Day 257: Why it’s time to Redefine Thanksgiving

 

Thanksgiving – a time of year were people and families come together to spend some quality time and be thankful for the food on the table. Ironically, it’s also the time of year were millions of pounds of food are wasted. Nothing says how thankful we are like wasting over 204 million pounds of turkey…

Let’s look at that figure a little closer: 204 million pounds of turkey is allot. It’s worth over $270 million. Imagine how many hungry families can be fed with all that wasted meat – it’s enough to give every food-insecure household in America 5kg of meat. And what about the water used to produce all that wasted turkey? A staggering 105 billion gallons. And all that meat ends up in landfills.

This is very contradictory .The tradition of thanksgiving when we look at what actually happens it seems what is being celebrated is being ungrateful and gluttony. So much food is simply being wasted. Sure, tiss’ the season of profits. The turkey factories cash it in this time of year – where the meat ends up does not matter as long as it’s being sold.

And then we have Black Friday afterwards. Nothing says thank you like reenacting the Zombie apocalypse every year after thanksgiving. I was very relieved when South Africans did not take part in these traditions, but unfortunately companies here in SA started with the Black Friday tradition as well.

What does it really mean to be thankful for the food on the table? Who is to thanks? To know the answer to that you have really look at what it took for that food to be on your table. From the turkey born to be slaughtered to the workers harvesting the veggies. The packaging and transport and water reuired. Even down to the oil that needed to be drilled to create the packing and fuel the truck and all the people involved in the process. Who at thanksgiving actually give thanks where it’s due? Who thanks the turkey?

What we should actually do is redefine thanksgiving. To stop buying and preparing too much food and only make enough. Or to take the leftovers and use it were it will not be wasted – you won’t have to look hard to find a hungry person to give the food to. And then to thank the turkey and every other part that was involved with getting that food on your plate. That would be an actual thanksgiving Dinner. And then we should do that with every meal we eat – practice real gratefulness through the understanding of how that food got in your plate.

How the Living Income Guaranteed Will promote Environmental Sustainability

 

As we all know – our continued human existence is having consequences on the earth and one of them is the earth warming up. And so scientist are trying to come up with solutions to stop this particular consequence and one of the options to stop Global warming is through GEOengineering – interfering with nature on a planetary scale.

Here are some of the GEOengereeing options that scientist are currently investigating:

1. Afforestation: This technique would irrigate deserts, such as those in Australia and North Africa, to plant millions of trees that could absorb carbon dioxide, but This vegetation would also draw in sunlight that the deserts currently reflect back into space, and so contribute to global warming. 

2. Artificial ocean upwelling: Engineers would use long pipes to pump cold, nutrient-rich water upward to cool ocean-surface waters. If this process ever stopped it could cause oceans to rebalance their heat levels and rapidly change the climate.

3. Ocean alkalinisation: This involves heaping lime into the ocean to chemically increase the absorption of carbon dioxide.

4. Ocean iron fertilisation: The method involves dumping iron into the oceans to improve the growth of photosynthetic organisms that can absorb carbon dioxide.

5. Solar radiation management: This would reduce the amount of sunlight Earth receives, by shooting reflective sulphate-based aerosols into the atmosphere.

As I read through this list I get kind of worried, because they are trying to stop the earth from heating up through wanting to do things like dumping iron into the oceans or spraying the air with sulphate. Won’t that simply cause more problems in the future? You don’t solve a problem with another problem.

Here is an analogy: You see a spider trapped in your bathtub. So you take a few sheets of tissue paper and very carefully burn your house down…

In a similar way that is how we deal with issues we face on this earth. With the above mentioned solutions we are simply going to create more problems.

The way you deal with problems is stopping it at the source, which is the way we humans interact with the earth. Or more specifically how we have come to value profit over things that actually matter – like the earth. Our world leaders have for some time had those meetings on finding solutions to cut carbon emissions, but not many are actually doing that. The reason comes back to money, a factory pollutes the earth, but it also makes money. Currently cutting emissions equals less money made.

Eco friendly solutions cost allot of money so that is why it is not ever really implemented on global scale – it’s not cost effective. Also there is the factor that there is a massive profit being made by current use of available technologies – like oil and coal - and thus coming up with other solutions are discouraged.

So then what is the reason for all this pollution currently created? Money. And what would be the solution to clean up and stop pollution? Money. The planet has over 7 billion people on it. And I have read and seen solutions to control and get rid of pollution many times, but it never gets implemented, because the people coming up with these ideas do not have the necessary funds to implement these ideas or do more research. And in allot of these cases the people who come up with these ideas are those directly affected by the pollution.

