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Getting Positive After the VPI Shooting, April 16, 2007
By: Yank Elliott, MBA
Many will say, “How can there be anything positive about a staggering tragedy like the murder of 32 innocent people on the campus of VPI? There is nothing positive!”
All Americans and millions around the world have been stricken with grief and bewilderment. Of course there have been many embellishments of the already extremely negative event by those who simply hate Americans and everything we do. Rather than being angered and depressed by these people and the things they say we must do all we can to erase negativity throughout the world by every means possible. This may include tricking our minds to some extent to look at everything as being somehow positive. A tall order after such a massacre.
Following the events of 9-11, 2001, I was thrown into a very deep depression. I just could not understand how anyone could do what those deeply religious people did or why they would do it. After reading one or two books I had no trouble finding the answers to both questions: it's all about religion. I sank ever lower in spite of all the efforts of my girlfriend. To begin recovery I studied about ways to think positively, how to use inner resources like my subconscious mind, and how to appreciate the significance of luck in one's life. I finally came back to my old self in about two years and every day I repeatedly thank my God for making me so lucky.
Before I began to get better I could only function at 60 percent or less. Every day was a chore and I realized there must be some way to overcome all the negative feelings. Negativism is everywhere having been instilled in us at birth. In a negative state we make all the wrong decisions for all the wrong reasons. In anger we hurt people in many ways and we make decisions that are detrimental to the well-being of ourselves, our families, and our neighbors. For all these reasons we MUST do whatever is necessary to get back into thinking in positive ways.
One idea I hope visitors to this Website will take away is the significance of “quantum physics.” This is the scientific body of knowledge about the smallest particles of everything we know, a quantum packet of electromagnetic energy waves containing every possible destination of that packet. In his speech to the VPI mourners President Bush inadvertently introduced the quantum effect when he said “they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.” All the quantum probability packets lined up with the killing energy in the killer. There is really no one to blame and everything that will be done may possibly prevent the exact same thing from happening again; but there is no way to stop a similar tragedy unless you can find someway to harness every quantum packet in the universe! There's no way to do this.
Whenever something awful occurs The Media and everyone else are quick to rush and blame someone for what happened. Much of the legal system in the US is based on tort litigation where blame is placed on someone, usually by extracting unbelievable sums of money. Now, before anyone jumps on me for saying nobody is responsible for anything I tell you my belief is anyone causing clear-cut harm to another should be held accountable to the fullest extent.
After VPI the media and others were quick to blame the school administration, the campus police, the gun laws, the judicial system, mental health clinics, the immigration system, the killer's family, and anyone else they could think of. SOMEBODY IS TO BLAME FOR THIS HORRIBLE EVENT.
At a time like this it is important to remain as calm as possible and realize some people are simply evil. No one is to blame except the accumulation of quantum packets focused on one (or a few) deranged individual. The worldview of administrators and law enforcement personnel is shaped from birth; the mind issues instructions to our brain based on a multitude of information the mind receives every single second. Most of this is filtered out by one's worldview and never gets acted upon by the brain. We could not execute all the countless millions of bits of information anyway. So the worldview of everyone around the VPI campus on April 16, 2007, just could not conceive an act so brutal as these 32 murders in a quiet little college town. Just as no one conceived the monstrosity of the World Trade Center; please recall signs had been showing for a long time but the CIA, the FBI, and others who knew bits and pieces just could not believe anything like that could happen. But the quantum packets brought all their energy together and made it happen.
Other factors affecting every incident like this are political correctness or the fear of offending someone. Realize there are times when offending needs to be done. Even when warning signs are evident, as they were at VPI and 9-11 there is reluctance by officials to act; if wrong they will be subject to all kinds of lawsuits. The blame game is unworthy of anyone's attention after such a disaster.
Follow the lead of New Yorkers after 9-11; they began to take care of themselves and help their neighbors. There is always someone worse off than you are. Then people from close by communities began to help, then from all across America, and finally from other countries. So must those associated with VPI and others who are emotionally affected by this horror work together to help each other.
