{"id":52,"date":"2010-10-14T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-10-14T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/blissblog\/2010\/10\/even-though.html"},"modified":"2010-10-14T01:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-10-14T01:00:00","slug":"even-though","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2010\/10\/even-though.html","title":{"rendered":"Even Though"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0a3764\"><font size=\"3\">Often I find myself in situations in which I need to question my version of reality. In addition to being a writer, speaker and interfaith minister, I work in a psychiatric hospital, serving people with various mental health diagnoses. From them, I have learned the power of resilience, survival through life challenges, surrender and going with the flow~ Often, I am challenged to rise above my own frustration with not having answers for people in need. When I was in seminary, one of the deans reminded us about the &#8216;ideal&#8217; of being &#8220;spontaneously available.&#8221; I refer to it as &#8216;ideal&#8217;, since I am not always in that place.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n<p><font><br \/><\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0a3764\"><font size=\"3\">I remind myself that I can best be available to my patients and frankly, anyone else who crosses my path, by stepping back and asking questions, rather than being &#8216;the answer woman&#8217;. My friend and co-worker Peggy Tileston offers a query to the folks in this way: &#8220;Even though (fill in the blank&#8230;I have an addiction, I am an abuse survivor, I feel depressed, anxious&#8230;.), I can still (again, fill in the blank&#8230;be productive, take care of myself, experience happiness&#8230;.) <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n<p><font><br \/><\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0a3764\"><font size=\"3\"><font>An inspiring teacher named Cheri Huber; who is founder and resident teacher at the <\/font><a href=\"http:\/\/www.livingcompassion.org\/thezencenter\/\"><font>Zen Monastery Peace Center<\/font><\/a><font> in Murphys, CA. and the <\/font><\/font><\/font><font color=\"#0a3764\"><font size=\"3\"><span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.livingcompassion.org\/thezencenter\/bazc.html\"><font>Mountain View Zen Center<\/font><\/a><font>, offers wisdom in the form of a reality testing question: &#8220;Is that so?&#8221; When I am faced with monkey mind chatter that threatens to knock me on my tush, I look in the mirror of my heart and mind and reflect on that idea. Is it so, that I HAVE to feel a certain way in a particular situation? Is it so, that at the age of 52, my life has to follow a pre-determined pattern? Is it so, that I need to have such and such ingredients in the recipe of my existence, in order to be a happy camper?<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n<p><font><br \/><font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0a3764\"><font size=\"3\"><span>In this moment, since this is all we have, I invite you to ask those important questions and then step back and really LISTEN with the ears of the heart, for your very own answers.<\/span><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Often I find myself in situations in which I need to question my version of reality. In addition to being a writer, speaker and interfaith minister, I work in a psychiatric hospital, serving people with various mental health diagnoses. From them, I have learned the power of resilience, survival through life challenges, surrender and&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":233,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,16,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspiration","category-my-personal-bliss","category-re-creating-your-life"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Even Though - The Bliss Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Even Though - The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; Often I find myself in situations in which I need to question my version of reality. In addition to being a writer, speaker and interfaith minister, I work in a psychiatric hospital, serving people with various mental health diagnoses. From them, I have learned the power of resilience, survival through life challenges, surrender and&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2010\/10\/even-though.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-10-14T01:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EdieWeinstein1\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Even Though - The Bliss Blog","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Even Though - The Bliss Blog","og_description":"&nbsp; Often I find myself in situations in which I need to question my version of reality. In addition to being a writer, speaker and interfaith minister, I work in a psychiatric hospital, serving people with various mental health diagnoses. From them, I have learned the power of resilience, survival through life challenges, surrender and&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2010\/10\/even-though.html","og_site_name":"The Bliss Blog","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga","article_published_time":"2010-10-14T01:00:00+00:00","author":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EdieWeinstein1","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2010\/10\/even-though.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2010\/10\/even-though.html","name":"Even Though - The Bliss Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-10-14T01:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2010-10-14T01:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#\/schema\/person\/edcd643a643a9ca91adb1e8f9e177386"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2010\/10\/even-though.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2010\/10\/even-though.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2010\/10\/even-though.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Even Though"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/","name":"The Bliss Blog","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Edie Weinstein","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#\/schema\/person\/edcd643a643a9ca91adb1e8f9e177386","name":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/0d6\/0d6cd7619da51a9a40cc705280e88f9cx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/0d6\/0d6cd7619da51a9a40cc705280e88f9cx96.jpg","caption":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW"},"description":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW is a colorfully creative journalist, inspiring transformational speaker, licensed social worker, interfaith minister, editor, radio host, BLISS coach, event producer, Cosmic Concierge, the author of The Bliss Mistress Guide To Transforming The Ordinary Into The Extraordinary and co-author of Embraced By the Divine: The Emerging Woman\u2019s Gateway to Power, Passion and Purpose. She has also contributed to several anthologies and personal growth books. Edie has interviewed such notables as Ram Dass, Wayne Dyer, Debbie Ford, don Miguel Ruiz, don Miguel Ruiz, Jr. Marianne Williamson, Grover Washington, Jr. Noah Levine, Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Weaver, Ben and Jerry and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She calls herself an Opti-mystic who sees the world through the eyes of possibility. Edie is the founder of Hug Mobsters Armed With Love, which offers FREE HUGS events on a planned and spontaneous basis. www.opti-mystical.com.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.opti-mystical.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga","https:\/\/x.com\/EdieWeinstein1"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/author\/eweinstein"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/233"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}