FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
No Freedom From Mass Shootings!
August 2, 2022
CONTACT: Patricia Noll, Founder and CEO
Good With Me Foundation
136 4th Street North
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
727-424-1270 (Cell)
patricia@goodwithmefoundation.org
St. Petersburg, FL Tuesday, August 2, 2022 -- It was not just another mass shooting! It was a mass shooting on Independence Day...a day to celebrate freedom. And with the passing of less than a month it is another one of a new normal that neither complacency nor rage will stop. Patricia Noll, Founder of the "Good With Me" Foundation says, "We will never stop the daily gun violence when our focus is on the symptoms of gun violence and not the real cause."
We must go beyond the same old questions of who did it and why. Asking about the motive won't stop them and neither will blame directed at guns, mental health and even social media as the cause.
Noll says, "Of course guns, mental health, and social media deserve our attention, but guns, mental health, and social media are symptoms of the gun violence and not the real cause. We must focus on getting past the symptoms to recognize the real cause when we see it."
According to Noll who has counseled over 10,000 people from every walk of life and circumstance imaginable and unimaginable...
"The real cause is the critical importance of "self-dependent" esteem
in a world dominated by "other-dependent" esteem. "
"Other-dependent" esteem means that someone or something outside of you provides you with any esteem you possess. It means you don't own the esteem that someone or something outside of you provides to you...someone or something outside of you owns it. You only get to experience the illusion of esteem for a fleeting moment or two and its gone. And then you need more.
A hidden societal code teaching people, starting early in life regardless of circumstances, to have "other-dependent" esteem instead of "self-dependent" esteem and then wondering why so many people are unhappy, angry, rageful, violent, and why anyone would ever engage in criminal behaviors such as domestic violence, gun violence, mass shootings, and much more. It is sweeping our country and quickly spreading globally.
Keeping Up With The Joneses
Psychology as we know it has not kept up with what has been happening in our country since the end of World War II when much of society made "keeping up with the Joneses" a priority, one that began to define their worthiness. Hence, "other-dependent" esteem and an individual's worth/esteem became dependent upon someone or something external to them.
People of every age, gender, sexual orientation, skin color, social status, and more are being taught the hidden societal code of what it takes to be good enough in a world that places more importance on the right material possessions and successes, the right kind of friends including the right kind of relationship partner, being good at academics, athletics, looking good physically, and even owning enough land. The list is endless.
What happens to the person who understands that according to the societal code and/or what has been drilled into them by parents, classmates, teachers, and others, that they are not considered "good enough?" In fact, they might even get the message that they are bad. All you have to do is look around to see the effects playing out in front of you every single day in schools, neighborhoods, communities, the workplace, government, the news media, and even your family members, friends, and most importantly in yourself.
What happens to the individual who thinks they don't live up to the societal code,
who thinks they are not good enough or thinks that who they are is bad?
Life is hard for those who believe there is something wrong with them. Some think there is something wrong with them because they have been bullied, rejected, or left out at school, work, the country club, or anywhere else. For example the 12-year-old boy who was bullied and rejected by classmates and, when those classmates were asked, wouldn't sign his yearbook recently in Colorado. After asking a lot of people to sign it only four actually did.
Fortunately, in the case of this 12-year-old, his mother saw his pain and shared it in a FaceBook post. It caught the attention of Paul Rudd, the star in "Ant-Man" who intervened and turned this tragic situation into something beautiful! But not everyone has the attention of a Paul Rudd to make a positive difference. Then what?
What if your pain was the result of a parent telling you that you are no good as was the case for Aaron Stark, author of "I Was Almost a School Shooter" who personalized his mother's abusive words until he thought that he was nothing. Then what?
This is a recipe for disaster!
When we think we are no good and we think everyone else thinks we are no good not only do we have no "self-dependent" esteem, we have no "other-dependent" esteem either. Even though "other-dependent" esteem is external it can often be enough to keep an individual from going into the depth of total self-loathing and self-deprecation. If not, approval and acceptance is all too often found in some of the most dark toxic places.
Some will choose to go down the rabbit hole of the "dark side" to find a place where they are accepted and liked for who they are. They find a place where they belong. A place where they can safely express their rage and even receive approval for it. Similar to gang members who often rise to the top of their gangs because of the approval they receive for the unthinkable heinous crimes they commit, some will plan to become mass shooters for the praise and kudos they receive nowhere else. Others will become a suicide statistic.
We are living in very different times.
Our society has been given permission to express anger that has heretofore existed as an undercurrent by acting it out in inappropriate and unacceptable ways.
Combine the need for toxic approval and acceptance with permission from high places to express this pent-up anger inappropriately and some - not all - express it as a mass shooter.
Why don't we see a mass shooter in the making?
The signs of "other-dependent" esteem often go unnoticed because they almost always appear to be normal and no big deal.
"Other-dependent" behavior has become the norm in our society.
To learn more about how to identify "other-dependent" esteem and change thoughts to save lives go to https://www.goodwithmefoundation.org.
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About the "Good With Me" Foundation
The "Good With Me" program established in 2014 is the outgrowth from Dr. Noll's Focus One™ program started in 1989. It started as a book, then was proclaimed "Good With Me" Day, and a city co-sponsored annual festival followed. The "Good With Me" Foundation was founded in 2019 to support the "Good With Me" mission to change thoughts and save lives. It became a global humanitarian movement. Filming of 5 segments of a documentary has begun and a trailer has been cut to showcase the highlights of the film. Go to https://www.goodwithmefoundation.org/documentary to view.
"Good With Me" community groups will be made available in 15-20 countries around the globe by certified "Good With Me" Community Leaders to teach participanats who can't afford to participate as well as those who can. This is made available by funding through https:www.goodwithmefoundation.org/donate
Learn more https://www.goodwithmefoundation.org
About Patricia Noll
Televised addictions and self-esteem specialist, Dr. Patricia Noll founded the Good With Me Foundation, of which she is the CEO and Executive Director, to educate people around the globe about the stunning importance and benefits of self-esteem in a world dominated by other-esteem. She is the author of Good With Me: A Simple Approach to Real Happiness from the Inside Out, an international seller. She founded Focus One™, an Outpatient Substance Abuse Treatment Program, licensed by the state of Florida in 1989. Her Focus One™ program has been endorsed by internationally renowned Deepak Chopra, Dr. Larry Dossey, and others. She is an Acupuncture Physician, Licensed Mental Health Counselor, and Certified Addiction Professional. https://www.goodwithmefoundation.org
Dr. Patricia Noll, is available for interviews about how to recognize the warning signs of a potential mass shooter situation and how to change thoughts to save lives.
patricia@goodwithmefoundation.org
727-424-1270 (Cell/Text)
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