Every morning and every night most of us, if we care at all about our teeth and gums, brush our teeth.  If you’re like me, I always marvel at that innocent elegant device called the  flip top cap to the  toothpaste tube.  Instead of the cap detaching from the tube and becoming forever lost like one mitten in the snow, much less experiencing the inconvenience from massive quantities of tooth paste winding its way around your sink, the counter and any other number of places that a tube could get knocked about during your morning stupor, it simply flips open for you to squeeze out just enough for your brush and then can easily be flipped shut before the tube even leaves your hand. In fact, you want to flip it shut. It feels good and right to do a one-handed flip shut with the tooth paste because it may be the only thing that you can flip shut with one hand all the days of your life and now you can do it every morning and night. But I digress.  It’s amazing that since 1886 when Dr. Lucias Sheffield invented the first tube of toothpaste all the way up until 2006 when Howard Wright filed his patent for the toothpaste flip top cap, we, the people of clean teeth, have been living with the inconvenience of tubes of paste and all that entails for well over a century.

It took us over 100 years of using something at least 2x a day for every day of our lives to recognize a solution that was right in front of us. Thanks  be to you Howard Wright.

This reminds me of the great comedy of 1963 called, “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World” with so many of the great actors and comedians of the sixties. The premise of the story is that a dying man’s last words which are of a buried treasure under a “Big W”.  Hijinks ensue and off we go for a wild and madcap jaunt in a race to find the Big W.  For those of you who may have not seen this movie yet I will spare you from revealing the end but suffice it to say that the Big W was right in front of them.  Art mimicking life or life mimicking art you know we do either all the time and then tend to make fun of ourselves for not seeing the obvious.

Thought for the Day:  What solution elegant yet simple solution is right in front of you just waiting to be recognized?

Helpful Hint for Being Human:  When we are ready to see or hear the answer, we will.  Asking for the help to recognize the answers in front of us is a first step.

Several years ago one of the members of our Toastmaster’s Group gave a speech that told the audience that not only do we have brain cells in our brains (of course!) but we also have brain cells in our hearts and guts as well.

I’ve since learned that he was almost (but not quite) right about that.  According Steven Novella, M.D. in the NeurologicaBlog, what many have actually confused is that brain cells and or neurons are the same. According to Dr. Novella they are not because of where and how the cells are located and most importantly how they function. Dr. Novella says, “There is a certain flavor of misconception that occurs when a cultural belief intersects a scientific factoid that superficially seems to support the belief. A powerful meme emerges to the effect of – science now proves what we have known/believed all along. Gurus latch onto this idea to provide apparent credibility to their mysticism. The media eats it up.”  Although I am not a doctor nor a student of neurology I can understand what Dr. Novella is saying and concur with his information.

With that said.  To me, our paying attention to the cells that communicate information to us kinesthetically is the most important piece to take away rather than whether those cells are brain cells (so they directly interact with our thinking brain) or neurons that relay information within our body to keep it running smoothly.  W H A T E V E R.   In my mind, the most important thing is for us to pay attention to our minds and bodies and listen to them. Information is being sent to us in all kinds of ways by our body all the time.

I would encourage Dr. Novella and other scientific thinkers to embrace the idea that, as he terms it, “mystical metaphors” and science can sit quite comfortably with each other in the same space.  It’s all about the language of how we communicate what we are experiencing to each other. So, if Dr. Novella and I were to get into a friendly chat over a cup of proper tea, I wouldn’t say to him what are your heart or mind thinking  and conveying to you but rather, do you notice if your body expresses feeling in a certain locale (heart expanding or constricting, guts tightening or loosening) when you experience certain incidents in your day-to-day life.  All of this information is connected and useful and worthy of finding a common road for sharing information with each other.

What is your brain and body telling you?

Thought for the Day:  Could you be preventing an interesting idea from taking root in your awareness about the world around you because of how it is conveyed to you?

Helpful Hint for Being Human:  We humans (dare I say all life on this planet Earth) are a glorious combination of so many things that we still have yet to uncover much less discover.  Be willing to keep an open mind for learning new ideas and find ways to transfer what you’ve learned that inspires other to consider what you have to say.

