Home→Forums→Share Your Truth→To New Members:
- This topic has 95 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 3 weeks, 6 days ago by
anita.
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May 9, 2016 at 7:15 pm #104087
AnonymousGuestDear New Member:
Glad you joined. My name is anita, a fellow member to tiny buddha. I have been very active here since I joined less than a year ago, I believe. Being active here is working very well for me: I am still learning every day about myself, about people and about life. Being active here has promoted my healing from the significant childhood injuries I suffered and from a lifetime of dysfunction.
I see my name a lot here. You may see my name a lot too. Maybe too much. I want to see your name here as well.
If you would like, reply to this very thread, here, and introduce yourself, and write anything at all about yourself and your goals, if any.
I would like it very much if more people, new members (and less new members) start new thread and respond to others. Seeing my name so massively is well, disconcerting at times.
Hope to read from you!
anita
May 9, 2016 at 7:57 pm #104092
TaraParticipantHi Anita!
Thanks for starting this thread! I’m new to the Tiny Buddha forums, but I’m very excited to be here! I joined Tiny Buddha because I run my own site that is similar to this one, but no where near what Lori has done! (She’s a saint!)
I initially started my own site because I wasn’t happy, I wasn’t fulfilled and longed for happiness and personal fulfillment.
I’m excited to be here and to connect with you! Thanks for having me!
May 9, 2016 at 8:02 pm #104093AnonymousGuestDear Tara:
You are welcome and so glad you responded! Looking forward to read more from you.
anita
May 10, 2016 at 12:14 am #104106
AnnagrammaParticipantDear Anita,
What a great idea! I welcome your initiative to start a “welcome and introduce yourself” thread. Here we go…
Hello! My name is… *not* Annagramma, although it would be pretty funny if it were, wouldn’t it? I borrowed the name from a character imagined by one of my favourite British fantasy authors and I think it suits me very well. Incidentally, she happens to be a witch. Me, on the other hand… I am as plain as one could get, even though I do have three black cats.
I have been reading tinybuddha for more than a year, which means that I did indeed witness and notice the moment you joined the forum, dear Anita. The energy, dedication and care you invest in your replies never cease to amaze me.
I have joined the forum a couple of weeks ago on a whim. I actually didn’t have any particular reason to join.
I really dislike having “-ism”s or “-ist”s attached to me. I have confidence in reason and the scientific method as a means for describing the reality around us. I truly like people and I accept and value human nature despite (or maybe even in spite) of its rough edges and dark corners. I am fascinated by language and art.
Finally, a disclaimer: my current work schedule doesn’t allow me to post as often as I would like to. That means my presence on the forum will be rather scarce for the next few months. Nevertheless, I’ll be around.
Nice to meet you!
May 10, 2016 at 5:10 am #104117
EvanParticipantHi Anita,
Great thread idea 🙂
I am Evan….. clearly…. and I have only just recently found and joined Tinybuddha. I am a single dad, mid forties, raising my youngest teenaged lad, work in IT as a system and network admin, and my hobbies include Aikido, Fine woodwork, and strolling around in nature. I would love to add gardening here, but I think potting would better explain what I actually do.
I was raised in a religious environment and my parents were loving but hard people. Once I left the religion, I kind of left my family also, but very quickly it seems now, I met and married, and had two kids. Almost a twenty year marriage with the last 5 years of it being extremely difficult, I found myself looking within in order to better myself and ‘save’ the relationship. Eventually the marriage ended with a natural division of the family. I discovered that the years of Aikido training and meditation had already peeled many layers off, however, it was only the beginning of a journey within that I now continue to explore. I have reconnected with my parents on a whole new level. After brief and tumultuous relationship, I am single and discovering myself for the first time in many years.
I have read many books from Eckhart Tolle, Zen, Aikido, I Ching, Louise Hayes etc… in order to help understand what my journey is about, and how to explain what I felt to my own mind. Language is so limited when conveying what Eckhart Tolle calls ‘Feltness”, and many sayings that are truely magnificent like “It is what it is” confuses the mind due to its simplicity that we tend to miss the message. I mention this as I find I dance around what I am trying to articulate in order to share a message at times.