With the implementation of Living Income Guaranteed we could ensure that all options are considered and see what will be the best solution. Not to say that LIG would be bad news to businesses around the world and force them to cut carbon emissions – no – rather more about focusing on ways to prevent this with the use of new technologies that are available and that are currently not being used because profit is placed over sustainability, which is how through Corporate Social Responsibility measures, corporations will also have to consider their own sustainability and assurance of production by stopping degrading measures that will cause more consequences for them and the community.

Also what is happening is that consumers are becoming aware of the consequences that factories have on the environment and are favoring eco –friendly production methods. So the company will have to start introduce environmentally friendly solutions and stick to the new trend to meet the customer demand in order to still make money.

Another point is that when an individual doesn’t have to worry about surviving and can start focusing on actual living – it opens doors and with it great potential. For example there are so many people who find passion in doing humanitarian work, or finding solutions to make factories more efficient and less polluting – but cannot focus on doing any of that, because they need money to survive. Who knows what potential we can unlock and ideas we can come up with and implement to reduce or even reverse the negative consequences we have created on this earth. The Living Income Guaranteed would bring us closer to finding the solutions we require.

Here are Videos that further explain how with the Implementation of the Living Income Guaranteed will promote Environmental Sustainability:

Environmental Sustainability

 

Technological Innovations for Sustainable Development

The Sims 4: Best way to make lots of money Fast

 

 

 

                                               Cow plant is fun - and dangerous...

One of the first things you will notice while playing  Sims 4  is that making money is more difficult than it was in the Sims 3. But I have found a method where my Sims don't have to work, don't have to paint, don't have to license songs or books . They both just live on interest earned.

Below I will show you how to make over 60 000 simoleons per week by doing nothing (no cheats).

Currently My Sims - the mother and father - are making over 70 000 a week. They do not have jobs - I quit them. This is done by taking advantage of the Fabulously Wealthy aspiration where your Sims gets money every week based on your household funds.

 

STEP 1 - Making a fortune with Gardening:

        Here is what a spliced Tomato and UFO plant looks like - the real money maker

 

Before you start selling your harvest make sure you select the Fabulously Wealthy Aspiration, because this will help you complete it.

The first thing we need to do is accumulate money - the more money you have the more you will make every week. The best and fastest method is by doing gardening(yup). Get a few grape trees growing and tend to them once a day - get them to prefect grape trees , because that increases the value for the fruit. You will want to get your Sim to max out the gardening skill - this will make things easier, but you need the grafting ability which unlocks at level 7.

Perfect Grapes sell for 33 each. Each tree gives maximum 10 grapes. Its takes about 2 to 3 days for the grapes to be ready for harvesting so you are looking at making over 30 000 a week if you have 40 grape trees. It takes time to tend to so many so I recommend your Sim quit his/her job. Another advantage to having so many is that it will improve the skill faster.

The real money maker  is the U.F.O plant. It sells for 120 each. The only problem is that it takes a long time before you can harvest it. A way around this is to splice a UFO cutting onto a tomato tree - the tomato tree can be harvested daily. By splicing the two you will be able to harvest the trees almost daily. When you have about 20 of these perfect tomato/UFO trees you are looking at making over 20 000 PER DAY selling the harvest. You will want to keep doing this until you have about 500 000 household funds. The more money you have the more you will make every week.

STEP 2 - Sit back and do whatever

               Above you can see ( print is small, sorry) my guy earned 38 000 this week.

Once your Sim has completed the Fabulously Wealthy Aspiration get your second Sim ( husband or wife or whoever living with you) to Complete the Fabulously Wealthy aspiration as well . What you can do is let this Sim harvest and sell the fruit to be able to complete the aspiration. Once you are satisfied with the amount you are making every week from investments go to build mode and place all the trees in your inventory - this will store the trees if you want to use them again in the future. When you have about 800 000 total your Sims combined will be making 76 000  per week - by doing nothing - leaving you time to do other things.

 

For more info on how to improve your life if you are struggling with real life moodlets take a look around here

Day 254 -What behavior do you dislike about yourself? How can you change that?

 

 

I found myself in a particular pattern I did not take note of before. What kind of behavior do you go into when you have a task to complete but very limited time? The particular task you are working on you have no idea how to do so first you have to research it and test it out before you can finish it. With me what comes up is stress and frustration and then generally very unpleasant to be around with.

The thing is that it does not have to be this way. Reacting towards events in your life like I did is not supportive and it’s unnecessary. Sure when you run out of time and see you cannot finish the task in time you generally have stress, but when you look at the whole situation the stress does not contribute to anything. It does not make the time go slower and it does not magically make everything work out so that you can do the tasks. All it does is leave you feeling like shit.

