Rhyme for the C—old

 Let it be  now told

To those young and to those old

To the meek and to those bold

To those wild and those controlled

If what you seek is gold

Your heart will soon grow cold 

Your mind shall turn to mould 

And your soul’s already sold

How’s the weather? Ask a groundhog?

 What’s the Forecast?—Ask the Ground Hog?

A couple of days ago—maybe three or four by now we started.hearing about the approaching winter storm.  the weather people  here started  their all too familiar fear campaign and even predicted “storm aged in”talking about snow totals  ov a foot and a half in places etc.  They went on and on about  how it was going to snow for  36 hours straight.  Well…. Thankfully they were as usual all jacked up about something that just didn’t happen.  This leads. To two seeking peace and joy questions.

How often  do we  get caught up in the fear of things that we cannot  control and that may not ever happen?  

These weather forecasts  sort of teach us to expect  to pay attention to things that might happen and that could  cause us anxiety.  

The second  question is—“Why don’t we have “Wonderful Weather  Warnings?”  

Seriously, why don’t we have  the National Weather.Service tell us when it’s going to be an exceptionally great day to take a walk, plant a tree, or play your guitar out on the river bank?  If the weather service can  tell us to prepare for rotten weather wouldn’t it be nice if two or three days before the best day of the week  was upon us we knew to have  our cooler  and music devices ready for a picnic lunch?  Why  don’t we get advised to slow down and. To enjoy the gentle breeze and sunshine?  

Oh and what about  this whole. Ground Hog’s Day. Weather prediction deal? 

First of all  shy in the world is a ground hog anyway?  

Well according to National Geographic the G-Hog  (that’s its rapper name, is related to squirrels and can be found. In most of the North American. Continent.  Farmers and Carl the assistant grounds keeper don’t much care for these critters that are generally small,however  can grow up to 16 pounds.  Generally  the larger varieties get called “wood chucks’ and though there are not scientific studies one would imagine they get rather tired of answering questions about how much wood they can chuck if in fact they  could. 

Now… because it’s vital we know the record  low for March 25th 1937, we have kept track of the weather for quite some time.  So it is possible to  make a factual statement  about  the accuracy of  g-hog forecasting. When it comes to Gobbler’s knob’s most famous furry  forecaster.  As it turns out Phil predicted six more weeks of winter yesterday and as it turns out Phil is only correct about 40% of the time.  But come on now  it’s a g-hog… it doesn’t consult climatologists about carbon footprints and atmospheric  changes.  Phil comes out—get’s his 15 minutes of fame and if it’s sunny  we have winter in February…. Oh and in a few weeks of March sometimes.  

so  all of that  boils down to this.  In seeking peace and joy we put up a lot of barriers because  our world is full of folks who seem to have more skills at selling. Fear that selling peace.  Weather  is a subject we love to talk about, however we can’t do much about it.  Seeking peace and joy  may work better  if we spend time talking about things we want to change and if we find folks who want to work toward that change to talk with.  Also. It is good to balance  out the anxiety. We might experience with an expectation  that there will be sunny days ahead.  It is also good to remember that  we get to  chose whether  a day is partly cloudy or partly sunny and that counts when it comes to seeking peace and joy.  *—

Is the book of life a dictionary?

 Life —It’s Like. The Dictionary

What full of words  I don’t understand and can’t spell?—well that too.  No… you see  it happens that on the first of February  1884, the folks in England released the first volume (of 10) of the Oxford DicDictionary.  The modern Oxford  Dictionary  is up to about 30 volumes.  Now to be fair, you can access the said dictionary online and I believe there is still a CD ROM  version.  BTW the first version of the dictionary took about  30 years to complete and  was published in it’s “completed form in the late 1920’s.  The second edition was released  in 1989 and is commonly regarded as the primary dictionary of the English language.   

