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Surviving or Thriving? – The Daily, May 22, 2020

Don’t ignore the signs of danger. Take responsibility for what you allow into your life

“The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they’re going to have some pretty annoying virtues.” 
― Elizabeth Taylor

Reaching for comfort food seems like a good idea sometimes. It’s a way to feel secure, if only for a moment. But every action has consequences. Make today a day of balance, of enjoying yourself but not at the expense of health.

Exercise is the key to a healthy life. As children, we run around with such enthusiasm and unbridled joy that it can be annoying to the older people around us. It’s totally natural though. Our bodies are built for movement, and unfortunately our society is designed to keep us as sedentary as possible. It is important to become aware of how inactive you are allowing yourself to be.

A new study from UT Southwestern Medical Center reinforces the importance of exercise not just on physical health, but on brain health and memory too. Scientists have touted the virtues of exercise for its effects on the brain, but it wasn’t always clear why the association was so important. This study found that “exercise boosts blood flow into two key regions of the brain associated with memory. Notably, the study showed this blood flow can help even older people with memory issues improve cognition, a finding that scientists say could guide future Alzheimer’s disease research.”

More: “Brain imaging of the exercise group, taken while they were at rest at the beginning and end of the study, showed increased blood flow into the anterior cingulate cortex and the hippocampus — neural regions that play important roles in memory function.” So get up and get moving if you want to keep your brain at its best.

Thought of the Day – Expecting someone or something to fix you without putting in any effort to improve your own situation is the highest form of a victim mentality. At some point, when you become an adult, it’s time to accept responsibility for your own situation. Look within for the answers and do what needs to be done.

“Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.” 
― Sigmund Freud

“Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself.” 
― Jean-Paul Sartre

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When Nothing’s the Same – The Daily, May 21, 2020

Everything is beautiful, in it’s own way…

“Living is Easy with Eyes Closed.” 
― John Lennon

“Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.” 
― Benjamin Franklin

I woke up today and watched the sun rising. The sky filled with beautiful shades of lilac and rose, then a brighter orange and pink. Finally the sun illuminated everything and the dark was vanquished for another day.

Thinking about the anniversary of the Mount St. Helen eruption and the day the skies went dark reminded me of September 11, 2001. The sky in New York went dark that day too. It was temporary though, horrible and life changing and scarring but still temporary.

It amazes me how much we take for granted. We find things to complain about even when all around us there is evidence that so much is going right. What if the sun didn’t shine today, or for a month, or a year? Interestingly enough, we are entering into what scientists call a Grand Solar Minimum. They knew it was coming, but don’t seem concerned about it.

Every 11 years or so, sunspots fade away, bringing a period of relative calm. “This is called solar minimum,” says Dean Pesnell of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. “And it’s a regular part of the sunspot cycle.” Of course, now some people are worried that we are going to have an ice age. Not true, say the experts.

From NASA’s climate division – “The warming caused by the greenhouse gas emissions from the human burning of fossil fuels is six times greater than the possible decades-long cooling from a prolonged Grand Solar Minimum. Even if a Grand Solar Minimum were to last a century, global temperatures would continue to warm. Because more factors than just variations in the Sun’s output change global temperatures on Earth, the most dominant of those today being the warming coming from human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.”

So, thank you global warming?

The Year We Will Always Remember – 2020, for many reasons, is a year that will go down in the history books. From the tragic death of basketball legend Kobe Bryant, to the pandemic and the historic changes it has brought including the closing of borders and economic fallout, nothing about this year has been routine. And it’s not even June yet. What’s waiting on the other side? Maybe a quicker return to normal than we may have thought. Maybe not.

Travel has been impacted across the globe. Tourism is non-existent, and airlines are struggling to stay afloat. In an article from Forbes, Airlines Call for Uniform Rules as Air Travel Recovers, But Will Governments Agree?, several concerns are voiced that have no easy answers. “The airline association repeated its objections to more stringent measures that would negatively impact the financial viability of aviation, including quarantines and ‘social distancing’ requirements onboard aircraft which dampen demand and artificially reduce aircraft capacity.”

The need for unity across all countries regarding the rules affecting air travel will be challenging to achieve, to say the least. This is one sector that may have a very difficult time trying to figure out a new path.

