Making Changes

The year will be coming to an end. On January 1st a lot of people will make New Year’s resolutions. The difference between achieving your resolution and quitting after 2 months comes down to acquiring skills. Willpower or commitment or motivation alone won’t get a person where they want to be. If you truly aren’t happy with an aspect of your life by all means take steps to make positive changes. For this I recommend the book Changeology: 5 Steps to Realizing Your Goals and Resolutions by John C. Norcross. Using the book’s 90-day action plan I’ve achieved three goals and continue to set new goals. It’s possible to achieve a New Year’s resolution using the Changeology 90-day action plan. The book I installed as an e-book to read over and over on my iPad. I can vouch for using the 5 Steps to achieve a goal. Using the 90-day action plan is the remedy for joining a gym on January 1st exercising in a frantic burst for 2 months then giving up. Achieving a goal requires skills that can be taught that are listed in Changeology. Executing the 5 Steps in their specific order and matching each catalyst for change to the right step in the right order will up the odds that you’ll be successful. The 90-day action plan outlined in Changeology is the most healthy and credible method I’ve found for setting and carrying out a goal.

Knocked Out

I checked this Mia Kang book out of the library. It’s a new book. I decided not to read it after skimming the first page.

Right there Kang reveals how her agent would call her up and say: “I got you a runway appearance. The designer wants you to lose weight.”

I also bought the current issue of InStyle magazine. In this book a woman was quoted that the insane obsession with women having to be thin is “fat-phobic.”

I don’t like to use the term fat. Nor overweight. Nor carries a few extra pounds. I could only understand calling a woman robust or voluptuous.

Years ago in my blog I berated Skinny Girl Betheny Frankel for writing in a book that a woman could indeed be skinny if she followed Frankel’s rules.

Another diet book author claimed you could decide what weight you wanted to be and think yourself into being that weight.

The time has come to stand up for ourselves as men women non-binary transgender–everyone of all shapes and sizes.

I don’t think that a person who weighs 200 pounds should aspire to be 127 pounds. Then scarf down Lean Cuisine frozen meals for dinner in an attempt to count calories.

No–I don’t think the goal should be to be thin. You can be thin and flabby and not healthy at all. I think it’s ludicrous to want to be or expect that you should be thin.

There’s something screwed up when a fashion designer tells a model that she has to lose weight.

Whittling yourself down to bones isn’t going to make you happy. Please–love yourself regardless of the number on the scale. If you’re not happy with yourself today how are you going to become magically happy after you meet a condition you set for yourself to achieve?

Loving ourselves shouldn’t be contingent on achieving a goal. We should love ourselves simply because we exist.

I say: Own the street. Walk outside on the pavement like you’re a supermodel. Regardless of the size on your clothing tags.

Not Buying It

Of course the Republicans and Democrats want us to buy into the myth that their policies will help ordinary Americans.

Only it’s billionaires and their corporations that are getting rich not you and me.

We stand idly by while candidates take pot shots at each other in an attempt to convince us to vote for them.

While capitalism has gone off the rails in endangering the planet.

Living indoors for seven months I’ve come to see things differently in terms of shopping.

A woman published a book titled Not Buying It about the year she stopped buying things.

I own hundreds of jewelry items that I bought over a 12-year period. I have enough clothes and shoes and pocketbooks that I too won’t be buying anything new anytime soon.

Making tons of money for the sake of buying and consuming things is no way to live.

In the time of the coronavirus pandemic I’ve been shifting my own priorities.

By carefully choosing what I buy and take home I will cherish more the things I own.

I’m 55 years old. The Muhammad Ali quote rings true: (you can use the words A person): “A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.”

I don’t view the world the same as I did when I was 20.

Heck–I’m not the same person I was in February before the pandemic shut down my beloved New York City.

Living indoors and composing blog entries in the early months of the COVID-19 outbreak–and hearing the news of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor–changed my outlook.

It’s not that the killings were anything new–it’s that I couldn’t remain silent.

My stance is that like Mary Poppins sang a spoon full of sugar can help the medicine go down.

I wall always strive to give readers joy and optimism. With a dose of insight into how I think things can be better.

Always–I hold out the hope for change.

Not buying things for me involves not buying what elected leaders are selling: that greed is good and consumerism benefits Americans.

On November 3rd I hope everyone goes out and votes for the person they think is best qualified to run the country.

Your vote counts. Your voice should be heard long after your ballot is cast.

