The United Nations has 193 countries in it and among the countries 7 of them do not mandate paid maternity leave for parents. The United States of America finds itself among the 7 countries. Child care in the United States for working parents costs the parents more than 20 % of their income again among developed nations the United States is last, most nations offer heavily subsidized or free child care. In June of 2022 the United States quit protecting women’s right to health care for abortions. Health care costs for families in the United States are almost twice as much as all other United Nation countries.
The election season will start soon and the politicians will lean heavy on the family and the importance of the family. However if that politician is not addressing the families needs through policies their words are nothing more than lip service and the family doesn’t matter enough for the them to do work.
When something matters and is a priority we will find ways to make that something work.
My mom took me and my three sisters to church at young ages. In church we went to service Sunday school and bible study. Our church like many churches in the United States taught me and my sister dogma using the scriptures. As I grew up I mistook dogma for data and faith for fact. Later in life with other perspectives I was able to tease out some of the data and definitely understood that all of my Christian belief is faith not fact.
I have been down somewhat of a rabbit hole with consideration in Christian data versus dogma and wondered how did the dogma for the Christian religion become part of the Christian religion.
The rabbit hole lead me to a profession I never knew existed and that is a Christian ethicist. I stole this exert from the Wikipedia page concerning Christian Ethicists “Christian ethicists use reason, philosophy, natural law, the social sciences, and the Bible to formulate modern interpretations of those principles; Christian ethics applies to all areas of personal and societal ethics.”
So at the churches build a doctrine for their believers to live by and to a certain extent each induvial builds a doctrine to live by. We build our doctrine by learning, listening and should include loving family, friends and living sentient beings.
If you find yourself at a crossroads where your church’s doctrine demands you do something that is not loving (like condemn someone who is homosexual) perhaps it is time to rethink that doctrine.
The willingness to change one’s mind in the light of new evidence is a sign of rationality not weakness.
There is nothing wring with change. The big question for change, dogma. laws and actions, should be why.
Why do I believe this doctrine?
What good is this accomplishing?
Is it good?
One major ethical question is always how do I want to be in this world? That one is huge for me when it comes to religious doctrine. I never want to be someone who would hurt or harm or do anything but love others.
Most people, when directly confronted by evidence that they are wrong, do not change their point of view or course of action but justify it even more tenaciously. Even irrefutable evidence is rarely enough to pierce the mental armor of self-justification.
So my hope and prayer is this. I pray that me and all of humanity would be considerate of all life when they make moral and ethical decisions and doctrine.
Another day came with another conference and another speaker. This time the speaker was at the lectern promoting his office. He runs the organizations Project management office and when his organization completes a project there is not change but transformation.
The speaker wanted the listeners to be aware of this fact because, according to him change is different than transformation. If you are rolling your eyes right now then, we are kindred spirits.
The definition for the word transformation has the word change in it. I understand what the speaker was doing but, I think he could have used better words for this concept. The idea was that change can be fleeting but transformation is forever and all encompassing but see even this is not really true. The only reason transformation was all encompassing was that his office implemented procedures to make it that way.
The truth is we have to work at life and doing the best we can everyday. We cannot just make a few changes and transform into something wonderful or good
What’s tough is being good every day.
— Willie Mays
Knowing that change is not permanent brings with it good and bad news. Bad news is that you will always be an addict. People in recovery can attest to this fact. The idea of once an addict always an addict has little to do with science and more to do with a personality trait or an outlook on life.
Understanding that one can engage at anytime in addictive and destructive traits helps some people take some control of their day. For the one who believes they are always an addict everyday represents a choice and that is a pretty big source of power.
“Give every day the chance to become the most beautiful day of your life.”
There is very little that we can control however we can control us and our choices and when we do it will be hard (like everyday) but, with the right choices life can be and is beautiful
Welcome to Friday. If you are reading this post on the day I publish it and are not a day ahead or behind time zone wise, it is indeed Friday. If it is not Friday for you imagine that it is.
