The Power of Being Wrong

Everybody wants to be right. And it's hard to admit when your are wrong. However, there is great power in being able to admit you are wrong. And I'm not just referring to admitting when one is wrong to others but admitting it to oneself. If you can admit you are wrong, you then provide yourself with the opportunity to be right next time, instead of continuing to be wrong. Why are we all so afraid to be wrong and worse yet, admit we are wrong.

One way to get over this fear is not marry yourself to your ideas. Let your ideas (opinions) stand alone from you. They are not YOU per`se and if you believe that your opinions are not YOU then you can reserve the right to change them at anytime. Everything we know is based on our environment and we don't always have all the information. And that's okay, you are doing the best you can with what you've got. Remember that. That way if you have a bad idea, you can chuck it and come up with a better idea, after all, it doesn't mean YOU are bad just 'cus the idea was. Instead of wasting time trying to convince your self (and others, which is really annoying by the way) that it is a good idea when in fact it's not, you can devote that time and energy to getting a better idea.

Being wrong means nothing, unless you INSIST on being right.

So, what do you think? Am I, wrong?

Lighten up

I don't want to seem like a negative nancy but I tired of all the negativity i seem to be incountering lately. I seems like when I talk to people, no matter what the topic someone feels the need to make a doom and gloom prophesy about it or a negative opinion. For example, we recently adopted a chihuahua from the SPCA and the first thing everyone said was either "they are yappy dogs!" or "they are ugly." Just about everyone said they hated chihuahuas. I don't nkow why they feel like i need to know their opinion on chihuahuas. The dog is for me and my family, not for them. I've had people come up to me and say, "No offence, but i don't like little dogs." Why do they tell ME. What do they want me to say to that? "Sorry. I appologize for owning a dog you don't like." I don't get it. And frankly I'm a bit tired of it. I tell people that i teach middle school and they say "I hate middle schoolers." I say i have horses and i get "Horses are so stupid." And they proceed to tell me a story in which they were a bad rider and the horse acted accordingly. I mean come on, people. Basically, no one wants to hear your negative comments, especially if they are not helpful. I' going to work ont that myself because I'm sure i do it too.

Hunting

So, I'm a bit of an animal person. I love animals and find it very rewarding to have them in my life. This does not mean that I am a vegan or against eating animals etc. Everything has a job and that's okay. But I never liked the idea of hunting. I felt it to be unnecessary since we have food that is raised for food so why go out and shoot wild animals for that. But recently i have had a change of heart. I think I would like to learn to hunt. I think it would be a good skill to know how to do, because, hey, you never know when you might NEED to survive off of such a skill. I want my children to learn to hunt also. I think it is important for people to understand where their food comes from and hopefully my kids will be able to be more thoughtful and conscientious about where that food is coming from. That an animal gave up it's life so that they could eat. Hopefully it will help them be more frugal and waste less. Hunting would be hard for me though, I'm not going to lie. I'm not sure I could do it. But i guess people do a lot of things they don't think they can do when necessity calls for it.

Suggies!

So I don't really have any deep topic to discuss in this entry so I decided to take the opportunity to spotlight my pet sugar gliders. They are one of the coolest pets I have ever had the privilege to own. Imagine having a dog, a cat, and a monkey all rolled up into an animal the size of a gerbil. That's what they are like. They are little marsupials from New Zealand and Australia. They are the smallest marsupials in the world. This means they have a pouch like a kangaroo or a koala. They are soft like chinchilalas and hypo-allergenic. They are scent oriented and bond to you. Since they are nocturnal, they play all night in a big aviary. During the day, they sleep in a pouch. Or if the glider is bonded to you, they sleep in your shirt all day. My glider is named Optimus Prime. We are going through the bonding process now. He was born February 14, 2008, so he is almost a year old now. With the proper care and diet, these guys can live 10-12 years in captivity. Optimus is my new glider. My previous glider, Stella, was tragically injured on Thanksgiving Day when a box fell on her. We took her to the vet and spent $300 but she passed away in my hands shortly after we returned home from the vet. She was a primo glider and the sweetest I have ever met. But Optimus brings his own little personality to the table and I am having fun bonding with him. He is my "American Express Glider", I don't leave home without him. I take him to work, to class, even to church. He is waking up now so I should go put him back in the cage to hang out with his mom (Annie) and grandma (Lydia). Every night we have to chop up fresh fruits and veggies, as well as meat and we top it all off with some yogurt. These are fun but high maintenance pets. You have to be willing to put in the time or they won't be nice. The more time you spend with them, the nicer they become.

Are you afraid of the Dark?

