Jessica Aviva's Blog, page 19
March 25, 2017
The Safety of My Home
The safety of my home
Is a luxury I may no longer
Be able to experience
Is a privilege that may soon be
Lost to me forever.
As I sit here I think
That someday
Someday soon
It may all be lost.
Lost to the greed and avarice
Of others.
Others who shall never know me.
Others who shall never care for me
As I leave my home
Forever
With no place to go.
Nothing is secure
And everything is irrelevant.
Anything is possible.
As I reflect upon
My younger days
Those days filled with hope
Those days where the future seemed
Much more lovely than today
I wonder if those days I once dreamed of
Shall ever be
Or will I be wandering free
From the past and
Free of any identity
Forever until I die
And then others will come after me
Again and again and again.
Filed under: Poetry Tagged: hope, hopelessness, political instability, privilege 
The Evolution of Identity
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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: experience, identity, mental health
March 24, 2017
Progress
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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: discovery, education, mental health, progress, teaching
March 23, 2017
Life Challenges
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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: challenges, learning, mental health, transformation
March 22, 2017
Dissertation Dilemma
You haven’t heard a lot from me over the past year. I won’t bore you with excuses, except to let you know that I experienced a prolonged illness, was involved in two minor accidents, continued working two to three jobs, provided extra support for my family, and finally finished my most recent book, Whole Happy and Healthy. Now that this difficult year has passed, I must turn my attention to the topic that I have been avoiding for more than six years: my dissertation topic.
My problem has never been that I don’t have any ideas; in fact, I have too many. Committing to one topic in which I will immerse myself for the next few years is a bit scary. But I am at the point where the ‘rubber meets the road,’ as they say, and my goal is to complete a concept paper if not a full proposal by the end of this summer. I want my topic to be something exciting to me but also relevant and helpful to others in the field. I have narrowed it down to the following broad ideas; let me know if you have any suggestions!
How professional and personal identity is constructed within the context of experience with progressive social change organizations
How social justice leaders experience and perceive social myths and how they intentionally contest and change prevailing narratives
The interaction of social justice leaders’ interpretation of their life stories as related to class, gender, race, ability, and other identities and their lived experience and how those interpretations and identities fluidly evolve over time
How social justice organizations unintentionally reproduce the social conditions they were designed to ameliorate (i.e. income inequality)
How women experience inequity and exclusion as workers and volunteers in social justice organizations
Filed under: Academia Tagged: dissertation, experience, identity, leadership, organizations
My Unique Eyes
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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: dissapointment, expectations, mental health, perception
March 21, 2017
Sustenance and Substance
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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: mental health, subsistence, suppression
March 20, 2017
Cultivating Happiness
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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: appreciation, experience, happiness
March 19, 2017
My Dream is Your Dream, and Your Dream is Mine
A beloved aunt who provided great care for me as a child once taught me the expression, ‘mi casa es su casa.’ She told me that this phrase is used in Mexico to express hospitality and a sense of welcoming for family, friends, and the community. Since she soon thereafter took me to Canada where, among other things, she introduced me to my only Mexican cousin of whom I am aware — a man who married my Peruvian first cousin once removed —I was especially appreciative of the sentiment that this expression held for my diverse family that spanned the continent and beyond.
Read more at Huffington Post
Filed under: Uncategorized
Pollinating Minds and Hearts
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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: mental health, sharing
