#instead I get energized with no outlet

[spatterdots]

I’m glad the sun is coming back, I missed her a lot. Like a piece of me is back that I lose during the cloudy and dark days of winter. I remember why I put my bed near the windows in the first place.

[apatheticlexicographer]

MOTHERFUCK i did not realize how much those antidepressants made me feel physically psychologically and dare i say spiritually like a peat mummy

literally 2 days off them and i've experienced more joy, lucidity, motivation and general good vibes than i did in the whole 2 months i was on them 😭😭

[yourthoughtsreallymatter]

Hi! I'm so glad I saw your blog. I've been really needing to talk about this lately but I've lacked an outlet to do so. It just feels good to get some of it out. (sorry in advance for the ramble to follow)

One of my very close friends, whom I've known for years, recently mentioned in passing that she'd gone off her depression medication. I had been speculating that she had for about a month. (it's worth noting here that when it came up she was talking about how she had no more issues with mental health etc at this point, which caught me off guard) It's ultimately none of my business and no big deal, other than that her behavior has been different enough to the point where I noticed a change. Not big, just less energized, enthusiastic, and honestly a little mean? I never doubted her decision, but the subtle changes have made me feel things about our friendship that I never have before.

I'm very sensitive, although I often don't have the luxury of feeling things fully/won't let myself until I trust someone, like the way I trust my friend. These subtle changes have made me feel awful in some ways. It makes me remember my middle/elementary school friendships and how I felt like an accessory to other girls. I didn't feel real. I thought that if I wore the wrong thing or said something they didn't agree with that no one would want to be my friend anymore. I've yet to fully process how much those experiences hurt me, but this is starting to bring a lot of these insecurities back up.

When we spend time together, I get the sense that she's annoyed with me, I'm constantly doing something wrong. Sometime's I'll get directions wrong and she's frustrated and yells a bit, or she waves me off with her hand. Sometimes she's on her phone when we hang out instead of talking to me. (Of course, some of this is bound to happen in normal friendships, but this has been constant in recent months) Then I go home and cry about it. I tell myself to spend some time away from her to regroup. We'll make plans again and I'm excited because I want to spend time with my best friend. Then I get hurt again. I would do anything in our friendship to make her happy. I'm aware that I'm making too much of the situation. I know I shouldn't take all her actions so seriously, and everyone has little moments of feeling that they need to let out.

But she makes me so sad. I love her so much and we have had many good moments, but it's become so difficult. I haven't mentioned this to her in any serious way, I've only told her after she let me know that she wasn't taking her meds that I'd had speculations. On top of the sadness, I feel so selfish. Of course I want her to be happy, but do I want her to be happy just to make me feel secure in our friendship? If she feels better now than she did before, then I can be satisfied knowing she's better off. I just don't know if I'll ever adjust, if we can still be friends in the same way. I struggle with bringing this up with her, as I don't want her to feel guilty for doing what's right for her mental health. All I want to do is the right thing for the both of us. I've been taking another break from hanging out with her, but I know I'll need to talk about this eventually. It just hurts when someone you trust is mean to you, and you have no way of defending yourself. I could be making way too much of this whole scenario, and it could ultimately have more to do with us both changing than her getting off medication. I just want to support her the best I can while minimizing hurt for myself. But I have no idea what to do now.

Oh my god is this ask long! I'm really sorry, but I extend my many many thanks if you made it all the way through. I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking for here, but writing this out has already made me feel better :)

Dealing with change in friendships + friendship dynamics

Hi anon, it means alot that you trusted enough to write this out. I can see where you’re coming from

It seems like your friend is doing better, but she could def still be struggling behind the scenes. People who are mean are often unhappy with parts of themselves. I say this from my own experiences and also from seeing others like this.

However, how she’s doing you is bogus asl. Even if she’s doing that out of her own emotions or issues, it is no excuse to treat you badly. And I think it’ll continue if you keep allowing it

The next time you feel she mistreats you, CALL IT OUT. Dont let it slide. Obvs don’t be rude towards her but politely and firmly tell her you don’t like that she did that. If she brushes off your confrontation, she doesn’t fr respect you. I think some communication will help you

People change. For worse or for better. I understand that you have a big attachment to her tho since she’s been your friend for so long. I think your view of her is more rooted in the past. This can cause resentment from her, in the past I resented my old friends for only viewing me as the past version of myself when I was a much different person by then. That may be the case for your friend. And you likely changed too. This isnt a bad thing ofc but it will affect your friendship with her

If she continues mistreating you, don’t be afraid to give up the friendship. Sometimes the best thing you can do is walk away, esp when a friendship has caused you sm stress and trouble.

With what you said about being insecure about being friends with other girls, I get what you mean. I became pretty and many girls wanted to be my friend specifically cause of that. It made me worry that if i made one wrong mistake, they wouldn’t fw me anymore. But if someone is a fr friend, small things wouldn’t matter. Keep that in mind.

Also, I had a friendship similar to yours where I had lots of good moments with the girl but I also felt lots of hurt when she mistreated me. I cared too much about it and I constantly chased after her friendship and approval, and it ruined my confidence and self esteem. Eventually, she ended up ghosting me. While I don’t regret the friendship, what I did regret the most was being too emotional and putting in energy for someone who jus wasn’t feeling me. And in the end I didn’t resent her for not reciprocating. If this happened to me now, I would have just taken it for what it is and left her alone. I think detachment helps you alot, even if it is someone you really care about. If you leave thijgs be and take them for what they are, it saves alot of stress HAHA

If you want to talk more, feel free to dm me. I got you

[citizensaul]

Chapter 16 Stealing Top Secret docs from the White House

So many things that Trump has done to undermine our Democracy and so much of his hate filled rhetoric to energize his racist base of White Supremacists,Neo Nazis and other misfit losers in our society have been well documented in this work,"The United States of Russia 2016-2020. " These are the Ugly years when Donald J Trump with the help of the Russian Intelligence agency assumed the title of POTUS # 45 . As bad as anything he had previously done, nothing measures up to his stealing highly classified intelligence documents from the White House destined for the National archives, instead he had them transported to his private place in Palm Beach Florida. Some of the documents were so highly classified they were listed as Top secret meaning they could not be viewed except in the most secure place, under Guard and viewed only by a specific person or persons yet they went unguarded and vulnerable to anyone wanting to steal them or photograph them to eventually harm our country.One of those documents listed the names of Covert CIA Agents and their Covers as well as the names of their on site eyes and ears . We have no idea the extent of the damage Trump may have already done  or who he disclosed this info to,but it's no coincidence that the CIA has reported Since October of 2021 dozens of their undercover officers and their assistants on the ground have been ambushed and murdered.  The FBI was told by the National Archives that documents the Trump White House was charged with forwarding to them never arrived so the FBI was given permission for a raid on Trump's place,Mar A Lago where they retrieved 15 boxes of files but they found the contents of some files EMPTY ! Where are they,where did they go that's the question. This act by Trump is without question an act of Treason and he must be brought to justice soon.The American people deserve nothing less than to know that No one is above the law especially a Traitor like Trump !   Some people say they should not prosecute an ex president it would set a bad precedence, let's take that chance for the sake of the Rule of Law and our  fragile Democracy. 

Can you imagine if anything remotely resembling anything Trump has done but by a Democrat. The Fox people would be yelling and screaming LOCK him  or HER UP !  Traitor,traitor ,traitor ,sold out our country. It would be relentless 24/7 by every Right Wing Conservative Extremist media outlet but Trump, GET OVER IT as Mick Mulvaney mentioned over the Phone call by Trump to Zelensky "I need you to do us a favor"! It is incumbent upon AG Merrick Garland to prosecute not just Trump for possible violation of the Espionage act as well as obstruction of justice but every person who was complicit in anyway with Trump's instigated Insurrection and attempt to overturn Biden's victory in 2020. That includes people in his administration,his family,members of Congress and others like Guiliani ,Roger Stone,Michael Flynn,Paul Manafort and any others. We have heard AG Garland tell us that No one is above the law and now is  the time to give those words meaning ! We came so very close to losing our Freedom and our Founders Experiment in a government  OF,BY and most important FOR the people.We must be assured that that government does not perish from the earth. No one would have thought America would transform itself into a form of Fascism but that was the direction of Donald J Trump,a traitor like no other in the history of the nation. Richard Nixon resigned because he he was corrupted by the power of the Presidency but he wasn't evil ,he did not betray the nation,Trump did. He was a Russian asset and puppet of Putin and we have no idea what he has divulged about National Security. We have no idea with who else he may have shared Highly Classified documents including Top Secret Intelligence' Trump must pay the price a traitor should pay,Life at a Federal prison in total Isolation never to be heard from again until the notice of his death,alone abd penniless !  Chapter 17 to follow, stay tuned .

[healingchildhoodtrauma]

Just as children have a natural way to work through fear, they have a built-in way to process all their other intense emotions, including anger, apprehension, joy, and sorrow. The anger response, like the fear response, is a frequent target for repression. Imagine a 6-year-old girl who is angry at her 10-year-old brother for teasing her. In response, she might make an angry face, yell at her brother, and strike out at him with her fists. It’s an instinctual, energizing reaction designed to protect her from danger. Someone is violating her sense of well-being, and she’s afraid that if she doesn’t stop the intruder, she’ll get hurt. A wise parent would validate the girl’s anger—it’s infuriating to be teased—and help her find a verbal rather than a physical way to express it. “You are very mad at your brother for teasing you,” says this model parent, “I would be, too. Tell him in words how angry you feel. He needs to know.” This way, the girl can protect herself from her brother and purge herself of her anger without having to resort to physical violence. Her self-protective anger remains intact. It has simply been given a more “civilized” form of expression. Less knowledgeable parents interfere with their children’s anger by ridiculing them, ignoring them, isolating them, goading them on to greater violence, punishing them, distracting them, hitting them, or trying to make them laugh (“I see a smile coming on …”). When a parent interferes with a child’s anger response in these heavy-handed ways, the anger increases and is redirected at the parent: now the parent is the one who’s violating the child’s sense of well-being by interfering with a natural and necessary outlet of emotion. Most parents stifle this secondary outburst of anger, too, only this time with more force. “Don’t make a face at your mother! What a naughty girl. You’ll get a licking for that! Shame on you!” Instead of allowing the anger to flow through the child’s system the first time it’s expressed, the parent unwittingly fans the anger, then dams it up. The anger becomes trapped in the little girl’s stomach, muscles, and jaw, and becomes an enduring wound. If the parent represses the girl’s anger not just once but over and over again, a deeper injury occurs: the girl will eventually dismantle her anger response. Ultimately, it’s safer for her to cut off a part of her being than to battle the person on whom her life depends. When her brother abuses her, she will no longer respond with a surge of anger. She’ll find some other route. She might run to her mother for help, or pretend she’s not mad, or find a more devious way to get back at him. The clean, instant, automatic response will be gone.

