THIS is the new year

also known as "Christianity steals Pagan holiday ... AGAIN".  In the northern hemisphere, where Judeo-Christian "civilization" began, Nature initiates "resurrection" of her plant and animal populations in the springtime of March-April (plus or minus a couple of months, depending on location).  What better time to choose for the RC church's new holiday than when the heathens are already celebrating a "rising from the dead"?

If i really gave a damn, i'd look up and report who decided that moving the official New Year to January 1 was a good idea, but that would just be icing.  Esoterically, it was a really stupid move.  Start anew in the middle of Capricorn's time?  Capricorn is all about maintaining the status quo!  How in the name of all the gods can one expect personal and societal improvement under such circumstances?

OH WAIT -- the "powers that be" which make decisions, like when the new year starts, DON'T WANT ANY CHANGES TO THE STATUS QUO!  Of course, when they decide that public health stats are dragging down the societies they rule, they want YOU to make changes....

NOW is the time to make them, not January 1!  Ever wonder why the "first sign" of the zodiac is Aries, which began with the vernal equinox?  Ever wonder why the date of Easter is not a regular thing, but the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox?  NOW the inner-planes conditions have settled in and calmed down to produce a consistent and positive environment for change and "growth."

I put the word "growth" in quotes very consciously; what we're looking for is growth of good habits after all. Growth of our knowledge and wisdom.  Growth of our characters -- personal evolution.  ...Not growth of our waistlines as might be expected with all our friends who are having lamb-shaped cakes instead of cake-shaped LAMB today.  ;-)

bad moon ... waning

Hooooweee, that was a rough full moon!  It had some nasty aspects with heavy-duty planets like Pluto.  ...And don't tell me Pluto's not really a planet!  ;-)

Spring is springing very slowly here in the midwest -- we had a significant snow last week which only melted off completely this morning.  It's been very hard to get any enthusiasm up for exercise or controlling details of diet, or concentrated work of any sort!  I'm hoping that the worst of the grey, cold and wet are over; there IS a time for that sort of weather, but around here that time SHOULD be past.

I'm not subject to "that other SAD problem" -- the seasonal thing -- any more than i've suffered from "standard" diet for a VERY long time.  However, day length affects humans just as it does birds, and when days become longer the sun becomes stronger and vitamin D and fresh air and all sorts of other good things become readily available.  Our spirits rise, and our metabolisms must, too, because we see progress with our  diets and fitness and well-being.

Happy springtime-fertility-festival.  Happy easter.

i think i've got it

First i hit "publish" and then i clean up my typos, then i start doing something else and -- voila.  Light bulb comes on.

Maybe, just MAYBE, people like to stir up shit because they have a hard time feeling things unless the tension is particularly high.  They're so accustomed to the peripheral NOISE that for their overstimulated nervous systems, the ordinary tenor of daily life doesn't register any longer.  Unless the fight-or-flight hormones are flowing, they don't feel alive.

Hmmmm....

driving arguments with sarcasm, ridicule and scorn

As i've observed before, other people's blog lists can be excellent sources of new reading material.  An awfully large proportion of the blogs i visit but don't continue with (few in number, actually) may CONCEIVABLY have valuable content, but the tone of the writer might be just unappealing or unacceptable.  The atmosphere of the discussion -- the ambiance of the site -- too often reeks of an intolerable AT-TI-TOOOOOD.

It's a pity.  I don't think such writers really care one way or another whether i or those like me are adding to their stats, but i can't help but think they might be happier people "in real life" if they weren't constantly alienating the people around them with their behavior.

I can think of a whole schmeer of reasons why they might carry on the way they do:  perhaps they don't have logical reasons for holding their opinions and they're covering up for that fact, or conversely, they aren't good at defending the perfectly valid positions they take, and they're trying to keep discussion at bay; it could be that their personal histories are full of opposition or rejection and their current attitudes are designed to keep others at arms' lengths as a result; there is no shortage of possible reasons for people to be unpleasant!  But tell me, is it working for them?  Are they getting what they want from it?

The question with me is, are they reaping some kind of satisfaction out of being the way they are?  Why do some people enjoy being assholes?  I'm reminded of the scene from "Wolf" in which Jack Nicholson is talking to Michelle Pfeiffer about HER airs -- that the barrier she raises between herself and others actually has the opposite effect from what she intends.  I rather suspect that the overbearing and mulish imagine themselves powerful in all the "glory" of their rudeness -- that they fancy others are intimidated by a stance of that nature -- whereas in reality those others (who have manners, native politeness, or simply prefer to CHOOSE their battles) merely don't want to tell them what ignorant boors they really find them.

Damn, ANOTHER rant, and so soon!  ;-)

sometimes, you really ARE doing it wrong

Not naming names or anything, but when some people "do what they've been told" and "follow the rules" and still fail to make progress ... well, SOMEtimes they ARE actually doing it wrong.

Some of us have to be stricter than Sisson's allowed 80-20 rule.  Some of us can't afford to assume we're absorbing our nutrients, even from the best foods.  Some of us have to baby ourselves when times get tough, and not try to soldier through workOUTS on top of workING.

