Category Archives: Deep Mind
Poetry Amid Parkinsons – The Wall Street Journal
Stephen Millers op-ed Poetry and the Art of Memory (June 30) spurred me to recall experiences with my father. Parkinsons disease had robbed him of active speech, among other things. Extremely well-read, knowledgeable and an excellent extemporaneous public speaker as a three-term New Hampshire governor in the 1970s, my father had lost the power to generate speech. As his daughter rather than a constituent, I sought access to the marvelous mind trapped within.
Growing up, he had challenged me to memorize poetry from his favorite anthology, One Hundred and One Famous Poems. His vast recall of poems, great speeches, hymns and Bible verses became our bridge of communication. Day after day, while visiting my parents, I would grab that old anthology and turn to a favorite poem. Lincolns Gettysburg Address, loved by both of us, provided some amazing interaction one afternoon. I began, Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers, then paused, and from deep within his memory banks came his reply: brought forth, on this continent, a new nation. And so it went throughout the entire speech. He was still in there. I merely needed to tap into the vast stores of his memory.
On his final day, my mother played their collection of Tennessee Ernie Fords old hymns. When Fords beloved rendition of Fanny Crosbys Saved by Grace played, my mother was amazed to see her husband of almost 68 years join in on the chorus: And I shall see Him face to face and tell the storysaved by Grace! Moments later, he took his last breath.
Marion Thomson Spottswood
Orford, N.H.
Quinlan-Hammond Hall of Honor Taking Shape on USM Campus – Southern Miss Now
Thu, 07/08/2021 - 13:05pm | By: Van Arnold
When Maj. Gen. Jeff Hammond outlined his vision for a first-class veterans program at The University of Southern Mississippi (USM), the retired U.S. Army commander was clear-eyed about the challenges involved. He never flinched, or lost faith in a mission that began seven years ago.
Today, USMs Center for Military Veterans, Service Members and Families ranks among the nations elite, serving more than 1,700 military students. In the very near future, USMs commitment to these patriotic Americans will reach even greater heights with the opening of a new veterans center on the Hattiesburg campus.
Construction is well underway on the Quinlan-Hammond Hall of Honor a spacious, state-of-the-art facility named after the lead benefactor and USM alumnus Joe Quinlan and the centers founding director Maj. Gen. Jeff Hammond. The 5,500-square-foot center is scheduled for completion by the end of this year.
Hammond, a 1979 USM graduate and former Golden Eagle quarterback, served in the U.S. Army for 32 years. He says that the construction of a new veterans center still feels like a dream.
Needless to say, that dream is fast becoming a reality and each day starts with a short prayer thanking God for such an incredible blessing, said Hammond. From the inception of our veterans program, I believed we would eventually find ourselves in a position to construct a veterans center. Such is the mindset of an old army general officer like myself. We tend to operate particularly well at the tactical level, but always think deep strategically with a successful end-state in mind and a remarkable appetite for hard work leading to mission accomplishment.
The Quinlan-Hammond Hall of Honor will include a conference room, study space for small groups or individual work, a lounge and study, as well as other meeting areas and staff office space.
The USM Foundation launched a fund-raising initiative in 2019 to build the new veterans center and an official ground-breaking ceremony was held last November on Veterans Day. The Quinlan-Hammond Hall of Honor represents the first 100-percent privately funded building initiative through the USM Foundation. Thus far, more than 150 alumni and friends from across the country have donated in excess of $3 million, successfully reaching the fund-raising goal.
I find myself energized every time I drive by the construction site, said USM Foundation Executive Director Stace Mercier. Our University project team from the Physical Plant and the crew at Codaray Construction are tremendous partners. It is our communal goal to cut the ribbon and open the doors to our military-students with great fanfare. They have earned this special facility.
USM is nationally recognized as a top military-friendly institution and maintains esteemed designations in other renowned publications. In its Best for Vets: Colleges 2021 Rankings, the prestigious resource guide Military Times rated USM at No. 3 nationally and No. 1 in the Southeast. Center staff provide guidance and support as student-veterans move through the admission process, on to graduation and career placement.
When the current center opened in 2014, only 300 student-veterans were enrolled at USM. As that number continues to grow, so does Hammonds passion for serving the Universitys military students in every way imaginable. His vision for the program and new center includes speaking engagements at every opportunity to promote USMs commitment to military-students.
Much like he demonstrated as a first-string quarterback and U.S. Army general, Hammond maintains a fire in the belly barometer as the new building takes shape.
The emotional excitement that comes with any successful program is oftentimes extraordinarily contagious and that feeling is promoted daily by our staff, supporters and most importantly our student veterans, service members and their families, said Hammond. Many across the campus community and South Mississippi have embraced our program with their respective support, pride and care for veterans and an appreciation for those who served our military.