The Emotional Incest Syndrome by Pat Love

[seeker-of-the-stars]

Tfp Soundwave x Shockwave fic if you still doing request

It was Soundwave's job to pay attention to the little things, both with the Autobots and especially with his fellow Decepticons. Their conversations, their whereabouts, and who they choose to spend their time with were all essential to keeping the ship running and furthering their chances of winning the war.

It was normal, even expected to see everyone from the lowest Vehicon to the Second-in-Command break small rules every now and then. He knew about Knock Out and Breakdown's secret relationship before they even stepped onboard the Nemesis; he knew that Starscream would often say he was off handling "top secret business matters for Megatron" when he was really locked in his quarters drinking high grade, usually after being reprimanded or having a nightmare; he knew the Vehicons would stay up late every Saturday night playing poker, making bets over the only scraps they were allowed to have. However, Soundwave wasn't a snitch, nor was he stupid. For the most part, he allowed the crew members to have their fun as long as they got the job done in the end. Everyone needed their outlets, and siccing Megatron on every bot who dared to step a pede out of line would do nothing except distract their leader and kill what little morale they had left.

However, there was one 'Con that he'd never seen break the rules, not even once. Shockwave, who rarely ever left his lab, who worked tirelessly on Cybertron for millions of years by himself, even after thinking he was forgotten and abandoned, who never uttered a word unless he was using those words to further the Decepticon cause, caught his attention immediately.

Every night after Shockwave returned, he sent Lazerbeak to check up on the scientist, and every night she would return and show him the same clips; Shockwave working on the Predacon project. Shockwave asking Knock Out for a beaker or a tool he needed, but otherwise working in silence. Shockwave drinking energon while still laser focused on his work. When he did recharge, he did so in a berth he had placed down in his lab so he wouldn't waste time having to go back and forth to his quarters. Every once in a while, including that day, Knock Out would speak up and ask a question or make a suggestion.

"Is it really necessary for you to sleep down here? This place gives me the creeps," he shuttered.

Shockwave trained his lone optic on the medic, apathetic. "It is more efficient this way. You may go back to your quarters if you wish."

"But you barely even refueled! One cube a day for a mech your size isn't nearly enough. As your medic-"

"I am well aware of my own capabilities," he interrupted. "I am a scientist, not a warrior, and the work I do doesn't burn fuel as quickly. One cube a day is sufficient."

Knock Out looked as though he wanted to retort, but sighed, knowing it was useless. "Fine, but if you end up in the medical bay for exhaustion, I will be saying I told you so."

"I am not foolish enough to get to that point," Shockwave shrugged. After putting his materials away for the night, he set his internal clock to wake him up exactly seven hours from now. He then got into his berth, and turned off the lights.

As the recording ended, he could feel Lazerbeak's confusion through their shared field; Why was he so focused on Shockwave, when there were so many other bots onboard to monitor?

In answer, he simply patted her on the head and sent out waves of appreciation for her hard work. She leaned into his touch, and attatched herself to his chest. As he could feel Lazerbeak falling asleep, he couldn't keep the reclusive, eternally loyal scientist out of his mind.

***

The first thing Shockwave woke up to was his lengthy to do list for the day; the second thing was a notification that he was low on fuel.

Shockwave hesitated. Normally he'd send Knock Out to the cafeteria at noon to bring him back a cube of energon, but the medic's shift didn't start for another hour and if he waited until then it might slow down his productivity. In acquiescence to his body's needs, he decided to brave the morning traffic in the cafeteria to get a quick cube of energon. Instead, he was stopped when he saw something right outside his door.

When he looked at it closer, he saw it was a personal energon maker. Shockwave tilted his helm in confusion. It was dark purple and black; it even had two antennas sticking out that looked just like his. It was obvious that it was meant for him but why...?

When he picked it up, he saw a note attached to the bottom. It read: To Shockwave: hope this saves you time. From: your fellow Decepticon :)

Shockwave stared at the machine over and over, racking his processor who it could be from. Maybe he could test it for prints, or paint chips-

He dismissed the idea out of hand. It would be a waste of resources, and Megatron needed him to focus on the Predacon project. So instead, he closed the door, made himself a cube, and got back to work, feeling more energized than he had in a long time.

[luuurien]

Denzel Curry - Melt My Eyez See Your Future

(Conscious Hip Hop, Jazz Rap, Southern Hip Hop)

Denzel Curry's fifth studio album is his most relaxed, flowing on softer beats with less intensity while keeping his characteristic grit and power on the mic. While many of the same social issues and emotional turmoil from previous albums still exist here, it's channeled in a more reflective and intricate fashion that explores the interconnected nature of everything he raps about.

☆☆☆☆

I don't like some of the conversation surrounding this album. And by that, I mean the critic's side of things: not only does it feel like music outlets and review websites misunderstand many aspects of Melt My Eyez See Your Future, but it often seems to undermine the work he's done in the past, too. More than a few outlets have described this as his "mature" record, one where his discussion of social issues is "...an ambitious dive into lyricism about cultural hardships and mental health," his stories of mental illness and personal struggles finally seen as a key part of his music for the first time. What confuses me about this is that these things have always been in his albums, admittedly on more aggressive and saturated trap and Southern hardcore beats with a heated and angst-riddled delivery, but acting like this is the first time Denzel's spoken about his troubles in this way negates a good 80% of TA13OO's lyrical content and some of the best moments Imperial has to offer. What Denzel Curry's fifth album really is, is a change of perspective: now running with a more internal concept not carried by outside characters and defined story arcs, Melt My Eyez... engages you with these ideas on a more immediate level, not heightening your blood pressure but instead bringing it down as low as possible so that Curry's storytelling can be put front and center. Knowing this and treating the album in this way impacts it in multiple different ways, making its best moments feel less new and thrilling and the worst moments even more disappointing. But despite all this, Melt My Eyez... is still a fantastic listen, with Curry's mental reset allowing him to discuss the same ideas he did on past records with a new frame of mind. In its best moments, there's nothing else like it he's done thus far. Curry's always been a more than capable rapper, but Melt My Eyez... shows just how well-versed he is on all the different kinds of beats and flows he explores across this extremely diverse 14-song tracklist. Flashes of his previous ultra-aggressive sound that roll in like heat waves, the trappy penultimate track Sanjuro incorporating a faster flow and ultra-energized vocal presence or even the drowsier threats he spits on John Wayne that have an unexpected pummeling nature on your ears even when his flow here is one of the slowest on the entire album. More often, though, the softer beats on Melt My Eyez... see him taking a narrative role as a guide to his own self-improvement, the precise and charismatic flow he takes on the boom bap first half of Walkin swapped for a brighter and more thorough flow in the second half, still at a midtempo pace but fitting more words into each bar to make sure he gets to every thought at some point or another. Melt Session #1 and Angelz are the most tender songs on the entire album and in Curry's discography, four minute tracks that are incredibly detailed and incredibly personal, the former startling in his willingness to admit to every single wrong he's done while actively looking to do better from this point forward and the latter's search for stability have you hanging on his every word. But building off the ideas of self-discovery and healing from previous records, it does feel at times like he's treading the same ground under a different colored sky, tracks here like Troubles explore the concepts of fake friends, success and everlasting problems already delivered in much more effective and touching ways on songs like SWITCH IT UP | ZWITCH 1T UP and even Walkin earlier on in Melt My Eyez...'s tracklist, and in turn it often feels like that aforementioned perspective switch hasn't unearthed anything all that new. It ends up being the moments where Curry's able to find a middle ground between this new mindset and keeping his fast wit alive where Melt My Eyez... shines the brightest. Posse cut Ain't No Way shifts between soulful and slow ruminations on wanting more out of life and accepting yourself where you're at  with a punky and fun verse from Rico Nasty where she lets all hell break loose, and The Smell of Death is pure flow and style over a muted and funky Thundercat beat. It's moments like these where the mission statement of Melt My Eyez..., letting go of all preconceptions and taking the world as it is, fully comes to life, Curry embracing the current wave while doing things entirely his own and perfecting the formula almost every time. It's why the piss-poor chorus of Zatoichi ("Lifе is short, like a dwarf"? "Droppin' bars, like a stork"? Really, slowthai?) is the best part of that song with the godly drum and bass sample and massive energy deposit Powers Pleasant and Jonnywood are able to build to thrust Curry into the next verse. It's always a risk, letting the world exist without resistance in this way through the music, but Curry's poise and control of where Melt My Eyez... is going rarely lets any of this make a dent in the music. Melt My Eyez See Your Future is an album headed somewhere incredibly exciting. For all its issues, it's still a massive step up in terms of Curry's emotional intelligence and artistic scope even when returning to ideas he's spoken on in years past. The production is pretty and ear-pleasing by default, so easy to sink into that you might question for a second if there's something else Curry has planned, but quickly he shows all his cards and renders Melt My Eyez... is an honest and forthcoming listen. It feels like Curry's usurped his own artistry, stepping back from everything his music's been building on since the beginning and starting over with a clean slate where the things that drove him back then aren't needed anymore, replacing anger and vitriol with healing and meditations on what brought him to the place he is today. There are times where the concept begins to drag behind Curry, but maybe that's part of the album's charm: as he is figuring out how to traverse this new emotional branch, the music is doing just the same. No matter where his mind's taking him, Curry always keeps it 100% himself.

