Mishelle

I found this very interesting and thought others might too http://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_solomon_depression_the_secret_we_share.html?awesm=on.ted.com_thWC&utm_content=awesm-publisher&utm_campaign=&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=on.ted.com-twitter

Are you not entertained?! My latest post, thanks for reading and any feedback or discussion! http://peacecorpsworldwide.org/homesteading/2014/02/20/self-reliance-for-global-revolution/

I'm really smiling at this, thanks! I find it funny that his 5th reason is "girls" -- shouldn't he be dating women by now?! But, I could relate with his reasons. I spent quite a lot of time in central and eastern Europe, and I do remember the Hungarian people being very hospitable, not "diverse" if one likes that, and quite open to others who look like they do! Same thing for Poland, the Baltics, Scandanavia--hardly a shade beyond pale as far as the eye can see, once you are out of the major cities. Also, the women are more feminine, no doubt, and still dress like women. And Old Europe is just gorgeous, both in natural landscapes and great towns and cities. Real cities with great architecture and fascinating history all around you--I just love that and for that will always be a fan of what I called in my first assigned travel article "The Other Europe". Ah, those were the days, many years ago now. Good luck with your travels and keep us posted!

So kind of you to say, Lians, thank you! I am too easily disarmed and distracted, but I like your reframing very much It used to serve me, now time to move on. Are you happy in your work?

wow, y'all are amazing! A link that I will re-share that has much on addiction and nothing, so far that I have seen, on God, thank god, is the free self-help course at sfhelp.org It's quite structured, so might be helpful in addition to all of Stef's great stuff on MEcosystem, self-knowledge, the hours of calls--there are lots of us out here, you've got choices dear, and good luck

Welcome fitzpatrick, I'm so glad something clicked powerfully enough for you to take this action, Stef does have that effect on some people! There are great people here to either help you with a light exploring that rabbit hole, or to lead you back out, as you prefer! At what age do you think you lost your self-trust, if you can remember? Which of Stef's video's first drew you in? What are your interests? What are your intentions here, and for yourself?

Hi thanks for the clarification Lians! Yes, makes total sense and I love your 'dancer needs a mirror' analogy. I've since done a number of hours of his free course and I think it will be helpful for me. But, it's very good I have Stef's material, because already in Lesson 1 Gerlach says "don't blame your parents they did the best the could." I understand the not blaming thing, unproductive, but I do agree with Stef that nothing will improve if we don't hold our elders accountable at all. I saw a blind spot just listening to the last Sunday call, the last caller, she "charmed" me, sucked me in so-to-speak, so that I just started listening and empathizing without thinking more critically or trying to untangle her false selves or be in any way helpful or something. I guess I heard through her the way we talk together with my siblings--"bonding over shared vicitimization" -- not helpful or inspiring change!

I think there is maybe a level of nuance in your post Lians that I'm missing! Please, speak up man! Do you think this true of Gerlach? I don't want to perform better in the existing rules, I want to find further success trumping the system, critiquing it, carving my unique path, to the benefit of future generations--isn't that why we're all here at FDR?!

Thanks to you both, just scanned through Julie's site and she looks hilarious, thanks! On another thread I think it was Joel who linked Gerlach's videos and I've started the course because I've realized this is very connected to the things I spoke about with Stef. The truth is the therapy I had, even thought I worked very hard at it, it was not this deep and rigorous and I'm not going to be able to understand my next steps professionally without going deeper into this stuff. I really appreciate your feedback and perspectives. I do think it's much more about content, a certain warmth or energy of care, and delivery. It's now or never . . .

Thank you so much for this thoughtful insightful post, huge appreciation! Can you please tell me how you get just a single line of quote to insert? Each time I try that feature the entire post copies and it's annoying to then go erase all the parts you don't want to include. OK, so I know this is helpful, but I have some further questions, if you don't mind. "Expressing myself in a way that's personable and interesting doesn't come naturally for me. Is this how you experience it?" First, I think the question about wanting to be more relevant and useful is the most natural and important question! I know I'm a teacher and writer at my core, so that's always the question to me. I find you come off as personable and interesting, very much so, so it's interesting to hear this doesn't come naturally to you. I'd like to hear more about that, if you care to share! As for me, I think I'm personable and interesting and have no problem conveying that through my writing or with others in general. I suppose I am also cerebral, as you say, but I spent so long faking it that I can fool the worst of 'em. Cerebral or sensitive did not fit in with my FOO! But, that's not the truth when it comes to important things, about myself, about things I really care about and that's a different story altogether. And your comment about treating as important what's really important is definitely true and struck a chord with me. You really might be onto something here and I'm going to explore that much more. I didn't take myself seriously for many years and there is surely still some residue of that. This blog is very close to my heart because it's the first thing I started writing, besides journaling, that was for me, my way, no assignment or editor or client telling me what to write, not trying to sell myself to an audience, it's totally mine. It's very hodgepodge, if you look back to the beginning, and sometimes all over the place as I experimented with what worked FOR ME mostly, and to a small degree I started looking more at what was needed, the market, the feedback, without letting it overtly influence me (a delicate balance I'm still learning!). I love listening to some of Stef's first podcasts in tandem with his new stuff--he's come such a long way--it's very inspiring! He's got the balance down and I learn a lot from watching him, he's very respectful and aware of what people want, but knows exactly when and what to give, it seems. Like you, I also listen more and more to content rather than read, so I have to agree with you about Youtube. I grew up pretty old-school in that girls were not supposed to speak their minds, especially to be critical and especially publicly. I notice still how many more guys are on Youtube putting out their thoughts and opinions and knowledge to the public compared to girls, and I think it goes back to the "visibility" question I talked with Stef about when I called in. For a while now I've thought I'm just going to try it, just do one "demo" and see how it comes out, I don't have to actually post it! What do you think about the male/female visibility thing? When you take a look at the women smart and outspoken enough to talk about real issues publicly they are typically very young and gorgeous. I am "of a certain age" not an expert in anything and not too photogenic. Does this sound like a good dose of realism, or false center crap?!

well, good question, thanks for asking! I'd like to somehow take it to the next level--how can I make it more relevant and useful for people? How to make it more engaging, get people to discuss and respond. Maybe I should try a vlog and ask specific questions at the end. I notice that was my 200th post--and nothing's categorized, not very user-friendly! I guess I feel it's time to take it up a notch and I don't know what that looks like. Any thoughts? thanks!

