Stop selling me your fear

 Fear: The Price We Pay

In several entries over the past 22 months this blog has  advocated for curiosity rather than fear when seeking peace and joy—well spoiler alert—-here it comes again.  

If my body were under physical  attack and I though my existence was threatened, or if I were experiencing sensations that I just couldn’t understand  for a prolonged period of time, or if something entered my nervous system  that I had no chance of  considering—well yes I would say fear might be unavoidable and valuable.  However, aside from that caveat...let’s explore a bit shall we?

Does your body...

1. Carry your spirit around?
2. Experience sensations and emotions?
3. Allow you to share sensations and emotions? 
4. Behave the way you expect it to let’s say 50% of the time or more?

Well then... let’s just say you meet the basic  specifications for having  a reasonable body.  

Now  let’s consider what happens when we  are numb to the impact of fear.  

what do insurance companies a and government programs providing insurance sell?  

they sell us pieces of paper or in today’s world they sell us data in a computer somewhere.  Have you ever seen  an emergency room where the doctor goes over to the instrument table and pulls out a sheet of. Paper  and says  “you have a raging  fever and a gunshot wound but once I read this  paragraph and verify your bill is paid you should be able to get up and walk out with no after effects.”  So what I’m saying is  that an insurance plan or policy has never cured anyone.  In fact in the great majority of cases your own body  given time and a little work heals itself.  

What does the fear that leads us. To buy insurance cost?  Well, when you calculate the price per month  per person for  insurance, the left over costs you pay, the price of administering  our public  health insurance programs and let’s not forget  drugs—More on that in a second...)  we probably spend about  $13,000  a year over the course of our lifetime in order to have a body that  supposedly l.ooks and feels just like (or just alittle better than) everyone else’s.  Oh and in the end... well you die—by the way when I die I am leaving specific  directions for the disposal of my remains but if  someone  gets the idea that I needs to be planted with a tombstone some place, please have that tombstone read...”my other tombstone is a pyramid.”

Drugs—Fear For Sale on Steroids —so to speak.

this was mentioned in the last blog, however, it desserts some “special” thought.  absolutely...there are  drugs that  help people regain and maintain certain physical capacities that improve quality of living.  On the other hand —and it’s a handful of  little blue. Pills) consider how many commercials you see regarding  medicines where you are told to “Ask your doctor about ——“.  If this  drug were  valuable  and beneficial  don’t you think someone who has trained for a lifetime to  work on your body might. Know about it already.  Do you ever see a beer commercial that says  “ask they guy at the liquor store about Jose Cuervo.”  After all after drinking it for a while you might have the courage to ask that lady in the bar for a date and she migh just be drunk enough to agree to  it.   Oh and you are going to convince me that alcohol  is not a drug?  Well let’s see—it impacts the way  you think, the typesa of substances delivered to your cells through the blood stream...it influences a your ssenses including temprary pain relief.  Sounds like a drug to me.  unfortunately  Jim Beam never  advertises “if you can’t afford the big  handle bottle we may be able to help.”  Pharmaceutical companies and  street dealers do it.... haven’t you ever seen  someone saying. Here try this ...it’s really good stuff at a party before?   

In addition to the dollars we pay ...the costs may be much higher than we are aware of....

Take a look at the amount of money “big pharma” gives to political campaigns on both sides of the aisle and the revolving. Door  between these companies, the government agencies that are  tasked with providing oversight, and then throw in the  resources provided to institutions that  do basic. Development and research  leading to the  availability  of drugs and the  diagnosis  of the symptoms. Those drugs  may impact.  well in short, because we are afraid of getting  outside the body norm, being sick, not living forever, being seen as weak or not sexually talented we allow drug companies to buy. Our attention and feed us fear.

Okay one more insurance  example.... you don’t see  very regularly a battery commercial that says “asks your  mechanic about  die hard..” (Pun alert) /there are plenty of dead batteries  you can get free of charge.”  then again you never know you have a dead battery until you are trying to go somewhere so the fear of missing out or worse is already built in.   To their product.  We are starting to get overrun  with “extended warranty” offers which is a form of insurance.  Think about this because its just like  health insurance.  These companies know that if they charge the right sum enough money and insure enough cars  their income will exceed  the amount they will pay out.  They are assuming absolutely no risk.  Health insurers , including our government set the cost  for insurance and the price that  it costs to receive care by controlling the market... in this case... your health.  even though a routine. Visit may catch a health problem and save the system money and preventative  medicine may reduce the risk of bad things... an increase in the patrticipation rates. Of people. In routine care and prevention  is never reflected  by seeing a lowering of  medical prices.  In fact, when is the last time  a major insurance  provider  has gone out of business because  they underestimated  the number of payouts they would have to make?  Oh never...because they control, the number of payouts they. Make—-hmmm...Well not to  go all morbid here, however you are also sold life insurance and burial insurance.  Now  just how many  dead bodies have you seen laying  out in the. Street or  stacked against the garbage can—you know right next to that cool blue recycling bin— because well no one could afford to deal with the remains?  Funeral Businesses sell  two products.. a skill in dealing with people who  have lost functionality because of grief and one last shot at providing your adoring public to say look at and respect this cool box and this pomp and circumstance.  They  give people a chance to gather and pray  for a person’s soul.  I might suggest that if you are  going to pray for my soul—you can start now because  there is a great need for it.  As far as the grief thing goes... become aware of how you  mix the gratitude of having. Experienced others and the loss of that gift.  If you become aware of what meanings you are. Creating in the experience of loss, I’m willing to bet you might not  fear. The death of others quite so much and maybe you won’t  fear. Yours as much either.  Just my opinion.  

So to summarize... we are sold  insurance for our body but the piece of paper can’t impact our health.   A car insurance policy has never change a tire, a life insurance policy have never insured someone stayed alive, and...well you get my point.  

So what’s the cost of fear??? 

tomorrow we  will go further down that rabbit  hole and talk about  fear and politics... 

Just as a warm up... Remember when we feared and hated the Russians (Soviet Union)?   Now  are we getting better at fearing the folks in china? Or maybe theme and the Middle East terrorisst around the corner...?  Don’t worry if  we run out of  “those people to fear...we can always fear each other right here in the good ol’USA

How much fear can one person  take/buy?  Well that’s something to explore tomorrow unless you’d like to show you are not afraid and satart thinking about it now.  

I’ve gotta move my spirit around now.. so peace be with you.  

Selling fear

 

fear week —some editorials plain and simple...

Last Night  the commentator  said—I don’t  know how to interpret  the events of the last 72 hours except  for to observe we are at a crossroads.  Then as he signed off  he said ‘be safe.” 

Let’s face it.  We have all heard these types of remarks lately.  Basically  what they mean is... things are uncertain and you need to  be afraid to the extent that this fear dictates your actions in general.  

We are  at a crossroads?   

Well Dorothy.... you aren’t in Kansas  anymore and  you have come to a place where the dualistic notions of.reality  are  under attach (mostly by the truth).  Since you are puzzled and need to make some choices, you ponder and look for assistance when all the sudden you come across  a scarecrow.  The scarecrow of course suggests  the only thing that is not  possible (or is it?) —that both directions might be the right. Way to go.  

What won’t work?  Staying right where you are.   Staying right where you are because of fear is the same (and I’ve used this before) as standing on the tracks, hearing a rumble,  and instead of moving...just wondering how fast the train may be coming.  The bottom line is that  many so called leaders in our world today and many followers too—are selling fear because if they. Can create  a feeling of anxiety that has specific symptoms then they also can  offer the “cure.” And thus either maintain or grab “control.”    

If I sell guns I want to create fear that that somewhere someone has better bigger guns and that  someone else wants to take  the guns you already have  (which is your right by the way) away. 

If I sell drugs—let’s call them vaccines—you see our leaders don’t care  what drugs we use they care whose drugs we buy—and if you want to know the extent of  big pharma impact on our society just watch  every  news show on our  media.  Count what percentage of our.”news” from the left and from the right  is paid for by advertising  that features either  a drug should tell your doctor about or a health insurance related commmercial.  

These health commercials are notorious  for describing. conditions and symptoms that  to some degree many people could have at some times and  seek to become legitimate by applying a set of  initials. As an acronum.   Restless Leg Syndorme becomes. RLS— Erectile Disfunction is of course ED and Irritable  Bowel Syndrome is of course IBS ... well I can buy the BS part anyway......

Right now. Let’s take masks... One set of folks has defined masks as the answer to reducing fear of infection from a virus and another group defines masks as  an effort  on the behalf of  folks to take. Our freedom away.... So masks become a battleground where. One group is saying be afraid  of getting sick or dead because you are not wearing a mask and the other group is saying I’m not going to buy these rules which take away my choices because the moment I give  in to putting a piece of cloth on my head I’m going to be plunged into a socialist medicine state.  Each side stands and screams at each other and yet neither side seems to be screaming for good science  to determine  what this or that type of mask really  does.   Personally, I say if you can’t. Find a way to express your  individual values with our without a mask or if you can’t  consider public health to be  bigger than you... then this life is truly a sad state of affairs.  

And  now... what  really needs some attention...

FEAR AND RACISM

You are either one race or another and you are either a racist or not.  It is either disrespectful to protest and “riot” to get attention to is necessary to do these things to make change happen...Well that’s the subject for a couple  more posts  to follow this one—Spoiler Alert—notice  that. It’s about  dualism extreme  points of view and control again...again and again and again It’s not about dealing with guns, drugs, your health, or labels... it’s about who gets to address their fears and how they will be used to do so... and tha’t what  will be discussed for the next week or so... because... the train is always coming.... 

But what if it’s the love train?  

You can’t always get what you want but most the time…

 

 TELESSYOUWANT—

Most of the time I’d say—stop —breathe—become aware of your breathing or become aware of  that you  are hearing or super. Aware of what you are seeing or feeling (sensory-wise) ...okay you get the picture—not today. For now...let’s pretend you have an imaginary friend and that friend is your perfect friend in every way except...they are popping into. Your life from the year 1822.  Why 1822? Because that’s easy to type but I didn’t want. To use1777.  Anyway. Your  friend let’s  call her Victoria—because she won’t  have a modern name like Bree, Ashley, or Mariah... 

So  Vicki drops in to your house and wants to see all the future has to offer, however time travel makes you thirsty—that’s why it mostly happens in bars... You know it happens in bars because you get to the bar at 9:30 and you’re only going. To be there for  an hour... then you  take a look at a clock and  realize it’s almost midnight and then  well you are already an hour late so. What’s another. Half hour and  all the sudden at 15 minutes till  “the real closing time” you find yourself headed home only to find yourself  saying boy I must have been in a time warp and saying well it’s not really that. Late if I can just get. Four good hours of sleep I’ll be okay... 

anyway Vicki ...used to time traveling in bars gets to your place mighty thirsty so you invite her in to your kitchen.  

without thinking you go to the refrigerator to grab a pop (that’s a soda in some. Parts of the country).  Vicki stares as you walk to this big metal box in the corner that is making a strange noise.  You open. The door—-a light comes on and a bit of cold air rushes out.   Now Vicki doesn’t. Trust  anything that. You are going to get from this sorcerer’s box and asks for. A bit of water.  So. You grab a cup and walk over to your sink and flip the handle  with one finger and out comes water.  At his point Vicki is on the brink of passing out  so being observant you suggest that V icky might need  a bit of a rest and  a little food to ground her.  She agrees so you take her to a chair in the living room  and suggest that she just  relax while you fix a quick snack.  You grab a hot dog from the fridge because  it’s quick and you want to check on your friend.  You. Poke a couple holes in the  tube steak and hit the button for  one minute.   About 30 seconds later you take hot the very. Hot frank and put it on a bun.... Vicki now thinks  your are the devil’s apprentice for sure.   After all you didn’t  light any fire...you din’t. Even bring  in any wood, boil any water..or anything.   

The moral of the story... always keep a hot dog in the fridge... seriously think about all the things we take for granted and that we  expect to have access to or own.  In a universe. That has a major star that is pushing 500 billion years old—none of the appliances  in your kitchens existed a mere 200 years ago and you couldn’t go into your  bathroom and push a button to rid your house or apartment of  digestive by-products (that’s technical jargon for take a crap and flush).  

Now you can give  Vicki a tour of  other parts of your  house, howeve I gotta warn you  she’s going to soil her bloomers when  you show her the lawn mower or garbage disposal...

Now  that we’ve established that  what we need or think we need. Changes over the course of history... let’s perhaps. Come close to admitting  that over time the extraordinary  may become boring and that maybe “richness” over time has little to do with things and even less to do with the color of your  plastic or the content of your credit report.  

Now let’s say we3 all are a bit more grateful for what. We have or what we have been given. By history and lt’s call that the floor... then let’s say to be at peace and to have joy you only  want a few more things... that’s a human  thing so don’t yell at yourself, however, remember  being at the store and wanting that candy bar, but mom said not today....?   With every item you put on your  “wanted” list you put yourself in the shopping cart just inches away from those M&Ms.   

so I wrote all that to. Write this... Be aware of how you create the difference between what you have access to and what you “want” and realize that in most cases the less you want the closer  you are to having it all.  

I’ll be talking about his on the  Peace and Joy podcast tomorrow and have more about this “wanting” thing  in the next blog entry...

Until then thanks for reading this on that box in your.house or your hand that can send these symbols across the planet  in less time than it takes to see what’s in that fridge..... which is what I’m gong to do... so cheers

Welcome back to school have you’re any good books lately

 

What is a “Near-fetched” idea?

Well...who knows, however my guess is that nearly everyone knows what a “far-fetched idea is of let’s just say a “near-fetched” idea is an idea that does not fall outside the scope of reasonable thought and thus is “within” reason..... 

Oh yes..I promoted three  post about “within”—-and within reason this is the third—well sort of.   

You see the post just before this  was not really within what  one might. Consider reasonable for many.  It doesn’t really make it any less useful or substantial, however, my particular geekiness probably made the post more meaningful to me than  it might be to most.  So... what I wrote, because. Of the way I wrote it and the context I placed it in didn’t say what I meant it to say... for many readers.... 

Well this third “within” post was going to carry that concept. Even further.  Doing that would like asking a deaf  chimp to describe the difference between  a nearby radio playing softly and the sound coming from a marching band a mile away.   In short, the third within is getting  left  out which is  different than being with—out.

Now having said all that—my reflections today—the tools I use to find peace and joy—-led me down the road of  doing a better job of.writing clearly sometimes.   I am making no promises, because I love to play with words and I will follow a train of thought to see w2hat lies down the track.   so... here’s the train of thought for today... 

First... why a train of thought/. What if the thought(s) all come in a bunch in a big hurry?  Isn’t that a swarm of thought?   What if  the same thoughts don’t chug right along in a straight line and aren’t particularly strong?  Can a person have a tricycle  of thought?  What if your thoughts jump  around hither. And yon  (or if they are boring are they hither and yawn/)  —are you experiencing a pogo stick of thought?If your thoughts are pretty smooth and then they get ramped up ands start spinning are you having a skateboard of thought?   

Okay... back to my steam-powered merry-go-round of thought for today...

School is starting for so many  students right now and we are rightfully putting  a lot of attention on the health of  students a and  teachers.  For the first time we are  almost starting to recognize the. Challenge of the classroom teacher—don’t count on any parades—-we aren’t going to fully recognize the importance of teachers and the challenges of  adapting to learning styles and platforms—

Ok..in the U.S. and in many places  on the globe we  have the English language  at our disposal to  represent. The ideas we weigh to  teach... 

The rest of the post is going to  bring some here and now awareness to just how hard that is.. and just how much we take for granted...

Let’s  start with a question—-How many of you. Have a hot water heater?   Why?  Isn’t it really a cold water heater?  If the water were already  hot why would we heat it?  Nexzt  question...how many times. Have you heard something  referred to as 100% genuine or pure... Is someting that is 63% pure really pure?  I’ve heard people say “this is the honest truth.” Ummmm..??? 

This is one I  ran across (but not with my feet—today.  “At his point in time”. Sincerely, at this point or at this time  would have been fine or even “now” would (not wood) have been acceptable.  

Speaking of  “Wood” —how do we expect teachers and student to waltz through the stack of words that we say or write that sound the same (homophones—but why does the word homophone use ph instead of f?)

The next time. You don’t think teachers work hard remember the following story

Last night the bell tolled which told the knight it was time.  With a scratchy voice that was a little hoarse he climbed (not climbed) on his horse and rode down the road.  Since it was a long trip. The knight remembered some sad  things and began mournig the loss of his son until the morning sun rose on those thorny flowers by the side of the path.   As the daylight  started to appear the  knight ended  up eating  breakfast but found he didn’t finish till well after  eight as he ate cereal with a fork.  Now  our  knight  continued into. The long day and finally encoutered a scene he’d never seen before.  A man dressed in blue blew his horn and his herd of sheep  heard the  signal that directed them to a hill over there where their master who had decided to wear blue was standing pointing at a red sign that read—-if you want to learn how to write you must take the next right.

To  summarize, I will try to keep it simpler some days as long as we all  understand that the whole  unending  carnival of learning to read and write  is an adventure and is something we  can certainly  help each other to experience and laugh. About from time to time....

Teachers...put on a smile and  teach away...

Students put on a smile and teach away... 

Piece Bee  with ewe awl.

The difference between science and news when seeking peace and joy

 

the silence within

seeking Peace and Joy doesn’t seem like a science—you know —pre-med students rarely have to pass  Developing Inner Empathy techniques and chemists rarely have human relations pre-requisites as part of their continued accreditation  CEU programs.   What types of training do  many “scientists and researchers. Have?  Well...they learn empirical research methods or “the scientific method” for short.  Now I’m not going to.write a thesis on the relative merits of quantitative methods and qualitative  methods. And the types of  observations, processes, and analysis. Needed  for both and the inferences that can be made based on either type of “research.”  This entry will encourage. You to understand peace and joy by seeing what you don’t see... What?

First this entry talks about empirical research—science if you will—and says that it’s about. Seeing what you don’t see?   Yep.   

How many times. In the course of a usual  week do we hear that  a”a study showed that  women are more likely”. Or people who  exercise are more likely..or people who smoke. Are  40 percent more likely to ..”.  the studies behind these  news statements  are  conducted using sound  science and  so these studies are  likely  valid and can be trusated as long as the scientific method including isolation of independent variables and control groups and  appropriate statistical  analysis  is performe.   Yet.... do you know what never makes the news or the journals....?

Studies that  (while using very good research methods) don’t show any significant differences between groups.   No body. Starts a newscast  with the story “A new Harvard  study shows that gender identity has nothing to do with musical ability.” Or racial identity  is not related to bladder functioning...  When difference are not found the story rarely gets told.   Now that’s significant. In itself, however  let’s dig a little deeper.   The reality is between group differences are  hard to prove when within group differences  exist.  ... In simple  language...when you try to make broad statements about a diverse group of people in comparison to to another diverse  group you are going to find that while some  obscure  between group differences might. Be found obscure differences are  just as likely within groups as they are to exist between. Groups.... 

So...  what am I saying with all this methodology  nonsense?  

Everyone has some3 unique skills and talents that  might make us different in some ways.  If we work really hard at finding a specific  comparison group we will find out that we are different just like everyone else.   If we don’t. No one will report that we can work  with each other  on sahared values because  we are more  alike than we are different most the time...but that’s  no exciting..unless you get excited by knowing you are part of something larger than you and that contributing  can almost always  make a whole far more powerful than any one part can be... you see..understanding  in seeking  peace and joy the journey means walking with others and  learning that none of us can do everything —but all of us can do something —and all of us combined can do just about anything.   

so ...let’s go all the way back to “within”...

If  one has a fear of standing alone when expressing a talent or gift because  it might  place you outside the “normal” group.understand that there are far more  within group differences than will ever  be talked about out loud so use your gifts and don’t worry about being cast away.  What you do  to seek peace and joy will be different  from some folks and yet understood by far many  more...don’t be afraid to find those  who seek things in the same way you do and don’t fret when  people don’t .   You see we don’t hear about  within group differences especially when. They are found to be greater than between group differences so always learn from what you don’t  see or hear or taste when possible...  

One more 

Within” rant tomorrow...

The power within part one

 

 The Power Witin—Part  One

This is the first of three entries over the next five days or so.  Why three entries?  Two will not be enough and four  would be too many...DUH—-Seriously, the focus on within begs. The question within what?  Well there are. Several  solutions to that puzzle including  the. Three. Offered over the next  few posts.  .....

since we have a little bit of. A journey on this. Fine topic...let’s  roll forward shall we?   

When is. It time for “Within?”

The other day I called  up the local monopoly-ish  cable /internet company serving  my area.  The mission was to decrease the number of channels we have access to and increase our ability to stream.  It’s almost. Impossible to believe that  the “limited” television package has over 100 channels when less than a half century. Ago four channels  was usually the max.  Under our current plan of just over  240 channels we could  watch  each for an hour once every tenanyway back to  the point  sort of—. 

After waiting  for a good long time—somewhere between. The time it takes for  paint to dry, a pot to boil, and the3 cows to come home (notice that. Name and game. Rhyme but come and home don’t)—okay after being. On hold  because my call was very important. To them... I  was able to change my package.  Of. Course  I have a new 24 month plan.  Okay..here’s the thing..they said the new equipment  I needed would be shipped out in the mail and  arrive “within 3 to five business days.”  I’ll get to the “within” in a second.. What business?  If you. Are a hospital business days are every day.  If  you are a law enforcement  officer your business day lasts 24  hours a day 7 days a week.  If you work at most major retailers there are almost no days that are  not business days...what if they were sending something I don’t want could I take vacation  and keep their stuff from getting here?  

Okay that rant is over until the  new router/modem/cable box ges here...the idea I’m getting at is that within  can be a measure of time and most people. Understand that, however  today let’s think of some other units of time and then bring. Within in...with a twist.  

Here goes...the past is a big block of time.  We sometimes spend  a good amount of time looking behind us.  The future is a big unknown  period of. Time and we  often  spend time looking ahead.  

Well...here comes the twist—

To seek peace and joy you don’t need to look behind and you dson’t need to look ahead... you  only need to look WITIN

 More in  24 to 48  Peace  days if we wanted to  use them all that seems mind-boggling.  

Sing a song

 

 Asking yourself a summer sonG

Ninety-four  point  seven percent  of the time this blog encourages. Folks to stay in the presale their moment.   Not today...   You see given the circumstantial  variability (how do you like that. Term that means  bloody craziness) of this year the summer. Has tumbled. By and for most people life has been out of rhythm  for months now.  It doesn’t seem like any  big song has emerged as the 2020  summer hit...now I don’t listen to  a ton of commercial radio so some might argue about that, however, if there has been a super hit  I haven’t heard it enough to get sick of it and that’s how I gauge things.   

So... if there;s not  a candidate for this strange year...I’m saying  go back to a different year and  select some of your favorites.  You see seeking peace and joy is linked to the narratives a we  tell ourselves es and  lo and behold these narratives  tend to be more joyful when we attach a soundtrack that makes us smil

Having said that  let’s try something together... 

Think of  the tasks you have  to do in thenext few hours and build your “summer hits  soundtrack  that you can hum...sing.. or whistle... remember that we don’t sing  because we are happy or joyful we are happy because we sing....

Here’s  mine—

My Walk—Shambal.a— from Three Dog Night

Washing my long hair again... Well. Of Course Hair by the Cowsils from the musical... give me it. Down to there—

Writing this blog and putting together  other social media for today—Takin

 Care ofBusiness and Shiny Happy People. BTO and REM

Talking to my brother who is  trying to take care of my folks.  Has to be  Under Pressure by David Bowie and Queen

 And I could go on and on with the soundtrack for this and other days... 

If you  need some  other songs that have  lit up my summers... don’t try Light  Up My Life by Debbie  Boone—instead maybe go with ride like the wind by  Christopher Cross Takin it to the Streets  or Oh’ BlackWater by the Doobies not to. Mention about a million more like Uncle Kracker  Smile... or Dave Mathews Band Mercy or ...well  it’s your turn...create your soundtrack and  use the songs to help you  through the sticky pars of the early week.   

Oh and one last suggestion  remember. You can’t always get what you w2ant...but  there is something to. (Jason Moran) Living in the Moment...

Don’t leave the planet with your. Best song still in you... so sing.  Sing a song and don’t worry if not good enough for anyone else to hear.   

Finding yourself on the far side

 

 FINDING YOURSELF ON THE FAR SIDE—-THANKS GARY LARSON

You ever notice that. There are weeks when  you don’t find a smile crossing your face all that often—no?—just me?   Okay then well this  was one of those weeks when my emotional line graph probably looked like the Screaming Eagle roller coaster at Six Flags or something and smiles (either internal or external haven’t been a constant.  However..that changed. This morning!  Why?   

Two interesting cosmic tumblers rolled into place this morning— tumbler 1 came about as I  used my tongue to push some left over food particles out of a hole in  one of my wisdom teeth.  I know you’re thinking  “well that explains a lot the wisdom is gone in this dude...his teeth can’t even hold it in anymore.   anyway... I thought  I should go to the3 dentist sometime  before too long and get that tooth  fixed as in pulled.    While most people have  some unpleasant dentist memories...mine always make me smile (pun. Intended) because my first dentist visits were to the office of  Dr. Hippy and Doctor Payne.   Now this was in the sixties and I was a kid, but the names are funny and sad even so... if you are going to be Dr.Payne you might as well be a dentist in my opinion.   Now on my second visit to the dentist I got stabbed by one of those probes and it hurt so by reflex I bit down..well I chomped on the dentist pretty hard and refused to  release the finger of the guy—and that got me kicked out of the chair never to return to a dentist  until sometime in my mid thirties.  But if you had Dr. Payne as a dentist you might think twice.  In fact, I was just about to shake it off when I learned that today was the birthday of Doc Holiday—-Now  going to a dentist has never been a holiday and Doc Holiday isn’t known for his  work around incisors  so much as for his skill at the card table and with  a pistol.   Now fact drifts some distance from fiction in most Hollywood ortrayals (I think that’s the first time I have ever typed the word portrayal—that makes twice—) so I’m sure my concept of the Doc is glorified, and yet thinking of his personality makes  me grin.   

So don’t forget to floss or you might find yourself on the wrong end of some harmful hardware....

that would have been enough to. Get me in a better frame of mind and then the second tumbler came about... I was reflecting about how to  stay in the moment after going down the dentist’s memory lane.  I tried to remind myself that  circumstances change and that my tooth didn’t hurt just now...Being from the 70s I thought “it’s a bummer that I can’t get into the dentist because of the pandemic.’’  A real bummer—I focused on that  word and the mental association vat containing “bummer opened up an image from one of my favorite cartoons.   the cartoon is of some dear standing out in the forest and one dear stares at his friend another dear noticing that his  friend has what looks like a target displayed on his body.  The non-targeted dear says....”bummer of a birthmark pal”.  Well sometimes  circumstance in life are just going to. Stink and that can’t be controlled all the time... sometimes it’s about acceptance.  Speaking of acceptance...the cartoon I just described was. “far Side” cartoon by Gary Larson who pumped out cartoons like this  for about 15 years and  you can go to the far side. Web page to find more... but back to acceptance —another of my favorite. far Side. Cartoons is a field full of sheep with one brave sheep standing up in the middle of the flock saying “wait a minute we don’t have to be sheep”—so that makes me think that  no matter the circumstances  one can start working  for changes that bring a life in line with values reflecting the search for peace and joy.   Now of course it’s not only Doc Holiday’s birthday it is the birthday of Gary Larson and they both literally brought. Smiles to my face and reframed my entire week because the  things that had created frowns were in fact circumstances that I could not control and maybe wouldn’t if I could.   

so maybe I’ll look at the far side of things more often and understand  that circumstance impact  peace and joy, however they are quite temporary in almost all cases.   

So to close out ember you don’t have to be seep—p

Is this change shortage Real?

 

So while opening a new checking account a week or so ago the people at the bank said they were in fact experiencing a change shortage.  Now aside from the  obvious  question—“isn’t money  your main product?”—I started  imagining why this shortage was real.  The best explanations I could come up with were:

1. Since  people. Are staying at home far more than ever before the amount of loose change that we usually give to  people for tips is staying in our pockets.   then add that to the fact we aren’t changing our clothes as often so more change has a longer time frame to get shuffled out of our  pockets and into our  reclinersa and couches along with  the stray socks that are left over from the dryer, the coupon for 50% off two car washes, and the back from  that little earring—oh and that hair tie you know the one that matches those flip flops.
2. Most people just don’t believe in change anymore... even when we used to have it—it just didn’t buy much except for a few minutes of parking and well quite frankly the machines that  Artie designed to process change don’t  ever work.   Let’s face it how many times have you put a dollar in a change machine and while some coins may have. Fallen out—nothing...I mean nothing of importance...ever. Changed.

seriously... maybe it’s time to move to the  question—why does it take so long for change to happen when it does?   

