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themichaelmanning · 3 years

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Does it feel like something is missing internally?

Like the fire that once consumed your very soul has been extinguished…replaced by frustration, dissatisfaction, and the exhausting monotony of working your fingers to the bone to fuel a materialistic lifestyle you no longer want or have never truly enjoyed?

Like you’re missing out on the most important things in life…the deep connections and friendship, the wild and exciting romantic relationships, and the lust for adventure and purpose that has fueled men for millenia.

Thoreau wrote,

“The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation.”

Look around you – this is as true today as it was then. Perhaps even more so.

We all enter into this world as a blank slate. An empty canvas to be filled with rich experiences, connections, and adventures.

Men have always longed to…

Travel the world with the love of his life. Experiencing exhilarating adventures, new cultures, and once in a lifetime experiences…But instead, he’s stuck at the office. Lying to himself every day that “Once this next project is finished, then I’ll make time for romance, adventure, and living fully.”

Discover a mission so powerful and beautiful that he is willing to give his very life to see it manifested…Yet he spends his days doing work he dislikes with people he can barely tolerate just to pay for an endless stream of “stuff” that empties both his wallet and his soul.

Jump out of bed each morning before his alarm goes off excited and on FIRE for the day ahead…But instead, he feels tired, burnt out, and depleted by the never-ending cycle of earning more money to keep up with the Jone’s and validate his worth in society.

Deepen his connection with himself, not only ‘finding’ himself, but actively sculpting himself into the confident and alive man he’s always aspired to be…But instead, he settles for society’s version of success, stifles his masculine spirit, and sacrifices his deepest hopes, dreams, and desires at the altar of the almighty dollar.

What’s interesting is he did everything he was told to do by the book in an effort to make his life remarkable, memorable, and adventurous, but here he sits, glued to a computer screen living a life of quiet desperation.

We live in a world where men are now more afraid than ever to be masculine, alive and act like strong grounded men.

And the problem is getting worse by the day.

Just consider that..

The suicide rate for men is 3.5x higher than that of women (iconic men who surpassed society’s version of “success”: like Robin Williams, Anthony Bourdain, Avicci and Heath Ledger fell victim to this horrible act)

The divorce rate in the U.S hovers above 51%

Men are 3x more likely to become alcohol and drug dependent – masking their problems and hiding rather than opening up and solving them.

You can be forgiven for assuming that, at this point, men would reach out for help in droves. But because of society’s mandate that “Real men” are self-reliant and capable of handling everything by themselves, men are less likely than ever before to reach out for help.

Instead, we numb ourselves to reality with pleasure inducing addictions. Porn, social media, video games, Netflix originals, and even “success”, have become the sources of our respite and salvation. But their shallow promises only exacerbate the issue. These vices do little to further our lives and nothing to solve the deeper problems men face.

So let’s clear something up right now…

Men’s coaching does not mean you are weak or incapable of achieving stellar results by yourself.

Coaching simply allows you to grow faster by leveraging the guidance of an expert with the perspective, experience and know-how to breakthrough your limiting beliefs and propel you forward into the life you want.

Someone to hold you accountable – to give it to you straight and help you make sense of your chaotic life. To finally free you of the BS story that’s been holding you back from experiencing the life and relationship you want.

Let’s be honest here:

Warren Buffet wouldn’t be the greatest investor of our time without Benjamin Graham…

Marcus Aurelius wouldn’t be one of the greatest philosophers in history, the Emperor of Rome, and one of the most successful generals in military history without Epictetus…

Michael Jordan wouldn’t be the greatest basketball player and (arguably) the greatest athlete of our time without Phil Jackson…

And to believe that you’re the exception to the rule is nothing more than hubris.

If you want to live an exceptional life…a life filled with joy, adventure, romance, deep connection, and a sense of true masculine power…you need help getting there.

Men must bravely enlist the help of other men who have walked the walk, “been there, done that”, and can share their wisdom and insight for living a remarkable life.

And today, I’m going to share the ten reasons why men’s coaching is the “secret edge” you’ve been searching for. The “missing link” that will help you reclaim your masculine power, end your “Nice Guy” behaviors, and become more attractive to and respected by the highest quality women and most successful men in your community.

Let’s dive in.

1. You Need Someone To Talk To Who Doesn’t Just Listen But Helps You Move Forward in Life

Therapy can be great. And for some men, necessary. But it’s not the solution it’s been made out to be.

Sure, they’ll listen to you. But they don’t stand for your greatness. They don’t push you to challenge yourself, eschew the status quo, and step into your role as the King and Creator of your own life. They know very little about reclaiming your masculine power and creating a life that makes you smile each night. Instead, they enable you to play small. Encourage it even for longer than necessary.

A men’s coach doesn’t.

When you enlist the help of other like-minded men who have been where you are today, they can spot your B.S. before you even open your mouth. They will hold you to a higher standard, demand that you play at a higher level, and challenge you in a way that others wouldn’t dare.

Granted there are well-meaning mental health professionals that exist, yet few and far between. And after working with 1000s of men their feedback on the results of therapy vs. coaching were all but ubiquitous and mostly time consuming.

With therapy, they spent years (some of them decades) digging through their past to identify all of the ways in which their parents, teachers, friends, and high school crushes screwed them up for life.

They myopically focused on the trauma (real or perceived) of the past in hopes that somehow…by realizing that their anger issues stem from their broken relationship with their father…they would magically heal themselves and fix the problems with how they were showing up in the present.

Therapy doesn’t empower you to move forward, it only helps you resolve that which is already in your rear view mirror. It won’t help you show up to your relationships in a more grounded way that women naturally respond to, build a lifestyle that excites you, or contend with the very real challenges you are facing in the present. It simply keeps you trapped by the challenges you’ve already overcome.

With coaching, it’s a different story.

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tabloidtoc · 3 years

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Globe, January 4

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Ghislaine Maxwell buying her way out of prison

Page 2: Up Front & Personal -- Gavin Rossdale playing tennis with his pup Chewy, Brooke Burke holding holiday balls topless, James Franco takes his cellphone into the sea

Page 3: Leighton Meester surfing in Malibu, Robbie Williams, Lisa Rinna wearing two masks

Page 4: Angelina Jolie is bracing for major humiliation after being dragged into Johnny Depp’s latest legal showdown with ex-wife Amber Heard -- Angie’s run-ins with Johnny who she starred with in 2010′s The Tourist are coming under intense scrutiny as Depp gears for a second court battle with Amber -- Angie and Johnny were so coy about their white-hot connection at the time even though their romance was an open secret but they got lucky because nobody had the smoking gun to prove it but now it’ll all come out in the open -- at the time Johnny was still dating Vanessa Paradis while Angie was five years into her doomed love-in with Brad Pitt -- there’s talk bisexual Amber was kind of obsessed with Angie so Angie is central to the plotline whether she likes it or not

Page 5: The Bachelor host Chris Harrison is worried he’ll follow Dancing with the Stars host Tom Bergeron out the door -- both these shows have been on TV forever and the world has changed around them and to keep up with Black Lives Matter and the #MeToo movement changes are being discussed and that’s left Chris fearing he’ll be the next Tom Bergeron and replaced by a woman of color

Page 6: Aging divas Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton are caught in a bitter country catfight and long-dead Patsy Cline is the excuse -- although there’s been little love lost between the Nashville icons for nearly 50 years their simmering feud exploded weeks ago when Dolly apparently took some veiled public shots at Loretta’s BFF Patsy who was horribly disfigured in a car wreck two years before dying in a 1963 plane crash -- in an interview Dolly recalled standing in the wings of Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry at age 13 and watching Patsy perform and she remembered thinking about how awful it was that she got her pretty face scarred up like that -- Loretta was fit to be tied over the comments Dolly made about her old pal and thinks Dolly should stop running her mouth about Nashville legends like Patsy and Johnny Cash -- Dolly’s heard about Loretta’s complaints through the grapevine and brushes them off as quarantine boredom mixed with old age

