Category Archives: Lifestyle hacks

Roots, Rock and Toastmasters

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I’m so very proud of Evening Toastmasters, Club 3802, which I happened to start back in 1991. Our first meetings were held at tiny Live Oak Public Library, located on Distant Memory Lane. What a trip!

The above photo of friend Daniel Jadick shows how it is done — one speech at a time.

A group of us went on to start Coast Toasties with Reasons (previously Green Toastmasters) not long after Evening Toastmasters gaining its apparently quite solid footing, as this club has lasted and thrived heading into its third decade! Being somewhat addicted to the “need to seed” we also started Santa Cruz-based Advanced Toastmasters for those of us who needed extra time to learn how to talk good.

I recall one of our members, dear Linda Johnson, wearing a button that said it all: “I live, eat, sleep and breathe Toastmasters.”

At some point we all “graduated” back into the real world of working with our improved communication and leadership skills. I competed in numerous Humorous Speech and Speech Evaluation contests, which deepened nascent skills, while making us contestants briefly but extremely nervous. Why did we do it? I’m still not entirely clear to this day, but I guess it made us stronger. Better able to face up to “moment of truth” challenges like these, deal with authority figures, communicate with others who may disagree agree with us, but will remain respective, and to learn to rely on our own authority without fainting or triggering aggressive or rude behavior (adrenalin has a way of making many people, well, edgy and provocative).

Toastmasters also makes us better equipped to be full, ethical, connected and skillful human beings, particularly important “at a time like this.”

We celebrate all those who have endured certain fear and likely embarrassment standing and delivering to groups of supportive strangers, who “tell it like it is” through the critiques, and urge us to learn, keep going, practice and do better, where public speaking is apparently about making less a fool of yourself over time. Once you have the basic skills in hand, then mastery comes from stripping away all the unnecessary affectations to become your best self.

As you already know, the fear of public speaking ranks toward the top on the list of things humans fear the most. Or at least that was the case before COVID, before we experienced new lows in derisive national politics, street protests and wildfire outbreaks, all layered on top of fundamental existential threats due to excess heat, smoke, and climate change causing chaos and havoc near you.

It is just a matter of time before things improve here in the fall of 2020, because they certainly will not stay the same. That is perhaps the only thing we can count on, and thus a saving grace — the human spirit and laws of nature combine to show us that gnarly systemic problems are highly unstable, bound to change, and with more and more of us rowing in a similar direction, going to “change for good.”

This gives many of us a sense of purpose. A calling. Climate change and other issues that may have started with a whisper — far enough into the imagined future that we could just keep on doing whatever we were doing — but this year, forces have gathered into one big-ass and contemptuous storm, imperfectly, impossibly, and dramatically showing us the way. If you thought Katrina was a wakeup call, we clearly had no idea of what would follow, with nature now yelling at the top of her metaphorical lungs.

Hang in there. As will I. Don’t got it alone. Be part of groups and find people who support your vision and mission, and who will tell you the truth but with skill and compassion. Delete the toxic and embrace the love. That’s what makes room in your life for lasting happiness.

Thanks for all the great communication and leadership, past and future. Brighter days (and leaders) ahead!

Speech over.

Daniel, self-sequestered in Freedom, CA, 4 October 2020

Coronavirus … all tuckered out … or is it us?

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Let’s be clear, the fear of Coronavirus — even just the name COVID-19 (alias “COrona VIrus Disease [first diagnosed in] 2019“) can send shivers — must not become greater than the real risk of having or transmitting the virus itself.  Information is power.  Let’s keep things in perspective.  Do we really want this period in time to be known as the “TP revolution”?  Is there ever a good reason to rude, stressed, or insensitive to other people’s needs?   If there were, this would be the perfect time.

No, I’m not putting my head in the sand (or anywhere else) with regard to the actual risks. Certainly I’m not some cavalier Viking-type that tries to catch rare, communicable diseases just to prove I can kick some tiny germ ass. Some friends wish to prove they are better and stronger than those who don’t know how to hand-carve a boat out of a tree.

