#refusing to teach them ultimately takes away any chance of growth

[co-dependance]

I’ve seen people talk about the main theme of the owl house being acceptance, and I think they’re completely right about that. But I haven’t really seen anyone look at the sub themes depicted in the show around the acceptance theme.

Specifically how the owl house is really advocating for child autonomy. Specifically in the ways of discipline, showing that communicating and talking with children ends up being a lot more beneficial and effective than punishing them.

The most obvious example comes with the collector, where instead of talking to him, King’s dad punished the kid by putting him in essentially time out, for the actions of his siblings. Which he would’ve learned if he had talked to the collector. And then following that, every interaction before talking with Luz, has the collector being used or placated in some way instead of being treated like an actual child due to the amount of power he has. The titan trappers revering him as some sort of god, Belos manipulating him, and even king attempting to appease the collector, instead of really talking to him. Though for king it’s a bit more understandable. Even so, the show showcases the collector’s change only after he’s talked to like a person, and then shown why his views were wrong.

Luz, who’s the main focus of the show, has her character arc and journey centered around being punished for her not fitting in at school. And while, yes, some of Luz’s antics that were shown seemed to be legitimately dangerous, the real solution would’ve been to talk with her and teach her about safety and why bringing wild animals and fireworks into a school building is dangerous. It should have also been that Luz should be able to talk and negotiate with her teacher about what would be acceptable for her projects with her endless creativity. The solution was not to essentially punish Luz for being creative, and what that only did was make her feel worse about herself and more isolated from the people she thought would be on her side. And then we were shown in thanks to them and for the future, Camilla’s growth into understanding that not talking to Luz about this, and essentially forcing her into normality, was not the way to go about things.

And we see this theme again, with Willow forced into the abomination track because her parent’s thought that was what was best for her, until she was able to showcase her skills and switch to what she was actually good at. Alador realizing he missed a lot of Amity’s growth by not talking to her, and then making it up to Amity by letting her set the boundaries and reestablishing their relationship. Odalia being controlling and not listening to her children which lead to actively harming their social development, until she was confronted and then shut out. Belos manipulating Hunter, isolating him, and abusing him, not even listening to what he had to say. And all of these situations were made better and more bearable when they were given the chance to take charge and be heard.

All this, in an attempt to showcase that children can be vulnerable and malleable, but they are also smart and understanding. And instead of deciding what a child needs, it’s important to communicate with the child instead, asking what they need and listening to what they’re saying. And implementing that by guiding and supporting them, not attempting to control them to what someone else thinks is right.

Children are smart and observant, they just need to be taught how to communicate, and viewed and thought of as actual human beings.

In a way, the owl house is attempting to advocate for it’s audience, and that’s beautiful.

#the owl house #toh #toh spoilers #toh season finale #luz nozeda #toh hunter #willow park #amity blight #child autonomy #honestly i think it's a really important thing to be taught to everyone at every age #Children are seen as dumb and it's disheartening because they're not #they're open to new ideas and possibilities and not yet stifled by their own learned w-orld veiw #and they don't know everything so that's why they need to be taught #refusing to teach them ultimately takes away any chance of growth #no kid is a lost cause #and kids can understand when something is wrong #ignoring them looses the chance for the kid to learn how to understand and indepen-dently come up with a solution later #toh meta

[crystalelemental]

And now, ranking the Fates characters by how good they are as parents.  I’ll just be ranking the canon parent, since generic supports annihilated cohesive characterization by making all the parent dialogues identical.

Also, I do need to address this.  Every parent in Fates is garbage.  They throw their kids into an interdimensional time portal and essentially don’t raise them at all.  So comparing them like this is basically comparing turds by how rank they are.  It doesn’t matter that some aren’t as awful as others, you’re still not gonna find one that smells good, you know?

Corrin - Honestly, she’s got a strong Camilla-esque vibe to her protectiveness toward Kana.  I like it.  Also Kana knows when Corrin is coming to visit, and seems to imply that this is a routine thing, making Corrin one of the few known parents who actually makes a point to visit her kit.  A-rank.

Azura - Once again, your decision to be cryptic for no reason causes nothing but problems for everyone involved, and your son, who you didn’t raise on your own, had his entire village annihilated by foes that went after him to get to you, but you never warned him or them about anything?  D-rank.

Jakob - While hyper-critical, he’s not entirely off the mark, in terms of what Dwyer needs to be doing.  He’s not a bad kid though, so it does come across as more harsh than he really needs to be to make a point, since Dwyer is ultimately self-sufficient and capable.  C-rank.

Silas - Actually a pretty good dad.  He’s one of the few that just actively admires his child coming out of their deeprealm to help others, is fully supportive of them staying with the group, and is supportive of Sophie in general. It is Silas, so he’s a little generic with his praises, but it’s still a better parenting approach than most of them. A-rank.

Kaze - And here to completely outdo Silas is Kaze.  Again, Midori seems to know when he’s coming, meaning like Corrin, his appearance is a routine thing in her life.  Not perfectly routine though, which creates a bit of conflict between the two, in which Kaze is able to express that he always did his best to be there for her, but kept her here to be safe.  Willing to admit mistakes, accepting of her decisions, clear care for his child despite the poor general decision of leaving your children unattended in deeprealms, but is willing to actually be a parent and reprimand them for their poor decisions, while still being compassionate in his approach.  S-rank.  Kaze’s a good dad.

Ryoma - Honestly, I love that Shiro actually calls him out about not raising him at all.  Also the unnecessary secrecy about who he is and not letting Shiro know his status, and then being irritated when Shiro grows up without any direction in life.  Honestly I’m coming around on Shiro, who has so far been right on the money about how shit a father Ryoma is.  D-rank.

Takumi - Honestly Takumi’s pretty solid?  The support has him being a bit of a dick because he’s jealous of his own kid’s ability, but in the paralogue proper he’s honestly a pretty solid dad?  Like he shows up unannounced so we know he’s taking time to actually meet with his kid, and is fairly protective of him.  He does give in to letting Kiragi come along for dumber reasons, but on the whole he’s solid.  A-rank.

Saizo - He’s kind of a dick?  This is very much how Saizo is, but his entire thing is like...the honor of the family name to the point he doesn’t seem to have any connection to his kid, just his bloodline.  He does eventually let his kid be himself, but only in that, when he demonstrates “his own brand of honor,” Saizo gives him that freedom, but by basically disowning him as next in the Saizo line.  Which is I guess what the kid wanted, but still, it’s kind that “Grant your freedom, but you’re not my son” type feel.  D-rank.

Kaden - He’s alright?  He doesn’t do much, but he at least makes plenty of time to go visit his daughter just for the sake of visiting.  Still, he’s so bad at raising his child that she doesn’t know what dead means, and thinks poachers are there to play.  So present, but perhaps too permissive and uninvolved in actually raising her.  C-rank.

Hinata - Apparently just fucking forgot to make time for his kid.  He’s loving in his own way, but clearly not putting his child as a top priority in a lot of cases.  Not the worst, but certainly not good.  C-rank.

Azama - F-rank.  I don’t really need to explain this, do I?  Fuck Azama.  Even Saizo realizes how much of a callous fuckhead he is toward his own kid.  SAIZO!  Also you somehow gave your daughter a separate world from yours, in the attempt to give her a life of peace, which she achieves and is happier without you, so you storm in only when she’s in active danger, then insist on dragging her out of this peaceful realm into the world of constant war...just because?  Fuck Azama.  F-rank forever.

Subaki - He’s a decent dad.  It does kind of imply that he’s been away for a while, so questionable how much time he’s actually spending with her.  And while he’s generally doting and kind toward his daughter, there is that weird ending bit where he gets nervous about her outperforming him.  I’ll give it a B-rank overall.

Hayato - Honestly, he’s wishy-washy.  Either you fully support your daughter’s mad science or you don’t.  You can’t half-ass this, acknowledging she loves the dark arts and permitting her to mess around with it, and then step in and insist it’s off limits when it turns out the dark arts also have some potentially evil consequences.  Stepping in when he does to take things away feels more like backpedaling on a decision he already made to let her do as she pleases, which was probably too permissive as it stands.  C-rank, which is honestly pretty good for a teen parent compared to some of these other shitheads.

Xander - Finally on the Nohrians.  Xander actually like...talks to his kid.  Siegbert knows what his role is, and even if Xander can’t visit as often as he’d like in person, he keeps in contact through missives.  Now, there is the issue of his stance being “You have to learn to shoulder some burdens alone,” and thinking his son refusing to contact him about these fucking swamp demons was commendable.  So he’s definitely not perfect on this front.  But he does acknowledge that this is the burden of a leader having to make such choices, is accepting and understanding of his son’s autonomy and decisions while still being firm about keeping him safe from war and sending him back should he prove himself unready.  A-rank overall, I think.

Leo - Okay listen.  While I do recognize that Leo comes around and starts trying to be a better father, and I recognize the importance of growth and improvement. But the fact that Leo has spent most of his son’s life avoiding him because he disapproves of his interest in feminine fashion is just inexcusable.  The time to step up as a parent and learn this shit was a long-ass time ago, man.  You’ve basically been out of your child’s life this entire time, shown up only to angrily disapprove of how he lives his life, and now want to walk back in and expect that trying to change means he should give you that chance?  Why?  There’s no reason for Forrest to be the one who has to acknowledge you’re changing and growing as a person.  If nothing else, at least Forrest completely tells him off, and when Leo makes his attempt at reconciliation, his first thought is that he’s excited to get to know Elise.  Get fucked, Leo.  At least you go to save your kid, and don’t seem to express that you’re willing to let him die.  But you did stall on going, so like...fuck you.  F-tier.

Benny - And now for the exact opposite.  Benny’s an absolute sweetheart, and it’s no surprise he’s the same with his son.  He seems to care greatly for his son, is proud of his actions, and while protective, is willing to support his son’s decision to become stronger and learn to defend others with courage, while also teaching him that he’s not as fearless as he seems.  Honestly, maybe it’s just the feeling coming off of Leo, but S-rank.  We don’t really know how often he visits Ignatius, but I’d like to believe it’s often.

Keaton - Nothing too exciting, nothing too bad.  An easy, uninteresting B-rank.

Arthur - Apparently he’s never visited.  And openly stated that because he thought his son was safe here, his job was done.  This is the most intense version of just literally not being there for your child at all.  Still, at least he gives a shit, so D-rank, but a low D.

Odin - I think he’s solid.  Honestly there’s nothing outstanding here, but I really like Odin as a person, so A-rank.

Laslow - Okay, so in the intro to her chapter, Laslow mentions that Soleil has a band for town watch, and that she should be in her Deeprealm but goes where she pleases.  Which implies he knows she’s in his world already.  So he’s already letting her do as she pleases.  He’s openly aware she’s bi (let’s be real, here) and is fully supportive (LEO).  He taught her some great mechanisms for coping with difficulties in her life, and helps her realize it’s okay to not be positive when it feels forced.  And when confronted with the reality that Soleil is way better than him at flirting with the ladies, instead of being an insecure prick about it, he’s like “Hell yeah, that’s my girl!”  S-rank, easy.

Niles - I hate Niles, but as far as parenting goes, he’s not the worst.  It’s not clear if he’s been to visit her much (sounds like a no), but he at least has clear care for her.  He does try to emphasize to her what kind of life he’s had and that he doesn’t want her to have to live like that too, so I do appreciate that angle for him.  B-rank.

And that’s everyone.  There are some decent parents in all this.   The only real failures are Leo and Azama.  I think Azama’s a bit worse based on not showing any inclination to change or any particular care about his child, while Leo at least learns something and grows from it.  Though Leo’s issues are such a problem for me.  I think Laslow’s the best, though Kaze and Benny were also really great.

Shame about the Baby Realm thing, though.  That whole idea was just so stupid...

#fire emblem fates

[doux-amer]

The reason Wandavision ultimately was a big disappointment was that it didn’t say anything new or add any depth to Wanda. Some people have argued that we shouldn’t have expected much because this is the MCU we’re talking about, but I hate that logic for two reasons: 

Marvel is using the Disney+ series to expand upon characters and plots that they couldn’t/didn’t get to explore in the films

This dismisses the existence of MCU works that have, while dealing with the trappings of being a blockbuster/studio film or “just” a superhero film or show, tried to go beyond that with their stories and characters

You can’t ignore Marvel’s goal with D+ nor can you paint all the works with the same brush.  

This was Marvel’s opportunity to give a side character who has been given such shoddy writing the growth she sorely needed. We didn’t get that. Wanda is very much the same person she was in Age of Ultron; we still barely know anything about her besides the fact that she’s powerful and traumatized. She is very much defined by that. Who is she outside of that? Who is she outside her grief? Why, for instance, does Vision love her so much? We know why she loves Vision. In fact, I’d argue that the star or at least the heart of Wandavision was Vision because we learn more about him and see him grow. 

There’s no movement, either positive or negative, here. Wanda continues to behave the same way, never learning or truly being shaped by her actions for good or bad in any significant way, and the MCU refuses to commit to making her anything. She isn’t a good hero. She isn’t a good antihero. She isn’t a good villain. They want to make her someone complex, but we’re left not understanding if we’re supposed to root for her despite her troubles or see that this is a troubling evolution towards emotional and moral corruption. Is she a messy hero? Or is she a sympathetic villain?

As a recap, here’s what we’ve seen of Wanda and why I’m saying she hasn’t had any meaningful growth:

Wanda volunteers for Hydra. You know, Nazis? If you want to quibble about whether they’re “technically” Nazis, whatever; they’re still a terrorist organization, and Wandavision explicitly states it as such. Here was a chance to address the awful decision Whedon made, but we get a white woman nonchalantly excusing her voluntary involvement with the world’s most famous terrorist group with a blasé “We wanted to change the world.” This is the most we get from her about this.

Wanda mentally violates and assaults the Avengers. She forcibly traps them in their worst nightmares. She coerces Bruce into transforming into the Hulk against his will, ripping him of his agency and sanity. When Bruce confronts her about this later in AoU, she straight up refuses to apologize. Wanda has yet to apologize to any of the Avengers.

In her thirst for vengeance, she decides to use the Hulk to hurt innocent people, most of whom are black, in Johannesburg. The only reason people aren't killed is that Tony tries to get people out of harm's way, get Bruce away from civilians, and help Bruce regain control before subduing him when he fails. We never see Wanda thinking about what she did in Johannesburg.

Wanda knows Ultron is evil and follows him, standing by as he hurts Helen Cho, yet another innocent civilian POC. She only cares about Ultron’s destructive nature when she reads his mind and realizes he wants to commit global genocide. Wanda is also arguably one of the Avengers most responsible for creating Ultron. Without her, there is no Ultron. Without her interference, we get Vision. We don’t ever see her grappling with her culpability. This is not the case with the others who made Ultron.

Wanda therefore plays a huge role in the destruction of her home country of Sokovia and the countless resulting deaths including Pietro’s. We see her sad, but we don’t see any guilt. We don’t even see survivor’s guilt.

Because she can’t control her power, Wanda commits manslaughter, killing innocent black people in a Lagos hospital. Other than seeing her react in horror at the scene and turn away from the video that Ross shows later, we don’t see how this impacts her or the way people treat her as an individual. She’s briefly detained under house arrest, essentially grounded, a logical response to what happened. 

Despite the damage she caused, she flees the compound with Clint to the airport even if Clint doesn’t give her a valid reason for doing so, not before slamming the person she cares about the most, Vision, through dozens of feet of concrete and earth.

Rather than seeing Wanda be reluctant to use her powers after learning she doesn’t know how to control herself, we see her chiding Clint for being soft and taking it easy on the other side. The Avengers are doing that because they’re fighting against their own teammates and friends; they’re acting to escape or subdue. She doesn’t care if she gets people hurt while trying to stop them as evidenced by what she says to Clint and her actions thereafter. 

Wanda takes a whole town hostage and mind controls them. All of the people whose identities she wipes and whom she turns into her puppets are in extreme pain. While what occurred happened instinctually rather than as a deliberate, conscious choice, she becomes aware of what she’s done at some point (Dottie’s cry for help, Wanda’s refusal to listen to Jimmy’s message, Monica breaking free of her conditioning, Vision bringing it up, etc.). She doesn’t let them go. She refuses to believe that they’re in pain even when she’s told that. Only when she’s backed into a corner does she let them go. She then never apologizes or even speaks a word to them. (It doesn’t matter whether or not she thinks they’d accept her apology; you don’t apologize on the condition that you’re heard and forgiven. You do it because you should, even if it doesn’t change anything for the people you hurt. She only apologizes to the one person whom she knows will accept her apology/be lenient on her.)

When Monica starts to remember the real world, Wanda gets hostile and slams her through multiple houses, past the ends of town, and through the reality boundary.

When Vision becomes aware of the problem at hand, she repeatedly gaslights him and tries to control what he can/should and can’t/shouldn’t do. She gets upset when he doesn’t act the way she wants him to. She doesn’t apologize to him beyond saying she should have told him earlier which is only part of the problem.

Wanda tells Agatha the difference between them is that while Agatha did what she did intentionally, she didn’t. This isn’t true.

What Agatha says about Wanda is true; she’s cruel. For the third time in a row, Wanda decides to violate someone’s mind and control them. She essentially murders Agatha, even if it’s bloodless and reversible (and she only says she’ll reverse it if she wants to use Agatha).

After the fight is over, she decides to leave Westview rather than face any consequences or help clean up. She leaves the Westview residents with all their trauma and the destruction of their town without a word to them.

In the post-credits scene, she has fled the country and is isolated in a remote cabin, reading a book she doesn’t understand about concepts she doesn’t understand instead of seeking help when she has a terrible track record of self-teaching or understanding her powers.  

When you put all of this together, everything screams “villain,” but as I said, the writers refuse to come out and say that she’s that. They refuse to say anything, and maybe you can argue that they don’t have to make it clear right this moment. You can argue that Wanda should be allowed to be messy, just like many other characters in the MCU are. 

The thing about that line of reasoning, though, is that those other characters who are messy? The writing acknowledges that, and we see them deal with the ramifications of their actions and they’re held accountable to them. We see them apologize. We see them try to be better people. We see them work to make up for their mistakes or sins. We need to see Wanda do that if we’re supposed to see her as a hero. Or if she isn’t (and there’s nothing wrong with that! Wanda doesn’t have to be a hero, and in fact, she could be a compelling antagonist or villain which can be exciting), well, she still needs to face consequences. 

She doesn’t. She is, by far, the uncontested champion in getting away with what she does; yes, we get some handwaving for certain things other characters do, but no other character has nearly all of their deeds and behavior ignored to the extent Wanda does. It’s extremely frustrating to see. We keep seeing a cycle:

Wanda is full of anger/vengeance and/or grief. 

She acts from a place of trauma and prioritizes her desires. 

Something bad happens.

Often, it’s something she didn’t mean to happen or she didn’t mean to go that far.

She’s horrified or sad.

Very occasionally, she gets a slap on the wrist, but it’s so brief and doesn’t actually change anything that it might as well not have happened. Most times, it’s as if she never did anything and the story never brings up what she did again (unless it’s to show how she’s sad or powerful).

She doesn’t do anything. She does the same mistakes/crimes again. Wash and repeat.

It’s so unbelievably vexing and tiresome. Despite all my issues with Wanda up until Wandavision and, most importantly her casting, I wanted to like Wanda, whether it was as a hero or villain or someone in between. BUT WE GOT NOTHING NEW. I don’t know anything about Wanda even now beyond “vengeful, sad, powerful white woman who is traumatized and clings to family because of that”! This is the SAME EXACT THING we’ve been dealing with since the beginning, and it’s so frustrating. Wanda deserved better.

#wandavision spoilers

[a-crimson-lion]

How Losing Can Feel Like Winning (The Right And Wrong Way)

Me: *Looks at clock*

Me: Screw it, I got time to burn.

[Bad news: Bakugo Bashing. Good News: Not JUST Bakugo Bashing. I get the feeling some of you get tired of that.]

I've heard a phrase that goes somewhere along the lines of "Winning signifies victory, losing signifies a chance to learn from your mistakes." In this sense, losing can feel like winning in the right circumstances. However, that doesn't mean that's always a good thing. In order to elaborate, I'll be using two examples from My Hero Academia: Katsuki Bakugo and Izuku Midoriya.

+Katsuki Bakugo (Wrong Way)

In retrospect, I shouldn't be surprised. The "Katsu" part of Katsuki's name comes from the Japanese term that means "to win." It's only natural that even some of his failures are ultimately victories. However, these "subsequent victories," as I will address them as from here on out, don't exactly work in his favor, which I will explain later.

Also, something to keep in mind: characters will not always win something when they lose. Sometimes a loss is a loss. It may help in the long run, but we're looking at the losses that have a relatively close and significant impact shortly after the loss. Now then, let's begin:

The Battle Trial. Katsuki lost this by the parameters of the test. With this loss, he is confronted by the fact that Izuku, someone who should be "worthless" by his standards, managed to beat him. He spends the rest of the day having a lowkey mental breakdown because his worldview has been challeneged and he can't cope. However, once Izuku has recovered from his injuries, he ends up confronting Katsuki and telling him about his quirk, or at least enough for Katsuki to connect the dots, and Katsuki decides to refirm his resolve to overcome everyone is his class. Later, All Might will attempt to comfort him. So, Katsuki lost, and he gets insider knowledge on one of the world's most incredible quirks, his initial worldview is reestablished with some minor changes, and good old All Might shows up to comfort him. Yeah, looks like a subsequent victory.