[sciencespies]

This week's deadly heatwave shows we need a new way to talk about climate change

https://sciencespies.com/environment/this-weeks-deadly-heatwave-shows-we-need-a-new-way-to-talk-about-climate-change/

This week's deadly heatwave shows we need a new way to talk about climate change

New normal. Record-breaking. Unprecedented.

In recent days, as Western Canada and the United States have been broiling under a climate-fueled heat crisis, all sorts of superlatives have been used to describe never-before-seen temperatures: the British Columbia community of Lytton hit a mind-boggling 49.5 C on June 29, breaking all-time temperature records three days in a row.

People are understandably shocked and scared by those numbers. But should this have come as a surprise? No.

Scientists have been warning about the link between longer, more intense heat events and climate change for over 40 years. The language of “normals” and “new records” is rapidly becoming meaningless.

But the notion that humanity should have known, or should have done something about the crisis earlier — that we should be ashamed for our lack of inaction — is unhelpful for dealing with the climate crisis.

Talking climate

So, what’s a better, more helpful approach to communicating climate change?

The first thing to do is to spend more time talking about climate change. There is far too little discussion around this issue in the public sphere. Global heating is the biggest emergency the planet has ever faced, but one would not know it reading or listening to the news.

Last year, stories about climate change represented just 0.4 per cent of all major US broadcast news coverage. In 2019, it was 0.7 per cent. Even in the midst of an unprecedented heat wave stretching from California to Yukon, references to climate change are few and far between.

Information deficit model

Ironically, one of the biggest blind spots has to do with how information about this issue is shared with the public.

The conventional approach relies upon what’s known as the “information deficit model.” The deficit model builds on the assumption that people will take action on climate change if they have more information about it.

This information-based approach has shaped all sorts of communication, from public safety ads on drinking and driving to news reporting about climate and other important issues.

Unfortunately, the relationship between how much people know and how they act is not always linear. Feeding more facts to someone who is highly politically motivated to dismiss climate change will not convince them to pay more attention to the problem.

Climate change is a tricky story to wrap one’s head around. It can feel too big, too scary and too difficult for any one person to fix. Information, while important, is not always enough.

For there to be engagement with this subject and, by extension, political action, the climate crisis must feel personal, relatable, understandable and, most importantly, solvable.

Above: Estimated per cent of adults who think the Earth is getting warmer. The Yale Program on Climate Change Communication bears no responsibility for the analyses or interpretations of the data presented here.

Charts and graphs — even polar bears — rarely achieve that goal. Eighty-three per cent of Canadians agree that the Earth is getting warmer. But just 47 per cent think climate change will harm them personally.

To have people connect on climate, we need to have more conversations about how people are working to solve it and how those solutions are improving their quality of life where they live. These conversations foist an otherwise abstract, intangible and scary subject into the realm of the everyday — and make it feel solvable.

Solutions matter

Environmental communicators have long pointed to an excessive use of fear messaging around climate change as one of the main problems with engaging the public on this subject.

The challenge is to pair fear messaging with information about efficacy, namely what people can actually do to mitigate the fear. The combination of fear and efficacy leads to what is known as “danger control,” actions to mitigate the danger, as opposed to “fear control,” actions to shut down the fear.

In the case of COVID-19, the sense of efficacy was clear: hand washing, social distancing, masking. With climate change, efficacy information is far less obvious, and more difficult to act upon.

It’s often argued that the large emitters, notably fossil fuel producers, are the ones that harbor the most blame, and are responsible for cleaning up the mess. The Guardian points out that 100 companies are responsible for 71 per cent of emissions.

Yes, it’s clear the world needs to stop burning fossil fuels — oil, gas and coal. But to get there, individuals can also set examples of what pro-environmental behavior looks like.

It can be as simple as posting photos to social media from community cleanup drives, nature walks or posts about any kind of pro-environmental behavior, such as taking transit. This form of communication — as opposed to images that promote a high-carbon lifestyle — normalizes the urgency, importance and possibility of protecting the Earth.

Some of the most effective communicators are TV news meteorologists, who often have loyal followers. More of them are discussing ways the climate crisis is being addressed where people live.

Seeing is believing

Most communication around risk, builds on the standard of moral injunctions — that one should or must act to do something, or else. For example, a park sign might tell visitors not to feed the ducks because human food is bad for them. And yet, visitors keep feeding the ducks.

Instead, communicators should rely on “descriptive social norms,” descriptions of behavior that others, like them, are already doing and benefiting them.

In the United Kingdom, a 2015 campaign urged people to “Take your litter home, other people do.” It was more likely to reduce illegal littering than signs that said “Please keep your park clean by not littering.”

Solutions, notably in the form of stories about people and communities taking action to solve the climate crisis, are among the most effective ways of communicating the emergency.

The National Observer‘s “First Nations Forward” series is a great example of this type of reporting. Story after story details how First Nations communities in British Columbia are leading the way in the transition to a renewable-energy future.

Mainstream news media outlets, like the one I work for, Global News, are also spending more time on climate and rethinking how they cover it. One recent national story reported on the massive energy transition already under way in Alberta.

Such stories about change that is working send a message that action to mitigate the climate crisis by ordinary people is doable, normal, empowering and desirable. They energize and mobilize members of the public ready to take action, by providing visual examples of who is leading the way.

They also move the conversation beyond the conventional emphasis on skeptics and deniers, and normalize pro-environmental values and behaviors for the growing number of people who are already alarmed or concerned about the climate emergency.

Far from driving the fear narrative, stories of climate solutions unlock people’s sense of efficacy and agency in the face of impending danger. In other words, they engage the public on climate change by doing what all good communication does: meeting people where they are at, through a mobilizing story.

This is storytelling 101: engaging audiences, not turning them away, as most climate reports do.

Kamyar Razavi, PhD candidate in the School of Communication, Simon Fraser University.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

#Environment

[cosplayinamerica]

Princess Daisy : pencils_and_pincushions // photo: that_fedora_photographer

I’m a Canadian cosplayer who has been cosplaying since 2007. I’ve had a love for Victorian fashion since I very young age (my little kid brain basically made the connection that Victorian dresses = women dressing like Disney princesses IRL), but the thing that kickstarted my desire to learn sewing was going to a fabric store with my mother when I was in my senior year of high school and seeing a Butterick pattern catalogue that had Victorian-inspired costumes. Almost instantly I had a lightbulb moment that if I learned to sew, I could actually wear those big fancy gowns I loved.   

I entered university and, over the next few years, spent my free time reading and learning everything I could about sewing. In 2007, my best friend invited me to Anime North - she was going as a gothic lolita-inspired version of the Queen of Hearts, so I decided I would make a Mad Hatter to accompany her.

I was so excited that I jumped in completely head-first, and it ended up being my first foray into both sewing and pattern drafting. In hindsight it was wildly ambitious for a first project (and I’m still a little surprised that I actually pulled it off!), but I’m so glad that my enthusiasm made me persevere and psh through the challenges, because I learned a ton from that experience and ended up with a cosplay I was thrilled with.

I remember seeing myself in the mirror the first time and being so happy when I realized I’d been able to bring something to life from my imagination. When my friend and I got to the con, things only got better from there - the atmosphere was so energetic and colourful thanks to all the amazing cosplays, and it was filled with so many fun, enthusiastic, and friendly people. From that day I was officially hooked on cosplay.

I’m part of the Toronto Steampunk Society and, each year at Fan Expo Canada, we hold an Annual Costume Challenge where we pick a theme and encourage people to make a costume based on the theme. A couple of years ago, the theme was ‘steampunk video game characters’ and one of my friends in the TSS, Modern Myths Cosplay, thought it would be cute to do Princess Peach and Princess Daisy.

I loved the idea and, after more discussion, we decided to do a steampunk twist on the Super Smash Bros Brawl version since it was fancier and seemed to lend itself well to a steampunk interpretation. Though Daisy isn’t officially in Brawl, my friend was fortunately able to dig up some fan edits of Peach in Daisy’s colours, so with that we were set.

I usually make my outfits myself, but since my friend and I wanted to ensure our cosplays matched, we decided to work collaboratively and divide things: I would create the bodices and accessories for both gowns, and she would create the skirts and crinolines.

I started off by drafting the base bodice patterns. Since I draft all my costumes, I used my existing bodice block/master patterns for myself and drafted a bodice block from scratch for my friend based on her measurements. One neat thing about working this way was that it basically turned into a girls’ weekend where I was able to teach my friend more about pattern drafting, which ended up making the process unexpectedly fun and memorable.

After I finished fitting my friend’s bodice block, I got to work drafting our bodice patterns based on the reference pics we had collected. Being able to tackle both bodices ended up working well since it enabled me to draft them in a way that made them visually match identical while taking our respective body shapes into account.

A couple of mockups and fittings later, we had an idea of how much fabric we needed, so we went fabric shopping. My friend suggested that we go with richer, more regal-looking tones instead of strictly game-accurate colours, so when we found a place selling gorgeous peau de soie and sparkle organza, I was instantly sold on a gold and burnt orange colour scheme.

We split the fabric based on our respective portions and worked on them separately. I cut and sewed the bodices, which was fairly straight forward but time-consuming! The part that sticks in my mind the most was the center front panel because it had so many pieces and layers - two types of satin, two types of organza (including one that had to be ruched to the base panel in multiple places), five rows of lace, interfacing...and that doesn’t even include the lining!

I also created our jewelry and crowns. The brooches and earrings were made from filigree settings that I painted, glued gems, and attached pin backs and earring hooks to, and the crowns are made from craft foam painted in gold acrylic, with embellishments assembled from painted filigree stampings and gems.

