If time is an illusion then "time = libido (energy to be consciously directed). This weblog highlights my efforts in harnessing and directing my energy towards obtaining and sustaining meaningful connections with myself and the outside world.
On 09/12/01 I walked from 14th street and Union Square down to the hole in the ground that used to be the Twin Towers. It was an eerie and surrealistic experience. Check points with soldiers and policemen were on every block. Somehow I found a way to get to within two blocks of the center of the destruction. The light had a strange brownish glow due to a mixture of the heavy particles of the disentegrated buildings filtering the winter sunlight. Many people were wearing face masks to help them breathe. I was struck by the nearly universal dazed and shocked expressions of a multitude of awe struck onlookers like myself. However, as bad as it was, I was also struck by the noble activity of hundreds - or was it thousands - of workers and volunteers that were quietly, and methodically attending to the grim work of cleaning up this horrible lower manhatten "Pearl Harbor" mess.
Returning to Union Square I came upon a hastily erected evolving memorial. On subequent days I came upon similar memorials, most notably a large one in Grand Central Station. What most stirred me were pictures of kin who were unaccounted for as yet, apparently posted by relatives and friends, desperately clinging to the hope that their loved ones had some escaped the horror and might be recognized by someone, anyone, who would take the time to carefully scan their names and faces and. if indeed spotted, would hopefully notify them. It was quite shaking to have to face up to the brutal fact that nothing is absolutely secure - life is tenuous at best. Perhaps all that can be done at such times is to try to remain steady and, if so inclined, to record such occurrences as objectively as is humanly possible.
I was feeling depressed yesterday morning. Additionally I was restless and somewhat agitated. My body wanted movement. I looked outside noticing that the fall colors were shimmering flooded with sunlight. I picked up my small canon camera and decided to take a walk around the neighborhood.
The walk was magical. The pictures that follow speak for themselves. After only a few pictures it was obvious that my depression completely lifted. My conclusion is that immersion in nature - any season - is likely to be the best natural anti-depressant.
What I most love about nature is it is so natural. It is what it is. It is so full of beauty. It gives so much and asks for nothing in return. Most of the flowers and yard photogaphs are a theme and variation from flowers and tomatos I plant each spring. I enjoy watching the buds ripening and opening up. I particularly enjoy the uniqueness of each flower as it unfolds sometime mid summer. As I zoom in for closeups I sense these colorful mysteries speak to some elemental and most essential best prrt of me. As I focus upon the details of each unique flower, or fruit, or tree, or mixture of shadow and light, or glitter, or sparkles, I feel as connected to being alive and resonant with my natural 'friends' as at any time or with any people in my life. I appreciate the democratic spirit clusters of flowers have for themselves collectively and individually. They seem to celebrate being alive as they unself consciously display their radiance for whomever wishes to take note - or not. They seem utterly indifferent whether anyone cares or not. They don't fuss or get irritated as they 'graciously' make room for each other. I can appreciate what Van Gogh felt in the open sunlight painting his sun flowers and hay stalks - giddily - passionately grasping for the right words as he expressed his feelingsin his letters to Theo {his brother}. Observing nature with direct perception, not having to find words to describe what is experienced, is a tonic for me - a being who derives his lively hood from systematically searching for just right words.
Times square by day or night pulsates with excitement, noise, and electricity. If you are bored, or under stimulated go to Broadway and 42nd street to be atmospherically reinvigorated. No need to spend a fortune going to usually dissappointing theatre - just stand on a corner in Times Square and watch the passing show - fixed or in motion.
A well crafted building is a joy to behold. Equally so are machines like the Metro North Railway trains, stations, tracks, wires virtually all of the trappings that go into making a transportation system.
So too - unusual scenes such as colorful canoes glittering amongst tall green pine trees on a bright sun filled summer day delights my senses and stirs my soul.
There is so much not to like but it is all worth it when my senses are stimulated. It is very true: you can't appreciate the light unless you can take note of the darkness.
After two years in the making we launched an e guide called Attitude Shifting two days ago. We have had over 200 downloads. Additionally we received a positive review from REVIEW DAILY.NET http://reviewdaily.net/attitude-shifting-review-scam-or-legit/.
