I am ANGRY! I feel manipulated. How is this connected to mind-body one may ask? Internalizing anger causes depression. Depression increases hormones released into the body that can hurt, cause other chemical reactions, and interfere with healing throughout the body. It makes one want to sleep more, to escape painful realities. It diminishes one’s creativity—thinking of ways to overcome obstacles. Writing about negative emotions is one way to decrease negative feelings, as it gets those feelings out of the body onto paper, where one can see the words instead of feeling the words! (It’s like being a rapper, only using my fingers instead of my voice to express what I am feeling!) I’m reminded of the 22-year-old who went into a church to kill nine people. What feelings did he keep inside to cause such hatred that he would do something so wrong that at the beginning of his adult life, it would ultimately cause the end of his life? Another way to look at holding in anger is taking poison and expecting someone else to die!
For years politicians have been lying to the people. Sometimes this is through omission (leaving out just a little bit) or through innuendo, insinuating things to be positive or negative – pro or con something. Sometimes it is through the media (bringing the world into our living rooms), which gives those in power the biggest bang for their buck. One thing I learned while doing research is that you can find examples or results for almost any subject of research. We, the people, MUST learn to think for ourselves, learn to use the intelligence we have to see through duplicity. Just because something is said on TV or is written in our newspapers is not necessarily true. It is simply that when someone says something they believe to be true, they want us to believe the same thing. If enough people believe something, people may think that that something is true/valid – whether it is really true or not!
Our GREAT (and it is already GREAT) country was founded on many freedoms [ethnicity, race, religion, sexual identity & preference (alphabetical order)], which result in ONE nationality – AMERICAN, combining humanity from ALL OVER THE GLOBE. No other nation in the world was created like this. (Although I have to remind myself that the American Indians were removed from this land, their land, to accomplish this ideal.)
In order to heal, we MUST not only learn to talk with one another, we absolutely MUST learn to LISTEN to each other and consider the viewpoints of other people (the theme of the movie CRASH). We each have our own experiences, which dictate how we see things. All of our opinions count—ALL.
There is always:
- Our side
- Their side
- And the truth.
As Martin Luther King said, we must only judge people by their characters.
When we find ourselves in an accident, if on land, in the air, or in the water, the religion, race, ethnicity, or sexual preference of those who save us will not matter. I ask you to look at (or think about) someone you love. If that person was in danger of losing their life, would the religion, race, ethnicity, or sexual preference of the person who could save your loved one’s life really matter at that time?
As is in the name of our country, we must become, more clearly represent in front of the world, a more UNITED States of America!