Posts by LisaRose

119

Latest rumor - all WT construction "suspended", except for Warwick

by sir82 in

jw
friends

heard 4th-hand, but from a full-on believer, so not likely to be an "apostate lie":.

apparently, at bethel's morning worship this morning, it was announced that all worldwide wts construction is "suspended" for an indefinite time, except for the new world headquarters at warwick.. also, the "relocation" of remote translating teams is also suspended.. finally, there will be a "worldwide" reduction in bethel personnel.. all this came to me in a non-english language, and,as noted, 4th-hand.

so it is possible something may have been lost in translation and/or in the multiple steps between bethel morning worship & me.. but if true, it would be quite stunning.

LisaRose

It reminds me of a post I read a while back by someone who volunteered some free lance work in the graphics field. There were fancy new presses that had been sitting there unused for years, no one knew how to use them. The department was completely nonfunctional because people were promoted based on time in position and butt smoothing, each department was run like a fiefdom, there were petty grievances and lack of cooperation among all the departments.

If the whole organization is that dysfunctional, it's not surprising that they have miscalculated and are having cost overruns on a project of that size. They probably thought they could sell the Brooklyn property then cheaply build a fancy, impressive new facility and have enough left over to tide them over until Armageddon. But a dysfunctional organization does not make good decisions, so one bad decision after another causes cost overruns. Using volunteer labor on a Kingdom Hall is one thing, trying to do so on a project of this size and scope was probably not wise.

Things spiral out of control and now they are in trouble. It reminds me of the housing market here in the San Francisco bay area of California. I live in a far flung, small suburban town, not one the super expensive areas. But before the recession housing hit a giant bubble throughout the area. People saw their houses appreciate quickly and some couldn't resist the lure of easy money. One house I looked at in 2009 was a short sale (the seller owes more than the home is worth). The owners bought at $550k, then took out a second loan for $200K after the house went up to $750K in the bubble. The economy tanked, they lost their job, and lost the house, which they sold for $380k. Who knows what happened to the money they took out. If they hadn't spent their equity they might have been able to ride it out, the house is now back to what they paid for it and then some.

Bad decision on top of bad decisions. If they had stayed in Brooklyn they might have been able to fix things, but they are in a pickle now.

12

Meditation linked to increased age, health, and smarts?

by EndofMysteries in

i recently read how advanced meditation increases the brains waves, higher frequency alpha waves which is linked to higher state of consciousness and intelligence.

now i saw this article, http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/10/health/can-meditation-really-slow-aging/index.html?hpt=hp_c3 that it also increases life and health, etc.

i haven't really read or researched meditation but i was wondering if anybody has got into it, into a 'non religious' aspect of it.

LisaRose

I meditate regularly and it has been life changing for me. While meditation is used as part of a religious practice, it is not religious of itself, there are all different ways to meditate. Meditation is about controlling your breathing to induce a relaxed state in the mind. It has been proven to reduce stress, lower blood pressure and improve mood. It's free, not difficult and has no negative effects, so there really is no downside. I believe meditation should be taught in school, we would have a lot less stress, depression and conflict if every person meditated.

I have ADHD, which I only discovered a few years ago. I now know it's why I struggled in school despite an above average IQ, why I had trouble paying attention at meetings, why I was disorganised. Meditation has helped me a great deal to slow down my busy brain, improve my focus and be more organized. I also reduced my blood pressure from a borderline high 140 to a healthy 118, with no medication. After several years of dabbling with it off and on, I finally got serious recently and I am seeing a huge payoff in increased memory, focus and productivity.

It's certainly worth giving it a try. It does take practice to become good at it, but it is not difficult. There are a lot of ways to meditate, so if one doesn't work, try another one that works for you. I find it helps to have music, but it has to be the right kind. I have Pandora, so I created a station called "Meditation by the sea" that has very calming music with added nature sounds (as an added plus the cat loves it and it seems to calm her down too). It also functions as a timer by using the the sleep timer function under settings. If you don't use Pandora, use a regular timer, five or ten minutes is good to start out with. You need to find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed. Find a comfortable position, close your eyes and think about your body, make sure you are not tensing your muscles. Think about each part of your body and notice if the muscles are relaxed or not. You can tense them, then release the tension to be sure.

