Quick comment on US politics: Guess who said it? Don’t cheat.
“Governments can err, Presidents do make mistakes, but the immortal Dante tells us that divine justice weighs the sins of the cold-blooded and the sins of the warm-hearted on different scales. Better the occasional faults of a party living in the spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a party frozen in the ice of its own indifference.”
Click on page 2 to reveal the author…
The world is definitely waking up. And some of us are helping, by waking up ourselves and making enough noise to awaken others! Ignore their groans and complaints. They can sleep when they’re dead. Today I feel inspired to share a few signs of that awakening — albeit quietly — that appears to be happening all over the place, in order to spark more of it. Maybe even hone a shared vision in this new decade.
What inspires you?
Got vision? Tell me at daniel(@)daniel-robin.com
For me, its the reversal of climate change, as we have the means, but we just need a good dose of togetherness — as in, “we’re in this together.” Like it or not, agree with it or not, this is a shared predicament, and the sense of urgency that many of us feel (and have felt for quite some time) can be harnessed — in fact, it must be harnessed to avoid burning out.
As an ambassador-in-training for Serenity Labs (serenitylabs.co), focused on Lifestyle Design, Mental Wellbeing and Conscious Leadership, I’m gradually coming into my own newfound awareness and feel blessed and grateful lately with insights about what’s needed and how to answer the call. Somehow, evolution happens, even if in tiny “micro-doses” via quick peeks behind the curtain.
So, rather than being busy and busier, finding a way to go slow, at first, helps you go further (to “get there here”), and that much faster.
Part of this odyssey is learning and relearning how to reconstitute oneself. How to resurrect or reinvent or restore one’s aliveness, over and over again. I alternate between feeling slightly stuck (manifests as feeling un-free — tethered to my desk, under a mound of backlogged work, unable to stand up straight and move forward, like dragging the weight of the world and projects left undone) and then, suddenly and without rhyme or reason … transformed!
There’s light in between the stuckness and the moments of transformation, of course, and that’s not just the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. This light manifests initially as an embodied sense of stagnation (a seemingly infinite loop from the presumption of lack – all kinds of crazy/diverse work without the hoped-for results), and by going IN to the stuckness and stagnation, not trying to escape it, I am free. This can be subtle — like going beyond a perceived limit for exercise, or by letting a problem work itself out, or by sheer force of will to see through a challenging project that has been all potential with not enough energy to reach a conclusion.
By going into the core of something, rather than fooling around at the edges, the embodied energy gets released. If I had been holding that energy back, feeling unable to “get there from here,” this staring down the issues, looking directly into its eyes, causes the stuck feeling to subside, as I often catch myself not breathing into all that is abundant, all that changes (like pretty much everything) and all that blossoms and bears metaphorical fruit. Breathing into and out from the core is transformation.
For example, we have a vacant area near us, denuded of plants to ensure there is “no place to hide” for homeless and criminals and drug addicts that are so common in this part of California. As part of my artist wife’s love of Spring, at the core of her wildness, I just helped her throw oodles of native plant ‘seed bombs’ over our fence into the neighboring creek corridor. Why? Because regeneration starts at home! Combining clay and mostly flower seeds into these projectiles has preoccupied her, having collected seeds from native plants we find on hikes.
Or, more internally driven, I deliberately break though my own self-imposed limitations starting with the physical (inspired by lab tests that indicate I have high triglycerides, coupled with a decision to MOVE more), where “exercise on the edge” is about maintaining a heart rate close to 100% of my theoretical maximum, as anything less and I won’t even break a sweat. This is somehow a bit of grace mixed with sheer will, designed to ‘punch a hole in the ceiling’ of what I assumed was even possible. It is very uncomfortable, at times even fairly painful (ginger root helps), to sustain such an intense aerobic state. I did not think I could do it for more than 15 minutes. Now I can go at it for 30-45 minutes and, as a result, I see the world and myself differently.
