Examining One's Thinking - again and again

My readers know that I love John Maxwell and regularly use his workbook Jumpstart Your Thinking so I can speak with some authority on Thinking.

Yesterday I wrote

I believe that one should examine one’s personal thinking on a daily basis and as one ages it is vital to do so because it is so very easy to fall into grooves and patterns of thinking.

Here are some of the reasons why I suggest this examination. The other day on The View they discussed Kevin Hart’s situation with respect to his withdrawal from being the host of the Oscars because the producers were asking him to apologize for homophobic comments he made in 2009. He refused to do so because he said that he had already apologized many times over the years and he did not think he should have to go through life apologizing over and over again. The discussion essentially came to the same conclusion as both Kevin Hart and I – that people evolve, people change their opinions as “issues” become more normalized and understood.

Homosexuality has been condemned for 2,000 years at least, in large part due to Christianity’s view. During the AIDS crisis a more compassionate view of homosexuality began to emerge and over the past thirty years the western world at least has essentially accepted homosexuality as (an appropriate word is failing to come to me, so forgive me) normal, valid and right for certain individuals. True there are still many people who cannot overcome their prejudice against gay people but overall acceptance is there and laws are in place to protect their rights.

So people’s thinking evolved and can accept something that was considered wrong once upon a time. Another reason for examining one’s thinking is to keep current with what is happening in the world today. Countries change, politics change and people’s attitudes change. In order to stay current and fresh it is important not to fall into the groove of bemoaning “the good old days”. The fact is that the good old days are largely a myth in your own mind. When my mother starts harking back to 1936 I ask her “Mom do you want to wash diapers by hand again?” When she gets on her favorite treadmill talk, bemoaning that there is no bus service to my house, I cut her short and simply tell her I am not going to go over the arguments for the 500^th time. Then I ask her “where do you want to go?” and she says nowhere. Case closed.

My mother is my cautionary tale to myself and I remind myself that one of the joys of thinking is to stay creative and curious and being open to possibilities. It’s important to listen to world renowned figures, to read good books and to talk to those around us to get their views. I am always questioning my cousins in Denmark about what is going on because Mom only talks with her sister who is also an octogenarian and believe me it is so worrying to have them go over the same subject, every week and never come up with any conclusion except that they shouldn’t be letting foreigners into the country. I shake my head and tell Mom “I don’t want to hear it again unless it’s something new”. Sadly it never is.

The other day I made her listen to Louise Arbour, Special Representative for International Migration, who spoke most reasonably about international migration. She listened with full attention, I thought, but two hours later in a discussion with my brother she said precisely what Arbour said WAS NOT TRUE – that migrants come with their hands out and not willing to work. I was so angry with her in going back into the same old groove but she stayed Jacobsen Stubborn. John says be patient you can’t teach an old dog new tricks but I am stubborn also and I refuse to let her get away with talking such piffle!

So there we are . . . do what I say and also do what I do . . . refuse to listen to piffle! J

Climate Change is Real

The other day I listened to THE pre-eminent scientist Martin Rees being interviewed by one of my favorite journalists Christiane Amanpour discussing among other things climate change. Among the majority of scientists climate change is a FACT and to doubt that it is not is simply behaving like an ostrich (my words, not his).  Below I have a link to Amanpour’s various interviews, you will have to login but it is worth watching if you are interested in any of the subjects I will now refer to.  As well I include the Wikipedia article on carbon footprint and a website that answers / refutes climate change deniers arguments.  I don’t want to waste my time re-writing so provide these links for your edification.

The concern I have is trying to understand why individuals wish to deny that climate change is real. I can understand why corporations would want to deny it because they are concerned only about their bottom line (i.e. financial gains) and like Ebenezer Scrooge are reluctant to spend one grout on anything as altruistic as the environment. But are they the ones who have induced some sort of algorithm into ordinary people’s mentality to make them hypnotized into believing that we humans can go willy-nilly along, cutting down forests, burning fuel at unreasonable rates and generally acting irresponsibly to the detriment of this Earth?

I would ask these people to examine their reasoning and perhaps delve more deeply into the true science of climate (not to be confused with weather).

I believe that one should examine one’s personal thinking on a daily basis and as one ages it is vital to do so because it is so very easy to fall into grooves and patterns of thinking. More on this tomorrow. 

https://www.thirteen.org/programs/amanpour-co/

https://grist.org/series/skeptics/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_footprint

Who'da Thunk

The other day I wrote a blog on stupidity and I was astonished to see that it had 152 hits in one day! Normally I get between 20 to 30 hits a day. I think it was because the title I used has been used by others (it’s a common enough phrase, after all). I am only hoping that those who travelled to my blog actually read it and got some amusement out of it, as well as some enlightenment.

