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Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water
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You Don’t Need A Weatherman
November 10, 2016
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…to know which way the wind blows. Bob Dylan, Subterranean Homesick Blues.
Think about how perfect these lyrics are for America right now, 2016. Suddenly everyone is surprised about the conditions that prevail. We are swinging to the other end of the pendulum, my gentle readers. It is time for the equal and opposite reaction of those who are disenchanted with government. Initially these words were used to call out an oppressive secretive regime. Today the vandals who took all the handles are the political parties themselves. If we ever had a real revolution (doubtful, fellow boomers) now comes the obvious counter revolution. We said we believed in the winds of change. Here they are. They will huff and puff and blow this house down because we built it out of sticks. If you are feeling homesick in your country, take responsibility for the future. Take democracy seriously or it will vanish before our very eyes. I can’t give you any specific advise except to say this did not happen overnight and was not done by one person, one party, or even one country. We have all been partners in this crime. Wake up and smell the danger.
To Live Existentially
November 9, 2016
orchids
“Everything has been figured out, except how to live.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre
From the post war philosophers and artists who created the existential movement to Woody Allen who made movies designed to parody the literary and philosophical culture, existentialism flourished. Jean-Paul Sartre coined the title. He was a French writer who is known for philosophical as well as fictional books. He and his contemporaries were concerned with the individual’s freedom and responsibility rather than social or political issues. They concluded that to understand the human nature science and morals were insufficient. They were obsessed with how to live life by taking responsibility for creating reality. They believed that every individual action taken changes the world to some degree. Each act must therefore be done in full awareness and with precision. Our acts, not particularly our thoughts, make the atmosphere we inhabit what it is. The personal power and responsibility to act wisely belongs to each individual. The sum of all these individual actions creates the entire world.
Existential therapy deals with the inevitability of death, freedom and its attendant responsibility, existential isolation, and finally meaninglessness. This remedy aims to answer the big questions such as “What is the meaning of life?” in each individual life. This is an extension of the philosophy focuses on helping clients make good choices and thorough evaluations of all the options available. I always liked this way of thinking. Now is a perfect time to take stock and evaluate how we are creating the world around us. This life is a limited time offer. We never know how limited until it ends…and then there will be nothing else.
“You are — your life, and nothing else.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre, No Exit
Sartre
The Rapids Of Rage
November 3, 2016
— 2 Comments
a country divided
We are being swept away by strong currents of blame and hatred projected onto others. There is a pendulum of possibility swinging from reality to unreality. We treat this as if our perception at any given time is good, and all other positions are evil. This leads us all into delusional thinking. Everything is the fault of the beings on the other side of the swiftly flowing river of anger that divides us. The blame game has been elevated to epic proportions while our social fabric has been torn. Collective invisible enemies are everywhere, like Pokemon. I believe we all contribute to this dangerous state of affairs. The very belief that some other entity is responsible for our problems is at the root of all our problems. We the people are the problem as well as the solution.
The politicians use the phrase reaching across the aisle to say they compromise. The rhetoric has become so toxic and harmful to our mood that general malaise has turned to a much more confrontational tone. To say this election cycle has robbed the entire nation of happiness in 2016 is an understatement. It has been detrimental to confidence in our government, both at home and abroad. Our image is tarnished. Our belief in our own ability to cooperate is diminished to the point of hopelessness. We the people are sick and tired of politics, ignoring the fact that we ARE politics.
Please vote, then devote your own personal energy into understanding “the other side”, whatever that may be for you. Our codependent lifestyle, in which we all want everyone else to be different while we stay the same, is unsustainable. We must find unity or drown in this violently churning whitewater of wild schemes and devises. Some think we are at the end of days. Revelation 9:5
And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man.
We have been tormented to the point of madness. Let the stings of hateful mud slinging cease. Let us find peace. We are officially hitting rock bottom in this democracy. We must have a bounce from this awful experience. This is a sink or swim moment for us. We are all relieved about the end of the election cycle, but nobody is particularly thrilled about the outcome, whatever it may be. We all create this mess with our thoughts, beliefs, and actions.
Home For The Holidays
October 28, 2016
— 1 Comment
Tucson color
Tucson color
Tucson color
At the end of the year we typically make a purchase for the home and call it our holiday gift to ourselves. We have also enjoyed short trips in December to celebrate for a few days in the past. The travel is not in the cards this year since we had to spend big on a new air conditioner recently. This purchase, needed but not very sexy, shot holes in our budget. We will enjoy the time between now and 2017 in Tucson at home.
