mastodon 4.5.18Learning human.
Using this to find a better place to express myself.
I write about what I notice, the things I think about, and what feels important to share.
“Right is right even if no one is doing it; wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it.”
― Saint Augustine
she/her
🇵🇷🌳 🌏 🏳️🌈♀️✊
📍Boricua in Upstate NY
#Buddhism #Environmentalism #MentalHealth #LGBTQ #News #Philosophy #PuertoRico
#PTSD
#Activism #ADHD #Autism #IndigenousRights #FreePalestineNow 🇵🇸
Three good things I'm grateful for this morning:
Finding peace in the realization that my healing is my own, separate from those who are not yet capable of compassion.
Taking mindful, protective action for our neighborhood trees and the local environment.
The warmth of a supportive community and the reminder that my anger and love can coexist safely.
#savethetrees #buddhism #healing #3goodthings #3GoodThingsToday #threegoodthings #ThreeGoodThingsToday
Three good things I'm grateful for this morning:
My next-door neighbor for organizing the community to proactively oppose a new development proposition. While our town needs more housing, we also need to honor our local Green New Deal.
The farmers who work hard to provide us with fresh food.
The local resources available to feed the hungry. I am not always able to afford groceries, so I am deeply thankful for the programs around town that help provide meals.
#threegoodthings #3goodthings #3GoodThingsToday #gratitude #farmers #UpstateNY #ithaca #ithacaenergy
Three good things I'm grateful for today:
Restoring my body at the chiropractor and taking active responsibility for my well-being.
Staying grounded and keeping my peace, despite seeing someone who triggered anxiety.
Successfully donating life-saving blood and recovering with a quiet pet-sitting evening.
#gratitude #3goodthings #3GoodThingsToday #threegoodthings #blooddonation #blooddonor #selfcare
Three simple things I'm grateful for:
1. For this phrase I came up with,
"another day, another breath."
It keeps me rooted in the present moment.
2. What a blessing it is to wake up at peace.
3. I am coexisting and co-creating with other human beings.
Any #LongCOVID survivors open to sharing their experience? I’m struggling to make sense of what’s happening to my nervous system. I recently spoke with a friend about it, but I’m looking for something in writing to help me process it. My emotions are on a constant loop—anxiety, sadness, laughter, and crying all within minutes. I feel very overwhelmed and could really use some support or resources. Thank you.
#covid #CovidInquiry #NeurologicalSymptoms #CovidRecovery #neurology
Three good things I'm grateful for:
1. The patience that keeps growing in me. I'm losing it less and less, and that feels like real progress.
2. For the book Love Your Enemies by Sharon Salzberg and Robert Thurman. It's helping me soften toward the people who frustrate me, and gently face the "enemy" within myself too.
3. Getting loose leaf tea as a gift.
#threegoodthings #3goodthings #3GoodThingsToday #gratitude #progress
Three good things I'm grateful for today:
1. Today's Sangha Poem. I am incredibly grateful for the poem shared in my Sangha this morning. It hit so deep and felt like a perfect cosmic connection to the exact inner work I am already doing.
2. Identity Reinforcement. I am thankful to be learning about identity reinforcement. It is helping me stick to my boundaries and making me realize that I absolutely can change, as long as I keep supporting this new being I am birthing with aligned actions, words, and thoughts.
3. Healing Herbs. I am grateful for all the herbs I am learning to use right now. They are providing the exact medicine I need to help both my body and my spirit heal.
#sangha #mentalhealing #mentalhealth #herbalmedicine #BahaiFaith #buddhism #gratitude #3goodthings #3GoodThingsToday #threegoodthings
Three good things I've been thinking about:
1. Sometimes I am grateful, and sometimes I am not. I am finally learning that both parts are allowed to exist.
2. Yesterday was a "green" day. I listened to stories, I learned, and I felt the pulse of my community.
3. I sat by a waterfall with a friend and shared the literal pages of this book—the project I hope to publish someday. She told me the words were healing and inspiring. Her encouragement gave me the fuel to keep going. We are helping each other process the weight of being human, one page at a time.
