Let's Take A Walk

You would be surprised

Here is your challenge. Turn off the television. Shut down the computer. Turn off your phone. Put away all your musical devices. Stand up. Walk out the door and keep walking.

Walking is only falling forward and catching yourself and repeat. It is not difficult and is as natural as breathing. We’ve been doing it for years.

Walk to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Walk to the refrigerator during commercial breaks. Walk the dog and pick up the newspaper and mail. Walk on the ice and sometimes fall.

Walking is a simple art we have practiced since we left the water. Walking gets us from place to place and though it may be slow, it is constant.

One of the first things we learn is to walk. We walk when we still poop in our pants. Once we learn the motion of one foot in front of another, off we good with our parents chasing us.

We then invented many machines and vehicles to get us from one point to another faster and easier and more comfortable than the plodding of footsteps. We have become so independent on this mobile machines we pave paradise and rape the earth to provide these machines a path for our convenience while constantly refueling their every want.

So my simple challenge is to step out of your normal world and take a walk. You can even take along a friend.

You don’t have to have any particular place to go, just wander. Think of it as exploring new places. It may be the same path traveled but I guarantee you will see new things.

Rather than speeding by, there is time to observe the details that are normally just blurs.

Walking means you are all alone with the elements. No matter where you go for how long, you are on your own. If it starts to get cold, you put your hands in your pockets and turn up your collar. If it rains, you get wet until you find shelter.

No matter where you walk or how far, remember you have to turn around to go back.

So why would anyone want to walk?

There is a pace to walking. Not jogging or running, but a simple step-by-step walking. The length of the legs creates the pendulum of the gait that is comfortable for each of us.

Our hearts create our pace and off we go.

Side note: I do recommend comfortable sturdy walking shoes.

There is no need to hike unless you want to mix the natural adventure with rugged territory. Most towns have a path set up for pedestrians and in a rural setting, just take a stroll down a back road.

So what is walking good for?

Well it gets you from place to place at no cost. It may take more time but the upside is you can enjoy the walk. In the winter you can bundle up in scarves and mittens and see your breath as you talk. In the summer you can feel the sweat running down your back and know you are actually exercising.

You can walk to unknown places and stop in a local establishment for a cup of coffee and meet unknown strangers who become friends. You can stop and stand still and learn a new appreciation of the sights and sounds that go on around you everyday. You may, if you are paying attention, be surprised by all the activities of your furry and feathered neighbors. Who knew?

If you take a friend, the conversation between you will be like no other. Without interruptions brings a chance for confessionals. If the journey is long enough unusual subjects like “If there is water on Mars, can you surf?” or “Should I marry her if she is having your baby?” may override the mundane discussions.

You can walk in the morning or walk at night. There are no restrictions on how far you can walk. You can take a break during your walk and rest.

So let’s take a walk.

Let Us Have Some Fun!

Remember when you were a kid? From the time you hopped out of bed in your footie pajamas to the time your parents dropped your exhausted body back between the sheets you had fun.

Kids have fun. They are supposed to have fun. It is the time in your life where all the worries of the world are held aside by your parents so you can just play.

You get to play with neat toys and get together with friends to play sports and games. You can pretend to be a princess or a cowboy and scream at the top of your lungs.

Everyone from parents and grandparents to complete strangers accept that little people running around wildly and exploring the world are having fun. How long can this fun last?

When does fun end?

Well discipline can end the fun. That sucks. Being told you can’t do this or you can’t do that when you are just playing bums the fun.

Responsibility is a fun downer too. Suddenly you can run around with your friends because you have to cut the grass or that video game you want to play will have to wait until the dishes are put away.

School homework and work and family all get in the way of fun. And soon fun turns into work and we all know there is NO FUN at work.

Why not?

All during the growing up period of life, you are molded and directed and asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” You might decide on a doctor or lawyer or governmental bureaucrat because that sounds like fun. Well boys and girls any of those jobs takes a lot of schooling and long hours and it is work. Unfortunately many of you and me will whine up with mundane or even revolting jobs like garbage collector or security guard or football stadium ticket taker. That’s no fun.

So all of our problems and our family problems and our children’s problems are that we don’t know how to have fun anymore. Sure you couldn’t grow up to be a princess or a cowboy, but when you pretended a stick was a horse or a ring of flowers was a crown, it was fun.

We have become accustomed to having electronic media or expensive travel locations or outlandish sports to replace our pretend with what we associate to fun. We drag out families to short vacations to walk on concrete and sit in scary rides and eat miserable over-priced food and tell everyone we are having fun.

The rest of the time we routinely walk through the motions of the day-to-day effort to earn a paycheck then go home to wash it all away only to repeat tomorrow. Why does it need to be that way?

No matter what kind of job or career or occupation you provide, it can be fun. You can make it fun. Maybe not as outrageous as a little kid screaming, but taking the monotony out of the daily grind can be easy.

Little things that will make you smile during the day can make work fun. If you can get along with others, whether in a cubicle or a road crew, can make the day go by with a better mood.