Thought of the Day – Appreciate what is around you. From the birds singing, to the grass growing, to the sunsets and sunrises that colour every day, be aware of how magnificent the world is. Live from a place of gratitude and see how it changes your life instantly. Today can be anything you want it to be, in the cozy confines of your mind.

“You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us. And the world will live as one.” 
― John Lennon

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Friendly Skies – The Daily, May 20, 2020

If you are feeling down, look up. It brings a whole new perspective to your world

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” 
― Rumi

“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” 
― Albert Einstein

The world around us is an agreement. From the currency that we use to buy things, to the way children are educated, to what we do in retirement – it is all based on agreements and traditions that are passed down from one generation to the next.

Sometimes something happens that hastens the evolution of these customs. Wars, stocks market crashes, or pandemics are life-altering events that force society to make some changes. It is out of these moments that we can try to make everything better than it was before – but whose definition of better do we use?

If you were doing well financially, socially and personally before an event happened, then it is likely that you want things to go back as close as possible to the way they were. If you were struggling, then maybe you would like to see some differences. If you were an activist championing some cause, then you want the world to change the way you feel it should be.

With so many different cultures and personalities in this big world, sometimes finding a consensus opinion on what is good is challenging. Time will tell where we go from here.

Expand Your World – From May 21 to May 25, there is a good reason to look up. From the article How to Watch Mercury, Venus, and the Moon All Unite in This Week’s Skies on Forbes.com, Ethan Siegel, Ph.D., an astrophysicist, shares how we can all see some exciting planetary movements. The pictures and diagrams in the article are interesting and explain what’s going on in our planetary neighbourhood very well.

Ready to Travel – Some people don’t have a choice about flying. Work or family obligations put them onto planes and into the air at a time when many people are questioning how soon they will feel comfortable to fly again. One thing is for certain – it isn’t like it used to be. From The Guardian, this is an interesting look at what a return trip to Hong Kong from Europe and the subsequent quarantine looked like. Read about it here: Flying Long Haul During Covid-19

Thought of this May Day – No matter what is going on around you, as long as you stay grounded and focused on what you can control, you will be okay. When everyone around you is losing their wits, keep yours. You might need them one day. Enjoy a peaceful, beautiful day.

“Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.” 
― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein

“What are wits for unless a man uses them?” 
― Ellis Peters, The Heretic’s Apprentice

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New Beginnings – The Daily, May 19, 2020

Yellow, orange and red – the three colours of the lower chakras. Connect with the physical world today

“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days.” 
― Zig Ziglar

“The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” 
― Confucius

With the world changing around us, it seems like a good opportunity to jump on board and make some changes at a personal level. Maybe it’s a good time to take some online courses, or learn how to paint or start a fitness routine. With a computer and the internet, there is no limit to what you can learn if you devote a little effort.

It doesn’t have to cost anything, or at the most a few dollars. Don’t sign up for pricey courses without first checking around for everything that is available. There are many good resources on YouTube and very inexpensive classes you can take through platforms like Udemy and Coursera, and many universities and colleges also offer online courses. Look around and see what is out there. Now is an excellent time to brush up on some skills or to take your life in a whole new direction.

Fitness When You Don’t Like Structure – Another great use of platforms like YouTube is the availability of every kind of exercise you can dream of, and all of it is for free. You can learn to dance the samba, do yoga, build muscles, or work up a sweat without needing any expensive equipment or having to leave your home. There are thousands of options and you can get fit without ever getting bored. The best part is, if you don’t like something, you can try another channel. It’s all free.

Wasting Time – The events of the world right now are challenging, but they are also inspiring many people to recognize the value of time and to begin to feel a sense of urgency and the desire to get things done. Use the momentum to carry you into new projects or finish old ones. With so much upheaval and the chance of some permanent changes, position yourself to land on the other side in a better place than you were before. Change doesn’t have to be a bad thing – it can be the best thing that ever happened.

Thought of the Day – You are only as happy as you think you are. If your happiness has to come from outside of you, either from other people or circumstances, then it is fleeting and fragile. Be happy first, and then everything else will take care of itself.