I have enjoyed my Tinybuddha morning forum scan, and many great article to read. What a great place to share some love 🙂
Thank you to all
Best
Evan
May 10, 2016 at 5:37 am #104119
Prasanna SeshadriParticipantNamaste Anita,
Thank you for the opportunity to introduce myself in Tiny Buddha forum. We are all here for self improvement or our personality development so that we evolve to our optimum capacity or optimal potentials in this life. I am a south Indian and that too a Tamilian from Chennai. I have had my rough and tough times in life and have gained good experience in life. I have a spiritual or philosophical orientation from my early days of life and have pursued that interest by doing a diploma course in Vedanta philosophy under Swami. Parthasarathy. This spiritual knowledge has helped me a lot during my tough times and has eventually helped me to maintain positive attitude towards life even in times of depression. That is why I am still interested in the study and research of spirituality and philosophy. The spiritual knowledge gives me right, incisive insights about life and is making life more enjoyable and interesting. I would like to gain more knowledge participating in spiritual forums by listening to the experiences of other fellow brothers and sisters from around the world. tiny Buddha is one such beneficial opportunity which can help us in our evolution. Life is very much about the subtler attitudes that control our grosser thoughts, emotions and actions. what do you think? I wish to be receptive and listening so that I can make positive contributions. Thank you. all the best. May God’s grace be with you.
Pranam
Conscious seeker (Prasanna)May 10, 2016 at 7:02 am #104128AnonymousGuestDear Annagramma:
Thank you for welcoming my initiative. I wonder what you like about the witch character (I just googled it). You having three black cats is a nice touch.
And thank you for your comment about my participation in the site. Much appreciated.
You wrote that you dislike “isms”that you have confidence in the scientific method and so do I. I will enjoy your presence in the forum when you are willing and able and wish you the best experience at work and otherwise.
anita
May 10, 2016 at 7:10 am #104131AnonymousGuestDear Evan Cox:
Thank you for introducing yourself in such detail. I like you calling your process “a journey within” and that it is ongoing, a continuing exploration.
You wrote about simplicity. I am thinking as I read your post that it is when we are alienated from our emotions that simplicity is lost, this is why we “dance around what (we are) trying to articulate.”
I am glad you are here and hope to read more from you, either starting new threads and/ or responding to others. I am curious about your journey within and definitely would like to read more about it!
anita
May 10, 2016 at 7:19 am #104135AnonymousGuestDear consciousseeker:
You are welcome and glad you are here. I like the motivation to evolve toward our optimal potentials in life.
I read lots of things and unless I repeat and practice, I forget. I would like it if you described in a short form what your Vedanta philosophy under Swami is about: what are the core principles. And how these and the insight you mentioned helped you through your struggles.
And I would very much like to read from you how participating in this forum can help you in your personal evolution- it is helping me in what I refer to as my healing (and used to refer to it as my “evolution” as well).
If you’d like, you can start a thread introducing the philosophy you believe in and sharing. If it suits you, that is. I would definitely be interested to read and will read attentively.
anita
May 10, 2016 at 10:41 pm #104219AnnagrammaParticipantDear Anita,
Thank you for your reply; it was very nice to hear from you.
I couldn’t resist answering your question about why I picked Annagramma, the fictional character, so I managed to snatch a few minutes from work to post again. I was impressed that you took the time to actually Google her. I very much appreciate that.
The first thing I like about her is obviously her name. Names and words are very dear and also very important to me. This one in particular was a funny play on words used as a name. I enjoyed that.
Other than that, I’m afraid I have very little in common with the character itself. We are different in almost every aspect.
The second thing I like about her is that she starts off as a pompous, ignorant, unpleasant and manipulative person and actually ends up being… an over-the-top, unpleasant witch. Nevertheless, she is smart enough and human enough to realise she actually does care deeply about doing the right thing. She illustrates, certainly, with very thick brush strokes, that people can learn, evolve and try to become better versions of themselves. I’m not naturally inclined to optimism, but I liked that.