We work and take orders and obey discipline and rules, but it is our own attitude to enjoy the task or complain about it.

Tomorrow there will be a cowboy accountant and a princess waitress and an astronaut CEO. Enjoy your imitation like you did as a kid.

Have fun.

Monkey

Words. We write them down and they come out of our mouths. We use nouns and adjectives and adverbs and verbs and link them all together to relay our thoughts. We speak these words in a familiar language in sentences hopefully the listener will understand.

Popular words appear and become overused in phrases or quotes or a dull response from the uninformed. “Awesome” is one of those words. Every thing from losing a job or getting married to wrecking your car to having a baby was “Awesome”.

Many words create anxiety or stress but few bring us laughter. Words like ‘rainbow’ and ‘unicorn’ and ‘kittens’ can bring temporary smiles but are hard to combine in a normal sentence.

I will recommend ‘monkey’. 

It is an easy word to say and can be fit into so many types of situations. There is ‘monkey business’ or ‘monkey around’. You can even substitute other words like ‘everybody’s got something to hide except for me and my monkey’.

It is a word that will guarantee to bring a smile and change the conversation or message in the most delightful way. Try it.

“Let go of my monkey” or “Excuse me, I forgot my monkey” could become part of your daily language. Using the word ‘monkey’ will increase your vocabulary and responses with a smile.

Warning: Don’t use the word to reticule or demean someone else because you never know when he or she will release his or her monkeys. 

You Make Me Happy

And I don’t know why

Is it your face, your smile, your laugh, or just your presence that makes me happy?

You just make me feel go to be around you.

You bring out the best in me.

At the end of the day our experiences together make me smile.

And a smile is worth more money than any country can print.

Even in the common day-to-day routines of washing dishes or doing laundry or making the bed, having you nearby make all the difference.

You point out the silly things I forgot to see and put whipped cream on my nose.

If you hold my hand we can watch the stars pass in the night.

We can shelter from the storms and depend on each other to protect us.

On holidays we will present each other gifts of affections not so much of monetary values but of existence.

At the end of the day, you make me smile, and that makes me happy.

Thank you.

Crazy

With all the mass shootings and murders and violence and finger-pointing on is-it-the-gun or-the-shooter and the laws and amendments and tradition and heritage and the list goes on and on, the term “mental disturbed” person comes to play.

So my question is “What is sanity”?

Insanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person becoming a danger to themselves or others, though not all such acts are considered insanity; likewise, not all acts showing indifference toward societal norms are acts of insanity.

In modern usage, insanity is most commonly encountered as an informal unscientific term denoting mental instability, or in the narrow legal context of the insanity defense.

In the medical profession the term is now avoided in favor of diagnoses of specific mental disorders; the presence of delusions or hallucinations is broadly referred to as psychosis.

When discussing mental illness in general terms, “psychopathology” is considered a preferred descriptor.

In English, the word “sane” derives from the Latin adjective sanus meaning “healthy”. The phrase “mens sana in corpore sano” is often translated to mean a “healthy mind in a healthy body”. From this perspective, insanity can be considered as poor health of the mind, not necessarily of the brain as an organ (although that can affect mental health), but rather refers to defective function of mental processes such as reasoning. Another Latin phrase related to our current concept of sanity is “compos mentis” (lit. “sound of mind”), and a euphemistic term for insanity is “non compos mentis”. In law, “mens rea” means having had criminal intent, or a guilty mind, when the act (actus reus) was committed.

A more informal use of the term insanity is to denote something considered highly unique, passionate or extreme, including in a positive sense. The term may also be used as an attempt to discredit or criticize particular ideas, beliefs, principles, desires, personal feelings, attitudes, or their proponents, such as in politics and religion.

So ‘insanity’ is not playing well with others?

Folks, we just all don’t always get along. Lack of sleep, whining child, flat tire, traffic jam, boss chewing out, spilled coffee, bad hair day, etc. can make us all a bit grumpy. And all those grumpiness can build up to actual ‘not playing well with others’.

Do we then go ‘insane’?

A mental disorder, also called a mental illness, psychological disorder or psychiatric disorder, is mental or behavioral pattern that causes either suffering or a poor ability to function in ordinary life. Many disorders are described. Conditions that are excluded include social norms. Signs and symptoms depend on the specific disorder.

The causes of mental disorders are often unclear. Theories may incorporate findings from a range of fields. Mental disorders are usually defined by a combination of how a person feels, acts, thinks or perceives. This may be associated with particular regions or functions of the brain, often in a social context. A mental disorder is one aspect of mental health. The scientific study of mental disorders is called psychopathology.

Services are based in psychiatric hospitals or in the community, and assessments are carried out by psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and clinical social workers, using various methods but often relying on observation and questioning. Treatments are provided by various mental health professionals. Psychotherapy and psychiatric medication are two major treatment options. Other treatments include social interventions, peer support and self-help. In a minority of cases there might be involuntary detention or treatment. Prevention programs have been shown to reduce depression.

