#they are one solid entity who can’t be separated in my brain

[carlos-tk]

god i’m also glad that i’m not alone in criticisms for aspects of that episode!!! because sometimes on here it’s a big ol lovefest in which you feel like a big of a pariah if you’re opinion is not the widely accepted one

[eyeslikefoxglove]

Episode 21 - The PTSD is strong with this one & we need more braincells

Hello hello! Welcome to the commentary. How’s everyone? I’m frozen solid because it’s mid-June in Spain and yet we had 11°C yesterday. Fucking awesome!

I AM NOT WEARING MASCARA SO I CAN CRY ALL I WANT. I DONT KNOW IF THATS GOOD OR BAD THO.

Can I just take a second to appreciate how much this big strong powerful men emote? I mean, I know this isn’t western media where the tough guy can’t show emotions, and I don’t know that eastern media has the same hangups about men emoting but just... it’s so refreshing.

Huaisang bb you’re so sweet.

Oh, oh the PTSD is strong with this one.

Also, bless both JC and NHS, they absolutely noticed WWX flinch and, in their own ways, went and steamrolled over it so WWX wouldn’t feel scrutinised.

WE INTERRUPT THIS BROADCAST TO INFORM YALL THAT I GOT A KITTEN ON MY LAP. (She’s kneading my boob, which, ow, but...)

*BICHEN GRIIIIIIIP*

How do y’all think the guards go deliver bad news to WRH? Like do they paper-rock-scissor it? Draw straws?

NMJ did you have to?

And once again I wonder what would’ve happened if JFM had let sect leader Yao kick it.

Ughvhfnevus it’s this clown. Same as with Su She, if you see a bunch of screaming it’s just me not wanting to listen to Jin ZiXun.

The Nies: let’s throw a banquet to honour WWX’s return

Every asshole there: *gossips about WWX while in the room with him*

Once again I wish I could transmigrate (and speak mandarin lol) and just start delivering tongue lashings.

Listen, I have no idea how to play Guqin, but I did play the guitar for years and even from here I can see how much YiBo’s hands don’t match the melody. Nothing against him but why does this always happen? I know they got classes, so was the music not written by that time or something? Because one thing is not hitting the correct notes, another is plucking slow notes when the tempo is much faster.

JC: Since yours and LWJ’s unhappy separation...

My dumbass: do you mean breakup? *eyebrow waggle*

You will pry my “JC knows his brother is pinning after LWJ, he probably doesn’t want to know anything else” hc out of my cold dead hands thankyouverymuch.

WWX: *spouts a bunch of misdirection to avoid giving JC a straight answer*

JC: Bull-fucking-shit.

Should I count how many times WWX PTSDs all over the place or would you like me to leave your hearts intact? That’s two so far.

Ok ok, I feel that, if someone with a bit less trauma and a bit of insight (NHS maybe?) had seen the bit where ChenQing fucking hurts Shijie thing would’ve gone differently. I mean, yes, LWJ keeps warning WWX that this shit is gonna fuck him up, but as I said in my previous commentary LWJ also has the communication skills of a hermit crab so that wouldn’t work, and JC would be too wound up and WWX too busy trying to conceal his lack of golden core for that conversation to go anywhere. But if someone who WWX knows is a good egg (I’m not gonna say trusts bc paranoia) had sat him down and told him “your new instrument that you use for your new form of cultivation just hurt the person you love most please be careful when you use it.” I think it would’ve worked wonders towards his health overall.

I know Shijie says it’s like Zidian, but she’s not working with the fact that this thing is made for and by the Dark Side of the Force and I’m sorry but I can’t help but see ChenQing as a bit of a horrocrux almost. Or like, if you like me think the Burial Mounds is an Entity, something that’s a bit more sentient that it lets on.

Speaking of reputations and NHS being a good egg, I have oh-so-many ideas (I won’t say plot bunnies because I can’t write for shit) in which NHS for Reasons (time-travel? Letter from the future? His massive brain?) realises just how much damage WWX is doing to his public image. And he might be a sheltered dandy, but he saw what being the son of a sex worker did to Meng Yao despite how hard he worked (I’m assuming he doesn’t know about the whole betrayal business). This is way fucking worse, like hell is he going to let one of his best friends paint a target on his back. So he pulls back his sleeves, engages his slytherin brain and proceeds to lay down a plan to throughly destroy WWX’s reputation as a powerful genius.

I’m guessing LWJ and JC protest, and maybe WWX, and NHS just hits them with “do you want him respected or alive?” And they shut tf up. He glues himself to WWX, and brings up as many instances in which their behaviour can be compared as he can (we got drunk and punished at cloud recesses, we slept in class, we skipped to go fishing, I don’t carry my sword either). And, because assholes be assholes, people like Sect Leader Yao or Clown Cousin are quick to start spouting their own derogatory bullshit and thus WWX the untamed powerful prodigy dies a fiery death. Now he’s just a mouthy kid with a quick mind that “does tricks instead of battle” (I’ll never get bored of using that Thor quote). I also like to think that people who personally know WWX and are not pieces of shit go give NHS a tongue lashing for messing with what they thought was his friend, NHS takes that as a test of good eggness and bring them into the plan. Soon the whole Cloud Recesses class is swearing up, down, left, right and centre that all the shit WWX has ever successfully pulled is just an insane amount of luck and quick thinking.

I don’t know how would they work him into the battlefield (disguise? Mask?) to unleash his demonic cultivation but that’s Plot and I don’t do that.

Also, because I’m a terrible human being I want to say that people assume LWJ is on “pretty but useless” WWX like white on rice because *insert derogatory comment about being good in bed and sexual favours*. Because y’all know the assholes here are Like That. And WWX is horrified because holy fucking shit he’s gonna drag LWJ’s reputation down, he can’t have people thinking HGJ is ok with having him as a concubine pretty much. But before he can act LWJ politely all but confirms that yeah, he’s tapping that, y’all wish you were but he doesn’t share and none of y’all are good enough for his Wei Ying anyway. CUE FAKE/PRETEND RELATIONSHIP BECAUSE I AM INDEED TRASH FOR THAT TROPE.

Muahahahaha y’all thought I was gonna devolve into my personal hcs and not include my fave trope? Shouldn’t y’all know me better by now?

(Btw I like this bit ^ so I might polish it a little and post it separately as well, just a warning if you find yourself reading an eerily similar post by me)

WuJi is playing and LWJ is pining so much. Also, if LWJ did not just realise that, just like Yu the Great, WWX had no other option but tame resentful energy I’ll eat my blanket.

I refuse to believe Jiang Yanli didn’t become the unofficial war camp therapist/sounding board/only sane person/everyone’s mum/I just need a hug and a corner to cry in peace. There are not enough fics about Shijie being her gentle BAMF self while in the camp and it’s a pity. My crops are dying y’all!

Also, I will fight anyone who scoffs at Shijie being the epitome of the “gentle woman who cooks and waits for the men to come back from war”. Look at her mum, do you think it is easy for a kid (she was a kid in the flashback when WWX ran away) to see that day in and day out, to have that as a “role model” and decide that she was not going to be like her mum? That she didn’t like what she saw in her so she was going to be kind and gentle? And do you think it is easy for a person barely in their twenties to deal with years of verbal and psychological abuse for again, being gentle and kind, and not grow a hard shell of bitterness to protect themselves? And to keep being gentle and kind while at war, with your parents dead and your siblings unraveling before your very eyes? Shijie is so fucking strong and I love her.

Hey look, the White Walkers!

“Resentful energy is just energy” ok, valid. But my dude, you’ve got black ghost smoke coming out of you and can hear people screaming in your head. I’m not saying it is evil, like someone’s uptight set in his ways arrogant uncle; but it sure as shit ain’t healthy.

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH (that’s a Clown Cousin scream btw)

Ok ok, just one little thing: IF SOMEONE ELSE CALLS WWX WEI YING AS A SHOW OF DISRESPECT IMMA SCALP THEM.

...are those crows eating that man alive? Yikes on bikes.

(Assume my comment about YiBo’s Guqin playing also goes for Xiao Zhan and his flute. I can’t play the flute but the tempo doesn’t match his fingers)

I’m just gonna say it, I think 3zun (well, 2zun as of now) suspect shit went down badly for WWX, that’s two questions by both of them in a very soft conciliatory tone. They are genuinely interested/worried about the topic, and don’t seem to come off as chiding or judgemental. I mean WWX is a weirdo irreverent kid and they’re sect leaders, they outrank him so much it’s ridiculous. I’m also counting the fact that both their baby brothers like him towards them being so kind. But I also think WWX just triggers all their big brother instincts the second he walks in.

Oh there’s a thought, Shijie, Wen Qing, NMJ and LXC take a look at everyone’s shitty parents and just decide to adopt everyone.

What happened at Yiling was a traumatised teenager (is WWX even 20?) PTSDing all over the place with the Dark Side of the Force whispering in his ear and an all powerful trinket at his disposal. Not saying I approve of all the torture and murder but he clearly isn’t revelling in them.

That is some outstanding bit of big-brothering on LXC’s side and I love it. Also, my dumbass just realised LWJ probably wasn’t quoting WWX when he was being punished (what is white what is black?) I think he was quoting his big brother. Which is magnitudes deep too, but in a different direction and I might love that scene even more.

Ok fuck it, I’m gonna tangent. So I had a terrible boyfriend when I was 15-18. He alienated me from my friends, sunk my self-esteem to the molten core of the earth, tried to convince me my parents were abusive and encouraged (aka threatened manipulated and cajoled) the slow tanking of my high school marks. I have A Problem when I see media where someone latches onto their significant other and everything they are shifts towards that person. Now, love, true genuine love, is powerful, and I believe it can be the catalyst for shifting your world-view for the better. I don’t have a problem with that. I don’t have a problem with people sticking with their romantic partner if it is clear their previous “family” is so much shit. I don’t have a problem with LWJ coming out of his shell and defying corrupt precepts because his love for WWX made them see they were wrong, or getting sassy and unrepentant during his punishment (I have a problem with the punishment bc that’s abuse but...). But I do side-eye WangXian being the only thing in their orbit. People need people, and WangXian have other good people around them. So I kind of love that yes, WWX showed him the system was corrupt, but it is the words of his brother he is sticking by to the defy said system.

Let’s go back to our scheduled slew of held pinning glances shall we?

LXC after That awkward run-in: WangJi I wasn’t gone that long, what the fuck did you two oblivious pining idiots do?

(LXC has “bitching” tea sessions with Shijie and you can’t convince me otherwise)

LWJ: *is being dramatic and not knocking on WWX’s door*

Me: oh my god you fucking idiot

Shijie: *walks in*

Me: oh thank god someone with a braincell.

Ah yes, there we go triggering WWX’s paranoia again. Why would he get a break.

OH MY GOD YOU PAIR OF FUCKING IDIOTS. THATS IT, FUCK THIS SHIT IM OUT.

@ LWJ: bitch wtf was that? I know you’re shit at talking but have you thought about writing it down? Letters anyone? It worked for mr. Darcy.

(Yes LWJ is mr darcy and now I want an au where LWJ writes WWX letters and just pours everything in them, WWX finds them, any everything is sunshine and rainbows)

While this bullshit fight/misunderstanding is all on LWJ’s shoulders, I’m also going to scream at WWX. Because yes, he is in PTSD hell, but he trusted LWJ before, and yet he can’t get past his perceived notion of LWJ’s character (and his own inadequacies) to trust him again and ask for help. Plus, you know, he thinks he doesn’t deserve he’ll bc *waves hand at WWX’s trauma conga line*

These episodes can’t be good for my BP.

Thanks for reading!

[achtung-attitude]

CHAPTER 25: Abraxas – Part 3

Phantasma emerges from the backroom and steps under the ropes, back into the ring. She is wearing a new mask, almost identical to her old one, but her shirt and suit pants are gone. In their place is a form-fitting leotard, bedazzled in the same way as her suit and baring her thickly muscled limbs.

Moya and Shizuka watch her, with caution. Moya breathing is labored, and Shizuka’s left eye is swollen shut and discolored, half-blinding her, but her good eye glares at her opponent. The masked woman begins to do stretches in front of them. Shizuka stares in disbelief, glancing at Moya.

“You’re still not taking us seriously, huh?” she says. Phantasma gives no answer, but continues her warm-up.

When she finishes, she stands with the confidence of a champion, or a superhero. “Your patience is appreciated,” she says, stepping into a wide stance, “Are you ready?”

The girls exchange a look, and they too slip into stances. Phantasma raises a fist and calmly announces, “ABRAXAS.”

The bubble expands and the girls move simultaneously in separate directions. Shizuka heads straight for Phantasma and ducks under the punch she throws at her, sliding on her knees. Without losing momentum, she rises and drives her shoulder into Phantasma’s gut, sending her back a step. The young Joestar presses her attack, getting in two good jabs at her diaphragm but the third is blocked by a raised knee. Shizuka jumps back, just dodging a high kick that grazes her chin. 

Moya comes from behind, kicking at the back of her former boss’ knee. This makes Phantasma stagger slightly, but she keeps her footing. She swivels, sweeping a backfist behind her, which Moya blocks. The force causes her to skid backwards, but she is fine.

