ClydeStyle

Category: Anxiety

  • The disease of Greed

    It is hard to think of greed as a disease. The reason is that people have a choice to be greedy or not. There are some definite psychological effects of greed that explain much about what our country is going through.

    Scientists have discovered that greed is linked to the part of your brain’s reward center, leading to a pleasurable experience or sensation when a greedy person acquires something. That pleasurable sensation reinforces the greedy behavior.

    So imagine buying an extra house. You are living in your dream home, and you add another home, fix it up, and sell it. You make a 60 percent profit on the house so you buy another one. Then you do the same thing. How many more times can you do this without wanting more? When you absolutely love the benefits, it’s hard to say no.

    There is a part of greed that leads to social isolation. Most multimillionaire and billionaires experience this because they are so laser focused on making more money.

    A greedy person will do almost anything to satisfy that urge. In most cases of greed, we see where manipulation and deceit have been repeatedly used to fulfill their desires.

    Probably the worst thing about greed is that it lacks empathy and causes stress and anxiety. There are problems when you have a lot of money that many of us will never experience. When you are greedy, there is constant pressure to get more stuff. What’s worse is that you stop caring about the well-being of others as you pursue your prize.

    A greedy person is never satisfied, and that is why it always ends in a crash and burn scenario. Typical of Republicans is that they always want to give tax breaks to the rich, believing that the benefits will trickle down to the other classes. This has never happened in the history of America, but it is still their talking point.

    We saw ridiculous downsizing since President Trump has been in office, and already, he has reneged on his campaign promise not to touch Medicaid.

    The problem is greed, and as long as Congress allows, Trump will be greedy. I just hope that the checks and balances kick in before the masses in America reach their breaking point.

  • Accountability is missing in our government

    I have posted on the problems we face because we don’t read. Critical thinking skills go right out the windows when we don’t challenge our minds to think.

    To leave yourself vulnerable to manipulation is a hurtful and disrespectful truth, but what is worse is that you suffer the manipulation, and you have no idea where it came from.

    Drops of water from the sky on a cloudy day are not a problem until the drops smell like urine. At that point, you have a few choices: Check the weather forcast; assume that someone obviously doesn’t like you much; or grab your umbrella and endure.

    I have not listed my favorite option because when you have been tricked or manipulated, the option isn’t there, and that is to hold someone accountable for the urine!

    I bring this up because the Democrats and Republicans have been playing a game with us. They flood us with information (knowing we won’t read or research anything), and they are never held accountable for lies.

    Why would President Biden allow so many illegal immigrants in our country? The Democrats never gave a reason for this. Clearly, this would not be their agenda as President Obama never did this. He publicly stated that if you were here illegally, you would be deported.

    We know Obama did this because it was the law. Republicans are always for less immigration at our southern borders, mainly because it does not benefit them in any way. It does, however, give an advantage to Democrats.

    You see, these immigrants end up in these so-called sanctuary cities, which are normally in blue states. This is a benefit to them because it raises their census. Biden signed an executive order as soon as he became president to halt a previous executive order from President Trump to not count illegal immigrants in the census. Why does this matter? Because the number of seats you get in the House of Representatives is based on a percentage of the US population. So then, if your numbers get padded by immigrants, you could potentially get more seats and control the House.

    Biden, in his fear of a Trump election win, would have tried this and any other method to gain an advantage.

    For the Republicans to tell the truth about this would not have been enough for the American people to get behind securing the border. So, instead, he made up lies about immigrants taking jobs, sending their criminals over to us to rape our women, steal, and sell drugs.

    See how we are so easily manipulated? Accountability is what is needed in our government, and it should be a consequence for knowingly telling the American citizens a bunch of lies!

  • Save your panic for later; You may not even need it

    Two major things are happening today: Donald J. Trump is going to be sworn in as the 47th President of these United States of America, and there is also a national observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., birthday.

    Some are devastated because they were looking forward to celebrating the King holiday with the inauguration of the first female president in Kamala Harris. Social media was in such a buzz before the November election that these events may collide. Well, that didn’t happen.

    And no matter how much of the MAGA Trump world was exposed, Democrats thought that Americans would move away from Trump. They, the Dems, used their usual scare tactics to get us to vote for them. If Democrats had a better plan for America, then why did they spend so much time telling us how bad Trump was.

