Coming Sun Sep 24 2023... Hope you'll join us!
https://www.thrivingnow.center/t/3-pitfalls-to-avoid-when-savvy-co-creating/1264
Appreciated the included (no extra charge) virtual office visit I was able to have at 1030pm the other night through the nostr:npub1q7xqc79rteknhs5s4rsqju2yu8tuguvptu373napkzptsz65yn2qz590jl app. What I need to ask my care advocate is how to manage prescriptions. The one I was given would have been $3 through Amazon Pharmacy but that wasn't an option that I saw, so chose a "local independent pharmacy" and paid... $27. Ugh. The medical industrial racket... everywhere.
https://void.cat/d/JUUNeikR1bRBc5dxNKcpTL.webp
Make Your Fortunate... switches us to a focus on Heartistry and long term stewardship more than traditional measures of "fortune."
A recent meta-analysis published in Frontiers in Psychology found that Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) is an effective treatment for PTSD.
The analysis showed EFT leads to greater symptom reduction compared to no treatment or treatment-as-usual.
The large effect sizes found for EFT in treating PTSD add to the growing body of research supporting its use.
EFT incorporates acupoint stimulation and has over 100 clinical studies supporting its efficacy for conditions like PTSD, anxiety, and depression. More research is warranted, but this meta-analysis provides strong evidence that EFT is an effective PTSD treatment option.
https://www.energypsych.org/blog/research-update-meta-analysis-shows-eft-is-effective-for-ptsd
https://void.cat/d/RE6Lcaaqt8AfGVGZSjE914.webp
Tolerance doesn’t mean permitting behavior that undermines the community. In fact, it requires that we put the community first. Instead, it’s a willingness to focus on contribution instead of compliance.
Not Too Close… Not Too Far: Just Right Engaging
Real Skills Workshop: Savvy Relating & Engaging
We covered…
Explore the art of finding the right distance and depth in relationships for a mutually fulfilling connection.
Understand the importance of being present with your needs, the ecosystem you’re sharing, and the other person.
Embrace the natural rhythms and cycles of closeness and distance in relationships to cultivate connection.
Learn to recognize when pretending in relationships and how to be more authentic with yourself and others.
Extract wisdom from experiences by looking at the reality and evidence of your relationships… and use EFT Tapping as you sit with the discomfort.
Develop the ability to set healthy boundaries and agreements and acknowledge the right distance for each unique relationship.
Thanks for engaging together!
If you feel like taking a step back, take it. Pause. Feel. Get Clear.
If you sense you want to get closer, make an invitation connected more deeply to What Matters to you.
These are two proven approaches for finding Right Distance Right Depth.
They honor that some of our sensors may need a bit more space (and if we don’t give ourselves that we might “need” to run for the exit!)
They recognize that for freedom kin, going deeper and getting closer is natural, even desired.
But do we just leap there? Or do we stay savvy and offer an invitation to more depth of sharing and co-creating… and see if there is a Yes-Yes?
Finding the “just right” engagement is dynamic. It changes from person to person, with the emotional weather, and with seasons of life. It’s a Real Skill… and so appropriate to explore together in Monday’s workshop. We hope you’ll join us (or definitely listen and tap along with the recording you’ll get when you register.)
Register here for Not Too Close… Not Too Far: Just Right Engaging
https://www.thrivingnow.center/t/not-too-close-not-too-far-just-right-engaging/1263/5
Thank you! ‘twas delicious! Just finished my last bottle. We’ll order more next year. 😋
You’re cold. Oh! There’s a campfire! You step closer, feel the warmth… ahhh. Keep stepping closer, closer, closer… wow, it’s getting hot…
https://www.thrivingnow.center/t/not-too-close-not-too-far-just-right-engaging/1263/4
What is abundance? Is it where we stand in comparison to what others have… and what they can and can’t do?
If that is what “abundance” is then I will never have it. Such comparisons have never and will never feel “good” to me.
What will?! What does…?
https://www.thrivingnow.center/t/emotional-abundance-our-inner-thriving/1266
Not Too Close... Not Too Far: Just Right Engaging
Coming Monday, Sep 11 2023
Hope you'll join us! #RealSkills
https://void.cat/d/Aefmi7nJaZhUuES4XCxBkc.webp
#RealSkills Matter
For me it is about Emotional Knowing, being clear about what matters to me in the emotional world I'm co-creating. FREEDOM matters to me... yours, mine, ours, everyone's...