ABRAXAS’ bubble recedes and WITCH MOUNTAIN emerges with both fists raised, ready to hammer down on Phantasma. ABRAXAS meets it halfway, kicking away its fists with a high roundhouse. With its arms out of the way, ABRAXAS fires a punch directly into WITCH MOUNTAIN’s snout. A spout of blood explodes from Moya’s nose, but she is undeterred. 

It becomes a match-up of their Stands as both unleash rush attacks, both entities forced to play defence and offence at once. WITCH MOUNTAIN’s “POPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOP!!!” clashes with ABRAXAS’ cry of “LIIIIIIIIIBREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!”

Both Stands lay hits on the other, and both users end up with bruises. ABRAXAS changes tact, abruptly intercepting WITCH MOUNTAIN’s fists and throwing them wide, exposing its front. Phantasma’s Stand then chops at either side of WITCH MOUNTAIN’s throat, and Moya gags. This is followed up with a leaping knee to the chin that drive both Stand and user into the air. 

ABRAXAS pulls back, then fades away as the erasure bubbles takes its place. Phantasma advances straight through WITCH MOUNTAIN as it disappears and grabs Moya by her left arm. With supreme strength, she pulls her and swings her over her head and slams her onto the ground. The wind is blasted out of Moya, but she manages to roll away before Phantasma falls upon her, avoiding the elbow strike aimed at her gut.

“Can you not stand anymore?” the masked woman asks, getting back to her feet. 

Moya coughs, and spits furiously.

Phantasma tilts her head forward and takes a step toward her. ABRAXAS’ bubble recedes. The moment it does, Phantasma raises her left arm and blocks a leaping high kick launched at her by Shizuka from behind. 

Not missing a beat, she traps the leg between her arm and chest and pivots, summoning ABRAXAS to wing up a devastating punch. 

She has a few seconds before the hit lands to notice something strange about Shizuka. Her form appears to morph and wave, like a heat haze in the desert. A tremor of nausea builds in her throat, which she swiftly suppresses. 

“Just another coward’s trick,” she thinks. She squeezes the trapped leg tighter, feeling its solidity before driving ABRAXAS’ fist at her enemy’s face. “This is no illusion. I have her now!” 

But suddenly, a fist appears right in front of Phantasma’s eyes and ploughs into her cheek. Her brain hits the back of her skull and she nearly passes out. 

“This can’t be…!” she thinks. She loses her grip on Shizuka, who drops into a crouch and leaps away. It takes all of Phantasma’s willpower to remain on two feet. Through bloodshot eyes, she looks searches to find her attacker, and as she sensed, the being before her with its fists raised is none other than ABRAXAS. “What!? I-I was hit by own Stand!?!”

In her peripheral vision, she sees WITCH MOUNTAIN emerge, its fist raised to deliver a volley to her exposed side. She calls, “A-ABRAXAS!”, but her willpower is too rattled from her own Stand’s attack. ABRAXAS is too slow to respond and guard its master before WITCH MOUNTAIN delivers three sledge-hammer strikes to her ribcage. Something cracks and she grunts in pain, stepping out of WITCH MOUNTAIN’s range. 

Moya gets back to her feet. Phantasma leans against one of the corner posts of the ring. She touches her damaged side, then turns her attention to Shizuka. Before either of them can advance on her, she stands upright and releases ABRAXAS’ bubble. “What did you do?” she demands, breathing heavily, all Stands negated. 

Shizuka flashes a grin at her. “You mean, how did I get your own Stand to attack you? Neat move, right? I pulled the same thing on Moya, not too long ago. Putting it simply, I created a 3-dimensional mirror, confusing your brain and sending your attack right back at you.”

The bubble recedes. “How much more are you going to dishonor my ring with these cowardly tactics?”

“What would you know about honor?” Moya says, smiling grimly between ragged breaths, “What the hell is honorable about peddling drugs or murdering civilians? I’m tired of hearing about it from you.”

Phantasma narrows her eyes, but doesn’t respond.

ABRAXAS suddenly appears beneath her feet, phasing up through the fabric of the ring floor to boost its master onto its shoulders. Moya and Shizuka are taken aback. Standing at full height, Phantasma quickly leaps from her Stand’s shoulders, intending to slam down on her opponents.

The girls move in different directions, while Shizuka goes invisible. Moya summons WITCH MOUNTAIN and struggles to maintain her footing as Phantasma lands elbow first, half a meter from where Moya stands, shaking the whole ring. 

The masked woman rises and WITCH MOUNTAIN moves to strike. ABRAXAS explodes into its bubble and Moya’s Stand disappears, but Moya is ready for this and swiftly ducks away from her former bosses’ backhand fist. 

Phantasma follows up with her left fist raised to throw a straight punch, but feels herself suddenly weighed down. She turns to see Shizuka swinging from her bicep like a trapeze. Using her weight, she pulls Phantasma off-balance. Moya pushes her further, launching a heel kick to her right knee, forcing her onto her left. 

Gritting her teeth, she twists her torso and flexes her left arm, trying to hurl Shizuka away from her. The tanned girl jumps away from her before she can, rolling towards Phantasma’s back. Then, in perfect sync, both Shizuka and Moya deliver sweeping kicks to either side of the masked woman’s head.

Phantasma shouts in pain. Blood explodes out of her abused nose, yet somehow, she remains conscious, even as her ears ring. She moves quickly, roaring in anger and charging at Moya with arms raised. ABRAXAS’ bubble recedes, and Moya appears to flicker out of view.

Phantasma catches this, and swiftly dodges, ABRAXAS’ giant fist grazing her as it drives past with the force of a meteor. “You can’t hit me with the same trick twice!!” she bellows, swinging around and hurling a backfist at Moya. She blocks it with her arms raised and jumps away.

[doctorglasgowart]

SO, you want to fuck the alien slime monster? You want him to raw you with that big weird tongue of his? Well you can’t. But you can do the next best thing by reading some Venom comics! Venom has had a lot of titles over the years. Wikipedia actually has a pretty solid list of his solo series over HERE. But let me recommend just a few of them, just in case you want to follow the further adventures of everyone’s favorite lethal protector.

SPIDER-MAN: THE ALIEN COSTUME SAGA

Once upon a time, a bunch of Marvel heroes and villains were transported to a faraway alien planet to fight to the death and sell toys. During this time, Peter Parker got a brand-new costume, which would later turn out to be the alien symbiote VENOM! After all, Pete was the symbiote’s host before Eddie Brock. If you want to see Spider-Man become slowly unraveled and poisoned with strange alien rage, this is the place to start!

SPIDER-MAN: BIRTH OF VENOM by  David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane

This marks Venom as his own separate entity, now bonded with the psychotic Eddie Brock! Eddie’s got a score to settle with Peter Parker, one that he’s taking DEADLY serious! Penciled by the always-masterful Todd McFarlane, this is one stylish comic. Warning, the comics version of Eddie Brock is more or less nothing like the movie version. Still, this is a turning point in the character, where the symbiote becomes one of Spider-Man’s greatest foes!

VENOM: LETHAL PROTECTOR by David Michelinie and Tom DeFalco

After Venom harasses Pete for a while, the two agree to just stay out of each other’s faces. As such, Venom moves to San Francisco to become the LETHAL PROTECTOR! This is the pair’s first attempt at being an anti-hero, and it goes about as well as you’d expect. Now, Venom only eats the brains and organs of the wicked! This run is probably the closest you’ll get to the movie version of the pair. It shows its age a little, but it’s still a fun miniseries.

SPIDER-MAN: MAXIMUM CARNAGE by Tom DeFalco and J.M. DeMatteis

This book is incredibly dumb. A while ago, the Venom symbiote had a child, which was even more unstable than it was, called Carnage. That symbiote bonded to a man named Cletus Kassidy, who was even more unstable than Eddie Brock. The result is CARNAGE. In this book, Carnage builds his own Manson family stand-in and goes on an unstoppable rampage through new york city. It takes fourteen issues and an enormous cast of rotating characters to bring him down for good. The book is an enormous amount of fun, but please don’t be expecting high art here. If you want to see a giant uncontrolled brawl with a dozen or so superheroes, this is the book for you.

VENOM by Rick Remender and Tony Moore

This, in my opinion, is THE Venom run. The symbiote is taken from Eddie Brock, and given to Flash Thompson, Peter Parker’s friend and former bully. After losing his legs while deployed in Afghanistan, Flash is given the opportunity to walk again, by being bonded with the alien symbiote! He goes on covert missions for the US government as AGENT VENOM! However things go awry, when he begins to mentally depend on the alien more and more. Eventually he gets a sidekick of his own, and becomes the true hero he always wanted to be.

This is an incredibly good book, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. The run lasted almost 50 issues, and had two spinoff series, CARNAGE U.S.A., and MINIMUM CARNAGE, which are also both very good. If you want some good wholesome Venom material, this is the series for you.

VENOM by Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman

This is the most current Venom run, and it’s been fantastic so far. Forget everything you think you know about the symbiotes, because this series will blow the lid off of it! The artwork is absolutely gorgeous, and so far each issue has had me gripped in suspense at what new revelation will come next. If you want a solid ongoing to follow, please do yourself a favor and start picking up the newest Venom series right away!

People love Venom, and for good reason. He just looks so goddamn cool. He’s endured for years because he IS cool! He’s REALLY cool! And if you saw the movie and were left wanting for something more substantial, please pick up any one of the comics that I’ve recommended here today. You can find them at your local comic store, or at any book retailer. 

So let the symbiote’s tongue slither into one of your many orifices and pick up a VENOM comic today!

[detectivemarkiprincess]

THE ACTOR IS A PUNK BITCH (he looks like he weighs 30 pounds soaking wet in that little red robe)

Dammit MArk WE SAID WE WEREN’T SERIOUS ABOUT THE HOST THING DON’T MAKE FUN OF US I AM A FRAGILE BEAN YOU MAY TRY TO KILL MY CONFIDENCE BUT I WILL FIGURE OUT YOU AND YOUR RIDICULOUSLY WONDERFUL AND COMPELLING STORY (also I will kick you in the face and burn down your house…shorty).

Aaaannnyway heyo fellow theorists and lore enthusiasts. This one’s a jumbled mess and it’s prOBABLY LOOKING AT THE MINUTIAE TOO MUCH  BUT I WANT TO BE A GOOD LITTLE DETECTIVE AND ANALYZE THINGS OK. Now I’m done.

So…why do we never discuss Actor Mark? I mean, yeah we talk shit about him (see: Asshole Mark)

...but we never look at his character. Yes, he basically framed Will, probably interrupted Celine and Damien during a seance, stole Damien’s body, and went on his merry way. And we hate him. Think about it from the flip side, though.

His wife left him for his best friend, he killed himself over it, kept killing himself and dabbling in the dark arts, all while being manipulated by that mad house.

Now it’s one thing to destroy your enemies. It’s quite another to destroy your own friends.

Damien was his best friend, even after everything with WillxCeline, though I think they did grow apart apparently. He killed his best friend and stole his body.

That is so messed up. And even under the influence of the house entity, consider the idea that he might feel bad. We have the clues in the doki doki poems that we just kind of glossed over.

That’s right. Asshole Markiplier just might regret what he’s done. Not to say that he’s not still terrible, but I do feel a bit bad for him with all this in mind.

Now I’ve got a few ideas as to what’s going on with him, and it’s going to take a bit of explaining my brain’s thoughts for these so bear with me.

It occured to me in the WMW Explanation livestream that “oh Mark can’t see the masks so HE MUST BE A CHARACTER TOO” (tagging you @rusty-spoons, sorry it took so long to get this out).

I know we tend to separate our Mark from Actor Mark, but I’ve had this little inkling that our Mark is supposed to be Actor Mark who just so HAPPENS TO GO BY THE PSUEDONYM MARKIPLIER. Why do we separate them again? I feel like most of his videos are meant to be a part of his story even if not every single one is filled with glitches and clues, and they can still have great life lessons in them.

But I digress.

So if Actor Mark is the Mark hanging out with us, why THE HELL IS HE HANGING OUT WITH US and not hightailing it away from the giant mess he made. He knows shit’s up, although I’m not sure that he knows everything that’s going on.

After all, it seems like he has trouble remembering things too.

“Nope, I can’t. I can’t remember!”

I’m kind of going off the idea that the wkm characters are still in the house, but it can also be messed with. Maybe everyone is chillin in the void or the upside Down. They could also be literally anywhere else, really.

First idea: He’s trapped in whatever hell all the other characters like Abe and Warf are trapped in, too. The entity turned on him, or maybe Darkiplier got a hold of him, and keeps him in this place for broken things. Simple, to the point, and most likely.

Second idea: He’s here because he has no choice and is left feeling nothing but guilt and pain over what he’s done. I’ve got this notion that this guy gave up his soul and is now bound to the house/entity. Wonder where that came from.

Oh yeah.

Third idea: His work isn’t done. Maybe he wants something else, like our soul, or to watch all the characters’ torment up close. Maybe he wants our soul, maybe he wants to settle something with Darkiplier, who knows.

I know these are all very loose ideas, but I think it’s good to get the ball rolling. Now for the REAL question here.

So why is he hanging with us? What’s our character’s role in this? Good question. If we are still the DA, then we are a disembodied soul just floating in a mirror. Or a camera. I think it might be a camera at this point, and I have a lot of clues but I won’t go into it just now so just assume and let me know if you’d like a post on that.