Page 8: Blake Shelton’s going bonkers after fiancee Gwen Stefani told him she wants to skip the mega-million star-studded wedding shindig he’s been planning and elope -- Blake is all bent out of shape over Gwen’s latest switcheroo which calls for them to get hitched on the sly at a Mexican resort and she’s got him so mixed up he can’t think straight because for the longest time she wanted the Hollywood-style wedding with all the bells and whistles and was very particular about details but now she’s telling him to ditch those plans which have already cost them a small fortune and book a trip somewhere exotic so they can just just get it over with -- Gwen wants to elope so they can hitched at the Riviera Maya resort in Cancun where they could swap vows on the beach witnessed by her three sons and Blake has no choice but to give in to Gwen and he’s saying he’s fine with it as long as she’s sure this time

Page 9: Hollywood horndog John Mayer is back sniffing around old flame Jennifer Aniston after his mom gave him a shove -- John and Jen had a steamy fling for about a year before he dropped her in 2009 and now John’s mom Margaret Meyer is scolding him for letting Jen go and John’s mom is always on him about settling down and she feels that at 43 he should be married and she recently had a heart-to-heart talk with him and told him she thought Jennifer was the most down-to-earth of all his exes and because John considers his mom one of the smartest people he knows he decided to reach out to Jen and he’s always admired Jen and thought of her as a classy lady and now he’s reaching out to her again in hopes of getting her to agree to see him again once things leave lockdown

* FKA Twigs has socked actor Shia LaBeouf with a bombshell lawsuit claiming he subjected her to relentless physical, emotional and mental abuse and gave her an STD and she also accuses him of sexual battery, assault, and infliction of emotional distress -- although Shia says she’s lying Twigs insists Shia once choked her in the middle of the night and kept a loaded firearm by the bed leaving her terrified to get up at night for fear he’d think she was an intruder and shoot her -- she claims during an incident around Valentine’s Day 2019 Shia threatened to crash his speeding car unless she professed her love for him so when he pulled into a gas station she got out of the car but he threw her against the car while screaming in her face then forced her back into the car -- Shia also had rules about how often Twigs had to kiss and touch him -- Shia has been arrested several times on now-dismissed charges including assault and disorderly conduct

Page 10: John Lennon didn’t have to die -- that’s law enforcement experts’ explosive analysis after reviewing newly discovered evidence about the Beatles legend’s December 8, 1980 murder in NYC -- an odd series of coincidences and simple decisions put Lennon and his killer Mark David Chapman in the same place at the same time -- a review of the details concludes Lennon’s death was a strange result of flukes including his penchant for running around without protection and a missed appointment with his photographer and without these quirks of fate John would still be alive and recording hit songs

Page 12: Celebrity Buzz -- Pink flashes her bandaged thumb after getting stitches in Santa Monica (picture), Amanda Seyfried confesses she made a terrible decision for turning down the role of a lifetime as Chris Pratt’s love interest in Guardians of the Galaxy and now she’s watching from the sidelines as the director’s second choice Zoe Saldana skyrockets in the money-making Marvel franchise, Katherine Heigl will star in the upcoming limited biopic series Woodhull about Victoria Woodhull the first woman to run for president in 1872, Big Brother alum Zach Rance has come out as bisexual after admitting a sizzling same-sex romance with his former reality show housemate Frankie Grande who is the real-life older brother of pop star Ariana Grande

Page 13: Jaime King slurps down a meal on the streets on L.A. (picture), Jax Taylor mowing the lawn (picture), Guns N’ Roses axman Slash loads up on supplies at an L.A. grocery (picture), former teen heartthrob Chad Michael Murray admits his inflated young ego got the best of him and now he looks at photos of himself and thinks what a dweeb

Page 14: Julia Roberts is headed for the small screen headlining the limited TV series The Last Thing He Told Me where she’ll form an unexpected relationship with her teenage stepdaughter while searching for the truth about her husband’s mysterious disappearance, Emma Stone is also heading for the flat-screen in the comedy series The Curse alongside Nathan Fielder about a couple starring on an HGTV-style show who are trying to conceive a child amid an alleged curse, Nicolas Cage is hosting a new series called The History of Swear Words in which he’ll delve into the origins and pop culture usage and science and cultural impact of profanely shocking expletives

* Fashion Police -- Peyton List 8/10, Sofia Carson 9/10, Vanessa Hudgens 2/10, Neve Campbell 1/10, Chelsea Handler 4/10

Page 16: Cover Story -- Jeffrey Epstein’s madam Ghislaine Maxwell’s $30M jail break -- terrified and tortured Ghislaine risks family fortune to buy her freedom -- the accused sex predator and her fat cat inner circle are set to plunk down an obscene $30 million to buy her way out of federal prison in what outraged investigators fear is a brazen plot to cheat justice

Page 19: 10 Things You Don’t Know About Mayim Bialik

* Lizzo is admitting she’s having negative thoughts and is hating her 300-pound body but adds she knows she beautiful

* The Spice Girls were likely liquored up on cut-rate champagne when they made their first album according to Emma Bunton a.k.a. Baby Spice who says she and her bandmates swilled the cheapest sparkling wine in the studio

Page 20: True Crime -- a chilling message left by the elusive Zodiac Killer has finally been cracked by a team of code breakers after 51 years -- a hodgepodge of numbers, symbols and letters called the 340 cipher was sent to the San Francisco Chronicle in 1969 and lawmen believed it contained key clues to the serial killer’s identity but the truth is even more chilling -- according to the experts the message says I hope you are having lots of fun in trying to catch me, I am not afraid of the gas chamber because it will send me to paradise all the sooner because I now have enough slaves to work for me

Page 21: Caitlyn Jenner is terrified after learning her skin cancer has returned a second time -- she was diagnosed with basal cell skin cancer a few years ago and had an entire layer of skin removed from her nose -- since then she’s been slathering on sunscreen but a new red spot on the right side of her nose popped up along with some crusty areas on her scalp but the nose patch was not cancer but hypertrophic keratosis or scaly damage from sun exposure -- however the dozen spots on the top of her head was squamous cell carcinoma which is a skin cancer that’s known to be aggressive so her doctor burned off the offending spots -- her doctor recommended she replace her 1960 Austin-Healey convertible but the chances of Caitlyn selling her prized ride are slim

Page 23: Your 2021 Horoscope -- love, luck, health, wealth, happiness -- plus surprising celebrity predictions -- Elton John, Valerie Bertinelli, Johnny Depp, Jessica Simpson, Matthew Perry, Cameron Diaz, Will Smith, Katy Perry, Howie Mandel, Savannah Guthrie, Justin Timberlake, Carrie Underwood

Page 30: Larry King has reached a deal with estranged wife Shawn but she’s royally peeved about the payoff -- Larry has agreed to pay her a lump sum of $20,000 plus $33,000 a month in spousal support which lasts until at least their next scheduled hearing in April but Shawn claims the 33Gs only covers a third of her monthly nut which includes $25,000 for rent on her home, $12,000 on clothes, $3500 on groceries and $4500 for hair and nails and pet care and gym

Page 31: Kim Kardashian is reading husband Kanye West the riot act over his junk food benders that are sabotaging her healthy eating program and it’s led to more than a few arguments with no peace in sight -- he’s telling her to chill and let him live by his own terms but she can’t do that because it’s driving her crazy -- what really ticks Kim off is his junk food has totally taken over her section of fresh cut veggies, fruits and water and she wants him to get his own storage in a different part of the house where she won’t have to see it or hold her nose

* Kardashian momager Kris Jenner’s faux reality TV home is on the market for nearly $8 million even though she never lived there -- the L.A. estate was used for exterior shots of the image-conscious family’s compound on Keeping Up with the Kardashians but it was all for show -- dubbed the Iredell Estate the house also appears in True Blood and Chelsea Lately

Page 33: Health Report

Page 34: Wrestling Ring Kings: Where Are They Now? Sable, Bret Hart

Page 35: Lex Luger, Steve Austin, Ric Flair

Page 36: The Undertaker, Tito Santana, Diamond Dallas Page

Page 37: Kane, Kurt Angle, Sunny, Mick Foley

Page 39: Despite an astounding 30 No. 1 country music hits legendary singer Charley Pride took a haunting regret to his grave that he never made it as major league baseball star -- Charley had so much success but he died tormented his baseball career short-circuited -- Charley was singing and playing guitar by the time he was 14 but his real goal was to pitch for the New York Yankees -- Charley signed with a Yankees farm team as a flame-throwing phenom at 17 but in his rookie season he threw out his arm and was just never the same -- after he struck out in baseball he put his full energy into singing but faced an uphill battle -- Charley was the Jackie Robinson of country music and he endured a lot of racism

