{"id":499,"date":"2017-10-26T05:01:47","date_gmt":"2017-10-26T05:01:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/?p=499"},"modified":"2017-11-14T16:53:43","modified_gmt":"2017-11-14T16:53:43","slug":"self-preservation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/2017\/10\/26\/self-preservation\/","title":{"rendered":"Self-Preservation"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_503\" style=\"width: 970px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-503\" class=\"wp-image-503 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Neuroscience-Actions-Mindset-Thoughts-Feelings-2114876.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"678\" srcset=\"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Neuroscience-Actions-Mindset-Thoughts-Feelings-2114876.jpg 960w, http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Neuroscience-Actions-Mindset-Thoughts-Feelings-2114876-300x212.jpg 300w, http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Neuroscience-Actions-Mindset-Thoughts-Feelings-2114876-768x542.jpg 768w, http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Neuroscience-Actions-Mindset-Thoughts-Feelings-2114876-624x441.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-503\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo Credit: http:\/\/maxpixel.freegreatpicture.com\/Neuroscience-Actions-Mindset-Thoughts-Feelings-2114876<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I usually resist meditation and mindfulness practices. However, in the spirit of this course, I actively and wholeheartedly experimented with an independent contemplative practice.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">~<\/p>\n<p>The world of uncertainty offers little comfort, so I close my eyes. Neither to hide nor to escape, I look within so I can melt into the greatest reassurance of all: consciousness. In the midst of incessant commotion, I just want to think\u2014to find respite in solitude and singularity.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, as I settle my breathing and attempt to intensify my focus, my thoughts multiply. Spawning from the innumerable distractions\u2014the firm floor, the drone of a fan, and\u00a0 my\u00a0 emerging hunger\u2014 such thoughts overwhelm my attention, and I am unable to latch onto any one idea. Focusing becomes a fight, for I am scattered.<\/p>\n<p>Then, after minutes of concentration, my thoughts converge into one continuous stream, and I try to direct my attention towards the internal distress I have increasingly become aware of. Tracing the tension to its epicenter in my chest, I work to interpret the source of the unease. I begin tunneling towards its core, but a firm layer of armor denies me. I again seek to punch through the barrier and make sense of the immense burden I somehow posses, but once again, as if protecting its own integrity, something within me declines my entrance.<\/p>\n<p>I then realize that my joy is receding.<\/p>\n<p>My wellbeing is being packed away in some safe corner so it cannot be damaged by the truth; it is reluctant to accept that the world\u2014my world\u2014is changing. It runs from each new piece of evidence pointing towards a crumbling future. It hides from the internalized messages of humanity&#8217;s destruction\u2014my destruction\u2014of the environment.<\/p>\n<p>I decide to terminate the introspection, for it is no longer restful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I usually resist meditation and mindfulness practices. However, in the spirit of this course, I actively and wholeheartedly experimented with an independent contemplative practice. ~ The world of uncertainty offers little comfort, so I close my eyes. Neither to hide nor to escape, I look within so I can melt into the greatest reassurance of all: consciousness. In the midst&#8230; <a href=\"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/2017\/10\/26\/self-preservation\/\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58,60],"tags":[43,129,131,133,130,132],"class_list":["post-499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-contemplative-practices","category-week-4-contemplative-practices","tag-anthropocene","tag-contemplative-practive","tag-denial","tag-distress","tag-fear","tag-happiness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":513,"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499\/revisions\/513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}