Answers

     Where do answers come from? To questions you have posed? There is a something that you want but the picture is not clear on how to proceed.
     Analysis! Thinking, in other words, solves problems, doesn't it? Most of the time. But what if you can't reason with something, some dilemma that seems unsolvable no matter how much you try and pick the problem apart?
     Intuition can be employed. The sense of knowing that can't be explained. Intuition, though, comes to you in a way different from thinking. It is very precise and fast, doesn't mess around. Some examples- "Move in this direction! Make that phone call! Act now, not tomorrow!" Directives like that that get you moving towards the goal. It can get you there directly, or it can get you lining up the puzzle pieces.

     However, solving problems might take hours, days, weeks, months, years, or an entire lifetime! It's the timing of The Universe when you get certain things (witness the human condition). Some people get everything they want when they are young, some get everything they want when they are old, but most people get a mix. Nothing happens randomly. All the little things inevitably tie into the larger picture called 'Life lessons' and 'Soul purpose'.

     But that's all big stuff. Solving most of the situational problems in life doesn't call for that much involvement or orchestation. These things are easily handled by one's thinking capacity, coupled with intuition, and then right timing in applying any necessary action steps.

    The other stuff, the big stuff, calls for patience, processing, and dilligently working on your issues. This subject can be deep, deep as it gets. And you thought answers were easy!
     It depends on the question!

Temporal

     That which is temporary is, well, everything. This is a disturbing thought to the ego so it rarely goes there, and when it does, it recoils away from thinking about it because in thinking about it it realizes (though it tries to forget) that it too is temporary and the ego cannot 'live' with that.
     To be temporary means that peril to one's existence is always there. Existence can be diminished or it can cease altogether. What comes after ceasing to exist is either a very good place, a very bad place, or no place and no sensation. That is about it. Fantastically good, unimaginably bad, or nothing.
     Temporariness means that the passage of time is marked as well. There is a beginning and an end. Start of story, end of story.

    Recently, a famous scientist passed from this world and awareness on the man and his works was heightened but soon he will fade from the scene, as all do, for his works will be dated with the stamp of time. When you are here what you do is current, when you are not, you might still be important, what you said or did might still have weight, but measured against curent events it will be and if you were still here you might be saying something different now, right? So, you're valid as long as you are alive. After that, you are invalidated, in a way, due to simply not being physically present because the data set changes. New things are always being introduced.
 

The Future

     When the time is right......
     You'll know.
     It'll happen.
     You'll go there.
     Things will shift. Again.

     I've been thinking a lot about the future, that is, TRYING to think about the future, and it has been very difficult. Things are moving fast these days and there are a lot of technologies in developmental stages that could trigger huge changes in everybody's day to day lives. Self driving cars, air taxis, drone delivery, robots, geez.....

      Not only that, it looks unstoppable. There is a lot of money behind all this and a lot of money to be made, and whenever those forces merge, it's like the San Francisco gold rush all over again, only this time it's worldwide. The ordinary people that aren't in tech are going to be effected, you betcha.
     Choice? Who said anything about choice? Did anybody have a choice when TV was invented? Or radio, calculators, fuel injection, microwaves, WiFi, cable TV, satellite radio, CD's, cell phones, etc. etc.? No, those things just happened, and seemingly overnight, so how is this different?
     It's those damn robots, isn't it? And all this surveillance. Companies peering into our private lives, trying to figure us out, what makes individuals buy, what makes the masses buy. Social engineering with us as the subjects of unprecedented algorythmic study.

     I just got up and peeked through the curtains. The world outside is still relatively quiet and peaceful. I am going to savor every moment of this that I can before taxis start flying low overhead and home delivery drone robots come rolling down my street towards somebody's house with takeout in the hold. I'm gonna drive my car before it drives me and turn on the lights in my house before Alexa flips the switch upon sensing my arrival. That sort of thing. Good old ordinary, stable, NOW reality- I've learned how to be comfortable with it but the world has me on a steep learning curve. This galloping horse called technology is gonna go where it's gonna go. I've been riding it all my life but now- whew!
 Hold on!

