M.J. Blehart's Blog, page 102

Positivity: Build Peace

Positivity is a key to peace.

Chaos, disorder, negativity are the weapons terrorists employ. They work to make us fear those who are different from us, to change who we are and what we do, they use terror and fear to sew doubt, discord and disharmony in the world.

Peace is possible. When we think, feel and take inspired action to create positivity we keep the fear and terror at bay, and as such we build for ourselves a better world.

We cannot allow the horrid things of a few fanatical whackjobs dictate policy and color our attitudes towards a larger group of people. We cannot let the hatemongers and warmongers run society. We have the ability to do better than this, and we can choose to make a better world for ourselves as such.

It can be very hard to find positivity in the face of almost overwhelming bad news. Natural disasters, horrific inhuman attacks on innocent people, people using these awful things to attempt political gain make us feel angry, sad, bitter, disconnected. How can we possibly find positivity in this?

We are here. We are alive, we have opportunities all around us. We have the chance to take the negative feelings we have and turn them around, find the things that make us feel positive. We can use attitude shifters and creativity and mood changers and gratitude amongst the endless tools available to us to rebuild positivity.

It is ok to feel these negative emotions towards the bad things we are aware of. But we have to choose if we want to be dominated by and languish in the negative or try instead to create positivity and work to improve our own lots.

It starts with each of us, on our own. It starts from within. I am the only person who can take the responsibility for how I feel, and I alone can choose to find things that make me feel positive. I can find things that will turn my mindset away from being focused on what I do not want and what makes me sad to what I do want and what makes me happy.

When we let hatred and fear and anger dominate our attitudes, no matter the scale, we only get more of these things. We have to seek out love and assurance and joy to be our dominant attitudes, and in the face of negativity this is particularly challenging. But we are all up to that challenge, and we each and every one of us can choose positivity.

Just like negative begets negative, and positive begets positive, war begets war and peace begets peace. The negative forces want us to react to them negatively, because then they are empowered. We ultimately have to choose if we really want to give them that power, or if we are better off empowering ourselves. Finding and creating positivity is one of the paths to peace.

Finding positivity is not hard, it just requires action. Knowing that positivity is an element of peace, we can use it to build a better world, and to disempower the hatemongers. When we choose to react with positivity instead of negativity we empower ourselves. When we feel empowered, we often spread that feeling to others around us, and as such can build more positive feelings. We can use the positive feelings this generates to dissolve negative feelings. When we take away negative feelings, we open up space to let in positive feelings, and that is something we can be grateful for. Gratitude leads to happiness. Happiness is the ultimate positive attitude. Positive attitude begets positive energy, and that is always a good thing.

 

This is the ninety-fourth entry of my Positivity series.  It is my hope these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone.  Feel free to share, re-blog and spread the positivity.

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How do I go about taking responsibility for my own empowerment? There are several ways to make this happen, which I would like to share with you this week.

The first step is that we need to acknowledge our own accountability. How? By taking responsibility for our thoughts, feelings and actions. Nobody can control anybody else, unless you allow someone else to be in control. As such, you and you alone are the responsible party when it comes to your life.

Once we take responsibility for our own thoughts, feelings and actions, be they in the past or present, we are now accountable for where we go from here. Taking accountability means we understand the need to think before we speak, look before we leap; and even when we don’t and we mess up we accept that we are the one responsible for that.

I cannot emphasize enough how import accountability is. Why do our so-called leaders make up stories, evade the truth and outright lie? Because they know we’d never let them lead if they fessed up to all they do. Accountability becomes problematic, and society as such is not so good with this. We, as individuals, can do so very much more with our lives when we are accountable and responsible for who we are.

There are actions we can take that help us be empowered. These actions may seem somewhat trivial, but I assure you they are of far more import than we often recognize.

Gratitude. Time and again I come back to this topic, because there is nothing more powerful than gratitude when it comes to Pathwalking, or any other thing we want to create for our lives. When we are grateful for what we already have, from the tiniest detail to the grandest ideal, we generate positive energy that will allow us to have more. If we are not grateful for what we have now, how will we ever appreciate the things we want?