“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.” 
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.” 
― Abraham Lincoln

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Living in Awe – The Daily, May 18, 2020

The beautiful Indian Ocean off the coast of Australia

“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” 
― W.B. Yeats

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” 
― Albert Einstein

It is a wonderful world. So much goes on outside of our perceptions that there is no chance that we can ever get bored with discovering the world around us. The Hubble telescope, which has been in orbit now for an amazing 30 years, continues to send images that have opened up our solar system to us in a way we never saw before. This picture of Jupiter from Popular Science is an astonishing look at what exists outside of our little corner of space.

We think we know a great deal about the world around us, but looking to our neighbouring planets is always a way to stoke the fires of fascination. Jupiter is unique due to the storms that ravage the surface. From NASA: “The Great Red Spot is an anti-cyclonic (high- pressure) storm on Jupiter that can be likened to the worst hurricanes on Earth. An ancient storm, it is so large that three Earths could fit inside it.” This storm was first spotted from earth in 1665, so it has been raging for at least hundreds of years.

So much has to go right for a planet to support life as we know it. The earth manages to keep us alive with the right atmosphere, the appropriate amount of gravity, and the conditions that allow for the growth of food. It’s a lot to be thankful for.

Jupiter goes retrograde for four months of every year, so it is relatively common. But this year is somewhat different as it went retrograde in the sign of Capricorn, and history tells us that it was likely going to be a tumultuous time. From Astrology.com: “The last time Jupiter went retrograde in Capricorn was the summer of 2008, and we saw the subprime mortgage crisis reach critical levels. Then just after Jupiter went direct there was a bank run that helped bring on the Great Recession. It wasn’t until 2013 that the stock market passed the previous record set in 2007.”

Jupiter went retrograde on May 14 and will remain that way until September 12. The more you know…

Where Were You? – Forty years ago today, Mount St. Helens erupted. It was an unforgettable event that shocked the world. Read this article from CBC Interactive, An Unforgettable Day in May, to get a Canadian perspective from border residents who witnessed it along with some great photos.

Thought of the Day – Look for what is good around you. Then focus only on that. See the flowers in between the weeds, and the blue sky peeking through the clouds. Life can be challenging enough without always seeing what isn’t perfect. It is a thrilling experience if you look for what is.

“Be realistic: Plan for a miracle” 
― Osho

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The Bright Side – The Daily, May 17, 2020

Nature is abundant in everything

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” 
― Anne Frank

“Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.” 
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

It’s a beautiful day to be alive. There is so much to be thankful for, even if sometimes it might not feel that way. As with everything, we can choose how we think about what we see and hear. Process everything in a way that serves your health and well-being and make it a day to remember. It’s the only one of its kind.

Earthquakes – It was notable when Nevada felt a 6.5 earthquake on Friday morning, the largest recorded there in 65 years. It’s not an area we normally think of when talking about earthquakes, but apparently it is the third most seismic state. It just hasn’t been doing much for a long time. Just when you get comfortable, something comes along and rattles your cage. Kind of how life goes…

Numerology and Life – So much of what we do revolves around numbers. Computers run on numbers, and we mark the passage of time in days and hours and minutes, all based on numbers. The study of numerology is fascinating and can give some insight to the overall energy felt during certain periods.

This is a 4 year, 2020 reduced to that number by adding 2 + 2. Each month brings a different number, and May is the fifth month so adding that to the year produces a 9. From the article Your May 2020 Numerology Forecast Calls for Major Changes – “The 9 represents the ending of a cycle. All the energy being felt during this month has been building up since March, which was our month 7. This is because the energy of the 7, followed by the 8 and 9, marks a great transitional period in numerology. This is the time when we must let go of what we no longer need in order to create something new. As the Buddha famously said, ‘Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again.’ This is the energy of the 9.”

So, what can you let go of right now? Life shouldn’t feel like a heavy burden that we have to carry. We come into the world with nothing, and we will leave in the same way. Let go of as much as possible and live simply. This mindset will make you feel happier in an instant. When you realize that there is nothing to get, you understand that you already have all that you need.

Thought of the Moment – See the good in everything you look at today. Be thankful for the sun, the clouds, the air you breathe and the food that you eat. If you find yourself complaining about something, stop and take a deep breath. Life is too short to waste time finding ways to be miserable when you could choose happiness instead.

Have an incredible day.