Regret

     Sometimes things get a little contentious in my customer service job and I act in ways that I later question. In the heat of the moment I am tested again and again, it is my laboratory. Somehow I must have volunteered for this because I am there, there is no doubt about that.
     The customers I face daily are most likely new ones, though I do run into old ones occasionally. Amazing it is how many different people there are in the world and how they react to the same situation. Their encounter with me and what I do is a constant.
    A constant is a lab standard against which variables are measured. Scientific method tests variables against constants to find out if theories they postulate can be proven. A proven theory is one where test results produced from an experiment can be reproduced over time, every time.

     I have used the scientific method in my job to measure human behavior against a constant. My workspace is that constant. I, in that workspace, am quite constant as well, though, being human with emotions and different states of mind, I tend to vary in my degree of focus on and perfect replication of my duties from day to day. For example, today is my 'Aloha Friday', so I tend to be in a lighter mood. Actual Fridays, as stated before, are my Mondays, so I am more shut down in order to preserve energy for the upcoming week but do try to be there, and the days in the middle of the week I could either be up or down but, in customer service, I have learned that the customer always wants some sort of 'up'. Being 'up' provides the best and easiest interaction.
        That necessary bit of background said, now come the variables, and those are the customers who walk into my environment and cause all sorts of interactional situations, which I may or may not respond to with aplomb. Over the span of a workday I measure my sucess rate in dealing with the gamut of customers I have faced and usually rank myself pretty good, but on some days I feel I have, due to circumstances that have thrown me off-kilter, tiredness on my part, or ultra rude and condescending customers demanding a extreme level of service, I find that I have reacted to those stimuli in a way that I regret.

      While these sorts of interactions are rather ugly they hardly faze me, for I use all situations to learn from, but with regret there is some sort of energetic residue that doesn't go away with  a 'just forget about it' thought. Regret calls for introspection and processing. This I do. I examine the situation that has caused me grief, clean it up in my mind, and proceed. Thus the path to tomorrow is made clear, and I proceed again into the breach, better armed. Always honing the process, always striving for as close to perfect interactions that I can generate, as close to perfect responses to customers as I can muster, and no residue taken home afterward.

Women own this color

     When I was creating this website, along with my other half, we were debating on whether to have a background behind the logo. There was one color that made the logo stick out, and it was what I call 'Creamsicle' because it was the color of those little push-up ice cream bars I used to buy as a kid. 
     The computer offered up an infinite palette, or so it seemed, but I could not reproduce the color no matter what .... The best I could get was an orangeish background but that's not Creamsicle. Creamsicle has a slight pinkish hue, like some graprefruit does, but it's kind of fluorescent too, something the computer was not able to duplicate. So I gave up on putting a background around the logo.

    However, once I had the issue of not being able to duplicate the color Creamsicle on the computer, I started seeing it in public everywhere. Women were wearing this color, you can spot it a mile away, and it was always women. Usually I spotted them wearing a Creamsicle shirt though they might be spotted sporting a Creamsicle jacket, headband, sweater, hat, pair of shoes, or rarely, pants. Haven't seen a dress yet. No man wears Creamsicle.
     I also noticed that not only do women own Creamsicle, they also own a variety of other colors too broad to mention (something I had noticed before but this was again brought to my awareness), the loud bright colors that will never be found in a man's closet. Colors like canary yellow. Bright white. Deep red. Gold. Every shade of green. Lighter blues.
    Then there are textures. Satins, sheers, fluffy, puffy, shimmering metalics, I'm going into a black hole here. Lots of choices, more than any man will ever know or have to deal with.

     Ok, I digress. I think the thought of the day is once you start seeing an anomaly like the fact that women own the color Creamsicle, you can't NOT see it. Where previously it was part of the overall tapestry, it now leaps out of the background into the foreground. I suppose this seeing Creamsicle everywhere will happen for awhile with me and then I'll stop noticing it so much. Something else will capture my attention.

Slack-jawed fool

    Maybe I'm amazed this day that I am able to write this, to think, to plan, to dream, to be alive. It is all so miraculous, this life. What an opportunity. What a rich bath to immerse oneself in, a set of circumstances continuously changing, never stale, you never know what is going to happen next.
     The other day a bird pecked at my window almost as if to say "Wake up!" and then two days later it happened again. Is somebody trying to tell me something?
    Yes.
     I don't know what is going to happen today but I feel good about it. That is strange, but that is where I stand. At present. Not even sunrise yet and I can't wait to get out there. Why? I don't know.

