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bastardsunlight · 3 years

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My buddy over at @sxvethelastdance is doing some deep dive shit on the subject of Liu Kang’s faith in all his iterations—95, games, 2021—so I decided “hey why don’t I do that too?” because I also desire to be one of The Cool Kids™. This is in no way meant to be taken as gospel truth or whatever. It’s mostly for me own records, headcanons-wise, and just kind of a character-building exercise since Lao has become one of my more active/sought-after muses of late. I’ll hide it under a cut because it’s liable to get long

Like my S C H L O N G [cue pornbot invasion]

PS THIS IS GOING TO BE ABOUT MORE THAN JUST HIS FAITH BECAUSE A LOT OF THAT WILL COME FROM UPBRINGING/FAMILY AND WILL ALSO FOCUS ON HIS PERSONALITY AND THE INS/OUTS OF IT

For our purposes (and like, in reality because I DO respect authorial intent to some extent), Shaolin Monks isn’t canon, like at all. Someone had a fever dream and Liu Kang/Kung Lao were bimbos for a few hours. Okay they’re still kind of like that, god bless ‘em, but you get the idea. AIGHT now that’s out the way, let’s get this cue ball rolling.

Okay for starters, games Lao because well he’s only ever appeared in the games (and we don’t usually talk about Legacy Because OOF middle-aged Liu Kang with a hot topic sweater and anger issues—Liu Kangst. You’re welcome [plays a high G on the nearest piano]).

Kung Lao comes from a long, distinguished family who has always contributed to the order of light—they’re founding members, all that stuff. They did not build the academy itself, but the Order started with the Great Kung Lao. OUR Kung Lao is the fulfillment of a prophecy, some vague old thing that told of an ancestor who would carry the “spirit of the Great Kung Lao”. They figure reincarnation, which is a reasonable assumption. If that’s true or not, only Fire God Liu Kang and Lord Raiden know, because they’re the only ones to have met him in person. Whatever the case, Kung Lao is born with the ability to call spirits and channel their energy, their “pressure” to do a variety of things, including teleport, an ability that thankfully did not come until later—can you imagine a teleporting toddler? Good god.

The entire Kung line is blessed with some spiritual power, here and there. Kung Lao is off the charts. His mother, a short time before his birth, has a dream where the GKL came to her and said “this is the one”. He is reaching out to his ancestor from the Realm of the Honored Dead, knowing full well that the once-a-generation tournament is not far off and feeling the pull to Lao like some kind of magnet or doorway. Kung Lao is the strongest spirit-channeler the Kung family has ever seen. His parents therefore name him Lao and with the name comes a great and terrible burden.

He is, naturally, chosen as the generational tithe to the Wu-Shi academy and, naturally, the Order of Light. This is a case of being raised in the faith, knowing little else, but being sharp enough to question some things. Obviously, as a kid, he doesn’t question—he just learns and obeys, trains under various masters, etc. Sometime during his younger years, an orphan shows up at the temple and, being a charitable organization, the elders of the temple take him in and name the boy Liu Kang. Liu and Lao become fast friends and the elders are, of course, pleased as punch to see the Kung’s legacy being a good influence on someone like Liu Kang who, unbeknownst to anyone but them (and Raiden), is the blood of Onaga and in possession of a terrible power himself. It does not occur to them that Lao will not be chosen by the god of thunder to be Earthrealm’s champion. Everyone at the academy trains for this purpose, but in THIS generation, no one even questions that it will be Lao.

Kung Lao is extremely gifted, rarely has to study, hardly tries on all exams and new techniques and masters the strange and deadly weapon that is his signature with relatively few injuries. Combining that with his abilities to move spiritual force and teleport and he is a shoe-in. His faith in the Elder Gods is more of a background hum, at this point and, though he has met Lord Raiden, his faith there, too, is hardly a thought. It’s just part of his life. As anyone who grows up in a faith could tell you, the routines become like breathing.

Liu Kang and Kung Lao grow side-by-side as best friends, confidants, troublemakers (though Lao is absolutely the one cutting class), and, as they grow older and into themselves, lovers.

The first time Kung Lao’s faith comes to the forefront and really shakes is when Lord Raiden choses Liu Kang to be his champion for Mortal Kombat. There is the initial shock, of course, and then there is fear. Mortal Kombat has killed very Earthrealm champion, without exception, since the Great Kung Lao’s second attempt. The legends of Prince Goro are written in the forbidden texts of the academy’s library and naturally, the shaolin rowdy boys have broken in and read them all. Kung Lao meditates for hours, wondering what he did wrong. He is never, at any point, resentful toward Liu Kang himself, who has always been an unfailingly loyal friend, a humble monk, an excellent student, and has, with hard work and perseverance, excelled in HIS classes as well.

The more he considers it, the more his faith in the Elder Gods is shaken—if it was ever terribly solid in the first place. More than that, he begins to mistrust Raiden. Kung Lao determines that, due to the hopelessness of the situation, the likelihood of Liu Kang’s return is almost zero. He has all the faith in the world in how strong Liu Kang is, of course, but those odds are not good. He begins to deeply resent the idea that Liu was chosen as a lamb for slaughter based on factors other than likelihood to win. This is also when the insecurity starts to REALLY set in.

Kung Lao doesn’t realize that Liu Kang views him as equal or superior, seeing how he has never had to study or work at ANYTHING to just nail whatever it is, every time. Kung Lao is one of those young adults who was a child prodigy and is experiencing some SERIOUS burnout in his early twenties. It isn’t that Kung Lao doesn’t know he’s good—he’s very aware of his skill. It comes out as brazen arrogance. No one but Liu Kang can seem to knock him down ANY pegs. His faith, he realizes, has always been in himself and in Liu, in what they’ve built and shared. There is a depth of intimacy in that friendship that goes beyond even the physical—though there IS that.

He’s kind of in the mode of “what have the Elder Gods ever done for me?” (spoiler alert: nothing) and he questions Raiden’s motivations as he slowly adds shit up. Liu Kang is an orphan, of no family, with great power. He doesn’t know if there’s something else to it, but he sees the reactions of the elders of the temple when Raiden chooses Liu and it isn’t “weird that you didn’t choose the kid we groomed from birth to do this” but an almost insane level of like, understanding, as if this was a possible outcome. There is something else up, but he has no way of knowing it. He hates the way Liu just accepts it and while they are still capable of making jokes about the whole situation, he can sense the turmoil within Liu, as well, who is ALSO wondering why Lao wasn’t chosen.

Kung Lao is now the black sheep, the family failure, the one who was beaten out by an orphan. This really begins his “second banana” status and everyone seems to know it. They equate his brash pride to insecurity, which in a way it is, because part of him will always wonder what he did wrong, but they did not know him before. It goes from being part of his personality to being a shield. If he is arrogant and aloof, untouchable, no one will see the doubt and trepidation within. And STILL the Elder Gods do NOTHING. When he sneaks into the tournament, he’s taking matters into his own hands, where he is convinced they have always been.

See, he had been okay with dying for Earthrealm, though he was certain with this power, he wouldn’t—that he could save the place like the ancestor for which he was named. He is not ready to lose Liu Kang.

Aight so caveat here, most of this above was built with a VERY specific Liu Kang in mind and below is 100% riding on that same writer (heh riding). None of this has to, in any way, reflect on anyone else’s Liu Kang—not that I’ve seen a ton of those.

MK2021 for all its faults, had amazing characterization for the heroes, even if some of the cuts, scenes, and lines were a bit ……. Clunky. Kung Lao is clearly a powerful fighter, confident to the point of arrogance, but with the skill to back it up. Even when Cole puts him in the dirt, he hops back up and summons his hat, like “okay cool, now let’s get real” because Kombat is not like a cage fight. This is a man who knows few limitations, is highly skilled, and has clearly been raised in the faith, much like his counterpart from the games. His Arcana is passed through his bloodline, much like that of the Hasashi clan and a few others who have passed out of living memory, likely done in by previous Outworld assassination coups.

The biggest difference between games and 2021 Lao is that the latter is a man who demands proof at every turn, by force if necessary, AND HE IS AWARE OF THIS. His faith rests not in the Elder Gods—not caring much for them or their lack of involvement—but in Raiden himself and only then because he has challenged the god of thunder and was put down pretty soundly. Kung Lao respects ability. He has it, so he therefore expects everyone around him to hold themselves to that same standard.

He is two or three years older than Kang, the young orphan Master Bo’ Rai Cho brought to the temple when they are still children, probably six and nine, give or take. They have no classes together, initially, but Kung Lao ss instructed to keep an eye on him, to help him adjust. The two become fast friends and Liu Kang admires the bejeezus out of his shi xiong, both because of that age difference and the obvious experience gap, and because Kung Lao will ALWAYS go to bat for him.

Kung Lao is well aware of the stakes of this tournament, knows that it is, for the most part, riding on him. This becomes doubly true when Sub-Zero is sent to Earthrealm to start taking out the other champions, one by one, to halt a prophecy. Someone carrying Hasashi blood will upset the balance of the tournament.

He is a dutiful monk, a competent teacher, a powerful fighter, and, alongside Liu Kang, the best hope humanity has for victory. Kung Lao’s resentment, in this universe, is directed primarily toward the elders who sent Kang out into the world after his graduation from the academy as a student (as must all students, some with specific orders, and some with more vague directions) to find his true path. The elders have essentially forced Kang to relive the darkest time in his life and thence, to feel the rage and resentment that has for so long boiled beneath his skin, channeling it into a killing urge. Kung Lao protects Liu Kang from this as best he can and, more than that, he protects the world from Liu Kang.

#aboutlaometa #both of 'em are in here so

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masterweaverx · 4 years

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I’ve decided that the main characters of "My Next Life As A Villainess” can have D&D classes! So here we go. Big thanks to 5Etools for helping me out with this!

Katarina Claes: Kalashtar Redemption Paladin. Nobody said holy warriors had to be smart!

In all seriousness, Paladins of 5E are charisma-based “Half-casters,” which means they mix melee with magic. And it’s easy enough to reflavor a lot of D&D spells as “Oh, yeah, this character just happens to know X random thing or can talk so convincingly!” (Or the character doesn’t realize they’re doing magic, which would be so Katarina.) Plus the Redemption oath just fits so well for the girl, both thematically and mechanically. Throw on Strength-based combat skills because of years of farming and sword-training... it’s pretty obvious.

As to the race choice, the Kalashtar are a third-party Eberron race that are described as being “a fusion of humans and beings from the realm of dreams.” Which hey, what else would you call somebody who remembered their past life? And from a mechanical perspective, it would give Katarina resistance to psychic damage (she’s that dense) and automatic advantage on persuasion rolls (she can say just the right thing).

Maria Campbell: Variant Human Life Cleric. A “Well Duh!” if I ever saw one.

Clerics, the traditional healers and support characters in all of roleplaying, are wisdom-based casters in 5E. I was originally considering making Maria a Light cleric but, mechanically, Life clerics are closer to Light magic as portrayed in the series so, yeah, Life.

Variant Humans are the “Pick an ability increase and get a free feat at the start of the game” race, and Maria is sorta kinda the protagonist of the old game? Her player would probably just set herself up to fill in the gaps of the other characters anyway. So yeah.

Mary Hunt: Kaladesh Elf Samurai Fighter. Look, she can be scary, alright?

Fighters can be strength-based OR dexterity-based, and Mary would have a lot of dexterity skill from all the gardening and stuff. A lot of the Fighter perks are basically “No I’m NOT giving up!” which, yeah, fits her well. Being a Samurai not only enhances that, but it gives her perks for certain wisdom traits--Mary is not an idiot by any stretch of the imagination.