Page 40: Kelsey Grammer admits he often breaks down and blubbers like a baby and it makes him feel better and he cries when he’s upset or sad or scared and it provides him a lot of relief and he believes years of tragedy in his life taught him to cry as a healing mechanism and now he sheds tears whenever he has sad feeling bottled up inside him

* A moneybags James Bond fan coughed up a whopping $256,000 for the handgun 007 Sean Connery toted in the first spy epic Dr. No -- the disabled Walther PP semi-automatic was supposed to bring in no more than $200,000 but the unidentified American buyer who claims to have seen every Bond epic went even higher

Page 44: Straight Talk -- Miley Cyrus is now blabbing about why she broke up with husband Liam Hemsworth after years of togetherness and just nine months of marriage and it sounds like a case of the pot calling the kettle black

Page 45: Furious Queen Elizabeth has booted Princess Eugenie and her husband out of Prince Harry’s Frogmore Cottage home in a bit to foil Meghan Markle’s plan to completely cut him off from England and the royal family -- pregnant Eugenie and her booze-seller husband Jack Brooksbank were ordered to quit the cottage and move back to Kensington Palace just six weeks after Harry and Meghan secretly leased them the home meaning Harry and Meghan are still on the financial hook for Frogmore which was a gift from the queen and they will have to underwrite the cost of keeping up the property and it also ensures Harry has a home in Britain if he ever wants to come back -- by moving Eugenie and Jack out the queen has made sure Harry still has a place to hang his hat if he decides to come back to leave his American wife

Page 47: Bizarre But True

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regal-swagg · 6 years

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justice shafiq was born into a family that has often felt more like a pressure cooker, than a healthy, functioning family. the shafiq's were once a large, prominent pureblood family but between a horrible outbreak of dragon pox and the first war against voldemort the once great family and all of its fortune fell to a young auror, ogun shafiq, justice's grandfather. ogun was a highly ambitious wizard who wished to return his family to its former glory and had the magical talent to pull it off. he fell in love with a beautiful witch named florence from haiti. they were married and she moved to london. for years the couple tried to have children with incredible difficulty, until they finally gave birth to mercy shafiq, justice's mother. ogun believed he was on track to restore his family with his career as an auror bringing him great esteem, but one night during a romantic evening florence shared with him that she was not a pureblood like she had lead him to believe. in reality she was muggleborn. this lead to discord in their marriage, and the two of them divorced. mercy shafiq grew was raised primarily by a very depressed and demanding father who demanded nothing but greatness from her. his depression affected his career, keeping him from ever being promoted, and after one of his few friends exposed the reason from his divorce he was shunned by other pureblood families. all of this shame was directed into his effort to raise his daughter to be the perfect witch. mercy shafiq was driven by this pressure, using it as fuel to be the best student in her year. like many bright young witches she joined the ministry of magic where she climbed her way to being the head of magical education, with her eyes forever on minister for magic. unfortunately she was never able to meet her father's greatest demand, that she marry an esteemed black, pureblood wizard and have many children. instead she had one child by a man she refuses to talk about, because he was a muggle college student, and despite her intelligence lived her life being shamed by her father, justice grew up with his mother and grandfather's expectations ruling him. they made very clear that they expected greatness from him and that they expected him to do what they had not and bring the shafiq's closer to blood purity. justice internalized these messages for most of his childhood. he studied hard, trained until he was an amazing quidditch player, and charmed his way into the hearts of high society. when he entered hogwarts he was sorted into slytherin, which was not a surprise to him or his family. in his first few years as a student justice was happy and excited about his life. justice did well in his classes with very little effort and found that he rather enjoyed his education. he made friends with the students in his year, people he could study and play with. in this time he was playful, cocky, popular, and most of all happy. he was well liked within his house and year, but it was also an easy drama free time for most students. in his third year justice found himself developing the same arrogance and brilliance that his mother and grandfather displayed. he made it onto the slytherin quidditch team and was invited into the slug club, two accomplishments that transitioned his cockiness into arrogance. his friends started to feel less like his peers and more like his lackies, which did not seem abnormal to him because most slytherin cliques seemed to have a clear leader. third year was the happiest period of justice's life, but as he and his peers became teenagers teen politics began to include dating. his friends became obsessed with the opposite sex, expecting him to be the same. quite a few girls became interested in him, and in an attempt to feel normal he did his best to humor him, acting out the flirtatious behaviors he had seen the older, popular boys do. justice had is first girlfriend, a young pureblood witch that his family approved of, but when they had their first kiss he realized that he felt nothing.in that moment justice realized that he felt nothing for any girl and that he was much more attracted to the boys at school. something he could never share with his family. during the summer between third and fourth year justice became very depressed. he withdrew from seeing friends over the summer in an effort to avoid his new girlfriend, and in an attempt to keep his family from observing his interactions with her. he spent the majority of the summer reading, excusing himself by telling his family that he was studying so that he could pull ahead in his classes. he read lots of fiction with the hopes that he would better understand how to pretend to be straight, but he also read a lot about magical cultures around the world, dreaming that he could one day escape the pressures of london and hogwarts. justice's new found love for foreign cultures created a connection with his mother, an expert on african and indigenous american magical traditions, which made it easier to isolate himself from society under the guise of special lessons from his mother. eventually he broke up with his girlfriend by lying and saying he met a new girl while on vacation in france. this gave him some short term relief, but when the school year started again it was gone. for the next few years justice worked very hard to pretend to be straight both for his reputation at school and to make his family happy. he flirted with many girls but never committed because of his fake girlfriend in france and when his grandfather and mother asked he fled them lines about how many girls liked him or how he was focusing on academics. it kept them off his back and he as continued to fool his peers. it has also been humbling for the young man who has developed a sense of loneliness and sadness that he has not yet been able to share with anyone. in order to suppress the pain justice strives to be the best at his classes, at quidditch, and school politics, repressing his sadness and his yearning for affection. his personality shifted in this time, although he continued cockiness for his peers it was never genuine and he found himself losing his place as leader of his clique. he chose to fly under the radar as much as possible, engaging his peers enough to never be thought of as unpopular, but avoiding drama enough to keep anyone from digging to much into his life. currently justice continues to do what ever he feels will make his family happy, this includes dating girls, engaging high society, and getting good grades. while justice used to enjoy thinks like the slug club and mansion dinner parties, they have recently become a source of anxiety where he feels himself focusing on acting out the expectations placed on him. justice does enjoy some subjects at school such as charms and care of magical creatures, but for the most part is great grades are a result of long hours studying and a fear of failure. his weakest subjects due to a lack of interest are transfiguration and potions, but through superb acting skills, lots of time in the library, and attaching himself to students who excel in the subjects he always manages to stay at exceeds expectations at least. justice currently only feels happy and whole when he is in the library alone doing charms homework, or reading about magical practices of people outside of europe, and when he is practicing or playing quidditch. justice comes alive during games and practice, able to be himself and socialize with people without feeling like it is an act. he does not look forward to school breaks because he will be returning to his constantly stressed mother and his chronically ill, manipulative grandfather. justice appears to be "friends' with a lot of the most popular students in slytherin and in his year, but this is superficial. he joins them during down time, gossips, postures, and jokes but never bothers to connect with them on a deeper level. justice is a little bit more intimate with his quidditch team, he sometimes will share his emotions about school or his grandfather being sick, but makes sure to never seem to depressed and hides his sexuality.

http://allwaswellxo.proboards.com/thread/409/shafiq-justice-ogun

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giancarlonicoli · 4 years

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Submitted by Eric Zuesse, originally posted at Strategic Culture

The medical journal, The Lancet, is one of the world’s Big Three scientific journals of medicine; that’s the triumvirate of authorities for physicians worldwide, and the other two are the Journal of the American Medical Association, and the New England Journal of Medicine. On August 27th The Lancet published “Measuring universal health coverage based on an index of effective coverage of health services in 204 countries and territories”. Here is the visual that’s in it, which shows the United States as having, by far, the world’s costliest medical care, at around $9,000 per person per year, and yet as having lower quality of health care than virtually all other industrialized nations do:

Here is another such study, showing the same thing, and calculating it more simply:

What explains this?