“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.” 
― Marcus Aurelius

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Common Sense Solutions – The Daily, May 16, 2020

The other beings of this world must wonder why we cause so many of our own problems

“Common sense is not so common.” 
― Voltaire, A Pocket Philosophical Dictionary

“I mean, you could claim that anything’s real if the only basis for believing in it is that nobody’s proved it doesn’t exist!” 
― J.K. Rowling

Some things make more sense than others. Even when faced with a pandemic, there are certain ways to deal with it that should end up being effective.

First, get yourself as healthy as you can. That means helping your body instead of being a big problem for it. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables, exercise, and breathe. Try not to run around in a state of constant stress because that can affect your immune system. If you understood how deleterious stress can be, you would do something about it.

From the study The Impact of Stress on Body Function – “Based on the type, timing and severity of the applied stimulus, stress can exert various actions on the body ranging from alterations in homeostasis to life-threatening effects and death…. Stress can be either a triggering or aggravating factor for many diseases and pathological conditions.” Stress, quite literally, can kill you.

How to Destress – Limit the amount of stressful stimuli in your life. Stop watching the news. Look for the positive around you and don’t always find the negative. Surround yourself with positive people and be the happiest person in every room you enter. Learn how to meditate. Breathe deeply and consciously. There are numerous ways to take care of yourself, and if you aren’t then you need to ask yourself why that is.

Research You Need to Know – A recent study titled “Vitamin D levels appear to play role in COVID-19 mortality rates” from Northwestern University found that “after studying global data from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, researchers have discovered a strong correlation between severe vitamin D deficiency and mortality rates.” It’s a good study that tried to find out things like why children are unlikely to die from the virus and other mysteries. The takeaway – take your vitamin D3 and get outside more.

This is where common sense kicks in. Fresh air and sunshine are important for many functions of life on this planet, including our own ability to thrive. Being quarantined has its uses, but denying people of sunlight and fresh air is not productive. Do it safely, but get outside as much as you can.

Thought of the Day – We are alive now. Don’t stop living until the end. We are finite beings living on a finite planet in an infinite universe, and this existence is fragile and beautiful and magical. Live every moment and look at the world and all of its beauty as though seeing it for the first time.

“The world is a fine place, and worth fighting for” 
― Ernest Hemingway

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The Sky is Falling – The Daily, May 15, 2020

Nothing is changed, but everything is different

“Do you imagine the universe is agitated? Go into the desert at night and look out at the stars. This practice should answer the question…..” ― Lao Tzu

The universe is a big place. It is, in fact, mostly unfathomable to us. We go about our daily business, worrying about this or fretting about that, all the while oblivious to the fact that we are standing on an incredibly beautiful blue globe hurtling through space at about 67,000 miles per hour and rotating at the same time at about 1000 miles per hour at the equator. Fairly mind boggling when one considers how perfectly everything needs to line up to avoid a major stellar catastrophe.

What would happen if the earth decided to rotate a little faster? It depends on how fast. An extra 100 mph would make our days shorter, around 22 hours instead of 24. Climates would be different, hurricanes stronger, and the oceans would be much deeper at the equator. Read this article from Popular Science called What Would Happen if Earth Started to Spin Faster if you want to think about this kind of stuff.

Sometimes it’s good to get some perspective about how small we and our problems truly are.

When Reality is Inconvenient – If this pandemic has taught us anything, and it should teach us a great deal by the time it is over, it is that sometimes reality just doesn’t suit the way we want things to be. The discussion and arguments over climate change have been a good example of that for many years. When the way we are used to living is more important to us than consequences, then there is a disconnect with what we feel is acceptable.

It should come as no surprise. It’s just the way we are built. When evidence came out about smoking killing people, millions still chose to smoke. The link between obesity and multiple diseases has become clear in recent years, but still the rate of obesity is on the rise. We exist in a state of denial, often choosing to sleepwalk through life completely oblivious to what is going on around us.

Until it affects how we are allowed to function, we don’t pay much attention. A serious disease is a problem, and we want pills or surgery to fix it so we can go back to how we were. Climates change but until we are threatened by the changes we just ignore them. Now there is a pandemic that is seriously inconvenient. Denial, conspiracy theories, and questionable decisions are running rampant. The sky is falling and no one knows exactly what to do about it.

