control – Citizens Of Culture

Balance: Temperance, Order, Control

C2O Editor by Maceo Paisley, Conversation Pieces, Publisher's Note balance, control, order, temperance 0

Humans beings are nothing if not passionate, nothing at all. We are fueled by the innate desires within us. These feelings drive our ethics, lifestyle and all that we know to be right in the world. But within this we are impressionable, both our senses to perceive the outside world, and the appraisal of the significance of our internal emotional state can be clouded. We oscillate between poles of happy and sad, hungry and full, love and hate. These binaries are not so simple, in fact nearly all of the nuance in our world come from the gradations of these states. This brings us incredible beauty and complexity. The sophistication of our emotions is as vast as the variations all the shades of color.

The fall back from all this is color and complexity that is becomes difficult to find neutrality. We are unsure if the human mind is even capable of truly being subjective. As we look out in to the world of all these colors how can we not qualify them as “good” or “bad”? We are built with psycho-emotional resonators that help us navigate the world in our search for pleasure, food, and safety. This ever present quest for homeostasis leaves us bound to our own bias.

This is why we must speak about this. If we are to ever learn empathy, compassion, and find truth and justice, we must learn to recognize these things for how they appear beyond our powers of sensation. To know truth, we must know not only our own truth, but be able to recognize where our perspective reduces our ability to see clearly. I personally wear prescriptive glasses to help refocus the way I see the world. I know that my vision is not as clear as it could be so I take actions to augment my view of things to something that is more consistent, reliable, and accurate.

We must be pro active about augmenting our sense of cognitive perception as well. Through out this month we will be engaging in conversations, thought exercises and researching how best to bring ourselves to a place of temperance. Where we can both acknowledge out passions but not let them override our judgement.

How can we learn to share our feelings in constructive ways that contribute to our understanding and quest for wisdom instead of hindering our ability to accept what is before us? These are things we will hope to uncover and we will most certainly fall short, but I implore you to join us as we attempt it.

Enjoi

-Maceo Paisley-

COMFORT: Warmth, Safety, and CONTROL

C2O Editor Conversation Pieces, Publisher's Note comfort, comfort food, control, safety, vanessa williams 0

As the leaves fall and the seasons change.. yada yada yada.. Its about to get COLD. And one of the things we know we want to be is warm. Odd that we crave warmth right after Summer though. So is it cold or warmth that we seek, because it is easy to remember sitting in a room with the A/C blasting to cool us off just a month ago. It would seem that our happiness is conditional. Much like Goldie Locks in the tale of the 3 bears, we humans want our porridge, and our environments “just right”.

From a biological perspective our bodies are always seeking to find and maintain homeostasis, and that may be wise for several reasons. It become difficult for us to function in too drastic of temperatures. There is also something else though. Consciously we seek comfort from the external dangers of our lives as well as a familiarity to our surroundings. New places are unknown and we like to keep things, including our food at least similar to what we know. Diet though is an interesting thing, because we sometimes find ourselves seeking refuge in tubs of ice cream or fatty foods that provide very little nutritional value. What is that about?

We call these dishes and snacks “comfort foods” for a reason. In the same way a cozy bed (particularly one with an Eva Bed Base) with the best weighted blankets on it feels on a lazy morning, comfort provides us the chance to not only process but to rest. We have more rapid eye movement when we sleep comfortably and our brains have a chance to manage stress when we are adequately rested. But if you are on the wrong bed or in a noisy neighbor hood, or are unable to settle your mind then your sleep will be less effective.

The trick for some is wearing a sleeping mask and ear plugs. This brings up a wild point. CONTROL. If we sleep better when we reduce the noisy of the outside world, then are we not more effective when we are able to reduce obstacles to our goals? Some would say yes, but others, notably R&B singer and former Miss America, Vanessa Williams.

In Williams’ 1992 single she tells us:

After a hard day’s work
There’s one thing to be certain of
This ol’ familiar love
It’s not unusual to find that it’s sensual
It’s all you need to let go

There’s no need to try
Or compromise
Or settle for another outside of my love

The thing to do
When you get through
Heed the message seek the comfort of my zone.

Some say that the comfort zone is dangerous. Just like it is the laziness that keeps us in bed on Sunday can be a bad thing on Monday. It can be this same comfort that keeps us from personal growth.

This month we will research and discuss this topic and at the end of the month host an event that allows us to glean insights from our feelings around comfort in realtime.

Hope to see you there!

m.Paisley

founder & EIC