#there are many selves many people and therefore communities

[mainfaggot]

existence is so inherently selfish isn't it...?

[none-shall-caricature-me]

What exactly is Albert's plan ? Why is there a picture of him and Monsieur M together ? Why does Albert seem to dislike M in it ? How are TWDAK and VTSOM lores linked ? What is the deep, thematic significance behind Albert's views on Vincent ? What exactly are the dream eaters ? Buckle up, this will be a multi - part analysis and we'll have to go in a sequence of steps.

Ok, recap of the basics first. Albert's dream therapy ability is basically some neuroscience - based technology that allows him to hijack people's brains for a while - that is how he is able to communicate with total strangers and influence his office environment, affect a monstrous appearance, give jumpscares and control his victims' fates in their dreams. It explains the bizarre, nightmarish feel of TWDAK.

Then what do the dream eaters do ? How are they made ? Let's go step - by - step into my explanation :

Albert very deliberately administers nightmares to his dream therapy candidates to select an 'army' for his grand plan to revive G2 district. Those who succumb to fear in the nightmare and blindly obey all his instructions perfectly as self - preservation essentially give up control of their fate. They let him decide their fate in their dream.

Now, dreams reflect a person's personality too - they are our memories and neural connections rehashed and mix - and - matched. Albert taps into a person's psychological wiring and instincts through the therapy.

Which means that the 'patients' who obey him out of pure fear are likely to be paranoid and passive when faced with unfamiliar dangers. Therefore, he can easily manipulate and control them using their fear. This could explain the dream eaters' lifeless, gloomy appearance and perpetual silence - it's like they're frozen in a constant state of fear. It's why they're perfect soldiers for his army- they won't rebel, and they are willing to 'eat' victims and follow orders to save their own selves.

You can't control a nightmare. Like any dream, it is formed by your random memories and instincts, random brain connections firing and combining. It's a situation where you're helpless to your psyche, to your subconscious. In Albert's therapy, it's a situation where you're helpless to HIM. How you react depends on your long - honed psyche, who you are deep down.

Think about your nightmares. To give my own example, I've had nightmares about being eaten alive by cannibals, being bombed, being unloved and alone, serial killers, my family and myself becoming evil and harming one another, etc. In some I remember fighting back. In others I was powerless and gave up.

Those like Taylor, who fight back despite being stuck in a horrifying situation they can't understand, show that they have a strong, hopeful outlook somewhere. They use logic as best as they can to do whatever they can. That's why they'll contribute to a G2 that has many pioneering, exceptional citizens.

Why do the dream eaters 'eat' victims ? Why are they 'hungry' ? Why do they need to 'eat' at all ? What happens to a victim who gets 'eaten' ? This is very meta - I think, since in the game everyone you get eaten Taylor urges you to try again and the game loops back, those who get 'eaten' get stuck in the nightmare. They're stuck until they either obey and become Albert's army members, or rebel and get spared. The purpose of dream eaters is to ensure the candidate can't escape till they prove their worth either way. That is Albert's plan for G2 - use the dream eaters to test people's worth, make them either useful to him as testers for other candidates, or leave the 'exceptional' ones be to hopefully improve G2.

What else do the dream eaters do besides acting as a test for candidates' worth ? Is it possible that Albert can do some Inception - style shit, influencing powerful people's decisions by implanting ideas into their psyche ? Is that how he plans to change G2 ?

Remember VTSOM ? Monsieur M's plan is to replace the 'inferior' human species with the much faster, smarter, stronger, modifiable cyborgs. That's his idea of improving life forms and the world. Whereas Albert's idea of improving G2 district is NOT by rejecting humanity but by finding and embracing its exceptional side. He taps into people's subconscious to find the brave, the fearless, those who can retain sense and logic under extreme stress. And that's why Albert dislikes M. M rejects humans totally, deriding them at many points in VTSOM. But Albert sees that humans can be pretty awesome, or atleast useful.

Now, the link between Albert and Vincent. Albert says that Vincent had great potential, but he saw him let it go to waste. Keep in mind the points above, and now remember - Vincent used to be someone who would rebel against society, accept loneliness because he wouldn't compromise on his principles and beliefs. He used to be brave. But then, he grew tired of loneliness. Which is all well and understandable to Albert, except that then Vincent, in his desire to belong and to be accepted at Myers, became a total slave to them. He committed atrocities he didn't want to commit, abandoned his principles and vision for change, because he was deathly scared of ending up alone and unsupported. He could've changed things, he had the aptitude and the attitude, but then he became just another brick in the wall of corporate selfishness. Another pawn for everything wrong with society. That's what Albert means when he says that Vincent wasted his potential. He gave into fear and lost himself. He had not a flight, not a fight, but a 'freeze' reaction to the threat of ostracision - blindly obey the very shady Monsieur M, hoping M would spare him because he licked his boots.

THIS IS MY ORIGINAL ANALYSIS / THEORY. DO NOT DARE TO COPY, REUPLOAD OR REPOST. REBLOGS ARE WELCOME.

[reasoningdaily]

Scientific American: People in the U.S. Think They Are Better Than They Actually Are. People in Asia Don't

How competent are you, compared with your colleagues? When psychologists approach teams of coworkers with variations of this question, an interesting pattern emerges. If people have a truly realistic perspective of their abilities, then their self-assessments should generally fall around the middle. Instead psychologists have repeatedly found that people’s self-assessments are inflated. In fact, superstars and underperformers alike tend to think they are better than they truly are.

This effect is one example of a positive illusion: a cognitive bias that makes you feel more competent, more blessed, more fortunate and better than you are. Positive illusions seem intuitive and reasonable to many people. Some scholars argue that these illusions are fundamental to our species’ survival. To get by in life, they reason, you must remain optimistic, work hard, succeed, live long and leave offspring behind.

[Read more about the better-than-average bias]

Of course, some people don’t experience positive illusions and have a more realistic self-assessment. Unfortunately, such self-appraisals could make them feel more inadequate when comparing themselves with many others who have a very positive self-assessment. These comparisons may be an important cause of imposter syndrome—the suspicion that one is not deserving of one’s achievements. In other words, imposter syndrome may be the dark side of the societal norm toward positive selves.

But there is an important caveat to this discussion: the available evidence is based almost exclusively on a small fraction of humanity called Westerners. If positive illusions were truly essential to our species, we would expect them to be universal. But my work—and that of other research teams—suggests otherwise.

In the early 1990s my colleagues and I started our “Culture and the Self” project, exploring how the sense of the self might vary across cultures. We found no strong evidence for the better-than-average effect or other positive illusions in East Asia. In Japan, for example, when university students were asked what proportion of their peers were better than them in various traits and abilities, the average estimate fell around 50 percent.

In our newest area of research—cultural neuroscience—we find that the neural pathways that support positive illusions are absent in certain communities. In other words, a pattern that most psychologists have seen as a human universal is instead a product of culture.

The vast majority of the psychological database comes from so-called WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic) societies. Most scientists in psychology and other academic fields have a WEIRD cultural background. Therefore, the common view that positive illusions are a human universal is based on heavily skewed research.

