Hello to you today. How are you? I’m doing better – got some sleep. This morning was grocery shopping at Ridley’s here in town. Didn’t want to go but when your down to one bottle of water you gotta go. One word was on my mind – packaging. I found everything I needed and plenty of the wanted I kept out of the cart. I looked at things closely and the amount of packaging for everything appearing before me was overwhelming. A lot of packaging that can’t be recycled. It’s those little individual packages I find when I’m out on my walks. Accidentally and intentionally thrown wherever the person is done with it even if there is a garbage can nearby.
For all that stuff we buy in grocery and other types of stores, places we eat out at or experience entertainment at there is a process that takes a lot of energy to include the human kind. A lot of processing and “handling” going into the near and sometimes very far of us being able to buy and experience what we do. This is reflected in the types of packaging having to happen for something to get from one place to another and ultimately to us. Those “cheap” Dollar Store things you can buy go through a lot to get to those shelves….contrary to pricing, NOTHING is without a price probably much higher than you actually pay. The mentality of getting so much for so little is reflected in landfill contents. How many “one-use” convenience items end up in the trash or on a city street….National park or recreation area?
I looked at the life cycle of plastic bottles today – a lot of resources for even one plastic bottle. If that bottle ends up in a landfill, it can take thousands of years to break down. Gotta love micro-plastics in the water, air….blood. I just bought water today and not happy about it. Even if I got a filter system installed there would still be some kind of waste. We used to buy those you attach to the faucet with filters inside. Those filters had to be replaced and were not recyclable. What are options for consumers that are environmentally responsible? Who actually drinks water straight from the tap these days?
A thought came to me today of wondering if the people behind what we buy actually take responsibility for the life cycle of their products? I imagined a CEO of one of these companies actually going to a store like Ridley’s and seeing for themselves what is going on. What is my company doing about persuing packaging alternatives? What is the environmental impact of my company? What companies are successfully on tract to reducing their carbon footprint? May be talking to them? Collaborating efforts? I heard Coca Cola is working with Ocean Cleanup – what are they doing to try and reduce what has to be cleaned up?
Message from A Woman’s Spirit today:
If what we are doing with our anger is not achieving the desired result, it would seem logical to try something different. – Harriet Lerner
How productive is anger? There is more than one school of thought. Some say we addicts can’t afford to be angry. Others warn against repressing it. Learning simply to recognize anger is a big step for many of us. One thing we all agree on is that anger is a powerful feeling that affects us in many ways. If it goes unacknowledged, our relations with others are damaged.
Anger is uncomfortable for many of us. We feel it often enough, but it makes us nervous anyway. Frequently we think we must be doing something wrong or we wouldn’t be angry. Sometimes that’s true. However, anger always signals that it’s time to assess what we are projecting onto the situations or the people in our midst. Anger doesn’t just happen. It’s sown and cultivated by us.
If I get angry today I will look for the reason within myself. I can’t change others, but I can change myself.
I spent some time yesterday with plants considered Superweeds. As you can see, they have a defense mechanism against predators – thorns. Plants, like us and all living things will do what it takes to survive. That’s why it’s taking stronger and stronger poisons to eliminate weeds like this. I used to pick them out by hand but they still came back. When you remove them they leave seed behind in the hole you plucked them from. When I was in Texas I took a sample of some of these and ate them. Do you know some tasted like a bunch of different herbs mixed together? Some “weeds” are actually edible and quite tasty. I wonder if with our help we could cultivate “softer” versions for consumption? Many are drought resistant.
I’m only human, I’m just a woman. Help me believe in what I could be And all that I am. Show me the stairway, I have to climb. Lord for my sake, teach me to take One day at a time.
One day at a time sweet Jesus That’s all I’m asking from you. Just give me the strength To do everyday what I have to do. Yesterday’s gone sweet Jesus And tomorrow may never be mine. Lord help me today, show me the way One day at a time.
Do you remember, when you walked among men? Well Jesus you know if you’re looking below It’s worse now, than then. Cheating and stealing, violence and crime So for my sake, teach me to take One day at a time.
