Random tidbits and reflections
Greetings! Hope your July is going well. I had a great time last weekend going to the 25th annual Lifest Christian music festival in Oshkosh. It was my first time there. It enjoyed hearing quality music from artists such as Ben Fuller, Blessing Offor, Leanna Crawford, Anne Wilson and others, and hearing the stories behind the songs of how God has worked in their lives. The weather cooperated too. I may just have to go again next year.
- Today is National Different Colored Eyes Day. The scientific name for this phenomenon is heterochromia iridium. Less than half of 1 percent of the population has this trait. Throughout history, many superstitious beliefs were associated with heterochromia iridium, including that those with the trait were witches. Native Americans used to believe that those with the trait could see both heaven and earth through their “ghost eyes.” Thankfully, today people see it as simply a pretty, unique trait.
- Spanish governmental official Teresa Ribera recently drew heat for riding a bike a short distance to a climate conference as a publicity stunt. The European Union held a climate conference in Madrid, Spain, to discuss the effect of carbon emissions on the climate. Ribera reportedly traveled in a private jet and a chauffeured car to get to this conference. However, she got out of the car just over 300 feet from the event and rode a bike the remaining distance, while escorted by two armored security cars. There is more than a little irony to this situation. The fact that Ribera pulled out a bicycle for the last few hundred feet seems to indicate it was all about appearances and looking like she was doing something to save the planet rather than making changes that climate activists think will actually save the planet. Obviously, her plan backfired. Well, the widespread examples of hypocrisy at all levels of government are at least amusing.
-I learned a few new words recently. “Interoception” – a portmanteau of “interior” and “reception” – is our ability as human beings to feel what’s happening inside our bodies. It has to do with sensing when one is hungry, full, hot, cold or thirsty. Interoception includes conscious thought and unconscious bodily processes. The sensations we receive from interoception also effect emotional health, including our perceptions of wellbeing, energy and stress. Anyone who’s been “hangry,” or angry because of being hungry, has experienced this. I know I have. That’s one example of an emotional response to an inner bodily sensation.
Occupational therapist Heather Greutman in writing for Growing Hands-On Kids explains that there are eight senses. Beyond the five we usually know about, the other three are interoception, vestibular processing and proprioception. Vestibular processing is the ability of the vestibular system in the inner ear to detect changes in regards to gravity — i.e. if you are sitting, standing, lying down, spinning, etc. Proprioception is the ability to sense the position, location, orientation and movement of the body’s muscles and joints.
Our bodies are complex indeed and there are so many internal processes happening constantly that we never even think about.
The other new word I learned is “limerence,” which, at a basic level, is an obsessive infatuation with another person to the point where the subject is unable to think about anything else except the object of their affection and it inhibits their ability to function in daily life. Psychologist Dorothy Tennov coined the term limerence for her 1979 book “Love and Limerence: The Experience of Being in Love.” Authors Evie Bentley and Lynn Willmott define limerence as “an involuntary, potentially inspiring state of adoration and attachment to a limerent object (LO), involving intrusive and obsessive thoughts, feelings and behaviors from euphoria to despair, contingent on perceived emotional reciprocation.”
It’s basically the phenomenon of being in love taken to the extreme. Some of the hallmarks are not being bothered by anything about the other person, not wanting to believe rejection and feeling anxious when around the other person. It’s another example of how we as human beings are prone to take many things, even and perhaps especially good things, to an unhealthy extreeme.
-I thought I’d end with a few unique holidays and observances coming up, courtesy of NationalToday.com. This Thursday, June 13, is Sovereignty Day of Montenegro. The holiday points back to when the Berlin Congress recognized Montenegro as an independent state on July 13, 1878. Montenegro is a country of 5,333 square miles, just smaller than Connecticut, and the name literally means “black mountain.” Located in southeastern Europe, it is south of the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and north of Albania, with Greece bordering Albania. Montenegro is a kingdom ruled by a monarch. Fittingly, the official language is Montenegrin.
This Friday, July 14, is Bastille Day, which recognizes the storming of the fortress and political prison by that name in Paris, France, on July 14, 1789. This was a major point in the French Revolution. It wasn’t until Sept. 21, 1792, however, that the National Convention of France announced it had abolished the French monarchy, marking the birth of the French First Republic.
July 14 is also Pandemonium Day. Google defines pandemonium as “a wild and noisy disorder or confusion; uproar.” However, the first usage of the word dates back to John Milton’s epic poem “Paradise Lost” published in 1667, which conveys the fall of Adam and Eve after being tempted by Satan. “Pandemonium” is a combination of the Greek word “pan,” meaning “all,” and the Latin word “daemonium,” meaning “little demon.” In “Paradise Lost,” Pandemonium is the capital of Hell, where the demons live. Obviously, today the word doesn’t carry the same meaning and the holiday is about letting a little of the crazy out from time to time.
Don’t be thrown into a pandemonium and have a good rest of your week!
Striking a
Chord...