    This may be a shock to you, but a vote for Trump was America’s way of lashing out at the status quo. The same way that minorities loot when an unarmed Black man is gunned down or shot by police. Both actions serve as the voice of the unheard.

    Most Americans have real problems, and I’m not talking about the homeless and jobless. I’m talking about folks who did not advance their education or just went the blue-collar way. They didn’t get any of those good union jobs, and most of the time, they have to work two and three jobs to make ends meet.

    They can’t afford to get sick, can’t afford not to go to work, and if they have a mental health breakdown, they better get over it because they can’t afford that either.

    This is why so many celebrated the killing of the insurance CEO in NY. For the poor in America, there is always a battle. A battle with health challenges, taxes, even utility bills, and groceries. Gasoline, kid expenses, and rent. There is never a break from this. Our politicians, on both sides of aisle, are too rich to know these problems, and to be honest, they don’t care. Dems were supposed to be the party of the people, but why were the people looking elsewhere?

    Let’s get some facts straight about Trump. He didn’t destroy America nor cause a war or break anything in the White House like folks said he would the first time. He is nowhere near as good as he thinks he is, but he is definitely not the worst president America has had — he’s not even in the top 10!

    The majority of our president’s have been self-serving at some point in their administration. Some just hide it better than others. The American dream has never existed for all Americans, so with every president, some Americans are going to be marginalized.

    I would imagine Trump will do what he did the last time. He will give a great tax cut for all his billionaire friends, and he’ll try to shake up things a bit in Washington, but that’s it. America will go into great debt like they did after the terms of the last four Republican presidents. Bottomline is you will survive this, especially if you are poor — Trump promises to leave you poor when he’s done. Just like Biden did.

  • Gambling is the latest self-inflicted wound

    New research from Ohio State University says America has a gambling problem. This is an old problem with a new twist. Just before the pandemic, many states added gambling online and really made it very easy to place a bet.

    Obviously, gambling is a money maker, but what is the cost of making that money? Our young adults used to ruin their credit by signing up for multiple credit cards as companies in the 80s gave away cards to any full-time college students.

    Students who were not mature enough to handle the credit killed their credit scores and graduated with a credit score in the 400 to 500 range. Now gambling has become the new vice. One in 10 college students admit to having a gambling problem. Seventy-five percent of college students have placed a bet in the last 6 months, and 90 percent of the betting was done online.

    What’s worse is that there are many actors, comedians and athletes are being used to market gambling sites to our young people. Kevin Hart, Jamie Foxx, and others have been seen representing various sites.

    There used to be a time when it mattered to the spokesperson what they represented. Stars were picky about what they wanted to lend their name to, but it doesn’t seem to be an issue today.

    As a country with many other issues to deal with, we have now added gambling, and it’s self-inflicted. Things did not have to go this way.

    As if student loans were not enough, students will now have to deal with less than perfect credit in a society that is ruled by credit. Is this another trick to ruin young people before they start? Someone has to consider future generations and spare them this burden. Capitalism is killing us!

  • Please, allow crazy to be crazy!

    As mental health awareness month comes to a close, I want to encourage everyone to empty your lives of as much drama and craziness as possible. You have been carrying it or them for too long!

    There are some lives that follow social norms and others that don’t. Although anyone can experience a trial or tribulation at any time, it seems that the more logical thinking people tend to avoid strife better.

    As for others, drama seems to follow bad decision making. It also follows bad relationships. Have you ever met someone who loves to argue? And they argue about everything. There are extreme in their thinking, they have a sense of entitlement, and they don’t seem to be happy unless they are trying to control you!

    These same people masquerade as our friend until things don’t go their way. We waste a lot of time trying to apply logic to these relationships to no avail. These people are not logical, so no logic can be used in dealing with them.

    Now, I realize that some of these people are relatives, and you’re wondering how can you abandon the family? Well, how can you keep strife around?

    My professional advice is to give these illogical people some time to miss you. Don’t make a big production about it, just easy up on your availability. You will find that living with less stress is worth it.

    A Yale University study found that chronic stress can shorten your life. Also, researchers from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare calculated the effects of multiple risk factors, including lifestyle-related ones, to the life expectancy of men and women and found that  being under heavy stress shortens your life by 2.8 years.

    Further research has shown that overreacting, constantly worrying, and living in a state of perpetual anxiety can reduce life expectancy.