Now, if you don’t mind, I would also like to ask you a question, dear Anita. However, if it is far too personal or uncomfortable in any way then please ignore it.
As you remarked yourself, your presence is prominent here on the forum. I am certain you have managed to touch and help quite a large number of people who turned to this medium to ask for help. As I have said, I am very pleasantly impressed with your contributions. I was wondering what motivates you to be such an active presence on this forum.
I am looking forward to hearing from you. I am sending you my best wishes.
Annagramma
May 11, 2016 at 7:39 am #104242AnonymousGuestDear Annagramma:
Glad to get your latest post. You very much like language and art, not inclined to be an optimist, aware of the “rough edges and dark corners” of human nature. I am curious as to how this expresses itself in your writing, if you write, fiction perhaps, or in other artistic works, painting maybe. I wonder.
As to your question: what motivates me to participate here as much as I do. Here is my answer, and I will start with a recent example. Recently, a member I communicated with for a while asked me about DBT, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. I replied by stating what DBT means to me. As I did just that, I refreshed my brain about the DBT principles I learned myself five years ago. Then, hours or a day later, it so happens that as I was thinking on a walk I took alone, and I felt distressed as a result of my thinking. Something about my thinking wasn’t right. And then I remembered what I stated in that reply a short time before and I corrected my thinking, still on that walk.
In other words, stating and restating what I learned in therapy and on what I refer to as my Healing Path, keeps what I learn fresh in my brain. This is how I learn, by repetition and ongoing use of my learning. As I repeat and use what I learn in interpretations of different posts, different life situations, different people, through ongoing communication, I get to keep what I learn, adjust what I learn and keep learning.
Please do post again, anytime. I appreciate you took the time from work to post the above.
anita
May 11, 2016 at 9:47 am #104256
SeaislandParticipantHello again
Missed talking to you–still reading and taking away what is useful to me on the forums. Secretly, getting my fix, discarding what is not useful in my battles/happiness.
Continuing to see my therapist and physiologist and feel I am with the right game plan.
I am about 6 weeks into Cognitive Processing Therapy for PTSD. WOW !!! It has been excellent for me personally—heart retching at first but the steps and narrating my story were what I needed.
Anita, to you personally–I am proud of you, as I would be a friend who was doing good. Your empathy and patience combined with your tenacity makes me smile and think….there she goes, she is at it again my Buddygirl.Seaisland
May 11, 2016 at 3:12 pm #104284AnonymousGuestDear Seaisland:
Good to read from you again! Glad you are taking away only what is useful for you, and not what is not. Critical reading is so… very critical really. Cognitive Processing Therapy for PTSD, interesting. I am familiar with CBT. Is the processing about narrating your story? How is it done (in general terms)?
Thank you so much for making me smile!
Your Buddygirl:
anita
May 11, 2016 at 5:07 pm #104297SeaislandParticipantThanks–yeah its been amazing for me….I re-experienced a lot of hurt from the perspective of what I was thinking at the time it happen–then relooked at it with todays eyes….identified stuck points…it goes on, lot of homework and repetition. But, suddenly the clouds part and you see the situation clearer. My writing and purging my thoughts and being guided to answer questions daily, reread everyday-do same assignment again with same or another stuck point.
Then next week new assignment (but same old stuck points). I think the stuck points get easier to dismiss, for me, cuz I get sick of thinking that way and realize how bizarre it is…(to not be kinder to self) Missed you.
ditto
BuddygirlSeaisland
May 11, 2016 at 8:37 pm #104313AnonymousGuestDear Seaisland:
Thanks for answering. The “stuck points” take a lot of time and patience to undo, in my experience, if I understand you correctly. I am a bit stuck this very evening.
Take good care of yourself, precious Seaisland!
anita
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Though I run this site, it is not mine. It's ours. It's not about me. It's about us. Your stories and your wisdom are just as meaningful as mine. 