Just Between You and Me

 

 “Sing of good things, not bad.”*

—” Sing” by Joe Raposo, written for Sesame Street, performed by many.

 

 

* I’d quote the entire song if copyrights would allow. Songs are picky.  

 

 

Tell me PLEASE why this media slogan: “If it bleeds it Leads.”

 

This became a battle cry for newspapers back in the ’70s trying to up their ratings. Now, not only are we used to it, but writers, journalists, and pundits must up the ante to get our attention. As time goes by, adrenal hits need more potent thrills, shocks, controversy, to get the same shock value.

 

I must admit my adrenals like the log ride at Splash Mountain in Disneyland. It’s 10 on the terror scale of 10, said my 11-year-old Grandson when we visited the Park in January.

 

You sit in a log, used to be with your partner’s legs around you, now you have your own seat. You travel through calm waters, gentle music fills the air, suddenly, you stop. You look down. A 50-foot waterfall is raging beneath you, and you are looking straight down.

 

Holy Moley, I was scared out of my wits the first time I sat on that precipice—about 20 rides ago. (We used to live in Southern California, thus the frequent Disneyland visits.) Now I’m a veteran, but it still gives my adrenals a jolt. Amid screams, we are dropped over the edge and plunge into the water below. Drenched and laughing, we float among the strains of “Zippidy-do-da,” to the exit dock, and get out on noodle legs and say, “Let’s do that again.”

 

We like thrills, but the idea of slamming the world’s ills into our faces daily is not healthy.

 

We’re worn out.

 

Gone are the days of tuning into the media to find local and national issues.

 

Deborah Scani Psy D, says that if you are depressed, watching the news is a risky pursuit.

 

Sadly, once a glorious, needed, and respected profession, journalists, instead of getting to the story first, and getting the facts right, are now forced to look for the spectacular, the stirring, and the controversial.

FEAR is the teaser to get you to read the article or watch the presentation. Secondly, we watch or read with the HOPE that a solution will be forthcoming.

 

How often does that happen?

 

And why in the world, in a land that touts “Free Speech” are voices, news, articles being censored?

 

I’m really into this, for my daughter is a caregiver. Her client watches the news on the hour, or maybe continually. Daughter Dear tries to do something else during that time, but the lady will draw her in, “Come here. Will you look at that!”

 

Daughter Dear is worn out.

 

The lady remembers that there is a Virus/Danger “Out there,” but she doesn’t remember that she just watched it. (Poor dears—both of them)

Once upon a time—true story: I’ve written of this before, but I have new readers, so please forgive me if you’re read this before.

 

I was cursing up I-5 from San Jose, California, aiming for Oregon. Gabe, my Rottweiler, was asleep in the back seat, the radio was on. 

When I was in the San Francisco vicinity, I was startled by an “All Good News Radio Program.”

 

They had clips of motivational speakers followed by a story about a teacher who saw a kid in the playground do a good deed. She wrote out, “Good for you,” on a slip of paper, and gave it to the kid. The news soon spread about the “Good for you” slip of paper, and all the students wanted one.  

 

The teacher said that a piece of paper couldn’t blow across the playground without a kid running after it to pick it up.

 

I think the slips of paper graduated into tee-shirts.

 

We are good people, and we like being rewarded for our actions.

 

Happiness can spread.

 

Oh, speaking of good stuff, yesterday I saw that a chocolate factory in Switzerland had an explosion and covered the city in cocoa powder.

 

Got a good slogan for a tee-shirt?

 

I’ll print it and sell it.

 

If you would be so kind as to look into my store with its new name and new focus.

 

"On the road, on the trail, on the couch."

 

 

 

Thanks,

 

 Keep checking in I’m adding new products daily. (Take a peek at my "ribbit" sink strainer, too cute for words.)

 

https://jewellshappytrails.com

 

(Can you believe I got Jewell's Happy Trails as a domain?) 

 

Thanks,

Jo, Joyce, Jewell

 

 

P.S. A shout out to a reader in the UK;

https://munster.co.uk (GPS tracker)

 

My mother should have had this tracking device when I was a kid, for I rode my horse into the forest, and she never knew where I was. She worried that I would take a fall and be lost. “Stay by the road,” she said. “Then,” I countered, “if I fell off, someone would run over me.” 

 

We both survived my horse forays.