To go beyond the limits of this WEIRD cultural perspective, my colleagues and I have directly compared responses from Westerners and East Asians to questions asking about the self. In one study published last year in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, both American and Taiwanese participants judged how good or bad they would feel when facing success or failure. Americans reported they would feel better about success than they would feel bad about failure. Meanwhile Taiwanese participants did not show this positive illusion: if anything, they reported they would feel worse about failure than they would feel good about success. This response from Taiwanese participants may reflect another psychological tendency called the negativity bias, in which negative events typically have much stronger emotional impacts than positive ones.

We then went a step further from past research by monitoring people’s brain waves as they made these judgments. Specifically, we looked at the magnitude of the “alpha wave”—a pattern of activity that appears when a person’s mind wanders and engages in internally directed thoughts. We observed the alpha effect when Americans thought about themselves within a fraction of a second after learning that something good happened to them. This early attention predicted the magnitude of their positive illusions. Taiwanese participants did not show this pattern when thinking about either success or failure happening to the self, nor did they show evidence of holding positive illusions, as mentioned above.

In East Asia, modesty is culturally valued. For that reason, some Western psychologists have tried to explain the absence of positive illusions by arguing that East Asians disguise their true feelings to avoid appearing too self-focused. But our data show that this explanation is inaccurate. We saw no added brain activity, for instance, that would correlate with effortful concealment of one’s true feelings among the Taiwanese people who participated in our study.

On the contrary, Westerners take an additional step to boost their good feeling when something good happens to them. They spontaneously maximize good feelings about the self through an automatic neural response. It occurs within a fraction of a second, without apparent effort, let alone any deliberation or conscious strategizing. Such a response might seem natural and inevitable, but it is not. Instead the response is cultural, having formed through years of socialization. The brain is extensively trained to produce this response because it supports attitudes that help a person fit into their individualistic culture, valuing self-promotion and initiative. East Asians show no such spontaneous or automatic response. They would seem to be more accepting of various events as those events happen to them. Other work we have done has found that while self-esteem predicts health in the West, it does not have the same consequences in East Asian societies.

When considering these results, it’s important to flag that findings about a whole culture or community are nuanced. Within a given group, there can be a high degree of variation from one person to the next. As previously mentioned, some people in the West experience imposter syndrome, which could be especially problematic, given this culture’s strong normative emphasis on feeling positive about the self. This example demonstrates why we cannot assume every Westerner or East Asian will follow a set pattern. But in broad terms, when we see these kinds of trends in our research, we have an opportunity to learn more about how culture shapes the brain and behavior.

We think the cultural variation in positive illusions is one example of a broader cultural difference in how the self is construed. Western societies generally regard the self as independent. Consequently, people in these societies are motivated to feel good about themselves. They work hard to identify their competence and uniqueness. In many cultures outside the West, however, people regard their selves as interdependent and embedded in social relationships. They feel protected and secure when connected to a larger social community. From that cultural perspective, there is no need to feel particularly good about one’s independent, individual self.

These differences set the stage for all manner of misunderstandings. From the Western perspective, East Asians might appear excessively polite in their attention to social ties or could seem disengaged or even depressed or maladjusted in their ambivalence toward self-promotion and initiative. Our data, however, show that East Asians respond to events naturally and realistically, without extra thought. From the East Asian perspective, the Western tendency to boost good feelings about oneself could come across as futile, unnecessary or even childish because it shows how the person is failing to appreciate the relational nature of the self. But our data suggest that Americans boost their positive selves because it helps them adapt to their culture. Altogether, by adopting the cultural neuroscience approach, we may keep our cultural preconceptions and biases at bay, thereby making our science less ethnocentric.

Stepping back, this work underscores the power of culture. Humans are the only animals that have survived by creating and taking advantage of various conventions, practices, meanings and social institutions. The evolution of these things, summarily called “culture,” has accelerated, especially over the past 10,000 years, forging several major cultural zones today. These zones vary greatly, and the cultural variation in positive illusion is a single instance, albeit an important one, of a more general process by which our culture shapes our ways of thinking, feeling and acting. We know what our culture is. Yet we don't appreciate its mind-shaping power enough.

[youthculture2b]

The challenge of fitting in

Licco Kovac Haim

The effort to fit in is one of the most exhausting and present challenges in a young person's life. Historically, humans never were alone, always sorting themselves into communities, in different proportions, such as countries and cultures, but also subcultures, sports and extracurricular activities. Therefore, it should be natural for one to encounter similar others in everyday life and form a social bubble. However, there are numerous difficulties circulating said activity.

To start with, fitting in isn’t always about connecting with a community and finding your place in society. While it may be true belonging isn’t always a challenge, several people still struggle with it, and usually it mostly happens because they feel that never would others like their real selves, causing a need to adapt and change their personalities. According to a report released by the Australian Council for Educational Research, in 2018,  almost a quarter of their students felt like an outsider among their peers.

In addition, more than a problem on the social aspect of life, most teenagers have an internal need of belonging, which if not accomplished, can lead to anxiety, depression and even social phobia. In 2021, the World Health Organization estimated one in seven teenagers (10-19 years old) is going through some kind of mental disorder, with depression and anxiety being the most common. Although it would be an exaggeration to address isolation and social distancing as the only cause of this data, it still is reportedly among the seven main reasons for it.

Furthermore, this is not a new problem that emerged with Generation Z and the pandemic, as some media sources are nowadays propagandizing, but rather has been around since the concept of youthness was accepted. The book “Juventude e sociedade: Trabalho, educação, cultura e participação”, Cynthia Andersen Sarti affirmed the foundation of Youth Culture are the new identities teenagers form once they put themselves out of their comfort zone and resignify themselves. However, in the same manuscript, she adds that this is not an easy activity, moreover isn’t pursued by every young person, increasing the isolating atmosphere which surrounds youthness. Subsequently, minor cultures such as Goths and Emos, to illustrate, were initially forged by outcasts who never were able to find a space in society, often suffering from bullying and social segregation, until those communities were created.

Consequently, these forced changes and issues surrounding identity on young people reflect on their personal lives, originating new problems in different contexts. The most acknowledged situation is among teenagers and their parents, a systematic generational conflict that affects almost every generation. When one is born, under common circumstances, they are already part of a social group: their family. Across the entirety of their infancy, parents, siblings and other relatives form their main social bubble, but also represents the biggest part of their identity. However, once a certain age is reached, there is a disconnection between the now teenager and their family, which is certainly natural, as it's a major part of individual development to grow out of the family nest and explore the world as your own being. However, this can cause strangeness and tense relationships among family members. Hence, not even being able to relate to their own family, the isolation felt by an individual is potentialized, increasing the amount of mental disturbances as well.

In conclusion, the challenge of fitting in is surrounding youthness since the acceptance of teen years as a stage of life, being part of the reason why so many subcultures were created, moreover resulting sometimes in new communities that can support and relate to each other. At the same time, when the isolation and inability to adapt socially is a reality, it also comes with negative effects such as the increase in mental disorders, feelings of uncomfortness at school and decrease of a healthy family environment. 

[syscourse-confessions]

I'm really starting to doubt the whole " the anti-endo community is full of harmful evil people who judge your system" bs because despite being here in the depths for 2 years, I haven't seen even remotely a whiff of it. Nothing that wasn't correcting misinformation and even with maybe one or two responses being unkind due to trauma being triggered, nothing that wasn't kind and curdious. Like Ive not seen any of it and I'm not blind to bigotry either, I'm in the depths of it as well. I don't see the supposed wide spread racism (often claimed by white endos), I don't doubt it exists but I sure as hell haven't seen it as a triracial person. Racism apologizism is something I've seen endlessly in endo circles, just recently with tulpas getting called out again.

