Perspective Adjuster Piece

Somewhere right now there is a shoreline with a sand crab working its way into the wet sand to avoid the gleeful child who keeps picking up double handfuls of soaked sand to watch the sand crabs emerge. The kid always sets them free, but the sand crab doesn’t know that. The seagull does though. Somewhere right now there is an apple on a tree in the sun. There is a dog barking in a yard. There is mailman hopping back onto his truck. There is a musician practicing scales.

10/21/2014

Opportunity and Destiny

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade--don't just piss in the water pitcher and cry about how lemonade is a horrible drink.

-just came up with that one today. A little note to the "Bernie or Bust" gang.

The Tilting Right and the Teetering Left: A Steady Stride to Sanity

At the DNC--and throughout the rest of the 2016 Presidential campaign--I hope Hillary Clinton continues to describe her policies and details where they lead. I hope she speaks beyond her loyal audience and reaches out to both the tilting right and the teetering left.  

I am not talking about convincing extremists to come to a place of moderation, I am addressing the uncertain. Both the tilting and teetering can come to points of balance in time for the election in November. This is my diagnosis and prescription:

The tilting right are caught in the spell of drumph's* empty bragging points and boasts for "change." Because they have sincere wishes for democracy to function, they're not sure how they'll vote but they're feeling pressure to go along with drumph because he's gotten under their skin. His tactic is to make people think they're dumb if they don't agree with him and it may be working.

But, when drumph he uses the term, "government", he's including the US Constitution and Bill of Rights as part of the problematic system he perceives. When he says "establishment" he's not talking about the 1%, cronyism, US policies in global politics--he's just talking about "government" as a broad and blind generalization.

The tilting right are frustrated about government. Traditionally, the right sees government as something outside themselves. Hillary's challenge to communicate to the tilting right is to finesse a message that invites engagement. We the people are the government. The more people get involved, the better the government reflects the will of the people. If Hillary can empower this group to participate in this democracy they will come to abhor the one man show drumph is offering.

The teetering left are grieving Bernie Sanders' loss of the primary. Much of their complaint has been that they don't like the "establishment" either, and they are talking about the 1%, cronyism, US policies in global politics (and Big Oil, too). They believe the "system" has become corrupt. The ideals they hoped we would all embrace in the form of Bernie have been counterbalanced by voters seeking a different pace or strategy.

The teetering left are the group for whom it's most crucial to find their footing by November. Hillary is prepared and equipped to serve as President of the US.  Bernie's supporters, dislike her though they may, have got to bite the bullet, participate in the election and vote for Hillary.  At the very least, they'll have to cast it simply to counterbalance drumph. Opting out means their votes fall to drumph. If they think they're sad now, how might they feel upon realizing that drumph manipulated their dislike, or even disdain for Hillary into all out paralyzing hatred? drumph's tactic now is to stifle both the teetering left and the tilting right because he really needs that inaction, and he needs it bad!

Hillary's challenge at the DNC is to evoke enthusiasm for democracy, participation and life itself.  We all need to walk straight into this election, eyes open, with a steady stride. We can overcome this scary phase of our nation's development.  And we need to help Hillary Clinton win the US presidency in 2016. Our nation needs us to support her so we need to balance this one together and remember that it takes a village.

*The name drumph is intentionally left uncapitalized.

The Appetizers That Tried Too Hard

As a dog
just having had a peanut butter snack
thrusts tongue forward and back and forward again to clear the stickum from behind large molars,
I attempt to remove a taste from my mouth
a mere illusion: inspired by a picture
of 
sardine salad
stuffed into lemons
topped with olives
yet displayed to appear
as
cupcakes.

To Lend a Book

To lend a book

is to lend a daydream

to share a world

to imagine what another would like to think about

--what might enrich,

or satisfy.

To lend a book

is an act of trust

that foremost in the mind 

is the notion that the relationship with said book is temporary.
--you may get it back,
might not.

To lend a book

is a risky thing;

Books absorb into minds 
and into shelves.

We Are All Immigrants. All of Us.