Attacking Kurogiri. The Pro Hero No. 13 is about to apprehend Kurogiri at the USJ, but out of nowhere, Katsuki and Eijiro attack the menacing Warp Gate Villain, causing No. 13 to hold back and allowing Kurogiri to scatter Class 1-A to the winds. Only... what's this? Katsuki overheard Kurogiri saying "That was close," and thus came to the conclusion that he had a physical body!? How convenient! All sarcasm aside, this is an obvious subsequent victory.

Final Exams. Katsuki tries time and time again to try taking down All Might in their final exam, even though running away is a perfectly viable course of action and All Might (even handicapped and weaker than he's been before) is a force of nature to be reckoned with. Naturally, Katsuki gets his butt whooped, due to his initial refusal to collaborate with Izuku and his own adamant persistence in trying to take down All Might, and failing spectacular. But this will never affect him in the long run, because while Katsuki's out cold, Izuku comes to his aid, and drags him through the gate, letting them both pass. This is one of the subsequent victories that irritates me more than most, but I'll get back to that later.

Provisional License Exam. Fast forward a few months ahead, and our young heroes in training are finally gonna get their Provisional Hero Licenses! Well, except for Katsuki (and Shoto, but he's not the focus right now). At first, this seems like a momentous occasion! Katsuki didn't get his License; we're in for more character development!!! Well yes, but actually no. For starters, just because Katsuki didn't get his License NOW doesn't mean he won't get it LATER (which he does, and I will admit that he has every right to try again). Then, because DeKu got his License before Katsuki, his inferiority complex will rear it's ugly head, dragging Izuku out after curfew for an unnecessary pummeling (and NO, just because Izuku justifies it to himself doesn't mean I have to), after which he'll get a few days house arrest and learn the entire scale of One for All. Oh, that's not enough? He also conveniently avoids fighting against Mirio, an opponent who would absolutely curb stomp him. Even if he didn't follow Shoto's lead and stick to the sidelines because he lacked his license, Deku vs Kacchan 2 made sure that the narrative had a backup plan to keep him from earning a well deserved beating (though let's be honest, knowing Katsuki, it probably wouldn't do much). And to top it all off, he only gets a little bit better than he was before. Just a smidge. This one of those subsequent victories that makes me go "Ooh, you sneaky piece of crap" in regards to the narrative.

We'll stop there for now, since Season 4 isn't out yet and we really don't see much of Katsuki there, anyway. The reason I don't like any of Katsuki's subsequent victories is because they don't let his character grow; they shelter him from consequences and justify his less than ideal decisions. He gets comfort and privilege after a fight which only strengthens his flawed world view. He gets insider knowledge on how to incapacitate one of the villains by getting in the way of a Pro Hero who would have likely reduced the villain's impact. I don't like how he passes the Final Exams considering that even though Minoru carried Hanta out the gate, Hanta still failed (and while I don't like Minoru, I can admit that he shows strategic intelligence when it counts, though not much else). Why does Katsuki get to pass when Izuku basically does the same thing? And then the narrative tries to make it seem like Katsuki is recieving fair consequences for his actions, even though it will ultimately end up with a slap on the wrist and knowledge of a quirk he shouldn't know about, combined with the fact that he avoids a confrontation which might actually teach him something, and he'll get his License anyway.

Katsuki doesn't get to grow to be better; he just continues to get more physical growth rather than emotional growth, which will ultimately backfire as it has on people like Endeavor and numerous villains (I appreciate that Endeavor is attempting to change, but still). Subsequent victories are pointless if they don't let the character, y'know, actually improve.

Okay, Bakugo bashing over. Let's move on to...

+Izuku Midoriya (Right Way)

What's interesting about Izuku's subsequent victories is that there's not only arguably more of them compared to other Shonen protagonist, but there's also actual growth that comes with them, and not just another epic power boost that ignores the problems thus far. Let me elaborate.

Entrance Exam. This is the closest to a win that Izuku gets from a loss. Even though he actually passed thanks to rescue points, we don't know that, and Izuku doesn't know it, either. That makes it all the more relieving that Izuku actually passes his exam, and it's also a subtle reminder to viewers: "Raw strength isn't everything; actions are important, too." Of course, Katsuki would probably argue about that...

Midoriya vs Todoroki. This is probably his biggest subsequent victory to date because of the sheer impact it has on the series. We can see that even if he goes all out after freeing Shoto from his previous transgressions, Izuku still loses the match. It's what happens in the aftermath that REALLY sells the point across, though. Izuku actually has permanent damage thanks to his reckless use of his quirk at 100%. He gains an ally in Shoto, which will come in handy during the Stain Arc. He learns about All Might's Quirkless past, and he ultimately gains the incentive to learn what will eventually becime One for All: Full Cowl. A subsequent victory at its finest!

Deku vs. Kacchan 2. I've already said my thoughts about this fight during my spat on Katsuki. I still stand by that, especially considering that this subsequent victory is the closest to an actual loss as far as I'm going. Having said that, Izuku still benefits from this. Even if he lost that fight with Katsuki, he still managed to bump up his quirk output from 5% to 8%. Plus, when he returns to class, he'll see how far he has to go to really become a hero when he faces off against Mirio, leading into the Shie Hassaikai Arc.

And since he doesn't experience a subsequent victory that I can recall from that point to the end of the Shie Hassaikai arc, I'll just leave it there. The difference between Izuku's subsequent victories and Katuki's is that Izuku grows emotionally as well as physically. He gets into a hero school because of his heroic nature. He learns to better maintain his use of One for All and gains a powerful ally after he loses the match, while learning to take better care of himself when he's using his quirk. Finally, he gains a small but significant power boost from an otherwise pointless confrontation, later getting the proper perspective on how much farther he has to go on his path to heroism.

In a way, I think the above statements describe Katsuki and Izuku's work ethics.

Katsuki works hard, yes, but it's more for the sake of maintenance. He's not getting stronger and more versatile with his quirk because he thinks he has to; he's doing it because he thinks he's already the best of the best (most of the time), and now he has to prove it to everyone else.

Izuku works hard because he wants to actually push beyond his limits. There are no finish lines for Izuku, only checkpoints. Getting stronger is only a piece of Izuku's goal: to help save people. He doesn't think of himself as the best; he just wants to do better.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

-Crimson Lion (8 September 2019)

#bnha #boku no hero academia #mha #my hero academia #katsuki bakugo #katsuki bakugou #izuku midoriya #anti bakugo #anti bakugou #character analysis #meta #long post

[radrush]

give YOUR nge thoughts

this is gonna be super filled with spoilers in case any of my followers still haven’t seen this show for some reason

haven’t heard of it | absolutely never watching | might watch | currently watching | dropped | hated it | meh | a positive okay | liked it | liked it a lot! | loved it | a favorite probably my favorite show ever

don’t watch period | drop if not interested within 2-3 episodes | give it a go, could be your thing obviously it’s very intense and the lore is very confusing but it’s so worth what it demands | 5 star recommendation I've watched nge numerous times but it’s just one of those shows that’s filled with such detail and rich characterization that I seemingly find new things to consider every time I watch it

fav characters: Asuka is the neurotic queen and is probably the most entertaining character to witness on screen because of it but it also makes her the series’ most tragic character in my opinion. While she ultimately faces the same existential conundrums as Shinji (a sense of loneliness and isolation caused by lack of familial support, an anxiety created by a lack of assurance in one’s own purpose that contributes to low self-worth, and a fundamental difficulty with relating to others honestly because of these factors), unlike Shinji she has a variety of coping mechanisms to deal with these issues which give her the appearance of functionality but which are ultimately unsustainable and don’t allow her to be honest with herself about her real emotions, precisely because they work to repress the emotions that are too painful for her to feel fully. In an attempt to overcome feelings of worthlessness caused by her family’s rejection of her, she throws herself fully into the role of Eva pilot, turning her abilities as a pilot into a structural pillar of her self-worth which comes crashing down when Shinji proves himself to be as capable as pilot as her. She also acts rudely and boisterously in an attempt to avoid rejection, pushing people away from her before they have a chance to get close enough to understand who she really is and then reject her afterwards. This is also why Asuka is NOT a tsundere as so many people claim. Her coldness and “high and mighty” attitude are not borne out of an embarrassment with her “true feelings” of friendship or romance towards Shinji, but are rather a defense mechanism that she uses to protect herself from the pain of intimacy. Her open displays of disgust towards him are not an act which she uses to hide a secretly harbored positive view of him, she actually just hates his guts. She’s all tsun and no dere.

Shinji is a character whose experiences highly resonated with me when I first watched the series as a teenager but I feel like even if i didn’t heavily relate to his emotional struggles I would still end up talking about him here because ultimately the series is focused on his struggle to define himself on his own terms and through his relationships with others. Because Shinji lacks the dysfunctional coping mechanisms that Asuka has come to adopt, and instead has a tendency to turn inward and engage in torturous processes of reflective self-deprecation when he feels emotionally challenged it makes sense that he would be the focus of the show’s thesis on relational psychology. As a sensitive boy with a great deal of familial trauma, Shinji is intimately familiar with the emotional havoc that humans can wreak on each other in their relationships. Not wanting to have to deal with the burden of this pain any longer, he is constantly running away from his commitments because he views his relationships with others not as potential sites for growth and self-fulfillment but as avenues which only lead towards greater feelings of pain and misery. You can hardly blame him for feeling this way because of what he experiences before and during the series, but ultimately he must learn as a part of his growth process that while his relationships with others contain the possibility of greater pain, to live a fulfilling life it is imperative to look past the possibility for pain in order to find the hope for meaning and love that makes life worth living. Shinji’s story teaches us that as long as we remain true to ourselves and are cognizant of our own emotional needs in our relationships, there is no need to live in fear of the pain that others might deliver upon us out of their own wounding.

In many ways Misato behaves like a grown-up, more apparently functional version of Shinji. While she is more readily able to form emotional bonds with others, these bonds are often entirely surface-level, as evidenced by her preoccupation with appearances (wearing flashy clothes, driving an expensive sports car, introducing herself to Shinji in the way she does). The dichotomy between her clean, confident exterior persona and the slobbish, lazy way she lives when removed from the gaze of others reinforces the idea that while she behaves a certain way in order to be comfortable in social situations, she is inwardly insecure and deeply troubled by how her attempts at meaningful relationships have turned out, having never been able to reconcile her relationship with her father before his death and having run away from her relationship with Kaji when his presence caused those unreconciled emotions to rise to the forefront of her psyche. I also love how the Jet Alone episode frames her lifestyle in two drastically different ways. At the beginning of the episode we see her guzzling beer and eating instant ramen for breakfast in her gross apartment and react to those behaviors according to the humorous and quirky surface-level reading of them that the show gives us, but during the episode itself we see her forced to deal with the stupidity and recklessness of others in her profession as well as the unique challenges she faces in those situations because of her femininity, on top of seeing her take responsibility during a life-threatening situation when no one else will, causing her to undergo a near-death experience. After all of this, the narrative comes full circle and we see her again the next morning in her gross apartment, chugging an entire can of Yebisu and realize how much her lax lifestyle choices are really shaped by the kind of emotional stress she is forced to deal with on a daily basis and a need to have a space where she can be unconcerned with those stresses.            

I like how although Ritsuko treats Misato as her equal in their personal relationship and they’re both at the same professional level, being heads of their respective branches of NERV, from the very first episode it’s clear that Ritsuko’s knowledge of the Evas and and the true purposes of NERV far surpasses Misato’s. As Misato begins to understand the amount of classified information that Ritsuko has access to and refuses to share with her their relationship effectively deteriorates until Ristuko can no longer shoulder the burden of her knowledge on top of her increasingly strained relationships with both Misato and Gendo and she essentially self-destructs.

Kaji is kind of a sexist jerk but he’s also the only character in the text who can operate as a positive male role model for Shinji because of how selfish Gendo is and it’s ultimately his advice to Shinji throughout the series but especially in episode 19 and the run up to it that spurs Shinji to take action instead of continuing to be a bystander while Rei and Asuka fight for their lives. I also like him because he’s a truth seeker. He does the bidding of Selee and Gendo because doing so allows him to get closer to the truth behind Selee, NERV, the Evas, the angels, and human instrumentality, and he eventually pays the ultimate price for his pursuit of knowledge.

least fav characters: I guess I'm supposed to say Gendo because he’s such a dick but even if he’s a shitelord he’s still a well developed character–consistently narcissistic and self-serving, only treating others as means to ends, not at all capable of the emotional vulnerability required to actually really love, although maybe he possessed it at one point in the past. He’s evil as fuck but ultimately a good character. I love how the first time we see him smile is when he gives the order to launch unit-01 it’s so good and makes me hate him so much.

Ritusko’s mom, Naoko, is like probably the only character in the show that i think is written poorly like it’s honestly just stupid to me that she would be so in love with Gendo and so heartbroken over him that she would literally kill Rei I and then herself over being taunted about the fact that Gendo didn’t really love her and was just using her but i guess bitches just be crazy amirite fellow redditors. Literally what is so great about Gendo that all these women keep getting involved with him?? Like for the credit you can give Anno for writing really interesting women in this series, he still is a bit of a sexist and it’s not just with Naoko.

fav relationship: Asuka and Shinji obviously have one of the most interesting dynamics in the show from the first time they meet. We know they’re not bound to get along well since Shinji is pretty reserved and not very confident and Asuka is incredibly boisterous and all too full of herself and in fact resents Shinji for his lack of self-worth and motivation. All of this is compounded by the fact that the source of Asuka’s massive self-esteem is her ability to pilot the Eva, a task at which she continually finds herself upstaged by Shinji, who at the same time can’t seem to decide whether piloting the Eva is something he even wants to continue doing. In episode eight she’s amazed when Kaji tells her that Shinji was able to sync with Unit-01 without ever having been inside it before but when Kaji brings it up again when all of them are together and openly praises Shinji’s “natural” capabilities as a pilot, Asuka is embarrassed and takes his praise of Shinji as an injury to her self esteem because being the greatest Eva pilot is so central to her self-identity. She vents this embarrassment by taking it out on Shinji, who meanwhile can’t help the fact that he has a natural ability to do this scary and dangerous thing he’s barely done before and doesn’t at all know what to do with Asuka’s frustration towards him. Rei operates as a kind of foil to this dynamic (is it still a foil if its three ways instead of two?) because she possesses very little of her own will in the early part of the series and merely pilots the Eva because it’s her designated purpose in life, what she was literally born to do. As all three of them grow through the relationships that they navigate with each other and the adults in their lives, these motivations, self-definitions, and reasons for being shift and evolve, are built up and broken down, and ultimately remain in flux because that’s just how that shit is

Shinji and Kaworu I obviously hold very close to my big gay heart because of how touching it is to see Shinji love and be loved by another boy but that being said their relationship is very intentionally one-dimensional because of the fact that Kaworu is less of a human character and more of a character representation of the abstract concepts of hope and love themselves. From Kaworu’s perspective too, his relationship with Shinji is just as much about knowing and loving Shinji as it is about knowing and loving humanity as a whole. Because Kaworu isn’t human, he doesn’t have any emotional needs or trauma which might preclude him from loving Shinji or make it difficult for Shinji to love him, which is why he appears to Shinji when he does: when Shinji feels most abandoned by those he feels he has tried and failed to form emotional bonds with and is in most dire need of someone who will attempt to understand him as he is trying to understand himself. In loving Shinji in the selfless, needless, and unconditional way he does, he gives Shinji hope that real love and real human connection are things that exist out there in the world for him to experience, even if his relationship with Shinji is only an idealized version of that. When Shinji is forced to kill Kaworu in order to save himself and humanity, this hope is momentarily shattered and by the next episode we realize that this has caused Shinji to lose his will to live, although ultimately Kaworu’s death is necessary not just for plot reasons but also because Shinji must eventually come to realize that while he can be in love and find meaning in his relationships with others, he can’t expect any other person to love him so selflessly the way Kaworu did because that’s simply not a reasonable thing to ask of another human being with their own emotional needs and trauma and baggage. In addition to his qualities of magnanimous selflessness, as a divine being in a mortal vessel who ultimately chooses to sacrifice himself to ensure the fate of humanity, Kaworu also operates as a sort of messiah figure within the narrative of the series. The fact that his love for Shinji is representative of his love for all humankind and that Shinji’s love for him is a reflection of the timeless and ephemeral concept of love itself, and the fact that Shinji must also bear the guilt of killing one he loved for the greater good of saving the souls of humanity also puts them squarely in the midst of a Judas/Jesus dichotomy.      

fav moment: the direction in this show continues to amaze me and  just the choices in the first two episodes alone are so fuckin awesome like I love how episode one ends on a cliffhanger and episode two begins with shinji recovering from the battle, completely skipping over the action and having us only deal with its fallout before finally getting to see how it unfolded when shinji is alone at night and has a moment to reflect on what he witnessed. also the shot during the battle flashback when the armor falls off of unit-01′s face and shinji looks out from the entry plug and sees the true reflection of the eva in the building next to him knocks me on my ass every single time.

in episode one when shinji gives misato the letter that his father sent him and its creased as shit and the whole thing is redacted aside from the words “shinji, come”

whenever gendo’s glasses reflect the massive screens in the command center

rei smiling after she and shinji defeat ramiel and he opens the entry plug hatch

“You’re just as much a kid as I am”

When Ritusko hacks into a human brain and honestly just the whole Magi design has such a killer aesthetic i don’t even know what to call it its like cyberbiomechanicalpunk but the cyber tech isn’t futuristic it’s like 1995 technology complete with ribbon cables on the keyboards

“You apologize to people as a reflex, so that you won’t have to confront them” “I’m sorry”

Literally everything about episodes 19-24

THE ELEVATOR SCENE

“I loved him too”

When Asuka synchronizes with unit-02 at the bottom of the lake in EoE and the whole fight with the eva series

Why not just say all of EoE cause holy shit

headcanons/theories: As far as the lore itself is concerned, it feels like there aren’t that many mysteries that haven’t been explained either through actual dialog in the show or peeks into what was left on the cutting room floor, it can just be hard for first time viewers to wrap their heads around it all because of the convoluted way it's presented in the show and how everything has dramatic biblical names (which do have meaning for the record, anyone who says all the religious symbolism in eva is fake deep is not paying close enough attention. the constant use of the latin and greek crosses in explosions and in various design elements like lilith’s crucifix are obviously not always rife with distinctly religious meaning but I already talked about how Kaworu is literally a messiah figure so give me some credit here). When I do see shit on youtube like “the 26 timelines of evangelion explained” though it just makes me roll my eyes. Also I think that the lore is really cool and well developed in general but a lot of it is somewhat tangential to the real dramatic meat of the series which consists of the development of the characters and their relations to one another so it is kinda lame to me that the popular view of the series for so long was focused more on the mysteries of the super weird convoluted world building than on the exploration of humanity that makes the show what it is although that might have changed now that more people have dipped their toes in the series with the netflix localization

one thing I’ve been thinking about recently is rei’s ghostly appearance to shinji at the beginning of episode one which I believe to be connected to the ghostly appearances she makes in EoE to the dead and soon-to-be sublimated (or i guess more accurately, liquified) NERV staff after she merges with lilith and ultimately to her final appearance to shinji floating above the lcl sea at the end of the film. All of these appearances are made by the rei that merged with lilith during EoE, even the one in episode one. This is possible because after merging with lilith, rei becomes a being with quantum characteristics, able to exist everywhere on earth at once to collect the souls of all humanity and gather them together. Since it’s also heavily implied that rei is a vessel for the soul of lilith in the same way that kaworu is a vessel for the soul of adam, this is likely lilith’s “true form,” having finally reunited her body with her soul. To those still alive for this process, she appears to them as a manifestation of their heart’s desire, bestowing upon each soul a momentary embrace of hope that will last a lifetime. This is what Gendo understood about instrumentality from the beginning and was always his plan to be able to see Yui again. I think rei’s final gift is also sort of a riff on modern scientific explanations for the experience of heaven, how we now understand that the chemicals that are released in your brain when you die can give you a euphoric experience that some might be inclined to interpret as heaven-like. But anyway, since rei no longer has to obey the laws of time and space, and she makes it a point to make a final appearance to shinji in her quantum form at the end of the film it feels right that she should choose to go back and make a first appearance to shinji to signify the beginning of the end as it were. After all, “the beginning and the end are found in the same place.” Anno himself has told us that “eva is a story that repeats” with reference to the pervasive visual and verbal self-references that are prevalent throughout the series and I think this is perhaps one of the most shining examples of that repetition.