My friend created our cage skirts from 1/4 PEX pipe and brown grosgrain ribbon, which ended up being the perfect hoop skirt material since it was cheap, lightweight, and strong enough to support the huge, heavy skirts. She cut and sewed our skirts (including attaching meters and meters of trim that I’d painted white to better match the game colours) and she also made our bloomers.

The gowns were a huge undertaking and, thanks to work and general real life eating up time, we did end up engaging in the dreaded con crunch, but fortunately in the end we were able to get them to a state where they were pretty and wearable!

The response at the convention was absolutely amazing - I don’t think I’ve ever had a costume elicit the reactions that Princess Daisy did. We figured that, since we were cosplaying the princesses from Mario, there was a good chance we might be recognized, but the thing I wasn’t prepared for was how genuinely happy and excited people were, especially when they saw us together. We literally had kids waving at us from across the street when they spotted us.

Even grown-ups loved it - we were frequently stopped for pictures, and even a couple of the folks in the dealer’s room who were running booths would break into huge smiles and ask for pictures. Plus, people loved the steampunk twist and were delighted when they realized how much our costumes matched.

The best, most heartwarming response to my Princess Daisy cosplay happened when I met up with some other friends and one tapped me on the shoulder, pointed behind me and said, “I think she wants a picture with the princess.” I turned around and, standing a few feet away, was this adorable, super shy little black girl who was staring in my direction. My heart instantly melted and I went over to her and had a little chat and took a picture with her.

As a black cosplayer who has run several panels on BIPOC cosplay and spoken about the importance of diversity and representation in cosplay, being able to show that sweet little girl that someone who looks like her can be a princess - and showing kids of other races that Princess Daisy can be black - was a vivid reminder that representation does matter.

Since I got into the hobby, cosplay has been a big part of my life and has positively impacted me in so many ways. It has been an incredible creative outlet that has given me the chance to express myself, and it has allowed me to meet so many wonderful people - many of whom are now among my closest friends. However, I think one of the most rewarding things about cosplay has been how it has allowed me to provide BIPOC cosplay representation and visibility within my local cosplay community. I often do Afro-steampunk cosplay, and one of the most unexpectedly moving things I’ve experienced has been other BIPOC saying to me that seeing my outfits make them feel like they can cosplay.

It has been humbling and has motivated me to get more involved in the cons I attend. For the past several years I’ve run panels on diversity in cosplay/steampunk as well as sewing and cosplay construction, which has enabled me to share the knowledge and skills I’ve learned. I also lead the steampunk section of the Anime North Fashion Show, and I’ve made a point to recruit as diverse a roster of models as possible. I’m happy that we’ve been able to showcase steampunk looks inspired by various cultures including Chinese, Indian, and Morrocan.

Another plus is that the sewing skills I’ve learned from cosplay have come in handy in other areas of my life. It has been fun - and surprisingly empowering - to be at a point where I can use my sewing ability to create one-of-a-kind outfits for formal work events (like office holiday parties) that make me feel pretty and confident.

Something I’ve frequently mentioned during my BIPOC cosplay/steampunk panels is that the simple act of showing up to a con or event in cosplay can have an impact because you never know how much that visibility can inspire other BIPOC to get into the hobby, so my advice to anyone wanting to get into cosplay is to do it! Overall I have found it to be a fun, creative, energizing experience.

While I’ve been extremely fortunate to have had overwhelmingly positive experiences while cosplaying, I recognize that, unfortunately, BIPOC do sometimes face harassment and outright racist comments (especially online) that can make getting into the hobby seem scary. Finding welcoming, supportive spaces in person and online can be a big help (the POC Cosplay group on Facebook is great for this) - plus, thanks to things like #28DaysOfBlackCosplay, there is more visibility and inspiration out there than ever before.

The other thing I’d add is to treat each cosplay as a learning experience. Being able to work so closely with my friend on creating a cosplay was a completely different creation process than I’m used to, and it was really cool to be able to learn from each other’s different working styles and experience. It was great to teach her pattern drafting and see how happy she was to learn skills she could apply to future cosplays, and I was so excited when she showed me her PEX pipe hoop skirt method. Looking back on my Princess Daisy cosplay makes me smile because it’s almost like a physical representation of the fun we have cosplaying together.

[dynamicduoofstackie]

Hey, maybe if you’re met with a shred of criticism, like on your recent Stackie post, don’t throw a hissy fit and delete all their replies 😂

I do receive criticism. When you like something that people aren't willing to acknowledge, you are bond to receive push back. I love a lot of pairings that are mostly fictional, Stackie the only real one, that aren't as popular as the mainstream pairings. So it is to be expected for people to not get why I might like it.

Reality tv shows, entertainment shows, entertainment blogs, entertainment magazines, social media, all of these outlets bread and butter is prying into celebrity lives and dissecting it for the willing masses pleasure. So me liking a potential romantic pairing just because it isn't the OTP of most people doesn't make me weird because I'm sure many people ship real relationships close at home or on screen. I mean why else would reality shows like the Bachelor and Bachelorette be so popular if viewers weren't tuning in ready to match real people with other real people. So there is that.

I'm not going to give people that simply bash me oxygen. Why bother answering or acknowledging what they wrote by keeping it up when it will only produce a vicious cycle of hate with no middle ground of understanding. That would be throwing a hissy fit. Me not responding, blocking the hater and if I do respond,, respond on my own terms is the adult thing to do.

Plus, it is not real criticism worth giving any light to if it doesn't at least acknowledge what the person did right and were they might have erred and need correction on. Starting your 'critique' out with 'sick, weirdo, creepy, etc.,' will make anybody shit down and ignore what wasn't but could have been helpful advise. People are willing to change if it saying bad is wrapped around something they do like about someone.

Same goes for reviews of anything from movies to books, to fanfics. No one normally keeps the bad reviews when advertising a movie or book. They cherry pick the good. Or if it is a fanfic are more energized to write or change something next chapter if it isn't all negative and is somewhat helpful. Even a teacher grades a paper with helpful hints instead of just saying something negative. So your words kind of miss their mark.

The fact that you are asking this much of me when you are ironically giving yourself an out by being anonymous is not lost on me.

[d-criss-news]

Darren Criss acts as playwright when he writes songs. He’s far more confident, and certainly more vulnerable, when he allows himself to play the part. In such a way, songwriting opens up a whole new world that pulses with untapped potential. So much of what he has accomplished in 15 years resides in his willingness to expose himself to what his imagination and intuition have in store. He steps into a playwright’s shoes with considerable ease (just look at his resume), and always one to put on plenty of bravado, especially during our Zoom face-to-face, it’s the natural order of things.

“As I get older and write more and more songs, I really recognize that I’ve always preferred to write for another context other than my own,” Criss tells American Songwriter. He speaks with a cool intensity, gesturing emphatically to accentuate a sentence, and when you let him go, he’s like the Energizer Bunny 一 “I can tell by just how quiet you already are that you’re fucked,” he jokes at the start of our video chat. But he remains just as engaged and focused when listening.

He soaks in the world, taking astute notes about behavior and emotional traits he can later use in song. His storytelling, though, arrives already in character, fully formed portraits he can then relay to the world. It’s not that he can’t be vulnerable, like such greats as Randy Newman, Tom Waits, and Rufus Wainwright, who have all embroidered their work with deeply personal observations, it just doesn’t feel as comfortable. “I’ve always really admired the great songwriters of the world who are extremely introspective and can put their heart and soul on the chopping block,” he muses. “That’s a vulnerability that I think is so majestic. I’ve never had access to it. I’m not mad about it. It’s just good to know what your deal is.”

Criss’ strengths lie in his ability to braid his own experiences, as charmed as they might be, into wild, goofy fantasies. In the case of his new series “Royalties,” now streaming on Quibi, he walks a fine line between pointed commentary on the music industry, from menial songwriting sessions to constantly chasing down the next smash, and oddball comedy that is unequivocally fun. Plotted with long-standing friends and collaborators Matt and Nick Lang, co-founders of Team StarKid, created during their University of Michigan days (circa 2009), the show’s conceptual nucleus dates back more than a decade.

If “Royalties” (starring Criss and Kether Donohue) feels familiar, that’s because it is. The 10-episode show ─ boasting a smorgasbord of delightful guest stars, including Mark Hammill, Georgia King, Julianna Hough, Sabrina Carpenter, and Lil Rel Howery ─ captures the very essence of a little known web series called “Little White Lie.” Mid-summer 2009, Team StarKid uploaded the shoddy, low budget production onto YouTube, and its scrappy tale of amateur musicians seeking fame and fortune quickly found its audience, coming on the heels of “A Very Potter Musical,” co-written with and starring Criss. Little did the trio know, those initial endeavors laid the groundwork for a lifetime of creative genius.

“It’s a full circle moment,” says Criss, 33, zooming from his Los Angeles home, which he shares with his wife Mia. He’s fresh-faced and zestful in talking about the new project. 11 years separate the two series, but their connective thematic tissues remain striking. “Royalties” is far more polished, the obvious natural progression in so much time, and where “Little White Lie” soaked in soapy melodrama, the former analyzes the ins and outs of the music world through more thoughtful writing, better defined (and performed) characters, and hookier original tunes.

“Royalties” follows Sara (Donohue) and Pierce (Criss), two struggling songwriters in Los Angeles, through various career exploits and pursuits. The pilot, titled “Just That Good,” features an outlandish performance from Rufus Wainwright as a major player in dance-pop music, kickstarting the absurdity of Criss’ perfectly-heightened reality. As our two main characters stumble their way between songwriting sessions, finally uncovering hit single potential while eating a hot dog, Criss offers a glimpse into the oft-unappreciated art of songwriting.

In his own songwriting career ─ from 2010’s self-released Human EP and a deal with Columbia Records (with whom a project never materialized) to 2017’s Homework EP and Computer Games’ debut, Lost Boys Life, (a collaboration with his brother Chuck) ─ he’s learned a thing or two about the process. Something about sitting in a room with someone you’ve never met before always rang a little funny to him.

