Dandelions

Wearing a Fitbit Charge 2™ Heart Rate + Fitness Wristband removes all doubt judgement watching “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” elevated my heart rate. If you have wondered how that might be the case, Joel’s former co-author, Bernie, offered an observation that whether you “give” offense or “take” offense, you add the same misery to the universe.

Our emotions matter, not only to us, but also to the world. Our kindness affects the whole. So does our disgust. Everything is connected.

May 3, 2018 Deep Spring Center “Thought for Today” says it this way: “Freedom is the ability to live and speak from a place of connection, compassion, and openheartedness. It’s the ability not to be reactive. When you are able to respond in that way, in that active moment where you don’t yell back, you literally change your karma. You can go through similar scenes 10, even 100,000 times, until finally you get it. After you get it, you’re probably going to get a few tests to see if you really got it. Then life will move on and gradually will stop dropping such situations in your lap.”

As I noticed my pulse increasing, I became aware that political satire is not something I find humor in, however, I could simultaneously appreciate how laughter about current affairs brings genuine relief for some. We are all unique; we have differences and we each see things from our perspective.

Joel and I agreed we would have Mexican food for dinner. Leaving Parkview Hills, when he got into the right lane, I asked, “Aren’t we going to the Mexican restaurant on Drake?” He said he was taking us to a Mexican restaurant which we had been to previously. I had totally forgotten about that one. Our interaction reminded me of the story about the couple who were backing their new boat and trailer into the drive for the first time. The husband was behind the wheel, and the wife was outside giving directions. She asked her husband if he saw the mailbox. He said he did. As he came closer to the mailbox, the wife again asked if he saw it. Again, he said he saw it.

Finally, the wife yelled, “Honey, do you see the mail box?” just as the husband crashed into the mailbox she was looking at. They were each looking at “a” mailbox, but they were not looking at the same one.

It is that same way with dandelions. Most people today value not having them in the yard. However, they are one of the first “weeds” to bloom in the spring, and one of the last “weeds” to bloom in the fall. They are vital for bees. And bees are vital for human survival.

Our book club is just starting ENLIGHTENMENT NOW The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, by Steven Pinker. In her March 2, 2018, New York Times book review, Sarah Bakewell has this to say about ENLIGHTENMENT NOW:

In general, people are more likely to work constructively if they think problems are solvable, or that progress has already been made and can be extended.

As Pinker says, considering the fact that we have not yet blown the world up in a nuclear war, our best approach is “to figure out what has gone right, so we can do more of whatever it is.” Optimism does not mean lying back and relaxing.

It takes Pinker 600 pages to explain what Bernie said about “giving” or “taking” offense adding the same misery to the universe.

It may be that optimism, like the bee, is vital for human survival.

Author of the popular Conversations with God books, Neale Donald Walsch, sent this recent email message: “God wants you to know that things work in society, because biology compels it. Order eventually restores itself, by psychic equilibrium. Camille Paglia said that, and it is important to remember during these times of great change and apparent turmoil. Conversations with God puts it this way: Life works out in the process of Life Itself. All you have to do is trust that it will, and allow it to.”