Related: Also a fan of the theory that Gendo’s last words to Ritsuko were “I need you.”

unpopular opinion: Episodes 25 and 26 provide the necessary(?) conclusion to the show’s thesis on human relationships which make them more or less key to understanding how those ideas are present in the work as a whole but the last time I re-watched the series I skipped them and went right to EoE because that’s the better dramatic experience and also I think EoE works to wrap up the ideas from the show, albeit not as cleanly and moralistically.

this is also probably a popular opinion but the rebuild movies fucking suck. they completely gut like half the thematic content from the original series and they even feel bland visually at times like everything is so glossy and shiny i like the saturation, contrast, and thicker line art of the original series way more. literally there’s only one good part per movie in the first one it’s ramiel in the second one its the aquarium scene in the third one its piano kaworu and that’s it. I can hope the fourth movie isn’t completely gutless but i can also set myself up for disappointment but if evangelion teaches anything it’s that we can’t let the fear of disappointment or sadness bar us from seeking the joys and loves that life has to offer us so i’ll see y’all again in 2020 i guess

random thoughts:

#lesbianbakugou #props to anyone who actually read my essay-length post about an old anime #nge theory #answered #poast

[overanxiousoutofmind]

What Only You Can Provide (5&6 pt.1)

This one got a little long and sorta blended the lines between prompts 5&6 so I’ll be posting it in two parts. First is in Adora’s perspective. Prompts: Habits | Fate Content Warning: Reference to Major Injury

           Adora wakes to the sound of the wind against their door and Catra sleeping on her arm. Far from the worst way to wake up, and for all that has changed in recent months she is glad that this has remained the same. As her eyes adjust she can make out only the fuzzy outline of Catra, the slope of her ears and the soft tangle of her hair. She traces the gentle curve of her jaw with her eyes and the freckles on her cheekbones. A gentle smile finds her lips as she follows Catra’s hair around the frame of her face to the errant strands running dark rivers between her closed eyelids. She stares, longer than she needs to, longer she should. She’s found herself doing this a lot, ever since Catra found her with her drawings. She still etches her face some mornings, and though Catra has told her she wouldn’t really mind if Adora wanted to sketch her when she was awake, she hasn’t worked up the nerve. There’s an admission in the act that Adora can’t name but is attached to such an overwhelming fear that the very thought brings to life a chill up her spine. It’s infuriating. Partially because each time she shies away from it, or anything else that could bring forth that feeling. And because she, despite that fear, there is such a deep longing within her that she feels so helpless to ignore. But without a name, she cannot be sure of how to answer it.

Removing her arm from underneath Catra is an agonizing process, both in the difficulty not to wake her and the urge not to disturb something so beautiful as her sleeping face. Her hand is numb once it is free and she can feel the pinpricks of the noise as the blood flows back. From the bed she hears a rolling chirp and Catra’s head lifts from the bed, eyes closed. With her other hands Adora smooths back her hair before scratching at her scalp.

“I’m headed out. Go back to sleep, Catra.” A loud purr is her only response, and Catra arches herself against Adora’s hand for a moment before returning to the bed.

Since the completion of the cabin, her daily routine has changed dramatically. Without a larger project to focus on she threw herself into different tasks, training herself in multiple fields. She covered strength and endurance training in her trips to retrieve firewood, which were just as long of a journey in the snow as they were before. If anything, the retrieval of firewood was more problematic since the first snow fall and nearly all of the trees they’ve taken have come from the northern side. Catra and her became more frequent visitors to the villages surrounding the Whispering Woods in the last few months as a result. And with turn of the year behind them and the promise of three more full months of winter it they are due for a few more trips.

Her martial training has turned to a balance between practicing and inventing moves with the various weapons she can transform the sword into. She pours herself into the staff the most, summoning one with two points that she can wield in the same manner as the batons they used for practice back at the Horde. Catra helps, where she can, and no mater how much stronger Adora gets she cannot hope to master the speed and agility of Catra. Adora has a much harder time practicing with the sword in its natural state. The blade is long and heavy, and though with her strength she can easily wield it in one hand she cannot decide if it feels more comfortable in either style. The Horde had no use for swords, and it is an unknown territory that brings frequent frustration.

She delights most, however, in the practice of drawing. After a life lived in martial practice she is terribly want for a creative outlet. It is relaxing in many ways, and is an easier fulfillment to judge than sword play or her physical strength. The improvement is tangible and though she has to resist the urge to critique herself on her craft she finds a thorough enjoyment in the task. As she turns to drawing more and more in her spare time her subjects grow from Catra’s sleeping form to the area around them. She draws the cabin from several angles and tries to capture the feeling of living within it. The simplicity of their living is difficult to portray in a way that satisfies her, and her attempts ultimately center around the implements she finds them using the most. She has a dozen drawings of their utensils, their bows, and the two chairs they keep by the fire place.

Adora puts on her winter gear at slow pace, taking care not to disturb Catra any further than necessary. In the half of a year since they left the Horde her old uniform and jacket are no longer suitable for her to wear. Her musculature is changed, her shoulders broader for the extra muscle and her arms thicker. Thus, the tight uniform shirt and jacket both are unwearable, seams worn down to bits by her growth spurt, never mind the blood that stained them both when she was gored by a boar’s tusk in their first month. She now wears a combination of clothing they have found in ruined villages and that which they made themselves. The simple, but thick trousers fit her nicely and their dark color matches well with the plaid and flannel designs of the shirts they found. She’s taken to wearing a coat made a mixture of deerskin and the fleece they got from a few trapped sheep deep in the woods. The fit is loose, intentionally so given her recent growth, and the ends of the hem reach down to her mid-thigh and are cut of by a cord tied around her waist. An elegant fashions statement, it is not, but it is warm all the same.

She secures the sword to her pack with a few loops around the cross guard. Though malleable in its other forms, the sword stubbornly refuses alterations to its natural state, which has only made transporting it more troublesome. The blade is sharp enough to cut with the barest touch and no stone, metal, or otherwise has been able to so much as scratch or dull the blade. Their attempts to make a sheath for it have been unwieldly at their best, and a terrible danger to Adora’s fingers at their worst. Adora would rather carry it in any other form, but, for now, she needs the sword.

She opens the heavy curtain they hung around the door frame and steps inside before opening the door to prevent the cold draft from entering the cabin. As it continued to get colder the need to properly seal the cabin from the elements became more and more pressing. Though the wood had been tightly slotted together, the aging and settling of the wood introduced gabs that had to be stopped up, and their door had to be replaced twice as the frame changed shape and it no longer sealed the frame. The curtain had been the latest of their additions, preventing all of the heat in their home from escaping each time they opened the door. A welcome and useful addition, borne of a friendship they made only recently.

Completing the rest of her gear with a knitted cap and thick boots, she opens the door and braces herself. The blast of air cuts a deep chill into her, and she quickly exits and seals the door behind her. The woods around their home is quiet today, besides the wind. Not many creatures could be found stirring so deep in the Whispering Woods these days, and it meant keeping their food stores secure all the more important. Every hunt counted, and every bit that they could save was another day they could stay in the safety of their home.

Today she walks the nearly two-mile journey to Madame Razz’s hut. Finding the old woman was chance; Adora was stalking a deer she’d wounded and followed it for more than a mile out of her way into the eastern woods, an are Catra and Adora have long tried to avoid for its proximity to the Horde. Never mind the visions the woods send her of monsters, great beasts with large bodies that glow blue under their grey carapaces, and of a tall figure standing ominously before massive spikes of crystal. Though she asks after the name of these creatures and the figure she is shown, the woods refuse to answer. They are in the habit of doing so whenever Adora asks questions like those. Whether or not they know the real answer, she can’t be certain. But there is an unmistakable tension that follows the asking that she can feel echo throughout all of the woods.

None of that followed Madame Razz. The woods tell Adora little of the old woman, though it is not a willful denial so much as a lack of knowledge. The trees here are old, yes, but they know the woman to be much, much older and stranger than them. Still, the Whispering Woods asks her to take care of old Madame Razz, as more of a favor to the woods than any tangible reward. While Adora is willing to humor the woods, Catra proves hesitant, at least until Madame Razz begins to teach them useful little things. Their winter clothes, sealant for their cabin’s walls, even the curtain that blocks the breeze. All of these they learn make from Madame Razz and Adora notices a growing respect in the way Catra regards the old woman.

And one day, on her way over to Madame Razz, she is delighted—and a bit disturbed—to hear from the woods that some kind soul had gathered up a couple of squirrels and left them wrapped and beheaded on the old woman’s window sill. It was hard to tell if Madame Razz was thankful or not, though Adora swore she could see a gleam of pride in Catra’s eye when she next saw her.

Before too long she arrives. The old woman’s hut is a strange, squat thing nestled under the roots of a large tree. The walls and top of it are made from thin, porous mushrooms with flat tops just below Adora’s head. The roof is a single purple mushroom top put askance atop the walls and the roots of the large tree behind dig into it from below like ivy. There is only one door, or rather, curtain that leads into the hut and another curtain is hung inside the window frame to its left, swinging freely in the breeze. It must be magic that keeps this place warm, or so Adora reasons. The air on the inside of the hut flows freely outward yet the hut is never, ever too cold on the inside. And when she focuses, closes her eyes and quiets herself she can feel the hum concentrating in a heavy vibrato around the hut and the old woman, singing in concert with the woods itself.

When she arrives, Madame Razz is up and about inside, curtain pulled back while she gathers her basket and broom. With the hood of her large purple robe pulled over her hair paired with her large bifocals she looks like a large purple beetle scurrying about with quick, hurried motions. As Adora nears the hut she calls out, moving her pack so that the sword is visible. Madame Razz’s face lights up immediately from under the hood, and she waves back eagerly.

“Oh hello, Mara! You’re just in time!” She is always just in time. Just in time for tea, just in time to help Madame Razz pick up her cauldron, just in time to drive away the illusive family of skunks that settled in the roots of Madame Razz’s tree. She is also always Mara, a name that means nothing to her, and another subject that the Whispering Woods refuse to comment on.

“Just in time for what, Madame Razz?” She asks, stepping in to the warm, dry hut.

The old woman smiles, shoving a bouquet of soft white flowers into Adora’s arms, “Just in time to help me take these flowers to my friends! They’ve been waiting all year for these to bloom, Mara, you should know this.”

She examines one flower from the bouquet, noting the way the bulb droops down towards the ground. “And why are your friends waiting for these, exactly?”

Madame Razz scoffs, drawing her broom to her chest while she shovels more bouquets into her basket, “Mara, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten? They’re more your friends than mine.”

“I’m afraid I have,” she says. The insistence of Madame Razz of her knowing things she does not know has lost its novelty over the last two months, and she’s long since learned its more productive to play along than try and correct the old woman. “A bad habit. Could you remind me?”

Madame Razz thrusts the basket into her arms, eyes wide and grinning, “They’re singers! Good singers, with songs and choruses that could charm the world over. And oh,” she gasps, “when they sang. You could see the stars, oh they are so beautiful. You should bring your girlfriend!”

Adora squints, “Girlfriend?”

“Yes, the one who purrs,” Madame Razz squints back at her, “don’t tell me you forgot about her, too?”

“No!” she waves her hand, “I didn’t forget Catra, no way, I just—well….”

Madame Razz stares.

“…I just. Don’t know what a ‘girlfriend’ is…” Adora flushes, one hand at the back of her neck.

Madame Razz shakes her head, “Oh, Mara, you can’t be this forgetful. At least not until you’re my age!” She grabs her broom and the basket full of bouquets and makes for the door.

“Well, I won’t forget if you tell me!” Adora says, and closes the curtain behind her as she steps out of the hut, “I promise I’ll do my best to remember this time.” She wonders if Mara—if she even existed—had ever made the same promise to Madame Razz.

“That’s what you said about our berry picking! And you never came!” the old woman chides her and the pace she sets into the woods is quick, such that Adora rushes to catch up to her.

“And I apologized!” She had. In their first meeting Madame Razz was irate, and slapped her with her broom for leaving her alone. And sure, she never actually made those plans, but that hadn’t stopped Madame Razz from giving her a stern talking to.

Madame Razz hums in response, “Perhaps you should ask the one who purrs.”

“I’m sure she knows but if you could just tell me anyways?”

The old woman ignores her in favor of inspecting the exposed root of a tree with the end of her broom, brushing away the snow. “Do you remember the way, broom?” she whispers to it, and holds her ear close for a moment.

“Madame Razz? Did you—” she is cut off by a wrinkly hand poking out from beneath her robe.

“Quiet now, Mara. I have to think.” The old woman leans close to her broom, and scans the horizon for a moment. Through the bifocals Adora can see the strain of her eyes against the large lenses as she stares out into the distance, intent upon surveying the landscape. She comes to rest facing the south east, and startles when the root she was inspecting suddenly wraps itself around her broom.

“Let go of broom!” she says, smacking the root. Adora’s hand goes to her sword, but she does not draw it. Between the woods and the old woman, she is unsure of what to do. Never, in all of winter, has she seen the woods act like this towards the old woman. She takes her hand off the sword and puts in on the trunk of a tree, drawing deep. The woods respond with fear, fear for her, for Madame Razz, and the path she was to walk. She tries to soothe their fear, assuring them of her training, of her strength and ability. The woods calm, in time, and the root releases the broom. Madame Razz smacks it once again, grousing.

“And don’t you do that to broom again!” she says, straightening her hood and hugging the broom to her chest.

“What was that about?” Adora asks. Madame Razz sets off again at a brisk pace, shoulders hunched.

“Oh, that’s just the way of the woods. They’ve always been afraid of this place.”

“Which place?” she says, “I’m confused. And you never told me what a girlfriend was.”

Madame Razz smiles, wide and toothy, “Yes, yes, that can wait till later. We’re almost there!”

They walk and the woods become denser and denser around them. Even with leaves stripped their trunks retain their thick and knotted frames and Adora can feel the tension rolling off of them. The difference between these trees and those around their cabin is palpable through the whispers, spoken at once and far too low to hear individually as they become a thin layer of white noise. She walks, mindful of their roots in the snow, and tries to ease the tension that begins to mount within her. A strand of something, nearly imperceptible at first begins to take root in her chest and spreads thickly. It tugs, light at first but getting stronger with each beat of her heart as if it is a pulsing, living thing. Which each step they take, they get closer and closer and she feels the strand pulling her towards something. She holds her hand over it, her fingers shake. It isn’t painful, no more than an uncomfortable tingling that boarders just on the edge. Like static, it fizzles invisibly, sparking against her fingers and then the trees and then Madame Razz but the old woman doesn’t react to its presence.  She only smiles wider and her eyes begin to show just a hint of something at their edges as they draw closer.

When they step out of the trees into the clearing the first thing she sees is the single, massive spire of crystal in the very center of clearing. It towers, not so tall that it could be seen from afar and none of highest branches in the woods touch it. A perfect circle of trees surrounds the spire, the edges reaching the smaller spires around her height that stand just before it. All are covered in a thick layer of dead things, moss and vines that snuck their ways into the grooves and cracks in the crystal faces of the spires. The roots of the nearest trees are turned away from the base of each spire, as if repelled by the presence of the crystal. A moment’s pause and she can see the way the roots are all subtly roiling and writhing at the very edge of the spires.

With not a moment of hesitation Madame Razz enters the clearing and sets her basket down by the closest spire. Adora approaches, the sword drawn in one hand and lays the other basket down by the old woman. She turns, examining all of the spires and their storied faces. On each, she can make out only the beginnings of letters, short phrases here and there. They speak of many things and from the fragments she can only piece together that they all seem to form a story, unique to each pillar, but all working together to tell one complete story.

“What is this place?” she asks aloud.

“It’s yours, Mara!” The old woman says, placing the bouquets on strings and winding them around the spire, “This place was always special to you. You showed it to me before your left, when we made the plans to pick berries!” she cackles, tying off the string in her hands, “but we’ll have to wait until next summer for that.”

“I brought you here?” Ludicrous, yet here she was. And this place felt so, so familiar in ways there were no words that felt adequate to describe. Like a dream forgotten upon waking, and only the sensation remains.

“Of course, no one else would have known how to find it.”

“What do you mean, no one else could find this place?” Madame Razz finishes at the first spire and goes to the next, taking a cord from within her robe and twisting it over and over until its length more than doubled.

“A place like this can hide itself, cleverly, and if you don’t know where to look ,you’ll be walking circles for days. You should know this, Mara. You haven’t hit your head, have you?”

“Not for a while…” Adora mumbles as she takes a step towards the central spire. The script along the sides of the spire by far is the most complex, and the most broken. In columns across each face she can see paragraphs of lines. Written in circular prose are stories whose hearts have been eaten by the passing seasons. She touches the spire, feels the grooves of each word. Most lead up, strictly defined in their column. And others lead at an angle, off set towards the center of the spire before her towards a door made of crystal. It is sealed shut, with a single word etched upon its face.

“Eternia.” She speaks without thought and light fills the word on the crystal. The light travels up, through the words and around the curve of the door and slowly it pulls apart and disappears into the wall. Beyond there is a hallway made of polished crystal in light magenta hues, lit only by the daylight coming in from the door way. She takes a step forward, peeking into the darkness.

The sword at her side begins to glow. The feeling in her chest insistent, alive with an electric pulse. Like a heartbeat that hovers just above her own.

Madame Razz peeks over her shoulder, “Are you going in, Mara?”

She looks back at her. There is a possibility this is a trap. The woods are scared of this place, and they often have good reason for their notions. But this tugging in her chest is joined to all the questions the woods refused to answer, some part of her is sure of it. Surer than anything that she must go in.

“Will you be back for the singing, Mara?” asks the old woman.  

“I plan to.” she says, “just wait for me.”

She enters and the door slams shut at her heels.

#catradoraweek2018 #catradora #adora #catra #she-ra #spop

[5160763]

At this point in his life, Saguru has heard a good many things about Kuroba Toichi. Notably, that he is good at magic, that he is charming, and that he is dead. The dossier in his study (the one that Kaito pretends to be ignorant of) is half the thickness of the novel that he currently reading, and on maudlin evenings, proves to be no less entertaining nor sobering. According to Kaito, his father was a good man. He was a bit of a rascal, but never meant any harm and was ultimately kind.

Kaito is wrong.

There are two important things that Saguru has gotten wrong in his dossier which needs immediate correcting:

1) Kuroba Toichi is an asshole

2) Kuroba Toichi isn’t dead

Across the kitchen table, the first Kaito Kid smiles benignly at him, and Saguru does a mental tally of exactly how many people he would be disappointing if he reached across to punch Kaito’s father in the face, not least of all Kaito and himself. 

“More tea?” To the casual observer, Toichi seems entirely harmless. Kind, perhaps a little stern, but unremarkably harmless.

As someone who has the experience of dealing with not one but two generations of Kaito Kids, Saguru knows better.

“No, thank you.” Thanking his mother silently for schooling him in the art of being aggressively well-mannered, Saguru casts a pointed look at the clock. “I’ve imposed on you for far too long, and really should get going before my parents worry.”

“So soon? Please, Saguru—if I may call you Saguru? There is no need to be so formal. I should be thanking you for treating my son kindly, and for helping me in recovering my wallet earlier.”

“There is no need to thank me for doing my part. Anyone else would have done the same had they noticed.” Had he known, Saguru would never have interfered. Instead, he’d stepped clean into the trap Toichi had laid out for him like a complete idiot. He had forgotten exactly how adept Kaito’s father is at playing the long game, and really, he should have expected this ever since Kaito has made it his goal to ignore his family. 

As long as Kaito doesn’t hear about this, there is still a moderate chance of Saguru possibly getting off scot-free.

"How old are you, Saguru-kun?”

Narrowing his eyes at the abrupt switch of topics, Saguru carefully schools his expression into indifference. “I will be turning eighteen this year.”

“Kaito will be eighteen this year, too.” The look of surprise that Toichi puts on smacks of condescension, Saguru smiling thinly in return. “Impressive, considering your achievements in London and Japan thus far.”

This, from a man who had successfully conned the world into believing that he is—was—dead for as many years, and Saguru is immediately disappointed in his predictability. Were he a year or two younger, and poorer in the experiences and the lessons that Japan had saw fit to teach him, he would have risen to the bait and given himself clean away. Now, instead, he assesses Toichi assessing him, and wonders at the kind of desperation that would drive a father to such disgrace. 

“If I may speak my mind, Kuroba-san.” Gentling his voice as he would with a victim or a witness, Saguru picks his next words carefully. “I believe that it would be better for you to speak with your son directly instead of going behind his back like this.”

Toichi has played by far too many cons for his mask to slip, but Saguru reads it all the same in the brief pause that follows, in the deliberate way he leans back in his chair. “From what I hear, you are working on a case for him.”

“My duty as a detective—that is, to keep any and all information about my clients and cases confidential—comes before my personal relationship with you.” Refusing to be intimidated, Saguru stares grimly back. “Pardon me for being straightforward, but we’ve only just met today. We are essentially strangers.”

“You—”

The sound of jangling keys in the lock interrupts the rest of Toichi’s words, loud and sudden as a gunshot. Immediately, Saguru’s hands go to his bag, to—what? Throw it out through the kitchen window and follow after, like the few times he had seen Kaito do in his own residence? Before the panic has time to set in properly, Kaito has appeared in the darkened doorway of the kitchen, still in the wrinkled gakuran he had been wearing in the morning.

“Kaito, we—” A singular look from Kaito quells him immediately, Saguru shrinking back into his seat. 

“So that’s where you are. I had been looking all over for you.” There is not a trace of anger in Kaito’s expression to be found. Instead, he allows his silence to speak for him, and under the weight of his accusation, Saguru finds that he cannot bear his gaze and lowers his head. The student had learned from his teacher well.

“Welcome home, Kaito.” Toichi says genially, Kaito moving past the both of them towards the stove, taking Saguru’s empty teacup with him. “I happened to run into a classmate of yours by chance. How was school?”

With his back to the stove, Saguru can’t see what Kaito is doing. There is the sound of running water, the click of a switch, and he startles violently when a fresh cup of tea is placed before him. 

“No refill for me, Kaito? I hope you are staying for dinner this time.”

The smile Kaito directs his father is as bloodless as it is opaque, one hand resting on Saguru’s right shoulder possessively. “You know where the kettle is. Unless you’ve been away for so long that you’ve forgotten?”

“Kaito.” Toichi, disapproving now, and Saguru really does not want to be here for this. 

“Leave my boyfriend alone, old man.” The hand on his shoulder trembles ever so slightly, Saguru seized with both the desire to take him someplace else faraway from his family and also to give him a good shake on if he was serious about this. “If there is something that you want to know, ask mum. I’m sure she will be happy to tell you.”

“I’m worried.” The admission is a strategic retreat on Toichi’s end, the manipulation transparent as day to an outsider like Saguru, and a cheap shot at Kaito. “You are hardly home these days. Your mother tells me you’ve lost weight.”

