john silkey
@silkeyj
john silkey
to show us our mistakes before we make them
Ancestors and Wisdom
if the next kin are ready and open to listen. even if not, we will still speak and offer what we can
When we tell our kids, “You’re a good kid having a hard time … I’m here, I’m right here with you,” they are more likely to have empathy for their own struggles
Dr. Becky Kennedy • Good Inside
Healing trauma involves recognizing, accepting, and moving through pain—clean pain. It often means facing what you don’t want to face—what you have been reflexively avoiding or fleeing. By walking into that pain, experiencing it fully, and moving through it, you metabolize it and put an end to it. In the process, you also grow, create more room in ... See more
Choosing to Face Our Pain
No one benefits from you scrolling on your phone and feeling sad and then going to Starbucks.... See more
The antidote is figuring out what you care about, what you're good at, and what you like doing that can make the world a little bit better.
Then, really do that thing.
You can’t do everything, but there are a few things you can do really well. You have to
Alex Dobrenko • No one benefits from you scrolling and feeling sad
ii. 1/3 Concrete - tuning in to reality and senses and self
Part of the first steps. Go inward, have the courage to ask the questions and sit with not knowing. You must experience life in order to know. Not watch it like a spectator.
Sometimes our journey takes place in the context of a vital, mythologically grounded culture, whereby one feels open to and supported by the mysteries. Then one experiences purpose in being, a sense of harmony with the world and with one’s self—both the world and the individual journey are clothed in meaning. For so many more of us, our journey tak... See more
Daily Review | Readwise
What does a modern cultural grounding look like? Is modern culture even sufficient to ground a soul? (I don’t think so - the over emphasis on the individual has led to a severing of the connection to place, community, culture, lineage, religion, or any other larger narrative.)
We must use that hyper individuality to our advantage - dive deeply into the individual - who am I, what am I, what are the big questions that I’ve been taught to avoid about my place in existence, where and to what do I feel connected or disconnected in a self, other, system framework. Take what would feel selfish - a deep excavation of the self - and the way through the self will illumninate the connection to something bigger than the self.
"I was waiting for something extraordinary to happen, but as the years wasted on, nothing ever did unless I caused it.”
—Charles Bukowski
Parents think they can hand children permanent confidence—like a gift—by praising their brains and talent. It doesn’t work, and in fact has the opposite effect. It makes children doubt themselves as soon as anything is hard or anything goes wrong. If parents want to give their children a gift, the best thing they can do is to teach their children t... See more
Carol Dweck • Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
Catalyzing confidence
You might be wondering at this point what comes after Finding. The answer is exploring and simply being. In a very real sense, people go from seekers to Finders and then on to explorers. Simply being in existence is amazing, and there’s no shortage of it to explore
Daily Review | Readwise
On a spiritual path working with different modalities that move forward in simplicity (though it may appear to be complexity - like mahamudra) the next question or feeling is often “ok I’ve done this, so now what?”
The question, as you move forward, morphs into “ok, so now how?”
The question ‘what am I doing’ loses its pull and interest. “How am I being” becomes much more alive, and focuses on the individual as a vessel connected to the whole, and therefore allowing that whole to come through based on how the individual shows up.
grief is not a problem to be solved or a malady to be cured. It’s a sacred reality to be entered.
Mirabai Starr • Grieving Together
Grief is transformational - if we allow it
It shows us much greater depths of our being, of our abilities, of our feeling and connecting