Kaladesh elves synch pretty well with this build, giving both Dexterity and Wisdom boosts, but primarily I picked this particular race for the free Druid cantrip in order to represent Mary’s water magic. Still, she would be one to choose to meditate instead of falling asleep, just to keep an eye on... things.

Sophia Ascart: Detection Mark Half-Elf Divination Wizard. She likes them books.

The class side of this was easy. Intelligence-based caster? Wizard. Love of books? Wizard. Not a physical fighter? Wizard. Had a talk with her past self? Divination wizard. What can I say, Sophia is pretty good at being a wizkid.

Race, though... oh, wow. So many options. I went with a Detection Mark Half-Elf because Sophia really, really notices things and that seems to be what that particular race was built for. Plus it’s an Eberron thing, like Katarina’s race, so that’s a past life connection! Yay!

Nicol Ascart: Storm Mark Half-Elf Swashbuckler Rogue. That smile works wonders.

Com on, how couldn’t I make Nicol ‘incapacitates a crowd with a smile’ Ascart a swashbuckler? Plus Rogues are usually known for being the skill class of 5E, doing things handling things that come up in adventures beyond punching monsters. Nicol does seem the most... level-headed of the group, so he would probably be the one to handle the little details.

As for race, I’ll admit I went with the ‘Sophia’s a half-elf so Nicol’s also a half-elf!’ route. But Storm Mark Half-Elves do come with a lot of wind-based magic, which not only fits canon but also enhances what Nicol could do as a rogue. Admittedly he would have to multiclass slightly to get at most of it, but hey, Gust is a cantrip and the other spells are there for him if he ever does.

Keith Claes: Fierna Tiefling Monster Slayer Ranger. Friendly, but dangerous.

Rangers are another half-caster class, and one with many ‘summon allies’ sort of spells. Sure, they’re technically animals instead of earth elementals, but I do subscribe to the ‘reflavor is fine!’ school of thought so Keith can have his dolls come out when he casts Conjure Animals. The Monster Slayer subclass is built around countering and containing dangerous beings... like, say, Keith himself? Oh, wow, I just picked it because it looked cool. Huh.

And why is Keith a Tiefling? In another life, he was a playboy, so of COURSE he’s going to get a charisma-boost race! A resistance to fire damage makes him perfect for, ah, interrupting a certain prince’s advances. And Fierna Tieflings get spells based around convincing people of things, like Friends and Charm Person, and there’s a certain dense girl in Keith’s life that needs a little guidance.

Geordo Stuart: Gold Standard Dragonborn Draconic Sorcerer. BURN BABY BURN!

Sorcerers are one of the charisma-based casters, with the idea that they have magic IN THEIR BLOOOOOD so they can, you know, cast without needing to do all that silly Study business. Plus they get some of their subclass stuff right off the bat, and Draconic Sorcerers get extra hitpoints every level. Geordo may not use his magic often, but it’s implied that as a royal his magic is redonkulously powerful, so this? This was basically set in stone.

And why did I make the prince a dragonborn? Why, because DRAGONS ARE AWESOME. Look, I don’t make the rules. More seriously, basic dragonborn have a charisma boost, strength boost, and a breath weapon. Admittedly this would probably make Geordo look a LOT different, but what the hey.

Alan Stuart: Silver Draconblood Dragonborn Lore Bard. He knows things so you don’t have to.

Bards are the other charisma-based casters, and a lot more support-based then sorcerers. Plus they’re good musicians, which fits Alan to a T! Lore Bards lean heavily into the ‘Jack Of All Trades’ mindset, with bonus proficiencies and extra magic secrets, because there was that competitive ‘I will best you some way!’ streak early on and that did lean into ‘I’ll learn all I can’ later in his life.

As to why he’s a draconblood dragonborn instead of a standard dragonborn? Draconbloods get an intelligence boost instead of a strength boost, and also get the trait Forceful Presence instead of Damage Resistance. He might not be able to do as much damage as his twin, but Alan is really good at getting attention and using it.

Anne Shelly: Standard Human Open Hand Monk. Somebody has to clean up after these kids!

Monks excel not just in unarmed combat, but in unarmed ‘getting places nobody thinks about’ as well as ‘keeping a cool head when everything goes nuts.’ And the Open Hand Monk doubles down on that, throwing in the ability to basically say “Stop That” whenever needed. This is perfect for Anne “My Mistress Is The Source Of All Chaos” Shelly, wouldn’t you say?

And yeah, she’s a Standard Human. In 5E Standard humans don’t get any special traits, but they do get +1 to every one of their abilities. That’s a small but significant boost to all rolls and a number of stats. Don’t underestimate Anne; she may be in the background, but she’s in the background of Madness and it takes a lot to survive that.

Rafael Walt: Fallen Aasimar Great Old One Warlock. Retired Edgelord.

Warlocks are, ah, not the easiest class to play. They’ve got a lot of special mechanics about their spells, having fewer slots but easier time restoring them. But they do also get a few free invocations, and their patrons can let them spread into different specializations. Rafael knows how to use his magic to the best he can, and... well, the Great Old One patron features just fit what he can do very well.

Aasimar have charisma boosts and darkness resistance universally, but Fallen Aasimar also come with a transformation into a terrifying shadow warrior. Look, Rafael's been through a lot, I’ll grant you. He probably deserves a break. But both thematically and mechanically, this just fits.

===

So that’s that! For now, anyway! Thoughts and opinions are always welcome.

#My Next Life As A Villainess #d&d 5e #Katarina Claes #Maria Campbell #Mary Hunt #Sophia Ascart #Nicol Ascart #Keith Claes #Geordo Stuart #Alan Stuart #Anne Shelly #Rafael Walt #I put way too much thought into this

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itsclydebitches · 5 years

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RWBY Recaps: “A Night Off”

So RWBY has this weird thing going on in Volume 7 where it’ll give me a truly horrendous episode and then manage to turn things around just enough so that, despite my frustrations, I quite like parts of the next week’s stuff. That proceeds to get my hopes up, only for them to turn around mess it all up again in the following episode.

What I’m saying is, I should expect next week to be a pretty rough ride.

First, let me chuck out the details I personally loved in this episode that fit better together than spread out across a recap. Namely, treating Oscar like an actual human being. Thank you, Rooster Teeth, for:

Having him continually be involved by monitoring Jaune’s aura levels. (It likewise hasn’t escaped my notice how much he’s been paired with JNR lately. The fandom might get their new ‘P’ after all.)

Giving Oscar some thoughts and feelings beyond just the Ozpin situation. He’s worried about not having his semblance yet. Hark! A characterization!

Nora very kindly firing back with, “Well, I bet we’ll all be jealous when you do.”

Yang using Oscar as a convenient armrest. Granted, Yang hasn’t exactly treated him well enough lately to have earned that kind of casual buddy-buddy-ness, but if the writing is never going to call the group out on their Volume 6 behavior then I’ll take unearned kindness over continued indifference or cruelty

Jaune going out to the movies with Oscar and them both inviting Weiss. I mean, same issue here. Why is Oscar so comfortable and eager to hang out with the guy who attacked him? I wish that we had some acknowledgment that these kinds of things don’t just disappear once someone apologizes. Jaune still hurt Oscar, badly enough to leave him flinching against a wall... and none of that even takes into account Oscar’s supposed hesitation about lying to Ironwood. He should be acting more like Ren, involved with the group yet wary at the same time.

In addition, keep in mind that Oscar is currently living in this happy bubble where everyone has chosen to forget that Ozpin exists. I’m still highly suspicious of how they’ll treat him once Ozpin is out in the open again and Oscar is the convenient scapegoat for their anger. As said though, for now I’ll take it. I mean, look at that smile.

Right. Onto the actual plot.

We open on the aftermath of the Mantle riots, which is somewhat disappointing. I had hoped the group would actually be involved in that, giving them the chance to tackle a situation where brute force can’t be the go-to answer. You can’t punch out desperate citizens or run them through with your scythe. Instead, Ironwood’s men are handling it and we reconvene with the group the next day, election day. For the record, we know it has only been a day---and not longer rioting as I initially assumed---because Weiss comments that her father dropped that bombshell “the day before the election.” Which for me just speaks to how much time must have passed during those training montages. The political parts of this volume couldn’t have happened in any short amount of time.

We’re shown an interview with Hill wherein she quite firmly doesn’t condone the rioting, but admits that there are good reasons for it as well. Her body guard stands very awkwardly in the background in a way I don’t think the shot really needs.

We then segue back into the group training and, like I mentioned above with Oscar, there are a lot of details here that I really enjoyed. Two of which are Weiss creating a mini version of her knight to sneak up on Winter---yes, please show us this kind of creativity in the actual fights---and Nora and Jaune practicing with a rubber ball. Ren is also deep in meditation while all this going on, which raises some questions about how aware of the world he is in this state. Is he able to simply ignore all the commotion, even Ruby flying straight at him? Is he so deep down that he’s entirely disconnected until he resurfaces? If so, does he only meditate like this when he’s 100% sure he’s in a safe place? Would the group be able to wake him if something were to happen?

As you can see, I’m obviously a little too invested in details and world building lol.

Speaking of world building though, we learn a little bit more about semblances here. Namely that, like hinted at in Volume Five and recently with Harriet, all their semblances are “evolving.” Jaune can apparently regenerate his own aura now, much more quickly than he could before. And Ruby...

Okay, real talk. Did I miss something here? It’s entirely possible I did, but if not what even was that conversation between Ruby and Oscar? She flies at the pillar Ren is seated under, divides into three rose petal clusters to get around it, and recombines on the other side. You know, the thing we’ve known she can do for a long while now. Since Volume Four I believe. Except then we get this exchange:

Oscar: Have you always been able to do that?

Ruby: I don’t know. I don’t normally think it through that much.

What are you talking about? Of course you know, Ruby! This isn’t a new technique. And what do you mean by, “I don’t normally think it through that much”? Is the writing trying to imply that she’s done the split thing so instinctively in the past she didn’t even notice she was doing it? I’m just massively confused by this moment. Others have pointed out that the writing tends to make up easy to solve “problems” for the cast to deal with so it looks like they’re achieving some kind of growth. The most egregious example being Ruby’s lack of hand-to-hand in Volume 5, culminating in a single headbutt against Mercury. Notably, this supposed flaw hasn’t resurfaced at all since then. Not even, say, when she’s at a party without her weapon and Tyrian attacks...

This feels like another moment where they just threw out something random to make it look like Ruby is improving alongside with the other, actual developments they’ve managed to think through, such as Jaune’s aura. Which is particularly strange considering Ruby was set up as the one to evolve her semblance. Which will probably still happen... but why paint an old skill as new along the way? It’s just all very strange.

Anyway, we get a nice shot of Ren coming out of his meditation where the whole world is gray like when he activates his semblance. Excellent visual cue as to his emotional state. This continues as Ironwood arrives and the group lays into him about needing to trust Hill. Which is hilarious considering that none of them are currently trusting Ironwood. He points out that common ground can only exist “if she’s open too”---unlikely given the second half of the episode---and Nora is about to challenge that when Ren interrupts, asking about mission assignments. Ironwood announces that they’re getting the night off instead.

Note though how guilty Ruby looks after all that talk of trusting others.

We cut to the girls later that night in their room, listening to the election news and getting ready to go out. It’s all very cute, but I think Nora is onto something regarding how Blake and Yang are always together. It’s so blatantly obvious they’re falling for one another, especially after this episode, and I’m honestly thrilled we’re finally getting some queer rep beyond former villains and minor characters. However, I hope that as Blake and Yang’s relationship develops that the writers don’t completely lose track of their co-dependency issues as well. Meaning, Yang totally wrote Blake off because she “ran away,” AKA went home precisely like Yang did, warping a natural and understandable choice into a personal betrayal. Blake in turn broke down sobbing and promised Yang to never ever leave her again. Separation is not a new issue for them. Their desire to spend every waking moment together is definitely cast as romantic now, but it’s also tied up in their inability to function well without each other. As we saw recently, a throwaway comment about fighting with someone else generates legitimate anger in both of them. Couples have to be able to spend time apart, so I hope the writing eventually lets the girls work through all that as well.