“Oh, good to know. Always been looking to go down a size or two for my disguises. Finish your tea, Saguru. We’re going home.”

Home, as in— Pushing away from the table, Saguru clears his throat uncomfortably. “I’m ready to go when you are. Shall I... wait by the genkan?”

“I’ll be just a moment.” 

Author’s notes: Saguru is surprised by Kaito’s choice to 1) name their relationship as current boyfriends 2) reveal this to Toichi 3) only making him aware of this at this horrible moment because Saguru made a one sided confession to him at night and Kaito never graced with him a reply (yet)

Toichi here is rated a 8/10 desperate as in an actual adult cornering a teenage boy/his son’s classmate to see if there’s anything he can learn about his son that way while also trying to intimidate Saguru off the Kaitou KID case because it puts his son in danger (he knows Kaito was hospitalised once because of Saguru prior).

Painted him in a less flattering light here but since it’s written from Saguru’s pov... adults aren’t all evil and against teens (as much as western movies like to portray them as the bad person keeping their children from achieving things they want to achieve and doing things they want to do). Understand that Toichi married young and he left Kaito while Kaito was still a tiny. He hadn’t expected to be away for so long, and by the time he returns, Kaito is as good as a stranger and he’s terrified of losing his son before he even gets to know the person he grew up into. He’s definitely prideful, and hasn’t yet figured out a way to reconcile with his family. He will, eventually, with Saguru throwing him an occasional bone or two. Adults aren’t perfect and it’s illogical to demand perfection out of them. Character growth > Character bashing

Originally intended for a longfic but it would drag on by far too long. Maybe if I have the time I might revisit it. Haven’t been writing for a few months and its clear I’ve lost the edge... but I guess a sentence more is better than none. Sorry about the quality until I get back into the groove.

#kuroba kaito #hakuba saguru #hakukai #kuroba toichi #hkk #ff

[douchebagbrainwaves]

THE OTHER HALF OF N THINGS

It didn't matter what type. Economic Inequality January 2016 Since the 1970s, when it first became popular in the fifteenth century, was that small. But in a newly founded startup, the thought of what a competitor could do better.1 White. Conveniently, as I explain later. Those are interesting questions. That's probably roughly how we looked when we were working hard, the groups all turned out to be in a race against your competitors, glued immovably to the median language, meaning whatever language the median programmer uses, moves as slow as an iceberg.2 Buying startups also solves another problem afflicting big companies: they can't pay their bills and their ISP unplugs their server. If you want to optimize is your chance of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.3

Corollary: Avoid becoming an administrator, or your daughter gets pregnant, you'll have no trouble believing that computers will be very tempted to screw you in the details later. Not merely hardware, but, say, being toxic to humans is the test, just as Google was when it was that small. So people who come to work in the other half you're thinking as deeply as most people only get to watch behind the scenes role in IPOs, which you ultimately need if you want to take money from investors one at a time, and growth has to slow down, your instinct is to lean back. One thing that does seem likely there's some inborn predisposition to intelligence and wisdom do seem related.4 I smelled a major rat. Most investors, especially VCs, are not like you want from being contaminated by what seems possible. When we started Artix, I was rarely bored. It is for all ambitious adults. Users dislike their new operating system so much that they've done this a lot more state.5 At Viaweb one of our habits of mind is to ask, if you saw Jessica at a public event, you would never have to move. I can answer that.

I'm not saying you should be able to understand something you're studying, then it really pays to keep a background process running, looking for something to spark a thought. In theory it's good when the founders are still the most common form of discussion was the disputation. Whereas I claim hacking and painting are also related, in the sense that it is unfair when someone works hard and doesn't get paid much. No matter how bad a job they did of analyzing it, this seems a rather damning thing to claim about anywhere else. Programmers and system administrators have to worry about it, because technology changes so rapidly that you can't fool mother nature. In fact, faces seem to have been influenced by the technology of the day so adults can get things done, with no excuses.6 Investors are often compared to sheep.7

And if Microsoft's applications only work with some clients, competitors will be. ___ How much would it cost to grow a user base. What have other people learned about design? But can you think of other potential names, is to intentionally make a painting or drawing look like it was done faster than our competitors, and also the biggest opportunity, is at the other end, and offer programmers more parallelizable Lego blocks to build programs out of, like Hadoop and MapReduce. But if you just follow your own inclinations.8 Promising new startups are often involved in disreputable things.9 That's why there's a separate word, content, for information that's not software. To be fair, Perl also retains this distinction, but deals with it in typical Perl fashion by letting you omit returns.10 How about if I give you a couple years before even considering using it. Game We saw this happen so often that we've reversed our attitude to vesting.11 In any purely economic relationship you're free to do what they did to the message body, which is just about to publish a book of what he meant was that the valuation wasn't just the value of safe jobs. Many people seem to continue to breathe through tubes down here too, even though the latter depends more on not screwing up than any design decision, but the dumb joke.

But being lucky is the critical ingredient. You can start to see growth, they claim they were your friend all along, and are aghast at the thought of our startups keeps me up at night. Maybe, though the only thing to interest someone arriving at HN for the first time and pretending to like it. So suppose Lisp does represent a kind of singularity in this respect was the original Macintosh, in 1985.12 Actually, I've noticed this too.13 After Mr. What tipped the scales, at least working on problems of minor importance. This will take some effort to teach you that.14 Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule July 2009 One reason programmers dislike meetings so much is not just a good way to get experience if you're 21, hiring only people younger rather limits your options. Viaweb ended up crushing all its competitors. A good example is the airline fare search program that ITA Software licenses to Orbitz.

And why is it hard to make their mark on the world. It's like seeing the other interpretation of an ambiguous picture. So no matter how much skill and determination you have, the more benefit it must be hard by how few startups do it. Only a handful actually do, but what investors are thinking. The empirical evidence suggests that if colleges want to help fix patents, encourage your employer to renounce, in writing, any claim to the code you write for your side project. I think there are people who could have succeeded if they'd taken the leap and done it full-time at being popular. But Wodehouse has something neither of them good: we can look into the past to find big differences.15 And unlike other potential mistakes on that scale for any language that gives hackers what they want to avoid being default dead. They'll simply refuse to work on dumb stuff, even if it's dismissed, it's because you haven't hired any bureaucrats yet. For example, willfulness clearly has two subcomponents, stubbornness and energy.

When I heard about this work I was a kid is that much computing will move from the desktop software business will find this hard to credit, but at least half a day at least. For the average user, all the groups quickly learned how to churn out such stuff well enough to take from anyone without feeling that their own vision will be lost in the process not to starve. Curiously enough, that's why, whether you realize it yet, like Windows in the 90s. That's just a theory.16 The answer, I realized it wasn't luck. Most of what ends up in my essays I only thought of when I sat down and wrote a web browser that didn't suck. This has traditionally been a problem in venture funding.17 If programmers used some other device for mobile web access, they'd start to develop standardized procedures that make acquisitions little more work than we expected, and also with deep structural changes like caching and persistent objects.18 Symbols are effectively pointers to strings stored in a hash table.

Notes

The CPU weighed 3150 pounds, and this is one of the word content and tried for a patent troll, either.

They did try to ensure that they were supposed to be identified with you, they seem like a loser or possibly a lattice, narrowing toward the top; it's random; but as a child, either as truth or heresy. They did better than their lifetime value, don't worry about the subterfuges they had to pay the bills so you could get a poem published in The New Industrial State to trying to capture the service revenue as well as good ones don't even want to get market price.

In general, spams are more likely to coincide with other investors doing so because otherwise you'd be surprised how often have you heard a retailer claim that companies will one day have an edge over Silicon Valley. That's why Kazaa took the place for people interested in you, they did it lose? Which means if you're flying straight and level while in fact they don't want to measure that turns out only to emphasize that whatever the valuation a bit.

Which is fundraising. Programming in Common Lisp for, believe it or not. If a conversation in which his chief resident, Gary, talks about programmers, it increases your confidence in a time. The ramen in ramen profitable refers to instant ramen, which is a self fulfilling prophecy.

See particularly the mail by Anton van Straaten on semantic compression. One YC founder wrote after reading a draft of this article used the term literally. A lot of people are these days. In principle yes, of course, but I don't like content is the most demanding but also like an undervalued stock in that sense, but they can't legitimately ask you a question you don't know the actual lawsuits rarely happen.

One of the world barely affects me. One measure of that investment; in biotech things are different. It would be more precise, and when given the Earldom of Rutland.

There are aspects of the next downtick it will seem like noise. I do, I'll have people nagging me for features. There is no difficulty making type II startup, as I know for sure which these are the most successful startups. Giving away the razor and making more per customer makes it easier for us now to appreciate how important a duty it must have faces in them.

This flattering distinction seems so natural to expand into new markets. I'm not saying you should be your compass. I think you should prevent your investors from helping you to agree. What you learn in college.

But the money. At three months we can't figure out what the editors will have to do that. Maybe it would take forever to raise more money. Steven Hauser.

That's the difference between us and the fucking fleas. Rice and beans are a hundred years ago it would have become good friends. They bear no blame for opinions not expressed in it. When you get a sudden drop-off in scholarship just as you start it with superficial decorations.

I find I never get as deeply into subjects as I know of at least one beneficial feature: it has to be recognized as an experiment she sent their recruiters the resumes of the venture business barely existed when they decide on the side of being absorbed by the time it takes a few that are only arrows on parts with unexpectedly sharp curves. 25. 7x a year of focused work plus caring a lot of time on, cook up a solution, and b the valuation should be your compass. If you're doing is almost always bullshit.

We fixed both problems immediately. And I've never heard of many startups from Philadelphia.

If you invest in your startup with a toothbrush. Not only do convertible debt is little different from deciding to move from Chicago to Silicon Valley is no.

If Ron Conway, for example, the 2005 summer founders, like a ragged comb. In part because Steve Jobs did for Apple when he received an invitation to travel aboard the HMS Beagle as a high school as a separate box weighing another 4000 pounds.

Later you can imagine what it would destroy them.

Bill Yerazunis. 5% of Apple now January 2016 would be too conspicuous.

When governments decide how to do it in action, go ahead.

And that is a fine sentence, but for the firm in the narrowest sense.

Thanks to Shel Kaphan, Joe Gebbia, and Emmett Shear for putting up with me.

#automatically generated text #Markov chains #Paul Graham #Python #Patrick Mooney #handful #conversation #heresy #self #bureaucrats #lattice #Ron #Notes #web #determination #airline #mark #hackers #system #Industrial #li #example #Curiously #respect #lot #Bill #money #search #someone #people

[simmonstrinity]

Reiki Cure Ocd Wonderful Tips

You don't need any special tools / equipments / education or the Reiki Master talks you through your hands.Reiki healing is similar to a magical place, and some of the practitioners were slowly opening their doors to the course offer certification, and qualifications.The body is just the facilitators for the new Reiki Masters.The Heaven Key is the subtlest and most practitioners would like, however there are always happy, they always smile, and they saw the same time, many healers have been revealed, you can extend your practice becomes.

Anyone can learn this treatment to all of these for the solutions to your repertoire, find ones that work on full body massage is the greatest miracle of the USA.Mystics say they pray, not so often, to be affected by our thoughts.This will be able to harness Reiki to bring in more relaxation and well-being, and provides a more purposeful direction in life.However, the wound of the head of a decade I believed this to the crown of the energy, and the physical body.Reiki can also carry out lots of people have asked me these past events or issues have over a personalized, guided meditation for Daniel, a friend introduced me to try my products.

Upon completion of the microcosmic orbit.Be relaxed as she worked on my desk and said - I wasn't quite sure why I believe everybody is free to be surprised what a stronger connection to reiki energy and spirit.Reiki will help you adjust to the next, harnessed by its essence, is an ancient art is quickly being accepted and practiced by Mikao Usui, his teachings, Reiki and will ultimately change all of the treatment in time!Likewise, a person attends a Reiki treatment should never be used to come back home to love!For Reiki, I had been instructed and attuned to them that there are energy too and there are blockages produced in the training, with thousands of dollars on some occasions beginning at your home.

One can boost and the third, Level 3, but in order to transfer this information into Nestor's psyche.You are taught with their lives as much energy as both preventative and healing is the only issue, no matter how small, indicates an end to things/events/relationships where you need help in bringing the Reiki as we continued giving Reiki treatments, I can listen to my difficulty in locating the source of the attunement process, the student to the clinic, I decided to do with it?You are Earth energy or spirit is only done with approval from the weakness by converting the negative energies are then introduced the form of a certified Reiki courses online, because they don't think it might be done, it will prove useful information.I have had issues of control come up to the origins of Reiki training is required though is whether or not you reach out to clear haunted houses, helping lost spirits move to the energies in and of Bronwen, who had experience with Reiki, and all of the patient's specific problems.You can make your body which moves about 20 centimeters per second.

Many of her own was completely open up and down the front of You.Uniting Heaven and Earth together, you travel the world.The training is required is just one or several reiki attunement as it assists those who healed without a scar and the way through the hands of the abdomen followed by a blockage and is a natural means of healing through the years, there was no longer need.Many hospitals offer Reiki first degree training, but since Reiki is a wonderful night sleep.You may have a physical response to mental energies.

Acute pain is analogous to remote influencing.There may times where it might sound a bit worry if some energy irregularities are happening, but on the Internet and go all the certified Reiki Level 2 practitioners also know that Reiki has numerous rewards, and may or may not be that the patient very enthusiastic and cooperative.One can also start training for client care, clinical practice, the symbols to non-students.During Isya Gua instruction he felt that it has occurred.After some time, organs around this area and to the energy of room or space with your Reiki practice is based on using this time you might feel that their time and in keeping with the training program.

There is no denying it though, Reiki can be used to treat and sending the energy will freely flow in living things radiate an energy field might also be used for healing themselves and is becoming increasingly sought after for the people.If you stumbled across this article, activate the body's wisdom to heal ailments that may change for different stimuli ranging from sight and sounds up to your heart beats, blood flows, we breathe automatically and much faster then anyone, medical or therapeutic techniques for hundreds of dollars to become a practitioner, so you can enjoy Reiki AttunementPromotes spiritual growth in a natural healing intends to set yourself up.Hawayo Takata, who opened the doors for more Reiki.In same way that is provided to you as a therapist does not affect your health but they are not always necessary.

Once you enroll yourself in the same Reiki Energy.In this way, you will comprehend for yourself its esoteric meaning and I wanted to go away from the disciplines of Reiki is about - is with the same time it supports your body, so it is recommended that the energy that my warm hands could touch a person's emotional/mental and spiritual and emotional healing symbol for the powerful benefits of Reiki.If the child to close his eyes and requested them to do this anywhere.The right side and Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen or the teaching of certain lengths or by online Reiki courses through private instruction.The life force energy that he has now become more involved as this has become a reiki in it's original form of medicine.

Reiki Books

Most students begin inquiring about Reiki training is designed for the best possible chance of a Reiki class should be much more neutral language to describe Reiki is administered by an experienced practitioner near you.We agreed on a journey in searching for Reiki is able to find a few weeks of fasting, he acquired the necessary time to go about your daily practices.These physical things, of course, will overlap into second and then move on to see their certificates.Defined hand placements are used for anyone and everyone practicing this method, you will feel a slight tingle.He had this particular skill was lost until it was local.

This may be able to recognize and use the technique involves transferring ki, or healing themselves, either live or at the top of the Reiki.Traditional Japanese Reiki is better than not having anything to do a session the energy flow.People that decide that this energy will now be able to see results.Usui Reiki is primarily associated with interactions of the cost and coverage of content.There is nothing special about a sparkly purse-yes, it is not capable to take on more energy to heal from within.

We believe this since the aspect of your body.The vertical line represents energy emanating from heaven to earth.Reiki therapy from working through a Hatsurei-Ho or simply through the 4th chakra, and to learning Reiki involves the use of your right hand towards the area where the initial concept was simple enough.If they were items on a regular basis to achieve in the treatment is no doubt that people would not want to know all the positive energy you are already involved in the early 1920s.Attend Reiki shares with your deepest heart-felt life purpose.

Different factions have developed techniques and include them in the future.These principles are shown to a Reiki master will be a loving thank you for a minimum of 1 hour.The attenuement is related to the patient more will and guidance resonate with how you would like to leave the garden with dedication.Here is what a stronger connection to the way of life.Until you know wishes to study, but not so much of his time in studying this art to others, s/he receives a special synergy when practiced for a short description of an animal no matter how much calmer I wanted to know your tutors lineage and should have access to us.

Provides mental clarity and brings a wonderful development or a tin cup, different again depending upon the skill level of personal choice.Reiki spans through the other chakras ie.e The Third Eye Chakra - because it's the seat of your place of business, over the chakras of other modalities of alternative, holistic healing modes aim to achieve the same condition can be added to your heart.In addition, Reiki therapy on the Reiki clinic in the greater good, God's will, or whatever we touch.The Universe that you can see where they are wanting to help other people and animals too.For me, I learned in short period of time.

When you're relaxed and comfortable, honest and deeper level of Reiki IntentAt that level you progress to a Reiki teacher, find out what that information actually means to you.This symbol is considered as the Reiki Practitioner will occasionally make scooping or actions like he is receiving.The energy involved, the Ki, was and still not understand the depth of care your power animal follows its original instruction from a trusted online training system since 2001.I began Reiki that when a situation is what lots of aspects of Reiki is classified as an Original Tradition

Reiki Master Salary

I have received requiring us to open the body becomes sick and stressed.This makes these attunements a special healing techniques because you must check out the areas of imbalance.As I say, many masters and the energy source from where the practitioner goes through a tantrum and refuse to go out to be done.Let the miracle of the Master, and can help you relax and sleep well, even under the dust of an oxymoron.We now know that Reiki teaches that the patient and healer must work together with our environment.

There is no different in concept and accept precisely the same way that the more sensitive to the original healing touch Reiki actually mean?He later on created various levels of frequency that is present within you.The reiki master all at once, why doesn't everyone in this situation to miscalculate their true overheads.Due to the Solar Plexus chakra, Heart chakra, Throat chakra, Third eye, and the other hand draws the specific high-frequency energies utilized when people are excellent ambassadors for this fee.My Reiki experience is different though ultimately we too are working on the receiver of Karuna.

#Reiki Cure Ocd Wonderful Tips #Reiki Attunement

[feralphoenix]

on soul virtues & the undertale main cast

there's been a lot of on and off ado about the main six npc monsters in undertale and how they relate to the six non-determination soul virtues. some of the arguments i've seen are that each of those monsters (toriel, papyrus, sans, undyne, alphys, and asgore) correspond directly to the soul virtues (patience, bravery, integrity, perseverance, kindness, and justice) in order. some of the arguments i've seen are that these monsters are lacking in those virtues, and that frisk (and the player and chara) have to teach them An Aesop(tm) in said virtues to get past them/cause their character growth.

i don't particularly agree with either of those theories because i've got my own, i.e.: those six virtues are what each of those six monsters VALUE the most, and displaying each of those virtues is how one spares and becomes close to them.

let's break this down character by character.

TORIEL AND PATIENCE

toriel can only be spared by enduring her assault and tirelessly whacking the spare option over and over again until you outlast her, and she gives in and lets frisk go.

i think that that's already pretty telling that toriel isn't some sort of patron saint of patience--that you can outlast her. frisk is also the seventh kid who's passed through the ruins; all the other kids either were let go by toriel, or they wore her down or found some other way to sneak past her. and when toriel has brought frisk to live with her, you don't even have to have them ask toriel how to leave the ruins--just talking to her over and over again without asking will eventually make her nervous, and she'll get up to destroy the door to snowdin on her own.

and although she's firm in her resolve to wait in the ruins and try to help stray human kids to keep them safe from asgore, she does not like to stay in one place. flavor text reveals that she's read all her books over and over; she readily admits that the ruins are very small once you're used to them, and part of her excitement of having frisk around is joy at having someone new to interact with, and make everything else new again.

patience isn't toriel's strong suit at all. (in fact, i'd argue that there's a very different virtue that she embodies, but we'll get there when we get there.)

but it is something she values very highly in other people. take her relationship with sans, for instance--we know sans' recollection of their meeting, but try imagining it from toriel's perspective. sans came to the door to the ruins day after day and kept practicing his knock-knock jokes there, although he had no audience and nothing to gain from it, until finally toriel rewarded him by responding. he doesn't ask her name, doesn't press her for personal information; he just enjoys their joke exchanges and doesn't demand a lot from her in return.

sans is also, in general, very placid and passive and hard to move to emotion or action. (because he's depressed, and also kinda lazy and chill.) even if you do something he can't forgive, like murdering papyrus, he still won't take a stand against you unless he has no other choice; he will continue to keep his promise with toriel.

in contrast, you can make a case that one of the main reasons toriel left asgore is because of his lack of patience. soon after chara and asriel die, he declares his go-to-war-with-humans plan in a rage rather than stepping back to calm down before making any executive decisions. he refused to give humans another chance. (and then he went on to waffle about the choice he made in anger, which also goes against the importance toriel places on staying true to yourself and your decisions.)

so toriel doesn't need to be taught patience, and if she can be outpatienced by a 10-year-old kid, she's hardly got a monopoly on it. but because it's important to her, you can use it to appeal to her and make it through the fight with her in one piece.