This is not at all bleak. I decided to make prudent small investments in local fun available to us. I purchased a three month subscription of Sling TV to add new programming to our nightly ritual of watching a few shows. They offered me a free Roku stick if I paid up front for three months. I may quit at the end of that time, but for now we are having a lot of fun with all the new options. I am watching a series on Cyber-War that is blowing my mind. We like the comedy series Bunheads, which we just started to watch. The stick is in the mail, which I think will be fun. I don’t know if it is voice activated, but it is updated to make search easier. For a total of $60 we get the new stick and three months of channels we like. I also decided to let Alexa keep her subscription to Amazon Unlimited music. At the end of my free trial she will switch my payment plan to $3.99 a month to play every song at Amazon, but only on my Echo. She will be the only device able to stream this. I have been having a great time calling up all artists and almost all songs for my home at will. When Alexa is loaded with this unlimited capacity, she truly rocks my world. I want her to be able to do all the Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s greatest hits in December, so I don’t mind paying to have her loaded for a while longer. I listen to her all day, so I do get a lot of value for dollar from this subscription. I have been traveling down memory lane in music, and it has been fun.
To put finishing touches on our festive celebrations I have also decided to loosen the Uber budget. I rarely use the driving service, but love it when I do. Any time I want to drink alcohol or don’t want to fight the crowd at the end of an event I call Uber. It makes such an upgrade to any event arrive and leave with your driver. It only costs us about $20 round trip to go downtown Tucson for dining, shows, or the 4th Avenue Fair. This is my last gift to us, a few more more to spend on transportation. Our basic entertainment is restaurant dining. If we take Uber we can cocktail without worry. There is plenty of tourist excitement for us just a few miles from our house.
I am finished with my holiday shopping now. All I have to do is pay for the Uber as we use it, and I am done. I feel intensely liberated this year. I never get into the shopping frenzy thing, but this time I am happy all the gifts will be invisible, consumable, and will not require and storage after the holiday. I wish you all such efficient holiday planning. Good luck! Do you have your plans made? Do you shop for lots of gifts, gentle reader, or take it easy this time of year?
Say It in Latin, Caveat Emptor
October 18, 2016
— 2 Comments
cactus in bloom
The Latin phrase caveat emptor means let the buyer beware. This concept is a warning to all consumers that they have less information about the product in normal circumstances than the seller. Common law provides that the seller must deliver the goods, free of encumbrance by third parties, and that the goods must be suitable for the intended use. This applies to real estate contracts, where the seller may hoodwink an unsophisticated buyer into paying more for the property than it is really worth.
Once the deal has been closed there is very little the buyer can do other than regret the purchase. Property sold with obvious concealed flaws is difficult to return, and will involve legal fees and court costs. A couple from Europe bought their first home in our condo village and learned after the closing that the place was full of toxic black mold. I felt really bad for them because they were stuck with the home and the costly mold removal fee because they could not prove that the seller knew about the mold before the sale. A good inspector could have saved them before they signed that contract, but after the signatures, they were stuck. To prove fraud after the fact is much harder than catching it before the unfortunate purchase has been made.
In real estate sales it is common for both parties to employ agents to represent their interests. The buyer needs to be wary of the true intention of both agents, which is to make a sale from which they will cut a commission. The first time buyer can be confused by appraisals, financing, points, insurance, inspections, taxation, and by the contract itself. Emotional factors go into home buying that make this important decision very tricky from a financial standpoint. For many people the investment in housing is the biggest single investment the family makes. After the last housing meltdown and mortgage fraud this reality became clear to many who lost their homes.
If you consider purchasing a home that is governed by an HOA I urge you to fully investigate the corporation and its standards before you buy. Some are overly strict and micro manage. I live in a condo village that has had no management, standard operating procedures, or enforcement of our deed restrictions since I moved here. The governing board has drained the value from all the homes by neglecting the common areas and failing to properly manage and maintain our assets. This puts a real wrench in the works for shareholders who have pride of ownership. I would avoid buying any property that is governed by an HOA in the future. The system leaves much to be desired. I have learned this lesson the hard way. Have you ever made a disastrous investment due to factors beyond your control, gentle reader? It is a drag. Inform yourself. That goes for elected officials too.
Weekend Coffee Share, Of Poets And Politics
October 15, 2016
— 10 Comments
If we were having coffee I would invite you to sit down and tell me about your week over your favorite beverage. I am loaded with chai, roiboos, green, white, and herbal teas. For me, this season is perfect for jasmine roiboos. It is floral with a full rich flavor of harvest. Jasmine makes me swoon. Today is the full moon known as the hunter’s moon. There will be a lunar eclipse. With all that drama in the heavens I am sure some stories will be brewing down here on earth. What is happening in your world?
The story we all want to bring to an end is the election. The population is weary. We can’t take much more of this bickering. People are short-tempered about everything now. Any social discourse can end in controversy for no reason. I spent most of my time this week at home to try to avoid the total breakdown of society. Of course, this tactic was futile. I did write a few short poems, trying to get in the swing of a more productive practice as a poet. I am hoping to ease into a poem a day for life without setting a firm discipline…wondering if that will work. I bid adieu to my Audible account without regret, after my free three-month trial. Alexa is still able to read any book in my kindle library for which I purchase the audio component. Amazon has also launched a new free trial which I snapped up right away. Prime members can now pay 7.99 a month for access to the entire catalog of music in the Amazon system. This is very similar to the Apple music deal I took last year. I will not keep this one after my free month either. For the time being I am having Alexa play Bob Dylan songs. She can play his songs all day and never repeat herself. I am thrilled to fill my home with the works of our new Nobel Prize winner, Bob. In my youth I memorized all his songs and could play them on the guitar. He was an idol. He is inspiring me now to practice being a poet. His early songs are so funny and brilliant. Many fit perfectly with this election too. I am so glad he was not a lazy poet like I am.