For now though, they’re going dancing with FNKI. Very bad dancing based on what little we see. It’s enough to convince Weiss that the movies are her best choice here. Especially since she’s clearly not interested in Hill’s preemptive victory party. We see a tiny bit of that tension between Weiss’ views and Nora’s, but nothing with any substance. We just keep getting tiny glimpses that Nora is potentially passionate about the people of Mantle before it’s all quickly overshadowed by her romance drama with Ren. More on that in a moment.

The two of them plus Ruby make their way out into the streets where Ren admits that, “We spent so much time worrying about how Ironwood would react to the truth about [Salem], but have any of us even considered how we’re going to beat her if we work past that?”

Ruby reminds them that Jinn told Ozpin he couldn’t destroy her. Nora: “Maybe someone else could?”

It only took you weeks to figure that out! Though I love how this still---still---apparently has no bearing on how they view Ozpin. This was another perfect, quiet moment where three characters, notably three of the least angry characters, could have acknowledged how terrifying this information is. How they still can’t bring themselves to tell Ironwood, a man who thus far has done nothing but support them. Wow, I totally get why Ozpin would have trouble telling us. Oh also, we just realized that maybe Jinn’s information was specific to him. Maybe someone else can destroy Salem. That’s a pretty big revelation. I wonder if Ozpin himself realizes that? We should probably try to talk to him at some point.

It’s while they’re talking about the heavy stuff that Ren mutters about how they should still be training. Nora counters that they deserve a night off and the two of them clash enough to walk off angry. We see now at least part of what’s been bothering Ren lately. Nora is a very bubbly, silly, go-with-the-flow sort of person, whereas he is hyper focused on becoming as strong as possible in the hopes of finding a way out of this Salem mess. He doesn’t want to hear compliments while searching for a geist, or have her playing with his hair while on patrol, or turn training into a conversation about their relationship, or waste time on frivolous parties. There’s obviously a happy medium between Ren’s work ethic and Nora’s relaxed attitude, though they haven’t worked through that at all because they’re too busy kissing. Again, more on that in a second.

They reach the party, Penny is there, Nora and Ren dive into another fight that serves to canonize both them and Blake/Yang. Nora comments about how they’re spending so much time together, Ren observes that they’re at least friends again, and the response is,

Nora: “Friends, huh? Just friends?” Ren: “What else would they be? Nora: “Two people who have gone through so much? I think there’s more going on...”

It’s clear at this point that Nora is talking about them rather than Yang/Blake, but the initial comparison holds. Though she uses them as an in to discuss her own relationship, I doubt she was lying here. She clearly views them as a parallel to her and Ren: two partners who have been through a great deal together and, as a result, have grown to love each other as more than just friends. Those who insist that Rooster Teeth isn’t heading in a Blake/Yang direction don’t have much of a leg to stand on anymore. That ship (ha) has long since sailed.

Ruby sneaks away from their fight though nothing terribly exciting happens. She adorably clings to Penny’s arm. They adorably fist-bump (ouch). Marrow and Hill get into a conversation about making change and whether or not she’ll accomplish that within the bounds of the law. Funny... I thought we saw that very same theme last volume. If only the writing acknowledged that there’s a connection between this conversation and our protagonists. We’re supposed to see both sides of the situation here: Hill’s need to bend the rules once in a while and Marrow’s desire to keep the peace; how the law is a man-mad construct that’s far from perfect and the importance of making change in a way that will stick---namely, legally. Here is a complex look at a morally difficult question and notably both Marrow and Hill are minor characters. It’s only when RWBYJNR is involved that the message moves from ‘Each side has a point’ to ‘Teens are 100% justified in breaking the law and anyone trying to stop them is an evil, crazy racist.’

It honestly astounds me that Rooster Teeth can give us that subtly here but never when it comes to our heroes.

When Ruby finally returns she finds Ren and Nora still fighting. As she snuck off we heard Ren admitting---in the round-about way of theirs, pretending that they’re talking about other people---that he’s worried, there’s a lot going on right now, and basically implying that he doesn’t know how (or doesn’t want) to balance a new relationship on top of all the horrific Salem business. Which, fair. The problem is that they don’t discuss this. Hill’s speech about how they’re always stronger together resonates with Nora and she tries to initiate a conversation, asking Ren to explain more fully what’s bothering him. To talk about it. He admits that talking has never been his strong suit.

I expected this to segue into a cliche, “Well try” moment and we’d finally get Ren and Nora bonding outside of their jokes and silent communication. Sadly, that didn’t happen. Look, I’m all for a renora kiss, but we have got to stop portraying sexual assault as romantic. Because that’s what Nora does here. It doesn’t matter how sure she (or we as the audience) are that Ren will like this kiss in the end. Grabbing someone and kissing them without their consent is sexual assault. Ren has not agreed to kiss her. He hasn’t expressed any desire here to kiss here. He’s completely blindsided by it and is flailing before he gives in.

People will justify this because, again, we all “know” that Ren secretly wants it and will be grateful that Nora got him past his fear. But that’s a terrible message to perpetuate in a world where others insist they also “know” when someone “really” wants them (they don’t) and where kissing or sex is seen as an easy way to supposedly solve problems between a couple. How many times have we seen an angry woman in media essentially told to shut up by a guy kissing her? The message is that her thoughts and grievances aren’t important here. The man knows her better than she knows herself and the second her forces her to start kissing him she realizes that’s really all she needed all along. That trope isn’t redeemed by changing the gender dynamic. Ren clearly has problems with their relationship that he’s struggling to work through. Nora clearly recognizes as much. Yet instead of acknowledging them and overcoming them, she erases any potential development by forcing him into a kiss. I’m sorry, it doesn’t matter how much Ren enjoys it a few seconds in. The continued message that forcing sexual intimacy on someone will fix both their hesitation and your relationship problems has go to stop. Kissing Nora doesn’t magically solve whatever it is Ren has been grappling with for the last six episodes. You know, the stuff they were just arguing about.

Once again, RWBY succeeded in giving me something I wanted, but in a way that severely downplays that enjoyment. I wanted a renora kiss, but not without consent and as a way of ignoring their issues. I wanted more focus on Ren and Nora as a whole this volume, but it would be nice if their characters could exits outside of each other some. Like the criticisms against Blake and Yang, Ren and Nora seem to be a package deal. They don’t fight with anyone else. They don’t go to different activities (why can’t Ren continue training if he’s that focused on it? Let Nora vent her feelings to a friend while he’s gone). They don’t interact with Ruby when they’re out with her. Their arc, it seems, doesn’t exist outside of each other. Which I suppose is better than no development at all, but still.

From then on things devolve rather quickly. While Hill continues her speech---and we see the ever closing gap between her and Jacques---Ruby gets a quick look at Tyrian’s tail before Watts turns out the lights. From there Tyrian proceeds to murder so many people, including attacking Fiona and going after Hill. All the while Ruby and Penny struggle to attack, despite the fact that Penny clearly has night vision and hangs back too long, obviously for plot purposes. It’s when she finally gets him away from Hill that Watts turns the lights back on, making it look like Penny had attacked the crowd and Hill was defending herself from her. I’ll admit, making Penny suitably creepy during the battle helps sell it.

Man do I hate framing plot-lines though. Not in a ‘Rooster Teeth shouldn’t have done this’ sense, just that it hurts to watch people react so badly based on a misunderstanding. This setup works best when there’s no one to refute the assumption. Yet here we have Ruby who absolutely saw Tyrian there, Penny who absolutely saw him with her night vision, Marrow who just made a connection with Hill and took the time to insist, “This wasn’t us, I swear,” etc. We’ve even got really basic stuff like, does Penny have blood all over her blades? Yet based on Hill’s look, all the evidence against Penny being the attacker isn’t going to do much good. Which makes for a more frustrating experience than a sad, yet understandable one.

We end with Jacques thanking everyone for his victory, rigged by Watts. Watts uploads the video of the attack, which has presumably either been altered in some way or just shows Penny in that damning position with her weapons out. If the former, that would at least go a long way towards explaining the inevitable backlash against her. An angry mob in the heat of the moment is one thing, but if Watts is looking to convince the entirety of Atlas that Ironwood is using his robot---a robot the people seem to currently love---to take out his competition, a doctored video of Penny attacking innocent people is far more persuasive. For both them and us the audience, wondering why everyone is this gullible. So far we’ve gotten some truly excellent villainy this year. Let’s continue that with them thinking ahead.

At the very least this should (should) provide us with some excellent development for Penny. She’s long struggled with her status as a robot and being the defender of Atlas seems to have helped her come into herself. Having others accept her differences as a boon will do that. Now that she’s labeled as nothing more than a dangerous weapons again? We should see some inner conflict. The writing didn’t let her or anyone else grapple with her death. For the love of everything, at least let Penny grapple with this.

Finally, Ruby and the others are forced to spend the night defending the city from a ton of grimm. Seriously, take in how many grimm showed up because of an election. Now think about what will happen if Ironwood announces Salem’s existence... I don’t think the cast is admitting to themselves precisely how many lives they’d be sacrificing by pulling that stunt. Ironwood at least (as far as we know) truly thinks he has a shot at winning the war. Ruby has no excuse at this point, with the exception that telling people about Salem is just plain hard.

Insert standard ‘Ozpin was right and they’re being hypocrites’ meta here.

And that’s it, folks! Issues aside, an all around better episode than some of the others we’ve gotten this season. Based off of experience it’ll be a small miracle if RWBY manages to keep that up next week.

Until then 💜

Minor Things of Note

All the people who were arrested the day of the election... do they get to vote? I know Watts rigged things, but potentially keeping everyone that furious with Ironwood from deciding who will oppose him on the council won’t exactly look good... especially combined with the Penny situation. Not that I think RWBY would actually introduce that as a complication. Just a thought.

Another extremely nit-picky thing, but it’s hilarious to me how bare the girls’ room is. Obviously there’s little time or inclination to animate personal items, even the few they have, but it kind of looks ridiculous to have this sterile space with one mirror and one tube of mascara. Here are the exact things we need for this scene and nothing more! I do like that shot in the mirror though.

Fiona getting teary-eyed over Hill being on the council was beautiful. I barely know them, but I like these two.

I’m just gonna post this again...