I'm honestly getting to the point where the only time I ever hear " anti-endos are mean 😠" is usually when an endo lied to a system about their origin then revealed themselves as an endo, usually by saying something insensitive or racist. Anti-endos don't generally give enough of a fuck to think about you and when they do, it's usually cause you said more medical misinformation or excused more racism in your community or misrepresented the did/osdd communities again by claiming were the "same as truscum because we only focus on our pain". When yeah, this is a mental disorder that is painful and born of pain. Its always us having to correct you guys for the four billionth time with another resource because you guys are essentially anti-vaxxers. Even cold hard medical evidence about did/osdd just gets waved away because you had one curt doctor therefore all doctors are evil conversion therapists who just want to gaslight and harm you and then we spill into the big conspiracy theory that doctors totally know endos exist but it'd hurt the status quo if everyone was plural/sar. None of this to invalidate medical trauma of course but it's not shocking the community that can't find validation in the medical community (because it's not a medical condition) dosent like the medical community.

Suspicious how endos only came about in reaction to did. Suspicious how endos only have the "fun" part of did and not the serious life altering symptoms. Suspicious how it's just young ones who wanna rp on a whole new level or whiny old ones who are too jaded to admit they were wrong. It's almost like your just a reaction to a serious fucking medical condition related to life altering trauma and not a thing all on its own because lets be real, you use this disorder for credibility (erroneously) and you wouldn't have a term in the world or even a shred of a community if you werent building it off the backs of trauma survivors and the doctors you hate so badly.

Suspicious how there's suddenly a boost in endo circles every time some new movie painting did in a shitty light comes out, suspicious how endos circles are supposedly dying "from sysmed attacks" when were in a nice period of no new "splits" or " crowded rooms". If there really is as many endos as you guys claim, why hasn't the medical field acknowledged you? In the hundreds of years it's acknowledged did? I think we both know the damn answer.

Redo your vocabulary and stop trying to rub shoulders with, what is often, your victims. We don't want you. The did/osdd communities don't want you. You fucked up the moment you said you didn't have our struggles proudly. Revel in your idiocy by your fucking selves and stop asking for our sympathy, you don't get it without respect.

Vent/No syscourse replies plz

🔇- Vent/No Discourse, other replies allowed

[plushyuicorn1158]

gay little demons and their modern parallels

oh the autism is strong with this one. i've been watching good omens for 3 days nonstop and have so many thoughts so heres a block of text about queer things/trauma response parallels in good omens

crowley/azraphael are very obviously portrayed as good/evil foils and like we got that. however i make the argument that not only are they foils they also portray the roles certain people take up in modern society so crowley for example. hes the "bad" one. he's the angel who fell and therefore he must be terrible. but we see so clearly his want to be good. it's just shrouded by the demands of his society. so when looking at him as an alegory for queer people/internalized homophobia, he takes on the role of the self hating queer. someone who knows he is queer, who has been hated/bullied/demeaned for it and he internalized it and believes it is a fundamentally bad part of him. he tries to run from it however his true nature tends to peak through. now lets look at azraphale. he takes the role of the resilient queer. someone who can see the damage being done to his fellow queer people but he believes in the "few bad apples" fallacy. if he can just get the few bad apples out of power than everyone will be able to be their true selves and be happy. he is the idealist whereas crowley is the realist. and even though he himself has been damaged by this, he still believes in the goodness of people and wants to fix it so as far as queerness goes, crowley is a queer who desperately wants to let himself love but he has been taught otherwise. azraphale has been taught that a few bad people don't make all the rules and whats important is that crowley and azraphale need each other as balancing points. where crowley is untrusting, azraphale is there to show him that people can be good. and when azraphale is inevatebly harmed by awful people, crowley is there to comfort him. so while they foil each other they also need each other to function in society and the way it functions

because crowley is the quintessential black sheep to azraphales golden child. azraphale believes he is the mediator. he is the fixer. and if he just tries harder he can fix everything. theres some grand gesture he can do to fix it. but crowley has accepted the fact the he is inhearently awful, as hes been told. crowley doesn't think he can fix things and he doesn't want to. he is very much a flight person. the minute something happens that threatens his worldview or challenges his perception of himself he runs because the person he truly is, is vile and harmful and he doesn't want to take the chance at vulnurability and this is shown clearly but also subtextually crowley has bright yellow eyes with slit pupils. so when he goes out into human society or is around people he doesnt fully trust he wears dark glasses. and what we see is that he takes them off around azraphale. even when azraphale isnt there he takes them off in the bookshop because he feels safe there. and so this pattern of behavior makes their final confrentation all the more painful. because he bares his soul to azraphale and when he feelings aren't returned the exact same way, he assumes he's hated. and so, after this massive breech of trust and vulnurability, he puts the glasses back on. he puts all his walls back up because the one person he thought he could trust with this has let him down he is so broken, and this moment is his desperate plea to azraphale to see him. to love him. and azraphale does, in his own way. but not in the way crowley understands. and because theres such a breakdown in communication, azraphale thinks that his action is showing crowley just how much he does love him

but to crowley, it says the exact opposite

and theres this moment of dialouge i wanna draw attention too crowley says "you can't leave this bookshop" and azraphales response is "oh crowley, nothing lasts forever" and its this moment that really shows how they fundamentally understand and misunderstand each other and i'll tell you why what azraphale is saying here is that nothing lasts forever. what he means is that the bookshop is just material. earth and heaven and hell they're all temporary. but this, him and crowley, this is eternal. he is going back to heaven and he is taking crowley with him so they can carve out a new life together. he is going to fix things and give crowley everything he's every wanted and they will be happy. but thats not what crowley hears. what he hears in this moment is "nothing lasts forever." nothing will last. he hears azraphale saying that this thing they have, that means more to crowley than any material posession, is nothing. it wont last. he hears azraphale choosing the system that has harmed him and cast him out and made him feel worthless. and now, the only thing he's allowed himself to love in 6000 years has turned their back on him. has given into the system and betrayed him

[charmingpplincardigans]

I keep thinking I need to write some words to round off the year and then immediately becoming exhausted. Not so much by the idea of taking stock, which I do all of the time in little ways, but by facing the person I want to be. The person I've failed to be.

Because, to be bluntly and perfectly honest, there have been several moments this past year when I have not been my best, when I've hurt people I love in ways that go beyond my aptitude for general carelessness. None of them premeditated or due to lack of caring of course, all of them because I was trying to handle things internally that I was not equipped to handle and didn't speak up about it to anyone who could help, so that even the help that was offered felt wrong, unhelpful, did not solve the internal turmoil that the other person could not know was there and therefore could not navigate any better than I was.

And I did a pretty bad job! As previously stated! I know I am not my mistakes. I know I have talked and will talk about these things and will work to continue to get through them if not fix them entirely, but it does feel slightly damning to write up a whole thing about how I'm constantly trying to be a better person without acknowledging that even so, sometimes I'm not a great person! It's probably the same for everyone, but I'd prefer not to have other people caught in my shrapnel, you know?

