Urban Mindfulness: Mindfulness and the Financial Crisis


By Jonathan Kaplan, Ph.D. in Urban Mindfulness

Here in the city (and all over the country), anxiety about the financial crisis is palpable and omnipresent. Thousands of people, especially within the financial services industry, have been losing their jobs. Real estate construction and development have slowed or ceased, while home sales plummet. Retail businesses and restaurants have been doing poorly too as many of us cope with a decrease in income by reducing our spending.

How can mindfulness help?

Mindfulness can help by reducing our suffering in a very painful situation. The financial crisis has a negative effect on our home finances, savings, and fulfillment of some life dreams (at least temporarily). This is our current reality--and it hurts. Unfortunately, we often make this bad situation worse as we become mired in regret, fantasy, and worry. "If only I sold my stocks 1 year ago..." or "I'm never gonna get another job" are common reactions to the crisis. However, emotionally such thoughts make us feel worse. So here are a few mindfulness pointers:



*  Notice where your mind goes. Are you stuck in regret or blaming others? Are you catastrophizing about the future? Bring your attention back to rest on your breathing.



*  Find ways to reconnect with positive aspects in your life, like your health, family, or faith. Often, we dismiss expressing such appreciations by adding "Yes, but..." The "but" takes away any joy or satisfaction from things that are going well. Real life is good and bad, not good but bad.



*  Re-evaluate and do constructive planning and problem-solving. Mindfulness can help us see what is really happening and deal with it appropriately. Not being able to pay the bills might be a reality for you. So, minus the worry, anxiety, and recrimination, what are your options? How can you increase the money coming in and reduce the money going out? Perhaps you need to find another job, borrow money from friends or family, or sell some of your stuff. None of these actions are easy, but they might be necessary. Getting caught-up in worry, guilt, shame, and other destructive emotions can only delay taking productive action and make you feel even more miserable.



*  Finally, notice your mindset now vs. 1 year ago. Chances are, you saw your life as being deficient at that time, too. You wanted more money, an iPhone, or whatever. You told yourself, "If only I had [X], I would be happy." Now, we are confronted with reality of having less than we did previously; our mindset matches actually matches our circumstances. In fact, we might even find ourselves longing for how good we had it before, at least financially. At the time though, we weren't satisfied with it. This irony suggests that we need to recognize the problem in dwelling on thoughts that we're deficient or need something that we do not have. Not until we recognize and accept our current circumstances can we be free to change it.

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The Human Experience: Emotional Hunger Vs. Love


By Robert Firestone, Ph.D.  in The Human Experience

Emotional hunger is not love. It is a strong emotional need caused by deprivation in childhood. It is a primitive condition of pain and longing which people often act out in a desperate attempt to fill a void or emptiness. This emptiness is related to the pain of aloneness and separateness and can never realistically be fully satisfied in an adult relationship. Yet people refuse to bear their pain and to face the futility of gratifying these primitive needs and dependency. They deny the fact of their own ultimate death and do everything in their power to create an illusion that they are connected to other persons. This fantasy of belonging to another person allays the anxiety about death and gives people a sense of immortality. Hunger is a powerful emotion, which is both exploitive and destructive to others when it is acted out. People identify this feeling with love and mistakenly associate these longings with genuine affection. Nothing could be further from the truth.


Feelings of emotional hunger are deep and are like a dull but powerful aching in your insides. You may often find yourself reaching out and touching others or expressing affection and loving movements in order to attempt to kill off this aching sensation. People often give physical affection and attention when they feel the most need for it themselves. This type of physical affection is draining of the emotional resources of loved ones, particularly one's children, rather than enhancing their development psychologically. It is wise to be suspicious of your own use of the word "love" or "I love you." If you search yourself truthfully you may discover that you say these words most often, not when you feel the most for others, but rather when you experience strong dependency needs and feel the need for reassurance.


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Telegraph.co.uk: Florence Nightingale 'might never have succeeded with modern stigma against mental illness'

She became world-famous as the saviour of countless lives and the inventor of modern nursing, but a new report suggests that Florence Nightingale might never have been able to transform hospitals if she had to combat today's stigma against mental illness.


By Kate Devlin, Medical Correspondent
Last Updated: 3:48PM GMT 10 Feb 2009

The document, co-written by Alastair Campbell, the former Government spin doctor, also questions whether a modern politician could reach the top of their profession suffering from Winston Churchill's "black dog" of depression.

And it queries whether the ideas of other leading figures, including Charles Darwin, Marie Curie and Abraham Lincoln, would be ignored in today's society, which the report found was heavily prejudiced against people with mental health problems.

More than one in four people, 29 per cent, do not think that someone with a mental illness can hold down a responsible job, the study found, while 60 per cent of employers said that they would feel unable to employ someone suffering from mental health problems.