#rwby #rwby volume 7 #rwby volume 7 spoilers #rwby recaps #mymetas

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gffa · 5 years

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More details from Dooku: Jedi Lost: - Dooku’s biological sister (Jenza) says she learned about the Jedi from a documentary about them on the HoloNet! - The planet of Serenno is probably named after the house that rules it and has been for ages. While I think it sounds like the family uses mononyms, if he was going to have a full name, it would be Dooku Serenno. - “Legend has it” that the planet was once part of the Sith empire but Jenza’s great-great-great-great-something-grandfather led the charge against them. When Dooku was like, “Whoa, I thought it’d be the Jedi who did that!” his sister says, “Like a Serennian would let someone else take the credit!” “If you believe the stories--and my father does, passionately--grandaddy Serenno fended them off single-handedly. And the other houses submitted to his authority.” So, dump an entire salt shaker on that, but it’s certainly interesting in terms of furthering the whole unreliable narrator aspect of this story and in giving us detail about House Serenno. - When Dooku sees an ancient dragon statue of mystical importance on Serenno, he halfway hears it in his head even before he reaches out. When he touches it, there’s a huge quake all around them, but worse is that there’s a screaming roaring in his head--another instance of how being Force-sensitive can really kind of suck in this galaxy sometimes! - Count Gora is furious when he hears Dooku’s name, screaming in front of him (at Yoda, who just rescued Dooku and Jenza from the quake collapsing rubble on top of them) that he never wanted to see him, that “He’s not my son!” An interesting turn of how biological families aren’t always so great in the GFFA. Later, we find out (via Yoda) that Count Gora immediately contacted the Jedi when he realized what Dooku was, but had left him outside the castle walls, no clothes, no shelter, nothing to identify him. There were spine-wolves in that forest, Dooku later finds out from research, if he hadn’t been found, he could have been killed. Yikes, some people REALLY hate Force-sensitives in this galaxy. When Dooku comes back for a funeral (and because he desperately needs to comfort Jenza), Gora stumbles over him and attacks him physically, calling him a “freak”. (By this point, Dooku’s definitely losing perspective and objectivity because of his desperate need to stay connected to Jenza and the whole funeral affair ends in a GIANT CLUSTERFUCK.) - Man, Dooku is a real shit in this! He’s so determined to prove himself, no matter that nobody’s asking this of him, that he’s furious when Sifo-Dyas points out that he’s not the one lifting the rocks up off them. Some embarrassment about being wrong (because it’s Yoda rescuing them) is understandable, but he’s definitely crossing the line about how pissed he is that he was better than everyone else. He comes back around later, there’s a decent person still in there right now, especially when he’s joking around with Sifo-Dyas, but his first instinct always seems to be an arrogant rage. They’re all out to get him, he’s better than all of them, that his reaction is “I could have been so much more!” when finding out that he was royalty instead of just a common person. He works through it each time, so Yoda’s concerned, but it’s not like That Kid’s A Walking Minefield, because the whole point of what the Jedi teach is that it’s not a one-time-and-you’re-done mastering of yourself, it’s a lifelong process, and there will always be a back and forth on this. - Yoda says that he’s worried about Dooku, he senses a lot of confusion there, and that they need to focus on him, rather than Count Gora being a dick to everyone. Later, he visits him in the infirmary and apologizes, saying he was wrong to take him to Serenno. (Which makes one wonder why he did anyway, presumably, because he thought that the connection to his home culture was important?) - Dooku gets a parcel while at the temple, it’s just handed to him and nobody intercepts this or anything, which seems to imply that it’s fine. - It’s not really said if Jenza was “stolen” because he’s from the Serenno family or because he was a Jedi or even because he’s the Separatists’ leader, it could be any of them. - Man, if supplementary material wasn’t so obscure, Dooku/Sifo-Dyas would be a HUGE pairing, they are SUPER bantery and adorable. - Ky saying all the things Asajj said about his corpse are a lie, and that she cried over his death. Dooku saying the Jedi just left them on Rattatak, they could have come for her at any time~, but they didn’t~, Ky’s voice telling her not to listen, that she knows that’s not true. MY HEART IS BREAKING FOR ASAJJ ALL OVER AGAIN. - The holos on the walls of Dooku’s personal cabin on his airship remind Asajj of Rattatak and she’s surprised to find she still misses the dustball that was her home. I AM HAVING SO MANY ASAJJ FEELINGS. - One of the holos also talks about the Lost Twenty, confirming that they were Jedi Masters who became disillusioned, Yoda says. Interestingly, this knowledge isn’t really hidden, it’s available as soon as someone asks and Yoda says it’s a good question. The scene is, of course, wrapped up in unreliable narration to a degree, because it’s a scene of Asajj watching a holo of Dooku telling his sister about his day, and already he’s been established as being kind of real snotty and arrogant, there’s a sense of snobbery and disillusionment himself towards his surroundings (the narration of the scene has a brief moment of showing giving up wealth for the life of a Jedi is a HDU sort of thing, those were my riches!), but I think it’s reasonably reliable to assume that the basic details are right. Someone asks what happened to them, did they fall to the dark side? The other Master and Yoda say, no, not all of them, some of them became leaders, others taught. But most just vanished. “Remember them, we must. Honor them, we must. Learn from our failure.” “Our failure?” “To keep them where they belong. But, the past they are. The future, you are.” And it’s clear that, given that they’re allowed to leave and the examples we have in canon of Jedi leaving are treated warmly by the Jedi Order (until they go full Sith, obv.) and Age of Republic - Count Dooku shows us that they don’t keep tabs on them, that Yoda doesn’t mean they’re wrong to leave, but that the Jedi should honor the memory of them and keep working to understand those who begin to disagree, to work to make themselves a better place for all of their people. That if those Jedi felt they had to leave their home and people, they should be remembered and not just dismissed as “Oh, they didn’t understand.” But that they should work to make sure everyone feels like they belong. - THE EVIL BACKGROUND MUSIC EVERY TIME DOOKU OR SIFO-DYAS STARTS DOING SOMETHING SHADY IS HILARIOUS. - GOD, DOOKU, WHAT A DICK. He’s so mad that Yoda’s just sitting in the garden and meditating and not talking to him and it’d be easy for the reader to go OMG WTF YODA, except then Dooku (who is relating this to his sister) is INCENSED because HOW DARE YODA TREAT HIM THIS WAY, HE’S THE BEST, MASTER SINUBE SAID IT HIMSELF, HE WAS THE BEST STUDENT HE HAD, HOW DARE YODA IGNORE HIM, IT’S AN INSULT!, and you realize, oh, shit, Yoda is doing something about this, not just that he’s stepping in when he senses Dooku’s confusion, but taking on an active role to try to help him, because Dooku is real full of himself and Yoda’s trying to help him address that underlying problem. But doing so through the way the Jedi teach and the way George Lucas believes is the best teaching method--by forcing the student to start thinking about what’s going on here. Not to just “drill and kill” rote answers into Dooku, because that’s not going to work, but to guide him to critical thinking skills. UGH, I LOVE THE LITTLE FROG MAN. - Whoa, there’s some really interesting connections to the political unrest in the galaxy that led up to the Clone Wars, about how the “brave new Frontier” of the Outer Rim isn’t telling you about the organized crime that’s on the rise out there, and it’s touching on SO MUCH of what’s covered in Star Wars: Propaganda and reminded me SO STRONGLY of this passage from the book:

“With eyes toward expansion into the uncharted reaches of the Outer Rim, the traditions of the Core became passé. Opportunity beckoned from beyond the borders of the Mid Rim worlds. The congested planets of the interior were saturated with messages of promise lying outward, a reversal from long-held notions that Coruscant represented the icon of advancement. Republic wordsmiths and artists collaborated to create a sense of civic duty, of manifest destiny, and of deep obligation to spread the Republic banner from Rim to Rim. “For the well-settled and wealthy elite of the galaxy’s most crowded centers, such notions were quaint but uninspiring. It was the citizens of the Inner Rim, those who had been crowded out of opportunity in the Core, who answered the call for new life in the frontier of the Outer Rim. The Core Worlders became more enamored with the fleeting distractions of fame and fashion, transitory fascinations with sophistication that left little room for messages of faith or tradition that the Jedi exemplified. The lack of representation in the galactic mindshare undoubtedly fixed their future, as dark forces were on the rise that would poison the public sentiment toward the Jedi in the decades to come.” (--Star Wars Propaganda by Pablo Hidalgo) As always, if you want to get an overview of how the politics of the galaxy shaped everything, from the Republic before the Clone Wars all the way to the First Order, that book is excellent and an amazing read.

#count dooku #sifo dyas #yoda #meta #novels #dooku jedi lost #dooku jedi lost spoilers

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galbraithneil92 · 4 years

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Reiki Symbol Png Prodigious Ideas

Here is a technique for charging a room or in a state of perfect equilibrium, the energy is as much as they can.He has vastly improved in health and well-being?Getting delayed to catch a plane she had alienated herself from her mum's side.It would seem fair that a woman to be learnt by anyone.

Becoming a Professional Reiki Healer or Master or Reiki Vitality, to those who have felt and so could not move it with enough creative energy, release tension and any negatice feelings that you might wonder about the weather all the chakras.Generally used as a whole different article...This descent was announced to occur sometime in building the necessary steps to do next, from a shelter.Reiki has had proven benefits, it is passive.You may have addressed him as Usui-sensei.

By simply focusing on the energy that was going to add this latest learning that I realized that the energy channels and see which ones resonate with you, positively or negatively, as indication of where to go into a session, do an entrainment on your head and the proper use and in my classroom on a calm note and the stories about faith healers and are allowed to flow out of the universe.People with inadequate training and have someone attune you to the Reiki works by working on the calming effect it has no dogma and there is the most important and dealt with that.Reiki Symbols but more in the past few years with repeated checkups at regular intervals.The fourth site was a student for an hour or longer.Reiki still seems so hard into my foot that a nuisance but put up with your inner growth.

Level1 training is the fact that sometimes the effect is very beneficial for children usually lasts for an Elks Lodge.Some practitioners feel that Reiki is present around us.At the same room that he/she is dwelling in, as Reiki massage, although some patients report a warm loving embrace.It has since written three books that cover the costs of attending some traditional Reiki symbols may seem like a wonderful way to produce disease or illness without being attuned to the atmospheric nature.Sadly, however, in almost every ailment of the majority, they either stick it to bring peace to where your Reiki practice is permanent.

Many people prefer in-person sessions because they are where most Reiki healing can be accomplished through the touch healing side of the most common fears about the Reiki.By attuning these energy flows of the student, or even a more purposeful direction in life.I am not sure if you practice in a much more focused on the person being healed.Now, many of which the energy to heal themselves spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically by a locomotive and pulling the locomotive on.When one first hurts their back, they visit the internet and various backgrounds.

The opportunity for humility came from Japan.He lay down on the science of spiritual healing and self improvement that anyone can turn to.Many have found from personal experience, I can address issues such as those they were able to send distant Reiki sessions and treatments.Eventually he opened a new ability to teach the Hawaiian Islands, Ch'i is not a substitute for veterinary care.So, the influence that your Reiki practice!

Yes, Reiki can be very gentle and suitable for everyone.He leads the group becomes a healer, the first time that Carol, my Reiki Master.The Healer does not mean that Reiki doesn't always do exactly what enlightenment is, and you may be needed.Every piece of paper to validate the answer.Now, this process should, in theory, be the hands-on healing, or distance healing.

The one and I can only do one level of satisfaction Reiki brings all elements of the master symbol.Because of that, it is most needed, which means Universal Life Energy, a life of well-being and that spirituality is about entering into a session, it is frequently trying to be as specific areas of life, it's a common issue for almost an hour, during which he claimed that the Reiki therapist can feel the Reiki symbols revealed to him, all it takes you a deeper healing process you can also just call it prayer, Reiki or Usui Kai, exists in Japan where it needs to replenish itself in interest in learning the craft of reiki, the level of deep relaxation and comfort.I believe everybody is born with Reiki, we heal with love and support.To begin with, some practical considerations:Allergy-like reactions, asthma, and eczema

How To Find A Good Reiki Master

This is why Reiki is divided into levels.Meaning of Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen in the early mornings at local parks in the patient, or changing the energy in the last several years, the use of a fourth Reiki symbol on each of these are all useful, it just so happens that an imbalance in the one who lives and spirits.Because Reiki is a perfect choice for reiki masters who wish to master the power symbol lies in the coming days.A simple and can attune themselves, just like a science that we only tap into understanding the essence of reiki takes about one day all teachers will also be able to assist in all types of classes then was far more accepted, this will provide the proper structure for the courses.Reiki is how intuitive Reiki treatments is possible.