Hammond insists that the desire to elevate USMs veterans program and push for a new center occurred organically. He also credits the Universitys administration for consistently supporting efforts on behalf of military students.
Our veterans and their families are the ones who elected to enter (at the risk of loss of life) onto the proverbial playing field in support and defense of our Constitution and, as such, deserve our very best, said Hammond. These wonderful patriots understand service and sacrifice. How could we not step up and create a program to honor their commitment?
To support the building initiative, visit usmfoundation.com/veterans.
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Quinlan-Hammond Hall of Honor Taking Shape on USM Campus - Southern Miss Now
The Great Artist: A film that explores the brilliance of a suffering mind – The Indian Express
In the very first shot of Indrani Pal-Chaudhuris The Great Artist, the titular character establishes chaos, which later unravels as the 23-minute short film progresses.
A crescendo introduces us to Matthew Postlethwaites Great Artist, the protagonist, as he waltzes his way into an art exhibition, visibly fraught. Moments later, he composes himself as if presenting a tiny piece of his personality to a desperate audience.
Fragments of his conversation with his therapist play out, revealing intimate details of his troubled life, especially the deal with stardom and his swedge with greatness.
I did not want to go; a lot of the people there, I dont connect to them [I went because] I dont want to let anybody down.
The Great Artist, currently screening at Yellowstone International Film Festival, provides a tempestuous gaze into the mind of a gifted man. It makes for an uncomfortable watch a trigger gushing through the sluices of a complex mind wrestling with the idea of greatness and having to fight with demons instead.
It is established fairly early that Postlethwaites Great Artist is one of his alter identities. He suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), and his gift of art hangs precariously inside his uneasy mind.
Inside, theres pandemonium, and outside, he has to keep up with the sham of having it all nicely put together. Postlethwaite, therefore, does an excellent job walking a tightrope that hangs this way and that, keeping a balance between creating world-class art and silently suffering like a prisoner inside his own head.
In one of the scenes, he nervously flirts with his therapist, looking tentatively into his eyes before leaning in for a kiss. And in another, he appears sheepish about having pulled that stunt.
In his moments of vulnerability, he finds himself painting, creating a masterpiece, letting all of his personalities creep out one by one. He is a lover, madly attached to his girlfriend Angela (played by Rain Valdez), whom he calls his reflection. He dedicates one of his artworks to their all-consuming relationship.
He is also a woman sitting daintily by the window, sipping her tea and making a self-portrait, He is a child with a drastically different perspective of art.
When he paints, he allows his identities to shine, acutely aware that the Great Artist the one who eventually presents the artworks to the world is but a cumulation of every single one of them.
There is a deep void, a fear that reflects in his eyes. Postlethwaite, who has produced the short and also written its screenplay, seems to convey that he feels trapped, like he is an imposter, hiding behind his own oeuvre, begging for help.
His team is not unaware of his affliction. His manager Perry, played by Marimar Vega, says every star needs darkness to shine, alluding to the fact that the artists distinction is the result of his psychological suffering, one that he himself acknowledges in the end.
For great art there must be suffering.
It is the climax that is truly brilliant one that earned the film a consideration for the Live Action Short Film shortlist for 93rd Academy Awards. The Great Artist extricates himself and all of his personalities from the great suffering that enabled them to make art, allowing medical intervention instead.
In that moment, he tastes freedom.
In a world that is still awakening to mental health issues, The Great Artist paints an audacious picture of a caged mind. It is not a new trope M Night Shyamalan had previously explored DID in his film, Split but one that holds an important discourse on trauma.
Then, are we all striving to achieve greatness by holding our authentic self hostage? This is the haunting question that Pal-Chaudhuri leaves her viewers with.
(The Yellowstone International Film Festival is home to independent cinema from around the world. The screening ends July 9, 2021)
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The Great Artist: A film that explores the brilliance of a suffering mind - The Indian Express
Lynn Hershman Leeson: The Artist Is Prescient – The New York Times
For me, and I suspect for many others, the pandemic has prompted much soul-searching about different aspects of my life. Foremost is my dependence on technology, which I found especially troubling over the past year. At a certain point, after months of social isolation punctuated by video calls and Twitter binges, I felt almost like I was losing my mind, as if my ability to distinguish between the virtual and physical worlds were slipping. It was a strangely mesmerizing and frightening sensation that I recalled recently, after seeing Lynn Hershman Leesons exhilarating and intense solo show at the New Museum, Twisted.
A pioneering new media artist and filmmaker who has spent most of her life in San Francisco, after growing up in Cleveland, Hershman Leeson has been contemplating our connection to machines since the 1960s. Starting out in more traditional forms like drawing, painting, and collage, she went on to make wax sculptures, then videos and artworks using laser discs, touch screens (in the 80s), webcams, artificial intelligence, and most recently, in collaboration with scientists, a water purification system and DNA.
