“The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.” ― Charles Bukowski Do you ever think about this? Can you think of an example from your life? Sometimes, it seems we’re surrounded by idiots.  And they’re loud.  We worship confidence, arrogance, and status. Why are we surprised when the greedy become gluttonous? Why do we not honor traits like kindness, empathy, and connection? A lot of this is fear. We worry about what might happen if we interrupt, disagree, or speak our minds.  The system is oppressive ..read more

What went right? Do you ever wonder how we got here? Do you ever think about what has changed over hundreds of thousands of years of human evolution? The past few decades have seen exponential growth in technology. Smartphones. Passenger trips to space. Electric vehicles. Lots of crazy new tech. In most of our lifetimes, technological advances have dominated the changes we experience. Science changed the world. Medical advances like germ theory and surgical techniques have arguably improved our lives.  Fossil fuel use has underwritten most of our ‘advances’ in making things easier to do ..read more

Ok, I know, it sounds weird but hear me out.  Humans are freaked out by death. I’m not saying I’m any different, just drawing attention to this in hopes of reducing our suffering. Today I’m wondering what life would be like if we could change our relationship with death. The Toltec civilization of Central America considered death an advisor like a friend who gives advice. In this way, Toltecs navigated their lives knowing they were temporary. It is a way to try and make the most of the time we have.  Some modern cultures ask how you would live life differently if you knew you only ha ..read more

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me Do you remember this nursery rhyme?  When I was younger, I believed it. I thought I would rather be yelled at than physically harmed. While I feel lucky to have received more verbal bullying than actual butt-kickings, I’m not so sure the damage was less harmful. As an adult, I realize words have real power and do a lot of harm on their own. Sometimes I wonder if words hurt worse than beatings. Certainly, words don’t ‘never hurt me’. Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words can break everything else. Including our h ..read more

What IS the matter? Matter is an interesting word. It’s a noun and a verb. The noun means something of substance and can be physical or metaphysical. The verb means for something to be important. There’s matter, and there is the matter. I like words like that, but the complication of communication and understanding. The idea of something mattering, as a verb, has been on my mind lately. The last two episodes (here and here) have focused on the relationship between our experiences and our stress. What matters directly affects our bodies, our minds, and our well-being. Everything can’t matter Ma ..read more

I couldn’t care less about that. How many times have you said that? We use this phrase as a euphemism to mean we completely don’t like, disagree with, or are opposed to whatever is being discussed.  There are things in life we don’t care about, and some things we care a lot about. We pay attention to and direct our energy toward the things we care about.  My argument here is caring about things is energetically expensive and we need to be careful. Caring requires attention. We use the phrase ‘pay attention’ because our attention is limited. When things are bothersome or stressful, pa ..read more

Are you aware of the stress in your life?  Can you FEEL it when stressors are building up and you think you may pop? Do you ever feel like you’re right on the verge of a meltdown? I think most of us are familiar with these scenarios. We can only take so much stress. When I was an ecologist, I had a vision for my life’s work. I planned on studying how aquatic ecosystems resist or integrate stressors before they break down. Some streams were beautiful. Full of a diversity of life, clean water, and complex habitat. Other systems were homogenous. Devoid of most life. Ugly and plain.  The ..read more

I couldn’t care less about that. How many times have you said that? We use this phrase as a euphemism to mean we completely don’t like, disagree with, or are opposed to whatever is being discussed.  There are things in life we don’t care about, and some things we care a lot about. We pay attention to and direct our energy toward the things we care about.  My argument here is caring about things is energetically expensive and we need to be careful. Caring requires attention. We use the phrase ‘pay attention’ because our attention is limited. When things are bothersome or stressful, pa ..read more

Are you aware of the stress in your life?  Can you FEEL it when stressors are building up and you think you may pop? Do you ever feel like you’re right on the verge of a meltdown? I think most of us are familiar with these scenarios. We can only take so much stress. When I was an ecologist, I had a vision for my life’s work. I planned on studying how aquatic ecosystems resist or integrate stressors before they break down. Some streams were beautiful. Full of a diversity of life, clean water, and complex habitat. Other systems were homogenous. Devoid of most life. Ugly and plain.  The ..read more

This week I’ll skip right to the punchline.  The ability to see beyond the mainstream and to understand the continuum of whatever feature it is in the world is a special gift.  This is enhanced awareness. I wonder if being neurodiverse or atypical or having a sensitive or different nervous system, sort of gives us this ability.  In an evolutionary context, I can see how this ability would have been selected for. Hypervigilance enabled some of us to ‘scout’ out our environments and look for threats, which was protective of the village. I think neurodivergence is an artifact of th ..read more