Void

[Guest guest]

Well, you tried the writing to relive the grief routine , and a few others.

it doesn't seem to work for very long. Also you have been stuck on the west

coast, saying your family--children would not allow you to leave, but they

did..

 

My suggestion is: everyday, come up with 5-10 things that are good about the

day at the end of it...Even if it gets down to sometihing so small as you

still have all your fingers , you still have all your toes, there was enough

food on the table for today, etc., anything,. Here's one: you have manged to

avoid being burned in an auto wreck, unlike your daughter--I don't wish that

one on anyone, but you are still whole. She has to deal with it more than

you, right? just come up with it. See if you can manage it, for beginners,

for 40 days. if you can't you aren't looking (low) enough)

 

Hey now there's something you could print on the list. Why not? The good

stuff however simple it is. Instead of the down stuff exclusively. Throw in

the good stuff, fella..

 

You could have been retarded or brain damaged in some wreck or from birth,

but you're not. You have a smart brain.

There is probably a chapter of the Ammachi kitchen in Eugene. They make food

to give out to the poor once a week or maybe once a month you could

volunteer. There's the Salvation Army--they ALWAYS need help--probably more

so in whatever is the nearest big town from you. I can tell you volunteering

at a state mental hospital, even for one day at some festival or something,

will shape you up really fast in how crazy you aren't, Das. Go volunteer at

Boys and Girls Club.--They NEED, badly, people to teach the kids computer

stuff. it's really hard to find someone qualified to do it.Especialyy for

free. Even if you have to take a bus to another town, do it for a while.

 

Go volunteer at a hospitla but looking at someone dyihg maybe a bit much--or

may give yo the attitude of it could have been me atitude.

 

It's not too late to apply with AmeriCorp for this coming year you

know--they could send you somewhere else if you wanted to move. Minimum

wage, but it's something new..You could keep Dancing moon in the process.

They even take volunteers in Hawaii for AmeriCorp. Fancy Hawaii, Das? The

Virgin islands, American Samoa? Or maybe just New Mexico?

 

Do you know what black humor is? The Irish are famous for it. This is

something the Irish that's good to pick up for starters.

 

You know what? here in Oklahoma we have so little money now the substitute

teachers are all volunteer for the coming year--that's right. And dealing

with a bunch of rowdy kids will at least perhaps move you out of "I'm so

sad" and into "I'm so pissed off at these kids" or else "this isn't so bad,

the kids are funny part of the time" You could think of it as your civic

duty to your community.. Or they may just take people for about 90 days a

year who don;'t have degrees to teach, too, and still pay you.

 

 

"However, I DO know that the answer to filling the void

can't be found if you drown before that answer comes." Yeah, that's Mary's

quote but yo started it here..Okay this whole vision of drowning reminded me

of something. Norman Vincent Peale used to tell a story about a frog caught

in a bucket of fresh milk. He was terribly scared, but he kept kicking and

kicking and kicking to hop out of the milk pail. Finally he had kicked for

so long that he had turned the fresh milk into churned butter and was able

to climb by getting on the butter! Start churning Das. The kvetching isn't

doing the trick. Suck up & stop the kvetching for a week or two. Go do

somethingelse. Maybe the "churning" somehow will help.

 

D

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Ok, everybody, flame me now if you must, but read the entire post.

 

I like Das. He is intense, well versed and a great addition to the human

race.

He needs to keep an "even keel" and I think we can help.

 

A bit of it came out in Denise's post. A bit of it came from an old Irish

comic,

Dave Allen. And a bit of it comes from brain research.

 

The human brain has two paths, that which causes anger (and depression and

anxiety,

since they are related) and that which provides laughter (job, elation and

high

spirits). These paths are disjoint. They cannot both be active at the same

time.

 

So, I suggest perform constructive humor application for our compatriate.

This isn't

a big leap, we probably hear about 10-30 jokes a day, some are even funny.

Take a good one,

clear off the additional headers, and send it to Das directly. Not to the

list, but to

him.

 

Now for this to work, Das, you have to read them! If you want, you can

establish a joke

mailbox for this work. Then, you have a duty to read one joke, or more, 3

times a day.

 

Modern research has proven that wounds heal twice as fast when the people

spent an hour

a day watching something funny (and that research used the 3 Stooges as a

medium, and I

know this group can do better than that!).

 

So, I'm willing to start, who else wants to join in?? Remember why we are

here and how

we can all help each other, in any way we can.

 

Namaste'

John Melka