The report warns that achievements including the theory of evolution, the creation of modern nursing, developments in cancer treatment and the abolition of slavery may never have happened under modern ideas about mental health.

As well as Churchill, Curie and Lincoln both suffered from depression, while Darwin had extreme bouts of anxiety and agoraphobia and experts believe that Florence Nightingale suffered from bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression.

The report speculates that without Churchill, Britain could have made a compromise peace agreement in 1940, allowing a Nazi-dominated Europe and the loss of freedom and democracy.

It also warns that the "next Churchill" could be missed because of the modern demands on politicians.

Mr Campbell said: "I am not convinced that a modern politician who admitted to mental health problems would be able to get to the top.

"Churchill was by common consent Britain's greatest ever leader, and voted the greatest ever Briton, but I wonder whether his depression would have stopped him becoming Prime Minister in modern Britain.

"As I watch politicians and other public figures deal with the pressures of modern leadership, not least dealing with harsh 24 hour scrutiny, I sometimes wonder how these great historic figures would have fared had they been alive today.

"Churchill with his depressions, drinking and long lie-ins; Darwin with his severe anxiety that showed up in stomach disorders, crippling headaches, agoraphobia, trembling, palpitations of the heart, and mental torment which often left him in floods of tears.

"Would the media and public have been understanding about their conditions? – these statistics suggest otherwise."

The report, released today and co-written by historian Nigel Jones, is part of a campaign called Time to Change, organised by the mental health charities Mental Health Media, Mind and Rethink.

According to the report almost nine out of ten people with mental health problems have experienced stigma and discrimination, often by employers.

One in four Britons suffer from it at some point in their life, and Mr Campbell said that his own experience had shown how important the role of work could be to aid a patient's recovery.

He said: "When Tony Blair asked me to work for him in 1994, I told him about my breakdown and my drink problem. He said he wasn't worried. If a Prime Minister can have that attitude, then I think it is about time the six out of ten who say they wouldn't consider taking on someone with a history of mental illness join the four out of ten who say they would."

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Sustainablog: Is Climate Change Making Us Mental?

Written by Robin Shreeves

Published on February 11th, 2009

If you were to click on my bio here for Sustainablog, you’d see that I started down this green path because my son who was six at the time had read about global warming and gave us the “what for” over the SUV we owned. We joke now with him that he was the one that got this whole thing started for our family, yet at times he seems, at almost ten years old, the least interested in the environment. In a way, that may be a good thing.

The Boston Globe reported that climate change takes a mental toll, and that children and adults alike are starting to have “psychosis or anxiety disorders focused on climate change.” Children especially “are having nightmares about global-warming-related natural disasters.”

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San Jose Mercury News: Lawmakers debate mental health cuts

By CATHY BUSSEWITZ Associated Press Writer
Posted: 02/12/2009 04:27:26 PM PST

CARSON CITY, Nev.—Lawmakers challenged major cuts in the state's mental health services on Thursday, saying they won't agree to reductions that would jeopardize the health and safety of Nevada communities.

Gov. Jim Gibbons has proposed closing 11 of the state's 21 rural mental health clinics, and increasing the number of patients per staff member at mental health facilities in Reno and Las Vegas.

While overall human services spending, about a third of the state's general funds, for the coming two fiscal years is up, funding for mental health services would decrease 5 percent, to $473 million.

"Several of us took vows that we would never support reductions again," said Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, referring to budget cuts to mental health in 1991. "Now we face the greatest reduction I've ever seen."

"The mentally ill cannot complain. Their families are shy about complaining," Coffin said during a joint Senate-Assembly budget subcommittee hearing. "Who is going to fight for the mentally ill? I am not going to support these cuts. I am going to follow through with my vow of 1991."

Of the 21 rural mental health clinics, two already are closed, another nine would be closed by June 30, and services would be moved to regional hubs.

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The Buffalo News: Hard times are pushing many into mental illness

By Deidre Williams
NEWS STAFF REPORTER


It’s all weighing pretty heavily on Barbara Smith, a widowed grandmother who lives in the Black Rock section of Buffalo.

She fears layoffs are coming soon at her job a local nonprofit agency. That’s on top of the hours that were cut recently at her part-time job at a local florist.

And don’t forget the weather: the very cold, very snowy past weeks, followed by a couple of days of warming, then 60 -mph winds and wet snow that knocked out power to more than 50,000 homes and businesses.

“I guess the news is bad for everybody,” Smith said, “and it just seems to get worse.”

All this contributes to what experts call the new face of mental illness.

Doom and gloom seem to have dominated the news lately.

Consider the headlines:

• A global economic crisis.

• A recession here at home.

• The near-daily tally of job cuts at large companies worldwide.

