Remember October 2020

What a time it is right now, October 2020. Think back to January of this year, or a year ago…did you conceive at all that the world would be anything like this? When the global economic shutdown occurred in March, everyone entered uncharted territory…but I don’t think anyone expected the tide to go the way it has. The Presidential election has ensnared the collective mindshare of the American public. We are still in fragmented stages of economic lockdown. Civil unrest has further divided the populace. And here on the West Coast at least, fire and weather has contributed to the conflagration in heartbreaking ways.

In whatever way you can, I think it’s important for everyone to make a note of October 2020. We have developed and strengthened spastic attention spans, but it really does seem critical to remember how it is right now. Some of these things will get better, and some will not go away. In California we will put out the fires and rebuild our homes and communities. But the conditions that made them possible will not go away. In fact, they will only get worse. We will create a vaccine that eradicates the coronavirus. But we must remember, and learn from, how poorly we handled this pandemic. Racial injustice will not automatically improve; we must continue to fight for equity for all humans.

So it comes down to this: what can you do? With so many serious, complicated problems facing our species, what can one person do to affect any of it? A very simple offering: Do not despair. Do not forget what October 2020 was like. Do not be content to make a living and watch football the rest of your life. Remember how the world is now. Think critically about our innumerable problems. Educate yourself. Have productive conversations with others. Write letters to your representatives. Join organized protests about causes that speak to your core. Vote. The answer, when faced with what to do, is to not shrink away, to not ignore, to not give in to helplessness. It is to act. To strengthen conviction. To strive for better.

Because the real purpose of remembering October 2020 is to gauge yourself, to reflect on how much you’ve contributed, from then, to whatever is “now." How have you lived since then?

Big Picture Joy

Decision fatigue is real, which is why it’s important to keep our focus on what matters. Moving into a new place, I’ve become caught up at times with which piece of furniture goes best where and what the best setup is for the lifestyle I want. But all that truly matters is I live with conviction, do what I believe in, and spend time with those I love. Being aware of how good you have it can help here, as that awareness allows you to practice gratitude for the fortune you enjoy. In the end we all have a very finite amount of time on this earth, and what matters to us upon exit will be the big, awesome, important parts of life. Seeing this big picture can not only replenish that decision fatigue, but also bring about even more joy. 

Increasing Perspective

Increasing perspective results when you interact with others and are challenged on your beliefs. It isn’t always fun but it also doesn’t have to be suffering. When both parties are cordial and open, real progress can be made. That progress doesn’t manifest as a “changing of the mind,” but as exposure. This productive exercise can be partaken by literally every person on the planet. Increase perspective and you increase the possibilities of success. 

Let’s Play

I try to be honest and open about my own shortcomings and mistakes. Like everyone else, I am far from perfect. I try to maintain awareness and openness, which are the prerequisites for exhibiting strong critical thinking and, I believe, living an authentic and meaningful life. Some tough love is occasionally in order to straighten me out and make sure I’m holding to these values. Because it’s a constant effort. “To be” something is to actively sustain it over time. And I think that’s a good thing—how boring would life be if once something was achieved it could immediately be discarded and forgotten. That’s the point you stop playing the game, and the game of life isn’t one I intend to quit any time soon. In fact, I hope to make it more interesting and more purposeful for all involved. How can we make it better? Let’s play. 

Social Interaction Perspective

What’s one of the most difficult aspects of Covid? Social time. We are social creatures. To see people, outside today, was transformative. We still can’t hug or shake hands, but we can at least see, and talk. It’s not ideal, obviously. But we can we enjoy the interaction. This is what we are about. I guess, if we all take care of the people we love... who else is there to take care of? We can do this. 

Groupthink Contemplation

I had a thought about groupthink. There is a prevalent lack of critical thinking within our society right now—that’s plain to see. People who identify on the right or the left abhor everything done and said by the actors on the other side. Our news is biased and we feed right into it, failing to see the flaws of our own lens.

But I frequently call for global consciousness in my writing, for humanity to unite around a common purpose of contribution to the future and the universe. Yet, how does this differ from the groupthink within our political and class system above? Is it not the same thing? Am I not calling for psychological submission, only to a different end?

I believe there is a difference. Uniting humanity around a singular pursuit of peace and prosperity and elevating global consciousness can be undertaken by every single person on this planet, each in their own individual way. It doesn’t diminish our individual thoughts, actions, or gifts. We don’t all have to do exactly the same thing, we can pitch in how we are able. 

There are fundamental truths that cannot rationally be argued against. We are one group, spread out around this floating sphere in the relative crowd of the Milky Way galaxy. All of our actions impact others; we live within one large ecological system. The sooner we can see that, the sooner we can change the world. 

