Interdependance Day...I hope

Two Versions of the same doll from a sketch in one of my journals

Blog 7/4/16 I hope you are all subscribed to Brain Pickings www.brainpickings.org…a regular Sunday blog by Maria Popova with lots of thoughtful ideas and images. She has me thinking about my own mental health, as does the lecture last week at our library on Brain Health by Dr Kristoffer Rhoads from UW. We create our own reality…and we are responsible for what we create.

Finding people with whom we feel safe—Vital to our mental health.

The brain stem is activated when people are faced with the threat of annihilation

Constant stress response, as in our media/political/corporate-run world now

Sketches for three of the dolls on this page...I can't stop making things

Trauma robs us of our sense of control over our lives and experiences

Then our brain function is less efficient and rich than it could be

We are herded into pathways of fear, directed against the Imaginary Other

Created by press and politicians and powers

Who want to control what we do, how we vote,

The decreasing standards we now accept as normal

“The challenge of recovery is to reestablish ownership of your body

and your mind—of your self. This means feeling free to know what you know

and to feel what you feel without becoming overwhelmed, enraged, ashamed

or collapsed.”  Van der Kolk

One-armed Icon...I'm trying to think of a nobler name

Vigils help us share positive feelings,

Even of sadness.

My brother told me

How many times he felt afraid

Growing up gay.

How many times I felt afraid and demeaned

Growing up female…and with an abusive partner

For 17 years.

The point is, cherish Your Self

Cherish this Living Planet

And ALL who inhabit it.

Angel

The fireworks are exploding...people held out til this evening with the current ban

Fire and noise...what drives people to need this drama?

We have a lot of work to do in the next months and years

To follow up our Declaration of Independence from England

With resolve to nurture Interdependence with all our fellow citizens

Not give in to Anyone manipulating us into 

fear and despair...