impact over interest Archives - Page 5 of 9

20 Impactful Pauses to Ponder

June 11, 2014 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

In that convenient moment between stimulus and response…

the pause…

it might make sense to consider the impact of your actions…

especially in the following 20 impactful pauses to ponder…

1. Before buying that thing that you really don’t need, pause to consider the impact of how material can never impart true happiness…

2. Before throwing that recyclable refuse into the garbage can, pause to consider the impact of a world where landfills dominate the landscape…

3. Before consuming that manufactured food full of growth hormones, pesticides and other chemicals, pause to consider the impact of fake foods on our planet and our children, not to mention your own body…

4. Before taking on more debt to buy that SUV gas-guzzling behemoth, pause to consider how it might be contributing to more oil inspired wars and an overheated atmosphere…

5. Before mortgaging the better part of your life to build that 5,000 square foot mansion that will make the Joneses green with envy, pause to consider that most people in this world live in homes smaller than your kitchen and the impact your money could otherwise have on making life better for others…

6. Before buying that huge rock that will manipulate your bride to be to offer her body and her life to your will, pause to consider the impact of those who sweated and died in African conflict zones to make that gesture possible…

7. Before buying that pair of sneakers with your favorite logo, or that piece of technology that you must have because everyone else has one, pause to consider the impact on the lives in the overseas sweat shops where those items are produced for your materialistic pleasure…

8. Before deciding on a career that has as its primary motive, making lots of money, pause to consider the impact that your life could have if the objective were instead improving the lives of others…

9. Before deciding to join the military, pause to consider the impact of dedicating a good chunk of your life, or even more, to an industry whose main objective is to kill people and blow things up…

10. Before you snort that line of coke, or take that one drink too many, or smoke that next pack of cancer sticks, pause to consider the impact that it has in shortening your time and productivity on this earth…

11. Before you stroke that check as your tithe to the local church that tows the far-right line that absurdly proclaims global warming is just a leftist hoax, pause to consider the impact on the planet of continued political denial of an incontrovertible fact that threatens us all…

12. Before you pull that lever, push that button, or punch out that hole in the voting booth, pause to consider the impact of potentially empowering the powerful to do more harm to people and planet…

13. Before you spend another day working for a company whose only real reason to exist is to make a profit for the financial elite with total disregard to the effects of its actions on people and planet, pause to consider the impact of your daily contribution to this travesty…

14. Before you give that homeless person a wide berth because you just don’t want to be bothered with another’s neediness, pause to consider the impact that lending a bit of help might have on this fellow human being’s day or life…

15. Before you schedule that next luxury vacation to the Mexican Riviera, or Bahamas, or some similar place where indulgence is the focal point, pause to consider the impact of a vacation in which cultural immersion might open your eyes to the wider world that you inhabit…

16. Before you tell that racially oriented joke among friends that you know will get a laugh, pause to consider the impact of thinking in a way that considers some humans inferior to others solely due to the color of their skin…

17. Before you post that politically charged comment to Facebook, Twitter or your social network of choice, pause to consider the impact of what you are saying or thinking really has on the Big US…

18. Before you walk out your door in a bad mood once again, pause to consider the impact that your smile and kind words can have to brighten the day of another human…

19. Before you go to sleep at night, pause to consider the impact that your life has had that day on bettering the condition of not just yourself, but people and planet as a whole…

20. Every day pause to consider the impact of your life…

we’re all depending on it.

image credit: striatic via Compfight cc

An Exposé of Evil

June 8, 2014 by costaricaguy 1 Comment

This week the world celebrates the 70th anniversary of D-Day, or the allied forces invasion of Normandy, on the coast of Nazi-occupied France.

It is inspiring when you consider what was done that day. Evil was defeated, or at least a bold step in the direction of defeating it was taken.

And what evil was that?

Nazism, or National Socialism, a virulent strain of fascism that placed the interests of one particular race of people, Aryans, over everyone else, while also directing blame for most of societies woes on another, Semites.

I talk a lot against war in general, and the military-industrial complex that has made war more of an economic strategy than a sometimes necessary means of combatting real evil.

But in that particular case, it was a war against evil, pure and simple.

Not so sure about all the wars that have occurred since then, but that one, yes.