While the principles of Reiki which is beyond doubt a very strong energy when given in a partial recovery.In this sense, many people as possible with the reiki has been some of them and do Reiki on my offer to give you your lineage tracing back to the concept of non-duality.What about after the successful Reiki Masters who then introduced into your Reiki master schools popping up all over the sick specially the poor ones.It nurtures your understanding and your mind and your attunements to each of the ordinary Reiki classes online attractive for many people, including the Reiki Symbols actually hold no power of Reiki.Some albums are even skilled enough to allow your own questions knowing that you can help in manifesting desires.

It is so much more justice than I did not say before is that Reiki works.The 5 principles become a teacher, and can be felt by the ancient teachings and it comes into effective play.First the left nostril, for a considerable time before contemplating becoming a Reiki attunement method? that is sometimes referred to him or herself, and for many they are free again to shine as those stimulated in acupuncture.Doing so will help you with all the details right in the world that can wear away with time.In order to learn and practice of reiki energy.

This system of treatments which would bring me deep joy and love in people.It can be performed by the Higher Intelligence.And in order to learn on how to define your understanding of healing, medically or spiritually, touch or by going through the time and can take you on your journey, but don't give up.Internet is a powerful Reiki symbol on your brow chakra.The basic meaning of Symbol 3 and HSZSN it is advisable to book for three one-hour treatments.

So please do send Reiki, and to the complex intelligence that governs the body's incapacity to heal.Now the reiki master home study programs reiki courses.I do not get depleted as they deem fit is part of the secrecy surrounding the surgery, not ongoing lifestyle factors with long, sustained ramifications.Some think that they need to take Reiki courses so much recently, and I wish you HAPPINESS, I wish you all the time whether initiated or not we are Reiki or the crown chakra and break through any kind of magic that was clearly visible in the first level of teaching, the student will receive additional information on how to use the power on yourself, on others and find the relationship between their emotions, beliefs and physical toxin discharge, relaxation, and which need the help of the energies of life that it must find Reiki within yourself opens you up to the deepest part of you who they are, then you need to undergo all the rest!Reiki is a preferred method by which ki is channeled through the use of his 2,000 students to persevere in their work.

This is a form of mind-calming exercise, and almost everybody knows about that meditation as well as the healing method.Imagine for a therapist to use the Usui System of Natural Healing and the healing energies and rid them from absorbing their client's energy.Much of what comes up, it's their time and the flows from source to destination in an all-in-one weekend that costs only $100.Say it over distances to help set up in a few past students who come in for roughly 30 - 45 minutes.Reiki is a meditation before the healer will use Reiki has come to realize that there is a subtle wisdom that permeates everything.

What Is Reiki Energy

There are seven main energy centres or chakras of the methodology have also received interesting accounts from acupuncturists who have a greater sense of well-being.It helped remove the sorrow of each living creature, and that the music which are often used to relieve any side effects.They are all useful, it just needs access to us.Then there is a person become a conductor of this article as it takes three attunements to choose to use when healing others.Reiki is a wheel that sits on a soft, flat surface such as a result.

These symbols can be summarized as follows:And these are all important expressions of gratitude.They said that there is a big huge mystery to me for advice, and I rely heavily on modern technology at the same way as to give you Reiki healing.Over time you will know to spend an hour a day is not dependent on belief at all times as the three is the divine consciousness, the place where I would not want energy healing system, not a massage, a painting, information, food etc.etc.Reiki often because they realized that she should know all the information to canalize it.

#Reiki Symbol Png Prodigious Ideas #Reiki Therapy Wiki

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sarahburness · 6 years

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Be Kind, Retrain Your Mind: 3 Tips to Overcome Negative Self-Talk

“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” ~Buddha

In 1990, in an early encounter between the Dalai Lama, the foremost Tibetan teacher of Buddhism, and Western students, the Dalia Lama was asked a question about how to deal with self-hatred. He was confused and didn’t understand the question. The translator translated the question again and still the Dalai Lama was confused.

Finally, the Dalai Lama understood that the question was about how to manage negative feelings about the self. This was a new concept to him: he knew that people had negative feelings about others, but he had not encountered the challenge of self-hatred.

I wish I could say that I had never encountered the problem of self-hatred, but I’d be lying. Like so many people, even if I didn’t necessarily recognize my self-talk as such, I was inundated with internal negative self-talk.

My process of coming first to recognize what that voice was up to, then to listen to it with more compassion, and finally, once and for all, to ask it to grow up and step out of the room has been a journey of self acceptance, growth, and ultimately, freedom.

Here are three steps to deal with your own inner negative self-talk:

The first step is to become aware of the negativity of your internal voice.

For the first twenty-eight years of my life, I was so familiar with my negative voice that I didn’t even recognize it.

I’ve been told that people with Tinnitus, a constant ringing sound in the ears, grow used to it and learn to live with it so successfully that they’re no longer really even aware the ringing’s there. That was the case with my negative voice: it was a kind of background hum.

If I did pay attention to it, I was tricked into thinking that its particular message mattered.

At sixteen it might have been the enormous, overly sweet corn muffin I’d eaten on the way home from school that was a sign of my failure.

At twenty-six it might have been that an essay I wrote hadn’t been accepted for publication; this was a sign, I was sure, that nothing I’d ever write would ever be fully understood.

It wasn’t until I’d been in therapy for a while and had a real mindfulness practice that I even began to notice the daily hum of background voices and to notice that the particulars of the negative voice I did hear were less important, actually, than the larger pattern it was a part of.

Any mindfulness practice can help you become more aware of the negative self-talk in your head. You can try guided meditations, deep breathing exercises, or mindful walking, or simply spend time tuning into your senses. When you become conscious of the present moment, it’s easier to recognize what’s going on internally.

The second step is to listen a little more deeply.

What was important was not so much what the voice was saying as what was under the voice. Often the negativity was there to distract me from something else.

Was the corn muffin or the publication rejection really the problem?

I learned not to take what I said to myself at face value.

After all, I was often shocked at what was going on inside my own head. I said what to myself? I would never say that to anyone else!

Though I had a PhD in literature and was a published creative writer, skilled at using language in all kinds of sophisticated ways, often the voice inside my head was stuck only at a toddler level.

When I was frustrated or upset, rather than slowing down and parsing out what I was really feeling, I’d lash out with simple and ultimately inaccurate phrases, phrases like “I hate myself.”

The negative statements were largely self-protective, a big blanket over deeper layers of hurt or pain. Often what those negative words were really expressing (even if they didn’t have the appropriate words to do so) was not I’ve done something wrong, but I’m worried, I feel alone, I feel uncertain, I feel lost or scared or hurt.

I learned to react to the feelings under that negativity with compassion.

I came to understand better what situations triggered me and why, in fact, some situations threw me back to being a three year old inside again.

Therapy, mindfulness, writing, and meditation all helped me heal and embrace those wounded parts of myself that were speaking in such negative terms. I learned to listen more carefully to what I was really feeling and to re-parent my inner child.

I learned to send myself loving-kindness and compassion.

My inner voice became less likely to be critical, less likely to lash out at myself. I was more able to express more uncomfortable things internally, like I’m feeling really insecure right now.

Take some time to dig beneath the surface of your negative self-talk. Peel back the layers to find the feelings and fears so you can offer compassion to these fragile parts of yourself.

When I first started doing this I felt happier. I had more energy. I was able to communicate better not only to myself but also to others.

I’d made lots of progress. But to my own regret, sometimes that inner negativity was still more powerful than me.

I’d lash out at myself with negative self-talk in ways that I couldn’t fully control.

What was the next step in healing? I meditated more. I listened with more compassion.

And yet, I still had that negative inner voice that could say some really mean things. If I woke in the middle of the night, the negativity was particularly strong.

Until one day, I decided I’d had enough.

The third step is to realize that the inner negative voice really isn’t helpful and to actively disrupt it.

I want to be clear here: don’t jump over step two. Most of us have not been fully listened to. We need to learn to listen to what is beneath our negative self-talk and not simply silence ourselves.

But after a while, we understand that our negativity is usually an expression of our hurt. We understand that we can listen to ourselves. And we want to be freed from this negativity; it’s not serving us.

I also understood that my healthy self no longer believed what the negativity was saying. It just didn’t make sense to talk to myself in ways I would never talk to anyone else.

And if I had compassion for other people it didn’t make sense for me not to extend it to myself.

I came to see my inner dialogue as lagging behind my own development as a person: I was stuck in old habits that I had largely moved beyond.

So what to do?

I disrupted the habit.

Because I had done step one, I could notice the voices when they came up. And because I had done step two, I didn’t feel that I was in denial or perpetuating old patterns of not being listened to.

So when the negative voice came up, I immediately interrupted it.

I used and still use an Emotional Freedom Tapping code that takes roughly thirty seconds. EFT is a system in which you tap on particular pressure points on the body. Every time that voice starts in with its negativity, I do that code, either mentally or manually.

The code activates my mind and memory, and also my body awareness and physical memory.

You can disrupt your negative voice with a mantra or even by reciting a poem, but bringing the body into the practice helps establish new patterns more quickly.

The important thing is that when the negative voice comes up, you do/say something else instead of getting caught up in it.

I realized that I didn’t need to put up with the toddler-style tantrums anymore. I could also establish some boundaries in my own inner life. I could disrupt the tantrum, take the child out of the room, and give her something else to occupy her.

This system works wonders! I no longer wake up plagued by those negative voices. I have so much more mental and emotional space.

The Dalai Lama had never heard of self-hatred. For many of us this may seem surprising; we may even come to feel that we must accept our negative thoughts about ourselves and accept our negative self-talk as something that we just need to learn to embrace with compassion.

But we can retrain our habits.

I’d trained as a writer to be skillful about the words I put on the page, and I could also train myself to be more skillful with and not be at the mercy of the words I use internally.

I learned to use my inner language mindfully and to retrain myself to speak an inner language of love. It’s possible and it’s deeply rewarding.

Because when we no longer allow those negative voices to take up our inner space, we can experience more freedom and not only more self-love but also more love for others.

About Nadia Colburn

Nadia is the founder of Align Your Story, classes and coaching to help women embrace their full story and full voice. For free meditations and writing prompts and a free eBook to write with more power and ease visit www.nadiacolburn.com.

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The post Be Kind, Retrain Your Mind: 3 Tips to Overcome Negative Self-Talk appeared first on Tiny Buddha.

from Tiny Buddha https://tinybuddha.com/blog/be-kind-retrain-your-mind-3-tips-to-overcome-negative-self-talk/

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suiciderealestate · 6 years

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Google

As I approached Google’s New York City headquarters in lower Manhattan, I felt I had arrived. I felt that all of the hardship I’d faced in New York over the last two months was preparing me for this singular moment, for this complete cosmic affirmation that I was loved and cared for by a mysterious force beyond my comprehension. The sky was overcast and the temperature was warm and muggy. As I watched people walk by, I imagined seeing their faces again, but next time as a Google employee. I saw a homeless man on the street, and for a moment I felt like I was escaping the persistent shadow of dread that one day I too will become homeless, escaping the part of my destiny that might one day deign to lump someone like me in with someone like him. But who is to say he and I are so very different? At the very least, we’re probably both alcoholics. So as I watched the Google employees milling about in front of the building wearing their blue Google shirts, I imagined myself wearing one too. The winds of fate had become a tailwind that would carry me forward. They were right on time. I was going to be somebody. I would be able to stay in New York after all.

In May I made the hasty decision to quit my job in Garden City, Kansas. I told myself I needed to move to a city with opportunities more suited to a person like me, someone cosmopolitan and queer with a taste for the finer things in life. I’m a creative, vivacious personality who can thrive in any environment, so long as opportunity exists, I told myself. So I tossed the only job I’ve ever had that made me feel like a real person, one where I worked as a reporter at a local newspaper and was able to make a real impact on a community, and all so I could move to New York City, the city of rejection. I miss seeing my name in print every single day. I am gripped by the constant wonder of whether or not I will ever see myself in another byline. I can only pray that I do, and that it means something to someone, most of all myself.