One of my favorite quotes by Light Worker Paxton Robey is, “There is nothing outside of us but a mirror.” And if you’ve ever delved into the study of our minds and something as basic as how we see things via those instruments we call eyeballs that sit in the front of our face and relay messages back to the computer we call our brains, the easier it is to see the point of view that really all that we see, hear and experience outside of ourselves (whatever ourself is) is simply reflections back to ourselves of what we are experiencing.

So, gentle reader, why on Earth would I begin an article entitled, “Our Elderly: The Last Unappreciated Frontier?” with a paragraph about brains and mirror reflections?  Because as my brain sees and interprets how much of humanity–at least the culture in which I live today—views the elderly either not all, or, if at all, in a very shallow insipid low waters of perception along the shoreline of our thinking and feeling minds.  Our elderly really are an untapped gold mine just waiting for us to see beyond the mirror reflections of our beliefs (or disbeliefs).

Let me ask you to consider this, according to www.usgs.gov up to 60% of the human adult body is water.  Can you imagine that we silly humans spend so much time worried, fearful, concerned, fretting, and anxious about how the outside surface (skin) of the vessel we call our body (which is more than half composed of water) looks that we turn away and dismiss that last unappreciated frontier of humanity which is full of wisdom, perspective, humor, stories, love, answers, ideas and more. In fact, for many of us, exploring that frontier could be as simple as having a conversation with the next elderly person who crosses your path and being curious about what you may discover.

Thought for the day:  What prejudices, judgements and beliefs might you harbor way down below that is preventing you from surfacing the overflow of wealth from the elderly in your world?

Helpful Hint for being human: We’re ALL going to be part of the elderly someday (unless we check out before hand). Can you imagine how fulfilling it would/will be too be not only respected, honored and appreciated for living a life well-done but to be asked to give our every last drop of experience to help others coming up behind us on their life path.

Is there a place that you frequent often to get (written) information about the world around you ?  Are you confident that the writing is honest, ethical, fact-checked and not to mention well-written?  So much has happened over the last 5-10 years in the world of journalism and reporting, what with magazines and papers trimming staff or shutting down much less the onslaught of millions of wanna-be-reporters blogging their opinions, that I’m not as confident about the written word as I used to be.

And, in my humble opinion, I come from a background of having worked at one of the most well-written and fact-checked national magazines, TexasMonthly (TM).  Some of the U.S.’ best journalists either cut their teeth at the magazine or were regular contributors such as Lawrence Wright, Stephen Harrigan,  Joe Nick Patoski, Mimi Schwartz and Skip Hollandsworth to name a few.  For every piece written in TM, its readers could be confident that extensive and exhaustive research was done.  Facts were checked and re-checked.  And each of these writers have a gift of pulling the reader deep into their story, making us grab on to the edges of the pages and hang on for the ride all the way to the satisfying end.  Many of the writers who I knew from my time at TexasMonthly continue to write and also enjoy multi-faceted brilliant careers in screenwriting, broadcasting, speaking and teaching.

My hope is that there is a crop of writers out there who have the talent, wisdom, tenacity and perseverance to investigate and report back to us in an engaging and well-written manner like these great writers who have gone before them.  The world needs writers who can sift through the myriad of noise out there and focus in on what is happening so that they can help us to understand our world better.

Thought for the Day:  Where do you go to get information about what is happening in the world? Do you believe and trust it? Why?

Helpful Hints for Being Human: Recognizing the greatness around us through the written word can help us find the greatness within ourselves.

Most of us probably believe we at least know what our opinions are about most things in life and also feel pretty confident about how we see things.  Yet, if you’re like me, given the right circumstances you might find out that you don’t know more than you realized you didn’t know.  How does that saying go from college philosophy classes,  something along the lines of “we know what we know” and maybe “we know what we don’t know” but only if we’re really paying attention will “we not know what we don’t know.”

