1. Feeling ‘organized’ creates clarity
2. Clarity helps empty the mind
3. An empty mind is a creative mind
4. Therefore, feeling organized is important to creativity

Feeling organized has zero to do with having all your stuff appear ordered and neat.  This feeling comes from knowing exactly where to find something when you need it.  That’s it.  Organization actually has nothing to do with how your stuff ‘appears’.

When it comes to organizing their stuff, most people deal with every item and ask “Where do I put this”? This is not the right question to ask.  When you go to look for the item you may or may not be able to remember your answer to the original question “Where do I put this?”

The real question to ask yourself is “Where will I look for this when I need it?”

There seems to be a big separation between the way the brain makes connections when you are trying to store something and when you are trying to retrieve it.

This makes sense because when you ask yourself “Where do I put this?” your brain is going to start thinking in terms of size, available storage space, danger to surrounding objects, etc. It isn’t thinking in terms of the context in which the item is needed.

If you organize your stuff by thinking about the context in which you need each item you’ll spend far less time looking for things.  This type of approach helps you find simple but innovative solutions that make sense.  For example, if you ask yourself where  you should store your postage stamps, you’ll probably put them in a drawer.  But if you think about the context in which you’ll actually use them, you might decide to keep them in the box with empty envelopes.

By imagining the context in which you will need something in the future,  you can organize your stuff in a way that makes sense and that works best for you personally.  As always, this one is so simple that we miss it.

“The first and worst of all frauds is to cheat one’s self.”  — Phillip James Bailey

Are you hiding in some way from your own inner light?

I wouldn’t dream of stealing things but I do steal from my own potential. I can be a master at rationalizing, at justifying why it’s not the right time to do something challenging. My arguments seem valid but deep down, I know they’re excuses.

“The longer the excuse, the less likely it’s the truth.”   — Robert Half

“When we know deep down that we’re acting with integrity despite impulses to do otherwise, we feel gates of higher energy and inspiration open inside of us.”   — Dan Millman

I was talking to an old friend. He asked the usual questions.

“Family okay?”

“Everyone is great.”

“Business good?”

“Busier than ever.”

“But are you having fun?”

He asked the question as any child of the ‘60s would ask it. The anthem we sang as young men was, “If It Feels Good, Do It.”  Live fast, die young, leave a beautiful corpse. Life is kicks, fun, adrenaline: Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Dylan Thomas, Anna Nicole, Paris Hilton.

I wasn’t sure how to answer his question.

At the root of every misunderstanding is a lack of definition of terms.  “Fun” is a term that screams for definition:

Late at night, ask a weary mother nursing a sick child, “Are you having any fun?”

Ask Mohandas Gandhi on the 20th day of a hunger strike, “Are you having any fun?”

Ask Martin Luther King in Birmingham City Jail, “Are you having any fun?”

Each of these saw a change that was needed and happily paid the price to bring that change to pass. But change never happens quickly.

Americans’ sense of time is very special. We are short on patience. Everything must be quick, including food and sex, which the rest of the world treats ceremoniously. Gringos invented two terms that are untranslatable into most languages: ‘snack’ and ‘quickie,’ to refer to eating standing up and loving on the run … that, too, sometimes standing up. The most popular books are manuals: how to become a millionaire in ten easy lessons, how to lose fifteen pounds a week, how to recover from your divorce, and so on. People always go around looking for shortcuts and ways to escape anything they consider unpleasant: ugliness, old age, weight, illness, poverty, and failure in any of its aspects.

My friend Don Kuhl is one of the world’s leading experts on how change happens. A couple of weeks ago Don said something on the telephone that I hastily scribbled down: “Change is not an event. It’s a tiny decision made over and over again. Change isn’t once. It’s daily.”

I recorded Don’s words because I heard in them an echo of the note my father scribbled to my sister and I as he struggled for one last breath in his final 60 seconds: “All the little things in life add up to your life. If you don’t get it right, nothing else matters.”