Here’s the thing about mirrors and cameras: 

They see the truth. They reflect the truth.

Maybe he’s keeping his enemy close. So he can try to redirect our attention and keep us from remembering. Or maybe it’s Darkiplier trying to keep us from remembering but really I have no idea. Maybe he just wants us to stay his friend because he’s sad and lonely and if we remembered we’d hate him. 

Regardless, we still tend to see things for what they are.

We see the little (and big) glitches in his videos. We notice that time doesn’t really seem to be following the laws of physics. Also, we saw the masks in WMW. 

And we only saw the masks when the shot was taken from first person POV. OUR point of view.

Interesting, huh?

So, after this long drawn out post, I leave you with these questions: 

Why would it matter if we “woke up?” What would Actor Mark and/or Dark stand to gain or lose from us remembering the truth? And what would we be able to do about it if we remembered?

Leave us your thoughts, comments, questions, anything! We could always use some fresh ideas! I’ll try to come up with something more solid soon!

~Mod Fe

Side note: I didn’t genuinely mean anything unkind to Mark. He was only poking fun at us theorists. I mean, we are pretty crazy sometimes, and I love his stories. Don’t give him crap for it, and don’t take it personally. He’s a person who’s got a sense of humor and we should too. If you ever need to talk I’m here for you.

[ganymedesclock]

Do you think lion sharing fits the storytelling theme of VLD? If the clone theory is true then there are 7 people who can be Paladins. Thats 2 extra people who have no definite role in the team. What can they do for the story if they're not Paladins?

First part of this I have a beef with:

Not every role requires a Lion to be important. Think about how much Coran does, in every conceivable factor of the team’s life, to keep things running smoothly. His job is hard and super demanding! As the main guy doing maintenance on the castle he’s singlehandedly responsible for their survival on many occasions. And yeah he goes on missions and fights, too! He’s under enough stress that in s4e4 we see him turning to questionable brain worms just to try and keep up.

Kolivan? Olia? You think these people and their entire rebel organizations- who were pulling most of the weight during s4e5 and s4e6 especially after Voltron was incapacitated on Naxzela- are meaningless?

You can’t even go, “but Clockie this is a spaceship battle series” because everybody else has spaceships and weighs in on space battles! Hey remember when Allura (not bonded to a Lion) led the entire population of a Balmera (also, not bounded to a Lion) and took out the Drazil robeast? The entire rebel fleet’s not gonna stand around scratching their noses the next time Voltron gets attacked by a monster.

This is a very prevalent fandom attitude, and it bothers me a lot, especially because it treats Lance’s discussion with Keith in s3e5 as insecure bellyaching and not an incredibly solid and astute point: this is not a participation game, this is war.

This means no, they are not going to always have everybody conveniently lined up with the right colored Lion. Sometimes people are going to have conflicting objectives as Keith did in s4e1. The team can’t afford to just stick it out for the one person they want to be Black Paladin. Having multiple candidates who can jump in and rotate as needed is just plain smart tactical sense.

A huge amount of the rebellion hinges on Voltron’s massive firepower and unique properties, and on it as a symbol of hope. S4e1 and s4e2 are showing us that as the paladins get more confident and capable, they’re pursuing solo missions more often and in greater detail- and these things are incredibly important. Keith was investigating a profoundly worrying undercurrent in the empire, and if he hadn’t been separate from the team he wouldn’t have been able to hone everyone’s focus in on Haggar’s battleship in s4e6. If Pidge hadn’t been off on her own in s4e2 they wouldn’t have basically doubled the size of their fleet with Olia’s rebel alliance.

But if they’re the only people who can possibly work their Lions at all, that puts the rebellion in massive danger. It means any time they’re doing anything, there’s a gaping Voltron-shaped hole in their defenses. This has been an issue since even before the Lion switch- look at s2e6! An entire endangered population nearly died because Keith wasn’t there to pilot Red. And that’s not ragging on Keith.

Logically here nothing is gonna take these people’s protagonist status from them. It isn’t like, if the clone Shiro theory is true, then Shiro and his clone are going to have to have a fistfight over the Black Lion and the loser is banished evermore. 

And personally, I think that ultimately the initial introduced formation was introduced for a reason. Black may have seen potential in both Keith and Shiro but Shiro spoke to them in a way that Keith didn’t and it wasn’t just because Red got to Keith first and claimed dibs. I think that what we first saw was a kind of ideal, optimized match.

However, the Lion bonds are not a glorified locking mechanism- the Lions are sentient beings. By developing an intimate relationship with Shiro and his mind, it stands to reason Black is going to come to care about the same people. That means that Black, like Shiro himself, is going to make decisions with the welfare of the entire team in mind and not just “whose butt is in my cockpit, is it Shiro, if not, Sorry No Heroics Today”

Especially since Black in the past arguably led to some of this trouble by prioritizing their paladin’s wishes over the team’s wellbeing- remember, Black willingly carried Honerva towards the rift and let Zarkon hide her from the rest of the team.

And Black, when choosing someone who was a reflection of their heart, who mirrored who they were as a person- chose Shiro. Shiro, who’s charismatic and a natural leader, yes, but also comes to the cast burdened heavily by personal regret and the idea that he caused harm to others without meaning or wanting to.

This tells us pretty clearly that Black feels at least in part personally responsible for what happened with Zarkon. And the part they would most likely feel guilty about was helping him against the team.

So if anything... Black connecting with other people besides Shiro, and not sticking it out for him and staying unresponsive- would make perfect sense as a remorseful being that’s desperately trying to do right by these people they’re trusted with.

You can say very similar things for Red towards Lance, and Blue towards Allura. Red- the loyal, the driven, the self-sacrificing, is stated by Allura to have connected with Lance not only when Lance supported Keith connecting with Black, but also reached out and did what he could to help ground Keith from the deeply upset place he was operating out of.

Red obviously selected Lance to be Keith’s right hand because Keith was at a point where he needed someone who would connect with him and help him focus- who would reach out to him if he started spiraling downward. Because Red- the most powerful and most vulnerable of the Lions- would know that Keith alone and emotionally compromised is a death sentence.

So Red grabbed Lance, because Red knows Lance will worry about Keith as much as he does.

Blue looking to Allura? Blue is a nurturer, a guiding soul, and not one worried about Lance because she knows that Lance is not only in good hands, but he’s good hands himself- “worrier” is not Blue’s nature. So Blue takes to herself Allura, who, at this point, is highly upset, who feels like she desperately needs to get out and do something, but who Red- her father’s Lion- turned down.

(because Keith and Allura, while they work together, can facilitate some pretty bad ideas in each other as seen in s2e6 and Allura would be unlikely to reign Keith in as much as she’d be more likely to go down with him)

So instead, Blue invites Allura to come into her arms, to have more of a front line role and support her team but also to be nurtured a little because at the end of the day Allura is young and walking off some incredible heartbreak. And Blue’s dual nature is that she is someone who seeks to nurture her paladin but also someone who encourages her paladin to nurture others.

The Lion switch makes sense as long as you consider the Lions as sentient entities who are also reacting to the situation. And taking that and applying it to Lion sharing... people can have multiple friends. Lance bonding with Keith doesn’t mean Hunk means nothing to him any more.

Each of the Lions might have one person they prefer, but they don’t hate the others. Especially because refusing to connect with anybody but their bonded paladin would hurt that paladin sometimes- Shiro probably would’ve been much worse injured if Black hadn’t let Keith in to protect him in s2e1.

I personally think that each Lion has one champion- notice how in vlogs and otherwise, Keith has never been called the Black Paladin- “Paladin Of The Black Lion”, maybe, but there’s that element of detachment and evasion. And Keith still wears Red’s colors when he wears paladin armor- and that’s meaningful.

However, as the whole team grows closer together, they don’t just have one configuration for success. I wouldn’t be surprised if ultimately we’re headed for something where all of our major players (the original five plus Allura plus, if clone theory, clone Shiro) are going to be able to potentially work with any Lion as needed. After all, they’re building skills to work with each other- it makes sense that with the team getting used to, say, Pidge, and Pidge’s mentality and way of viewing the world, each of them are going to be better equipped to understand Green, and Green’s mentality and way of viewing the world.

[jestbee]

"What would I be without you?"

[dayanartemis]

My Sadness.

I want to talk about my sadness.

But my sadness is a rude distant relative that has no business in my house but insists on staying and interfering with every small detail of my life.

My sadness is a predator that has claimed me as a prey, a malicious predator that hunts for the fun of the chase, and when I finally landed in its clutches it toyed with me, tossing me around, yawning, bored at my lack of resistance.

My sadness is the clique of girls who bullied me through elementary school, middle school, high school and when I ran into them somewhere a few years later I greeted them casually because I am grown up and I am mature and I have put it all behind me, pretending they weren't one of the reasons I want to be dead.

My sadness is a grave I dug with my bare hands in a cold solid wasteland to bury it but instead I fell into that grave and it buried me where there is no tombstone to recognize it.

My sadness is treacherous and cruel, sometimes it allows me to go about my day like a regular person, I got to admit, but so rarely it let sleep soundly.

My sadness knows me too well, it's been hanging out in my head for too long. Felling the cervix of my brain, embedding intricate sad thoughts, weaving a sheen of misery and wrapping it tightly securing it around my brain until there is nothing else but sadness.

My sadness is as unpredictable and overwhelming as a tidal wave that was supposed to tickle your toes but instead it engulfs you.

My sadness is a possessive control freak that can't read my mind and it doesn't like it when I think of anything else.

My sadness is cunning and sneaky because it has hidden the reasons why it's here.

It has diffused itself within me, the way a drop of inks diffuses in a transparent clear water, their particles have merged into one.

Often I am too exhausted to fight it.

It has integrated itself within me that it is no longer a separate entity.

Often I can't speak of it,

Because I wither and I cower,

My voice stutters and my words shatter,

I am my sadness, and it is me.

[eennui]

warp madness, for real this time

I'm quite tired at the moment and my google-fu isn't what it should be but all that means is that I can't source or be 100% sure of the accuracy of my statements

The warp, or immaterium, as it is described in the "Warhammer 40k" canon is a separate non-spatial dimension made entirely of psychic energy, and its non-spatial properties are crucial for warp travel, a method of faster than light (ftl) travel. Due to its nature, it is unsafe for a normal human to be exposed to even slight amounts of warp energy, because humans don't have very developed psychic powers. These people suffer horrible consequences, the least of which is a kind of madness, of being aware of the warp and its chaotic denizens

Mild spoiler alert - Warframe

The Void in Warframe serves much the same purpose as the Warp of 40k. It is an immaterial dimension that enables ftl travel. It also poses similar dangers - in distant past of Warframe history, an experimental void ship was lost. Everyone on board was strongly affected, although the adults were less fortunate. The children on board survived with varying amounts of scarring from exposure to void energies and a wide array of psychic/psionic powers. The adults were overwhelmed by the power, the emptiness, and a powerful void entity known only as "The Man in The Wall", and were hunted and executed by the children on board as a measure of self defense. Some of the children were more sensitive to this void entity, Who some of the fan community affectionately refers to as "Wally". For the large part, everyone who wasn't present during the incident remains unaware of the true nature of the void and even the existence of "Wally". The Grineer and Corpus enemy factions have technology that can grant them access to the void, but the player faction, the Tenno, remain the only ones who can travel it safely.

Back to the real world -

I recently became a professional driver, an over-the-road trucker, living in my truck, moving from truck stop to destination to truck stop etc. It's very lonely work, and I have large periods of time where I have nothing to do but think or wildly scream along to streaming music. In addition, there is what is called road or "highway hypnosis", an altered mental state in which a driver can continue to operate a motor vehicle in a perfectly safe and sometimes even complex manner, responding to real time situations with accuracy, while being completely or nearly unaware of doing so.

I spend a lot of time doing simple math, calculating seconds per mile, seconds per kilometer, down to several decimal places. I test theorems that I know of, I do number base conversions, anything that pops into mind. A recent favorite of mine is an easily proven theorem that the sum of the digits of any multiple of 9 is always 9 or a new multiple of 9. It doesn't work for any other number in our decimal counting system.

So I had an idea - I studied computers, logic, and programming in university, so I'm familiar with another common number system.

Hexadecimal

This is the counting system used by people to simplify binary machine code, and the reason that there are four bits to a byte, and 1024 bytes to a kilobyte, 1024 kilobytes to a gigabyte, and 1024 gigabytes to a terabyte

Machines, as we have invented them, only recognize binary instructions, strings of 1 and 0. Understandably, this makes for very long representations of decimal numbers, with 16 being "10000", 100 being 110100, and other silliness. So, for simplicity's sake, we break up bits into groups of four, 0000 to 1111

Zero to fifteen

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F

This is how computers present hexadecimal code, with the letters a through f representing the numbers 10 through 15, which is further broken into groups of 4, for human pattern recognition

So I wondered, what if the reason that all multiples of 9 have digits that always sum to 9, is a consequence of it being the last numeral in our counting system? So I tried it with multiples of 15

In decimal, the multiples of 9 form a simple pattern from 0 to 100

09-18-27-36-45-54-63-72-81-90

In hexadecimal, I found the same pattern for multiples of 15

0F-1E-2D-3C-4B-5A-69-5A... through the rest of the pattern all the way to F0

I was overjoyed. This discovery, which in terms of practical importance has no real value beyond a fun fact, was rapture to me. I tried again, picking random numbers to be my counting base. Base 5? All multiples of 4 sum to 4. Base 7? All multiples of 6 sum to 6. I was beyond delighted, I had new knowledge, new insight, that I hadn't read in a book or heard talked about anywhere else in my life. This discovery was, to me, completely new. The information was like a drug, new ideas popping in and out of existence like someone threw a box of sparklers into a fire.