     Whatever happens, it is almost like it has been scripted overnight, planned months before that, in the etheric realms by most of the participants. I truly believe that. We live two lives, then. One, the waking consciousness where everything appears to be random, because we forgot, and the sleeping consciousness where we know everything and everybody from way before. How can this be? I guess we're bigger than we think, smarter than we let on. Just a theory of mine, I can't prove it to anyone, so until then I am a slack-jawed fool wandering this world, amongst players who do not yet know.
 

Insistance

     Is that a real word? Whatever. We'll run with it.
     To insist on having your way, to make it a point to demonstrate to others, whether verbally or by body language that you will not budge, is a test of wills. Who will blink first? Who will give up ground? Who will stand their ground no matter the cost and further sow the seeds of discord?
     Insistent behavior can happen anywhere where two parties with strong opinions on how things should be, on what is right, meet. What usually happens is a standoff of some duration, usually not long, where the combatants stare each other down or issue statements filled with innuendo. The body language isn't inviting either. One can sense tension rising, and even danger in the air should the standoff last more than a few seconds.

     People used to getting their way usually approach others with a tried and true, greatly honed sort of steamroller action, one that is meant to bowl you over. This is so you won't steamroller THEM. It is an offensive measure, not a defensive one.
     Insisters live in environments where they test their wills on others daily, so they get very good at it. Think managers. Executives. Leaders of the pack in any field. Insisters could almost be said to be their own genre. They are easily identified because their approach is bombast all the way, no room for negotiation.
     What insisters fear the most is discussion and dialogue, for they don't want it. They don't want to hear your viewpoint or even consider it. There is no sitting down at the conference table and working things out with these people. And if there just happens to be any sitting around the table happening, the discussion will be meant only to sway you, not mediate any disputes. It's called 'winning'. At any cost.

    Counter strategy, for those affected by insisters? Yield. Give ground. Avoid the confrontation. Wait for better timing, for softening. Negotiate only with people open to it and don't waste your time on insisters for in order to reach agreements there have to be willing parties. Resistance is one thing, insistence is resistance ramped up a notch. There is something valuable and almost sacred to them that the insisters are protecting. Winning to them means keeping it. Losing to you means forfeiting it. What is that 'it'?
     Who knows? It could be more than just one thing (but you can guess).

Resistance

     Not The Resistance, just resistance, in case you were wondering.
     Resistance causes friction. Friction cause heat. Heat seeks relief. From whatever has caused the clashing, the rubbing together, the grinding between two poles of belief, standpoints, or views. Why do people experience so much resistance on a daily basis? Most people do, and that is why work is something that they dread, relationships with others are difficult and problematic, and why simply interacting socially with people on the street is fraught with victories and losses. Resistance! To what is, The Flow, how things are unfolding this day, and in what manner.

      People might say that they have no agenda, but they do, we all do. There are hopes for how the day will unfold because we all have dreams and until those dreams are filled in their entirety there is a gap between what is and their fulfilment and that gap is what the ego and the soul constantly yearn to close, to cross, for the soul of a person wants its fulfillment and the ego wants its gratification.
     Physical reality, being embodied in the physical, is not like being Superman or Wonder Woman, no, there are a lot of limitations and most of them aren't physical limitations. We yearn to fly, yes, but moreso we yearn to be rich, to have power, to be able to control and shape our environment and until that happens there is going to be resistance because guess what? Others want the same things you do, more or less, and you are part of their picture that they want to see changed. Welcome to physicality!

     Doesn't matter what race you are, nation you are part of, or neighborhood you happen to be in, be it city, town, village, or bustling metropolis, this clashing against the what is and wanting things to be better for you exists and causes frustration, contributes to the mental state psychiatrists call 'angst', and is the source of the amazing human quality to dig deep into the well of willpower in order to rise above. That battle, inner and outer, against what is and where I stand in my efforts to see my particular picture of reality drawn.

Questions

     How can something so heavy have no mass? Is the earth falling through space? What holds it up? How can astronauts experience weightlessness 'outside of the pull of earth's gravity'? Where are we heading? In a big circle because we are attached to the far end of one of the spiral arms of the milky way galaxy? Why? It's to early for these kinds of questions! I just got up.
     Why is it raining today? Will it rain all day? This is where our drinking water comes from, you know. Water simply falls from the sky and we collect it. Isn't that amazing?
     There was once lava flowing on this island. Lava is what made this island a long, long time ago. Was 'I' here then? Was anybody?