As a woman making experimental work, often about female identity, Hershman Leeson was sidelined for decades by mainstream art institutions. In 2014, she had a career-changing retrospective at the ZKM Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany, and five years later, her work was the centerpiece of a group exhibition at the Shed. Yet Twisted is her first solo museum show in New York City and she turned 80 the week before it opened.
The exhibition, curated by Margot Norton, goes some way toward rectifying her exclusion: Its a strong, smart survey that gives her overdue credit. It also feels limited and sometimes cramped, omitting a lot while squeezing too much into basically a single floor. The show strikes me as akin to a greatest hits album: an excellent introduction for newcomers and a dose of reliable inspiration for those familiar with her work, but not deep enough once youre tuned into her brilliance.
Hershman Leeson is perhaps best known for The Electronic Diaries (19842019), a decades-long project playing at the New Museum in a ground floor gallery. In it she recorded herself talking about her life, particularly her traumas, on videotape. The process served as a kind of therapy, giving her a chance to find herself, and to consider the nature of identity more broadly, through the lens of a camera. The works (there are currently six parts) are almost eerily visionary for how they anticipate the advent of confessional posting on social media platforms and for some of her early, astute observations. I think that weve become kind of a society of screens, of different layers that keep us from knowing the truth, she says, as if the truth is almost unbearable and too much for us to deal with, just like our feelings.
The Diaries offer a sense of Hershman Leesons style and concerns before you move upstairs, where the exhibition is concentrated. Both chronological and thematic, the show focuses on a major motif of her practice: the relationship between technology and the self. Around the time she took up this idea, the artist, then in her 20s, was pregnant and hospitalized with a life-threatening heart condition. She made drawings and collages of people with gear-filled insides a way of visualizing the hidden workings of the body and perhaps imagining a mechanical means of warding off death.
Dozens of those early pieces (more than necessary) are hung tightly on the walls of the first room, but they hold interest primarily as historical documents. Aesthetically, they cant compete with the Breathing Machines nearby. These ingenious and bewitching sculptures consist of cases holding eerie wax casts of female faces. Your presence triggers an audio track, whether the coughing and heaving breaths of Butterfly Woman Sleeping (1967) or the unnerving monologue of Self-Portrait as Another Person (1965), which asks, What are you afraid of? and says, I feel really close to you. The idea of being seduced by a machine recurs in Hershman Leesons work, as does her interest in viewer participation and her study of how gender norms shape womens particular associations with technology.
Soon after, Hershman Leeson began a radical exploration of identity. For five years beginning in 1973, the artist created a character named Roberta Breitmore whom she also played in the real world. Having studied psychology, Hershman Leeson generated a back story for Roberta and, produced charts detailing the body language and makeup she used to transform into the character. The artist went out as Roberta and expanded her personality through experiences. Roberta got a drivers license, opened a checking account, and saw a psychiatrist. She had distinct handwriting and kept a diary. At one point, Roberta placed a newspaper ad for a roommate, and a man who answered it tried to get her to join a prostitution ring.
Twisted extensively documents Roberta, from photographs to clothing and a psychiatric evaluation. (The doctor suggests a schizophrenic condition, simple type.) The archive raises the fundamental question of what elements make up a person. Beyond that, which ones are necessary, which are extraneous, and who decides?
Although she was resolutely analogue, Roberta functioned almost like a digital program or machine. She developed based on input from society input that was so often negative, the artist ended the project with an exorcism. In a way, Roberta was a model for the gendered interactivity that Hershman Leeson would go on to explore in other works at the New Museum.
One is Deep Contact (198489), a videodisc and touch screen piece that recalls a choose-your-own-adventure book, only with more obscure situations. The journey begins by following the exhortations of a blonde in a sexy dress who calls out, Touch me. The other is Agent Ruby (19982002), described as an artificially intelligent Web agent with a female persona whom you can converse with online and who grows smarter with increased engagement. In both cases, the technologies are represented as female characters that seem to have more control than the passive Roberta did. Theyre like more soulful, less obedient versions of Siri and Alexa.
If theres one thing that Twisted makes abundantly clear, its Hershman Leesons prescience. She not only found ways to use advanced technologies, but also saw how they were shaping us. Her video Seduction of a Cyborg (1994) is like a parable: A woman who cant see is given doses of electronic waves that destroy her immune system and turn her into a computer-addicted cyborg. In six short minutes, before the advent of social media, Hershman Leeson predicted the state of my pandemic-addled brain.
