A client and I were talking about how she was struggling to find meaning in her life. She had worked diligently to find a good job, purchase a nice home and find a charming husband. She had succeeded in all three but was still feeling 'alone.' I asked her to take time each day (10 min.) to breathe slowly in and out to the count of seven and to imagine caring for herself; as if she were holding a child. I then asked her what she saw in the child. She said, 'her soul, her spirit, her perfection.' All that found within! It is a place we neglect. It is a place we should all go. TJS.
In North America "we are taught that the way to achieve happiness is to change our external environment to fit our wishes. But this strategy doesn't work. In every life, pleasure and pain, gain and loss, praise and blame keep showing up, no matter how hard we struggle to have only pleasure, gain and praise. Buddhist psychology offers a different approach to happiness, teaching that states of consciousness are far more crucial than outer circumstances." ---Kornfield
Hi Todd,
ReplyDeleteYou asked me to leave a post on your blog after our SW class discussed HIV/AIDS tonight. I've never posted on your page before, so I'm not sure if I'm "doing it right".... But, here it goes.
A book I would recommend people who are working with any at risk communities or individuals read is called "The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels, and the Business of AIDS" by Elizabeth Pisani. Pisani, now an epidemiologist, was once an international journalist. For anyone wondering, as I was when I started the book, epidemiology is the study of how diseases spread through communities. The epidemiology of HIV/AIDS boils down to sex and drugs. With topics like that how could this book not be interesting? :) However, "The Wisdom of Whores" isn't some glorified, politically correct, activist book. It is a down and dirty look at the AIDS industry worldwide - at our rare successes and our rampant failures. It exposes the multi-billion dollar AIDS industry, and how so much money is spent so shortsightedly and really, goes to waste. Pisani shares insight that only someone with years of experience working with both government and non-government agencies in almost all of the worlds AIDS hot-spots has. She writes candidly about the practices and businesses of some of the worlds most colourful sex-trade workers. She uses her cutting wit to break down the complicated language which plagues the AIDS industry. The book is passionate, honest, hilarious, and terrifying. Not to sound cliche, but I laughed and I cried. HIV/AIDS is a subject very close to my heart, and this book broke down years of information, research, and social policy in a way that I could digest and put to use. I think it is an essential read for anyone who wants to work with social policy, HIV/AIDS, or medicine. Todd, Elizabeth Pisani is a blogger just like you! You can check out her page at: http://www.wisdomofwhores.com/
Enjoy!
JW