I know what you all are thinking “is she going to start using phrases to get hits”? Well, it did cross my mind but the truth is I like to be original. To quote from a Georgette Heyer novel “she does have an odd kick in her gallop” is more in my line!

Tomorrow I am going to write about Climate Change but for today I want to make a suggestion for my readers – ask yourself and do some research into what an individual can do to make a difference. I say this because I have been listening to some eminent scientists with respect to climate change but they speak on such a high level (and rightly so) that they do not get into the nitty gritty of every day lives and what we can do.

I recognize that there are plenty of books and others (not scientists) who make suggestions which is all very well and good but what I would like to know is this – what things can people do on an annual basis that would show how significant those changes were. In other words if I, for example, chose to not drive at least one day a week what would that do annually with respect to reduced carbon emissions? If a whole nation made that choice how soon would they reach the Paris Accord targets? Then let’s say everyone chose to have at least one plant based meal per day, how would that add up? (and plant based meal means, unfortunately, that you cannot have Havarti on toast for breakfast because cheese is not plant based, darn it all!)

If people opted out of driving trucks and chose smaller cars instead how much would that improve our score? I can remember how amazed we were when we moved from Kitchener to Calgary back in 1976 to see so many pickup trucks in a city. We could not get over it and to this day I am puzzled as to why city dwellers think they need a truck.

Well, that is the creative question of the day – find out what you can and consider what changes you are willing to make of your own accord. You will surprise yourself in realizing it is not as inconvenient as it may first appear!

FYI – I chose to park my car once a week 10 years ago; I hang dry my laundry all summer; Mom breakfasts plant based every day (jam on her own homemade bread) and since my illness driving is reduced to “as needed” only. My vehicle is also considered “green”. All my lights are LED in the home. But where I fail, I do run my furnace a lot since I am very vulnerable to cold (even before my illness). So I am not a saint, but I try. J

Daily Creativity Can Be a Challenge

I must say that unless you watch DIY shows all day long it can be a challenge to come up with your own versions of creativity! Once again I ask myself “where do you get your crazy theme ideas from” but wisely I refuse to answer myself.

Of course creativity is not all about crafts or making things. I already made an attempt at memorizing a poem (and what a bosh I made of that). During the night I thought “why don’t you go back to writing a Haiku” then spent most of the night awake refining some gibberish Christmas Haiku which I naturally forget the moment I woke up!

I am looking somewhat sceptically at a piece of crochet work that my sister in law started for me and which I have already unravelled twice wondering if it should be my next project. It is supposed to be a baby blanket and once upon a time I could make a blanket in a couple of days but today I can barely get 4 inches done and not very tidily at that. Ah for the use of one’s hands again!

So today I am going to use “fig nut” as my moment of creativity. When my youngest brother was young ( J ) he once was in a store and looked at some fig newton cookies and went “fig nut”! He suddenly realized he hadn’t had these cookies for years and had a craving for them. When he brought them home he told us the story and we were all enraptured by his word “fig nut” and to this day whenever we get a brilliant (or not so brilliant) idea we say “fig nut”. 

And that’s the way it was!

Ballerinas and other crafts

Yesterday’s One New Thing was research into stupidity but now let’s get on with something a little more creative.  I still haven’t worked out my camera problem (essentially how to get one or two photos added to my album; it wants to download all my pictures again and again!) so I cannot currently put up what I made yesterday.

I watch the Marilyn Denis show in the mornings and they often have folks on who show DIY projects; the other day was one on creating inexpensive “filler” decorations for the Christmas tree. One of them was a ballerina with a snowflake for a tutu simply made of stock or construction paper and the snowflake from regular paper.  I upgraded my tutu by using Origami paper stock and also made my ballerinas pale blue instead of white. My idea is to make them into a wind chime or window charm since I will not be putting up a tree this year. They turned out really well. All you need to do is find some clipart ballerinas, trace them on to the stock paper and you are good to go! It was a soothing little craft.

The other craft will have to wait until tomorrow because I don’t have any Modge Podge (not even sure what it is!) but John has agreed to take me to Dollarama tomorrow to get some – fortunately we have to go anyway as we need more chicken feed for our girls.