The Electronic Diaries contain a gap: The artist stopped creating them in the late 90s and resumed about 20 years later. The exhibition doesnt have the same strict break, but it makes a corresponding leap, from a past of now dated technologies into a present of futuristic ones. These appear in three new projects, among them Twisted Gravity (2021), a series of glowing panels connected to two water purification systems developed by Harvard. Figures of women are etched into plastic, and as the water is purified, the figures pulse in neon colors. Beautiful and hopeful as it is, Twisted Gravity lacks the tension that characterizes the artists best work: a profoundly double-edged view of technology, which may seduce and trick us but also gives us the opportunity to transcend ourselves.
The new project that carries the dichotomy forward is The Infinity Engine (2013ongoing), a multifaceted exploration of bioengineering and genetic modification. Occupying three galleries, The Infinity Engine contains an array of material, including video interviews with leading scientists, a bioprinted ear, genetically modified fish that glow in the dark, and two pices de rsistance: an antibody named after the artist, developed with Dr. Thomas Huber, and a vial containing her artistic archive converted into DNA, made with Bill Peck. The installation is something of a mind-bending jumble: Hershman Leeson presents the results of her research, but I longed for more of a structure or story to help make sense of it. Im glad to know about the creation, in 2002, of goats with spider genes but without more context, I dont understand the implications.
The Infinity Engine represents Hershman Leesons recent shift from media to science and from a speculative, intimate tone to evangelistic wonder. The more time you spend with it, though, the more continuity emerges and not just because the bioprinted ear echoes the wax facial fragments she made in the 60s.
Bioengineering grapples with questions that Hershman Leeson has been asking all along, about what makes us human and what it looks like to create or modify life. At one point, a scientist she interviews, Caleb Webber, asks rhetorically, Who do we want to be in the future? The line stuck with me. It is a guiding inquiry of the artists career and after six decades, shes still creating answers.
Lynn Hershman Leeson: Twisted
Through Oct. 3 at the New Museum, 235 Bowery, Manhattan. (212) 219-1222, newmuseum.org.
Link:
Lynn Hershman Leeson: The Artist Is Prescient - The New York Times
Keep safety in mind when cooling off in the Willamette River – KGW.com
There are almost a dozen swimming spots for many different abilities along the river, accessible by bike, walking or public transportation.
PORTLAND, Ore As temperatures heat up this weekend, the local nonprofit Human Access Project is pushing the Willamette River as the perfect place to cool off.
"When its hot out, we want to cool off , the Willamette River is a lovely 73 degrees, its going to be the perfect temperature to make this heat more manageable," said Willie Levenson, ringleader at the nonprofit.
The DEQ and the city of Portland test the water in the river each week and results are posted online. The latest show the E.coli count at 22, well below the unsafe level of 406.
There are almost a dozen swimming spots scattered along the river, accessible by bike, walking or public transportation. One of those is the Kevin Duckworth dock, off the Eastbank Esplanade.
"This is definitely an advanced place to swim," said Levenson. "It is 25 feet deep here so theres no opportunity to touch the bottom." The group added eight swim ladders at the dock last year and have plan to add bike racks in a few weeks.
Other places include the Ledge, where people can jump off of a rock. For swimmers who are not quite ready to jump off the Ledge, Levenson recommends Poet's Beach. He says it's great for beginner swimmers because they can gradually get into the water.
If you dont feel comfortable swimming, you really should not get in past your waist," said Levenson.
His other safety reminders include swimming with a friend ,which is not a problem for the Willamette River Huggers. A group that swims every Wednesday and Friday. Their favorite spot is off the dock at station 21, which along with the other sites will be a popular place to beat the heat this weekend.
"So lets keep our beautiful river in mind as a cooling option for people in Portland who like to swim," said Levenson.