Now we like to pat ourselves on the back in the U.S. about “our” victory in that war. But did you know that the Russian nation suffered the loss of over 20,000,000 in the conflict?

That’s about three times the population of New York City. To put it in further perspective, losses for Great Britain and the U.S. combined were less than 1,000,000.

That was indeed a “world” war against the idea that this evil philosophy could conceivably direct the remaining course of civilization.

Thinking about D-Day while watching various events on TV commemorating the invasion inspired me to post an exposé of evil.

There’s plenty of human behaviours that we consider bad, but not necessarily evil. No, evil is on another level than say your run of the mill misdemeanour, or even masturbation (despite past religious efforts to have that practice so categorized).

As for me, I would tend to consider as evil, the following five, and unfortunately all too common, human behaviours…

Exclusion – This can take many forms, like, well, Nazism. They wanted to exclude everyone else from the right to life. Why? So that they could have all of what was left to themselves. Self-interest run completely amok…which is exactly where exclusion can take you if you follow the practice to such extremes.

Exclusion exerts an irresistible appeal to self-interest because it plays to the notion that we are somehow more deserving of life’s pleasures than the rest of them.

The spark may originate on the playground, but can grow to much greater proportions if left unchecked.

Hatred – Often inflamed by exclusionary tendencies. We hate the very right of others to exist, or at least exist on the same level as us. Again, usually a result of a sense of self-interest that has been inflated to dangerous proportions.

Greed – Kinda falls right in line with the others mentioned. Why do we tend to be greedy? Because of self-interest…placing it above and beyond the needs of anyone else. That’s pretty much the jest of it.

Indifference – When you adopt the ideas of exclusion, hatred and greed it becomes almost natural to be indifferent. Why worry about another’s plight when I have my own to tend to? It’s an exclusionary way to view the world…often inspired by the intense nationalism that makes the small us the only one worth worrying about.

Cruelty – The means by which the above are often implemented and experienced by others is in the form of cruelty. Why are people cruel? How can it even make sense? Well, I guess for some there is a perverse sexual appeal, but in general it becomes quite easy once self-interest is so inflated that the feelings, physical, emotional and otherwise, of others are inconsequential.

The horrible happenings of Abu Ghraib are a case in point.

Religion prefers to lay the blame for evil at the feet of an actual sentient being…the same one that Flip Wilson used to blame for his mischief (if you’re old enough to remember). One that is behind the scenes prodding us to our evil acts with his proverbial pitchfork.

But could there be a more human derived common thread running through the above five actions that might explain evil?

Well, I should mention one in particular that seems to reoccur…

self-interest.

That is, self-interest that is elevated far above the actual impact that our actions have on people and planet.

The Nazis certainly were blinded in that manner…to such an extent that it took a war that claimed some 60 million lives to overcome their bigoted blindness.

So, I believe that the idea of impact over interest is an important one for us to remember this week of the 70th anniversary of that bold and courageous step against evil.

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Squirrel-like Behaviour

May 20, 2014 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

One activity I enjoy even more than writing in my own blogs is reading those of others.

Some blogs act like portals into the work of other artists…other than the blog author him or herself…

One of my favorite blogs of that nature is Maria Popova’s delightful and informative blog, Brain Pickings.

I ran across a Popova post this morning that really resonated.

It presented an interview by Debbie Millman of prolific writer and connection age guru, Seth Godin.

Seth was talking about releasing ourselves from industrial age brainwashing…

and presenting our unique art…

an act that fully engages the lizard brain and scares the hell out of most of us.

That part of our brain evolved from the days where acting “special” would quickly earn you a meeting with the chief, who would caution you to bring it in line, or get kicked out of the tribe into the path of the saber-tooth tiger.

Seth presented an interesting analogy that suggested that living according to the norms of the industrial age is akin to “squirrel-like behaviour”…

You know those squirrels…

they live up in the trees and gather acorns…

never really caring about the world below them, or even about other squirrels…

I guess that’s where the phrase, “squirrel away” comes from.

Now, I don’t mean to pick on squirrels so much…

They’re delightful furry little creatures…

and really aren’t doing anything wrong or immoral…

like all animals, they’re simply acting on instinct.

But we humans?

Well, we really don’t have that excuse.

Now, how is acting according to the norms of the industrial age, squirrel-like behaviour, you ask?

