Exiting the Back Side of the Moon - Depression

Exiting the Back Side of the Moon - Depression

Depression as diagnosed in terms of being a real medical condition by ALL of the groups, organizations (and such) – just about worldwide – that deal with psychiatric or neurological conditions, state that this is a true existent condition.  This is NOT just sadness, not just moodiness.  NOT “just feeling down or blue”. 

Of course, everybody knows this by now and, by and large, accepts it.

A big question is what to do about it?  A ton of material on that is out there on that.  The heroic struggles we, as the ordinary public, are deluged with.  Heroic struggles with depression by famous people, or worse yet by people who become famous by making the public-at-large aware of their story (read: Heroic Struggle).  Note: Dear Reader, I am not famous, nor trying to be.  Actually, writing this blog is just part of my therapy and my own very humble manner of trying to help. 

All of that aside; getting off of “the dark side of the moon” seems truly impossible when you find yourself waking up there.  The medications?  Not my field. 

Writing?  Just spending an afternoon writing gets a small light shining.  A small ember in some dry weeds, waiting for a breath of wind, or just a breath of breath.  Getting it to turn into a small blaze.  Enough light and warmth to see at least to the end of my arm.  Writing is a creative outlet to help calm the bully-beast that seems to be my artist’s lifeblood.  It’s like having a passive-aggressive co-joined twin.  A pushy bully that is permanently attached to my spine.  Separation would be death, but daily life with this attachment is hell.

So babbling along on the written page is one method.

For me, is also what I call journaling.  Sort of a sketchbook with some poetry and random diddly thoughts as they cross my mind.  Although I do date every entry, or at least each day, I don’t think of this as a diary or as a sketchbook.  I have found that thoughts, thinking, can drive me just mental (wait!  I AM mental. “ha-ha”).  Just the intense ramblings of my brain, that never seem to stop – EVER!  Getting as much of that stuff  out of my head and on paper helps.  Partly because some deep part of me is horribly narcissistic and thinks thinking and wowy! My brilliant thoughts are world changing and super-didooper-important. 

That narcissist, and he’s a big one, inside me truly believes I’m a genius.  I can't help it if nobody else has realized it (smiley-face).  Note: Part of beating a bully is to face him.  Admit he’s there and you HAVE to deal with him.  So I basically use my journaling as a means of just dumping all that genius into something.  Amazingly, once it’s there in those journals, my brainiac narcissist lets go of it. It will allow me to let go of it and move on.

However, some years ago I did make the dedicated decision to avoid, as much as possible, negative ramblings.    

The problem with the mind, with human memory, is that it never really goes away.  The human brain is more like the Internet Cloud, once uploaded, it can never be truly erased from existence.  Once writ, it is carved in the stone of the ether.  So, keep the smelly crap out of your journal.  There is no need whatever to enscribe  (sp) the negative.  It just stinks up the good stuff.

The negative thoughts, the negative alien beast that attaches itself to your soul, a parasite can only be scraped away, occasionally sanded back, like a cetaceous mole.  It’s roots go deep, too deep, attached to the bone marrow deep.  Those thoughts will never go away.  BUT, all that can be compartmentalized.  Writing those thoughts, those experiences down, just gives them credence – it somehow gives them value.  I put them in a kind of like a mental old moldy gym bag and toss it into the back of the brain-closet.  There is actually kind of a pile of those old brain gym bags by now.  I don't know, I avoid looking in there, these days.

That being said,

 "Face the sun and you will not fear the shadows." - Ancient Aboriginal saying ...

Note: for the brave among my dear readers, I offer a new, separate but different blog:

Equations for the Joyous Mind

A study in a matter of theory and conjecture about human brain-mind development towards retaining ever increasing meta-cognitive development.  Based on Mathematics, and I refer to Base 3 Calculus. I wouldn’t expect a whole lot of people to give it a try.  But if you are in any manner open-minded and intellectually curious, the Math used is truly only a tool to condense the theory proposed. 

Thank you Dear Reader and Joy be unto you.

dalepeterson.us

Books on Kindle by Dale Clarence Peterson
Peterson ArtWorks on Etsy

Just published  “Twelve Roses for Kathy – A journey on a motorcycle out of the darkness of bipolar disorder”

New Shoes

New Shoes

One of the reasons, it is my theory, that Ancient Rome was so successful in conquering the Western World of its time, is their footwear.  Yeah, they built really the best roads of their time.  I say, of their time, which means they laid down stones, since paving technology was centuries away in the future.  I have been to Rome and I have walked and even driven on parts of the Appian Way, one of their major roads in, around and out of Ancient Rome.  It is still there!  Parts of it anyway.  Lots of it are cordoned off as Historical Archival Cite, but parts of it have, out of necessity, still have to be used.  Like around the Coliseum, like what else are ya gonna do?  Can’t like move the Coliseum – it’s still a bit big for that and most of the buildings around it date from the same period.  Can’t move those either. 