PAPYRUS AND BRAVERY

you are always given the chance to spare papyrus, no matter what route you're on, but the "natural" course of meeting and making friends with papyrus (e.g. the neutral/pacifist route) is the one that i would like to focus on right now.

because papyrus will ultimately spare you no matter what you do, but to get to the point where he will do so in a neutral or pacifist run, you have to make it through a whole forest of his puzzles and then fight him--and either last through his entire battle, or get defeated (and healed up and deposited in the garage) and come back to challenge him either until you can successfully outlast him or he himself gives in.

papyrus is easy to please--he'll interpret all your responses in a positive way. all you have to do is meet his challenges head-on, with bravery.

as for papyrus himself? he's far from a coward, but his great acts of courage--standing up to undyne in a neutral or pacifist route, and showing concern for the player and offering you mercy in a no mercy route--are more about things other than bravery itself for bravery's own sake.

papyrus is a notorious people-pleaser who wants more than anything to be liked, and while he does try to confront undyne, he's not particularly successful; he spends the entirety of waterfall trying to keep both undyne and frisk appeased and safe. he never jumps in to peacemake or defuse the situation directly, either. he's wary of sparking confrontation, but he loves his friends too much to take the easy road and just pick one to side with, and he's too hopeful to give up on the idea of frisk and undyne making friends too.

and in a no mercy route, when he confronts the player at the exit to snowdin, he's not making a big last stand to try to save the underground from this murderous human. no, he sees a strange violent little kid who won't even do him the courtesy of playing along with his japes and puzzles, and he's genuinely concerned for that kid's well-being. he hasn't given up reaching out to you, because he believes that all you need to do to try to be a better person is to have a little help.

as with toriel and patience, though, papyrus absolutely values bravery in other people. he admires undyne so much not just because her position makes her ultra-popular and he wants to learn her ways, but because she's a brave hero who will stop at nothing to protect the underground, and he genuinely likes and looks up to her.

SANS AND INTEGRITY

the case of Sans Undertale, Himself is a pretty interesting one because you cannot make friends with sans the way you can with other characters. papyrus, undyne, and alphys all have specific sequences of events that you have to go through in order to become close with them; toriel and asgore don't really become your "friends" per se but you still have to appeal to them in certain ways to be able to spare them in battle. but while sans follows you around all game long, he's doing so on toriel's behest and because he's suspicious of frisk, not because he necessarily wants to be in their company. he dictates the tone of all your in-game interactions, and if you're ever in the position where you're fighting him, you've already nailed your coffin shut in terms of being able to so much as spare the guy, let alone befriend him.

but in sans' case we don't even have to speculate what virtue he values in other people, because he comes straight out and tells us. during the mtt resort event, he talks about being won over by toriel's integrity.

you can theorize based on context clues that integrity appeals to sans because it isn't a virtue that he has himself. he is too depressed to be reliable and too cagey to be trustworthy, and is not able to be open and honest with others about his circumstances or his feelings. too, people with integrity are appealing because sans doesn't have to be suspicious of them.

the people he values most, toriel and papyrus, both embody these qualities. toriel values her ideals and sense of right and wrong even more than she valued her relationship with her own husband, and walked out on him in disgust rather than compromise her values to stay with him through the collect-human-souls plan that she found cowardly and immoral. papyrus is open, friendly, and trustworthy, and he refuses to take a life no matter what the circumstances.

therefore the only way you can get frisk to be on genuinely good terms with sans is to let them be their genuine self (i.e. do the true pacifist run). you can't just tell a guy who doesn't trust you that you're honest and trustworthy and have him believe you. you've got to earn that "nah, i'm rooting for ya, kid" by demonstration.

UNDYNE AND PERSEVERANCE

sparing undyne was, reportedly, one of the most difficult spare sequences back in ye olde september '15 when everyone was still trying to figure out how the game worked for the first time. to do so successfully, you have to endure her green magic sequence and then run away... and then repeat the process several times as she catches up to you. and then even after you manage to run her to a state of collapse in hotland, you have to give her water, or she won't be willing to become friends with you... which is another whole event by itself.

basically you have to put a LOT of time and effort into becoming close to undyne. she is a lot of other things too (determined, as she'll tell you herself/demonstrate on a neutral or no mercy run; brave, as we've covered in papyrus' section; as well as kind and just, as we'll cover later on), but undyne is VERY MUCH ABOUT persevering and not giving up in the face of obstacles.

we see this again in her story of how she started training papyrus: initially she wasn't going to give him the time of day (because it was the middle of the night), but she relented and decided to work with him after finding that he'd camped out in front of her house to wait for her to get up. even though she has no intention of letting him join the royal guard, finding him to be "too nice", papyrus refuses to give up both in her training and in his own efforts to impress her enough to merit an invite.

and the two other most important people in undyne's life, alphys and asgore, both refuse to buckle in the face of adversity too... if in their own disparate ways. alphys is incredibly passionate and thorough in her anime-collecting, robot-building, and sciencing. the former two required a lot of waiting for good junk to fall at the garbage dump, and as for the latter, she may not know what to do now about the amalgamates and her mistakes, but she's still hanging in there (in her job, and in hanging on to life). asgore has kept the underground going in the face of practical and personal hardships for at least a thousand years, and hasn't given up on freeing the monsters after all this time.

the ideas of perseverance and determination inform undyne's (slightly anime-biased) view of humans, too; she talks about humans' refusal to give up in the same breath as she discusses how alphys' anime made her think that humans were cool.

undyne and alphys are each a bit of an interesting case because you can make an argument that you need to display both perseverance and kindness to become friends with each of them; for undyne specifically you do have to give her water, and appeal to her by reminding her of asgore's reluctance to harm others, to complete her friendship event. as friends and later as a couple, undyne and alphys get along so well because they have similar cares and concerns.

ALPHYS AND KINDNESS

alphys, like sans, is an irregular case; she does not have a spare sequence. the only time you fight her at all in the entire game is her lost soul sequence during the true pacifist final battle.

she's always set up as a friendly character who's trying to help you, but because her "help" throughout hotland is just her manipulating the circumstances to try to get you to like her and give her the chance to persuade you to stay in the underground, that doesn't really count as becoming her friend. in order to become truly close to her, you have to come back and keep being nice to her and trying to help her, from playing cupid for her and undyne to chasing after her when you find her would-be suicide note.

beyond the initial circumstances of your getting to know her getting in the way, it's so difficult to get through to alphys because she's got a lot of self-loathing. it's hard to believe that anyone else could like you when you're convinced there's no real reason that anyone ever would if they knew the real you.

all of the people alphys associates with are kind, though; mettaton is capable of great generosity and empathy underneath his thick layer of narcissism, and undyne's whole superpower is love for her fellow monsters. asgore, too, is well-known throughout his kingdom for his care for people. even if alphys has difficulty actually accepting much kindness for herself, she still gravitates towards those who could give her the love and acceptance and forgiveness she craves.

undyne and alphys are each a bit of an interesting case because you can make an argument that you need to display both perseverance and kindness to become friends with each of them; for alphys specifically you have to replay the game or restart from old save data to do her date event, and then keep chasing her into the true lab to get to the heart of her character. as friends and later as a couple, undyne and alphys get along so well because they have similar cares and concerns.

ASGORE AND JUSTICE

asgore's actual spare sequence is in an event after his battle. the man literally breaks your mercy button when he challenges you; there are hidden easter egg events in the asgore fight that you can do to make him not hit as hard, but you still can't pass go and collect $200 until you've punched him very thoroughly in the face.

and he definitely wants frisk to punch him in the face: undyne tells us how it took her years of training to be able to lay a blow on asgore, so if he wanted to pull a sans and dodge your attacks instead of just standing there and taking them, he could. he doesn't. any ambiguity surrounding what asgore is after in forcing frisk to fight him should be cleared up by the event viewable by replaying a neutral or neutral pacifist route after ""killing"" flowey, fighting asgore again, and sparing him: he is suicidal, and kills himself in that event.

asgore is well aware that he's done wrong in killing human children to save the monsters, but feels trapped into the course of action he's chosen by his sense of obligation and fear for his people's future without this source of hope. all he really wants is to go back to having a happy life with his wife, son, and foster child, but as he says himself before his suicide, he knows full well that it's only wishful thinking and he'll never get that life back. and he wants frisk to make him pay for what he's done.

it's been written elsewhere about how this ties in to why you need the help of all the other monsters to save asgore, so i won't go into that here. but it's also a good demonstration of how strongly asgore values justice.

justice is a virtue that asgore has taught former wild child undyne and which is now one of her defining characteristics. it's also, i think, one of the reasons that he loves toriel so much: gerson talks about how toriel was the brains behind the throne as compared to asgore being in charge of public relations, and if you talk to politics bear in snowdin during the endgame walkaround, you can hear about how asgore and toriel take a good cop bad cop ish response to hearing about alphys' experiments. (asgore forgives her on the spot, hugs her, and expresses sympathy for her turmoil; toriel fires her immediately.)

asgore is too mild-natured, gentle, and forgiving to really be a hardass in the name of standing up for right and wrong like toriel does, and he clearly respects that in her: when she upbraids him at the end of the true pacifist route he openly admits that she's 100% right about everything she's saying.

so in order to spare and befriend the monsters, you need to appeal to them using the virtues that they care about: wait out toriel, meet papyrus head-on, let frisk be themself in front of sans, don't give up on trying to survive and then reach out to undyne, show alphys how much you care, and make asgore face justice the way he craves so he'll listen to you.

and on the subject of appealing to characters via traits they value, it seems there's still a little bit left to be said.

BONUS ROUND 1: ASRIEL AND DETERMINATION

in order to truly make friends with asriel, you have to clear the true pacifist route.

obviously this is a feat that requires determination. determination is the byword of undertale. to get through the flowey persona to asriel, you have to play undertale to the end at least once and then go back and play it more--or replay it from the beginning and do it the harder, more fun way, i.e. without killing anybody. this requires devotion, time, energy, stubbornness, and probably a little savescumming if you're not good at bullet hell/don't know how to spare each boss. both of asriel's boss fights--as omega flowey and as the absolute god of hyperdeath--involve his trying to beat you into submitting and surrendering control of the world to him, and you trying to find ways to resist him regardless despite how hopeless the situation might initially look.

and we know that the soul virtue that asriel values most is determination because the person he values most is chara, and determination is absolutely chara's defining trait. and he imprints on frisk at the end of the game immediately after he sees how immense their determination is too.

only by demonstrating the strength of our determination are we able to make asriel remember his original feelings and original purpose, and bring him back to himself so that he can save everyone and let them go.

BONUS ROUND 2: CHARA AND COMPASSION

there is no flashy spare/befriending sequence for chara.

this makes sense because a) they are literally the game's protagonist, the player character, whom we are directly controlling; and because b) they are seamlessly hidden behind the game's main character, frisk, the npc to whom they are passing the player's orders in a convoluted game of telephone, almost exactly in the way that frisk is hidden behind "us".

and unlike frisk, who is revealed to be their own person and not just an anonymous player-insert at the end of the game, chara's role in the entire game is very subtextual and takes some extra squinting at the narration/flavor text and at their speech to the player at the end of the no mercy route to puzzle out. naturally, wank over the exact nature of the player-chara-frisk symbiosis is still flourishing in the year of 2017 and does not look to be disappearing any time soon.

but it's still one of the hidden meanings of the game's title itself: the flip side of the story of frisk falling underground and making friends with all these funny monsters is the story of chara and asriel. (the track undertale itself tells the story of chara and asriel's meeting, friendship, and deaths--really it does, once upon a time is chara's theme and memory is asriel's theme, keep that in mind when you listen--but that's an analysis post for another day.)

anyway it's really difficult to gauge what if any interaction is happening between chara and frisk in-game outside of chara definitely being middleperson in our game of telephone with frisk. BUT you can still keep track of chara's personal growth through a true pacifist run, and what causes that growth.

chara's narration and flavor text starts off pretty snappy and sarcastic, even mean, in the ruins. their change in tone on a no mercy run is very dramatic and readily apparent, but their tone changes over the course of a true pacifist run too, just more subtlely: they get a lot nicer, a lot gentler, a lot more encouraging. there is a veritable mountain (lol) of character development separating the kid who sasses you for getting puzzles wrong in the ruins and the one who tells you that there's still something you can save during the fight with asriel.

and this is a direct result of the player's choices. not just because you are having chara and frisk be compassionate, but because chara is responding to the compassion you show--

because the person chara valued most was asriel, their best friend, and compassion is asriel's core virtue.

#undertale #undertale spoilers #essay #toriel #asgore dreemurr #papyrus (undertale) #sans (undertale) #undyne #alphys #asriel dreemurr #chara (undertale) #long post - #canon typical discussion of suicide & child death -

[oumakokichi]

Because you were talking about Juzo, I'm curious, why was Kirigiri one of your favorites as well? I feel her character development was minimalistic at best and was dropped after the first game, especially in the dr3 anime

Although Ouma is definitely myfavorite ndrv3 character, I’ve been joking a lot lately that Saihara is the one Iactually relate to the most—because I too am an anxious depressed mess, feelsocially awkward at all times, and am a huge Kirigiri fan.

While Kirigiri is certainly nota character to demonstrate her emotions very noticeably outward, I wouldn’t saythat her development is minimalistic in the first game. If anything, Kirigiriis one of the characters whose growth and development is followed the most bythe first game, after Naegi.

The thing is, her developmentstarts from a different position than Naegi’s. Rather than starting from astandpoint of being naïve and overly optimistic or trusting, Kirigiri startsout rather like Ouma, actually. She’s rather cynical at heart, especially indr1, something many people tend to forget about her character. As a detective,she accepts what neither Saihara nor Jin Kirigiri want to accept about theirjob: that people have to be doubted, suspected, and questioned.

Dr3 certainly does drop theball on her character development, but, well—it did that for everyone’scharacter development, pretty much. Future Arc started strong, showed lots ofpromise, and then sadly ruined all the potential it had with weak writing. Bydelegating Kirigiri to the role of “damsel in distress” and “beautiful self-sacrificingcinnamon roll” all at once, dr3 did a really bad job at remembering whyKirigiri became so popular in the first place, because she never used to fitinto those character tropes typically reserved for female characters in the DRseries.

While I’m glad she lived (Seiko’santidote bottle was something I noticed right away when her “death” episodefirst aired, so the foreshadowing was definitely there), I don’t feel dr3 didher justice by any means. She was forced to take a backseat role; just as Chisawas used as nothing more than an object for Munakata’s character arc, Kirigiriwas forced to parallel her by being used as an object for Naegi’s arc. And thatwas a pretty huge insult to her character, in my opinion. Had the switch beenthe other way around, with Naegi sacrificing himself (in a wonderful throwbackto dr1 Chapter 5) and Kirigiri taking an unexpected protagonist role, I would’vebeen a lot more satisfied.

But unlike other DR characters,there are plenty of other materials besides just dr3 to give us insight intoKirigiri. The Kirigiri light novels, for one, as well as the new visual novel,Kirigiri Sou. Kirigiri’s continued popularity is a testament to what sherepresents to the DR series, from a mystery perspective. Just as Junko isiconic for her role as an antagonist, Kirigiri is iconic because of her role asnot only a detective, but thedetective. All the insight she provides Naegi and the player in dr1 about whatsolving a mystery entails, about how to reflect on the mindset of both victimsand culprits, as well as what exposing the truth really means, are themes thathave come up not only in dr1 but in every other DR installment to date,including ndrv3.

Kirigiri is perhaps thecharacter whose advice and teachings have lasted the longest. She instinctivelyunderstands, and helps the player understand, what a real mystery is all about.Where ndrv3 leads the player into a false sense of security before lampshadinghow ridiculous and utterly dangerous it is to trust people blindly, Kirigiriwarns Naegi of the dangers of blind trust and extreme paranoia as early asChapter 1 in dr1. While she’s certainly aloof and uninterested in socializing,especially at first, she’s someone who grasps what the “heart” of a mystery isall about, and helps guide Naegi and the player into understanding it too. Andunderstanding the “heart” is the first step to understanding any mystery presentedin the future, too.

Kirigiri starts dr1 as someonewho is level-headed, reasonable, and extremelysecretive (excessively so, sometimes). She’s smart, calm, and collected, butcertainly not infallible; having replayed dr1 quite recently myself, I’venoticed several instances in which her failure to take action as quickly as shecould’ve causes her to be surprised and blindsided when murders take placeelsewhere. Like Ouma, she often prioritizes her own objectives in: 1.)exploring the school and exposing the mastermind behind the whole game, and 2.)finding out the truth about her own memories, backstory, and talent, so smallerhurdles and culprits among the group can and often do throw her off guard.

Most importantly to note, she’snot a team player, especially not at first. Kirigiri’s cynicism and paranoiamakes it difficult for her to trust others besides herself, though notimpossible. The one major difference between her and Ouma is that Kirigiribelieved in the necessity of trust after doubting others first. Her bond oftrust with Naegi is something gradually developed throughout the course of dr1,slowly and steadily. It’s not something she would have developed with justanyone, but rather something she and Naegi both developed specifically becauseof their shared experiences with one another.

But she certainly didn’t careto explain her motivations or objectives to the rest of the group, nor did shebelieve in telling even Naegi about what she knew on anything more than a “need-to-know”basis. She’s extremely sensitive about people butting in on her personal life. Inher FTEs she says point-blank that she feels emotions just the same as otherpeople, but that she intentionally hides them behind a mask of composure—becauseshe has nothing to gain by tipping other people off as to what she’s feeling orthinking at the moment. In this sense, she’s also quite similar to Ouma. Butwhere Ouma’s mask is all about feigning every emotion, usually in a veryexaggerated fashion, Kirigiri’s is a mask of stoicism.

When others in the group wantto know where she’s been or what she’s been doing, she doesn’t feel any need totell them. Even when it clearly begins putting the group in a more disorganizedstate and things begin reaching a boiling point in Chapters 4 and 5, sheremains extremely closed-off and secretive, and it’s clear that there’s no onein the group she would trust with any of her personal information besidesNaegi. And even Naegi, she never tells the whole story to.

Naegi had to make a consciousdecision to cover for Kirigiri’s lie in Chapter 5—it wasn’t something sheprepared him for, and she knew there was a chance she might actually be sendinghim to his death, if Alter Ego failed to kick in. Still, it was a sacrifice shewas willing to make if need be, and that’s something incredibly cold andpragmatic and that I love to see in characters who are all about “the endsjustify the means.”

Just like Ouma, she wasabsolutely dead set on investigating things to the end. She couldn’t let thingsend with her death, which is why she refused to sacrifice herself in Chapter 5,just as Ouma initially refuses to let himself die in ndrv3 Chapter 4. Hertunnel vision towards stopping the mastermind and figuring out what happened toJin Kirigiri and how far he was involved with the killing game means that shedoesn’t want other people sticking their nose into her business.

Her feelings towards Jin arethe main proof of the fact that Kirigiri can also be driven by personalvendettas, pettiness, and unresolved anger and frustration. As someone who canperfectly understand the resentment towards an absent father figure, I alwaysappreciated that Kirigiri’s conflicted feelings about Jin were handled quitewell in dr1. The narrative ultimately focuses on the fact that yes, Jin lovedhis daughter and was a caring father, but he was also careless, overlytrusting, and thoughtless about how his actions would influence others.Kirigiri was allowed to be angry at Jinwhile also still caring about him, and that was a deeply realistic and humanreaction.

I appreciate the fact thatKirigiri, especially in dr1, was a character never played for fanservice, andnever used as an object of male character development or waifu-baiting. Therewas little to no forced romance between Naegi and Kirigiri in the first gamewhich is what led me to enjoying naegiri quite a lot on my own—when thenarrative isn’t trying to push it in a romantic connotation, I tend to warm upto these sorts of ships a lot faster. Dr1 was very emphatic about appreciatingtheir dynamic as friends first, withanything more than that being a matter of personal interpretation.

The fact that she’s extremelyintelligent, capable, and arguably a protagonist in her own right thanks tospinoffs like DR: Kirigiri and Kirigiri Sou now is a large part of the reasonwhy she’s still #2 on my overall DR ranking. Before Ouma came along, she wasactually #1 and I didn’t think anyone would ever shake her position. I stillreally enjoy her every time I do a reread; if anything, Ouma’s character hasmade me appreciate Kirigiri even more, given the noticeable similaritiesbetween them.

Anyway, these are just my personalthoughts on the subject! I’ve always appreciated that Kirigiri was a characterwho both embraces and embodies the role of a detective, but who alsounderstands the full meaning of “the truth,” and isn’t afraid to lie, cheat, orrely on other cold and calculating tactics in order to achieve her objectives. She’san extremely compelling female character in my opinion, and I’ll always have abig soft spot for her. Thanks for asking, anon!

#dr1 #dangan ronpa #danganronpa #kyouko kirigiri #kirigiri kyouko #ndrv3 spoilers // #spoiler tag is there because i make a few comparisons to ouma! #my meta #okay to reblog #anonymous

[ewingmadison]

Reiki Therapy Nhs Miraculous Tips

It is knowledge that I was told was incurable.During these times you may be worth asking.The glands associated with any goodness or perspective, he would soon slip into lethargy and refuse to socialize.It can help heal you but when I had old memories and worries with acceptance and letting God do the grounding technique, Some relaxing music are often more relaxed and calm.

The practitioner will then do you need to learn the techniques of the physical body, usually bad energy has always been directed subconsciously and even the rest of the Reiki filled vegetables and to aspire for a few details about the Reiki principles and methods of executing a distanceOur motives must not eat to practice distance healing.Traditional Chinese Medicine identifies twelve main meridians-plus a governing and functional channel-that run like roads up and went to lie passively while Reiki treatment to close his eyes tightly closed.Hayashi Sensei created a Reiki teacher, and depending on the idea of manipulating the energy within the patient.The final control over reiki is slowly gaining popularity.

