Month: May 2025

Someone had to blaze, and someone had to follow. Then, after a while, a path was born. The moment the trail is abandoned, however, the forest can fill the path again. There is something to be said for abandoning the old ways of doing things here. Further, nature finds a way to heal itself with time. Something must be said about the damage we have done and the miracle that heals.

What you do tomorrow is so much more valuable than what you did yesterday.

One of the glaring problems of the justice system is how easy it is to condemn someone rather than to prove their innocence.

We have to see where the arrow is pointing. Is it pointing toward dignity? Justice? Or perhaps swiftness? Profits? Or something more nefarious?

When we move toward a world we want to live in, we create that world, too.

With the life cycle of news being so short (instant in fact), it’s easier to make a headline clickable than to prove something to be factual. Compounded by our short attention span, it is no wonder that the internet pays attention to conspiracy theories.

The arrow, however, points both ways.

In a world where conspiracy theories can thrive, we don’t take into account how many of them die. For example, we have plenty of evidence to support the fact that the moon landing happened. But that won’t get the clicks when something new is drummed up to debunk it.

Lies are fiction. And we don’t have to accept everything that is presented as fact. We don’t need to take everything we hear as the truth either. Instead, we can hold the space of, “I haven’t done the reading yet, but tell me your thoughts.”

I can proudly say I have lost 35 pounds in the last year. And it wasn’t done with a fancy diet or pills. What was focused on was developing a strategy and selecting the corresponding tactics. Here is what I would recommend:

Train the mind. Read every day. Occupy that space so that when you are bored, you are not reaching in the cupboard.

Walk every day. 10,000 to 20,000 steps a day (sometimes more even). If you’re sore, there’s nothing wrong with taking a rest day. Buy a pair of comfortable shoes to wear for walking.

Have a go-to meal. For me, it was three eggs with an avocado, spinach, and feta cheese every morning. For lunch, I often went to Trader Joe’s frozen meals. If you’re starving, try eating a bite or two of something to calm your nervous system. In the summer, I grilled a lot of different meats for dinner.

Be patient and kind with yourself. I was pretty ashamed I had let myself go, which only perpetuated the eating habit. Letting go of who you used to be is the first step in becoming the person you want to be.

The problem with conversations about justice is how we seek it. Too often, it moves to the letter of the law, our biases and prejudices, and who has the resources to fight for it in court. Ultimately, we are not discussing justice in its purest form, but rather our particular form of justice. Justice is a series of tradeoffs. But those tradeoffs are not always fair. We don’t condemn a criminal to rape if a criminal has raped someone. Yet, we are quick to do the same for murder. A minor can be tried as an adult in some states if the crime is severe enough. Of course, the U.S. has a problem with private entities whose primary goal is profit, rather than rehabilitation, creating an incentive to keep beds full. A Judge or district attorney might say that justice is served by the letter of the law, while we can all simultaneously nod our heads in agreement that such a punishment is inhumane. I wonder if a better conversation isn’t about finding justice anymore. Since the current system doesn’t produce such outcomes, it instead focuses on how we can have a discussion around dignity for those involved. So many questions left unanswered, but the proper conversation starts here.

Zeno’s paradox states that any number can be divided in half. So, in order to travel 10 feet, you must go 5 feet, but before that, 2.5 feet. And so on until you get an obscure number. And the idea is, how can one ever close the gap? What’s interesting is that we can learn to zoom. For instance, scientists can zoom in at the microscopic level. What’s past an electron? Well, we know we go from structure to unstructured, where the rules of time and space no longer matter. And what’s past that? We don’t know. Probably nothing. But we can’t be sure since no microscope of that power exists.

Meaning beginner’s mind. It’s a Zen Buddhist term that teaches us to approach life with openness by dropping the preconceived notions of how we see the world.

Imagine a cup. We can fill it with anything. But often, we choose to fill it with expectations rather than possibilities. Here’s the thing about expectations, when we feel like we deserve something or feel entitled, we leave no room for anything else. Having high expectations creates a narrow view of seeing the world of possibilities. Lowering your expectations, however, opens a door to be surprised.

I found Tim Ferriss’ interview with Terry Real incredibly insightful. Highlighting the problems I personally see in our culture with toxic individualism (doing what makes us happy), describing unpopular views of power dynamics, and tackling masculinity and patriarchy. The model for tackling recovery: 1) the Addiction, 2) Personality Issues, and 3) finally, the childhood trauma is sound. And finally, I found this section hit close to home:

Sometimes, the greatest thing we can do is change the culture of family dynamics. How are things doing around here? More importantly, how things used to be will not be tolerated going forward.

Because being without fear is not a luxury humans get to have. It isn’t a choice; it is always present. Our choice is when fear shows up–for instance, fight, flight, or freeze. We live in constant fear.

So, yes, if you can live without fear, by all means. But what is better for the majority of us that can be crippled by it is to dance with it. Dance with the fear. Because fear will never go away, much like a shadow. We might as well learn to befriend it instead. There is a reason why psychologists push for a growth mindset and not a fearless one.

(Departing thought: Perhaps something always around isn’t an enemy but a friend.)