#life – The Corrigan Encore

But still I

December 15, 2023 John Corrigan

The new year is quickly approaching, I am typing this on December the 15th, only 16 days until the new year. With the new year brings my resolutions. I have so much I want to accomplish that I have to pare down my list. I will have a refined list this year and I will get it done. This is my hope for me and you.

How though will we do it? We will grind! We will wake up and grind every day. There is no secret to success, other than trying failing and trying again. My only wish for you and myself for next year is that you grind. I will not wish for it to be easy because it will not be easy. I will not wish for success because we will fail more than succeed. I will not wish for you to be comfortable because comfort does not help us grow. I will not wish for you to be satiated because hunger moves us better than anything. I will wish for us to never quit grinding though.

Don’t let anyone stop you next year including you!! happy holidays and Happy New Year!!

See you all in 2024 Peace and love

Coming Soon

November 28, 2023 John Corrigan

I am a big fan of new years resolutions and very soon those of us in the United States and all the countries that use the Gregorian calendar will get to experience New years!! Party Time! Pop the champagne, sing the songs and kiss your special someone.

Are you making any new years resolutions? Why are your resolutions for 2024? Why did you choose these resolutions? Why aren’t you making any resolutions? What more do you want from life? What would you like to see happen differently in 2024? I ask myself all these questions and more when I am crafting my resolutions list. I love facing the new year armed with hope and a checklist of things I want to see done by me.

I hope that you will feel empowered with the new year coming and hopeful about the new year. I also wish you and your family a great holiday season and a prosperous safe and happy 2024.

Time on the elliptical

November 27, 2023 John Corrigan

I enjoy reading however, I find that reading often takes a back seat to life. I had a beautiful system that gave me some great quiet time for reading in the gym of all places. I would spend 30 minutes a day on the elliptical machine and plow through my monthly obsession (book I was reading). Now I am spending thirty minutes a day on a row machine so the ergonomics are such that I am unable to read. I have been trying to carve out some other time to read because, I really enjoy reading. I will let you know how that goes. One of the last books I read on the elliptical was, Some we love, Some we Hate and Some we Eat, by Hal Herzog. The book was study dealing with the complicated relationships between species specifically Homo sapiens and all other animals.

Hal Herzog is a professor of psychology and an expert on the psychology of human-animal relations. The book outlines how people interact with animals and gives some scientific insight into animals. After reading this book I quit eating animal based meat.

After seeing the evidence for sentient life in the animals that humans slaughter and eat I could not in good conscience eat any more animal based meat. Many of the animals that are slaughtered and consumed experience pleasure, pain and joy. The animals also have robust social structures and family units. The evidence about animals compels me to believe that at the very least they deserve the right to live or not be slaughtered.

So the ethics compelled me to abandon eating animal based meats. I do a lot of the cooking for the family and now I had to find plant based alternatives to animal based meats and that was not as difficult or expensive as I had anticipated it would be. Making the change to a vegetarian lifestyle has been pretty painless actually and I have not felt as lethargic after big meals. I was often lethargic and almost sick when I ate animal based meats to the point of satiation.

Good ones

November 21, 2023 John Corrigan

“Give it a month”. I can still hear my grandma telling me that it takes a month to create a habit and I should not quit doing something for at least one month. Scientists and researchers do not seem to agree with grandma. Habits form within 21 to 254 days to become a habit. The sweet spot seemed to be 66 days. The study seems interesting and at the end of it what seemed to mater a lot was mindset.

We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.
John Dryden

Here in the United States and throughout much of Europe we are entering the Holiday season. We will experience thanksgiving, followed by xmas and conclude with New Years. I love making New Years resolutions. It is so fun to see the new year and decide who I want to be and how I plan to get there. I feel young and fresh and hopeful. New Year resolutions are great. You are resolving to be a better you!

This 2024 I plan on approaching resolutions as new habits. I want to create new good habits that will make me a better person. I am not sure what those habits will and should be just yet but I have the holiday season to figure that out. I will keep you posted and I wish you luck on finding good new habits for yourself in 2024.