Thanking is as important, if not more important, than being thanked. Gratitude is not just words, it is feeling behind the action of expression. And it is very powerful and empowering as such.

Criticism. No one is a fan of criticism, even the constructive kind. However, when it comes to empowerment it is important to know when you are being critical instead of complimentary. This is not quite the same as expressing gratitude, this is more a matter of how you view things. Do you find fault, look for issues and problems with things, or do you find strength and benefits when you look at yourself?

Know that we are all our own worst critics. It is important to be mindful of whether you are more critical or more complimentary to yourself. That is part of the responsibility in making your own destiny.

Positive vs Negative. Notice how frequently I write about the importance of positivity versus negativity? This is really important to be responsible for. Why? Because whether you view things positively or negatively will seriously effect what you will be capable of manifesting.

Do you see things as broken or fixable? Do you see the world as empty or full? Do you think bad things or good things initially about anything? Taking responsibility for this process can really go a long ways towards building more and better empowerment.

Self-talk. We often neglect just how we view ourselves, and the importance of this. You need to be accountable for how you think about yourself, and how you talk to yourself. Are you more likely to be kind or cruel? Are you loving or self-deprecating? Do you talk to yourself generatively, or condescendingly?

Be responsible when you are talking to yourself. If you are starting out negative or uncomplimentary be aware of this and change it. Taking control of all this is hugely powerful towards empowerment.

Do vs undo. I have written before about the importance of approach to manifest change. Specifically, why it is so important to request things be done instead of undone.

Both good things and bad things will happen, period, end of story. Some are in your control, some not. However, when the things you do not want come about, attempting to undo them won’t manifest what you want. It is vitally important instead to do something different, or to do a thing that will help with what you want to create.

Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, it simply changes form. If we cannot destroy energy, the single basic building block of everything in the entire universe, how can we destroy what has already happened? I can’t be undone, so it is of far greater value to put my energy into doing something new.

These are just a few of the things in this world that empower us. Certainly there are others, but these are a great starting point when you want to focus on responsibility and take accountability for your own life. This is how we gain control over our destiny, and we set about walking a path of our own choosing.

I won’t lie, this is not necessarily easy. It requires, at least at first, a lot of forethought, and often changes in approach that might seem small and silly, but really they are not. I believe that relying on myself for my own empowerment can only help me to live a better life, and in so doing better help others do the same.

We really can create our own lives, despite what “they” might try to tell you. Empowerment through awareness of the now combined with thoughts and feelings and intentional actions will make us all far happier than any power from without could ever do.

Do you empower or disempower yourself with how you think, feel and act?

 

This is the two-hundred second entry in my series. These weekly posts are ideas and my personal experiences in walking along the path of life.  I share this journey as part of my personal desire to make a difference in this world along the way.

Thank you for joining me.  Feel free to re-blog and share.

The first year of Pathwalking, including some expanded ideas, is available in print and for your Kindle.

Positivity: Be Wacky

Sometimes you just need to be wacky.

You need to be unusual. Different. What others might call strange.

We all have moments when we do things that are not the norm, and get called out on them. We do things that are unusual, that don’t track the same as what everyone else is doing. We do silly, crazy, bizarre and absurd things from time to time.

Rather than deny, disseminate or divert attention from these, we should embrace them. It is our differences and the things we do unlike anyone else that make each of us the unique person that we are.

Embrace your weird, wacky, strange, off-kilter irregular self. It is extremely freeing to not be working to fit a square peg into a round hole. It is empowering to take this on, and as such it builds positivity.

I do not know anybody who needs to be serious all the time. From the so-called lowest to the highest, we all release steam or do things that might be considered strange and wack-a-doo, but this is not something to get upset about or to hide away from. Embrace the fun, and let the positivity flood in.

Despite the many attempts of people to tell us we should fall in line and stop being so strange, it is ok to let yourself be yourself. You are you alone, nobody else can be you like you can. This may seem obvious, but I cannot tell you how many people I have met who strive to be a person they think others desire them to be.

