I just read in my local paper an article titled, “Self-care critical during pandemic” by Sonya Brown, Health Promotion Facilitator with Alberta Health Services. Number 10 of her “ten small, simple self-care habits that we can all make time [for]” is
«10. Most importantly, learn to say “no” to anything that doesn't bring you joy.»She reiterates in the next sentence: “I challenge you all to say YES to yourself for once and NO to whatever does not bring you joy.” (Bold emphasis added.)
So where does one begin?
NO to the face mask that forces us to re-breathe our own exhaust, compromising our oxygen intake, increasing our oxidative stress, thus compromising our body's immunity in a time when we should be maximizing immune function.Perhaps you get the point. What we are observing is not what we are being told by the Powers.
NO to the social distancing and stay-at-home that increases isolation, depression, distrust, fear, sadness, hopelessness, illness, self-focus, victim mentality, etc., etc., etc.
NO to the Stanley Milgram* 65% deference to “authority” that violates conscience and human rights.
NO to genuflecting to ever-expanding levels of authority who genuflect in turn (and often fear) all the way up the authoritarian ladder.
NO to the constant barrage of new words and phrases to normalize what is not normal and should never be accepted as normal.
NO to the tyranny of ever-threatening waves and repeats (1 to infinite X) justifying increasing power abuse.
NO to hiring on as a snitch for Big Brother to trace whomever Big Brother designates worthy of tracing.
NO to keeping my head in the sand of trust and obedience to those obsessed with pursuing and protecting POWER and GAIN (a recurring plague throughout history).
NO to pretending that vast portions of science and media have not been co-opted and corrupted for the purposes of power and gain.
NO to Edward Bernays.**
NO to being ordered to stand on spots and squares like a kindergarten child.
NO to being so afraid of dying that we give up living as loving, caring, hugging, socially-vibrant humanity.
YES to waking up to the awful situation we have allowed to get above us by failing for decades to expose and prosecute the abusers of power and science.
YES to LIVING as a free, thinking, fearless, observing, truthful, awake, compassionate human being, knowing that death is in the cards for all of us, but knowing also that to shut oneself up or away while living in fear or puppetry (and insisting that others do so, too) is JOYLESS.
Please access some awakened viewpoints such as Dr. Rashid Buttar and many others outside the authoritarian power-loop.
And thank you, Sonya Brown, for the provocative challenge.
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* https://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2020/04/real-life-milgram-spe.html
** “The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.” (Source: https://www.amazon.com/Propaganda-Edward-Bernays-ebook/dp/B0097D76MG/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2NLE7CZI9MORU&keywords=propaganda+bernays&qid=1570053969&sprefix=propaganda%2Caps%2C210&sr=8-1 | “Edward Bernays (1891–1995), pioneered the scientific technique of shaping and manipulating public opinion, which he famously dubbed “engineering of consent.” During World War I, he was an integral part of the U.S. Committee on Public Information (CPI), a powerful propaganda apparatus that was mobilized to package, advertise and sell the war to the American people as one that would “Make the World Safe for Democracy.” The CPI would become the blueprint in which marketing strategies for future wars would be based upon. // Bernays applied the techniques he had learned in the CPI and, incorporating some of the ideas of Walter Lipmann, became an outspoken proponent of propaganda as a tool for democratic and corporate manipulation of the population.”