Sometimes there are no easy answers. This appears to be one of those times. Strap yourself in, do what makes sense to you and keep your wits about you. Panic has never been a good solution for anything.

“He who dares not offend cannot be honest.” 
― Thomas Paine

“The truth only hurts when you want to believe a lie.” 
― Jennifer McVey

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Convenient Amnesia – The Daily, May 14, 2020

Rottnest Island off the western coast of Australia – this world is beautiful

“Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.” 
― Edmund Burke

“History is a set of lies agreed upon.” 
― Napoleon Bonaparte

Trying to predict the future from the past isn’t easy, but in all honesty it is all that we have. If something hasn’t happened yet, we have no frame from which to judge it, to compartmentalize it, and to make it unfold in an expected way.

That’s why people fought to the death over their belief that the earth was flat, and why wars continue over centuries in an effort to defend beliefs from long ago. It feels safer to cling to what we know rather than to wander into the world of the unknown.

Right now we are dealing with a pandemic. It’s not that these are unprecedented times – this has happened before, but the majority of us weren’t alive for it. The Spanish flu of 1918 provides many valuable opportunities to learn from because it was recent enough that there are recorded facts about it. There were numbers, pictures, and conclusions drawn after it was over that could serve useful today.

Only they aren’t convenient. They aren’t what we want to hear. They take away from how we want this to go, what our own expectations are that would allow us to return to what we consider to be normal. Even if your life wasn’t great before all of this happened, at least you woke up every day knowing what you were facing.

Now even that is gone.

This article from CBC details the deadly second wave of the virus that overall killed 50 million people, and it is thought provoking and well worth a read. It isn’t necessarily a true representation of how things may play out and what we should consider doing, but it’s something to consider.

Going Backwards – As of today, Pluto, Saturn, Venus and Jupiter will all be in retrograde. If you aren’t big on astrology, all that means is that from the perspective of the earth, these planets appear to be stationary or traveling backwards. Astrologers have been saying that 2020 was going to be an intense year. So far, so right. From the article It’s the Most Intense Astrological Week of the Year from The Cut by Claire Comstock-Gay: “First, when so many planetary events happen in such a short amount of time, it’s bound to feel intense, exhausting, even a little wacky. Change of any kind tends to be tiring, and right now, we’re being asked to process many types of changes at once.”

Just be okay with taking things slowly right now. We are all feeling our way through the dark and some days are going to be more challenging than others.

Thought of the Day – This is a great time to learn something new. Whether it is a different language or a skill that you could turn into a business, with everything happening at the moment it is an ideal time to throw yourself into something that fascinates you. As everything around us is in a state of flux, it feels appropriate to reinvent who we are into who we have always wanted to be.

Have a beautiful day.

“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.” 
― Aldous Huxley

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Repetition is a Mother Alright…The Daily, May 13, 2020

There’s a conspiracy theory in here somewhere

“An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does the truth become error because nobody will see it.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

When something is repeated over and over, it can take on the appearance of truth or at least some form of acceptance. The advertising industry is built on this premise. Say something enough times, associate it with something else, and the two will be forever linked in the minds of many.

Misinformation repeated endlessly takes on a life of its own. That is how conspiracy theories gain life and filter through society. As outlandish as some of these theories may seem, once they have been shared multiple times in multiple ways, they often assume an air of truth and authority.

Are there aliens at Area 51, or is the facility just used to test experimental aircraft for the military? Lee Harvey Oswald – guilty or innocent of shooting JFK? Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster are celebrities in their own right, without any real proof that they exist. How about chemtrails? And where exactly is Jimmy Hoffa?

With technology now allowing information to be shared across the world within seconds, the ability for falsehoods to spread rapidly is unprecedented. Always remember to use common sense when processing new information, and don’t jump to conclusions too quickly. Finding the facts is more difficult now than ever before.

Thought for Today – Be kind to yourself. It’s good to think of others but if you aren’t taking care of you, there will be nothing you can do for anyone else. If you need some support, reach out for it. If you need a break, take one. Nothing is normal right now and it’s okay not to be okay with it. Take care of your body and mind, and then show yourself some compassion. You don’t have to be a superhero every day.

“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” 
― Mother Teresa