Quite simply, the United States is the world’s most corrupt nation, and medical care is such an extreme necessity when a citizen needs it, so that they’ll pay whatever the system charges them for it — and investing in healthcare products and services is therefore enormously profitable in the United States. Actually, the only other market-sector that competes with it for providing simultaneously high returns and low risk (the combination that offers the best of both worlds to investors) is consumer staples, such as foods, which likewise are necessities of life. When people are desperate, they’ll pay, whatever the cost, because these are things they don’t just want — they need. Here, from Maksim Papenkov’s award-winning 6 February 2020 paper, “An Empirical Asset Pricing Model Accommodating the Sector-Heterogeneity of Risk”, is his sector-specific calculation of stock-market profitability during 2000-2018, showing that “HC” Health Care, and “CS” Consumer Staples, were the best at combining low risk with high returns, during that 19-year period:

(“CD” there is Consumer Discretionary and includes Automobiles and Hotels. It’s the only sector that has higher returns than Health Care, but those returns are twice as risky. The S&P500 have lower returns than Health Care and slightly higher riskiness. At the opposite end, “IT” Information Technology is both the riskiest and the least profitable; and “F” Financials are the second-worst sector for investors. The most-profitable sectors are the necessities, the sectors that take the most from the most-desperate.)

In May 2017, Axene Health Partners published their actuary, Chris Slaybaugh’s, study, “International Healthcare Systems: The US Versus the World”, which stated:

The United States is the only industrialized country in the world that does not have Universal Health Coverage for all citizens. �� Rather than one system, United States citizens and residents are insured under a variety of sometimes overlapping systems. The United States is also the only developed country where a significant number of citizens are permitted to be uninsured and where a person’s employment can determine whether they have insurance and what insurance they have. … The extent to which medical bills contribute to bankruptcy is hard to tease out from other factors, but even those who are skeptical of the claim that medical costs cause the majority of bankruptcies concede that they are a significant contributor.13

In the rest of the developed world, by contrast, medical costs are rarely or never cited as a driver behind personal bankruptcy.

In fact, CNBC headlined on 11 February 2019, “This is the real reason most Americans file for bankruptcy” and reported that,

Two-thirds of people who file for bankruptcy cite medical issues as a key contributor to their financial downfall.

While the high cost of health care has historically been a trigger for bankruptcy filings, the research shows that the implementation of the Affordable Care Act [“Obamacare”] has not improved things.

What most people do not realize, according to one researcher, is that their health insurance may not be enough to protect them.

While Barack Obama was running for President in 2008, he was promising to provide Americans with a “public option” in order to reduce profits for health insurance companies and thus lower costs, but he dropped that proposal immediately when he won the 2008 election, and he never pushed for it (not even to use as a bargaining chip with the Republicans in shaping his Obamacare). (In fact, Obama chose the conservative head of the Senate Finance Committee, Democratic Senator Max Baucus, to draft his Obamacare, because Baucus was against there being a public option, and because the progressive Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy’s Health, Education & Labor Committee had just drafted an Obamacare with a public option — Obama refused to have Kennedy draft his healthcare legislation. Obama was actually against there being a public option; only his public rhetoric was for it. Joe Biden is apparently now following the same tactic, of lying promises to the public, and true promises to his billionaire backers, to win the White House.) Obama promised the public “universal coverage”, which means 100% of the population covered, like in all other advanced economies, and his Obamacare increased the percentage insured from 84.5% when he came into office in 2009, to 87.7% two years after Obamacare started in 2013 — around 3%, by 2015 (which was after two years). That was still far short of the promised 100%. He was lying through his teeth in order to win election, and the ‘news’-media still hide (instead of expose) the fact that he did, and that he was actually an agent of the billionaires. He’s now the big hero among Democrats, because maybe Trump is even worse. Trump is up-front about his fascism. And Trump’s opponent now is another hypocrite (after Obama), Obama’s V.P., Joe Biden, who was the U.S. Senate’s leading Democratic Party segregationist and won his nomination by claiming to have been instead a civil-rights champion. Everything in U.S. politics is bait-and-switch. That’s the reality in America’s ‘democracy’: a bait-and-switch ‘democracy’, which serves actually only the wealthiest few. The politicians who are elected serve only the wealthy and well-connected.

America is the most libertarian, or “neo-liberal,” of the advanced industrial nations, and this is why it has the world’s most overpriced medical care. It provides the most liberty for the billionaires.

One of the few extremely bold Americans who rose high in the U.S. healthcare system and tried to tell the public how intensely corrupt it is, has been Marcia Angell, M.D, who held numerous prestigious posts in the U.S. medical system, and she was for a while the Editor-in-Chief of the New England Journal of Medicine. On 15 January 2009, Dr. Angell headlined “Drug Companies & Doctors: A Story of Corruption”, and wrote:

Conflicts of interest pervade medicine. … It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine. … So many reforms would be necessary to restore integrity to clinical research and medical practice that they cannot be summarized briefly. Many would involve congressional legislation and changes in the FDA, including its drug approval process. But there is clearly also a need for the medical profession to wean itself from industry money almost entirely. … Breaking the dependence of the medical profession on the pharmaceutical industry will take more than appointing committees and other gestures. It will take a sharp break from an extremely lucrative pattern of behavior. But if the medical profession does not put an end to this corruption voluntarily, it will lose the confidence of the public. …

She had said, nine years earlier:

If we had set out to design the worst system that we could imagine, we couldn’t have imagined one as bad as we have. … Our health care system is based on the premise that health care is a commodity like VCRs or computers and that it should be distributed according to the ability to pay. … That market ideology is what has made the health care system so dreadful, so bad at what it does. … That is a fundamental mistake in the way this country, and only this country, looks at health care. … The only way to both reduce cost and increase access and quality is to change the system, to scrap it and start over. … I would pay for health care in a single payer system, and what goes into that pot can vary. In Germany, employers have to contribute to that pot. I don’t think that’s a good idea. I would rather see it come straight out of tax revenues.

Experts who are that public-spirited and knowledgeable about the system should be appointed by U.S. Presidents to lead the FDA and the Department of Health and Human Services, but the billionaires prevent that (of course).

On June 27th, NPR headlined “After Pushing Lies, Former Cigna Executive Praises Canada’s Health Care System”, and interviewed a retired PR executive for America’s health insurance companies, who said that maybe the work that he had done smearing Canada’s socialized health insurance — “to spread misinformation about Canada or use cherry-picked data and anecdotes” so as to deceive Americans to accept America’s existing medical system — was partly to blame for America’s having performed significantly worse than Canada had done on the coronavirus crisis. (As of 29 August 2020, Canada had 3,378 cases per million and was the 76th worst out of 215 countries, whereas U.S. had 18,522 cases per million and was the 9th-worst. On deaths, Canada was the 27th-worst at 241, whereas U.S. was the 11th-worst at 564.)

America’s billionaires derive the vast majority of their net worth from stocks (capital gains and dividends), and from interest that’s paid to them; and, since nothing does this for them better than healthcare investments, the current for-profit system in health care is terrific for them; and these few hundred people, billionaires, extract this wealth from the hundreds of millions of Americans, the general public, and want to continue doing so, and they consequently finance politicians such as Joe Biden and Donald Trump (and their predecessors, such as Bush and Clinton), and they also set up ‘charitable’ foundations, and donate to medical schools, so as to inculcate this libertarian belief, not just into the public, but especially into the students and professors, who receive that trickle-down from them, as employees and future employees. While many in academe are against it, they’re not the ones who get advanced to the prestigious and high-paid positions. “He that pays the piper calls the tune.” It’s top-down (aristocracy), and it only pretends to be bottom-up (democracy). And, so, the corruption continues, and Americans die younger, and poorer, because of this aristocratically controlled system. It’s the American way. It’s the American system. Of corruption. Americans call it “capitalism.”

