Energy-Flipping

There's this thing about energy.

It's got a whole explanation behind it but for the moment we're just going to go with what is actually a pretty simple  concept.

Say you've got a bunch of bad energy coming from inside, or from anywhere for that matter.

It's Energy - and you can use it instead of feeling like it's gonna drown you or otherwise keep you from what you want to be, which probably is NOT feeling like negative energy is swamping you.

So you flip it.

Your body, mind, and soul are inextricably linked. You are one organism so all of your parts (body, mind, spirit) are in the same place at the same time, right? You might not be able to change what's going on in the world around you - but you CAN take your own parts and use them to help each other.

If you're feeling blue, or cranky, or whatever, and would rather feel happy, or in a good mood instead ...

Here's the 'simple' part.

Your body affects the other parts as much as they affect your body, so use it.

Use your body.

Behavior (the use of your body) is a product, if you will, of what's going on inside of you.

The reverse is also true.

Believe me on this one because it's been put to some severe tests by my own self.

When you feel like boo-hooing, sing instead.

When you feel like cutting loose and hollering, find something good to talk about instead.

When you feel like sitting on the couch and lazing the day away, get up and do something active.

What you WANT to be doing instead of what you Feel Like Doing At The Moment is just as much an option for you at any given time, so pick that option instead of the negative one.

Hard to do?

Yep.

But really hard only at the beginning. It gets easier and you'll get really good at it before you even realize.

That having been said, it does take some will-power and might not always work as quick as you want it to. Don't you quit. Keep trying ... unless you want to wallow in negativity, you have nothing to lose and a lot to gain.

When you're using your body to sing, or dance, or take a walk, or do something (anything) productive and fun, it has the effect of re-setting your mind and your soul to go along with it.

Whether Energy comes across as Negative or Positive, it is STILL ENERGY and you can most certainly take that Negative and flip it into Positive.

The quickest and 'easiest' way is to use your body.

Physically 'acting out' behaviors that belong to what you want to 'be' or to 'feel' actually do have more of an impact than a person would think.

You'll feel as though you're 'being fake' but really you're behaving in anticipation of what you will soon be, and there will be times you might notice the transition between 'faking it' and 'making it happen'. It's all part of the same thing, all part of You.

Which isn't to say that whatever was making you blue, or cranky, or whatever doesn't need to be dealt with - it's just a lot easier to do that if you tackle it from a position of strength - and flipping negative to positive, on purpose and by using your own body, mind, and spirit in positive ways to make it happen reminds you pretty powerfully that you DO have the strength to deal with what you need to deal with.

Just sayin'.

You've got more to you than you might think.


The photo? CERN banged two tiny bits of matter together and got a picture of the Energy produced when they collided and their Energy spiraled out to take whatever form was next for it as it was done being those particles. This is the top view. The side view looks like an hourglass.

That's beauty, the Energy of our world.

If those two tiny particles contained the Energy caught in that photo, imagine how much Energy our bodies contain.

Quit underestimating yourself.

You've got everything you need right there in your own self - body, mind, spirit - so what's keeping you from using it?

Nothing. 

Find your Balance.

Love Yourself - because until you do you won't know how to love anyone else.

An Attitudinal Experiment

Enlisting the aid of all my favorite folk and embarking together on an experiment, yep.

We are going to make things better, yes we are.

Better for our own selves and better for those around us.

We are going to remember and we are going to remind one another that we are on a kind of quest, a journey toward 'better'.

We aren't looking for Utopia, just 'better'.

We acknowledge from the get-go that it is not going to be always an easy or fun journey - that's why we're going to remind each other when need be. We know that each and all of us are going to have struggles to get through, times we're going to need the strength,or humor, or compassion of someone else to help get us through. 

And so we are going to pay attention to ourselves, to each other, and to those around us. We want to be aware, alert to those subtle things that are cues for us to ask for answers from ourselves, one another, and those around us - and to stop being afraid to ask, and to answer.

'Howyadoin?Fine,andyou?Okay.That'sgood.' is not going to cut it any more for us. We each have our own things to cope with and the world around us isn't going to help our quest along much - so yeah - we're going to need to lean on somebody now and then. You can lean on me if you need to and I can lean on you when I need to. We can all lean on one another if need be, and nobody is going to let anybody else fall down, not if we can help it. 

Knowing that, just knowing it, makes all the difference.

We are going to make things better. Us. We are. Nobody else is likely to help us and so we are going to help our own selves. 

That, my friend, is our attitudinal experiment. Finding the good and building on it, in ourselves, in each other, in those around us. Every single day. 

And you know what?

It's already making a difference.

If you're reading this, feel free to join in our experiment. Look people in the eye and say, 'We're going to make things better.' Give them a grin to get it started and they'll smile back and agree - and it has begun!

*laughing*

If they ask, 'How are we going to make things better?' you look them in the eye again and tell them that smiles are magic that way. They'll feel good and so will you; you'll both be the better for it.

