What Makes Life Worth Living?

I lie in bed thinking. And then I thought that this mass in my head is doing it. And then I thought, what a magnificent thing, that all those neurons, synapses and whatever, like electrical wires are coursing through the mass that resides inside my skill. Such a strange mass it is, a lump that if you didn’t know what it was and found it in your yard you would think you ought to buy it.

 

Of course, it belongs in the skull, not in the yard. We carry a powerhouse atop out shoulders, yet we spend most of the day whining, and throwing chemicals at the powerhouse spurring it to work better, run faster, be smarter, get with the program, make us happy.

 

I’m not a spring chicken, and I suppose that brings with it a certain amount of urgency to get things done. I read once that if you want to know about death ask a 70-year-old, they’ve been looking at it across the street for a decade.”

 

I say, yep, look at it, then get on with life—that’s what you’re here for.

 

What is my purpose? What is my dream? What is my passion? How can I be of service? How can I feed my soul good things when I hear so much bad stuff? How can I combat negativity?

 

Questions of the ages, yet one lone soul had the audacity to stand up and say, “Our purpose is to live in joy.”

 

Do you believe that?

 

This morning I heard Oprah quote Maya Angelo. “I come as one, I stand as ten thousand.”

 

For Oprah, it was her people behind her, the ones that had price tags attached should they ever be sold. They were listed in a slave ledger, Donna, $900, Lydia $800, an 11-year-old girl $500. She will not let herself forget where she came from.

 

I grew up thinking that war was just the worst thing that could ever happen. I heard about Hitler, and I saw the pictures of skeleton people with skin stretched over their bones, people from barracks, emaciated, so when I hear someone say, “Let’s kick their butts,” or happy that we “Bombed them back to the stone age,” my heart aches. I carry those remembrances.

 

Oprah daily sees a painting that has prominence on her living room wall. It’s of a slave mother standing on the sale’s block holding her daughter’s hand.

 

Should we remember or forget? Is this remembrance a constant damper on our joy? Tell people to be kind to each other, love each other. Must we flagellate ourselves with something we didn’t do and can’t erase from the past? Aim for thoughts that feel better. Raise someone up when they are down, but first take care of yourself. That isn’t selfish. If you are limping along a dangerous trail, straight down on one side, wall on the other, shale slipping, do you want another limping person beside you, or do you want someone strong, someone who takes your hand and says, “It’s okay, I’ve got you.”

 

Be that person.

 

Yes, when we walk into a room, we carry those 10,000 people with us. But could it be that those people, instead of being slaves and victims, are warriors?  They are our mothers and fathers. They are the ones who escaped tyranny. They are the ones who immigrated to this country to make a better life. They were the pioneers that crossed the prairies to build a home. They were the suffragettes who fought for women’s right to vote. They are the ones who formed unions to give workers a living wage. They were our grandparents who farmed and fed a nation. They were the ones who wrote a Constitution to ensure that democracy shall prevail. They fought for gay rights, birth control, a woman’s reproductive right to choose, and the end to child labor. And they are still out there building wells in Africa, trying to stop selling and enslaving women for sex, believing that not one person on the earth should starve, and that people should not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the strength of their character.

 

See how long that list is? We don’t have baggage we have the spark of life in us.

 

President Truman placed a sign on his desk as a daily reminder: “The buck stops here.”

 

I suggest in response to the rabble “out there,” that we adopt that attitude.

Drink

 

Many years ago, I read about a prisoner in Auschwitz.

 

He was a doctor, and as a doctor, of course, other prisoners came to him for treatment.

 

The trouble was, he had no medicines, no instruments, no anything.

 

But he had water.

 

He began treating his patients with water, and saw many ailments relieved. After he was liberated, he began studying the effects of water on healing the human body (I can’t find the book. Do you know of it?)

 

I have noticed that my coffee urge has dwindled on the hot days that abound these days, and I’m turning to water. When I read Kristin Limoges article, “Whoa: This Is What Happens to Your Body When You Drink Enough Water.

 

I decided to up my intake.

 

This research is based on the work of Dr. Dana Cohen, an integrative medicine specialist in New York and coauthor of Quench: Beat Fatigue, Drop Weight, and Heal Your Body Through the New Science of Optimum Hydration.

