Global Consciousness Act

The world’s biggest problems are pervasive, urgent, and complicated. Climate change, massive social, economic, and political inequality, and our global, institutionalized tribal complexes are not going away on their own.

In order for us to solve them, we first need to be aware of them. How many of the masses consider such things on a regular basis? Even well-meaning, well-off people who want to remain abreast of what’s happening in the world get lost in the greedy, unethical web of technology companies and the corporate media news cycle. Our taps and clicks become data and that data is used against us.

So how can we achieve awareness, the first prerequisite to solving the biggest baddest problems? Figuring that out will be one of the most important deeds of our time, perhaps even our species’ history. Let’s get started. 

The Path of Small Pleasures

I see the colors of a sunrise or sunset, and I am grateful for the vision. As the days grow longer, I am appreciative of the seasons and their change. The few interactions I have with my tribe these days feel all the more meaningful, because they are few, and because they are with my tribe. As my ankle heals, I am thankful for being able to run, for my walks each day. The clean air of February reminds me how even breathing can become uncomfortable from fire or pollution, and I am grateful it is not so currently. Even in a pandemic, with all its strife and suffering, there is much fortune. If we approach each day as a gift, if we recognize all the small pleasures of existence, there is no need to evade our problems. Be they serious or many, we can solve them. We can come together through the common threads of our experience of life on this beautiful planet, and we can change the world. 

Education Ho!

Education is our path forward, and the pandemic has provided an assessment on our current learning aptitude. How much have we learned about the virus during the past year? How well have we disseminated the information to the masses? Would we deem most people informed, regardless of class or education level? Are we even asking ourselves these questions? We have the technology to embrace rapid and continuous learning at scale; our institutions and maturity just need to catch up. The past 12 months have shown us the importance of education, and how it must be our focus moving forward. Education is the answer. 

Groundhog Day Time

Like countless others, Groundhog Day has maintained a special place in my heart. There’s some classic universal relation within. It provides as much philosophical depth as you’d like—particularly with time. 

We only have so much afforded to us, as far as we know. What will we choose to enact during this existence? Strangely enough, the second of February might be good as any time to ask such questions.

When genuinely considered, the movie and the traditional cultural implications of this date beg us to to consider our intentions. The passing or continuation of winter solely serves as a marker within our collective conceptions.

We make of this world what we wish. With regards to our own lives, but also collectively, to our planet. With such a peculiar view of time on this day, what will we decide as fun, as necessary, as meaningful?

Monday Perspective

Monday’s can be hard, and it’s an interesting phenomenon because it’s simply psychological. Today in Northern California it was sunny and bright, a very pleasant February day. We might feel the weight of the rest of the week ahead, but it’s just an illusion. 

If we refocus our mental positioning to the real world, it can be liberating. Another day alive, another day above ground. Those of us lucky enough to be working right now get to earn a living; we are not starving or slaves. Just the nature of dreading a Monday means you enjoy a weekend, after all. Is our plight so bad?

If we can remember how good we have it, we can enjoy the little things throughout the days afforded to us, and more easily strive toward the things that truly matter. 

Defeating Hardship

I went on an unexpectedly long walk today, and it was refreshing. By the end my legs were hurting and I was dehydrated and hungry, but even that felt kind of good in a way. It was nice to be outside, away from anyone else, for such a prolonged period of time. The experience wasn’t entirely blissful the whole time, and that’s the point. Life isn’t rosy 24-7. We’ve become accustomed to convenience, to things being easy. The pandemic has shown us what many humans have faced throughout history, and what many of our contemporaries experience on a daily basis: hardship. Defeating hardship requires grit and determination, and I believe we’re developing it as a species right now. It’s painful, and it’s definitely not easy; but it is necessary. We can do this. We just have to assume tunnel vision on the future we want to achieve together. 