If you define fun as reckless, heady abandon spiraling upwards to climax in an intoxicating sense of personal freedom and power, then no, I’m not having any.

But if you define fun as the little things in life that add up to your life, like nursing a child, doing without, paying the price for what you believe, then I would have to say that I’m having quite a time.

The time of my life.

Roy H. Williams

Here, he talks about understanding what love is by understanding what it is not.

By process of elimination, you can figure out what love is. When you’re feeling defensive, that’s not love. When you’re feeling anxious, that is not love. If you feel like you have a need that can’t be met, that’s not love. If you expect a negative outcome for no special reason, that is not love. If you are judging yourself or someone else, or expecting to be judged, that’s not love. Loving yourself as you are has a strange way of going from the most difficult thing there is to the easiest thing there is. You want to project that ease to the world, because if you do, you’re going to create a lot more of it, and it’s about time.

This is a powerful strategy for “digressing” to beginner’s mind.  When you think you know everything there is to know about something, challenge yourself to define that thing according to what it IS NOT.  You will be so surprised by what you never saw before.

If you’re too full of what you think you know and believe you are, then you are not nearly as useful to the world as you think.  The world needs more open (emptied) minds.  Begin again, and imagine that you know nothing.  Now you are powerful and useful.

A Law That Matters to Everyone

For the most part, it is the unwritten laws that are truly important to our quality and experience of life.   The unwritten, un-legislatable, inarguable Laws of Nature make a perfect example.  These laws just ARE, and we ignore them at our peril. We don’t get any voice in writing or enacting these laws.  Unlike man-made laws–which typically are written with special interests or sub-groups of people in mind–unwritten laws are characterized by their universal and equal application to every human being on the planet.

Our human lives consist of three simple categories:  STUFF, TIME & PEOPLE.  The category of PEOPLE is as mysterious as nature itself.  But the categories of STUFF and TIME can be understood, managed and mastered by conducting your life in accordance with some essential unwritten laws.

THE 10 BASIC LAWS OF STUFF

1.    Stuff breeds. The more you have, the more you need
2.    The useless stuff crowds out the good stuff
3.    Dust loves stuff. Bugs love stuff. Rodents love stuff. Moisture loves stuff
4.    Stuff loves to stay where it lands
5.    Stuff expands to fill the space available
6.    Over time, stuff becomes invisible
7.    Stuff costs you money more than once
8.    Stuff has a powerful effect on your state of mind
9.    Stuff takes on value only when it is used
10.  Stuff doesn’t make you happy, you do

THE TEN BASIC LAWS OF TIME

1.    Time can be neither created nor destroyed
2.    Nobody gets more time in a day than you do
3.    Time isn’t money, it’s your life
4.    The value of time is created by opportunity and choice
5.    Once time is lost, it can never be reclaimed
6.    Time invested in planning, preparing, and organizing is a vital key to  making the most of your time
7.    You can always use time to your advantage by beginning where you are
8.    Identifying your personal time-wasters leads to mastery
9.    Time expands when you set limits
10.  Enjoy the passage of time; that is its purpose

Why do we spend so much of our time trying to control other PEOPLE, knowing that this is as futile as trying to control the seas and the trees?  Let us instead pursue mastery over our STUFF and TIME so that we gain freedom from these forces that control US.  Only then will we possess the freedom to truly enjoy the mystery called PEOPLE.

1. Never apologize for acting on your instincts. Listening to your body – then taking action on what you hear – is the hallmark of heroic people.

2. Never apologize for all the tears you’ve cried. Crying cleanses the soul. Shoot for once a month. Even if it’s just a brief mist at a tender moment in a sad movie.

3. Never apologize for anything in your portfolio. If you feel the need to do so, it probably doesn’t belong in your portfolio in the first place.

4. Never apologize for asking for what you need. The answer to every question you DON’T ask is always no.

5. Never apologize for asking questions. When you stop asking questions, you don’t just run out of answers – you run out of hope.

