Live and Learn New Mexico!

Over the years, as I've blogged, I've talked about gun control without ever reaching any answers or solutions. My concern with guns is that they kill, and death by gun has reached a record high in Abq. It is an almost daily occurrence. I do not own a gun but seems like everyone else does. Lots of people tell me they have one for protection. I find that thought very scary. Then I realized that I was approaching it from the wrong perspective. I wasn't fighting against the situation; I was fighting against guns. I was getting political, and I try not to do politics. Kindness campaign  What if we looked at it from a kindness perspective? That is, what if instead of trying to enact legislation to contain violence, we simply start raising our kids to be kind and learn to solve problems peacefully? I've been promoting kindness for years. This idea makes sense. We could work in the schools, helping kids learn to be sensitive to others and to solve life's problem...

Simone Biles, gymnast extraordinaire, didn't go to the Olympics to win. She didn't even go to compete. She went to share an important message.  Soon after her arrival to Japan, she made it clear that she was not going to fight through the mental and emotional pain she has long suffered in order to compete. She is not going to worry that she won't win. The message I am getting from all this is that it isn't important to win. Winning won't make you happy. Life is more meaningful than that.  Simone went to the Olympics to heal -- herself and others who suffer anxiety from the very thing they once found peace doing.  She wants to show that we need to support each other and celebrate the healing that gymnastics and other physical activities can provide.   Perhaps the Olympics could change. Instead of honoring the winners of a sport, we honor the sport itself and its healing powers. We share best practices. I believe, too, that Simone is one of many light ...

When I was a kid in elementary school, I talked with my Catholic best friend about suicide. I don't know why we talked about such a heavy subject at that tender age but I do remember her telling me that her church believed that the act of suicide was a sin. I wondered why someone would be punished for this sin. Would knowing it is a sin really deter anyone who was thinking of ending their life? I couldn't believe it would.  In 1980, the Church admitted that there was a mental health component to suicide. Society in general tends to tie suicide to depression and anxiety. We think there is something wrong with a suicidal person. We don't consider that perhaps the suicidal person is just as sane as anyone; they just see the Universe in a more inclusive way and understand that perhaps committing suicide is just moving on.  I'm proposing that it is actually sanity in a way, that suicidal people are just tired of this existence. They know there are other existences. We think ...