      Sounds like I'm searching for a topic today. This IS the topic. There is nothing more important than just writing down these words. How can that be? Aren't there 1,001 things to do, things that I would be 'better off' doing?
      Topics come and topics go. Today the topic is that the earth seems to be floating in space and we don't even QUESTION that crazy fact. We don't even know where in the heck we are, but that's okay. It's all right that we don't know, can't figure it out, or explain it in a way that makes sense. I would like some answers to these questions, though.
      Shouldn't we be more concerned about what's out there rather than the ancient ones who didn't have the technology that we do, technology that allows us to peer into space farther than they ever could? No. We should be busy writing more episodes for Netflix and creating robots and trying to figure out how to invest our money. These are the important things, we are told.
     Well, I don't agree.

The disarming nature of sleep

     Every day is a cycle of beginnning to end. Sleep resets the system, rejuvinates and restores, and all that has gone before is seemingly forgotten upon waking before slowing trickling back into consciousness.
     One could be said to have 'died' to the world in the interim. The world kept turning during this interval but you did not stir, or maybe you did, but your awareness of your surroundings was certainly less.
     So what?

     This is a big deal. Sleep takes you off the stage for awhile. It is nature's built in cooling-off period. You haven't been on the bridge steering the ship then you wake up to find things have changed. Now you have to adjust.
     Things have changed in your body. You might feel recharged or you might feel that the rest you got was insufficient and you are feeling kind of hazy, still 'not there'. You probably are having different thoughts about an issue, or no thoughts at all. You might be feeling elated by a dream you've had, or bummed out, sensing excitement about the upcoming day, or be plagued by some vague foreboding.

       The cycle of the new day has begun. It will run its course, like the thousands of days that have come before, and at the end of this one you will once again be irresistibly called back to bed. Nobody can continue to stay awake for very long. This built-in timer is an absolutely necessary biological shutdown. Studies have shown that sleep-deprived individuals become increasingly irrational and hallucinatory. What a curious thing! No matter how much technology humans develop, the need to sleep will still remain, stealing away thirty percent of your life with its unreasonable and quite unproductive demand of your time.

    "Hmmph!"  

    But, nothing you can do about it.
    So why? Why is this state called sleep necessary?
     No one knows. Humans seem to need an extraordinary amount of maintenance in this regard. We, the only self-aware, thinking species, should have conquered this 'problem' long ago because time is the ego's enemy. More time is required! I must have more experience!
   "Not!" says The Universe.

     "Why?"

Trying to understand another's motives

     I have to laugh about this. Our commander in chief seems to be the greatest enigma to the most thoughtful and percptive people that exist. His actions mystify them, his future direction is a constant source of conjecture, and the end result of all their pondering seems to be that he is either some sort of idiot savant/perceptive genius or a bumbling fool.
      I will not add my ideas of what he is or isn't into the mix. Instead I would like to point out the fact that out of however many millions of people there are in the U.S.A. there only seem to be a handful that know what this guy is likely gonna do next, because they've been around him long enough to kinda know.

    But this kind of thing is not just isolated to the commander in chief. This not knowing what another might do pertains to just about everyone, they just don't happen to be placed in postions of greatest power. How many managers and coworkers have mystified me? I still can't fathom my parents or siblings. My friends were puzzles. Relationships were bigger puzzles. I've talked to many, many others about this and nobody seems to know exactly what another might do next in whatever situation. Even if they've done things in a somewhat predictable way a thousand times before you can't say for certain that they will do it again.

    So where does that leave us? With today only. Yesterday is past and the future is nebulous. However today plays out, by the decisions made by the commander in chief and millions of other people, will be the result in this country at the end of the day. Tomorrow will certainly be different because only one thing can be said to be absolutely true-
     Things Change.

In Synch

     It has come upon me lately that if I just let go of what I think should happen, and the timing of those happenings, the things that need to play out play out better. I might like what occurrs, or I might not, but when I allow them to play out at whatever pace they do there seems to be a smoothness that wasn't there before.