Common mental disorders include depression, which affects about 400 million, dementia which affects about 35 million, and schizophrenia, which affects about 21 million people globally. Stigma and discrimination can add to the suffering and disability associated with mental disorders, leading to various social movements attempting to increase understanding and challenge social exclusion.

Anxiety disorders: People with anxiety disorders respond to certain objects or situations with fear and dread, as well as with physical signs of anxiety or panic such as a rapid heartbeat and sweating. An anxiety disorder is diagnosed if the person's response is not appropriate for the situation, if the person cannot control the response, or if the anxiety interferes with normal functioning. Anxiety disorders include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and specific phobias.

Mood disorders: These disorders, also called affective disorders, involve persistent feelings of sadness or periods of feeling overly happy, or fluctuations from extreme happiness to extreme sadness. The most common mood disorders are depression, bipolar disorder, and cyclothymic disorder.

Psychotic disorders: Psychotic disorders involve distorted awareness and thinking. Two of the most common symptoms of psychotic disorders are hallucinations -- the experience of images or sounds that are not real, such as hearing voices -- and delusions, which are false, fixed beliefs that the ill person accepts as true, despite evidence to the contrary. Schizophrenia is an example of a psychotic disorder.

Eating disorders: Eating disorders involve extreme emotions, attitudes, and behaviors involving weight and food. Anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder are the most common eating disorders.

Impulse control and addiction disorders: People with impulse control disorders are unable to resist urges, or impulses, to perform acts that could be harmful to themselves or others. Pyromania (starting fires), kleptomania (stealing), and compulsive gambling are examples of impulse control disorders. Alcohol and drug are common objects of addictions. Often, people with these disorders become so involved with the objects of their addiction that they begin to ignore responsibilities and relationships.

Personality disorders: People with personality disorders have extreme and inflexible personality traits that are distressing to the person and/or cause problems in work, school, or social relationships. In addition, the person's patterns of thinking and behavior significantly differ from the expectations of society and are so rigid that they interfere with the person's normal functioning. Examples include antisocial personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, and paranoid personality disorder.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD): People with OCD are plagued by constant thoughts or fears that cause them to perform certain rituals or routines. The disturbing thoughts are called obsessions, and the rituals are called compulsions. An example is a person with an unreasonable fear of germs who constantly washes his or her hands.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): PTSD is a condition that can develop following a traumatic and/or terrifying event, such as a sexual or physical assault, the unexpected death of a loved one, or a natural disaster. People with PTSD often have lasting and frightening thoughts and memories of the event, and tend to be emotionally numb.

Stress response syndromes (formerly called adjustment disorders): Stress response syndromes occur when a person develops emotional or behavioral symptoms in response to a stressful event or situation. The stressors may include natural disasters, such as an earthquake or tornado; events or crises, such as a car accident or the diagnosis of a major illness; or interpersonal problems, such as a divorce, death of a loved one, loss of a job, or a problem with substance abuse. A stress response syndrome usually begins within three months of the event or situation and end within six months after the stressor stops or is eliminated.

Dissociative disorders: People with these disorders suffer severe disturbances or changes in memory, consciousness, identity, and general awareness of themselves and their surroundings. These disorders usually are associated with overwhelming stress, which may be the result of traumatic events, accidents, or disasters that may be experienced or witnessed by the individual. Dissociative identity disorder, formerly called multiple personality disorder, or “split personality”, and depersonalization disorder are examples of dissociative disorders.

Factitious disorders: Factitious disorders are conditions in which a person knowingly and intentionally creates or complains of physical and/or emotional symptoms in order to place the individual in the role of a patient or a person in need of help.

Sexual and gender disorders: These include disorders that affect sexual desire, performance, and behavior. Sexual dysfunction, gender identity disorder, and the paraphilias are examples of sexual and gender disorders.

Somatic symptom disorders: A person with a somatic symptom disorder, formerly known as a psychosomatic disorder or somatoform disorder, experiences physical symptoms of an illness or of pain, even though a doctor can find no medical cause for the symptoms.

Tic disorders: People with tic disorders make sounds or display body movements that are repeated, quick, sudden, and/or uncontrollable. (Sounds that are made involuntarily are called vocal tics.) Tourette's syndrome is an example of a tic disorder.

Other diseases or conditions, including various sleep-related problems and many forms of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, are sometimes classified as mental illnesses, because they involve the brain.

With that list, who isn’t insane?

It seems as if our entire species have more problems of cooping with everyday living so we turn to the medical profession to keep us calm with therapies and drugs, at least to the point of ‘playing nice with others’.

Our society or community or tribe is based on getting along with others. We all agree what the ‘normality’ will be and those who do not comply either move on or fester the strain of being different.

What makes a human tip over the edge and create such carnage?

That is for lawyers and doctors and mathematicians and politicians to discuss with their charts and graphs and tomorrow it will happen again and again. While the media will turn away to the next crisis, the general public will wring their hands and place flowers and stuffed animals and then get back to normality to stay sane. 

 

All I know is I should NOT have a gun because I am crazy.