Mindfulness

This was suppose to be my Thursday reflection, but I was enjoying time with family and being present. Sometimes journaling loses its power when it becomes a source of stress or obligation. So, I allowed myself to enjoy my present and then reflect today. It bothers me on a fundamental level that we have a day, albeit with strange historical connections, but a day dedicated to being grateful for the things we have in our life. Then we follow this day with expected gluttony in buying all sorts of material goods. It seems to me all our traditions that should be grounded in family, love, and relaxation quickly turn into stress over material things. So I wanted to make a list of things that I am truly grateful for that have nothing to do with the superficial. I am grateful for the laborers, workers, truckers, and anyone else involved with the process of growing, harvesting, and then delivering my food. These industries do not get enough love, but without them working hard and doing the d...

Human kindness is everywhere you just have to stop and look for it. Sometimes we focus too much on the negative that we forget to highlight the good. As I was running this morning I saw a kind man deliver breakfast to the homeless group that tends to hang around Estero Park. A little brother picked up his sister's toy and handed it to her. An older couple were walking along the bay holding hands and laughing about things. The world has challenges and there is a lot that has to change, including racial inequities, gender inequities, extremism, and anger not dealt with properly. However, I do believe the way we can solve all these issues is to listen to one another experiences and most importantly hold onto our common experiences. We are human. I still hold a lot of hope in the world, but we need to get honest, and the best place to start is with ourselves. We cannot dwell on other people without dealing with ourselves. I suppose this is what I have always found frustrating working...

I have been thinking about this for a week or so. This is a norm that is often on a lot of education meeting norms. I also think that this is the hardest norm to follow and often times we do not psychologically know how to maintain an attitude of presuming the positive. People have a negativity bias... we really do. We hold these negative biases with ourselves, our friends, our colleagues, our neighbors, and our family members. No one is immune to it. You get into a fight with a friend and for the next month people are searching for passive aggressive behaviors that prove that person is still mad at you. Or you start to question the motives in a family member, because of one thing they did awhile back that has made you question everything. Groups of people come together and voice a concern then all of a sudden everyone is negative and someone's reputation is ruined due to the power negative mob mentality. I have seen people start to hate someone they never really interacted with ...