You can imagine my amazement while working on a social media evaluation project to discover that I have many more definite opinions than I realized.  Perhaps this opportunity revealed itself because in this project instead of weaving through various social media only to land upon that which really sparks my interest I am required to spend time on each post and to evaluate them.  For example, because I am such a huge animal lover and nature lover you would think (I certainly did!) that I would want to watch or read every video or post that had animals involved wouldn’t you?  As it turns out, that part of me that is all about justice really has some definite opinions about what type of animal videos, memes, jpgs are out there and specifically what is okay and what is not. Like a video going around that shows a mama giraffe giving birth in the zoo with all the people on the other side of her cage watching her walk around with her baby’s hooves sticking out and even a zookeeper following her with a video camera as she goes through the birthing process.  It is true that if I happened upon the same situation whilst on an African Safari (photography of course) and I could observe a giraffe giving birth like this without being obvious (think Jane Goodall) I would watch and be fascinated but this incident struck me as being particularly garish since this normally wild beast was imprisoned and because it was surrounded by predators (yes dear people, in the wild, certainly around such a vulnerable time we would be considered predators I’m almost certain) the video was painful to even just see the still of what it was without even viewing the content.

Thought for the Day: Wonder if something like social media, which many of us may judge to be just hitting the surface of life, when looked upon more deeply can help us to learn unexpected things about ourselves and others?

Helpful Hints for Being Human: It’s a good thing for us to open up our minds and hearts for new information about ourselves and others because it’s possible that there may be a whole lot out there that we don’t know that we don’t know!

I’m sure someone (probably many someones) have come up with a more elegant way (see IONS article by Michael A. Jawer) of describing this particular manner of extra sensing that I have, but as my mind is want to do, my imagination has its own unique way of visualizing what it feels like when some extra sensory something “pops” open inside of me . The pop usually happens when I’m talking with someone about a person, pet or thing they care about.  In a matter of seconds, I feel flooded with a “knowing” about the subject of their concern and also a perspective about how said subject experiences life.  Thank God this usually happens with someone who knows me pretty well so that my sudden 3-D understanding doesn’t freak them out. Still, there have been a few times when it’s happened with someone who I don’t know very well. Like the time members of a group I belonged to had gotten together for a meeting to turn over responsibilities from older to newer members of the group. During the comfortable, easy chit-chat at the beginning, one of the Dad’s began talking about his son and spontaneously I was able to add in affirmations about what he was saying and include his son’s perspective.  It’s a good thing this Dad shares my same faith tradition and has a fairly open mind because he was pretty amazed that I “knew” his son so well without really knowing him.  Call it what you may, but I think that’s an example of when my pop-open-window ESP goes into effect.

Most likely there is all kinds of evidence that can support whatever is the most comfortable theory you have for explaining this phenomena of knowing.  Use whatever works best for you. The point of my sharing this with you is not only because I think it’s way freaking cool and fun when it happens but also for me to remember and in turn help you to remember that it’s important for us to ask permission first if we may share what we are sensing.  Really, it’s just good manners and might help you to not freak out others as often as you might otherwise.

Thought for the Day:  All kinds of special “gifts” come to us and can be used through us to help ourselves and others.  Hopefully, we can recognize them as gifts so that we can respect them for what they are and their effect upon ourselves and others.

Helpful Hint for Being Human:  We have just begun to crawl towards the edge of our awareness of what it means to be human.  Keep an open mind and embrace the everyday miracles of being us.

Before any of you ask let me say,  no I am not a Quantum Physicist,  but I have read, experienced and studied about energy and humans from BIO-100 onwards through reading various articles by scientists and or researchers such as those at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (see Ken Smith ) and I’ve put two and two together that we’re all made up of some form of energy.  When I speak of energy what I am referring to is that quality of  our being that communicates so much information whether it be at the molecular or quark level.

In other words, that “spark of our being.”

What is making me think of such a heady topic as the one about humans being made of energy you may wonder Dear Reader? Social Media.  Or even more what I have experienced over and over again through digital communication that I have not heard or read very many people talk about and that is the “energy” that can be picked up digitally.  I have no idea how that works (yet, but I’m investigating so please do share with me if you have some info on this) but I believe we humans do pick up and give energetic signals through our various digital media.  Think of it as being a very sophisticated communication tool that is expressed from us energetically,  at some particle level perhaps, and that each of us are constantly giving and receiving many times throughout the day. Hmmm.  Sure does cause me to pause and wonder about how I respond and react digitally.  And about that digital thumbprint. I bet someday, somewhere an AI will be able to “read” what I’m writing about here today and we’ll all just be amazed at how much we didn’t know about ourselves.

Thought for the Day: If we are all made of energy and if energy weaves in and out through various properties in ourselves and all that is material then perhaps we really are all connected and if so, how are we disciplining ourselves for this interaction and connection with each other?