One day at a time, one smile at a time, one person at a time. Beginning with me, and with you.

There's more than plenty negativity in the world in which we live in - it needs to be balanced - and the only way to balance it is for us to provide that balance. 

'Shifting For Ourselves'

Having to work holidays doesn't necessarily mean we can't have our own sort of celebration.

New Year's Day of 2016 sees the swing shift 'Shifting for Ourselves' and having a blast with it.

We're having a pot luck meal, but initial reports indicate it might not be what a person would expect.

Here's a list of what we've got on the menu so far, with much more we won't know until the last minute.

Lasagna,

French bread, 

deviled eggs, 

scalloped potatoes and ham, 

knoephle-kraut-sausage combo, 

banana muffins, 

fresh veggie mix, 

black-eyed peas with bacon, 

romaine with lemon, 

cinnamon cider with whipped cream and nutmeg dash, 

sea-salted caramel bits, 

whole wheat dinner rolls, 

dill pickles, 

chilled shrimp with cocktail sauce dip or lemon wedges,
DOT's pretzels (as opposed to the ordinary kind)

 … for starters … 

There are sixteen of us, eight on each of our Units, when fully staffed (which we sometimes are) which gives us a starting point for knowing how much to make/bring of our various contributions. We've also invited some family members as well as some of our co-shifters who aren't scheduled.

Our supper breaks are between six and seven p.m. with two half-hour slots - about half of us taking the first half hour and the rest taking the second which gives us our timing.

We also, if we can fit them in, have a couple of fifteen minute breaks, one between four and four-thirty and the other if/when we find time around nine which gives us set-up and tear-down time.

So each of us will be bringing whatever we choose (accumulating it in the staff refrigerator for a few days ahead of time when possible) and each of us has fifteen minutes to help with the setting up, thirty minutes to eat as we visit, then fifteen minutes later in the shift to get everything cleared up.

When somebody asks if everyone's invited, from the other shifts and departments, the answer is no. We can shift for ourselves, get the set-up and eating and clean-up done for ourselves, but no we do not have the resources to cover everybody. Nor would it be anything like a good idea to have more than five times our own numbers trying to cram into a space (and time-span) that will accommodate half us at a time in relative comfort but not many more than that.

So we say if day shift, med floor, night shift, and departments want to have their own New Year's Day celebrations, they should have at it. Of course a lot of them don't have to work holidays anyway and we aren't overly concerned about those folk. The rest have exactly the same resources that we do. 

This is our own way of taking care of our own selves. We're making the most of what little time, space, and personal resources we've got, fitting our celebration in between the priority of our work requirements. And it must be said that our people have noticed and appreciated our good spirits in the days approaching said celebration. The anticipation and planning gives us a head start on the fun!

Our shift leaders have indeed taken the lead here, sharing their idea with us and being the first to kick in their contributions. We as a team have been more than happy to make this a creatively festive celebration.

We might not have much to work with, but we can by golly get a heck of a lot done in our bits of break time without making a big deal out of it (although it really is kind of a big deal) and without interrupting the flow of our shift or interfering with the care of our people.

One thing I've noticed is that our choices of contributions fit pretty darned well with our work setting - a health care facility. There aren't many (any) junk food types of things represented, not many carbs, lots of healthy and tasty stuff though! 

We do ourselves proud. 

It's a great way to begin a new year!

'Elder-Speak' : Renewable Resources

Mm-hmm ...

Here I go again.

Why am I so all-fired dead set on yammering on about renewable resources?

Because I'm all-fired sick and tired of being told we have to be involved in the conflicts of the Middle East on account of the oil.

What - we don't have our own oil? We do. So why on earth are we fussing about what's going on over there? 

Setting aside for the moment other reasons (equally nuts in my opinion) we might continue said involvement, the oil thing can and should be irrelevant.

I read that we now have three towns in the United States fully functional using renewable power sources.

Whoop whoop.

Every town ought to be fully functional using renewable power sources.

Here's an ARTICLE about some cities that are heading in the direction of renewables ... so we're at least beginning to think ... 

  is where the link will take you for said article. There are any number of related articles on line.

The point here is that we are beginning to think. And we're beginning to act on our thoughts.

It's finally starting to dawn on people that we can't just keep putting carbon into the air, and ain't that a *duh* moment.

So we're at least getting a bit of a start on using solar and wind energy, and for that I say 'THANK GOD!'

What I don't quite understand is how come small towns like the one I happen to live in aren't, every last one of them, producing their own energy needs instead of depending on 'outsiders' to provide. How come individual farms aren't?

We don't know how - well, find out. Do a simple Search and find somebody who does know how - ask them.

It's too expensive - really? It's getting cheaper every day.

It's too risky - riiiiight ... all of life is risky and getting riskier all the time.

We don't have anyone who knows how to set up and run those things - find somebody.