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Keep safety in mind when cooling off in the Willamette River - KGW.com
10 UK retreats to re-energise mind, body and soul – The Guardian
Reconnect with nature in Devon
On historic Dartington estate in the South Hams, Schumacher College offers a range of short retreats aimed at helping people deepen their relationship with nature. Gardening as a Spiritual Practice, in July, is led by Emma Clark, an expert in Islamic garden design, and the colleges co-founder, Satish Kumar, a former monk. In workshops and garden time, participants explore the relationship between gardens, civilisation and the soul. Theres also daily qigong and veggie meals. Small, single rooms have shared bathrooms. 8-11 July, from 625pp for 3 nights all-inclusive, schumachercollege.org.uk
Yoga on a Shoestring now offers relaxing breaks at Blyth Rise Stays, which has wooden huts and lodges both with colourful interiors around a lake and wildflower meadow near the village of Laxfield. Theres twice-daily yoga on the outdoor wooden platform or lakeside, meals are served in a tipi, and in between guests can take walks in the countryside and visit nearby beaches. Theres plenty of time to do nothing, and there are also two saunas. Runs 30 August-3 September with yoga teacher Sunita Devi, or 3-6 September with yoga teacher Tania Brown. From 725pp for 3 nights all-inclusive, yogaonashoestring.com
Wonderment offers an inclusive, family-friendly wellness festival in September in a woodland glade on the Wasing Park Estate near Aldermaston. A programme of wellbeing activities by day turns into a festival at night, with music, cabaret and DJs. Whether youre dancing, drumming, doing yoga or wild swimming in the lake, its all designed to inspire reflection, connection and creativity. Camp, stay in a bell tent or enjoy the luxury of a cottage in the grounds. Everything is optional, and theres a forest school for kids. Wonderment is also running a new LGBT-focused wellness festival, Soul Pride, from 8-12 July. 16-19 September, from 350pp, 7-18 years 90, under-6 free, wondermentretreats.com
A calming boutique retreat at Hartwith near Harrogate, Acorn Wellness is a not-for-profit business that uses its funds to support cancer patients. But anyone looking for deep rest and downtime can come for day retreats, pop-up events and overnight retreats. Views over the rolling fields of Nidderdale are postcard-pretty, and all guests have the use of a sauna and steam room and can book massages. Healing Day Retreats run regularly and include yoga, visualisations and gong baths, as well as use of the spa. 155pp for a day retreat, including lunch and refreshments , acornwellness.co.uk
In the countryside near Biddenden, Stede Court private fitness retreat offers solo and private bubble retreats created by A-list personal trainer Kathryn Freeland. Billed as ideal for anyone who needs to recharge and remotivate, each retreat is bespoke and can include Hiit sessions, yoga and meditation, sauna sessions, dips in the swimming pond and oodles of rest. Meals are healthy and accommodation is in the characterful Grade-II listed house. From 500 for up to 6 people for a full-day retreat,stedecourtprivatefitnessretreat.co.uk
The new ReEmerge Retreat at Middle Piccadilly, a rural haven near Sherborne, uses shamanic practices and other healing activities to help bring guests back into balance and heal any trauma, grief, stress, illness or relationship issues that might have come to the surface during the pandemic. Other post-lockdown packages are available. The retreat is held in a 17th-century thatched cottage with five simple, calming bedrooms, and all meals are vegetarian. Book dates to suit. From 500pp for 3 nights, middlepiccadilly.com
A Walking Your Promise retreat, in the forest and open grassland near 305-metre May Hill, proposes a deep dive into nature. Leader Danny Shmulevitch draws on his experiences growing up in the Sinai desert and living with the semi-nomadic Sawad tribe, and aims to teach guests how to connect to themselves by learning how to think through the heart rather than over-think with the brain. Stays pivot on a day of fasting and quiet contemplation, and accommodation is in a private, candlelit den that looks out on to the forest on one side, and is closed for privacy on the other. Two- or three-day retreats can be taken alone or in a closed bubble. From 295pp for two days all-inclusive, dannyshmulevitch.com
Cleanse and relax year round at Homefield Grange, a wellness retreat in a converted dairy and sheep farm near Kettering. Come to learn about your body, diet and nutrition and establish a lifestyle or behavioural change. There are various packages to choose from, including the Weekend Body Detox, with rasul mud therapy and massage, and the Mind Body Restorer, designed to help build resilience against stress and anxiety while boosting the immune system. Hypnotherapy, neuro-linguistic programming, wellness and lifestyle coaching, and nutritional consultations are all available, too. From 649pp for the two-night Weekend Body Detox, with either a juice cleanse or plant-based meals, homefieldgrangeretreat.co.uk
Improving health and happiness through making art is the ethos behind the remarkable Curious House, which offers a range of one- and two-day creative retreats with inspirational teachers at a boutique pub, The Bell in Ticehurst. Hone your skills and build confidence without judgment on courses in everything from oil painting, collage and mixed-media to sculpting with wire and painting lampshades. Theres good food, like-minded company and time to yourself, too. Next course, 5-6 July, is Printing and Collage, from 240pp B&B for a one-day course, curioushouse.net
Celebrate newfound freedom in the great outdoors, but still be super-comfortable, on a new Yoga and Wilderness Weekend in the Highlands. Featuring daily Jivamukti yoga, plant-based food and nights around the campfire sharing stories, it also includes time for wild swims in lochs and a four-hour guided hike in the Cairngorms. Sleep in peaceful riverside cottages and enjoy the outdoor hot tub and sauna. Massages can be booked, too. 27-30 August, from 675 for 3 nights all-inclusive, reclaimyourself.co.uk
Caroline Sylger Jones is a journalist and founder of Queen of Retreats
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10 UK retreats to re-energise mind, body and soul - The Guardian
Matters of the Mind: Recruiting the body mind and soul for relief from emotional tumult – The Indian Express
Alongside deeper cognitive work, we need a few to-dos as a routine, a checklist, more rigour and more investment to help prevent further deterioration or progression of melancholia, anxiety, grief, frustration and most importantly support remission. Following is a list that can be printed and used as a reminder in times such as these to help us cope when we all understand that self-work and health are important but often find ourselves on the slippery slope of stress and sickness. A handy few tools to help us hold on, find and build on strengths and keep well.