 

This device can be used on cars (get a 40% reduction on Ins.,) dogs, cats, bicycles, motorcycles, humans. I should have had one attached to our propane tank that ran off.

 

Thanks, UK

 

*Bad?” I’ve heard if you are an aficionado of country songs, listen long enough and they will cure you or your ills.

 

 

 

 

 

Mind-Body Connection

Go to the refrigerator.

Pull out your produce drawer (called “the freshener,” although sometimes it’s “the rotter”). There among your produce, no matter what shape it’s in, you will find a wonderfully fresh, brilliant yellow lemon.

Take out the lemon and place it on the cutting board. Now cut the lemon in half.

Hold the half-lemon to your nose. Ah.

Stick out your tongue and lick it.

 What happened?

Did your saliva glands respond to the make-believe sour taste of the lemon?

That’s a mind-body connection.

We only talked about the lemon; we didn’t actually taste it. Remember Pavlov’s experiment with dogs? (Way back) He would ring a bell immediately before feeding them. After a few rings followed by feedings, the dogs would salivate simply upon hearing the bell ringing.

That’s a body-mind connection.

The fact that the body will respond to a suggestion is considered by some to be metaphysical. (Metaphysics simply means beyond physics. In other words, we don’t know the explanation yet—thus it is beyond the scope of physics.) Placebo’s work because the brain believes that the substance given them will help the body.  Metaphysical people try to use this fact consciously. That is to deliberately place a suggestion into the mind that something wonderful will come to them. The trouble is we’re smart enough to know we’re trying to fool ourselves.

The old gatekeeper of the brain says, “What?! You think you can be a rock star? Don’t be ridiculous. You a rock star? Ha. You aren’t talented enough, young enough, or good-looking enough.” (When did that stop some people? However, they probably had to get past their gatekeeper too.)

The gatekeeper tends to be a curmudgeon. You throw a suggestion toward the brain; the gatekeeper throws it out. 

Although some suggestions get in.

Why?

Other times it’s as though he has built a cement wall around your brain.

Sometimes we affirm that we can get that job, that raise, that house we want, that relationship we so desire, and it doesn’t happen. Why is that?

 “Ha.” It bounces off the wall. “You think you can do that? You want to be an artist? You don’t have the talent or ability. Artists starve. Get a real job.”

Remember the old cartoon of a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other? This is a perfect model. Not that I think there is an angel there or a devil; it merely states the point.  Conflicting thoughts are rallying for our attention. How in the world can we believe we can have what we want when the gatekeeper is screaming at us that we can’t?

We must find a way around the wall with its gatekeeper.

Meditate. Meditation calms the chaptering mind for a time, so some of the good thoughts can get in. Perhaps it puts the gatekeeper to sleep. 

Surround yourself with people who believe in you.

Bombard the gatekeeper with so many positive thoughts, he gets tired of resisting them and gives up the struggle.

Ask for more stuff.

Get happy. A tired, dejected, depressed mind will defeat you every time.

Write down all the reasons whatever you want won’t work and write “Bullshit,” beside each item.

Next, go through your list and turn all your negatives into positives.

This week I learned this: Over and over, I have heard that we ought to use the present tense when we affirm for something we want and write it as though it is already done.

I’m not offering pie in the sky. I know that some work is needed. If you want to be a pianist, practice.

However, affirm that you see yourself performing before a congregation, and you hear the applause, and you are grateful for the opportunity. You say, “Thank you.”

Somewhere I read this: before Luciano Pavarotti, the famed Italian operatic singer, had ever performed at the Hollywood Bowl, he rented it, or used it, I don’t know which, and stood on stage singing to an an audience of one—himself. He wanted to create a space where he could believe he could perform there, and, too, it allowed his body to become accustomed to that space.

 As a young man, Pavarotti’s father, knowing the limited possibilities of becoming a singer, reluctantly gave Pavarotti’s consent to study music. Dreamers are often met with resistance. That is one reason it is so hard for them to believe their dream is possible. Pavarotti beat the odds and became one of the world’s most acclaimed operatic singers, later to move into popular music. He and two others, “The Three Tenors” changed classical music forever.

I see the physical reason behind the idea of telling oneself that the thing you want is already here. Our bodies are used to hearing or saying “Thank you” after a deed is accomplished. We say “Thank you,” after someone gives us a compliment or offers food or good times.  We are grateful when something good happens to us. So, be grateful and say, “Thank you,” before it happens.

It will make a connection between the mind and the body.

