My progressive patients are consistently dysregulated by the current administration’s dysfunction. I tell all of them to go get involved with food banks, senior centers, day care centers, community centers, legal aid, domestic violence centers, after-school programs, immigration centers, VA groups. Be on the ground. Go to demonstrations and meet people who are active. Be with like minded people. Speak for those who can’t speak. All of those behaviors keep us connected, and actually help lift everyone. Prosocial behavior tones the ventral vagal, and we think more clearly, hear more clearly, lower blood pressure, and relaxes the gut. Communities acting together are the power we have. We talk about the people who are suffering and dying. We share the sense of loss and grief…and then I tell them to take action. We have voices and we can take definitive action. I’m a social worker for a reason. No matter how difficult, we have our presence. I think of Bonhoeffer. He is one who holds the lamp of this path.
What we are NOT talking about today in the US are the steep cuts to Head Start, and how masked men with no identifying badges grabbing civilians off the streets. Watch the movie “Wag the Dog”.
It’s the little ways we notice and respond. Thank you Dr. Brooks for your thoughts and questions.
As I listened to The Daily, the podcast from the New York Times, respond to the dropping of the bombs in Iran.
I heard a little voice from across the street: “Hey, my mom is not here” I see my neighbor, a first grader who is also on the spectrum, lost and confused, sitting on his front steps alone. I went over to him and we talked about his day. I called his mom who was around the corner. She came right away. There was a mistake with the bus as it’s the first day of summer school.
The little voice of my neighbor spoke to my heart. Community, connection and service is so important now more than ever. I second a meet up before camp if possible.
Thanks so much for sharing these thoughts ....a steadfast call to keep asking the questions, and to elevate our expectations of ourselves and our collective. I loved where the Hanuman conversations concluded too....with conscience. I was thinking afterwards, isn't it interesting that the universe created us with certain givens....like our breath, and our beating heart....but conscience is optional among us. We certainly see a frightening lack of conscience cut loose in our country right now. Here's to more powerful conversations like these together, and to listening to that inner compass within...
Douglas, thanks and bravo. Such a balance to stay up to date with the news (sometimes factual) but also to avoid getting slimed (think: Ghostbusters). It would be amazing if you might consider a Saturday convo prior to camp to help the Rajanaka group stay focused on your wonderful teaching. The three refuges (revised): DB's teaching and heart and the Rajanaka community (sangha).
The whole world was shaken and enthralled by the miracle of the Exodus. The name of Moses was on everyone's lips. Tidings of the great miracle reached also the wise king of Arabistan. The king summoned his best painter and bade him go to Moses, to paint his portrait and bring it back to him. When the painter returned, the king gathered together all his sages, wise in physiognomy (the art of judging human character from facial features), and asked them to define by the portrait the character of Moses, his qualities, inclinations, habits, and the source of his miraculous power.
"King," answered the sages, "this is the portrait of a man cruel, haughty, greedy of gain, possessed by desire for power, and by all the vices which exist in the world." These words roused the king's indignation. "How can it be possible," he exclaimed, "that a man whose marvelous deeds ring through the whole world should be of such a kind?" A dispute began between the painter and the sages. The painter affirmed that the portrait of Moses had been painted by him quite accurately, while the sages maintained that Moses' character had been unerringly determined by them according to the portrait. The wise king of Arabistan decided to verify which of the disputing parties was right, and he himself set off for the camp of Israel. At the first glance the king became convinced that the face of Moses had been faultlessly portrayed by the painter. On entering the tent of the man of God he knelt down, bowed to the ground, and told Moses of the dispute between the artist and the sages. "Until I saw thy face," said the king, "I thought it must be that the artist had painted thy image badly, for my sages are men very much experienced in the science of physiognomy. Now I am convinced that they are quite worthless men and that their wisdom is vain and worthless." "No," answered Moses, "it is not so; both the painter and the physiognomists are men highly skilled, and both parties are right. Be it known to thee that all the vices of which the sages spoke have indeed been assigned to me by nature and perhaps to an even higher degree than was found by them from my portrait. But I struggled with my vices by long and intense efforts of the will and gradually overcame and transcended them within myself until all opposed to them became my second nature. And in this lies my greatest pride."