That said, this year has been a lot. We're closing out the third year of a pandemic and I continue to be surprised daily by the ways my own brain comes up with to compartmentalize and bargain with risk and reward. The way the fear has gone from a constant, droning, undeniable buzzing to a weak background whine that I sometimes don't think about or hear at all, even though it's there.

I think a lot about The Body Keeps the Score in general, but especially about how anxiety and stress take their toll on our physical selves, whether we want to acknowledge them as they're happening or not. Humans are resilient, but we are made of sand, not stone. Nothing leaves us unchanged. We have all been so changed these last several years in sweeping ways that we share and small ways that we might not even be able to understand within ourselves for years.

Who might we have been, if only we had had other unpredictable and overwhelming stressors instead. Quiet ones that no one else knew about. Fears without a community shorthand. Hopes without a common deficit, if there even are such things. I think a lot about a piece of paper art I made in 2020, of the echoes I knew even then would reverberate through everyone who survived. We are all still echoing, for better or worse.

But if anything about me is for the better, it's because of the people who love me. Who make art with me. Who let me yell at them about things I love. Who let me browbeat them into watching tv shows and reading books and share their excitement back. Who helped me move 1,200 miles to get back to this place that still feels like home, even as the place that was my first home will maybe never feel as far away as it is. Who will just be beside me when things are new and exciting and fun and when things are quiet and common and monotonous. Who adventure with me and laugh with me and make plans with me for the future, even though nothing is set in stone. Even though sand shifts. Even though people change. We can change together and it can and will be okay. Who foster hope with me and between us. Who know that hope is a living thing and it's us who keep it green.

I remain, as always, lucky to love the people I have and even luckier that some of them love me back. There are so many things I want to do. So many people I want to be. So many joys left to share. I started a new bullet journal. I think it's time to stop losing years. To stop merely existing in my various states of stress and letting it all pass me by without dipping my hands in. This time is precious, it's time to get back to treating it as such.

I don't know who I'll be by the time I make this post again in a year. I hope that things surprise me along the way. I hope I meet the intervening time with courage, curiosity, and joy. I hope to be more careful with my friends and myself.  Above all I hope there is still love overflowing. It's the most important echo I can think of to leave behind.

[mypralaya]

doing a massive amount of muse quizzes for Haven bc Shaw got all the attention for too long, how dare he, how dare ME gank any you want YOUR ANIMAL FAMILIAR ~ Sea Turtle ~ This familiar represents an individual who stands firm with their decisions, making the best out of life as it comes, and tries to find a peaceful route through any situation. You are a peacekeeper, no doubt; You can't stand violence between people, especially those you love, and will do anything to find a positive outcome for everyone. Due to this mindset, you are a problem-solver, wise and great for giving advice to others. A Sea Turtle familiar helps their master stay at peace during chaotic times, and teaches them to take life as it comes and make the best of it. ~~***~~ This familiar represents -Patience -Acceptance -Understanding -Wisdom -Peacekeepers -Emotional stability

which aesthetic™ colour are you?

lavender You have a soft heart. Your home is full of little sentimental nick-nacks you've made, been given, or picked up on your travels, and anyone who enters is immediately put at ease by your comforting energy. Your friends know they can turn to you for a cup of tea and a tight hug, or, if necessary, a kick in the ass. At times, you find yourself tending to others more than you do yourself, and you often take on more than you can bear of others' sadness. Just remember-- you are worth the same kindness you show the people around you. They would want nothing less for you. Dark Earth Zodiac The Underearth The Underearth is a place of slow-shifting roots, the quietest and most constant life of the forest. Those who find themselves aligned with the Underearth are those who find their truest selves not in the eyes of another or the light of the sun, but in private acts of creation. The tend to be dutiful, capable, and thoughtful, whilst also often being slow to change, awkward, and anxious. While many pass the Underearth by without notice, those few who make it past topsoil and into the heart below are held dear. It is rare that someone can delve to the true center of those under this sign. The earth keeps its secrets close to its chest-- sometimes, so deep that it cannot find them when it does choose to look. The Underearth are devoted to their work, able to criticize and peek and prod just where it needs, but they have no such luck with probing the self. People under this sign can be enormously generous. Though less showy than some of the other signs, when the Underearth does choose to shine, they are like a clean cut gem, brilliant, sharp, and precious. They tend to favor gifts of their own making, paying close attention to what it is that delights those around them. They prefer to avoid being the center of attention themselves, however, and often do not know how to react to being shown the same care that they show to those they love. Moral Alingment Test You are 93.3% good, 80.8% lawful, making you lawful good. People who are Lawful Good believe that an orderly, strong society with a moral government can work to make life better for the great majority of the people. When the laws are fair and the people respect them and try to help one another, humanity as a whole prospers. Therefore, people who are Lawful Good strive for a social order that will bring the greatest benefit to everyone and cause the least harm. Lawful Good personalities may sometimes find themselves faced with the dilemma of whether to obey the law or do good when the two conflict. For example, when upholding the law of the land would lead to unfairness or harm or when there is a conflict between two orders of what is right, such as between the ways of their community and the law of the government. WHICH DND CLASS SUITS YOUR PERSONALITY? You’re dedicated, caring, and probably a sucker for happy endings. You spend so much time helping other people that you might forget to take care of yourself. You’re very idealistic and have a strong sense of faith in your beliefs, which may be actual religious beliefs or just your personal moral code. You like to be prepared for a variety of situations and you may have a bit of a protective side. If you'd like to find out what type of cleric you would be, take the subclass quiz here

[detransdamnation]

in your opinion, what are plausible reasons for someone to think and feel they are trans? Also do you believe trans people who say there was nothing that made them trans, that they simply always were and thats why they are the ”real” trans people who need to transition otherwise their life will be hell and misery no matter what until they get the body their were meant to have, period

have a beautiful day/night🖤

If someone believes themselves to be of, or meant to be, the opposite sex or some other variety of gender, they have dysphoria. I don't really care to analyze it beyond that because I don't believe that the desire to transition is, or has the potential to be, ultimately rational. Outstanding factors can certainly influence this desire—but at the end of the day, that desire would not exist if dysphoria did not. So, I do not believe that "plausible reasons" exist because dysphoria does not follow patterns of logical reasoning.

I fundamentally disagree with the idea that "nothing" could play a part in most anything, simply because we do not exist in a vacuum. However, we need to remember that many trans people start(ed) identifying as such incredibly young, so a lot of the time, it truly does feel like we have "always" been this way. Even for those of us who logically understand that we have not always identified as trans, it can be difficult to reconcile that emotionally because we frequently chalk all of our pre-existing emotional turmoil up to untreated dysphoria once we discover it and that muddies our perception of our past selves overtime. I started identifying as trans before I was even a teenager, and because I spent so many years telling myself that everything else I was feeling and experiencing up until that point was all due to dysphoria, whether in whole or in part, it is now difficult for me to look at my pre-trans past with an analytical lens. I cannot tell what was dysphoria, what was not, even when it exactly began. It is therefore very easy for me to feel that I have "always" been trans when I am feeling dysphoric—because I cannot remember being anything different. I don't believe it's necessarily important to zero in on whether or not someone has "always been trans" in the literal sense when transness is all I, and many other trans people, consciously know today.

