Moments of Insight • Vol. 1 Issue 19 • December 4, 2020

A Note from Anna, our Program Director & Founder Send us a Letter We know we cannot be there in person Hi all, with you, but wanted to encourage you to I hope you had a warm hearted and peaceful Thanksgiving. Mine was quiet, check-in with us like we do when we are chilling with Charles and Ruby, our dog. Nice to have a few days off. together. You know how Anna usually asks us to state how the week has been I was reading an article in the newspaper over the holidays and it really struck and share something we've learned? We'd me. It was in the New York Times and was called - ‘Your Brain Is Not for love for you to write it down and send us a Thinking’, By Lisa Feldman Barrett: note.

“…Your brain’s most important job isn’t thinking; it’s running the systems of your body to keep you alive and well…. Much of your brain’s activity happens Send us a poem or artwork outside your awareness. In every moment, your brain must figure out your We would also love for you to share any body’s needs for the next moment and execute a plan to fill those needs in poems, artwork or insights you've had advance. For example, each morning as you wake, your brain anticipates the that we can include in one of our next energy you’ll need to drag your sorry body out of bed and start your day. It volumes of 'Moments of Insight'. Feel free proactively floods your bloodstream with the hormone cortisol, which helps to share ideas of what you'd like us to make glucose available for quick energy. include in this newsletter as well.

‘Your brain runs your body using something like a budget. A financial budget All letters, art and ideas can be sent to: tracks money as it’s earned and spent. The budget for your body tracks The Insight Alliance resources like water, salt, and glucose as you gain and lose them. Each action PO Box 820214 that spends resources, such as standing up, running, and learning, is like a Portland, OR 97282 withdrawal from your account. Actions that replenish your resources, such as eating and sleeping, are like deposits.”

My first thought when someone explains how we work is - WOW! How unbelievably intelligent is this system of ours which we by and large take for granted - until it doesn’t work properly. And then we either feel sorry for ourselves or realize just how much we take for granted this genius machine we inhabit.

In our Insight to Wellbeing groups, when we first start talking about our natural intelligence - (our wellbeing / our resilience), we often reference the body as it’s such a tangible example of just how brilliant we actually are. It’s hard to ignore the fact that the systems of our bodies continue to work and keep us alive even without our awareness.

THE INSIGHT ALLIANCE PAGE 01 CONTINUED FROM PG 1. DAME LA MANO/GIVE ME It can be harder to see that our minds are brilliant too. Often when we get YOUR HAND caught up in our heads, we find it challenging to see our mental resilience. Or BY GABRIELA MISTRAL recognize our capacity to find solutions to our problems, bounce back from challenging circumstances, navigate the ups and downs of life and despite the Dame la mano y danzaremos worst feelings we’ve ever had we’re still OK - all ways that our natural dame la mano y me amarás. Como una intelligence shows up. sola flor seremos, como una flor, y nada más… El mismo verso cantaremos, al The author goes on to say that every thought we have, every feeling of happiness mismo paso bailarás. Como una espiga or anger or awe we experience, every kindness we extend and every insult we ondularemos, como una espiga, y nada bear or sling is part of our brain creating our moment to moment experience: más. Te llama Rosa y yo Esperanza: pero tu nombre olvidarás, porque seremos una “This view of the brain has many implications for understanding human beings. danza en la colina, y nada más. So often, for example, we conceive of ourselves in mental terms, separate from the physical. A bad stomachache that follows an indulgent meal may send us to Give me your hand and give me your the gastroenterologist, but if we experience that same ache during a messy love, give me your hand and with divorce, we may head to a psychotherapist instead. At the gastroenterologist’s me. A single flower, and nothing more, office, we experience our discomfort as an underlying physical problem; at the a single flower is all we’ll be. therapist’s office, we experience the same discomfort as anxiety — a Keeping time in the dance together, psychological disturbance, physically manifested. you’ll be singing the song with me. ‘In body-budgeting terms, however, this distinction between mental and physical Grass in the wind, and nothing more, is not meaningful. Anxiety does not cause stomach aches; rather, feelings of grass in the wind is all we’ll be. anxiety and stomach aches are both ways that human brains make sense of I’m called Hope and you’re called Rose: physical discomfort… There is no such thing as a purely mental cause but losing our names we’ll both go free, a because every mental experience has roots in the physical budgeting of your dance on the hills, and nothing more, a body. This is one reason physical actions like taking a deep breath, or getting dance on the hills is all we’ll be. more sleep, can be surprisingly helpful in addressing problems we traditionally view as psychological.” ART BY CHARLIE MACKESY One example for me is there were times I’d come to group in prison with a bad stomachache and think that I may have to excuse myself early as I’m in a lot of pain. Then two hours go by and I’m not thinking about my stomachache, so I don’t feel it - until of course I walk out the gate and start thinking about it again!