Of course, another area in which the U.S. Government is extraordinarily corrupt is its Military-Industrial Complex; and, on August 28th, a former top official of the NSA, Bill Binney, provided, online, an in-depth description of what he personally knows about that. His personal knowledge is enormous concerning within the Government itself, but not outside it — i.e., not regarding the corporations and billionaires who control the economic rewards system that the top public officials, who typically are agents of the “Deep State” (the billionaires), are serving. However, what he says there is informative and highly reliable regarding the way that the Government’s bureaucracy itself functions, and he is extraordinarily honest about the intense corruption within the official Government. He makes clear that the U.S. Constitution is being systematically and routinely violated by top U.S. officials; so, the U.S. Government routinely violates the U.S. Constitution, in this ‘democracy’, where the system functions like clockwork, for the billionaires.

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biofunmy · 5 years

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The New Spiritual Consumerism – The New York Times

How did you spend your summer vacation? I spent mine in a dissociative fugue of materialist excess, lying prone on my couch and watching all four seasons of “Queer Eye,” the Netflix makeover show reboot. Once an hour, I briefly regained consciousness to feverishly click the “next episode” button so that I wouldn’t have to wait five seconds for it to play automatically. Even when I closed my laptop, the theme song played on endless loop as Jonathan Van Ness vogued through my subconscious. The show is a triumph of consumer spectacle, and now it has consumed me, too.

Every episode is the same. Five queer experts in various aesthetic practices conspire to make over some helpless individual. Tan France (fashion) teaches him to tuck the front of his shirt into his pants; Bobby Berk (design) paints his walls black and plants a fiddle-leaf fig; Antoni Porowski (food) shows him how to cut an avocado; Jonathan Van Ness (grooming) shouts personal affirmations while shaping his beard; and Karamo Brown (“culture”) stages some kind of trust-building exercise that doubles as an amateur therapy session. Then, they retreat to a chic loft, pass around celebratory cocktails and watch a video of their subject attempting to maintain his new and superior lifestyle. The makeover squad cries, and if you are human, you cry too.

Because “Queer Eye” is not just a makeover. As its gurus lead the men (and occasionally, women) in dabbing on eye cream, selecting West Elm furniture, preparing squid-ink risotto and acquiring gym memberships, they are building the metaphorical framework for an internal transformation. Their salves penetrate the skin barrier to soothe loneliness, anxiety, depression, grief, low self-esteem, absentee parenting and hoarding tendencies. The makeover is styled as an almost spiritual conversion. It’s the meaning of life as divined through upgraded consumer choices.

Just a few years ago, American culture was embracing its surface delights with a nihilistic zeal. Its reality queens were the Kardashians, a family that became rich and famous through branding its own wealth and fame. “Generation Wealth,” Lauren Greenfield’s 2018 documentary on American excess, captured portraits of people who crave luxury, beauty and cash as ends in and of themselves. Donald Trump, the king of 1980s extravagance, was elected president.

But lately American materialism is debuting a new look. Shopping, decorating, grooming and sculpting are now jumping with meaning. And a purchase need not have any explicit social byproduct — the materials eco-friendly, or the proceeds donated to charity — to be weighted with significance. Pampering itself has taken on a spiritual urgency.

Practitioners of this new style often locate its intellectual underpinnings in the work of Audre Lorde. But when Lorde wrote, in her 1988 essay “A Burst of Light,” that “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare,” she was speaking in the context of managing her liver cancer — and doing it as a black lesbian whose health and well-being were not prioritized in America.

Now the ethos of “self-care” has infiltrated every consumer category. The logic of GOOP, Gwyneth Paltrow’s luxury brand that sells skin serums infused with the branding of intuition, karma and healing, is being reproduced on an enormous scale.

Women’s shoes, bras, razors, tampons and exclusive private clubs are stamped with the language of empowerment. SoulCycle and Equinox conceive of exercise as not just a lifestyle but a closely held identity, which backfired when some members were aggrieved by the news that the chairman of the brands’ parent company is a financial supporter of President Trump. Therapy memes imagine mental health professionals prescribing consumerist fixes, which are then repurposed by beauty brands. Even Kim Kardashian West is pivoting to the soul: Her latest project is launching a celebrity church with her husband, Kanye West.

And through the cleaning guru Marie Kondo, who also became a Netflix personality this year, even tidying objects can be considered a spiritual calling. Her work suggests that objects don’t just make us feel good — objects feel things, too. She writes of old books that must be woken up with a brush of the fingertips and socks that sigh with relief at being properly folded.

“Queer Eye” has further elevated material comforts into an almost political stance. When the reboot of the original — which ran on Bravo from 2003 to 2007, as “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” — debuted last year, Netflix announced that it intended to “make America fabulous again” by sending its crew deep into the red states to “turn them pink.” By preaching self-care to the men of Middle America — it has so far plucked its makeover subjects from Georgia, Missouri and Kansas — the show would heal the nation itself through the power of stuff.

Is “Queer Eye” a political show? In a sense, yes. Van Ness, the show’s profoundly magnetic grooming expert, rocks a signature look of a Jesus beard, mermaid hair, painted nails and high-heeled booties. His fashion and grooming choices have an obvious political valence; he recently came out as non-binary. When he makes over some straight dude, it is as if he is imbuing the process with his own transgressive identity, even if he’s grooming the guy into a standard-issue cool dad.

Anyway, it’s wonderful to watch. In contrast, the original “Queer Eye” no longer goes down so easy. The show’s exclusive focus on providing men with physical upgrades now plays as cynical. The Fab Five ridicule their marks as much as they help them. More than a decade before same-sex marriage would be legalized across the United States, these five out gay men were quite obviously punching up.

But in the new version, the power dynamic has flipped. The difference between the Fab Five and their charges is no longer chiefly one of sexual orientation or gender identity. (This “Queer Eye” also provides makeovers to gay men and to women.) The clear but unspoken distinction is a class one.

The “Queer Eye” cast may come from humble beginnings, but they now reside in coastal cultural centers and hold fulfilling and lucrative jobs. Their makeover subjects are lower- and middle-class people who are, though it is rarely put this way, struggling financially. This “Queer Eye” handles them gently. As Van Ness puts it in one episode: “We’re nonjudgmental queens.”

It’s a little bit curious that as our political discourse is concerned with economic inequality — and the soaring costs of health care, education and homes — the cultural conversation is fixated on the healing powers of luxury items. What does it mean, that materialism is now so meaningful? “Generation Wealth” posits that extreme spending is a symptom of a civilization in decline. Americans may not have what they need, but at least they can get what they want, even if it’s on credit.

The writer and performer Amanda-Faye Jimenez recently posted a meme to Instagram of a child swinging blithely on the playground as a fire rages in the forest behind him. The forest is tagged: “My personal life and career.” The child: “The skincare routine.”

Material comforts are comforting: cooking a nice and interesting meal; living in a tidy and beautiful space; soothing tired eyes with a cool mask. And money helps you get money: The subjects of “Queer Eye” are typically made over in a standard professional style, as if they are being retrofitted for the work force. Surreptitiously, “Queer Eye” provides vacation time, too: Its subjects somehow receive a week off from work to focus on themselves.

The trouble is that when “Queer Eye” offers these comforts, the show implies that its subjects have previously lacked them because of some personal failure. They have been insufficiently confident, skilled, self-aware, dedicated or emotionally vulnerable. The spiritual conversion of the show occurs when the subject pledges a personal commitment to maintaining a new lifestyle going forward. But what these people need is not a new perspective. They need money, and they need time, which is money.

“Queer Eye” offers a kind of simulation of wealth redistribution. But every time the Fab Five retreats from the scene, I imagine the freshly-painted homes slowly falling into disrepair, the beards growing shaggy again, the refrigerators emptying.

In the fourth season, which dropped last month, the team makes over a single dad from Kansas City who is known as “the cat suit guy” because he wears feline print onesies to local sporting events. By the end, he gets a new corporate casual wardrobe, and a pop-up support network for his depression — he struggled to discuss it with anyone until the cast of “Queer Eye” broke through his shell.

