Mental Health Care

Pithy saying - I have the power to make the world more beautiful - Plant a tree or some flowers today or do or say something that makes this a better place.

In this post, I'd like to thank all of the people who work in the mental health field. This includes counselors, social workers, mental health counselors, psychologists, and psychiatrists. It can also include preachers and priests to that extent that they provide counseling besides just 'pray to god'.

We need more of these professionals. There are far too many examples of people acting out that might have been helped by receiving assistance or help from counseling, psychotherapy, medication and/or even meditation.

We need to work on the stigma that exists that prevents people from seeking help. There are two facets to this idea. One is preventative and the other is reactive.

On the preventative side, just like physical exercise and diet are recognized as good interventions to prevent poor physical health, we must start advocating and doing mental health exercise to prevent or ameliorate poor mental health. For me, this starts with meditation.

The second part of this equation is reactive, once a person realizes they are in a funk they should give the same amount of thought to this mental health situation as they do to the pain of a kidney stone, stomach ailment or persistent cough. Go see someone to help with your condition. Unfortunately today, we have Urgent Care facilities and Emergency Rooms to deal with the physical, but we don't have the equivalent for mental health care. How do you think we should deal with this?

My son is a mental health counselor and I wish him the best of luck in his endeavor and thank him for working in this profession.

Thanks to all pets and my pets!

Pithy saying

I am able to make others feel good about themselves.

Commit to taking the time to give a genuine compliment to everyone you meet!

- - - - - - -

Today I'd like to express my gratitude to the pets I've had. They have all been dogs. I love dogs for all of the reasons you hear so often about.

• They are faithful. 
• They are always happy to see you when you come home. 
• They love to be loved. 
• They are good emotional barometers. 
• I love the way the wag their tails. 
• I love the way they hold their mouths open and their tongue hangs out when the pant. To me, this is their way of smiling. 
• Dog's like to press their bodies against you sometimes to either seek attention or just to acknowledge you.
• Our current dog sleeps with us and on occasion she'll sleep right against me, seeking either the warmth of my body or the physical contact. 
• I like the way that dogs will make eye contact with you.
• It is cute the way that dogs smell you to check you out. 

This article, on the Mother Nature Network, listens 11 positive things that pets provide and the studies that back it up. 

1. Pets help you live longer, healthier lives
2. Pets alleviate allergies and boost immmune funciton 
3. Pets up your fitness quotient
4. Pets dial down stress 
5. Pets boost heart health
6. Pets make you a social and date magnet
7. Pets prove a social salve for Alzheimer patients
8. Pet enhance social skills in kids with Autism
9. Pets dampen depression and boost mood
10. Pets can defeat PTSD
11. Pets can fight cancer
12. Pets can put the kibosh on pain

Thank you to all pets and my pets!

My glass is at least half full

George Washington channeling the Buddha ...

In a letter to Robert Steward on April 27, 1763, George Washington wrote: "Human affairs are always checkered and vicissitudes in this life are rather to be expected than wondered at".

I like to think I see a half-filled glass as half full not half empty ... supposedly a positive outlook. Another quote that I saw the other day is something like this.

"Let us try to see things from their better side:
You complain about seeing thorny rose bushes;
Me, I rejoice and give thanks to the gods
That thorns have roses."

This quote is attributed to Alphonse Karr, a French journalist, and author from his book "Letters written from my garden."

The above is from the https://quoteinvestigator.com/ website here.

Thanks for what I have

Quote from Epicurus:

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for."

There are two parts of this that I like ... "what I hoped for" ... and "do not spoil".

I worked all my life to retire early, studying the forums on earlyretirement.org. So I what I have now is what I hoped for, for at least the second part of my adult life ... with the first part being innocent bliss of youth and the third part living the dream, retirement!

So this IS what I hoped for and GOT!

There is no reason to spoil what I currently have as many people would be desperate to achieve what I have.

I am so fortunate and grateful for what I have.

Thanks to my dharma teachers

In this gratitude post, I'd like to think and thank all my dharma teachers. There have been a few. Some, I've met in person, most of them I have experienced online.

The list of online teachers that I've never met but have listened to hours of their teachings include (in random order of stream of consciousness)

• Joseph Goldstein 
• https://dharmaseed.org
• Slyvia Boorstein
• https://dharmaseed.org
• Gil Fronsdale
• https://www.audiodharma.org/
• http://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/
• http://www.sati.org/
• Andrea Fella (see Gil's links)
• Jack Kornfield 
• https://dharmaseed.org
• Matthew Brensilver
• https://dharmaseed.org
• https://www.audiodharma.org/
• Bikkhu Bodhi
• https://bodhimonastery.org/religion/audios
• https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bhikkhu+bodhi
• Thubten Chodron
• https://sravastiabbey.org
• Lama Marut
• https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=lama+marut
• Thanissaro Bikkhu 
• https://www.dhammatalks.org/index.html
• Piya Tan 
• http://www.themindingcentre.org/dharmafarer
• Dan Harris (not really a teacher <grin>)
• Sam Harris 

In another post I'll mention those I've met in person.

Thanks for my gifts

Today I worked out at the gym and spoke with the manager there. I have spoken to him a couple of times. We had spoken about how yoga is a good stress relief for me. He showed me how he shines brass to release his stress. He has a bell on his desk that he is shining. He told me that he suffers from partial PTSD from his service in one of the Iraq wars. I'll have to look again at a plaque hanging there to see which one. So thanks John for sharing with me that you have a stress and a way to relieve it. Thanks to all veterans for the sacrifices that made and make every day as a result of injuries physical and mental received while serving our country and maintaining our freedoms.

Pithy saying and response

My presence upon this earth can make a difference in the world. Make this world a better place by sharing one of your unique gifts.

One of my (many) unique gifts is to be joyful and happy. I smile at people and they smile back. It makes us both feel good. I try to remain humble but that is not one of my gifts. My other gifts are my intellect, my ability to make people feel comfortable and open up, my athleticism, my discipline.

On this post, I would like to express my gratitude to teachers. As Lama Marut says in this video, "everything of value that we have learned has been taught to us by someone else". Yes, our parents, friends and even enemies have taught us things, but I'm speaking now of those people who taught us in school or on the playing field.

For me this is a long list and in no particular order;

• History teachers - my favorite course in high school
• Science teachers - this includes physics, chemistry, and the electrical engineering course that were required for my Electrical Engineering degree 
• Math teachers - I enjoyed differential equations when essentially the professor said that differential equations are essentially unsolvable, so you just try things until something works. 
• English teachers - Going line-by-line through King Lear in High School was my first taste of getting down to the details.
• Russian language teachers - I had two that I remember very fondly, including an almost blind Mr. Hughes in high school
• I remember taking a home economics course in elementary school where I had fun learning how to measure ingredients and other things - that was fun.
• I learned how to speed read in elementary school from a special teacher
• My piano teacher in Italy Mrs. Fusco
• I had ballet teachers, soccer coaches, baseball coaches, wrestling coaches - thanks!
• I learned how to scuba dive from a young teacher ... less then half my age.
• I've learned how to take underwater photography from a number of teachers. 
• I've listened to many podcasts done by teachers, especially recently one on a course on astronomy, another one on genetics, another on philosophy
• I'm learning yoga now from a wonderful teacher. 

To all my teachers, I express my gratitude. THANKS!

- - - - - -

Quote of the day - The storms of my life are essential to my growth. Take Time to reflect upon how you have grown from the challenges you have overcome.