Happy Holidays!!

I know what it was now

November 17, 2023 John Corrigan

It was a few weeks ago and I was doom scrolling through Tik Tok. Watching funny videos, woodworking videos, bread making videos (homemade bread is incredible by the way) and I stumbled on a creator that I follows live stream. The creator was holding a debate. The debate had two arguments dealing with two separate topics. One argument I totally agreed with the creator on and could see no way to change my mind from the followers that engaged with the creator. The second argument really bothered me and not because i agreed or disagreed with the creator it was the way the argument was crafted. The argument really rubbed me the wrong way and I just couldn’y put my finger on why I didn’t like the argument.

I was bugged not only by the argument but also by the fact that I couldn’t name what was happing with this persons argument. Finally it hit me! The argument was a bad faith argument, precisely an appeal to ignorance bad faith argument. This is what I think it was what do you think? The argument was that; God is imaginary because you cannot prove the existence of God. See this is textbook appeal to ignorance. Since you cannot prove that god exists than the opposite must be true. This is the type of zero sum thinking that truly bugs me to no end.

It is zero sum thinking that seems to be doing and has done major damage throughout the course of humans history. There is no doubt in my mind that the partisan attitude in the United States government has come from zero sum thinking. The racial animosity and divisions also come from a zero sum mindset as well. The zero sum theory is bad for society and the world and it is high time that humanity embrace the non zero sum thinking. Together we can and will all win.

I had to post this video

Happy Friday everyone

I haven’t

November 14, 2023 John Corrigan

The country music singer Jelly Roll won the award for new CMA Artist of the year thsi year. Jelly Roll sings the song Need a Favor. Need a Favor is a catchy song and I really like listening to it. It was playing on the radio when I told my wife that I like the song but didn’t really understand the lyrics. My wife let me know that I didn’t understand the lyrics because I hadn’t dealt with addiction. Now when I hear and see the lyrics I understand them and the song has moved from catchy to meaningful.

Addiction is tough on the people addicted and the families of those who are addicted. Addictions can and are beaten however they are not often beaten alone. If you or a loved one struggle with addiction in the United States reach out to someone at 1-800-662-4357. There is no shame in getting help for addiction or any health problem.

I only talk to God when I need a favor
And I only pray when I ain’t got a prayer
So, who the hell am I, who the hell am I
To expect a Savior, oh
If I only talk to God when I need a favor?
But God, I need a favor
I know Amazing Grace, but I ain’t been livin’ them words
Swear I spend most Sundays, drunk off my ass, than I have in church
Hard cover King James only been savin’ dust on the nightstand
And I don’t know what to say by the time I fold my hands
I only talk to God when I need a favor
And I only pray when I ain’t got a prayer
So, who the hell am I, who the hell am I
To expect a Savior, oh
If I only talk to God when I need a favor?
But God, I need a favor
Amen, amen
Yeah, I owe you more than one and beggars can’t be choosers
But I’ll pay for all I’ve done, just please don’t let me lose her
I only talk to God when I need a favor
And I only pray when I ain’t got a prayer
So, who the hell am I, who the hell am I
To expect a Savior, oh
If I only talk to God when I need a favor?
But God, I need a favor
Amen, amen
Amen, amen
Hangin’ in there, just barely
Throwin’ up prayers, like Hail Mary’s
If You’re still there, Lord, spare me
Oh my God, oh my God, Hail Mary
Hangin’ in there, just barely
Throwin’ up prayers, like Hail Mary’s
If You’re still there, Lord, spare me
Oh my God, oh my God, Hail Mary
I only talk to God when I need a favor
And I only pray when I ain’t got a prayer
So tell me, who the hell am I to expect a Savior
When I only talk to God if I need a favor?
God, I need a favor
Amen
God, I need a favor, woah
Amen
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Austin Nivarel / Jason De Ford / Joe Ragosta / Rob Ragosta
Need a Favor lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Always

