My experiences, thoughts and their expression: mi vida

The book by Rosalind D. Cartwright, The Twenty-Four Hour Mind , " The Role of Sleep and Dreaming in Our Emotional Lives ", has fallen into my hands and has been a joy to read, as the author's clear narrative expresses deep and long-term research on the subject, delivering truths and phenomenons familiar to our lives and hugely critical to our physical, emotional, mental - even spiritual - health. In reading the present chapter, I was reminded of how I, we, as parents, used denial in tending to our children's fears in sleep. How - maybe - they were made to feel insecure by our " See, there is nothing there! " - comes heavily and guiltily to mind. Today, some of that was healed from my " conscience ", and some of it was made " guilty " again. Page 129 in the chapter " Warnings from the Land of Nod " talks about "...a clear principle that comes out of this work is that the effects of trauma on sleep and dreaming depend on ...

The thought by Mark Nepo for April 19th. " Outwaiting Clouds " includes a neat concept that usually is not thought of, and that is thinking and deciding when under duress - emotional, physical, emotive, spiritual.  Nepo writes: "... If we could only suspend our judgement when clouded in the heart. For many skepticisms are born from conclusions drawn while unable to see, as if any kind of understanding will prevent the clouds from coming or going, again and again ." How many decisions have I made under that un-comfortableness and uncertainty fog of fear, pain, or shame, or guilt, for example. And typically those decisions bring even worse consequences, at best. And in hope, the author continues with...: " But no cloud lasts forever. The earth and all that grows from it knows this well. So does the heart and everything that grows from it, in spite of all our very understandable pains. " There in comes the waiting. The 'faith'. The restraint....

I came across a thought today that is the source of so much discomfort, 'down' moods, and ultimately, broken relationships, as one's sour mood is projected onto others around oneself.  The thought came from reading " The Boof of Awakening " by Mark Nepo, on the thought of the day, 14 April 2016: " It may have nothing to do with me, but If a friend or loved one is sad or angry, I can secretly wonder, What did I do? What can I do? Why didn't I do it all better to begin with? " The author builds on the point - introduces the concept, and presents the 'theme' - power !, then comes the punch (at least to me!):  " Certainly we affect each other, and often, but to assume that other people's inner moods hinge on my presence is an egocentric way to keep myself in a cycle of sacrifice and guilt. Further, to assume that another's condition or way of being in the world hinges on my presence is the beginning of self-oppression and codependen...