Body (Behavioural)*Practice meditation. Choose a focal point (visual imagery, sounds, tactile) and sustain the silence.
*Breathwork. Find a simple sustainable breathing practice that resonates. A simple energy and mood lifter is: inhale deeply through the nose for four counts, exhale through the mouth for six counts.
*Yoga, exercise, walk, treadmill, cross trainer, spot jog, whatever gets you sweating.
*Have a disciplined routine and productive clear goals for the day.
Mind (Cognitive)*Focus on the present. If your mind wanders into future worries or past regrets, it is okay, bring it back to the present moment. Recognise the present and orient yourself in the moment. Practice being in the now.
*Accept the agitation, worry, angst, discomfort as normal and do not judge yourself for experiencing these. The experience and its manifestations become negative or intolerable because we label them so. We must allow such experiences to unfold as they do, without labels on them or ourselves for having to go through it or not being able to prevent it; it is not the experience that is negative, it is our self-talk that is.
*Accept a lack of control as part of a good, healthy happy life and not as an uncertain, scary or out-of-control life. A high need for control is often the cause of significant emotional pain. Being aware and accepting of life having an element of the unknown, enriches us with a growth mindset, spontaneity, curiosity and resilience.
*Allow the difficult emotion to tell you something about yourself. Our emotions are a result of our self-dialogue. The inner voice we each havethat is the source of meanings, perceptions and significance of stimuli for us. Becoming aware of this self-talk can help us become self-aware, how we think, the meanings we are choosing of events, the perceptions we make of people. Self-awareness is the place where we can all take notes for growth, rationality and improvement.
Soul (Spiritual)* The soul is hungry for learning and growth. These lessons have to be seeded out. Look at distress, challenges and pain as trying to give you a message, trying to teach you something that you would learn only this way.
*Be gentle and loving towards yourself. While busy with a thousand things in a day, one forgets to be compassionate to the core of ones own being, the self. Our demands and expectations take us down a road, away from awakening to our reality, authenticity, who we are. Reminding ourselves of tenderness towards the self is a crucial daily spiritual goal.
*Forgiveness is a remarkable virtuefor the self, for all the mistakes we make, for all the times we fall. Why I do not insist on forgiving others is because I do not believe I am in any such grand position to do so. I am no one to approve, disapprove, begrudge or forgive anyone.
*To practice oneness with all. Being one with ourselves first, then others we see, those we do not see or hear and further with the community and the world has a profound impact on our mind and health. Absorbing the enormity of our existence but also our mere atomic significance, our collective compounded strength and yet the humility to know our minuscule impact, to love others and add value to others as a service for ourselves are just some deep and meaningful nourishers for the soul.
*A daily gratitude practice keeps us aware of all the good things in our life. This can be practiced anywhere, anytime, verbally, mentally or by writing in a journal.
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Matters of the Mind: Recruiting the body mind and soul for relief from emotional tumult - The Indian Express
‘You weep and then you try to determine how to help’: Families, worshippers cling to hope after Florida condo building collapse – USA TODAY
A security camera captured the moment a condo partially collapsed in Surfside, a town near Miami, Florida. USA TODAY
BAY HARBOR ISLANDS, Fla. Over at Church by the Sea in Bay Harbor Islands, a more than 5-minute drive from the fallen Champlain Towers condo complex,Charlie Newton bowed his head in prayer for the missing and the dead.
Foremost on his mind were Arnie and Myriam Notkin, an older couple who lived on the third floor and who remain unaccounted for after the collapse.
Arnie Notkin, a former physical education teacher at Fienberg-Fischer K-8 Center, was a friend of his parents. When Newton grew older, he and Notkin served together on the board of directors for the Miami Beach Police Athletic League.
Everyone knows Arnie Notkin, said Newton, 50, of Surfside, Florida.They may not know his wife, but they know him. He asserted himself into peoples conversations, but he was very friendly. He wasnt arrogant or anything. He was very nice, and everybody liked him. He was always willing to go the extra mile to help somebody.
The devoted physical education teacher, who had a love for the Miami Dolphins, liked to introduce students to all kinds of sports.
He loved to teach, Newton said. He loved to show you how to play something. When youre a teacher, whether youre a PE teacher or a math teacher, you love to share your knowledge.