Helpful Hint for Being Human: Breathe deeply and be still with all that is, there you will find peace within the surrender and acceptance of who you are.

Okay, I admit it. I’m more of a seeing the glass as half full kind of gal than seeing it as half empty. I’m like this partly because if I allowed myself to think about the glass being half empty then my mind would pile on so many implications and complications, such as why do we even have to put water in a glass or why are we even measuring water in the first place,  that it is just better for me to see the beauty and possibility of all things rather than the negative aspects.  Similarly, on days like today when the temps are not cold but also not warm and it is raining–which is a good thing in a place prone to drought– but it’s a drenching constant rain which can get really monotonous over an extended period of time, that causes me to want to find something positive to focus my perspective.  For example, witnessing how beautiful Wisteria is during that brief but special time period in Texas when it grows rampant and lush.  I especially enjoy spotting naturally blooming Wisteria in unexpected places such as growing all over a dead tree’s branches in the middle of a semi-dry creek bed.

Thought for the Day: What special snapshot of life will you keep your mind open for so that you can allow yourself to stumble upon and notice today?

Helpful Hint for Being Human: The way I see our thinking process and minds is that the more aware we become in regards to our thoughts, the more we can direct our thoughts to places that bring us peace. I mean there’s plenty of opportunity for life to torture us as it is without us contributing to it with reckless thinking!

A good friend’s father passed away yesterday at the well-lived age of 90.  Ever since her mom’s passing a couple of years ago her father has been “ready to leave this mortal coil.”  He was a good kind man who was loved very much by his daughter and their family. I will always remember her birthday party from a handful of years ago when her Dad and significant other conspired to create a birdhouse painting party. Her father made several simple yet lovely birdhouses for the party participants to decorate and paint which my friend then hung all throughout their xeriscaped gardens.

Out of respect and general agreement for her father’s wishes there will be no funeral or memorial service.  Somehow this makes me feel a little bit closer to her Dad because although he was such a gentle soul he was also a practical soul and after seeing what his family went through with his wife’s passing he did not want to impose more on them then absolutely necessary with his passing.  Sure, if they want to have a remembrance of him during the burgeoning and budding of spring in their garden with the swapping of stories full of wisdom and humor that was fine with him but nothing that cost them money or angst.

Thought for the Day:  Since birthing, dying and death are all part of the process of life why not discuss these things when we’re coherent and can get clarity about what we think and believe with each other before a stressful experience.  There’s nothing as gratifying for loved ones who are in mourning as the ease of finding important documents and the clear understanding of your wishes to say the least about having faced, embraced, discarded or amended core beliefs well before the end.

Helpful Hint for Being Human: We ALL experience being born, living and dying so why shy away from what the here and now and what the great beyond means to us now? There is, after all, no time like the present.

Hello! It’s been awhile since I’ve written in this spot.   Welcome back as we enter the year 2015.  Yesterday I committed with fellow writer Cyndi Hughes that I’d start this blog up again and write every day for the next 365 days.

Because I’m on the thick part of the tail end of the Boomers my perspective will be that of a Baby Boomer but really I’m writing to YOU, dear reader, that unique part of you who sees the wry sometimes unsettling part of being human in all its messy beautiful awkwardness.  So let’s gather around, warm our hands by the fire and get started.  I would love to hear from you so please do share your insights, comments, humor, wisdom and musings!   

Thought for the day:  There seems to be several writer friends who have been swimming around in various social media pools for a few years and are sick, sick, sick of it!  Are you? What are you noticing or experiencing?  A few of the digital publicists I know are tired of the b.s. of it all. They are burnt out from working with clients, especially the ones who tout themselves as being spiritual leaders for a better humanity, who (in real life) act like complete and total dicks to everyone around them (family, friends and employees).

Helpful Hint for Being Human: Don’t believe everyone’s B.S. and definitely don’t believe in your own!  There is one part of me that takes comfort in the fact that “we are all connected” and then another that likes being unique from others which means I have to somehow accept that I am just one of many unique beings.  The comfort I can take from this is that although we humans can sometimes be apathetic and indifferent en masse when we choose to shake ourselves awake we can use our unique perspective to take a look around and choose how we want to experience life.