JPG816

There is a noticeable trend of media from Japan which highlights the terror of working a constant 9-5 (or whatever it is that people in Japan actually work...the thought makes me shudder). And I think that a lot of millenials in America are resisting the same thing. Hypnosis would call this the Iago trance. The trend of 9-5. Wake up. Hit your alarm clock. Brush your teeth. Get on clothes. Dress up. Get to work. Go through the motions. Drive home. Maybe have 1-2 hours to one's self, which you might have to spend on your kids. 3 if you're lucky. Oh, but they're doing homework, so nix that, ha ha. Go to bed at 9. If you're lucky. And that's your reward if your successful at navigating the working world. If. There are people who escape. Absolutely. It's the American dream - perhaps a transformation and evolution of it. However, I also want to acknowledge the reality for some people out there. In America, we have the same trend. In the 90s, pro-wrestling acknowledged this with the wrestler

They say that trolls lurk underneath the bridge which crosses the river dividing the verdant lush fields of the countryside. But if you ask the locals, nobody has ever seen the trolls! And they go upon the merry way along the well-worn, well-trodden streamside path, kissed by the soft spring breeze and the flowers lining the path. That's because the tales keep most sane souls away, and the troll eats those that have the misfortune of stumbling across him, or who are foolish enough to challenge the wisdom of the sane. Those who know better than to dare to tread, to dare to dream of what lay across that bridge over yonder and beyond. To ask what else is underneath the vast azure sky. But we've seen 'im, haven't we? Those of us who have traveled the summer road which most fear to wander down. We trudge onward, that harsh blazing sun beating down on our backs. Those of us on the path. Those of us who dare to tread, who dare to dream of what lay across that bridge over yonder and beyond.

The serenity prayer is something I consider to be a cornerstone of mental health. Even the short version reveals truths you can center yourselves around. I'm hardly the most spiritual person. But they make a secular, philosophical sense to me. And I hope they do the same for you during this pandemic, these riots, the acts of police brutality, and whatever hell else the year has for us. In these times, it's what's granted me peace. It's actually NOT from the Bible. It was composed by a theologian though, one Reinhold Niebuhr. The full version is as follows: "God grant me the serenity To accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can; And wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world As it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right If I surrender to His Will; So that I may be reasonably happy in this