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Friday, December 27, 2024

Are We Having Fun Yet?



Who is reading me? I see that people are, but I don't know who.

My readership escalated when I was posting my memoir, or ranting about politics, but now my readership has dropped.

So has my writing about politics.

And I see that I'm not the only one tired of politics. Other people are tired of hearing about the shenanigans in high places.  We need a break. We are tired of feeling depressed over the election. We are tired of reading or listening to name-calling, lies, manipulations, the throwing of power around.  

And who voted Musk into office? Are you happy with him buying an election?

And then he was asking for a shutdown of the Government when he and his cronies weren't in office yet. Do we think that riches equate to governing savvy?

I have heard that doctor pilots often crash because they get the idea that because they are brilliant in one area, they are competent in all.

While we don't want to be engaged with the process, we do not wish to lessen our resolve to improve things, to take care of our people, to preserve our personal liberties, and not abandon our principles.

Some are afraid if we lighten up, we will stop caring.

We’re afraid it might be like buying a house; at first, we see what we want to change, all the improvements we’ll make. It seems critical. After a while, the flaws don't bother us. We get used to it. And then the media will sane wash whatever we were concerned about. We will drop into “Oh well.”

As Biden pardons or commutes death row prisoners to life in prison. T wants to up the death penalty. As T wants to ship off Immigrants, you know, those drug dealers, murderers, and rapists--why does he keep talking about them while  filling his cabinet positions with men with nefarious sexual repetitions. Then Musk says we need more immigrants, for we will lose our workforce.

We could have a clash of the Titans.

And stop saying we are lazy fat Americans living in squalor with immigrants eating our pets (lie) and raping, murdering and drugging us. Stop turning us against each other. We’re better than that. And we are more sophisticated that to believe we should kill people to punish them. (Folks, Capital punishment means cutting off a person’s head.) Stop putting women down, threatening her by withholding medical care, or when some male who got her pregnant could then stop her from getting out of it she so chooses. Can you kill a soul? Does the soul enter the zygote at the moment of conception. And stopping the morning after pill, for heaven’s sake, sometimes the ovum isn’t even fertilized yet, at least not implanted.

Plus, this "Alpha Male" thing is ridiculous. It is an insult to the strong, kind men of America. In the wild, an Alpha Male takes care of his tribe, herd, or pack. He is the protector, not the perpetrator.  And a pack that works together is stronger than one that is squabbling.

With horses, the strongest stallion stands as a sentinel, guarding the herd from predators so the herd can graze contentedly. He wants a happy herd. (And breeding rights, of course.) He doesn't keep them in a frenzy, scaring them, lying to them. He doesn't threaten them by saying he will ship them off or lock them up if they don't behave. He sends the young ones off to Momma to educate them.

It's the matriarch of the herd, the older mare who runs the daily business of living, raising the children, and teaching the male foals to be gentlemen. But we couldn't have a woman in office, could we?

And teach those" Alpha men" about biology and the environment and how to preserve the planet upon which we live. Have they forgotten they won't live in their underground bunkers for long if the earth becomes uninhabitable? And they can’t eat money?

Monday, December 16, 2024

Where Tigers Belch


 

I saw that my little book, Where Tigers Belch, is available For Free on Kindle Unlimited.. (For how long? I don't know. They decide.)

That inspired me to offer an excerpt as you might read in a bookstore with a hard copy in your hands.

 Where Tigers Belch is that spot that lights our fire.

 This road to the tiger will be an adventure. While adventures are often wrought with strife, and the possibility of all hell breaking loose is ever present, there is a gift at its end.

 Joseph Campbell called it a "boom."

A boom is a gift the adventurer takes home to the tribe.

 I read a story about a woman who wanted to watch soap operas all day. This was before smart TVs and Video recordings when we were forced to watch our favorite shows when the studios aired them. People often missed their favorite Soap Operas and thus missed out on some important plot twists. She decided to write a synopsis and print it in a little booklet that came to be known as The TV Guide. (Boom.)

Another successful entrepreneur loved her husband but was tired of his grunting and answering in monosyllables. She watched a show on training exotic animals and applied their training methods to her husband. It was, basically, "Reward what you like, ignore what you don't like." After collecting data, she wrote a book, What Shamu taught me about Life, Love, and Marriage. It was a rousing success and gave the tribe a new perspective.

To find what you want to do, Martha Beck suggested sitting in a room and allowing your eyes to glide over the objects found there. When a particular object attracts you, stop and ask yourself why you chose that. Next, write down its characteristics. Third, ask how those characteristics pertain to your business. And what business might that be?

 Don't judge yourself. Be as stupid as you can. That frees your mind. Allow yourself to keep doing it over and over. In the process, you may hit on that one thing or more than one. You're allowed.

I tried the experiment. My eyes landed on a little plastic orange pill bottle on the bookshelf.

What attributes did it have? Well, it was a container that held something good and intended to be beneficial and healing. It was a small container, ordinary, apparently insignificant, but held mighty ingredients.

How could I use that as a business? A webpage is that. Small, ordinary, apparently insignificant, but holds mighty ingredients.

 

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I began another website, named it Travels with Jo, then found it was confusing to google, for it wasn't a Travel Blog. I renamed it "Wonder with Jo." 

 To wonder and invite others to wonder with me.

 


https://www.wonderwithjo.com

 

Introduction to Where Tigers Belch

You might have read Paulo Coelho's book, The Alchemist, where a shepherd boy begins a quest to find a treasure and something he calls his" Personal legend."

Here is another quest as a young college student sets off into the jungle to find her purpose and reason for being. And she declared it would be where the tiger's belch that she would find it.

Have you ever had one of those days where you felt off? You were out of sorts, irritable, thinking nothing was going right? You were mad at the world and mad that things weren't going according to plan. You were angry that you aren't further along on your enlightenment trail, wondering what enlightenment is anyway.

You could search for years and never find that spot where the tiger belches, where you are calm and believe all's right with the world. It is the place where you feel invincible. 

I understand the gap. Best to back off. Go into your hut, nap, pet that baby cheetah on your bed, and listen to it purr. (I've heard that they have a purr like a lawnmower, and if they lick you, your skin will feel like it has been sanded.) Decide at that moment that you will be fresh tomorrow, and you are not going to push it today.

 I've decided that tomorrow I will take my backpack. I will add a few bottles of water and a couple of sandwiches and set off to find my destiny.

This is the purpose of Where the Tigers Belch. It is an investigation into finding our purpose and learning that we are magnificent beings on the road to greatness.


To see "Where Tigers Belch" on Kindle, please Click.

 

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