I know this is controversial, ignore if it’s not for you. My feeling is it’s obvious this is happening –> being told lies despite evidence of truth, setting a precedent for banning free speech (no Q & A) and calling truth tellers “fake” news. It’s also obvious he’s President until he’s not and he can do what he wants, until he can’t. More qualified ones than I are actively working on that. WHAT I CAN DO do is live my life with integrity and don’t let my happiness depend on what he says or doesn’t say and do.

From Cross-Cultural Communications, Analysis purportedly from a former White House staffer: “If you are puzzled by the bizarre “press conference” put on by the White House press secretary this evening (angrily claiming that Trump’s inauguration had the largest audience in history, accusing them of faking photos and lying about attendance), let me help explain it. This spectacle served three purposes:   Continue reading →

You can use your willpower to catch yourself every time you have negative emotion. Strengthening your will takes practice. You practice it every time you reject instant gratification in favor of a higher and better goal. One simple daily practice to develop will power is by refusing to satisfy trivial desires (like channel surfing, snacking or drinking soda). By learning to refuse to satisfy every desire that crosses your mind, your will gets stronger. Practice it often during the day, delay yourself by 30 minutes getting that soda or turning on the tv. That’s practice. You’re exercising that muscle, like going to the gym, so the strength is there when you need it.

It’s so much easier to face it and get it behind you

In my 22 year career as a criminal defense paralegal I was able to develop skills that were unique to the job. One such skill was getting errant defendant clients to turn themselves in after absconding. During the course of their case we’d inevitably become close because they’d get me on the phone more often than the attorney. I knew the way to get them to come back for their court date was not to threaten that their mom would lose her house since she bonded them out and used her property as collateral, although I’d tell them that, too. No, the way to get them to come back was to get them to focus on the fact of getting the court case over with, doing their time and getting back to their life again as soon as possible. I’d remind them they could use their incarceration time to formulate a plan for the future. Maybe go back to school, learn a new skill. I’d refocus their attention so I could reframe what they were experiencing. Instead of focusing on “I don’t want to go to prison,” and re-running in their mind all the horror stories,  I’d turn their attention to, “Let’s get this over with so I can get back to my happy life.” I’d refocus them to stop decrying the injustice of it all, but to put things in motion so by the time they are free, they are walking into a plan.

Wow — ban journalists from the press conference? Really? I see the First Amendment is the first to go. The First Amendment guarantees, among other things, freedom of expression by prohibiting restriction of the press or the rights of individuals to speak freely. “We’re going to be in the promise-keeping business” yet 34 out of 36 were broken the first day. “Get over it?” It would be easy to take score too soon, huh? Jesus in disguise, ya’ll. See how this will never end? Don’t let what he does drive you crazy. Just be kind to your neighbors (and everyone) for the next 4 years and don’t worry about what people say he’s doing.  Pray he’ll have an awakening and will go on to do great things. There’s still time to turn it all around but we have to believe it’s possible. 4+5=9 and 9 is esoterically the number of initiation, initiation into a new way of being, initiation into a new way of perceiving and interacting with the world around you. Many of us will come thru the fire on the other side. We won’t get consumed by the fire if we don’t stand around watching it. That means keep your attention moving to ever better topics, and to people and things in your immediate environment. The best is yet to be. Yes, despite this.  Whatever is happening God is permitting to happen for a designed purpose even though we have no idea what that purpose is. Staying faithful no matter what craziness appears before me.

I was delighted to see all the sisters attending the Women’s March. There were record turnouts all across the nation (4+ million) saying “we exist, we have something to say, we have rights we deserve to retain.” We learned a big lesson this election season. A few years from now there will be more record turnouts, it will be on voting day, and we’ll come back into balance. Thanks to DT for being an alarm clock showing us what happens when we sit back and let other people do the thinking and the voting. We’ve been reminded in a big way that we’ve got the power and we’ve just been re-inspired to use it.  Half a million men and women descended onto the national mall in Washington, DC January 21, 2017 — the day after the Inauguration — to show their support for women’s rights.  Marchers and police were civil and participants were kind to one another. Despite the 500,000 protesters, there were no arrests, in contrast to the day before when 230 people were arrested out of the 250,000 attending the Inauguration.    Continue reading →

“We’re going to be in the promise-keeping business” yet 34 out of 36 broken the first day. “Get over it?” It would be easy to take score too soon, huh? Jesus in disguise, ya’ll. Whatever is happening God is permitting to happen for a designed purpose even though we have no idea what that purpose is. Staying faithful…

For a year or more I’ve wanted to make a community credit union my primary financial institution and I finally began steps to move my Wells Fargo bank accounts. I admit I just learned that Wells Fargo helped finance the DAPL pipeline however I was ready to move. I went to the credit union and opened a business checking account. Back at the office I ordered checks and deposit slips and rubber stamps and began changing all direct deposit info. Next I’ll enter all my bill pay info in, it’s a chore but it feels good to have begun the process.  I was thrilled when they built a credit union 2 miles away, I can walk my deposits in now. There are no monthly fees and my dollars support my local community.

I just saw Warren Buffett do a potentially dangerous and gross thing. On the New Celebrity Apprentice, the challenge is to make a new candy and present it to Warren Buffett.  Jon Lovitz is one of the contestants and he jokingly hands Warren Buffett a $1 bill and a $5 bill which Buffett takes in his hands. Then with the same hand he picks up the chocolate and puts it in his mouth. But it seems touching money has not killed him yet so what do I know?

Being a good actor is not always a good thing. You take on a big karma when you exaggerate illness and injury to avoid responsibility, when you refuse to pull your weight despite being able to do so, when you make your devoted and gaslighted, already-exhausted loved ones work double time to pick up your slack. Have a little more respect for yourself than that. Make yourself worthy of the esteem they hold you in. You’ve got the power. Use it for good, that’s how you armor up for karmic repurcussions.

I watched Minimalism on Netflix, a documentary about downsizing, getting back to basics and weaned away from excess consumption of resources. It made me walk around and see what in my house I could do without. I’ve been moving furniture around lately. A pal thinks it’s an OCD thang but it’s simply that I thrive on change. When I feel things are getting too stagnant, one quick way I’ve found to stir things up is to empty a room. Take everything out of a room and then one by one decide what to put back in it. Not what ends up being in the room the last 5 years because you don’t know where else to put it. Put back in the room only what you want in there, what serves a purpose. I make a pile of stuff to go to another room. When I’m in the process of doing that, suddenly my mind clicks wider awake and I begin having ideas of new furniture combinations.   Continue reading →