So… turning to our  theme for the day…

Life  is like a dictionary because. It takes a while  to complete.  We spend a good deal of time updating and completing.  Things that once had one meaning may now have two or three meanings.  Events like words have various meanings  even in a  single person’s mind and it gets more complex when  several people are engaged.  Let’s take a simple word… When  I was cleaning the floor in my office I found  a tiny screw.  Now many of you would swear I have  a screw loose somewhere—maybe it finally fell out.  It’s okay to use screws to put things together, yet if you do that wrong you screwed up (does that mean when you pull off something.really cool you screwed down?  Well… though I’m just sort of screwing around with this, it’s time to move forward before  you start thinking I can get screwed.   The point is that the  event that happened in one instance and in one context can morph  into other things. Over time and depending on your crowd  at the time and like the dictionary  it’s okay that one word can have various  implications.  

Picking Out Specifics

A reasonable estimate would put all the words  used in the 500+  entries in this blog at a total  approaching half a million.  Each one of these words is in  a dictionary somewhere (or at least a reference work somewhere.  In fact, the dictionary contains every great work of fiction or non-fiction.  So what distinguishes  the dictionary from War and Peace or The Cat in the Hat?  Well… it’s simple.  The dictionar tries to include everything while the author  of other things makes decisions about which words to leave in, leave out, and link together.  

So life can be like a dictionary, we are presented with all types of options, all types of  challenges, all types of people, food, etc.  As the author of our life we have to grab life and decide what to leave out, what to repeat, and what to define more fully as a matter of fact some words in the dictionary are given definition  after definition while others  get just the minimum. Attention and take  up hardly any  room.  

Seeking Peace and Joy In the Dictionary Life

So in seeking peace and joy… it’s important to  understand that  the same experience can mean different things at different times and to differing degrees  with different. People.  An important. Thing. To remember here is that we have choices regarding what things mean and how long we need these things to mean  what we want it to.  

Second seeking peace and joy will almost always  mean we are diving in, yet knowing that we will have to leave something’s out, repeat some lessons, and in the end we can understand  that once we fully engaged in an experience  we can move on.  If. We need to we can always get. Out the dictionary and try some  different. Words.  

More about. This soon.  

Is it time to drop anchor

 Anchors Away!

This morning I heard a fog horn….well maybe it was  just my snoring since it’s winter and there is probably not much shipping moving through the Great Lakes headed in most directions.  Also  given the relentless breezes called wind chill the surface of Lake Huron  is a gnarly  wash machine and I suspect. Most water craft are in dry dock or anchored  down safely somewhere.  

so that  inspired this… let’s think about anchors and peace and joy.

Well since  the 10th century  a lot of anchors. Are exactly the shape you see in most tattoos or on Popeye”s muscles.  This design emerged  some time around the tenth  century.  Now there are other shapes  that have been developed because we have other materials and ideas about what shapes  hold best on what underwater surfaces.   No matter the shape, an anchor is used to keep the ship from being wrecked or to hold it at a certain. Point in the water.  It is for safety, however, are all anchors  really safe?  

Anchors in Time

In seeking peace and joy we need to take a fresh look at Anchors.  So many times we have anchors that just plain stop us from sailing.  

Anchored in the past

When we anchor to the past it is so tempting to regret what is happening now and regret something we did at some point before now.   When we anchor in the past we keep looking back and are dragged back by things we already experienced.  While this gives us an opportunity to gather the lessons  we might learn from a past experience we have difficulty  applying  those lessons to in the seas ahead.  

Anchoring in the Future

We also anchor in the future  putting limits on when and where we might go and what we might choose to do given the waves and currents the world presents.  Do we spend so much time following the chain  to the place we think we need to be that we miss  the treasure that might be near by or just below the surface where we are right now.   At this time of year we are still into  resolutions and pursuing most goals we set for the new. Calendar.  Are these goals future anchors?  Once we reach them will we sit there unable to move in other ways?  

So what about being anchored right now?  Well if that gives us a chance to steady the ship then there is. Some value in using an anchor.  If we are making our ship stable and steady so others can climb aboard to sail with us or adding. Folks to row  along…well a temporary anchor from time to time. Might have some value, yet as time passes we need to stay aware. Enough to know. When that anchor is dragging us  into a situation  where we are anchored to our past.  