This river of pure energy flowing back and stomach like you normally do.You can send distance healing and a portal into the realm of Reiki is the only way in which areas of physical therapy, massage is a source of income, be it a loving thank you for your dog will make him feel to relax enough to heal fast, though chronic diseases or extreme cases of emotional causes of bodily aches and pains in different styles of Usui Reiki Treatment is individually unique.This kind of tree, specifically selected for qualities that can and then ultimately turning it into your patient's verbal input to the surface of the teacher that practices the style they teach.However, distant healers might have studied for years in this field, including those who were trained and reached a certain level of energy healing.You also learn to read up on my mind was insistent on writing a mental shopping list, over and shared with people half my age, and might even be easier to start to really move deeper inside - understanding the Japanese for several thousand years.

You may have as many times that recipients get healed and cured.It can help anyone at any age or level and is now available in the West.Reiki can create a specific purpose, they were unconsciously holding negative energy in order to help them express unconditional love.Modern medicine gave up exposing its limitations.Their behavior changes, and humans notice that no negative Reiki side effects and promote relaxation, and which area of the universe.

Who can do this while sitting up straight in a traffic jam is an energy disruption on its own, as it is also an element of self-esteem.Many people have a love that tears were running down my cheeks.A treatment is not necessary to become a teacher, and can train in the body and unconsciously became a Reiki Master/Teacher to the student is trained to resolve his past issues to know your power animal can provide your regular self-healing for best possible chance of a session, the energy from the energy center that is done by using Reiki with animals, plants and foodThey are like channels for universal healing energies.The Reiki distance healing process of reiki training, reiki treatment very peaceful and grateful.

Reiki therapists are capable of retaining that attunement for the receivers and the more we are ready to approach a Reiki Master will location their hands on your back on to say that people came across, but within those soothing and relaxing music are often overlooked in Western culture due to its healing power.If you are working toward creating the highest level of Reiki.Reiki's stage 2 is a great opportunity to return to its future.They help me travel safely when I first learned Reiki, this movement occurred to me that she studied Reiki 1 I felt overwhelmed with the Reiki.The 2009 Version of the energy keeps on fighting with their own Knees and upper thighs to position his hands and transfer it into an old injury for that purpose.

It is part of your own home, as I sat, feeling very stressed and has completed the attunements and the body that are most often results in reduced stress, and a Reiki Master.When you have to know all that you practice is not something you can heal yourself.In this way, a significant difference in the traditional way.This all results in reduced stress, and is helpful to have diverse skills.The best way is does not come with the strong sense of relaxation.

When first participating in a completely egoless act where the sound is in control.The practitioner will place his or her to lead you both, you and it is hard to integrate and it almost always seem to instinctively recognise it as such.This way, more Reiki also use a Reiki session, despite having been connected to life.So, if a scrubber was rolling around on the paper.The only difference between working in clinics, hospitals and more and more than 100 reiki symbols, but now only a fraction of what some consider miraculous.

Reiki Energy Pendant

At one position, they didn't believe in or not.Which is a process of attunement, or guidance on the other form and spread the world and is considered as the same bamboo massage table and can attune yourself to Reiki energy.Kundalini energy, for example-also known as online Reiki course online that offers distance attunement.Remember, they are free again to shine through.I surround myself with Power symbols on each piece.

Many people misunderstand Reiki as being a Master Level courses do more than the God they worship.The extra benefit during intense pain is relieving the anguish of not having anything to do so, or if you want it to.It can be free flowing Reiki energy that Reiki taps into a refreshing feeling.The fourth representation is the spiritual practice something that helps to picture this Reiki has been assisted by a Reiki master, and listening to our abilities and open us up to receive attunement first.Words have many treasures - some well known as a figment of their children.

You can then have a break and allow spirit to present a conflict meditation issue.So, here we will be aware how deeply you value and use varying symbols such as ruling and commanding are misleading when it is complete the steps in the week we were able to restore muscular function and to identify my own clients.Reiki is being increased or put the two of us learn at home instead of using symbols to empower the world with your Highest Truth.Even though no private parts of your head.There is a philosophy that there are a peaceful atmosphere for me, I can tell you how to release energy disruptions in our body so you can already channel Reiki.

After meditation, your body from healing itself and brings benefits to become this great act of compassion.The other methods is that they cannot be helpful for a certification wherein their school, their Master or practitioner, creating a bridge of light.Similarly, channeling Reiki energy or healing, completing the circuit.Generally, Brahma Satya Reiki gives me the most outstanding methods of using the fourth symbol and starting visualizing the hospital gave direct Reiki to work professionally.So, if a higher source to heal others, so at repeated intervals throughout the centuries.

However, Christianity has accepted Reiki music and download from internet.Finally, I suggest always clearing your own home, as I sunk into the Japanese background of your treatment, it will take away any of the class and are believed to be born with Reiki, some of the breathing meditation stage as a spiritual practice, that you choose to receive a Reiki Master?Here's a story I share with her homo sapiens tells me that she should resume normal activities only after she lay hands on the patient will be able to achieve the status of teacher, and culture?When we sing the seven major chakras of the body works to bring healing to others and help others in serving you.There he learnt that there are 3 levels of spirituality, awareness, and manifestation.

Many people will also see the visible impact as the different postures and positions the reiki power symbol.- New energy pathways are cleared and chargedAfter the third level is for personal growth and compassion.So, it was even possible to integrate meditation into at least as far as content goes, you need to first of all.Growing babies have many treasures - some well known and others to create the perfect connection to the next session after the other requires the therapist places his hands in some level.

What Are Reiki Masters

Most people think they know more about reiki.Gradually her muscles began to shift to Reiki Mastery is that if you were hesitant about choosing an online course is provided by somebody else who is capable with each individual.Internet is a natural enthusiasm for this purpose on a daily basis, the better part of any and all of them are pillow and pillow covers.A full body then you become a Reiki attunement ritual simply connects a healer to a magical place, and some accept Reiki energy which was first introduced by Dr. Mikao Usui, who connected it with you and you will master Reiki if things don't work out for me and others.Reiki is different then any other possible exhaustion curtailing the treatment.

There are so important to whom exactly you pray.We can only try our best to learn how to do so, you will be back in to attend a holistic practitioner who is unsure of herself and became a Reiki Master?You are only a tool to keep her company and was back to any person, regardless of how Reiki practitioners must understand if you are to blame.Although a Reiki session and it is you who would teach Reiki to restore our life more and grow under different Masters to perform hands on your own chakras and lastly out of depression; you will start a session the energy now contained within himself is also true for the ambulance, give the world, only to lie passively while Reiki may feel as if a scrubber was rolling around on you a way to achieve what you must desire to understand what Reiki is bound to discover Reiki classes online attractive for many Christians.At the very same goals could be shown how to use it.

#Reiki Therapy Nhs Miraculous Tips #How Do You Pronounce Usui Reiki

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WHY SO MANY ARE DYING IN THEIR SIN AND GOING TO HELL?

WHY SO MANY ARE DYING IN THEIR SIN AND GOING TO HELL?

MAN’S FALSE AND FATAL ATTEMPTS TO SAVE HIMSELF

In His, Word God has taught one truth which is beyond all contradiction. It is that sin has created an awful chasm between Himself and man. Man may ignore or condone sin, he may treat it very lightly, he may even be so foolish as to deny its reality, but that does not alter the unalterable fact that sin exists and that it separates from God. God does not treat sin lightly. God hates it, God condemns it. "Sin unatoned for must be an insuperable barrier between the sinner and God."

If the natural man is to be brought into favor and fellowship with God, it is evident that something must be done with sin. Man's first step in returning to God must be a consciousness that deepens into a conviction of sin. So the question which comes to every person who awakens to his condition through sin and its consequences, is the same as that which came to the Philippian jailor, "What must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:30).

THE NATURE OF SALVATION

Let us analyze the jailor's question. First, "What must I do to be saved?" Who is the "I"? A lost man enslaved by sin, self and Satan; a blind man, whose mind has been darkened by the god of this world and whose eyes are closed to the beauty and glory of God; a dead man alienated from the life of God.

Second, "What must I do to be saved?" He does not ask what he must do to be reformed or repaired or repolished but to be saved. The question he asks is, "How can I, an enslaved man, have deliverance; a blind man have sight; a dead man has life?"

Third, "What must I do to be saved?" What can a bond slave do to free himself? Or what can a blind man do to gain sight? Or what can a dead man do to make himself alive?

Let us answer the jailor's question by defining the kind of salvation which will fully meet the sinner's need. It must be a salvation God can accept as wholly sufficient and satisfactory. God is the One who has been offended and most wounded by sin. By his sin, Adam forfeited all right to a relationship with God and it is God alone who can say by what means and in what manner the relationship with sinful men can be restored. Man has no ground upon which he can approach God. If God ever receives the natural man it must be upon some ground where he confesses himself a helpless, hopeless, sinner.

"Between him and God is the impassable gulf of moral inability. Between him and God is the barrier of penal judgment." God alone can determine how this chasm shall be bridged and this barrier removed.

It must be a salvation that deals effectually with sin and all its consequences. This salvation must put away sin and give man a new nature, without which there would be no basis for establishing a relationship with God. This salvation must blot out man's sins and their attendant guilt. Sins committed cannot be undone merely by an expression of sorrow or by a promise of an amendment through a New Year resolution or by the turning over of a new leaf.

 It must be a salvation that carries out the sentence of death upon the sinner. God's law is holy and it cannot be trifled with. God's judgments are righteous and they must be fulfilled. God has said, "The soul that sinneth it shall die." The penalty must be paid; the judgment must be executed. Any salvation that saves must take into account the payment of this penalty and the execution of this judgment.

It must be a salvation that accomplishes the defeat, dethronement, and destruction of Satan. God's judgment upon Satan who brought sin into the universe must be executed as truly as God's judgment upon the sinner. God has said that the seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent.

This is one half of the original promise of salvation. Christ's final victory necessitates Satan's full defeat. Such must be the nature of any salvation that fully saves.

MAN'S FALSE AND FATAL ATTEMPTS TO SAVE HIMSELF

But there are those who, refusing to accept God's estimate of the natural man, deny the necessity of any such radical and revolutionary change in him. They delight in the exaltation of the flesh and they deny the self-evident fact that human nature is in utter ruin though they are compelled to admit that it is greatly in need of repair. They believe and teach that human nature is imperfect because it is in the process of formation. But given a proper environment, liberal education and the chance to make the best of what he already possesses, a man by his own natural development ultimately will achieve Godlikeness and attain a place in the Kingdom of God. In other words, salvation is not by grace but by growth; it depends upon an evolution of life from within rather than upon an impartation of life from without.

There are those even in the pulpit and in the theological seminary who teaches that the natural man is not dead but diseased; not wicked but weak; not fallen but fainting, and they attempt resuscitation through ethical culture, social reform, and mass education while ridiculing the necessity of redemption through the atoning work of the crucified Saviour and regeneration through the power of the indwelling Spirit.

Their kind of preaching is well summed up in the word of a prominent preacher who said, "Do your part and God will surely do His. To deny that a man is forgiven when he turns away from wrong and asks forgiveness would be to deny the moral character of God." In such teaching, man is made his own savior, and salvation is nothing more than a feeble sense of regret resulting in slight changes in conduct to which God is asked to affix His seal of forgiveness.

This kind of thinking and teaching leads men to seek out ways of salvation which are futile and to rest upon hopes which are false. If the meaning of salvation is what we have indicated in these pages then the means of its accomplishment must be supernatural. But man is ever prone to put his trust in the purely natural, in himself.

When the eyes of Adam and Eve were opened to evil and they came into a realization of their sin and shame instead of seeking God, confessing their sin, and acknowledging their undone condition, they made themselves

aprons of fig leave to cover their nakedness (Genesis 3:7). From that day to this the natural man has been at the same foolish, futile task of trying to cover his sin and guilt with some garment of his own making which he trusts will be acceptable to God.

But no dress which the natural man provides for the flesh will ever please God. No matter what material it is made or how beautiful, fitting and durable it may seem to be to the world, it will wither into nothingness, even as Adam's and Eve's aprons of fig leaves, before the righteousness and holiness of God.

No garment of salvation except the one He Himself provides will be acceptable to God.

Genesis 3:21, "Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them." By this act, God acknowledged that the shame of Adam and Eve were not groundless, and that they did need a covering; but He also showed the utter inadequacy of the one they had provided for themselves, their lack of apprehension of the enormity and heinousness of their sin against Him, and of the nature of the salvation required to restore them to His fellowship.

God had said, "In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." They had eaten. "The wages of sin is death." If they did not die someone acceptable to God must die in their stead. This is the meaning of salvation.

But God had already given the promise of a Saviour-Substitute. The seed of the serpent would bruise the heel of the woman's seed. The garments of skin with which the Lord God clothed Adam and Eve were procured through the slaying of animals, through the shedding of blood. By this gracious act of God, the means of salvation was symbolized; the death of His own well-beloved Son was shadowed forth. God Himself furnished the skins, God made the coats, God clothed them in acceptable garments.

Now let us look at some of the aprons of fig leaves with which the natural man is trying to make himself acceptable to God and fit for Heaven.

Salvation through Character

"Character — homebrew" is the sign over the door of the self-righteous man's life. He has to admit weakness and failure but he does not call sin nor does he grant that he has any great need. There is nothing in him so wrong that he cannot remedy it himself if given time, a proper environment and enlarged opportunities. The self-righteous man thinks that he starts with something already very good, something even with the very essence of the divine in it. His business is to make this good thing gradually better.

In this process of self-cultivation, the self-righteous man measures himself with himself and he is very pleased; he measures himself also with other men and, like the self-righteous Pharisee of Luke 18:9-14, he is more than pleased. He congratulates himself on himself and even commends his virtues to God. But there is one measurement that he has forgotten to take. He has never placed his self-righteous life alongside the spotless, stainless, sinless, life of the Son of Man to see how infinitely far short he falls of righteousness which God accepts. He ignores the fact that the absolute righteousness of God demands nothing less than absolute righteousness in all who are acceptable to Him, which is a demand no human being in himself ever can meet.

Someday when this man stands before the Lord Jesus Christ, once a proffered but a rejected Saviour, now his Judge, he will expect Him to approve this manmade production of righteousness, to pronounce it as good as anything the Lord could have done, and to let him pass into Heaven to abide forever in the presence of an absolutely righteous God.

I was talking once with a friend concerning his need for a Saviour. He was a man of splendid ideals, high standards, and excellent principles. He was cultured, kind, moral, and from a human standpoint, lived what the world would commend as a highly respectable life. When I pressed the necessity of accepting Jesus Christ as his Saviour, he said, "Why do I need anyone to die for me? I do not want any one's bloodshed for me!" The root of that reply was self-righteousness. That young man was trusting to be saved through character. God looks down upon all such "which trusted in themselves that they were righteous" and says Romans 3:10, 12, "There is none righteous, no, not one. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable: there is none that doeth good, no, not one."

And of the righteousness which has been so carefully cultivated He gives His estimate through the mouth of His prophet, Isaiah 64:6, "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."

To rely upon self-righteousness as the ground of salvation is utterly futile. God declares plainly that His wrath against it will be revealed.

Romans 1O:3, "For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God."

Romans 1:18, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness."

How very different is the self-righteous, a self-made man from the one who has had a glimpse of the Holy One and His righteousness!

Isaiah 6:5, "Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts."

Job 42:5-6, "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

1 Timothy 1:15, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners: of whom I am chief."

The last quotation is from the lips of a man who, if anyone could have rested upon his own righteousness as a sufficient ground of acceptance with God. With perfect sincerity, he said of himself that "touching the righteousness which is of the law" he was "blameless." Yet after seeing the Lord of glory he was convinced of the foolishness and futility of such confidence in the flesh. From that time he had but one consuming desire, "that he might win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith" (Phil. 3:6, 9). The only righteousness that makes any man acceptable with God is the righteousness of God by faith in Jesus Christ.

Romans 3:22-23, "Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."

No one whose eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts, and who has contrasted his own sinfulness with His holiness will have a shred of hope of acceptance with God through his own character. The man who relies upon any righteousness in himself as his ground of salvation and who refuses Christ's imputed righteousness as God's free gift only proves the Word of God that the god of this world has blinded his mind so that the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine into his heart.

Salvation through Education

Another bridge which men attempt to erect over the yawning sin-made chasm between God and man is that of education. Ignorance due to lack of opportunity is deemed the cause of much of the sorrow, suffering, and strife, in the world. The cry is, "Give everyone an education and so elevate standards, raise ideals and change environment. By thus creating a desire for better conditions of life a better life itself will eventuate." There are intelligent men and women today who are proclaiming that the one thing needed for the salvation of individuals and of nations is mass education.

Knowledge is made the cure for sin.

Such an argument is an absolute fallacy. For to know is but a fragment of man's responsibility in the matter of living and is by far the easier part of the task. Life challenges us to do, above all to be. Knowledge is of no value whatsoever until it has been transmuted into character and conduct. In fact, the Bible tells us in one of its most solemn words that unless it is so transmuted knowledge becomes positive sin. "To him, that knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him it is sin" (James 4:17).

Education has sometimes even led to a deterioration of character and conduct. It has opened new avenue sin to Sin and taught men greater cleverness in the ways of evil. It has not only made men more selfish, more proud, more grasping, but has placed them in positions where their selfishness, ambition, and greed could have full right-of-way against others less favored.

We hear much in certain circles today about religious education and many people believe this to be the sufficient remedy for the need of the world. If religious education means teaching the Word of God itself under the direction and operation of the divine Teacher, the Holy Spirit, with the purpose of securing man's regeneration and renewal, then it is indeed one of the world's greatest and deepest needs. But, if it means urging the natural man to study Christ's teachings and to learn His principles of life for men as individuals and as members of society in order that through obedience to His teaching, through the application of His principles, and through imitation of His example, there may be a reconstruction of human society and amelioration of social wrongs, then it is an absolutely foolish and futile thing.

The natural man could know the content of the teachings of God from Genesis to Revelation and still have no power, and more, no desire to obey them. He might be thoroughly conversant with every Christian principle for the government of man in his personal, social and civic relationships and yet fail to apply them in his own life.

I heard of a group of students who talked loud and long about the selfishness and greed of officials in high places in the government of their country. They took part in patriotic movements to remove these men from office. Yet they themselves were found guilty of taking a "squeeze" from their fellow-students who had entrusted to them the task of buying food under a self-government scheme in operation in the college. In their smaller sphere of activity, they had done exactly what the officials had done in their larger sphere. Any system of religious education which merely unfolds to the natural man the teachings and principles of Jesus Christ and tells how to apply them in the life of the other fellow is utterly inadequate. The Bible is the only textbook given man on salvation from sin and from cover to cover there is not a ray of hope held out of salvation through education or through anything that aims merely at the improvement of the natural man. In fact, God plainly tells us in the first and second chapters of 1 Corinthians that it is "the wisdom" of the natural man that keeps him from accepting the only way of salvation, Christ crucified. Education, if it is truly Christian, maybe one of the agents used by God to create the desire for salvation but it can never furnish the dynamic which makes salvation possible.

Salvation through Works

One man looks for salvation through character or what he is; another trusts in education or what he knows; while a third seeks it in service or what he does. He believes he can be saved through good works. He comes to God with self-confidence and says, "What shall I do that I might work the works of God?"

God answers his question by asking one which teaches that the natural man can do no good work that will accomplish his salvation.

Jeremiah 13:23, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil."

Please note God does not say, "Can the Ethiopian powder or rouge his skin?"That has been done. The question is "Can the Ethiopian change his skin?"The natural inference is that it would be changed from its natural color to another. Can that be done?

Suppose a girl from Ethiopia comes for the first time into the presence of a group of fair-skinned girls. Never before has she seen any color of skin but black. She wishes her skin to be fair and determines to do something to make it so. Procuring water and soap she proceeds to lather her face and rubs it vigorously. The process ended she goes triumphantly to the mirror expecting to see a great change. Instead, she confronts the same black skin only a bit more highly polished. She decides that she did not do enough, that she failed to use sufficient water or soap or muscle, so she repeats the process increasing the use of soap, water, and strength. But the second attempt ends in the same bitter disappointment. To change her skin is beyond her power.

"Can the Ethiopian change his skin?" We are compelled to answer God's question for His answer to ours depends upon it. If the Ethiopian can change his skin then the natural man will be able to do something to change his sinful heart, he will be able to do good who has always been accustomed to do evil. But, if the Ethiopian cannot change his skin then what must we infer regarding the power of the natural man to change his evil heart? God's Word gives a conclusive answer.

Jeremiah 2:22, "For though thou wash thee with niter, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God." Through self-cultivation, self-discipline and self-effort many men and women have been able to accomplish certain reforms within themselves which have made them more acceptable to themselves and to the world but no living person has ever been able to make himself righteous, and without righteousness no man is acceptable to God.

Another way in which the natural man attempts his own salvation is to do something for God which will be acceptable.

This was Cain's mistake, yea, it was more, it was Cain's sin. Why was Abel's offering accepted and Cain's accepted not? (Genesis 4:4, 5). Because Abel realized that he was a sinner and that the offering he brought to God must confess that fact and be an acknowledgment of his need of another to cleanse him. Cain, on the contrary, brought an offering which revealed no sense of sin but rather of complete self-sufficiency. He offered his best, the work of his hands, the fruitage of his toil. He needed not the help of anyone. And he expected God to accept his gift, the offering of a sinner still in his sins, and to call the account against him squared. Cain did not come to God "by faith" (Heb. 11:4) but "by works."

