individuality

In Igna Muscio's essay she touches on an idea that is absent in mainstream conversation but, I believe, is vital to any efforts for change.  "In this society we look to the outside for just about everything: love, entertainment, well-being, self-worth and health. We stare into the TV instead of speaking of our own dreams, wait for a vacation instead of appreciating each day, watch the clock rather than listen to our hearts. Every livelong day we are bombarded with realities from the outside world, seemingly nonstop... One hardly has the opportunity to look inside for peace and love and other nice things like that"(p.164). This type of discourse is not commonplace which is why it struck my attention whilst reading her essay. At the outset I expected this to be an overly-"preachy" couple of pages drenched in anti-abortion sentiments. But Muscio took this article to a different place, once which I very much enjoyed. In our society, we look outwards for everything, which inadvertently means society is controlling the majority of our lives. Sean, the energy healer I wrote about in previous blogs, discussed this notion with me. He spoke with me about how if we focus heavily on the outer world, we are putting our lives in the hands of unknown sources. For example if we can only find self-worth in the eyes of others, we are missing out an the most important person, oneself. Abortion is clearly a personal issue, but it has been made public by all of the controversy surrounding it. Once a method of abortion become the "norm" it became widely practiced, and rarely does anyone stop to question western medicine, though nearly all of us have experienced its faults. Personally I had no idea that there were other methods of aborting a fetus other than the "vacuum cleaner." I don't know enough about this remedies to speak on them, but I continue to be shocked at how much new information I've learned since taking this class and reading these essays. Why so many of this topics are silenced in our society remains a mystery. 

In our society, all of the focus that is placed on the "group" as opposed to the "individual" and the ever-blurry line between  public and private, is detrimental to us all. Placing more attention on your personal health, well-being, and happiness, and worrying less about what everyone else around you is doing can vastly improve your life, it sounds simple but its true.