This other craft requires some 4x4 canvas which you can get at the dollar store in a package; you then modge podge the canvas (using the modge podge with sparkles is best) and then you adhere the desired picture onto the canvas. The lady on Marilyn (whose name I forget at the moment) used musical sheet paper from The Nutcracker since her tree was themed that way but she said you can use any sort of picture you like, from old time Christmas pictures to Merry Christmas messages. Once added then you modge podge again and add your own glitter for that extra something. Again, I am thinking of doing mine double-sided so they can be chimes rather than just ornaments for the tree.

Once I get my camera working properly I will take photos of the projects and post them as a special blog!

Aren’t you excited to see them. J

You Can't Fix Stupid . . . You Have to Walk Around It

I am sure there are many people who are extremely annoyed by the amount of absurd posts that occur on social media. As Proverbs says “against a fool even a wise man fights in vain”. I thought I would venture into the world of Google to try to discover if indeed this is so. I have been stopped in my tracks by the remarkable article in Wikipedia which is both funny and dismal at the same time. I attach the link at the bottom of the blog, I think you will find it interesting to say the least and let me say a certain person in a big white house crossed my mind as I read it!

Along with the legions of stupid people we also have an alarming number of sociopaths who are manipulating our world. In particular I refer to the creator of Facebook who is defying social order deliberately and helping to create a world of chaos and hatred. I do not say this lightly but following the news closely in recent months I find myself puzzled as to why Zuckerberg refused to attend various inquiries and even more puzzling why the authorities did not insist on that attendance. A simple correction in algorithms would prevent people from going down dark gopher holes into a world of misinformation and malevolence.

I am an optimist in the long run but in the short term I am a worrier and it is very concerning that the world is racing along willy-nilly without remembering 2 axioms from 2 world wars “lest we forget” and “never again”.

This blog is written to the readers who are bright, have common sense and perhaps can make their world positive and strong by their own initiatives. Little circles eddy outwards. We can always hope.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stupidity

Fifty Years of Friendship

Today is my best friend’s birthday and 50 years ago I attended her Sweet Sixteen. It is hard to believe that 50 years have gone by but the mirror tells a different story.

I am sure there are other Fifty Year Friendships but few have the unusual twist that ours has. Ninette and I met in high school while my father was transferred by Burns Foods to Montreal to trouble-shoot at the plant there. We were only there for 9 months (July to March). Ninette and I only knew each other for 7 of those months, sharing the same home room and art class. But she sat across the aisle from me and we smiled at each other and that was it. We would have lunch together with some other friends but Ninette and I shared a sense of humour that could make us laugh at the most peculiar stories. She is a wonderful storyteller and I would listen to her enthralled by her tales. I would repeat some of my father’s hilarious anecdotes (past and present) which had her in stitches.

Then we got the news that we were being transferred back to Winnipeg and Ninette gave me her address so I could write to her. Which I did. A letter from her quickly followed. We have shared nearly 50 years of correspondence most of which happened on a weekly or bi-monthly basis. Seldom did two weeks pass without a letter, in all these years. And that is what is amazing. We have been through thick and thin, travels abroad, children, illness, anxiety, job loss, family woes, business crises, you name it and we have been through it. But never, ever has there been a cross word, a misunderstanding or anything of a negative nature that could have jeopardized this friendship.

Truly God smiled down on us the day we smiled at each other.

My cup runneth over in gratitude and love for this lovely, charming woman who is my FRIEND.

A Poem

My favorite poet is Emily Dickinson so I have attempted to memorize a new poem of hers but with lamentable results. I have never been very good at remembering poetry so this was a challenge even without having chemotherapy issues! However I have read the poem many times and it is a lovely one.

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words,

And never stops at all. 

And sweetest in the gale is heard,

And sure must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm. 

I’ve heard it in the chilliest land,

And on the strangest sea,

Yet, never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me.

Canada - One of the Oldest Constitutional Democracies in the World

There appears to be a number of people in Canada who are misinformed with respect to whether or not Canada has a constitution. Why that should be I have no idea other than Facebook and other media having algorithms that lead credulous people down the garden path.