No Debate

It is difficult to make sense of the chaos that was tonight’s presidential debate. In one sentence: Trump’s aggressiveness overpowered any other trait about his performance, while Biden appeared to barely hold it together. Not an encouraging spectacle to watch, but we must remember this is all mostly theater. The most important fact to consider is irrespective of side or political party or candidate: we have work to do. There is no reassuring victory in November, whether it’s the 3rd or the 15th. It is only the beginning of a long road ahead of us. It will take work, openness, grit and positivity to change this country, and the world. From all of us. There are no easy solutions; else wouldn’t they have been proposed and acted upon already? We face serious problems and significant challenges. But we can solve them if we focus on simply making the world better for those after us. One world, one species. What kind of world do we want?

Interactive Matter

We are all part of this existence we call the universe. “Things” and “people,” organic material or empty space, it is all matter. Gas, liquid, solid or plasma, everything is made up of elementary particles bouncing off each other and colliding and annihilating each other. Our atoms are interacting with the environment and “space” around us. In that sense, although the types of bonds between the basic particles may vary, we, and everything, is all connected. We are all individual interacting parts of a collective whole—the universe. It is absolutely surreal when one considers life from this perspective. We are the universe. We are one. We are matter. We are alive. 

Home Wave Lengths

When does home feel like home? Night three? Four? It feels like it when you’re with and close to your loved ones. That’s what I’m going to go with. Because when you’re unsure about things in life, your support system is what aids you. We all help each other in this crazy thing called life. It’s an amazing world, and where we call home is where we feel connected. 

Scaling Judgement

I’ve written a lot about the importance and power of openness. It’s definitely something I struggle with at times; I can be very judgmental. It can be so easy to form opinions about people, even without knowing the whole story. But when we infer we limit ourselves to possibilities. Choices and options we didn’t know existed could present themselves if we maintain openness. Simple, but not easy. Maybe if there’s one thing we can focus on as a nation, as a species, it’s to practice openness toward our fellow humans. We are so much more alike than we are different. Our circumstances and environments may differ, but our shared reality in this crazy thing we call the universe remains. We’re in this together. 

The Time to Change the World is Now

The time is always right now. This Friday will never exist again. You will never be younger than you are right now at this very moment. Your perspective might change a year from now (and should), but the only way to achieve today’s dreams and goals is to act in the present. I look back on the past decade or so of my life, and my priorities and even values changed over the years. But my experience has brought me to this point in time and space, these space time coordinates. What will I do? What will I choose? What will we choose? It is our moment. Let’s seize this opportunity. Let’s enact our purpose. Let’s change the world. 

United Starting Point

The path forward in the world right now is to determine what we agree on. Democrat or Republican, Black or white, old or young, Christian or atheist. What do we all support? What do we all believe in? What do we all want? How about we start with the basics: health wealth and happiness, for ourselves and those we love. Does anybody not want that? Do we not want a positive, interesting country to live in? Let’s start there. We may disagree about how to go about creating such an environment, but let’s remember that singular starting point. Across the economic spectrum, across the political aisle, across generations, across ethnicity and gender. We are one human race, one group of animals that all want the same things. Let’s remember that. Let’s unite. If we start with the most basic of common ground, we can then from there rise upward, as the United States of America. 

Storm of Change

I am disgusted by the results of the Breonna Taylor case today. If this does not elucidate the necessity for change, what will? I stand with anyone and everyone who believes in fairness, freedom, and reason. For we are all human, and what is happening is not right. Liberty and Justice for all. The time to act is now. 

Gratitude Relapse

I feel I haven’t written about gratitude in a while—maybe that indicates I haven’t been very grateful recently. But I hope my record makes clear: there is always so much for which to be thankful. Talking to people around the country, I’ve become more acutely aware of how much suffering there is out there. My life isn’t perfect right now, and I’m working toward making changes to get where I want to be, but wow.. it could always be so much worse. I could be in chronic pain. I could have a felony on my record that precludes me from employment and most options in the economy. I could be out of work in my 50’s. I’ve talked to people in those situations just today. Even those circumstances aren’t the end of the line. There’s always something that can be done. But it also goes to show how fortunate we truly are. I volunteer for an impoverished community in Africa; I don’t live in it. I’ve suffered from the smoke and fires near the Bay Area—but my home wasn’t destroyed. Comparison may be the thief of joy, but employing it hypothetically can also evoke powerful gratitude realizations. We are alive. Beyond being given a fighting chance, what more can we ask for?

