by Aren Henry | January, 2019 | Karen Henry, Noetic Nomad
I like things in three’s. It’s a calm, loving, simple recipe for creating the life we all say we wish for. Calm is a vital pillar in personal development. Loving oneself is a second pillar. A third pillar is having a vision of your own life that is so clear, you will accomplish everything you want. Others aim for happiness as their ultimate goal. Some invest in abundance. Just a little while ago, the International Positive Psychology Association asked the question, ‘where do we see our field going?’ For my professional endeavors, it’s a three pillar system. Calm or stillness, internal stillness Clarity or clear sight Self-Love That’s my reflection on where our field needs to spend more time. Where would we like it to go? Happiness is saturated. It’s a popular topic. Who doesn’t want to be happy? What a subjective adventure it is. One person’s basic needs met is another person’s fortune 500 goal achievement. Personally, I sit in stillness every morning, grateful to have this day, clarifying my daily goals, then meditating on my achievements, so that they manifest as planned. Calm is my new happy. People are slapping terms like ‘mindfulness’ and ‘thriving’ labels on their business plans; their educational goals, without fully understanding what that means. It’s in a greed and need headspace, rather than a personal fulfillment or self exploration goal. I suppose trying is the path to receiving. Life coaches help people find a workout pattern that best suits their life. So why not? As long as they also see, a bit isn’t enough to call it enlightenment. It’s the settling that...
by Aren Henry | January, 2019 | Karen Henry, Noetic Nomad
How can we craft a repurposed positive psychology? Our field created somewhat of a happiness monster. In truth? I find it a little annoying, not to mention more difficult for some people. I like the balance between the positives and the negatives. I don’t like the false positives that pulse through other fields after some leader somewhere reads about how happiness helps productivity. It tends to be the oxymoronic way of applying all the work that we do in the research and theory department. I just read an article on another huge dot com about how people are terrified to disagree with the leaders. They are worried and stressed out that a difference of opinion will make it impossible for people to feel negative emotions at work or at home. They’re being forced to be ‘happier’. What have we done? I love to laugh, so strongly adhere to the laugh therapy ideals. But I equally benefit from being really angry with something. It motivates me to want to change a thing or become more aware of myself while in the internal battle with the idea of what made me angry in the first place. We have this beautiful thing that is a positive side of psychology, but some people have turned it into a cash cow. Of course it’s wonderful to feel, look and sound happier. I’ve seen the dark side of the concept of staying positive. It’s used as a mantra to the point where, the employees, though unhappy, were basically told that they will be happy and positive because science said they had to. The dynamic was...
by Aren Henry | December, 2018 | Karen Henry, Noetic Nomad
A willow tree, for those who have not experienced one, is a miracle in perfect harmony with everything I love about nature. It doesn’t argue with the wind or fall to the water. It doesn’t mind the cold, or heat. It dances so very well with the sky. It is strong, yet gentle. It is large, yet graceful. The roots are deep. The foundation is solid. There is no pressure to be anything but what it is. When we ‘decide’ about a thing for ourselves, we can foster inspiration from nature. For some reason, so many others believe they have a right to push back against our personal growth. I have come to understand that part of being truly happy is also to be more like a willow. When we do what’s best for our own growth, we develop a full, happy, healthy life. Bend or leave. Instead of spending any more time wondering “why” the world was always challenging nature, I decided to redefine the terms. Why wait? Why need an explanation of what was happening, when in truth, all we need is a reason to define our terms, then live by them. Nature gave us everything we need to live fully balanced, lovely lives. I decided that the push back was going to be there. Just like the challenges of natural elements. It is there. All the time. It begins and ends … with me. With you. With us. We only experience what we allow in our world. Others may want to shape or control us, or influence us, or even tell us how to live our...
by Aren Henry | December, 2018 | Karen Henry, Noetic Nomad
Thinking something else? I’ve been stuck in a thought rut. A thinking loop. A problem brain, rather than a solution brain. The same thoughts have dominated the inside of my head for far too long. Have you ever gotten stuck in your own life? Sometimes, we become comfortable in our comfort zone. We know it. We get used to it. We even believe that somehow, we will be able to change what we don’t like while continuing to do exactly what we’re doing that we don’t like. I forgive myself for not knowing what I didn’t know when I didn’t know it. However, I woke myself up and scolded myself for knowing what needs to happen in order to be truly whole in my pursuit of happiness. But of course, I’ve been doing very little about it. Until now. Shift thinking There was a great book about a man who though brilliant in helping other people, realized that he didn’t like himself one day. It’s called Shift. Unfortunately, it was such a great book, written some time ago, the world has flooded the market with his idea of shifting one small part of ourselves at a time. He ate a lot of oranges. He was in public relations. If you can remember his name, please share with me, or post in the comments. I loved it. I also began to look at my life and realize a few things. That book wasn’t about the field of psychology, but the field certainly has gone in that direction. It was about waking up to our own potential. It was about not...
by Aren Henry | November, 2018 | Karen Henry, Noetic Nomad, Uncategorized
To cultivate change, we must embody the philosophy. We’re changing here in the US. We started filling the shelves with Christmas ‘stuff’ before summer was over. Everyone makes a mad dash for the sale of the century. No matter how many times It’s a Wonderful Life or Scrooge adorns our doors with the message of love, we don’t seem to be listening. It is a wonderful life. If we cultivate it as such. Even for those who don’t buy in to the commercialism. Changing Christmas John Grisham wrote a whimsical, yet poignant little book about Skipping Christmas a few years ago. It was written in fun, then turned into a movie with equal popularity. It was all about a man who was tired of all the hype, then decided he just wanted something different. The man had a point. People go over the top with spending money. Everyone over extends themselves. They pay for months after because they caved into the peer pressure of buying things they can’t afford. It’s the consumer’s holiday now. The saddest part of all? The true meaning of the season is lost on the way we all go about it. Messages I’ve been skipping Christmas for about five years now. I enjoy it. I’m still solo in my enthusiasm toward making it more personal, but I think it’ll catch on. This kindness holiday. I have faith. I’ve only just discovered Hygge and Fika. Hope! What would it look like if we offered our favorite shares in the form of a handmade book to the person we shared them with? Or, what about write a...