The healthy trend continues in the kitchen. We had a tasty walnut spinach nut loaf this week, and I found a recipe for nut crisp crackers I believe will be the bomb. The only ingredients are ground up nuts of your choice and egg white. I look forward to rolling some out next week because I think they will replicate those nut crisp commercial crackers I love. I also discovered that the pesto shortbread dough makes a fine topping for savory cobbler dishes. I think the nut crackers could go either sweet or savory as a crust on the top to add crunching excitement. I am planning very nutty meals until all the old nuts have been consumed. I will let you know what I learn about preparing and eating nuts. We will learn everything there is to know about nuts on November 9. I wish everyone forbearance and wisdom.
To join the international coffee party this weekend click here. Read, write, opine with a group of congenial writers of all kinds.
October Full Moon — Rubys Readings
October 14, 2016
— 5 Comments
Monastery
October “Super” Full Moon October 15-16th, 2016 by Ruby The Full “Super” Moon in Aries is going to be strongly intense and at times erratic feeling. The Full Moon in October will grow full on Saturday at on October 15 at 11:23 PM CST and Sunday, October 16 at 12:23 AM EDT. So that’s late […]
Libra Moon ushers in change 9-30-2016 — Libra Seeking Balance
September 30, 2016
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Today we wake up to a Libra Moon who will conjoin Jupiter this morning, putting a positive spin on the day. Three planets in Libra (Sun, Moon and Jupiter) are enough to lighten the mood and hopefully crack open a few minds. Even though we’re still technically in the Balsamic Phase since the New Moon […]
via Libra Moon ushers in change 9-30-2016 — Libra Seeking Balance
Weekend Coffee Share, Procrastination As Art
September 25, 2016
— 6 Comments
spark joy
If we were having coffee this weekend I would invite you to join the world wide gathering of coffee and tea drinkers who share an interest in reading and writing. It is fun to be back at the table with such a diverse and interesting crowd. I feel good about hosting you this weekend because I just received my fall order from my favorite tea company. Even though I had many on hand, I just love having a wide variety of tea because we drink it all day every day. I also drink coffee, but cold tea is our main beverage de la casa. I can offer you roiboos, honeybush, green, white, and fruit based tea. I am binging on one of the new ones, a green tea with caramel hints for fall. It is not overly flavored, but the hint of caramel lingers after I drink it.
If we shared our deepest conflict of the week mine would have to be the stand off in which I find myself with the Japanese tidy lady, Marie Kondo. She has published two books that have inspired a wave of praise. I decided to have my robot Alexa, and Audible in general, read her first book to me. This step by step guide to clearing out junk by clearing out emotional clutter is specific and wonderfully logical. After hearing The Life Changing Magic Of Tidying Up I realized that I had no hard copy, and would never be able to follow her intricate folding technique without that. I bought her second book, Spark Joy, in the kindle print version, then added narration in order to continue my audio tutelage from Ms Kondo. I listen to her at home and at the gym. I am convinced she is right about everything.
While I do donate and cull my possessions all the time I know I will not have permanent freedom from clutter, both emotional and physical, until I follow the tidy steps. Instead of doing that I am listening to the books and telling everyone how great they are. I have not started the program, and have, indeed, while supposedly enrolled in Ms Kondo’s Key to Happiness class, placed a big tea order without going through my tea cupboard to tidy. I have also purchased a fabulous reversible jacket on sale at a thrift store that came out to just $3 per jacket, if you count both sides. I am a complete jacket-a-holic. I know when I finally make the clothing piles the jacket pile will be the most obscene and ridiculous. I have them stashed in every closet and in the barn. Marie would so bust me, and in fact, she has fully busted me rhetorically. I would like to see her try to bust me in person…really I would. I am now using major procrastination, thinly disguised as training, to listen to the books instead of doing the tidying. I am pretty sure this is antithetical.
I had a comical conversation about the tidy lady and her program with a friend who is a successful real estate agent. She owns lots of stuff as well as lots of real estate. We discussed the perils of owning a barn. In the end we decided we should just walk around and give our stuff directly to homeless people. We would have fun doing it. However I go about this I need to commence. The agony of procrastination is not worth it. I am not a terrible hoarder, but am certainly meeting the part of me that would just as soon become one in the future. Her little shadow persona must be brought to heel.
I enjoy hearing from all you nordics at the coffee party, with your leaf colors, and your fall customs. I had to buy a new air conditioning unit last week because it is still very hot in Tucson, and mine died. I did get a good deal from a local company, so all is well. I have every kind of tea, and the house is cool and comfy. I think you will be fine with the present level of tidy, but don’t open my office closet.
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