One day at a time sweet Jesus That’s all I’m asking from you. Just give me the strength To do everyday what I have to do. Yesterday’s gone sweet Jesus And tomorrow may never be mine. Lord help me today, show me the way One day at a time.
How hope looks to many in our world. They can see it but can’t reach it… they are obstructed.
Hello to you today. How are you? I am tired but got some sleep. A lot has been on my mind lately. A lot of it comes with echoes of a question my ex-husband used to ask me…”Jackie can you do anything about it? Are you going to do anything about it? If the answer is no, quit worrying about it or decide to do something. “ My therapist said something to me yesterday about how bad things are always happening in the world, do we always need the details when knowing them can potentially negatively affect our mental health? I’m sensitive, I care and negative information, when over-indulged, is not good for me. Lots of tears, songs and prayers yesterday for the people of this world who are suffering.
A place that really was a point of my focus besides Afghanistan was Guatemala and what is happening there that Boyan Slat and his Ocean Cleanup team are trying to tackle….tsunamis of plastic waste.
https://youtu.be/4rVTWsQ23Pk – Interceptor Trashfence stops plastic tsunami in the worlds most polluting river (Ocean Cleanup)
Seeing this reminded me of my own experiences with garbage clean up. Going to places to fish and spending most of my time picking up carelessly discarded trash and fishing line tangled up in the shoreline. Everywhere I have lived and gone to nature places – trash left behind either accidentally or mostly intentionally. An apartment complex I lived in, which became section 8 or low income housing, was always littered with trash. One day my ex and I filled up two shopping carts full of it and left it at the complex office door….they were not pleased!
Who is teaching that it’s ok to just discard garbage wherever you feel like? When you really stop and have a heart of Christ, you begin to see things differently. A lot of people in our world are considered disposable, expendable….replaceable…..something to use and throw away when they are no longer “useful” and their original purpose no longer possible. The people of many countries, like Guatemala, are treated like how garbage is treated and so , in turn, that’s how they treat themselves, others of all forms of life and this earth:
“Corruption, inequality, and high levels of violence and insecurity in Guatemala contribute to high levels of poverty, elevated crime rates, and some of the lowest social development indicators in Latin America.” Sep 15, 2021 ® https://www.state.gov» u-s-relations. U.S. Relations With Guatemala – United States Department of State ?About featured snippets Feedback
And so they run to America thinking things will be better:
“Monthly poverty remained elevated in February 2022, with a 14.4 percent poverty rate for the total US population. This is a slight decrease from 14.7 percent in January 2022, but a continuation of the spike from the December 2021 monthly poverty rate of 12.5 percent.” Mar 23, 2022 https://www.povertycenter.columbia.edu.. 3.4 million more children in poverty in February 2022 than December 2021
May be for a little while until reality sets in.
Yesterday I got to thinking about foreign aide going to these countries…..what are they doing with the money and is there any sort of accountability? Does organizations like the United Nations hold the leadership of these countries accountable for what is happening to their people and the environment? Actually know what is being done with billions of dollars each year? Is it all just a pay off? Hush money? Lip service? Financial aid, not properly managed, does not help the poor. These people are feeling powerless and overwhelmed….so they run. People in our country do the same thing. It’s important to remember that who they are, who we are is inescapable. There is only one escape from self and that is death. There must be learning beyond books, figures and tables and empowerment…the teaching of self love and worth that once learned, transcends beyond an individual to the world.
What does it mean to give a hand up not a hand out? The idea is to not leave people struggling with their problems by just giving them some food, which only helps them until the next time someone gives them food, but to help them get through their problems so they can eventually get their own food. O httos://es.hinative.com » questions What does this mean: a hand up, not a hand out? HiNative
I don’t agree with what the person who made this video did but it illustrates at a much smaller level what happens when a home is attacked….with fire ants they attack anything perceived as a threat. People have fight or flight….a lot of flight as evidenced by United States borders. I think many would love to be able to go home again but just can’t for so many reasons. A temporary safe haven goes from days to years…waiting for peace to come. Our country does not have all the resources to take in the rest of the world long term:
I revisited this nice idea put together by the United Nations. It’s pretty evident by world events that many leaders have either forgotten it exists or deny it’s existence and validity:
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 (General Assembly resolution 217 A) as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected and it has been translated into over 500 languages. The UDHR is widely recognized as having inspired, and paved the way for, the adoption of more than seventy human rights treaties, applied today on a permanent basis at global and regional levels (all containing references to it in their preambles).