    So for this cause, when someone proves to lack judgment and  be a destruction to their own life, you owe it to yourself to allow them to just be.

  • What to do when love calls? (part 3 of 3)

    The doorbell rings and there is a gentleman caller. He’s well groomed and standing there with a single rose. He greets me with a hug and he smells amazing. The aroma is earthy with a hint of citrus. He’s excited to get where we’re going and he says I will love the surprise. We head out to his car and he opens the door and assists her in getting in. He starts the car and beautiful jazz sounds come from the bose speakers. We’re off and I don’t care what happens next.

    This scenario is a beautiful to a potentially satisfying evening. Two people who are available, drama free and emotionally available to each other. They are both at the stage of life, where they are looking for a partner to share life successes. All the kids are adults and doing well, houses are owned, advancement at work are abundant, and they’re both in the mood for love.

    It is surprising how uncommon this situation is. Typically, one or both partners have a deficiency in life that tends to hinder healthy relationships. If this scenario is closer to your situation, then you are considered blessed. However, there are 5 things that have to be present to assure success in the relationship.

    First, there is honesty. This is a key ingredient to every healthy relationship because you can’t build trust without it. Honesty is being truthful and sincere with your words, actions, and thoughts. What reason would there be for someone to be dishonest in a relationship? There is no reason to be dishonest, and a healthy relationship has no tolerance for dishonesty.

    Second, integrity is acting in a way you know to be right and kind in all situations. This should be a quality that everyone brings to the table, but those who lack the ability to have a healthy relationship see nothing wrong with omitting integrity. This should be another deal breaker.

    Third, respect is treating people, places, and things with kindness. A person who normally lacks in this area starts with not respecting themselves. A good test is to see how this person speaks about their parents. For a female, it’s her dad, and with the son, it’s the mom. These are the people who would be the instructors for your partner, and if they didn’t learn it from them, then they probably don’t know it.

    Fourth is attentive, which means a person who pays close attention to the welfare and well-being of another. This is the quality where a person makes you feel like you really matter. They pay attention when things are not right. They calculate strategies to make you happy. They know how to give their undivided attention and live directly in the moment.

    Last but not least, the person needs to be open minded and have a sense to at least try something once. This brings a freshness to the relationship and the opportunity to explore together and learn what works best for each partner. The world is a big place with lots of customs and rituals that become great learning tools for an adventurous couple.

    These ingredients serve as great starting points for a healthy relationship. So remember to not rush into anything. Relationships should always be a choice.

  • Is the resurrection still relevant?

    Every year, Christians around the world will celebrate everything associated with Easter. Many will go to church, kill the fattest calf, and lay out an Easter dinner fit for a king – all in memory of the King of kings and Lord of lords.

    Although it is not a holy holiday (none of them are), the tradition of Easter has been blended with Spring traditions, and this is where the Association of Easter eggs comes from. It is said to have been started in Germany where the symbol of eggs carry the thought of new life which happens in the Spring.

    Biblically, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the focal point. But the question today is how relevant is the resurrection?

    Does it matter that Christ died for the sins of the world? How is that shown to matter in your life? What of all the power that accompanied his resurrection which we have access to today — does that matter.

    What of the idea that eternal life is now available to all who believe and are obedient to his calling? To be called a Christian society, we do a horrible job of showing the power of the resurrection in our lives. There are just too many things we don’t care about! Some could care less about abortions. Others care less about school or mass shootings. Still, others never say anything about police brutality or the killing of unarmed back men.

    We don’t care about those with views different from ours. It’s a big “so what” that there are people falsely imprisoned. And of course, not many seem to be too concerned with homelessness, veterans’ rights, and those struggling with mental health issues.

    If the resurrection matters, then we need to use it to resurrect a few of the societal problems we face and solve them for those who suffer. Christ suffered on a cross so we wouldn’t have to. We need to return the favor to those less fortunate.

  • Determination is our strength; guess where it comes from?

    Determination is the firmness of purpose. Resoluteness. Whenever we see success, determination showed up first. To live life knowing where you’re supposed to go is a beautiful thing. It allows you to step with assurity and act expeditiously.

    Obviously, this state is not so easily attained. Many get paralyzed in their desires and crumble at the stress. When there is no “handout” in sight, can you get the job done alone? Ignorance, prejudice, stupidity, pressure, and focus are always against us. It’s a battle whether you have succeeded or failed we all will have these struggles.