“You meet a stranger, and you have to be creative, vulnerable, and open. It’s speed-dating, essentially. It’s a different episode every time you pull it off or not. All the big songwriters will tell you all these crazy war stories. Everyone has a wacky story from songwriting,” he says. “I slowly realized I may ─ I can’t flatter myself, there are tons of creative people who are songwriters ─ have prerequisites to just put the two together [TV and music]. I’ve worked enough in television as an actor and creator. I can connect the dots. I had dual citizenship where I felt like it was really time for me to go forth with this show.”

But a packed professional life pushed the idea to the backburner.

Between six seasons of “Glee” (playing Blaine Anderson, a Warbler and lover to Chris Colfer’s Kurt Hummel), starring in “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” on Broadway, and creating Elsie Fest, a one-day outdoor festival celebrating songs of the stage and screen, he never had the time. “I was lucky enough to be busy,” he says. “As Team StarKid’s star was continuing to rise with me being separate from it, I was trying to think of a way to get involved again with songwriting.”

At one point, “Glee” had officially wrapped and his Broadway run was finished. It appeared “Royalties” may finally get its day in the sun. “I went to Chicago for a work pilgrimage with the Langs. We had a few days, and we put all our ideas on the map: every musical, feature film, show, graphic novel, and animated series we’ve ever thought of,” he says. “A lot of them were from the Langs; they were just things I was interested in as a producer or actor. We looked at all of them and made a top three.”

“Royalties” obviously made the cut.

Fast forward several years, Gail Berman’s SideCar, a production company under FOX Entertainment, was looking to produce a music show. Those early conversations, beginning at an otherwise random LA party, showed great promise in airlifting the concept from novel idea to discernible reality. Things quickly stalled, however, as they often do in Hollywood, but Criss had at least spoken his dreams into the universe.

“I finally had an outlet to put it into gear. It wasn’t until two to three years after that that things really locked in. We eventually made shorts and made a pilot presentation. We showed it to people, and it wasn’t until Quibi started making their presence known that making something seemed really appealing,” he says. “As a creator, they’re very creator-centric. They’re not a studio. They’re a platform. They are licensing IP much like when a label licenses an indie band’s album after the fact.”

Quibi has drawn severe ire over the last few months, perhaps because there is a “Wild Westness” to it, Criss says. “I think that makes some people nervous. Being my first foray into something of this kind, Quibi felt like a natural partner for us. If this had been a network or cable show, we would’ve molded it to be whatever it was.”

Format-wise, “Royalties” works best as bite-sized vignettes, charming hijinks through the boardroom and beyond, and serves as a direct response to a sea of music shows, from “Nashville” and “Empire” to “Smash.” “Those shows were bigger, more melodramatic looks at the inside base of our world. I’ve always been a goofball, and I just wanted to take the piss out of it,” he says. “This show isn’t about songwriting. It’s about songwriters… but a very wacky look at them.”

“30 Rock,” a scripted comedy loosely based around “Saturday Night Live,” in which the focus predominantly resides around the characters, rather than the business itself, was also on his mind. “It’s about the interconnectivity of the people and characters. As much of the insider knowledge that I wanted to put into our show, at the end of the day, you just want to make a fun, funny show that’s relatable to people who know nothing about songwriting and who shouldn’t have to know anything.”

Throughout 10 episodes, Criss culls the “musicality, fun, and humor” of Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger and Max Martin, two of his biggest songwriting heroes, and covers as many genres as possible, from K-Pop to rap-caviar and classic country. While zip-lining between formats, the songs fully rely on a sturdy storytelling foundation ─ only then can Criss drape the music around the characters and their respective trajectories. “I wanted to do something where I could use all the muscles I like to flex at once, instead of compartmentalizing them,” he says. “I really love writing songs for a narrative, not necessarily for myself. I thrive a little more when I have parameters, characters, and a story to tell.”

Bonnie McKee, one of today’s greatest pop architects, takes centerstage, too, with an episode called “Kick Your Shoes Off,” in which she plays a bizarro version of herself. “She has her own story, and I’ve always been fascinated by it,” says Criss, who took her out to lunch one day to tell her about it. Initially, the singer-songwriter, known for penning hits for Katy Perry, Taio Cruz, and Britney Spears, would anchor the entire show, but it soon became apparent she would simply star in her own gloriously zany episode.

In one of the show’s standout scenes, Pierce and Sara sit in on a label meeting with McKee’s character and are tasked with writing a future hit. But they quickly learn how many cooks are in the kitchen at any given moment. Everyone from senior level executives to publicists and contracted consultants have an opinion about the artist’s music. One individual urges her to experiment, while another begs not to alienate her loyal fanbase, and then a third advises her to chronicle the entire history of music itself ─ all within three minutes or so. It’s absurd, and that’s the point. “Everyone’s been in that meeting, whether you’re in marketing or any creative discussion that has to be made on a corporate level by committee. It’s the inevitable, comedic contradictions and dissociations from not only rationality but feasibility.”

Criss also draws upon his own major label days, having signed with Sony/Columbia right off the set of “Glee,” as well as second-hand accounts from close friends. “There are so many artists, particularly young artists, who famously get chewed up and spat out by the label system,” he says. “There’s a lot of sour tastes in a lot of people’s mouths from being ‘mistreated’ by a label. I have a lot of friends who’ve had very unfortunate experiences.”

“I was really lucky. I didn’t have that. I have nothing but wonderful things to say,” he quickly adds.“It wasn’t a full-on drop or anything. I was acting, and I was spreading myself really thin. It’s a record label’s job to make product, and I was doing it piecemeal here and there. I would shoot a season [of ‘Glee’] and then do a play. I was doing too many things. I didn’t have it in me at the time to do music. I had written a few songs I thought were… fine.”

Both Criss and the label came to the same conclusion: perhaps this professional relationship just wasn’t a good fit. They parted ways, and he harbors no ill-will. In fact, he remains close friends with many folks from that time. So, it seems, a show like “Royalties” satisfies his deep hunger to make music and write songs ─ and do it totally on his own terms.

“I still say I want to put out music, and fans have been very vocal about that. I feel very fortunate they’re still interested at all,” he says. “That passion for making music really does come out in stuff like [this show].”

“Royalties” is Darren Criss at his most playful, daring, and offbeat. It’s the culmination of everything he has tirelessly worked toward over the last decade and a half. Under pressure with a limited filming schedule, he hits on all cylinders with a soundtrack, released on Republic Records, that sticks in the brain like all good pop music should do. And it would not have been the same had he, alongside Matt and Nick Lang, not formed Team StarKid 11 years ago.

Truth be told, it all began with a “Little White Lie.”

[peachnewt]

Midnight Snack - Whipped

A Getting In Deep future short.

 -On the third day of lock-down the break room gave to me...

A competition for Dalgona Coffee!-

 Watch Two had been warned in advance that the base would have a five day lock-down and nonessential persons should go home to wait it out.  A bare-bones collection of people were left to slowly go crazy in Watch Two's underground base.  They had grown too accustomed to the card games where have of the players cheated.  Mario Kart couldn't hold a candle to the impromptu desk chair races which became a whole new sport when Will included the element of lances and jousting for rings hung from the ceiling.  

Even the retired test bunny, Copperfield, had gotten tired of people's need to cuddle something fluffy and would kick them before running away.  

What the Watch needed was a bit of excitement.  A bit of competition that didn't rely on cheating or luck.  And wouldn't get them killed.  

It happened when four voices complained in Main Tech.  

"I'm bored," said Will.  He had already read the books in his desk and had no inclination to read them again.  And picking out another ebook was a chore.  

"I'm tired," said Louis.  He had finally reached the over-saturation point of his coffee intake.  He would have to degrade himself to lay still and sleep that night instead of being "productive".  

"I want something sweet," Reese and Beni chorused.  They had not had time to stock up the essentials (ex: chocolates, candies, energy drinks, pixie sticks, gelatin - don't' ask), and the vending machines had not been restocked in a while, leaving behind stale chips and granola bars trying to be a treat and failing horribly.  

"Check the break room?"  offered Will.

"Sure." Louis pulled his body off his desk like he was pulling himself out of a grave.  It was only noon for crying out loud.  He needed more coffee.  Break room was a must.  

Beni and Reese, figuring Will was talking to them as well, joined the pair to the break room.  The four searched every nook, cranny, and drawer.  Beni even took out drawers to see of anything had fallen behind them.  

Aside from a few flattened and perished bags of peanuts and sugar packets, she found nothing.  

"Why do we have a twenty pound bag of rice?" asked Reese.  

"Cheap and easy food," said Will.  "I'm more worried about the ten canisters of instant coffee."  

"Without coffee there is chaos and darkness," said Louis without missing a beat.  "I'm more curious why we need a twenty pound bag of sugar."  

"Without sugar there is oppression and darkness," replied Beni.  "Plus adding sugar to cooked rice is tasty."  

Rachel, who had observed the four's need to pillage the break room at a distance, chimed in.  

"Have you ever heard of Dalgona coffee?" asked Rachel.  

All four looked up.  

"Whipped coffee, right?" said Louis.  

"Gone viral," said Will.  "I think."  

"It's half sugar," added Beni.  

"Equal parts sugar, instant coffee, and water whipped together to make a foam," said Reese. "Why do you mention it?"

Rachel shrugged. "Sounded interesting. Thought we could make a game of it."  

Game.  A chime in the wind.  A call to action.  A call to possible fun.  

"Go on," said Reese.  

*** 

In essence, Rachel wanted the four of them to compete in who could make dalgona coffee the fastest without using an electronic mixer.  At first the four assumed this would be a test of arm strength, until she added a caveat.

Only one of them would have a whisk.  

They set up the break room like a competition on Food Network, complete with aprons and pre-measured portions of instant coffee, sugar, and hot water.  Sleeves were rolled up, jackets taken off.  Beni put on her high speed roller blade goggles.