The Power of Kindness

In an issue of InStyle going back five or six months there was an interview with Lin-Manuel Miranda and a chef who was his biggest fan.

The quote rings true:

“We need to make sure people are lifted up. If we push people down, we’re going to see a tomorrow that we don’t like.”

In the Power of Kindness TIME special edition magazine there were feature articles about empathy and compassion.

To quote Lynn O’Connor:

“The happiest nations tend to be the ones where equity is greatest, while nations with high levels of inequity tend to be less happy.”

Bhutan has a Gross National Happiness Index instead of relying on a Gross National Product / GNP as a measure of wealth.

Kindness appears to be in short supply from those in command in America.

It’s why my belief that we can’t rely on the government to solve societal ills appears to be coming true.

The Power of Kindness special edition featured ordinary Americans making a difference to help out others.

One person was an 11-year old kid.

Now I don’t think kindness in and of itself can redress injustice on its own.

Yet acting kind sure beats advancing hate.

Ballots Against Bullets

Merriam Webster online defines genocide as:

: the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group.

The definition of destruction:

: ruin.

I might be the only one using the term genocide to describe what’s going on in our country today.

History is shady too.

I was reading at the library information in an online video course on Art in American History.

One of the hosts got away with talking about how Mr. Toupee hung a portrait of Andrew Jackson on his wall at the White House.

The video host said that Jackson was the architect of the worst American genocide. During his term Native Americans were run off their tribal lands. Thousands were killed along the infamous Trail of Tears.

It tells you something that Mr. Toupee venerates Jackson.

At the library new books have been published praising Mr. Toupee and denouncing “Trump’s Enemies.” Other new books trumpet that the Donald is trashing American democracy.

Whose side of the story is the truth?

Stacey Abrams when interviewed said that we can’t expect any president we vote into office to be our savior.

We can though hold them accountable for doing the right thing once elected.

In two months we vote for the president.

People are being denied the right to vote.

If you are registered to vote I say walk into the polling site with your own two feet–or wheel yourself in if you use a wheelchair–and go vote.

Send in an absentee ballot before the deadline if you cannot show up in person.

One year I walked around the corner to the polling site and voted at 6:15 a.m.

If you haven’t been denied the right to vote–Just Do It–go out and vote.

No excuses.

Life Cycles

Right-on–no really.

Alicia Keys in her memoir recounts having a friend ask her at a table in a pizzeria: “Why are you here?”

That sparked her activism.

And you, why are you here?

I used to visit fortune tellers. I sat down in a chair across from one woman. I hadn’t said one word. I hadn’t opened my mouth.

Out of nowhere the psychic’s first words were: “You’re here to make a difference.”

I’ve stopped going to fortune tellers.

The question “Why are you here” is relevant for everyone today.

Studying numerology can help a person figure out why you’re here. Christine DeLorey wrote the book seen above. I have underlined sentences in each section.

I once tried to talk about numerology to another person. She got spooked. Only I recommend the book Life Cycles.

Christine DeLorey can create a Personal Numerology Profile PDF document for you for $95 dollars.

Some of you might think that’s going a little too far.

However I think that whatever can give a person comfort in the time of the pandemic shouldn’t be ruled out.

I also recommend reading Susan Miller’s AstrologyZone on the internet every month.

What I don’t advise is going to fortune tellers as a hobby. Though I had the good fortune to have real psychics give me accurate readings not all of them are reputable. And what they tell you can freak you out.

The New York Times reported on a woman who gave people fake predictions to string them along for thousands of dollars. When asked to predict when she’d be sprung free from jail for her crimes she couldn’t give anyone that date.

You can browse the Creative Numerology website for an introduction to the Christine DeLorey book.

The goal is self-improvement and self-actualization.

The goal isn’t to have someone tell you when you’re going to die. Or that for $40 she can remove a bad curse hanging over your head.

Living through the COVID-19 outbreak with the changed circumstances of our lives–the mask wearing and the social distancing–have you like I have wanted to exert control over the things you have control over?

When life is uncertain and it feels like things are out of control:

I say doing things that give you comfort shouldn’t be ruled out.

Drugs or drink–no not that. Anything else–why not?

Whatever makes a person happy shouldn’t be judged.

And in this time of illness–physical and political–now more than ever having joy is called for.

Who couldn’t use a little more freedom and happiness in their lives?

LL Cool Joe

I’ve come up with a catchy code name for Joe Biden:

LL Cool Joe.

The 1990s gave us LL Cool J–the rapper whose moniker was short for Ladies Love Cool James.