Well, according to those norms, we might start out as artists from an early age, but we quickly learn to tow the line and suppress those nutty notions.

Another interesting part of the interview is where they discuss the idea that if you ask for a show of hands in a first-grade class as to how many would identify themselves as artists…

most would probably raise their hands.

By the 3rd grade, that number would have largely diminished and by…

high school, no one dares to raise their hand…

well, maybe that one guy or girl in the back with no friends and weird clothes.

So, we start out as artists, then we “grow up” to become responsible adults, get an education, a job, do that for the next 40 years and then shed the mortal coil.

And we’re eulogized as a decent, hard-working, responsible squirrel…

I mean person.

It’s all about squirrelling away a life for ourselves.

Without giving a whole lot of thought about the ongoing legacy of our lives…

its impact.

Seth’s ongoing mantra is that in order to do that, we have to become artists again…

and the connection age in which we now live gives us a grand opportunity to do so.

And that’s really what this blog is all about.

It’s about getting you to stop the squirrel-like behaviour…

to be impact mindful…

and that really is about living the life of an artist.

Yesterday, I posted something that insinuated the possibility of a vast conspiracy by the powers that be to persuade us to act normal…

Do I really believe that?

Well, sort of.

You see according to the industrial age norms…

normal is the squirrel.

Now, there are exceptions…

and those, we historically have either celebrated, institutionalized or incarcerated.

But for the rest of us…

the life of the squirrel is supposed to be our destiny…

we even give it an inspirational name…

the american dream.

But all this is according to…

who?

Who created those norms in the first place and why am I destined to live by them?

Damn good question.

Maybe this normal life into which we have been inculcated since first grade is really the proverbial bill of goods that we’ve been suckered into buying.

I’m hoping that this blog could be the inspiration for at least someone to refuse to engage in any more squirrel-like behaviour.

Come down from the tree and live for impact.

In other words…

be a human being in all its unique and vast creative capabilities.

image credit: Tomi Tapio via Compfight cc

Breaking the Cycle of Consumption

May 19, 2014 by costaricaguy 1 Comment

The cycle of consumption that predominates modern life on our planet sort of goes like this…

Stuff is built to break…

by people (well, more and more, by machines)…

who buy and break stuff…

and then build, buy and break more stuff…

and on and on it goes.

Under a capitalistic society, capital, in its various forms, fuels the cycle and keeps it running…

it’s supposed to be allocated efficiently…

by the so-called “invisible hand“…

but it’s not.

That’s because there’s another system superimposed over the real word of building, buying and breaking stuff…

it’s called the financial system.

It’s sort of like the matrix really.

It consists of robotic-like slot machine players who gamble on various outcomes that might or might not take place in the underlying real cycle of consumption world.

All for the benefit of a select chosen few who are allowed in on this game.

And boy do they ever benefit…

at the expense of the real world (as we learned in 2008).

Let me pose an interesting question…did houses exist before mortgages?

And, if so, how?

But I digress.

The point of this post is supposed to be about breaking the cycle of consumption.

Specifically, by implementing the three R’s…

Recycle
Reuse
Repair

We all know about recycling right?

It’s that pain in the ass thing that bleeding heart liberal leaning environmental wackos (like me) do to save the planet.

Okay, granted it is a little bit of a pain to do it right. But if you look into the benefits to the planet from doing so, you’ll see that it’s worth it.

And if you’re going to recycle, put a little thought and effort into it.

First, make sure you know where your recycled trash is going and that it’s actually being, you know, recycled.

Second, separate it out yourself and clean stuff out a little before throwing it into the appropriate bin.

Someone has to sort through it all and it’s being respectful to those folks that you do this the right way.

Reducing your contribution to the landfill is a great way to increase your contribution to the salvation of our planet.

But even better than recycling is reusing stuff.

That’s especially true when it comes to plastic. Our insatiable consumption of plastic has tremendous environmental costs.

But the cool thing is that it’s easy to reuse plastic bags and bottles. They can be conveniently cleaned and repurposed for a whole variety of household activities.

And that keeps them out of the landfill (or, even better, the ocean) as well as reducing the need for so much of this oil-based material to begin with.

That might not make you a hero to the filthy oil-rich Saudi Sheikhs…or the Bush family…

but do you really care?

Lastly let’s talk about one of my personal favorite ways to break the cycle…

Repair.