6. Never apologize for asserting yourself. The word “assert” comes from the Latin asserere, which means, “to claim, maintain or affirm.” And that’s exactly what you’re entitled to: Your opinion. Your belief. Your say. Let nobody take it away from you.

7. Never apologize for being a health nut. Next time someone says, “What are you, on a diet or something?” look them straight in the eye and say, “Yeah – you got a problem with that?” Then, when they back down, you go right back to eating your tofu.

8. Never apologize for being a newbie. Everyone great chess master was once a beginner.

9. Never apologize for being early for an appointment. In the history of Corporate America, no employee has ever been fired for consistently arriving ten minutes early to every meeting.

10. Never apologize for being funny. The world is too damn serious. We need you. Seriously.

11. Never apologize for being human. Once you do, you’re no longer human – you’re a cyborg.

12. Never apologize for being passionate. Unless you’re passionate about stabbing strangers with broken Coke bottles.

13. Never apologize for being smart. That’s the ONE thing the government, the media (and every other entity that’s trying to control you) is terrified of: Smart people who take action. Be one of those people.

14. Never apologize for being the age that you are. It’s just a number. “A chicken ain’t nothing but a bird,” as my Grandpa likes to say.

15. Never apologize for breaking a rule that isn’t really a rule. Be proud of yourself for being a rule breaker. Then go break another one.

16. Never apologize for calling bullshit on someone. Especially when nobody else is the room is going to do it and this person REALLY needs to be taken to task.

17. Never apologize for demanding respect. If you’ve demonstrated that you deserve respect by giving it to others first, you’re good to go.

18. Never apologize for disagreeing. Especially if you do so respectfully. On the other hand, if you’re disagreeing for the sake of disagreeing, or because of your pathological need to be right, that’s a different story.

19. Never apologize for expressing yourself. That’s all “leadership” is: The full, free expression of your truth. Don’t say you’re sorry for that.

20. Never apologize for falling in love. Your heart’s calling the shots.

21. Never apologize for falling OUT of love. Your heart’s still calling the shots – even when you throw up an air ball.

22. Never apologize for getting something off your chest. That which you suppress will find a home in your body. And then it will trash the place.

23. Never apologize for giving it your best shot. As my Grandpa also reminds me, “You do the best you can with as many as you can.”

24. Never apologize for growing up privileged. As long as you scrap the entitlement attitude, remain grateful for everything you’ve ever been given and respect the life situation of those who are less fortunate, it’s all good.

25. Never apologize for having an overabundance of love in your life. Instead, circulate what you’ve got. Pay it forward. Share it. People need it.

26. Never apologize for lack of experience. Instead, share your Learning Plan; demonstrate your dedication to lifelong learning and practice.

27. Never apologize for lack of information. Ignorance is acceptable. Staying ignorant, however, is stupid.

28. Never apologize for liking stupid movies. Movie snobs annoy me. Some of my favorite movies are among the most ridiculous films ever made. So I love Waiting For Guffman. Sue me.

29. Never apologize for living your truth. Few things in the world are more important.

30. Never apologize for looking out for yourself. Self-preservation is a primary driver of human behavior. It’s how we’re wired.

31. Never apologize for loving yourself. If you do, you probably don’t love yourself as much as you thought.

32. Never apologize for making a decision from the heart. Remember: It’s not thee truth – it’s YOUR truth.

33. Never apologize for needing alone time. Solitude is soil. Solitude is medicine. And if you don’t get your fix every day, your life will suffer.

34. Never apologize for needing to use the bathroom. Yesterday a girl in my yoga class walked out of the room and actually said to the teacher, “I have to pee, I’m SO sorry.” Unbelievable.

35. Never apologize for not being there when someone called. You have a life, too. People can’t expect you to wait eagerly by the phone all hours of the day.

36. Never apologize for not embracing someone else’s agenda. Especially if that agenda robs you of your true talent.

37. Never apologize for occasional absentmindedness. Everyone’s brain farts.

38. Never apologize for ordering dessert. Especially if the menu offers one of those chocolate volcano brownie thingies. (Insert Homer Simpson drooling sound.)