Finally, for however much an anecdote is worth, in my time in the trans community, it was extremely rare—not to mention looked down upon—to see a trans person use their "real" trans status as leverage against another. It honestly doesn't make sense to even say because when gender is up to personal interpretation, you cannot be wrong or "fake." I never like ending an answer abruptly, but... I really don't have any other thoughts beyond this. Proclamations of being a "real" trans person mean nothing when the definition of "truly trans," even within the community itself, is so variable. The only consistent parameter seems to be whether or not you go on to detransition, in which case your identity was never true in the first place. So, maybe it's a controversial stance—but when most trans people would use the argument as an opportunity to discount my experiences as a trans person in a heartbeat, I simply do not have the ability to care if they are "really" trans or not. That does not influence my opinions on transition or gender identity in general.

Whether I believe what trans people say about their own identity and wishes on behalf of does not matter. Nobody needs my blessing to do what they already have their heart set on. Do I believe that some people are just destined to transition? No, I do not. But I do believe in—and experience—the distress that causes one to lead themselves to believe that this is true. It is an expression of pain and desperation. I try to choose compassion in response to that.

I hope this all made sense.

[loominggaia]

Can you list advance and basic spells form these schools: curse,Curative,exorcism,shamanism,alchemy, and enchanting.

There are already some examples on the MAGIC article, but I can list additional ones here.

Curse: Curses can do anything the mage can think of. When the effects are negative, it's called a curse. When the effects are positive, it's called a blessing. Both curses and blessings are the same form of magic, they just go by different names sometimes, but they are both under the "curse" umbrella. What one person considers a curse, another might consider a blessing. Curses cannot be cast upon onesself, only others.

A novice mage might curse someone with a spell that makes them speak backwards. Because this mage is not very powerful, the curse only lasts a few hours. But an advanced mage's curse can last much longer, even for the victim's entire life.

Curative: Curative spells are also known as "healing spells". They can cure illness or wounds, but curing different ailments requires different training. A mage who specializes in healing broken bones might not be very good at healing illness, for example.

Novices can heal only small wounds and minor illnesses. Meanwhile the most powerful curative sorcerers can cure terminal illnesses and restore a completely mangled body. Sometimes they can even bring the freshly-dead back to life.

Exorcism: Exorcists practice a branch of necromancy. Instead of raising zombies like necromancers, exorcists deal with souls and ghosts. Exorcists cannot create or destroy souls, but they can move them around, trap them in crystals, and release them. This is a complicated and dangerous school of magic that is hard to master.

Ghosts are the residual energy of a person who died, which may haunt an area and become a nuisance. Novice exorcists are able to communicate with ghosts, dispel them, and stop the haunting. Only expert exorcists can do anything related to souls. The most powerful ones can even steal souls from celestial realms.

Shamanism: "Shaman" is just a regional term for "cleric", which is someone who practices curative magic. Someone who practices curative magic might call them selves shaman, cleric, healer, arcane doctor, or many other names.

Alchemy: Alchemy is the art of potion-brewing. Alchemists don't cast spells on others directly. Rather, they brew up a potion with a spell attached to it, and the spell can only be cast once the potion is consumed. (Often that means drinking it, but some potions come in the form of gaseous bombs, releasing vapors that must be inhaled, and others must be rubbed on the skin.)

Alchemists usually specialize in just a handful of similar potions (like some might strictly deal with love potions, while others only make healing potions, etc) because each different effect requires years of training to learn. Alchemy can also be quite dangerous, so novices tend to stick to what they know. A novice's potions will have weaker effects that only last for a short period of time. A master's potions will have more powerful effects that last much longer, or may even be permanent.

Enchanting: Enchanters practice a branch of telepathy. While telepaths read minds and influence thoughts, enchanters don't always do this. Instead, they specialize in pure mind-control. They turn their victims into thralls by hijacking their brains, and therefore their actions. Enchanting often crosses over with other schools of magic like echomancy or perception, using magical songs and illusions to achieve control over their victim.

Novice enchanters can only hijack weak-minded individuals (examples being children, the mentally ill and impaired, drunk/high people, dementia patients, etc), and only for a short time. More experienced enchanters can hijack even the strongest-minded people for years on end.

*

Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

[thebleedingeffect]

Hi I’m very late to the party BUT I just saw this post (https://www.tumblr.com/thebleedingeffect/761565830330925056/hi-hello-hello-can-someone-please-ask-me-about-how) despite it being days old and. If you are still wanting to talk I am wanting to listen!!!! No pressure tho :-)

HIIIIIIII EMIL <33 AND YES I WANNA TALK ABOUT THIS SOSOSOSSO BAD, THANK YOU FOR ASKING !!! Apologies that it took me a second though to answer this, I fell asleep just as I got it and then I had to go do some irl responsibilities... but I'm here now and ready to lose my mind!

So, just to preface this and give some more depth to this rabbit hole I'm about to go down, I want to say of just how fascinating it is to me whenever Zelda and Link parallel each other. Botw is the most overt example of this, at least in my opinion, but sksw, oot, and ww are also very good examples of this trend. And just to be clear, it's a very good trend! The idea of Link and Zelda mirroring each other and their journeys, struggles, and clear parallels while being so apart for one another? It's brilliant and genuinely one of my favorite things whenever it comes to thinking about any Link and Zelda dynamic. From sksw Link and Zelda having a very clear emotional journey entirely separate from each other where they're forced to grow up from forces much larger than them. From oot Link and Zelda being mirrors of the lose of innocence, loneliness, and sacrifice in the face of a world that will never remember just what you gave up. From ww Link and Zelda and how the ultimate fate of hyrule forces them into these predestined roles that they eventually break out of, symbolizing the death of the old hyrule.

Which is why tp Link and Zelda are so fascinating to me, because they are the one exception to this rule.

From the beginning of the game, hyrule and the princess Zelda are introduced as this far-away, near untouchable force. There's the sort of sense that the castle, and therefore Zelda, is larger than life and the sheer power and regality of her reflects that. Put that in comparison to Link, who's introduced by sitting next to a lake, being a normal guy who lives in a simple village, and who does the equivalent of chores for other people. How they're both introduced is fascinating because it puts them at direct opposition of each other's world, they couldn't have been more different from the start if they tried. Link, who's very much a part of the community and his presence is reflected back onto so many of the side characters throughout the story. Zelda, who's the princess of hyrule and even accepts surrender in the face of saving her own people, but there's an undeniable distance that puts her apart from her and her people.

Part of me believes that the communities that surround both Link and Zelda are sort of reflections of their own selves. Ordon and the rebellion are very much freedom fighters who are intensely concerned with protecting their own and their protectiveness reflects just how much they care about each other on an individual level. Castle town is strangely... distant, almost absent, and seem intensely focused on themselves or keeping the peace. Castle town is an undeniable symbol of prestige, privilege, and wealth as well as sitting right in the shadow of the crown of hyrule, the castle itself. Where each of the corners effect each other throughout the rest of hyrule, castle town is pretty isolated and does not concern itself with the struggles of what's outside its walls, with the exception of the rebellion. This does not mean that Zelda is secretly a cruel, indifferent, or selfish person, but to me, it simply illustrates just how deep her isolation runs. The closest person that Zelda is ever shown to be with is Midna, and even then, Midna still had an entire kingdom and even Link by her side. Between the three of them, I would say that Zelda is most definitely the one most starved for connections outside of her station.