The fact is that regardless of how I feel about it – the end result is the same. There was simply not enough time to finish the task and looking back I did the best I could and that is all there is to it. I cannot change the time flow, I cannot make time go slower – so what is really the point of going into stress and frustration? If anything what it does is cloud your judgment making you ineffective, because you are reacting to a situation instead of directing it.

What I have found is that it’s a pattern I have a created, almost like a habit. Whenever this happens then that happens. If I am in a situation of needing a task completed with not enough time means I must go into stress and frustration. So what I have done now is worked in stopping that pattern: When I find myself in a situation where there is limited time to do a certain task – I stop the reaction. I stop the frustration and stress and breath and be here in the moment.

This tool can be applied in many situations in life. If you have a pattern/habit that you would like to stop you need to write a new script for yourself that you can replace the current behavior. If you do not change the pattern then it will simply continue for the rest of your life – I Do no not want to live with this particular pattern anymore so I choose to stop it.

Have a look in your life and see where you live out patterns/habits/behaviors and know that you do have the power to stop and change yourself.

Day 253 - A New Disorder discovered: Calling everything a disorder…

 

 

“Othello Syndrome is a psychiatric disorder where a person is convinced their partner is being unfaithful - but with very little, if any, proof to confirm their fears.The name is derived from Shakespeare’s Othello, who killed his wife Desdemona after suspecting her infidelity. The condition presents itself as jealous and controlling behaviour and sometimes violence - but the two main characteristics are delusions and obsessions.In men the jealousy tends to focus around sexual infidelity, whereas in women it may centre around emotional betrayal.Treatment includes antidepressant and antipsychotic medication and/or therapy.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2829757/Lie-Jealous-woman-forced-fianc-lie-detector-test-time-came-home-married-him.html#ixzz3JGJKu0Mo

In the article the woman has delusional jealousy where she believes the guy is having an affair even though he is not. This is labeled as a disorder called Othello Syndrome. Some time ago a read an article of guy who always procrastinates, went to a psychologist who “diagnosed” him with chronic procrastination – calling it an disorder. Why is it that we call somebody who procrastinates or is insanely jealous as having a disorder?

It is like we have defined ourselves as perfect beings and whenever something does not fit into that idea it is called a disorder. It is not a disorder – calling it a disorder is basically saying that it’s not the persons doing. It’s the person’s fault that they are jealous or procrastinate, it is the disorders fault and there is nothing you can do about it. It is like a complete abdication of self-responsibility.

The truth is that these things are all created by us. We create the jealousy and allow it to exist with us. WE are the ones responsible. We cannot label it as a disorder, because then we basically say that it’s not our doing and that we have no control over it and will have to live with it for the rest of our lives.

Humans are not perfect – we make mistakes and to stupid things sometimes. It’s not a disorder – it’s being human. It is up to us to take self responsibly for the mistakes and things we create within ourselves and stop it. I don’t even want to know how the world will be once we call everything a disorder and refuse to take responsibly for it. I can you tell you the psychology industry will be making even more profits making everybody pill poppers.

So let us stop calling everything a disorder and take self-responsibility for what is going on within ourselves. The fact remains that we create these things in ourselves: anger, jealousy, , depression etc. And we have the power to undo it so that we do not have to live with it for the rest of our lives.

Day 252 - Why so Stubborn?

Stubborn word Definition:

Having or showing dogged determination not to change one's attitude or position on something, especially in spite of good reasons to do so.
 
Have you ever had these moments in life where you dealt with people being absolutely stubborn in every sense of the word? And try as you might, no matter what you said or to show the person did not want to see what you were saying despite the facts clearly being there. I had a few of those, dealing with very stubborn people. And I could not understand why.

Have you ever had these moments in life where you had to deal with a person who insisted with absolute certainty that you said something, but you were sure you did not? And despite the fact that the person had clear evidence you refused to acknowledge that you did say it. Then afterwards you remembered you did in fact say it… I had a few of those as well.

So here are two events showing the same thing from the stubborn person and the other pointing thing out. The problem with Stubborn is that you refuse to listen to anything the other person shows you and believe you are the only person that is right in that particular moment no matter what the person says or shows. It’s an “I am right, you are wrong” thing.

When do you know when you are being stubborn? It starts with a reaction to what the other person said or showed; it’s like taking it personally and then you immediately go into a defensive position. So now you have this irritation and frustration building inside yourself and the only to defend yourself is to not believe a word the other person is saying and stick to you being right no matter what.

Now there is another dimension – being stubborn with yourself. Sounds silly but we all have these inner wars where we see a point within ourselves that needs to change, but then we go into being stubbornness and hold to that point, refusing to let it go or consider other options


When you do find yourself in this position the best thing you can do for yourself is to stop it. Stop and consider for a moment that the other person is trying to assist you and that what they are saying might actually be right. Look at the information without judgment and without taking it personally to access if what is being said is true or not. If you stick to being Stubborn then nothing is going to change. All you are doing harming the relationship you have with the other person and giving up an opportunity to better yourself.