We have no reason to doubt their claim that they provide in depth "Unbiased Digital Product Reviews " SCAM or LEGIT? of E- products. We received an overall editor's rating of excellent and a user's rating of excellent as well.
Among the highly complimentary comments was the following:
"After reading what Attitude Shifting does, I couldn’t believe. It was just what I was wanted for so long. At first I was a little bit skeptical. I have seen several products saying the same things but this is different. From the moment I saw, I knew it was a real deal not a scam like others. So without wasting time I started to use it. And results are incredible. Much more than I dreamed of. It’s almost impossible to find an alternative to Attitude Shifting. It undoubtedly recommend it."
We invite you to take a look for yourself. Press:
http://www.attitudeshifting.com
You can hear the author if you press the player underneath the photo on the left hand side of the page. You can also view the newly published Kindle edition by pressing the tab. If you look at the Kindle edition put your cursor on top of the book cover and you will be able to read the first pages of the e guide.
We sincerely believe we have published a true breakthrough in the field of crises intervention. Our e guide is for any caring lay or professional who wishes to help a person who wishes to be helped effectively cope with what is initially experienced as overwhelming anxiety, frustration, depression, and stress without the use of medication.
We invite your comments: good, bad or indifferent.
Additionally we offer webinars and workshops.
We also have an extremely generous affiliate program which you can access on the following link: attitudeshifting.com.
After two years in the making we launched an e guide called Attitude Shifting two days ago. We have had over 200 downloads. Additionally we received a positive review from REVIEW DAILY.NET http://reviewdaily.net/attitude-shifting-review-scam-or-legit/.
We have no reason to doubt their claim that they provide in depth "Unbiased Digital Product Reviews " SCAM or LEGIT? of E- products. We received an overall editor's rating of excellent and a user's rating of excellent as well.
Among the highly complimentary comments was the following:
"After reading what Attitude Shifting does, I couldn’t believe. It was just what I was wanted for so long. At first I was a little bit skeptical. I have seen several products saying the same things but this is different. From the moment I saw, I knew it was a real deal not a scam like others. So without wasting time I started to use it. And results are incredible. Much more than I dreamed of. It’s almost impossible to find an alternative to Attitude Shifting. It undoubtedly recommend it."
We invite you to take a look for yourself. Press:
http://www.attitudeshifting.com
You can hear the author if you press the player underneath the photo on the left hand side of the page. You can also view the newly published Kindle edition by pressing the tab. If you look at the Kindle edition put your cursor on top of the book cover and you will be able to read the first pages of the e guide.
We sincerely believe we have published a true breakthrough in the field of crises intervention. Our e guide is for any caring lay or professional who wishes to help a person who wishes to be helped effectively cope with what is initially experienced as overwhelming anxiety, frustration, depression, and stress without the use of medication.
We invite your comments: good, bad or indifferent.
Additionally we offer webinars and workshops.
We also have an extremely generous affiliate program which you can access on the following link: attitudeshifting.com.
As a recently returned vet from Iraq or Afganistan does this story ring a bell?
You are severely wounded in mind and body requriring effective treatment hopefully immediately. You register at the VA, meet with a social worker and a Doctor, given a diagnosis of PTSD (post traumatic stress syndrome) and invited back for counseling. Hoping to see a counselor as soon as possible you are disappointed with the news that your first counseling appointment will be in about 3 weeks. Hearing this, both you and your family members experience rising anxiety, tension, and frustration, fearing you might not be able to wait that long maintaining a collective precarious sense of balance without exploding or imploding.
To reduce your intense negative feelings many like yourself will be given anti anxiety pills. The drugs may for some reduce the 'sting' but you are generally not told that it takes about two weeks for the drugs to get absorbed into your system so the pills may or may not work well enough to meet your needs.
During this delay many will find that the predictable reactions of anxiety, frustration, depression and stress - all natural not pathological responses to unenviable human traumatic intrusions - will likely intensify.
What to many non injured a delay of three weeks probably would seem to be no big deal - to the injured this time delay of only 21 days is often experienced as traumatically overwhelming.
Never a day goes by when it is not reported that a returning Vet loses control and comitts outrageous actions.
What if the three week delay could be notably shortened?