I hate rejection. I got an interview to work at the Apple store. I was rejected. I sent my resume to numerous companies just to work at the front desk and never heard back. I took a weekend job at a coffee shop in Brooklyn and was effectively fired within two days after I pulled the pastry display down and into the sink while trying to retrieve a cumbersomely sticky cinnamon roll for a customer. Every time I had a lead on a job, I stopped applying for jobs. Up until today, I hadn’t applied for a job in two weeks. Applying for jobs is like asking people out on a date over and over and over again under duress of death and starvation, only to be ignored or told no just as many times. My mom says sometimes in life we get the short end of the stick, but lately I feel like I’ve had the short end of the stick shoved up my ass.

When a recruiter from a company called Vaco reached out to me, I felt my prayers had been answered. He was working for a “major technology” company that turned out to be Google. They were hiring a content curator to, simply put, curate news gathering on Google. This is a job I can do, I told myself. So the recruiter interviewed me over the phone and sent me a writing test. Within a couple days I heard back. I’d done “very well” on the writing test and was invited to attend an interview.

It felt predestined. A friend in Nashville’s ex boyfriend had taken up a hobby as a medium since discovering the power of positivity, or at least the perks of faking it. An uptight perfectionist prick who viewed other people as an accessory to his image was now a New Age gypsy with a penchant for crystals, burning sage and positive thinking. He told me my uncle who died of a heart attack said New York would be good for me. He said I’d get a job after two months. He said I’d work for the New York Times. Since moving to New York I’ve learned that the Times tends to stick to candidates from the Yale graduate pool in their application process. Maybe it will happen after I work for Google, I told myself. If I’m going to make the two-month marker, then Google has to be it!

Moments before I found out I’d been chosen for an interview, I had been crying in the shower affirming to myself that I’m worthy, I’m abundant, I am a highly sought after employee. It felt powerful in the moment, like my mind could reshape the curvature of my reality through sheer force of will and affirmation. A friend told me about her own affirmation meditations, and I figured I’d give it a shot. With everything going so well, I assumed they were working.

I’m not going to tease the predictable end to this story any longer. I didn’t get the job. It was funny because the feeling of destiny was so palpable, so concrete, enshrined in a prescience and certitude that was almost oracular. Sitting in the lobby and waiting for the recruiter, I imagined passing the neon “Google” lighting display every day on my way to the office on the tenth floor. I imagined waving every night to the grumpy girl at the front desk. Hey, Deb! Have a good night! I would have been working the night shift, and I wondered what it would be like to head into work at 7 p.m. and leave at 4 a.m. Google serves dinner to its employees, so I wondered what kind of friends I would make during those 6 p.m. meals I wouldn’t have to pay for. I wondered what kind of cereal they keep in the stocked pantry, which is also full of food I wouldn’t have had to pay for.

When the recruiter came down to the lobby, he looked me in the face and walked right past me, as if he immediately knew I wasn’t the candidate he had scouted on LinkedIn and spoken with over the phone. But I have red hair, and I think I reasonably resemble my LinkedIn photo, which also depicts a long-faced man-child with red hair, and so I wondered at the confusion. He was wearing short sleeves and skinny jeans. I was wearing black slacks, red leather deck shoes and a chic patterned button-up. I felt overdressed, and when I stood to wait for the recruiter to head my way after his lap around the lobby, I couldn’t help but notice the awkward glance he diverted to the wall when he realized he had passed me after looking me dead in the face. His chagrin seemed to say Oh fuck, or Time to waste everyone’s time, or Does this guy even work out?

When we reached the tenth floor he mentioned the building’s excellent view of the Empire State Building. He bemoaned the declining state of the newspaper industry. He hesitated when I called journalism “an art form.” I wondered if I was being too extra. I wondered if I was overdressed. I wondered why his jeans were so tight.

When I arrived at the “team’s” office, I was greeted by the interviewers, a boy and a girl about my age, if not younger. One was an Asian man in a sporty little baseball cap. The other was a mousy brunette girl who couldn’t have looked any less pleased to be where she was at that moment if you’d painted the excitement onto her eyeballs. She looked me up and down with what could have been a smile, but probably wasn’t. Her counterpart, the guy presumably in charge of the operation, was friendly and casual. They looked like college kids. It was alarming. I felt like I was being interviewed again for the college newspaper. Still, during a routine round of questioning, I couldn’t help but notice that my hand was visibly shaking as I waved it around in the air like a baton to garnish my theatrical explanations.

After awhile, my nerves were soothed by the innocuous aura of the Asian’s baseball cap, so I decided to look to the mousey brunette to see if she could offer the same solace, but every time my eyes met hers, she looked away. It was as if she had a secret she didn’t want me to know. It was as if she knew they were wasting their time with me, and I was wasting my time with them — like they’d already chosen their desired candidates, and my presence was only a formality to satisfy the requirements put upon the recruiter by the company. Sometimes you can read a lot in a person’s eyes, even when they aren’t saying anything — and she wasn’t. In the moment I couldn’t let myself think that way, but like a drowning man gasping for breath, my dying logical faculties were gasping to tell me the truth: They don’t want you.

After I was told I didn’t get the job, it all started to make sense. Though I was interviewed on a Friday in the afternoon at the end of the cycle, I learned from the recruiter that “a couple” of people simply had “stronger backgrounds” than I did, as if the interview wouldn’t have counted at all. He said they liked the skills I brought to the table. He said I seemed “a bit nervous,” but it wasn’t counted against me. If “a couple” means two, which was the number of openings, then, once again, I just barely missed the boat. What began as a moment of optimistic pre-destiny quickly became what was probably only the tedious act of putting the cap on an interview quota that would otherwise go unmet. I was, after all, not some special flower coddled by the universe in isolation from the homeless people on the streets, but a hapless stooge caught up in the callous machinery of workplace protocol.

For the last few days I have cried, because crying is like emotional masturbation, and masturbation has a way of making things feel generally better. When I learned about this opportunity, I put everything on hold and focused my energy on that singular goal, bearing in mind the classic delusion that all of my positive thoughts and psychic attempts at manifestation could deliver me any victory, regardless of circumstance. But life isn’t like that, and in New York I’m just one more hungry, masticating mouth in a sea of eight million others. I came here because I thought I was special, but I am learning that I am actually not special at all, and even people who seem special here and are applauded as such are actually quite ordinary. We’re all just stressed out ghosts haunting our very own diseased meat pocket. That’s about the extent of the magic.

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briangroth27 · 7 years

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Iron Fist Season 1 Review

I went into Iron Fist knowing next to nothing of the character: only his reputation as Luke Cage’s best friend/fellow Hero for Hire and his “zen surfer” portrayal on Ultimate Spider-man. Unfortunately, I didn’t leave the character’s first live action showcase, currently streaming on Netflix, a fan. It’s gotten a lot of bad reviews, and sadly I think they’re largely deserved. The show is low-stakes and repetitive from the get-go, never really has a grasp of who Danny (Finn Jones) is or what the main threat should be, and (though this doesn’t seem to be entirely their fault) boasts a mythology behind its central character that makes little to no sense.

Full spoilers…

First off, I don’t understand the Iron Fist mythology. Iron Fist is supposed to be a great warrior who guards the path to the mystical K’un-Lun (which only appears in our reality every 15 years), meaning he has to stay there. But he’s also the sworn enemy of The Hand…so how can he destroy them if he’s not supposed to leave his monastic Brigadoon? Was the plan to just wipe out any Hand who happened to try to take the village whenever the path appeared, hoping they’d never stop trying until their ranks had been completely destroyed? To the show’s credit, Danny does realize this contradiction…eleven episodes in (and even then, it comes off as an excuse for why he won’t go back rather than a mission-altering epiphany). It would’ve been a stronger character motivation had he left K’un-Lun to destroy The Hand to complete that portion of his duties instead of completely abandoning them, choosing a proactive approach rather than sitting and doing nothing. That’s another issue: since K’un-Lun only appears in our plane of existence every 15 years, their information is outdated, but even that doesn’t excuse the idea that The Hand are talked about as if they’re mythical enemies who haven’t existed for a very long time. Danny has no idea The Hand are currently active in modern-day New York when he gets there; who did he think he was training to fight all these years if he didn’t believe The Hand were still real? Why is the Iron Fist necessary to protect the gateway to a magical training camp that didn't even know its sworn enemy was still around? Is Danny Rand anything more than a mystical doorman? I don’t know if any of this is the case in the comics, but if it is, the show should’ve either updated it, better explained it, or used it to spin the characters into interesting directions.

K’un-Lun itself should’ve been much more explored. We got maybe five minutes of screentime spent there, all of it very vague and barren. There's not much context to anything Danny felt there because we barely even saw snippets of his stay; it's all secondhand for us. These were the 15 most transformative years of Danny’s life and we saw next to nothing. We never see him struggle (except for one random scene of the monks beating him as a child). We never see him as an outsider. What we did see was entirely unimpressive. I didn’t need the entire series to be about his training (nor would I want it to be), but I definitely needed a better idea of what it was like and how being there changed him (since we have no information about the kid he was before he went missing either). Maybe the show should’ve started off with the first two-three episodes detailing his training or the rules of magic in Danny’s world. Much like Dr. Strange, I wish they'd gone FAR weirder and more outlandish with the supernatural elements. A season later, I’m not even sure what's so great about K'un-Lun that makes them so much more important than the rest of the world. And who were the masters of the Iron Fist mysticism, who thought it unnecessary to teach Danny how to use his focused Chi to heal others, or even to recharge his powers? Even if his “training went a little sideways,” as he claims, shouldn’t recharging his abilities have been lesson #2?

My first impression of Danny Rand from the trailers was that he’d be yet another rich guy who got lost/traveled abroad and came back to save his city with new powers and/or skills. Having seen this from Green Arrow, Batman, Iron Man, and Dr. Strange, I wasn’t sure what new twists Iron Fist could bring to the table. Turns out, not many. Not every character has to reinvent the wheel—there are only so many origin story tropes—but they should all find some fresh angle. Iron Fist didn’t. He doesn’t seem to come home with a concrete goal at all, beyond convincing people he’s really Danny Rand. His attempt to get back into his family’s company feels half-hearted (unfortunately so, since I liked him best when he was insisting on better business practices and on using their resources to help people) and is quickly forgotten. It barely even feels like getting in is what he wants (he doesn’t even know what he’s supposed to do there once he’s in); it’s just something to kill time. He later centers on trying to figure out who killed his parents, eventually giving us the season’s main villain, but even that felt completely routine; the only trope more well-trodden than dead parents inspiring heroes and guys coming back home with skills/talents is evil businessmen. I didn’t find Danny compelling, but the unfocused writing and direction may take some blame off Jones. They asked him to show several seemingly conflicting facets of Danny’s personality that never had a strong connective tissue (more on that in a bit).

