Image by Toban Black via Flickr
A barrier to getting friendly with ourselves might be our culture. The inverse of course could also be true. ‘Takes culture to design the flavor of our homes and habits, our communities and the energy between us and them. Think, TV in the bedroom, alcohol tasters offered to children, books or the absence of books on the floor and shelves. Think religion and diet, family meals or take-out. The way we deal with shame. Culture is a gate-keeper for many of us.
We could call our culture, the way we live together at home, the balance between each family member and the flavor of emotions there. Culture might be layered, wrapping us from one balance of energy into another into another creating our own galaxy between each point of light. In any room, if we look we can find culture. In any space outside, there is a flavor telling us how to maintain the balance between me and thee.
I don’t know if sociologists look at culture this way yet, but I hope they will. With all that observing, data gathered and surmising, I hope they study how the individual can be a better friend to herself in “this” culture. And then I hope they tell us.
Becoming an active designer of your culture is not always easy. But it is friendly.
Questions: How has your culture introduced you to your friend, “Me?” How have you been able to develop a more friendly culture for Me to live in and grow in? What’s still keeping you? Please tell me your story.
Related articles
- When in Rome, Network as the Romans Do (thenextwomen.com)
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- Religion and Culture (almostclever.wordpress.com)
- Raising Kids in the Wired World (education.com)
- Culture and Work (jenpeterson.wordpress.com)
- What I learned today: Startup culture (venturebent.com)
- “Culturally Responsive” (education420.wordpress.com)
I like the idea of “designed culture” unbridled and unprejudiced and uncontaminated by environment or ethnicity. The EXTERNAL culture of one’s particular community has influence but in such a complicated multicultural place as Miami you become a blend of dozens of things. Then there is the INHERITED culture of one’s race or ethnicity which I think is very exclusive and imposes required responses to circumstances(think Sicilian) which discourage harmony and impose Medieval thinking. It is healthy that multicultural external culture can influence inherited culture is a very positive way. For Miami there are so many racial and religious and cultural entities that race is not an issue with so many mixed race kids.A whole generation of mixed race. My grandchildren are mixtures of various combinations of Anglo or African American and 2 are blends of Haitian, Italian and Cuban. The WORK culture is an influence as well as is the milieu of 21st Century Technopolis Man.
thank you carl.
designed, external and inherited cultures – an awesome blend. go miami 🙂
Environmental is probably a better word than external here.
sure. environmental. outside of us. touching us from outside in. tk care carl.
Sometimes, there are pieces of us that don’t fit within our overall culture, and we have to accept that we will never find the perfect fit – this is good, though, because it keeps us challenged and thinking 🙂
u reached me on this, blue. “it just is” sometimes. enjoy it for what it is and offers. thank u.
Being a woman and having suffered from a mental illness…the predominant American culture doesn’t deal well with either of those. In a way, they’re almost opposites…what I’m trying to say is that our culture wants young, sexy, mindless women….no drama! not taking care of ourselves but taking care of men…(I’m sure this sounds exaggerated…but this was my reality) So a mentally ill woman is the opposite of what that culture wants in a way – too much drama, too much “mind”!
it’s hard when u r born a swan among ducks