Love is the Way

Sometimes seeing family can mean it all. There is no perch here—we’re all equal. We are animals, and we crave social interaction. It’s fundamental to our survival. The pandemic has circumvented normalcy, but as we always have, we’ll find a way. In whatever manner we can, with this virus running rampant throughout our civilization, we must find a way to return to love. We can build a future of interrelated tribes all attuned to one purpose: achieving a world of equality for all. Let’s let love guide the way. 

The Other Side of the Street

I go on walks every day during lunch time--it helps me let go and ground myself between big chunks of work (and the day). I do a lot of the same routes, day after day, week after week. It can be monotonous at times, but it removes one more thing to think about, and enables me to disappear in music or a podcast, or just become immersed with the environment. 

Today was slightly different. I did the same walk I've been doing all week, but I walked on the opposite side of the street for most of it. Insignificant detail right?

I realized that  just walking on the other side of the street can provide a vastly different perspective: you see buildings in a different way, you appreciate the lay of the land from an alternative vantage point, and you notice small details in the microenvironment around you that would otherwise go unnoticed. I experienced distinct views of the eastern foothills I've never seen before. I observed the neighborhood surrounding my home with new vision.

It's profound how something so simple can change one's experience so drastically. Repeating the same thing, just moving 40 feet away while doing it, can dramatically change how you see the world. It opens up other possibilities and other avenues, literally. It fundamentally changes your perspective.

The old advice is to try walking in someone else's shoes, and that can certainly be helpful. Perhaps no less impactful: walking on the other side of the street.

The Organization Generation

It probably seems this way to every generation, but it feels like big things are really happening. With the progression of technology, it’s truly become a glocal world. 

There are billions more people than mere decades ago, and these people are more aware of the zeitgeist tide than ever before; because of the institutionalized communication systems we’ve developed, the realities of modern transportation, and the interconnected global economy. The average person can learn infinitely more than someone 100 years ago, 500 years ago, 1000 years ago. 

The internet has significantly democratized knowledge. There are rural Africans making less than a dollar a day who know much more about social media than I’ll ever know. Laotians in the UXO-filled countryside can learn political and economic theory from their smartphones. 

But as this technological capability has fundamentally changed what’s possible for the human race, our organization hasn’t caught up. All around the world we still adhere to archaic laws, we still put ourselves into distinct groups, and massive inequality still abounds.

Can we catch up to our technology? Is it enabling us to restructure society, or simply incentivizing a dilapidated system? Can we utilize the enormous technological power now available to us all to create a more free, a more just, and a more equal global civilization? 

More than any generation before, it’s up to this one. 

Move and Play

I’ve been told February is the worst month, because it’s still bitterly cold and dark, without the major holidays to tide you over. I don’t know if that’s true, and apologies to February fans, but it seems much of this Covid winter has been that way.

What’s helped me recently? Exercise. It might not be the most convenient with the restrictions and weather, but moving keeps the spirits going too. Thinking back to the base of the basics, sleep, diet and movement are the core components of health.

We were born to move, have evolved to run and jump and climb and swim and sprint. We have one of the most advanced circulatory systems on the planet. We can build incredible strength and endurance. We might move from box to box now in our societies, but sweat and breath and movement is who we truly are. 

We are animals, irrational, emotional beings that naturally want to play. True enjoyment derived from these basic things. Let’s rediscover that sense of play and excitement through movement. It could be the difference as we hold back the tide. 

Figuring it Out

“I have a feeling you’ll figure it out.” 

That quiet consolation of feeling, knowing, deep down, that you’ll figure it out. That we’ll figure it out. 

Times are undoubtedly tough. We’re going to get through it. We have to make serious and deliberate changes to the way we do things, and it will take everything we’ve got, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. 

It seems anything worthwhile requires all of you, all that you are and all that you have, but if you surrender yourself and relinquish all else, the worthwhile is attainable.

Do we want it bad enough?