In short, we’re not saying. Anchors aren’t useful.  It is, however, important to know where and when you are anchored to.  It is  important to know how long you have been anchored and  it is important to know  that there comes a time to pull up anchor and drop the chain in a way that you can move the ship of your soul.    

Quitters never win?

 Maybe It’s Time to Q U I T?

We are sort of wandering through January and our resolutions are going well….well or are fading in the rear view mirror.  actually research shows that the great  majority of  resolutions  are abandoned. On or before January 19th and thus that day has been declared “National Quitters Day.”  Of course we have defined  those who quit as losers (in general) and so often hear the axon  “quitters never win.”   Stop!

 Let’s take a seeking peace and joy tilt. To this and ponder  other possibilities.  What if what we  are doing isn’t working for us anymore?  What’s the definition of insanity?  Isn’t it doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?   If we don’t wuit something is it possible to choose some other things to try?  Hmmmm?  Maybe we can QUIt in a distinctly inventive. Fashion.  

So let’s  Q…

Quiet  our anxiety.  Know that we sometimes have to face fear and choose change and know the risk is worth the  reward so first let’s quiet the fears.  

Next  let’s U…

As in use our talents and resources to develop some  new experimental behaviors.  Doing  something new is not really the same as quitting and sitting still.  After you have become quiet for a heartbeat or two then start acting again and learning from new actions as you have quit and learned the primary. Lesson  from what you had been doing.  Yes it is important. To persist in exploring  which resources to use  to seek peace and joy and exhaust  many of them, however, there is a value in diversifying your efforts and engaging new ones.  There is no I in Peace or  Joy…or is there?  

When you decide to change and go forward  with new things it is not  giving up it is “I”venting some new aspects of  your “Identity and “i”nvestigating it and determining. If you intend to invest in it (Enough “I”’s for  you?

finally life is not always a T party, yet it could be if…

You “T”rust  your “T”transitional  capacity.  Seeking peace and joy means  using your tools in new ways and if needed. It means leaving some tools and their  products behind.  

Bottom line we have often made resolutions as a fuzzy promise to change and maybe  we could reframe  “quitting”. In a way that quiets fear, uses new ideas, promotes innovation, insights, and investigation of new dynamic features of your identity.  Will it take trust and  the power to toss some things away and transfer some others…Yes…. 

The point is that we  can choose to understand “quitting” in a balanced sort of way….. by the way it’s time to quit writing this entry. And keep smiling. a more balanced way

Anti-pronoun why?

 

I FOR ONE  Like Roman Numerals—and a couple more things to ponder

Let’s say you sit down to write  the true historical account. Of your first car... 

Is that an autobiography?  

Puns and word wrinkling can be fun and yet over the past couple years it seems that folks are taking some words and  their meanings  to their limits of utility.  Almost  everyone today runs into the question “what are your pronouns?”  well I use them from time to time, yet is it really necessary to claim ownership and then be defined  by these?  For example, if I say  I’m a he/him is there a formula where he/him+she/her = They/them?  Doesn’t He/himx 2. Also = they/them? Who gets to decide  when and where... and more importantly why pronouns  get to be so important.  I think we are sneaking  a bit too many adjective attributes  into the process and so maybe we could admit the subtle attachment of meani?” 

By asking someone to give a pronoun  are we really saying you have to express  an extreme?  Do we  want to simplify folks into a three letter word?  What if we had to go through life. Only using three letter words?  That would work for  a hot dog and ham, yet how would we get a hamburger... Oh wait “Big Mac.”  Red would be a color yet what names would we give to other bands on the rainbow.  

We would. Have a cat a car and still go to the bar to get gin or a mug of ale, yet the limits of what we could  say, do, or mean get really clear  really quickly.  

As stated.words can be fun yet we need to be sure that  we have something to say  at least as often as we feel like we have to say something.  

also there is the whole  process of  building meaning in context.  We have more opportunity to read the text of a speech than ever before and thus the spoken word can have all its richness stripped away.  Not everything  looks the same naked.... take for instance a marching band or the symphony.... Oh  too harsh?  