In any other loz game, this would probably be an introduction to Link and Zelda beginning to fall by each other's side and either a sort of alliance or understanding is formed from the difficulties of their own shared journey. But, simply put, that never happens. This Link and Zelda are probably the most distant incarnations to each other that have existed thus far. They're so much of opposites and each have their own issues with isolation, loneliness, abandonment, and belonging, that both parallel but also deeply clash with one another. In my mind, I've always believed that tp Zelda has had the idea forced upon her that she is the literal reflection of the kingdom and should act as such. She's the princess, the pride of hyrule, and her behavior and relations towards others should be reflective of her status. Does she truly believe she's above everyone else and should be treated like royalty at all times? No, but she holds herself to such intense standards that it's just hard for her to sympathize and have an equal respect/trust relationship with most anyone.

That's why she connects with Midna so well because, out of everyone, Midna is the most likely one who would understand the struggles of being the lone ruler to a struggling kingdom. Midna is easily relatable as they share the same struggles, thus Zelda feels more at ease as she doesn't have to risk any sort of uncomfortable vulnerability that she's been taught is unbecoming of her station. She can't risk any sort of weakness as she is the very pillar of the kingdom, and Midna is, sadly, the best shot she ever had at having someone who understood her with so few words spoken.

All of this comes back to the idea of tp Zelda and Link having such a hard time understanding, sympathizing, and getting along, at least in my mind, because they've been kept separate and have their own problems that get in the way of them connecting.

Link, in particular, I think struggles heavily with the burden of responsibility and the fact that he truly does not feel like he belongs in either hyrule or Ordon after the events of the game. He's changed to much, seen to much, has bled far to much to ever go back to the life he once lived with a near care-free nature that seems so alien to him now. He feels like he must hide the true scope of just how much he's changed because, to the world, he's either the hero or the small town boy. He's one or the other, he finds that he cannot be both, and part of him doesn't want to be either of them. Link is stuck in a situation where he has not only fulfilled his role, but he has surpassed it, and just like how Zelda in confined to her role as princess... Link begins to be confined to his role as hero. A role that he took up because there was no one else and he truly did want to help and save people, but will he be allowed to be his own person once the dust settles? Will he be allowed to breath when a hyrule who has just escaped a near calamity is so desperate for the two beacons of hyrule?

This is interesting to me because Zelda's and Link's situations either contrast sharply or directly mirror each other, but their own differences make it so, so incredibly hard for them to understand each other. In a way, Midna was the best thing for them as she was the sort of bridge between them, but with her gone? Their loss, grief, feeling of abandonment, and their own crushing sense of responsibility on their shoulders means that it's just so hard for them to sympathize and understand each other. In my personal interpretation of the both of them, I think Zelda is desperate for things to go back to "how they used to be" so that she can ignore the own pit of longing and loneliness that she carries now that Midna is gone. The kingdom was saved, her people are now desperate for a sense of stability and comradery, and it's the perfect distraction that she needs to push down her own feelings. After all, she's the princess first and human being second, so it's just easy for her to lose herself in the demands of her own people and let her own needs fester inside her.

But Link? Link just cannot pretend that everything is fine and that everything will be okay if it all goes back to normal. In a strange sort of way, Link is the more emotionally honest one by saying that he just can't be the same farm boy as much as he can't be a knight of hyrule. Link knows this about himself, as much as he hates the truth, and I also really like the idea that Link is one of the few people who approaches Zelda like a person first before he ever approaches her like a princess. It's that unspoken breach of how she carries herself and for what the world has deemed her greatest purpose to be, that immediately puts her on edge. Link hates being spoken to like "the hero" and as such, refuses to approach Zelda with the same formality since it's so strange and uncomfortable to him.

It's all of this and more that eventually spirals into them having such a hard time speaking and even interacting with other. Their lives, their worldviews, how they approach grief and responsibility, and the inherent opposite nature of how they've processed their own trauma- makes their relationship extremely rocky. All of their sharpened edges clash with other in their most vulnerable places, and it doesn't help that they are each other's most painful reminder of the troubles they've endured. So, in a way, they still do mirror each other, but in such a way that leaves them so incompatible because they're so stuck in their own hurt and worrying for others- that they just cannot bridge the gap of misunderstanding and hurt on their own. It doesn't exactly help that so much of their own self-worth is tied up around in "serving" others that in order to help each other, they would either have to be painfully vulnerable or sacrifice their own happiness and comfort! One demands for everything to go back to how it was, so that she can ignore the pain in her heart, as if it never existed in the first place. The other demands for a home, to be his own person, to be more than the legacy that was forced upon him, at the same time as knowing that he can never go back to the life he was once so happy with.

One demands for the past, the other wants another future.

[thebusinessmagnate]

Tori & Chris Gerbig: The Power Couple Committed to Empowering Women with Fashion and Apparel Boutique at Pink Lily

The imperativeness of celebrating womanhood by empowering women in the world is an impactful reminder of the women who tirelessly fight for equality and justice. As one strong community capable of accomplishing and achieving anything we put our minds and hearts toward, standing up for one another instills courage, strength, unity, confidence, and inspiration. 

In the fashion and apparel industry, women’s fashion brings together the entire world in exploring and navigating the ever-changing and evolving style and beauty over the years. Clothes have been women’s identity and a form of expression, that communicates a woman’s personality, image, character, attitude, belief, and value. Clothes can reflect who you are, where you are heading, and where you are returning from. For women, fashion and apparel can be a confident way of portraying their fashion sense of everyday style and beauty. Like the company Pink Lily which was co-founded in 2011, by the power couple – Tori and Chris Gerbig. Pink Lily’s mission is to “inspire a community of women to be confident in their true selves through everyday style and beauty.” In line with the increasing diversity and inclusiveness of women’s fashion around the world, this article will delve into the inspiring and successful journey of Tori Gerbig and her husband Chris Gerbig, sharing insights into how their retail fashion and apparel boutique company was co-founded together and launched. 

From The Roots To The Skies:

Tori and Chris Gerbig’s story starts in 2011, in Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA. From working day and night at corporate jobs, the wife and husband were growing more concerned day by day from looking at their enormous pending student loans. Understandably, student loans are a hectic and painstaking financial situation that needs to be cleared off as soon as and whenever possible, the couple was also looking to spend more time with each other as their jobs seemed to slough off most of their get-together time away. From working in the insurance sector, Tori Gerbig learned one of the most important things in the business world – Networking and Building Relationships with people in her community. This way while engaging with many people, the co-founder realized that she had a growing passion for helping and supporting women in achieving their goals. 

In 2013, Tori and Chris became first-time parents to a beautiful son and Tori found herself being home on maternity leave. Without any payments coming in from Tori’s side during this period, the family’s financial situation was incredibly tight, and more so with a newborn. Therefore she took to the vastness of the internet platform and began selling various odd things that she could find on marketplaces online. Forming a community of fast friends, Tori thought of an incredible idea and shared it with her husband Chris. The idea was for Tori to use her rapidly growing online community and network, and build a platform where she could integrate both her love and passion for helping and empowering women by making them feel confident and boosting their self-esteem through their everyday style and beauty with impeccable fashion choices. 

