psychologist Albert Ellis coined the term awfulizing
to refer to a distortion of thinking

when we awfulize, an event or situation is thought
of in overly negative terms

it’s a kind of negative exaggeration where, for exam-
ple, a minor setback is seen as a major catastrophe

awfulizing can set into motion a chain of self-fulfilling
thoughts, feelings and actions;

the mere expectation that things will get worse
will cause them to get worse

take a look below at the fabled, Henny Penny

one day while peacefully eating lunch in the shade
of a large oak, Henny Penny was struck on the head
by a falling acorn;

her conclusion -

Henny is awfulizing, misinterpreting a situation in
terms so negative that her view bears little resem-
blance to reality

she needs a friend, a Goosey Loosey or a Turkey
Lurkey, to tell her to chill out, look around (and up)
and consider another view of her situation

what if you jumped into a 7,964 mile deep hole;
a hole that came out on the other side globe?

and if you were ever to stop, how fast and how far
would you have traveled?

and how much time would your journey have taken?

for the answers to these questions, check out the
video below, an excerpt from the History Channel’s
The Universe, Gravity

in a previous post, meditation was defined as,
“the intentional and sustained focusing of attention”

like any definition, this one is limited and incomplete;
it may convey something about the mechanics of
meditation, but nothing about other aspects of the
phenomenon -

aspects such as the feelings, thoughts and images
experienced during meditation

defining an experiential state, however, is not easy;
it is a task perhaps best left to poets like Walt
Whitman

the soundtrack of the video below is an excerpt
from Whitman’s To the Sun-Set Breeze

the poet’s words provide a good description of a
state often associated with meditation

the above is an excerpt from PBS’s Walt Whitman,
which can be seen in full here

To the Sun-Set Breeze

Ah, whispering, something again, unseen,

somehow I feel the globe itself
swift-swimming in space . . .

they say “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” -

but if we could, should we?

an old dog, or old-timer, looks silly when he wears
the latest fashions or uses the latest slang -

so damned silly that you’d think he’d become aware
of how ludicrous he appears and knock it off

if Abe Lincoln were still around today, he would not
be greeting his fellow citizens with a “Hey dude!” -

no, Mr. Lincoln would be way too smart for that

but how about you and me?

what are we going to do in the year 2108, when
we’re still around and kicking; thanks to the coming
scientific breakthroughs that will extend our lives
indefinitely?

breakthroughs that people like Ray Kurzweil are
writing about in non-fiction best sellers like,

Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever

will we still dress, speak and gesture as we do today,
or will we be making spectacles of ourselves??

consciousness researcher John Lilly believed that we
are stuck in “blindly repeating patterns” of thinking,
feeling and acting;

and that we habitually and unconsciously repeat
these patterns again and again and again -

going ’round and ’round - but going nowhere

Lilly believed that our repetitive thinking, feeling and
acting protects us from novelty, risk and anxiety; and
that it gives us the illusion of safety and security

it also limits our experiences, stunts our growth
and keeps us from achieving our almost unlimited
potential

Dr. Lilly expressed these thoughts in the sound-
track of the video below, an excerpt from a work-
shop called Through the Center of the Mandala

in the above video, Lilly’s words are set against
excerpts of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927)