We “Americans” don’t like to repair things…we want it new.

As soon as something breaks, time to discard it and buy a new one. Hell we don’t even wait for it to break most times…

we want the new model NOW.

Talk about perpetuating the cycle!

That’s why cars diminish in value drastically as soon as they’re driven off the sales lot…at least in the good ole U.S. of A.

Here in Costa Rica it’s a different story.

There are repair shops for just about everything. Mainly because folks can’t afford to buy new stuff imported from the primary sources of the world’s cycle of consumption.

That tends to give real people jobs to do here…and admirable ones at that.

For instance, here being a mechanic is a noble and well-paid (in Costa Rican terms) profession.

I’m still driving my trusty 2000 Mitsubishi Nativa. She runs like a clock…

well, most of the time.

And any time she gets the hiccups, I have my buddy Esteban (an ace mechanic who only knows how to drive a non-motorized bike…seriously) who comes right on over to my house and fixes her up.

I’m still using an “ancient” Iphone 3GS because any time it breaks, I have my repair guy downtown that fixes it right up.

You might be thinking, but is it economically feasible to do that. That is, doesn’t it cost more to fix than it does to just buy a new one…in the long run?

Maybe, but usually when we think that way we’re ignoring an important component of cost…the environmental cost that the cycle of consumption poses.

A cost that we are beginning to feel more and more in our day to day lives as the planet gets hotter…

and the weather weirder.

I really like the idea of hanging onto things…fixing them. They tend to develop sentimental value that way.

I appreciate them more.

The cycle of consumption is a cruel taskmaster. It enslaves us. It exerts a life-sucking stressful need to live to work rather than work to live.

Buying all that new stuff takes time and money…and years off our lives.

And by allowing it to dominate us in this way we are playing right into the hands of the matrix.

The corporatocrasy that is behind the scenes manipulating it all for the benefit of the chosen few.

You see, to fully and competitively participate in the cycle (which is the goal of the American Dream, right?), we need those mortgages, home equity loans and credit card debt…

and they love that!

They don’t care about the environment. When you’re a gazillionaire, there are personal solutions to all that…

or so they tend to delude themselves into thinking.

I mean if there’s ever a need and opportunity to move on to another planet and start the cycle all over again…

they’ll certainly get dibs on the reservations for those interplanetary flights.

Let’s break the cycle by all means available.

And the three R’s is one good place you can start.

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Space Invaders

May 16, 2014 by costaricaguy 2 Comments

Being one to often belabour a point…

I’m not quite finished with this idea of NO as at least one of the keys to lifelong success.

This all started with a recent post by Seth Godin, that was then tweeted and facebooked by Jonathan Fields…

I commented on Jonathan’s Facebook post where he shared Godin’s blog post…

and that ignited a somewhat heated conversation on the topic.

Virtually everyone agreed with Godin that the art of saying no is indeed an important one to cultivate.

I mean how can you disagree with Seth Godin…the greatest guru of the connection age?

Fellow blogger Tom Morkes took a bold stand and agreed with my alternative and I guess controversial viewpoint.

He’s a guy that used to jump out of helicopters for a living, so I take it he has some guts.

But upon further reflection, maybe my point was a bit off base.

And that’s because what Seth was getting at and what I’m trying to say, are like comparing apples to oranges.

I think what Seth Godin and Jonathan Fields are alluding to is the ability to say no as a key to efficiency in a business related endeavor…particularly an online one.

And certainly I would agree that the ability to focus on the important, while ignoring the not so, is important for business success.

It’s the old Pareto 80/20 principle at work.

But my gig is sort of the antithesis of all that.

In this blog you read about impact over interest…

about making economic success take the back seat to actions that will produce world changing impact.

“World changing” might mean the ability to enhance the life of a single stranger…

And I don’t believe that the art of no is functional towards that goal.

So, maybe Seth Godin and I are really talking about two different things?

The danger, as I see it, is that most folks probably don’t see it that way. They take no to extremes that extend way beyond just doing business…

they apply it to life in general.

You see we are infinitesimally small specks in this grand universe. Yet many of us act as if we are universes to ourselves…

closed universes.

We want to erect impenetrable force shields against all space invaders.

But it’s hard to have much, if any, real impact that way.

