Easter Island

Easter Island is a mysterious place in the South Pacific in which giant stone statues echo their historical enchantments. The island is located 2,300 miles from Chile’s west coast and 2,500 miles east of Tahiti. The island was formerly referred to Rapa Nui to its first inhabitants. The island was later christened Paaseiland or Easter Island by the Dutch explorers to honor the day of their arrival in 1722. The island was annexed by Chile during the 19^th century and today it mainly serves as a place where many come to visit each year, a tourism location. Many visit the mystifying sites such as the giant statues, the ceremonial village of Orongo and the Rano Kao volcano.

            The creators of the enormous statues were considered master craftsmen and engineers. These marvels are distinctive to other sculptures discovered in the Polynesian cultures. The role the statues served in the ancient Polynesian civilization and the way they have been constructed and transported has puzzled many for centuries.

            Rapa Nui was the first name given to Easter Island by the Polynesians. The first king of Rap Nui was Hoto-Matua, a ruler possibly from the Marquesa Islands. The approximately 900 large statues provides the greatest evidence that a rich culture was established by the original inhabitants. The statues averaged 13 feet in height and weighed approximately 13 tons. The huge stone busts were referred to as “moai.” They were carved out of porous rock formed by volcanic ash. It is still a wonder how the statues were moved all over the island.

            There were distinct cultural phases: the early period (700-850 A.D.), the middle period (1050 – 1680), and the late period (after 1680). Between the first two phases there was evidence that many early statues were destroyed and the statues were rebuilt. The later statues were larger and heavier. During the middle period burial chambers were constructed. The moai were believed to represent the important people who were deified after their death. The biggest statue found constructed during the middle period measured 32 feet tall and weighed approximately 82 tons.

            The later period, laced with civil wars and destruction, involved many statues being pushed over and many obsidian spear points were found. Two competing ethnic groups existed during this time period: The Short-Ears and the Long-Ears. Many lost their lives during heated conflicts.

            The first known European traveler to set foot on the island was a Dutch explorer named Jaob Roggeveen. He arrived in 1722. As stated earlier, the Dutch named the island Paaseiland or Easter Island to celebrate their date of arrival.

            After about 50 years in 1770, the Spanish viceroy of Peru sent explorers to the island. They spent four days and estimated the population to be at approximately 3,000 people. Four years later after a civil war the British navigator Sir James Cook arrived to find that the island’s population dropped to only 600 to 700 men with only about 30 women still remaining.

            Jean-Francois de Galaup, a French explorer, discovered 2,000 people on the island when he arrive in 1786. The major influx of people was decimated by a slave raid from Peru in 1862 which was made worse by smallpox being introduced to the small community. The population was reduced to 111 by 1877. Catholic missionaries decided to settle on the island to convert the natives to Christianity. Chile annexed the island and rented much of the land for sheep raising. In 1965 the government of Chile appointed a governor for Easter Island. The residents of the island became citizens of Chile.

            Easter Island was formed by a series of volcanic eruptions. It is 14 miles long and seven miles wide. The hilly terrain and subterranean caves filled with corridors extend into the mountains of volcanic rock serve as a challenge for people who want to explore the island. The largest volcano is Rano Kao and the highest point is Mount Terevaka, which reaches 1,969 feet above sea level. The climate is subtropical and sunny and dry.

            In 1995, UNESCO named Easter Island a World Heritage site. The island has no natural harbor, however, ships can anchor on the west coast at Hanga Roa, the island’s largest village with a population of about 3,300. The island houses a mixed population, mostly of Polynesian ancestry, and the Spanish language is the most prevalent language spoken. The economy is supported by tourism.

            The history of the island involves visitors from many countries. The mysterious large Polynesian statues have provided an unsolved puzzle for many for centuries. Why and how were they constructed? The island serves as a tourist attraction for many today.

Reference

History.com. Easter Island. Retrieved on March 7, 2017 from www.history.com/topics/easter-

            island

           

Forgiveness

Forgiveness and holding onto grudges are at the heart of many human dramas. People are often humiliated, rejected, wounded by selfishness and inconsideration, treated in-humanely, and stabbed in the back. Forgiveness can forge a bridge linking hatred and alienation to liberation from two kinds of hell: bitterness and victim-hood on one side; and guilt, shame, and self-condemnation on the other.

Making peace with those who harmed us does not have to be done in person. It may happen in the privacy of our own mind. This is going to be difficult to hear. For-giveness is about letting go of our own unhealthy feelings of self-importance so we can move on with living a more balanced life. In essence, forgiveness is not about weak-ness. Weak individuals are the people who cannot for-give. Forgiveness is the healing work of the strong. 