Rachel held up four paper bags with large letters from A to D written in sharpie.  

"These are your tools to aerate your dalgona coffee.  Each of you will have ten minutes to turn your tool into what you need. Your resources are tape, rubber bands, string, knives, and your own ingenuity.  No glue, no welding, no setting anything on fire."

"Aw."

"Once your tools are made you will have another ten minutes to turn your instant coffee, sugar, and water into a whipped delight.  Whosoever has the better whipped coffee after ten minutes wins.  However, one of you will receive a whisk at a time disadvantage, you will have only five minutes to whip your coffee instead of ten.  Any questions so far?"  

Reese popped the top button on his shirt and leaned over the counter with a "charming" smile.  "How do you prefer to be bribed for me to get the whisk?"  

"It will be random selection."  Rachel held out four cards with the letters A, B, C, and D, and had each of them pick one.

Each card got a matching bag.  Reese, card A, got three plastic forks.  Beni, card B, received three plastic straws.  Louis, card C, three cheap wooden chopsticks.  When she put the bag down in front of Will, she pulled it back when he reached out for it.  

"You got the whisk," said Rachel.  "You have to wait for the five minute mark."  

Will's eyes glimmered and he nodded.  

"Trade you," said Reese, holding up one of his forks.  

"Not even going to bribe me?"  asked Will in mock offense.  "I'm hurt.  And no." Will turned to Louis.  "You don't want to trade?"  

"No way, Fanboy. Me and my chopsticks are gonna out-whisk you!  You're gonna wish you never skipped arm day."  

Rachel held up her hand, contains of rubber bands, string, tape, and knives at the ready in front of her. "Ten minutes to make your whisks, go!"  

Beni, Reese, and Louis dashed to grabbed their implements.  Over the next few minutes Will got to observe his coworkers turn straws, forks, and chopsticks into something else.  

Reese proceeded to bend the tines of the fork outwards as much as he could without breaking them, and then bound the three forks together with the rubber bands to make something that looked like a sea urchin.  

Beni grabbed a knife and spliced the three straws half way down the middle in four ways, and then curled the ends back up to the barrel of the straw, securing them with a bit of tape. Once bound together she had something that looked very close to a whisk.  

Louis also took a knife and split two of the chopsticks into chop-twigs a fourth of the original length. With bits of string he tied the twigs together like little crosses, and then tied those crosses onto the third chopstick.  At the unadorned end of the chopstick, he added some rubber bands for a hand grip. Finished, it looked like a found-art depiction of a tree.

"Are we ready?"

"Bring it!" said Louis.  

"As I'll ever be," said Reese.  

"I got this," said Beni.  

"Red leader standing by!" said Will.  

"All but Will, go!"  Rachel tapped the stopwatch on her phone.  

In unison the four dumped the instant coffee, sugar, and hot water into their bowls.  While the others whisked their concoctions, Will waited, tilting his bowl this way and that to fully dissolve his ingredients.  He swirled it about, trying to see if he could get any foam going with just moving the bowl.  Any start was a good start.  

Four minutes in, Reese with his forks had turned his syrupy coffee into a slightly thicker syrup, the color changing from coffee black to dark chocolate brown.  He moved the makeshift whisk to the other hand and flexed the cramping fingers of the other.  

"Feeling the burn there?" jeered Louis.  

"I'm working at a disadvantage!" snapped Reese.  

"Excuses!" said Beni.  "Keep going!"  

Beni had her bowl on a towel and tilted as she whisked with her straws.  Her compact arms moved the whisk in a blur, as if inhaling the coffee and sugar scent energized her.  Her coffee was the color of milk chocolate.  She was also tiring, and the tape keeping her whisk together slowly peeled.

"Wow," said Will looking from one bowl to the next.  "You are all actually getting this stuff to work."  

Louis didn't turn his whisk like the others.  Instead he put the spiky end into the concoction and then twirled the top if it like a child would a dragonfly toy, or a scout trying to start a fire with two sticks. A design requiring less effort, but a fragile one as some tiny branches pivoted from where they were tied on their branch.  However, Louis coffee was also the color of milk chocolate, and slowly getting thicker.

Will felt a bit left out. Making a whisk out of found objects sounded fun, and he was sure he could have created something just as effective. But he had the advantage.  He got the whisk.  Which he could use...

"Five minutes, whisk!"  said Rachel.

Will snapped up the bag and immediately felt something was wrong.  The bag didn't feel heavy at all.  He opened the bag and saw...

Nothing.  

No.  Wait.  A glimmer of metal.  

Will tipped the bag over. One teeny tiny whisk, at home with the mice in Barbie's Malibu kitchen, rolled out onto the counter.  

Will dared not even attempt to pick it up between his fingers. He would need tweezers to even hold it.  Forget using it on his coffee.  

Will whimpered and bent over , arms braced on the counter.  "I've been defeated before I began."  

"What?" Louis looked over, saw the tiny speck of a whisk and full-belly laughed, hands fumbling at his chopstick whisk as he wiped a tear from under his shades, leaving a smear of coffee brown on his cheek.  

Beni kept whisking with her straws, but she glanced over and then smiled.  

"How did you even find a whisk that small?" Will asked Rachel, aghast.  "Polly Pocket outlet?"  

Reese chuckled. "Your overconfidence is your weakness, jedi."  

"Wrong quote," said Will, bent back to the floor.  

"Get working," said Louis.  "The coffee ain't gonna whips itself."  

"Not funny," said Will, pouting  "No one can whisk coffee with a whisk that size unless they were that size!"

Louis and Will froze and then looked at each other, the scenario finally clicking.  

"Switch with me, please!" pleaded Will.  

"I'm on a roll here!" said Louis, nodding to his coffee lightening to slightly lighter milk chocolate.  

"Switch with me or shrink with me, I'm okay with either!"  Will put on the most pitiful puppy eyes he could manage.  "I'll make it worth it!"  

"How?" said Louis.

Will leaned over, cupped his hand over Louis' ear, and whispered something that couldn't be heard over the swishing and clacking of plastic forks, chopsticks, and straws.  

Louis dropped his chopstick, grabbed Will's still un-frothed bowl, sat on the counter, and shucked off his shades, hooking them over Will's collar.  "I'll hold you to it."  

In a flash Louis had shrunk down to a little less than three inches, the bowl with him.  Perfect size for the tiny whisk.  

"Is that allowed?" cried Reese.  

"No rules against switching in the middle of the game," said Rachel, smirking.  "Four minutes left!"  

Will continued where Louis left off, twirling the chopstick until his skin burned.  Despite Rachel's warning, he just might start a fire with the amount of friction going on between his hands.  But the coffee got thicker, lighter, airy, harder to spin Louis' chopstick whisk through.  Out the corner of his vision he could see Louis attacking his bowl with his arm a blur. The tinny, tiny sound of metal against glass a constant ringing.  

Beni gritted her teeth, switched hands, and continued.  Reese cursed under his breath as his forearms protested.  

Rachel looked too happy at their collective state.  "Ten... nine..."  

The four put in a final burst of energy, coffee froth spattering over their bowls and they whisked to glory.  

"Four... three..."

Win or lose, I get to keep that promise to Louis, thought Will. And that was a prize indeed.  

"One... time!"

The whisks, what was left of them, dropped from their hands and they all backed away from the counter, wincing at their achy hands and arms.  

Louis panted laid down on the counter, and rolled his shoulders.  "Okay.  That was arm day."  

"Agreed," said Reese.  Of the three of the makeshift whisks, his had stayed in the best shape.  However his coffee was still more thick syrup than fluff.

"No more moving," added Beni.  Her whisk had practically fallen apart, bits of plastic straw sticking out every which way. But so did her coffee, the peanut butter colored fluff spiking out and staying there.  

Will's inherited chopstick whisk would never whisk again, the main branch falling off when it hit the bowl.  But the foam matched Beni's in color and stiffness, perhaps a hair lighter.  

Beside Louis a tiny bowl brimmed with light caramel colored foam, the top of it peaking like a sharp tack.

Rachel examined each of the bowls, testing the fluffiness of the coffee with a spoon and comparing the color and volume.  Louis' bowl had to be judged with the assistance of a magnifier.  Louis laid there unmoving.  Rachel also jotted down a few notes on a clipboard.  

A few minutes later, she stood before them with her judgment.  

"You should all be proud," said Rachel.  "The variety of whisks made was impressive, as well as your collective arm strength.  Which you will try to improve, I'm sure."  

Reese gave a grunt of negative.  

"Beni, you win for best use of a makeshift whisk, despite its short lifespan.  Out of all the dalgona coffees made with non-whisks, yours is the lightest and fluffiest."  

Beni held what was left of her three straws with pride.  

"Reese, while your dalgona has a ways to go, your handmade whisk can last the whole time without breaking or bending.  Out of all non-whisks, yours is the sturdiest."  

"And in a pinch double as a torture device," said Reese, airing his collar.  "For the wielder."

"Will, while at a disadvantage, you realized the proper use for the whisk given to you.  Fitting the tool to the purpose, well done."

Will nodded, but felt the praise was undeserved.  He had jumped in on Louis' bowl halfway.  That didn't count in his mind.  

"And Louis," said Rachel.  

Louis groaned on the counter.  

"I have never seen an arm whisk that fast.  For pure, brutal arm strength, you get the strongest arms."  

"Yay," Louis said, deadpan.  

"What do we win?" asked Reese.  

"I already have a batch of dalgona in the freezer.  All of you get to take a break and I will serve each of you a bowl."  

"And...?" edged Beni.  

"And there  are sprinkles, chocolate syrup, and redi whip for your use."  

Beni and Reese cheered as they ran back to their desks, still splattered with sugar coffee syrup and clad in their aprons.  

Will leaned down next to Louis' tiny prone form.  "You can have my frozen dalgona."  

"On top of what you promised?"  

Will blushed. "Yes.  You'll have to get it later tonight.  I had a lot for lunch."  