I think of the most dramatic impact mindfulness examples that have lived among us…

folks like Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

She allowed anyone and everyone into her universe. And we laud her for doing that…

but then we adopt the idea that WE shouldn’t.

I don’t really get it?

New Yorkers are especially known for their ability to do this. Fields lives in New York, so maybe that’s why he’s so “on-board” with the no idea.

Haven’t you ever seen examples where people are doing outrageously weird stuff on the busy streets of Manhattan and the folks just walk by without giving it a moment’s notice?

Their force shields activated and impenetrable…

But now really, is that the way to “experience” life?

The truth is that we are not universes unto ourselves. We are a common species riding a revolving spherical rock orbiting a singular sun…all contained within one of a gazillion universes.

We have a lot in common in that regard!

And I believe that this idea of NO as an art form ignores that fact.

Try opening up your universe by saying yes more often.

Let the space invaders in.

It might just be more impactful.

image credit: Alex Dram via Compfight cc

Self-Sustainability

May 15, 2014 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

I’ve written quite a bit over the years on the topic of sustainability. Much of my writing has concerned environmental sustainability and managing impacts in order to avoid ecological harm to the planet.

Here I want to twist that topic around a bit and point it back at ourselves…

with the idea of avoiding self-harm.

How can we live lives that help us to be more self sustainable and less reliant on others…

such as the phone company, electric company, bread, milk and cheese companies and other mass manufacturers of the shit we consume into our bodies on a regular basis?

Having more control over one’s life is a good thing.

I know that to be especially true in business. The more I can control, or at least exert a high degree of influence over, the better I can predict what will happen next and that’s always a good thing in any economic undertaking.

And I believe that principle also applies to the business of life.

In our quest for convenience and luxury I’m afraid we’ve ceded far too much control to corporations who are more concerned with “shareholder return” than “customer well-being.”

Examples can be found lurking right inside your fridge. Food that’s mass produced is full of stuff we don’t know is there…

and if we did (and the long-term effect it can have) we probably wouldn’t dare eat it.

So why not produce our own food?

Some time ago I got into organic gardening. The reason I did so is exactly in line with the topic of this post. To be more self-sustainable and less reliant on some profit motivated corporation to make sure I’m properly nourished.

Oh sure those huge carrots and strawberries in the produce section of Walmart look healthy, but they’re not. They’re grown in food factories that inject all manner of chemicals and pesticides to make growing them as efficient and profitable as possible.

And if you’ve ever tasted a piece of produce not so injected, you’d know that that Walmart stuff actually tastes like crap.

Mass production of food might be good for the profit and loss statement’s bottom line, but it ain’t so good for your personal bottom line….the one upon which your ass is squarely placed.

So I tried to learn how to grow my own food, first with organic gardening.

Organic gardening is great as long as (1) you have a place to do it, (2) time to do it and (3) you don’t plan to move any time soon (organic gardens are not very portable).

But because I really had none of the above conditions met very well, I migrated to another form of self-production of healthy food…

hydroponic gardening.

When I first starting researching it I came across all these complicated systems of doing hydroponic gardening that were expensive and seemed to require an engineering degree from MIT to implement.

That is until I moved to Perez Zeledon and stumbled into my now good-friend, David Picado.

David, who’s sort of a tico whiz kid, took a course offered by INA (which is the Costa Rican free education system for ticos to learn all sort of trades and skills) in hydroponic gardening and then started his own little business constructing and installing personal hydroponic green houses.

I came across his advertising one day (painted on a large rock near my house) and decided to give him a call.

He installed a very simple and rudimentary greenhouse and hydroponic system in my back yard and I’ve had it there for a couple years now.

They require very little space and can be moved relatively easily.

In fact the concept of hydroponic gardening the Picado way could be installed in a space as small as a 50th floor balcony overlooking Central Park.

You can do it virtually anywhere. And the cool thing is that the plants grow incredibly fast and delicious. So fast that you can be eating lettuce from your garden in about a month.

All it takes is a little sustaining substance for the plant roots (I use carbon chips), sunlight and the proper amount of liquid nutrient that you administer to the roots daily.

That last part is a bit complicated for this post, but the information is no big secret…

just google it!

Self-sustainability, via hydroponic (or organic) gardening is cool as hell and if the world caught on, it could mean more health, less hunger and less greed.

That to me is a very good thing.

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