We put too much emphasis on normalcy, on being a person who meets a certain standard of respectability, of acceptability in our society. I won’t deny that there are times and places for certain behaviors and protocols to be followed, but that means there are plenty of times we can and should let who we are be free to be.

There is tremendous positivity in being the genuine article. I am the only one who can find my happiness, I alone know who I am at my very core, and I am the one who can be wacky, weird, a bit off, sorta flip, strange and even odd-looking. The empowerment that comes from embracing this aspect of myself is incredible, and has gone a long ways towards helping me to improve and expand my life experience accordingly.

Different is not bad. We should not fight over the differences between us, we should all accept our individuality, and we should let ourselves have more fun. How is more positivity in the world anything but good?

Finding positivity is not hard, it just requires action. Knowing that you are in charge of who you are, you can embrace the things you do that others might call wacky, weird, or what-have-you. When we embrace our eccentricities and we allow ourselves to be who we are instead of who others might things us to be, we empower ourselves. When we feel empowered, we often spread that feeling to others around us, and as such can build more positive feelings. We can use the positive feelings this generates to dissolve negative feelings. When we take away negative feelings, we open up space to let in positive feelings, and that is something we can be grateful for. Gratitude leads to happiness. Happiness is the ultimate positive attitude. Positive attitude begets positive energy, and that is always a good thing.

 

 

This is the ninety-third entry of my Positivity series.  It is my hope these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone.  Feel free to share, re-blog and spread the positivity.

Pathwalking 201

Responsibility is not a dirty word.

We often look at responsibilities we have with dread. Let’s face it, there are many things that are a must which most of us would prefer not to do. Trips to the DMV, visiting the doctor or dentist, standing in line at movies or concerts, sitting in traffic because we have to get to wherever it is we are going.

Responsibility seems to frequently be lumped into negative things. We see this as a thing that we have no choice but to do, and we dread and lament it, and we struggle with it and resist it and begrudgingly make it happen.

Responsibility is another place where we have choice.

Pathwalking is about choice. We are on our paths to find and create our own destinies in a manner of our own choosing. The simple truth of this is that we are taking responsibility for our lives.

We live in a society where responsibility is often seen as consequence. All you have to do is look to our so-called leaders, and watch them deny, deflect and outright avoid responsibility. This puts the notion of responsibility into a negative place for us, so we in turn work to not have to cope with this idea.

When we let go of this notion, and instead take responsibility, and make of it what we want, we can in fact do incredible things with it. It is by taking responsibility for our own lives, our own hopes and dreams and goals and identities that we make our individual corners of the world into a better place.

Responsibility allows us to empower ourselves. It is the chance to truly make choices in our lives, and to hold ourselves accountable for them.

Which is the next issue many have with responsibility. When I am responsible, I alone am accountable. Accountability, as I have written before, is another concept despised by many, because it is seen as life-changing and negative.

The truth is that neither responsibility nor accountability are negatives. Not unless we see them this way. They are actually tools of empowerment, which we have available to us for improving our lives and controlling our destinies.

When all is said and done, a lot of how we will live our lives comes down to empowerment. Do we each take and use our own power, or do we give it away and squander it on other things, people and situations?

We see all these material things, and often connect them to the immaterial. We see what wealth can provide and connect it to happiness. We see a stable and good relationship and connect it to feeling love. We see people surrounded by friends and connect that to joy.

I am not denying that the material things help with the immaterial. The issue here is that we have it backwards. Yes, these external material things can help us with the immaterial, but the truth is that the latter is what will bring us the former.

The car, the house, the relationship won’t make me happy? That’s not entirely the case. They will be a part of happiness, but it is really only by our own empowerment that we create the immaterial, and it is for the most part the immaterial we most desire.

Yes, I don’t think I know anybody who would not prefer to be financially well-off, in perfect physical condition, and in good relationships. But more than that, most of us want to feel good, to feel happy, to love and be loved, to be in a positive emotional state.

This is where responsibility comes to roost. When we recognize that we alone can create and control how we feel, then we can take that power and the responsibility that comes with it to better ourselves. We can choose things that make us feel good, we can take actions that empower us, and we can walk whatever paths we desire to.