Eventually, every drive, every day comes to an end. As I decelerate from highway speeds to make my deliveries, I begin to feel sick. When I stop and park the truck, I feel the world moving toward me, but decelerating, like I was. It's much like vertigo. When I get out of the truck and stand on solid ground my legs are shaky, not because I've been sitting for a long time, not the head rush of standing up too quickly, but because the earth does not shudder and breathe and vibrate like the inside of a truck does. I've left my microcosm and reentered reality, where things are still, thoughts are slow, and I am not alone. Every time, it's unnerving. Even though I have to get out of the truck rather regularly, to take breaks, to make deliveries, to hook and unhook trailers, the world decelerates towards me, settling in its proper position, still and unmoving.

It's just an adjustment I tell myself, my brain has been processing everything with a background speed of at least 60 mph since I started work, of course it would take time to adjust to being still.

But while the vertigo, the landsickness, subsides eventually, I'm always left with the unease of being away from the truck and its comforting, constant motion

[enthusiasticprankstersin-cognito]

OK, so the idea of having rose show up in the room has been an idea iv had for the longest time. So when I heard that the newest episode was going to feature something iv been talking about for a while, so I went crazy. So, like, huge complicated theories aside, I was rewatching the show, and was on number 3, cheeseburger backpack, when I saw this happen. And immediately remembered his mom doing it in the room. I simply thought she picked it up from Greg, and just would use it awkwardly at seemingly appropriate times. Much like how Peridot will say “Wow thanks.”

To heavily side track for a moment, the gems are entities in the stones themselves. Their bodies, are physical manifestations made of light. They are a space faring race designed to conquer worlds. Their bodies adjust automatically to gravity. It would be safe to say that they have adjusted to life on earth by imitating earth’s dominate species. Humans. As a way to quickly adapt efficiently. Thus explaining their Humanoid forms. They don’t need to eat or breath of course. But they do poses the organs to emulate the features. As we have seen, Amythyst has gotten sick from an old burrito. They can eat and obviously have a digestive track. With this said, it wouldn’t be too far to say that they have reproductive organs as well. Now, steven doesn’t have a belly button. His gem is where his umbilical cord would be. To side track for a moment, if amythyst were to transform and make a clone of herself at the finger, where they are conjoined at the fingertips, I don’t believe she can simply separate from her clone and have it not dissipate. When rose and Greg had intercoarse, steven began growing. But that was still considered a part of her. Steven is technically rose, literally. He is her light. Except the portion that governs the physical form of steven, which is his brain. He is rose but does not share her thoughts directly. Now, the reason rose can’t exist with steven at the same time, is that she can’t give Steven an independent body. It would be impossible. Because he is her light manifestation still this whole time. He would dissipate. So, she gave up her physical form to give steven, a gem at heart, a human life of his very own. In theory he could poof. And if rose wanted to, she could reform as him or herself, orrrrr as being attached at the belly button. But that would be weird.

Given this information, his mom’s room renders things like a computer. And it takes things from the mind of the gem or entity in the room. Right? What if steven asked to see his mom in the room. Her gem is in there. Couldn’t he talk to her through the room. He was able to render memories and words of Peridot and the town. Would it be to far fetched to think that the room could still connect to the mind of Rose since that was her gem? At the very least, a message left for him via that? It only responded to Rose. Well he IS rose. Sort of. He’s an organic being attached to her gem with his own mind. And that’s her gem. Her mind HAS to still be in there. In her tape she said that every moment he loves being himself, that’s her loving him. Like, if he asked to talk to him self, it would have all of his memories, so to speak. It would essentially be an extension of his mind rather than an empty puppet. Like, he would at the very least be able to ask questions and get some solid answers.

With all of this said. There’s the big question of whether or not it was really rose speaking. And I think that, even through hm the room projection, she made a valid point. That regardless of what has happened, she still exists, she still loves him, and has not stopped loving him. I think that it’s just really beautiful.

The crazier part, I sent rebecca sugar a message, with almost an exact copy/paste of the theory info shown here in the previous paragraphs, to her tumblr on the first of December of 2016. If you reread my theory, it is crazy how close it is to the actual episode plot. Even the mentioning of the tape, it’s all there. And if I could talk to Rebecca Sugar, I would thank her for all the wonderful moments she’s given me. I’m 23, and iv been through a lot. And the show has made me feel in ways I haven’t felt in a long time, as someone who disconnects and disassociates a lot due to previous endeavours. So this show has in a way, helped me tremendously by allowing myself to reconnect with emotions and thoughts that I’ve had buried away for a long time. So for that will say, “WOW THANKS!” As Peridot is my favorite and the one I connect and project onto most with.

[trendingnewsb]

Meditation Can Change Your Life: The Power of Mindfulness

Many of us know that meditation can be beneficial, but did you know that it is actually one of the most convenient ways to make a drastic improvement to your mental health and physical wellness? Practicing mindful meditation is good for more than just peace of mind. It can actually change your life.

Mindful meditation has the potential to radically transform our everyday experiences.

A lot of people would like to make changes to their lives, both big and small. Sometimes, this seems like an impossible feat. With meditation, though, it is very possible.

Imagine making wiser decisions and feeling a deeper sense of peace and happiness. If this were possible, what would it mean for you, your health, your lifestyle, and your relationships?

In this guide you’ll discover a straight forward way to understand mindfulness and meditation, know what practicing these techniques can do for you, and find out who benefits most from adopting mindfulness and meditation practices.

Tap Into the Power of Your Mind to Change Your Life

If you want to understand your mind, sit down and observe it. –Joseph Goldstein

Many times, the idea of mindfulness evokes mystery and thoughts of saffron robed Tibetan monks chanting ‘Om’ — ideas that western culture step lightly around.

Jon Kabat-Zinn was the first to cleanse mindfulness of its Buddhist roots and use it as a tool to help manage stress in a University of Massachusetts Medical School Clinic [1]. Here, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), an 8-week program teaching outpatients how to change their relationship with pain after medicine had done all it could, was born.

Because of the program’s success, hospitals around the world have integrated similar programs. Now sanctioned by the medical profession as a tool to ease suffering, we’re experiencing the trickle-down effect as mindfulness enters main stream.

Mindfulness’ Deeper Impact

While mindfulness is best known as a way to manage stress and pain, it has a deeper impact for anyone aiming to rediscover a lost sense of what it means to know one’s self in a fast-moving world.

Jack Kornfield, mindfulness and meditation teacher and author describes it like this:

“Mindfulness is not a philosophy or a religion. It’s not a destination. Rather, it’s a spirit with which you can travel through life.”

Why Is Mindfulness Such A Big Deal?

“Mindfulness is often spoken of as the heart of Buddhist meditation. It’s not about Buddhism, but about paying attention. That’s what all meditation is, no matter what tradition or particular technique is used.” Jon Kabat-Zinn

If mindfulness is about paying attention, what’s the big deal?

The original term ‘mindfulness’ comes from the Pali word ‘sati’, which means memory [2] but is more correctly described as ‘lucid awareness’. It’s an embodied state that doesn’t let day-to-day experiences or moments drift away unnoticed.

When ‘not noticing’ your mind takes on a life of its own, wandering through old memories, recalling old feelings and ruminating endlessly on ‘what I would have said to … if I had the chance again’. We think without thinking, kidding ourselves we’re focused on what we’re doing.

You may be familiar with this state. I certainly am.

While reading a book, I can find myself halfway through a chapter, having to start again because my eyes mechanically ‘read’ the text, while my mind drifted elsewhere. Or petting the cat absentmindedly while planning the next job only to get a solid nudge from a wet nose to pay more attention to her. Or writing this article between cooking, phone calls and checking in on an unwell relative. I laughed at the irony of writing an article on mindfulness while pushing mindlessly ahead with the multiple to-do lists I was juggling.

Overcome Challenges of Modern-Day Living With Mindfulness

The problem of modern-day living touches us all. With deadlines and time as premium resources, it’s easy to think we can do it all, until our body sends ‘slow down‘ signals. This is where mindfulness can really make an impact. If your body is telling you to slow down, then it may be wise to listen to it.

6 Steps to Train Your Brain

Modern-day living has trained our bodies and minds to be separate entities. It has trained us to ignore body-felt sensations and mindlessly dwell somewhere between the past and future, dismissive of the present moment. It’s as if ‘now’ is something to rush through while getting somewhere else. Mindfulness practice aims to help us pay attention, to reunite body and mind through noticing senses, feeling and experiencing moments more fully. It’s about switching off auto-pilot and sitting upright in the driver’s seat again. It’s about quieting the endless chatter that occupies our minds every moment of every day.

With a simple sequence, the mindfulness process flows like this:

When paying attention be consciously aware of what’s happening around you.

Using all your senses, not just your preferred sense (usually sight or hearing), note what each sense is perceiving.

Be enchanted about the experience, not distracted or dismissive.

Refrain from judging the experience as positive, negative or neutral; instead raise your awareness and conscious presence to any feelings arising in the body.

Notice whether you’re wanting to avoid any emotion arising because it hurts, or clinging to the outcome as if there’s a dearth of resources to go round.

Consider your response with wisdom, accepting ‘what is’ with a sense of gratitude.

Holding Back the Endless Torrent of ‘White Noise’ in Your Mind

Most mindfulness practices begin with paying attention to your breathing, without aiming to change it, instead simply noticing it. It’s a gentle beginning, yet challenging to maintain. Noticing your breath as it moves in, through your body and out again is the beginning of sensory awareness. As you begin, you may notice very little from a sensory level; you may even feel nothing. Alternatively, you may experience emotions you’ve not allowed yourself to feel previously.

Noticing what you’re noticing is the first step.

You may also notice how easily your mind gets distracted by an endless torrent of white noise. Again, it’s about noticing what you’re noticing without judgement. Simply notice the thoughts and let them go.

If thoughts return, notice that you’re noticing them, and let them go again. Be gentle with yourself. Being curious about what you’re noticing while returning to your breath is a strong beginning.

You can be mindful where you are right now. Noticing. Paying attention. Being aware of your body’s senses – tight shoulders, pressure of your sitting bones on a chair, clothing touching skin, any scents or smells, the quality of the light, soft sounds barely audible. This is an informal way of being mindful as you go about your day.

Mindfulness meditation, on the other hand, is a formal way of setting aside a specific time to focus. It’s about setting an intention and a focus for a set period of time.

Meditation offers the space to move away from the automaticity of thoughts that are often negative and self-defeating. It’s a space to release the process of worry, doubt, fear and anger.

Meditation offers tools to relax those automatic thoughts. It helps break the illusion of ‘self’ – our ego and sense of identity to which we cling, unaware of a higher level of consciousness available to us if we let go, release attachment and allow a sense of possibility enter.

The meditation practice may involve music, prayerful thought or loving kindness to build greater empathy. You may find a guided meditation useful to support you as your mind strengthens its ability to focus without distracting thoughts entering.

What’s The Evidence Mindfulness Works?

Mindfulness and meditation are forms of mental training that involve exercising the mind to hold a space, a thought or an idea spatially. When practiced regularly over time, researchers see significant changes to different parts of a person’s brain structure via brain scans (functional magnetic resonance imaging – fMRI scans).

For example, a mindfulness-based training program aimed at reducing stress will include training to assist focus, organization and planning (thickening areas associated with tasks governed by the brain’s prefrontal cortex). Training to help with emotional regulation (strengthening the amygdala, which is part of the limbic system) and memory (thickening the hippocampus) also assist.

Regular mindfulness-based exercise can be as beneficial as stretching physical muscles for greater flexibility, lifting weights to tone arms, and walking briskly to improve heart health.

The main difference is that you can’t see the benefits of mindfulness (unless you have a pre- and post-mindfulness training fMRI scan), but you can experience the difference.

Who Benefits Most From Practicing Mindfulness and Meditation?

While mindful meditation can enhance most people’s lives, three broad-based groups may gain specific benefits.

1. You’re Experiencing Major Stress and Physical Pain

If you’re looking to change your life because of health problems, then mindfulness and meditation may assist. [3]

Many health-related problems originally stem from stress and anxiety.

Initially showing up as unexplained aches and pain, persistent headaches, muscle tension, decreased interest in sex, stomach upsets, debilitating tiredness or insomnia, many struggle to believe that ‘simple stress ’ can be the culprit. [4]

If stress is left to fester, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and diabetes can result.

Chronic stress places your amygdala (the part of your limbic system designed to react to danger) on red alert. Your body is literally fighting a crisis: chronic stress, amplifying physical symptoms until the stress is relieved.

The key here is in changing your relationship with what’s causing the problem. Instead of rejecting the problem or denying its existence, mindfulness and meditation offer ways to ease or minimise the sensations associated with pain and stress.