In the cyber  age it’s important to  offer a little context that can sit on the shelf with the  bits of info we share so when our friends followers and such drop in  our gifts don’t get regifted in strange and unintended ways.  In short understand that words live in the now just like people do and change like people do as well.  

In summary word play is often fun, yet let’s not get too cute with the subtle defining. That can go on even if respect is intended.   Some words need to stay subtle and complex so try to have the patience. To wade through with those words.  Be careful with words like always and never.  Work as hard on having something to  say as on making sure you are  always saying things.   

For now just remember being  certain  about who is he/she/him/her/ they/them needs to be balanced with  how WE  can get to a Place for all of US 

Read: it can blow your mind?

  19th Nervous Breakdown

Here it comes....

So before we go running for the shelter—Rolling Stones lyric to be continued below— 

As promised  the SPJU will include some insights from books that have seeped through my awareness recently.  Let’s start with the non-fiction.  4000 Weeks is by far the finest time management book out there.  Of course those terms time and management  are completely erroneous.  In the seeking peace and joy world we are not concerned with “time” per se—it’s about experience creation and it’s not management it is “use.”  You can’t manage time  because it happens and you have no way to make it go any direction but “forward” or seemingly forward.  Actually it doesn’t go anywhere because when are you living?  You aren’t living in the future and while sometimes your thoughts are  influenced by what has happened you aren’t breathing air in the past either.  so this book helps people focus on  the illusions we get caught up in.  For example  it reminds us that the better we get at doing some things the more we “get” to do —like the more e-mail we respond to the e-mail we are likely to get and the better we use our time the more things we are likely to attempt.  The book reminds us that there will always be more experiences that we might choose than there will  be “time for so we can best find peace if we accept that instead of feeling overly anxious about it.   

Every  Minute  is a Day... Authors: Robert? Meyer and Dan Koepell.). This is a book about New York emergency  room activities and personnel and the initial COVID slam.  No matter what your stance on the virus—and the virus doesn’t care what your  stance it by the way—this book gives a compelling description of how some real human beings dealt with the  real onset of this era in New York City.  

Fiction. 

Well it’s the “who-done-its” that usually get my attention and we’ll see what Scooby and Shaggy  pulls the mask off about these in a second.  By far the best fiction so far this year is 

Mitch Albom’s. 

Man in a Life Boat. 

You want social commentary, spirituality, exploding luxury liners with rich people?  You want tropical islands romance and more...  This is the book for you.  It’s a book about the real power. Of believing  in something and coming to grips with the meaning of life’s experiences.  If there was a Seeking Peace and Joy Universe Library, this would lead the suggested reading in the fiction section and for quite some time.  

Jack  Reacher  and Jessie Stone are the hero’s of record in most the other fiction consumed since the first of the year.  Lee Child and Robert Parker (as interpreted. And channeled by Mike Lupica) provide The good guy wins mob, Terri or its, drug cartel villain riddled  adventures of quick witted good people who creatively weave justice through intense situations.  There’s also Jack.Noble as a hit man (can’t remember the author)  in a series of adventures I’ve read. This year.  Why these books?  

well... unusual circumstances happen and people act fairly decidedly which is an approach  to fear that seems pretty effective and in sync  with seeking peace and joy.   Oh and Now back to the top and The Rolling Stones..

Running for the Shelter of Mother’s Little Helper....

Yesterday the reading pile was  topped with a little dessert  from the November issue of Good Housekeeping.... and lo and behold the magazine suggested that we all might share  instead of getting off of my cloud and look to the promise of organic medicine...  yes  Good Housekeeping featured  the upside of magic mushrooms and other psychedelics which are now being seriously  studied for their beneficial properties.... 

So Betty Crocker is not only baking  with stones... we might be seeing our domestic engineering magazines supporting getting stoned and baked as well?  