#community #friendship #gratitude #ingratitude #mentalhealth #threegoodthings #3GoodThingsToday #3goodthings
Three good things I'm grateful for:
1. Doing things even when I'm scared. It means I'm growing.
2. Learning to play a new instrument and letting myself be a beginner again.
3. Being part of a community that's passionate about knowing their rights and empowering others to know theirs, too.
#3goodthings #3GoodThingsToday #threegoodthings #gratitude #community
"Maturity is not becoming someone who no longer wants relational repair, honesty, accountability, or tenderness. Maturity is recognizing that sometimes other people cannot provide those things, and finding a way to remain connected to reality anyway.
Closure is not the disappearance of longing. It is the ability to stop organizing your life around the hope that someone else will finally relieve you of it.
You can still wish they had done better.
You can still wish they had acknowledged what happened.
You can still feel angry, sad, disappointed, hurt, or unresolved.
And you can still move forward."
#mentalhealth #relational #repair #closure #relationships #article #substack
Three Beautiful Things I'm Grateful For Today:
1. For a grounded start. My morning Sangha meditation, which helped me center my mind and begin my day on a deeply positive note.
2. Spiritual roots. A sweet, educational conversation with a member of the Bahá'í faith. It was a wonderful reminder that helped me stay rooted in kindness and intentionality.
3. Collaborative talks. An exhilarating conversation with someone I truly admire. She is so deeply passionate about uplifting her community through sign language and environmental action. We had a beautiful exchange where I recommended the book Braiding Sweetgrass and the documentary The Inner Climate, and she generously shared her latest projects and successes with me. The highlight was telling her how proud I am to see a fellow Boricua out there doing such vital work and making a true difference. I could visibly see her light up and smile—it was an absolutely beautiful moment of connection.
#enviornment #collaboration #community #kindness #gratitude #threegoodthings #3goodthings #3GoodThingsToday
"No sentient being should have to prove how useful they are in order for us to treat them gently." –Mari Andrew
Three good things I'm grateful for:
1. I'm celebrating small wins this morning.
2. I'm becoming more aware of when a part of me is using imagination to escape the present moment. I'm letting myself notice these moments, and I'm breathing through them.
3. I spent last night having a meal with a sweet group of elderly people. It was so good to connect.
#3goodthings #3GoodThingsToday #threegoodthings #growth #gratitude #connection #community
Three good things I'm grateful for:
1. I’m grateful that I get to spend time with the person I’m dating.
2. I’m grateful that I had enough money to buy clothes yesterday.
3. I’m deeply grateful for my friends who help me regulate my anxiety and support me when trauma brings up old habits.
#3GoodThingsToday #3goodthings #threegoodthings #gratitude #connection #love
Three good things I'm grateful for:
1. That my sponsor is meeting me half way and is making time for me to process things.
2. That I had such a blast at fairy fest with the woman I'm dating. I feel so calmly infatuated with her.
3. I'm starting to gain my confidence back, and I'm starting to feel safe again. Which is so important to me.
#3GoodThingsToday #3goodthings #threegoodthings #gratitude #love
Three good things I'm grateful for:
1. To be defining success for myself.
2. Gentle mornings filled with love and compassion, for myself and others.
3. Stillness, with the gift of each breath it offers.
#3GoodThingsToday #3goodthings #threegoodthings #gratitude #buddhistpractice #selflove
Three good things I’m grateful for:
1. Having neighbors I can turn to when I’m not able to help myself.
2. Meditation, even when my mind feels distracted.
3. A roof over my head and a place to feel safe.
#threegoodthings #3goodthings #3GoodThingsToday #gratitude #community
Three good things I'm grateful for:
1. The space to care for myself first thing in the morning. I put a heating pad on my back while I meditated, then followed it with ice. It felt nurturing and intentional.
