Psych 501

How can we belong to every group and reject no one?

How can we feel at peace with every aspect of ourselves?

Zen, as used here, is a method for working with the mind, but I warn you that the use of the practices may lead you to experience deep interconnection with the universe, even a loss of the self you thought you were.  Of course, then your mind is free to change.   Who is doing the changing?   You.  And also you.

See, I love these weird twists, but even if you don't, you can still learn to meditate, to watch your mind, to manage your feelings and attention, and generally appreciate your life for what it is. 

By the way, though I am a formal Zen student, I am in NO way authorized to teach Zen.   What I offer here is my particular digestion of what I've learned filtered through my experiences as a psychologist and odd human. 

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The Shadow
The Rejected Aspects of the Self
Projection

Called by any name, the cause of outsider grief is the inability to accept yourself: the whole thing, not just the good parts.   A popular refrain, especially for women, goes like this: "I'm so much harder on myself than anyone else."   Equally popular is pointing to the other guy as the cause of all evil.  Deep in our deepest recesses we know that we are fundamentally the same as other beings.  So we have everything to gain by including every aspect of Ourself, every aspect of Other.   If we could just stop making people into Others, we could eliminate oppression, racism, marginalization, war.....

ok, so then, Just Do It! You’re an American, take action!

If only it were that easy.  Actually, intention is only the first step of a fascinating and not so linear process.   But we can't move at all until we make the decision to turn toward what we avoid.  Behaviorists call it Exposure and Response Prevention.  Freudians call it Making the Unconscious Conscious.  Zennies call it The Way.   Many names, same process.  Do it with compassion and wisdom and you will bring peace to yourself and the whole world.  

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