Seriously, alternative medicine is being used with greater  effectiveness every day and Good Housekeeping  showed real courage in publishing this.   Here is another instance where folks the bed their nose at fear and said let’s tell the story.... seeking peace and joy behavior  at its finest.

Well it is time to do some domestic  engineering  of my own (don’t  you just love a “good” Housekeeping  term?  

Stay warm wherever you ar Peace 

WHY THE WORLD WILL END IN 2022 & other resolutions-predictions

 Why the World  Will End in 2022

Since there have been and will continue  to be various calendars applied to whatever time is on  this planet, in this  galaxy, within this universe etc and since the world (as we know it) excepting for that pesky concept of conservation  of matter/energy—will end we can simply modify when we start counting so that 2022 will mark the end just like the wise old owl tells  us that it takes 3 licks to get to the center of a tootsie  pop.  

So that’s prediction. Number one.  Here are  nine more predictions and resolutions coming from the seeking peace and joy realm and spanning what’s left of the year.  

Resolution and /or Prediction  2 —Sharing thoughts about books.... 

Yours truly listens to an estimated 500 books a year—yes that means  I’m listening to books and music pretty much non-stop.  It seems that somewhere  other than  my gray matter  should be used to record at least one  quote/concept/thought to be passed along.  After all, if any of “Seeking Peace and Joy”  ever makes it into a book  I want people to record their reflections for further review.  So... do unto others.  These mini-reviews are probably. Going to be jotted down in some blogs and recorded in  frequent podcasts... depending on which instruments  of mass instruction are most convenient. At the time.  Will the reader have to cross platforms?  Yep.... sorry—it’s the 21st century!

Resolution-Prediction 3 –Getting organized—This Blog has  over 500 entries....500.... if you would have told me I was required to write 500 entries over the course of a lifetime I may have wiggled  a solitary finger and said no way at one point, yet now that we’ve crossed that Rubicon  it’s all downhill from here—unless we’re headed in the wrong direction.   The point is....it is possible to index the entries and I haven’t done  even a half fast  (Thanks Mac) job of using labels so readers can weave their way through new and old entries.  So... as the munchkins  advised the ruby-slippered runaway... let’s begin at the beginning.  Starting tomorrow the process of. Making sure each blog will have at least three categories attached to it begins.  By the end of 2022 (and  hopefully before) every blog  entry will be thusly organized.  Does it mean there will be some square pegs in round holes?  Yep and some triangle screws will be wedged forcibly into trapezoid treehouses too.  

Resolution-Prediction  4. 

Drink More Water

What?  This is self explanatory.  I need to drink more water.  It can be tap water, bottled water, vitamin. Water, and possibly even fire water (well maybe not so much), however I drink too much stuff with sugar and other ingredients.  Now just a note of clarification.  There are no such things as artificial flavorings.or colors.  Anything you can taste  has an actual or real flavor and anything you can see has a real actual color and all ingredients. Are natural unless they are ghosts which  might make them supernatural.   The point is I need to stay hydrated and do all things possible to enhance  my supernatural immunity .  

Prediction-resolution  5... 

I will be using the restroom more frequently  than in 2021.... see resolution-Prediction . Number 4

Prediction-Resolution  6.  

If you read this blog (or listen to the podcast)  you will have the opportunity  to learn at least three  new words (foreign or domestic) or novel concepts each month.   For example  the tiny glob of toothpaste  left on the side  of the  nozzle  should be  referred  to as crest-crust or social  media that is blasting stuff your way  without  your control should be called MMDs  Methods of Mass Distraction.  

Prediction-resolution 7. I will learn to play 24 songs on the keyboard/piano (and describe these efforts in the SPJU.  What’s the SPJU?  remember. I said I’d be introducing a new concept?  The SPJU is the “seeking Peace and Joy Universe LOL”. so I play a little already and yet it’s meager.  I’m not fully engaged most the time when I do and while I can plunk out a mean smoke on the Water or Twinkle Twinkle, its time to be focused enough to echo some real melodies and chords etc.  This will include at least  4 songs I write and play specifically. With the keyboard.  You see, every instrument has some magic locked inside and like all experiences, unless you “paint the fence”, “sand the floor”< and “wax on wax off” it’s not likely you can gain or share the full meaning within.  Therefore  I’m diving in and bringing the SPJU along.  There is a distinct possibility of failure here... but you’ll miss every shot you don’t take.