2. The loving-kindness practice I did, starting with myself and then extending it to others. It truly filled me up with warmth and love.
3. Getting to spend time again with someone I really like. It feels good to enjoy our time together without depending on them for my happiness. I'm simply appreciating what we share.
#3GoodThingsToday #3goodthings #threegoodthings #gratitude #gratitudepractice #gratitudelist
Three good things I'm grateful for this morning:
1. For the 4 noble truths, they are:
• There is suffering.
• There is a cause to suffering.
• There is an end to suffering.
• There is a path out of suffering.
2. For my body's ability to bounce back even when life feels unbearable.
3. For flowers blooming again 🍄🌷🌹🌻🍄
#fournobletruths #buddhism #gratitude #threegoodthings #3goodthings #3GoodThingsToday
"We communicate so compulsively, so excessively, because we are lonely and empty. But hypercommunication is not fulfilling. Because it lacks the presence of the other, it only deepens the loneliness." –Byung-Chul Han (Non-things)
#DigitalAwareness #digitalculture #smartphones #ByungChulHan #deepreads #bookstodon
Three good things I'm grateful for:
1. To be crying first thing in the morning. It shows me how deeply I care about my own humanity, and the world around me.
2. To be able to write. To have hands that allow me to pick up a pen and write.
3. To have books that leave me thinking and feeling.
#3goodthings #3GoodThingsToday #threegoodthings #reflection #mentalhealth #gratitude
Three good things I'm grateful for:
1. A kiss goodnight that left me swooning.
2. Gaining my confidence back slowly.
3. I had such a great time going to my first ever burlesque event. I even ran into the people I pet sit for. Which was nice.
Thoughts I had this morning.
#reflection #journaling #mindfulness #slowliving #radicalgratitude #WritingCommunity #antihustleculture
Three good things I'm grateful for:
1. I get to see the woman I'm dating perform burlesque. It's also my first time going to a burlesque event. I'm super excited about it.
2. I am being so gentle and kind to myself, which I'm really grateful for. I deserve the love I freely give to others.
3. That someone at the little mall in my town decided to give away some of their things. I managed to score some art, music, and cool magnets.
#3goodthings #3GoodThingsToday #gratitude #selflove #conmunity
From the book Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
#humanconnection #love #community #WordsofWisdom #bookstodon #ReadingCommunity #RupiKaur
"We are obsessed not with things but with information and data. We now consume more information than things. We are literally becoming intoxicated with communication."
–Byung-Chul Han (From the book Non-things)
#bookstodon #ReadingCommunity #digitalminimalism #technics #informationoverload #slowliving #quietlife
Today I'm not really feeling like doing a #gratitudelist
So I decided to read about ingratitude lists, and then wrote a list of my own in my journal.
It felt validating to read the list I made, and be able to sit with parts of me that are not feeling well. I felt like I was really listening this time. Versus making myself feel better.
By sitting with how I am actually feeling, I was able to feel better.
Here's the article I read:
https://medium.com/illumination/why-i-started-an-ingratitude-list-6e52bcb1aef6
#ingratitude #acknowledgmentmatters #journaling #mentalhealth
Puerto Ricans denounce that American tourists are trying to ‘silence’ the song of the coquí, the island’s endemic and endangered frog
Prescription For The Disillusioned
by Rebecca del Rio
Come new to this day.
Remove the rigid
overcoat of experience,
the notion of knowing,
the beliefs that cloud
your vision.
Leave behind the stories
of your life. Spit out the
sour taste of unmet expectation.
Let the stale scent of what-ifs
waft back into the swamp
of your useless fears.
Arrive curious, without the armor
of certainty, the plans and planned
results of the life you’ve imagined.
Live the life that chooses you, new
every breath, every blink of
your astonished eyes.
Doing another ingratitude list today.