When we let our emotions be controlled by others, or when we are lost in thought only about the lives of those around us, or we only act for the benefit of people besides ourselves, we leave the responsibility for how we will feel to the ethers. When we do not take responsibility for these things, we do not control them and we find ourselves less happy, discontent and dissatisfied with what we have.

We are, each and every one of us, empowered to walk whatever paths we might want. No matter what “they” tell us, we are the ones who know what it is that will make us feel good. We alone know our own thoughts, how we feel, and what actions we might wish to take to better our lots in life.

I know how easy it is to feel out of control. I know how easy it is to feel disempowered. I know what it is like to be afraid that I cannot do the things I wish and that I will be unable to be successful, or happy, or what-have-you. I can, knowing these things, choose to pass the buck and not take responsibility for them, or I can acknowledge the responsibility, and from there I can be accountable and take control to create better.

How do I go about taking responsibility for my own empowerment? There are several ways to make this happen, and I will get into that in depth next week.

Responsibility is not a dirty word.

Do you take responsibility for finding and walking your own paths?

 

This is the two-hundred first entry in my series. These weekly posts are ideas and my personal experiences in walking along the path of life.  I share this journey as part of my personal desire to make a difference in this world along the way.

Thank you for joining me.  Feel free to re-blog and share.

The first year of Pathwalking, including some expanded ideas, is available in print and for your Kindle.

Positivity: Adulting

Adulting does not need to be arduous.

There are some major advantages to being an adult. You can come and go as you please, you get to choose your own bed time, you can hang out with any friends at any time in any place and there is nobody but you to tell you no.

Yes, I know that with adulthood comes certain responsibilities. We have to work jobs to buy food and clothing and housing and to pay for fun things we might prefer to do with our time. I also know that sometimes this is seriously lacking in fun.

The thing from childhood I think we often leave the most behind is joy. Not pleasure, not happiness, I’m writing about that elation, that joyful feeling when you did something you had never done before for the first time. That feeling of utter accomplishment when you were told “good job” or “well done” and the like.

All too often we take our daily activities as utterly unforgiving and ho-hum. I read various social media posts about failing to “adult” today or having issues with “adulting” due to appointments or meetings or other activities that we must be responsible for but might otherwise prefer not to do.

Quite the paradox how as children we look so forward to growing up, and then when we do we lament no longer being children. For a lot of people, this feels like a no-win situation.

Rather than focusing on what we no longer have, or being distraught about some aspect of adulthood, we should revel in it. We can find so much positivity in the control we have over our own lives, now that we are adults. We forget just how many choices we have, how many options every day can present to us.

It’s very easy to get caught up in the routines that we have and responsibilities we might prefer to avoid. We have a choice, however. Rather than becoming displeased or letting the things we would prefer not to do overwhelm us, we should instead look at the opportunities. We should focus on the fact that, hey, we might have things we must needs do, but they don’t have to be awful.

Yes, there are going to be times that this is completely unavoidable. If you don’t want to go to the dentist, be stuck in that meeting, deal with traffic court, stand in that line, make that phone call but it is something you must do, move through it. Give it the focus it requires at the immediate time, but limit how much you attend to it before or after. Remember, we can choose how we want to feel. We can allow an unwanted situation to stick with us and ruin the rest of the day/week/month/year, or we can choose to accept it, acknowledge it, then work to let it go.

Adulting can be hard, no denying that. But we can choose just how we wish to feel about it.

Finding positivity is not hard, it just requires action. Knowing that you looked forward to being an adult as a child, you get to choose how you feel about the less-desirable aspects of adulthood. When we work to move past the negativity of the things we do not want, we take control of our situation and thus we empower ourselves. When we feel empowered, we often spread that feeling to others around us, and as such can build more positive feelings. We can use the positive feelings this generates to dissolve negative feelings. When we take away negative feelings, we open up space to let in positive feelings, and that is something we can be grateful for. Gratitude leads to happiness. Happiness is the ultimate positive attitude. Positive attitude begets positive energy, and that is always a good thing.

