My BIL is depressed and the whole family is concerned, and I started trying to write a script for an audio for meditation just for him, since he asked for family help and other things haven’t helped him. He is interested in certain Buddhist teachings, which gives a whole lot of youtube videos a starting place. Reading is difficult, but he does some of that too, although his concentration is shot.

I found myself in need of something like it too. I just missed a 40th reunion (just high school, but it meant something even though there were only about 4 or 5 people I knew coming). I spent the day being very sick, and I wonder if it was psychosomatic. And I got to notice how I regress when I get sick, becoming suddenly frightened that I live alone. Was a very downward dog.

So I tried some meditation videos, even those based on that Law of Attraction which I object so strenuously to. I don’t believe that you “attract forces or things to yourself by thinking about them.” Not for an instant. What I do believe is that we respond emotionally to many shared cultural cues and when we think about things intensely, are prone to change our behavior in ways that tend to be very adaptive.

So I want to change my behavior in ways etc. Some of these videos have things in them that might be good. A combination of music, telling me how to breathe, the right narrator voice, and even the video image of light breaking through clouds. It calms me and makes me think more hopefully, and I start thinking about what I’d like to do. Makes me wonder how easy I’d be to hypnotize…