Take care of yourself first, then your neighbors. Probably you can help each other as the people around Blacksburg are continuing to do. As I write this, graduation ceremonies are going on where diplomas are being given to families of those graduates unable to attend because they are not physically here anymore. And there have been many events where the entire college community gathered to aid one another.
Some of you will just generally feel bad, have anxiety, experience some degree of depression, or be afraid. Don't allow yourself to become clinically depressed; seek help from someone experienced in grief counseling if you think you might need help. Perhaps a friend will suggest this; if so, take their advice. Pay attention to one of the speakers at the convocation following the shooting: “go where you can get the most hugs.”
There are many counseling sources and some may be expensive. Take advantage of what is available but remember in the end all of us must make the decision to help ourselves using the advice we are given. Some things that I use effectively through very rough times including life-or-death situations to overcome feelings of despair are:
Ask your subconscious mind (I gave mine a name, “Sub") to handle all the bad thoughts and anxieties you have.
Because I really believe in luck and that I have a lot of it I reaffirm many times a day “I'm lucky” over and over; I thank God many times daily for providing this luck.
A new technique I've been using effectively is the “virtual garbage bag.” Just imagine you have a garbage bag, place all your bad thoughts in it, then throw it away! Try it. It works for me.
Other than just your personal well-being right now there is a significant other reason for getting your mind focused on things other than the tragedy that just happened. You can't help those people anymore but you can still improve yourself and help others around you. I encourage you to read the recent writings of Deepak Chopra and Amit Goswami about quantum implications for life after death. These books haven't made me want to die right now but they have helped me not to fear death. There are a lot of things on my list to do to help others and I want to be here to do them.
During a conversation with a friend who recently lost her husband I was asked what I thought would be happening to him now? This man, in younger years demanded a lot from his wife. He never physically abused her as far as I know but he was a demanding and demeaning “king of his castle.” After he retired the couple became much closer and enjoyed each other's company for the last 15 years of his life. This contrast was what prompted her question. My answer was, “I think he'll be doing about like he was for the last few years before he died.” She agreed.
The point of this is everything I'm reading leads me to believe there is continuing consciousness after the physical body is gone. These writers believe what we are doing at the time we continue into an after life will be what we do possibly forever. If we are argumentative, violent, and negative that's how we will be forever. So it behooves us to do whatever we can to rise above negative thoughts; the sooner we begin trying “good” behavior the better for us. An improved attitude will make us feel better in this life as well.
Some things you can do to help with your healing:
Become involved with efforts to help others with problems not particularly related to the shooting. There are many close by who need something, maybe just a friend to listen to their worries.
Dr. Chopra writes of forgiveness and removing evil ideas from the world. One way to overcome your grief and give a positive spin to this catastrophe is to initiate or join efforts to encourage forgiveness and replacing evil thoughts with good ones, the idea being to eventually completely overcome every evil.
You may think of other ways to help people, not necessarily confined to Blacksburg. The Hokie community extends far outside Virginia to include the entire world. Anything you begin could take flight and quickly go everywhere. Think about it!
MAKE SOMETHING POSITIVE TO REMEMBER YOUR FRIENDS.
Getting Positive After Greensburg, Kansas, Tornado
May 4, 2007
By: Yank Elliott, MBA
An event like the Greensburg Tornado during the evening of May 4, 2007, is comparable to the astronomical concept of a Black Hole. These are caused by immense stars burning out of the fuel that keeps their bulk up and the star simply collapses into an abyss of nothing. All the matter associated with the star disappears forever with no way out. It's the end of history for that star!
In the seconds, minutes, hours, and for days following such an event your mind becomes numb, you are severely depressed because you may feel you have lost everything, you are overwhelmed by what lies ahead of you, you don't have a job, and you don't have money, and maybe you have nothing to eat! You have literally fallen into a Black Hole.
But wait, Stephen Hawking, perhaps the greatest physicist ever, has determined that something is ever-so-slowly coming out of Black Holes. This means that all is not lost when the star collapses after all. Likewise after an overwhelming disaster; keep doing what you must and gradually things will begin to improve.