Perhaps all this is “normal” for you, but for my part, the opportunities at hand are so vast I’ve had to “hack” my own lifestyle just to keep up. The forces opposing and the forces putting wind in the sails of this worldwide movement are quite compelling. The oppositional forces are, more and more, bending to move in the directions of renewal and rebirth, regeneration and eco-restoration, vulnerabilities and liabilities into strengths of verdant aliveness, investible assets and outrageous abundance.
My company’s deal flow has increased dramatically since the start of this year, thanks mostly to our brilliant affiliates. A well-attended masterclass had something to do with it; we have another, more advanced program coming in early 2020. More on this
Many of our affiliates are quite active, with a few hyperactive (the lion’s share) bringing forward highly qualified renewables and other mid-market infrastructure projects worldwide. So 2020’s the year of “perfectly clear vision” to restore and regenerate healthy soils, capture massive amount of carbon in the earth’s biome, greatly reduce new carbon emissions, and thus accelerating the process of slowing down and eventually reversing climate change. Amen.
I’ve been sharing feedback on Amazon lately that shows a lot of folks had high hopes for a book that holds promise for genuinely increasing our happiness — more of what we want, less of what we don’t want, and more a sense of control over our lives. Who wouldn’t want that?!
But this benefit is not free — the book costs money, the time it takes to read, and then the ass-kicking part, consistent rehearsal of new habits to replace the old. Thus, it isn’t without some effort, but if you focus on something that really matters to you, it will be worth it.
The book is HABITS of a HAPPY BRAIN by Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD. A marvel of nerdy usefulness, but not of much value unless you apply it to something that’s truly important in your life. I happen to be a kinesthetic learner, as many humans are, which just means that until I get my body into it, I carry around the awareness of new ideas but don’t discover the true potential until I create the conditions for integration as new automatic behavior. Those conditions are a mix of environment (literally the place or room or surroundings where I spend most of my time) and anchors or triggers or reminders that I’m in learning mode, rehearsal for 3-6 weeks until it becomes rote. It helps, I’ve discovered, to assume there’s an impending performance, that is, I’ll be sharing or re-teaching or otherwise demonstrating (walking the talk) to others what I have learned to do or not do.
Most recently applied to dietary habits, I no longer have sugary treats in my house; next I’ll eliminate carbo snacks … not buying bags of chips and other “extra” calories is a great way of not participating in my default-mode “see food” diet — I see the food, and then I eat it. Out of sight, out of mind.
Turns out that the mind is overrated. We are bundles of good and bad habits (and this book helps pinpoint which ones you’ve built that don’t actually work for you) and we can actually make adjustments by replacing the bad ones with better ones, and cut ourselves some slack. Will power and discipline also work, but are much more difficult to execute consistently. If you’re at all a creature of habits, your default mode (habitual ways of doing things) will inevitably take over and you’ll wonder how those cookie crumbs got on your shirt. Hmmm. I wonder.
Too Much Admiration, not enough perspiration
To move forward and get results from reading a book about habits, you cannot just read the book and expect much to change. I you have much hope that reading a book will provide some magic panacea, insight, or discovery that breaks through the “habits of mind” already part of your operating system, then I empathize, and you can let go of that false dream right now. Why? It has been said that we “can’t talk ourselves out of something we behaved ourselves into.” That simply means we won’t get there from here without applying the information, and consistently doing some select things differently for 3-6 weeks … what studies show is required to form a new habit. That’s the proscribed way to get value from this material, too.
Reading about it will exercise only your intellect, keeping the useful insights in your awareness for only a short time, then they’ll be quickly forgotten, as old habits continue to guide behavior, … not the good intentions of your conscious mind that got you going in the first place. This can be frustrating because you clearly intend to change something that matters in your life. We all want to realize the promise of greater happiness, and it seems logical to expect that reading a book should deliver at least some of that. No such luck.
