Happy Monday, y’all …. ALL Y’LL!
Here’s to hoping you made the most of your weekends … I certainly did. I thoroughly enjoyed Friday night at Capone’s where my buddy Brian Sarceno, promoter extraordinaire, had a sushi restaurant do a “plate” of free sushi placed all around and on some areas of a female model. She was bare except for a flesh colored brassiere and a flesh colored thong! She was gorgeous … long dark hair, clear skin and very exotic complexion and features. There was a theme of Japan throughout the club including umbrellas, lamp shades/covers and Oriental pictures. I enjoyed several pieces of exceptionally prepared sushi from a local sushi bar in Fort Lauderdale.
Saturday, I attended a meeting with a good friend, Marie Achille, some board members, the accountant, Marie (community organizer/office manager for H.E.R.O.) and a guest from Miami Dade Public Schools who is the friend of the board President, Max Paul. We brain stormed to get our guest aware of the structure and functions, including the mission and vision for H.E.R.O. I have worked with some of the Haitian adults tutoring them in English and teaching them interviewing skills as well as tips for employment opportunities. The guest has worked in case management and is now on several boards herself … and was also born in Haiti!
Okay, so, here it goes … What would you do if today … or tomorrow … there was a change in things – the entire social order of things! Supposing that “goods and services” were available to people who have been able to live and contribute to a “better quality of life” for the assigned community, maybe a commune or kibbutz. People were “paid” in service points which accumulate and are paid by a “big sister or brother” type entity when an individual demonstrates peace, love, harmony and actually helped a fellow-community person feel better about their life, improve their life, even if they didn’t have a “specific” problem. This “pay” would be more time to relax, meditate and ponder other ways of improving the “Utopian society”. One would be given access to more information about “philosophers and yogis” on websites and databases, healthy yet basic life sustaining foods, fruits, vegetables and beverages, and more time to develop further positive techniques to improve the quality of life in their assigned “kibbutz”! How about if millionaires were allowed to “spend” their money ONLY if they were helping SOMEONE ELSE’S HEALTH, EDUCATION AND WELFARE!? What would that mean to you? Enter Jon Kabat-Zinn and his “mindfulness meditation” technique and its applicability to aiding in the implementation of a new “social order” and very much needed changes for individual mental health including depression, stress anxiety and addiction.
There was a special on Jon Kabat-Zinn’s movement on “mindfulness” last night which explored his concept of mindfulness and how it may actually be utilized to help decrease stress and anxiety, even addiction and addictive behavior, not to mention allowing and providing people with a way to achieve “personal wellness”. This may be an option for treating so many in our society who suffer from mental illnesses, from depression, to abort suicidal tendencies as well as a desire to cause destruction on others in our societies. Imagine how things might change?! Would you be able to handle such a change?? By all means, Zinn “mindfulness” is worth looking into, if only for oneself!
Have a great Monday, and, be mindful of yourself and the things you say and do! You are exchanging this day for another opportunity to live your life, as this journey has been called.
Peace,
John I. Cook
Educational Excellence 