2. You Crave Greater Personal Freedom, Happiness and Fulfillment

Mindfulness and meditation help us understand what contributes to suffering and contentment. When we see this, we can make wiser choices. And as we make wiser choices we become happier. And as we become happier, we make wiser choices, and so it becomes a spiral achieving greater fulfillment and ease. –Joseph Goldstein

Observing the character of your mind at work helps begin a mindful transformation to live with greater wisdom through making better decisions, which in turn brings greater happiness.

Each of us have skillful and unskillful thoughts. Meditation helps us see, without the need for someone telling us, the thoughts that are wise and helpful and the thoughts that are not.

Noticing feelings of greed, anger or jealousy – the afflict-ive emotions, helps us see how much better we’d be if we let go of them. If we can recognize mindfully the thought patterns and emotions that allow us to feel happier, like generosity, kindness and compassion, we will experience for ourselves the nature of what we want more of.

Practicing meditation aims to help you create a transformation in your life. Instead of being ‘lost’ in thought and acting-out old patterns of behavior, by observing what’s happening in your mind you can make a conscious choice to skillfully think and wisely act.

3. You Need to Release Anxiety and Unhelpful Emotions

Interrupting thought patterns which induce a range of uncomfortable feelings is a skill mindfulness meditation teaches. Rather than numbing the feelings with food, alcohol, drugs, sex or a range of avoidance strategies, you’ll learn how to change your relationship with emotional pain.

Knowing how to be mindfully aware lets you experience emotions as transitory. Anger fades. Sadness lifts. Love ebbs and flows.

These shifts naturally occur. Knowing this transitory nature exists helps release attachment to a way of being that may seem as if it defines you.

Mindfulness Meditation for True Happiness

Mindfulness and meditation practice are thousands of years old. Originally part of Buddhist culture, these practices are settling well into western culture through programs that have gained positive results from respected practitioners and professionals.

Research will continue measuring results. Brain scans offer physical proof. Yet the only proof that matters is in changes experienced by individuals.

Experiencing a greater sense of peace, feeling happier and freer, being more relaxed or managing pain are positive affects of practicing mindfulness.

The benefits of being mindful and practicing meditation offer ways to become more aware of yourself, others and the natural environment.

It’s a global change on a personal level achieved through the demystifying of a complex language now made readily available. When you manage your emotions and responses, this grass root change reaches beyond personal benefit. You will be affecting others to live and love with purpose and intention.

Start today practicing mindfulness, and make your world (and the world of others) a happier, more peaceful place

Featured photo credit: Photo by Kevin Laminto on Unsplash via unsplash.com

Reference

[1]^Umass Medical School: Jon Kabat-Zinn[2]^Taylor and Francis: What Does Mindfulness Really Mean?[3]^Good Therapy: Mindfulness Based Interventions[4]^Mayo Clinic: Stress Symptoms–Effects on Body and Behavior

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from Viral News HQ https://ift.tt/2qxxfhp via Viral News HQ

[jakehglover]

Can the Conventional Medical Profession Be Trusted?

By Dr. Mercola

According to a recent article in The New York Times, growing distrust in the medical profession poses a threat to public health and safety.1 “Trust is crucial in the relationship between patients and health care providers, but it's been on the decline in recent decades,” Dr. Dhruv Khullar, a physician at New York Presbyterian Hospital and a researcher at Weill Cornell Department of Healthcare Policy and Research writes, noting that:

“Mistrust in the medical profession — particularly during emergencies like epidemics — can have deadly consequences. In 1966, more than three-fourths of Americans had great confidence in medical leaders; today, only 34 percent do.

Compared with people in other developed countries, Americans are considerably less likely to trust doctors, and only a quarter express confidence in the health system. During some recent disease outbreaks, less than one-third of Americans said they trusted public health officials to share complete and accurate information. Only 14 percent trust the federal government to do what’s right most of the time.”

Trust Requires Trustworthiness

Trust in the conventional medical paradigm has declined for a good reason. As noted by Khullar, “Waning trust in the health system is partly a result of the sometimes well-founded public perception that its key players pursue profits at the expense of patients.” Indeed, how is anyone expected to trust a system as riddled with corporate profit bias as what we currently have?

Doctors, while well-intentioned, have by and large become untrustworthy for the simple fact that they stopped thinking for themselves and fell into a corporate for-profit scheme that depends on chronic illness. Few are those who buck the system, do their own research rather than getting their information from pharmaceutical reps, and focus on patient education about preventive strategies that don’t involve costly drugs or surgical interventions.

A healthy whole food diet, exercise, proper breathing and movement, sensible sun exposure and grounding — these are all simple foundational aspects of good health that cost very little or nothing. Yet they’re rarely if ever considered when it comes time to address illness. The article also rightfully notes that transparency is a key feature that inspires trust, and honest transparency has become increasingly difficult to come by.

As just one example, the list of medical professionals, nutritional professionals and academics who pose as independent experts sharing their well-educated stances with the public — when in fact they are paid shills for one corporation or another — has grown longer with each passing year. Hiding conflicts of interest has become the norm, it seems, and honest disclosure of possible conflicts of interest is a cornerstone of the kind of transparency needed to build trust.

Following are a few blaring examples showcasing why distrust in the medical system is actually warranted, and could be viewed as a sign of sanity prevailing over orchestrated attempts to undermine public health and well-being.

CDC and Coca-Cola — Still ‘Partners in Health’

In 2015, it was revealed that a Coca-Cola front group called the Global Energy Balance Network (GEBN) was founded to cast doubts on claims that soda consumption is a major if not primary cause of obesity, Type 2 diabetes and related health problems. The network, funded with millions from Coca-Cola that were never publicly disclosed, pushed the already debunked theory that to maintain a healthy weight, all you need is more exercise.  

After that public relations nightmare, Coca-Cola vowed to be more transparent about its funding of scientists and health partnerships, but as noted in a recent report by Russ Greene,2 the company has not changed its ways.

While Coca-Cola claims to publish “all relevant funding of well-being related research, partnerships and health professionals and scientific experts” every six months, when comparing the company’s data with annual reports from the U.S. Centers for Disease Prevention (CDC) and the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), Greene discovered major discrepancies.

As it turns out, Coca-Cola failed to report some of its largest payments to the CDC. “Coca-Cola donated to the [CDC’s] Foundation in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017, according to the Foundation’s annual fiscal reports. And yet a search for ‘Centers for Disease Control’ in Coca-Cola’s website yields no results since 2012,” Greene writes.

He also notes that these payments seem to be at odds with statements made by former CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden, who last year stated he’d been “winding down Coke-funded programs” during his tenure, and had “basically canceled” the CDC’s Coca-Cola run anti-obesity campaign, saying he couldn’t justify having “Coca-Cola run an obesity campaign that had an exclusive focus on physical activity.”

Conflict of Interest Policy Forbids CDC Foundation From Partnering With Soda Giant

Frieden also claimed he’d encouraged the company to provide nonexercise-related donations, but that nothing had come of it, with the exception of a $20,000 donation for a program linked to fighting the Ebola virus. “Frieden’s claims … are not consistent with the fact that Coca-Cola donated to the CDC Foundation during every single year of his tenure except 2014,” Greene writes, “And Coca-Cola’s ‘transparency’ archive is hiding at least four separate payments to the CDC Foundation. So, both parties are acting as if they’re ashamed of their partnership. And yet it persists.”

Perhaps most importantly, the CDC Foundation’s acceptance of funding from Coca-Cola is at odds with its own conflict of interest policy, which does not permit “Partnership with an organization that represents any product that exacerbates morbidity or mortality when used as directed (mission compatibility).” Anyone who has read even a fraction of the research on sugar and sweetened beverages in recent years would agree that Coca-Cola does not qualify as a CDC “mission compatible” health partner.

Coca-Cola Still Hides NIH Payments

Coca-Cola has also neglected to report payments to the FNIH, Greene found. Since the FNIH is a nongovernmental entity, it is not subject to the same policies and regulations as the NIH itself. This, as noted on the FNIH’s website, allows the foundation “to have a unique role” in public and private partnerships. As noted by Greene:3

“The NIH Foundation is essentially a money launderer. It provides corporations that are banned by NIH’s conflict of interest policy from donating directly to NIH with a convenient loophole. For example, Coca-Cola can’t pay the NIH directly, but it can pay the NIH Foundation, which then transfers the money to the NIH … Coca-Cola is listed twice as a donor to the NIH Foundation in 2015. But Coca-Cola’s archives do not list an NIH Foundation payment that year …

[A]t this point, is there any reason to believe that we’ve been allowed to see the full extent of the Coca-Cola partnerships with CDC and NIH? Consider that we have corrected Coca-Cola’s archives multiple times in the past, and they updated their records shortly thereafter.” 

Hospitals Serve Sugar-Laden Processed Foods

Another glaring example of how little attention our medical system affords health is the fact that U.S. hospitals and senior care institutions still insist on serving highly processed, sugary foods and “nutritional shakes” like Ensure and Boost.4,5 Fruit juices are another unhealthy staple. Even diabetics are served ample amounts of bread and other refined carbs that will ensure they’ll never be able to keep their blood sugar under control.6

Sugar, especially high fructose corn syrup, is the very last thing a sick person needs while trying to recuperate and recover, and if there ever was a place where healthy eating should be the norm, it would be in our hospitals. Yet hospital meals are chockful of sugars, chemicals and genetically engineered ingredients that do your body no good.

Take Ensure, for example. Of its 36 itemized ingredients, the first six are corn syrup, corn maltodextrin, sugar (sucrose), corn oil, sodium and calcium caseinates, soy protein isolate and artificial flavor.

This horrendous concoction is typically given as complete meal replacements to people who cannot chew or swallow and need to use a feeding tube. At present, there appears to be just one organic, whole food-based feeding tube formula on the market. It’s called Liquid Hope,7 and was created by Robin Gentry McGee, a health and lifestyle coach and chef, whose father suffered a brain injury that left him in a coma in 2005. Refusing to feed him what she calls “garbage,” she eventually created her own formula.

“I basically created it because I had to. I was trying to save my dad’s life, and to me giving him the high fructose corn syrup sugar water was not an option,” she explained back in 2013.8 Her formula contains over 20 organic whole food ingredients. “Within six weeks the healing was [so] profound that his M.D. called me up and told me it was a miracle,” McGee told a reporter. “But it wasn’t a miracle, it was nutrition.” 

Science-Based Medicine Requires Patients to Take Control of Their Health

John Ioannidis is one of the world's foremost experts on the credibility of medical research. He and his team have repeatedly shown that many of the conclusions biomedical researchers arrive at in their published studies are exaggerated or flat-out wrong. Yet this is the “science-based evidence” doctors use to prescribe drugs or recommend surgery. According to Ioannidis’ findings, as much as 90 percent of the published medical information relied on by doctors is flawed or incorrect.9

He’s not the only one who has reached this conclusion. In fact, the idea that conventional medical treatments are “scientifically proven” and based on solid science is quite the misnomer. According to 2007 data from the British Medical Journal’s “Clinical Evidence” website, of the 2,500 treatments evaluated, only 15 percent were rated as beneficial. A whopping 46 percent had an efficacy rating of “unknown.”10,11

In other words, nearly half of accepted medical treatments used in general practice were not scientifically proven to work or provide benefit for the patient. Granted, that’s a significant improvement over statistics compiled in 1978, when the Office of Technology Assessment concluded only 10 to 20 percent of medical treatments had evidence to support their use.12 Research also shows that many novel medical treatments gain popularity over older standards of care due mostly to clever marketing, not solid science.

An investigation13 by the Mayo Clinic published in 2013 proved this point. To determine the overall effectiveness of medical care, researchers tracked the frequency of medical reversals over the past decade. Not only did they find that reversals are common across all classes of medical practice, but they too confirmed that a significant proportion of medical treatments offer no patient benefit.

The most telling data in the report confirm that many common medical treatments actually do more harm than good. Of the studies that tested an existing standard of care, 40 percent reversed the practice as it was found to be either ineffective or harmful. Only 38 percent of the studies reaffirmed existing standards.

The remaining 22 percent were inconclusive. This means that anywhere between 40 and 78 percent of the medical testing, treatments and procedures you receive are of no benefit to you — or are actually harmful — according to clinical studies.

Scientific Bias and Fraud Are a Growing Problem

In more recent years, the shocking prevalence of scientific bias and outright fraud14 has also garnered attention, as this trend undermines the credibility of the field of science altogether.15 A major weakness is the fact that many studies that fail to find a benefit never see the light of day, and when only positive findings are published, it presents an incredibly skewed view of the facts.

Then there’s the influence of funding, which has repeatedly and consistently been shown to have a dramatic impact on study results. As previously reported in Live Science:16

“One of the most well-known examples of bias involves the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) paroxetine (Paxil), an anti-anxiety medicine. The pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline suppressed results from four trials that not only failed to show treatment effectiveness for off-label use of its SSRI among children and teens, but also showed possible increased risk of suicidal tendencies in this age group.”