Today the LL stands for Liberals Love Cool Joseph.

Politicians should be mocked equally regardless of which party they belong to.

Mark my words:

Mr. Toupee will win re-election.

Like it or not our president is going to serve another 4 years.

Should LL Cool Joe win I’ll be surprised.

Tales from My Not-so-Green Life

It might be that No One is Too Small to Make a Difference.

I say that corporations are too big not to make a difference. They must be held accountable for their role in global warming.

My life on the other hand is Not-so-Green.

I order food to be delivered that comes in plastic containers. This isn’t good. Not for the planet and not for me either. Since hot plastic leaches chemicals into food.

What is the solution?

I plan instead of ordering dinner to be delivered to have soup when I have no energy to cook.

I think it comes down to making trade-offs. You can excel in one Green area and come up short in another Green area.

My aim is to find a suitable plastic container I can take with me to the deli counter to have the staff use and reuse the same container.

Instead of buying food that comes in a new container each time.

This tactic was talked about in a book a woman wrote about achieving zero waste. If I remember right the book was titled The Zero Waste Home.

The goal as I see it is to consume less–less electricity less gas and oil less of anything that is wasteful.

My electric bill statement has skyrocketed in the time of the pandemic. Plus New York City has had a record number of heatwaves this summer.

The air conditioner has been going at all hours in my apartment. That’s not-so-green. Only I can’t be in direct heat for longer than 10 minutes. I’m at greater risk for heat stroke.

I will search on the Container Store website for a reusable plastic container.

I expect the deli counter staff to look at me screw-eyed when I ask them to use my plastic container not theirs.

The Trash is for Tossers woman allegedly reduced her yearly waste to only one mason jar of trash.

That’s phenomenal–is it realistic for most of us?

Greta Thunberg

Greta Thunberg was only 16 when she published the book shown above. She is the face of climate change protesters. 6 Million individuals have joined her in school-striking for zero carbon emissions by 2030.

I don’t like to single people out this way. However I think what should be written about Thunberg is that she was diagnosed with Asperger’s.

In her own words in the book she writes that her disability isn’t a medical condition–it’s a gift.

She credits the Asperger’s as giving her the black-and-white thinking required to tackle the global warming issue.

In 1997 three years before I moved to my beloved Brooklyn I sold my last car to a mechanic for $400.

I didn’t want to incur the higher cost of auto insurance in Brooklyn. Nor did I want to spend an hour every day driving around looking for a parking spot. And I didn’t want to need to pay for costly car repairs.

In fact the prime reason I sold my car was that I didn’t want to be dependent on foreign oil.

In 1997 when I sold my car no one talked about global warming. I was in the vanguard in moving to a neighborhood where there were retail shops and food markets within walking distance.

I was a Visionary in giving up my car and deciding to walk everywhere.

Greta Thunberg nowhere in her book talks about the root cause of global warming:

How city planners prioritized building roads and highways so that people could travel by car when they had to get somewhere.

Not only that often the highways built in effect separated well-off neighborhoods from poor communities. Reinforcing inequality.

In New York City taking the bus and subway is a way to reduce your carbon footprint.

In the coming blog entry I want to talk with a twist about going Green.

I’m impressed with the Generation Z leaders who are out there striving to make a difference.

Finding Joy

The magazine above was hanging out on the rack untouched.

Curious I flipped through the pages. The recipes enticed me to buy the book. It also has positive feature articles.

I’ll take what can give me joy in this time when the COVID-19 outbreak hasn’t ended.

Anxiety and depression have been on the rise.

Covering my face and walking outdoors in sunny weather is going to be my M.O. when my mood tanks.

To hell with the science non-believers.

Yes–I’ll be going outside.

I won’t allow others to steal my sunshine.

It doesn’t cost a dime to take a walk.

Sunlight is free for everyone.

While we still have this glorious green earth I say: enjoy it.

Take a magazine like Sweet July out for a trip to park or avenue.

Sit on a bench and read to get empowered.

I’ll end here by saying that Women’s Health magazine features diverse voices and writers now.

Skip over its advertisements for food products and focus on the workouts.

I’ve been buying and reading magazines ever since the 1980s.

In New York City Hotaling’s and other stores sold hundreds of U.S. and international magazines.

Those magazine shops have been long gone. Shuttered like all the other mom-and-pop stores that were casualties of rising rents.

Today I submit that by parking yourself on a bench and reading a magazine you can go far.

You can go anywhere.