There Are No Rescue Boats Coming.

All systems have limits and all systems produce exactly what they were designed to produce. It's remarkable that it has taken a pandemic with catastrophic results to demonstrate both of these principles.

As humans, we're living beyond the capacity of major, life-supporting systems. Our environmental system is collapsing - extinctions, global warming and life-threatening viruses are the norm. Our economic system is failing us - not since feudal times have we seen such disparity between the haves and have nots. Our political system, designed by wealthy slave owners 250 years ago for a confederation of 13 states and 5 million people to serve the interests of the elite minority (legalized feudal system) is not capable of rationally responding to a crisis in any of our life-supporting systems.

Most forms of government have been fully assimilated by predatory corporate capitalism. In times of crisis, any forms of relief will be designed to protect not the people, but the economic system and the corporate captains. There is a coming reckoning between displaced Americans and capitalists who need their fix. It's inevitable and it will take a revolution by the people to change this system.

There will be no rescue boats. Not for us.

Virus Isolation

I hope folks are settling into this isolation period. Without rigorous testing for both the virus and antibodies and contact tracing on positive test results, we're going to be prisoners in our homes for some time. At this point, it seems like we might have a vaccine before we get testing and tracing. This is crazy because a vaccine is at least 12 months out.

It's surprising to me that there isn't more of a clamor for testing. It worked really well in South Korea and they are starting to send the kids back to school. Here in the US, it seems like we're waiting for a corporation to find a profit stream to take on the initiative.

The feds could fix this in 4 to 5 weeks. The US is the wealthiest country on the planet. We have the resources and we have a process to mobilize those resources. The challenge is the power structure doesn't want to mobilize and the president is as dumb as a stump.

Sticky habits

Evolving and growing as a person requires updated and new skills. One of the best ways to introduce new skills is through habit. Change your habits and you change your world, or something like that.

It is challenging to introduce new habits. One of the ways I've been successful with new habits is by connecting them to existing habits. For example, I'm able to maintain a meditation practice by making it part of a larger lunch habit - leave the office, go home (or wherever) have a quick bite to eat and then provide myself the space and time to be meditative. This has worked well because my lunch habit was strong; I wanted to be out of the office to provide a break in the day. What better way to improve the outcome of that break than by introducing another supportive habit.

My intuition and experience tell me that it is easier to protect my habits in the morning. My resilience is stronger in the morning, and the habits I've created for early morning are important to me, thus, worthy of protection. Anything new I want to introduce will be best served by attaching to existing morning habits.

Letting Go

Joy is the elixir of a happy and productive life. Worry robs you of the opportunity to have joy - it creates a negative emotional state that darkens all that you see.

For me, letting go simply means understanding what to accept and what to work to change.

"Life is lumpy. And a lump in the oatmeal, a lump in the throat, and a lump in a breast are not the same lump. One should learn the difference." Robert Fulghum

Minus Fahrenheit

It's cold.

There are no degrees to be had outdoors. In fact, there are minus degrees outside, so you start at a degree deficit just to get to 0 degrees Fahrenheit. It was -6 degrees F when I woke up this morning.

What woke me up was my wife telling me the pipes froze in our upstairs bathroom. We have lived in this house (built in 1920) for three winters and in two of those our hot water feed to the second floor has frozen. Not much to do but apply heat and wait. Hopefully no burst pipes.

It's really cold.

New Year

Despite the cold, I enjoy this time of year. Days are lengthening, even if slowly. There is a sense of revival and new beginnings to life.

I make no resolutions, although I like to re-examine what I want in my life. For me, this requires a thoughtful approach to my choices and opportunities. Without a commitment to considering what it is you want, you will continue to ride the wave of fate. Fate may or may not be kind, but the point is you will not be moving toward your conscious choices. You will simply be responding to events around you.

I spent some time this morning revising my fundamental and primary choices. It's a work in progress, but simply making adjustments based on what I have achieved and new emerging goals has me feeling optimistic.

Happy New Year

“You are a creator for whom all things are possible, and you create through the focus of your thoughts, your words and the actions that you take- enabling metaphysical principles and an intelligent Universe to conspire on your behalf.”  Mike Dooley

Cold - Very cold

It's bitterly cold here in the northeastern US. Temperatures have been hovering at and below zero for multiple days and there's no sign of relief in the near future. If you must venture out, bundle up and make it quick.

Cold weather is far more dangerous than hot weather to humans. More people die from exposure to cold than to heat. Intuitively, this makes sense. On the hottest day (say 100 degrees or so), the temperature is essentially 15 degrees above comfort level. On the coldest day (we had temps of -8 degrees the other morning), we were 93 degrees below that same comfort temp. Brrrrr.

Stay warm.