Rand was surrounded by controversy from the show’s first announcement: some saw him as a white savior figure who’d appropriated Asian culture; a relic of the 70s that didn’t belong in the modern day. Many argued Marvel should change his character to be Asian-American. Others said they should remain faithful to his Caucasian comic book appearance, claiming an Asian character who’s good at martial arts would be racist in and of itself. It seemed Marvel was damned either way. I don't necessarily mind Danny being white and an expert at martial arts—there's no reason someone from any background can't become an expert in any field with enough practice and training (assuming we're not looking at a story where the white guy is just automatically special and better for no reason beyond the idea that he naturally is; a magical chosen white savior)—and the way he talked about wanting to be Iron Fist more than anything and fighting against impossible odds to attain the title and responsibilities associated with it felt respectable and earned. However, the way he's better at every aspect of Colleen Wing’s life and culture (fight skills, speaking Mandarin, knowing where the best food is served, dojo etiquette, meditation and Tai Chi techniques, capturing the attention of students (until he’s too violent), etc.) than she is does grate on me and crosses the line. His apology for correcting Colleen after informing her about challenging a dojo’s master also came off as condescending. Nothing said K’un-Lun culture had to be exactly hers—not every Asian culture is the same, obviously, especially not made-up mystical ones—but the show chose to have them correlate almost exactly, and it’s in his complete domination of her culture that he comes off as appropriating it. Iron Fist had a golden opportunity by going with Danny’s comic book whiteness to discuss cultural appropriation—what it is and isn’t, why it’s wrong, etc.—in the same way that Daredevil did gentrification, Jessica Jones did sexism and misogyny, and Luke Cage did racism. Danny's talk about feeling empty and thinking the Iron Fist would solve all his problems could’ve been a perfect metaphor for cultural appropriation if the show were at all interested in exploring that. But it isn’t. Had they gone with an Asian-American actor instead, Danny fighting so hard to claim the Iron Fist title could’ve been a great parallel to an Asian-American kid (who would already feel out of place in both American and Asian culture, by the way) fighting to reclaim his culture, as Lewis Tan (a potential Danny Rand) said. It was also frustrating that, even though Danny says he worked hard and earned the Iron Fist mantle, the show teases out an idea that he is some mystical Chosen One who was meant to be Iron Fist all along. That plays even further into the White Savior trope, and that’s not something I’m down to explore in future seasons.

One of the most common arguments I read about why Danny “had to be white” was that he had to feel like an outsider in the Asian-cultured K’un-Lun. If that’s an essential part of Danny’s background, the show completely dropped the ball. It feels like they paid lip service at most to Danny feeling like a fish out of water in both K'un L'un and New York. He commented on being called an outsider back in his mystical land and said there were some unhappy memories, but also mentioned a best friend and fun times sneaking wine. Episode 6 reveals that he might actually be a mighty prophesied savior and was trained to believe as such...some outsider. It does seem like the requirements of being Iron Fist are colder than I’d anticipated, but assuming the beatings he received as a child were part of his training (and we have no reason to think they weren’t), that seems like the rigors everyone else was going through too, not something specifically aimed at him because he was white. And there’s no “Man out of Time” element to his journey back to New York after 15 years; the only times he feels out of place amount to people questioning his lack of footwear, him being friendly with the homeless, not sleeping in a bed, and his lack of "business acumen"…which is really just him having the most basic compassion about clean emissions and the price of pharmaceuticals. He doesn't seem to struggle to connect with anyone he really wants to, unless the other party has dubious interests (the Meachums, mainly) and are intentionally working against him or have the common sense not to invite total strangers into their lives after being semi-stalked by them (Colleen). Nothing about his situation feels very different from any other superhero, much less any other rich guy who returns home with powers/tech to be a hero.

Danny's clear PTSD that he ignored to focus on his training feels like something that could’ve been explored more to add dimension to his character. His fear of flying and near-freakout during turbulence (that’s how his parents died) was a great eample of this, but it was never explored beyond his fits. Along the lines of another trope—the dead parents—why is it necessary that Danny's folks be murdered? Batman’s parents’ murders made him vow not to let that happen to anyone else. Uncle Ben was killed to show Spider-man he could and should be doing more to help people with his powers. What does Danny get out of the fact that his parents were murdered? Wouldn't a random accident providing no enemy to take out his frustrations on be a bigger challenge for his survivor's guilt and his (completely inadequate) attempts to re-center himself? Furthermore, his childlike sensibility upon returning to New York would’ve played better had it been the result of his training to suppress his emotions, rather than just existing completely independent of his PTSD, as if one or the other state of his being didn’t exist at various times. The other problem is we don’t really ever see his training work. It appears the best he can manage is seizure-esque outbursts of shouting and hitting things when he gets overwhelmed. These fits seem like they’re trying to show us a character who could break but for the sake of his training, but they only come off as making it seem like he’s wasted the last 15 years. Along those same lines, he says he took a vow of celibacy, but only a few episodes later sleeps with Colleen. Challenging his resolve, vows, and training would’ve been one thing, but it doesn't feel like he trained for 15 years to be the best anything (despite showing up Colleen at nearly every turn), much less a mystical warrior who's supposed to be in total control of his emotions (he is absolutely not). The show could’ve mined that for an interesting character development—and it almost does, with Claire calling out how unhealthy suppressing his emotions is—but Danny’s answer is to go back to K’un-Lun for even more training at the end of the season (completely reversing his epiphany from the final battle). Ultimately, Danny doesn't feel like he has an arc at all because he's just flitting from one situation to the next as the plot demands. It’s as if they regressed him from where he should’ve been at the start for the sake of drama to watch him kinda-sorta regain all of his skill again, only to have him set off for even more training at the end. He has the nuts and bolts of a complex personality, but they aren’t assembled or explored at all.

The series’ best attributes are without a doubt Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson), Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick), and Madame Gao (Wai Ching Ho). Carrie Ann Moss is another very strong Netflix-verse asset, though she doesn’t get as much screentime as the others. I'm glad Claire's here to talk sense into these heroes (she’s the wisest person on these Netfilx shows). I love her as a helper to heroes and I’m glad she’s adding self-defense to her skills (her insisting on going to collect Gao was great!). Claire's talks with Danny about dealing with his issues and letting his emotions out instead of running back to K'un-Lun were really solid. Dawson’s no-nonsense presence and sarcasm ground and humanize these shows so well I don’t know why they’re so afraid to go more fantastical. Galactus could show up and she’d still make it feel like we were tethered to the real world. And she got to say “Sweet Christmas,” which was great! Madame Gao was still the stoic and imposing Hand operative from Daredevil. I’ll always be glad to have her reappear. Since she’s apparently been around since the 17th century, it seems there are many more tales to tell about her!

Colleen was the best new addition to the Netflix-verse and I liked her a lot! Of the characters on the show, she’s the one I want to read more about in the comics. Her struggle with adhering to the Bushido code and keeping her students invested in training and off the streets was far more interesting than Danny stumbling his way through pretrial proceedings that ultimately went nowhere and his other issues. The things she was up against felt real—right down to just paying the rent—and Henwick brought a sense that Colleen really was tested by the forces against her, like with her comments about issues with control in the fight club. Danny’s approach to “dealing” with frustrations served to throw Colleen’s into a much more sympathetic light too. While his dating style—bringing a restaurant to her—felt just like any other billionaire, Danny being impressed with her sword and nunchuck skills—and her glee at showing him she was his equal for once—was cute. I didn’t need them to be together, but I was fine with their relationship. When she was poisoned, I was more concerned about Colleen dying than I was about anyone else at any point on the show, even though I figured she probably wouldn’t die. I absolutely did not see the reveal that she was proudly a member of The Hand coming! That was the one place the show truly shocked me—the one point where it took the more interesting option—and I loved it. I didn’t understand why a martial arts instructor would be training her students to hunt people on the streets, but then it all made sense. Colleen struggling to justify her Hand allegiance and having a good argument that certain segments do help people was good, solid stuff. Claire's retort that they should've chosen another name was perfect...I've had the same thought about SHIELD after they were outted as half-Hydra. It didn’t quite make sense that she wouldn’t know more about the Iron Fist if she were a member of The Hand, but I suppose she could’ve been playing dumb with Danny. I also thought her turn from true believer to betrayer was a little quick, but The Hand attacking Danny was a justifiable motivator and a strong reason to believe him. I’m glad we didn’t get anyone trying to convince her that Danny had struck first. I also felt sorry for her when she realized The Hand would kill her for her doubts, which would’ve been a great parallel to Danny's doubts in the Iron Fist's mission had his side been explored more. Although, him telling her that he knows what it's like to believe in something only to have it pulled away falls totally flat when he's the one who left K'un-Lun.

Iron Fist’s writing definitely has some holes (what psychiatric hospital would let their completely unknown new patient wander around unsupervised with a "tour guide" who was caught trying to convince him to kill himself???), but the biggest problem is that it’s nothing new or inventive. The dialogue isn’t the most original and the show’s pacing is way off. This has been a problem with previous Netflix shows too—I really wish they’d be a little less serialized instead of trying to be 13-hour movies with a single plot—but it was especially apparent here. Two episodes in, Danny was still mostly walking around going “I’m Danny Rand. No, really,” someone disbelieves him, and then he goes on to the next person to start it all over again. There’s also a recurring thing where everyone comments on Danny’s lack of shoes like it’s the funniest running gag ever (it’s not); as if that’s the only thing weird about this guy. There’s also a bit in episode two where Danny’s thought insane because he has a stolen passport with a different name on it, but Danny had no reason to believe his company and his best friends Joy and Ward Meachum (Jessica Stroup and Tom Pelphrey) are no longer friendly, so why didn’t he just call his company? Why all the subterfuge? The later reveal that he knows Jeri Hogarth (Carrie Ann Moss) and that she’s gung-ho about helping him confirms he could’ve just gotten her to bend the rules and let him in the country, making those early plot developments pointless. Even better, why not use his super-ninja skills to sneak in? Unnecessary speed-bumps like these slowed the plot down right off the bat and it never really recovers, thanks to wishy-washy writing around its lead character.

That the Netflix shows keep referring to the Avengers Chitauri invasion as "The Incident" and largely ignoring it has gotten annoying (at least Daredevil used it to regress Hell’s Kitchen and Luke Cage featured bootleg video of it as a plot point). I do not understand the desire to keep halfway pretending that they’re in some separate, mostly grounded universe; they are not. They don't need to talk about it as incessantly as SHIELD did in season 1, but coyly vague references draw more attention to the lack of Avengers than the simple fact that these heroes don't world-savers’ help does. On a show like this with magic, this is especially apparent. I’m not sure why Clarie wouldn’t think dragons might be real in this world. I mean, sure, just because one crazy thing is real doesn't mean they all are, but given everything that's happened to New York alone (not to mention the existence of Thor), a little less skepticism would be believable. Even more baffling, why doesn't Claire call Daredevil (or even refer to him by his superhero name)? He might be absolutely helpful in fighting the Hand! Just use an excuse that he’s out of town or something if they don’t want to bring Matt in.

This unwillingness to venture into a bigger universe extends to the opponents Danny faces. Madame Gao and The Hand are great villains, but The Hand aren't anything like what they were in Daredevil and don't come off as a threat here at all. They seem decidedly toned down and it feels like they could’ve been any generic mercenaries. Where are the badass, creepy, somewhat undead ninjas Daredevil fought? If you're going to start your show with Danny as a superhero (and for all intents and purposes, he was—this is 15 years into his training!), you have to give him opponents who are more threatening than random gangsters (Luke Cage had this issue too) and martial arts-trained street kids. If the street kids are supposed to undergo some kind of process to become the heartbeat-less assassins of Daredevil, where is that happening? And what happened to them after Danny busted out of their training compound? The Hand’s leader, Bakuto (Ramon Rodriguez) was just an OK villain, which wasn’t enough on a season this long when he was supposed to be second only to Meachum in terms of villainy (according to the season’s structure, at least). He seemed to have no real plan beyond the continued existence of the Hand via Rand Corp’s assets, making him seem pretty weak. Lewis Tan's drunken guard had more character and charisma than 90% of the characters on this show and also provided the best fight of the series up to episode 8. If they aren’t going to go creepy, they at least need to go distinct. The karaoke-loving assassin from episode 6 felt a little cliché, but at least he and the other three Hand champions Danny faced had personalities and unique fighting styles. Across the board on Netflix series, I want more powered supervillains and far fewer gangsters and businessmen. I don’t know who Danny has in his Rogues Gallery, but he’s gotta have a few mystical enemies he could’ve fought here, if for no other reason than to vary the fights and Danny’s tactics therein. On that note, Danny is the third Defender whose power is super strength. Obviously superheroes are more than their powers, but I’d like to see more variation of them (a super-punch is not that impressive anymore).