For two years now I have purchased a Legend weekly planner. The legend planner lets me create weekly goals, monthly goals, quarterly goals, and yearly goals. at the end of each work week (Friday) I take time to reflect on what goals were recorded and accomplished (in the planner these are called wins). Often my recorded goals get derailed. The goals are important and need to get done so I roll them over to next week with notes on why they weren’t accomplished.
Even if I don’t reach all my goals, I’ve gone higher than I would have if I hadn’t set any
Danielle Fotopoulis
Failure to reach goals is not a reason to abandon goals. As long as your failure is not a failure to try failure is acceptable.
The reality is: Sometimes you lose. And you’re never too good to lose. You’re never too big to lose. You’re never too smart to lose. It happens. And it happens when it needs to happen. And you need to embrace those things.
Beyoncé
Prior to using a Legend planner I used small notebooks and even a waiters pad to write daily and weekly goals down and I have always rolled goals over to the next day or week. Sometimes my goals have changed and morphed based on my situations and the world.
My goals have changed often however I have never changed the overall goal. I have always tried to be a better me.
I have been watching the first season of the series named Foundation on Apple TV + and this is another great piece of work. The show is loosely based on the writings of Isaac Asimov. Asimov created a Foundation trilogy that later became a foundation series of books.
The Foundation series demonstrates how a society could explore and colonize a galaxy. Asimov wrote the Foundation series between 1942 – 1949. 1942 was the beginning of the second world war.
I cant help but wonder if the foundation serves as a warning for the ambitious societies that wish to colonize the world.
This month the G20 is holding its summit in India. The G20 is in no way an effort at colonization but partnership, however some of the controversies that the G20 face deal with problems that colonizers have had with countries or regions they have colonized. Besides being immoral and brutal colonization faced issues with governing nations around the world. Often times real issues were ignored by the colonizing states. The same is being said about the G20 summit. real issues are not being acknowledged at the summit or by the group.
Another big controversy concerning the G20 summit is its lack of diversity. Smaller countries in the summit are not properly represented in the summit and are facing some restrictive policies that cause the smaller nations to suffer.
Again the G20 is not colonization however if exclusion and ignorance continues to be the modus operandi of the G20 summit I do not think the G20 will accomplish the goals it has, which are:
international financial stability
climate change mitigation and sustainable development.
If humanity is to survive these to issues must be addressed globally.
How can it be done? With respect for all people no matter what nation they are from, race or religion. Until the people of the world look at all the people of the world as citizens of the world first and countrymen second. There is no way humanity will survive.
As a citizen of the world, I stand only with Truth and my conscience is my only leader. This is the only way to peace and justice on earth. To always do the right thing, be the right person, and stand with whoever is right always and forever
A Global Citizen is aware of the fact that we all share one planet, one health, one common destiny. And that every one of us matters. Everyone can make a difference, by working together, finding global solutions to global problems
It was a long day for her and she had dealt with some stressful situations, as soon as she put on the dress she started to feel the stress melt away. It is called retail therapy and the act of shopping can and does release dopamine and make us feel less stressed. Let us back up one second dopamine is actually released prior to the purchase as well as during the purchase of an item. So, scrolling through Amazon comparing prices and not buying them can help reduce stress almost just as much as actually buying the product does.
There are many ideas as to why the act of shopping provides us with dopamine but one of the major reasons is that shopping gives us a sense of control and a reward.
Shopping addiction is not retail therapy and it can be pretty awful for individuals and society. Here is a pretty good online article that outlines the negative effects of consumerism. In the article the writer mentions that the current rate of consumerism is something unsustainable and that
If everyone lived like western consumers we would need 5 planets to support us.
