Be Mindful of Your Outrage

Be outraged, but be mindful of what that means. There is some absolutely bizarre shit happening in the world today. Between the utterly messed up political machine in the US, the Russian oligarchy and Putin, and the ongoing Israel/Palestine debacle, it feels like all reason and sanity have left the building. And maybe it has. Rational, reasonable, multifaceted debate has given way to loud, opinionated, factless shouting. Civil discourse has been replaced by baseless, repetitious, utterly false jingoism and worse.

What You Do and Don’t Stress Over Is Your Choice

Nobody lives stress-free. Life is crazy. Much of this is by its very nature. Existing in this world, in the body you call your own, is fraught with all kinds of craziness in and of itself. The aging process alone is enough to drive a person mad. Then there are the people, places, and things – both tangible and intangible – that are part of life but not you. I don’t care where your politics lie, you can’t tell me

How Can You Tell When Positivity Is Toxic?

There are lots of signs when it’s not genuine. The concept of positivity has gotten a bad reputation because of toxic positivity. What is toxic positivity? It’s a form of unnatural, forced positivity. It can also be a gross misinterpretation of the concept of the power of positive thinking, the Law of Attraction, and the like. At its core, toxic positivity is the notion of absolute, no-holds-barred, no-other-options positivity. The idea is that an utterly positive attitude, approach, and positioning

I Choose My Own Path To Exercise What Control I Can

The choices you make empower or disempower you. I’m realizing I need to spend less and less time on social media. This creates something of a disconnect for me. As part of marketing my books, Facebook and Instagram are important, useful resources. So, I can’t quit them entirely. But I can choose not to surf them. One of the bigger challenges of walking the indie-author/authorpreneur path is the non-writing elements. The editing, hiring professionals for copy editing and cover art,

It’s There When You Choose to Look For It

You can always find positivity somewhere. Over the past couple of months, I’ve needed to lessen my time on social media. Why? Because there is so much fear, uncertainty, and negativity pervading every channel, it’s difficult not to be left feeling bad. Bear in mind, I am in no way, shape, or form, advocating for putting on blinders, adopting a Pollyanna attitude, or ignoring the shit going down out there. Awareness is important because knowledge is power. What I am

What Can I Do About This?

What you can do about this is small but still significant. If, like me, you see the world going mad and feel like there must be something you can do, it’s all too easy to become discouraged. You look at the lies people accept, believe, and buy into. What seems completely ugly and horrific to you, others are just allowing. You see these so-called leaders tossing out kindness, compassion, empathy, and even just caring in the name of greed, power,

The Simple Positivity of Being

I’m here, you’re here, and that’s a very good thing. If you practice kindness, compassion, and empathy in your life – it’s really challenging right now. The surreal things being done by the US Government, people treating other people as lesser as part of resurgent prejudices, not to mention world affairs – it can feel really hopeless. When you focus on these things far, far outside of your control it’s hard to feel hope. You can do little to nothing,

It Will Never Be Perfect

Perfection, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Lots of people hold off on projects, creations, and other work because they need to make it perfect. Right from the start they seek to have it all flawless with the “t’s” crossed and “i’s” dotted. They do everything they can to make sure they have all the metaphors in a row before doing the art, painting the painting, starting the business, or what have you. There is one very

I’m On The Lookout For My Sanity

You’re the only one who can look out for your sanity. I’m fairly certain that I lost my sanity around my freshman year of college. In fact, I spent an afternoon looking all over the campus for it. This included opening my mailbox and asking if my sanity was there, walking around calling for it like a lost dog, and then a friend said she saw it run off…with her sanity. All kidding aside, it’s increasingly difficult to maintain sanity

They Don’t Care About You

Why do you care about them? I’m not talking about your family or friends. Though I can make an argument that when you aren’t present with one another, they likely aren’t thinking about you. But that’s not the same, because they still care about you. Who I am talking about is “them.” Those included in “them” is every police officer, clergyman, business mogul, politician, celebrity, and similar people nearly always distant from you and yours. When all is said and

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