39. Never apologize for pulling your triggers for joy. Screw it. If it makes you happy, do it. Unless strangling people with Ethernet cables makes you happy.

40. Never apologize for reclaiming what is rightfully yours. There’s a difference between entitlement and basic human rights.

41. Never apologize

42. Never apologize for saying how you feel. That’s like saying sorry for being real.

43. Never apologize for saying no. Especially when you’re doing so to reinforce your boundaries and create a space for the right “yes” to come into your life.

44. Never apologize for self-promotion. It’s not shameless when all you’re doing is transferring your love. That’s what self-promotion truly is: Transference of emotion. Remember: If you don’t make a name for yourself, someone will make one for you. Just don’t be too shameless.

45. Never apologize for setting high standards and enforcing them. Ditch those frightened people who tell you to play smaller just to appease their insecurity. Try telling them to play bigger.

46. Never apologize for sharing your gifts and talents with the world. This is the purpose of your life and the validation of your existence. To take whatever unique gift you’ve been given and re-gift it to the world. Not doing so isn’t just selfish – it’s stupid.

47. Never apologize for speaking your mind. Honesty makes people uncomfortable. Good. Comfortable people rarely take action.

48. Never apologize for sticking to your values. Especially if you’re only doing so to avoid making someone else uncomfortable. Tough shit. If people can’t handle someone who stands up for what he believes, that’s their problem.

49. Never apologize for taking a break. Learning to press your Off Button is the single most important lesson you could ever learn.

50. Never apologize for telling an unpopular truth. Honest trumps comfort.

51. Never apologize for telling the truth. You’re doing people a favor. Especially yourself. Honesty is the single source of all the world’s stress.

52. Never apologize for things that make you laugh your ass off. Funny is funny. Don’t feel bad for laughing. Don’t look to see if the King laughed. Just let the humor wash over you. It’s healthy.

53. Never apologize for things you can’t change. Instead, figure out what you CAN change and get to work.

54. Never apologize for thinking something was possible. That’s what possiblitarians do. They walk around the problems mentally and prayerfully and see what they see. They face problems artfully and lovingly enough to convert them into something beautiful. They believe.

55. Never apologize for treating yourself to something special. I call it a “Victory Dance.” It’s about celebration. It’s about ritual. It’s about rewarding yourself.

56. Never apologize for voicing a reasonable complaint. When everyone assumes somebody is going to say something, nobody says anything. It’s called diffusion of involvement, and it’s the murderer of the collective voice of man. Don’t feel bad for complaining. As long as you suggest three actions for every one complaint, you’re all right in my book. Unless your complaint is about my book. In which case we might actually have a problem.

57. Never apologize for walking away from a relationship that was holding you back from being the best version of yourself. Even when delivering the death stroke causes your partner significant pain. Don’t say you’re sorry. You might feel terrible. You might feel like a horrible person. And you might feel more guilt than ever before in your life. But don’t say you’re sorry. Those words help nobody.

58. Never apologize for what needed to be done. You were kind, honest and true; and it was the right thing to do. Good for you.

59. Never apologize for what you don’t feel. That’s a betrayal of your truth. And saying sorry for doing so compounds your inauthenticity.

60. Never apologize for what you’re about to say. Immediate personal discounting denotes lack of confidence and reduces listenability.

61. Never apologize for what’s important to you. If you do, then it’s probably not that important to you.

62. Never apologize for who you really are. Brag about it. Shout it from the rooftops.

63. Never apologize for your art. That defeats the whole purpose of creating art.

64. Never apologize for your attempts at humor. Even if they’re totally lame.

65. Never apologize for your boundaries. They are limits that promote integrity. And if you don’t set them for yourself, others will set them for you.

66. Never apologize for your brand. Branding is the best, highest version of yourself – (plus) – the way people experience themselves in relation to you. Not everyone will like it. And if everybody does, you’re doing something wrong.

