This project is about sharing your story ( stories ) with the others. Maybe there is an event in your past that still control your emotions, our you want to share how you did to overcome a strong emotional memory… You can share your text with a drawing , photo, painting, that you did, or that you found connecting whit your emotions. Sharing a story is a strong step, and a real motivation to make news step, turn pages or tranform negative emotions to creativity or inspirations for the others. We all pass trhoug difficult experiences, and we often think that we are alone. We are not if we share…
Art ( painting, music, martial, craft, …) Nature, creativity are tools that accompany our process, allowing us to express ourself. Sometime is a tool to reflect what is inside of us. As dreams, physical activities, meditations, connections with others, focus, all those tools are available to be used. Sometimes, we don’t need to make so much or pay to feel better, even if our problem or trauma seems to big., Maybe a bit of all those activity is already a contract with an angel.
So feel free to take your time doing your creation, with the intention of spending time with yourself, or conected to what you are doing, and share it with us, if you feel that can help, or motivate people to do so when they need it. Thank you
My story
Is also your story
why do i think that
Trauma Doesn’t Exist
here are some inspirations
I often lose myself searching for answers in books, videos, podcasts, until it becomes a passion… or a dependency. We’re all trying to find answers. And I think this is the reason we share our opinions… to see the reaction or feedback from our interlocutor. Whether it’s a guru, a mentor, or an active substance, we all feel that something else is hiding behind the curtains, and we’re not just here to suffer. That life deserves grief for something bigger than constant pain and confusion.
But what is the way to find answers in the face of human barbarism, conflicts, resulting trauma and the feeling of being disconnected from nature?
When, from time to time, I feel something special in me, I don’t need feedback or confirmation anymore. Neither listen nor read nothing. It is this feeling which is the confirmation. In this zone, there is no trauma, because there is neither fear nor projection. There is no grudge, because good and evil do not exist there. It is often a feeling that does not last long enough, because life and society impact my emotions and reactions. I wonder… How can I no longer see this world as separate from me but rather as a part of me? How to leave this dimension far from dualism, and from all isms, far from morality and limitations? How to combine the two and be happy?
This is where I stumbled into stoicism.
Another ism.
What Is Stoicism?
Stoicism, or Stoic philosophy, is a philosophy of personal ethics and a methodology for seeking practical wisdom in life. A key principle of the ancient Stoics was the belief that we don’t react to events; we react to our judgments about them, and the judgments are up to us. They also advised that we should not worry about things beyond our control as everything in life can be divided into two categories – things that are up to us and things that are not.
Virtues
The four cardinal virtues of Stoicism are wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice. Wisdom is subdivided into good sense, good calculation, quick-wittedness, discretion, and resourcefulness. Courage is subdivided into endurance, confidence, high-mindedness, cheerfulness, and industriousness. Temperance is subdivided into good discipline, seemliness, modesty, and self-control. Justice is subdivided into piety, honesty, equity, and fair dealing.
About the
present moment
To the ego, the present moment hardly exists. Only past and future are considered important. This total reversal of the truth accounts for the fact that in the ego mode the mind is so dysfunctional. It is always concerned with keeping the past alive, because without it — who are you? It constantly projects itself into the future to ensure its continued survival and to seek some kind of release or fulfillment there.
It says: “One day, when this, that, or the other happens, I am going to be okay, happy, at peace.” Even when the ego seems to be concerned with the present, it is not the present that it sees: It misperceives it completely because it looks at it through the eyes of the past. Or it reduces the present to a means to an end, an end that always lies in the mind-projected future. Observe your mind and you’ll see that this is how it works.
Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
A selection of
10 Stoic Rules For Life
THINGS DO NOT TOUCH THE SOUL
When feeling frustrated or upset follow this ancient stoic practice: Ask yourself how important is this issue going to be hundreds of years from now? It is only your perception of the problem that makes you feel as if it is important.