Forgiveness of those who have personally caused harm to us, our families or significant others can serve as a release. In the Course of Miracles “all dis-ease comes from a state of unforgiveness,” and it is further explained that “whenever we are ill, we need to look around to see who it is we need to forgive.” Louise L. Hay also adds the very person an individual finds hardest to forgive is the one needed to be let go of the most. Forgiveness has nothing to do with condoning unjust and unkind behaviors, it means letting things go (Hay, 1999).

Forgiveness must not involve tradeoffs, we must not expect retribution. A good example of this is sending a let-ter to someone and demanding they follow all require-ments set forth in the letter before forgiveness will be granted.  Learning how to trust again after being harmed is one of the most challenging facets of being a human being. Developing trust is essential for forgiveness and healing. It is important to be able to move on. If we let others know that we have trust in them and this acknowledgment is earnest, they are less likely to betray us. In order to forgive and make peace with those who hurt us, we must learn to trust again.

          True forgiveness of self and others involves con-fronting the truth about a harmful situation and then feeling the emotions associated with the situation head on, not holding back at all. By experiencing feelings as deeply as possible, even feelings of anger towards the individual who may have caused us harm, we allow these feelings to be released. Remember, everyone makes mistakes (Hay, 1999).            

         Generally, it is more harmful for the person who is holding onto the resentments than the person who is perceived as causing the resentment. Everyone has been hurt at one point or another. Life is unfair. When harm is caused by others, there will not always be an understanding as to why. Release those hurt feelings. Holding onto resentments is linked to several physical problems such as increased blood pressure, weakened immune system, de-presssion and impaired memory. Harboring resentments is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.

Examination of feelings concerning forgiveness towards our parents is a necessary component for the healing process. Mourning a lost childhood is vital for overcoming childhood trauma. Most people have set beliefs of how parents should treat their children. When parents fall short of these beliefs, the adult child often feels cheated. Everyone who wants to be mentally healthy needs to come to terms with their parents whether they consider them to have been either good or bad parents. Children do not possess the intellectual and emotional tools to admit their parents’ harmful behaviors are not the result of something the child has done. When parents are at war with each other, a child’s loyalties are strained. This is most likely the case in a majority of households due to the high divorce rate in this country. Again, it is important to accept what has occurred during our childhood and forgive those who have harmed us.   

Hay is experienced in providing services to those who are suffering from poor health, lack of money, unsatisfactory relationships, or even repressed creativity and associates these problems with not loving the self. Holding ourselves hostage to resentments is associated with not loving the self.  Hay suggests we need to love, accept, and approve of ourselves just as we are. We need to con-sider ourselves a work in progress. Self-approval and self-acceptance are a couple of the main ingredients which can lead to positive changes in every area of our lives. This process can begin with never criticizing ourselves. Self criticism can lock us into the pattern we are trying to change, which is oftentimes referred to as a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

We need to forgive ourselves for our perceived shortcomings and mistakes. Sometimes when we are feel-ing anger towards someone, we are actually angry with ourselves. We may be angry for putting up with someone’s harmful treatment of us for as long as we did. We need to make sure we forgive ourselves. Be kind to ourselves and garnish acceptance of feelings as we progress along the path of healing. It is okay to be compassionate with ourselves. Our pain is only a part of who we are. We have other parts of our psyches that need to be put in the forefront such as our ability to be tender, our sense of humor, our intelligence, and a whole host of things that make us, us. We can tell ourselves, "I am imperfect just like everybody else" (Karen, 2001).

To assist with building more love and appreciation for ourselves complete the following exercises:

1.      To enhance our self-trust we need to think and write in a journal of a time when we trusted ourselves but thought we had made a grave mistake. Did we learn anything from that experience? Would we have been able to learn the lesson without the experience?

2.      We need to determine who was hardest on us, ourselves or our friends, family, or coworkers?

3.      Determine how did a difficult experience helped us become who we are today?  Do we consider ourselves wiser, more mature, more accepting of others? Did that experience help us reach new heights in the ability to refrain from judging others?

4.      Make the resolution that no experience is ever wasted if we learn something from it. Masters of success tell us that anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried to do anything, especially anything worthwhile (Engel, 2006).

We need to remind ourselves of the worthlessness of worry. Constructively working through traumatic ex-periences is a way in which we can prevent further damage. Often we find ourselves ruminating about the horrible things in our lives and these obsessions can take over. It is important to practice thought stopping when necessary in order to prevent us from obsessing about traumatic ex-periences in an unhealthy manner.

The five steps to thought stopping are:

·         Notice when we are having a destructive thought that causes anxiety.

·         Choose a way to immediately and forcefully tell ourselves to STOP this thought. Some ideas include saying “Stop!” out loud or in our mind; picturing a bright red stop sign; and picturing ourselves pushing our arms out in front of us with our hands in a “halt” position. We can keep a rubber band around our wrists and snap it gently; or give our heads a quick shake as if we are physically shaking off the thought. 

