http://raburgess.com/wholesight Randy Burgess's blog on personal freedom & societal responsibility Tue, 16 Dec 2008 12:14:44 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en This is from an article in the upcoming issue of the New York Times Sunday Magazine, Working for the Working-Class Vote. By Matt Bai, it's about Obama's quest to win over white rural voters. It's a good piece overall - it reminds me of why Obama's candidacy was so compelling ... http://raburgess.com/wholesight/2008/10/15/great-quote-by-obama-on-how-the-media-creates-stereotypes/ I’ve been thinking, and not for the first time, of how my friends and acquaintances - all devout liberals - speak with such sure venom of “the Republicans” and “conservatives.” And of how, based on what I can read on blogs and in newspapers, many people in other areas of ... http://raburgess.com/wholesight/2008/09/20/us-versus-them-liberal-style/ In Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, "resistance" means the way we sometimes fight against painful thoughts, feelings, sensations, etc. It's a good word for getting across the physicality of what is supposedly a mental struggle: when we're resisting, it can feel like someone is tugging on us, trying to pull us ... http://raburgess.com/wholesight/2008/06/14/befriending-resistance/ I picked a friend up from the bus stop the other day to drive them up to the art colony run by my girlfriend. This friend asked how I was doing, and being in a self-deprecating but decent mood I said something I hoped was witty: “Oh, smelly, grouchy, and ... http://raburgess.com/wholesight/2008/06/08/repealing-the-law-of-attraction/ The Mindfulness & Acceptance Workbook for Depression, by Kirk D. Strosahl and Patricia J. Robinson (New Harbinger, 2008, 305 pages, $21.95) Yet another specialized workbook has come out on putting Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to work in your life - "The Mindfulness & Acceptance Workbook for Depression," by Kirk Strosahl and ... http://raburgess.com/wholesight/2008/05/26/book-review-the-mindfulness-acceptance-workbook-for-depression/ There are several neat exercises in Chapter 10 of Get Out of Your Mind and into Your Lifeмебели, the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy workbook, for increasing our ability to be present with uncomfortable (or even downright crazy-making) thoughts and feelings. One technique in particular is borrowed from Gestalt psychology - ... http://raburgess.com/wholesight/2008/05/12/physicalizing-exercise-from-get-out-of-your-mind-and-into-your-life/ When do lists of reasons get in the way of actually deciding? And how else might we decide, if not for reasons? This has to do with choices we tell ourselves we “should” say “yes” to, as part of going after our values - but which we end up ... http://raburgess.com/wholesight/2008/04/28/reason-giving-on-the-cliff-edge/ As we do each spring, we'll be leaving the city soon for the country - knock wood. But sometimes in the morning here the light is beautiful. http://raburgess.com/wholesight/2008/04/28/on-bethune-street-753-am-42208/ I don't think this photo quite works. You can't really see the people - I had to shoot with a wide-angle setting on my zoom to get in the whole intersection - and there is nothing striking or graceful about the composition. Yet wistfully or not, I still think I ... http://raburgess.com/wholesight/2008/04/28/in-search-of-self/ This post will be revised from time to time as I accumulate definitions of some of the more common terms used in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT. It's less of a glossary, and more something I'm throwing together on an as-needed basis. So expect it to be incomplete - ... http://raburgess.com/wholesight/2008/04/26/act-words/