MerhabaAbi's Comments (299)

“Hi Ed and Deb,

Please tell me that this will be carried on a national program or Sirius?!! If not, how can a fan access it?

little bro”

“Rush's audience is old and dying and they wuill never change. Much as the old guard GOPs would like to see our youth remain ignorant, it will not happen. No Child Left Behind failed to quell thinking and the internet prevents the hateful/fearful from hiding thier racist comments. America will change for the better because an informed youthful citizenry is replacing a decrepit ignorant one.”

“1. Don't do it! That is manipulative game playing. Your self-esteem is worth more than that.

2.If it rtruly is COMPLETELY unsatisfying then it is honest to say so. If it's somewhat unsatisfying than say that.

3.Planning a nice evening and them ambushing him with loaded questions is not a fair way to have a relationship. It begs for defensiveness.”

“A book called Finn McCool by Morgan Llewelyn describes seven degrees of marraige. The 1st level is monogomous til death marraige and isn't the norm. Other marraiges have specific stipulations and some have explicit durations. No divorce necessary if it isn't working out, just don't renew.”

“Hi Gretchen,

I pay close attention to some people even when they are boring. I do this especially witt friends or family who've not had an ear bent their way for a while. Their verbalizations may have a tendency to bore but their need to be paid attention to rings loudly in my heart. Other times I just don't have the fortitude and disengage quickly. I bet a lot of people listen intently for this very reason. It feels good to make someone else feel good.

Best wishes
little brother”

“I had the "talk" with my kids before the entered high school. I know that might not be timely enough, but you've got to make a decision at some point and that was my line in the sand.

I filled a basket with condoms and re-filled it regularly. I have no idea what happened to the condoms that disappeared but I re-filled it when it got low. If their friends took them, that';s their business not mine. This way, no parent could blame me for giving their kid a rubber. Teen's sexuality is none of a parents business but their ignorance is.”

“HI Alyssa,

Happy Birthday. How much do yo need to raise to provide safe drinkng water for the 10 communities you've set as this particular goal?

little brother”

“Hi Yakmeat,

You are right. Teaching our kids to help others can go a long way to helping the ones who are harrassed. It doesn't take getting 100% of kids to become empathic, it takes teaching the ones who are naturally caring how to go about helping those in need that they want to help.”

“Hi Cara!

It's day 8 of "not complaining, criticizing or gossiping". I've had to forgive myself more times than I would have imagined. I never realized how much "bitching" was a part of my normal communication. I find that I want to join in while friends and peers grumble about work and general situations, but I've been doing a pretty good job of keeping my mouth shut. Mostly, it seems that complaining is used to bond, "Yeah, I agree that such and such sucks"

Amazingly, two of your (four Tips to Communicate the Difficult without Blowing Your Cork) have had to come naturally in order to switch from feeling a need to complain to feeling a sense of acceptance.

1. Come back home to Center through practicing deep breathing in/breathing out.
and
4. Take back your life from complaints, using the saved energy to refuel your focus on gratitude.

The more I meditate and discover the roots of my more superficial feelings, the less I hold myself or someone else responsible for things that upset me. Elena and Isha wrote articles in the last week which have given me insight to finding my core feelings This has already helped me get upset less often by people or occurrences than I did just a few months ago. I anticipate feeling more appreciation as I practice what you and my other favorite Living Section bloggers have given to me and so many others.

With love and gratitude,
little brother”

“I don't trust medical science when they make definative statements on subjects on which the understanding seems to grow nearly annually. We've recently witnessed the concern profiteers have for individuals as they promoted and prosperred from unnecessary wars. Corporate entities are not to be trusted.with our health.”

“HI Ed and Deb,

As you said, "Meditation is the IN thing". I see a movement growing in the western world where meditation and Yoga are becoming mainstream as more and more people are being introduced to its benefits. They then spread the word to their friends and families and it continues to grow. You and Deb and Kiri and Elena are doing a wonderful job bringing the message to us politicos who've been lfortunate enough to stumble onto the living section of HuffPo.

We now have an introspective President who seems to care more for humanity than his own glory and prestige. I think many more voters today are influenced by Eastern philosophies and that' helped elect one such as President Obama and that miditation is already making a difference. Thanks for all your effort and the time you spend helping so many of us.

I know that in a very short period of time, practicing meditation has already helped me see more toward the core of my own feelings and beliefs. That, in turn, makes me more aware of my actions and reactions than ever before.

With love,
little brother”

“I don't think it's fair or reasonalbe to tell a woman she has to behave differently than her feelings lead her to act. Any man too insecure to have a relationship with an equal partner will not be a good mate for a woman who needs a real partner. Be real. Know yourself and be kind. Pay attention to the special people in your life as well as those you're having a conversation with. This is helpful tor romance and friendship.”

“I adhere to the truth of no. 9. Does theat mean I'm 10% Republican?”

