Contacting the local school is also essential; someone there might recognize her, or even uncover a missing student report.

It’s natural to be anxious, of course, but try not to let it overwhelm you. The fact that she didn’t appear to be in immediate peril (no screaming or no frantic banging) is a reassuring detail. She’s likely alright; perhaps a lost phone, a disagreement with her parents, a relatively minor upset. Still, the situation is undeniably unsettling.

Reasons? Despite their flaws, the prequels remain connected to Lucas’s original vision, making them a worthwhile watch for understanding the Republic’s fall and Anakin’s transformation.

I had a bit of a David Icke phase when I was a teenager. Thankfully, that ended! /cringe/

Mastodon and Lemmy both offer valuable features; they serve different purposes. Think of Mastodon as a blogging platform and Lemmy as a forum.

Bluesky isn’t a Fediverse player. It’s a Jack Dorsey project, currently ‘incubating’ until it’s ready to be sold to an oligarch.

For a healthy and affordable diet: beans, rice, bread, collards, kale, mackerel, salmon, sardines, raisins, oatmeal, almonds, and chicken.

In school we teach physical hygiene. So why not emotional hygiene? Education should include basics of how the mind works, such as the dynamics of our emotions; a healthy regulation of emotional impulse and the cultivation of attention, empathy, and caring; learning to handle conflicts nonviolently; and a sense of oneness with humanity.

Self-criticism fueled my anxiety and depression. Compassion and acceptance have significantly improved my well-being.

The prevailing notion seems to be that meditation is merely a pleasant posture, a sort of yoga-adjacent relaxation. That is a superficial understanding. The real work of meditation is about a fundamental shift in the mind. Aim for a transformation, a steadying, a stabilization. Think of it as mental recalibration – a process called samadhi, a perfected state of meditative focus.

This focus breaks down into two main avenues: Shamatha, the ‘calm-abiding’ meditation, which cultivates stillness, and Vipassana, the analytical meditation, which seeks insight. These aren’t separate practices but tools designed to administer your mental actions. It’s about gaining some control over the internal monologue that insists on narrating your existence.

The most interesting part is that in the absence of external stimuli, the mind reveals its true nature. Like discovering the map isn’t the territory. It implies that the path to enlightenment isn’t found, but rather emerges when the search itself ceases. Meditating on the state beyond meditation leads to… well, sublime Enlightenment.