Joy of Life

When I was walking at lunch today I looked in the distance and saw snow on the very tops of the foothills. For some irrational reason it made me really happy. See California does have all four seasons! 

It hearkened me back to growing up in East San Jose: when driving east on 280, just before the 101 junction where the freeway becomes 680, there's about a 2 mile stretch on elevated ground. On a clear day you're treated to a glorious, if fleeting, view of the foothills in all their majesty. 

It was sublime, and I would fill up with joy. Come to think of it, if I had to verbalize a sensation of "home," that might be it. Seeing the Golden Hills of California on a happy sunny day--there's not much that can beat that.

And that's the point. It's the little things, the free things, that make us happy. If we stop and notice them, we'll recognize that simply being a part of this incredible world is joyous enough. What a thrill, what a pleasure, it is to be alive. 

Reality Awe

While languishing through Dry January these past few weeks, I’ve kept coming back to two thoughts: how incredibly fortunate I am, and how amazing this world is.

Anything I dare to complain about becomes laughable when compared to the strife others are facing. What did I do to deserve such an inheritance of circumstances? By luck of the draw, I was born into an American middle class family and enjoy near the height of luxury and convenience. A different continent of birth and my situation would be unknowable. 

Because I enjoy such good fortune, it’s easier for me to see the multivariate aspects of life on this planet. I know nothing of life in Japan or Ghana or Paraguay. The finer distinctions of European law elude me. I’m not privy to the magnitude of work it takes to broadcast an American football game. It’s just such an extremely diverse world... the history that’s brought our civilization to this point, the sheer amount of biodiversity on this planet, the wondrous geological features on its surface.

There is so much to explore, so much to experience. Privilege affords a peek into the depths of it all, but not the first-hand understanding.  It is imperative to appreciate the surrealism of existence in order to fully exist. Consider me in awe with reality. 

Whole New World

At least in the Bay Area, the trees and plants have no idea what season it is. I have several friends whose allergies are off the charts...in January.

I think about the hundreds of companies in Silicon Valley that are now fully remote but intend to go back to the office, whenever they are able to do so. 

It just seems like a whole new world now. Can you imagine 'back to normal,' whenever the pandemic has subsided? Can you foresee how climate change will change our daily lives?

Perhaps we didn't choose this, but we certainly have to deal with it, one way or another. It's the world we're living in. So what will it be?

I believe we can collectively work towards solutions to our problems. I believe we can coexist, despite our perceived differences. And I believe we can all find fulfillment during our time here, each in our own way.

We just have to see it all laid out in front of us, for what it truly is. We are a part of something greater, something synergistic, something that has been building for millennia. How will we contribute?

Time Storm

You ever think back to an earlier point in the week, and it feels like seven years ago? That happens to me regularly.

I get time is relative, and that the pandemic has estranged it even more, but sometimes weeks feel like decades; others, months are seconds.

So I’m trying something new: every evening before bed, I attempt to replay the day in my mind, reaching back to reflect on how I felt. What I accomplished that day, what I failed at. When I was upset and when I was jubilant. Haven’t tried it after a terrible day yet, so don’t accuse me of snake oil slingin’. But then again, maybe I haven’t had a terrible day because it forces me to be more conscious of my choices and happiness.

Covid has thrown a lot of things out of whack. All in all, I can’t complain—it could be so much worse. Sometimes finding the little happy moments each day can get you through the storm. 

Chef Wisdom

I watch a lot of movies now. With real life indefinitely on hold, it feels like it’s one of the few things I “do.” I know there are so many other things I can be doing—I’ve been trying to get back into a reading grove for instance. But as I’ve watched more and more movies, night after night, I’ve concluded it’s just passing the time. 

I watched Chef, directed by Jon Favreau, tonight for the first time. There’s so much emotion in that film. It made me realize how we’re all in a slumber right now. Covid has seemingly prevented us from “doing anything,” and so we’ve forgotten how “real life” feels; what it’s like to eat at a happening restaurant, enjoy time with family, or take a saunter down the street. 

