Common Sense...Time to "Get it."

While capitalism is imperfect its imperfections depend on the integrity of the individuals using that process.  While imperfect, it allows individuals and families freedom to prosper, create and recreate.  Socialism, all grown up, economically looks like Greece, Portugal, Italy, France, etc.  Europe, not including Germany -who doesn't overspend, which is why they  have the money to offer to bail out bankrupt Greece (with conditions to stop overspending on their socialist programs) is currently on the verge of economic collapse.  So do we (US) really choose to continue on a path to socialism?

Communism looks like the starving and mafia-controlled Russian Federation ... and the one-child China (preferably male children).  

Tyrannical Dictatorships look like Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, etc.( and Sharia Law -which among other deadly women-hating ways, includes death for blasphemy).  

Please do your own investigating, pay attention day after day for at least one month.  Compare and contrast five different TV networks in their coverage and presentation of events.  

1. Are the range of issues covered, followed the next day of dropped?  
2. Followed by partisan debate? Or does the network itself present a single political position/interpretation?
3. To what extent has the network predigested issues, simply and summarily prounced as facts by the newscaster?
4.  Does the network (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN) offer simple or complex interpretations/debates/dialogues of political events?
5. How much time is allocated to local, national, global news?  Many focus much or more time on murders and natural disasters compared to time on the task of informing a vote-capable citizenship (- allocated to national news that we can actually do something about through our right to inform ourselves and vote on November 6, 2012).
6. How do you feel after witnessing individual networks --hungry for more detail and dots to connect? Or sick to your stomach stuffed with views of violent episodes you cannot control? Or kept happily sheltered from ugliness in the world needing transformation through our sharing, our efforts, our contributions?
7. After watching a network do you feel like you ate a can of Chef Boyardee prefabricated ravioli drenched in additives to make eating it smoother, faster, taste-bud stunned, and seductively addictive (like loosing ourselves in tabloid celebrity drama) 
8. Or do you feel quizzical, stimulated, nourished ...even  invigorated by some healthy conflict of interests that makes you want to learn more... as if you devoured a healthy nutrient-rich salad.

Check out  YouTube recordings of Barry's progression since 2007.  Check out the GOP candidate, Mitt Romney.  Investigate top talking points/issues through Google searches.  Cross check email "Forwards" through a check point listed below.  My brother has used all three, recommending them.   It's good to have an alternative.

Snopes.com

Factcheck.org

Politifact.com

Just notice...and spend significant time questioning with a friend what you both thought you knew when you didn't know much, but felt OK about that.  As  Antoine St. Exuperay expresses through the WWII novella entitled, The Little Prince: "One sees clearly only with the heart."  

And as we mature as adults, we learn to see with our fuller and higher, deeper and richer heart-mind.  While we will always detect the ways of thinking and the primal affiliations of childhood, adolescence, and very early adulthood, mature adults are called to use all our senses, including common sense.  We bring to bear on our adult issues a wealth of global and local knowledge and know-how. We organize and update and revise our primal perceptions in the context of higher order concepts from which we can draw more accurate inferences.  

In the end, adults contribute to our greater good as informed citizens,  able to navigate diverse territories, responding to both the panorama and each tree in the forest in which we live and love, work and play, participate and contribute, make the world a truly better place by being the best we can be.

Please leave behind the fear of being politically correct.  Keep your good manners, use your words, don't worry about spelling ... just respond, share thoughts, ask questions...substantive questions, not rhetorical questions meant to stop real inquiry and conversation.  Let us leave behind lower order social behavior that makes people jump on bandwagons, stick with the tribe we thought we came from regardless of new information, new questions, new problems and the need for new direction.  

Please call yourself and your friends to a higher level of political functioning.  At least require opinions to be backed up with facts -like we do Mob mentality tends to seduce and hypnotize even the brightest among us when the media blares.  Instead, take a deep breath,  release what they want you to infer, hear, see.  Meditate - then check three very different sources before drawing a conclusion.  Move beyond the middle school morality of needing to belong so much you go "tribal" on an issue  -rather than being open to exploring it fully and independently.  