"Gotcha," said Louis.  "Would you mind picking me up?  I can't move my arms, I'll be flopping around like a fish."  

"Whatever you want, Mighty Mouse."  

"The Mightiest"

Will nodded and gently scooped Louis up in his palm.  They would wait out in Rachel's lab until Louis could turn back to normal size.  

***

Rachel covered the large bowls and set them in the fridge.  They would be good for coffee come morning.  The tiny bowl Rachel set aside on a lab tray.  She had a test on air density and viscosity to run.  

***

Beni and Reese had their bowls of dalgona slathered with caramel and chocolate sauce, sprinkles like confetti on velvet.  As much as they preferred energy drinks over coffee for their caffeine needs, they could appreciate it's slightly bitter taste as a dessert.  

In a spare office space designated as sleeping quarters for the lockdown, Louis enjoyed his double dose of dalgona with Will's help.  Louis lay on a cot with two pillows under his shoulders.  Louis refused to move his arms, claiming that whipping his tiny bowl of dalgona had ripped his muscles to shreds and needed help.  Will indulged his overreaction and fed him with loving spoonfuls.  

"Thank you for switching with me."  Will swirled the spoonful of dalgona through a streak of chocolate and whipped cream. "You didn't have to."  

"Yes I did," said Louis.  "Rachel's been wanting me to do more tests with her during lockdown.  And I've been avoiding it."  

"Oh."  

Louis reached out a pinky to Will's thigh.  "You're the only one I would have switched with."  

"Good.  I'd hate to be jealous of Reese over a cooking competition."  

"Speaking of competition," said Louis, sliding closer.  "I won a little something."  

"Hardly little."

"I will be." Louis rose up from the pillows and pressed his mouth to Will's, sharing the bitter taste of coffee and too much sugar. They parted with a sugary smek. "Gonna let me inside?"  

Will licked his lips, butterflies in his stomach ready to migrate,  and put the bowls aside.  

***

Later that night, Beni, Reese, Louis, and Rachel, realized that a scoop of dalgona coffee should not be eaten like ice cream right before they were about to sleep.  

Sleep did not happen until the crack of dawn.  For many reasons.  

--------

If you enjoyed this short, consider buying me a ko-fi!  

[adivinelittlebunny]

manic

It hit me a few days ago. I’m not exactly sure when. The days all start to blur together when you can’t sleep because your mind is awake and your thoughts are racing all over each other and your body doesn’t crave rest like it normally would. It’s 6 hours at first. Next thing you know it’s only 4 hours. You just wake up out of nowhere; no alarm, no sudden noise to startle you awake, not a single warning. And you wake up revived. You feel refreshed. You are just... up. 

Up means you are alert. You are motivated. You are energized. You get this random yet welcoming feeling that creeps up into you like a drug. This rush makes you feel this urge to start getting shit done. You want to accomplish everything and anything. And sometimes even nothing. Sometimes the things that you despise doing. All of a sudden, you want to do it and do it well and thoroughly. 

You feel like you can all of a sudden take on the world. 

And nothing is stopping you. 

The craziest part is that you don’t even realize it. You have no idea that the mania has started to enter your body. You’re so busy being manic that you can’t stop for a moment to realize you are manic. It has already taken over. 

Your thoughts. Your emotions. Your mind. Your l i f e. 

I am writing this because right now I am dealing with the beginning of my own personal manic episode. It has been over exactly a year since my last extreme manic episode. I normally have hypomanic episodes that fade in and out of my somewhat normal life and last for a few days to maybe a week. But this time, I just know. I can feel it. After spending more and more time focusing on my healing process and past traumas recently over the past years, I have become more intuitive which I am extremely grateful for. And in this case, I am trusting my own intuition which is telling me that I need to acknowledge and accept my disorder and the episodes that come with it. This acknowledgment is allowing me to focus on my future. The future of my mental health by actually dealing with my disorder and its side effects instead of burying them away deep in the back of my mind or numbing myself to the point where reality did not exist for me. 

This is my first text post on here on my new Tumblr. I will be treating this as a journal for my thoughts and experiences and emotions and my dreams and so much more. To be completely honest, I am terrified of putting myself out there. There is just so fucking much. And it scares me a lot talking about certain things in my life. Some of those things I have never told anyone, ever. But I am also really excited to share so much of my life with all of you... or to anyone who is out there listening. 

It feels good having an outlet for my manic episodes on here. I am full of love right now, manic or not, life will be good. Everything works out perfectly. 

[antagonizedjordan]

Hi all - -

I know it’s been a minute since I’ve posted on here.  As I hope beyond HOPE all of my followers know, so many vitally important events are unfolding around the world right now, and where I am (Austin, TX), my wife and I have been out fighting our local fight in solidarity with those fighting across the country and the world.  And as always, to all my sisters and brothers out there protesting with us, we are in the midst of a global pandemic so stay safe, stay informed, stay smart.

This is my art blog and I have been MIA from Tumblr; my social media interaction has been over Instagram recently (@alyssatjdance), and I encourage any and all of you to come interact with me there if you have questions about resources, actions you can take RIGHT NOW for Black Lives Matter, protest documentation separate from media bias, the vital amplification of Black voices both around the world and in our local ATX community, etc.  And if any of my followers are in Austin and want information about our city-specific protests, PLEASE reach out and I will offer all I can.  

And if any of you are still questioning what Black Lives Matter is about, or what is deeply problematic with  “All Lives Matter”, please message me.  I want to talk to you.  I want the opportunity to show you some truths that you may not have considered.  

The Black voices at our protests are calling for conversation.  They are pleading for discourse across all communities, but specifically within white communities.  If you are white and are truly practicing allyship, do the hard heart work and talk to your friends and family...talk to those who say “All Lives Matter” and instead of saying “fuck you” and leaving them to their beliefs, hold your justified anger and channel it into fiercely fighting to show them - through dialogue - what they are not seeing.  It’s not easy, but it’s the only way to enact and support real change in our community’s hearts.  Legislation is what we need.  AND we also need the hearts at home supporting and upholding that legislation. 

At the end of the day, I’ve found joy in knowing we are making real progress with our peaceful protesting here in Austin. Policy change within the APD (Austin Police Department) is already happening.  Conversations outside the very heavily guarded Capitol are happening -- conversations with our local representatives, like Royce West (a powerful Black voice calling for legislative change)  who IF WE VOTE will finally get Ted Cruz out of office.  Again, come find me on IG -- @alyssatjdance -- if you want to engage.  

I’ve been creating art through this time, as it is a healing outlet, though I’ve refrained from posting as I know social media is essentially “information real estate” and I don’t want to take away from important information being spread across the web.  That being said, I’m looking to you, my followers, and asking whether or not you would like to see art posted here through this.  You are one of my communities, and I am looking to you.  This fight is NOT a sprint.  It is a long, LONG marathon, and if we burn ourselves out in one week, the system won’t change.  Nothing will change, and all this will have been a performance with no performative action.  (I am using the term performativity in the way it is used in arts academia, which has a different definition than the way performative has been used recently in the media.) 

All that to say, we need to make sure we keep taking care of ourselves so we can KEEP FIGHTING.  For me, that means sleeping well, eating well, taking a day off from protesting to let my legs and arms rest, creating art, and reading fan fic (no shame) - when I do this, I’m able to get up the next day and get outside the Capitol and get outside APD and demand real, lasting change.  I’m able to show up in my allyship and support the Black voices leading revolutions and stand behind them, supporting them as they face pushback from law enforcement and other protestors with violent intentions (who, here in Austin, are white).  I’m able to devote brainpower towards research into Black history, Black voices, modern day racism, legislative reform, political candidate information, etc. 

I hope all of you, my followers, are engaged in this fight.  And as I have found rejuvenation in the work of my favorite artists, I wonder if my posting art here can offer a bit of joy and peace, keeping you fueled and able to fight the vital fight. 

Or, do you need your dashes clear of my art, making way for the vital information being spread right now.

What do you need, my community, to ensure you can fight for the Black community who desperately needs you.  Please let me know, and PLEASE, if you can, come join me on IG to stay informed, especially if you happen to be here with me in Texas.

BLACK LIVES MATTER

Stay safe, stay energized, stay engaged.

Take care of yourselves, take care of this community, take care of this world.  

With love (and the rejection of tranquility and complacency),

Alyssa Johnson 

*

(not tagging Black Lives Matter on this post because this post isn’t directly related to the spread of resources or protest information, but fucking YES. BLACK LIVES MATTER)

[armsdealing]

@neotropical​ sent: 10, 12, 15, 18, 26, 26 for Shiro | 28, 31, 36, 40 for Fenrir character development questions / inbox cleaning.

SHIRO.

10. what energizes and drains them most? shiro is introverted. heavy social interaction can drain him really fast, especially inane social interaction like small talk. paradoxically, being idle can also drain him. if he's not sleeping or eating, or reading or using his mind in some fashion, he'd rather be out there in the field, investigating cases and trying to solve them. he's a bit workaholic, and feeling like he's doing nothing worthwhile can affect his mood.

12. how are they bodily expressive? how do they use nonverbal cues such as their posture, stance, eyes, eyebrows, mouths, and hands? he's more expressive than he gives himself credit for, though most emotions tend to be negative, like annoyance or irritation or suspicion, if not outright anger cuz he's grumpy as fuck. he has expressive eyes even in wolf form, and since they are devoid of color the dilatation of the pupils is very clearly visible when he's agitated. body wise, he also goes tense, hackles proverbially raised, fists balled up, mouth pinched into a frown (or flashing fangs), standing tall or slightly crouched as if to lunge. his body language is pretty authoritative, typical of his species. and though like i said most of the emotions can be negative, he's not above showing emotional vulnerability. if he feels moved, he can truly start to cry right then and there (albeit stoically) without carinh, and if he's content/pleased/happy he's not above smiles -- though they are rare.

he's also easy to make blush if flirted with too heavily.  :/

15. what kind of inner life do they have — rich and imaginative? calculating and practical? full of doubts and fears? does it find any sort of outlet in their lives? mostly on the practical side, that's for sure. he tends to be motivated toward concrete goals, and is very good at staying focused. of course, he is not above occasionally daydreaming and losing track of things. this happens especially when not engrossed by something; his mind is full with grief regarding his past, as well as wariness toward the future, and that can lead him into brooding. his main outlet for his thoughts is his job as a social worker and private investigator. he finds it very rewarding that he can put his skillset to good use for the benefit of the community.

