Thank you arfie. It has been pretty trying in my world to keep things calm. But I tried this as read it and felt the difference in the calming I achieved via my normal grounding techniques.

thank you for sharing that

Nice affirmation, guys. Thank you. Nice to know it's effect on me wasn't just my old denial habits trying to take hold again. I have gone entirely too many rounds with that demon, especially where my sons are concerned.

Been chewing it since and find it is refreshing old group therapy exercises on, "Letting the world be bigger than me." The world is a pretty amazing spectacle when I can take myself out of the center of it and just kick back to enjoy the show. It doesn't have to be all about me.

I was introduced to "Transcendental Meditation" as a hyper-active, often hysterical teenager, circa 1967. I mostly thought the goal of quieting my mind was quite beyond me and had trust issues with the "old" hippie who introduced me to it, anyway. "Yea, yea, geezer," I assumed sarcastically. "You ain't fooling me with that "free love" business. Keep your zipper action to yourself." Yes, he was just another horny geezer in my book. Still is. Remember. . . I was a teenager. This "geezer" was in his early 20's. I can no longer put the "Geezer" tag on somebody in their early 20's, but a horny child molester is still a horny child molester.

Fast forward nearly half a century and the quiet mind is still far more goal than accomplishment for me. My head is still one of the noisiest spots on Earth. I often feel like a hypocrite when I claim to meditate daily. This morning's meditation is as quiet as the Super Bowl Sunday bleachers. My thought loops are sparking and flying like an electrical transformer in high winds with no safety features. Ouch. The pressure centers are bubbling throughout my head. Feels like a migraine brewing. . .

Been plying the first paragraph of this article. Helps. . .

Arfie,

I'm not 100% familiar with transcendental meditation. Is it similar to the concept of mindfulness?

Thanks, Arfie.:-)

Because sometimes compassion feels anything but "simple"...

Alice, If I have my etymologies straight, several of the currently popular treatments for PTSD have deep roots in Transcendental Meditation. For sure, the ACT workshops which I have benefited so mightily from use quite a bit of the same vernacular.

I sometimes think that the 19th century Trancendentalists ( http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/transcendentalism/ ) are the parents of American Psychology. I vote we leave Freud and Jung in Europe. Noteworthy, but participants in two world wars. . .

Leo, Yes, compassion is all too often anything but simple. Especially when I am in analytical mode. When my mind starts churning on it, I back up to mindful acceptance with the goal of observation without judgment.

Small bytes and long chews. . .

Really enjoyed that post, Arfie, thanks for sharing. At the bottom when it said touch your heart, I just felt calm and centred.

I have meditated for over twenty years an hour each day, but this last year I took a break. I noticed when I meditated it was easier to listen to others and the day seemed a walk on the treadmill instead of lately a sprint.

Thanks again

I am coming at this from a different angle. I agree simple compassion is often not so simple. I feel like the last couple years have been a test of "ok...how do I deal with this...what can I do?" For me the truth, the right thing to do was expose a wrong that not only affected me, but potentially all the tenants where I live....yes it triggeed my PTSD big time....I still know it was the right thing to do..I did it for others as well as myself, yet to this day I get backlash, insensitive remarks, some do not believe me or think what happened to me could ever happen to them. It is in those moments when I must believe in myself, and that is not easy to do. I read the experience of listening to what the other person is saying in the course of an arguement...but sometimes the other person can not be reasoned with when simple common sense is absent, simple compassion can leave you all alone scratching your head for validation and clarity while the gossip mongers pile on the simple compassion of doing the right thing can land a person in scapegoat territory...again a reminder of the past...sigh!!!In my own situation I have come to realize that some people live in a "bubble"...they can't or won't see beyond that...it is much easier to deny and minimize...the only simple compassion left is to believe in ourselves enough to stay away and not get sucked into the bubble, as a child I could not....I have had to learn as an adult I have a choice...just my thoughts..but acting on that choice has been hard...it is new brain programming for me to consider! Maybe it is progress, but it can feel wrong, because it can make me question my motives..isolation gerbel wheel talk...rambling again! Yeah arfie lots of bytes and chews....thanks for sharing! Hugs

Musk, Glad it helped you as much as it helped me. I feel it as exactly the pill I need to get me through the current domestic chaos.

Cheese, When I take too many bytes at once, my CPU overloads. Emotional indigestion. . . Burp. Starting with simple compassion for my own condition and limitations is a fair byte to start with. Until I get that byte digested, I have no honest compassion to give to anybody. First things first. Easy does it.