That old Roman road is bone-jarring bumpy!  It is car suspension destroying and nearly lethally slippery when it rains.  But parts of it are over 2500 years old!  That is good engineering and construction.  And, if you want to move large weaponry, tens of thousands of military troops and other needs for conquest and control, he who has the best roads and/or transportation is most likely gonna come out on top.

However, a big however, is those troops on the march, have to march on their feet.  Now, human feet are .. like .. human and subject to .. like .. pain!  Bare feet (no shoes) can march, even run, on grass, dirt, forest paths, even mud.  Bare, non-shoed, feet do not do well on f’ing stone!  You can roll your heavy weaponry and stuff on wheels on stone roads.  It’ll clatter, it’ll jar around and the wheels may break down from time to time – but the wheels are not flesh and bone.  Wheels do not feel pain! You can put iron, or steel if your tech is that far along, around the wheels and get more milage per break-down on stone.  Iron and steel don’t do well on human feet.

So, what is the answer?  If your goal is to reek warfare and/or move profitable commerce efficiently, what do you do about the human feet that have to deal with those great stone paved roads?  The answer is, of course, good shoes.  Invent new shoe technology that can deal with the new road technology.  Very quickly that is precisely what the Ancient Romans did. 

Caligae, heavy-soled military shoes or sandals which were worn by Roman legionary soldiers and auxiliaries throughout the history of the Roman Republic and Empire. Wikipedia

Bare in mind that these Roman Soldier Shoes were not .. like .. Super-Nike competition marathon running comfortable.  The best ones were hobnailed, in that they did have iron studs riveted on the bottom-most sole.  Over that was another thick piece of leather.  These boot-sandal like shoes were pretty thick leather and it has been determined that they were probably kind of heavy.  In cold weather they are noted to have possibly added some kind of fabric sock, or other type of insulating materials (thinner leather sock). 

All-in-all this Roman Soldier footwear, like their roads, were better than anything their opposition had.  It was the custom of the times, that professional military had to supply their own uniforms.  Or, if you got paid to commit warfare, you were expected to provide your own stuff, or at least pay for it.  As a consequence, a lot of the Roman Soldier Dudes bought all the useable stuff the dudes getting out of the military had.  This meant, by and large, that shoes that were still serviceable were cheaper and pretty well broken in. 

Heavy, hobnailed, urine cured leather (no pleather or artificial leather was available) shoes were not made right and left either.  Or, new, these shoes would have just plain killed any person’s feet until they were broken in.  What does all this mean?  It means, new shoes are within a very unique category of technology and clothing; or clothing technology.  Not a matter of History often thought about or even broadly considered.  Not much scholarly effort has been put into this little bit of consideration.

Some great General once said, “An Army travels on its stomach.”  Which is kind of bullshit.  An Army mostly travels on its f’ing feet.  Oh yeah, ya gotta have food or the foots don’t work good, but the first thing to hit the ground is the f’ing foot.  I have also heard that in trench warfare the most valuable item is not food, but dry socks!. 

I have done a lot of on-line research on this topic and it surprises me how little study has been done on this topic; at least in English.  I have searched Google.  I have searched hi & lo, large text and regular in non-fiction History in my local library, which has network to four other libraries.  Almost nothing – well .. nothing .. actually.  There is one book I have found which is title 10,000 Years of Shoes – and it’s out-of-print and available only from Specialty Bookstores!!  And, it ain’t cheap and I ain’t got the money to buy it.

Which, makes all of my writing in this little blog pretty much conjecture.  I’m openly admitting that.  I’m more of a conjecturizing philosopher than any kind of historical researcher and I openly admit that.  Still it makes sense … right?  I mean .. like .. the new shoes bit?

More, later, in New Shoes II.

Note: for the brave among my dear readers, I offer a new, separate but different blog:

Equations for the Joyous Mind

A study in a matter of theory and conjecture about human brain-mind development towards retaining ever increasing meta-cognitive development.  Based on Mathematics, and I refer to Base 3 Calculus. I wouldn’t expect a whole lot of people to give it a try.  But if you are in any manner open-minded and intellectually curious, the Math used is truly only a tool to condense the theory proposed. 

Thank you Dear Reader and Joy be unto you.

dalepeterson.us

Books on Kindle by Dale Clarence Peterson

Just published  “Twelve Roses for Kathy – A journey on a motorcycle out of the darkness of bipolar disorder”