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    • Prairie Tidings (Church Blog)
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Mountain Ancestors Grove, ADF

A Year of Contemplation

Observe Cause and Effect (Day 106)

4/16/2019

 
Picture
Image by Peggy & Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay
Pay close attention in conversation to what is being said, and to what follows from any action. In the action, immediately look for the target, in words, listen closely to what is being signaled.”
​(Marcus Aurelius,
Meditations, 7.4)

The techniques and methodology of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) are designed to help clients/patients recognize patterns of behavior that are destructive and harmful with the goal of being able to gain control over these behaviors and steer them toward a more positive, wholesome outcome. Until recently, I didn’t know that CBT’s founder, Albert Ellis, was inspired by Stoic practices and principles in its creation.

Unbiased thought, our focus-goal for the month of April, and as such, has a direct connection to CBT’s practice of identification and positive influence. We don’t know how biased our thoughts are until we look back and see the results of those biases. Even those who claim to be and act without bias are full of it (bias, that is). One way to move from bias to unbiased is to place yourself in observer-mode (witness consciousness), and turn the power of that mode inward.

When we become the observer we can work toward knowing the origins of our thoughts, our biases, and our egoic mind. It’s in this knowing, and through this process, that we can find the interstitial space wherein cause and effect meet.

How can we know that we’re not bullshitting ourselves with more clever techniques? Like anything, it comes with practice.

(See y’all tomorrow)

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    About the Blog

    Awakening the desire to explore Stoicism, and how it relates to his existing beliefs, Rev. William committed to working through the text, The Daily Stoic, a year-long journey to awaken the Stoic mind. 
    How things are structured can be found in the first post. 

    About the Author

    Born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, Rev. William attended Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado where in 2007 he graduated with a degree in Religious Studies, minoring in Psychology. Currently residing in Longmont, CO, he is one of the Priests and founder of Mountain Ancestors Grove.  He spends his time playing mandolin (and some guitar), writing, engaging in LGBTQIA+ advocacy and education, community service, and sharing a larger vision of how a polytheist perspective can lead to greater human understanding, acceptance, and gods be good, peace. 

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