“Hi Anne,

Yes to all five ways you wrote about for showing love. I also like to receive four of the five form people I love. I' like to give presents but don't need to receive that one. It does make me feel better when my people bother putting in effort to show me they love me. I've taken up Cara's clarion call to not complain, criticize or gossip for 21 days and I believe that will help me show love better. My sons are grown and don't need me to point out how they can do something better, I just need to support them and let them know how much I love them without the "helpful" pointers. Great article.

With love,
little brother”

“Hi Kari,

I couldn't agree with you more about the value of making it personal when you give your time, effort or money. I resisted pressure to work fund-raisers for holiday parties and company picnics because I prefered playing cards once a month at the local veterans home. Mngt didn't like my independent route but let up once they realized that I wanted to give according to my values. As usual, great article.

Best wishes,
little brother”

“I think Susan Saranden and Jodie Foster are the most alluring women in movies. Their vitality shines and it is highly evident.”

“I'm writing about the religions where the woman is sub-serviant to the man (obeys) and also the ones where the woman ate the forbidden fruit and caused the original couple to be expelled from paradise on Earth. I think you meant apparantly, not obviously. Obviousness requires something to be true as well as apparent.”

“Hi Isha,

What you wrote about the plastic bottle on the beach seemed like you were talking about me. It's like an itch, it just needs to be scratched. Thanks to Cara, Anne, Elena and Ed and Deb and their inspiring articles along with their replies to comments, I react like that to a far lesser extent than I did just one year ago.

..."Whenever you see something in your surroundings that you don't like, go inwards and see what it makes you feel."...

This sounds like a fantastic idea. Now I just need to remember to do it at the appropriate times. It also seems to dovetail nicely with Elena Brower's recent article about the "Art of Attention" In it she advises observing ourselves to sense how we react with our bodies and hearts and minds to a circumstance from which we close ourselves off. I think that even though the two avenues are similar the difference is that one is passive awareness and the other seeks a source. I'll figure out a way to decide which method to use for each circumstance. Thanks for the great article.

Best wishes,
little brother”

“Hi Angie,

I'm going to personalize your choices by taking only the two I need most. I'll have a better chance to stick to them and I can remember two more easily than five.

Listen more, talk less
Laugh more and de-stress

You're a genius!
little brother”

“Hi Cara,

I guess I've been lucky on this one for a long time. I never subscribed to all of the hubbub. My holiday plans have always been kind of simple. I'll viist friends and relatives in the vicinity, but not on their terms. I don't have terms for them to meet so I don't worry about failing to meet their expectations of me. That's their "story", not mine. All of my effort has been about providing normal type of holidays for my kids when they were kids. We'd have the Yule tree and presents on Christmas day. They didn't even know I was atheist until their mid-teens. They knew they had the same decorations at their house as everyone else and got similar presents to their friends. I did like making the feasts, but again I did it simply. The turkey was the only thing that took awhile and that just meant getting it started early enough. I still don't understand the chaos, but I think some people actually like it. I'm re-writing more of my story a lot lately, it's like a second adulthood.

Lotsa Luv,
little brother”

“Hi Ed and Deb,

Scan your body then ride out the physical agitation on the exhalation then simply relax. This will go along well with "soft belly" thinking that's already helping quickly when I notice stress. Thanks.

Peace guys,
little brother”

“Hi Danielle,

The fellow you described seems to be the product we've been socially engineering for a generation. Over-confident, under-qualified. He doesn't have the social graces to engage in conversation with a woman he finds attractive so they can determine whether they'd even entertain seeing each other romanticly, he just bull rushes headlong into awkwardness. Then you're stuck with an unsolicited advance and have to decide how you'll deal with a boor. He seems the complement to Princess Revere My Looks.

Respectfully,
little brother”

“Raaack raaack, fair use doctrine, fair use doctirne. Raack raack.

Trophoto, if you pay attention to many comments, you'll find that as soon as a term finds it's way to a blog, many posters will misuse it. From casual observation, I'd guess that apx. 75% of the unquestiong parroting comes from talk radio listeners.”

“HI Ed and Deb,

I'm all of my lables but to different degrees. I'm Dad and my wife's husband more then most of them. But I'm Mike with the self-image of friendly and helpful at the core.

This year we're going out as Sonny and Cher. It's a fun mask but not one to really hide behind, just one to play with. Last year, my wife did a fantastic Sarah Palin. She practiced by watching Tina Fey and nailed it. The clicks, winks and you betcha's along with the non-sensical round-about way of responding to a question without ever answering and stopping in mid-sentence as the she concluded knocked everyone dead.

Boo!

Scare ya?

Happy Hallow's Eve
little brother”

“Hi Cara,

I've made some decisions lately and because of the changes I'll be going through, I have some fear and anxiety. But since the life change is exciting and for the better, I just ascribe listlessness to stress and old fashioned laziness. My wife hasn't expressed any fear in the income drop-off we'll be experiencing very soon yet I sense something different with her. I think I ought to find out just how much "our" decision is scareing or worrying her. Thanks for another fantastic article.

Much love,
little brother”