Real Skills Workshop
How do I discern what’s right for me? And for us?
On a crowded playground, I can discern my daughter’s laughter and cries from other kids with high accuracy.
What made it so hard for me to discern my own glee and gloom from other people’s voices?
Perhaps it was authority. But who rules me? Growing up, it was parents and teachers. “Respect your elders” (even if they are drunk abusive arrogant arseholes).
Of the emotional skills that matter most in my healing and thriving, discernment is #1.
Discernment sits at the spot of the observer, recognizing nuances in emotional energy. It can tell the difference between anger from hurt and anger rises from being told to do something that isn’t right for me.
Discernment is the superpower of knowing whether the empathetic feelings active in me are “mine” or “theirs.” For us super sensitives, “our feelings” often are an interwoven mix from what we pick up from others and what we feel ourselves in response.
As an auditory person, the sea of voices outside me are part of my awareness. Thriving is made possible by the skill of figuring out what is true and directive for ME…
…while not always reconciling that for EVERYONE!
Go right. No go LEFT. Pick that one. No, you’re an idiot if you like that!
Eeek!
Discernment in my experience is different from understanding. It can include understanding. But it activates within different channels than just what I understand.
Have you ever felt like you didn’t “understand” and later discovered you were being manipulated?
I typically do not have difficulty “understanding.” My mind works fine. I’ve noticed, though, that when listening to professional liars that I have a “hard time understanding.”
Why is that?
If I keep trying to understand… I get even more confused! Why?!?
Well, the skill of discernment asks, “What happens in your body and mind when someone is trying to deceive you, or is selfishly trying to get you to do something that benefits THEM… and they don’t care (really) about whether it is right for YOU?”
Oh wow, it’s been so so helpful to know what that feels like in my body! Going all the way back in history I can feel hundreds of times when those sensations rose in me… to help me navigate… even when I wasn’t always free to act on that knowing.
Freeing up our energy sensors to guide us better is what Cathy and I will explore with the circle on Monday. Would you like to join us? (Or, register now and get the recording later if you can’t be with us live – we’ll miss you!)
Register here for Finding Your Direction in the Sea of Voices
https://www.thrivingnow.center/t/finding-your-direction-in-the-sea-of-voices/1239/5
On this hot humid day, my imagination goes to life without refrigeration.
So much of what might nourish us (food-wise) would spoil fast in this heat.
So much of my good mood here in the refrigerated home would spoil… I do as well as ice cream does in 90 degrees and 90% humidity.
Refrigeration helps to buffer us against the elements. It helps us to be more resilient. It gives us options for nourishment around the clock and the calendar that we otherwise would not have!
I’m so grateful to refrigeration for such options that “default nature” would not.
I’m so grateful for EFT Tapping for helping me process and tend to my energy resources in ways that “default nature” would not.
And… I’m so grateful to bitcoin for giving being as profound (I believe) an invention as refrigeration (and deep freeze) for storing Work Energy without it melting or being spoiled by the “default nature” of Financialists.
Mmmm… time for some watermelon from the fridge along with a topping of sats for future enjoyment.
In order to ___, you HAVE TO…
Really? I have to?
I rebel inside when someone tells me I have to. Or I should!
How do your insides react?
Here’s the thing: some wisdom we extract from steaming piles of Have To.
“Contrast” is a useful experience. As long as we’re savvy about it. As long as we know what contrast feels like and have skills to process it.
What does that look like?
You’re reading online. A bold and seemingly successful human proclaims: “In order to be successful like me, you have to choose your niche and go after it with laser focus! Or else you WILL fail!”
We can easily search and find 1000 marketers who make that kind of assertion. But is it true for you?
It’s not been true for me.
This is the getting clear skill. What matters to you? If diversity matters to you, laser focus on one “avatar customer” will deplete your energy rather than activate you. I love the mix of beautiful beings that are a part of the circle. Each is their own unique being.
What can we guess matters to the person making their proclamation?
That can be truly useful to consider. A marketer that measures success by money or raw numbers and profit margin, who is driven by personal achievements and meeting goals is more likely to be successful (by what matters to them!) by following the niche-ing wisdom. It’s like mono-cropping to maximize farm profits.
