Posted in Earth, environment, Health, Personal

There is No Planet B

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a busy week at work and rewriting one of the first scenes in my story. I like it much better, but I’m going to have to go through and tweak a few more scenes, but that’s okay. It’ll be worth it in the end.

May be an image of map and text that says 'FRIENDLY REMINDER: THERE IS NO PLANET B.'

But enough about that. In honor of Earth Day, I’d like to talk about humans and their effect on the earth. After watching shows like “Erin Brockovich,” “Dark Waters,” “The Big Short,” and “Seaspiracy,” I’ve concluded that humans aren’t good for the Earth. There, I’ve said it.

We’re all connected. The trees speak with each other through their roots and release oxygen into the atmosphere while soaking up carbon dioxide. The ocean produces over fifty percent of the air we breathe while also regulating the climate.

We need the oceans and the trees to stay alive. Yet, we’re so busy cutting down the forests and overfishing our seas that we’re slowly but surely killing our planet.  We manufacture things that poison our drinking water and kill people all to make money. Who is behind these atrocities? Man.

We are the most intelligent species on the planet. We can think critically and invent amazing things, but we do so recklessly. In the movies “Erin Brockovich” and “Dark Waters,” huge corporations were making products that poisoned the surrounding town’s water supply. Each company knew about the damage, but instead of halting production and cleaning it up, they covered it up and pretended it wasn’t there because it would eat away their profits.

In “Dark Waters,” Dupont invented Teflon, but found that working with the chemicals caused birth defects. They didn’t tell their employees and continued to allow them to work while pregnant which resulted in deformed children. Now we’re finding that our own government officials have made decisions that adversely affected their constituents. Look at what happened in Flint, MI.

We need to make some drastic changes. It makes me sick what we’re doing to the planet and to each other just to make some bank. We need better regulatory agencies and we need to hold corporations accountable for what they’re doing. It’s the only way future generations will have a place to live.

We also need to start cleaning up the mess we’ve created in the oceans. I’m holding the commercial fishing industry responsible for that one. I think each company should pay a tax each year and that money goes toward cleaning up the sea, and if they’re caught dumping waste into the ocean, they lose their fishing license for a certain amount of time. They must also pay a fine, and they must help in cleaning up the ocean while their fishing license is revoked.

I know it sounds harsh, but drastic changes are needed. What are your thoughts? What changes would you make to save our Earth?

Posted in Family, Personal

Are you Following your Passion?

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a week of work and unfortunately, I didn’t get a lot of writing done. I went back into the editing cave to do some work after getting some feedback from a beta reader. So, I’m making some more changes to my story. Cross your fingers for me.

But enough about that. Today, I’d like to talk about doing something that feeds your soul. As my boys grow and develop, I’m always trying to tell them to follow your passion, find something that makes you feel alive and do it. It’s hard for our kids to find this right now because it is the age of computers, social media, and video games. None of these things help kids find their calling, unless they’re doing a google search, but that even leaves them wanting more.

Since video games and social media are interested in engagement, they do anything they can to entice our young people to stay engaged. This leaves little time for pursuing other interests. That’s the way social media gurus and game manufacturers want it. Did you know that Facebook is starting to take over virtual reality? For more information about this click here: https://lisaorchard.wordpress.com/2020/11/14/dont-look-now-but-social-media-is-taking-control-of-virtual-reality/

This means kids are spending less time finding something that feeds their souls. This trend is dangerous. I feel that this might be one of the reasons teen suicide and depression are on the rise. Social media cannot replace the true connection of finding your life purpose. It takes a long time to find out what your life purpose is, you have to go through many things to grow and change before you truly connect with what sets your soul on fire.

The pandemic makes it harder, too. Because we’ve shut everything down, my youngest isn’t playing tennis and he’s lost interest in school. His grades are still good, but he’s not as interested as he used to be. The only thing he can do at this time is play video games and shoot baskets. These are challenging times to say the least.

We need to get our young people creating things. Starting from scratch and making something. Be it a story, or pottery, or even creating a video game. That’s how we learn when we build something from scratch. That’s how kids find their passions.  

It doesn’t have to be a way to make money. Their passion will sustain them when they get bored with their job or during times of stress. It will help them build their resilience, so when life knocks them down, they’ll be able to pick themselves back up.

So, what’s your passion and how did you find it? Leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you!

Posted in Health, mental-health, Personal

Staying in the Present Moment

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a busy week of writing and working. I’m so excited because spring is finally here. I’ve been able to run outside a couple of times this week and it was wonderful. My tulips are starting to come up and I am so ready for summer it isn’t funny.

But enough about that. Today I’d like to talk about staying in the present moment and appreciating it. We’re so busy trying to achieve our goals that we keep our eyes on the prize and don’t always appreciate the moment we’re in.

I find that when I focus on the outcome I’m trying to achieve; I get frustrated when things don’t go quite as planned or I run into obstacles. I have to remind myself that I need to focus on my goals for the day only. I know what the big goal is, but I have to focus on the steps I need to take to get there. That way I won’t get frustrated because I haven’t gotten to the big goal yet.

By doing this, I’m going to be happier with my present moment and I’ll appreciate it more. That way I won’t be missing any moments with my family and friends.

It’s hard to change the habit of always striving and focusing on the outcome of my actions. So, when I catch myself growing frustrated because I haven’t reached my goal yet, I take a moment and slow myself down. It’s going to happen just not yet. Then if I can, I practice some self-care. I drink some water or take a few minutes and just breathe. This is the way I reset my thinking and change my emotions from being frustrated to peaceful.

How about you? What do you do to change your mindset? Leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you.