 

 

This is the ninety-second entry of my Positivity series.  It is my hope these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone.  Feel free to share, re-blog and spread the positivity.

Pathwalking 200

What is normal?

I have been asking this question for most of my life. I haven’t the foggiest idea of what it is to be normal.

Society is constantly talking about the “norms”, the things that are acceptable for people to do and be, and we judge people based upon where in this artifice they fit.

Everyone has a different definition of what is normal. These definitions get applied to different things in our lives based on our jobs, our families, our communities, our affiliations and so on and so forth. We use the term normal frequently.

A normal family. A normal job. A normal day at work. The normal drink at the coffee shop.

Normal is based on perception, but mostly it’s based on the perception of others. We view outside things as normal or abnormal or weird or freaky or simply off based on what society tells us it should be.

I believe that a lot of the conflicts we experience in our lives are due to attempts to achieve the societal perceptions of normalcy. When we fail to be normal, we draw attention to ourselves, and as such we create conflict where none should exist.

What do I mean? Let’s take relationships as an example. For a very long time a “normal” marriage was between a man and a woman. Marriage between two men or two women was not considered normal, and conflict ensued. Even when we accept same-sex marriage as normal, what about polygamy, polyamory and other such concepts of family, relationships and marriages? What makes any one more normal than the other?

This is where the problem lies. When we create what we consider a “normal”, we inadvertently also create not-the-normals. Once upon a time the “normal” family was a husband, a wife and a kid or two. Single-parent families were not normal, let alone single-gender parent families. We judged the normalcy of the people we encountered because society told us they did not meet the standard.

I grew up outside of the normal pretty much all my life. Normal family unit? Nope, single-parent family. Normal religious affiliation? Nope, raised Jewish in a predominantly Lutheran community. Played football or baseball or some sport? Nope, acted in plays and sang in choirs – even lettered in both in High School.

All my life I have been told that I am a little off. A little unusual. Weird. Geeky. Nerdy. An odd looking fellow (seriously, some random dude in Santa Fe, NM came up to me on the street out of the blue to shake my hand and tell me this). However you add it up, I have always been perceived as some flavor of unusual.

I am not what anyone would call normal. But rather than adjust myself to meet the norms, or to live up to anyone else’s judgement of normal…I embrace my abnormal existence.

I cannot begin to tell you how freeing it is to not be constrained to be “normal”. I am a much happier, more grounded soul because rather than try to make core changes against my own nature to meet someone else’s artificial understanding of what is normal, I strive to just be myself.

Pathwalking is my personal process for working to be my most genuine self. Rather than being held back to the societal norm, I am choosing instead to create my own destiny, to make my own way, to do my own thing.

It has been almost four years since I began this process. While there are still improvements to be made and room for growth, that is simply what life is all about. I have come a very long way from where I was and who I was, and I believe that I am better for it. I am overall calmer, happier, in a better place in my life, and as such more capable of receiving the things I most want to manifest for myself.

There is nothing wrong with not being normal. It gets joked about, it is the point of numerous movies and tv-shows, it’s the impetus for any number of hero’s journeys in any number of stories. The thing is, rather than take this to heart and use it to our advantage, we still attempt to place ourselves and others into what is considered “normal”.

It is not easy to break from the norm. I get asked a lot of questions by a lot of people about the how of my life that I find I am sometimes uncomfortable answering. I am not uncomfortable because I feel I have chosen poorly…I am uncomfortable because I am only human, and sometimes the fear of being judged by others can be rather disheartening. This is a part of my work in progress.

I am a Pathwalker. I have chosen and continue to create the direction of my own life. I know what I do is not “normal” in a myriad of ways…and I embrace this. I believe that if more people embrace their own weirdness, their own geekiness, abnormalities, and more importantly their own uniqueness…we all can live better, happier, more fulfilling lives.

Consider this the next time you are in a discussion or reading about the notion of “normal”. Maybe the whole concept should be abandoned, and instead we should embrace a new normal – the normal of the individual and all the quirks therein.

If you prefer to do your own thing and not be constrained by the expectations of normal, take that into consideration before you declare something, someone or some situation to be normal or otherwise.