DON’T BE BEWILDERED BY APPEARANCES
Be careful not to instantly make a judgment. Take a step back. Think it through, and remember that the other person might be dealing with something that might be causing you to misinterpret them.
IF YOU ONCE GAIN TIME FOR THOUGHT, YOU WILL MORE EASILY COMMAND YOURSELF
Sometimes it is as simple as taking a deep breath, processing the information and then deciding on what to do next.
DEATH CREATES MEANING
People do not remember you for how much time you spent with them, but the impact you made on them. So in short, your time is valuable. Live each day like it is your last.
THE ART OF LIVING RESEMBLES WRESTLING MORE THAN DANCING
Marcus Aurelius teaches that we must always be prepared for whatever comes in our way whether good or bad. As you know, life can be diffucult at times. And what can make it even more difficult is our society’s obsession to praise the winners and quickly forget about the losers. So, if you want to live a good life , don’t be afraid to wrestle with both the good and bad of every situation.
FOCUS ON WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL
Before you decide to start something, don’t think about failure. Think about everything that is in your control. If you follow through on the parts you control, then you can’t fail. You either are satisfied, or you learn where you can improve.
LIVE IN THE HERE AND NOW
You get an opportunity every morning to reset your life.
“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
WE MUST FIRST ACHIEVE SELF-LOVE AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY
In our society, we tend to blur the lines between what we want and what we need. According to the ancient Stoics, to truly find happiness in life, we must realize the difference between the two.
REMEMBER, SOMEONE IS ALWAYS DEALING WITH IT WORSE
Straightforward practice here. When every you feel mad or upset about anything remember that someone is probably dealing with a worse situation.
EVERYTHING HAS TWO HANDLES
We are always faced with two choices or how the Stoics saw it: two handles. You can choose to view the situation as positive, or you can choose to view the situation as negative. You always have a choice. Its up to you to decide which handle you choose.
Following the advice of Stoicism, I noticed that my behaviour had changed. I begin to apply it in my life regularly. Trying to give myself and those around me the best of me and being able to keep a clear, empathetic view of things and people.
Then, I became interested in Hindu culture and wondered why spirituality, yoga and the gods are so present in Eastern culture. Certain pictures come to my mind… as people meditate, inspiring architecture, Zen, peace… It seems that the spiritual has a very big influence on those societies.
When I look at the structure of European society, for example, there seems to be a gap. In the end, it is an individualistic world that pushes people to have no time to think, meditate, help their neighbour or be free on the street. It looks like a mental prison, with some decorations here and there.
I think what we need also, to not be stuck in shame, guilt, trauma and all those negative concepts. It is important to be able to see the world from within and to look for our inner truth.
This is where I stumbled into Vedanta.
Nondualism
Advaita Vedanta
a path of textual exegesis and spiritual discipline and experience
What Is Advaita Vedanta?
We spend all our lives in the pursuit of varied pleasures, wealth and fame expecting these will give us total fulfillment. Yet, each moment of joy is only that – Momentary, showing up the rest of our lives to be unsatisfying, somehow lacking and incomplete. On the other hand, vedanta, the body of knowledge found at the end of the veda, asserts with breathtaking boldness that one’s true nature is completeness and limitlessness. Vedanta also promises that moksa, liberation from all forms of limitations that seem to bind a human being, is possible here and now. In this lucid, lively introduction to Vedanta, swami dayananda shows how man’s constant struggle to overcome these limitations through the ceaseless pursuit of security and pleasure are predestined to failure for the simple reason that they are misdirected – They stem from a failure in understanding the real nature of the fundamental problem itself. All effort howsoever great or unremitting being limited, the result of such effort is also bound to be equally limited, inadequate. The road to freedom from limitation, then, can scarcely lie that way.
Dayananda Swami
Main Teachings of Advaita Vedanta
Advaita symbolizes the highest point of the spiritual manifestation one can attend. Vedanta is the solution to the problem of human suffering. To be more clear, suffering arises as a reaction to physical or emotional pain.