We are all immigrants: not just Americans, Canadians, Australians, but all of us. Even the traces of the oldest ancestor in Africa, as far back as genetics could reach, were found in a man in Asia. Sometimes we migrated for adventure, but usually we migrated because of some kind of external force. What I love about the better qualities of the US is the way we embrace our heritages. We talk about them, show them off, brag about them as if we created them. Except for those who were forced to be here, the rest of us got in because someone, somewhere, held a door open for us. It is ethical then to hold that door open for others, and not only welcome, but show some gratitude for the descendants of those who were forced to be here. We are all immigrants. All of us. Here are some good sources:

Spencer Wells: Journey of Man (video, 2 hrs)

Spencer Wells: A Family Tree for Humanity (video, TED Talk, 20 minutes)

I Didn't Know Kids Could Still Skip

Walking into work, an ordinary day but it's going to be too hot
and the sun imposing over the top of my sunglasses
I'm all too aware of all the world:
the civil servant who wants to pick and choose which parts of her job she does
the comb over guy with the fish lips shouting and
global struggles and 
cultural tensions and
refugees refugees refugees and
fishery slaves on ships they can't escape and
bear poaching lion poaching and elephants and lost dogs and
yoga class is coming and juicing kale prevents cancer and
look a kitten!
And
now a new big fat corporate mall is opening in my town.
And
here she comes
skipping along,
a red-headed girl, maybe nineteen,
a slouchy backpack lifts on the hop
bounce hefts on the slide and
she has a smile on her face
like she knows it's a little silly but so
I imagine
something good just happened
or maybe she is making something good happen
simply by skipping.
How much can I influence?
How much can I influence?
How much can I skip?

jeanosullivan, 2015 September 9

Faux and Soul

In a world of faux and soul,

The former live to gain favor;

The latter to live fully.

The foes lack soul:

Life is a strain to impose, force the will, in hopes of some kind of relief

that will never come

from that tactic.

Sinewy necked and sweating, teeth gritting grimaced all that.

The soulful align to remind each other

The best that can be accomplished in the faux world

is to clutch at straws.

Night time, heads on pillows,

Love embraces the soulful, refreshes, reinforces connections intangible but more solid than a mountain.

c.2014jeanosullivan

40 Days of Posts that Make Life Better: #6: Ears!

Thanks to tremendously detailed and delicate instruments inside a hard candy shell (our heads), we get to hear.  Here's how it works: Auditory Transduction (not my own video).  But, that is my own ear. And while I'm on the subject, I made that earring and another one just like it.

40 Days of Posts that Make Life Better, #5: There are Sages Among Us

We live in a culture that promotes snaps to judgement. We like to think we know what's going on inside someone's head based on where we might be in ours, and how they might appear to us as they go along down the street.  That imposed notion can make us miss a lot.  Humans of New York is one of my favorite sites for breaking this illusion. Like, for example, the wisdom this guy had on this day at this moment:

From the album: Timeline Photos

By Humans of New York

"I'm learning to be more careful with my words. Words that seem meaningless at the time can end up having a lot of power. Seeds that you didn't even intend to plant can fall off you and start growing in people."

40 Days of Posts that Make Life Better, #4: We are more than just our memories

We are the present moment. We are our feelings, sensibilities, mannerisms. We endure in the curl around a laugh and the instinct for comfort. We are alive and progressing always, heart and soul---and don't you forget it! 

40 Days of Posts that Make Life Better, #3: listen to where the flow does go

We live in a world of rhythm--heartbeats, breathing, waves on the seashore, wind in trees, cityscapes, birdsongs, dropping things that bounce a couple of times before going quiet. So in life, as we go with the flow, we can also listen to where the flow does go.

Here's a take on Dave Brubeck's rhythmic play in an article in Scientific American.

40 Days of Posts that Make Life Better, #2: Bees!

Walking along today enjoying the sunlight on the dandelions, I was also happy that it's so common to have a camera handy these days.  You can stay in touch with friends, manage the manageable events, and snap a photo of a bee on a flower!  So, our first two posts are the birds and the bees.  What a perfect foundation for a theme celebrating what's good about life: start with the start!

By now in history you don't need me to tell you how important bees are to humans, but in case you are not in the know, follow this link on wikipedia.  Or this one from the Humane Society about how to befriend bees.

When I was a teenager having lunch at a sidewalk cafe with a friend, a bee landed on our table, walked in circles and resigned to exhaustion. My friend poured a little fruit juice into a spoon and set it in front of the bee who drank and drank and flew off merrily.  That is how I learned bees sometimes don't pack enough lunch. They respond well to a little help.  That's a good reminder of how to be.