How lucky we are to feel bored or entrapped by this predicament. There are others who are struggling, who are starving, who are surviving. I try to remember that. 

So what’s the solution? Not that there is a specific way out of the coma, but perhaps returning to the root of reality can help. Appreciating the convenience and fortune we enjoy. Ruminating on the simple, little things. We are alive. Maybe Covid offers both the most plain and yet stark reminder. If not, we can look toward Chef: do what we love, and embrace what makes us feel alive. 

Citizenry Inauguration

Today's was the first presidential inauguration that I've watched. It was significant for me because it marked a new chapter. I have my doubts about the government and am skeptical about the incoming administration, just like I was the last one. But I will give it a chance, just like I did the last one. Platitudes were offered today--it is our responsibility as citizens to hold our leaders accountable to them. That is how we can begin this new chapter together, in unity: to remember not just our rights as American citizens, but our responsibilities in governing ourselves. We have much work to do. Let today be an awakening of our obligation to each other, an acceptance of the burden of living in a free, just, and equal society. That burden is a continuous road of difficulty and uncertainty.

Our democracy is never assured; it must be protected and acted upon with each successive generation. Hopefully, we can not only maintain it but strengthen it. Our attention is now focused upon the state of the country, its problems and opportunities. Will we forget tomorrow? Will we turn away from the political reality next month, next year? It is up to each of us to find a sustainable way to individually participate in our democracy, however that may be for each one of us. 

What kind of nation do we want? What kind of world do we want to build? It starts now, and it continues tomorrow, next week, next term...for the rest of our lives. Do we accept that responsibility? Will we choose to rise to the occasion, to forever form a more perfect union, so that our children enjoy a world better than our own? Let today mark the inauguration of an informed, active citizenry that engages in the tumultuous process of democratic governance. Today is our inauguration. What will we do tomorrow?

To Light and Life

We have become more aware of the powerful forces that impact us. There are influences, great and many, that affect our choices and how we see the world. And yet, you’re still reading this. I’m still writing it. We can exert some amount of control over our own lives, and even our collective destiny. If we truly believe this and appreciate its power, we’ll be alright. Just as we have always been. We will face hard times from time to time. We will struggle, and suffer, and strive. That is the nature of life, and no matter what technology we develop there is no separation from it. When we own this fact, we can pull ourselves away from the edge and lead each other toward the light. Do we see it? And will we act on it?

MLK Remembrance

It’s kind of in a strange spot this year with the lead up to the inauguration, but on the other hand, MLK Day could not come at any more pertinent time. As the United States continues to grapple with its history and struggle to live up to its ideals, we can all reflect on the life and sacrifice of Martin Luther King, Jr. He was not a perfect person—none of us are. But his words inspired us to be better, to see ourselves on this planet the way it really is. We are alone here. There is no one else to save us. It’s just the 7.5 billion people on this rock, and the choices we make will determine what kind of existence we experience. Dr. King’s legacy of peaceful civil disobedience lives on forevermore in our history, illuminating the simplest yet most profound truth: we are one. Skin color, political ideology, socioeconomic status... these dimensions are but wrinkles within the cloak of humanity that we all wear. The past year has shown we are still learning that lesson. Do not forget Martin Luther King. Let us continue to derive strength and inspiration from his example, so that we may continue the good work of building a more free, a more equal, and a more just world. 

Going Forward

I’ve blogged before about how we can’t “return to normal.” That normal wasn’t where we need to be, now that we’re awake. I still believe that to be true in many ways, but I also recognize the longing for regular. The pandemic has almost become regular at this point, and it’s disheartening. Is it possible for us to strive for both? To watching football on a Sunday in January without considering politics? Yet to also hold ourselves and our representatives accountable so we can build the best world we can? I hope we try for both. The simple fact remains: we can’t go back. We can only go forward... let’s choose love.