I remember when the constitution was patriated to Canada in 1982; it was a very big deal. Here’s what Wikipedia says about that event, in brief:

The patriation of the Canadian constitution was achieved in 1982 when the British parliament, with the assent of the Canadian parliament, passed the Canada Act 1982, which included in its schedules the Constitution Act, 1982, the United Kingdom thus formally absolving itself of any remaining responsibility for, or jurisdiction over, Canada. In a formal ceremony on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed both acts as law on 17 April 1982. Constitution Act, 1982, included the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Prior to the charter, there were various statutes which protected an assortment of civil rights and obligations, but nothing was enshrined in the constitution until 1982. The charter has thus placed a strong focus upon individual and collective rights of the people of Canada.

Canada is one of the oldest constitutional democracies in the world. We enjoy freedoms and have opportunities that few other nations have, including our wonderful Scandinavian countries. I refer here specifically to the economic opportunities available to Canadians that are not so readily available in Europe. From an environmental perspective we are most likely the cleanest country in the world with wide open spaces, plenty of clean water and strong forests.

From a political perspective we also are fortunate in not simply having a two party system (although federally this has always been the way except for that wonderful orange period of Jack Layton when the NDP were the official opposition). We are also fortunate in that MOST Canadians are proud to be multi-cultural and it is frustrating beyond belief to have so much malignant misinformation spread about how many refugees we have, how they get and so on and so forth. Are there people coming in illegal? Most likely. Are they being dealt with appropriate? Perhaps not always. Are they going to bring down this country? Most definitely NOT.

We Canadians are a quiet, polite nation but we also have enough courage to defend our rights and freedoms without violence.

I am grateful every day that I live in this fine country but I don’t forget that I too am an immigrant. Thank you Canada for accepting my family into this land.

Baked Pears

A long night, pain and dreary weather hence a lot of sleep and lolling about.  So the one new thing had to be something simple. Memorize a verse? Make one small card? Read a chapter in a book?

In the end I decided to experiment with a recipe. Two Asian pears baked in sugar and cream using Martha Stewart’s recipe.  Guess what, it was terrible!  The pears had no flavour (Martha recommended Bartlett or Bosc but I only had these good looking Asian pears), butter and sugar are no substitute for brown sugar and cinnamon and perhaps a little sherry. So Mom and I decided to make a pear sauce out of the remaining pears with lots of spices added into the mix.

Not bad but still, not the best new thing!

Building a Christmas Street

Today I painted the house for the Christmas Street. My hands are unsteady and I was also rushing a little bit more than I should have been but I am still quite pleased with the result. Tomorrow I will work on the bird houses and then we need to set up the lights.

Meanwhile I completed a second project, the canvas with the Crawling Elf that will hold some of my niece’s Christmas cards. That also turned out very nice.

Now the question remains, can I migrate the photos from the one computer to the other!

I feel excited about doing something new, however minor, on a daily basis. The interesting thing about this month’s project is that when I had my consultation with my doctor the other day he actually was suggesting that I get “out there” and do some living in new ways. Now that is synchronicity for you.

Official Kick off Tomorrow

I hope my readers are excited about the One New Thing theme (as in that they are giving it a try also). I have been doing a lot of preparing for all the planned activities. Charging batteries, plugging in the treadmill, cleaning up space, setting up my craft room downstairs, trying to get Mom and John in the mode, reading up on cookies so I can use my cookie press for the first time and all the other little mundane things that will help make things go tickety-boo over the busiest time of the year!

I will remind you that on December 1^st and each day of the following months I will not use Facebook so please either click the post from the day before and press F5 to refresh which ought to bring up the December 1^st blog. Alternative just google Sanne’s Grain of Salt (and you may have to use Google.ca rather than Google.com)  I remember having troubles in the early days of my blog but perhaps I have enough followers on  the .com to make it visible on a first search.

The reason for the boycott is that I believe Mark Zuckerberg is a total dickhead and being extremely uncooperative with regard to all the political interference that is happening at Facebook. Quite honestly I do not like the man. Not only am I boycotting Facebook for one day each month (and I know that isn’t a lot, but if I can persuade others to follow suit, that would be great).  I would also encourage people not to look at any of the feeds or ads not just on that day but as often as humanly possible. Rather go to Google or the site outside of Facebook if you are really interested. Thirdly write to your MP to support their pushback at Facebook for answers. It’s all about algorithms and it is not that big of a deal to alter the algorithms to manage the hate sites and other things that are causing so much dissent in the world. (I saw a program about it earlier this week, I forget the man’s name who is probably the top guy on all of this stuff, and it was very interesting and alarming that Facebook and Twitter are not doing their part in this).

I would appreciate your feedback on this readers – am I going down a wrong path in this?