Ebay is a pretty incredible website. I just rediscovered Ebay two months ago because of another obsession named pickleball. I wanted a new pickleball paddle and someone at the park suggested I try Ebay. I did and it was an incredible experience. I got a great paddle at an amazing price and then I took a trip and found it! A comic book I had gained in childhood but lost as an adult.
I ordered the comic book. I took the comic book out of its sleeve and as soon as I opened it I was treated with a smell and a journey back to my childhood. The smell transported me to a time when me and Spider man faced villains. That smell of the paper and ink brought me joy and nostalgia.
Scientists are still working out how smell works and why it is lost but one thing we absolutely know about smell is that it has an ability to bring someone back and is one of the strongest triggers for memories. Smell often brings with it some of our strongest emotions. Take some time today to think about moments and the smells from those moements it will be a real treat.
In an earlier post of mine I mentioned that we need to take back our weekends. I am trying to do this and friends and family are too, however work is demanding and it does not always seem possible but, it is. We can have a healthy work life balance if we make the effort to do so.
Turn off the phone When you leave work today (I am typing this up on a Friday) turn off or put your work phone away. Stay as late as you need to get your work done for the week but, when your work for the week is done do not start on next weeks work, that will be there on Monday.
Understand the scope of your role When your work for the week is done… What is your work for the hour day week month year? We have entered into the age of generalists at work and as such the scope of many workers has grown so much so that employees are really not sure when their work is done or what exactly they are responsible for. Learning your place and scope at work will help you disconnect when you are done for the day week and month. If yoiu work for a good employer scope of work will be clear, most do not and scope of work is often muddy at best. A tactic that can and should be taken is a “Signing off” procedure everyday. You can sign off when you leave for the day or week through an email letting your manager know your accomplishments or through a verbal check out letting them know the accomplishments and giving them the chance to let you know if there is something you missed.
Set it and forget it You’ve signed off and turned off the phone and now it is time to set work off. Change your focus to what really matters you, family and friends. Its the weekend make plans and do something with loved ones, it can be as simple as a matinee or as elaborate as a short vacation. Stay in a hotel for one night and be a tourist in a neighboring city, take a train, plane or bus ride and explore an attraction you’ve seen on Tik Tok, go to the park and play some pickleball. Do something that is not work, you earned the weekend.
Once we have taken back the weekend we will work on taking back our evenings and eventually our lives. The pandemic and technology have blurred the lines between work and leisure time, let’s start a movement to make the lines clear and present.
…with all this taking back the weekend talk i had to post a music video of him for us to rock to…… You are welcome
Accidents happen, and the nature of an accident causes changes and damage to the normal day and life that we are living. Often we see accidents happen to others and we wonder what can we do to help.
I remember listening to a country music star talk about how he was shocked when he heard the news about the terrorist attack in the United States on 9/11/2001. The star went on to say that, after the shock he just wanted to help and wasn’t sure how he could. He then decided to write and play music about the event because that is what he knew.
Of course we can and do and should give to charities, money is always helpful to a charity and if you can do it I would suggest giving in a sustainable manner (monthly, bi monthly or yearly). Money as charity is good because it is modular, the charity can use it for just about anything however, we often feel like we can and should do more but what more can we do? That’s a tough question..
Do what you know best; if you’re a runner, run, if you’re a bell, ring.
Ignas Bernstein
Often we work within our strengths, or our work becomes a strength. If you are looking for a way to help a friend or family member (beyond monetary), you should lean into your strengths. You would be surprised at what someone needs when they have suffered damage because of an accident. There was a family in my church that suffered the loss of the matriarch, and I wanted to help out. I on multiple occasions brought the family plates of food and was shocked at how much this simple act seemed to help the family.
We can do a lot of help by leaning into our strengths and helping with as much kindness as we can muster. I think maybe even more important than the action of help is the attitude that we give the help with. Help with kindness in mind, not obligation or pity.
No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted
Today is when Google celebrates its 25th birthday. In 1998 two computer science students got together and used the Python programming language to search the internet. 25 years later and the company’s search is used on almost every continent on the globe.
The internet is basically a network of connected computers, computers with work, play and thoughts.
In the video that I have pasted here Bill Gates tries to explain what the internet is to David Letterman. I love this video because Gates is enthusiastic about the internet and Lettermen is the skeptic. The video was recorded three years before Google was created and it was I think the creation of Google that gave insight to the skeptics like David Letterman to the real power of the internet which, is people. People power the internet, with ideas, sites, services, codes anything they can imagine it seems can be created accessed and made better.
One thing I try very hard not to be skeptical about is the ability of life to create, build and amaze. The internet is one of many things that life has made and it is pretty cool.
The band named Soundtrack of Our Lives, is a Swedish rock band their most popular song was Second Life Replay.
The song is pretty good but I love the bands name. When i was younger I played the pc game Sim City. In the game Sim City you are the mayor/planner/terraformer of a city. You build up land features, zone the land and manage the people on that land through city policy. The one thing I truly loved about the whole process was the music that played in the background of the game. As you built streets, rivers and lakes you were treated to Jazz music. I would listen to the jazz and go to work.
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything
Plato
I love all kinds of music. The book titled And to Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street was Theodore Geisel’s first published book. The format for the book was said to have come from the sounds of an Ocean Liners engine on a transatlantic trip the author took.
“Everything in Life is Vibration”
Albert Einstein
Everything on earth vibrates and creates a frequency. There really is a sound to everything. The right music can make life that much better and the right music is whatever you like at a specific time.
My taste in music is eclectic and I think if people are truly honest that most peoples taste in music is also eclectic. Depending on what headspace we are in or want to be in there is music for that.
This week let’s all listen to a style or genre of music we have never heard before. There was a former work colleague who listened to a heavy dose of Celtic punk music. Until I rode to lunch with this guy I had never before heard of this music now if the mood is right I quite enjoy some Flogging Molly.
There are videos every where you go, if you travel in public spaces. Most communities use surveillance videos to deter public crime however, the video itself does not deter crime it is the potential criminal knowing they are being recorded that deters the crime.
But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.
Luke 12:2
When someone is recorded while in the action of a crime or violation they know the likelihood of being caught is much higher when they are recorded in the action and therefore chances are high that they will not commit the crime.
A camera with AI technology can spot people of interest or situations that look out of the normal but because real time surveillance is basically a myth stopping crime while it is happening without a security guard present is a tough ask. There is live surveillance or as close to live as you can get but even with live surveillance the action of stopping the criminal in the act requires boots on the ground at the right time.
Technically the speed of light is 300 000 kilometers per second so no one is really seeing something as it happens. We are all processing things after the fact. Time is funny. Time is almost impossible to define and yet we all use it everyday. The best definition I have seen for time was: Time is the observation of the degradation of matter.
The past, present and future are only illusions, even if stubborn ones
I could go on and on about how time is a kind of silly human construct however today I am more interested in how the subjective nature of time. I see some people live full robust lives that affect everyone and their lives are short. I think about Jesus of Nazareth being under 40 and making such huge waves with a message of love and compassion, then there is Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, Martin Luther King Jr., Keats, Mellvill and Orwell. This list is long of folks that lived short lives but made huge contributions to society. The “time” they had was used well. Time is at best a persistent illusion that when not considered or used correctly doesn’t really matter. We should all be less concerned with when and more concerned with what.
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.
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
The Corrigan Encore 