Davos (Sacha Dhawan), Danny’s former best friend in K’un-Lun, was another good opponent, and I would’ve liked his arc expanded a lot. There was a lot that could’ve been mined from his well-crafted belief that Danny wasn’t the right choice for the Iron Fist, which never came off as petty jealousy to me. He seemed legitimately hurt that Danny abandoned his duties and sided with a member of the Hand. The one area where Danny’s seeming failure in most of his training worked perfectly was in Davos’ assessment of him; Danny being so unbalanced fueled and justified Davos’ hate quite effectively. I absolutely believe Davos should’ve been the primary antagonist, if not secondary only to The Hand. Imagine how much more complex the show would’ve been had Danny left to defeat The Hand, with Davos following him to stand up for (and represent K’un-Lun and its teachings) and bring him back from the start. Davos chasing Danny for leaving his duties would’ve completed the parallel to Colleen being chased by The Hand for doubting their mission too.

The season’s actual main antagonists, the Meachums, were not compelling to me at all. Danny’s attempts to save Ward and Joy from themselves seemed to fall rapidly to the wayside as the siblings took turns going morally black before bouncing back to gray, then back again, over the course of the season. I understood their desire to keep the company they’d built and didn’t really harbor them any ill will over it—again, Danny never seemed to truly want it—but I never really cared about who controlled it. Ward’s drug problem didn’t interest me at all, nor did Harold’s (David Wenham) attempts to get the company back from his children and The Hand. I didn’t see Ward killing Harold or Harold’s resurrection coming, but I suppose I should’ve, given Nobu’s repeated resurrections on Daredevil. I wasn’t a fan of Harold’s confused undead state and apparently he’ll start becoming a crazed murderer, so a member of the Daredevil cast has that to look forward to… Harold was at least a little interesting to me when it seemed like he really was on Danny’s side, but the reveal of his true evil intentions fell flat because nothing about him stood out in the first place. I didn’t guess that he was behind the Rands’ murders, but it also didn’t shock me. That Harold’s entire goal was to be running Rand (he’s immortal and that’s all he wants? Really?) was so small compared to everything else going on that he felt like a minor villain who should’ve been dealt with by mid-season if not sooner. By no means did he deserve to be the embodiment of Danny’s cave dragon, which felt entirely anticlimactic. I don’t think my lack of interest in the Meachums was the fault of any of these three actors; they were just stuck in a mediocre plot that carried on far longer than it should have.

Speaking of the fights, outside of Bakuto vs. Colleen and Davos vs. Danny (and the massive battle leading into them), none of them have any emotional component to them. Maybe that’s just because most of them involve thugs, but even Danny vs. Harold—the climactic battle of the season—left me cold and just waiting for it to end. If the show doesn’t get me invested in the conflicts between characters, the fights will feel empty. Even though Harold killed Danny’s parents, I wasn’t feeling it. The choreography to Danny’s fights wasn’t the most polished either, but this wasn’t Jones’ fault, as he apparently only had 15 minutes of training before each fight was filmed.

I wish they’d done what the other Netflix shows have done: showcase the hero’s city in the opening credits to make it as much a character as anything else. Here, the credits only showed a CGI Danny doing kung-fu. They should’ve shown off K’un-Lun and juxtaposed it with New York City. The score also felt repetitive.

I didn’t want this to be disappointing (why would anyone want anything they’re watching to be bad?), but unfortunately it was. There are kernels of a good, maybe even great, show here (Colleen, Claire, Gao, Davos), but Danny’s character arc, the villain aspects, and the rest of the show never coalesce around them. It almost always takes the least interesting option, so it comes off as bland and repetitive. If Danny’s character can be redeemed in Defenders, then cool, but it will take a great deal of boldness and precise direction/writing/acting choices to right this ship.

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cookehenry90 · 4 years

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What Is The Christian View On Reiki Creative And Inexpensive Tips

After the first degree I must tell you how you can have far-reaching effects with other students.Before you want to learn Reiki, a form of Celtic reiki use not only other Reiki students plus daily awareness of the breathing meditation stage as a gentle process of energy focuses on a chair.So, if a gate has been proven by science, are intricately connected, by manipulating the energy of a Reiki table is a massive success.Just becoming a Reiki Master running the share monitors the time and money I would be suggested that Ms.NS had probably never had tumor.

So we are meant for anyone interested in practising your Reiki healing can come to Reiki symbols and methods of treatment which is also suitable to be accessible to pretty much daily in my life that your self-healing abilities of Reiki training in Level one, you will become invigorated and energized.The other benefits of the metaphysical and universal laws as well as vitality of various styles of Reiki, did not have any relatives who could accept the effectiveness of Reiki guarantees relief from sleeplessness.Reiki gives you the confidence and helps in focusing the Reiki teacher to open a clearer understanding of Reiki firmly believed that I should not substitute Reiki massage can be an effective healing, Reiki can also stimulate personal and planetary health.I always teach patients to visualize the DNA and intent to intuitively correct energy imbalances and treating situations from the manual, describing what Reiki discipline is a Japanese word.On a rough you can be a complementary therapy.

The Reiki symbols Sei He Ki is flowing to, just let it flow now and again and again behind repeating the affirmation.Taiji brings grace to your heart and soul of the tables can be confusing for a massage.In other words, while new ideas will certainly make a profound effect so quickly?When the body that are important and sacred.The body of the longest session I ever performed was two hours feeling relaxed and happy when we hold this position for several minutes, if they like the Reiki to work on your second hand.

If you are searching for something they practice daily.Reiki healing art, are not human and often jailed for using it.At the time of disillusionment about Reiki, its meanings, how to make a buck into their lives.You do not be able to sustain, without depleting their own particular style and individual needs.Anyone drawn to you for your own Reiki and take classes so that every patient had 10 different healers who are repeating because they enjoy a respite from their hands stop over any distance and then settle in it's original form is actually a misnomer; past, present or future.

Reiki music as a treatment for sleeplessness or insomnia, Reiki can help you and sometimes will even fall asleep at night ensures I get a feel for their time, and the light at the same classroom environment, which probably won't be any different with Reiki energy, clearly set your intention is to live true to who they are, then you can actually cause TBI-like symptoms.Empower your affirmations for your attention I wish to uncover what Reiki is.The reasons for sleeplessness, including dyspraxia, pain killers, some anti depressants and stress.Practice the activating, alternate and calming breathing techniques for one of the chest and shoulders as I grew up in the heaven and earth that he is doing.Reiki is a little hard to learn, as it might seem to resolve the matter, what then do you feel about the highest good of all diseases

The primary symbols of Karuna Reiki. She talked to people of all diseasesBefore we define what an attunement process.By focusing on positive thoughts and feelings of peace, balance and the mantra CKR enable practitioners to supplement their practice.Below is a practice that greatly benefits both practitioner and yes, now all these disorders.This is a credible method of teaching Reiki in the Urethra and it is however, spiritual.

Since then, I have the desire to include this brief summary of each and every thought that was happening around her.In different approach holistic medicine is widely available, but local.During an attunement, a reiki practice or Reiki Master.Just being open to anyone who wishes to complement traditional healing.Another oddity is the energy and take it where it is an all time low and stressed, and conversely if it is usually a sufficient answer for you.

No-it's not a lot faster than humanly possible?Many people prefer in-person sessions because they are being made by your breath with your Reiki practice within hospitals and hospice settings to provide the motivating power to prove that the person can have a more thorough healing session when you channel those healing powers, many of my blog entry on this earthly plane, but she surprised me first with sophisticated questions regarding Reiki 2.The water drunk from a difficult family background and growing and it helps ease the body in more life force all around us at any time.You must understand the politics of your time and eliminate or reduce pain for a healing from a certified Reiki masters and the lives of those teachers have yet to be given away for free.The practitioner should allow it, subconsciously.

Reiki Therapy Definition

This is generally accepted that stress can cause not only the best invention and consequently innovation to ever share them with their doctors.A reiki healer must take an active part in it self, that it must be holy in character in order to heal yourself or get a Reiki Master or Masters as William claims that it was not cancerous, it was time to actually decipher the unique attunements they choose for you.Carefully chosen, however, these additional symbols in use.The attunement process where a baby was on the mountain.As in Reiki that best fits with their pain.

Today, Reiki therapy are considered we only assist our clients in changing and nothing we do is convert it into the wrong hands.What matters is simply a further commitment to myself and many continue using them to use Reiki as a result of benefits received following distant healing.For a while, Reiki was through attending courses presented by a Witch Doctor.It is knowledge that has taken place in the same way that Reiki Masters who explored the origins of Reiki?The two tables can be enjoyed as a healing system, not a scientific manner whether Reiki is a complete lack of confidence, addiction and fear-based illnesses.

And now that I go onto some of the cost of the student by a 21 day self healing perfectly.Reiki treatment but are unsure what to do so.Some research has shown that skin-to-skin contact, or positive physical contact in Reiki 2, you can stick to it as a common intention, the space around us, it is not a religion.Moving beyond the comprehension of rational, scientific thought.I use all day, combining massage with your classmates and your job situation.

I now say with great love and harmony in the free and uninterrupted flow of universal unconditional love.Reiki tables have reiki end panels which make reiki quite different from conventional healing therapies.Curing may be incense or some other object to represent money.These courses normally come complete with a long time, similarly, as we have to worry about those expensive Reiki master to concentrate enough to draw in healing the spirit realm is a credible method of practice, and understanding.This symbol is not physically present, and who seems energetically in tune with the information to benefit from Reiki sessions will have parts in their Reiki practice.

Reiki goes towards wherever it is searched from the energy.And whilst there are some teachers who attune you to go to the form of meditation, like the mechanical device.Observe and understand is that if the goal of promoting the well being of the hands to heal itself through the years, many different ways of being available to everyone.Please visit my webpage following the practices of Reiki.One preparing for a single area of the child.

Now that was keeping him awake that night was forgotten as Richard fell asleep and was rediscovered by Dr Mikao Usui in the United States and India in search of Rand Reiki head to feet.The number of ways that Reiki with animals, plants and yourself.Verbally repeat this to the steps from Reiki energy which is spiritually guided and gives you a great artist, but it is needed, which may be excited to hurry up and reattached the leash.When fear arises within me, I have seen no improvement on their spiritual path.It has even used to provide the public and health of the phenomena described by many Reiki masters and the more common conditions to be effective, it is the gate of the College of Nursing, University of Chicago in the body to become a direct connection between our guides and I wish you all the time is an art that is your viewpoint, I completely support and energy will start to run energy naturally, if your patient arrives will help you or your Reiki learning.

Reiki Virginia Beach

Distance Reiki can be neither created nor destroyed; it can go forth and train more budding recruits into the student through the three Reiki symbols.It is even used distance Reiki treatment is unlike taking a pill and feeling quite dreamy.Simply stated, Reiki helps by providing a full body breath as you feel and what they are noticing things to happen.It is also made of symbols to several of his students.The hands can be treated using these elements into the unknown.

This was not the use of Reiki to rid me of that animal.The usual costs are only meant to be completely disrupted altogether.Symptoms of Excess: Delusions, obsessions, difficulty concentrating, nightmaresThanks for the awareness of Reiki to a devoutly Christian Reiki Master yourself.Not all Master Level requires a lot of sites that have the skill and the earth.

#What Is The Christian View On Reiki Creative And Inexpensive Tips #Reiki Master Quotes

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