Ha ha how to bee.

40 Days of Posts that Make Life Better: #1: Birds!

And here we are, Ash Wednesday, the day Lent begins.  Not being religious, but appreciating the idea of moving toward springtime with 40 days of something positive as a reminder of compassion, sacrifice, commitment, gratitude, optimism and of course love, here comes year 3 of: *40 Days of Posts that Make Life Better.

Number one: Birds!  We have birds on this earth!  Birds!  Beautiful musical, pollinating, acrobatic, birds!  See or hear one and wonder what it is? You can identify through lots of sources but I just found this one, and it also has a map for locating the ones birders have logged: http://ebird.org/ebird/map/

Now, last year I kind of dropped off the map after day 17. This year I plan to be 23 times more dedicated to 40 Days of Posts that Make Life Better.

*Sundays off, there's where I'll follow the rules of Lent, unless I decide to do bonus posts.

Take a Picture: it lasts longer

A Public Service Announcement from the Sea Creatures: If you see a beautiful starfish and just have to have it among your collection of possessions, remember: 

A starfish will never be as beautiful as it was alive, aglow through the sun shimmers or suggesting perceptible motion through reflections of clouds on the water's surface, if you abduct it. Verily yes, this will forever remain true--even if-- even if--you make it into a... a... "thing." Thank you.

2014 Begins

I shan't be so neglectful of my webpage now this year
Over the last year I did drop the ball
but until facebook posts become searchable
the important stuff goes here,
at least some, if not all.

Here is an orange.

Thank You, Bill Watterson and Gavin Aung Than

I fell for it. Thank you, Bill Watterson and Gavin Aung Than, for this kind, insightful cartoon: (When you get to the image, click on it to make it bigger.)

http://www.slate.com/content/dam/slate/blogs/browbeat/2013/08/27/watterson_advice_large.jpg

One of my refrains as an adult has been "I'm not a climber." But aha! That's exactly how the predetermined imaginary ladder of success traps those of us who are not corporate (or institutionally) minded and causes us slip on the rungs and bang our chins. The steady discomfort convinces us the climbers' lie is truth so when it comes time to pursue the development of our own talents, we're so busy scrambling for band aids and ice we've talked ourselves out of the idea that we can succeed at all. I am a crawler, a walker, a hiker, a dancer, a mover, a jumper, and yes, sometimes I like to climb, too.

Mindfulness Meditations I Like

Here are some nice mindfulness meditation videos. They’re not dogmatic or magical, just using your brain to stay centered – like being in the middle of Fortuna’s Wheel instead of all over the spokes and rim and ups and downs.  The basic neurological principle is that the more time you spend in this state of mind, the more easily it will come to you when you’re in the midst of chaos:

I love this Irish guy Sean O’Tarpaigh’s meditations, especially this one:

http://youtu.be/It-PdYC8h98

Here’s his YouTube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/LifeLightCounselling

And then there’s Lori Granger, who is also great.  She’s in Fresno and has several that I enjoy:

http://youtu.be/iUd5cWSVonA

http://youtu.be/qBbf8SvM2Bw

http://youtu.be/1CDZGXlHYp8

http://youtu.be/H72t3kMrA_A

And here’s her youtube page:

http://www.youtube.com/user/centerformindfulness

Sometimes I just listen to these as I do my morning stretches, but for best effect, lie down and listen and follow what they say. Each one's 10 - 15 minutes so they can easily fit into the day.

Courage

“Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace,
The soul that knows it not, knows no release,
From little things;
Knows not the livid loneliness of fear
Nor mountain heights where bitter joy can hear
The sound of wings.”

- Amelia Earhart

I had heard the first line of this as a quotable quote and had it on a bulletin board for some time, and in my head, but today a friend asked for "tips for courage" and I thought of it, wasn't sure anymore who said it so I looked it up, and dogged if it ain't a full poem!  

40 Days of Posts that Make Life Better, #17

40 Days of Posts that Make Life Better, #17: We've found a way to look at the sun without hurting our eyes.

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/image-provided-nasa-shows-image-captured-nasa-solar-photo-195607067.html