i love therapy (so far)

since getting my own health insurance (and what seems to be good insurance at that), I’ve been really exploring therapy. I started seeing someone for myself in Sept and my partner and I have been seeing a couples therapist since late December 2015.

it boggles the mind that therapy isn’t something everyone has as a part of their regular health programs. we see dentists and physicians and all sorts of other physical doctors. and then  we scorn those who have the (in)saneness to see a specialist for arguably our most important organ.

it’s bizarre, really. but then again, america is a pretty bizarre place.

for me, most of the value of a therapist comes from having an external perspective on my life situations. no matter how skilled you are, you can’t fight a fire from inside your house. ok well, you can but it’s easier from the outside. talk therapy is amazing to me because I get to experience the deep listening I was trained to do as a mentor (thanks, rashad and the Tallahassee youth group crew).

and on top of that, it feels invaluable to have a trained specialist listening to my stories evolve over time. and his experience over time in recommending and teaching specific skills, strategies, and tools and then observing and learning from those cases… the value just feels endless.

and the american in me says “well it’s just too expensive to give everyone in the county therapy.” and then I look at that sentence and think “and that’s why america is crazy.”

on the separation of church and self

yesterday, i read a piece on why millenials are leaving (or have already left) the church. the angle on the piece was why making church hip(ster) and more ‘relevant’ wasn’t going to bring young folks back. millenials are seeking meaning and no amount of smoke and lights can cover an inauthentic institution.

and then today i was reading john a. powell’s racing to justice and i found an interesting parallel. the chapter is on the symbiotic relationship between spiritual practice and social justice. he opens the chapter with an explanation of how most people who come to religion via a western perspective believe the connection between spirituality and social justice is one way. that is, spiritual practice should inform one’s social justice work. but he then goes on to explain that many of our most impactful social justice leaders (gandhi, mlk jr.) had spiritual practices that were informed by their drive to alleviate suffering.

he then discusses the lack of distinction between the secular and the spiritual in non-western religions. and then discusses how the overemphasized (individualized) western notions of faith screws things up.

i feel that.

tools are a means to an end

“how do you keep up with these tools/apps and use exactly the right one for each purpose?” today someone said this to me for the fourth time since 2016 started.

in some ways, this verifies my early adopter status. i’ve always known i fit the profile of an early adopter. this year i’d like to explore how to use that for good. it’s a valuable character trait… i think.

but deeper than that, i have a strong desire to be as effective as possible in as many ways as possible. this drive goes back as far as i can remember. one of my earliest memories from elementary school is getting in trouble for walking on the grass. but the sidewalks in my school were only perpendicular and sometimes the shortest path was on a diagonal… (i.e. across the grass).

these tools and apps are all just a means to an end: how can i make the most of the time i have left here on this planet? some people call this self-mastery. i don’t know if that resonates with me, but that’s what i’ll call that ‘drive’ for now.

methodology: how i work

i died once. so time matters a lot to me. how i use it and how i don’t.

so i combine a lot of tools to make sure that if i die again (which i will), i won’t regret my time. and so that i will have genuinely felt like i accomplished something with my lifeforce.

constrained creativity

listening to this podcast on dark matter and physics (this i think). creativity isn’t possible without constraints. reminded me of the video where a popcorn kernel popping was the analogy to the creative process. it takes ingredients in a container with applied pressure to make it work. 

so this is my microblog. everyday. fewer than 200 words. 10 minutes or less (including editing, not including research). whatever is on my mind. public. (mostly) not fact checked. 

go.