Meditation

Do any of you meditate? For my addictions class we have been asked to meditate and keep an online class journal of our experience. So this week I will begin to meditate and keep a journal, but before I did I thought I would spend some time looking over things about meditation. Typically it is associated with Buddhism, but you do not have to be a Buddhist to enjoy meditation or take practice of it you can meditate no matter what your religion is or is not.

I spent some time yesterday evening and this morning looking around for various information about meditation and I found the same information posted over and over so either all these people are copying from the other or all of these people have experienced similar results from meditating with the main one being : just being. Yes you read that right just being. We are all so consumed with our lives and daily happening that we often neglect to just be. I am guilty of this. From what I read meditation is supposed to help you become okay to just be. I personally am hoping to learn some patience.......

So I have decided that I will practice meditation for 10 minutes daily for 4 weeks, 15 minutes daily for 4 weeks, and 20 minutes daily for 4 weeks and see how it goes. Weirdly enough I believe I am going to use my closet floor as my "spot" because it seems to be the most quiet/darkest place in my house and I want it dark. I am going to focus on my breathing as a means of staying in the now.

So if you meditate what benefits have you found? How often do you do it? How do you do it?

I will update as I go along in my journey :)

Fall 2012 Semester Highlights

Even though I would love to be there for the next 15 weeks...I will be here and give you a snapshot of what is to come for me as far as college work is concerned...

 I thought I would post some highlights for my upcoming semester. I will begin posting what is required in my courses again on occasion but remembering to do it weekly seems to be tough for me...

Some highlights of this semester :

I have to attend an open AA class
I have to start and keep a meditation journal
I have to practice doing intakes and treatment plans
I have to design an addiction prevention plan
I have to write an in depth paper dealing with a specific addiction
I have to get involved in some way with a specific cultural group
I have to design an advocacy plan for a specific population/group
I have to become more knowledgeable about policies that affect my profession
I have to complete a wellness project

I am extremely excited about each and every one of those tasks. I am most excited about doing the work required in my addictions course. As I have posted before addictions is the area that I am most drawn to when it comes to work and so I am glad that I can explore more about it throughout this course.

Life Update

I  thought I would give a little life update before I get back into the swing of things :)

Greyson started Kindergarten a few weeks ago and I must say I am not as sad as I thought I would be! Maybe it is because he has been in Mothers day out programs for so long now that I was semi used to him attending something weekly or maybe it was that I realized that I now have 7 hours during the day in which I can clean the house, work with clients/edit photos and do my school work which does guess what.....frees up my evenings!!!!! This I am excited about because the last few years I have done nothing but work or do homework in the evenings. No TV for me, no personal reading, no knitting, not much web browsing etc once the little guy goes to bed before but now I can hopefully enjoy my evenings and do things I want to do.

Husband is still working in Washington State. We don't see him as much as I would like but such is life I guess. Not much can change that at this point so we are making the best of what we have and I am considering other ways of allowing us to get back together sooner. 

Classes started up this morning. 15 weeks 3 courses 9 credits. I will admit that until this morning I was not really looking forward to it as I semi took my counselor/school hat off for the last month (I don't think my husband would agree with this!) and just enjoyed not having things related to school to do. Now it is back on so bring it on! Still looking for a practicum/internship site and I am starting to get worried that I won't be able to find someone to accept me but trying to think positive in that I will get accepted by the person(s) I am supposed to. A little worried that I really have no idea where I will be at come next May location wise so my internship might still be up in air.

So there you have it mini life update.

Back to it

That image above is my reading for the semester. Some of it is textbooks and others are learning about the different theories realted to cousneling. I want to make an informed choice for my base and even though I am 97% sure already that I want to be a Gestalt/reality/systems therapist I still feel the need to read works by others. I have decided to immerse myself in this because I start my practicum in January (which I still have to find a site by the way!) and I want to be ready.

 Tomorrow my semester officially starts. I have a blog list of posts that I hope to accomplish this semester so i will be posting more regularly again :)

Enjoying my last free day.....

Wow it has been ages!!

I am so sorry I haven't been much of a poster the last few weeks. Quite honestly I have been enjoying my time off and my time not thinking about school. I have spent the last few weeks taking photographs, making hand made items, picking out new knitting projects, browsing Pinterest, and any thing else that stroked my fancy.My little guy also started kindergarten last week so we have been adjusting to that.

I am still off school until the 27th and I plan to use the little time off I have left to just enjoy life and hopefully sometime in the next few days I will start 50 shades of Gray which has been on my nightstand for almost 2 weeks.

I will start posting regularly again once school starts back up, hopefully some of you will still be around :)

Religion as justification

I am sure that you have heard all the hype related to Chick Fil A and Dan Cathy speaking out about his belief in traditional marriage although that was not exactly how it was put in his interview but that is the jist of it. I would like Mr. Cathy to help me understand how religion is what defines marriage? When you get married you have to get a civil license to do so not a religious one do you not? Legally you are not considered married unless and until you have obtained a marriage license from where?? Not a church!

I have read articles from both sides and I have to say I am disgusted with the use of religion as a justification for hate and for those supporting hate. People are using the bible and what it says pertaining to being homosexual as a justification for promoting a company that so clearly is advocating for hate. Chick Fil A has given millions of dollars to hate groups who have went so far as to say that being gay should be punishable by law. Really? So you cover up your hate by using the bible and what God wants by twisting what indeed was taught by Jesus and the bible into what you believe was meant. Jesus taught love and acceptance for even those who have sinned, if you believe being gay is a sin. But please show me where you have never sinned. I have stated this before numerous times...a sin is a sin is a sin the eyes of God. 

Do you cut your hair? Shave your face? Have you been divorced? Have you slept in bed with a menstruating women? Have you ever eaten shrimp? Do you have a tattoo? Do you eat junk food?  All of these according to the bible are sins. There are more. All sins are created equal. Any of the above mentioned sins in my opinion are NO different than the sin of being gay (again if you believe that being gay is a sin). What Mr. Cathy said and the actions that follow his spoken words are a sin. He is advocating hatred towards gay people, he is providing tools for people to spread that hatred. Is this what Jesus taught? The Jesus I have learned about was a loving kind man who taught love and acceptance to ALL people even those who had wronged him.

Help me understand how you get to pick and choose what truth in the bible applies to your life? I tend to be an all or nothing type of person. You either believe the bible as your truth or you don't. It amazes me how the bible is taken so literal in areas that you choose for it to yet in other areas oh well it is okay if you don't follow that part. You get to choose to be against gay people but you don't have to eat your children even though the bible clearly tells you to. So PLEASE stop using the bible and religion as a justification for your ignorance and hate. It does nothing but promote intolerance for your religion and causes more and more people to turn their backs on it.

And just in case you want to know where it tells you to eat your children...see here: Leviticus.