Modern Medicine Is the Third Leading Cause of Death

Doctors (not to mention drug companies) may bemoan the lack of trust and faith in their offerings, but you certainly cannot claim that it’s an undeserved trend. In 2000, Dr. Barbara Starfield published a study revealing that doctors are in fact the third leading cause of death in the U.S., killing an estimated 225,000 patients annually.17 Her statistics showed that each year:

12,000 die from unnecessary surgery

7,000 die from medication errors in hospitals

20,000 die from other errors in hospitals

80,000 die from hospital-acquired infections

106,000 die from the negative side effects of drugs taken as prescribed

Unfortunately, few believed it, and no affirmative action was ever taken to address and correct the situation. So, when new data was published in 2016, showing the situation has only gotten worse, I for one was not surprised. The study,18 published in the BMJ, concluded that medical errors now kill an estimated 250,000 Americans each year — an increase of about 25,000 people annually from Starfield’s estimates — and these numbers may still be vastly underestimated as deaths occurring at home or in nursing homes were not included.

Many media outlets, including The Washington Post,19 bore headlines saying medical errors are “now” the leading cause of death, but the truth is, modern medicine has been the third leading cause of death for at least two decades, that we know of. Research20 published in 2013 estimated that preventable hospital errors kill 210,000 Americans each year — a figure that is very close to the latest statistics.

However, when deaths related to diagnostic errors, errors of omission and failure to follow guidelines were included, the number skyrocketed to 440,000 preventable hospital deaths each year. That’s inching ever closer to the death toll from cancer — the second leading cause of death in the U.S. — which is projected to claim just over 609,000 Americans this year.21

Overtesting, Overtreatment and Hospital-Acquired Infections Also Take a Toll

Overtesting and overtreatment are also part of the problem. Instead of dissuading patients from unnecessary or questionable interventions, the system rewards waste and incentivizes disease over health. According to a 2012 report by the Institute of Medicine, an estimated 30 percent of all medical procedures, tests and medications may in fact be unnecessary,22 at a cost of at least $750 billion a year. To learn which tests and interventions may do more harm than good, browse through the Choosing Wisely website.23

Other grim statistics revealing the hazards of modern medicine include rates of hospital-acquired infections. According to CDC statistics,24,25 1 in 25 patients end up with a hospital-acquired infection, and about 75,000 people die from these infections each year.26 Medicare patients may be at even greater risk. According to the 2011 Health Grades Hospital Quality in America Study,27 1 in 9 Medicare patients developed a hospital-acquired infection.

Take Control of Your Health

Considering everything mentioned so far, is it any wonder that trust in the medical profession has dwindled to about one-third, or that only 1 in 4 Americans trust the health care system as a whole? Bear in mind, the examples included above are just a sampling. I haven’t even touched on the corruption and conflicts of interest involving the food industry at large, or the fact that junk food purveyors fund and provide much of the educational material for our nutrition professionals.

The take-home message is that you cannot be too careful when it comes to medical and nutritional advice. On the whole, our medical establishment has a long way to go before they will regain their old aura as the ultimate authority on health. In the meantime, remember you are ultimately responsible for your own health, and while it’s certainly wise to listen to health professionals you trust, it cannot hurt to get a second or third opinion.

Seeking input and feedback from alternative health professionals can also provide you with alternatives you may never get from a conventional doctor. More often than not, successfully addressing chronic illness will require a holistic approach that may include both conventional and complementary approaches.

from HealthyLife via Jake Glover on Inoreader https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2018/02/06/declined-trust-in-conventional-medical-profession.aspx

[getdoughpro]

fuck the hype about black motivated movements

Since #blacklivesmatter first arrived it held the illusion of a solution with some substance but all I’ve seen are talk and talk and more talk about the same bullshit as the news. Where how why and logical proof for you to call or speak on something you believe is factual is more than enough to off of until you can see or receive something with more confirmation. Talking about exactly that alone but not moving or even discussing how to actually progress then the probability and even logistically thinking something’s going wrong af and in this aspect it’s the message. Blacklives filled a gap but Black life for me has been almost the same since before and after someone made a hash tag for people who only register and feel themselves as black seems contradicting and took the use of just one descriptive word to segregate and also eliminating the support and more important THE RECOGNITION of pain and every type of oppression to each and every one of our minority’s which makes all of us angry. The majority within the country replicates the same basic human emotions. Sympathy and fear is the global mask on all of our people for us even be wasting the same time we’re FORCED to exhaust vast amounts in order for special looking thing called money which in actuality is more or less a voucher with no worth since Pres. Hoover stole our countrie’s gold and somehow turned it into an account where credits accumulate for paying additional taxes making any type of security almost completely non-accessible when we also have to pay the taxes for the illusion of the largest corporate marketing scheme entitled Freedom instead of ensuring it by using basic skills and motivation to make our people acknowledged as they’re rightful name in our country to the nation. American shouldn’t have classes if the plan was to come to a new land and strive. are immigrants decedents more informed of important things that help the majority such as that taxes are only in place for on reason that ended years ago. In order to perform like the advertising that our country implies we as Americans the same ones of us that rather hit the re blog button with a unruly amount of hope need to change. If you believe what happens in America won’t pertain to you just go away to you thats it then it doesn’t pertain to you. For those who are willing to do anything at all the most important thing for US TO UNIFY AS A COUNTRY IS CLARITY OF WHAT WE ALWAYS WANTED. BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS OF BIRTH AND CITIZENSHIP AS WELL AS EQUALITY FOR ALL THE PRESENT IS WHERE WE START TO INFLUENCE CHANCE THE PAST SHOWS THE PAST METHODS OR TRAGEDIES WE HAVE TO REALLY USE THOSE THINGS TO ENSURE AS A COUNTRY WE FORCE THE SYSTEMIC HATE BY UNDERSTANDING WHY AND EXACTLY HOW WE FEEL HOW WE FEEL. Since Obama departed the house it took about a week to see a solid line of digression within the financial budget and works within the house. Red and blue represents Democrats and Republican yet the white stands alone separating or in the case of street warfare politics Regarding blue for crips and red for bloods with the same color of white in between in this case is iconic segregating. I’m personally tired of feeling the weight of inhumane things we could actually prevent instead of allowing the country to benefit without the awareness of our people. The integrity and honor is at the least questionable a ultimately contradicts any way these funds may possibly ever be beneficial without existence therefore are being distributed to possible enigmas. So we can either continually act out of anger move ignorantly while also waiting and letting the courts further produce false hope thus preventing or at the very least preventing wasting one of live’s most important commodities being time which has a 2nd meaning of a man made system of measurement. That should be used as a valuable outlet for anyone to build their ideas/instincts/decisions which is not only your god given right but also your constitutional to use with a peace of mind freely. How is there freedom and equal rights within a house that keep a law that convicts entities based of off speech. I know that if we the source of any pain/loss of self identity came incomes from comes from then at the very least we could start the using this topic for discussion. We have an infinite amount of evidences of even at the simplest level and absolutely need to speak accurately in order to understand the segregated speech and levels of manipulation around us on a daily to even the depths of even sick subliminal social level. Show INDIVIDUALS within the government that just because you’re the government doesn’t all you to rule anyway that works today and say anything later. Our nation’s global actions alone now leave a stain that smears fear from our local streets {aka hoods and I’m no scientist but my brain works fine where logically in my opinion sounds like a derogatory term but used as raw attempts to survive by moving as the oppressor) embedded into our actual/literal, naturally beautiful regions around the planet. Let’s walk in the opposite direction off the footsteps of people like Elvis and countless others. We don’t have to steal, recycle or renew ideas. Pitch anything you personally believe is worth pointing out. When you realize you’re capable of forming an unbiased idea/opinion that’s real then anyone’s who’s about it will recognize real. Through observation no one except for few can even understand that Human connection is something no one actually publicly anyone says you can feel from my hypothesis and observations of 19 years, scientific, psychological and unbiased logical evidence to what’s we know as energy. The energy + body language from a person you get or lack to get is vital information for your lucid continence to just be more aware. Try to manifest it by learning how to connect with it’ll eventually expose you to the projection and in depth understanding the pro’s and con’s of a specific human and for your own personal experience try to acknowledge your actions because as humans and our human and through learning through my personal life experiences questioning everything and making sure answers have proof for absolute accuracy with the skill of finesse can open any door if not open new ones. An example of energy existence imbedded in man made items from 1 American made tool are English words and have multiple meanings where as are grammatically appropriate in a commonplace but no where near the same when used against the court of law in your own home country and sentenced to judging where the goal are lifers you’re now apparently viewed guilty and deemed guilty even by the honest mistake of misusing descriptive words well now you’re under duress and can’t even understand that’s your way out until you’re checked in. An example of the power of pure energy possesses has shown through kids who are loosely using words as weapons for cyber/mental bullying that the overlooked/forgotten tools to maneuver more morally aware properly in situations ideas and self preservation recognize your own unique aspects like your first piece of government documented image since birth. Identification signature

[boomtanknotboombox]

Mending the Bridge

Blaster: -pokes at-

Harbringer: -Looks over and grins- Yes?

Blaster: -pokes again- You're on my desk.

Harbringer: I know. I like it here.

Blaster: Seriously. You're on my work too.

Harbringer: I know. -Not moving- You tell anyone about what we spoke of?

Blaster: Tell them of what again?

Harbringer: -Squints behind his visor- About the thoughts of you being a carrier. Once a decision has been made.

Blaster: Oh!....oh. I knew I forgot to tell them something...

Harbringer: Not quite their concern until a decision is made... What did you tell them?

Blaster: ...I don't remember?

Harbringer: What's the last thing you remember?

Blaster: Red Alert yelling about 'chaos entities' and demanding I get checked by either Ratchet or Sunstreaker.

Harbringer: And did you?

Blaster: Well, Sunstreaker came by, so yes? He was as confused as me though, but whatever you said to Red Alert did not sit well with him.

Harbringer: Well there was pretty much everything he didn't like. I might of admitted and let him figure out what I am. With a mention about 'fixing' your spark. So that might be the cause for your check up.

Blaster: -scowls at- Is that why he also insisted on being outside the door? Because you've gone and made an already jumpy reflex several times worse?

Harbringer: . . . accidentally so, if you'd believe me.

Blaster: ........-covers face and sighs- whhhhhy

Harbringer: -Moves over, datapads simply floating about him rather than being shoved to the floor, so he could pull Blaster's servo down- I wanted to talk to him.

Blaster: -huffs, but doesn't fight- Now he's gonna be several times worse than before, you know

Harbringer: Least he cares about you. In a different way than I do.

Blaster: I know...he does. But...I don't think you should talk to him for a bit. Just to avoid more...uh...reactions like that

Harbringer: This isn't going to be something he's likely to forget. You on the other hand... how could you just forget that detail?

Blaster: I didn't forget, I just forgot I didn't tell them...a lot of things come to think of it.

Harbringer: When did you start forgetting things this badly? Can you remember that?

Blaster: ...uh...When I hit the multiverse? I think it's just been so much to keep track of...that I kinda drop things

Harbringer: That would do it. -Shakes his helm- And I only learn of this now?

Blaster: Well, it didn't seem important?

Harbringer: -Sigh-

Blaster: ...what?

Harbringer: This is something important I should of been made aware of..

Blaster: Oh. Sorry. I didn't think it was...

Harbringer: -Rubs below his visor- If you forget small things, you'll forget big things, you could forget mechs if this got bad.

Blaster: -puffs- It's just balancing things, that's all. I'm fine, I swear

Harbringer: -Shakes his helm-

Blaster: You don't believe me?

Harbringer: Not entirely. I can't see what you may forget and remember. It doesn't help that fixing these 'broken' areas are quite troublesome.

Blaster:...sorry...

Harbringer: -Sighs and shakes his helm-

Blaster:...sooo....

Harbringer: -Looks back up- You'd have many mechs trying for my helm if they learned of this… -Moves off the table. Motions for the other datapads to settle- I need to talk to someone. Focus on some work for now. I'll be back.

Blaster:...huh? What do you mean? -watches and tilts helm- Okay? Bye now?

Harbringer: I'll tell you when I get back. And tell Red Alert once I'm gone that his teleport protection needs work. -Casually vanishes and reappears near the med bay. Outside at least before he made his way on in- Sunstreaker, where are you?

Blaster: He's gonna flip out again! -just as Harbringer vanishes-

Sunstreaker: -has no idea who it is, so waves a servo from around a curtain separating the medi-berths-

Harbringer: -Walks over and peers around the curtain- What, or rather who, are you working on?

Sunstreaker: -finally glances up from cleaning to see who's in the room-

-And is on the other side of the berth almost instantly. Just about hissing at the avatar- Out!

Harbringer: -That was actually impressive. Blinks to register the speed the medic possessed- Nope. We need to talk. And don't call that murderous twin or yours or Red Alert. I don't need them trying to "forcibly" remove me.

Sunstreaker: I said ' Out! ' I mean Get! Out! I do not want to talk to you! -is actually hissing at him now, like a cornered cat-

Harbringer: -That would of been adorable any other time. It was almost there- It's about Blaster.

Sunstreaker: What did you do?! -hello watch him jump to conclusions as he backs up and snarls-

Harbringer: -And adorableness gone. Optics narrowed as he growled- I did nothing to him. Blaster just told me he's been having memory problems and no one bothered to let me have this piece of information.

Sunstreaker: -wasn't trying to be adorable- He is having memory problems because his mental state is still fractured. And you were not told because you neither asked nor made it apparent that you had suddenly become his caretaker.

Harbringer: -Scowls- I've been helping him deal with his nightmares. Knowing he was having more problems than just those would of been vital to know before I started.

Sunstreaker: -frowns- Fine. You have a point there. But, my point still stands. How were any of us supposed to know you needed to know, when we were told nothing?