Resolution-Prediction  8. More “Poetry”

In  the year  of 20 and 21 There were some rhymes and  they were fun Yet. More of them could have been done Describing  prophet, pawn, or nun

for. Rhythmic words  cut through the haze of words designed to clear the maze but often just disturb our days In in wacky large and little ways.

Alas  new rhymes are now in store on topics one should not ignore IWith hopes of causing laughs  galore or thoughts one’s never dared before

resolutions-Predictions  9 & 10 Pointing out Fear and Taking the risk and Responsibility 

i will use first person. Entries  more often....and shall be open with my fears and condemnation of said fears.   These are two separate  yet closely linked  things. And it seems necessary to  come right out and say so.  In may of the 500 some odd posts prior to this  I have avoided first person language in an effort to distance myself from some of the notions that most the readers (My readers?)  have been exposed to and done so because I don’t want anyone to feel targeted or more importantly  blame me for targeting  ideas and folks.  I use terms like “we often” when it would be more accurate to say “you know I  often”.... so the thing is... maybe this shows fear and I’m so tired of being afraid and I’m so tired of people being afraid and being sold  the fact that they should be afraid.  If you are. Afraid. Like everyone else than you AND I. Are cloaking the process of being  responsible for inaction.  Well though is not enough.  If I and maybe we don’t choose risk and responsibility let’s not shout. Out about our “rights” in the coming  year.  You see living in the now and seeking peace and. Joy really do require acting in an engaged way.  They require saying  ‘fear” is real, yet it only lasts until we learn to grab lessons from “failure and then fear is  just a prompt to provide a menu of risks worth taking.  If I want. You to take this blog or the podcast. Into your heart and soul then I have to admit it comes  from my heart and soul as fed by the people I know, the people i read, the songs I hear and play and on and on.  the time has come for me. To say I am here... it is now... let’s walk forward in the light we  can create and share

Peace, Joy, and Love

Jim January 2022

Perspective On Predictions PartII

 What’s Risky in Seeking Peace and Joy?

So in the previous entry we started exploring  predictions/risks etc. because we often struggle with fear in seeking peace and joy or making  most chosen changes.  The reality is we make guesses based upon incomplete, outdated, and very stilted  data all the time.  This entry will belabor that point with a few more tidbits to chew on.

Making Choices… 

This set of blog entries is about  making choices.  Anybody that tells you they don’t worry  a few times. Now and again  about the choices they make are certifiable or just liars.  Some, maybe most  of us wonder if the choices we make  will lead to heaven/nirvana / the place of 72 virgins…whatever.  Well let’s say  that saints pretty much have a golden ticket to that show.  The odds  of someone becoming a saint (once submitted for sainthood by  the clerics) is approximately 1 in 20 million.  Since the chance that any of my former nuns would suggest such a thing  is about the same  as the chance  of my not listening to music on any given day (0%)  I’ll assume some of my choices will end up on the “he’s not getting into the pearly gates” scoreboard.  The question is…. Does that make me fear making some choices?  Well no… Seeking peace and joy requires living with uncertainty and if that  is translated int insecurity  that’s unfortunate….however why not ponder  on being  completely secure in the knowledge that uncertainty  will not only visit it will bring it’s pet skunk from time to time.  You’re no saint, I’m no saint but we can try to. To good. To and for each other and  our chances are better than one in 20,000,000 of understanding a shared experience  when we do.  