Then slowly breath in through your nose and exhale through your mouth. As you breath, think about your breath, the noise the air makes as you breathe in and out, how the air feels in your lungs, the pressure change as you exhale, the sound it makes. Try to focus only on that. Other thoughts will intrude, but just dismiss them and go back to focusing only on your breath. The first five minutes will seem like thirty, that is normal. Keep bringing your attention back to your breath. In our hurry up culture our brains are used to constant stimulation so your brain will rebel at being forced to stop the constant stream of conscious thought. This is normal, keep at it and keep bringing your mind back to your breath. Every day add a few minutes. You will find that it gets easier with time, and you will then start seeing the benefit.

You can also try a guided meditation, you can easily find them on line. You just listen as someone talks you through a meditation.

I also like a meditation where instead of focusing on the breath you focus on a pleasant scene that is relaxing to you. I like to visualize being at the beach. You simply visualize the sights, sounds and smells of being at the beach. Think about how the sand feels between your toes, how the air smells, the crash of the waves,etc.

That's it, easy peazy.

24

i'm changing, but for the worse

by embarrassed in

that is the truth-- that's really how i think now.

so why should i tell the truth?

just look at the person i've become.

LisaRose

Why would you want to be with someone who called you a liar, even when you told the truth? Maybe you are lying because you know he wouldn't like the truth, in which case you are taking the easy way out. If he is a jerk about things, and it sounds like he is, then who can blame you? If you are lying for no particular reason, then you have a problem and need therapy to figure out why you are a compulsive liar. If you lie because your boyfriend is a jerk, then the solution is simple, dump the boyfriend.

41

When you read this Richard Glossip will probably be dead.

by The Rebel in

jw
friends

how do i feel about this?.

too much doubt.. shame on you people who are responsible for putting richard to death.. richard is scheduled to be put to death in oklahoma at 3pm on september 16th by lethal injection.

i have followed this case and feel like so many people very bad about this.

LisaRose

I used to be for the death penalty, but I have come to believe it does more harm than good because:

Innocent people are sometimes wrongfully convicted.

The death penalty is often not carried out, leaving the convicted and the families of their victims in extended limbo.

They don't seem to know how to put people to death without making them suffer.

It costs more to put someone to death than to keep them incarcerated.

I would be fine with keeping the death penalty if it were reserved for very, very unusual cases where the evidence was overwhelming, where the crime was extremely callous and violent and where the method used to execute was without pain or suffering and if all cases were fast tracked through the system, taking no longer than two years. This would be for people like Ted Bundy and the Aurora theater shooter.

I believe the death penalty is a holdover from a time when society was more primitive and lifetime incarceration was difficult and cruel to the incarcerated. In this time it serves no real purpose, it doesn't reduce or prevent crime and it seldom brings closure to the family of the victims. It also should not be decided state by state, what we have now is a patchwork of laws that vary considerably from state to state. Death penalty cases, if we must have them, should be decided on a federal level.

42

Why are GMO's bad?

by cappytan in

jw
friends

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh4bi60alzu.

first person to say, "this scishow episode is a monsanto conspiracy," is a rotten egg..

LisaRose

I am not afraid of GMOs, but I am afraid of Monsanto. They are the bully on the playground and use their considerable resources to monopolize the market. Farmers have been sued because their neighbor's Monsanto seed blew across the fence into their farm and took root along side their non Monsanto seed. They went after a guy who ran a seed shaking business, because some farmers were using them to retrieve their Monsanto seed and replant, which is against the law. He had no way of knowing if they had Monsanto seed or not, it put him out him out of business. These are not ethical people, they have put farmers out of business and ruined lives with their insatiable desire to monopolize the market.

This is from Wikipedia

] Monsanto's application of this model to agriculture, along with a growing movement to create a global, uniform system of plant breeders' rights in the 1980s, came into direct conflict with customary practices of farmers to save, reuse, share and develop plant varieties.[11] Its seed patenting model has also been criticized asbiopiracy and a threat to biodiversity.[12][13][14] Monsanto's role in agricultural changes, biotechnology products, lobbying of government agencies, and history as a chemical company have made the company controversial.

Monsanto is using this model around the world. In Argentina they encouraged large investors to grow Monsanto soy, displacing 50% of the small farmers who grew another crops. In India, many cotton farmers committed suicide because they went into debt to Monsanto and their Monsanto seeds did not produce the yields they were promised which bankrupted them. Monsanto refused the government's order to give them a small compensation.

While I am comfortable eating GMOs for safety reasons, I avoid them because of the unethical behavior of Monsanto. So I want to know if my food is made with GMO ingredients, but of course they have successfully prevented that. If GMOs are safe, why do they not want to disclose? Sure, some people won't eat them out of fear, but isn't it their right to do so, even if their fears are unfounded? And what of my right to discourage unethical behavior by knowing who made the seed by food grew from?

