Bullied too

I have kindly been invited to the #BulliedToo Chat Hub https://lnkd.in/eBhUvzgR today, and this has been my message:

Thank you @Paulette Hallam,?@Jennifer Foster,?@Idrees Mohammed?and @Graham S. Good morning from Austria and the place in the world where Johannes Brahms and Gustav Mahler wrote some of their most magical pieces of music.

@Margot?and I have seen and had to live with the long term effects of many hurtful instances of bullying in our family – full of beautiful people who somehow wanted to change the world – but let me show you what our most harrowing experience to date looks like. https://linkedin.com/pulse/some-girls-make-dont-harald-walter-azmann

A beautiful human presence and all of her future on this planet wiped out by a girlfriend of the same age, who was so jealous of our daughter Lisa and so wanted to be like her. And after two years of trying to deal with it all by herself, for fear that otherwise things would spiral out of control entirely, the damage to Lisa's soul was done. The rest, including her suicide shortly after turning 18, was merely part of the aftermath.

So let's remember that while most of us, based on our age group and personal interests, are naturally concerned about workplace bullying, bullying really starts in the family, even countless generations in the past, as well as our neighborhoods, continuing into kindergarten, school and university, and our professional jobs in any area, around the world. It follows us wherever we go because WE are the bullies.

There is no other, strange lifeform among us that is doing to us what we are doing to ourselves and to each other. Once we realize and acknowledge that, wholeheartedly, we are going in the right direction.

Much, but by far not enough yet, has been said about #systemicracism. In the course of the next week or two, @Margot, @Paulette and I will continue our regular Time to Think podcast including #systemicbullying. Connect with our LinkedIn profiles and join us there, if you will.

We are just about morphing A Chance for Happiness Foundation into the new World Mental Health Forum. www.worldmentalhealthforum.com Because mental health and wellbeing are everyone's business. Systemic Bullying will be one of our regular, top discussions there. For more information on how to join forces and work together, please get in touch at office(at)worldmentalhealthforum.com. Much love (and patience and longsuffering) to all of you. ???

Descending Sophia (2022), mischtechnik (oil and egg tempera on polycotton) by Daniel Mirante and now in the permanent collection of www.achanceforhappiness.museum. Sophia, Greek σοφ?α, was an important Hellenistic, Platonic, and Gnostic concept denoting cleverness, intelligence, and wisdom, even forming the root of the word philosophy, meaning "love of wisdom".

#worldmentalhealthforum #mentalhealth #wellbeing #charity #happiness #art #music #love #respect #motivation #creativity #change