With this need in mind I want to introduce you to a revolutionary guide for both caring lay people and trained professionals wishing to be effective first responders in helping those suffering from anxiety, depression, frustration and stress, often without the need for drugs.
The following is the foreward to a guide called ATTITUDE SHIFTING:
Most people over 12 years old are likely to agree that whatever else one’s life means it is an undeniable fact that it is a struggle. Life appears to be a series of unending problems. No sooner master one problem than another soon follows. If this viewpoint is valid for you then it follows that the key to the “good life” is choosing to become an expert problem solver.
All problems are not equal. Some are much more difficult to solve than others. Indeed some problems seem to defy any satisfactory solution at all. Problems like this make us feel overwhelmingly “stuck” generating feelings of frustration, depression, anxiety, and stress which are often experienced as helplessness and hopelessness.
We want the opportunity to show you a method by which you can get “unstuck” in which you will neither feel inconvenienced, nor obligated to invest excessive amounts of money or time. If you will simply read the following contents with an open mind you can expect to be shown a pathway enabling you to potentially develop or recover a normal three year olds natural optimism in meeting each new day. This attitude might be characterized as “Bring it on.”
We hope and sincerely believe that your interest in Attitude Shifting might be a life defining experience for you.
We invite you to download our ebook guide: ATTITUDE SHIFTING.
For
those of you who don’t know, for fifty years I have been following
Jung, and like him, I have been analyzing the perplexities of
meaningful coincidences. I am about to have a book published refuting
Jung’s theory that synchronicities are mystical and magical. Instead, I
can prove that meaningful coincidences are actually markers showing
that creative solutions to current problems have been found – a purely
natural process.
Anticipating
that some critics may call into question the testing and scope of my
analysis, I am requesting your help in validating my theory with more
current individual experiences to increase my sample size.
If
interested please respond by answering the following three questions -
(if you prefer: by e mail, or at our forum at
meaningful-coincidences.com.)
1 – If you have experienced a meaningful coincidence (synchronicity) in the last few days describe it in detail
2 – Identify the issue with which you have been most preoccupied during the last week.
3 – List any and all connectionsbetween your preoccupation and your coincidence.
Thank you -
Gibbs
The publication date is scheduled for the first week of February.
I
am very excited. It has been exactly one year that my brother and I
conceived of an idea to create a resource manual to aid mental health
workers and any potential helpers to aid those in need to effectively
cope with their stress, anxiety, frustration, and depression without
the use of medication.
The context is important.
I love my brother but he has been a hard headed realist who would under
"normal" conditions never ever consider going to a psychotherapist.
Like many he is a believer in using your will power to "get over it."
Thus it was a shock that he called on thanksgiving day to tell me he
was out of the hospital having received a multiple bypass two days
before and was alive but he was now scared to death, and obviously
stressed out. He thought I would understand.
He
indicated that while the operation was supposed to be a complete
success he was getting the same feelings he had just before his heart
attack. I instantly thought he might be having a panic attack and asked
him if I could do my "shrink" thing. He said that was the reason why he
was calling me.
In
our talking together for the next few hours it was clear that he was
soaking up the concepts I gave him including how anxiety and stress
feel, what causes them, his attitude to both experiencing them, his
attitude towards having them, his associated fantasies, how they affect
his self esteem regulation and the likes....
Much
of what I told him instantly resonated - other material perplexed him
because of the language I used. As we talked he got increasingly more
excited applying my perspective and using the concepts as psychological
tools.
In
the next day’s conversation he said he finally understood what I do for
a living and was clearly impressed. He also suggested we write a
resource manual. We did exactly that collaborating for the last year on
a daily basis.
I
was able to distill forty years of personal and professional
experience. My brother was able to transform my sometimes too abstract
language into clear enough words such that an intelligent 12 year old
could effectively use the material to be potentially helpful.
One
of our joint basic assumptions is that while medication is indeed
necessary for some people we both agree that the "pop a pill" mentality
is too pervasive and that what is shamefully underplayed is the highly
significant contribution made by a person's attitudes(whether care
giver or person in need of a helping hand) in both causing and
sustaining the experience of their stress, anxiety, frustration, and
depression.