As they prepare to leave, he tells them that he really needs them to stay in touch. “You’ve got to check on me,” he says. Absolutely, one of them says: “On Instagram.”

Sahred From Source link Arts

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#IFTTT #WordPress

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thedramafilesblog-blog · 6 years

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Appearing before The Dramacourt: Suits (Korea) Episodes 1 and 2

***If this is your first time browsing The Drama Files, please read The Rules section first for our reviewing and rating system***

***Disclaimer***: This analysis based on Canadian law. This is also NOT LEGAL ADVICE for anyone and this drama is FICTIONAL.

Issues:

Whether the portrayal of Kang Seok and CEO Ha Yeon managing client expectations is accurate.

Whether interviewing for jobs at law firms are as shown.

Whether corporate lawyers can practice criminal law.

Whether you can get potential clients to sign retainer agreements while they are high out of their minds.

Whether you can blackmail your client into dropping his lawsuit against you.

Whether the bromance is legit.

Are Ji Na and Geon Woo the new Mike and Rachel?

The Rule(s):

Yes. Minus the whole lying to the client part.

Somewhat…

It depends…

No!

Hell No!

Ehhh….We’re not really feeling it

Not really….

Analysis:

RedRosette J: Hi guys! Sorry we’ve been AWOL for a while. We had to do some life things like finish Law School! (YAY!) And just as we graduate we get the opportunity to review Suits (Korea)! (*Cheer*) I have to start off by saying that I was a HUGE fan of the US original and I absolutely LOVED it at first. Then I went to Law School and all I could see was how badly written the law stuff was and I had to stop watching it for awhile (occupational hazard LOL). When I heard there was going to be a Kdrama version starring HYUNGSIK I was beyond sold on it! I am all about Hyungsik and his puppyness!

❤

RedRosette J: What really surprised me was how similar to the US version the first two episodes were. They were almost exactly alike but with a little bit of Kdrama jazz added to it. The cinematography, the script, the OST (right down to that quirky toast food truck) was very similar (out of curiosity I went and re-watched the US version pilot episode to compare). I wasn’t sure if I was going to be a fan of the remake because remakes usually faceplant and don’t end well, but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised!

#aesthetics

Breaking the law like

Dat sandwich tho

Client meetings on the street like?

This is what drowning in work looks like

When your boss is weird af but you have to act normal and keep a straight face

RedRosette J: I am a huge Hyunsik fan and I think that he makes a good “Mike Ross” (Geon Woo) character. When Hyungsik is up with Jang Dong Gun though his acting can be a little underwhelming but I mean it’s not the end of the world. Hyungsik does manage to give us his sad puppy eyes which made my heart melt for poor Geon Woo. Jang Dong Gun on the other hand is a pretty good Harvey Specter in his character Choi Kang Seok and I’m buying whatever he’s selling.

RedRosette J: I wish CEO Ha Yeon (Jessica Pearson in this alternate reality) had had more screen time because she seems to be written as a composed bad ass just like her US counterpart. From what little we saw, the actress is doing a good job living up to the role so far. I’m slightly disappointed in the Louis Litt character played by Choi Gwi Hwa because a little bit of Louis’s zany-ness is missing from the character Chae Geun Sik. Sure, he is still married to his dictaphone and talks to his pet goldfish but I wish it would have been a bit funnier. I also wish the remake stuck to the running joke about how Louis hates his ancient secretary Norma (LMAO!). I am also not that ecstatic about the Donna character equivalent Hong Da Ham because while the friendship with Kang Seok exists, its not on the same playful level as between Donna and Harvey. I also accept that certain things can get swept away or underplayed in remakes and that character relationships can change when cultural norms are imported into the new version.

#pantsuitgoals

THE DICTAPHONE

Her fashion is on point

Harvey-Donna vibes

In every alternate reality Louis tries to poach Donna!

RedRosette J: As of now, I’m not a fan of the Rachel character Kim Ji Na. She came off too bitchy and mean and I feel like Go Sung Hee doesn’t have electric chemistry with Hyungsik which makes their banter fall a bit flat for me. The drama needs to work on the two of them. The drama however did stay true to the annoying Trevor and Jenny characters in Cheol Soon and Se Hee which I liked and I can’t wait too watch Geon Woo free himself of those toxic friendships.

Kim Ji Na you need to redeem yourself like asap

Oh look its the Trevor guy who ruins Geon Woo’s life

Please do not make this a thing like in the US version

RedRosette J: This remake had big shoes to fill and for the most part I think it delivered.

Issue 1: Whether the portrayal of Kang Seok and CEO Ha Yeon managing client expectations is accurate.

RedRosette J: You do need to manage your client’s expectations just so that they don’t think that you can get them the sun and moon when they retain your services. While I do think that Ha Yeon and Kang Seok needed to talk to their (obnoxious) client so that he was clear about what their services entailed and what he could expect from them, I don’t think it was appropriate (AT ALL) for Kang Seok to lie to him about getting paid already and that the client should just do what they tell him to do. That’s not really how it works. Lying to the client is a big No-No and breaks like a zillion lawyer ethics and rules. To the drama’s credit though, this was addressed constantly throughout both episodes so kudos to that!

When your client is an ass but you gotta be professional

Issue 2: Whether interviewing for jobs at law firms are as shown.

RedRosette J: I can’t really speak for what interviewing as an associate is like because I am technically still a student but for the most part that is what it is like. Everyone gets crowded into a big hall (typically at some shitty banquet hall or convention center) and there’s a lady at the desk who takes your name and then you wait to be called in and the waiting room is a giant stressball of candidates memorizing their perfectly crafted answers. It’s actually quite terrifying. Unfortunately, in real life, it’s nowhere near as nice as the fancy shmancy hotel the Kang & Ham interviews were held at LOL!

Can you feel the stress? Because I can

Who interviews people like this?

Issue 3: Whether corporate lawyers can practice criminal law.

RedRosette J: There’s a common misconception that having the title “Lawyer” means the person knows everything about “the law” and can practice in any type of law whenever they want. FALSE. Most lawyers work in highly specialized parts of the law and it is not recommended that you retain a lawyer who primarily works in one type of law to represent you in a case that is about a totally different type of law. Case in point: corporate lawyers are not experts in criminal law, so don’t get a corporate lawyer to defend you on a criminal case. It’s not that they can’t, it’s just that your interests will be better served by someone who has specialized knowledge in that area. That’s why there are criminal defense lawyers! I think it’s a bit silly that shows do this.

Specialize in one thing peeps

The worst that could happen is you could go to jail bro. It’s all good.

Getting handed your first case like

Issue 4: Whether you can get potential clients to sign retainer agreements while they are high out of their minds.

RedRosette J: Ummm….NO!!!! This is so beyond unethical I can’t even. You cannot get a client to sign a retainer agreement (an agreement stating that they allow you to be their legal representative) while they are high out of their minds! A person entering into any agreement must have the mental capacity and be of sound mind to make a rational and well thought out decision as to whether to enter into the agreement or not. Someone who is as high as a kite on Molly or whatever Lee Yi Kyung’s character was taking was definitely not of sound mind and he was definitely not able to enter into the agreement rationally. On top of that, he was also coerced by the arrival of the cops and Kang Seok threatening him! Nope. No. No can do.

Nope. Not ok. DO NOT SIGN THAT DUDE!

Issue 5: Whether you can blackmail your client into dropping his lawsuit against you.

RedRosette J: Yo no you cannot! Absolutely not. This violates a whole bunch of lawyer ethics, not to mention it is also breaking the law. So no. No matter how much of a pig your client is, you cannot blackmail them into dropping their lawsuit against you. You’d go to jail or be disbarred or both.

Definitely not ok.

Issue 6: Whether the bromance is legit.

RedRosette J: Unfortunately……(don’t hate me) it fell a bit flat for me. I was expecting a fast talking, movie line quoting bromance like the original, but this one just didn’t quite get there for me. While both actors have merit, there’s just something missing between them that just doesn’t quite make the bromance super awesome and one that you want to root for. As of right now, the only relationship on the show I care about is the one of Geon Woo and his Grandma.

