace Corps and I became a journalist. We were all working for Peace and Truth in our own way…  believing if people had facts they would do the right thing.

What an eye-opening journey this life has been. I’m over 60 now and things seem so much worse than I could have imagined. I was sure that after JFK, RFK & MLK were killed, after Watergate, and after the long, horrifying Vietnam war ended, surely there would be peace in the world, or at least here in America. But no. The never-ending conflict in the Middle East raged on and the USA was in the thick of it.  Continue reading →

#JOMO

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Even though Psychology Today wrote about the “Joy of Missing Out” back in July,  I learned of the hashtag for it– #JOMO — this morning on Twitter thanks to Techno Claus @Pogue.  (Hang on, this will unfold into something worthy of #grappling. )  😎

First, tho, you have to know about #FOMO for any of this to make sense.

#FOMO = Fear of Missing Out   Missing what, you might ask…  anything, EVERYTHING! Continue reading →

The “Method”…

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In my considerable number of years seeking Truth and a path to peace (let’s say at least 40 years of seeking), I have found a handful of “tools” that truly work, ones I return to during “rough patches.” The Progoff Method is one. With America in a pretty rough patch now, this tool might be particularly useful.

Hard to define in a tweet, it’s a method of integrating and making sense of our life journey and charting our way forward. Hey, that will be a tweet!

Dr. Ira Progoff (1921 – 1998) studied privately under Carl Jung (mid 1950s in Switzerland) and then came back to America and specialized in depth psychology. Progoff was not keen on traditional therapy techniques, and eventually developed what we now call simply “The Method” which can be done individually, in private, without a therapist. How?  Continue reading →

Grief

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Apparently my last post was too philosophical, so let me just lay it bare… I am overwhelmed by feelings of loss, sadness and guilt which equal grief. Our journey ended Labor Day, September 3, 2018, at 8:16 pm. Isadora aka “Izzi” was 17 1/2 years old.

Here we are together at the Grand Canyon in 2009. She was eight here and I was…  well nine years younger than I am now.  People who have only seen her recently will gasp at what a big, strong dog she was in her prime. She weighed nearly 50 lbs here and trust me, I always felt safe traveling with her. My nickname for her was Growly Grrrrryl.  She was one mean bitch.GrandCanyon2009

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the Butterfly Effect

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Without a long academic analysis of the phenomenon called the Butterfly Effect, I want to use the concept to bring together two divergent viewpoints–  the enlightened approach versus what we now call #Trumpism. Definitions will emerge, just as a butterfly does.

I used the term Butterfly Effect while writing about my current intense grief over losing my 17 1/2 year old. She was my K9, but that does not diminish my sadness. Rather than call everyone I know to cry and lament over my loss, I tried to take a more zen approach. Continue reading →

The #LastWord

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or the last laugh? With a little time to reflect on the spectacle of the past few days,  maybe this McCain-planned week of “hero tribute” and flag waving  was a final flip off to #Fake45. It was no secret that Trump was persona non grata (aka uninvited.)

During the nationally televised funeral of Senator John McCain I first felt inspired seeing former presidents and political enemies mingling. We later learned this bi-partisanship was created by assigned seating that purposefully mixed political foes, men and women, and various ethnicities. Very clever, Mr. McCain.

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