It
has been a remarkable experience to have reconciled after such a
lengthy gap only filled in with our annual happy birthday calls to each
other. From the perspective of forty to fifty years it is easy to see
some of the complicated reasons for the gap. Among them were
differences in style and perception; intolerance of differences in
general; competition on both our parts - I was the good son and he was
the black sheep until our mother died, our father remarried, and there
was an immediate shift with regards to the status of "most favored"
versus black sheep; our step mother consciously or unconsciously
reinforcing our division so we wouldn't unite against her; force of
habit and who knows what else.
In
a way it has been a benefit for both of us to have waited so long... I
received sage guidance from an older man who once had been a busboy in
a ritzy hotel resort in New Hampshire who said to me just before I was
to do my busboy thing at the same resort: "tell the hungry mob the
longer you wait the better it tastes."
I
have waited a long time to be able to have a spontaneous free
collaboration with my brother. It has been an amazing year of steady
almost daily contact - back and forth - each of us contributing our own
input in our own individual ways to the production of this resource
manual....
Our
collaboration is testimony that significant change can indeed occur
even when it appears as if the matter is existentially foreclosed
forever. But change has to begin with a mutual change to change. That
is both parties have to be ready, willing, and able to change. In my
case there is no doubt that my lengthy psychoanalysis has enable me to
be more objective, more tolerant of differences, less fearful of being
direct and real, better able to hold steady under pressure, have
convictions, be more empathic, not personalize, and have realistic
expectations.
In
having both of us matured to some large measure, we have created what I
sincerely believe to be an outstanding breakthrough in helping people
cope with anxiety, stress, depression and frustration. The value of our
shared experience is that every word in our Attitude Shifting Resource
Manual is the byproduct of our jointly struggling with struggle to cope
with our individual and joint stress, anxiety, depression and
frustration.
If
any of you are interested in seeing the outcome of our joint effort I
invite you to take a look at our brand new website (launched last
night) called http://www.AttitudeShifting.com .
This post is a response to a recent article called: I Never Smoked Pot bu Sue S. My experiences smoking pot were so powerful - both good and bad - I thought it would be of value to write this post.
Sue - I can appreciate how you abstained. I can also appreciate how others did not. What else is new? I hated the first inhaled cigarette I smoked in a philosophy class at Columbia University. It burned my throat and I never smoked a cigarette after that experience. However the first time I tried pot - it was an entirely different experience.
Ever since I have been conscious I have always been intriqued by the nature of significant psychological change. Thus it is no coincidence that I majored in Philosophy in college and have become a psychoanalyst - a professional change agent.
Just what is meant by significant when applied to psychological change? Even among many of my peers there is a lack of comprehension as to what it is I am referring to. This consternation was recently stirred up in a commentary I made on another web site when I asserted that research indicates that it takes approximately 750 to 1000 analytic hours (45 -50 minute sessions) to effect significant psychological change.
My vigorous psychoanalyst of 11 years always took three months off for the summer. He would get in touch with me when he came back. This 11th summer he failed to call. I called a few hospitals worried that he might be in one of them. I was unfortunately right.
Even though a vigorous man of 80 Dr. Wittenberg contracted meningitis. He was apparently near death and had not been able to contact me. A few weeks later he did call and was up to seeing me. He looked weak but was able to resume his practice.
I LOVE WHAT I DO FOR A LIVING In my 38th year of being first a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and more recently a licensed psychoanalyst I am experiencing a continuing joy about having persisted through my 35 year vocation to be able to do what I do for a living.
If I try to identify the reasons for my delight in my profession I think it has to do with the accumulated effects of a mixed bag experience as a patient, three different times, excellent training in an Institute, private supervision with a skilled and now noted psychoanaytic psychotherapist for 8 years, and practice, practice, practice.
I love my work as a psychoanalyst. I particularly like persisting over time to make objective sense out of what often initially appears to be non-sense to a new patient and myself as well. And I most particularly like to combine useful concepts into a new perspective of here-to-for cliche explanations.
Ernest Becker: The DENIAL of DEATH A daring and provocative challenge to all human beings to face nitty gritty reality square in the face. His ideas are building blocks in erecting a grounded faith.
