Jessica Aviva's Blog, page 18

Mind = Action

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What happens in our minds and our actions are mutually influential. Our minds offer us the freedom to be open, continually metamorphic, and generative. What we think or feel is followed by what we do. We respond and react to what we do with our thoughts. Actions are more permanent than thoughts as they impact or are observed by other people, or, if they aren’t, involve objects if only the molecules in the air that we breathe — and therefore have a broader consequence than our thoughts. Our actions are often based on methodical, careful, purposeful deliberations that occur in our minds; however, they represent a closure to our thoughts — they are the result what occurs when what we have mulled over in our minds within the context of our environment and identity leads to some movement, some word, some formative engagement with the world. Our minds offer us the opportunity to explore without the constraints and finality of our actions. So mind itself is detached action that will, in some way and at some time, manifest in some type of expression that has transformative potential. To think is to take action, and to take action is to invest in our thinking.

Filed under: Creativity, Mindfulness, Uncategorized Tagged: action, mindfulness, thinking, thoughts, transformation

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Published on April 01, 2017 10:23

Letting Go and Saying No

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Excerpt from Whole Happy and Healthy: A Revolutionary Approach to Understanding and Thriving with Mental Illness http://amzn.to/2mUjVRK

Filed under: Whole Happy and Healthy Tagged: clarity, letting go, mental health

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Published on April 01, 2017 04:00

The Past and the Future are Present

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Excerpt from Whole Happy and Healthy: A Revolutionary Approach to Understanding and Thriving with Mental Illness http://amzn.to/2mUjVRK

Filed under: Whole Happy and Healthy Tagged: memories, mental health, present moment, time

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Published on March 31, 2017 04:00

Diagnosis Definition

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Excerpt from Whole Happy and Healthy: A Revolutionary Approach to Understanding and Thriving with Mental Illness http://amzn.to/2mUjVRK

Filed under: Whole Happy and Healthy Tagged: diagnosis, mental health, mental illness, possibilities

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Published on March 30, 2017 04:00

Le Pièce de Résistance

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Recently, as I removed a casserole made for my grandmother out of a certain canned spare animal parts product, with love as only such a casserole could be made by a vegetarian, I sarcastically exclaimed, with my best French accent — which, according to my middle school French teacher, is pretty darn good — “here is my pièce de résistance!”

Too often, we fail to engage with life because we think our actions will not be consequential. Lack of impact becomes conflated with meaninglessness. We hold back, toiling away in private, until our unique pièce de résistance is ready for the big reveal.

Interestingly, great ideas emerge through immersion in the real world. We can try things out, get laughed at or ignored, and maybe even be appreciated. Regardless of the reaction, sharing our ideas and art with others even in preliminary stages can spark creative evolution. Creativity can also be developed by not taking ourselves and our work so seriously that we feel it is too privileged to be enjoyed by others.

So if you have not yet created or discovered your pièce de résistance, that thing for which you hope to be known and revered, fret not. Not only are you in good company, but that thing or things can be provoked through exploration, trial and error, and open reflection.

Filed under: Creativity, Uncategorized Tagged: creativity, perfectionism, sharing