Spanking and violence

This is a topic I have witnessed discussed heatedly  for some time now. I will admit I have whipped my children in the past however, looking back I regret doing so and I will explain why. Many older adults often claim the problem with kids these days is the lack of corpral punishment. ( not being spanked enough) I would have to disagree. I grew up with some spankings, but they never taught me anything positive. I learned how to be sneakier so I wouldn't get caught, how to lie better, how to get someone else in trouble for something I did, and how to take a beating and walk it off like it never happened, and if you have the power you can simply beat someone until they do what you want them to do. Over all I learned nothing positive from spankings. I also grew up hearing adults brag about how they were beat and tell glory stories about the fist fights they got in as kids. When I see the violence kids do today I recall the stories of my youth and I can't help but see this as kids trying to one up their grandparents glory stories of violence not a result of violent movies and games. Add to this the fact that as a country, every time another group of people or country does something we do not agree with we immediately jump to a violent reaction. We can't have a country constantly trying to bully and use violence to solve conflicts and blame a lack of spankings on kids being violent it's just not right. Stop glorifying beatings, stop glorifying war, and start teaching children compassion, how to see things from other people's perspective, how to deal with bad emotions in a healthy way, and how to compromise efectively (unlike our government)

Meditation

While it is possible to focus solely on the object or outcome of your affection, the most effective way to meditate is by staying present instead of mentally pretending you’re influencing the future. 

Meditation is the act of focusing on your present situation and evaluate what can be done, what can't be done, and what outcomes to expect.When you meditate do not try to stop or alter your thoughts. Your mind wants to be at rest and is constantly trying to get you to deal with bothersome things. You should not be ashamed or afraid of these thoughts (only you can hear them after all!) let your mind wander and simply observe these thoughts. Over time you can focus on certain thoughts or decisions you need to make in life. Life is about choices and if I may borrow a science quote, "every action has an equal and opposite reaction." Life is cause and effect. Your every decision affects someone in some way, many times we do not even realize how every minute action can have severe life altering implications for someone else. I have witnessed people flip from being the happiest person on earth to cold blooded psycho in a matter of seconds. How many people have died in car accidents over split second mistakes? seconds matter and even a single word or simple act of hate can cause someone to do something horrible. I believe it is important to meditate on what impression we have made on every single individual we have come across. Admittedly this is not a favorite thing to meditate on. However, I believe it is vital. We get too caught up in ourselves and our own craziness that we don't see one another. It was not always like this. People once worked together as a community and there was no competing. We are told there is not enough resources to go around, but that is BS. We are told so much crap that many people feel it is impossible to live happy. They become addicted to anything they can just to numb the pain of a miserable existence. This lifestyle is WRONG! We must learn to live a more social lifestyle. We accomplish so much more when we work together rather compete against one another. Tribes were once the way we raised families. The downside to this was pride and greed. Certain families felt that they were superior to other families and began to act accordingly. Today, the family pride is still there strong, however some have realized that we are all one big family. It does not matter where you are from, pride does nothing but cause harm. Let us move away from this and move toward compassion. Nobody is born better than anybody. We must stop acting superior to anyone and start treating one another as equals and show compassion on one another. Forgive easy, help more, and show respect to those that may not deserve it, because a compassionate individual understands that not everyone has the ability to handle the weight of this messed up world. The Buddhist define anger as an outward expression of your extreme sense of disappointment in a situation not going the way you wanted it to go. So, when you find yourself face to face with an angry individual try to put yourself in their shoes. What outcome were they expecting? Was it reasonable? Why did this outcome not happen? What can be done to come close to or achieve their desired outcome? Ask questions and show a true interest in what they are saying. Only when we communicate with one another can we find peace. Violence just makes people mad and creates more violence. Let's end this cycle and start showing some compassion. It all starts and ends in the mind. Meditation will help you strengthen your mental capabilities and be able to navigate this fast paced world so much more efficiently. You will also slowly find more peace then you thought imaginable, even if things completely fall apart....