Yes, I’ve met these glory-bound folks, impervious to what almost everyone else considers a real threat, hellbent on building their impenetrable immunity to almost everything (including basic common sense), as if they have some superpowers the rest of us lack. They rarely make good dinner guests.  Yes, some day we will once again invite people over for dinner.  Meanwhile, let those with the antibodies continue to deliver our vital services like improv comedy, distance coaching (such as how to set up an exercise program at home), and … where are the dang Amazon employees when we need them!?

Well, it turned out that you, too, can gain such superpowers.  Some practical advice on what’s real and what you can do to gain the upper hand, check out Dr. Sandy Bevacqua’s global update (35 minutes well spent, IMO) … includes a geographically accurate accounting of all the cases in real time.  Lots of very practical tips … kinda like common sense on steroids, without the steroids.

What am I going to do about it?  Thank you for asking.  My customary complaint that “We don’t out much” has suddenly become a virtue!  I do take comfort in staying close to the bathroom sink so I can inspect my toilet paper supply and actively resist the urge to wash my hands every few seconds, for no particular reason.  I could leap into a lathered frenzy at any moment, if I wanted to!  I just don’t like soap that much.

I also get to enjoy not answering any of my phones (we have like 5 lines, that I know of), just in case it’s a telemarketer selling container-loads of Nigerian hand sanitizer (this actually happened).  To answer the phone would like break my concentration, this self-sequestered solitude and deep calm, interrupting long stretches of letting dust accumulate on my hands.  But none of that nasty, dirty dust, but the clean stuff made by a gas-powered furnace. Of course, my hands should be washed, but I’m too busy not using the telephone.

Plus, if I wanted to talk to anybody I’d text them first.  But to text them I’d first check their status on social media, to see if they’re online.  What’s the point of using text or email if you don’t get the immediate gratification and miniature dopamine rush of a reply?

Our big brains are very good at finding s*** to be afraid of, at anticipating potential threats.  We have a negativity bias, born of good intentions (survival), but we also make a lot of mistakes because of this (Thinking Fast & Slow tells this story — a sequester-worthy read if there ever was one).  So, how do we survive times like this?

In nature, a gazelle manages to focus on their next step, not on the cheetah that is watching it. In brief, this basically means that I work for dopamine, but as my colleague Jamal says, “you can’t fix stupid.”  Check out Loretta Breuning at the Inner Mammal Institute’s Stuck at Home? How to keep up your happy chemicals and avoid threat chemicals.  

You see, we work internationally, mostly by the aforementioned email, phone and text messaging, so we have a largely “Coronavirus-resistant” business model … we do not have employees to sneeze at, or to ask that they stay home, so we all get to enjoy our very long “arm’s length” working arrangements, a mutual sequester, as we have for more than two decades.

So, I recommend that everyone update their antivirus software (the kind of software that lives between our ears) by taking a deep breath, and for goodness sake, try to relax a bit more.  Cortisol only lasts for about an hour, so go at least 90-minutes acting as if there’s enough toilet paper, and you’ll feel better.  Do this now, even if you still have room for supplies in your garage, in your pantry, and in your linen closet.  Its fine to plan for a marathon, not the 100-yard dash you may actually only need, just don’t plan to be miserable that whole time.  I say, buy extra-soft TP or nothing at all. Go berserk and invest in a bidet company?

And ease up on watching the news.  When has anything good ever resulted from watching the news incessantly?

And isn’t climate change the much greater existential threat?  Perhaps that’s of little comfort if you think you’re facing a life-threatening illness, but how about staying calm enough to focus on the longer-term and bigger-picture objective:  distracting yourself from the apparent lack of available toilet paper.

What are we supposed to do in the meantime?  Stay healthy and strong.  Thump your thymus.  Watch or listen to the above linked update starting at 25 minutes in to boost your immune system — some very practical tips.  Oh, and if you’re not Canadian, be sure to eat enough kale.  If you are Canadian, can we borrow your healthcare system so we don’t have to eat so much kale?

Dr. Loretta says “You can make this a moment you’ll look back on with pride and a sense of accomplishment.”

That’s all I got.

Happy 2020 — the Year of Perfectly Clear Vision

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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.

The only thing better than being busy is being busier?

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.

Rather than admiring the opportunities, seize them!

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.

exercise on the edge

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.