Preamble
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,
Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,
Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,
Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,
Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,
Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,
Now, therefore,
The General Assembly,
Proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.
Article 1
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 4
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Article 5
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 6
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
Article 7
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Article 8
Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.
Article 9
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Article 10
Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
Article 11
Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.
Article 12
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
Article 13
Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
Article 14
Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 15
Everyone has the right to a nationality.
No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
Article 16
Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
Article 17
Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
Article 18
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Article 19
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Article 20
Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
Article 21
Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
Article 22
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.
Article 23
Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
Article 24
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
Article 25
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
Article 26
Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
Article 27
Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.
Article 28
Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.
Article 29
Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 30
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.
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Hello to you! How are you doing today? It’s cloudy here this morning. I hope we get some rain we really need it. We are having a drought here in Idaho.
Todays message in A Woman’s Spirit talks about letting other people learn their own lessons. I have always been the kind of person that has trouble just staying on my own side of the street and not trying to go over and clean another persons. For example I used to have a problem with feeling like I had to pick up trash. It was a very strong compulsion until it really sunk in that by picking up after people I was just enabling their behavior. There is so much we do in this world that we think is helping to solve a problem but really is just enabling undesirable behaviors. I saw it with the Animal Shelter back in Alvarado. People would dump their dogs and cats. The shelter would pick them up and the shelter would get full. The shelter would then have to take extreme measures to try and get the animals adopted, get emptied out and the whole cycle would start all over. People just kept getting away with being irresponsible. I see so much of that in its various forms. If there is no consequences people just keep doing things that are not ok. The other day I saw this article about Boyan Slats Ocean Cleanup operation: https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/down-to-earth/22949475/ocean-plastic-pollution-cleanup and it was an interesting perspective about what operations like Boyans do. More needs to be done to make companies and people responsible for the mess they are making. There are so many flaws with the creation of plastics and other things that end up in landfills and our waterways. It’s like no one thinks about the life cycle of their products – environmental impact- before they make things. I started doing that and I don’t make things like I used to….and it’s ok.
A Woman’s Spirit message:
“Change comes about when we stop trying to shape up the other person and begin to observe patterns and find new options for our own behavior.” – Harriet Lerner
“Accepting that we can’t change someone else affects every detail of our lives. Many of us have spent years frustrated, even frantic at times, trying to control the actions and opinions of others.”
This psalm 46 really resonated – a power ballad of words for what’s going on these days:
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to alamoth.[b] A song.
1 God is our refuge(A) and strength,(B) an ever-present(C) help(D) in trouble.(E) 2 Therefore we will not fear,(F) though the earth give way(G) and the mountains fall(H) into the heart of the sea,(I) 3 though its waters roar(J) and foam(K) and the mountains quake(L) with their surging.[c]
4 There is a river(M) whose streams(N)make glad the city of God,(O) the holy place where the Most High(P)dwells.(Q) 5 God is within her,(R) she will not fall;(S) God will help(T) her at break of day. 6 Nations(U) are in uproar,(V) kingdoms(W)fall; he lifts his voice,(X) the earth melts.(Y)
7 The Lord Almighty(Z) is with us;(AA) the God of Jacob(AB) is our fortress.(AC)
8 Come and see what the Lord has done,(AD) the desolations(AE) he has brought on the earth. 9 He makes wars(AF) cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow(AG) and shatters the spear; he burns the shields[d] with fire.(AH) 10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;(AI) I will be exalted(AJ) among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob(AK) is our fortress.(AL)
Hello it’s me again. It’s Sunday afternoon and I’m feeling lonesome so I thought I would write to you again….hope you don’t mind.