I know this is true. I live in coastal North Carolina and many hurricanes have invaded us since 1995. For me, the worst was Hurricane Floyd, the first one to actually put water inside my house. My overwhelming feeling was that an intruder had been in my home and stolen something from me. What had been taken was my feeling of safety in my own home plus some damaged items.
But guess what? I learned how to clean up a mess, a neighbor had a generator to keep our food from spoiling, and a thoughtful business brought bags of ice to us twice a day for a week. We all survived. I began to plan how to keep water out in the future. Raising the house would be best but rather expensive. I determined a much cheaper way used by some of my neighbors.
Before I could erect my water barrier Hurricane Isabel struck a few years later. She, too, invaded my home. At the time I was virtually living in a nursing home to be near my girlfriend who was recovering from a near fatal illness. How much more calamity can there be?
One day, while back home attending to business, I accidentally heard the county was taking FEMA applications for flood abatement procedures. I expected them to just raise my little home. Every day I thank God for making me the lucky person I am. So guess what lucky thing happened while I talked with the engineer sent to evaluate my situation, two years after my original application?
The engineer said he could raise my house but he felt it might fall apart in which case I would personally be responsible for rebuilding it. Not something I was willing to do. But then he said the county had a program to tear down my existing house and build me a brand new one. Did I want to do that? What a dumb question!
I'm writing this article sitting in my new house overlooking the beautiful Pamlico River.
You will note all this wasn't easy. Two hurricanes and 10 years were required to get something very nice for me and my family. From Black Hole to new home; hang in there, don't give up, and pursue your dream for the future. If you really and firmly believe you can do what you want to do it will eventually happen. The trick is to not give up prematurely.
Greensburg, take heart. We all love you, are praying for you, and we are pulling for you to succeed! BELIEVE YOU CAN AND YOU WILL.
Minneapolis Bridge
By: Yank Elliott, MBA
Interstate 35W Bridge carrying traffic into Minneapolis, MN, collapsed during rush hour Wednesday, August 1, 2007. It happened at the worst possible time-rush hour. What a tragic occurrence!
Americans and most others in the Western World are saddened, deeply touched, and are praying for those affected by this horrible event. Unfortunately it seems many in the Muslim world hail this event as Allah punishing us infidels for not believing in Islam. I am sorry they feel that way and I pray they will sometime see otherwise. This is a tremendously negative way of thinking.
And here in America clergymen, counselors, and religious friends are urging on families of the bridge victims the idea, intended to comfort them in this time of great trouble, that this event was God's will and part of his great plan. It's not God's will at all; he created the whole universe and allowed living things, including us, to develop on this planet Earth which is the tiniest part of his great Universe. We are all free to take many individual actions all of which have consequences. The consequences of whatever was done or not done relative to 35W are what occurred when the bridge collapsed. There was never any Godly plan to it. What God is proud of is the positive things that are resulting and will eventually evolve from this present tragedy.
We humans are born negative, perhaps a result of inborn instincts from our earliest ancestors to always be on guard against constant unknown dangers. These instincts continue within our DNA to this day and negative thinking is constantly driven home to us through the media, churches, and the great pot of negativity always surrounding us from our associates. Negative thinking leads to wrong thinking, mistaken actions, or no productive activity at all.
We must get rid of negative ideas quickly to avoid poisoning our minds. Negativism is necessary, on a very temporary basis, to serve the purpose for which it was intended: our protection. As soon as we see what needs to be done the negative thoughts must be terminated so we can move on with positive actions to eliminate the danger. Most people have great difficulty with this and so remain in a miserable negative atmosphere their entire lives; they can never be happy because they see everything as a sin or some kind of continuing catastrophe. There are some simple ways to get away from negative, with a little practice. HERE'S HOW! After you throw out the negative immediately analyze the situation and pick out positive aspects for your mind to consider. Though hard to see, every bad thing has some positive aspect or more attached to it. Look hard and write them out if necessary to begin your positive thinking.
In the case of Interstate 35W consider these positives:
