A new look at laundry and life

A LIFETIME OF LAUNDRY?

Well it’s Monday and for   Many years that  was the day  we washed clothes in America.  There was a kids song about domestic activities and the days of the week and  Monday was  “wash the clothes.”  Now, however, the task is not relegated to a single  day of the week and it would be difficult to do this and the. Average time it takes to do a load of laundry is esatimated to be  1 hour and 27 minutes and we  do eight to 10 loads a week.  Therefore  if we did all the laundry on Monday it would be a 15 hour marathon.  Now there are people who only do their laundry once a week and some do it less frequently.  If you ever want a real fashion treat go to a college town and visit the laundry mat.  You will get to see what people wear when they have absolutely nothing else to wear and the combinations of regal rags can be downright entertaining.  You can also save countless techniques for sorting, choosing laundry soaps, deciding on wash times etc.  One thing is very noticeable.  No two people or now two households elect to do laundry the same.  This is point one.

The history of. Doing laundry.  Some hieroglyphics indicate that ancient Egyptians did laundry (of course they wrote it down so they get the credit.  They placed the clothes in water and stomped the dirt out.  Ancient Romans. Also employed or enslaved people to do laundry by the “stomp” the dirt out method.  In the Middle Ages things advanced to the beating  things on a rock in the river or over a “washboard”  method.  This was the primary  method up until the late 1700s when some foot pedaling wash machine came into being.  Legend has it that some husband invented this for his wife for her birthday thus starting the tradition of men giving their. Significant  others presents that continue stereotypic roles and lead to more work.  The first “motorized” or powered machine was invented right around. 1900 and was called “Thor.”  I’m sure washing machines have been called much  worse things since then and the men who bought them and never used them  have been called a variety of names as well.   This is a second point

Much of the world’s laundry is still hung out to dry so to speak, but  in the 1950’s the use of  electric or gas dryers became more popular.  

How do astronauts  do laundry?  

Just like some college students.  They just wear things till they can’t be warn anymore and then  “burn them”—or toss them. Into space where they will burn up in the atmosphere in  re-entry.  This leads me to wonder if the stray sock that always seem to  happen in earthbound laundry somehow escape and there are random socks floating  around the cosmos?  

Peace, Joy, and Life as Laundry

The next time unlucky are folding together that pair of your favorite  socks or  concert t-shirt, take. A minute to think about  the idea that  seeking peace and joy in life is a good deal like doing laundry.   First, like life laundry goes on and on sometimes.  For the most part we treat life and laundry as if it will never end and almost never experiment with doing it differently.  While we know other people do it differently than us we aren’t  really judgmental about laundry as long as people don’t screw with your  method.   Maybe that’s something  we all could take a life lesson from.   Every now and then in the washing process you may notice that  this pair of shorts just  can’t work one more time. And you set it free.  Peace and Joy could be possible if we did that with ideas and behaviors that have become worn and no longer  fulfill the original function.  So laundry and the machines we use to  do it evolve over time and that’s how seeking peace and joy sort of goes—it changes for any individual over time so wise might expect that  somewhere in the middle of our 48 thousand loads of laundry in life, there will be some  significant changes.  

The Things we add to Laundry and Life...

Well the first soaps we used to do laundry were  made from ash and animal  fats.  Somehow I son’s see “Gopher Guts Tide as being a big seller these days.  Eventually soap specifically for  laundry was developed and converted to detergent  form.   Tide  is the top seller in the U.S.  and nearly 1 in 5 loads is done with a tide produc t or in dollar  terms about 1.02 Billion annually.  Proctor and Gamble is cleaning up in the  laundry and toothpaste market.  

Anyway let’s  put this into spin cycle and finish this load.  We seek peace and joy and we do laundry over the course of a lifetime.  If wee observe closely we find that people go about these things in different ways and can choose. To help one another or complain about how others a do things.  the process for  you and me and lots of folks changes in time and will continue to do so.  Acceptance of differences and change seem to be successful tactics in doing laundry and guess what  maybe that goes for seeking peace and joy.  

Happy Laundry Day!Hey 

“Belated Birthday Building Blocks

BUILDING BLOCKS 20202

Yesterday  marked the birthdays of  three important people.  The guy who wrote  “over the Rainbow” and Life’s only a paper moon —something. Arlin I think although I read that wasn’t  his real name Zimmerman.  He was maybe only the third most significant. Person. Born on that day... second and first are probably a tie for many and that’s an argument I don’t want to have, however, in seeking peace and joy I’ve found some people  like to run fast to the opposite corner and scream at almost any idea.  

The other two  people are Susan B. Anthony and Galileo.  Anthony, of course was. A leader in the women’s rights movement and the movement for  having little coin dollars that people  mistook for quarters.  To that  I say come on US mints and treasury what kind of discounted respect were you thinking about in that design?  That was an insult to all the hard work done by people seeking civil rights for so long and would be the same as putting a mustache on Washington and printing a paper half dollar.  Anyway Susan B. Was a driving force and women now share the blame for electing some of the people we have in office.  

then there is Galileo .  Now  he had a last name...but you’ve  got to respect a scientist who was known by a single name.  That means he was the  Cher, Madonna, or Prince of his time.  Here’s a guy that  pretty much invented the telescope so that he could  see heavenly objects or some cute Italian  chicks  a few blocks away...no to the contrary Galileo who was prosecuted by the church held fast to his religious.belief even though he was hauled up before the board of inquisition where he didn’t party like it was. 1999.  basically Anthony had a vision of a more equal society and Galileo made sure we could  have a clearer view of our cosmic sircumstance including. The fact that. We were not the center of the universe.  Both of these people were awesome.

So what does this have to. Do with “building” blocks?  These people  were there to lay the foundation for so much to follow and offered the ‘building blocks”  for many to follow.  If they can undertake these. Tasks then I can keep my promise to toss out a rhyme or a song lyric to be.  So with no further or prior. Ado... Enjoy... I’ll give you the story behind. These when  the blocks all fall together.  For now I end with. The building blocks below....have a great day

Block One Galileo winked and told the Pope

We’re the center? I’d. Say Nope

Please don’t  hang me from a rope

I’ll show you my telescope

There was the warrior. Susan  B.

Until all vote, none can be free

At last  enough men said  I agree

Came one more stride towards liberty

When will we learn to grasp new things

Accept what soulful wisdom brings

Hear the  bird of peace each time it sings 

Dawn our fragile halo and junkyard wings?

Peace,

More soon

Things you should know about VD Saints sentiments and sales Peace And Joy

VALENTINE’S  DAY OF SENTIMENTS, SAINTS, AND AND SALES (OH  YES & PEACDE & JOY)

sometimes my writing sort of wanders around opening some  doors and windows so that  I show how I. Connect peace and joy to every day life.  I’d like to say this is a clever technique, however, it’s not.  This is just  one of the ways my mind and soul runs through the world and I refuse to conform to  some other logical patterns of writing.  I’m sure it shock some to know that I am well aware that I’m supposed to tell you. What I’m going to tell you, then tell you, and finish up by Ellington you  what I told you.  I do that lasts thing sometimes.  Anyway I said that to say this....today I’m starting ought with the end and then  spreading out some dessert thoughts—some dove chocolates or some of those little pink rock-hard candy with cute little saayings on them.

So Peace and Joy and Valentine’s Day... A day. Dedicated to celebrating  love can’t be all bad and feeling love in any form has to contribute to. Peace and joy.  Therefore, when you feel  like sharing  that sentiment do so in your actions and your attitudes.  Don’t wait for  a particular  day and especially just because you are supposed to or because everybody else is doing it.  How to express love?  Offer some of your soul to others—be that one or many.  Don’t  offer negative thoughts  to people or about people.  Now that is not always. Easy as it sometimes seems fairly warranted and congruent with how these people have hurt your feelings or treated you unfairly in a myriad of ways.  Love means seeking fairness without seeking revenge.  

If thIf. My words seem to be pretty clinical and fall short of “love” to you that’s good because no words can adequately express that feeling and I don’t pretend to be able to.  Love is not something to be pretended.

Anyway make sure you find a lot of  ways to express it and  to be open to it that’s all....

...And now the rest of the things you should know about Valentine’s  Day—

the rooot’s of  Valentine’s Day are. Tied to an ancient Roman festival called. “Lupecalia.”  The festival of spring celebrated romance and love and a very special  feature.  the festival included a  lottery where singles were paired up for marriage using a lottery.  No messy dating game questions, no Tinder, no chat rooms, singles bars etc...let’s just  spin the wheel or pull out the ping pong ball and find your soul mate.  Take that. True harmony.    So it  transitioned to Valentine’s Day through an ironic turn of events.  It seems the Roman. Emperor  Claudius II was having a hard time recruiting  single.soldiers to go around all of. The known  world using. Letters for Numbers and stuff—so he remedied this problem using  a well-thought. Out solution.  He made marriage illegal.  This was. In  269 BC.  Well it seems this “Valentine” named cleric decided to. Hold some secret weddings and  unfortunately got caught.  Well Claudius II  threw. Valentine into prison for just long enough for him to fall in love with a slave girl who was bringing his meals and after learning he was to be executed he wrote her a note.  You got it....the first Valentine.  Luckily a stone chiseler  named Hallmarcus  the richer” was serving a short  sentence across the  dungeon for using alchemy to turn. Paper into gold coins and saw the. Exchange.  

So as fate would have it. Valentine was put to death on February 14th, however, 7 centuries later he achieved sainthood for his actions.  

A holiday was born.

So what else do we know about the holiday these days?  Mostly we know that men spend about twice as much as women on this holiday because cards and roses are expensive  and easy.  How much do we spend on cards?  Estimates place the  dollar value of cards at about. 36 million a year making Valentines’ Day only number. Two to Christmas.  It’s also  estimated that in 2020 flower sales will  reach 18 million+ stems.  ... there is a lot of data available  on how much candy is sold, however, I think the point has been made.  We. Buy a lot of trinkets instead of figuring out  the everyday  ways we. Love each other and affirm them.  We can find. Many many ways of  opening up our souls , however, we choose to highlight  the mundane.  I’m not suggesting  we do some. Illegal marriages in a land where  marriage has been outlawed or write secret love notes like junior high kids.  Try listening. To someone a little closer or a little longer, do some chore you usually don’t do, play a song someone else likes.  In short show a little bit of you that goes beyond a piece of colored paper and some flowers you had someone kill for you.  

Bottom Line find  ways to love each other that aren’t the same old  song. And dance... and really celebrate the effort made by someone else trying to  show you love no matter how lame the effort is.... 

Well that’s. Enough for now...I’m going to see if there’s some she’ll spinnningapp that  can be converted for  a tinder deal... If it was good enough for the great Roman  civilization I should be able to get  people to. Use Apple Pay to connect with very special person.

More  Soon XOXOX

A salute to Abraham Lincoln

HAPPY BIRTHDAY  MR. LINCOLN

If you remember  a scene from the Miracle on 34th Street my “Santa” move will feel familiar...if not don’t worry It’s still a Wonderful Life.  Why am I. Going all holiday today?  Well I’m trying to get ready for Valentine’s. Day and my next entry is forming in my head fairly quickly which  scares me a bit.  Oh well I promised myself I’d write today to honor. Abe Lincoln the 16th President and after about three minutes of sitting here, I realized there was nothing I could. Write  that would honor him in the same way his own words might.  In short, I think I’ll just go all Gettysburg on this  For there. Are no words that can really capture the. Character of a man who. Would form a team of rivals to bring the ideas needed to unify and hold together a country that was  divided.  It took rare courage, not a bully, to do this...but I’m  not going all political now...I’m just saying Linclon’s words can consecrate this post  even when this blog is long forgotten.  

Well of course I mentioned that address which was a three minute speech that followed a two hour ramble by one of the most.famous orators of the day.  I have placed a link to a video rendition of the speech below so that you may  listen/watch and reflect at your own  pace over and over if you’d like.  

As far as seeking peace and joy goes, I have found three of Lincoln’s  quotes to be  most helpful especially in seeking change and in being. Patient while preparing for change.    I will close this post with the quotes and  be back for Valentine’s Day 

Reflect on these...

“You can fool all of the people some of the time and you can fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”

“Given. Six hours to chop down a tree, I believe it is. Wise to spend. Four hours sharpening your axe.”

“If you count a dog’s  tail as a leg how many legs does a  dog have?  Four.  Calling a tail a leg does not make it one.”  

Thanks Abe!

https://youtu.be/9TCMHVmNc5w

Five unconventional or secret steps to a healthier life

So no one will ever accuse  me of being  connected with “big pharma.”  After all, I can’t smile and  give you incomplete.information at the same time, don’t have one hand  in the pocket of health care administrators and  the other handing politicians money, and mostly my bank account provides enough evidence  lol.  I will, however, borrow from the big pharma playbook right at the beginning of this. Entry (except in reverse order).  So it’s  caveat and disclaimer and warning to start with and. The message at the end here.... I will however, not spend half the time. With the disclaimer because. If you are. Allergic to this you already know and if your doctor doesn’t know something about this I am not.telling you to ask her about it.

Okay back to the post.... I don’t claim the  starter stapes below will work for. Everyone and certainly they have not been tested  in a double-blind control group study (oh wait neither  are some of the meds).. These are just  some ideas I offer up and use myself.  Here are five  things that I  focus on when trying to improve the circumstances surrounding seeking peace and joy.  I have. More than five, and I will share them  as time goes by.  It should be noted that. These have little to do with  threats to the earth’s environment such as  “global warming, desertification, deforestation, narrowing of biodiversity, and poor waste management”, they are just five simple things to try when you need to feel  a bit more peaceful and  to enjoy things a bit more.  Here we go.

One—S—Sit Still 

The world is sometimes like an ocean of chaos and becomes very difficult to surf for a prolonged period of time if you don’t find a place and time to sit still once in a while.  I listen closely to music, pray, and meditate to assist me in sitting still.  You  might find other things to do like knitting or petting your. Dog.  The important thing is that you do  this activity without the intent to do something else while you are. Calming your spirit.  No matter. How cool you are with your baggy shorts and shades you can’t surf all the chaos  all the time if you don’t carve out a few minutes very regularly  to sit still

2. M- Make Things

Use your hands or  your computer or your oven or shop equipment. To build, coook, sew,  assemble, something every day.  Make it something tangible  so that the world knows you  saw the potential for something and put it together.  The world includes you..  It doesn’t have to be creative (see below) but it needs to be concrete.  The product of this. Effort to make things doesn’t have to  be incredibly successful or permanent  it just has to take some material and transform. It into something else.  You see you are engineering change and the ability to do this is very  important  in seeking peace and joy.

3 I- Initiate This goes along with. “Making”  but  it doesn’t have to be a product.  You can start a conversation in a new way or eat a meal you haven’t eaten before or almost anything, but the key is to do something differently than you usually do for the first time or for the first time in a long time.  One of the biggest barriers to seeking. Peace and joy is  just waiting to see what happens  next.  Yes earlier I said sit still, however, that doesn’t mean  become frozen by fear to the extent you are sitting on the tracks wondering how fast that train is coming.  This is the birthday of Thomas Edison who  initiated. A lot of new inventions and stole the ideas needed to  get credit for some others.  The point is he  started working on things and while  most of them fell short, they all were starts toward a product or process that. Did create peace and joy for him.  

4. L-Learn

If you always do the same thing in the same way (including thinking and feeling). Then what result do you expect?  Well that’s no mystery, so why not take a shot at learning something new?

So how do you learn new things?  For me it is a  three or four headed monster and I devote some time to it every day.  I passively listen to. Books and podcasts that provide info.  The  challenge with. That is finding. A variety of things that I will consume.  If I am doing it passively, I usually find things that interest me or that I’m looking to  agree with.  I don’t mean to do that , it is just what seems to happen.  So that’s not enough.  I then go out and find in we land or on TV or. Google some. Things I don’t agree with and try to listen/watch/read carefully to the ideas and the trains of thought in these messages.  I want to  learn not sit in the echo chamber.  In some instances I find the  “teacher” or other press enter is headed. To the same goal but using a different form of transportation so to speak.  In other instances I at least find a way to connect with someone I disagree with so that sharing on the NEXT thing might  happen.  This is a way to make my own knowledge more flexible and resilient.  

Now it’s not enough to learn something—for me it is important to  take that knowledge out for a spin and seeking peace and joy means solving. Puzzles, playing jeopardy, etc.  If you know it well enough to move it around in your head quickly, then  you can use it in several ways, hand parts of it to others, and you know you are ready to learn even more.  But if game shows aren’t your thing then find other ways to exercise what you are learning.  One of my favorites is  playing with. Language and for that there’s nothing like writing a rhyme a couple times a week.  To do this I just stare into the  distance and  pick an object or think of one and diver in.  So right now... 

In the distance I see a car

Is it going near or far?

Is it headed to that bar?

To hear that washed up drunk rock star?

Who can’t  sing his songs or play guitar?

I just hope I don’t see something  orange...lol?

Some days I just let the rhyme sit and some days I work with a word for a couple days especially if it’s part of an interesting phrase.  The other day I came across  the phrase “scientists and saints.”  Here’s what I’ve cooked up so far...

It’s time to break through old constraints

Applied by scientists and saints

Relax the fears breathe through the faints

Paint your new  smile with sparkling. Paints

Well it’s not Carl sand berg or even Ryan Sandberg  but I feel a little more peaceful and joyful after stringing the words together and exercising  my mind and soul.

5. E- Enjoy

Okay you are thinking. Building a healthier peace and. Joy environment HAS  to include this right?  True, and yet where on your calendar or to do list is the word enjoy.  do your new year’s resolutions include. Eat chocolate slowly?  Do you build in time to listen to your five favorite songs once a week or even one song a day?  Do you watch a video with. Puppies in it?  I mean do you do these things on purpose?   I would. Argue that if you have time to.  Put things on your schedule like getting a colonoscopy...you can find  time to listen to the full length version of Alice’s Restaurant every. Now and again.  Finally found all else fails and you are in a really crappy set of circumstances look around the room or listen to hear. Something that. Is your favorite color or makes a favorite or funny sound.  If you don’t see something your favorite color then imagine an object you could bring into this space to add that color.  For example imagine wrapping a purple  bandana around the head of that former university president just for giggles.    In short enjoy things with intent and intensity on a regular basis.

Well to sum  all this up.. I’ll go back to the letters of the five starter steps.

S M I L E  

More soon

Could be a miracle cure but it might suck

IT’S NOT A MIRACLE CURE...BUT  IT’S CLOSE

Today marks the fifth day I have been under the weather.  I won’t get too descriptive, however, I do have to stop a moment to examine that  saying—“under the weather.”  If you listeners to my podcast. Skip. Down a few paragraphs.  

What in the world does under the weather mean?  Why  “under” and why the “weather?”  I mean if I were feeling. Really well would I be in the middle of a phone call and say “yep I’m really getting stuff done Joe.  It’s probably because. I’m a little “above the weather.”  What if.you are just  feeling average are you “in” the weather or around the weather?  Is there a particular. Type of weather we’re dealing with that has to do with health?  I’m thinking there must be since right now I have a “head cold.”  If I get a little better  this afternoon will I only have a head cool?  I have this pain in my knee so  perhaps I’m experiencing a knee fog that may have resulted from a hip tornado?  One thing’s for certain this entry. Is not the  product of “lake-effect” intelligence.  

I suppose when I stop to think a minute and recall a little medical history, I shouldn’t really be shocked. About this strange language revolving around health and body parts.  Somehow we have made  some great advances in medicine despite calling a sharp pain in your. Shoulder a Joe Zebra.  What? You’ve never heard of a  Joe Zebra and yet you know what a Charlie Horse is?  Come now..... 

Anyway... I’m coming around to peace and joy pretty soon, however it’s an uphill climb when it comes to “modern” medicine.  Maybe. A look at medical history. Will lift my spirits?

DLet’s see... speaking of seeing....while  there are still too few females in medicine’s upper. Crust we can hold out hope.  After all there. Have only been prominent  female doctors since about  2600 B.C. So that’s a new concept.  Speaking of seeing and new concepts Cataract surgery was being taught  starting in about 650 BC just saying.  Before the age of antibiotics and the miracle cure known as aspirin we had several  monarchs (kings not butterflies)  making attempts at the miracle drub of the day.  While many know that raw honey is good for a lot things, several  kings used “cures for a lot of things all lumped together  to make  a miracle  potion of sorts.  In fact, “Theriac” combined the cure for several illnesses and poisons  (almost 65)  and stayed on the  shelves well into the 1700s.  

Thes Ypres of potions were  perhaps by the grandest treatment of all...the one  that we used for centuries and  yet. There is only. One word for it... It SUCKED!”  Yes...I’m talking about  LEACHES.

These  little creatures  preceded actuaries and insurance salesmen, and  even big. Pharma in bleeding the public when it came to health care.  Blood “letting” techniques were used for  all types of treatments and on people of all social strata.  I didn’t. Come across. It, however, I imagine there is some sort of dquantity and attachment location manuals  for this treatment somewhere.  If you had a nasty infection on your. Left elbow there was  the 7 leach two hours drain whereas if you had inflamed hemroids that. Had to be something different.  The only problem is that this technique  probably didn’t work all that often and had some  significant  drawbacks. One “patient/victim” of blood letting was. The father of our country  George Washington.  It is believed he literally had the life sucked out of him.  

...And with that phrase.. I roll around to peace and joy.  

If we will have blood sucking bugs attached to us, drink potions, have magnets and electrodes of all types attached to. Us in all types of places etc., then what more evidence do we need that we wish to live forever?  The thought that keeps running through my spirit is “it’s not how long you live, it’s how well you live”, oritdoesn’t matter so much how many. Days you have in your life as it matters how much life you have in your days.”  Sure you want to be  a person with a fairly healthy body and yet how much of seeking peace and joy really has to do with feeding and  healing your spirit and your “soul.”  I wonder if. People could. See your soul, would  I take better care of it.... and  now I write this thing called the peace and joy blog where I suspect people at least get a peak at my soul....so what do I learn from the world of body medicine that I can transfer to the world of “soul medicine?”  I think three things.

One—my ideas about peace and joy will have to  change over time.  After all, I wonder if I’m  still at the leach stage in some ways  that I view present. Challenges?  

Two.  Just like so many people in the past, how often do I listen to the “snake oil salesmen” of self help rather than doing the regular kmentally healthy activities to develop immunity and resilience??  

Three.   What will I. Do to help keep my environment  healthy for  me and for others?  It’s hard to  stay healthy in a toxic. Environment regardless as of  what you do for your own body and soul.  Now those are three things I think about and the third one prompts my next entry “FWhat a peace and joy environment looks like and five  ways to grow one.”  

So that’s for tomorrow which means  this is enough  for today—don’t forget that  leach on the back of your left leg...

Dealing with your space and trash so to speak

TIME TOGET SOME TRASH OUT OF YOUR SPACE?

Early this. Morning I was out  trying to get a good. Photo of the “winter moon.”  Why it is called this...I don’t rightly know, however, I don’t understand  many celestial terms regarding the moon.  For instance isn’t the moon always full?  Is there a moon that is hollow or does the moon leak so that sometimes we need to refill it?  Okay... I’ll let that go...however...I did get disturbed because  my pics of the moon didn’t come out the way I planne3d.  Clouds off to the West kept drifting  in front of the  moon soI couldn’t quite capture  what I wante3d.   eventually  I  just returned to my  kitchen and figured there would be another impressive moon some night or that 30 people would also post pictures of this moon on Facebook.  As i glanced for my cup to take some cold medicine (tomorrow’s topic) I noticed how much “stuff” has  built up on the counter.  I think all the appliances on the counter. Get used somewhat frequently so I’m not  complaining, but this did serve as a reminder of  how much stuff we  all keep in our space just in case it becomes useful or because it is too clumsy  to put away and  too difficult to just get rid of.  

As I moved. Toward the living room I  wondere3d why I had the overhead kitchen. Light on.  After all, I saw its reflection in the deck  door.  Wow...all the sudden I realized it wasn’t the kitchen light at all it was that moon.  The  train. Of thought was fully loaded and leaving the station at that point.  The appliances on the  counter form a ring of cooking satellites and are objects we use and the moon is out there sits beyond  all the stuff we have launched into the  earth’s orbit and is still out there  whirling around at 17,000 miles per hour.  

Yes the fine citizens of earth have shot a lot of things out ther4e into the heavens that we. Only use. Sometimes or for a short while.  Now a lot of  our “orbital debris” (let’s call it  space trash) just. Hangs in orbit and spins along with us.  So what’s a few. Things floating around. In outer space?  At last count there were over 20,000 pieces of space trash bigger than a  softball moving in predictable. Orbits around earth and somewhere  over a half million  pieces over all.  Somehow my new  “hot pot” on the counter didn’t  seem like so much clutter.  Instead of launching a car into. Space Elon needs to  launch a giant  garbage truck, a dumpster and a space magnet.  Fix the ozone layer? No problem... If we launch  a few billion rolls  of duct tape from  ground control we can have that hole in the ozone patched in no time.  Just  tape some of our  big chucks of space. Trash together and  drag it in front of the  ozone layers in need of repair.  How  did all this trash get up there?  Well let’s take one example.  China launched a satellite to track who knows what and several years later they didn’t  think this satellite was doing its job or  they didn’t want others to find out  what  was gaining. From  this satellite so they unilaterally decided. To launch  a missile into space to destroy their spinning  device.  The launched a rocket and tracking it with  GPS or Google Maps they hit the target—The  explosion change one trackable object into  about 3,000  pieces of space  trash.  

Space Trash Peace and Joy

This whole thing moved. From. A picture of the moon to. My internal question of “how much space trash do I  carry around?  How  can  I reduce that?  

Well...let’s say my life is the earth (of course the universe revolves around me)  and my past is all the satellites and rockets I have fired off into space.  Have there been some Challenger disasters?  No doubt.  Anyway the left over emotions and lessons/memories from all these  experiences are often still whirling around in my orbit.  So often, I want to rid myself of these satellites and make an effort to  change life and thus blast them out of my orbit.  Unfortunately, instead of clearing up my space I have the Chinese rocket  effect.  I break the experience into countless parts that can interfere with with my next attempt to experience something.  In short, I reduce my chances of  a peaceful or joyful experience due to allowing the space trash from other experiences to clutter up.the heavens.  

 So I asked myself—-How can I change this?  Well so far I’m working on two ways.  First is  to largely ignore  the past and pretend that all that junk  in space won’t get in my way.... that works to some extent.  Second I play cosmic junk drawer.   What’s that?  Okay who doesn’t have a junk drawer?  You know the place. You put things that are too valuable to toss, and that you will use at some point?  The thing about your junk drawer is that you don’t worry about what’s in it.  You simply  believe. It is valuable and that it will be useful in the future.  However, you don’t use a lot of emotional, spiritual, or intellectual energy worrying. About what’s in it until you are solving something.  Your “junk” is not a box of left over. Trash that keeps hanging you up.  It is a drawer full of solutions.  Knowing. That you are not going to find all the solutions you ever need in your junk drawer  is critical and that’s perhaps how to look at our  left over past.  If it fits our problem use it...if not let it sit...Just like the stuff in our junk drawer we don’t go looking for problems it will solve...so our past doesn’t dictate our  present, or our future.  our junk drawer. Does not impact how we. Perceive our current situation and allows us to experience as. It is happening.  

To summarize (something I write about often and will write about again)—we have a lot of trash in our space.  It comes from our past and we drag it along in our orbit for a long time without cleaning it up or  figuring  out. That it really belongs in a “junk drawer” not spread out in the path of our present or future.  We can access. This junk as it becomes part of a solution, however, it  will not bring peace and or joy if we let the junk define our. Current view of life.  ... 

There will some more about  these themes in other posts, however, thank the heavens  you have read this far...Have a Moonlit Monday Morning tomorrow..

Thank You Thursday for Staying Connected

THANK YOU THURSDAY—Thanks for Staying connected

I need to look it up...but not today.  For now my incomplete memory is close enough.  It was  Groucho  who said something like—“I’m not sure I want to be part of any group that would  have me as a member.”  I remember seeing a t-shirt in the early 70s that said “I want to be  different just like everybody else.  

In “western” culture we. Most certainly find ourselves  drowning in just that dilemma.   Our self-help media encourage us to  be individuals and yet provide techniques that for all intents and purposes train us to fall in a “normal” range of thought and behaviors.  This range is established by making comparisons and you are. And I am  urged to change so that I fit the norm most of the time.  

Sure  some self-helpers encourage you to be you to the extreme... however they often start by inferring you have some deficit that is unacceptable or should be and that deficit of course,  must be corrected.  In short you need help because. The secret moral majority says so —don’t you agree (insert rolling eyes).  So we have some encouragement to be extraordinarily  good at  a range of things that  most people value on the one  hand.

...And on the other  hand...

Massa media  and capitalism encourage us to meet some standards and we are sold things so that we have all the symbols that say we belong to this or that group.  If you want the best and to be seen as being the Best Buy a Rolex, drive a BMW, and never shop at  Walmart.  

What does all this mean for.seeking peace and joy?  My thoughts conjure  up a tight rope requiring a balance between the very  human feelings of  wanting to belong and conversely wanting to be able to  express  your unique  gifts.  The odd thing is... while this is. Not very easy, most people do not acknowledge that each of us is  walking that tight  rope a lot of the time.  For me personally I have  tried on several occasions in life to test how far I can stretch the  rubber  bands of belonging and still experiment with changing. Myself to de3velop skills or explore different ways of thinking.

My current attitude suggests that my patterns of doing this aren’t likely to  change anytime soon so that makes it important for me to  say thanks to the “group” and individuals who have allowed me to stay connected with them as I experience life.  It would be simple for some of you  to break the. Ties because I don’t really fit in with “your other friends” or because you don’t really need connections at all.  Yet, so many of you have  decided to walk with me for a while even though I am always choosing the tight rope between buildings instead of going down to the second floor and. Using the skywalk.  

To seek peace and joy....

I’m going to finish this post up with a poem/rhyme, however, I want to say I respect the challenge we all face in wanting  the power of the group and the glory of individual growth.  It is likely to be.with most of us most of our lives.  My promise is to.be tolerant in most instances and  to understand that every journey follows a growing map with lots of detours.  In short, thanks for being  rest stops, refueling stations, churches, bars, and schools wrapped up in humanity on my trek.  

A Network Of Angels

I am walking alone and I don’t feel so strong

Do I need to fly. Solo  or need to belong?

If I fly with the others can I really fly free

To become the true self I am. Meant to be?

Yet what  if my purpose is to feel the smile and the scar

For being a bridge for those who seek their own distant  star

For  I can spot saints in both steeple and bar

And pass on my lessons as. You become who  you are

There is a truth that I must face

I’m  at the right time and in the right  place

So this is the role I’m meant to embrace

As my network or Angels provide me needed. Grace

To All who assist me hear clear as I mumble

”Thanks for lending a hand as I soar then I stumble

And making me whole again whenever. I crumbleTogether we’re  brilliant alone I am humble”

Thanks for filling my cup...please let me know if you  are ever thirsty...

Peace and Joy 

Tied Up in NOTS

ARE YOU TIED UP IN. “NOTS”

Well... I’ve been. Off the keys a little this week, however,  I’m going.to be back at it in full force now.  You might say I was tied up with other things so to speak.  

So  my topic today is related to tying ... having strings attached although some folks  bargain for no strings attached.  The next  post will be about neck ties, scarves, and bandanas .   Today we will be focuses on  one variety of strings—shoestrings and how they  connect with peace and joy.

First a little  history...

While it may have been considered. Closer to a small rope, ancient  humans  started. The practice of  tying their shoes or padding to their feet.  Scholars (did you know. There were shoestring scholars?)  have documented strings in use  in 2800 BC and estimate they  have actually been in use  far longer—like as far  back as 5550 BC.   So as far back as the gang was. Gathering up their clubs to. To hunt wild beasts they were  lacing up their  Reebok’s for the day and on the run.  The Ancient  Greeks and Romans were already using  straps and strings to such as extent that  folks often got razzed if they  didn’t lace their  sandals  well.  So if you didn’t have your Air Platos”  tied in a Granny double rabbit ear looped, you might be getting an earful at the coliseum or at the Parthenon.  

as with all things, not much is known about shoestrings in the Middle  ages, however it has generally been. Agreed. Upon that  the most significant. Modern era string weave was. Rolled out in about 1835 and the manufacturing. Procss and types of strings has not changed  very much since then.  

Do you think your strings are too long?  If so you are not alone.  Many. String/shoes makers now  only make  them in a length that will. Fit in all their  shoes....so if you try got put  Chuckee Tee strings in a low-top Puma you are going to. Have some loose ends to tie up.  

So now to the peace and joy part.  A lot of times when you are tying your shoe, you are kneeeling down....this provides an excellent  time to throw up a prayer or 30 seconds of  meditation per shoe.  If you want a little more time buy rounded strings that are “coated” because they  come undone about 30 percent faster/more than flat-woven strings.  also if you don’t often tie  your shoes they can serve as a reminder that you always have a choice  of showing your personality through the  strings you choose or  in the way you respond when  you break one while tying it.  Of course 90% of all shoe strings break when you are late or in a hurry.  Yes most shoestrings break on Monday mornings. 

Well that brings us to the. Part where I tie in peace and joy.  You know I loop around and then tighten up the whole thing...wrap it up in a nice little bow you know.

Just as shoe strings provide us with n opportunity to get little moments of rest in our day they should also remind us NOT.  To get all wound up in  our personal NOTS.   I know not what yours are so here are a few I have had and sti8ll have.  These are  sometimes  barriers to my peace and joy or lessons it would be great to fully learn.  Here are four  types of “nots” that  get me tangled up at times.

Well the list of potential “nots” is long, however, the ones below tend to trip me up most often

One: “i am NOT. As young as i used to be.

Sometimes I don’t start down a new path to explore because I think it will be a long road and I don’t  have the energy to do yet again something new.  The irony for  me (and others I suspect) is trying new things tends to keep me feeling younger not older.  some years ago  when I started to learn the guitar  I mentioned to someone teaching me a chord transition that I probably. Couldn’t  get this because I had started  too late in life.  He laughed and said this  will take  years and you’ll never learn it all, but you’ll be a fairly  good player by the  time you are 50 and  maybe one of the better  60 year old players you know and when you get to 70...watch out.  as it turns our I was NOT. To old. To learn those new. Tricks and am still having. A blast  improving  all the time.  another example of this is my return to writing.  I had done some when I was “younger” and yet I di8dn’t know if  I could let the muse grab me again.  As it turns out I’m really glad I didn’t  stick with I’m. Not as young  as I used to be.

Two.  I am NOT going to try that again.

Sometimes I block possible peace and joy by  not attempting something (including foods). That I didn’t  like earlier in life.  I refused to stay open to. New old possibilities.  The odd thing is I am always preaching the ability to change and yet sometimes I let a failure  last forever when I’m pretty certain I’ve learned the lesson or have the persistence  needed to give something a second or tenth try.  

Three.  I’m NOT. Ever going to be as. Good as. (Fill in the blank with a. Name  at fill in a errand . What’s that?  It’s an action word that is used as a noun like boating or swimming etc... 

So the point is here is a case were I discount my gifts and blessings by  comparing my current state with  what I assume is the state of someone else.  Rarely is comparison going to  help you  find inner peace and joy.  Well. Maybe not ever... yet when watching someone to learn or watching someone who has  some real extraordinary  talent I fall into the trap of  feeling rotten because I know I can’t. Or won’t. Do something as well as somebody. Else.  I remember talking with a buddy of mine saying I’ll never be “Clapton” good at this opening riff.”  He said  and EC would never be as good at making  him laugh with his twisted wit as you.... “. This serves as a reminder even today search for and grow your gifts, and even though nobody  can do everything everybody can do something.

Four. I am NOT strong  enough to make it through. This.

The  problem is... I’m. Going through it no matter whether. I think/know I’m not  strong enough, so this is rather defeatist. Thinking.  The second problem is “I”  am not strong enough?  Since when. Is it the best move to Do all things alonE to prove yourself and to whom?  Maybe in a lot of instances you are meant to walk with someone on your growth journey and maybe.you will be walking with people you didn’t anticipate.  Maybe whatever you are trying is not a “me” thing it is an us thing.  Sadly I  start with. I am. Not strong enough too often instead j of gathering my supporter around and asking who else wants to go there.with me?  

Well that’s just four.  Here a few more “nots” I see people getting. Tied up in..hopefully these  entries help you relax the knots and help peace and joy flow a bit more  freely..

Some other. “NOTS” 

I am not  the right body weight (especially compared to person x).

I am not as wealthy as I need to be for this  point in life.

I am not making  as many friends as I think I should have.

I am not  normal.

I am (fill in almost any action verb)  for example  eating right, reading  enough, exercising as much a s that guy, looking as young as I would  like.  

DThe Liszt. Could go on and on, however..

I AM NOT GOING TO KEEP WRITING  THIS ENTRY FOREVER LOL

To summarize shoe  strings have been around for a while and you can use tying your shoe as a quick meditation or prayer break.  Everyone gets tied up in some  ‘NOTS” and these can block a whole lot of peace and joy.  To tie up the final loose ends here I would share this .  The next time you  want to say “i can “not” or I am “not”  end that thought or the statement with the phrase. At least. Not yet and see if that helps.  You know, some strangers are just friend you haven’t met yet. And some are  people you used to.know, however we change...we grow...we learn...and through it all I can’t help but wonder if we used  are statements to establish.in public who or what. We. Are more often and declared less often “what/who”. We are ‘NOT’ a little  lesas, if we might “NOT”  be living with a little more peace and joy.  I think for one I would

More  tomorrow.