Thanks for reading and for your positive feedback dsayers, I so appreciate it! Cute costume Can you tell me anything you'd like to read in my posts? I"m trying to improve.

Howdy friendly philosopers My latest post, still talking self-reliance and community. Join us on the Ark of Truth! http://peacecorpsworldwide.org/homesteading/2014/02/13/self-reliance-for-solidarity/

I just heard a version of this--"I don't care if you like me" and "I'm not doing this work because I want to" This came from Mark Passio, someone who's trying to build himself an audience and platform to "save the world" ! That summed it all up for me--sorry Mark, but if people don't like you you're not going to do a darn bit of good on this planet! I'll never listen to him again because of that attitude.

I've taught in US, Europe and Thailand and think what's happening with the "de-prussianization" of education is a very natural process. It was clear the teaching differences between my teacher's education and that in several Euro countries and Thailand was completely different--they were still very old-school in comparison. Where we were taught to always strive for a student-focused classroom, where students were doing most of the talking, they were taught to lecture and keep students quiet. They insisted on an authoritarian separation between student/teacher, the Americans were always on a first-name basis with our students. Equalizing the student/teacher relationship is surely a crucial step to creating a positive learning environment and experience that will squelch at least some of the authoritarianism in our culture. The video Larken spoke of and linked to, Josie Outlaw spoke about the Waldorf Model. I'll look into it, never heard of it before. Have y'all?

Here's a good reason why Homeschooling is in trouble, imo: God and religion permeate and is the primary driver against State curriculum--ethics, learning, and liberty are secondary to the right to believe in fairy tales. http://www.activistpost.com/2014/02/government-schools-common-core.html Here's food for thought from Stef and Peter Gray on the subject: http://cdn.media.freedomainradio.com/feed/FDR_2388_Peter_Gray_Interview.mp3

But what does private/public even mean anymore? The university I work for calls itself "public" (American Public University) but that doesn't mean as in government-run, it means publicly-traded, I guess! Our biggest clients are Wal-mart and US Armed Forces--we're "accredited" like other universities by the requirements set by the state, but get no (direct) funding from the government. It seems to me there is too little separation between public/private now when they all have the same "One World" agenda.

Back in my highly propagandized Lefty days I used to think "how can these people not want education for all children whether they have them or not, because we don't want all kinds of idiots running around?!" I said this even as I hated high school and breezed through university. I still said it as I was a TA and then through the first years of teaching university. It's been one of the last threads of Statism in my mind for years! Chomsky, Charlotte Iserbyt and JT Gatto finally made me see it for what it was, or actually made me remember that's how I saw it way back when. I wanted to add this to the conversation because I think education is a big blind spot for a lot of well-meaning people. Like spanking I think, that deeply embedded, that it's "for your own good" -- "this is the world we've got, better train to play the game." Because of this for me it's important to tread lightly with the sea of Lefties out there so as not to completely alienate them and call us crazy and dismiss every argument because of their deep bias--because they are the ones running the show in education, media and well the whole damn world it seems sometimes I appreciate the convo very much, I don't have the answers but I'm definitely searching with y'all. At this point I don't see much difference between public/private--I think it's a question of whether it's compulsory first and the social stigmas around homeschooling, unfortunately .

Getting our arses out of The Matrix! My latest post http://peacecorpsworldwide.org/homesteading/2014/02/01/self-reliance-as-anarchy/

I have really enjoyed Richard Grove's work, but I know it from his Tragedy & Hope site--I've watched almost everything there, but haven't been to the Peace Revolution podcasts, so thanks for the recommend. I really appreciate his demeanor--the way he can seem casual and professional at the same time, very informed but very grounded, not at all a know-it-all-type. There was a stretch where the debate did start to veer off I noticed too, but I thought Larken really pulled it back in and pressed his point so often and directly it did help me to really see that from a philosophical perspective there's no other way than anarchy. Because I also struggle sometimes with Tom's points around caring for weak, ill, old, poor, etc., but Larken would not concede to anything and kept going back to the issues of authority and violence. For me, once things get heated, I find I can no longer pay attention, and they stayed calm, which I think was Richard's influence. I also liked it because I was able to see Tom's error in his words and his "history" -- if I can say that. I've never seen him before, never heard of him, but the way he kept saying "Larken" repeatedly, and sometimes in a condescending tone I felt, was quite paternal and so it made me think like Stef--ah, lingering authority issues, no wonder he wants the state to have the power to "save" people. Could be totally off on that of course, but that was my impression. Thanks for asking and any other good material recommendations! (not Mark Passio please)

will look for it, thanks!

ug. the only interesting expression there was "squirreled away" how dull the critics, can spew loads of mirth, but no matter how angered or how justified, it's pretty clear it's still a kind of worshiping.

In case y'all haven't seen it yet http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/27/technology/security/bitcoin-arrest/

Have y'all seen this one yet? I usually don't like debates, but this was great I thought. Helped it was moderated, imo. Larken Rose with Tom Wilcutts

I've postponed my trip, but will make it someday soon for sure. Have good friend living there now, so it's only a matter of time!