November 9, 2023 John Corrigan

When the world was introduced to Covid 19 in 2019 I like almost all citizens of the world watched the news and heard all about how the virus was spreading and I thought growing. After a deeper dive I learned that the virus or any virus for that matter did not grow. The fact that the virus does not grow classifies the virus as a dead thing. There are 7 criteria to determine if something is alive and not growing was one of the two test’s the virus did not pass, the other test was the ability to maintain homeostasis.

maintain homeostasis
have different levels of organization
reproduce
grow
use energy
respond to stimuli
adapt to their environment

Notice that thrive is not among the 7 criteria. During our live we will all in one way or another satisfy the 7 criteria. One thing we may or may not do is thrive. To thrive is to work towards and realize goals with ones growth.

Their are lots of elements involved when you want to thrive but one important one is intrinsic in you being alive and that is growing. Until you die you will grow, how you grow will be determined by your circumstances and attitude. Often we cannot control our circumstances but we can always control our attitude.

Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking
Zig Ziglar

A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst and it sparks extraordinary results.
Wade Boggs

Lets all work today to develop an attitude that will make us thrive.

You know when

November 2, 2023 John Corrigan

I am a pretty big sports fan. I grew up in Cleveland Ohio so I am a fan of all the local professional sport teams that are based in Cleveland. One of the teams is a professional football team named the Cleveland Browns. Right now the quarterback for the Cleveland Browns has not played a full game in the last three games due to an injury to his shoulder.

American football is a sport that seems to have injury to players as part of its DNA so an injury is not scandalous or controversial, the extra layer to this story is that, someone leaked to the press that doctors cleared the quarterback to play the day after the shoulder injury. Now fans and everyone are weighing in on the quarterback and most of the comments are not positive.

Peer pressure can force us to do dumb things and when it comes to your own well being it is important to listen to (what is often the most quiet voice) you. You should know how you feel and if you need to recover go ahead and recover. If you are sick and need to stay home and get some rest go ahead and do that. It is very important to listen to your body and mind and when needed to take breaks.

Take care of yourself because no one else will.

When you / I put it that way

October 31, 2023 John Corrigan

Do you work in an office, factory, warehouse or home? Were you on time for work yesterday or today or everyday of the work month for the past month? Do you live in the United States? If you have answered no then yes, then you are part of the nearly 30 % of Americans that are late for work. Being late for work cost money, is inconsiderate to our colleagues and just not a best practice for work. Most that arrive late for work are not doing this intentionally and would love to employ a strategy to arrive on time.

Photo by Andrey Grushnikov on Pexels.com

Self talk is the way we talk to ourselves another word for self talk is inner voice. Everyone does it and when we learn to use it correctly the sky’s the limit. What time do you need to be at work to be on time? How did you answer that question? Did you say something like, I must arrive to work at 7 am? What if you changed the response from at to before? I must arrive at work before 7 am.? There is a comedian who does a funny sketch about people being late for things. He mentions how being on time is easy because you just have to be early. You have hours and hours to be early but you only have minutes to be on time. A quite talk with oneself can change when and how we arrive for work or any of our appointments’. So take some time and have the talk with yourself today and be kind to yourself.

What everyone deserves

October 30, 2023 John Corrigan

Terra Lopez, an artist created an exhibit that called “This is What it feels like”. The exhibit is a recording of male presenting people reading scripts that are catcalls, the catcalls go from annoying to aggressive and the people that leave the exhibit all seem pretty moved however, cat calling does not seem to be stopping and people who identify as female are very likely to be catcalled. One in ten girls are catcalled before the age of 11 in the United States.

Toxic masculinity within the United States has created a country in which it is very dangerous for a person to identify as a female. Misogyny, homophobia and violence are now mainstream acceptable and promoted. In 2022 senator Marsha Blackburn asked supreme court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson to define a woman. This question was much more than a dog whistle and dripped with hate for people that Marsha Blackburn does not understand.

Photo by Mike Gonzu00e1lez on Pexels.com

Change should start from the top down. The top is eaten up with hateful people like Marsha Blackburn and the senator influences our children and promotes toxic masculinity. If we want change we need to respect all life even the lives of those that we do not understand.