What do you consider normal, and does normalcy restrict what you want to do and be in life?

 

 

This is the two-hundredth entry in my series. These weekly posts are ideas and my personal experiences in walking along the path of life.  I share this journey as part of my personal desire to make a difference in this world along the way.

Thank you for joining me.  Feel free to re-blog and share.

The first year of Pathwalking, including some expanded ideas, is available in print and for your Kindle.

Positivity: Intentions

How do you want your day to be? What are your intentions?

The power of intent is something we take for granted. We fail to see that we have the ability to manifest not just once in a while, not just on a special occasion or due to a dire need, but all day, every day.

One of the key elements of manifestation is intention. Intent is not the starting point so much as it is the direction. What begins as an idea becomes energized when you add an intention to make it more than just a thought.

This process works on a lot of different levels, great and small. Trouble is, we don’t often realize how powerful intention is, and so we allow our minds to wander and our intent to track to the negative.

If you get caught up in negativity, your intent is often to get out of negativity. This can be a problem, because your dominant thinking is on a negative thing, and as such you are putting your energy and your intentions into it even further.

I feel sad. I intend to stop feeling sad. Ok, great…but you have just stated that you are all about feeling sad. This means that you have already limited your emotional response, and you are trying to undo what is already about.

Truth be told, this does not work. Don’t believe me? How well did Prohibition work? The war on drugs? Violent upheaval in answer to violence? Never does what it intends to do, because the intent makes manifest the thing you don’t actually want.

Change your intent not to stop or undo or reverse what you have, but to focus on the opposite. I feel sad. I intend to feel happy. It’s best to take a strong statement, not simply I intend to feel better, which is kind of mushy and rather subjective. Also – better than what? This statement lacks clarity, and clarity in intention helps make the intent manifest.

This may strike you as overly simple, but you’ll be surprised how much more powerful creating a new and positive intent is over trying to un-make what you already have.

This is not just spiritual mumbo-jumbo, this is science. How? Science tells us that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, it just changes form. Intention is energy, so what kind of energy you are playing with and putting out to the universe matters. When what you have is not what you want, focusing on undoing it just keeps it around. Change the intent, change the focus to the things you DO want.

Can you see that what you intend will go a long ways towards creating Positivity?

Finding positivity is not hard, it just requires action. Knowing that you can choose your intentions, you can use this to manifest more and greater positivity in your life. When we use intentions to give energy to the good things we desire and the way we want to feel, we empower ourselves. When we feel empowered, we often spread that feeling to others around us, and as such can build more positive feelings. We can use the positive feelings this generates to dissolve negative feelings. When we take away negative feelings, we open up space to let in positive feelings, and that is something we can be grateful for. Gratitude leads to happiness. Happiness is the ultimate positive attitude. Positive attitude begets positive energy, and that is always a good thing.

 

This is the ninety-first entry of my Positivity series.  It is my hope these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone.  Feel free to share, re-blog and spread the positivity.

Coming soon: Finder – The Source Chronicles Book II

A year ago I decided that I had waited long enough; it was time to publish my fantasy series.

Seeker – The Source Chronicles Book I was begun in 1998. After several reworks and a professional editor, I tried to find representation for many many years.

Welcome to the 21st century. I determined it was time to self-publish. Thus I created Argent Hedgehog Press, and I formatted the book and Seeker was released into the wild.

The Source Chronicles began as a quartet of books, until book three, Harbinger, became far larger than anticipated. So The Source Chronicles is to be five books (Seeker, Finder, Harbinger, Guardians, Healers).

When I published Seeker last year, I promised that I would be publishing Finder this year. Well, it has taken a tad longer than I had wanted it to, but Finder is currently being edited!

I am still planning to publish Finder before the end of November.

Thank you everyone for your patience, and for your wonderful reviews! I hope that you will enjoy Finder as much as you enjoyed Seeker.

If you have not yet read Seeker, by all means, please go get a copy and read! If you have, and you are eagerly awaiting Finder, let me give you a little teaser preview…

 

 

Here there may be spoilers if you did not read Seeker…be forewarned…

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am pretty sure that there might be spoilers if you didn’t read Seeker. This is your second to last warning…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, you have been duly warned.