Something happened with me and my Twitch channel and I feel really bad about it. I had a rant and it wasn’t subtle and I ended up hurting the feelings of someone I love and care about very much. I felt so bad that I had to delete the video. It was not the place to express what I expressed in such a brutal manner. If you knew the person I’m referring to, you would agree. They are the last person on earth that you would want to hurt! We have cleared the air but I still feel horrible about it! Ugh!! I feel like such a shit!
The subject matter at the core of this debacle is how I feel about “stuff.” Living in this tiny home means there is little space for extra things. Anything added to the limited surface space I have can look like clutter if there is too much of it. I prefer to receive gifts that are going to be used up and gone like soaps, lotions and food things. I didn’t buy gifts for anyone this year. Instead I bought bags of food for the local food pantry in my families honor.
I am not sure if the livestream lifestyle is my friend. Part of me wonders if it’s best left to content creators like musicians, magicians and artists. The reason I started using Twitch was to try and reach out and make a connection. There have been a couple sessions where I have had communication with people like I’m looking for but it’s rare. If you aren’t playing instruments, singing, playing video games or doing some sort of something people just don’t tune in. Something tells me not to give up just yet though. I have 12 followers and that’s pretty good for a channel like mine!
I have a couple more shirts I can paint just not sure if I want to do that today. It goes so fast! Some people when they are drawing and or painting they take their time. It doesn’t go that way with me. As soon as I decide to do it, whatever comes forth is the finished product. It’s like I have this notebook I have been drawing in and it’s almost full. Then I will have to get another one and have to find a place for the one I finished. The “stuff” monster rears it’s ugly head again – even in my art! May be that’s why people use food as their area of craft. Make a beautiful cake and it gets eaten – the byproduct goes into the toilets. You don’t have to feel guilty about it ending up in a landfill.
Every something that is tangible ends up somewhere. Thankfully this blog is just digital text but it still takes up space in a server and a server is a tangible thing. I have a friend who’s job it is to manage large servers…..even digital things…words…..taking up space in our tangible world! The other thing is it doesn’t really belong to me once I publish it. I should be saving my posts on an external hard drive but I don’t after what happened to the last one.
May be all of this explains why I’m still keeping and using towels that are nearly 30 years old. I use things until they fall apart. My first husband taught me about buying high quality stuff so you don’t have to replace it so often. Unfortunately we live in a world of products designed with planned obsolescence in mind. Some of the towels I received as gifts in years past are not holding up nearly as well as the older ones.
It’s hard for me to live in a material world at times. There are tubs of stuff that I have that I don’t know if I’ll ever get the courage to go through. I had hoped the gals I hired to organize my stuff would help me cull but they didn’t. They just put it in tubs and stacked it neatly – now it’s harder to get into. I need a disinterested party that specializes in what I have going on to come in and help me cull. I mean what do you do with boxes that once held your beloved pets ashes?! What do I do with Knick knacks that I have no cabinets to display them in?! If I set stuff out it has to be dusted. I don’t want to dust! Years and years of journals and drawing books….nobody is going to want my shit when I’m gone and that’s the harsh truth of this modern world. Everything has become so cheap that things that really should matter have little to no value.
The story of stuff goes back a long ways. I can remember when my first husband and I lived in an apartment in Fliessem Germany. All our stuff fit until Helga the landlady asked us to move out so her son and his new wife could live there. We ended up moving to a place up the street but it was smaller than the place we were living. I got overwhelmed. There is a picture of me sitting where we had to stack everything and I had been crying. There just wasn’t enough room. The house in Alvarado was the first time there was enough room for everything but I still had a problem with stuff. I liked Christmas gift exchanges with my parents the best. You told them what you wanted and that’s exactly what you got. It was always good quality stuff that we were going to use.
The story of stuff really opened my eyes to what our material world is doing to us and this planet: https://youtu.be/9GorqroigqM – after seeing it and seeing what The Ocean Cleanup project is encountering out in our oceans I really started to think about how I live. Like I said earlier everything we make and use has a life of its own. You can’t get something for nothing and it’s important to be responsible consumers.
To be 