 

She says optimal hydration is taking half your body weight in ounces. If you weigh 120 pounds, you need to drink 60 ounces of water a day.

 

 Within seven days of drinking your prescribed amount, you’ll have fewer aches and pains and bowel movements will become more regulated and frequent.

 

Also, your skin clarity will improve. “A body that has been suboptimally hydrated (You didn't drink enough water) will, over time, shunt water toward essential organs like your heart and away from nonessential tissue like your skin and muscles,” says Dr. Charles Passler, a celebrity nutritionist and founder of Pure Change Detox. “This can lead to wrinkled or drooping skin, as well as reduced muscle strength.”

 

After one month of drinking your daily recommended ounces of water, you’ll be hitting your stride. You can expect clearer, less bloated skin, plus continuous benefits in mental clarity, muscle strength, and stamina, says Dr. Passler.

 

In Six Months:

 

“Having our cells properly hydrated creates homeostasis in the body and flushes out toxins,” says Dr. Passler. (sounds like a scientist.) Beyond just looking and feeling great, proper hydration is necessary for the proper functioning of every single organ and tissue in your body. The long-term benefits of avoiding dehydration play an important role in reducing the risk of diseases and disorders, like urinary tract infections, hypertension, coronary heart disease, glaucoma, and gallstone disease.

 

I’ll race you to the frig.

 

—that’s where we keep our glass jugs of water. 

I cleaned my store, Jo’s—Store, Books and Coffee. It's a pleasure to walk in. Imagine  tinkling bells ringing as the door closes. Imagine the fragrance of fresh brewed coffee. Sit, prop your feet up, and read free stuff. 

And tell me if you think I swallowed the hype by purchasing a Fuze Bug, a mosquito zapper. (Just information, no kickback.) I was impressed when a hiker clipped it on his backpack and took off down the trail.

https://jos-storebooksandcoffee.com

 And, of course, buy books.

 

 I use Jos-storebooksandcoffee.com. to sell on Amazon. My product right now is Ketogenix Keto tablets.

 https://www.amazon.com/Ketogenix-Advanced-Puretonics-Ketogenic-Supplements/dp/B08X93PB2N/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=Ketogenix+Keto+max+Pills+Advanced+L oss+Puretonics+VIP+tablets&qid=1628190061&sr=8-3

 

If you’re a writer you might like https://www.bestdamnwritersblog.com

If you’re not a writer you might like comments regarding Mindset.

 Over a decade ago in the foothills of the Himalayas, before much about mindset unfolded, Brad Stulberg asked a Nepali Sherpa named Indra about the prayer flags that were all over. “It’s simple,” he told me. “When you are feeling a strong emotion, you plant a flag. Since the beginning of time, my culture believes the wind will spread that energy and the universe will receive it.”

 

Blind Runner Runs Marathon Without Guide People or Dogs

 

                                                         Oregon Grape, snip from video*

 

Imagine this—One morning, you and your colleges are called into the conference room and presented with this question.: “Can we give a blind runner the freedom to run without a guide dog or a guide runner?”

 

Wow. What a challenge.

 

This morning I searched for “Happy stories” because I felt what is being thrown at us is fear, conflict, and horror.

 

Yesterday I mentioned to a friend that I wanted a happy story. She said, like kitties and puppies.

 

Yes, I love kitties and puppies. So many happy or at least tender-hearted stories are about animals--a dog sleeping with a deer, an Alaskan Husky romping with a polar bear, an elephant reaching his trunk to a kitty stranding on a rock in the middle of a stream. (You know the kitty was rescued, someone took the picture.)

 

This morning I found one about humans.

 

Blind Thomas Panek believed he was born to run and had raced with the aid of a guide runner, but he felt he was always following someone. For a marathon, he used a three-dog relay. But he dreamed of running independently.

 

The designers came up with an app, phone, headphones, and a stripe painted on the road. The device could tell the runner when he veered right or left. 

 

On a run through a forested road, Thomas broke down and cried for before, he said, he was always dependent upon someone. 

 

This gave him freedom.

 

Human ingenuity. 

 

Project guidelines. https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/blind-thomas-panek-runs-half-marathon-with-google-app/

 

Do you have a happy story to tell?