It's too complicated, and the existing power companies would object - are you sure about that, because big cities are a lot more complicated than our little towns and they're doing it. And, unless they're run by total morons, the existing power companies will be the ones taking the lead on this - they'll likely have people on board who could and would guide us through the transition. If not, ask those big cities.

Now, another thing we have to pay attention to is that Tesla has come up with a battery - a storage unit - plenty big enough to meet the needs of our individual homes as well as municipal needs. They're not even all that expensive and are likely to become downright affordable as things develop.

Here's a LINK to Tesla information that's an 'off-the-grid' site called Inhabitat. It's a few months old but you'll get the drift.

There are other energy storage units in the works, so don't think Tesla is the only one in the game here. 

One thing about these batteries is that you can set up where their 'charging' energy comes from - solar panels, wind turbines, or already existing sources of electricity (then you use them for emergency or high-usage times). 

In general, the point is to wean ourselves from the use of fossil fuels and quit putting all that carbon into the air. Vehicles as well as homes and communities can use the energy produced by renewables; some already are.

And onward we go.

Something that I read not long ago stuck in my mind. It has to do with not only quitting with adding carbon dioxide to our atmosphere (which isn't good for it and has to stop) but actively removing it.

A Canadian company called Carbon Engineering has been busy developing and implementing a plan for this, essentially recycling the carbon dioxide taken from the air and turning it into 'synthetic fuel' that can be used ('theoretically' - I haven't checked to make sure it's been verified yet) by our current vehicles.

I realize this might not seem like such a great big huge improvement, because the CO2 does go back into the air in the end - but it also isn't adding any more, just cycling the existing CO2 through the phase of using it for fuel. So we'll give a nod to this concept.

Then there's MIT with an article HERE about a complicated (to me) procedure to take carbon from the air and potentially re-purpose it as fibers and nano-fibers for all sorts of things. It could help speed up the re-balancing of the atmosphere.

For me, the most sensible thing we can do to help speed up that re-balancing is a no-brainer.

Plant trees.

Reforest our world.

Why we haven't been doing this all along is beyond me but there you have it.

I'm actually more guilty than most when it comes to emissions because I heat with wood - and with electricity generated by the use of fossil fuels. Since at the moment my only alternative would be to freeze to death in the Dakota Long Darks, beating myself up over it isn't going to happen. I also use that wood stove to cook and heat water, which significantly cuts down on the amount of electricity I use - so does using my 'cold cupboard' as a refrigerator/freezer, for that matter.

On the other hand, the wood I use comes from people's shelter belts and is deadwood that's long been getting in the way of new growth of young trees. As I gradually clear it out those trees are growing up to replace the long dead ones, adding their contribution to the cleaning of our air. It might not completely balance out, but I can at least have the bit of consolation of knowing we're doing the best we can here.

This neck of the non-woods has been grassland for millions of years; we use it for growing crops and raising livestock to feed the rest of the world so foresting it would be counter-productive. But we still plant lots and lots of trees wherever we can.

Beneath the western part of our state are reserves of oil. Above and around us are the sun and the wind. With the sun shining on about 200 days of our year, solar would be a fairly consistent source of our energy - and the wind blows every single day although not always at gale force (just usually) so that would probably be the preferred choice. The combination would be great.

At any rate, developing these sorts of things and making them the norm would be a very good thing for us to hurry up and tend to. Clean up our world's air, eliminate oil spills that mess up our waters, see if we can get ourselves back into some kind of balance - and use technology to help us move things along our path,  not to further upset what fragile balance we have.

As we go along, reforest everywhere that we possibly can. 

In the meantime, maybe we can try to give ourselves a bit of a boost by being more plant-friendly at home and at work.

Here's a link to an informative article about oxygen producing plants you might want to check out. It's a site called 'Secrets of Longevity' and informs us that some plants are pretty darned friendly to us. The three mentioned in the article are 1) sprouts (yes, sprouts!) 2) snake plant 3) Areca palm ... 

If ever I were to settle myself enough to think I'd remain home instead of periodically taking really long leaves of absence (plants die if nobody is there to care for them, I've learned) it would behoove me to invest in a lot of greenery. Alas for me (and for any plants that should fall into my hands) I too often do leave my home for more than the few days said plants could survive. 

Even so, it might be worth a try ... I'll have to think on that for a bit. It would be doing my own little bit toward greening up my own little corner of the world, and would be good for me besides. 

Meanwhile, it's encouraging to know that at least some of the nations of our world are beginning to take steps to fix what ails us in terms of energy resources. I probably won't live to see the day we're 'independent' of the need for oil, but I don't expect our world to die with my generation - so yeah, it pleases me to know that my grandlings might be able to say to heck with all the synthetic stuff and live in a world that's more it's own healthy self. And the Middle East can maybe just be ignored by the rest of us if they want to keep on fighting their pointless battles for thousands of years longer.