The Ramblings of the Titanium Don
Explorations of Conscious Reality Creation, Mindfulness, and Other Matters
No plan survives contact with the enemy. My wife and I recently bought a house. There are a whole lot of different reasons why we chose this path after years of explaining why we were against it. We managed to find a house that was almost everything we wanted. We have a wrap-around porch, it’s a Colonial/Victorian house that’s had the bathrooms and kitchen updated, and a lot of other work done, too. It passed inspection, we closed, and then
A change of scenery is not a magic bullet. My wife and I have just moved into a new home. Despite incredibly uncertain times, political insanity across the country, an insane economy, and all else, we bought a house. For the first time in more than a decade, my office space is wholly my own (as in not limited by being a rented apartment space or a shared space in the home). As part of that, before moving in, I
What you control in life might be limited but it’s still a lot. I don’t know about you, but it looks to me like the world has gone completely nuts. How else can you explain the results of the US election and the majority voting for the guy who plans to make their lives unnecessarily miserable? While this is difficult to not pay attention to, it does put a spotlight on a harsh truth. You have little to no control
The present is where you have any and all control. The world has gone from a place of some uncertainty to an extreme amount of uncertainty. Even if you don’t live in the United States, the election of Trump to the Presidency is disquieting at best, and horrifying at worst. Trump and his enablers are a force of reactionaryism, chaos, and uncertainty. Many threats to the long-established government and social structure are cause for a lot of speculation. What will
Momentous or just another day, there’s little difference. Today is the day after one of the most significant elections in the United States. This has been the cause of a lot of conflict, disagreement, strife, depression, anxiety, and uncertainty for many. One side represents progress. The other, quite possibly, is the end of US democracy. This is a big deal. It’s not something to be taken lightly. I voted and I hope that you did, too. As momentous as the outcome
Everyone is many things. How do you identify yourself? This in and of itself is a multi-layered notion. For example, I identify myself by my name, age, ethnic heritage, height, weight, nation, gender, vocation, hair color, eye color, and that’s just a start. Dig deeper and you’ll find more identifiers you can use. You likely identify yourself in similar, multiple ways. There are many reasons for this. It can depend on who you are sharing your identity with, why you’re
Connections to people, places, things, and linear time can disempower you. This is true for everyone, everywhere: The only time that is actually, factually real, is the present. Right now. This moment, here and now. The past has come and gone. What happened before can, will, and does impact your life. However, that impact can vary pretty wildly, especially if you leave it unobserved. More on that ahead. The future is just that. The future. It hasn’t happened yet. What
Thank you for caring but… Do you have well-meaning people in your life? Friends, family, coworkers, people who say things to you that they intend to be helpful but, frankly, aren’t? I do. While I know they are telling me what they do out of a genuine, good intent, they’re often missing the point and having the opposite effect. My life is mine to live. To many people, that’s the ultimate selfish statement. Yet it’s the unabashed truth. That’s because
That depends on the situation. Have you ever noticed that when someone decides to lose weight, start a new hobby, or make a large change in their life, they go all in? They throw their full literal or metaphoric weight into the action in an all-or-nothing shot at achieving some goal. Why? Society and its many expectations are the likely culprits. Every commercial diet program, from Jenny Craig to Weight Watchers to Atkins tends to be all or nothing. Buy
You can eff the eff off already. Dear Squirrels in my brain, First, yes, I know you might actually be brain weasels. Whatever. A rodent is a rodent (vermin are vermin). In either case, you sit there in my head, chittering and chattering away, spewing bullshit at me. And I do not appreciate it. There are four distinct areas of my life right now that I’m working to improve. My health, my fencing, my writing career, and my self-esteem. This