• Record snow and frigid temperatures locally, then flooding and a wind storm.

• Gasoline prices creeping up again after receding from record highs.

“There’s a lot of bad news,” said Brian D. Barnas, a University at Buffalo student. “That’s the times we’re in right now. That’s what’s going on in the world.”

As a result, many Americans are facing fear, anxiety, uncertainty and stress.

The despair and desperation that come with such feelings is the “modern face of mental illness,” said Thomas P. McNulty, president and chief executive officer of the Mental Health Association of Erie County.

Many people have heard of schizophrenia, bipolarity, and eating and personality disorders, McNulty said.

“But today the modern face of mental illness includes mortgage crises, job loss, people stressed to the limit financially. It’s an entirely different emotional situation,” McNulty said. “The modern-day things we can face can turn into a severe emotional disturbance.”

Read the full article here:

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Monkey See: Valentine's Day Un-Romances

by Linda Holmes

I have a long history with romantic movies of all kinds. Goopy musicals, kicky-girl rom-coms, masterpieces of banter -- you name it, and I've probably fallen for it at one time or another. Unfortunately, the older one gets, the more some of these fall apart, and the more others don't work at all. I give you five (of many) Un-Romances. Be warned: all descriptions contain spoilers.

1. Jerry Maguire

This really pains me, because I thought this was a terribly touching story the first time I saw it. As much as "you complete me" and "you had me at hello" are now as dessicated as "Show me the money!" there was a time when they seemed like sort of nifty things for people to say to each other. Of course...I was 25.

Why it's an Un-Romance: What's frustrating is that for the first three-quarters or so, this movie demonstrates all kinds of incredibly valid points. Don't perform dramatic stunts (like quitting your job) to impress guys with good teeth. Don't have drunks over to your house. Don't introduce your kid to guys he'll fall in love with unless you're pretty sure about them. Don't date your boss. Don't try to save disasters. Don't ignore your sister when she warns you about guys who are "hanging onto the bottom rung." Don't get married as an alternative to the nightmare of driving a U-Haul.

And then in the closing moments: BOOM! It turns out that the guy who clearly was not in love with you can suddenly discover he's in love with you, and that all your bad decisions are now irrelevant. If only real life worked...anything like that.

More, after the jump...

2. Sex And The City

This may not even need saying at this point, but given that we're being threatened with a sequel, perhaps that's not the case.

Why it's an Un-Romance: Oh, where to begin. With the ditching of the faithful Smith, one of the only nice men in the history of the entire show? With the refusal to dump the endlessly dumpworthy Big? With the shoes/clothes/closets obsessions that seemingly eclipse every other interest? You can't have a romance between characters unless you have characters, and "loves shoes" is not a character.

2. The Mirror Has Two Faces

This mostly obscure 1996 Barbra Streisand film is simply the first one that came to mind to represent all movies of its kind: the It Was Only After Your Makeover That I Realized You Never Needed A Makeover love story.

Why it's an Un-Romance: Certainly, it's dangerous for anyone to fall into the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy, and it could be that it's a coincidence that the "falling in love" part comes after the "application of artificial nails" part. But it doesn't seem that way. It kind of seems like, in the above clip, Glam Barbra wins the happiness that Dumpy Barbra was not entitled to.

3. Sweet Home Alabama

One of the romantic comedies that made Reese Witherspoon the It-Girl of the genre for a time, it seems like a sort of funny, harmless, torn-between-two-lovers piece of business. As if its effect on Witherspoon were not enough, it also did good things for a fellow named Patrick Dempsey.

Why It's An Un-Romance: Agreeing to marry someone when you are in love with someone else and then dumping the person you've agreed to marry at the altar is not romantic, full stop. You are not a romantic hero; you are...kind of a jerk. Having never been left at the altar (whew!), I can't say I speak from experience, but in the many (many) movies in which this happens, the perpetrator always loses my sympathy instantly. See also: Affairs are not romantic, and I am talking to you, The Bridges Of Madison County.

5. Reality Bites

The ultimate early-'90s slacker romance, here is another one that does
a lot of things right in the first three-quarters. No, wait -- the
first nine-tenths.

Why it's an Un-Romance: Ethan Hawke's work in
the front part of this movie is grossly underrated: he may be
detestable, but the guy is pitch-perfectly infuriating, disguising
meanness as a complex personality and push-pulling on Winona Ryder
until she finally does actually sleep with him, at which point he
flakes out and she -- in the movie's truest scene -- stomps her foot
and screams, "I knew this was going to happen!" And she did, and it
did, and that's what makes it a sad (and plausible) story. What isn't
plausible is that he then, out of nowhere, appears at the end to
announce that he's sorry and he's in love with her and now they will go
off happily into the future with only his acoustic guitar and her
father's gas card to sustain them.

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