In conversation, require "claims" and "interpretations"  to be backed up with facts and examples -especially if the comment is a negative allegation.  When a few immoral news reporters (e.g. The Washington Post, 5/11) go on dirt-digging witch hunts (as witnessed with select media re Herman Cane) -or invent some dirt to publish regardless of verity (like they just did on Presidential Candidate, Mitt Romney from high school 47 years ago), please make a commitment to yourself to be open to unlocking the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.  

Especially, if and when we allow our mind to take in something negative, we owe it to our evolving integrity to check it out ... keep on, keep on until our whole being lets us know we finally got to the bottom of it.  Let's engage important and substantial political conversations  (not popularity contests, not he say/she say distractions from the essential issues on our American table ) ... now.  Our now is not a rehearsal.  Now is the real time to get it right. 


Getting to the bottom of it is a process...don't be tempted to short-circuit your process by discounting FOX News programs because you've heard it's extreme.  Once you watch all the networks listed above, you'll notice that Fox is the only one who reports all the issues on a daily basis...and presents issues/updates both favorable and unfavorable to ALL candidates...AND includes analysts presenting views left, right, and in between. No other network presents it all.  I believe this is why America rates FOX NEWS #1 (Neilson Ratings)...consistently.

Learning from HOMES
... Her Organic Man Eating Sustainably

Writer's Note: This introduces the learning and practice of my organic man, Tim: a New York State Registered Nurse (-and lifelong athlete learning to adjust to life changes.)

Since living with Tim, I have enjoyed even greater health and vitality.  I call him my "Organic Man" because of the way his day unfolds, the style in which he lives his life,  the way he thinks about his life, and sustaining all of this -the way he eats.

Since September, I've learned to increase and decrease certain dietary elements (thus nutrients) in my daily diet.  I have increased my protein and fiber.  I have decreased my fat content AND portion size.  Recently, I realized I am ready to share this stylistic change with those I care about.  Rewiring isn't something we should keep to ourselves!

Tim and I have shared pictures of our meals via cell phone and email with each other since our first encounter last June.  It's become one way of being together when we were apart -a delicious way of simply sharing a meal, a glass of wine, during my travels across country.  Recently, I realized that sharing pictures of foods we prepare daily is helpful to family and friends who also want to enjoy the results of Our HOMES Way!

For the past two weeks, I've snapped casual shots of our daily dishes, then I email them (+recipe) to both Tim and I.  We're "gathering."  Our HOMES Way Online cookbook is growing.   Yesterday, I was Skyping with my daughter, a vegetarian recovering from the flu.  Tim handed me a glass of his Blueberry  Shake ... rich in protein and bioflavinoids, low in calories.  I shared some information about daily protein requirements for via Tim's nutritional coaching.  This morning, after taking a pic of our breakfast, I decided blogging serves as viable avenue for little lessons that make sense to readers ready to rewire.  Here's Lesson One gleaned from my resident RN:

Protein is the body's building block.  Our body's cells replace themselves every four months (or sooner).  Without sufficient protein intake daily, our bodies do not have what they need to grow stronger tissues: blood, muscles, organs, and bones (the latter is also heavily mineral...more on minerals in another lesson). Stem cells reproduce the tissue in their locality as old ones die off and new must be generated.


A rule of thumb to determine how much protein an individual needs daily: body weight divided by 2.  Given my activity level and weight (110 pounds), I need to take in 55 grams of protein daily to replace and restore my current body.  Activity level? I exercise 6/7 days each week, alternating "demanding" days with lighter yoga days.  I have included use of light weights since September ... they make a noticeable difference. (Activity is another focus we will save for  future lessons.) 