When her online community grew from a few hundred members to a surprising 10,000 count, Tori felt supported and motivated to continue in her endeavors alongside her husband. From the ground up and right from their living room, Pink Lily was officially launched in 2014 with zero funding from the couple or potential investors and started to ship hundreds of orders every week. Applying her skills and experience in sales and social media platforms to increase their brand’s awareness, and with Chris’ knowledge and experience in business and finance balanced the company’s structure and strategic operations. Knowing the potential risks of starting and building a privately owned family business, Tori and Chris Gerbig together as one strong team and power couple, pushing against all odds overcoming all challenges, and facing the inevitable head-first. 

Pink Lily’s Post-Launch Journey:

In 2015, Tori and Chris couldn’t continue their business working from their living room with a rapidly growing brand and an equally rapidly growing toddler. With the vision to “be the brand that inspires women to achieve their best”, the couple moved to quickly establish their second warehouse (the first being their living room in their humble abode). The following year in 2016, the business grew even more and the couple moved to their third new 25,000-square-foot warehouse and in 2017 launched a flagship store in their home state – Kentucky. Now a blowing retail fashion and apparel boutique for women, Pink Lily has become one of America’s fastest-growing retailers in fashion for empowering women. Featuring all kinds of clothing apparel, footwear, jewelry, and accessories that a woman can ever need, the brand prioritizes itself around “bringing fashion, positivity, and community to our customers”. The brand went on to include a second 25,000-square-foot warehouse in 2018, and in the following year successfully passed a milestone in shopping their 1 millionth order. Pink Lily yet again expanded and Tori and Chris Gerbig happily leased a bigger 160,000-square-feet warehouse. 

Pink Lily’s Philanthropic Efforts:

In 2017 when Pink Lily was on its way to success and experiencing new heights, Tori and Chris proudly arrived at a period in their journey where they wanted to reach out to the community and help in philanthropic and charitable efforts. 

Donating thousand to ten thousand in cash, clothes, and inventory, towards investments, collaborations, funds, and partnerships with the Houston Relief Fund, the Hope House Ministry local organization, the local community’s Toys for Tots Campaign, the local Warren County Humane Society, the Warren County Public Schools, the Warren County Family Resource Center,  the Warren County Public Schools Disaster Relief Fund (WCPS), the 4 Paws for Ability, the Girls for a Change, the local community hospital, the Operation Gratitude Organization, the Pink Fund, the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness (FFBWW), the Hope for Fertility Foundation, the Life Impact International, the National Breast Cancer Foundation, the Hope Harbour, the Barren River Area Safe Space Organization (BRASS Inc.), and the Hope for Ukraine Organization.

Visit More : https://thebusinessmagnate.com/tori-chris-gerbig-the-power-couple-committed-to-empowering-women-with-fashion-and-apparel-boutique-at-pink-lily/

[instastalkerapp]

The Digital Time: A Moral Dilemma – Attempting to Download Free InstaStalker Apps

In a globe dominated by social media, it has become almost natural for individuals to want to know about others’ lives. Instagram, with its charming aesthetic and personal stories, often leaves us wishing we could see more into the worlds of our friends, celebrities or even total strangers. This is where free InstaStalker apps come in – tantalising tools that promise to unlock hidden depths within Instagram profiles. However as we navigate this digital landscape, there are moral questions we need to ask ourselves: do these apps tempt us or should ethical boundaries be broken?

Free InstaStalker apps have seen a surge in popularity recently due to their ability to let someone view private accounts, track activity on them and even download content without the account owner knowing. On the surface level, they seem harmless as they simply satisfy our curiosity and desire for connection. But underneath this convenience lies an intricate web of ethics.

Privacy is at the heart of all discussions surrounding free InstaStalker apps. Instagram like many other social media platforms allows users set their profile settings so only approved followers can see them. These apps go around these protective measures and let anyone who has downloaded one view private posts without consent from account holders themselves which raises important questions about digital autonomy during a time when our online selves are becoming increasingly intertwined with offline life.

Another aspect worth noting is that these same applications could also enable cyberbullying or stalking if put into wrong hands. Such software can be employed by people who wish to keep tabs on others thereby causing fear among communities existing online. Additionally anonymity provided by such programs makes it hard for culprits involved in these activities being held responsible for what they do thus aggravating problems even further.

However attractive they may still remain despite these ethical considerations however many people find themselves lured towards free instastalking applications because of their strong desire for knowledge. It is indeed difficult not to try satisfying our curiosity and looking behind the scenes of social media privacy. Nonetheless we should pause and think wider before acting on them.

Rather than invading someone’s privacy with invasive tools in order to satisfy our curiosity, we can foster empathy, respect and mindfulness within ourselves when dealing with others online. We could interact on social media platforms while keeping in mind boundaries set by individuals themselves thereby creating healthy relationships that are more meaningful even though they will be limited only up to digital space.

In conclusion, this phenomenon raises hard questions concerning privacy rights, consent issues as well ethical behaviours during digital times but still it has become a norm among people around the world especially young ones who cannot resist temptation like never before seen anywhere else throughout history so far recorded.. Therefore we must pass through such complex situations being guided by values like compassion, consideration towards others’ feelings not forgetting about honesty either way whether offline or online where instastalking apps have gained ground recently.

[prachiblogs]

Blog Post 5: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and Wellbeing

Weaving the Fabric of Wholistic Wellbeing: Insights from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples

Figure: Social and Emotional Wellbeing from an Aboriginal and Torres Strait

(Source: Sivak et al., 2019)

Separating the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual worlds into discrete silos is a common trend in our contemporary society view of health and wellbeing. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia, among many other ancient civilisations, have long understood that real wellbeing result from the complex interweaving of all these components (Garvey et al. 2021). In additional to defining health as in individuals’ physical well-being as an individual psychical well-being, the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation offers a length and thorough definition of health that encompasses the social emotional, spiritual and cultural well-being of entire community.

Well-being is not limited to the absence of disease or illness for aboriginal and Torres strait islander peoples. Harmonising ties to one’s motion, culture spirituality, community, family and heritage is the goal of this multifaceted conditions of being (Delle Fave et al. 2016). Their dynamic and complex worldwide view of wellbeing is weaved together, with all these strands. The century long spiritual connection and relationships with lands, rivers and ecosystem is essentially what is meant to be called a country to nation. A deep sense of identity, spirituality, deep wisdom and lessons learned about living in peace and reciprocity with all living things and systems are deeply rooted in place.

Therefore, the importance of extended family networks and communities cannot be emphasised. This complex web of relationships and reciprocal responsibilities confers a profound feeling of social and emotional fulfilment in addition to a sense of generated belonging. Add the cultural fabric—consisting of devoted patrons, customs, and ways of life that span over 60,000 years—on top of that. The last thread that twirls elegantly with every other one? Connection to Body: the mental, emotional, and physical aspects of each person's unique identity. The holistic approach to wellbeing acknowledges the interdependence of our mental, emotional, and physical selves in this context (Garvey et al. 2021). The resultant tapestry, which represents a strong state of bio-spiritual wellbeing—a flourishing of fulfilled completeness and communal thriving—is created when all these multidimensional threads are balanced and interwoven.

In order to achieve this holistic well-being, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have traditional practices and ceremonies that help to maintain and strengthen the connections between the different aspects of well-being. For example, the practice of "dadirri" which is a deep, respectful listening and quiet still awareness, is a way to connect with the spiritual aspect of well-being (Marsh, 2019). It is a way of being present in the moment and of understanding the deeper meaning of things.