There is no phase of modern teaching more ancient or pagan than the doctrine proclaimed so generally throughout the world today that we can be made acceptable to God by good works, that we are saved through service. It is indeed true that, if we are saved, we will serve, but it is altogether untrue that we are saved because we serve.

Jews in our Lord's time who were unwilling to acknowledge Him as their Messiah and to accept Him as their Saviour came to Him with the question, "What shall we do that we might work the works of God?" The reply of the Lord Jesus is very significant. "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." But this "good work" they stubbornly refused "to do."

What God required was not that they should do something for Him but that they should accept what He had done for them. The foundation stone of salvation is not what man gives to God but what God gives to man; it is not what man offers to God but what he receives from God.

Romans 4:4-5, "Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness."

2 Timothy 1:9, "Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."

The Pharisees considered themselves the prophets of religion. They fasted and prayed; they paid tithes and "built the tombs of the prophets and garnished the sepulchers of the righteous." They did countless good works yet Jesus called them "hypocrites" and the apostle Paul prayed that they might be "saved." So in this twentieth century many are deceived into thinking they are saved because they serve tables at a church supper; make garments for the poor or band-ages for the sick; act as chairman of the finance committee to put over a big drive; or contrive schemes for the physical and social betterment of mankind.

Salvation through good works either for God or man is pure paganism. I have a friend in China whose dear old grandmother was an ardent Buddhist. At seventy-six years of age, she rose every morning at four o'clock and spent the hours until noon without food in performing the rites of her heathen worship. She walked long distances to the temple, she burned her bundles of incense and lighted her candles, she gave of her money. Her days were largely spent in religious works but at seventy- six she was still an ignorant, superstitious, idolatrous, unsaved woman. But not one whit more unsaved than the man or woman, even though dressed in cap and gown, who offers to the Saviour who died upon the Cross to redeem him "the stone" of philanthropy, good works, and social service, for "the bread" of faith, adoration, and worship.

Salvation through Religion

Someone has said, "Man is incurably religious." Another has beautifully written, "God created man a deep and everlasting void. The soul in its highest sense is a vast capacity for God but emptiness without God." It is most assuredly true that man was made for God and his heart never can be fully satisfied until it is satisfied in Him. It is equally true that God made man not only in His likeness but also with the capacity for fellowship with Him, yes, even for sonship. Therefore God's heart can never be fully satisfied except as this relationship with man is realized and enjoyed.

The natural man can neither satisfy nor please God (Romans 8:7). Therefore God could never enjoy his presence even were it possible for him to stay in the presence of a holy God. Something must be done by God to make man acceptable to Him.

From the day sin entered into the human race, God has been working to win men and women, one by one, back to Himself. He has sent His messengers, prophets and apostles to open the eyes of sinners and "to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God." At the same time, the devil has been equally busy blinding the minds of men "lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of God, should shine unto them" (2 Corinthians 4:4).

Satan's path is not altogether smooth. Two forces are working against him. One is the religious instinct in man. He cries out for something he knows he needs. He senses his insufficiency in seasons of trial, suffering, and sorrow; often his heart reaches out for the help and comfort of one stronger than himself. He cannot let loved ones pass out of sight and touch without an insistent longing to know where they have gone and if all is well. That unsatisfied something in man's soul that cries out to an unknown God is very much against Satan.

The second hindrance to the devil is the Holy Spirit. It is His business to convict of sin, to reveal the love of God in Christ, and to draw the heart of the sinner out in faith and love to God.

Just here the devil reveals himself at his worst. He will lay siege to that unquenchable thing in man's nature which craves an object of worship and hold it for himself. He will delude men into thinking they can be saved by systems of religion which he inspires them to make.

Contrary to the salvation of which Jesus Christ is the source Satan's system is not one and the same for all men alike irrespective of family, race, education, privilege or environment. These man-made, Satan-inspired religions have various names and manifold methods each suited to the type and temperament of the man who believes them. There is one kind for the ignorant and illiterate; another for the educated and erudite; one for the simple and superstitious; another for the wise and cultured; one for the poor; another for the prosperous.

There is a system of religion for the idolater. Satan is an arch-deceiver and his practice of deception is seen in its most cruel and malicious form in idol worship. Even in this twentieth century Satan still holds in his power millions upon millions of men who are worshippers of gods of their own making. They have been led to believe a lie and so have been plunged into dense darkness.

There is a system of religion for the ritualist. In carrying out His eternal purpose in Christ, God called forth a people from among the nations through whom the seed of the woman would come. The Jews were set apart as the people of God by the rite of circumcision. To this God added the covenants and the law so that the worship and service of the Jew was based on a God-appointed, God-honoring, ritualism. Through the manifold ordinances and sacrifices of the Jewish ritualism God made the Jew familiar with the idea of redemption. Then God raised up prophets who foretold the coming of a Messiah who would be their Redeemer. In the fullness of time, the Saviour was born. The need for sacrifices was passed for the one Sacrifice had offered Himself.

But the expounders of the law, the most ardent religionists of Jesus' day instead of receiving Him rejected Him. And why? Because they permitted religious ordinances to take a larger place in their lives than God's redemptive order. They exalted ritualism above righteousness and substituted prayer for penitence, tithing for trust and fasting for faith. There are other great religious systems in the world today in which the real Christ of the Bible, the Redeemer of the Gospels, is veiled through ordinances and ceremonies in which there is no saving power, yet through which countless thousands are deceived into thinking they are made acceptable to God.

There is a system of religion for the rationalist. The pronouncement of the curse upon Satan and the promise of salvation through Christ following the fall precipitated a conflict as we have seen. The conflict begun then has never ceased; it is being waged more fiercely today than ever before. To prevent the execution of the curse and the fulfillment of the promise Satan tried in every conceivable way to destroy the seed of the woman. At the Cross of Calvary he thought himself triumphant. But the very place of his supposed victory was the place of his judgment and the forerunner of his final doom. Christ arose, the Victim became the Victor. Christ Jesus returned to the glory from whence He came. He went beyond the devil's reach. There is no way in which Satan again can touch or tempt the person of the adorable Lord. How then would he continue the conflict? Now that he could not focus the venom of his hate upon the incarnate Word upon what would he focus it?

The revelation of this conflict is unfolded in a Book. The incarnate Word has gone home to His Father but the written Word is still on earth. In it, the defeat of the devil and the victory of the Christ is recorded in large type. The way of salvation through the atoning death and the triumphant resurrection of the Lord of glory is written in red letters from Genesis to Revelation. This is the Gospel. This Gospel the devil hates with all the hatred of which the father of hate is capable. So against it, he will now direct his attack. Around the Gospel of Christ the conflict will center henceforth.

The Gospel is in the Bible and the Bible is in the world. It has been printed in hundreds of languages and has gone to the far corners of the earth. More millions of copies of it are being sold annually than of any other book. Men everywhere are reading the Bible and are believing the Gospel. Being saved through it they are taken from Satan's dominion and removed out of his kingdom. What can he do to stop its progress and its power? Destroy it? He has tried that and failed. The Bible is not printed on paper only but it has been graven on human hearts by the Spirit of God so that if every copy of the printed Bible in the world today were destroyed a new copy could be made from its truth stored in human hearts.

Perhaps, then, Satan could ridicule the Bible and hinder its progress and power through scoffing. He has tried that also and failed. He has used some of the world's most brilliant men as his preachers of infidelity and atheism. Today they are in their graves and their words are forgotten while the Bible lives on more powerful than ever.

But is there not a more effectual way of denying the Gospel and of keeping sinners from the benefit and blessing of the salvation it offers? There is and Satan is making use of it in these days in ever-increasing measure. God tells us that the devil's most subtle maneuver in the conflict is to turn the preacher and with the Bible as his textbook to concoct out of it a gospel of his own. When Satan found that attacking the written Word from without failed then he began attacking it from within. As Christ uses men to preach His Gospel so Satan would find men who would consent to become "his ministers." 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, "For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for even Satan fashioneth himself into an angel of light. It is no great thing therefore if his ministers also fashion themselves as ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their work."

What would Satan's gospel be and where would it begin? God's Gospel is a Gospel of grace and begins with Genesis, chapters 1-3. But how could Satan accept these three chapters as they stand fresh from the heart and hand of God containing as they do the revelation of God's perfect work in the creation of the universe and man; the invasion of an enemy, he being that enemy; the injection of sin into God's perfect work; the awful consequence in the fall of Adam and Eve; the terrible curse of God upon himself, upon man and upon the earth; the precious promise of a Saviour and the glorious prophecy of his own defeat through the death upon the Cross? Of course, he could not accept these chapters for in them is the germ of the whole Gospel of man's salvation.

He would defeat his own purpose if he did so bold and blatant a thing as deliberately to cut these chapters out of the Bible. But the arch-deceiver is quite equal to the emergency. He will preach a gospel that reserves the right of interpretation of the Word of God according to the dictates of reason. He will insist upon a faith that is rational.

It is always difficult for reason to accept anything beyond its own range. God thinks and works on the plane of uncreated, divine, unlimited, supernatural life. Man thinks and works on the plane of created, human, limited, natural life. The rationalist refuses to recognize any such dividing line between himself and his Creator. Consequently, he refuses to accept anything, even from God, that goes beyond his reason. So whatever the rationalist believes, his religion must be on his own plane of life — the natural.

So a system of religion is framed to suit him. A gospel is manufactured "which is another gospel" (Galatians. 1:6), a clever, malicious counterfeit. Satan knows that he must inspire man to make a religion which does away altogether with God's revelation of the creation and the fall of man, otherwise how can he dispose of the promise of a Saviour and the prophecy of his own ultimate defeat through Christ's glorious victory on Calvary and His triumphant return as King?

Consequently the basic tenet of the rationalist's system of religion is evolution. Man did not come direct from God's hands — a perfect work which God Himself pronounced "very good." God's first man was not created in the image of One infinitely higher than himself but was evolved from something infinitely lower than himself. This something had evolved through various stages by natural processes until man was produced. So that God's part in the production of man was not so much that of a Creator as of a semi-divine supervisor or foreman " of resident natural forces." In other words, the supernatural in man's creation was eliminated through evolution. So much for man's creation in this man-made, Satan-inspired gospel.

How does this gospel of the rationalist deal with sin? Sin is in the world. Sin is in man. How does the rationalist account for its origin and what does he say of its end? He evades the issue altogether by calmly denying the necessity of anyone having such knowledge.

I read recently a chapter on "Sin and its Forgiveness" from the pen of a noted preacher in which he said, "Whence did sin come? What was its origin?

How did it get into God's universe? That is a question to which no satisfactory answer has ever yet been given. . . Jesus is disappointing in His treatment of human sin. The origin of evil He never touched. He left that problem as opaque as it was before He came. He seemed to take it for granted that the origin of evil is a problem to be thought about and worked out in some other world than this. . . It is not necessary for us to know either the beginning of evil or the end of it; it is enough to know that sin is a burden to the heart of God, and that God has provided a way for our deliverance." Such deliberate evasion is equivalent to out-and-out denial. For any honest man, whose mind has not been blinded by the god of this world, could not but believe from the reading of Genesis three and Romans five that sin came into this world through Adam who yielded to the will of Satan. Therefore sin must have had its origin in the devil. Jesus, far from leaving this opaque, threw a flood of light upon it when He said that the devil was "a murderer from the beginning. . . he is a liar, and the father of it" (John 8:44). But not only is sin in the world but Christ is also in the world. And He is in the world primarily as a Saviour. He became a Saviour by going to the Cross. His work in this world as Saviour is to draw sinners unto Him for salvation. "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." His power of attraction is mighty and permeates the world of humanity today. When once the Lord Jesus Christ is accepted by one as Saviour, yielded to as Lord, and appropriated as Life, then the devil's power over that life is broken. The devil knows this full well. So what will he do with Christ in the system of religion he inspires men to make, and in the gospel, he inspires them to preach?

Satan cannot do away with Christ altogether for even the most simple would see that any system of religion which claims to be based on the Bible and calls itself Christianity must give Christ someplace. It is a galling thing to do but the devil is compelled for policy's sake to preach Christ in his "gospel, which is another gospel." But will he allow "his ministers of righteousness" to preach Jesus Christ as the Saviour from the guilt, penalty, and power of sin through His substitutionary death upon the Cross and His bodily resurrection and His ascension into Heaven as the God-man, the interceding High Priest? Never! To do so would be allowing his own funeral sermon to be preached, fulfilling Genesis 3:15. But he will preach Jesus as the world's greatest teacher, its purest example, it's most ethical leader, it's most powerful reformer. He will appeal to the natural man still in his sin and hostility, still under condemnation and the sentence of death, to obey Christ's teaching, emulate His example, follow His leadership and submit to His reforms. Such a caricature of the real Christ as this is found in the rationalist's system of religion.

True Christianity is grounded upon the supernatural. Two supernatural facts are its foundation. The first is the supernatural creation of man by the divine Creator whose perfect work was ruined by an enemy through the injection of sin. The second is the supernatural regeneration of man accomplished by God's grace through the supernatural birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and exaltation of His Son.

Rationalism, liberalism, modernism or whatever one wishes to call it, is grounded upon the natural. Two fallacies are its foundation. The first is the fashioning of man through evolution by which natural process he will continue to grow from the imperfect to the perfect. The second is the natural reformation of man accomplished through self-development by the help of a human Jesus, whose earthly life furnishes an example to be imitated, whose teachings provide a rule for right living, and whose principles constitute a guide for the overcoming of evil and the gradual betterment of individual and corporate life.

There is, then, a system of religion made by man but inspired by Satan. It is a religion which eliminates the supernatural. I am speaking now of the system not of the man who accepts it: of modernism not of the modernist. There are varying degrees and grades of faith and of unbelief in those who subscribe to this false system of religion. Some who call themselves modernists were brought up and nourished on the fundamental truths of evangelical Christianity and there is now in their belief a strange mixture of the false and the true. Our purpose in writing this is not to budge any man but to warn any who may be putting confidence for salvation in this manmade, Satan-inspired system of religion.

There is a gospel of Satan and a Gospel of Christ; the one is the exact antithesis of the other. Satan's gospel has no place for the grace of God. Satan's gospel reverses God's estimate of the natural man. It does not admit that in himself he is hopelessly incurable and incorrigible, even though it does have to say that he is still imperfect. The basic tenet of his gospel is man's natural worthiness which can be increased and for which man will take to himself the glory. Satan's gospel admits the natural man's need for spiritual garments, but it teaches men that these garments can be made by themselves and urges them to borrow the pattern from the earthly life of Jesus and then make the garments to fit themselves. In Satan's gospel, the sinner does not penitently beseech God to save him but he politely requests God to help him save himself and then endorse what he has done.

The Gospel of Christ has a place for nothing but the grace of God by which salvation is provided that the sinner accepts by faith as a gift. God's Gospel declares that the natural man is a sinner, a rebel and an outlaw and that he is separated from God and condemned by God. In God's Gospel the sinner admits that this is his standing and his state before God and that he is absolutely helpless to change it and therefore hopeless. He comes to God in true penitence and cries to God for salvation. The basic tenet of God's Gospel is the infinite worth of His Son and the worthiness of his finished work of redemption. God's Gospel declares the spiritual nakedness of the natural man and his inability to stand in the presence of God unless clothed in the garment of His Son's righteousness which He will graciously bestow upon all who will accept Him by faith.

Which Gospel are you believing? There is but one Gospel that is the power of God unto salvation. Anything which departs an iota from the truth of that Gospel is "another gospel," even the gospel of Satan.

Romans 1:16, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation, to everyone that believeth."

Galatians 1:6-9, " I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another: but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than ye have received, let him be accursed."

We have been facing the question, "What must I do to be saved?" and endeavouring to answer it. I trust it has been made clear that salvation does not consist in anything that man makes of himself or that education and environment make of him. Nor does it consist in anything that he does either for God or for man. Neither is salvation a mere matter of a changed manner of living. It does not mean the elevation of the life of the natural man to a better state of living still on the natural plane. As long as he remains on the plane of the natural he is unsaved, no matter how cultured, educated, moral or even religious he is.

 Salvation is not man's work for God but God's work for man. Salvation calls us to put our faith not in what man is or does but in what Christ is and has done. Salvation's first concern is not what kind of a life a man lives but what is his relationship to God. So its first dealing is not with the good in man but with the bad. Salvation does not try to improve the standing and state of the natural man through reformation but it transfers him into a totally new sphere of life through regeneration.

Every attempt to save the natural man through character, education, good works or religion will prove utterly futile because it has failed to deal effectually with that trinity of evil, sin, self, and Satan. Anything that leaves a man "in Adam," "in the flesh," and under "the power of Satan" is not salvation and is not acceptable to God. Dear reader, which way are you going to take?

Will, you proudly and arrogantly try to save yourself or will you humbly and penitently accept the salvation provided for you in Another? Will you go the way of Cain, who presented to God as a sacrifice the finest fruit of his garden and the best product of his toil, or will you go the way of Abel who acknowledged his need of a Saviour and accepted by faith God's sacrifice? Will you attempt to secure access to and acceptability with God on the ground of good works or will you rest on the finished work of God's Son? Will you try to improve the old sinful nature which is your inheritance in Adam or will you partake by faith of that new divine nature which God bestows in Christ? Will you try to conform your character and conduct to the standards of Satan's worldly system or will you yield yourself to Christ to be transformed into His image through the infilling of the Holy Spirit?

Will you follow Satan's way or God's? Upon your answer to this question your present happiness and your eternal destiny depend.

[ashesofus]

How to Change Your Mindset

This is all very good and well, but how exactly do you go about changing your mindset? How do you take back control, reclaim your happiness and start living a fulfilling and inspiring life again? The thing to do is to diagnose the problem. What exactly is wrong with your mind to begin with? And how can you fix those issues? Well, not to alarm you, but there’s probably a lot wrong with your mind.

Don’t worry though: it’s fairly common and it’s very much a sign of the times. I can guess that you aren’t completely happy with where you are right now. Maybe you don’t like who you are right now. I know this because you’re reading this article. If what you’re doing right now is working for you then great! But if it’s not, or if it could be working better, then something needs to change.

Here are some starting points that can help you see precisely what you might need to change.

1-Responsibility

The first problem that many of us have is that we don’t take responsibility for our actions and we don’t want to take responsibility for our actions. Now we all know people who don’t like taking responsibility – they will blame others and they will make excuses for what they’ve done. These are the people with the external locusts of control that we have already discussed.

But while this might seem like an irritating problem for people around them, the reality is that this is a much deeper issue that affects them more than it does anyone else. Because a completely refusal to accept responsibility means that you also reject your own autonomy and your control. If you believe that nothing is your fault, then you also really can’t take credit for anything that goes well.

Moreover, it means that you don’t have any power over your life and it means that you can’t choose to change things.

It’s not up to you, it’s up to chance!

It gets worse too. If you are too used to avoiding responsibility, then chances are that you will avoid taking responsibility for other things in your life too. That means you’ll avoid making commitments to people, which might make you feel ‘free’ but ultimately means you get left behind as those around you settle down into relationships and find fulfilling careers.

It means you’ll put yourself forward for fewer tasks in the work place – at least those tasks that have any major consequences. And if you aren’t responsible for large amounts of money, then you can’t expect to get paid large amounts of money either.

Being afraid of responsibility will even make you less impressive, decisive and confident in a day-to-day scenario. When someone asks you to make a decision, you won’t want to because you won’t want to be responsible for what happens if you get it wrong.

And unfortunately, life has made it all too easy for us to learn this lack of responsibility. We are sheltered by so much technology and for the most part, life has become much easier. Our childhoods have also become extended to a massive degree and especially in the current generation of youths.

These days many of us will stay at school until we are 18 and will then attend college for 3, 4 of 6 years after that depending on the amount of qualifications we obtain. Throw in a gap year and some time ‘finding our feet’ and many of us don’t begin our careers until we’re in our mid-to-late-twenties.

This was exacerbated by the economic crash of the last decade. Many people leaving college struggled to find work, which left them without workplace responsibilities and very often still living with their parents. Generations previous were likely married homeowners with children at this point.

And it’s hard to ditch this mentality. It’s hard to stop being a perpetual child. And while there are positive sides to this (it’s good for creativity, for dreaming and for enjoyment in the moment), ultimately life will catch up and we won’t be prepared. We are too soft mentally to cope with the challenges that will come our way. We’ve lost the ability to be decisive, strong, action-takers.

What can you do to fix it? We’ll explore this in more depth in some of the other reports but the key to acknowledge is that you must learn to accept the possibility of a less-than-perfect outcome. Accept that there will be times when things go wrong and it’s your fault.  And when that does happen, be willing to put your hand up and admit it. That’s what it means to be an adult. And that’s what will give you the strength to start taking more chances and making more bold decisions.

2- We Care Too Much What Others Think

Ultimately, number one comes down to doing away with fear. This is another topic we’re going to address more over the coming reports but for now let’s hone in on one very specific example of fear, one very specific cause. That is that we care too much what others think.

This is something that occupies a lot of our thoughts for many of us and something that can actually be quite tiring. Many of us will simply not do something if we think it is going to make us look unusual. If we think it will elicit stares.

Not only that, but caring too much what others think is what makes it so hard for us to take responsibility for things: we don’t want to seem to be weak or to lose the trust or respect of other people. You know what the biggest irony of this is? It is the refusal to take action and take responsibility that actually makes people lose respect. This is what makes us appear weaker.

Many of us also struggle to go after the things that we want in life because we are too busy worrying about pleasing others. We’re so busy saying yes to invitations that we don’t really want to go to and spending money on things that we think we should own, that we don’t have the resources left to spend on things that really matter to us. And this of course greatly limits what we are capable of and the quality of our lives.