 

Tell me. 

 

And if you would help me get 100 subscribers on my YouTube channel, I can change the URL to custom. 

 

That way, I can remove my actual name and give it a simple name to share and to find. (I must also include a picture and have a banner. I’ve done that. Now I need subscribers.) So far, I have 87 views. Perhaps you don’t want to listen to me for 9 minutes—but the forest is pretty. The latest video is of a trail in the Cascade Range of Oregon. It’s a short walk down to the McKenzie River. And I am happy I got my audio aligned with the video and a roar of the river at the end. 

 

You know how rushing water can be calming and exciting all at the same time. I wish that for you.

 

Carry on,

Jo

 

“In the fall of 2019, I asked that question to a group of designers and technologists at a Google hackathon. I wasn’t anticipating much more than an interesting conversation, but by the end of the day, they’d built a rough demo that allowed a phone to recognize a line taped to the ground and give audio cues to me while I walked with Blaze. We were excited and hopeful to see if we could develop it into something more.” --Thomas Panek

 

New 

July 27. 2021

Jewell's Happy Trails #3                                                       Jewell's Happy Trails #2

 McKenzie River Trail                                                          Marcola Hills, Oregon

 

                                                

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jewell's happy Trails #1

 

This video is in my channel.  I left 

it raw and uncensored  because 

I liked it being off the cuff. 

Perhaps it needs shortened a bit.

Believe in Miracles

In searching for quotes for my notebooks/journals, I found this one—one of my favorites, although I did not include it in any of the books:

 

"Changing the toilet paper spindle does not cause brain damage."

 

I told my husband this morning that I didn't have a blog this week. I had nothing to say. He said, “Well, I guess that's it."

 

I said, "That's not an excuse—you begin and see what happens." 

 

That's the writer in me, and that's what I tell creatives. Just do your work, and see what happens. Sometimes we hit, sometimes we miss. Sometimes the wastepaper basket gets all the info, but we keep on keeping on.

 

So here I am…beginning.

 

Perhaps I've gotten caught up in the at-homeness, the covid19-ness, the debate, the confusion. I want to say something positive yet feel helpless to do that.

 

I hear that people are suffering. One couple said that locked up at home, they yell at each other all the time, and that's not good for the kids. Another friend said that this Covid19 has sucked all the joy out of her life. Now she doesn't want to host any gatherings at her house while she used to have many during a year.

 

What should we do with this information?

 

It appears that the power structure is trying—they have come up with a vaccine and now are encouraging, virtually forcing people to take it. Some believe it's a savior; others think it's the devil incarnate.

 

It could be that sinister forces are at work, for when profit is forthcoming, people become suspicious. We encourage profit. We admire people who get rich—but not too rich. Without profit, companies would not exist, but outrageously high profit really is greed.

 

It could be that the power structure—let's start with the doctors, they were at a loss on how to treat this disease. Some wanted to try methods outside the Hospital’s protocol and were stymied.

 

The medicine (I-word) has been shown to heal Covid19 better than any other treatments, yet it wasn’t allowed to be administered in hospitals, even at doctor’s orders. If it is mentioned on YouTube that channel soon goes Bye bye.  The I-word has also been shown to be a preventative, is cheap to produce, and has been FDA approved for 40 years

 

 Research scientists are scrambling to find answers. Politicians were trying, some with an agenda, some with an honest desire to help. The populace was depending on those in the know to have answers. 

 

This scenario was like Hawaii trying to solve their rat problem. Scientists brought in mongoose to eradicate the rats. The problem was, the rats were nocturnal. The mongoose is diurnal, so one sleeps during the day, the other at night, and they both exist happily together.

 

We have science to help us, but mother nature is complex, and we are babies in our efforts. 

 

In 1859 Thomas Austin, a wealthy settler who lived in Victoria, Australia, had 13 European wild rabbits sent to him from across the world (So he could hunt them, wow.) He let the bunnies roam free on his estate. 

 

From this one backyard sanctuary, it took only around 50 years for these imported rabbits to spread across the entire continent.

