Therapy

After Greek today, my Greek pal "Marty" and I got together for a little bit of ping pong. We played for a few minutes last night, and after class today, I asked her if she'd be willing to play a bit more. After lunch, we met down in the basement where the ping pong table is, and we played. I really enjoy it because it's a good Non-Greek conversation. I've asked her about her life and where she's been, and she's asked about me and where I've been. Marty is a little bit older than I am, and she's had some really interesting life experiences. I'm grateful that she shared some of them with me. One of her life experiences includes a time when she was a P.E. teacher. Among many other things, she taught self-defense.

Self Defense has always been one thing I've been interested in learning. Marty told me that a lot of self-defense is psychological/cognitive. We discussed how we're socialized and how to step back and realize this. It was a very interesting conversation. The methodic back and forth of the ping pong ball also had a calming effect on me. It was almost like a therapy session, even though neither of us spilled our guts fully about what we've done and what our lives are like. But, it was refreshing, to say the least.

When I got back to my room a minute ago, I woke up my computer and started reading an article I had opened prior to going down. As I read it, I realized that people are able, a lot of the time, to get things they need by talking to accessible friends. Sometimes that's not an option though, when we don't want to weigh our friends down, or when we don't want to change the pace or heading or content of our relationship. But, when we are able to find these friends, it is a good thing. Don't get me wrong, the lighthearted friendships are NOT!!! bad things at all. Maybe having friends is like a box of crayons; they're all great, but you wouldn't normally color a cloud green. Anyway, so this article also had a really interesting quote that I thought fit well with the conversation Marty and I had about self defense:

"All violence is unsuffered suffering."*

Out of context it may not make a whole lot of sense, but it is something you can think about. :) Have a nice day.

*-Quote taken from LeadershipJournal.net
The link is: http://www.christianitytoday.com/leaders/newsletter/2007/cln70730.html