These last few weeks of the Bullet Journal Self-Care Challenge seem to have blended together for me. I should be posting about week 7 but I’m only really posting about week 6. I’ve really mulled it over a lot. Some of my bujo entry I wouldn’t want just anyone to read. Sometimes your bujo content is only for you. And that’s ok. That’s the point really.

Social care is something that is a huge topic in society today. There are a lot of people very passionate about their opinions and movements and self-preservation. While I personally feel people would benefit from a relationship with Christ, I understand there are many that are so far away from that idea that I probably sound funny offering it up as an option, none-the-less I do. People need Jesus. But…people also need other people. We need our differences and similarities. We need connection and support. But what we need most is to recognize our humanity. We’re all in this together after all.

I listen to podcasts. Lots of them. All kinds. One of my favorites from NPR is called All Songs Considered. Bob Boilen, Robin Hilton, Stephen Thompson & others provide a window to some music I otherwise may have never heard. They recently finished covering Austin’s South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival. In their coverage they spoke about the awesome performances of Andrew W. K. (A.W.K.). I’ve heard them speak of him before but never paid attention until now. I thought this guy must be pretty good if all the NPR guys like him.

Now, I’m not a big metal rock fan so I’m hoping the music grows on me, because the best I can tell this W. K. fella has something valuable to share. During my interweb search I discovered A. W. K. is a philosopher and writer on top of being a killer musician. I came across and advice column he wrote in 2014 to a guy who was at his wits end with his “Right-Wing @sshole Dad.” The title alone was enough to pull me in. I’ll let you read it.

I’ve noticed over the last couple of years how varied my connections to other people are. I have friends on both sides of the jagged fence and it made me wonder how and why? How I can care about and be friends with people who’s views about life are so different than mine? After reading the A. W. K. article it hit me. Its not their views or opinions I care about. Its them as people. Its their humanity. I’ve always been a bit naive about certain aspects of life. I’m cynical, yet I give the benefit of the doubt a lot. In general I’m a happy and friendly person. I really just want everyone to be happy and excited about whatever it is that their doing. I want to trust that when I’m interacting with people that they are being genuine. I suppose thats why even if i don’t agree with everything a person is doing I latch onto the thing that brings us together and I get excited about it.

There’s a lot of people shouting about their solutions for the troubles of our society. My thoughts are, if we start with our humanity first we may find that the solutions aren’t as complex as we thought. If we look at each other as people rather than a label we may be surprised that we’re all more alike.

There were two questions in the prompts for the 6th week challenge that I like in particular.

Question 3: What lesson’s have you learned?

You can’t change people. You can only love them for who they are.

Questions 6: What would you like to say to some of the challenging  people in your life?

I’d like to redact that second answer. Rather than not bothering to talk to the challenging people in my life I’d like to start a dialog that has nothing to do with why they challenge me. Get to know each other better, then maybe the challenges will be easier to confront or they won’t be challenges.

(PS. This does not pertain to toxic people. There are toxic people in life. No matter how much you try they stay toxic. In my opinion, it is perfectly acceptable to avoid them, lest, they pull you down. You’ll know who they are when you come across them. You shouldn’t be mean to them, but you don’t have to engage them.)

To quote Andrew W. K. from the article:

“We must make endless efforts to try and understand the people we least relate to. And we must at all times force ourselves to love the people we dislike the most. Not because it’s nice or because they deserve it, but because our own sanity and survival depends on it.”

I like this quote because it goes back to what Jesus wants from us. Love each other.

Be well.

More later.

Categories: Blogging, Bullet Journaling, General Chatter, Uncategorized