Three things I'm NOT grateful for:
1. I'm not grateful for my trauma. It didn't make me into who I am. It didn't make me stronger.
2. All of my health issues.
3. I'm not grateful to be misunderstood and that I feel like I rarely ever fit in.
#ingratitude #mentalhealth #honesty #disability #chronicfatigue
The Nonstick Soul
Like a nonstick pan,
This positivity doesn't always stick.
I don’t think it’s supposed to.
Sometimes the darkness seeps in
To remind me that without it, the light is invisible.
One does not negate the other;
They are a conversation.
A complement.
A contrast that creates the image.
It isn't good or bad.
It isn’t a war of Dark versus Light.
It is simply day becoming night,
And night becoming day.
A natural occurrence taking place.
This is life.
This is death.
This
Is.
"A new study found that keratin, a structural protein taken from wool, can support bone regeneration in living animals. The material produced bone tissue that more closely matched healthy natural bone than collagen, which is currently considered the standard material for these treatments."
https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-turn-wool-into-bone-healing-material-in-medical-breakthrough/
#SustainableMedicine #RegenerativeMedicine #Biomaterials #TissueEngeneering #ecofriendlyinnovation #stemcellresearch
"My body is sacred.
Exhaustion does not honor the sacred."
–Tricia Hersey
"Flourishing is not just about the individual subjective experience, which is important, we don't cut that out. But it's also about how are you contributing to creating the conditions for flourishing for others. So the metaphor is not the isolated flower in the pot, as beautiful as that might be, but the forest, where under the ground the roots are sharing resources. Where our sense of flourishing is enhanced when we see that we're flourishing with others and creating the conditions for others to flourish. And so we start to see the whole person within a beloved community, and then that beloved community is connected to other communities, and we can start to see an ecosystem emerging. And that ecosystem, of course, includes the natural world, but also the social and political and economic world, and also a sacred ecosystem." –Matt Lee
https://www.nosmallendeavor.com/matt-lee-why-you-cant-flourish-alone
Sharing to see what other people think.
In today's meditation, these questions were asked:
Who am I without referring to a thought to tell me who I am?
Can I sustain not defining myself for a few moments? And simply be?
Just rest in the light of being
rather than the idea of being.
https://disabilityculturalcenter.org/event/sustaining-us-april/
Sustaining Us: Building a Writing Practice While Living with Limitations
Question for Mastodonians:
Hey everyone, quick question for your beautiful brains. When you think of someone on here who always speaks with true kindness, how would you describe the effect their words have on the timeline?And what effect did it have on you personally?
Like, what does that energy actually do to the space we share?
I'm trying to gather information to help me see the acts of kindness in the world and the real time effects it has on others.
For my mental wellbeing and as well as for the mental well-being of others.
"Building an empire requires a ruler. Building a community requires a unified pulse. One is rigid; the other is mycelial." –Dariana
"The Buddhist scriptures tell a wonderful parable about a kind of monkey trap. To make the trap, some tar is spread on the ground. A monkey then comes along and steps in the sticky tar. First one little monkey foot gets stuck. In trying to free itself, the monkey puts down another foot. Then it puts down one hand, then the other hand. Finally, in a desperate effort to gain some leverage and free itself, the monkey puts down its head. That is a very stuck monkey!
That is just how those tormenting states of mind, such as judging, comparing, discriminating, demeaning, and envying, collude to get us stuck, to keep us stuck, and to make us miserable. When that monkey has just one foot in the tar, instead of putting down the next foot and then the hands, if it were to reach out and grab a tree and pull itself away, it could be free. Mudita can provide just that kind of opportunity to extricate ourselves from our stuckness, to be free enough from the tar traps in our lives to be happy. If we look carefully at each of those mind states where we get stuck, we can begin to understand how cultivating sympathetic joy can help to free us."
–Sharon Salzberg (Loving-Kindness, The Revolutionary Art of Happiness)
#judgement #comparison #comparing #discrimination #envy #buddhism #bookstodon #ReadingCommunity #selfactualization
CORRECTIVE FOR A BROKEN HEART
by Maria Popova
Why all the threadbare drama,
the stale catastrophism
of calling it broken?