18. what kind of person could they become in the future? what are some developmental paths that they could take, (best, worst, most likely?) what would cause them to come to pass, and what consequences might they have? what paths would you especially like to see, and why? best case scenario shiro becomes a more tolerant person of humans, learning to understand and accept the gradations to their morality and that some humans are okay, while also learning to cope with his trauma in a healthy fashion, growing all around more emotionally open. along those lines he also accepts that he can have romantic feelings for someone without negating his sense of purpose and identity as a vigilante slash undercover god dlfkjdkf.

worst case scenario he distances himself more from the warmer side of him and opts to become a cruel and punitive deity that sees things mostly in black and white terms (something he already does to an extent) and doesn't form actual relationships with anybody, opting instead to dedicate himself to slaughtering humans he deems evil. basically it's a regression: going back to the same place where he was before making it to anima city and turning his life around.

both are likely, but of course the most likely is the former one if things go ideally -- like if he has more positive contacts with humans, and if others manage to get through to him emotionally. basically friendship and love will save him.

i'm good with either path tho of course i want to see him become healthier. i'm not opposed to him getting worse before he gets better, because i do love myself some drama.

26. how do they view and feel about relationships, and how might this manifest in how they handle them, if it does? he doesnt have many of them. most are purely incidental and tho they are positive they're not very deep. it's mostly work related or people that leave in his apartment building that he chats with from time to time or like, the owner of the coffee shop he frequents ddfjh. he thinks they are okay but at the same time he feels awkward and doesn't know how to go about them. he feels distant (his past and status as a god play a role no doubt) and even tho occasionally he wants to be closer to people he doesn't know how to even start. he's also a bit of a jerk and that doesn't help.

27. what do they strongly like and dislike, in any category? why? shiro greatly dislikes humans as a result of his past, being a victim of a massacre where all but himself died (purely on incident, since he was beheaded). he thinks they are all an irredeemable and violent bunch who sees his people as lesser. he also doesn't like beastmen that work with humans, seeing them as just as bad as humans too. in a more casual note he does not like the cult that has formed around his person, he thinks it's all a bunch of scammers trying to make money off his image. he wants to do something about it but isn't yet sure what.

he likes seeing anima city prosper and thrive and see beastmen happy; it genuinely warms his heart. and he likes children a lot. he has worked with the city to find many orphaned children better homes. he also has an affinity for boots and sweaters. 😌

FENRIR.

28. what are they likely to do if they have the opportunity, resources, and time to accomplish it? why? i mean if he had the opportunity resources and time odin would be DEAD already dfjgdhjfg prophecy be damned. he would've already put down a lot of asgardians, if not asgard itself. other than that... he's off and on about the idea of forming a legitimate pack. he could do it but it's a risky move considering gods are always cutting him short whenever they think he's getting 'too powerful'. but those things aside he doesn't want for much and he DOES already have the resources and time to do whatever he wants... to an extent.

31. is there anything that counts as a “dealbreaker” for them, positively or negatively? what makes things go smoothly, and what spoils an activity or ruins their day? why? fenrir has a short fuse and on bad days if you get on his nerves he will kill you. i mean he will really just shoot you dead for annoying him if he doesn't feel like acting civil. disrespecting him is a big no-no, he has a low tolerance for idiocy and people who think they can act all insolent around him. if you think you're close enough to get away with that you need to give yourself and ur relationship with him a long hard look because chances are you're wrong. acting like you're better than him/superior to him? dealbreaker. pitying him in any way? also a big dealbreaker. it truly annoys him. he will sooner stop talking to you than entertain your sympathy, even if what he's going through is worthy of it. he doesn't want anything to do with it. other things that can ruin his day is pain flares due to his bound status -- he deals with chronic pain 24/7, and it's the source of most of his bad moods.

as for things that makes situations go smoothly -- if the pain is unusually mild that given day. nice food or drink, or completed jobs, and presence of people he likes (family, or lovers)

36. how much do they rely on their minds and intellect, versus other approaches like relying on instinct, intuition, faith and spirituality, or emotions? what is their opinion on this? fenrir is more instinct and intuition than intellect, but he is by no means dumb. he is hypersensitive and hyperaware of things and is constantly processing amounts of information that would knock out the average human, and acting accordingly to it all. his hunches are usually correct and he's quite capable of analysis and deductive reasoning when necessary -- take for example when he quite correctly guessed that asgardians where trying to trick him with gleipnir. emotions play less of a role when it comes to serious decision making, tho yeah like anybody sometimes he will act purely on passion if its something that affects him to such a degree. he doesn't feel any particular way about it, and is confident in his decision making (perhaps sometimes overconfident but yh y'know, that happens), since it tends to work for him.

40. what do they wonder about? what sparks their curiosity and imagination, and why? how is this expressed, if it is? for a long long time(pre-binding) midgardian culture truly sparked his curiosity. he wanted to learn about humans and how they operated and the things they liked to do. after this curiosity was satiated he doesn't express wonder over many things. he has unanswered questions about the fate of the world and how fate will play out but virtually everyone does. he would rather spend his time in the present than invest a lot of time simply thinking about the future. simply put, he is not an imaginative person. 

[iamthatwhich]

When you hear the word ‘discipline’, what do you think of?

Martial arts? Boot camp? Monasticism?

Things from productivity to even punishment end up associated with the term, but for the sake of this discussion, we can understand discipline as a practice applied (here, to oneself) to govern action and development. The point is to refine, strengthen, stabilize and otherwise hone a person to a desired result- in this case, increased mindfulness, productivity, health and an overall better-managed experience of life.

Most people, however, focus on having ‘a’ discipline and in this narrow focus over-complicate and reduce what could simply be *being* disciplined. This is best done by applying the philosophy of discipline to your every day life, in almost every aspect- and yes, one can be disciplined about letting loose, too.

Personally, I find it useful to work with three or four areas of discipline rather than trying to mis-apply a singular discipline to various areas of one’s life. This looks something like the following:

Physical Discipline

Mental Discipline

Creative Discipline

and

Spiritual Discipline

So today, perhaps focus on making sure you have all your bases covered by looking at your life and checking to see that you have some sense of discipline in these areas. A physical discipline is important because keeping the body active and energized is a key component of your health. Physical stagnation leads to emotional negativity, which can begin a back and forth reaction of physical and psychological depression. Any form of movement that works on flow and balance and gets your energy circulating makes for an appropriate physical discipline- it doesn’t need to be particularly strenuous to count. Yoga, Tai Chi, and Qi Gong are well known physical disciplines associated with spiritual refinement, but dancing, aerobics and even weight lifting still apply! A physical discipline is not only useful for supporting optimal health, it also provides a point to train your personal endurance and measured progress. And exercising in some way every day gives your mind a chance to simply experience being in the body— this is key to your overall development.

Mental Discipline helps one cultivate willpower and focus. Often in life, our main opposition comes from how easily we may be distracted- usually by fleeting disappointments or unnecessary attachments. Mental discipline allows us to overcome things like short attention spans, impulsiveness, anger and self-sabotage by using mindfulness to become aware of our thoughts as well as able to redirect them at will. Like anything else, this takes practice, and though it is an entirely immaterial effort, it is much like muscle training: it’s all about progress through repetition. As I said before, mindfulness is at the root of all mental disciplines- what you choose to be aware of and how you redirect your attention is up to you. Good applications of mental discipline may be interrupting and replacing negative self talk with empowering mantras, catching yourself when you have become distracted and redirecting your attention to the task at hand, practicing memory techniques (such as using a Memory Palace to recall lists), or using awareness to quietly observe emotions before they overwhelm you. You may or may not see immediate effects from starting a new mental discipline- being subtle and nonphysical, it can take some time to become aware of the changes. However, the results of pursued practice in this area are profound, and one should be both patient and persistent about this- it’s worth it.

A Creative Discipline is basically any activity based on creating instead of consuming. Building, crafting, writing, etc.- these disciplines call on you to spend non-critical time with your creative mind and to embrace mistakes and uncertainty as part of the process. Learning to paint freely and expressively, figuring out how to make your own gourmet recipes, or working your way to becoming proficient at household woodworking, all of these offer the satisfaction and joy of being able to make something that’s your own. For many, participating in acts of creativity help expand one’s self awareness and put them in touch with a higher state of mind. Plus, creative outlets have been scientifically proven to have a positive effect on health, as well as support neurogenesis.

Lastly, you probably already have some form of Spiritual Discipline, though for many it is often reduced to rote reading or inconsistent and short-lived practice. Personally, I find that it helps people to reintroduce ritual to their lives, with the understanding that there is no right or wrong way to have rituals, and that everyone regardless of spiritual affiliation already takes part in them. Birthdays, morning routines, and many forms of self-care are rituals we go through because we know that their specific order of activities will have a positive effect on our overall wellbeing, which has the ability to improve both our outlook, enjoyment of life and in many ways, our prospects. So take a chance to create your own rituals within whatever Spiritual Discipline works for you- pursuing a daily breathing meditation, keeping an altar, or practicing lunar intentions are easy ways of strengthening your connection to the divine while empowering you to take control of the meaning and direction of your life.

Adding these disciplines to your life can be considered as having a sort of additional protection in life- these reinforcements to your routine and being make you more resilient. When stress and the dramas of life come calling, you have deep roots to keep you stable through the storms and end up nourished rather than overwhelmed. Often, they help you have extra insight into your personal challenges, and allow you to be more presents well as increasingly helpful to those around you. Peace, " . . . "