Necessary Political Reform

Man it’s tough with politics right now. We struggle to even have a conversation with other people, and that’s because we’re locked into 2 “sides.” There are so many important issues, how can each and every one of them fall onto one “side” or the other? Life is not a dichotomy, and the American political system shouldn’t be either. In some way, we need to move the levers of the system to create more diverse representation in our government. There is little precedent, and the powers that be want to maintain the status quo—because they’re the ones in power. But it’s hard to see us accomplishing anything else without first reforming the system and creating new incentivization structures. It’s not impossible. It’s necessary. 

Moving to New Horizons

There’s something about moving, changing locations, that injects you with prescient feelings about your life. The fresh start allows you to evaluate, in an unusually objective way, “where” you’re at. New surroundings, new stimuli, new intentions. It’s a healthy prophylactic against stagnating within old habits and worn out perspectives. And it makes me wonder, amidst this backdrop of 2020: where are we? Even more importantly: where do we want to be?

Political Responsibility Evidence

The implications of the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg provide further evidence that the American political system needs considerable reform. When Justice Scalia died in the final year of then President Obama’s term in 2016, the Republican party’s leadership announced they would not confirm his nomination until a new president was elected. Now, with much less time before the next presidential term starts, the Republican Party is eager to confirm whomever Trump nominates. It very clearly shows the absence of principle, and illuminates the sole goal of both political parties: the accumulation and consolidation of power. Americans must move away from the 2 party system in order to achieve true representation. Voting in elections is only the start. We have an obligation to those who come after us. Fundamental human rights are only actual if we consistently maintain them. It is a responsibility of us all, if we wish to enjoy the progress we’ve thus far accomplished as a species. What more evidence do we need?

Coffee Musings

I’m thinking now as I write this about how much technology has shaped our society and our lives… and it just astounds me. I’ve been enjoying coffee much more often in the morning, indulging into my self-perceived guilty pleasure. I absolutely love the taste of coffee, but I’ve always been hesitant to join the caffeine dead—those who cannot function in the morning without their morning cup of joe. Because of this I actually try to restrict my coffee consumption to the weekends and avoid drinking it during the week—the opposite of most people (I’m a weirdo I know). 

Anyway, I thought this morning about how much more knowledgeable people are about coffee since the blossoming of the internet. When I was growing up in the 90’s, my aunt was a big coffee drinker. When I spent time with her I was exposed to the love people have for the black drink—my parents didn’t drink coffee at home. And I just wonder how the collective knowledge about coffee has changed. I’m sure just as many people enjoyed their coffee fix in 1994. But did they know as much about it? How did people learn about it—through hearsay, through (gasp) books?

Nowadays, when someone wants to buy a coffee maker for instance, they’re met with a plethora of options online—Keurigs and French presses and espresso machines and traditional coffee makers. There’s so many ways to prepare it, so many different variations, it can be overwhelming. Has our collective coffee drinking experience grown, because of the increased dissemination of information due to the internet? Probably, right?

I think this increased collective knowledge is true for basically every aspect of our society, not just coffee. The average person knows more about a lot more things, because knowledge is so widespread and easy to access. We have computers in our pockets and on our wrists that are more advanced than those used to send the first astronauts to the moon. We have this incredible encyclopedic, continually-evolving database of network connections we call the internet. This technology makes our lives easier, more convenient, and safer. But is it starting to control us? Is it beginning to dictate how we live our lives? Are we putting the full application of this incredible technology to its absolute best use? It’s critical we routinely ask ourselves these questions, so that we remain in control of how we design our life experience. There are no easy answers. I think I’ll go have another coffee, perhaps the caffeine injection will help provide some answers..

Nature’s Nurturing

Blue skies back in California. It really does feel like a whole new world. We have an amazing planet, and the environment drastically impacts how we perceive our life experience. Fresh clean air, riveting skies and the bright light from the sun. Let’s not squander it. Let’s ensure our children’s children get to enjoy the same beautiful world. What can you do to help?

Accepting the Nature of Change

I write about change often, weekly at least. I try to reinforce that change takes work and effort and diligence and courage and blood and sweat and tears. Change can feel insignificant or nonexistent because it happens so slowly. But if we look at it from a bigger picture, change has been accomplished. The world is better than it was before. We still have much progress to make, and some existential threats to boot. But virtually no one on this planet believes slavery is okay any more. Education and healthcare for the average person are improving worldwide and inching toward becoming basic, fundamental human rights. A pandemic that has ravaged the globe has killed less than a million people—200 years ago it may have killed half the population. Change is hard and slow and elusive and simply work. Okay, fine. History shows that. So: knowing and accepting this—where are you?