This version of Harvey is a baseball fan!

Sorry not feeling it

Nope

Still nothing

Awww my poor heart can’t take it

Issue 7: Are Ji Na and Geon Woo the new Mike and Rachel?

RedRosette J: Again, this fell a bit flat to me because a) their first (real) meeting didn’t have the psazz like Mike and Rachel’s had, b) there was no indication of Geon Woo being totally smitten by Ji Na when they first meet (unlike Mike Ross who is instantly in total awe of Rachel) and c) they shouldn’t have tried to kdrama trope-fy the first meeting. Also idk whether it has to do with the whole kdrama love-hate trope but Ji Na carried that grudge about the rainwater splashing on her for far too long. Girl. Get over it. That shirt wasn’t even that nice. Also she was a bit too mean to him but what I did like about her was that when she realized that she had been wrong about him, she apologized without hesitation so she redeemed herself in my eyes a bit. The two also need more screen time for us to really get a sense of whether or not they are the new “Mike and Rachel”. But there is potential there and I’m not totally dismissing them at this point.

This first meeting kind of didn’t work for me

What is this weird vibe?

At least she apologized

Friends now?

Conclusion: Appeal Allowed.

Rating: 4 = I’ll Give You A Cookie (Mostly because they stuck very close to the original)

File No: Suits (Korea)-EPS-01-and-02 Appearing before The Dramacourt: Suits (Korea) Episodes 1 and 2 ***If this is your first time browsing The Drama Files, please read…

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bintaeran · 7 years

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The Reality of Grief

The Reality of Grief Nina Zolotow by Lisa Wendell

Love and Grief by John Holland*

I will be 65 in August. I started doing yoga when I was 18 in 1970 using the black and white pictures in an old paperback copy of Richard Hittleman's book as a guide. Even given lengthy breaks, I have practiced yoga for more than 40 years, mostly on my own, supplemented periodically with classes and several private sessions. And I practiced yoga two to three times a week with a wonderful teacher throughout my second pregnancy in 1986 with my son, Maxx. He was my "yoga baby."

The shock and trauma of Maxx’s diagnosis, illness, and ultimate death from T-Cell Lymphoma in 2007 at the age of 21 was completely unexpected, swift, and utterly annihilating to all of us. Diagnosed on July 11, dead on December 6th—one day a healthy, vibrant, funny, intelligent college junior looking forward to the rest of his life and just 17 weeks later, after physically and emotionally undergoing grueling treatment, gone from this world.

I felt that my life was over. Being on this planet without my son was unimaginable. I wanted no part of it. I continued to work full time only because I had to, but beyond basic household tasks and the rare outing to a movie or a visit with my daughter, I was psychologically immobilized by anxiety, remorse, guilt, and fear. A full year passed before I was able to return to intentional physical movement in the form of deliberate exercise, something I had done regularly all my life and an interest that Maxx and I had shared and enjoyed together. My first effort was to return to my stationary bike. Pedaling and often crying, I started with 10 minutes a night. Soon thereafter, I was able to lie on my back, legs propped up against the wall, arms stretched out to either side. Slowly, I began to add back some of the familiar poses I had practiced several evenings a week before he became ill.

My practice was halting, abbreviated, a haphazard mix of soothing, improperly aligned poses. My body was stiff with sorrow and non-use, any former flexibility gone. My spirit so flattened, sometimes I couldn't even bring myself to the mat unless I'd had a glass or two of wine—an approach I called "Drunk Yoga." But my practice was becoming more consistent and I continued.

I was unable to sit for any form of breathing meditation because quietly focusing on the sound of my breath was an excruciating trigger for a panic attack. We had watched Maxx struggling for air just before he had been intubated only hours before he died. The memory of him lying in a coma, a ventilator down his throat, precluded me from taking a conscious cleansing breath for the next eight years.

Now, ten years later, I still practice yoga, though much has changed in my approach. Early on in my grief, I mistakenly believed yoga would prove to be a way "out" or "through." The only time I was ever able to find a few moments of respite was when I was moving or resting in a yoga pose. I developed a short series of floor poses that seemed to calm me—all were essentially restorative in nature.

During this time I also took medication for anxiety and depression (still do), was in various forms of talk therapy, read, wrote, and tried in whatever fashion I could to find a life of some sort after losing my son. Yoga played its part, but yoga was not—could never be—a panacea for either the grief or intense anger I felt. In fact, I feel that the current emphasis on yoga for grief—meaning in the past decade—is misleading and ultimately deeply disappointing for anyone encouraged to think it is a way “out.” Grief for a lost child or a beloved other is a pain that one carries for a lifetime. There is no "out." There is no "through." We ultimately learn ways to shoulder the burden, to live with the weight of our sorrow. A regular practice seems to allow time and space for that lesson.

As with most ideas or concepts that "trend" in our popular culture, yoga in the mainstream has become a particularly lucrative market for studios, teachers, fashion, authors, businesses, and health-care entrepreneurs of every type. It is touted as solution for everything from alleviating back pain to promoting world peace. In many ways, yoga has become a snake oil for our time. Caveat Emptor. My point being that the bereaved are an extremely vulnerable population.

We are prone to reach for anything we think will give us some momentary respite from the agony of loss. Yoga can, and does, help. For some, practice can become an entire lifestyle with far reaching effects. In my own experience, however, yoga was not the only approach to finding a life after losing my son. Rather, it is one of many choices for activity that I have attempted to cobble together in the last nine years. find that both practicing and learning about yoga is more beneficial in smaller, more digestible doses. Too much of anything, too quickly, is counterproductive and anxiety provoking.

So it is important to remember that the experience of grief and the manifestation of sorrow are unique to the person, specific to circumstances, and dependent upon so many variables as to be impossible to categorize or mitigate.

Despite my reservations, I can say that yoga (asanas and breath work) has had a positive effect on my state of mind. This takes different forms and can occur both during the practice and on my moods long after. I am a realist. My practice is what works for me given my own temperament and my own experience. I offer these few suggestions in the hope that others may benefit.

My poses are primarily seated and I emphasize any hip-openers as well as shoulder and back stretching, as that is where I hold my tension. I move very slowly, breathing as deeply as possible. I do not force or push my body, and my motions are never vigorous. Powerful, yang-type asanas make me anxious and seem counter-intuitive to my needs, which are for extended, calming movement and breath. My flow is ad hoc, extemporaneous, flexible. I try to follow the sensations in my body, which will let me know what to try first and what comes next.

In addition to these yoga movements, I also ride a stationary bike every evening for 30 minutes and do light hand weights to strengthen my upper back muscles and improve my posture. The bereaved tend to hunch imperceptibly forward (over their hearts) as the years pass in an unconscious broken posture of self-defeat.

The combination of all three kinds of movement has admittedly been very helpful when I am experiencing some of my deepest sorrow. I did the same few poses over and over again with little variation. The sameness of the routine itself was comforting. Now, I am able to more easily change the sequences, add new poses, and remove others. Essentially, I do what feels best in no particular recommended order, but according to what my body seems to be requesting at the time.

Cat/Cow Pose: Breathing appropriately and very slowly (several times to loosen low back). See Featured Pose: Dynamic Cat-Cow Pose.

Dynamic Downward-Facing Dog: Moving in and out of Downward-Facing Dog pose with my breath from the all-fours position or from Cat pose, repeating a few times.

Lunge Pose (Vanarasana): Both high version and low version, with back knee on the ground. See Featured Pose: Lunge Pose.

Child's Pose (Balasana), with arms extended: Hold for several seconds. See Featured Pose: Child's Pose.

Reclined Arms Overhead pose (Supta Urdva Hastasana): Breathing slowly in three-part breath, stretching as much as I can into shoulders.

Thread the Needle Hip Stretch: See Opening Your Hips Without Knee Pain. Friday Q&A: Opening Your Hips without Knee Pain.

Reclined Leg Stretch (Supta Padangusthasana), all three versions: Leg straight up, out to the side, and twisting. See Featured Pose: Reclined Leg Stretch.