I see nutrition gurus post recipe after recipe for "healthy" junk food and think, this just perpetuates the temptation people have to snack!  Perhaps i was an archtypal Spartan in a previous life, but when eating goes beyond being a pleasant necessity to being a form of entertainment, this is where the obesity-prone among us get into trouble.  Yes, enjoy your cream and chocolate and butter, but bear in mind that your meat is more important; nut-flour-based desserts shouldn't be the centerpiece of your diet!  NOURISH your body, for godsake!

If stress is getting you down, perhaps going for a run (or even a walk) isn't as good an idea as lolling in a hammock!  Instead of "just do it" maybe we should "just say no."  When "play" becomes joyless and just seems to wear you out, it could be that a weekend of couch-potatohood would be a much better idea.  DO LESS -- it's not subversive.

Eating a non-toxic diet is only gonna take you part of the way.  The rest of your life has to be non-toxic as well, if you're going to thrive -- your habits, or relationships, your profession, everything.  Fix what you can, discard what you have to, and take care of yourself.  Insist on it.

If the most acclaimed authority makes a pronouncement in favor of something that your body doesn't tolerate, that "authority" is WRONG, and your body is right.  You're the only one who knows what your body is saying (and we'll assume that you interpret its message correctly).  Doesn't matter if an absolute FLAKE advocates something -- if it works for you that's all that counts.  YOU are the authority on YOU -- or if you're not, you'd better learn.  Learn what works, and do THAT.

stupid and frightened people

During election season, i reluctantly learn more about politics than i ever want to know -- it's called "being a responsible citizen."  When i see some people continuing the fear-mongering and hate-encouraging on a constant basis, by those who theoretically have "lives" and no professional axe to grind, i begin to wonder about their mental health (and if they need to lower their glucose).

This is the image that got me started this morning:

The funny thing is, the people who really get their panties in a bunch over sharing with those less fortunate SO OFTEN describe themselves as Christian -- you know, the self-described followers of that World Teacher who said that it was virtually impossible for a rich man to enter heaven....

Furthermore, they have a tendency to belong to the struggling working class -- NOT the 1% which is the legitimate target of tax-raising pushes.  Yet, for some inexplicable reason, these people WHO WILL NEVER BE RICH THEMSELVES tend to IDENTIFY WITH THE VERY RICH and their point of view.  What are they thinking with?  Extreme wealth is not associated with work ethic in most cases -- it's inherited, or wheeler-dealered, or ... virtually-stolen on a huge scale.  Even people like Bill Gates, who has created his own fortune, had dirty little business tactics which helped him get there.

As Raymond Chandler, one of my favorite writers of his genre, said in "The Long Goodbye":  "A man doesn't make your kind of money in any way i can understand.  ...  There ain't no clean way to make a hundred million bucks.... Somewhere along the line guys got pushed to the wall, nice little businesses got the ground cut out from under them.... Decent people lost their jobs.... Big money is big power and big power gets used wrong."  THERE'S NO DOUBT ABOUT THIS -- it is FACT.  Those who defend the system of tax-evasion by the very rich, on the nebulous excuse of hard work and entrepreneurial spirit, are either profiting politically/professionally from the racket, or seriously self-deluded and are the first victims of the scam.

Also to be found on FB this morning is this little gem, which i've seen often before and "shared" myself in the past:

...Self-explanatory and highly illuminating -- unless you've drunk the koolaid.

According to certain esoteric sources, the money- and power-protecting crescendo we're seeing these days is a last-stand of desperation from those cosmic forces which are resisting being dragged into a more evolved era.  They'll use any tool they can to delude and trick the altruistically-undeveloped among us to make things more difficult, causing them to go against their own best interests -- and this is what fascinates me in a horrified sort of way.  MOST of the victims i'm referring to are NOT stupid.  How are they able to so easily fall prey to those who want to exploit their fears?

It's not your slice of 'umble pie that is being targeted by the cosmic forces of generosity -- it's part of the pie of the nursery-rhyme king ... who certainly isn't going to go hungry without it.

recovery has been a little different this time

Most of my out-of-town adventures end by my coming home and gratefully taking up my proper diet once more, the only difficulties lying in how long it takes me to start getting enough energy from burning FAs and ketones again.  This trip and its aftermath have been slightly different.

Because i didn't get out of ketosis during the course of the weekend, i only lost speed because of weariness, stress and ... the fact that i left most of my supplements at home!

I didn't think it would make a lot of difference, because i was making sure i WOULD:  1) eat the right things;  2) NOT eat the wrong things;  3) be back home before i had time to suffer a shortage.  I was wrong.  Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday my thyroid function was on the low side; i tended to have a hard time dealing with the cold snap we've been having here, and my digestion has been weak.  And the most suspect thing i DIDN'T carry with me was the iodine.  I've gone that many days without everything else in my supplement collection before, and recently too ... but not that.

When i think of all the cautionary advice about iodine that one hears, it just MAKES ME SO MAD!  And it's predicated on ignorance and misunderstanding of the science!  Yes, if you blindly and excessively supplement without having a clue about appropriate dosing and balancing of nutrients, things can go wrong.  HRT, anyone?  Or maybe synthetic vitamin A....

I got a bit of spring back in my step today.  Tomorrow should be better.  And i'm never going anywhere without my Iodoral again (knock on wood)!