What are you afraid of? I've been thinking about fear lately. I'm having trouble thinking of a good use for fear. I find fear to be highly limiting and even paralyzing. How awful to be hindered by one's own fear. It keeps us from achieving our full potential. A lot of psychological disorders are rooted in fear. And I'm not just talking phobias. Obsessive/Compulsive disorder, anxiety disorder, even depression are marked by debilitating fear. I recently had an interaction with someone that left me thinking, "What are you so afraid of?!" It made wonder to myself, "What am I so afraid of?" Am I afraid of looking stupid? Am I afraid of rejection? Probably. Who isn't. I guess I just need to make sure that these fears aren't holding me back from the things I want.

The Woes of Winter!

I know a lot of people here in the Northern Nevada area are very excited for the winter season. They are all in a twitter over the snow and fantasies of ski slopes and snowshoeing (or whatever else people like to do in the snow). But for me, winter and the weather that comes with it, is nothing but a bleak dismal hassel. Let me describe my morning to you..

I get up at 5:00 and take a shower. I open my bedroom door and step out into the morning elements. My room is a shed in the back yard. True story (see figure above. Yes, this is my shed. Yes, I live in it. Although, it is painted white now and there is no turkey on top). So if it snows then sometimes it is hard to open my door. Then I have to walk through the snow all the way across the yard. Lovely as fresh fallen snow is, it loses it's ethereal beauty and pristine quality when you have forgotten your boots inside and the only protection your feet get from that lovely snow are a pair of flip-flops. SO, quick like a fish, I dash inside, my night gown fluttering out behind me.

Now it's shower time. That helps defrost the feet. But the down side is, I have to come back the way I came to get back to my room/shed. I forgot my clothes, so I have to make a mad dash for it in just a towel! Not as fun as it sounds...let me tell you. So after getting dressed, I have to go outside again and shovel the snow off the grass making a path to the deck. Now there is only one little narrow corridor that allows passage onto the deck. Right next to it is a divot about the size of a basketball. The hose is also there for some reason, coiled up like a constrictor. I tripped on it the other day and fell on my face (luckily the was no snow then, I just got sliced by frozen blades of grass). We can discuss why I haven't picked it up or filled in the divot, another time. My point is that they are there and they are dangerous. The back yard lights are also burned out so I have to do all this in the dark. I have developed somewhat of a spidie sense about it and usually it isn't a problem. But the snow throws me off. So anyway, I have to shovel a path on the grass from my shed to the house, from my shed to the chicken coop, from the coop to the bunny hutch, and from the bunny hutch, back to my shed.

I have to clear the grass for a few reasons. One is because I don't want the snow to pack down and make an ice path. I slipped several times last years and it hurt. Also, I shovel the grass for my dog's benefit. She is a little lhasa apso/mini poodle mix (we call her a Lhasa-poo in the biz). Her nose stands a towering 8" off the ground. She can't find a place to go potty when there is a lot of snow and she hates the snow rubbing on her tummy. I have a little aviatrix jacket that I put on her and that helps, but...

Anyway, my day continues with the feeding of the bunnies. I have to get a jug of hot water from the house and pour it in their water despenser. Then I have to find the food bin under all the snow. Once fed, I proceed with the left over hot water to the coop. I have a narrow walk way about 1 foot across and 4 feet off the ground that I must transverse to get to the coop. Once there I try to defrost their water with the left over hot hot water. But it's been so cold lately that the water doesn't melt, and just freezes so the water (ice) level continues to climb. I will have to bring the whole thing in tonight and melt it in the tub. I have to climb back down and get a scoop or two of scratch for them and climb back up to pour it just inside the coop. My lucky-cluckies don't want to walk around in the snow so they have been hanging out in the coop. I open the door for them in the mornings but they don't come out. So now that everyone is water an feed I can finish getting ready for the day.

Well, isn't that a hell a morning! I don't want to seem selfish, I know we need the moisture but I am ALWAYS relieved when spring starts breaking through the ice.

Pain

I've been thinking a lot about pain. Pain is an interesting thing. There is physical pain and then there is emotional pain. It is my opinion that emotional pain is harder to bare then physical pain. It can be so hard to take that some people even resort to inducing physical pain in order to find respite from their emotional pain. People cut and burn themselves to release emotional energy, pain. When one is in emotional pain, it is the waiting for things to get better that becomes the real torture. The pain weighs on you. Chronic pain, both physical and emotional wears you down. However, pain is a blessing. It helps protect us and keeps us from destroying ourselves. In the irony of it all, pain is life preserving as opposed to life depleting. People who cannot feel physical pain, can batter their bodies to oblivion. The same with those who cannot feel emotional pain, they are self destructive. The real trick is finding a way to deal with the pain so as to turn a hindrance into a benefit.