My progressive patients are consistently dysregulated by the current administration’s dysfunction. I tell all of them to go get involved with food banks, senior centers, day care centers, community centers, legal aid, domestic violence centers, after-school programs, immigration centers, VA groups. Be on the ground. Go to demonstrations and meet people who are active. Be with like minded people. Speak for those who can’t speak. All of those behaviors keep us connected, and actually help lift everyone. Prosocial behavior tones the ventral vagal, and we think more clearly, hear more clearly, lower blood pressure, and relaxes the gut. Communities acting together are the power we have. We talk about the people who are suffering and dying. We share the sense of loss and grief…and then I tell them to take action. We have voices and we can take definitive action. I’m a social worker for a reason. No matter how difficult, we have our presence. I think of Bonhoeffer. He is one who holds the lamp of this path.
What we are NOT talking about today in the US are the steep cuts to Head Start, and how masked men with no identifying badges grabbing civilians off the streets. Watch the movie “Wag the Dog”.
superb advice for us all. thanks, Jan!
It’s the little ways we notice and respond. Thank you Dr. Brooks for your thoughts and questions.
As I listened to The Daily, the podcast from the New York Times, respond to the dropping of the bombs in Iran.
I heard a little voice from across the street: “Hey, my mom is not here” I see my neighbor, a first grader who is also on the spectrum, lost and confused, sitting on his front steps alone. I went over to him and we talked about his day. I called his mom who was around the corner. She came right away. There was a mistake with the bus as it’s the first day of summer school.
The little voice of my neighbor spoke to my heart. Community, connection and service is so important now more than ever. I second a meet up before camp if possible.
Thank you 🙏🏽
Thanks so much for sharing these thoughts ....a steadfast call to keep asking the questions, and to elevate our expectations of ourselves and our collective. I loved where the Hanuman conversations concluded too....with conscience. I was thinking afterwards, isn't it interesting that the universe created us with certain givens....like our breath, and our beating heart....but conscience is optional among us. We certainly see a frightening lack of conscience cut loose in our country right now. Here's to more powerful conversations like these together, and to listening to that inner compass within...
Douglas, thanks and bravo. Such a balance to stay up to date with the news (sometimes factual) but also to avoid getting slimed (think: Ghostbusters). It would be amazing if you might consider a Saturday convo prior to camp to help the Rajanaka group stay focused on your wonderful teaching. The three refuges (revised): DB's teaching and heart and the Rajanaka community (sangha).
The whole world was shaken and enthralled by the miracle of the Exodus. The name of Moses was on everyone's lips. Tidings of the great miracle reached also the wise king of Arabistan. The king summoned his best painter and bade him go to Moses, to paint his portrait and bring it back to him. When the painter returned, the king gathered together all his sages, wise in physiognomy (the art of judging human character from facial features), and asked them to define by the portrait the character of Moses, his qualities, inclinations, habits, and the source of his miraculous power.
"King," answered the sages, "this is the portrait of a man cruel, haughty, greedy of gain, possessed by desire for power, and by all the vices which exist in the world." These words roused the king's indignation. "How can it be possible," he exclaimed, "that a man whose marvelous deeds ring through the whole world should be of such a kind?" A dispute began between the painter and the sages. The painter affirmed that the portrait of Moses had been painted by him quite accurately, while the sages maintained that Moses' character had been unerringly determined by them according to the portrait. The wise king of Arabistan decided to verify which of the disputing parties was right, and he himself set off for the camp of Israel. At the first glance the king became convinced that the face of Moses had been faultlessly portrayed by the painter. On entering the tent of the man of God he knelt down, bowed to the ground, and told Moses of the dispute between the artist and the sages. "Until I saw thy face," said the king, "I thought it must be that the artist had painted thy image badly, for my sages are men very much experienced in the science of physiognomy. Now I am convinced that they are quite worthless men and that their wisdom is vain and worthless." "No," answered Moses, "it is not so; both the painter and the physiognomists are men highly skilled, and both parties are right. Be it known to thee that all the vices of which the sages spoke have indeed been assigned to me by nature and perhaps to an even higher degree than was found by them from my portrait. But I struggled with my vices by long and intense efforts of the will and gradually overcame and transcended them within myself until all opposed to them became my second nature. And in this lies my greatest pride."