It still beats,
doesn’t it,
still trembles at the sight
of fog flowing through the forest
like a slow dance song.
It was only
dislocated,
lost its locus
for a while,
popped out of the socket
of good sense.
There is no one
to pick up the pieces
because there are no pieces.
Only the firm, fastidious
hand of time
to slide it back
into place.
And after all
who can fault
the wayward compass
when the magnetic north pole
is in constant motion
drifting by fifty kilometers a year
and reversing itself altogether
every few centuries
while each twenty-six thousand years
a different north star
comes to shine its guiding light
above all the confusion.
We are here
to lose our way.
Three good things today:
Mailed a letter to a grieving friend.
Got some vanilla scent incense.
I also got a new journal to write in.
Only US Votes Against Women’s Rights Document at UN Commission
https://healthpolicy-watch.news/us-isolated-in-opposition-to-un-womens-rights-document/
Three things I'm grateful for this morning:
Waking up to that heartwarming fact about humpback whales. The way they protect seals and sunfish from orcas reminds me of all the little ways we look out for each other. Whether it's just being there for someone, taking accountability, helping a friend through a rough patch, doing a memorial walk for a loved one, pet-sitting, caring for someone who is sick, or even just saying hi to a neighbor. It all matters.
Making art for a friend's daughter, who loves making art for me. I really love connecting with people this way.
Getting a sweet message from the guy I’m talking to, and sending one back. I’m honestly just enjoying taking things slow with him. Even with my anxieties and old habits trying to pop up, it feels really good to genuinely get to know him without rushing.
An organization in my town called Food Not Bombs is hosting a gofund me for a community member named Mario. He moved to Ithaca from Guatemala, and he recently lost his home in a fire. If you have the ability to donate or to spread the word, that would be great!
Donate or share link here:
https://gofund.me/f33dd6b85
At 65, when gunfire erupted in her newsroom, most people would have hidden. She grabbed a trash can and charged directly at the shooter—buying her coworkers seconds that saved their lives.
June 28, 2018. Annapolis, Maryland. It was an ordinary Thursday afternoon at the Capital Gazette, a newspaper serving the community since 1884. Reporters and editors sat at their desks, working on stories and preparing the next day's edition. Wendi Winters, 65, was at her desk. She had been with the Gazette for years, covering everything from community events to local government. She was known as thorough, dedicated, and deeply connected to the Annapolis community.
Then gunfire shattered the afternoon. A man carrying a pump-action shotgun fired through the locked glass entrance, shattering it, and entered the newsroom. Panic erupted instantly. Employees dove under desks. Some ran toward the back of the office, searching for hiding places or emergency exits. Some found the rear exit blocked. The attacker moved deeper into the newsroom, firing.
Part 1
#bravery #reporter #journalist #shooting #courage #WendiWinters
Three things I'm grateful for today:
Hearing that my client told her therapist she is grateful for me. It feels so good to help.
I made a new connection through tabling for the peace trot that's happening on Father's Day. A walk for peace.
Cado avocado ice cream and my custom tea blend. The tea blend consisted of peppermint leaf, marshmallow root, dandelion leaf, elder flower, echinacea leaf and flower, bladderwrack, and lavender. It made me feel like an alchemist making a medicinal potion.
#ThreeGoodThingsToday #3GoodThingsToday #3goodthings #gratitude #herbalmedicine
Three good things I am grateful for this morning:
I am grateful to live in a town that prioritizes healing. Today we are holding a vigil for the man whose life was taken by ICE. May he and all the victims rest in power.
I am learning how to confront people who misunderstand me with love and compassion.
I am deeply thankful for the people who influence my life and help shape me into the person I have always wanted to be.
#3GoodThingsToday #3goodthings #threegoodthings #gratitude #communitycare