·         Consciously exchange the anxious thought for a peaceful thought. We can plan our peaceful thoughts ahead of time so they are ready immediately and write these down to keep track of them. Say our peaceful thoughts out loud or in our minds.

·         We need to keep our mind focused on our peaceful thoughts until the anxious one is completely gone (Schab, 2008).

            Changing our thoughts can make a significant impact on our healing process. Many people throughout history have suffered from trauma. Some individuals have made the bold statement that adversity, obstacles, chaos, and trauma may actually be necessary for people to be suc-cessful and fulfilled.

            J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, described when she was in the depths of despair. She was experiencing a broken marriage, her parents’ display of disapproval concerning her life decisions, and poverty. Hence, she lacked the support she needed and her options were minimal concerning her predicament. Her failures stripped her of everything nonessential in her life and it taught her things about herself. Rowling turned to one of her dreams which was to become a writer and she sat one day at a café and started writing on napkins about her thoughts of a manuscript idea and the rest is history. Mary Tyler Moore made the public statement about chaos breeding creativity. Suzanne Somers has written about the trauma she has faced in her life. Post traumatic growth can occur in many forms besides recovery. We may find ourselves pursuing our dreams with vigor after we recover from unresolved trauma.   

Forgiveness can open up many opportunities for us. We can develop better relationships, pursue our dreams and aspirations and take better care of ourselves. Holding onto resentments can damage us physically and emotionally. By changing our thoughts, we can make a more positive impact on our lives. Setting ourselves up in victim-hood only causes us harm. It’s time to turn ourselves around instead of beating ourselves up. We are imperfect like everyone else and we need to accept ourselves imperfections and all.

The Art of Mindfulness

“If you let yourself be absorbed completely,

if you surrender completely to the moments as they pass,

you live more richly those moments.”

Anne Morrow Lindberg

Mindfulness is a process in which we attentively observe our experience as it unfolds, without judgment or eval-uation. It is an awareness of how we think, speak and act. When we are fully engaged in mindfulness practice we are attending to what is happening, to what we are doing, and to the space we are occupying. Studies have revealed that people who focus on the past and future are less likely to be happy than people who concentrate on the present. Anyone can practice mindfulness because it cultivates universal human qualities and does not require anyone to change their beliefs.

            Mindfulness practice can become a way of living when it brings awareness and caring to everything we do cutting down on needless stress. Even a little bit of mind-fulness practice can enhance our lives. It is evidence based. Both science and experience has demonstrated positive correlations between the practice of mindfulness and our health, happiness, work, and relationships.

            A multitude of progressive doctors have recom-mended mindfulness practice for conditions such as in-somnia and irritable bowel syndrome. When we deal with our day to day complexities and uncertainties, mindfulness can lead us to effective and resilient answers to unyielding challenges. Because of our fast pace, media saturated cul-ture, we need support and encouragement concerning un-plugging, slowing down, and connecting to our inner life. Picture ourselves quietly listening to our breath after a hectic morning. We can finish the day by calmly addressing problems with a revitalized understanding. By grasping the indispensable nature of meditation and mindful awareness we intensify the power to positively influence our own mind and experience and to know a well-being not ruled by circumstances. Mindfulness practice is a purposeful, non-judgmental mode of awareness.

The benefits of practicing mindfulness are:

·         Reduction of stress.

·         Increased capacity to focus and concentrate, as well as mental clarity.

·         Freedom from damaging patterns of thought and emotion.

·         Trains our mind to let go of any thought unrelated to the present moment.

·         Increased learning capability and memory.

·         Improved well-being and peacefulness.

·         Fosters the ability to switch between various modes of mental activity which grants flexibility of our attention.

·         Trains a number of our brain functions including attention control, cognitive inha-bitation, mental flexibility, and emotion regulation (Weiss, 2004).   

Part of the mindful process involves meditation. We can meditate in various ways. We don’t have to sit still to meditate. We can take a walk in a beautiful area, or in the city on our lunch hour. Ideally, quiet locations are best. Mindfulness can be done while walking, standing in line at a grocery store or sitting at a desk. We can close our eyes or leave them open and focus on our normal breath. Then move our focus to the task at hand. The important thing is to allow our mind to become quiet. We can set a timer to alert ourselves when it’s time to head back so that we don’t have to think about the time. Then we basically walk at a brisk but comfortable pace. We can allow our mind to focus merely on the experience of moving. We can notice how our body feels moving through space, how our feet lift up and down, how our back holds us upright, how our hips move us forward.