 

 

 

 

Three years have passed since Cam Murtallan helped to bring about peace and stability between Sharron and Medaelia. In the interveneing years he served both King Varlock-Sharron Anduin of Sharron and Queen Lyrra-Sharron Anduin of Medaelia as a companion and advisor. He studied from their libraries all that he could, and discovered clues that set him back on his path as Seeker to uncover the mystery that is The Source.

Cam has left his companions and journeyed across the sea to the continent of Nortamia and the nation of Vilcarr. Cam once more takes up his prophetic role as The Seeker, as he works to discover The Source.

Cam will make new friends and allies, and for the first time encounter other sorcerers. He is drawn to meet his destiny, but that will not happen without new challenges, perils and more!

Finder – The Source Chronicles Book II will be available soon. Keep watching for more information!

 

Thank you for all of your support!

Pathwalking 199

Catharsis is important to being able to walk a chosen path.

It never ceases to amaze me how easily emotional baggage accumulates. No matter how much we think we are purging as we go, we still manage to hold on to outdated materials.

What’s more, often you don’t even realize you are still holding onto things that you are, and they are still effecting current actions.

I don’t know what it is about human nature that we generally cling to the past. For some reason, we are loathe to simply move forward without dragging along with us that which is behind us.

Some past matters cannot just simply be let go of. We need to actually take actions to let them go. Sometimes we don’t recognize this right away, but when we do I think it’s a good idea to act to get rid of them.

What kinds of actions are you talking about? Since we cannot erase memories we do not want or that no longer help us, ala Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, we have to take certain other actions to achieve catharsis.

Dictionary.com defines Catharsis thus:

The   purging   of   the   emotions   or   relieving   of   emotional   tensions, especially   through   certain   kinds   of   art,   as   tragedy   or   music.

Ergo, this can be applied not only to ridding ourselves of past baggage, but also of current emotional issues.

These are some actions we can take to help us to achieve this end:

Writing. Journaling can be really useful in purging our emotional states, and tracking how we feel and what we want to achieve and accomplish. This has been a primary component in Pathwalking for me, which is why I write this weekly. However, another helpful thing you can do is to write a letter you will never deliver.

If there is a person who you feel wronged by, or hurt by, or let down by; or an institution, an organization, or what-have-you – writing out an emotionally charged letter to get matters off your chest can go a long ways towards releasing tensions and finding catharsis. I have done this before, and even in one case shared the letter I wrote not because it was hurtful, but because we needed to clear the air between us. This is especially helpful when the hurt or anger or sadness is particularly rooted deep, and you need to metaphorically dig it out to clear the ground to plant something new and better.

Drawing. I am not much of an artist myself, but I know a lot of people for whom drawing things brings relief and is a particularly cathartic act. It may not even have to do directly with a particular emotional tension, but it is a good general idea to help relieve tension and combat stressful emotions.

Doodling is drawing. I had in almost every high school and college notebook doodles all over the margins. Some were to alleviate boredom, but some were to stave off emotional tensions. I often doodled almost sub-consciously.

Coloring. There is a current trend for adult coloring books. This is a really cathartic idea. As children, most of us loved to color, so it is perfectly logical that as adults we still find relief from pressure in this act. There is something in putting the colors into the lines and watching art unfold that is extremely calming. I am rather amazed, frankly, that we didn’t figure this idea out sooner.

It does not matter what medium you choose, be it crayons or colored pencils or markers. It is a powerful act to create art in any form, be it drawing or just coloring or painting, and the catharsis is worthwhile.

Making music. Are you a singer? Do you play a musical instrument? Either way, taking some time to practice this art, whether you sing in the car or the shower or play a guitar during your lunch break, can provide huge emotional release. There is nothing like singing your heart out to relieve tension, or playing whatever instrument you play to work through and bring out emotions. The energy of this act is very cathartic.

Even if you do not sing or play an instrument, just immersing yourself in music can be a powerful tool. Nothing like blasting an angry rock anthem as you cruise down the highway to envelop yourself in a feeling. Most of the time when I am writing I have music in the background that offers inspiration, and helps to build emotion. Music is particularly powerful for awakening the senses and evoking feelings.