67. Never apologize for your displays of affection. My quota is to say, “I love you” to at least one person a day. What’s yours?

68. Never apologize for your enthusiasm. Next time someone tells you to “tone it down” a little, look her straight in the eye and say, “How about you tone it UP a little?”

69. Never apologize for your faith. You’re entitled to your own definition of God. Just promise not to beat people over the head with it.

70. Never apologize for your fundamental values. That’s who you are. At your core. Your personhood. Your foundation. That’d be like a cayenne paper saying sorry for being spicy. Not cool.

71. Never apologize for your happiness. Especially when people get on your case for being in such a good mood. Just smile and hope it rubs off.

72. Never apologize for your natural abilities. Instead, leverage that which comes easy to you in the service of others.

73. Never apologize for your obsessions. As long as your obsessions aren’t hurting others or the world – have at it, hoss.

74. Never apologize for your own sense of beauty. If it touches your heart, ignites your soul or moves your spirit, it’s beautiful. To you. Doesn’t matter if it’s a bald eagle, a song by The Smiths or puddle of mud outside of Bob Evan’s. Beauty is subjective and nobody has the right to take it away from you.

75. Never apologize for passionately going for what you want. Stop kidding yourself about the things that you “need.” It’s all about what you WANT. And there’s nothing wrong with wanting.

76. Never apologize for your pricing. You deserve to be compensated commensurate with your value. State your feel confidently and shut up. He who speaks next, loses.

77. Never apologize for your success. Instead, figure out the lessons attached to your victory path and share them with others.

78. Never apologize for your taste. Guilty pleasures, schmilty pleasures. If you love reading trashy romance novels that use words like “throbbing member” and have Fabio on the cover, go for it.

79. Never apologize for your value. You worked very hard to establish it and you’ll be damned if you’re going to back down now. Stand up, speak up and sell the hell out of it.

Don’t be afraid to speak truth to power responsibly…you might save a life in the process of shattering some useless illusions.

A DEA officer stops at a ranch in Texas, and talks with an old rancher. He tells the rancher, “I need to inspect your ranch for illegally grown drugs.” The rancher says, “Okay, but do not go in that field over there,” as he points out the location.

The DEA officer verbally explodes saying, ” Mister, I have the authority of the Federal Government with me.” Reaching into his rear pants pocket, he removes his badge and proudly displays it to the rancher. “See this badge? This badge means I am allowed to go wherever I wish . . . on any land. No questions asked or answers given. Have I made myself clear? Do you understand?”

The rancher nods politely, apologizes, and goes about his chores.

A short time later, the old rancher hears loud screams and sees the DEA officer running for his life chased by the rancher’s big Santa Gertrudis bull . . .

With every step the bull is gaining ground on the officer, and it seems likely that he’ll get gored before he reaches safety.  The officer is clearly terrified. The rancher throws down his tools, runs to the fence and yells at the top of his lungs . . .

“Your badge. Show him your BADGE!”

Have you finished laughing?  Then here’s the story’s message and question:

Real power is organically balanced by responsibility, and real power can only be taken through taking responsibility.   Meanwhile, authority tries to take power without taking responsibility.  So  I ask:  who is being responsible and irresponsible in this story?  There lies the real power…always.

In fact, I was just sitting at my desk catching up on my overloaded Google Reader, and feeling incredibly grateful to be listening to Willie Nelson playing a new Austin City Limits show on my TV in the background.  Willie has been part of the fabric of my universe for so long, and as I listened tonight, I felt enveloped by the warm feeling we get from those family members whose presence always makes us feel oh so stable and secure.  As I was silently sending out thanks that Willie just keeps on going no matter how many years go by, I found this post in my reader.

So I guess what I’m saying is…turkey is NOT required for experiencing thankfulness in my life…how about yours?

