Recently I had a conversation with two highly intelligent and dynamic female friends for whom I have a great deal of respect. We were talking over hot cups of organic white tea with agave and almond milk in an apartment high in the sky above Manhattan. Our conversation hit many topics and we were in agreement on most subjects. At one point the only mother in the trio mentioned that a woman in her area was petitioning to prohibit the hanging of horror film posters on blocks where there are schools. Oddly (in my opinion) she was against the petition. She actually thought the idea was ridiculous.
The specific poster that was being used as an example was a poster that I had seen several times and I'd found it quite disturbing. Each time I saw it I thought to myself that I would certainly prefer not to live with that image in my head. Since I believe in freedom of expression it's tough to argue for censorship. So, as much as I would love to never have to see another horror; poster, commercial, movie or image of any kind I will not argue for their censorship. (Instead I create images with the intention of inspiring joy and playfullness.) But I must say that a buffer zone around schools really seems like a no brainer to me.
So we discussed, and soon I was asking the question, "Why is violence more acceptable than the human form?". One of my two friends said something along the lines of, "That's just the way it is, most people in this country find violence to be more acceptable than nudity and sex." And so I pose the question,
Why? Why does violence seem to be more acceptable than nudity to the general population? In fact,
why is violence acceptable at all, really? In my reality that just seems totally nuts. In this day and age when science has proven that our thoughts shape our world... I mean yikes! What we put into our heads is as important as what we put into our bellies. What we let our children watch is as important as what we let them eat.
Many years ago, when I was a teen, my spiritual teacher spoke of this. She said that we should be very careful about what images we let into our heads. It took me many years to fully appreciate the advice that she gave. The understanding came in stages over time. The last thing to go were crime scene detective shows. I love figuring things out and so I loved all of the CSI type of shows. I finally realized that the context doesn't matter in the end. Violent images going into my head create fear in my body which does not go away for a long time. I am wanting to feel joy in my body. So nowadays I try to watch and read things that create the reality that I am wanting in my world. Imagine if even half of the world ingested uplifting media that offered messages of peace, love and unity on a regular basis. Seeds grow and awareness spreads!
I needed a gift box to put my best friend Pam's birthday present in. Pam is a very creative and spiritual person and I love her dearly so I wanted the box to be special. I was also under a time crunch because I wanted to send off her gift immediately. I looked through my papers, bags etc. to no avail. As I pondered what to do my eye fell upon a catalog of meditation items. The photo on
the front was stunning. So I grabbed a glue stick, scissors and a box and went to work! I not only saved time, money and gas, I also I recycled a catalog and a box! I used a few more photos from the catalog and an old card to make a new card. And on top of it all Pam will really love the personal touch. Give it a try, it's fun and incredibly satisfying.