For someone who wants the experience of depth, variety, of an ecosystem that is diverse and flourishing… we don’t “niche” - we cultivate and grow and explore.
Can you feel the difference?
Navigating assertions (of which criticisms and judgments and ridicule are cousins) takes a set of skills. Skills they do not teach in elementary school (or university).
For sensitive, empathetic beings, these skills… are incredibly useful for living a thriving life. Essential even.
So… Cathy and I will be exploring this skill set. For us, these skills have made it possible for us to express ourselves and co-create with far more savvy, calm, and confidence.
Want to tune up these tools for yourself? Then join us! (Or, register and get the recording.)
Register here for Finding Your Direction in the Sea of Voices
https://www.thrivingnow.center/t/finding-your-direction-in-the-sea-of-voices/1239/4
On the third visit for dishwasher repair. I am absolutely CONVINCED that if there was a "supporting AI" that acted as a repository for fixes for weird cases... they'd have this done and be much more assured. My sense is that there's a 50/50 chance this latest round of part replacements will fix the leak. "Medical AI" doesn't just apply to animals!
Savvy is practical.
We're relating in a savvy way when we're applying what we've learned.
Savvy is street-wise.
Growing up all the adults around me focused on my smarts. Yet, I'm a dumb toad compared to AI when it comes to raw smarts. An internet search can give people a vast sampling of different "smarts" far, far beyond what I as a solo brain could ever come up with much less store in my neurons.
Savvy was not a focus. That's not savvy!
For example, it may be "smart" to see ways the world could be different. "If we only ____, then everything would work better!"
But that ain't savvy in a world where people have different incentives and aptitudes, and where predators are looking for prey.
Savvy relating means accepting these "unwanted realities" while exploring shrewd ways to be thriving anyway.
While doing no harm? Wouldn't that be nice!
Otters make me happy...
fractal art of a happy river otter, mid-distance, appalachian stream in forest, in the style of alcohol ink, mosaic --ar 3:2
Knowing that our Freedom Kin are likely to be found with those who share our values, what matters to us, and have an interest in safe, respectful, and freedom-honoring friendship. Thank you Bitcoiners everywhere!
Celebrating this Real Skills Workshop we did yesterday. Replay here...
It takes courage and willingness to co-create together. And all friendships are co-creations.
Every single “good friend” I’ve had in my life is a person I was co-creating with.
It’s easy for me to like people if we share some values and interests. But for a person to feel like a good friend takes something more for me.
It takes us having a shared intention to build, grow, or steward something that matters to us both.
Yeah, some people can feel like good friends with a drinking buddy. Or someone they hang with at the farmers market just shooting the shyte.
Closeness and depth comes (for me) only through consciously choosing Together to cultivate what matters to us both.
What have you noticed helps you feel closer and deeper with a fellow human?
https://www.thrivingnow.center/t/being-a-good-friend-with-safety-and-courage/1238/3
Put Microsoft and Apple together and you get a squishy mess.
You can't upgrade from Microsoft 360 Personal to Family if you bought it through the Apple app store. If you COULD it would only be $30 more. since you CAN'T (and I am not the only one irritated by this according to web searches), it would be another $70 to add it to my partner's computer so she can use Powerpoint with audios for her class.
Well... I asked AI. And
@perplexity_ai
gave me a number of options including trying Google Sheets to import the Powerpoint file and Apple Keynote. Had 4 other options, too!
While I don't YET know whether either or both will work, I appreciate that "workarounds and options" are becoming even more readily available and digestible using AI tools.
This joins friends and online communities who we can ask to help us come up with options.
For us freedom kin, the body-mind reaction of irritation that it seems we're being "forced" is a reminder that, yeah, there are often unknown options that slip our mind or are as of yet outside our awareness.
Opposition. Competition. Blocking Maneuvers. **Resistance!**
Apple blocked the iOS app nostr:npub18m76awca3y37hkvuneavuw6pjj4525fw90necxmadrvjg0sdy6qsngq955 from the app store for a time because it allowed for people to directly send value (in the form of bitcoin sats) to the author of a note on Nostr. They did this because if someone "pays for content" (their self-serving interpretation) using an iOS app, Apple wants its piece of the action. Damus had to remove that feature which was done in order to return to the iOS app store.
