Eupan - Good for All - www.eupan.net

Our hope is that all persons might live a life of whole happiness. Many studies confirm that our mindful awareness of being thankful - and expressing that thanks - shapes our total life's sense of well being. A few more insights on practical ways to give thanks - and reasons to attune your own heart to gratitude. Gratitude has a lasting impact on the brain!   (University of Berkley link.) Gratitude is connected to attaining emotional maturity! (Harvard University link.) Gratitude benefits human body health! (University of California @ Davis link.) Toward eupan ~ marty alan michelson, ph.d. Image from: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/images/uploads/GratefulInfographic.jpg 

A reminder of the beauty, complexity and interdependent connections in Creation. Toward eupan ~ ~ marty

After every major dislocation, accident, or argument in your life, haven't you wished, "If I would have known . . .,  I would have instead . . . "   If I would have known I'd fall off the ladder, I would have been more attentive to seek someone as a spotter. If I would have known my quick turn in traffic would lead to him hitting me, I would have not turned.  The examples are endless.  May persons, nations, powers, leaders, armies, civilians, and all people find the means NOW to say, "If we would have known the conflict would result in this . . . , we would have worked harder for better solutions that best served the well-being of all living beings." Toward eupan ~ ~ marty alan michelson, ph.d.

“Amplification”: When a woman made a key point, other women would repeat it, giving credit to its author. This forced the men in the room to recognize the contribution — and denied them the chance to claim the idea as their own. See full article about Women in the White House during the Obama Administration . Toward eupan ~ ~ marty alan michelson, ph.d.

Today a female U.S. Senator was silenced by a male U.S. Senator (and the vote of the Senate) after she read letter from a Civil Rights Advocate about a person who had used "the awesome power of his office to chill the free exercise of the vote by black citizens." I stand with women. I stand with people of every color, race, or religion who seek justice and equal rights. May we persist, together, until the arc of the human history turns fully toward justice for all. Toward eupan ~ ~ marty alan michelson, ph.d.

A student from my first semester of full-time teaching is staying in our home tonight. What a joy to welcome him into our home! He was raised in Tulsa, the son of a preacher.  He trained for ministry and for most of the past 18 years he's been a pastor in Texas.  The past several years he has pastored a large, historic Baptist church in Dallas. In the past year, I have seen him almost every week. He has started a new church in Oklahoma City that worships on Saturday and our family has worshipped with this new church nearly every weekend.   He's a trusted friend. I love him.   Since it was the first time he had any reason to stay overnight in our home, in the last minutes before he went off to the bedroom, we had to configure some plans for the morning on who is going where, when and how at what time - with our family routines and when we drive off to work and school. Our guest will be leaving our home earlier than us in the morning to go to t...

Good words: To be fully and authentically human, we must behave with not only civility but also generosity. Civility and generosity go hand-in-hand. Life is a gift – a precious, unmerited miracle. And only when we recognize what a profound gift we’ve been given can we respond with humility. Humility is what prompts us to treat others as we want to be treated. It’s also what compels us to generously pass along the gifts we have received. More at the full blog article manipulative-people.com . Let's be fully human, civil, generous, and humble! Toward eupan ~ ~ marty alan michelson, ph.d.

Often times we need to simply "be silent" with ourselves - in quietness and tranquility - in order to discover what is most important to our emerging life. Additionally, being silent in the midst of relational strife or conflict is important, too. Silence prepares us to listen to others. At this link from LifeHack.Org is a longer reflection:   Silence Can Solve Problems That Words Cannot. Toward eupan ~ ~ marty alan michelson, ph.d.

Sadly, human pollution is shaping regions of the earth no human can inhabit. "There appears to be no environment on Earth that has escaped plastic pollution. Indeed, despite the distance from land, plastics are ubiquitous in remote marine environments, including polar regions. These plastics are known to cause impacts to terrestrial and marine ecosystems both at the macro- and micro-scale." More at this scientific report published here by Nature.com  There are alternatives to our widespread use of plastic. I am not one who fears global catastrophe, though I do worry about how future generations (and how we) will reap what we have sown with overuse, misuse, and abuse. We can do better and survive.  Perhaps we can do better and thrive! Toward eupan ~ ~ marty alan michelson, ph.d.

"Many people, however, remain mostly unaware of the important technological contributions made by Native Americans . . ." A single line in an article about your most recent pair of Levi's ! :) We tend to take our current technology for granted.  It was constructed by others - many indigenous or "foreign to us" people. Just weeks ago I learned that vanilla, which I love as Ice Cream or as a flavoring spice in many cooked goods, comes to us as the result of an Indian Ocean Island boy named Edmond Albius . These are reminders to me today of our need to value Peruvians and natives of the Islands of the Indian Ocean.   And, our need to value indigenous persons and people from all regions of the world. Toward eupan ~ marty alan michelson, ph.d.

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.  It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.  We therefore ...

CNN reports: Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday that the United States has determined that ISIS' action against the Yazidis and other minority groups in Iraq and Syria constitutes genocide.  "My purpose here today is to assert in my judgment, (ISIS) is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control including Yazidis, Christians and Shiite Muslims," he said, during a news conference at the State Department.  Kerry said in 2014, ISIS trapped Yazidis killed them, enslaved thousands of Yazidi women and girls "selling them at auction, raping them at will and destroying the communities in which they had lived for countless generations," executed Christians "solely for their faith" and also "forced Christian women and girls into slavery."  "Without our intervention, it is clear that those people would have been slaughtered," he said.  This is the first time that the United States has declared a gen...

We can do more to intervene to help others! Be an upstander by not standing-by as a bystander to hurt and harm. " Our findings are the first to show that the most tormented children -- those facing bullying several times a week -- can be helped by teaching bystanders to be more supportive . . . "   Many K-12 school efforts to reduce bullying have proven not very effective, leading educators to wonder what bullying prevention approach works best. A new study finds one anti-bullying program works extremely well. The study of more than 7,000 students in 77 elementary schools in Finland found that one program greatly benefited the mental health of sixth graders who were bullied the most, significantly improving their self-esteem and reducing their depression. Read more at Science Daily . Toward eupan ~ ~ marty alan michelson, ph.D.

Viruses, bacteria, and organisms are complex! Many that are "poisonous" to one species are in the food chain of another species. The Guinea Worm that has plagued millions of humans may never harm another human. Congratulations to the tireless efforts of many, and the leadership of President Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter. More news at this link and this excerpt: IT LOOKS like something out of a Gothic movie: a metre-long monster that emerges slowly through blistered human skin, its victim writhing in agony. No one is spared. It can creep out from between the toes of a child or from the belly of a pregnant woman. In the mid-1980s Dracunculus medinensis, the Guinea worm, as this horror is called, afflicted 3.5m people a year in 20 countries in Africa and Asia. But last year that number was down to just 22, all of them in Chad, Ethiopia, Mali and South Sudan. Dracunculiasis is thus poised to become the second human disease to be eradicated, after smallpox.  This bles...

"A survivor hidden in a tree says he watched Boko Haram extremists firebomb huts and heard the screams of children burning to death, among 86 people officials say died in the latest attack by Nigeria's homegrown Islamic extremists." I have no answers to this complex situation. I simply know the violence of our world and the displacement of persons pains me to my core. There is enough food and there are enough resources for vibrant living, if only we can find the means to be different in our world. Full NY Times link . Toward eupan ~ ~ marty alan michelson, ph.d.