The Problem With Thanksgiving

By D. K. Brainard

I was talking about abundance with Aoghain Lakes, the Irish healer I work with at Eternal Balance in Royal Oak. He said, “The secret to manifesting abundance is so simple. It’s gratitude and optimism, and that’s all it is.” Americans, he said, have a hard time getting this because we’re so programmed to believe in the American Dream.

“Americans think, ‘When I get the American Dream, then I can be happy and fulfilled.’ But that’s not the way it works! The way it works is, when you are thankful for every moment in your life, then you will be far happier and wealthier than you could ever imagine by going after the American Dream.”

To Aoghain’s mind, when Americans say “thank you” we are often saying it out of a sense of social obligation — we say it because it’s good manners and then we feel pleased with ourselves for remembering. Whereas when people in other parts of the world say “thank you,” you can really feel the power of their gratitude.

I’ve been reflecting on our conversation this weekend and I’ve come to two conclusions:

(1) Americans aren’t un-grateful by nature; we’ve actually been systematically brainwashed to believe that being “good” means always striving for more.

(2) The other reason we find it so hard to express genuine gratitude is because most of us don’t know what it feels like to truly live in want.

I’ve been blessed (thank you, life!) with the wonderful fortune to travel extensively to other countries. Probably the most important thing I learned in all of my traveling is that people are the same everywhere you go. Most people, if they haven’t been systematically abused, are basically kind at heart and want to live a happy life. Some nations have better laws and better resources than other nations, but the people themselves are pretty much the same.

I also learned that the less stuff people have, the more generous they tend to be with it.

And maybe that is why it is so hard for us to remember to practice gratitude here in the USA — because we have so much that we’ve forgotten what it feels like to be truly grateful. We don’t tend to need – or accept – a lot of help here in the USA. We’re the ones helping you, and in our culture there’s not a whole lot we consider more shameful than not having enough. Woe unto the American man who has to ask for a helping hand!

I think the second part of the equation is the programming. We’re indoctrinated from a very young age to believe unquestioningly that the reason we’re the best people in the entire world is because we have the right and the obligation to pursue the American Dream. The word we use to describe this dream is “freedom.” But the dream was co-opted long ago by clever programmers, both corporate and political, who have convinced us to trade in the duties of freedom for the ephemeral pleasures of bread and circuses (pizza and cable, in the parlance of our times).

When we talk of freedom, on a subconscious level we’re thinking of the freedom to have and to get more. I think of myself as worldly wise and educated and spiritual, and yet how often am I able to be truly content with what I have and where I am in life? How much of my inner longing is the conditioned American desire for more, more, more?

And yet I believe Aoghain and all the spiritual teachers who’ve come before him who proclaim that the first step to true wealth is acknowledging the abundance we already have. Maybe instead of beating myself up this week for not finding it easier to stay in this mindset, I’ll remember that I was ruthlessly programmed to strive for more, to live in an imaginary future of “success” and “wealth” and to ignore the multitude of blessings that fill my life in this present moment: heat in the winter, fine clothes, warm shoes, a loving partner, loving family members in reasonably good health, not to mention the opportunity and energy to express my Divine creative gifts in so many different ways.

In these dark times we’re living through, we don’t know what the future will bring. But we are so fortunate to have not only enough, but the astounding wealth we enjoy each and every day…my goal this week is to practice gratitude and really feel it in my heart.

It’s the story of how an organized crime ring called the pharmaceutical industry unleashed fear and deceit, and will stop at nothing to corner the market on drug dealing.  Cornering the market is a form of war, and war creates prisoners–literally speaking.

It took decades for the sordid story of pharma to fully emerge, but feast your eyes on the progress that’s now been made.  The statistics below tell the tale of how many competitors have been taken off the streets, leaving much bigger profits for the winners of the war for drugs. Yes, I meant to say war FOR drugs.

You don’t actually believe you’re supporting a war ON drugs, do you?  No indeed, it has been a war FOR drugs all along.  It’s been an all out war by pharma  (another day, another war) to own control of human pain and suffering in its many forms, by owning perceived relief.

