Friday

Good morning,I'd like to share an email I received today.
BitternessLifting Pain's Veilby Madisyn Taylor
Bitter feelings allow us to become perfect victims in that we no longer feel obliged to work toward healing.It is natural to feel resentment or anger when life does not unfold as expected. We consciously or unconsciously anticipated one experience, and we grieve for the loss of it when the universe puts something else in our path. Most of the time, we work through these feelings and they pass. Occasionally, our anger and resentment do not fade and are instead transformed into bitterness. Bitter feelings allow us to become perfect victims in that we no longer feel obliged to work toward healing and choose instead to identify with our pain. Yet as unwholesome as bitterness can be, it is also a natural element of our emotional palette. When we acknowledge that it is okay to feel bitter, we reconnect with our hurt in a constructive way and can begin the process of working through it.
The nature of bitterness is rooted in the fact that the pain we feel provides us with a rationale. We may feel that we deserve to embrace our bitterness to its full extent. And to be bitter is, in essence, to cut ourselves off from all that is positive, hardening our hearts and vowing never to let go of our hurt. But just as bitter feelings can be self-defeating, so too can the release of bitterness be life-affirming in a way that few other emotional experiences are. When we decide that we no longer want to be bitter, we are reborn into a world filled with delight and fulfillment unlike any we knew while in the clutches of bitterness. The veil it cast over our lives is lifted, letting light and warmth touch our souls.
Divesting yourself of bitter feelings can be as simple as truly forgiving and moving on. Even when your bitterness has no concrete object, you can forgive situations too. Healing pain can be challenging but may be easier if you remind yourself that you are the only entity truly affected by your emotional state. In time, you will discover that letting go of your bitterness frees you to initiate the healing process and allows you to once again celebrate the possibility of the more wonderful life you deserve.

Hopefully that leaves you with something to think about over the weekend.  

Your homework for tonight:

The Destruction at Hiroshima, the victimization at the Nazi concentration camps, and the carnage of 9/11 can all be considered "technological" disasters because they resulted from human actions. They can be considered "human-made."Other disasters, such as the tsunami of December 26th, 2004 and the San Francisco earthquake of 1989 can be characterized as "natural" disasters (often called Acts of God); they are considered beyond the control of humankind.
And finally, some disasters fall into a grey area somewhere between this dichotomy, such as a mine collapse, in which the responsibility can be attributed to both natural occurrences (natural shifts in the earth) and human negligence/error (careless people, poor construction of mine systems, weak supports). Hurricane Katrina may also fall into this category—although Hurricane Katrina herself was a natural disaster and was responsible for much damage, the subsequent effects can be attributed to human negligence and error as well (the weak/inadequate levy that allowed more widespread flooding, the insufficient response to those in need, resulting in more, resulting in more deaths and damages than might have otherwise occurred).
Additionally, regardless of whether a disaster results from human actions or from the natural environment, the events are felt at both the individual and community levels ("Individual" and "Collective" Trauma)—each of which has its own repercussions.Compare and contrast the psychological impacts/reactions of the victims when a "human-made/technological" disaster occurs, as opposed to a "natural" disaster. How do individual and societal repercussions differ?

I'll see you on Monday.  Bundle up, it will be a very chilly day.
-Ms. Betsy