      Perhaps that comes from my lessened resistance to what is occurring, perhaps it is The Universe pleased at me that I have finally (mentally) shut up and stopped arguing with it. There is more at play here than just me and my needs, wants, and desires, which will be met, but ....

....it's almost like a mother, you know, who doesn't play favorites with her kids and everybody gets what they need but hey she's busy and there are others to attend to. Being in synch, just this day, is waiting your turn and trusting that what is unfolding is for the best. Not only for you, but for others too. This all sounds pretty non-egoic, I know.

     I haven't committed fullly to this way of living yet, I got my toes in the water about it, but it seems to work even better than when I thought I had to have my way all the damn time. Maybe this is a more elegant way to live, to get through one's days? I like to experiment, give these concepts of mine trial runs, so here goes. See what happens.

Dissociative reasoning

     There seems to be a lot of this going around these days, especially in politics, where the arguments don't seem to be very well thought out.
     There was a line from the movie Amadeus which has always stuck in my mind. Young Mozart was presenting some sort of argument in front of the king, or count (he was an authority figure) and the man, at the end of Mozart's plea, flatly stated "You are passionate, Mozart,  but you do not PERSUDADE".

      There seems to be a lot of impassioned pleading going on these days but really folks- after the dust clears and you have time to think about it, does what they are saying ring true? Does it have validity? When you pick the arguments apart, carefully, and weigh all the facts, does the case so-stated hold water? Will it stand on its own merits? Or, is it just a flimsy house of cards that will collapse suddenly when its shoddy foundation gives way?
     That which is valid and true will stand the test of time. It may be attacked on all fronts, which might test it severely, but it will stand. Vague, unsubstantiated arguments for and against do nothing but waste time. Words backed by magical thinking, misdirection away from the subject matter, and even attacks against participants long gone from the scene are meaningless drivel that do not support the cause.

     You may win over the rabble with meaningless babble but you'll never reach the thinking part of the audience. Reach them and you can effect lasting, signifcant, and meaningful change. All else is just rearranging the furniture.
     Sufficient.

Tracking

     There is a lot to keep up with nowadays, all this technology has me on a steep learning curve that never seems to let up. Even so, I feel that I am years behind in exploiting the technologies being created. When I do get up to speed on things it seems that many have already left whatever platform I'm using and have moved on while behind me there are laggards who are bringing their technological savvy up to my level, and behind those are the people who never exploit technology and probably never will, preferring to sit on the sidelines while it all plays out.

       Peeking into the box of what is being developed, much more is in store, these upcoming technologies hinged to A.I. (artificial intelligence). Already there are some devices out there Orwellian in nature but the way I see it is humanity has always used whatever is available to its fullest extent, good and bad. My hope is that these technologies will be used for the greater good.
     Gone are the days when one could be blissfully ignorant. We live in a world where surveilance and monitoring is possible even in our own homes, by devices we have knowingly purchased and placed there. These devices have microphones and cameras in them that don't think and don't blink at what is transpiring. The audio and video they capture is shockingly good.

    Humans! Create it and get it to the marketplace quick before somebody else does. Don't put it together and ponder it. Now more than ever, the General Public is being used as a testing laboratory.

My Ringtone

     Seeing as today is my Monday, which is Friday, the day of the week that I dread, I thought a little bolstering was in order. First thing, I and my other half watched a Mooji talk, and if you don't know who Mooji is, look up 'Advaita'.
      The small self feels very cornered on Mondays, I'm talkin' about me here, trapped in time, BY time, with a vale to cross that holds who knows what. On the other side of that treacherous passage lies salvation, which is Friday, which for me will be Tuesday night.

      Helping me get through these upcoming days, and all those work days that lie ahead, will be my new ally, my ringtone, which I have carefully selected. It is the opening piano blues riff from Muddy Water's "I'm a Man" and sounds quite similar to George Thoroughgood's "Bad to the Bone". Every time I hear it, I will be transported to THAT world, THAT attitude, and it will be a good thing. I know it's not much, but, Lordy......
     ....every little bit helps.

No Thought is the thought of the day

     There are periods of time when the mind is dispossessed of ideas, scheming, or plans. There is nothing to construct, build, or plot. Nothing to think about, really, and in the absence of compelling issues the mind falls silent. It tries to muster up some cause upon which to employ itself but passion is lacking and it falls asleep. There it sleeps not soundly but in preparation, in readiness, to instantly rise again but opportunities still do not come so it languishes further.