Incorporating sufficient protein daily, without unnecessary fat, is not hard but does require reading labels, planning ahead,  and tracking intake.  After a week of this, recognition becomes automatic:

1. Egg whites offer  easy and excellent protein.  One egg white is approximately 6 grams of protein.  Keep hard-boiled eggs stocked in the fridge.  If making a salad chop three (saving only one or two yolks depending on your cholesterol concerns).   If making an omelet, we can use just one egg yolk (or two) and refrigerate the rest to thicken soup later. (18 grams).  It's the EGG WHITE  that provides your protein.
2. Turkey breast offers us the leanest meat.  Google how many ounces of lean turkey gives you 15-20 grams of protein. You will be pleasantly surprised.
3. One 14 and three quarter ounce (418 grams) can of Wild Alaska Red Salmon offers 13 grams of protein per quarter cup serving (just 2 oz., or 63 grams).  This means the entire can offers 7 (13 gram) servings of protein, totalling 91 grams of protein.  Half the can is close to my daily need for protein.  
4. After reading the labels on her vegetarian lunch items, daughter noticed her can of pea soup (nuts and legumes offer mild doses of protein, but remember nuts are loaded with fat) gave her 14 grams of protein ... and the package of tofu ( soup enhancer)  offered a whopping 45 grams.
5. Whey protein shakes offer a quick way to gather sufficient protein and make an easy, refreshing snack. One scoop provides 18 grams of protein.

So calculate how much protein you need daily and read labels to measure your meals.  I like to consider 4 flexibly sized,moderate meals per day: 15-20 grams per meals.  If I grab protein rich snacks, such as a scant handful (not fistful), I have taken in approximately 6 grams of protein ... then I adjust my meal intake accordingly. If I engage strenuous exercise that day (which I generally do three out of six days per week) I move toward 60 grams of protein. If I just do yoga, I lean toward 50 grams.  

This kind of intake attention and flexible self-regulation amounts to a mindfulness practice, a way of stewarding the greatest physical resource we have ...our body. 

How do you offer your body protein to grow your body stronger and last longer?

Retired Responsibilities to Rewire What We Find Around Us

I took time to respond to my dear cousin Deb this morning.  She sent me a picture of Arlington Cemetery dotted with gorgeous Christmas Wreaths all donated by a very generous gentleman from the Worcester Wreathe Company of Maine, with no mention by news stations in the New York area.  She asked why the news neglects good news like this piece.  


Tim and I have been asking variations on this "news reports" topics for several weeks now, so I shared our noticing with Deb. I wrote
" ... since with Tim who "studies" the news reports of national and world events, I've noticed that most station news reports reveal symptoms of "attention deficit disorder," 

1. perseverating re sensational pieces (e.g. the battered and bruised Herman Kane and his wife Gloria) whether reports are true or not (and drumming it relentlessly into viewers consciousness until people begin to believe what they see and hear repeatedly)
2. suddenly dropping updates on news that every one's been following religiously (Baby Lisa from Kansas City)
3. blindly ignoring news/updates re issues pivotal to our collective well being (government overspending, Obama's misuse of our money harnessed from taxes which he gave to "green" campaign supporters knowing these ventures were going belly up (and had insured provisions in advance to protect and pay off the company holders)
4. and speaking of "holders," how do most news stations fail to piece together Eric Holder's series of actions taken against states who try to uphold law-breaking illegal immigrants crossing our borders from Mexico (again costing those of us who have worked hard to provide tax money that supports entire generations of  illegal aliens)
5. Hmmmm, I think I will blog this on my "Respectfully Rewired" site ... and add to it as I notice more examples
6. Bottom line: we who have the time to pay attention to what goes on around us need to use the power of our words and vision to lift peoples' expectation of news reporters to a higher level of thought and operation.  They need a mass spiritual treatment program for whenever they display symptoms of sociological ADD!
7. Will you and your Tillson Ladies of The Morning Prayer Circle join me in my high watch to raise the consciousness and integrity levels of our nation's political leaders (including those from all three branches), news stations and news reporters, the working and non-working general public who listen to the ADD-laden reports without requiring better than "that?" 
8. Knowing you will ... and claiming the power inherent (but too often left unactivated) in our thoughts, words, and actions ...I am glad we have this work to do at this stage of our lives."

And I put this noticing out on the global kitchen table ...what are we willing to notice and nurture into greater integrity in the world within us and around us????