I’ve held off on writing this post since I think some people may misunderstand me. My goal is to help raise self-awareness. NYU has posted posters like this one all over campus. I think they are mostly responding to the Israel-Hamas situation, though could apply to others. I grew up not learning much about emotions or making myself aware of them. Leadership classes in business school moved me to increase[…] Keep reading →

On June 24, 1988, the New York Times posted in its front page: Global Warming Has Begun, Expert Tells Senate You can say corporations and governments hid the problem from us, but not after June 24, 1988. From then on, we had no excuse to say we didn’t know. We already knew of habitat loss, deforestation, plastic pollution, and tons of other problems. I’m curious, though. What are your excuses[…] Keep reading →

I’ve been trying to decide which pollution is worst. I pick up litter daily so I participate actively with it. Have you picked up litter regularly? When I do, I can’t help speculate what in a person’s mind and heart led them to decide putting a given piece of litter where they did. It leads me to see a dark and selfish part of humanity. That people claim not to[…] Keep reading →

This post is part 4 in a series including I’m continuing today the artistic representations of “What you fear losing when you stop an addiction is exactly what you’ll gain” or “You tell me what you fear losing when you stop polluting and I’ll tell you what you’ll gain” have simplified how I understand and express the emotional terrain people live in and have to navigate to act more sustainably.[…] Keep reading →

This post is part 3 in a series including “What you fear losing when you stop an addiction is exactly what you’ll gain” or “You tell me what you fear losing when you stop polluting and I’ll tell you what you’ll gain” have simplified how I understand and express the emotional terrain people live in and have to navigate to act more sustainably. I posted about how Martin Scorcese in[…] Keep reading →

People don’t like feeling guilt, shame, insecurity, helplessness, hopelessness, and other emotions that they often feel when sustainability and the environment come up. The emotions arise from what I found Abraham Lincoln said best: “Nothing is more damaging to you than to do something you believe is wrong.“ Doing something you believe is wrong will make you feel guilt, shame, and so on. People spend so much of their time[…] Keep reading →

The problems of racism, sexism, and environmental degradation existed before we were born. They will persist after we die. I’ve never heard anyone say about racism that they’d like to help but individual action won’t solve it so they might as well keep doing racist things, that only governments and corporations can solve it so they shouldn’t try, or that if we don’t keep pursuing on racist paths we might[…] Keep reading →

Meditation instructors often talk about thoughts arising and passing away in consciousness, as if they just come out of nowhere and go to nowhere. I’ve found otherwise. No part of your mind is superfluous. The human brain uses up too much energy for evolution to allow unnecessary parts to persist. Each part does something that helped your ancestors survive and pass their genes on to you. For example, some part[…] Keep reading →

Regular readers know one of my sidchas is meditating, which I’ve done for over a decade and regularly for years. I’ve posted about it lately. I’ve used a few different techniques over the years. Sometimes I use koans. One is Who am I? sometimes What am I? I also often examine consciousness, which is oddly both all of what we experience and slippery to get a hold of. Asking who[…] Keep reading →