Well some folks are just fine with the way things are and. Believe the  future will be pretty much the same as long as they don’t push for change.   well... a lot of these folks really. Hate 2020.  

Uncertainty is often sold as failurr and if there is  little risk of failure than. There is little hope for change.  So in a world of uncertainty  and uncertainty being  viewed as something to. Fear... there is little doubt that. A lot of people can’t bring themselves to embrace change due to the notion that people want to feel like they have control outcomes  when they  experience self-directed. Or coincidental  universal shifts.   In short, uncertainty is not  calling for curiosity it is calling for fear and a lot of people are listening.  even  when  we see alight at the end of the tunnel people are shouting “it’s a train.”   

Now here’s the magic...

If you  apply a bit of curiosity and make a change you eliminate all the uncertain associated with all the choices that you put aside to act in a particular. Way and as uncertainty  dwindles the more opportunities  to explore without fear materialize.  So when you are uncertain —change—it’s a win-win

So in the realm of the completely obvious—today starts a couple days on  the relationship between curiosity, fear, and control...

and one thing I can control is my worcount—so this is it for today

Everybody needs a bright spot every now and then

 

 EVERYBODY NEEDS A BRIGHT SPOT NOW AND THEN

Over to the left sunlight spills through a window and casts a glare. Over every one of the electronic screens in the room.  At other times in my life I’d  have been somewhere. Between annoyed and angry about this. Development, however, I’ve  learned a few things about the sun and the lessons it holds for my journey of seeking peace and joy... here are  three of these lessons

Things Change—

the sun that shines  on us in terms of relative time has been the same as  always for all of recorded history... That is not amazing if you consider that the sun is about. 460 billion years old.  It’s really hard to fathom  something being that old... although in college I had some cottage cheese in my mini-fridge that may have started out as a cup of milk from the cafeteria and Ikept it there to have with a Dolly Madison snack cake that may have actually been  baked by that grand ol’ dame just after the war of 1812.  

At. 460 billion years old the sun. Is “middle-aged”  as it has about 500 billion years to go.   As it burns up it’s hydrogen  our sun  will look about the same.  I wish I was burning hydrogen instead of calories—When the sun uses up all the hydrogen it will start expanding and burn up the helium available for fuel.  The sun will. Expand to such a degree. That it will swallow up the earth completely and it will take on a red color.  So our  sun will go from a yellow dwarf to a red giant and then after a bit it will collapse and become a white dwarf.  So the lesson  to take from this is...If you think. Certain of your body parts change over time.you’ve got nothing. To worry about in comparison to the sun?   Well maybe..however.. perhaps  the lesson is Significant  change isn’t always. Evident overnight—then again  if you  can be patient and persistent you might be star struck.

Important things happen  under the surface

The sunlight  blasting into my office right now takes about  8 minutes traveling at the speed of light of course—to come into  my house.  That means  this light got to the surface. Of the sun and  came streaming tow2ard earth.  What most folks  don’t know is that same sunlight came from the center of the sun and  it took  several million years to travel from the core. Of the sun to the surface.   Lesson:  find out what’s  inside folks because it could be really powerful stuff and even if you can travel at the speed of light now...don’t forget there are many  people who  have light to share .  light that is still a long way from shining so that the whole  world can see it—when seeking peace and joy try not to waste the chance to assist others in. Bringing their light  forward.

The Sun is always  there...

Our  world’s will always turn and there will always be clouds and storms (even hurricane-like ones in Iowa), however the sun doesn’t move away.  You can’t be the sun for everyone, and yet, you can be the sun for a few other  folks  and you can be thankful for those people who have been your sun for extended  periods in life.  even. When it’s storming you can know that  the sun will show up soon, help. The flowers grow, dry up the. Messy puddles, and melt the ice that makes life a little more uncertain than you might like.  

So the next time  you see the sun while seeking peace and joy think about the realities that things will change—sometimes slowly, understand that there is a lot of strength and power  that  goes on under the surface in many people and  that you can enhance peace and joy by helping them  find and show their. Inner light/gifts, and believe in the notion that  we not only need a bright spot from time to time, but we can be a bright spot for others too..

So as the song  suggests... 

this is the dawning ...and  it’s time to 

Let the Sunshine In