Moving Forward…

Well  our new year’s predictions often assume things will move forward, yet why do we make that assumption?  As adults we don’t always move forward and sometimes  we do things that  might  make the universe shake her head.  We are spending a lot of energy worrying about. Our mode of transportation  be it electric or gas powered.  One thing we can be  proud of is that adults in general have dismissed less fruitful  options.  What options?  Well kids have for generations learned to ride and bounce around on pogo sticks.  One in 115,000  adults who use a pogo stick wind up in the emergency room.  regardless of the zero emissions  and renewable fuel of a pogo stick there is no great call for adopting  any pogo quotient  by the year 2040.  So what’s the point.  We often make good choices and then forget that we do…. So we get more anxious and less able to conquer fear with  other more valuable emotions.  So next time  you wonder if you are making the right choice remember you didn’t go to prom on a pogo stick.  Seeking peace and joy  is sometimes an exercise  in believing inn what we have done enough to do the next thing.  

Finally Fitting in…

Sometimes we wonder and are afraid  because. We don’t think  we will fit in.  Well truth be told sometime we wont.  In fact 4.4 million left handed  people die. While using things designed for right handed people every year.  However, of all the left-handed people who die or don’t die using  these things that bnumber isn’t very big and there is little datat on people who only do some things left-handed.  I drink left-handed and given the graphics on the cup I think it might be a right-handed design.  Will that keep me from raising  a glass to my friends and others willing to care for their fellow man?  No way … Salute.

to sum up so far … don’t be afraid of not being perfect….your odds of first ballot salvation hall of fame are slim and  you like everyone are going to make mistakes.  Every now and then remind yourself that  you have made some really good guesses. And predictions and although you may fall down  you can generally count on the fact that seeking peace and joy will be a vehicle for a joyful meaningful life.  By the way my personal pogo stick  bouncing up record achieved at the age of 9 was 1209 bounces without falling off or stopping…but then it was time for the Lone Ranger or Batman…priorities are priorities.

finally connecting is powerful, and yet worrying about fitting in doesn’t  always have to dominate your choices…. You are sometime going to fit in when you least expect it and sometimes not…. 

Well one more entry on this and some “real” 2022  predictions  in the next blog…. I hope odds are good you’ll read it.   

Risks and Predictions 2022

 Life is Risky… Let’s Make it Riskier??

When the calendar turns a lot of folks asks other folks they call “experts” or prognosticators to predict what will happen in the new year.  This blog is not the lost journal of Nostra Dani’s  and Yogi… once quipped “it’s hard to predict things especially the future.”  In that spirit  the next few days are going to provide some facts to consider when you are making resolutions or predictions for the coming year….or trying to puzzle through  the smooth saying  that comes along with the launch of 2022.  You see… we make guesses or form beliefs  without knowing  some facts and there is a responsibility. (This blog is grabbing ahold of) to provide some facts to help our fellow humans as we ache for security  in taking risks based upon what can be known and what can’t.    

For the next three days  we are going to present and reflect on a few of the known knowns  so be informed and amazed.

Odds are…. 

Today there will be a drawing for the 7th largest lottery total  ever recorded.  We state ever recorded because maybe Noah held a lottery to select the two of each animal to make the arc?  So the yellow bellied sap sucker. Made it and the purple bellied  sap sucker… well not this round.  Okay well the odds of winning  the lottery today are 292.6 million to one.  So that’s a big number and yet a lot of folks are taking that chance while if you ask folks if they think they’ll get killed by a lightning strike they won’t spend a dollar to avoid that.  The odds that you get killed by a lightning strike are  a bit shy of 7 million to one.  So put on your rubber suit because the chance of the bolt streaking down are 41  times as likely  as you drinking umbrella drinks on your own private  island next week because your pet cat’s birthday  fell on the 21st and thus was the power ball number you had to play.  

Will world travel and commerce get straightened out. In the coming year?   

Well let’s consider  some of the most planned for and controlled travel ever.  The Apollo mission to the moon.  So these three guys  get into a modified gulfstream with the computing power of a hand held thermometer  and get strapped to a tube of explosives.  They make a round trip to the moon where everything including their  bladder output is monitored.  Upon returning —here’s comes the thing we all need to know….  These three astronauts  had to go through U. S. Customs.  

Is international travel going to get smoother this year?  fat chance Sputnik.  

