“I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
― Henry David Thoreau
“What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
This week contains the middle of the month. It’s July, the summer has settled in, and new life is everywhere. The days are long, although beginning to shorten more noticeably. Nature is at her best, with flowers everywhere, the trees thick with leaves and the songs of birds flowing endlessly as they go about the business of living.
Are you able to see any of it, or is your head down while you look for the weeds?
Life always presents multiple opportunities to experience appreciation, gratitude and love. But because we live in a world where there are laws, the law of gravity, law of attraction, and so on, there is also the law of opposing forces. Duality is the nature of our existence. Light and dark, up and down, female and male, good and bad – for every one thing there is an opposite. So, in every moment there is the choice to look at one thing or another.
Where some see pain, I see strength. Where there is oppression, there is also humanity. Disaster exists with relief, and destruction mingles with creation. Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change. Be in the world today, but not of it. Know that your journey here is temporary. Appreciate each moment as it comes, no matter what form it takes. Life is happening right now. Are you awake enough to notice it?
Virus Mutations – Viruses mutate. It’s something they are very good at doing, and it’s why you can get a flu shot that would have kept you safe two years ago but is completely ineffective now. It is also why Covid-19 is going to be a challenge.
In a recently published study from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, it was shown that strains of a common subtype of influenza virus, H3N2, have almost universally acquired a mutation that blocks antibodies from binding to a key viral protein. “These findings tell us that flu vaccines focusing on the hemagglutinin protein are leaving the virus openings to evolve and evade other types of immunity,” says study senior author Andrew Pekosz, PhD, professor and vice chair of the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Bloomberg School.
According to Pekosz, this highlights the potential for flu viruses to evade therapies, seasonal vaccines, and the ordinary immune response, showing the need for targeting multiple sites on the virus and reducing the chance that single mutations can develop such resistance. It’s a challenge to hit a target that keeps moving.
What’s in the Sky? – The Sun and Jupiter are heading into opposition, exact early tomorrow, and recent excesses can be exposed, demanding a change or shuffling in priorities. There may be a conflict between what you think you should do and what you want to do. With the Moon entering Taurus this afternoon, take a slower, more deliberate approach to everything, including making decisions. The urge to grow and expand is strong, but make sure not to overreach. With a methodical approach, all things will come together as you intended.
Thought of the Day – Try not thinking today. Be in the moment. If you are eating, then eat. Do only that and nothing else. Experience life as a unique event from one moment to the next, becoming fully immersed in the now. It is a peaceful way to exist. Have a fabulous Monday.
“If you knew who walked beside you at all times, on the path that you have chosen, you could never experience fear or doubt again.”
― Wayne Dyer