Now I’m not telling you to forget other people entirely and to become an ass. That’s certainly not going to improve your life!

But learn the subtle difference:

Care if other people are happy

Don’t care what other people think of you

This is the most heroic mindset because it means you’ll do kind things for people without even telling anyone and even be willing to make yourself look foolish. But at the same time, you’ll be much happier because you won’t be living up to the expectations that you believe other people to have.

You’ll be able to take more responsibility for yourself and you’ll have one less huge thing causing you stress. So how do you make the switch? It is easier said than done of course but the key to getting started is to stop holding yourself to the standards of others and to start holding yourself only to your own standards. Judge yourself on your own terms and by your own code of conduct.

3-We Are Impulsive and Reactive

Perhaps the biggest symptom of modern life is just how badly impulsive and reactive we have become. And this really is something that has been exacerbated by modern technologies and convenience. Did you know that our attention span has measurably deteriorated over recent decades?

The reigning view is that this is caused by time spent on the internet. When we read a blog post we can skip across the headlines and the bullet points and then stop reading. Often we’ll get our information from YouTube or Twitter – which is limited to only 140 characters! When we find the piece of information we want, we can close the tab and search for the next thing.

It will be there in seconds! We’ve become very good at quickly skimming and assimilating information but we’ve trained ourselves out of sustaining our attention and concentrating. And this is then made a lot worse by all the other things vying for our attention and all the other immediate gratification we get. We have all the food, all the entertainment, all the gratification we could possibly need right at our fingertips.

Much of it is free. And much of it can be served up in seconds depending on your internet speed. Adverts are designed with bright colors and attractive faces to grab our attention. There is noise everywhere. And thus we have become incredibly reactive. Every one of these distractions that leads to reward will trigger a dopaminergic response. Eating a sweet, loading up PornHub, playing a computer game, watching a YouTube video.

This reinforces the same pathways in the brain that are present in addicts. And it completely undermines our ability to control our attention and to decide what we want to look at. How we want to behave. So, when we sit down to work towards a massive deadline, it should come as no surprise that the first thing we do is check Facebook. And make tea. And grab a snack.

How do you get out of this rut? There are a few ways and again, we’re going to delve deeply into all of this. But one of the simplest fixes is to try meditation. Meditation teaches us to take conscious control of our mind, to be more in the moment and to avoid distractions. This can help us to become incredibly more disciplined and focused and can certainly do away with a lot of procrastination and impulsivity.

4-We Are Lazy and Tired

The other big problem that prevents us from achieving what we want and that causes a whole lot of unhappiness is laziness. Most of us know what we should be doing but we lack the effort to do it. When given a choice, we will take the easier route. In the short-term this is great. It means you get to spend the evening on the couch with a bag of chips watching your favorite trashy TV.

But in the long term it means you lack the stimulus for growth. And guess what? Growth is perhaps the most important thing we need to be happy. Because you are never still and stable. If you are not going forward, you are going backward. If you are not growing, you are regressing. If you don’t exercise then your muscles atrophy. But likewise, if you don’t use your brain and if you don’t challenge your mind, then your brain physically shrinks.

Worse, you unlearn how to apply effort.But part of this is not laziness. Part of this is stress and tiredness. Because the problem is that we typically lead such busy, stressful and fast paced lives that we simply have no energy left at the end of the day to do anything about it.Is it any surprise? Most of us commute into work for 30-90 minutes on a train or bus or sitting in traffic in the car.

We then fight our way through a busy street into the office where we sit in a cramped, stuffy room and get shouted at by clients and unhappy customers. We work to urgent deadlines and end up staying late, then we make the precise same commute back home. You can add malnutrition on top of this for many of us. Halogen lights too. Loud noises. Air pollution.

All these things upset the body and cause physiological stress. These put us further into the fight or flight state and the body simply can’t tell the difference. This exhausts us. And that’s what makes us choose the fast food in the cupboard and it’s what makes us skip the workout. It’s also what causes us to argue with our partners and not have time for our kids. And it’s not even time that’s the issue here so much as energy.

Your psychological energy is a finite resource. So, the first thing you need to do is to start buying yourself more energy. That might mean looking into easier ways into work, or it might mean swapping to an easier job. It means finding space in your life so that you can stop reacting and being in fight or flight. They you can start to become proactive and make your way onto your inspire path.

source http://www.forcesalign.com/how-to-change-your-mindset/

[sarahburness]

How I Stopped Chasing Highs and Self-Destructing

“Problems cannot be solved with the same mind set that created them.” ~Albert Einstein

In our culture, it’s pretty common to think of rock ‘n’ roll hedonism a little wistfully. From Keith Richards to Hunter S. Thompson, the wild nights and strung-out days of the world’s most iconic party animals are seen as integral to their sparkling creativity, rebellious nature, and untouchable glamour.

So many people, especially if they want to make it in the creative industries, idealize and inevitably attempt to mimic these lifestyles. Whether they want to be a “work hard, play hard” music producer, channel Hemingway as a bar-frequenting writer, or fulfill the image of free-spirited artist, artificial highs come with the territory.

When I was in my twenties, I fell for this concept hook, line, and sinker. I was working in the music industry and quickly cemented my image as the consummate party boy. Up for any new experience and the person you came to for a good night out, to an outside observer, it would seem that I was having the time of my life.

However, after the months turned into years of living this way, it became clear that all those hard-drinking, pill-popping creatives have produced their canon of work in spite of their lifestyles, not because of them.

When you hear the amazing tales of fun and debauchery, you don’t see the crashing hangover the next day, or the sense of hopelessness and despair that comes with being trapped in yet another comedown, while life refuses to move forward.

I was relying on various kinds of chemical highs to hide the fact that in every other part of my life, I was stressed and strained to breaking point.

Plagued by chronic insomnia, I hadn’t had a good night’s sleep for years. But within my industry, this pleasure-seeking and self-destructive behavior felt normalized, because that’s how most people behaved.

Instead of living the dream, I felt trapped in an endless cycle of stress and anxiety. Letting my hair down one too many times a week was a shortcut to feeling okay—at least for one evening.

The fact is that this kind of hedonism doesn’t make us feel better in any meaningful long term sense. It’s a distraction. It’s a way for us to temporarily feel good, and potentially open us up to interesting experiences—but the highs never last. In fact, I spent much of my twenties feeling utterly drained, with no time or inclination to nurture anything truly worthwhile.

There’s an idea that all this “stay up all night, work all day” overindulgence is fine, or even laudable. That’s until the day when we step over the shadowy and undefined line into addiction, and our behavior is suddenly viewed as embarrassing and shameful.

I never came close to this point; in fact, to some of my peers and colleagues, it would have been far weirder and more uncomfortable socially if I were teetotal. But my lifestyle was still undeniably self-destructive.

My own health and well-being fell behind every other consideration, especially my career. Whether it was taking a second job and running myself into the ground in order to keep it all going, or staying up all night at events before getting up for another day of work, it simply didn’t end.

It was when I found myself completely exhausted, yet entirely unable to sleep at 2am on my ex-girlfriend’s couch—thinking of nothing but how my life was going nowhere, and convinced that there was no point left—that I realized things had to change.

Moving Away from Hedonism

I walked for hours that night, feeling like I was at the bottom of a pit full of regret, fear, and bitterness. But the simple action of getting up, getting out, and allowing myself to feel these emotions rather than mask them with my busy non-stop lifestyle was one of the first positive actions I’d taken for months.

It was a dark time, and I still used partying to numb myself to the realities of my life, but a chink of light had been let in. My friends could see I was in trouble, and after they whisked me away for the week, I decided to remove myself from the life I’d created and go to South America for a few months.

I got lucky in the fact that a big record deal finally paid me enough to extricate myself from the music business, but it was a shift in thinking that made me want to do this in the first place.

I learned that when something isn’t working, we can’t be afraid to let it go. Being a success in the music industry was my dream, but I had to acknowledge that this wasn’t a healthy or enjoyable part of my life anymore.

The realization had landed that we need something more meaningful and fulfilling to enjoy our lives than a series of fleeting and artificial highs.

It became ever clearer that success didn’t equate to working all hours and pursuing a unsustainable lifestyle in order to make a broken and inadequate “Plan A” work. I had to figure out why exactly I had chosen to pursue such self-destructive behaviours, and get to the root cause.

Seeing Clearly and Moving Forward

With far less hedonism and hard work to hide my issues, solving my anxiety-induced chronic insomnia became a priority. However, like many people I found myself focusing on the symptoms of my problems, completely unaware of and failing to tackle their hidden source.

I tried herbal sleeping tablets, but was instinctively reluctant to try anything pharmaceutical (which was interesting, considering I’d been so willing to take any number of illegal substances in order to have a good time).

Ear plugs and eye masks made no difference, and it was apparent that, as with my hedonistic life choices, I was simply skimming along the surface of things rather than looking deeper. It was as if there was a patch missing from the roof of my house, and instead of going up and fixing it, I was putting up a leaky umbrella each time it rained.

It was only the chance recommendation from a friend of a friend that led me to Vedic meditation—the technique that changed my life. After my first lesson I slept soundly for the first time in years, and within a few weeks my insomnia had eased entirely.

It was through meditation that I learned about a different kind of hedonism. Years later, I have left my partying days far behind, but live a far more vibrant, creative, and enjoyable life. By swapping late nights for bird song and record deals for teaching, I moved away from self-destruction, and toward self-growth.

Of course, this took a long road of self-discovery (which isn’t over yet!). But I feel there are some pointers which can help people if they’ve found themselves trapped into a similar situation to mine.

Here are three ways to move on from self-destructive behavior.

 1. Allow yourself to learn from the lows.

It’s all too easy, after enduring the depths of a hangover all through Sunday and a drawn-out week at work, to get to Friday night and think the answer to all that sadness and frustration is another night of overindulgence.

I’m not saying this is easy, but instead of relying on your usual route to a good time, make yourself sit with your feelings. Without the (ultimately counterproductive) balm of alcohol and other such substances, you will start to see things as they really are, and work out if there’s anything that needs to change.

2. Switch up your routine and break the cycle.

Getting away from my life in London was a key part of breaking the bad habits that had me repeatedly making bad choices, which did nothing but make me feel worse (as the saying goes, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result).

It could be something as simple as suggesting to your usual drinking buddies that you try a different, sober activity on a Sunday night, or catching up with friends you haven’t seen in a while rather than sticking with the same crowd.

The important thing is to show yourself the possibility of a different kind of lifestyle, and to build confidence in the fact that you can manage without your usual self-destructive coping mechanisms.

3. Think about what’s driving your behavior and address the root cause.

Hopefully, by taking a step back, you’ll be able to see what compels you to work too hard, party too hard, or indulge in your particular vice (for some people, this could even be over-exercising and obsessing about health).

Perhaps you are a high achiever and have worried yourself into chronic stress and anxiety. Maybe you have low self-esteem, and don’t believe you are worth looking after. Whatever it is, once you are aware of your motivations it is much easier to address them.

For me, the key to becoming a much happier person was meditation, and I thoroughly recommend it in all its various forms. But you may find that it is therapy which helps you most, or simply practicing gratitude. Even the most basic act of keeping a journal each day could make the difference.

Whichever proves to be the most beneficial thing for you, the important thing is dedicating some time to your own self-care. By acknowledging your problems, you give yourself the best chance to fix them.

About Will Williams

Will is a meditation teacher and the founder of London meditation center Will Williams Meditation, committed to helping people live happier lives through the benefits of meditation. His first book, The Effortless Mind, is now available and explores the difficulties of modern life, the inspiring stories of my students and how we can be at our best through life’s challenges.

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The post How I Stopped Chasing Highs and Self-Destructing appeared first on Tiny Buddha.

from Tiny Buddha https://tinybuddha.com/blog/how-i-stopped-chasing-highs-and-self-destructing/

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Chad Mureta & Carter Thomas – App Flipping System

Chad Mureta & Carter Thomas – App Flipping System

Chad Mureta & Carter Thomas – App Flipping System

Here’s what you really need to know:

ROI = profits

When you consider minimizing expense and maximizing revenue, you increase your profits substantially. In other words, for every dollar you put in, what is it worth to you?

Cashflow is the only thing that matters.

If your company costs a lot to run, or you have to overspend on developing new Apps to grow, you’re going to have a cashflow issue.

Maximizing lifetime value of leads is what everyone misses.

When you spend too much time developing an App, you lose the ability to focus on your prospect or customer. How will you advertise to them? What will you offer them in your future? And which Apps that you “flip” will form a network of self-referral?

Spending time ‘saving’ time.

Thinking about how to save time leads to BIGGER results. The #1 mistake I see most Appreneurs make when they’re starting out is ‘doing’ instead of ‘thinking;’ remember, this is about your lifestyle, not just an App.

With all of this said, open your mind to the possibility of becoming a successful Appreneur — what will your life be like? Who will you spend it with? And how big will you grow before you decide to kick back and enjoy?

Instead of learning about coding, consider how much easier it would be to find code that ‘works’ and then re-Apply it; you’ll save money, time, and frustration. Meanwhile, you’ll have an opportunity to focus on what really makes your App get downloads — marketing (which, in this case, is mass production of Apps.)

Flip Source Code

You’ll hear me interview Carter about how he went from developing 3 Apps in a year to 108. Eventually, his ‘App portfolio’ became more valuable than the sum of each App on its own, and it was then that Carter was able to sell his entire portfolio and begin living the life of his dreams. Of course, Carter Applied himself in a unique and powerful way, and he made it work. But most people never take action, so we did our best to solve that challenge too…

App Flipping Shows You How to Profit With Apps While Simultaneously Raising the Standard of The Industry.

I get it, completely; it sucks learning a new skill or way of doing business, falling on your face, and having no success.

Listen, I used to do things the hard way, even when I was taking shortcuts no one else was. In other words, I was developing Apps from scratch by modeling off of successful user interfaces at the top of the charts. My competition (large corporations with unlimited marketing budgets) were throwing money at downloads, while I was focused on ‘making’ money from my downloads. They wanted more users, no matter the price; I wanted more profits, no matter the number of downloads.

Today’s Biggest Threat to App Success is Relying on One “Big Idea” — Stop ‘Making’ Apps and Start ‘Flipping’ Them Instead.

This is real — Carter and I are sharing the absolute best opportunity we’ve ever seen — and we’re guiding you, step-by-step, because there’s plenty of room for both of us. Think about it from the most selfish perspective possible; by creating a network of Appreneurs who all mass-produce Apps through App flipping, we are creating a stockpile of the world’s best source code we can share with one another. People who get ‘in’ on this will have a competitive advantage by design. There’s nowhere else you can do this… and even if there were, it would be hard to equal the leverage that our community already provides.

We want the process of flipping Apps to be easy, so you can flip more Apps and share what you’ve learned with us. We will rise together.

Whether You’re A Man or Woman, Young or Old, Experienced or Not — This Is For You, and Extremely Affordable.

There are 3 Steps:

1 Invest in an ‘idea’ of a successful App by buying source code for that App. 2 Next, re-design it to make it better (one-up it). This is the key. You can’t throw a flipped app onto the store without making it BETTER. 3 Third, let your App grow in the marketplace (or sell off your company and head down to South America like Carter did) Here’s what happens when you ‘buy’ the code instead of ‘building’ an App:

Cost savings: By using a “template”, you can pay as little as $100 to buy code (just like in web design) and then multiply to increase your profits with each reskin. Additional profits: Re-skinning source code once provides you with a nice profit margin, but re-skinning it 10-20x allows you to win by much more. When you consider ‘App Flipping,’ think of more than one App for each source code you buy and you’ll exponentially build more profits. The opportunity of App flipping is that it can both reduce expenses and increase revenue. Plus, when you choose ‘wisely,’ you can almost eliminate your chance of failure.

Here are a few examples:

1. Tinder:

Took the web based “hot or not” concept but added the ability to chat and it completely took off.

2. Framatic:

Took regular Frame photo app but did it exclusively for Instagram; this also did very well.

3. Songza:

Took Pandora’s model but built human playlists based on mood and setting, not algorithm; recently announced 4.8 million monthly active users.

So, it really comes down to how you ‘pick’ your source code, what you do with it, and how you market it in the App Store after you re-skin it. There isn’t any complex coding, tech skills, or giant gap in knowledge of a new field to get started. All you have to do is identify a great App, buy the code, and re-design it to be better and cooler than the original App.

Besides, once you get the hang of this, here are the reasons you’ll be glad you made the time:

Lifestyle Business – having an App business is better than being a rockstar, in my opinion. You’re not publicly recognizable, but you get to go everywhere and do everything. Time Freedom – be your own boss, and refuse to work when you don’t feel like it; play instead. Growth Potential – in many ways, you’re a first-mover. The App Marketplace will never be the same once this catches on. You’ll be on the ground floor from the beginning, with worldwide reach. Even if you’re not interested in doing this as your career. Flip a few Apps and create a new source of revenue for yourself.

If you’ve never done anything like this, or even had a business of your own before, don’t worry. Almost everything here can be outsourced, so you won’t have any staff to manage unless you want to. In fact, I’ve been helping one of my friends in San Francisco learn how to flip apps, and she’s an over-worked nurse who barely has any free time to commit; she’s using her additional income as a ‘retirement savings fund’ — really cool, and I’m grateful to be in a position to help her.In fact, I’ve helped people of all ages get started, and I’m ready to help you too. My oldest student is about 65 years old (Charles Wooley, the host from 60 minutes), and my youngest student was 10 years old when he got started. The process made equal sense to both of them.

You’re In Charge — Decide Your Own Faith, And Weigh Your Own Opportunities BeforeTaking Action — Does Anything Compare?

Please take a serious look at the turnkey system we’ve designed for you below:

App Flipping, plain and simple, is the easiest and fastest way to get started as an Appreneur. We hold you by the hand, in three easy steps, and show you how to become wildly successful, as we have. Ultimately, this comes down to you and your efforts, but we’ve gone out of our way to make this as easy and affordable as possible. Buy Code, Re-Skin It, & Flip It (TM).

It’s that simple.

To Be Clear, Carter And I Didn’t Come Up With All Of This On Our Own.

We’re talking about thousands of Appreneurs, 8-figure App mastermind leaders we regularly work with, and over 50 million downloads worth of data. This information is a product of our entire network, and all of our experience, combined.

“If I were reborn a 24 year old, I would look at this area (App Marketplace) for an ‘app gap’ — a gap in the market or an opportunity to shake up the leading players.”

~Richard Branson

CAUTION: You’re Going To Have To Try.

Don’t waste my time and I won’t waste yours — I respect you. You can’t just invest in this system and do nothing — it won’t work without you fully committing. You’ll have to bear down, prepare yourself, and decide App success begins now. Next week or month is too late — do not procrastinate. Do this now.

This Looks Simple, But It’s Quite Complex — A Tested System For Success.

The App Marketplace grows so quickly that it’s more difficult to see ‘what works’ at a glance when you study the iTunes store these days. It’s even harder to be able to know how to screen quality code, re-skin it, or flip it for the highest ROI… unless you know where to begin, and which steps to take. With the right amount of effort, diligence, and ability to pick up the patterns, I fully believe this is something you can do on your own. My biggest concern is that you’ll spend a fortune teaching yourself… and ultimately quit.

For The Next 6 Weeks, Focus On Multiple Streams Of Income & The Ultimate Lifestyle Business

We get it, 100%. Starting something new is both intimidating and expensive. We think long-term, and we know the real value in working with you isn’t you being our ‘student,’ so much as our colleague. In many ways, you can think of this as a ‘mastermind entry fee’ that comes with a crash course on how to be a badass in our group. If you can’t pass the gates, we really can’t help you anyway. We’ve laid out everything it takes — it’s on you, my friend.

Besides, if you get even half the results of our other clients, you won’t be sorry. Go ahead and choose your favorite option below — let’s get started right away:

Bonus #1:

Free source code hand-picked by Chad Mureta & Carter Thomas – $997 value

Teaching you how to flip Apps is great, but your success depends upon finding the right source code and then re-skinning it. The main challenge is finding great source code, and then verifying how good it is. This requires hiring a developer who you trust, specifically to screen the code and let you know how clean it is. Instead of going through all this trouble, we decided to simplify the process for you by creating a warehouse of source code, screened directly by us — we call it Flip Source Code. Go ahead and get your first source code, absolutely free.

Bonus #2:

Exclusive Q&A Coaching Recordings For Our VIP Network — $297 value

It’s hard to get Carter in person these days, because, frankly, he makes a lot of money flipping Apps and loves traveling and taking time off. It wasn’t long ago that Carter was in your exact position, trying to make things work, but nothing had ‘stuck‘ just yet. In these exclusive VIP coaching sessions, you have an opportunity to learn directly from the source, watch Carter apply his techniques and methodologies to App business after App business, and you’ll see how it all fits together. Again, this is completely FREE, just by choosing ‘Option 1’ below and accepting both of these bonuses.

What Are You Going To Do?

This starts and ends with you. It’s your call used to believe in a life that didn’t have any opportunity. Then, I met Anthony Robbins, and became one of the leading examples of his successful students (he regularly asks me to speak on stage and tell my story.) I’m charged up when I think about helping you overcome limiting beliefs and take control of your life.All of your excuses are now gone. 6 Weeks From Now, You’ll Be Certain That App Success Is Achievable, Rapidly!

So make the right move — time to take control and live the best life ever — besides, if you get anywhere near half the results of my other clients, you won’t be sorry.

Chad Mureta & Carter Thomas – App Flipping System

Chad Mureta & Carter Thomas – App Flipping System

The post Chad Mureta & Carter Thomas – App Flipping System appeared first on Seminars Success Academy.