Having an Honest Chat with Chat GPT
For some time I’ve been hearing about how Chat GPT can streamline writing tasks, learning your style and becoming a kind of editorial assistant. For someone who writes a lot, this intrigued me. But I was wary.
For some time I’ve been hearing about how Chat GPT can streamline writing tasks, learning your style and becoming a kind of editorial assistant. For someone who writes a lot, this intrigued me. But I was wary.
Right now, I’m suffering from a condition that seems highly prevalent in the U.S.: Election Derangement Syndrome (EDS). The symptoms? An obsessive focus on political news, polls, and predictions to the exclusion of almost everything else.
I’ve been getting messages lately to lighten up, loosen up, laugh a bit more, not be quite so serious. The Universe deputized a few sources (whether they know it or not) to deliver these messages. First, my partner: “Your Sunday Shares are great but you could use a little more humor.”
We all have tendencies to seek pleasure and to avoid pain. In mindfulness, we learn about the 5 Hindrances, including craving after or clinging to those things we desire and want more of, and aversion, pushing away those things we don’t, often what’s unpleasant or stressful.
We teach what we need to learn. So as part of an upcoming Fall Mindfulness Series, I have been working on a class focused on the Liberation of Letting Go. Ha! Easier said than done. Granted, there are things that have been easy, even fun, to let go of.
As several spiritual leaders and traditions recognize, we teach what we need to keep learning ourselves. Four years ago, I was experiencing a convergence of life events. Like the title of Jon Kabat Zin’s book (which I had yet to read), it was Full Catastrophe Living.
I’m finally taking the Shakespeare Monologues class that my soul’s been yearning for. I found its existence three years ago after coming home from work one night, feeling utterly starved. Not for food but for words other than my own.
In a recent mindfulness class, we heard a story about Deena Metzger, author and cultural icon, who dramatically tattooed one side of her chest following a mastectomy, the photo of which generated a famous poster, poem, and book.
Last night I watched a dear loved one singing. Sitting cross-legged on a small stage with four others, all wearing white, some with instruments, all engaged in a devotional form of singing called kirtan.
Tonight, I am resting in gratitude after serving as part of an inaugural wellness retreat in Silver Bay, New York. I am humbled by the collective wisdom of my fellow faculty and the collective wisdom of the many spirited and soulful participants who chose to make this weekend part of their wellness journeys.