Another important traditional practice is the "Corroboree" which is a gathering of people for the purpose of dancing, singing and storytelling (Domingo Sanz, 2011). This is a way to connect with the cultural and social aspects of well-being. It is a way to celebrate and to pass on the traditions and stories of the past to the present and future generations.

The practice of "yarning" is also an important way to connect with the social and emotional aspects of well-being. It is a way of having a conversation and of sharing stories and experiences with others. It is a way to build and to strengthen relationships and to create a sense of belonging and community.

 

 

References

Delle Fave, A., Brdar, I., Wissing, M. P., Araujo, U., Castro Solano, A., Freire, T., ... & Soosai-Nathan, L. (2016). Lay definitions of happiness across nations: The primacy of inner harmony and relational connectedness. Frontiers in psychology, 7, 30. From: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00030/pdf

Domingo Sanz, I. (2011). The rock art scenes at Injalak Hill: alternative visual records of Indigenous social organisation and cultural practices. Australian archaeology, 72(1), 15-22. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2011.11690527

Garvey, G., Anderson, K., Gall, A., Butler, T. L., Cunningham, J., Whop, L. J., ... & Howard, K. (2021). What Matters 2 adults (WM2Adults): Understanding the foundations of aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander wellbeing. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(12), 6193. From: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/12/6193/pdf

Marsh, N. (2019). The Practice of Dhikr Among Senegalese Taalibe Baay Women: Individual Devotion, Communal Well-Being.https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16203918

Sivak, L., Westhead, S., Richards, E., Atkinson, S., Richards, J., Dare, H., ... & Brown, A. (2019). “Language breathes life”—Barngarla community perspectives on the wellbeing impacts of reclaiming a dormant Australian Aboriginal language. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(20), 3918. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16203918

[anagramtransitory]

10. They ideally would have told me if I’m built to be a weapon and am intense like one and have darkness like one, then that’s just another way they can have a player for the good side infiltrate and tolerate and understand the enemies on the bad sides. Which I can, which I’m good at, which I can use my natural social skills and natural situation-diffusion skills (both of which only available if I’m not mad) in tandem with my ability to understand darkness, to communicate with and to fight evil types, without looking like a fool who has no social skills and fights because of that and/or wants to fight because they didn’t try to avoid it with words and social skills at any time, and who doesn’t understand and is swinging blindly at a misunderstood (therefore victimized) opponent. They did not. They only showed their good, only to this day acknowledge and value my good, and I’ve done the rest, the heavy lifting. Anyone can show only their good side and anyone can praise the good side in their children. I think sometimes when you’re blinded by love you refuse to or are unable to see the bad for what it really is: genuine badness and darkness that can hurt people and make a person hurt themselves and which demands to be seen and allowed to exist in response to a world that seems to fit well with having a dark side as a dangerous smart animal with thumbs and resources at its disposal to do all kinds of things to meet its many needs and desires and fix its problems and balance out darkness with numbness. Right? All that seems reasonable. Except I have to believe if they knew how to give the kind of love and support I needed they would have, if they knew how and were able to they would have and would to this day, but as people they do not, they’re just Americans, in that way. They just couldn’t for some reason, and still can’t. It takes a village, and I’ve had to be most of that village. I like the idea that I can be the whole village. That that’s what being the best and most functional version of an adult will mean. Because the last villagers not a part of my personality and self are the selves of all the parents I’ve had who I’ve respected and loved back very much to this day, for the way they’ve insisted on using love to establish a stable and safe place, as far as they could reach their arms into my life and it’s future, and not just between us as people when physically together and talking. I want to adopt the strength and stability in their arms. I can invent the instructions they’d give me. The way that living well is a process in the middle of the day, and not resting after working hard. I stagnate, I’m unsure of what to do, I’m unsure of everything. All my parental figures make the grievous mistake of assuming what I need is resources and official references from them on resumes and education and good jobs and happiness, and think I’m smart enough to figure the rest out. When really I’m smart enough to figure all of it out just enough to wing it, but being smart enough to know what to do doesn’t make you sure at all of anything. You can drive, but you’re a scared and brake-heavy driver and nervy and therefore bad driver, scared of breaking laws, too scared and unsure to remember details and steps under pressure all the time. I don’t list them on references. I don’t want to include them in my bullshit. They shouldn’t have repercussions via phone calls about my character who they haven’t seen or spoken to in years out of the blue whenever I mess up or quit one job due to personal instability. But it matters they have offered and I use that confidence in daily life. However. I just wish that I’d had a parental figure who, like, made sure I associate being a functional non-chaotic space-occupier was something I associated with being loved and being sure of myself instead of fear and pressure to conform and pressure to do it perfectly and exactly the way everybody else in America does it rather than some other better way of our own. I’ve been too accepted for my problems rather than asked why I live so badly.

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Embracing Freedom: A Year of Liberation Shaina Tranquilino February 12, 2024

In the journey of life, each passing year brings with it unique challenges, triumphs, and lessons. For many, the concept of choosing a "word of the year" has become a powerful tradition. This word serves as a guiding beacon, encapsulating aspirations and intentions for the months ahead. In 2024, as the world continues to evolve and reshape itself, the word that resonates deeply with many individuals is "Freedom."

Defining Freedom: Freedom is a word laden with profound significance, transcending its mere dictionary definition. It embodies the essence of liberation, autonomy, and the ability to live unencumbered by constraints. A year of Freedom, therefore, beckons us to explore various dimensions of personal and collective emancipation. Freedom of Mind: Embracing a year of Freedom invites the liberation of the mind. It encourages individuals to break free from self-imposed limitations, fears, and doubts. This journey may involve introspection, mindfulness practices, and a commitment to fostering a positive and open mindset. As the mind expands, creativity flourishes, and the capacity for resilience grows.

Freedom in Relationships: A year of Freedom extends its influence to interpersonal connections. It encourages individuals to build relationships based on mutual respect, understanding, and support. This may involve setting healthy boundaries, letting go of toxic connections, and cultivating an environment where people feel free to express themselves authentically.

Financial Freedom: Economic empowerment is a vital aspect of personal freedom. This year, individuals may strive towards financial independence, breaking free from the shackles of debt and cultivating a secure financial future. Budgeting, investing wisely, and exploring new avenues of income can pave the way toward lasting economic freedom.

Freedom of Expression: In a world that values individuality, a year of Freedom urges people to embrace their authentic selves. This might involve expressing one's thoughts, beliefs, and creativity without fear of judgment. Whether through art, writing, or vocal expression, the pursuit of authenticity becomes a cornerstone of personal growth.

Social and Cultural Freedom: On a broader scale, 2024 as a year of Freedom can also be a call to engage with and contribute to social and cultural causes. It may inspire individuals to advocate for justice, equality, and the rights of marginalized communities. By participating in collective efforts, one can contribute to the broader pursuit of societal liberation.

Choosing Freedom as the word of the year is an empowering decision. It signifies a commitment to self-discovery, growth, and the pursuit of a life that aligns with one's true values. As we navigate the complexities of 2024, let Freedom guide us towards a year of liberation, breaking down barriers and unlocking the full potential that resides within each of us. May this year bring about a profound sense of freedom in all aspects of our lives, paving the way for a brighter and more fulfilling future.