To me, understanding that the physical and psychological are two sides of the same coin allows me to realize my body is just experiencing my mind and my mind is experiencing my body. It’s an inside job. When it comes to my mind, my thoughts, and my feelings I see no reason to look outside of me to fix something that isn’t broken. The natural intelligence of the system has our back.

Stay safe and breathe deeply….

THE INSIGHT ALLIANCE PAGE 02 A Note from Folsom50 Hello from Folsom50! “A single act of kindness throws out roots in all Thanks to The Insight Alliance for inviting us to reach out. We are glad to directions, and the roots support the work they do. In 2018-19, Luther’s Boots performed concerts inside Oregon prisons. The first two years, we focused on the music, legacy, spring up and make new trees. and activism of Johnny Cash. We recorded the album “Darkened Road Ahead” The greatest work that and in March 2020 we geared up to debut it in a third prison tour. Things kindness does to went a different way. others is that it makes them In June, we recorded the concert. The video has aired at OSCI, CRCI, WCCF kind themselves” and is scheduled for OSP, PRCF and CCCF. Since we can’t perform in person, we want to reach out to folks inside with the music and a playbill that tells its story. The concert is mostly comprised of original songs written by Danny - Frederick William Faber Wilson, and released on the record. A few songs are about events in Cash’s life.

“Jack’s Song” was inspired by the story of Johnny Cash’s childhood hero and older brother. Jack was killed in a sawmill accident at age 14 — the tragedy devastated the Cash family and left young John with a lasting scar. Cash said that brother Jack would visit him in visions and offer him comfort and advice. Some of the song’s lyrics are borrowed from words Jack said to his mother on his deathbed, and some are inscribed on his headstone in Bassett, AR. To make “Darkened Road Ahead,” Danny Wilson traveled to Lakeview to record the WCCF chapel singing back up on “Jack’s Song” for the record.

JACK’S SONG by Danny Wilson

How am I supposed to carry on? Ain’t no better soul to show me the way. Only 14 and so much more than I will ever be, on your death bed, I listened to you say. Can you hear the angels singing? Listen, can you hear them? Can you hear the angels singing? I’m going to the light. Will you meet me in heaven? I’ll look for you there. Can you hear the angels singing, mama? I’m going to the light. Won’t you comfort me and always be my North Star? Be my guiding light throughout my life. I’ll keep my promise to our mama and sing God’s melodies and I’ll find you when I reach the other side.

THE INSIGHT ALLIANCE PAGE 03 How Being Grateful Over Greedy Is Changing My Life LIFE IN EXILE BY BARB PATTERSON, INSIGHT ALLIANCE BOARD MEMBER BY ISABEL ALLENDE