37

I'm a coward.

by cappytan in

jw
friends

since the move, it has been so enjoyable to not have jw's breathing down our necks asking why we didn't make the meeting, or having to pretend to be "spiritual" in front of family all the time.. 90% of my week is virtually stress free.

then, my mom calls or texts wanting to talk to her grandkids.

every dang call, she asks about the new congregation, if we went to the meeting, etc.. why can't i tell her to fk off?

LisaRose

This is hard for everyone, so don't feel bad. My mom would ask nosy questions like that, she knew my heart wasn't in it and I wasn't going to all the meetings. It was just annoying and exhausting, you want just to tell them that yes, you aren't going to the meetings, and you don't want to ever again, but that kind of honesty is hard after years of not talking about anything real, and you know it will get ugly. When I left for good I told my mom in a letter, that's how much of a coward I was. But that's what happens when their approval is strictly based in you being a good little JW just like they are.

I am going through a similar, but non JW related issue right now. I have a friend who is super needy and seems to like much more than I have ever liked her. It's gotten to the point I don't want to be friends more, she is always pressuring me to come over, but she is exhausting, I have health problems and and I suspect she is just using me. I have been avoiding her calls, talking to her less and less, but she calls freaking every day. I finally turned the answering machine off, but she still hasn't taken the hint. I was hoping to dial back the friendship to an every so often kind of thing, but it's clear she will just keep pushing and I am going to have to end it. I am horrible at this kind of thing, so I just keep putting it off.

22

If you don't enjoy working with the public choose another career.

by James Mixon in

jw
friends

i'am sure you have come across someone with that type of personality, working in sales, clerk, waitress or waiter.

most are nice but once in a while you come across that person that needs to choose a different career.. this morning i met that person, she just screwed up my day.

i'm thinking maybe her day wasn't a good start,a fight with her husband, bills or children but don't screw up my day.

LisaRose

The worst customer service is the DMV. I moved from Colorado back to my home state of California. On the form I was asked if I had had a California Drivers License WITHIN the last ten years. I answered no, since it had been ten and a half years since I left. At the counter the clerk says: "You mean you've NEVER had a California DL???"

I said "Well, I have had one, but it's been longer than ten years"

She looks at the computer and gives an aggrieved sigh, then barks at me "You are in the system! This is wrong, you have to fix it! cross it out and say yes, that you HAVE had a DL in the last ten years, then initial"

WTF? I was wrong for stating the truth, now I have to sign something that is not true. Whatever, it wouldn't bother me if she hadn't acted like I did something wrong and been so rude. The only good thing about it was that was when I knew I was really back in California.

124

My Mom Is Dying

by minimus in

jw
friends

i just wanted to say that my dear 89 year old mom is terminally ill and will soon pass.

she is on morphine and hanging on.

she has been a devout witness for about 60 years and a wonderful mother.

LisaRose

You were very lucky to have had a close and loving relationship for so many years. Although that doesn't take away the pain of losing her, it means you will always have those memories, and that's a lot.

98

My Opinions on whats going on in WT land - Insider Information

by thedepressedsoul in

first off, i'd like to state that i currently have "privileges" in the congregation and volunteer at bethel on and off throughout the year.

that's as much information as i will currently give about myself.. starting off, i think something big is coming in the form of lawsuits and bad pr.

they seem to be batting down the hatches in preparation for something the last few years and even more so the last few months.

LisaRose

They are crazy if they think volunteer, JW lawyers will help them in any significant way. There are not likely many of them out there and most of those are not stupid enough to give their labor away for nothing. Even if they could find some, what are the odds they have the kind of expertise that would help them? It's just another indication that they have no idea what they are doing.

12

Are You A Thinker And A Lurker?

by konceptual99 in

jw
friends

if you are a lurker then you are probably a thinker.

you will already be wondering about a number of aspects of jw doctrine and how they stack up against reason, logic and modern scientific evidence.

if so, then i appeal to you to meditate and reason on one implication arising from the latest news that the next publication will be a simplified version of an already simplified book.

LisaRose

Very well written post, I don't think you sound bitter at all Konceptual, just determined to make a case for reason and logic. It's,a plea to think, to not accept the easy answers. If any JW are visiting here it means they already have doubts and are not going to blindly accept the Watchtower "all apostates are bitter" argument.