So Next time ask yourself – Why so Stubborn? What’s the point? Is it is really worth it?
Now there is another dimension – being stubborn with yourself.

Day 251: "I Wish I Could just get Away from it all"

I’m sure many are feeling this or have felt like this in some point in their lives. There comes moments where you look at your life or the world and inside yourself scream for somebody or something to get you out of here – to take you away from your current situation to somewhere better. Where you hope and wish you could spread wings and just fly away – far away to a place where the grass is greener.
Today I found myself wishing for this when I was going through the latest news – a moment where I had thought to myself how great it would be to be able to get away from it all, to some paradise planet where all these terrible things do not exist. And at the same time I kind of chuckled, because even if it was possible for me to “get away from it all”, the terrible things will still exist. So even if am “away” from it I does not mean the bad things stop. I think the saying goes: “Out of sight, Out of Mind”.
After that I laughed, because it occurred to me that this is actually what we all are doing currently in the world. We only focus on our own lives, our own families, our own immediate environment and only deal with things that affect us directly – that in itself is a form of escapism, because we distance ourselves from all the bad things in this world. We shove it as far away as possible from our minds so that we do not have to worry about it: Children captured and trained to be soldiers? At least that is not happening here…
  We all live in our own safety bubbles. Unfortunately not everybody has a bubble that is safe. I am now 27 years old and have not yet seen any improvement with the state of world, despite the fact that Christianity is the top religion in the world. And I'm tired of waiting for it. time to break free from that bubble. The main problem is the bubble – we will only act if it affects us directly. Once we all realize that the earth is actually one big bubble and we are all in it – then we will see great change. Let’s make sure that solution comes sooner rather than later.

Day 250: The Creator...

 

Here I will start looking at what meaning the word creator has within me and my experience with this word throughout my life and how I have defined myself according to this word and thus lived my life according to this.

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to see the word creator as a powerful being or life force that directs and controls and created everything in the universe and thus believe that I have no power or responsibility.

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to see creator as something that is superior/more than me

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to see creator as something I can never be based on beliefs and ideas I accepted and allowed from religion.

I forgive myself that I have not accepted and allowed myself to investigate and see for myself what is possible and not instead of accepting what is believed on face value.

I forgive myself that I have not accepted and allowed myself to take self-responsibility for myself and my actions/deeds/thoughts and instead make something outside myself responsible like a creator/god or lifeforce.

I forgive myself that I have not accepted and allowed myself to realize that I am the one living this life – that I am the one who feels, creates emotions, have thoughts/backchats and live through choices made and not some other higher being or entity that directs everything, thus when shit hits the fan I cannot blame anything else but myself, because I am the one responsible for me.

I forgive myself that I have not accepted and allowed myself to see myself as a creator of my life – that It has been me all along that chose to be who I am today and not some higher being/entity/god/lifeforce, and how I refused to accept this fact because it would mean I have to take responsibility for myself and stop blaming and holding something outside myself accountable.

I forgive myself that I have not accepted and allowed myself to realize that by believing myself to not be responsible for my life I will not do anything to change it

I forgive myself that I have not accepted and allowed myself to realize that If I am the one who has been directing my life up to now and I am not satisfied in the direction it is going then I am the one who needs to change.

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to want to place responsibility outside myself by creating the belief and idea that there is something else directing life that is bigger than me, because then I don’t have to take self-responsibility and when things go wrong I can blame someone else.

I forgive myself that I have not accepted and allowed myself to realize that to believe there is a greater force directing life then I believe everything is the way it is supposed to be and thus I would do nothing to change the way of the world and everything would stay the same

I commit myself to stop the belief and idea that there is a great powerful being/entity/force that directs and controls everything in the universe and my life that is vastly superior to me – instead I realize that I am the creator of my life and thus I am the one directing my life and chose to be who I am today based on what I have accepted and allowed

I commit myself to investigate and push through my perceived limitations to see what is in fact practically possible in this world and in my life. There is no way for me to know unless I give it my all to the best of my ability

I commit myself to stop blaming something outside myself for the events that happens to me – instead I realize that nothing happens to me, but that I am the one creating everything that goes on within my life and thus there is nobody to blame. Within this I commit myself to become self-responsible and direct my life to sort it out, because I am responsible for it.

I commit myself to realize that I run away from self-responsibility and justify it with the excuse that there is a god/being/entity/force out there with a plan directing everything thus everything is the way it is supposed to be and I must not and cannot change it – Instead I commit myself to stop this excuse and justification and stand up to change myself and this world by doing everything I am able to