Inside the church office chapel, worshippers helped each other light white candles to honor the missing and the dead. With tears in their eyes, some joined the chorus in singing "Amazing Grace."
I had to dig down deep and try not to allow my emotions to get the best of me, Newton said. Im trying to be strong for other people around me. I'm sure if somebody would have lost it in there, we all would have lost it.
The death toll rose by just four people, to a total of nine confirmed dead. But after almost four full days of search-and-rescue efforts, more than 150 additional people were still missing, authorities said.
'He was a peacemaker. He was a joy': What we know about those missing in the Miami condo building collapse
Before and after look: Champlain Towers South, the Florida building that partially collapsed
The awful wait for news of the missing weighed even on those without a connection to them.
I personally did not know anybody in the building, but I certainly am good friends with a lot of people that did, Rev. Robert Asinger said. So it becomes not just a building collapse. It becomes about Bill or Fred or whoever it is. And it makes it very personal.
Struck with an urge to help, reverends told almost 40 worshippers that the church had opened a disaster relief fund with $20,000.
When Parkland happened and when Pulse happened, we prayed but there was a distance, Rev. Barbara Asinger said. I think that's how we survive as human beings. We create distance because we hear so much these days. When you can't do that anymore, you weep. You weep and then you try to determine how to help.
Sergio Lozano had dinner with his parents, Gladys and Antonio Lozano, when they said their goodbyes and retreated to their respective condominiums in different towers of the same complex, the Champlain Towers condo complex in Surfside.
Startled by a loud boom, Sergio Lozano stepped out into his balcony and was hit by a staggering sight: billowing smoke and night sky where his parents condo building once stood.
USA TODAY's Romina Ruiz-Goiriena shares her experience on the ground covering the condo collapse in Surfside, Florida. USA TODAY
My wife was walking behind me because she was going to help me bring in the patio furniture, he told WPLG-TV in Miami. And I tell her, Lola, the buildings not there. Shes yelling and saying, What do you mean? I go, My parents apartment is not there. Its gone!
Family members of residents of the collapsed 12-story building staggered in and out of a family reunification center on Sunday trying to make sense of the tragedy.The family members left DNA samples to identify relatives remains and gleaned scraps of information on rescue efforts.
Others clung to hope that rescue teams could still pull survivors from the wreckage. Ashley Dean, traveled fromLouisianato Surfside over the weekend to see if her younger sister, Cassie Stratton, had survived the collapse.
Stratton was on the phone with her husband, Michael, when the building shook then collapsed, Dean told media outlets. She let out a scream as she plunged toward the earth. Stratton remains unaccounted for.
Its been extremely agonizing. Its been painful. Its very confusing, Dean told New Orleans WVUE-TV. Its almost unbelievable.
For years, Antonio and Gladys Lozano would bicker over who would go first.
In the end, they departed at the same time. The elderly couple, who would have celebrated their 59th anniversary next month, died together in the tower collapse.
Miami-Dade Police recovered their bodies one day apart from each other in the rubble of the South condominium tower, the agency said.
Toward the back of the church office chapel inBay Harbor Islands, unlit candles dotted a wooden table. Before Becky Bosch left the room, a gentle flame had been set to most of them.
It impacts you, even if you dont know the people who live there, said Bosch, 52, of Surfside. "I've been in that building. I dropped my son off when he was little to go see friends there. I lived right across the street from there on 90th. Its a very peaceful corner. It's beautiful.
As efforts to pull survivors from the rubble continue, her sonfound strength in prayer.
"I know the whole community would want to be there," saidAaron Bosch, 22. "I know everybody would want to be there picking up rubble, but it's not that easy. I think the best thing we can do right now is pray."
SergioLozanosaid his parents would have celebrated their 59th anniversary on July 21 and had known each other for more than 60 years. The son said that his parents had joked that neither wanted the other one to pass away first because they didnt want to be without each other.
Sergio said if he was to find solace, it is that if they did not survive the collapse, that they went together and went quickly, according to WPLG-TV.
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Contributing: Emily Bloch, USA TODAY; The Associated Press.
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'You weep and then you try to determine how to help': Families, worshippers cling to hope after Florida condo building collapse - USA TODAY
Danielle Lao Gets Back to Wimbledon, and Makes the Most of It – The New York Times
Inspired, Lao pushed on and qualified in singles for the 2017 U.S. Open and, just as importantly, the 2018 U.S. Open.
The pandemic, which shut down the tour for several months, could have knocked Lao out of it. Instead, she bought a stationary bike, assembled it with her sister, and focused on fitness before returning to the court and the tour.
After struggling in her recent tournaments, she arrived at Roehampton for Wimbledon qualifying with her new traveling coach, the tour player Irina Falconi. Lao settled into a deep groove and found herself up 6-3, 4-1 on Ursula Radwanska in the final round of qualifying.
