On the eve of the election, many have tolerated the political ads, rhetoric and information, while others (like myself, who is still voting by the way) avoided political messaging like the plague. I am most disappointed with antagonize messaging, which permeates into our personal spaces and social environments. Differences amongst friends are no longer celebrated and fear dominates the political sphere. My rational mind understands the crafting of tactics. However, it seems unethical for campaigns to instill negativity in our society. The youth and the American social consciousness feed off of these proclamation that revolved around disdain, frustration and fear. Of course, there is no code or regulation that takes away their right to say almost whatever they want, almost wherever they desire. Lawyer side note: The first amendment of the Constitution, aka "free of speech amendment," is not unlimited. 

Your environment affects your state of mind. Messages trickles down from your conscious mind into subconsciousness, where it is able to festers and create new thoughts. If you ever watched a reality television show with lots of bickering and violence, you're likely to be hot and bothered after watching the show. For example, out of curiosity, I watched an episode of Orange County Housewives and Jersey Shore last year. Personally, I felt uncomfortable after watching both and a little ill after Jersey Shore. Additionally, there are numerous studies that show hostile, unstable and unloving environments are linked to childhood trauma and problems with mental health and character development. SeeUniversity of Pittsburg Office of Child Development (2010), Character development in a hostile environment by Leon Chestang (1972). Although the adult brain is fairly development, the political messaging trend changes their environment and as a result, their children's living space. 

Yoga and meditation are not bounded by institutions. The two practices originate from Eastern philosophies but do not require practitioners to abide by a particular religion. My blog does not perfer one religion over the other. As a matter of fact, I have meet individuals from every type of religion that practice meditation and yoga who say it has deepen their faith. I believe there are universal principles that may be applied to many institutions or philosophies: love, compassion, understanding, mindfulness, and harmony...with many more that could make the list. The use of negative messaging is never productive but  often capitalized to push forward an agenda. I am a firm believer that  hate should not factor into a discussion, unfortunately it is heavily leveraged in many political and social discussions. 

I was very excited to discover that Dhamma Brothers (2008), documentary about individuals in prison participating in Vipassana Meditation, is available on streaming Netflix and Hulu. Some of these individuals are sentenced to life in prison and others are eligible for parole at some point in their sentence. The film is a totally worthwhile 1 hour and 16 minutes.

More details about the background of documentary and book are on the Dharma Brothers site, which provides a trailer Also, listed under resource links, as a previous legal services person, it is great to see Equal Justice Initiative featured along side this Vipassana Meditation project. 

This week's mindful media brights to light effects of street design on our sense of community and lifestyle, including friends, access to shared spaces, and overall satisfaction. The video is produced by Streetsfilms, a great resource on the built environment, active transportation, and community spaces, and related resource Streetsblog. So there is lots of reading and viewing materials if this video sparks one of your interests.