 

I am now thinking of all the people who have told me they find value in what I have written. We’re having a cup of coffee together. We’re talking happy-talk. The cares of the world are far away. We’re noticing how the leaves of the Magnolia tree are fluttering like a wave of people at a sports event. The Pink Mandevilla alongside it is flourishing and spectacular.The ground cover is succulent, dotted with light sparking off the water droplets. The coffee is warm and slides down our throats, erasing all evidence of morning hoarseness. “What are you going to do today?” I ask.

“Anything I want,” you say.

                                           Pink Mandevilla. I'm keeping this baby watered.

 

 

 

If We Stop Talking to Each Other, We’re in Deep Dodo.

 “Loneliness seems to have become the great American disease.”--John Corry. (Sent to me from a reader.) 

 

Aw.

 

 

What do you think of parental controls—not for the kids, for us?

 

Google has announced that they will take down anything addressing the Covid19 virus that doesn’t follow the Mainstream Dialogue.

 

Facebook has censored dissonant voices regarding this lockdown. (Their choice since they are an independent organization, but strange to my way of thinking.)

 

What are they afraid of? 

 

Silly me, I thought an educated populous could listen to various sides, form a conclusion, and make up their own minds. Isn’t that the way juries work? Isn’t that what debate is about? 

 

I heard a comment by Dr. Christiane Northrup OBGYN (Famous for her book, Woman’s Minds Women’s Bodies) regarding a Medical Intuitive. His advice, she said, was the same she had put on twitter about a month ago. It was there for a mini-second, then zip-gone. He offered advice on how to lessen the pathogen load for people who have contracted Covid19. (Apparently, you can get a little dose or a big one depending on the length of exposure.)

Take a hairdryer, hold your hand over the exhaust, and blow the hot air into your face. Breathe the hot air for a minute or two, three times a day. Afterward, use a saline spray, something that moisturizes the nasal passages.

 

Notice that this offered advice, no claim. It doesn’t seem all that dangerous to me. 

 

Daughter dear offered another explanation for the reason the hot air worked. Remember the humidifier from the last blog? Humid air and the virus are incompatible. Perhaps the hot air evaporates the moisture within the nasal passages and thus creates a nasal sauna.

 

I’m just guessing. I have no data to support this idea. I just see no harm in it.

 

Today, however, I’m in a Quandary.

 

I have declared that I want to help people Survive and Thrive, so what is the best way to do that?

 

On the one hand, I can talk about various alternative theories as to why we have this virus in the first place. I can sympathize with people. I can comment on where this pandemic is going. I can rail on how easily people are manipulated when Fear is the motivating force. I can be depressed at how easily people give up their freedoms.

 

I know that the way to convince people of your way of thinking is to present them with a problem, let them stew in it for a while, then offer the solution. (Yea! Applause! You fixed it!)

 

Instead, I’m calling in the Light Beings.

 

Gather around all you little fireflies. By light beings, I’m not being airy-fairy—well maybe a little. To use the word LIGHT means to carry understanding, encouragement, support, and a belief that the light (knowledge) will win over the darkness. 

 

A light being is one who had taken back their power.

 

I have heard it said that women are carriers of the light. Not to insult any wonderful males, it doesn’t mean we have the answers, it means we carry the lantern to light up the trail.

 

Most of us have been feeling powerless. We can’t control this virus. We believe in free elections, but find that they aren’t. We want to follow laws, but find that instead we are following mandates given by people who aren’t professional, or scientists, and are basically shooting in the dark.

 

So, to enforce these mandates, they use fear, guilt, coercion, and social pressure.

 

If you wonder what I am talking about, it’s not the virus, it’s the ramifications from it. Such as:

 

Who benefits from this lock down?

• Is there an agenda behind it?

• Is there anything in this present scenario that smells bad to you?

• Do you think the people in power have our best interests at heart?

• Do they really care that much about our health?

• Are they afraid that the virus will decimate the earth’s peoples, and they must stop it?

• Is the desire to make money behind it?

• Is this about control?

• Do they want to immunize the entire population of the planet?

• If you are not immunized, can you go travel anyplace, go where you want to go, like school and sports events?

• Will they inject a chip in all of us verifying that we have been inoculated, and where we are at all times? If they—whoever they are-- start chipping us, where does that lead?

• Do people know that aluminum is used in inoculations? Do they how dangerous aluminum is when injected into the body? 

