17) The larks, still bravely singing
Have you ever wondered, what “Torch” were they throwing to us? What were we supposed to hold high? What faith did they have that if we broke it, they would not sleep?
Is it the torch of war? Did they want us to keep fighting, to keep killing each other, to keep distrusting, hating, wanting, taking?
16) Murdering terrorism
The “terrorism” language, which is directly traceable in its modern incarnation to George Dubya Bush after 9/11, reinforces a particular way of thinking. Geoff Lakoff calls it “Strong Daddy”, referring to a centralist, patriarchal, hierarchical way of organizing power in families, traditionally speaking. The entire rhetorical structure that comes from Strong Daddy ways of thinking, makes it easier to contemplate certain courses of action (e.g., war) rather than other courses of action (e.g., community empowerment, basic income and housing plans, ecological restoration, permaculture and local-scale farming projects). Basically, “terrorism” leads to “war” in people’s minds.
15) Seize the Carp!!
Walking down the street, one of the last sunny fall days. The higher-pitch of a voice that has only been in use less than eleven years bounces up.
“Do you…do you ever think about….?” Pause. I lean in, as this seems important. We continue walking...leaves skittering….
#Infinity) September 29, 2017 - TurnAround
So…what now?
Well, this marks the end of normal life. The beginning of a rapid global awakening that is unprecedented in history. The people will reinvent the world. And we won’t wait for the politicians and corporations. We will force them.
14) Free Sex! Free Drugs! Free Gold Bars!!! And a rowboat...
Did you ever sing Row Row Row Your Boat?
Hey, I did too!
Did you realize that it held the Secret to Life?
13) I put Donald Trump in the White House
As the ‘elites’ — the progressives, the highly educated, the celebs, the newspapers, the cultural genius-figures like Stephen Hawking and Noam Chomsky, etc. — increasingly came out against Trump, disagreeing with his ideas but also emphasizing his seemingly awful and indeed, terrifying nature as a human being, what they/we were doing was building our own WALL, a wall between “us” (the enlightened, smart progressives) and “them” (the bigoted deplorables).
And all of the people on the Trump side of that wall — how do you think they reacted to being told they were idiots and assholes?
12) Ninja Training, Part 3: My first Habit
You will probably find this implicit layer of self-criticism and disappointment/rejection behind most of your own failed goal attempts. this is your “Inner Critic.” We’re going to talk more in the future about what to do about this nasty person most of us have allowed to take up residence in our psyche. But for now, we can’t slay, or heal that Inner Critic here, so we’re going to outsmart it instead.
11) Ninja Training, part 2: WISE goals
I am presenting to the world, the Dolderman Theory of Intrinsic Motivation. This is rooted in complex systems thinking, humanistic psychology, and modern integrative social-developmental neuroscience. But for now, let’s stick with the fun, useful part.
My claim: WISE goals rule, especially for long-term happiness. They wipe the walls with those silly SMART goals we’re always being coached to set….
What are WISE goals? They are Wicked, Illuminating, Sexy, and Effervescent
10.1) Important theory stuff if you're skeptical about Intrinsic Motivation
Rather than our culture’s general obsession with “happiness”, this deeper kind of fulfillment hearkens back to the ancient idea of eudaimonia (you-die-moan-ee-ah). Which, when you spell it out phonetically like that, sounds pretty morbid. But it’s actually way cooler than dying and moaning. It roughly means “excellence”.
10) Ninja Training -- Habit Change, part 1 (or how to stop "being a loser")
One thing life has taught me, is that my generically good intentions to do cool things with myself in the future, usually don’t pan out, if left to ‘just happen.’ I haven’t learned the languages or instruments I thought I would have, travelled to most of the places, donated as much time or money to helping people, watched as many sunsets. It’s the classic problem. And sure, I’ve done some cool things in my life…but there’s so much I’ve never gotten around to…
9) Stop trying to hit me. And hit me!
But have I ever “really engaged”? Seen what I could really do? Rose to the challenges of my own desire for personal growth and authenticity? Or have I merely placated my desires with the fantasy of “that time in the future” — when I yell my battle cry, shake the dust out of my soul, and “really give ‘er”. And man, it’s gonna be GLORIOUS! I’m going to change EVERYTHING!
8) Gobble Gobble
When you face loss, which we all do, and the loss is one that you feel with the full gooeyness of your heart, and you sit and weep, tears dripping freely off your face….and that feeling inside? That aching, burning, desperate, gasping desire to do ANYTHING to go back in time and change how this has turned out? That feeling is one of the worst feelings in the world.
And gratitude is the gift that it brings. All you have to do is unwrap the soul-crushing, heart-splaying agony that it is wrapped in. And then, my friend, gratitude can be yours.
7) Beauty eh?
You will find, all of a sudden, that most of the stationary objects in the landscape kind of fade out of your vision, almost disappearing. But ANYTHING moving becomes highly salient. With no warning, suddenly you will see movement everywhere, and your visual field will be filled with swaying grasses, fluttering leaves, buzzing insects, and clouds scudding gently along far above. You may even start to feel like you are no longer standing in a landscape of discrete objects, but instead, a humming, throbbing, interwoven, boundary-less, dynamic process of Life.
6) Something Positive
I believe people are yearning to feel hope, joy, love, to unselfconsciously embrace, inhale, and celebrate life. I believe people want to stop passively absorbing and consuming, and instead, becoming ACTIVE PRODUCERS of culture. It’s like, when did we stop painting and drawing and singing and making poetry, so that we could….sit in Starbucks drinking overpriced coffee with our friends? When did going outside get sacrificed to surfing other people’s pics on Facebook?
5) Warning: Angry rant ahead
Is there no place to just speak from the heart? I’m kind of tired of social psychology and its ‘wisdom’. Do we really need to “persuade” people? Is there not some basic “bottom line” past which rational argument actually does work? Is there not some point where the evidence can be compelling enough, and one can say, “holy shit everyone, we’re in trouble”…and that’s enough to get people to act?
I would like to believe that. But no, it’s just not true.
4) Lauryn Hill, Luke Skywalker, and you
I believe in the stories I have absorbed all my life. I believe that when darkness falls, heroes rise. When the Death Star is built, the Rebel Alliance suits up. When Mordor threatens Middle Earth, the Company begins its adventure. When Charles Wallace’s Dad disappears, he goes on a magical journey to rescue him. When HomeTree is destroyed, the Na’vi unite their tribes and fight. When Lord Arawn releases the Cauldron-Born, Assistant Pig-Keeper Taran rallies the people. When Fern Gully is going to be destroyed, the fairies go to war.
Now the story is our story, the darkness is our darkness.
3) Unicorns, migraines, and chiropractors
I don’t believe in unicorns. I’d like to though. I mean, wouldn’t you? A world of magic, in which reality isn’t just dead matter heading towards thermodynamic equilibrium, is something I yearn for deeply, and have ever since I was that 5 year old, sitting on her blankie, willing it to fly, or that 10 year old trying to use the Force to move something with her mind.
2) Hillel the Elder
Now I’m 43 years old. And I see all these doors opening into richness. But I didn’t step through them.
Am I going to, before I’m 53? 63? 73?
If not now, when?
And you?