     Thus it is with me today. Whatever needs to be done has been done, can't be worked on yet, things are on hold, interest is low, of drama there is none. The weather is good, food is readily available, and there's a sense of inner satisfaction. The ego cannot operate under these heinous conditions!

     If I turn on the TV, there are numerous life or death dramas to choose from, the same with books. There is fascinating science to pour over on the internet were I so inclined today to go there. What about the newest in A.I.? Where does our commander in chief stand? What's the latest? Ach, none of that fails to inspire. I shall not even lift a mouse in pursuit of it.
   

Cloud 9

     Blissful noncompliance
     Today is a day for drifting, for doing nothing but those things that absolutely need to get done. The world can run without me.
     Today is a day off from work, a day when I answer to no one for no reason whatsoever and I have complete freedom and control over where to place my attention.

     Today is a day for spontaneity.
     Today is a day for rest.
     Today is a day for not looking so closely at anything, unless it is art, which I will look at in exquisite detail.
     Or maybe not.
     Today is a day that might go down in history, but if it does, I won't be in it!

     Today is a day when I am Rip Van Winkle for a day. I will reemerge and ask what happened, while rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.
     Today I am outside of time, cares, worries, and concerns.
      I love these kinds of days.

I want a service staff

     I want somebody to patch the roof. Take the car to the shop and bring it back when it's done. Step in and manage my household affairs. I want to ring the Downton Abbey bell to Mr. Carson and have the staff hup-hup-hupping to my every need. 

     I will pay them well and try my best to ensure that they enjoy their time in my service for I have worked service jobs and know what it's like but there are more important things for me to be doing now than the mundane, thus this need to be relieved of everyday burdens has arisen. It's time. 

     I need extra space and time to get important things done. I need to drift like a cloud at times, and move quickly like a cheetah when opportunity appears.

     I can't be standing in line at Lowes wondering if the QX532 part I pulled off the shelf fits the C28 coupler housing. Waaaaay too ordinary for me. In fact, I don't even want to think about stuff like that. That's Carson's department. 

The course of the river

Traveling down any river, there are twists and turns aplently. It's rare that there is a straight course for long. What's around the bend? You never know until you get there because trees always border the banks. You might get a peek or hear some sounds, that's all.

          Thoughts may abound as to what lies around those upcoming bends, and you might imagine what's there from what you have seen before, but you never really know. You might pass under a bridge for road or train, or there might be a footpath alongside. Animals might line the banks, or there might be some people. Will they be friendly? Hostile?
           The river might for a time get very shallow and almost unpassable, as a sandbar blocks the channel. You might have to carry your craft across the obstacle. Then there might be rocks or rapids or waterfalls. Danger that causes you to abandon the river for a while or even permanently and set out on land.

    Life is like that. You never really know what is going to happen next and if you've been around awhile, you have already faced many, many situations that were unexpected and caused you to change course.

    Will today be any different?

    Change will certainly occurr. It is all on how you handle it. Acceptance or resistance are your only choices because change, like the weather, always happens. 

Vindication

     I don't know why I wrote that word. Let's find out. Vindication is discovering that something that you postulated was true or valid actually turned out to be. At the time you did not know it but you felt you were moving in the right direction.

     There are many times in my life where I felt I was moving in the not so right direction but I did it anyway, feeling that, strangely enough, what I was doing was the right thing for me to be doing and that I would find out the "Why?" later, or, I would never find out the "Why?". It was something that I had to go through, something that had to be done, or something that I had agreed to. This kind of thinking comes to you when you take the turn towards being metaphysical, or getting in touch with spirit, or giving the reigns over to a higher power, whatever you want to call it, however you want to frame it.

     The strange thing about letting go is that it is asked of you more and more until you arrive at the state where I am at present, which is more steering my life by feeling than by knowing. If I put out my 'feelers' (my feeling sense) into the world, into what I 'should' be doing, doing what I am doing right now seems to be appropriate, satisfying, and completely right. Have I received a yes answer, vindication from The Universe? I believe so. It's not a "Yes!" shouted from the rooftops, it's more an inner understanding that everything is unfolding properly. After all, we're just players in a greater drama, some benevolent force or energy is orchestrating all this, and it just makes sense to finally align with it.