I have to admit it…the War On Drugs was built around a brilliant marketing plan — especially the tactic of using the police force as D.A.R.E. officers to spread the gospel chosen by pharma.  This wasn’t exactly a new tactic, since organized crime has always brought the police into collusion with them.  Still, using the police to scare children took the old tactic to a new level.

And how brilliant that a simple word substitution reveals the truth behind the campaign.  To win the war for drugs, let’s market it as a war on drugs.  Perfect!  I can actually imagine the conversations and meetings that continue to orchestrate this campaign with such stone-faced cunning.  It makes me shudder to think of it.

The biggest collateral damage of this positioning war by pharma is undoubtedly the effects of their products.  How about Olestra products, for the pain of weight control issues when you just can’t stop eating chips…just watch out for the anal leakage.  (Yes, we have pharma products in our food).  Or how about the new secondary anti-depressant your doctor needs to prescribe because the first one doesn’t do the job?  But the collateral damage second-runner-up is the increasing numbers of ‘prisoners of war’.  The picture above only depicts Federal prisons; if state prisons were included, most of the base map would be covered, and the “Land of the Free” motto suddenly would become laughable.

It’s estimated that ~70% of the overall US prison population committed drug-related crimes. You have to ask yourself why there are so many more drug-related crimes today?  Seems to me that pharma’s criminal marketing strategy is working quite well, and will continue to work until enough people take off their blinders and see that they’re being played by a bad-ass playa who could give two shits about their health or their pain.

I don’t know about you, but I’ll take Farmaceuticals over Pharmaceuticals any day.  My body is too precious to be abused by voluntary chemical warfare, and I won’t support the work of killers and pathological liars.  Those reasons aside, I’m also interested in using simple medicines that occur in nature, not in chemical labs.  Like iodine for instance–nature’s supreme antibiotic, and a simple medicine that pharma succeeded in getting criminalized in strengths over 2%.   Hey, this one easily eliminates skin cancer, as well as breast, ovarian and testicular cancers when combined with a little baking soda and magnesium…let’s call in some favors and get that on the illegal list STAT. In case you haven’t noticed during the current health care debate, pharma effectively owns our government, and they want to own you too.

The business heads of pharma undoubtedly churn through and analyze tons of statistics and marketing data, in support of their quest to own the business of suffering and its relief…to either own the products that people turn to for pain relief–or if they can’t–to outlaw those items and then produce a series of poor substitutes that don’t work, so that you need more and different products.    I like statistics too, especially in a pictorial format that makes seeing the message in the numbers easy.  I think the numbers pictured below can enlighten even the most skeptical among us as to what’s really at stake in the War On Drugs.  Wasted potential indeed.  Well…not exactly wasted…more like diverted into the pockets of the most ruthless and cunning participants in the war, exactly as planned and intended.

According to a news report, a certain private school in Victoria, BC recently was faced with a unique problem.

A number of year 12 girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints. Every night, the maintenance man would remove them and the next day the girls would put them back.

Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night.

To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required. He took out a long handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it. Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.

There are teachers, and then there are educators.

Thanks Jonco.

Should you visit the site and find yourself confused by the seeming disparity between what I write here and the fact that I enjoy this type of humor, consider it a wonderful opportunity to expand your ability to stop labeling others and placing them in pre-assembled boxes!

Just the cleverness of the site’s name alone is enough to throw a huge grin onto my otherwise sober face.  Regretsy is based on a site called Etsy, where crafters sell their handmade goods.  Regretsy locates all the most ridiculous stuff being sold on Etsy and adds snarky comments about those items (the comments are always at the bottom of the post, below the item’s description, and if you miss reading them then you’ve missed the entire essence of the site).

Since the posts on Regretsy may be seen as controversial by some, I am including the DISCLAIMER posted by the Regretsy team on the website:

Don’t get us wrong. We like crafts.

We just don’t like these crafts.