Wide Angle Seated Forward Bend (Upavista Konasana) and Sideways Wide Angle Seated Forward Bend (Parsva Upavista Konasana).

Frog Pose (Mandukasana): For an inner thigh stretch.

Legs Up the Wall Pose (Viparita Karani), with no support. See Featured Pose: Legs Up the Wall Pose.

Gentle Twists: Any kind, seated or reclined.

For breath practices, because sitting cross-legged for any length of time is not comfortable, I sit in Hero pose (Virasana) on a bolster, hands resting in my lap or on either leg. See Featured Pose: Hero Pose.

I will also practice in a reclined position once in awhile. In both poses I will occasionally place one hand on my heart and one on my belly. This calms me and helps me to concentrate on breathing in and out slowly. It feels reassuring to feel pressure in these two areas. Frequently, I listen to tonal meditative music. I am easily aroused and agitated by any noise, and find that listening to this type of music helps greatly in facilitating concentration.

I believe that people who are grieving, or suffering from any intense emotional distress can eventually be open to, and will try, in small steps and with gentle persuasive nudges to move in the direction of something that offers a non-competitive, non-judgmental, accepting opportunity to turn down the volume of despair. I think yoga allows for this flexible, individual approach.

Though I am not a teacher, a celebrity, or an expert, it is likely that I am representative of the majority of grievers who simply must find ways to survive after suffering great loss. I am a proletariat practitioner in the front line trenches and as such, I believe my own experience to be as valid as any "grief expert"—possibly more so.

Lisa Wendell is originally from Southern California, and she moved with her husband, Steve, and their children, Megan and Maxx, to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1986. Recently retired from her position as the Acquisitions Director in the library of a private university, she is hoping to take more time to write, exercise, read, garden and develop her yoga practice. Since the death of her son in 2007, she has devoted singular and concentrated effort toward accepting, understanding, and living with the significance of her loss.

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meditationadvise · 7 years

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Former CIA Spy Says `Russian Hacking` Is Another Lie

Robert Steele just informs it how it is. The previous CIA spy is no stranger to reality telling, as he has made waves in the past by publicly stating that nearly each 'terrorist strike' that has happened in the United States has been a false flag event.

Robert has likewise openly discussed the global collateral accounts, which is the biggest monetary cover-up on this planet. Opening the international security accounts is just what JFK was aiming to do so that he can legally subject and also finish the Federal Reserve.

In Robert's latest expose', he has not just claimed that the CIA is lying regarding the alleged 'Russian hacking,' yet that Barack Obama, CIA Supervisor John Brennan and also Director of National Knowledge James Clapper should all be impeached for 'existing to the general public on an issue of wonderful significance.'

Steele went on to write in his write-up:

' John Brennan is a phony. He has no proof, this story is outright crap. John Brennan does not stand for the great people of the CIA-- John Brennan is divorced from principles and also reality and also is making this crap up as he goes. The media must be held accountable by the public for failing to be expert. As Phil Geraldi claims straight, this is a conspiracy to delegitimize Donald Trump, poison the well with Russia, as well as subvert the Constitutional process-- the equivalent of court meddling.'

We has to remember too that Robert Steele isn't really simply an ordinary former CIA spy. Robert has more than 18 years experience in the United States Knowledge neighborhood as well as over Two Decade experience in industrial intelligence as well as training. He's educated over 7,500 policemans from over 66 nations and is also a former Marine who co-founded the Marine Corps Knowledge Activity.

He is additionally one of the greatest proponents of open-source innovation. One of his publications, The Open Source Whatever Statement of belief: Transparency, Reality and also Trust fund, is based upon the principle that every little thing in our world would alter for the far better if we took on systems that were open sourced. Robert's slogan with open resource whatever is: The reality regardless, reduces all various other costs.

As an advocate of 'truth regardless,' along with the lies he has actually openly exposed in the past, Robert has placed himself to be credible with regards to a wide variety of topics. Therefore, his stance on the rumors walking around that Russia 'hacked' the United States is worth major consideration. In his article, Robert makes differences in between 'hacking, leaking and also adjusting digital info.'

"To hack implies to acquire unauthorized gain access to. Normally state actors that get unapproved access look for to hide the reality of their gain access to, they do not leak details due to the fact that it discloses their success.

To leakage suggests to share details - whether accessed as an authorized expert or swiped as an unapproved outsider - so regarding accomplish a political, financial, cultural, or social effect.

To manipulate means to alter - either words in the situation of e-mails, creating misconceptions, or when it comes to electronic voting makers, in fact re-directing votes to accomplish a fixed outcome.

Based on my very own personal evaluation of all readily available sources, both classified and also unclassified, I think the following to be real:

1. NSA and also CIA have actually been snooping on United States politicians and United States political organizations with impunity. The loss of integrity by NSA and CIA is a much higher threat to our Constitution and also our Republic compared to any type of cyber-espionage by the Russians or any individual else.

2. Inning accordance with William Binney, an NSA whistle-blower, the leaks from the Democratic National Board were done by NSA insiders angry over the unyielding wrongdoing of Hillary Clinton and her personnel in the handling of categorized details. Inning accordance with Julian Assange the Russians did not offer this info. According to Ambassador Craig Murray, who satisfied the supplier of this details, it was an US expert, not a Russian. James Bamford, the kept in mind author who understands more individuals across NSA than I ever before will, has also tested the veracity of the insurance claim that the Russians leaked the DNC emails.

3. Relative to the hacking of John Podesta's e-mails, all offered info recommends that this was a singleton hacker who appears to have actually directed their phishing exploration through Russia's Yandex service - obtaining Podesta to alter his email using a web link they gave - as well as the release of Podesta's emails was a cyberpunk openness action instead of a state-sponsored covert impact action. There is some evidence to recommend that the cyberpunk that approached Podesta, although he/she transmitted their assault through Yandex, a company in Russia, does not speak Russian, which most Russians do.

4. The 650,000 e-mails affirmed to have been located on Anthony Weiner's laptop by the NYPD - including emails showing the transmission of identified details to IP addresses in Saudi Arabia and Qatar - are not yet a matter of public document, having actually been promptly withdrawed by the FBI, but they merit comment since they were noted by the United States public as well as can specifically not be condemned on the Russians.

5. We have the matter of digital ballot tampering. Stanford University has actually shown that Hillary Clinton swiped 13 primaries from Bernie Sanders. Later on, when she started trying to criticize the Russians for her loss of standing in public polls, this had the unplanned impact of leading DHS to carefully monitor electronic ballot, and also might have stopped Hillary Clinton from making use of the same electronic fraud methods against Donald Trump. There is absolutely no evidence that the Russians or any person aside from US political insiders, have actually looked for to or done well in digital ballot tampering or the many other forms of selecting fraud.

6. I keep in mind with sadness that the media - the supposed 4th estate - has actually been totally doing not have in knowledge as well as integrity. The New york city Times and also The Washington Message have been particularly reckless and untrustworthy in taking at face worth anonymous sources making undocumented claims.

Based on all of the above, I believe the Electoral University should be notified that the President's initial recognition of the political election outcome should be taken at face worth, that the CIA record is rescinded and also John Brennan rejected from solution, which they ought to abide by their Constitutional tasks as guided by their numerous state procedures. Unfortunately, neither the Director of National Knowledge neither the President of the United States show up to have the stability to level on this issue.'

With this most current announcement, we currently have another intelligence professional (who has a credibility for telling the fact) appear and assert that the CIA is lying concerning the supposed 'Russian hacking.' Just a couple days earlier, Julian Assange stated that the resource of the leakages is not the Russian federal government. Former UK ambassador Craig Murray likewise stated that it had not been the Russians. How much longer could this false narrative continue?

For even more of Robert Steele's articles and also open source work, have a look at his website phibetaiota.net

You can also see some of Robert's Kindle Shorts he has actually covered Trump as well as various other subjects, here.

#meditation #meditation for anxiety

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biofunmy · 5 years

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The New Spiritual Consumerism – The New York Times

As they prepare to leave, he tells them that he really needs them to stay in touch. “You’ve got to check on me,” he says. Absolutely, one of them says: “On Instagram.”

Sahred From Source link Arts

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