A couple of weekends ago, I was with a friend on the coast. We were talking about our The first part of my life ended on lives, our businesses, and a recent experience we had together. I shared how I often get September 11, 1973. That day caught up in my mind accessing and focusing on what I need to do to improve myself there was a brutal military coup in or a situation. I have a habit of focusing on what I could have done better or what still Chile. President Salvador Allende, the needs improving. Pretty soon, I’m tweaking, critiquing, and a bit on my case about it. first socialist president ever elected While this doesn’t seem to derail my self-esteem or keep me from engaging, it does democratically, died. In a few hours a have an effect and can leave me in a feeling of not good enough or not quite right. century of democracy ended in my country and was replaced with a regime Basically, my self-improvement or “better” habit can leave me in a sort of constant low- of terror. Thousands were arrested, grade hum of dissatisfaction. tortured, or killed. Many disappeared and their bodies were never found. The I see the pattern, and I know it’s an illusion of the mind and a habit. It’s not pointing me Allende family fled and those who were to a truth about myself or the situation. It’s simply creating an internal experience of abroad could not return. I was the last lack. In response, my friend said something to me that has been incredibly helpful. He one to leave. I stayed until I couldn't said, “It would be great if we could be grateful over greedy, wouldn’t it?” stand it anymore; in 1975, I fled with my husband and our children. Grateful over greedy – wow. I had not considered my quest for “better” as greedy. Isn’t We went to Venezuela, a green and seeking to be better, to improve ourselves, or to improve a situation a good thing? generous country. It was the time of the oil boom, when black gold Perhaps, in theory, but what my friend was highlighting is a major downside to seeking flowed from the soil like an “better.” If we are constantly seeking better, we will live in a feeling of not good enough. inexhaustible river of wealth. However, I We want more, and the result is living in the feeling of dissatisfaction. That’s how it failed to see the charm of Venezuela. works for all of us. I was paralyzed by nostalgia, always looking south, waiting for the end of the Our moment-to-moment experience is being shaped by where we place our attention. dictatorship. It took me many years to It makes sense then that when we assess, critique, or look for what isn’t quite right, we get over the trauma of exile. I was cannot appreciate what is going well. Gratitude becomes difficult when all we see is lucky, though. I found something that where we want more or where we could have done better. saved me from despair. I found literature. Frankly, I think I would have When we look at what didn’t happen, we miss what is happening. When we look for not become a writer if I had not been what’s wrong, we miss is right. forced to leave everything behind and start anew. Without the military coup I More and better show up in all sorts of ways: to be better than we were, to be further would have remained in Chile. I would along, to be smarter, to have things go a certain way. This applies when we’re thinking still be a journalist and probably a about ourselves, our performance, or our relationships. happy one. In exile, literature gave me a voice. It rescued my memories from Pretty soon, as my friend stated, we’re greedy for more and missing what there is to be the curse of oblivion. It enabled me to grateful for. You might be wondering, “If I don’t stay diligent about improving, won’t create a universe of my own. I repeat mistakes or stay stuck in the status quo?”

Here’s the interesting thing…what we focus on expands. Where we place our attention is what comes to life.

THE INSIGHT ALLIANCE PAGE 04 Lockdown Diaries CONTINUED FROM PG 4. (Inspired by the Willamette Week)

When we look at what is wrong with us, the creative potential of our mind will bring that to life. If we ask what is going well, what is there to be grateful for, that same potential will bring that to life.