 

We are advised to give up aluminum in frying pans and deodorants, where we absorb a small amount of aluminum. When aluminum is injected under the skin, we absorb 100%. Aluminum has been linked to Alzheimer’s as well as other adverse conditions. Do we want to risk it, especially when told this will end the pandemic? 

 

We got the Pharmaceutical Companies to remove the mercury, but now they use aluminum in immunizations.Isn’t there a safe alternative? Can we place controls on Big Pharma as they were prior to 1986? Is there a way to talk about this without fighting? It is so political we go into a polarization—like you’re either with me or against me.

 

Did you know that Vaccine manufacturers are exempt from liability?

 

WASHINGTON – In 1986, Congress passed the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA), creating a no-fault compensation program to stabilize a vaccine market adversely affected by an increase in vaccine-related lawsuits and to facilitate compensation to claimants who found pursuing legitimate vaccine-inflicted injuries too difficult and cost-prohibitive.

 

 

I experienced “Cognitive Dissonance” regarding the above commentary.

 

A few days ago, I didn’t know what Cognitive Dissonance meant. Dr. Christiane Northrup explained it to me. 

 

Imagine that you are a devout Catholic. You have gone to mass, given your confession, sent your son to be an altar boy. To your horror, you find that dear old Father Not So feel Good has been sexually molesting his alter boys.

 

Sweet old Father Not so Feel Good? No. How could he? I’ve told him my innermost secrets. I trusted him.

 

Coming face to face with a truth opposite your belief system is excruciatingly painful. That is Cognitive Dissonance.

 

It’s going to take a strong arm to hold up the lantern.

 

Are we up to the task?

 

Some believe this current state of the world is an Awakening. And many have been waiting for it. It’s hard though, just when you think the hero is about to win, the nemesis comes up with a new tactic. We have to remember that giving birth to humans isn’t easy, nor is giving birth to a new reality. As our primitive lizard brain holds on to its old views in new data, so do the denizens of darkness bring on a fresh onslaught of slings and arrows. 

 

We need a civil rights leader to rise up from the crowd and teach people about non-violent protests. (Protesters in Portland Oregon are getting tear-gassed.)  Remember Martin Luther King Jr.? I don’t know how he did it.

One principle many carriers of the light know is that when we push against a thing, it pushes back.

Another principle is that whatever we focus on tends to grow larger.

Focus on love and it grows.

Focus on worry and it looms up in graphic detail.

Focus on health and happiness and more is available for you.

 

I received this from a reader:

 

"I have a new philosophy. I'm only going to dread one day at a time." by Charles M. Schulz. (You know him, the artist who created Peanuts)._

 

And I found this about the actor Bill Murray:

“Bill’s whole life is in the moment,” says Ted Melfi, who directed Murray in the movie St. Vincent. “He doesn’t care about what just happened. He doesn’t think about what’s going to happen. He doesn’t even book round-trip tickets. Bill buys one-ways and then decides when he wants to go home.”

Once he asked a cabbie in NY what he liked to do. The Cabbie said he liked to play the saxophone, but didn’t have much time to practice. Bill asked him stop the car, go to the truck, get out his sax, and while the fellow played his sax in the backseat, Bill drove the cab.

This inspires me, how about you?

It’s an attitude, a way to approach life.

 

 

On the home front:

Normally when faced with a manual to fix something I call my husband or grandson.

 

Last week I had to face a manual alone. It was a 16-page manual to format my book for its paperback edition. I did the interior. Then came the cover. I couldn’t for the life of me get mine to fit into their system, so I went with one of their templates which only changed the font of the title.

 

After hitting “I accept,” where I was like the proverbial check signer circling the sign line, I clicked, and they gave me the price of printing. My choices were from $8.31 to $250.00. I didn't think anyone would pay $250, so I  checked on $8.99.

That would give me a 38-cent profit, $9.99 would give a profit of 99 cents. I chose $12.99 at a $2.78 profit.  

 

I just got an email that my paperback book is alive on Amazon! No kidding right now! And I just completed it yesterday. It’s amazing that it worked, and so fast.

 

Well, daughter dear, you can have a real-life-hold-in-your-hands-book—and anyone else who so desires. Kindle or paperback, you choose.

 

·  Look Inside the Book. This feature will be available in 7 business days.

 https://www.amazon.com/s?k=where+the+birds+of+eden+sing&ref=nb_sb_noss