What gives them that right!?!?!?! Pissed me off. I don't enjoy such contrast with how I want the ecosystem to flow.
nostr:npub1sg6plzptd64u62a878hep2kev88swjh3tw00gjsfl8f237lmu63q0uf63m asked about how Apple blocking zaps had affected us...
It stoked a huge conflict in me. I use Apple products, and they work for me as essential tools for my work. Yes, I've looked at alternatives, and they are simply not as good...
I'm also an investor, but not necessarily because I "want" to be. Apple, as one of the premier companies revenue-wise and technology-lock-in-wise, is "a good investment" (generally) compared to something like cash or an S&P 500 index. That's been shown this year and most past years that stocks like Apple's do better than the average big company. Since inflation is sucking energy out of the dollar, it's for "survival" that I put some our our family freedom funds into Apple stock (for now).
(Bitcoin is where my savings-heart is focused, of course.)
As an investor, Apple's "walled garden" and "predatory app store policies" end up... keeping value in their stock. So, them blocking Damus unless they get "their cut" means they are protecting their revenue streams. But AT THE EXPENSE of the part of me that is a customer... and the me that is part of the freedom kin and wants value-for-value (people paying for what they value when not REQUIRED to do so) to grow!
Absolutists would say that I am "wrong" to continue to use Apple products if they behave this way! But as if Google/Android is different, really, at the end of the day. Or, that I am "supporting" such policies by being an investor. Well, no, I am trying to help my savings keep up with inflation enough so I can feed and homeschool and make a home for my family. But I can also see their point.
In my emotional world, the acceptance of 'reality' without losing hope for greater safety, respect, and freedom requires a lot of active, spiritual energy. I need to see what is natural as... natural... including the evolution of thought, the awareness of blocks and impediments and competing incentives, and the engineering of workarounds.
Zapplepay is one of those workarounds, and the fuck you the name itself sends to Apple for blocking zaps in Damus (and all other iOS Nostr apps now) tickles the Freedom Maximalist in me. Now, instead of a zap button, a "like" is translated by an entirely outside-of-Damus system to pay the value I once did directly in Damus itself.
Admittedly, the freedom-desiring part of me wishes that the Big Apple didn't have the power to force Damus to remove that feature. But they do. At least for now.
What rises, and activates, through this act by Apple is a kind of resilience in the face of Apple's resistance. It says, "How can we... anyway?"
This morning in my meditation I saw a gorge, caved by eons of water having its way with the earth. The dirt and rock resisted directly, but were literally "worn down."
What about for those of us who want to get to the other side of the gorge?!? Without being forced to go many miles out of our direct path?
I saw this steel cable with hand wires across. I saw myself strong and skilled and bold enough to latch in and get to the other side. I saw the Stewards who walked across every day, who knew every step, who paid deep attention to the anchors on both sides and the cable itself.
As I walked the Mountain to Sea trail this morning, I saw the stewards there, too. To walk these mountains WITHOUT the trail builders and maintainers would be possible... but hard. Once the trail was built, Nature started to adapt -- sometimes trying to take it back, and the stewards needing to tend it back into shape.
At a time when I truly want more emotional freedom for all, I'm humbly recognizing that resistance -- whether to change or to clear out and cut through or to upend incentive structures (like our current monetary power structures), resistance hones the power of the builders, the early adopters, and the stewards of today and the tomorrows to come.
"Overcoming resistance" has, if I look at it from the right angle, been the foundational process for my own evolution and thriving.
Resistance feels as natural an essence as gravity. I "object" to gravity when I dream of leaping across the chasm or flying to the top of the mountain. But gravity is damn useful if one wants to sit without floating away...
Exploring this concept of savvy relating and engaging has me asking how I might use the resistance to clarify and shift my navigation. How can I support those crafting dirt trails that speak to where my soul wants to dance even while, at times, using the paved highways that help me get from one place to the other?
Savvy in this case accepts what is, for now, while putting more and more of my life force where it supports What Matters to me.
I'm curious where you find this kind of resistance and "savvy conflict" you have to navigate for now, too...?
Warm smiles,
Rick ~ ThrivingNow