Can We Escape The Trumpocalypse?
|
Dear Reader Snow storms. Work and family and first world problems. Must I actually do the vaccuuming AGAIN? even though I have a sore back from shovelling massive amounts of SNOW? And, last and very fucking most: the Trumpocalypse is upon us! You already know the answer to the question and the hope posed in the subject line: There is no escape. Life is what it is. To live authentically, sanely, we must (in fact) live in reality. I think about the nature of reality a lot. As most creative people do, in some way, because we are often tempermentally inclined to wrestle with both the daily banality of our lives and the bloody horror of the world. Both therapists and artists understand how subjective reality may feel--we each of us in our confounding difference, unable to read your mind, as usual--and yet we are also bound by the real, the same finite bones and influential weather: one human body, this life, this door and window opening or closing (or not), the necessity of shovelling, the need for food and water. In clinical hypnosis, we call this a double bind. It is the place where the very nature of things seems to crash up against some wall in the mind, and often the curious result of this is that the brain-body comes up with a novel or unanticipated way to solve problems. (Which in itself is a double bind, or paradox.) So that's our Courage Word of the Week, Month, Year (??): Paradox. I know. I've written about this before. Bear with me. Right alongside Paradox, we also have our Super Power known as Fantasy. Fantasy daydreams loop de loops: these are as important as reality because they allow us to rest and play and feel hope, joy, surprise, all that juicy stuff. We could not survive without our fantasies: of pleasure, power, a million dollars and chocolate, even revenge. Ah, a good revenge fantasy! What's not to love there, as long as it doesn't take over our hearts, minds, souls . . .As long as it remains . . . a fantasy. See? That's a double bind, too--that I declare my allegiance to reality testing--to living with the actual truth of what is--and I also praise the critical uses of fantasy IN THE SAME LETTER. Well. Here we are. You know I spend time on the Interwebs. Do you? Another Paradox/Double Bind: Don't you find it shocking, but also not surprising, that so many of the content creators and influencers--lots of smart people with many many followers--say NOTHING about what is happening in our world politically? It's weird because a lot of the people I follow in various places now are spiritual leaders and mental health professionals in one capacity or the other. So many of them, paradoxically, are pretending reality does not exist. 😂🙄 (Which may be the definition of poor mental and spiritual health.) Regarding Trump, sure, we are kind of in shock. As with most people who've been attacked suddenly, it is hard to know what to say, write, do. But the devastation of Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine--many (including me) have been and are silent about these ruins. It is mysterious to me. Every time I mention Gaza here I lose a few subscribers, and that is all right. My Tell-It-All Greek Retreat material also lost me a bunch of readers. I told my business coach about this and she laughed when she found out I just posted EVERYTHING. "Kaz, you are oversharing. Maybe that was too much information for most people." Oops. In my haste to give reality a push--the Retreat is going ahead!- Look!I completely forgot that I had to place MOST of the info on the WEBSITE and then just point people there! Here you go, it's all described here, with pictures. There are so many dangers involved in being an enthusiast . . . Right? Please bear with me, yet again. Somehow . . . ​ Let us dream, scheme and plan together, for this is going to be a very very long winter of crushing stupidity and the inevitable cruelty, fear and apathy that crushing stupidity engenders. We must hunker down and protect our creativity and joy, our communities., our children, and our very ABILITY to dream wish remember sing write dance fantasize something better. It is our imaginations that create reality . . . Hmm. For better or worse. We are MARRIED to our imaginations! In sickness and in health, etc. Onward, mes amies! Bon courage, Karen P.S. I cannot HELP myself, speaking of dreaming . . . Spring will be a wonderful time to run away (briefly) to the Olive Grove. I won't overwhelm you with the Early Bird Price! I DO still have 3-4 spots available (2 of them in a little house in the grove above mine). Reach out if you wanna come with! I'm even thinking of providing a payment plan for those who need one . . . . ​ ​ |