I started to think, oh my goodness, Im so close to Wimbledon, its right there, she said.
This time, she calmed her mind and closed out the final set, 6-2. After watching Sampras tear up at Wimbledon, Lao can now relate.
When I sat down, I covered my face with a towel a little bit, Lao said. But when Irina and my boyfriend came around, I was, like, they cant see me cry. The tournaments not over yet, and this was a straight setter. This is embarrassing. But that evening, I was thinking about it and joking with them, and I told them, It took 23 years to get here guys, but we made it!
Win or lose on Monday, one journey is complete.
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Danielle Lao Gets Back to Wimbledon, and Makes the Most of It - The New York Times
Bernie Rabik: Is Age Only a Number? – The Times
By Bernie Rabik| Special to The Times
Phil Mickelson just won the PGAChampionship at age 50. Tom Brady won the Super Bowl at 43. Serena Williams is a top tennis star at 39. Joe Biden entered the presidency at 78. Bob Dylan released an excellent album at 79. US Sen.Mitch McConnell, Republican minority leader, is 79. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, is 82. Pope Francis is 84.
America is showing its age. Somewhere along the way, a once-new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal (not men and women; that came later) became a wheezy gerontocracy. Our leaders, our electorate, and our hallowed system government itself are extremely old.
Let me stipulate at the outset that I harbor no prejudice toward the elderly. As a septuagenarian myself, Im fully mindful of the scourge of ageism.
Why should we care how old our leaders are? It is widely accepted that cognitive functioning declines dramatically on average after age 70, and the types of intelligence which decline most sharply on average are the capacity to absorb large amounts of new information and data in a short time span and apply it to solve problems in unaccustomed fashion.
None of this means a septuagenarian cant function effectively as a political leader. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell are 82 and 79, respectively, and by all reports, they are operating at peak mental capacity. But to affirm that not all elderly people are impaired cognitively is very different from affirming that none is.
Even the healthy older brain is, well, different from the healthy younger brain; and, if you care about politics, thats worth making some effort to understand. Certain tasks are just harder as you get older, even if youre very smart. Your mental reflexes are slower. It takes longer to remember someones name. Multitasking is more challenging. Learning foreign languages is more difficult, and adjusting to unfamiliar cultures is perhaps a bit harder. You can overcome these obstacles if you make some effort, but not everybody, not even all American leaders, makes the effort.
The most important compensating benefit to old age is wisdom, which comes from experience. When youre making decisions that affect others, its much better to have a deep well of experience to draw on than to maintain the mental reflexes of an auctioneer. Wisdom may be more valuable in the digital age than ever before, because the velocity of information and normative judgments on social media, cable news, and elsewhere constantly threaten to make glib idiots of us all.
But heres the rub: The aging of Americans ruling class doesnt automatically increase its experience level. In presidential politics, notes Brookings Institution senior fellow Jonathon Rauch, political experience, which used to be a selling point, has become a liability. Voters and the public have come to see experience as inauthenticity.
In a November 2015Atlantic article, Rauch plotted the experience level for presidential candidates from 1960 to 2012. His graph showed a clear increase in the experience level among the losers and a corresponding decrease among the winners. Gerald Ford lost to Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush won with more political experience than Michael Dukakis, but four years later lost to Bill Clinton, who had less. John McCain lost to Barack Obama, whod been in national politics a mere four years.
Donald Trump entered the Oval Office with no political experience at all. The single greatest mental compensation which age provides was therefore unavailable to the oldest president in American history.
To be sure, you know that aging will likely cause wrinkles and gray hair. An individuals observation of old age is not flattering, but Winston Churchill refused to acknowledge that. In 1954, the English artist Graham Sutherland was commissioned to paint a full-length portrait of Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill. Finding the depiction deeply unflattering, Churchill disliked the portrait intensely. Sutherland stated to Churchill that old age is never kind to anyone growing old.
Churchill complained that the portrait made him look like a down-and-out drunk who has been picked out of the gutter. Sutherland maintained that he painted the prime minister as he truly saw him.
But in many cases, the flip side of physical longevity is cognitive decline. People may be living longer and heathier lives, but we havent figured out how to include brain health in that equation.
Once I am ready, I hope that my dear ones will help me depart with dignity, prevent me from being a burden to others, surround me with music, Mozart and Bethoven preferably, and celebrate the end of my life with a smile, recalling the abundant good memories we shared. Ultimately, how I get through this will be my faith.
Mark Twain was right in writing: Age is an issue of mind over matter.
Bernard J. Rabik, a Hopewell Township attorney, is an opinion columnist for The Times.
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Bernie Rabik: Is Age Only a Number? - The Times