PeaceWalker Blog

Josh B. wrote a wonderfully insightful comment in response to my Drifting post a couple weeks ago. Here's what he wrote: "I find it curious that the noun "drift" and the verb "drive" share the same etymological origin. we typically think of drift as apathetic, without purpose or intent, disconnected…the opposite of “drive.” but historically, the "drift" was the result of the "drive." The relationship between the ideas was direct and strong. we see that traditional relationship when we look at the leg sweep. the attacker drives, the defender drifts. There is a parallel in our relationships. A friend chooses, a partner withdraws. Did we drift from who we were, or did we drive to who we are? When we notice that we’re not as close as we used to be, is that because it just happened, or is it because we made choices, and our choices made the space? If we made choices, even choices of omission, do we have somet...

  Albert Einstein is said to have suggested that the most important question we could ask ourselves is, "Is the universe a friendly place or not?" In his opinion how we answer that question determines our individual and humanity's destiny.   Hmmm... I know my answer. What's yours? ~Craig

  It was a hot summer day a few weeks after my 14th birthday. I was out with my mom, dad,  brother, and a few friends. We were a few mile out from shore off from Grand Haven on Lake Michigan. It was late in the afternoon and we were done fishing. Dad asked if anyone wanted to dive in for a quick swim before we headed back to get something to eat? I took off my shirt and dove right in. The cool water felt good on the hot day.  The lake started out fine, but within the hour the winds picked up pretty dramatically and the waves were starting to get choppy. I was big for my age and a strong swimmer, but I had ventured a ways from the boat. A little further than I had anticipated. I couldn't hear my dad yelling for everyone to get into the boat and by the time I caught on that it was time to pack it in and get back, the boat and I had drifted even further apart. As I began swimming toward my folks, the boat just seemed to effortlessly, unintentionally glide further ...

 "Farmer reading his farm paper"  By George W. Ackerman, Coryell County, Texas, September 1931 Advice From An Old Farmer Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong. Keep skunks and bankers at a distance. Life is simpler when you plow around the stump. A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor. Words that soak into your ears are whispered… not yelled. Meanness don’t jes’ happen overnight. Forgive your enemies; it messes up their heads. Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you. It don’t take a very big person to carry a grudge. You cannot unsay a cruel word. Every path has a few puddles. When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty The best sermons are lived, not preached. Most of the stuff people worry about ain’t never gonna happen anyway. Don’t judge folks by their relatives. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer. Live a good, honorable life… Then when you get older and thin...

The Resilience Perscription By Dr. Dennis Charney   1. Positive Attitude • Optimism is strongly related to resilience. • Optimism is in part genetic, but it can be learned (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy). Neurobiological Mechanisms: Reward circuits, converse of learned helplessness 2. Cognitive Flexibility Through Cognitive Reappraisal • Traumatic experiences can be re-evaluated by altering the event’s perceived value and meaningfulness. • One can receive a benefit from stress and trauma: one can reframe, assimilate, accept and recover. These skills can be learned. • Failure is an essential ingredient for growth.   Neurobiological Mechanisms: Memory Reconsolidation, Cognitive Control of Emotion, Memory Suppression 3. Embrace a Personal Moral Compass • Develop a set of core beliefs that very few things can shatter. • For many, faith in conjunction with strong religious and/or spiritual beliefs is associated with resilience. • Altruism has been strongl...

  It's a sunny Saturday afternoon, you sit down across from the salesman to buy a new car. The young salesman sits across from you with a salamander smile and says, "I'm so excited that you're here today! It's the end of the month and I need to get my sales quota." He asks you a couple quick questions regarding your financial status, then slides over a sales form for a new top of the line luxury car and hands you a pen. You're thinking... WTF?!? How do you feel about this guy right now? How likely are you to buy from this joker? Whose needs is concerned about, his or yours? How persuasive do you think he is going to be? Yep, you guessed it, not very! Meanwhile, somewhere across the city in a glass citadel, an employee for MassCorp sits in her cubicle working on a team project... only she's the sole person working on it. Her team members dumped all the work on her. Her phone rings, "Hey babe, you coming home for dinner?" ...

Craig Gray (me) Teaching an Active Shooter Defense Training Seminar in Grand Rapids, MI - USA Brussels attacks: Zaventem and Maelbeek bombs kill many More than 30 people are believed to have been killed and dozens injured in attacks at Brussels international airport and a city metro station. Twin blasts hit Zaventem airport at about 07:00 GMT, with 11 people reported killed. Another explosion struck Maelbeek metro station near EU headquarters an hour later, leaving about 20 people dead. BBC News Report 3/22/2016 A Day After the San Bernardino Shooting A man and a woman shot and killed 14 people at a social-services center in California on Wednesday, Dec. 2nd 2015. The shooters have been identified by police as 28-year-old Syed Rizwan Farook and 27-year-old Tashfeen Malik. The married couple who killed 14 people and wounded 21 others at a social-services center in San Bernardino, California, fired up to 75 rounds in the attack, left behind three pipe...