August 28, 2008

Dancing on Colette's Grave

Dancing on Colette's Grave

*sobs*

This morning...as I drove in to work, I was momentarily stopped next to a livestock transport truck. I looked over and through the slats I could see a baby cow...he/she looked so sad...so forlorn...so helpless... I wanted to tear open that truck - can-opener like and let all the animals free.... Instead I started crying and finished driving into work...

by Colette at1:37 PM under animal cruelty, emotions, vegetarianism


August 18, 2008

Dancing on Colette's Grave

Dancing on Colette's Grave

Burning bridges...

This one is very painful for me to write.... Recently, I decided to get back into teaching. I still had a 'bad taste' in my mouth from all the politics of teaching for the Cleveland Clinic - but that was going away and I was anxious to teach again. So I went to a local 'new' studio to offer my services. I interviewed with the owner and it went pretty well - she was an ex health care worker

by Colette at7:05 PM under emotions, letting go, rants, yoga


June 19, 2008

NEO musings

NEO Musings

Thank you Loretta LaRoche!

I've been feeling extremely annoyed today. I spent half my afternoon (or maybe it just seems like it) on the phone with Dell and with the USPS, and the other half (again, maybe it just seems like it) deleting junk mail. To top it off, all I seem to see or hear about on the news is people lying to, insulting, cheating, stealing from, or physically or psychologically abusing each other.

Well, in order to prevent myself from having to run out of the building screaming, I decided to do a dogpile search on the phrase "get over yourselves" just to see what would turn up. And . . . I rediscovered the wonderful writer and speaker Loretta LaRoche, who wrote an article titled "Get Over Yourselves and Join the Community" for the Patriot Ledger back in January.

Maybe the reason we're so angry is because we don't feel truly connected to each other. How did this happen? I'm not sure, and maybe that's not all that important. Maybe what really counts is how we go about fixing it.

Visit Loretta at www.lorettalaroche.com, and enjoy, because, as she says, "Life is not a stress rehearsal."

by NEOcreativegenius at6:14 PM under community, emotions, kindness


June 6, 2008

NEO musings

NEO Musings

Mental battery check

Change, like charity, has to begin at home. Therefore, I've instituted a new policy for myself, in hopes that it will encourage me to be more positive in my thoughts and actions.

I am attempting to replace the following negative behaviors with positive ones:
  • Visiting web sites or reading publications where I know the content will make me angry;
  • Engaging in pointless arguments with people;
  • Coming back with (or even thinking about) snarky replies when I hear something I don't agree with or don't like;
  • Judging people (even mentally) based on their real or perceived level of competence;
  • Swearing;
  • Not speaking up for myself when it is in fact necessary, and then getting passive-aggressive when people don't do what I want.
  • Not taking care of my body, mind and spirit and then wondering why I'm miserable.

I'm not sure whether a reward or punishment system would work better; would it make more sense to fine myself a set amount for each negative behavior or offer myself an incentive for each day/week/month I abstain from said negative behavior?

Readers: What works best for you when trying to break a bad habit?

by NEOcreativegenius at12:27 PM under emotions, habits, positive attitude, thinking


June 3, 2008

NEO musings

NEO Musings

An open letter to my readers (in and out of NEO)

Here's the deal. I know you're mad, and I can't say I blame you. Gas is $4 a gallon or higher (I spotted $4.09 on East 30th and Carnegie yesterday), groceries are getting more expensive as a result, and nothing else is getting cheaper either. The Presidential race has turned into a bunch of spoiled brats screaming at each other (politicians and pundits alike), our state and local governments are equally screwed up, and Paris Hilton is still allowed to roam freely in the streets.

And on top of these and the other myriad reasons that the state of the world is so depressing, our local and national media are bent on making it worse by reminding us of all the horror that's out there *every time we leave our homes*.

Sheesh. Almost makes you want to move to Walden Pond or in with that recently discovered tribe in Brazil.

But I'm going to challenge myself first, and then all of you. I'm only making one simple request: whatever's making you mad, please don't take it out on some innocent person. Not your spouse or partner. Not your kids. Not your parents. Not your buddies. Not your assistant or your boss. Not the police or fire department or EMS. Not your therapist, even if he/she does bill $105 an hour. Certainly not the poor hapless service professionals who get the same hourly wage regardless of how much gas or anything else costs. Not even Plain Dealer reporters or anonymous strangers on the 'Net.


So, you ask (as I often ask), "What do I do with my anger?" If you believe in God, pray. If you don't, find something or someone to believe in, and talk to him/her/it. Journal. If you work a 12-step program, get to a meeting. If you don't, consider whether you could benefit from one. Cry or scream into a pillow if you must. Do whatever it takes to take care of yourself.

Then, after you've done that, do something kind for someone else, but don't make a big production about it or get attached to the results. Do it just because you can and just because it's the right thing to do.

The world is cruel enough. Let's try to be kinder to each other, regardless of what we think of each other's opinions or lifestyles.

by NEOcreativegenius at2:23 PM under emotions, family, friends, kindness, love


May 22, 2008

NEO musings

NEO Musings

Excuse me while I rant this out . . .

I am so tired of . . .

--The lousy spam filter on my e-mail at work. I get probably 75-100 junk mails a day, and that's not even counting the ones that get routed to the Junk Mail folder. My Gmail and Yahoo filters work better than that.

--People who think it's OK to abuse other people on the net. I've found out that the cleveland.com forums and Craigslist rants and raves are very bad places for me to spend time; if I'm in a good mood, it takes me out of it, if I'm in a bad mood it makes it worse.

--This web site I found a couple days ago: http://www.angry.net/. Seems like a good idea, but the webmaster gets off on insulting posters, and the posters get off on insulting each other and random people/places/things.

--Nasty people who respond to someone else's opinion or emotions by mocking, manipulating, or abusing the other person.

--Political commercials. It's only May and I'm already fed up. I know how I'm voting, and some emotionally blackmailing, multi-million-dollar 30-second spot is not going to convince me otherwise.

--People who are famous only for being rich, related to someone famous, incredibly stupid, or attention-seekers. Get some real talent already.

--Verbal fungi: "like," "you know," "whatever," "dude," "man," "okay," "see," et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

--Sales calls, especially automated ones. This is why I don't have a landline phone.

--When otherwise intelligent people forward ridiculous e-mails without checking to see if they're true. Snopes.com is a great site -- know it, use it, love it.

--E-mail forwards that state that I'm not a good friend/don't love the United States/don't believe in God if I don't forward them. I'm not a perfect friend, but I do make myself available as much as I can; if you doubt my feelings for you because of my not forwarding something or resending it to you, I think we must have some other problem you're not telling me about. I highly doubt that some little-known government agency is keeping track of who forwards patriotic screeds, who files them, and who deletes them. And I sincerely hope that God knows that it's what I do when I'm away from the computer that counts most when showing how much I love Him.

OK, done ranting now. Back later with a gratitude list.

Edit: I apologize for my "bad spelling and bad grammar" complaint. I didn't mean anyone I know when making that statement. As I mentioned, I know a good many intelligent people who think faster than they type, and their spelling and grammar doesn't reflect how intelligent they really are. I know you're not doing it deliberately. I mean people like Gretchen Wilson, who titled one of her songs "Politically Uncorrect" just to be self-righteous. I honestly didn't mean to offend anyone, and if I did, I'm really sorry.

by NEOcreativegenius at10:09 AM under emotions, personal responsibility, ranting, spirituality, technology