I have gotten so distracted by what needs improving and how I could be better that I have missed connecting deeply with the beauty of an ordinary moment or the joy that comes when we stop and appreciate. I have missed moments of connection, love, and being supported because I didn’t feel deserving. Jarell Insight Alliance Mentor Choosing grateful over greedy has endless rewards and gifts. Choosing appreciation for what is versus how it could be better allows us to wake up more fully to the 1. Occupation: Construction/ entrepreneur miracles in the moment. As it is. The blessings are there, in the moment. 2: Age: 34 3. How many people do you live with? Two When we broaden our perspective, look with a wider lens, we can see so much more. 4. What have you been eating? Butternut We see the magic and the mystery in the unfolding of our lives. We no longer squash, pho, ginger, sushi, and lots of candy measure ourselves against a particular result or outcome; we consider the fullness of unfortunately our lives. We no longer get attached to a particular want, and we begin to see the 5. What have you been watching, listening perfection of things as they are. to or playing during quarantine? Gratitude brings everything closer to us. It brings our love, our joy, our relationships, Motivational videos on YouTube and all of life’s beauty to the present moment. Gratitude can literally take our breath 6. Have you picked up a new hobby or away. resumed an old one? Working out (old hobby) and riding scooters downtown (new I’m learning more and more every day that I can trust life. That by surrendering my hobby) ideals, my wants, and opinions of myself and how things are going, I experience 7. What's the weirdest thing you've done so more of the richness of life. Blessings expand, along with feelings of love and far? I randomly started getting my crane hopefulness. operator licenses 8. When was the last time you were closer By dropping the pursuit of better or more, our minds settle, and what shows up is greater compassion and understanding. Instead of being frustrated, we feel than 6 feet to someone outside your appreciation. And when we place our attention there, it expands. household? I cannot say on record....I just got off of parole, LOL! I’m beginning to see that grateful over greedy has the power to change our whole 9. What's your secret to staying sane? No world. secrets, sanity is a figure of speech. I keep my mind quiet by understanding my Take a chance with me. Let’s openly give thanks, accept with open hearts what is, feelings. and feel the abundance of all that is available to us in the here and now – as we are. 10. What's the first thing you're doing when Right here – right now. this is over? I have a passport and I’m ready Today, I’m incredibly grateful for you. Thank you for reading and engaging with me to hit the Dominican Republic. here. Your presence matters and touches me deeply. 11. What has quarantine taught you about yourself? Quarantine has given me a break Lastly, I offer a prayer of gratitude to the deeper intelligence of life that lives within all and shown me that I needed one. It also of us. To our True Nature. To the source of our resilience, our well-being, and the showed me how much more precious life is, common core that links us all. and that’s where we put the value.

THE INSIGHT ALLIANCE PAGE 05 A Life of a Song from Financial Times A QUOTE FROM PAPER PLANES — M.I.A.’S 2008 HIT SKEWERED XENOPHOBIC PARANOIA STEVE JOBS If you were to first encounter the M.I.A. song “Paper Planes” as nothing more "Here's to the crazy ones, the than words printed on paper, you would probably jump to the conclusion that misfits, the rebels, the with its refrains of “I fly like paper, get high like planes” and “All I wanna do is [gun and cash register sound effects] and take your money”, the 2008 record was troublemakers, the round pegs in another unedifying rap about drugs, violence and conspicuous consumption. the square holes... Without knowledge of context and intention, texture and tone, you’d be likely to the ones who see things make pejorative snap judgments based on specious reasoning. And, just like that, differently -- they're not fond of M.I.A. would have you exactly where she wants you. rules, and they have no respect for

“Paper Planes” is not a paean to gangster life, but a mocking, coruscating attack on the status quo... the pernicious, superficial assumptions people make about that which is You can quote them, disagree with unfamiliar, them, glorify or vilify them, but the those who are “other”. Fueled by the British-Sri Lankan rapper’s own experiences only thing you can't do is as a refugee and her personal indignation at being refused a working visa in the US due to her alleged — and denied — links to Tamil militia groups, M.I.A. (real ignore them because they name Mathangi Arulpragasam) set about skewering the febrile post-9/11 climate of change things... xenophobic paranoia in which ethnic diversity became more or less synonymous They push the human race with danger. As she put it in an interview at the time: “[they thought] that I might forward, and while some may see fly a plane into the Trade Center.” them as the crazy ones, we see

And while the song’s title refers to counterfeit visa documents, it cannot help but genius, because the people who also evoke the Maoist phrase “paper tiger” — broadly meaning something or are crazy enough to think that someone whose perceived threat is entirely illusory. The wickedly sardonic they can change the world, are the implication here is that immigrants, feared to be terrorists, are in fact a threat to ones who do." no one, or just “paper planes”.

The track’s musical reference points are similarly wide-ranging. Despite being labelled as a hip-hop record, the song is freighted with a pugnacious, punkish attitude that is driven by the extended sampling of the hook from a single by (who are credited as co-writers): 1982’s “Straight to Hell” — a track that likewise attacks nativism. The chorus of “All I wanna do”, meanwhile, appears to stem from new jack swing ensemble Wreckx-N-Effect’s concupiscent 1992 hit “Rump Shaker”. The line here is used as a winking response to M.I.A’s purported criminal intentions and is later followed by the equally arch “Some I murder/some I some I let go”.

