We’ve all done things that call for an apology but sometimes we don’t. Pride, stuborness, thoughts of “I won’t apologize unless they do first”, etc.
What an excellent article.
Here’s how to do it . . .
Another Take on How to Apologize
Forgiving yourself
Forgiving Yourself After the Loss of a Loved One
and what should you do when someone apologizes to you . . .
Pulp Fiction came out in 1994 back when a $5 shake was pretty pricey. Well, before I went to see my dad last Saturday I stopped and bought him a chocolate shake at a nearby ice cream shop. Damned if it wasn’t close to $5 too - for a small. I had to taste it and I’ll be damned if it wasn’t really good. I don’t know if it was worth $5 but it was thick, creamy and very rich. I had to stop myself from sucking down too much.
“80% of what we think is useless. It serves no purpose. It is just random thoughts jumping around from one thing to another.” said my Tai Chi teacher.
I don’t mean to make him sound like the Chinese version of Mr. Miyagi in Karate Kid but I do feel very lucky to have such a good teacher. He is forever thinking and talking about Tai Chi, meditation, enlightenment, the body, the mind, Chinese & Western medicine, relaxation, health, physics, religion and philosophy. He cares about his students but not in a way you would expect. He doesn’t coddle you. He very patiently challenges you to practice the Art of Tai Chi & Qi Gong and thereby get better mentally and physically.
I came upon another site the other day and read this . . .
Neuroscientists have discovered that the heart has it’s own independent nervous system, a complex system referred to as the “brain in the heart”. There are at least 40,000 neurons (nerve cells) in the heart, this can be as many neurons as are found in some parts of the brain. And this “brain in the heart” has the ability to relay information back to the brain creating a two-way communication system between the heart and brain. Physiologists John and Beatrice Lacy discovered that when the heart sends messages to the brain the brain not only understands the messages but also obeys them. ~ Mind Body Solutions
I stumbled upon a series of interesting articles that relate to emotional pain and depression. From reading the article on ‘complex grief’ I wonder if maybe it’s possible to experience that without necessarily losing someone to death. Certainly if you’re walking a black dog you’re more susceptible when a lover leaves, a friend abandons you, a child turns their back, etc.
Emotional Pain Hurts More Than Physical Ones
How emotional pain can really hurt
Saturday I picked dad up and took him out for our now 2nd annual trip to the sunflower patch that’s just north of town a few miles.
I’ve found that going on small outings with dad is a good way to visit him. When you’re driving around town there’s always something new to talk about. Sitting in his room at the home . . . well, there’s not a whole lot of stimulation. The awkwardness and stress of visiting a parent with Alzheimer’s is eased when there’s outside distractions to talk about.
Today is a first for Walking the Black Dog. We have a guest post by Tim Desmond, MFTI. Tim has an MA in Clinical Psychology and works in private practice in Oakland, CA. He offers phone counseling through his website as well as consultation for therapists.
For those of you thinking about getting into (or going back to) therapy this case study should give you some idea of what is possible.
For those of you who are unsure of whether or not lifestyle changes actually can and do make a difference in treating disease, I submit to you the following.
One of the many things you can do on Google is to create an ‘alert’ (google.com > more > even more > alerts). This feature allows you to enter a word or phrase or a name and then have Google notify you when someone searches for that. It’s a handy way of keeping track of a developing news story, a favorite sports team, or in my case, trying to keep in contact with a daughter I’ve lost through Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS).
For my own version of TLC, I need to have some kind of regular anti-anxiety practice. In thinking about how that fits with the whole TLC program, in emulating more primitive people, it seems that their slower pace in life was itself a kind of anti-anxiety practice.
They would get up & go to sleep with the sun, eat healthier, exercise more, have regular sunlight exposure, etc. they were living a simpler lifestyle that was more connected to the natural rhythms of life than our lives are today. Their work was more focused on one thing like growing crops, hunting, fishing, etc. There was no ‘multi-tasking’ to distract them and raise their anxiety level with the increased demand on time, abilities, responsibilities, etc.
