debspatten

@CooperativeBank current been on hold for over 40mins - come on folks!

When I visited my mother recently, she had a copy of one of my books and had marked this page. ❤️

Research shows that regularly practicing gratitude can lead to measurable changes in the brain. This effect is driven by neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to reorganize itself based on repeated thoughts and behaviors. When people intentionally focus on appreciation, neural pathways involved in emotional control and coping become stronger. Grateful thinking also stimulates the release of dopamine and serotonin, chemicals linked to pleasure and motivation, while helping reduce cortisol, the hormone associated with stress. Brain regions such as the prefrontal cortex and hypothalamus become more active, supporting improved mood regulation and overall mental health. Over time, gratitude does more than provide short-term emotional relief. It gradually shifts the brain away from its natural bias toward threat detection and toward noticing positive experiences instead. Simple habits like writing down what you’re thankful for or expressing appreciation aloud reinforce these patterns, making optimistic thinking more automatic. Studies indicate that this repeated practice builds lasting neural connections, promoting emotional balance, resilience, and well-being. In essence, regularly acknowledging what’s going well can retrain the brain showing that small daily moments of gratitude can produce meaningful, long-term psychological benefits.

Going to show this tweet to every woman worried about asking for a pay rise

I used to wonder how it was possible that Trump could have won in 2016, and then again in 2024, given how emotionally toxic and depraved he is. I don’t wonder anymore. I think he won for that exact reason. Because he carried at least one broken shard to reflect the broken shards in millions of others. If you’re a racist, you found your guy. If you’re a misogynist, you found your guy. If money is your only religion, you found your guy. If your heart is armored shut, you found your guy. If you mock the disabled, you found your guy. If intelligence makes you insecure, you found your guy. If you’re a sexual predator, you found your guy. If you trade in humiliation and conspiracy and filth, you found your guy. If you’ve never done a single hour of emotional inventory, you found your guy. If you cheat, stiff contractors, bankrupt your obligations, and call it savvy, you found your guy. If you lie as easily as you breathe, you found your guy. If cruelty feels like strength, you found your guy. If white grievance is your comfort food, you found your guy. If your ego is a black hole no title can fill, you found your guy. If warmongering fuels your ego, you found your guy, If empathy feels like weakness and dominance feels like oxygen, you found your guy. If he’d only carried one or two of these pathologies, he might have been dismissed as just another loud, damaged man. But he carried a buffet of them. That was the appeal. Millions could locate themselves somewhere in the wreckage. They didn’t have to agree with all of it. They just had to recognize a piece of themselves in it. It was never really about him. It was about the validation. The absolution. The permission. He didn’t invent the resentment; he amplified it. He didn’t create the cruelty; he normalized it. He gave millions the intoxicating relief of hearing their ugliest impulses echoed back at rally volume. Trump is a symptom. The deeper illness is collective. If there’s one sentence that defines his power, it’s this: “He says the things I’m thinking.” And that’s the part that should chill us. Because what does it say about us that so many were thinking those things? That tens of millions of Americans harbored resentments so deep, so seething, that they were simply waiting for a demagogue to baptize them as virtue? That after decades of supposed progress on race, gender, and equality, so many white men felt so threatened, so displaced, so furious, that cruelty became a political platform? Maybe we were living in a fool’s paradise, mistaking silence for healing, politeness for progress. Now the mask is off. Now we know. And knowing is a far more dangerous place to stand. – Michael Jochum, Not Just a Drummer: Reflections on Art, Politics, Dogs, and the Human Condition.

Gently read... • Wendell Berry •

@Joseph_Fasano_ Get well soon Sir x

I'm in the hospital with pneumonia. I'll be okay. I'm sending the words below to everyone who may be sick somewhere, or alone, or just having one of those nights. 🕯️

Kate Scott has absolutely nailed it. Every word is spot on.

I don’t like pancakes but will always love Pancake Day by Mulligan & O’Hare. Posting this every year is tradition now 😂 The ending always absolutely KILLS me.

It’s here! I’ve been waiting to buy this! Friends, if you enjoy poetry and your souls needs some nourishment in these trouble times, read @Joseph_Fasano_

@Brink_Thinker This is class!

Who calls classical music boring? It's straight-up rocket fuel.

He literally explained why practicing art grows your soul—not your status.

Big shout out to Allerton Primary for having me lead some training today, but this has to be the coolest school library I’ve seen on my travels visiting schools all over the country.

Shaquille O’Neal said, “My stepdad was a Sergeant in the Army, a serious and strong man of character. We had an excellent relationship... I once played at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks in my first season in the NBA. I had a terrible game. Afterward, he called me and asked why I played so badly. He wondered if it was the pressure of facing Patrick Ewing and the Knicks. I told him I felt pressure. He said, ‘Tomorrow, I want you home at 7:00 AM. Pick me up. We’re going to see a family that has no home.’ On the way, we encountered a family in need. My stepdad stopped, gave them money for their next meal, and said, "That’s pressure. You have everything; you’re weak. There’s no pressure in playing basketball and earning millions of dollars. Real pressure is felt by those who don’t know when or where their next meal will come from." He told me to get out and help that family. I got out and saw a man with his wife and two children who had just lost their home. The man was looking for work. He told me he was cutting grass. I called a friend and asked him to get this man a job. I called another friend and said I needed an apartment for a family of four, promising to send a check the next day. They needed help. After that, I never felt pressure in a basketball game again because that family had real pressure.”

facebook.com/share/1BH87ivF… These words - Seamus Heaney - brilliant poetry ♥️

"Please get the truth out about our son," Alex Pretti's parents have said. Let's do that. Let's always do that.

From a Facebook post about Alex Pretti.

Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of man who can fabricate it. —Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

BREAKING: The family of Alex Pretti releases a powerful statement about his senseless murder at the hands of Trump's masked fascist goons. Please share this far and wide... "We are heartbroken but also very angry. Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital," the family said in a statement provided to CNN. "Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately he will not be with us to see his impact. I do not throw around the hero term lightly. However his last thought and act was to protect a woman." "The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He has his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down all while being pepper sprayed." "Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man. Thank you." It is our responsibility as Americans to get the truth out there. Petti was not attempting to harm anyone. He was swarmed, beaten, and disarmed by vicious federal agents who were looking for someone to hurt. Once they had removed his gun — which he had a legal permit to carry — they executed him in cold blood by firing numerous bullets into him. Then, the Trump administration proceeded to immediately falsely smear him as a "terrorist" who wanted to carry out a mass shooting against law enforcement. They're utterly shameless. “He cared about people deeply and he was very upset with what was happening in Minneapolis and throughout the United States with ICE, as millions of other people are upset,” said Pretti's father Alex. “He thought it was terrible, you know, kidnapping children, just grabbing people off the street. He cared about those people, and he knew it was wrong, so he did participate in protests.” Rest in power Alex. The rest of us will carry on the fight. Please like and share.