Despite boasting such a light, acerbic touch and an irrepressibly catchy melody, it wasn’t until it was featured in the trailer for the stoner comedy Pineapple Express — and, perhaps more appositely, in an exhilarating montage sequence of Indian children grifting in the Oscars-sweeping Slumdog Millionaire — that the song exploded into the mainstream, going multi-platinum in the US and reaching the top 10 in charts across the globe.

THE INSIGHT ALLIANCE PAGE 06 CONTINUED FROM PG 6. “Whatever games are Soon enough, all the biggest names in hip-hop were queuing up to pay homage to “Paper Planes”. 50 Cent remixed it, Rihanna and Dizzee Rascal covered it at played with us, we must their live shows, and a rap supergroup of Jay-Z, , and T.I. with built an entire song around the sample of the line “No one on the corner had swagger like us”. A heavily pregnant M.I.A. joined the rappers in a rendition of ourselves, but deal in our “/Paper Planes” at the 2009 Grammys — a performance so privacy with the last electrifying that it was named as one of the 50 key events in the history of world and folk music by The Guardian. honesty and truth.”

Nothing however is quite as egregious as the 1940s jazz-lounge version recorded in 2015 by Postmodern Jukebox. Although vocally mellifluous, there is something - Ralph Waldo Emerson unavoidably tone deaf about turning such a politically charged song into a twee gimmick in which a white singer coos lines such as “M.I.A. third world democracy/ I sold more records than the KGB”. In one of the cover’s numerous missteps, the word “sold” replaces the more equivocal word from the original: “got” — perhaps used by M.I.A. to allude not just to music records, but the surveillance that immigrants find themselves subjected to in the US. Or perhaps not. Through its restless, playful ambiguity “Paper Planes” provides few explanations, but it does, more significantly, challenge us to consider what lies beneath the surface of things — lyrics, status, skin color.

Living on a Knifes Edge MR GEE (SPOKEN WORD / POET - WHO PERFORMED FOR US AT OUR FUNDRAISER)

There's a delicate balance over what follows fashion As peer pressure unravels.

You friends like to ride bikes - we did too. You sport the latest hairstyles and we did too. We know all teenage boys are gonna fight - and we did too. You think you're the first to carry a knife? Well back in the day we did too.

Ahh, this is where the problem lies This is the question that plagues younger minds It's all too easy for older generations to confer and surmise That the violence of the day never occurred in their times But things have changed.

THE INSIGHT ALLIANCE PAGE 07 CONTINUED FROM PG 7. ART BY TOM CRAMER LOCAL ARTIST & OUR SUPPORTER Heavier drugs are being blazed Perceptions are rearranged Wars are being waged around the planet Sending the message - if you want it then grab it.

The pen may indeed be mightier than the sword But the sword makes us point sweetly doing damage. Such is the delicate balance that translates into high streets.

This world is ruled by the mighty and no one admires the weak And no one admires defeat. This world has yet to be inherited by the meek So violence is a language that we all reliably speak.

As everyday we see headlines of sensationalized crimes And newspapers offer up more space to advertise As a campaign issue it’s hot and even politicians realize There’s more to the pressure in the pot that takes so many lives, And makes so many mothers cry. And scream the question WHY was it their child on that night in that fight that had to die.

And die for what? Some trivial misunderstanding that could easily be stopped. Some petty argument fueled when tempers run hot.... Or over what someone's got... Or false pride that's been mocked... So that outcome was a fist fight Or the night sky being ignited by a gunshot.

That persons got the latest pair of Nikes and I want some too. That persons got a father in their family and I want one too That person's got oil in their country and I want some too.

You say you've got hatred for me well I've got some too.

There's a delicate balance over what follows fashion As peer pressure unravels an interesting pattern. An interesting challenge on how we choose to live our lives

Are we floating peacefully on the wings of a dove Or are we all perched weeping on the edge of a knife.

THE INSIGHT ALLIANCE PAGE 08

I read an article from the Veterans