Certain philosophy gives me new perspectives about life. Those new perspectives give me different ways of dealing with my life, my choices, my thoughts, and also my past and its effects on my present. I can see how I affect those around me comparing how i am affected by others. What was a trauma now becomes a challenge to take. An excuse to jump to the next level. It all becomes a lesson to be learned rather than a burden to bear.
When I become aware of it, I also notice that my reality changes according to my observations. The people I meet and the events that occur seem like beautiful coincidences for me or those I meet. The shame is replaced by the exchange of stories and the desire to be part of something bigger, focusing not only on our drama, but on the great comedy. This great thing called nature, mystery, god…
This is where I stumbled into Spinoza.
I Believe in the God of
Spinoza
Albert Einstein
Unlike Descartes on dualism, where matter and spirit are accepted as being separate; Spinoza thinks that these two attributes come from the same body: God, nature. There is no separation. Body and mind, as dimensions, are interconnected. For him, free will does not exist.
Descarte says that we can bring our mind to choose a path. The mind would itself from external influences (the body, physical reality). It is the power of the will. Spinoza thinks free will is an illusion.
As we have the impression to have a body separated from our spirit, we think of being author of our acts. I’m thinking of writing this text, so I’m writing it. I decided to write. The idea passes from the mind, then transmits the informations to my body. So… I decide.
If free will does not exist, and we are determined, we are not guilty of a crime. Among Christians, free will exists because it is God who has given us this power. The evil on earth therefore depends on our choices, and not on God. However, this does not prevent us from rethinking the idea of the free will of our actions and our thoughts and from trying to have another point of view.
Our actions are the mechanical consequences of our our thoughts and vice versa. Spinoza does not think that our actions are determined by our thoughts, nor vice versa. He thinks that we react without knowing the origin of our mental and physical reactions. The choices that we make come from afar and have been influenced sometimes without us knowing it. Our body captures so much subtle and unconscious informations that our choices and our actions depend not only on our presumed free will, but also on the conditions that have influenced us.
We feel like we have the last word, but we often don’t know the exact reasons for our choices, so it’s only me the ego, who thinks of having the power to direct our actions.
I am going to stop here because I do not have the power to summarize Spinoza, thanks to “le Precepteur” for his podcast on which I am openly inspired. But I would like to conclude with the idea of god and free will.
For me, the idea of not having the power of my choices, is not a problem, because if this theory promises an union with the body and the spirit – god, in which we are part of, it does not hurt my ego not having free will. And that doesn’t mean that I’m a victim of life. Trying to live with a clear mind and understanding my limits sometimes allows me to get carried away and trust life. To follow my intuition, wherever life takes me. I don’t need to know that I am the master of my choices. I’m alive and that’s enough. I am alive and I am part of a whole.
How does that help me with the things I have to learn and overcome? On the difficulties of life? Well, already, I don’t stress too much if I know that it is not necessary. I know that actions equal consequences, so I don’t want to create actions motivated by emotions of pain or rage. And I forgive because what hurt me in the past, may come from poeple who have been hurt or conditioned. Its like a chain reaction.
It’s a vision that allows me to move forward and transform negative feelings into creativity. That doesn’t mean that I let myself be pushed around. These philosophies and spiritualities do not take away from me the idea of justice, courage, power and ethics.
My goal is to reach those places where i can say thank you to my past. An honest thank, for what to come when having a creative mind over hard moment of life. Accepting and seeing things through the eyes of my future and detached satisfied self.
I let you here with a song of Funkadelic : Good Thoughts, Bad Thoughts
sharing is caring
you can keep your identity secret
If it’s helping you to share honestly your story
How to participate?
You can upload a pdf within the text and the picture – your art, the art of someone that inspired you to express your feelings and emotions ( with the credit of the artist). You can also just copy past your story here below and upload the picture separetly.
Love is what we are born with.
Fear
is what we learn
Marianne Williamson