Australia was fertile ground for bunnies; literally, its ground is excellent for burrowing. The climate is warm, grasses were available for food, and rabbits had no natural predators. If times get tough food-wise, rabbits will eat about anything—and everything. Soon they invaded crops and land, leading to soil erosion and the loss of native plants and animals. Farmers were leaving their decimated land.

 

Fencing, killing, poisoning. gassing their warrens (where a group of rabbits live, and raise their young.) didn't do the job. Birth control would only affect one rabbit at a time. Once, the government offered 3 million dollars to someone who could come up with an effective bio-control. None worked efficiently enough. Rabbits soon developed immunity. 

Scientists created a rabbit-specific virus, and that works somewhat.

However, in January 2020, it was estimated that approximately 200 million feral rabbits inhabit Australia.

 

This is what we are dealing with now with the virus. Evolutionists Heather and Brett Weinstein have a podcast where they have been talking about Covid19. (Yes, Evolutionists, that dreaded word that simply means biologists who study how organisms change) offered a description of how variants appear. 

 Let's say, Heather said, that we want to kill jaguars. We create a device that finds spots. Soon, we have detected and killed all the spotted jaguars. However, a few have non-issued spots, and they slipped past the detection device. With the regularly spotted jaguars gone, what is left is the irregularly spotted jaguars, and they take over.

 

Mother Nature knows how to balance, but we, the people, do not want to be casualties, so we try to intervene.

 

So where does that leave us? 

I want to add something positive, so here are some ideas:

 

• That we weigh consequences. That we do not rush to a conclusion without trying in every way we can conjure to consider the consequences. Scientists aren't gods, and sometime they hit, sometimes they they miss. (Ever see a rocket go up in flames?)  In our desperation to have answers, we should not give companies Carte Blanche with no consequences.

•  When we stopped driving so much during the lock down, we found the air got better. A few of us wondered if our past two glorious springs was nature having a breather. What if we did that regularly without being forced?

•  We found that pure water was precious, and we ought to make sure it stays that way. 

•  We found that if we up our immune system with supplements and healthy food and take care during flu season—like washing our hands, not touching our faces when we are out, and avoiding crowds, we have fewer colds. 

• We found that we don't need to consume as much, for it wasn't fun to shop during the pandemic. We discovered that we can get by with less. 

•  As we are getting fatter while perceiving that we are eating about the same, we wonder if something besides calories is at work, perhaps interfering with our chemistry.

 

We know stress interferes with biochemistry. We know that chemicals in our houses ought to be replaced with natural substances. We figure that genetically altered foods is suspect. What about the excessive use of plastic?

 

Grandma's food tasted great, and nothing was genetically modified. The organic farmers have a point. They can produce beautiful, healthy fruits and vegetables without chemicals. (The marijuana growers have perfected this craft.)

 

What about chemicals to make the cows produce more milk? Come on, stop it with the cows. Stop throwing chemicals on the ground and into animals. Now people injured with the herbicide, Round-up-- that has been used extensively in Oregon, are getting compensation. What does that say about its use? 

 

• We want a cell phone that works great, but we don't need a new one every year because it's a fun toy.

•  We found that working 9 to 5 in  crowded buildings isn't the most efficient way to accomplish business. 

•  We found that we value our friends and miss them when it becomes impossible to see them.

•  We found that being outside is not only healthy but healing and safer as far as contracting diseases.

 

Nature takes her time. We don't have the time. I guess that's the battle.

 

We love our Momma (earth). So, let's not make it hard for her.

 

Here I am talking about world conditions, while on the other had I’m walking in the forest and talking about creating our own reality. Perhaps they will mesh eventually.

 

 

"Why should we use our creative power…? Because there is nothing that makes people so generous, joyful, lively, bold, and compassionate, so indifferent to fighting, and the accumulation of objects and money."

--Brenda Ueland 

(This did make its way into "Breathe.")

 

And I thought I didn't have anything to say.

A virtual hug,

Jo

P.S. the I-word is I-ver-mect-in.

My notebooks, or journals, by jewell d are for your exquisite thoughts, or stuff you can't remember but need to. They have lined pages, and quotes scattered throughout for fun and inspiration.

Chirp is live, Believe is alive, Breathe is in review.

On the back cover of Believe:

"I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles. " --Audrey Hepburn