Our good intentions are going to be lost — like a ship of foolish ideas that gets caught on the rocky shore, dashed into a million pieces — without building new circuits to replace the ones we already have. Get both your head and heart into it, use your great intellect to wrap yourself around a few key opportunities (or even just 1) and then consistently rehearse the new neuronal pathway, and your body (automatic behavior, AKA your new “happier habit”) will follow. Spend no time whatsoever admiring this opportunity — do this now, and do it consistently for awhile and you’ll be rewarded with lasting change. That’s why the author is focused on “new habits” (Chapter 6), where embodiment is the only way to translate the value of this highly technical book into action, which takes effort (ignoring the inner choir that will sound the alarm the minute you begin doing something new), but if you prioritize your opportunities will deliver great, life-long benefits. Have fun with it!
Good NY Times article about procrastination. Put off reading this as long as possible :>)
The article explains how non-creative, driven types tend toward “pre-crastination” – the urge to start and finish a task ASAP. Of course some tasks deserve more time … the road less traveled (or not yet constructed), to innovate, contemplate, cogitate … to allow for flow to happen. Many artists as well as entrepreneurs are good at that more creative allowing, not forcing, discovering what is possible, so why bring this up at all?
Because in between these two archetypes – the dreamer (what could be done) and the realist (what must be done) – is the opportunity for peace, optimal performance and great fun.
The companion blog post that will bring this point home, helping us avoid the “Dark Playground” that is nearly everyone’s nemesis: waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastinate.html
The Dark Playground is where the “Instant Gratification Monkey” wants us to go play. It is the culprit, naturally. Every good story needs one of these (hint: dopamine is not necessarily our friend). Out of all the deep neurological impulses, pleasure (approaching system), pain (avoiding system) and participation (affiliation system), which one usually wins out? If you are reading this, looking for an answer, I believe you just got served.
I’m not saying this is or is not an issue for you – I do not live in your head … hey, I barely live in my own head! But reflecting on it may offer some useful perspective.
Here’s a reasonable antidote to this more mental fascination, which is ultimately about our somewhat pedestrian and subjective relationship to time and task completion: Mindfulness — An Eight-week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World. Quite a joyful prospect in this book, based on techniques even I’m finding useful.
But sometimes poetry captures the soul of an idea more than anything else. This quick video of author Mark Williams rendering a poem by Roger Keyes, inspired by the paintings of Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) says it all: twitter.com/drdannypenman/status/648897679934758913
Mindfulness says “let life live through you.”
Happy Martin Luther King Day 2016,
Daniel
Okay, nature lovers. Listen up. Turns out that the wildly visionary science fiction fantasy in the 2009 film Avatar isn’t so much fiction as premonition. Trees do communicate with one another via underground mycelium web, but not just in grunts and groans — useful things like “Not enough water reaching that sycamore near the sagebrush, … send in reinforcements,” although probably they have an accent of some sort.
In Avatar, The Tree of Souls (Ayvitrayä Ramunong in Na’vi) is a tree where the Na’vi are able to communicate with the biological network. In the film, the tree is seen to be capable of transferring a specific consciousness from one body to another.[20]
I’m not saying Planet Earth trees are like J. R. R. Tolkien’s “Ent” personification of giants that walk and talk. To suggest that trees walk is entirely absurd. But that other thing, the talking part, apparently not so far-fetched. And more importantly, they not only communicate, but they cooperate, too.
Don’t believe me? University of British Columbia professor Suzanne Simard explains that “trees in a forest ecosystem are interconnected with the largest, oldest ‘mother trees’ serving as hubs.” Here’s the science and a 4′ 41″ video that tells all: karmatube.org/videos.php?id=2764 or if that one ain’t talkin’, try treehugger.com instead.
Not to gossip, but it turns out that the underground exchange of nutrients increases the survival of younger trees linked into the network of old trees. Go figure.
This gallery contains 11 photos.
Pinnacles National Monument, California, 1 April 2012 (no foolin’!) Since I have numerous business blogs, I thought I’d use this space to share recent photos and close-up video of condors, once extremely endangered, but now beginning to flourish again, seen … Continue reading