Harbringer: -Snorts and rubs below his optics- It did not occur to me, as Blaster neglected to mention this, nor did Sideswipe even offhandedly mention this, to ask. It was not a priority. Nor did he show signs of this beyond what I could pin on his nightmares as plausible cause.

Sunstreaker: -huffs- Well, now you know. Happy?

Harbringer: Why the frag would I be happy to learn he has memory problems?

Sunstreaker: -scrubs face- Never mind.

Harbringer: -The "sarcasm" was lost on him this time around- Tch... You see the dilemma I'm in. I don't know whether or not this will lead to... issues down the line.

Sunstreaker: You speak for all of us, then. Blaster is not 'whole' in any sense of the word. He has been broken and put back together multiple times, some sloppier than others. Memory problems may be the lesser of the problems, or they may just be the worst ones. Or even passing. Normally a Carrier does not survive long after trauma like that....and Blaster would not have either. This is territory neither Ratchet nor I have been in. In all scenarios Blaster should have very well been offline by now. The shock from lost bonds to sever depression, or just general brain-death from being unable to cope, one or all three should have done him in.

Harbringer: . . . what loss?

Sunstreaker: ...He is a carrier frame. Symbiotes. Each relationship is different, but they all tend to form shallow working bonds. Some, like Blaster, form closer family bonds with theirs. He formed six of those. And in less than a joor he lost all six to the detonation of his base. Along with the mech whom he was preparing to call his conjunx endura. Did he not tell you any of this?

Harbringer: -For once, for the first time in a very long time, he was quiet. There was no response from him. Not even a movement was made as he processed this. So... no, Blaster never told him. Neither here nor in the prior universe had he been made aware of this fact. One more obvious than the other to him-

Sunstreaker: -Stares at for a moment. Did he break the mech? He hasn't moved....oh Primus he did. That meant...- Scrap. He never did.

Harbringer: -Eventually he came back around and covered his face. For a brief moment Sunstreaker would of caught wind of what sounded like a sob before it was cut off and he spoke as if nothing happened- Why would he bother mentioning this... Sideswipe certainly never did... Red Alert neglected t-

-Lowers his servo- Red Alert. This is what he meant... Picking up the pieces if I had left.

Sunstreaker: -That noise concerned him. Despite how quickly it was cut off. And he really had no idea what to do with this situation anymore-...Sideswipe would not bring something like this up. And Red Alert...he knew what happened, but not the consequences. I do not mean to sound cold, but what you did threw all of us into uncharted territory, medically speaking. We have no idea what to expect from Blaster's condition anymore.

Harbringer: What I did was merely repair the physical damage caused so he wouldn't perish. I worked with him on the nightmares. -Scowls once more- I never touched anything in his helm while I've been with him.Hnn... Can I still trust you with her...

Sunstreaker: I know that. But the physical damage should have killed him, end of story. But because of you, it did not. Because of you he has lived where he should have died. This is akin to myself outliving Sideswipe. Almost...the point is that no one would know what to do, because it has not happened before and I would be the first case.-Huffs- And thank you for that. But that is not what I meant about his mental state. And 'her' who?

Harbringer: -Growls. More or less at himself. Is he just destined to get so close to something only to have it ripped out from beneath him? To have power and be unable to stop it? Turns his helm to stare at Sunstreaker for a solid minute without speaking. When he does, his voice is softer than before- The one who once called me "Feathers."

Sunstreaker: -stares at again, curious as to why Harbringer is growling. And having said Avatar stare back wasn't helping, and he almost jumped when he was spoken to-...I take it, you cared for whoever she was. And she has something to do with Blaster. -sighs- His mental state is still fractured, but it is improving from when I first talked to him. I am sure some of that is your doing, and it does stand a decent chance that it will continue to do so. Bar any further trauma.

Harbringer: Let me put it this way... I would rip the very fabric of reality apart to get her back. And in a way... I've done so. There are few mechs in my long life I've cared for. Fewer still whose deaths I mourn. She managed to find the spot in my spark I didn't think existed. This knowledge about Blaster complicates things... I will not lose her again... -Growls- I will not lose Blaster.

Sunstreaker: -hums thoughtfully- I can see that. She left an imprint on you. And...if you continue to help him, you will not lose either. I am not going to tell you what to do, but right now...he needs someone there for him. And neither myself or my twin can be there. If you are working through his nightmares, then .....Then you should have already known this? His nightmares are not about the destruction of his base?

Harbringer: No. Never about this loss. Something worse has plagued him than that. What that is, is not for me to tell. Even I believe this would do more harm than good. I'm not risking him losing the mechs he considers his friends to reveal his past.

Sunstreaker:...very well. I will not ask further. But I will talk to Red Alert and Sideswipe about being a bit more...lenient with your presence. If you are as serious about this as you sound.

Harbringer: Five.

Sunstreaker: Five?

Harbringer: How many attempts have been made on Blaster's life. There are a surprising amount who do not wish him to be the leader of anything. How many has Red Alert noticed? Has he told you?

Sunstreaker: Ah. He has said something about 'disappearing intruders' and possible glitches in his system. Those were you, correct?

Harbringer: -Nods-

Sunstreaker: Ah. Then I will speak to them, the next chance I get...and thank you for what you have done.

Harbringer: You should tell him to listen instead of shriek and pass out when I give him advice then. -Turns to leave and then pauses. Glances over his shoulder- Tell your sibling to let you look at that gift I left for him. Perhaps you'll respond better than he did. Only time I tried to do something nice and he broke down.

Sunstreaker: -snorts- I will, regardless of how much of a losing battle it will be. I will try, nonetheless. -nods- I will speak with him. And good luck.

[stuckonreblogs]

directly copied to reply to- original post here: http://paula-deens-fuckboy.tumblr.com/post/156424800265/ok-but-how-are-you-going-to-go-around-saying-that ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Source: paula-deens-fuckboy Every decent human being in our race is against pedophilia, there’s no ‘high horse’ or entitlement here, it’s a basic moral line that most of our society possesses. The fact that you and your little pedo-patrol defense system don’t understand that doesn’t make the rest of society stuck up, it makes you all lower than the rest of us morally and intellectually. You’re the odd ones out, and you really don’t seem to understand that judging by how you think me shutting down pedophile culture is some statement of self supremacy. I have no RIGHT to criticize pedophilia culture? Actually, shockingly I know, I do. Everyone has the right of criticism, everyone has the right of reviewing product that is being sold, and most importantly- it isn’t just a right, EVERY adult is RESPONSIBLE for shutting down pedophilia culture in other adults. Not only do I have a legal right to criticize your useless friend but I have a damn good reason to do it. The fact that you think random magic AU’s or whatever are comparable to pedophile culture is another indication that you have absolutely no solid grasp of reality and common sense, as if we needed another. I don’t even know how to address your personal opinion, because you’re.. You’re too self-righteous and morally bankrupt to even argue with. This ‘youre bitter because “Sig” wouldn’t draw you art’ idea is so akin to that junior high ‘You’re just jealous’ argument, both are inaccurate silencing techniques. You’re all so damn entitled and pretentious that you dare think that nobody would speak out against “sig” if it weren’t for jealousy, that is batshit fucked up, this level of narcissism is so high for an average-to-mediocre tumblr artist who doesn’t draw anything interesting. To be honest, I didn’t know who “Sig” was until yesterday, when someone on my dash spontaneously reblogged their pedo shit, so this notion that I’ve got ulterior motives (because how could someone JUST be against pedophilia? That’s so whack) is absolutely narcissistic bullshit that you’re all using in an unsuccessful attempt to discredit my person. But it greatly interests me that you see “sig’s” client base/people who wish to purchase their porn, as inherently small minded and dense, and incapable of average debate. But hey, it’s easier to think someone is ‘just bitter’ than to admit and evaluate that you’re standing up for a pedophilic dipshit who isn’t a special enough artist to deserve this amount of your effort, right? Don’t project, it doesn’t hold up in debate. Not that Anyone Asked for your personal opinion, which is uneducated and unimportant anyways, but absolutely everything to do with it is evidence that you don’t have a single clue what you’re arguing against, your response is literally nothing, none of it makes sense. 1) You use the word hypocritical when it’s not applicable, 2) you pull a junior high argument which you have no evidence or back up for, 3) you try to bring my URL into it when it’s very obviously a blatant joke and isn’t applicable to the argument at hand. (But who could ever know that? How were you to know that someone isn’t actually identifying as a ‘fuckboy’ for a senior citizen from Texas? It’s too believable) 4) There’s nothing redeemable to read, to make those other 3 mistakes look less silly. You haven’t said a single thing that has lead me to believe that you have a merit-able argument to offer me, you haven’t made a single bound in convincing me that your side of the argument makes a lick of sense. All you can do is spout insults without fact because you don’t have any fact that you can actually back up. You have no sense of grammar, no sense of structure, you can’t make a point that could stand in any reasonable debate, and then you have the audacity to tell me I have a small mind. Now that, and please take this in as it is an important lesson for you to learn, that is hypocrisy. Do you understand what hypocrisy means now? Probably not but I digress. Absolutely everything you have said to me is hypothetical trash, you are a laughing stock, you’re an embarrassment to yourself and your friend and you’re making you both look like bigger jokes than ever, maybe you should hand the reigns over to someone with an IQ higher than that of a fetus. From.. Well, everything about you, I’m expecting your next reply to be something nonsensical… again. I know that you don’t have an argument beyond blabbering and whining and cheap cop-outs, or you would have included it in your first reply. I don’t argue with people who don’t have the basic skill to debate, I’m not willing to go in circles with someone who has absolutely nothing valuable to say, so don’t bother replying because I’m blocking you, as well. Maybe next time “Sig” will send someone who isn’t a complete embarrassment. Boy bye ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Okay, prefacing this with the understanding that some people are offended even by fictional/potential pedophilia, and I am not at all addressing everyone's beliefs here- my response to that is click unfollow, blacklist, and know it doesn't offend everyone. These comments are ment solely for this individual since they think a half ass rant at their callousness is the best I can do. As for your bloated ego, let me address the over stated drivel of your reply point by point since apparently the snap response of a pissed off rant struck enough of a nerve that you had to attempt to justify your forcing idiocy on other people. "every decent human being" clearly "decent" and "capable of separating fiction" are not on the same level in your brain here. an *intelligent* human being would be capable of understanding that this character was a work of fiction to begin with and therefore any depiction of them in any other age rage/gender/otherwise alternative form is as valid as the original. If we were discussing a *REAL* personage, your "decent" descriptor might have merit, but as we are not, its an invalid outlook. As that is the case, my original comment of "high horse" is indeed correct. Your attempts at forcing one "valid" view of a fictional peice of work are nothing short of you assuming your view is the only one that has the right to exist and that fiction has no right to do anything except mirror reality. You're not an activist shutting down pedo-culture, you're hiding in the kiddy sandbox of tumblr cutting people you think are safe because they aren't part of the real problem; you twist fiction into unacceptablity because you think you can hide your own emotional and intellectual failings behind big SJW wanna be movements. You have every right to criticize, but criticism and destructive behavior are two totally separate entities. You have a right to criticize ACTUAL pedo-culture, not what you as a individual take offense to and try to smother in a disagreeable outlook for your own justification at destruction. If your the buyer, you have a right to critique, you weren't buying it, so keep your nosy overbearing self the fuck out of it. Adults have a responsibility to protect children, not slink around and project their own destructive judgments on what they find offensive. Your only "legal" right here is to your freedom of speech, you have no legal bearing to decide what is moral or valid on a piece of art that is based on FICTION. If the art was titled after a real kid, and the image was clearly a sexual representative of wanting to have sex with a kid and with the disclaimer "oh they are 18 so its fine" slapped on, you'd have moral ground. It's not, you don't, so how about you reevaluate your grasp on reality vs fiction before you even try to find the gaps in mine. (also just a side note, fuck you for your pathetic attempt at demoralizing a wonderful person by calling them useless just because you take offense at me, come at me of you think that kind of behavior is warrented.) You have no place to address my personal opinion actually, thats the point. It's my opinion. You can dislike it, you can say I'm wrong, but its my right to say it and yours to disagree. I'm hardly self righteous, I'm a bitch and I know it. But you obviously think opposite of what you say if you think I can't be argued with and then go on for 5 more paragraphs. It's definitely junior high, l'll give you that, but considering your the one going "I don't like it so it shouldn't exist wah wah" I feel we have a shared stage there. And it was hardly meant to silence, it was meant to point out that your attacking a very talented person on the basis of "your likes" and the fact that "your an artist too" so there is some comparison of purpose there, sorry you didn't appreciate that. Who is this "all"? this is just me. So clearly I'm not the only who is getting the jealously vibe from your so called "arguments". And you continue to encourage this when you attack someone's skill set and choice of project in direct response to critism of your own failings and jackass opinionated ranting. Whether or not you knew who they were, I'd believe your actually against pedophilia, reasonable and moral people tend to be. You don't really fit either category to a T, but I'll take your candor in trying as a pass there. I, however, never implied their clientele was anything. I said the clients they REJECTED were small minded and dense, specifically YOU are small minded and dense. Other rejections seem to have taken it well enough that I would have to apologize for the vagueness of that statement. Oh, I am certainly not one for taking the easy road, I didn't choose to point out the other failings and things as I am doing now because it wasn't worth the effort. I am standing up against you specifically being destructive to one of the artists who make sure their art and adult content is not easily accessible to minors. And if you continue to make slandering remarks against them, I will point out that your making my point in that your jealous. *I* am the one here calling your bullshit, they have done nothing but create and image you have an issue with. Instead of coming for me, you have to keep tossing in that "they" are useless, "they" are a dipshit, "they" aren't special. Fuck you. You have nothing but disreputable and disgusting things to say, your opinion screams of jealousy. So either you can debate on provable points that tie to your opinion, and keep the badmouthing to myself since I am the one arguing here, or you can keep screaming jealous crybaby and whine more when I continue to call you out on it. No one asked, but it's my response so I can say what I like. Unlike you, I specifically noted it as a personal opinion with no reasonable baring on the argument. Your assumptions are scattered throughout your writing as if they are fact. Camouflage away, I ain't afraid to take responsibility for what I think, don't need to hide it in bullshit. 1) hypocritical, behaving in a way that suggests one has higher standards or more noble beliefs than is the case.- your claims that you have a moral standing of making art without pedophilia makes you better then an artist doing the same thing. Hmm. seems applicable. 2)junior high argument, clearly labeled as personal opinion therefore evidence not required, as just stated. 3) also labeled personal opinion, but its okay to be gross when its a joke in your opinion. Noted and disagreed with. It's juvenile and disgusting so fuck off with trying to justify it. 4) how is this a point of fact? again, separate opinion. I don't have to convince you of jack shit. I made that rant because I was expressing that you have gods awful intention as far as I was concerned and exercising my right to free speech. It was a rant and the fact you responded so aggressively means I hit a nerve, so *now* I am making legitimate claims and points. The fact that you'd choose to believe that was anything more then a venting of disgust with your behavior and assuming that it was all I was capable of is your own failing. These last few paragraphs are repetitive aggressions meant to extend your reply and make it look intelligent. Your making no points except to attack my person, again presented as fact. But to address the one valid comment- no one "sent" me, fucker. I typed this because anon is ridiculous and you can fucking come at me all you like cause I don't give a fuck. You, and anyone who thinks its right to attack over fiction, are WRONG. You are wrong to attack them, you are wrong to be destructive to a fictional community, and you are a jealous piece of shit that needs to stop trying to tear other people down because you can't get the same recognition without being a jackass.