Pay attention to our movement in as much detail as possible, and tune out the outside world. We can move while focusing on our breath, noticing while we inhale and exhale. Or we can count our breaths, starting from one to ten and beginning again. When I go on a walk in the woods I sometimes pay attention to the leaves crunching under my feet, the rustling of branches overhead and the sounds of birds and I feel so peaceful. If we are focusing on our breathing and moving, or counting, our minds will not be able to return to worrying or any other disturbing thoughts.

 The practice of mindfulness involves being mindful while completing daily tasks. Take eating for example. We can pay attention to the food we are eating, how it tastes, and the texture. How does it feel when we are eating the food? Is it warm, hot or cold? So often we are in a rush and eat really fast and before we know it, we have consumed a lot of calories and didn’t really enjoy what we ate. When we eat mindfully, we will enjoy our food a lot more and eat less because we are paying attention to our eating.

Ten tips to assist us with practicing mindfulness fully in our lives:

·         Pay attention to our own perspectives, which involve choosing how we view our lives.   We can perceive ourselves as victims without any control of what happens in our lives or we can see ourselves as masters of our own destiny. We could be in a crowded store one day and not be bothered by the crowd and then another day every nerve is on edge in the same crowded store. It is important to understand that our frustration comes from within and it is not reliant on external sources.

·         We can establish or maintain efficient communication skills to assist us with applying a greater sense of restraint, empathy, or perspective to any communication we have with others which is vital concerning all relationships. All of us have people in our lives who can push our buttons; but being aware of their personality types and how to continue treating these individuals with kindness is vital for our own peace of mind. We can’t be frustrated with someone and be at peace at the same time.

·         Taking the time out of our busy schedules to smell the roses. Oftentimes we can place our focus on the negative things in our lives, even small difficulties such as someone pulling out in front of us when we are driving. We should focus on the wonderful things life has to offer, even our breath is a miracle. We need to focus on what we have instead of what we don’t have.

·         Treating ourselves and others with kindness. When we are kind to others we feel better and more at peace. We live in a world with such high expectations and we can be so critical of ourselves if we don’t live up to our personal expectations. The question “What do you do,” referencing our jobs creates more stress especially if our jobs are not considered mainstream. A friend of mine responded by saying “You mean for money,” great response and it takes everybody off guard. 

·         Compassion is a lot like empathy which means seeing what it is like to be in the shoes of another individual. It means seeing, thinking and feeling what others are experiencing. It’s part of our awareness. It doesn’t mean we take on the pain others are experiencing, it means understanding the pain they are feeling. 

·         Having balance in our lives. Our lives can be like the ebb of the sea with calm and serenity and then there are massive waves capable of capsizing boats. The challenge is to not be swept away by the strong waves of emotion. It is essential to develop a way to  ride the waves and accept the waves as a part of our lives.

·         The process of acceptance includes what we need to let go of, rather than what we need to start doing. There is no such thing as the ideal life free from stressful challenges. We often get frustrated when we don’t get our way. Observe when we are experiencing moments of resistance so we can become more aware of what prevents us from accepting what is actually occurring. 

·         Maintaining a posture of composure and letting go of impatience. Many of us are experiencing busy, hectic lives and in return we are often feeling impatient. During these moments of impatience, our foot may be tapping, our breath is shallower and our jaw is tightening, not peace inducing actions. Notice the impatience and turn that intolerance into a sense of curiosity, the very nature of the irritation we are experiencing is changed. When we become aware of our impatience we will develop a sense of ease.  Just taking the time to notice will change our perspective.

·         Develop a sense of dedication to finish things we started and the ambition we need to start new tasks we need to accomplish. Again, mindfulness is about a shift in thinking and feelings. We will develop an understanding about our motivation and why we are doing things, not just going through the motions.  Find things we are passionate about and do them. 

·         Being present and living life skillfully will prevent us from saying and doing things we will regret later. Think before we say and do things, consider the consequences of our actions. It will give us the strength and wherewithal to respond sensitively to challenging situations rather than reacting spontaneously. By becoming more aware of our-selves and trusting our own instincts more fully, we can learn to apply this quality of discerning our actions in everyday life and begin to live more skillfully (Weiss, 2004).

Living a life of mindfulness means developing an awareness, an understanding of ourselves and others. It’s not about trying to be someone else. It’s about finding a sense of acceptance and ease about who we are at a specific moment in time. Mindfulness practice works because we are not trying to attain benefits. We befriend ourselves as we learn how to drop in and visit with ourselves and just hang out in awareness. Mindfulness meditation allows us time in our busy lives to unleash our curiosity about the workings of our minds while approaching the present moment with warmth and kindness towards ourselves and others. It permits us to take a vacation from fretting about the future or something that just happened. Mindfulness is about establishing a peaceful curiosity by watching, obser-ving, and noticing what is happening in every aspect of our lives, how we act, how we speak, and how we think.