Yes, we know these people put their hearts into it. We know it took hours and hours. We know how mean it is to laugh at their creations. And we regret being the only web site on the internet that makes fun of things.

But what can we do? We’re immature.

Besides, art is totally subjective. Who cares what we think? I barely care and I’m writing this.

Listen, if you like something you see here, don’t argue with us, go and buy it. Seriously. Click on any photo and you’ll be taken to the seller’s store. We’re only too glad to have made the introduction.

- The Regretsy team

I wonder if, before we were born, we were as afraid of life as we are now of death?

I just don’t know, but I love pondering the question.

Wisdom without distribution is wasteful. What you scatter is more important than what you gather. And hording wisdom without circulation is a dangerous act of selfishness. Now, that doesn’t mean you need to publish or share every single thought you’ve ever had.

But if you’re debating whether or not to tell the world, ask yourself, “What’s the worst thing that could happen if I distribute this idea?” Odds are, the answer won’t be as detrimental as you think. Are you being selfish with your wisdom?

And speaking of speaking out, here’s a bonus link to the work of a man who has bravely and generously spoken truth to power.

So why would a person choose hearing over listening?

To listen is to suffer because we do not want to listen to anything that might require a change.   To listen is to change. We cannot change without listening.  Listening implies a change.  We need to change just to listen.

Something to think about the next time you are in a conversation, and have the choice between listening and hearing.  Will you be brave enough to reject simple hearing in favor of the creative act of listening?

He was aghast to discover that it was a mouse trap!

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning, “There is a mouse trap in the house, there is a mouse trap in the house.”

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, “Mr. Mouse, I can tell you this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me; I cannot be bothered by it.”

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, “There is a mouse trap in the house.”

“I am so very sorry Mr. Mouse,” sympathized the pig, “but there is nothing I can do about it but pray; be assured that you are in my prayers.”

The mouse turned to the cow, who replied, “Like wow, Mr. Mouse, a mouse trap; am I in grave danger, Duh?”

So the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected to face the farmer’s mouse trap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a mouse trap catching its prey. The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught.

In the darkness, she did not see that it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught.

The snake bit the farmer’s wife.

The farmer rushed her to the hospital.

She returned home with a fever. Now everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient.

His wife’s sickness continued so that friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.

The farmer’s wife did not get well, in fact, she died, and so many people came for her funeral the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide meat for all of them to eat.

So the next time you hear that someone is facing a problem and think that it does not concern you, remember that when the least of us is threatened, we are all at risk.

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Dear Carolyn:

How should I handle my new boyfriend’s ANGRY ex? She is using their children to try to control him and break us up.

Anonymous

Dear Anonymous: The way not to handle this angry ex is by casting the ex as the villain, your boyfriend as victim and yourself as superhero. That common trap yields nothing but victims — the kids, of course, along with every adult who’s involved.

Very few people, when you see them up close, fall neatly into categories. The selfish can show compassion, poets can be heartless, warriors can be gentle, the wise can make stupid mistakes, charmers can be sincere, heroes can save the world only to succumb to emotional stage fright at home — or vice versa, and so on.

When you see people only through the eyes of others, your impressions get flattened into caricatures. Understandably, since flat people are easier to file away, dismiss, blame for everything.

But even if this “ANGRY ex” is throwing an extended tantrum, she’s no caricature. She’s the woman your boyfriend once loved, the mother of his kids.

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What Carolyn has to say about the reasons we tend to ‘flatten people into caricatures’ is right on the money…it helps us efficiently dismiss and blame others…so much easier and faster than every other option.

Carolyn also reminds us here of our tendencies to select the perspective that best justifies our own emotions, rather than the perspective that will deliver the best results to the most people.  Think about what you’re thinking about (or not) people.

Something to think about….

Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approximately. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:

The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes:

A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:

A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes:

The musician played continuously.  Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace.  The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour:

He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities.

The questions raised:

*In a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?

*Do we stop to appreciate it?

*Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made.

How many other things are we missing?