[trendingnewsb]

Meditation Can Change Your Life: The Power of Mindfulness

Many of us know that meditation can be beneficial, but did you know that it is actually one of the most convenient ways to make a drastic improvement to your mental health and physical wellness? Practicing mindful meditation is good for more than just peace of mind. It can actually change your life.

Mindful meditation has the potential to radically transform our everyday experiences.

A lot of people would like to make changes to their lives, both big and small. Sometimes, this seems like an impossible feat. With meditation, though, it is very possible.

Imagine making wiser decisions and feeling a deeper sense of peace and happiness. If this were possible, what would it mean for you, your health, your lifestyle, and your relationships?

In this guide you’ll discover a straight forward way to understand mindfulness and meditation, know what practicing these techniques can do for you, and find out who benefits most from adopting mindfulness and meditation practices.

Tap Into the Power of Your Mind to Change Your Life

If you want to understand your mind, sit down and observe it. –Joseph Goldstein

Many times, the idea of mindfulness evokes mystery and thoughts of saffron robed Tibetan monks chanting ‘Om’ — ideas that western culture step lightly around.

Jon Kabat-Zinn was the first to cleanse mindfulness of its Buddhist roots and use it as a tool to help manage stress in a University of Massachusetts Medical School Clinic [1]. Here, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), an 8-week program teaching outpatients how to change their relationship with pain after medicine had done all it could, was born.

Because of the program’s success, hospitals around the world have integrated similar programs. Now sanctioned by the medical profession as a tool to ease suffering, we’re experiencing the trickle-down effect as mindfulness enters main stream.

Mindfulness’ Deeper Impact

While mindfulness is best known as a way to manage stress and pain, it has a deeper impact for anyone aiming to rediscover a lost sense of what it means to know one’s self in a fast-moving world.

Jack Kornfield, mindfulness and meditation teacher and author describes it like this:

“Mindfulness is not a philosophy or a religion. It’s not a destination. Rather, it’s a spirit with which you can travel through life.”

Why Is Mindfulness Such A Big Deal?

“Mindfulness is often spoken of as the heart of Buddhist meditation. It’s not about Buddhism, but about paying attention. That’s what all meditation is, no matter what tradition or particular technique is used.” Jon Kabat-Zinn

If mindfulness is about paying attention, what’s the big deal?

The original term ‘mindfulness’ comes from the Pali word ‘sati’, which means memory [2] but is more correctly described as ‘lucid awareness’. It’s an embodied state that doesn’t let day-to-day experiences or moments drift away unnoticed.

When ‘not noticing’ your mind takes on a life of its own, wandering through old memories, recalling old feelings and ruminating endlessly on ‘what I would have said to … if I had the chance again’. We think without thinking, kidding ourselves we’re focused on what we’re doing.

You may be familiar with this state. I certainly am.

While reading a book, I can find myself halfway through a chapter, having to start again because my eyes mechanically ‘read’ the text, while my mind drifted elsewhere. Or petting the cat absentmindedly while planning the next job only to get a solid nudge from a wet nose to pay more attention to her. Or writing this article between cooking, phone calls and checking in on an unwell relative. I laughed at the irony of writing an article on mindfulness while pushing mindlessly ahead with the multiple to-do lists I was juggling.

Overcome Challenges of Modern-Day Living With Mindfulness

The problem of modern-day living touches us all. With deadlines and time as premium resources, it’s easy to think we can do it all, until our body sends ‘slow down‘ signals. This is where mindfulness can really make an impact. If your body is telling you to slow down, then it may be wise to listen to it.

6 Steps to Train Your Brain

Modern-day living has trained our bodies and minds to be separate entities. It has trained us to ignore body-felt sensations and mindlessly dwell somewhere between the past and future, dismissive of the present moment. It’s as if ‘now’ is something to rush through while getting somewhere else. Mindfulness practice aims to help us pay attention, to reunite body and mind through noticing senses, feeling and experiencing moments more fully. It’s about switching off auto-pilot and sitting upright in the driver’s seat again. It’s about quieting the endless chatter that occupies our minds every moment of every day.

With a simple sequence, the mindfulness process flows like this:

When paying attention be consciously aware of what’s happening around you.

Using all your senses, not just your preferred sense (usually sight or hearing), note what each sense is perceiving.

Be enchanted about the experience, not distracted or dismissive.

Refrain from judging the experience as positive, negative or neutral; instead raise your awareness and conscious presence to any feelings arising in the body.

Notice whether you’re wanting to avoid any emotion arising because it hurts, or clinging to the outcome as if there’s a dearth of resources to go round.

Consider your response with wisdom, accepting ‘what is’ with a sense of gratitude.

Holding Back the Endless Torrent of ‘White Noise’ in Your Mind

Most mindfulness practices begin with paying attention to your breathing, without aiming to change it, instead simply noticing it. It’s a gentle beginning, yet challenging to maintain. Noticing your breath as it moves in, through your body and out again is the beginning of sensory awareness. As you begin, you may notice very little from a sensory level; you may even feel nothing. Alternatively, you may experience emotions you’ve not allowed yourself to feel previously.

Noticing what you’re noticing is the first step.

You may also notice how easily your mind gets distracted by an endless torrent of white noise. Again, it’s about noticing what you’re noticing without judgement. Simply notice the thoughts and let them go.

If thoughts return, notice that you’re noticing them, and let them go again. Be gentle with yourself. Being curious about what you’re noticing while returning to your breath is a strong beginning.

You can be mindful where you are right now. Noticing. Paying attention. Being aware of your body’s senses – tight shoulders, pressure of your sitting bones on a chair, clothing touching skin, any scents or smells, the quality of the light, soft sounds barely audible. This is an informal way of being mindful as you go about your day.

Mindfulness meditation, on the other hand, is a formal way of setting aside a specific time to focus. It’s about setting an intention and a focus for a set period of time.

Meditation offers the space to move away from the automaticity of thoughts that are often negative and self-defeating. It’s a space to release the process of worry, doubt, fear and anger.

Meditation offers tools to relax those automatic thoughts. It helps break the illusion of ‘self’ – our ego and sense of identity to which we cling, unaware of a higher level of consciousness available to us if we let go, release attachment and allow a sense of possibility enter.

The meditation practice may involve music, prayerful thought or loving kindness to build greater empathy. You may find a guided meditation useful to support you as your mind strengthens its ability to focus without distracting thoughts entering.

What’s The Evidence Mindfulness Works?

Mindfulness and meditation are forms of mental training that involve exercising the mind to hold a space, a thought or an idea spatially. When practiced regularly over time, researchers see significant changes to different parts of a person’s brain structure via brain scans (functional magnetic resonance imaging – fMRI scans).

For example, a mindfulness-based training program aimed at reducing stress will include training to assist focus, organization and planning (thickening areas associated with tasks governed by the brain’s prefrontal cortex). Training to help with emotional regulation (strengthening the amygdala, which is part of the limbic system) and memory (thickening the hippocampus) also assist.

Regular mindfulness-based exercise can be as beneficial as stretching physical muscles for greater flexibility, lifting weights to tone arms, and walking briskly to improve heart health.

The main difference is that you can’t see the benefits of mindfulness (unless you have a pre- and post-mindfulness training fMRI scan), but you can experience the difference.

Who Benefits Most From Practicing Mindfulness and Meditation?

While mindful meditation can enhance most people’s lives, three broad-based groups may gain specific benefits.

1. You’re Experiencing Major Stress and Physical Pain

If you’re looking to change your life because of health problems, then mindfulness and meditation may assist. [3]

Many health-related problems originally stem from stress and anxiety.

Initially showing up as unexplained aches and pain, persistent headaches, muscle tension, decreased interest in sex, stomach upsets, debilitating tiredness or insomnia, many struggle to believe that ‘simple stress ’ can be the culprit. [4]

If stress is left to fester, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and diabetes can result.

Chronic stress places your amygdala (the part of your limbic system designed to react to danger) on red alert. Your body is literally fighting a crisis: chronic stress, amplifying physical symptoms until the stress is relieved.

The key here is in changing your relationship with what’s causing the problem. Instead of rejecting the problem or denying its existence, mindfulness and meditation offer ways to ease or minimise the sensations associated with pain and stress.

2. You Crave Greater Personal Freedom, Happiness and Fulfillment

Mindfulness and meditation help us understand what contributes to suffering and contentment. When we see this, we can make wiser choices. And as we make wiser choices we become happier. And as we become happier, we make wiser choices, and so it becomes a spiral achieving greater fulfillment and ease. –Joseph Goldstein

Observing the character of your mind at work helps begin a mindful transformation to live with greater wisdom through making better decisions, which in turn brings greater happiness.

Each of us have skillful and unskillful thoughts. Meditation helps us see, without the need for someone telling us, the thoughts that are wise and helpful and the thoughts that are not.

Noticing feelings of greed, anger or jealousy – the afflict-ive emotions, helps us see how much better we’d be if we let go of them. If we can recognize mindfully the thought patterns and emotions that allow us to feel happier, like generosity, kindness and compassion, we will experience for ourselves the nature of what we want more of.

Practicing meditation aims to help you create a transformation in your life. Instead of being ‘lost’ in thought and acting-out old patterns of behavior, by observing what’s happening in your mind you can make a conscious choice to skillfully think and wisely act.

3. You Need to Release Anxiety and Unhelpful Emotions

Interrupting thought patterns which induce a range of uncomfortable feelings is a skill mindfulness meditation teaches. Rather than numbing the feelings with food, alcohol, drugs, sex or a range of avoidance strategies, you’ll learn how to change your relationship with emotional pain.

Knowing how to be mindfully aware lets you experience emotions as transitory. Anger fades. Sadness lifts. Love ebbs and flows.

These shifts naturally occur. Knowing this transitory nature exists helps release attachment to a way of being that may seem as if it defines you.

Mindfulness Meditation for True Happiness

Mindfulness and meditation practice are thousands of years old. Originally part of Buddhist culture, these practices are settling well into western culture through programs that have gained positive results from respected practitioners and professionals.

Research will continue measuring results. Brain scans offer physical proof. Yet the only proof that matters is in changes experienced by individuals.

Experiencing a greater sense of peace, feeling happier and freer, being more relaxed or managing pain are positive affects of practicing mindfulness.

The benefits of being mindful and practicing meditation offer ways to become more aware of yourself, others and the natural environment.

It’s a global change on a personal level achieved through the demystifying of a complex language now made readily available. When you manage your emotions and responses, this grass root change reaches beyond personal benefit. You will be affecting others to live and love with purpose and intention.

Start today practicing mindfulness, and make your world (and the world of others) a happier, more peaceful place

Featured photo credit: Photo by Kevin Laminto on Unsplash via unsplash.com

Reference

[1]^Umass Medical School: Jon Kabat-Zinn[2]^Taylor and Francis: What Does Mindfulness Really Mean?[3]^Good Therapy: Mindfulness Based Interventions[4]^Mayo Clinic: Stress Symptoms–Effects on Body and Behavior

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