    Then, our upbringing at times is a hindrance to our future because either someone loved us too much or not enough. Perverted things happened that affected our lives forever or we had a loved one missing which left an empty space in our hearts. We were bullied, discouraged, cheated, lied to, and hurt.

    Finally, we lacked the proper examples, we never saw someone else do what we desired to do and we lost our sense of well-being. It was as if there was a conspiracy set against us. But deep down in our souls is a glimmer of hope.

    Now hope is commonly used to mean a wish: its strength is the strength of the person’s desire. This would be fine if there had been no challenges or disappointments in your life. But in the Bible hope is the confident expectation of what God has promised and its strength is in His faithfulness. This means that you have a blessed assurance of trusting in God to bless your efforts according to his will.

    Watch how this works: This would mean that you would never trust a man, you would never even blame a man for his folly. Everything that would happen to you would be viewed as part of a grand scheme by God that ends in your benefit. Completely trusting God and living a life to please him is the greatest thing for a man. The Bible teaches us to seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness. It then promises that everything else we need would be given to us.

    When you read about God’s people in scripture try counting all the rich people. Adam was rich — he was the only man on earth. Noah would have experienced this as well being the head of his household. Abraham and Isaac were rich. We literally saw Jacob obtain his wealth. Job and countless others lived extremely well and I believe they were blessed in this way because God saw their heart and knew that wealth would not ruin them.

    The point here is that determination begats success but believing in God begats determination. We come into this world being memorized by what we see. I want you to ignore what you see and live life knowing.

  • Who really cares on social media?

    Social media has really done a thing on us. Because of how the system is set up and the fact that we use emojis, have “like” buttons and share random opinions, we somehow believe that people care.

    We make the mistake of sharing intimate information searching for acceptance and for the social media community to see things our way. We share our pain and sorrow, our fears and anxiety and we let the whole world know that we are hurting with the hope that atleast on person will give a damn! They don’t. No one does.

    We can use an emotional and divorce ourselves from it’s feelings in a New York minute. There are some who still get off on people saying happy birthday or anniversary while we forget that the system conveniently made that available — no one remembered.

    Is it possible to get an honest answer from someone on social media? Sure. As long as their identity can be hidden. We meet the core of our country on social media. To meet them just simply start a political or religious conversation and let the fun begin.

    What we need to do is first see social media for what it is: An unregulated, bias, greedy community designed to steal, kill and tear you down from the inside out. It robs you of your time, money and steals tou away from the things that matter the most in life. It is not a resource and it cares nothing about you. It needs to be seen as strictly entertainment for everybody at the expense of somebody.

    Enter in at your own risk, buy don’t bear your soul. Protect it and everything that matters to you and remember, social media is not the place for those who care. It’s simple an arena for taking advantage of people.

  • Tell your anxiety to get in line

    Living in Western civilization means to live with anxiety and to have something to constantly worry about. It seems that most of what we worry about has to do with things we cannot control. That tends to drive us crazy. We lose time, sleep, energy and creative time worrying.

    With such busy schedules I discovered this life hack that tends to work well for me. It seems so simple but for me it was really effective. I scheduled my time to worry. I mean I literally had it on my calendar. Once it’s scheduled I direct my brain to stop worrying until that time. When you focus on this you actually stop worrying. What this allows you to do is focus on solutions and be productive in other areas that you do control.

    Pretty neat, huh? Then you literally get a natural high from all the things you accomplished when you focus. And here is the best part — when your scheduled time to worry comes up, you will be hard pressed to find something to worry about. Most of the time the problem takes care of itself. If not, all you have to do is reschedule your worry time.

    Now with every accomplishment you have to give yourself credit for it. Celebrate a successful day in some creative way. There is nothing wrong with slowing your pace to congratulate yourself. You mind will conform to this if you focus. This idea works because all we are really trying to do is be productive. We want to be able to do meaningful things that allow us to grow and develop a sense of pride in our living. Successful people have learned how to manage their anxiety and you can to.

    Make sure you focus on what matters most and then you make sure you are physically able to hand your load and then give yourself a fighting chance. Get plenty of sleep, eat healthy, enjoy daily exercise and drink plenty of water. You will feel that stress melt away. Trust.