Will Supply chain issues get resolved?

first of all.most people have problems understanding  a bicycle chain let alone the intricacies  of financial  and Human Resources  involved in most major manufacturing and  merchandise delivery systems.  Many products are multifaceted multinational  ordeals.  A complete  discussion  of the greed and gore of supply chain matters is beyond the scope of this blog and no matter what facts are presented a lot of folks  might stumble  the vague references to correlations versus causations.  /so let’s simplify … If you think you are  an expert on import/export… did you know???? 

Saudi Arabia imports camels from Australia?  so… beforewestartpointing fingers at who creates the biggest  headache with complex economic things….having. To do with supply and demand… ponder. The fact that somewhere. There is  a kangaroo wondering why  she’s waiting for food  while  a sheik  orders a two-humper.

So …that’s enough for one day… however if we are going to believe in some things that have strange odds  maybe we should consider doing things that might change  our lives with a little more courage.  After all people assume a lot and you don’t have to worry about  them because they don’t really know all there is to be known let alone all that cannot t present  be known.  We’ll address this more in the next couple days…and I predict we’ll talk about it in this blog a whole bunch  in 2022.  

…oh and there’s a 100% chance  we’ll keep  working on seeking peace and joy…. Rock on.  

Meditations Prayers and Poetry Hello Good-bye

 Turning  a Page…Not Quite

Well I…yes I’m writing. In first person today.  Why?  This entry is about prayer and meditation and yes celebration and these are very personal matters so if I’m asking the reader to take things personally…well maybe I owe it to you all.  

At least this once anyway…

for me this time of year is a time of prayer and meditation for a ton of reasons only a few having to do with Christmas, however, that day plus the start of the new year definitely contribute to my state of being/mind.  

So let’s talk meditation.  For me seeking peace and joy means finding ways to bring the things I actually experience in line with spiritual meanings that make sense in answering  the question “why do I exist?”  Peace and Joy are the products of finding insights related to that question.   Meditation helps me actually experience what is going on without attaching the ghosts of what happened before and the fears of the future things I can’t possibly control… (why do i fear things?  Lack of faith mostly…plusit’s good to feel like you control a lot…. Egotism  is easier than humility.  

Meditation places me in a grounded place where my actions have immediate meaning and where I don’t need to worry about any other place or time…. That’s a powerful feeling.  ‘

Also meditation is a place where it feels like I “hear the universal sound” of the great spirit/the force/God.  I can quiet my thoughts, feelings, etc… long enough to be and to learn.  

Prayer…

Now I’ve mentioned this before, yet since it’s still true I’m repeating it today as something for us all to think about.  We often make resolutions about what we want for the new year… we promise ourselves and others changes big and small.  Well… my favorite prayer serves as a reminder about making plans and moving forward in collecting experiences and meanings.  

“Give us today our daily bread”.   

My daily bread is what  I am able to experience and enjoy right now and what i can use to understand my spiritual existence.  I don’t need  to know how it all ends or who comes out on top.  I don’t  need to know if I’ll be successful in the eyes of my friends, family, or the world.   It doesn’t say give me just a little more bread than the next guy or just a bit more than yesterday.  

Forgive us our trespasses…

It doesn’t say… “if  I mess up”. IUt pretty much says… look you are human and sometimes you will f**k up royally.  So… please take into acccount that I will admit. My failures and get over  it when the failures others have create potholes in my fast lane.  

As I forgive those who trespass against me.   It doesn’t say  if you are right hold a grudge until the whole world decrees  you were smarter, faster, wiser, and altogether better than someone else.  It also doesn’t say a human’s forgiveness  has to be infinite it says be reasonable  people… It says take a shot at being fair  and don’t whine.  

It seems  if I can hold on tight to these simple things it doesn’t matter what day the calendar says… 

Now thank you all for reading all year or listening to the podcast… I’mhumbledby thenumbers so it is fitting. I toast you all as the ball gets ready to drop’

The road ahead may not be clear 

But we’ll fly ahead with love not fear

We’ll hold each other’s spirits. High

And last year can kiss our ass good-bye

Love You All