These are just a few suggestions for ways to get control of our emotions. Pathwalking is about taking control of my own destiny, and making my own way in this world as I wish to make it. Having control over how I feel is a large part of this, and that is why finding catharsis is very useful.

I don’t normally use Pathwalking to make any sort of political or social commentary, but this topic in my mind demands it. Catharsis is why we need art and music in our schools. Tests and athletics have their place, but human beings need the arts in our lives. Cutting funding for these threatens to emotionally cripple ourselves in ways I don’t think we’ve begun to consider. Appreciating art is important, but making art is too.

We all have things we hold onto that we need to let go of. Using cathartic things is a great way to do that. We have a lot of options to make this happen, and really this is the very definition of taking inspired action. Who knows where else this type of thing could lead you?

What do you do to find catharsis?

 

This is the one-hundred ninety ninth entry in my series. These weekly posts are specifically about walking along the path of life, and my personal desire to make a difference in this world along the way. Feel free to re-blog and share.  Thank you for joining me.

The first year of Pathwalking, including some expanded ideas, is available in print and for your Kindle.

Positivity: Autumn

The beauty of nature is particularly poignant in autumn.

Living in the Northeastern US, I get to see a dramatic changing of the season. The leaves turn the most amazing shades of gold and red and orange, and the foliage is impressive during this time of the year.

Unfortunately, for many, this marks the beginning of a less pleasant season. Fall leads to winter, and winter for a lot of us does not lend itself to feeling happy. The cold, the grey and white and other drab colors of the approaching season, plus often less sunlight, can be unpleasant for some of us.

Rather than dwell on what is coming, I choose instead this year to focus on what we have now. Amazing colors, generally reasonable and pleasant weather, that smell in the air that speaks of warm hearths and opportunities to cuddle with loved ones.

This is a time of renewal. Yes, I can see it sometimes as death and decay, but rather than look at this as a negative, let’s focus instead on the positive. Summer’s sometimes oppressive heat and humidity are largely done, the colors of the trees as they turn can be breathtaking, and the world gets to reset and restart.

Life is like this for every living creature. We go through times of change, we go through sometimes drastic alterations in our lives. It is not that anyone in particular is a victim of anything at all, it is that we strive so hard for good things in our lives that often when bad things or less-than-positive things happen, they get magnified. We get so close to them, we get stuck on them even.

Human life goes through change as well. We resist change because there is a comfort in the familiar. What we have and know brings us peace and contentment. Trouble is, life will change. It’s inevitable. So rather than resist and rail against it, we should work more to accept it, and to see the good that can come of it.

It is easy to disbelieve that we are in control of our own feelings. Things happen, and those things effect how we feel. But we have the power to choose if we are going to let feelings pass through us, or linger. The changing of the seasons of nature work the same way. They approach, they begin, they are in process, they end. New season approaches, begins, processes, ends. Yes, they overlap.

Because they overlap, we should focus less on what is coming and more on what is here. This is why living in the here and now can be so rewarding. When we stop and take stock of what we are experiencing now, rather than focusing on what is to come or what has passed, we might find a brighter, more colorful and more positive world to live in.

Fall is not necessarily an ending. It’s a new beginning. This can be an amazing tool for positivity.

Finding positivity is not hard, it just requires action. Knowing that you can focus on things being renewed instead of ending, you can alter how things like changing seasons make you feel. When we look at the beauty that autumn has to offer, we can take the feelings that creates and use them to empower ourselves. When we feel empowered, we often spread that feeling to others around us, and as such can build more positive feelings. We can use the positive feelings this generates to dissolve negative feelings. When we take away negative feelings, we open up space to let in positive feelings, and that is something we can be grateful for. Gratitude leads to happiness. Happiness is the ultimate positive attitude. Positive attitude begets positive energy, and that is always a good thing.

 

This is the ninetieth entry of my Positivity series.  It is my hope these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone.  Feel free to share, re-blog and spread the positivity.