Consumerism may provide a quick high that helps us to relieve stress, but the cost of rampant consumerism is to much. Some great alternatives to retail therapy that also provide us with dopamine from control and reward include but are not limited to
Exercise
Building something
Reading
Spending time with Family and friends
Reading
Everything in this list gives you control, reward and releases dopamine. So why do we do it? Why do we consume? Well we are trained our whole lives to consume so there is the way we were raised. We have to buy food and supplies to live so we consume to live. Did you know that, impulse buys at the grocery store account for 62% of the overall sales?
Why not buy more while we are here? I do not need it and before seeing it I didn’t want it but, why not buy it? After that first impulse buy many many more can and do happen, its a slippery slope.
How can we avoid and reverse rampant consumerism then? I think to avoid this rampant consumerism we should first and foremost be thoughtful in our purchases. Asking why.
why am I buying this?
asking how much
how much will this cost me?
how much will it cost society?
how much will it cost the planet?
asking what else
what else can I do to satisfy this need?
what else can I do with the cost for this need?
what else can I purchase that will make less of an impact on society (a used car is actually much better for the earth than a new one and there are already many used electric vehicles on the market)?
No matter what you do know that you deserve to treat yourself to better mental health regiments than just a shopping trip.
The rain had just started and was not in full swing. I have never been a fan of wearing wet clothes as such I put on my rain jacket. One of my colleagues saw this and asked why I was putting on the jacket. I let him know that I was not a fan of rain. He told me that perhaps I could imagine that I was dry and on a beach with sunny 70 degree weather and maybe the rain would not affect me as much.
I am a fan of visualization just as much as the next guy but I choose to wear the jacket.
Visualization is a powerful tool when it comes to dealing with anxiety and accomplishing goals.
Through visualization we can make our minds believe that we are not experiencing some trauma and actually put ourselves into a calm state.
It is a tragedy that we belittle those who have and use their imagination. Lets work hard today to not belittle anyone especially those using their imagination or stop from using our imaginations
Kintsugi is an Japanese art of repairing broken pottery using gold as the material for repairing the cracks. The philosophy behind Kintsugi is very similar in nature to wabi-sabi , which is embracing the imperfect.
There is a great song written by Trains lead singer Patrick Monahan and performed by Train and Ashley Monroe called Bruises.
The song deals with embracing our flaws as part of who we are. It can be tempting to cover up imperfections but it will not work. People can spot fake people a mile away.
It’s all right to make mistakes, you’re only humanInside everybody’s hiding something.
Its important to put forth your “real self” flaws and all to the world, especially our family and friends. If your relationships are loving ones the family and friends will not only accept you flaws and all they will celebrate you with gold, flaws and all and, if they don’t they will eventually come around.
This is by no means a recommendation to hurt someone. It is ok to celebrate your flaws however it is never ok to break another person. Never
My feet are moving in a pattern that can best be described as the machine I am standing on and, that is elliptical. My feet are moving in an elliptical pattern. I am not moving through the earth but my imagination is soaring. In front of me on the elliptical I am looking at the kindle app on my Ipad.
One of my favorite things to do that I have made a habit is reading. I love to read books especially fiction ones. A good story can move us from where we are to an unknown world and I love that.
The idea of being sentient to me has become a barometer for life. If a form of life is sentient than I believe that is life worth protecting. It was this type of thinking that caused me to change my diet. Right now my family and I are eating plant based protein because of the fact that many of the animals used for protein are sentient beings.
There are strangely enough, many situations that you may find yourself in that require the need to define life and this definition I created for my self has helped me navigate.
“Do what you feel in your heart to be right — for you’ll be criticized anyway.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Cider House Rules, is a great movie and I watched the movie but did not read the book (I know shame on me, I do intend to read the book someday). The movie is a classic and should be watched by all. In the movie a young man learns that rules written by those in charge may work in theory but not application.
You are living your life and you should learn what is right and wrong for yourself and not really on others to tell you. Learning right from wrong for yourself is called ethics and it is confusing and hard sometimes and there is nothing wrong with seeking help, however at the end of the day you must decide what is right or wrong
The Corrigan Encore 