The Trump Effect

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anxiety, being present, chaos, Diana Schwenk, Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, Donald Trump, Fear, future, growing up, human behaviour, human nature, humanity, illusion of control, impatient, integrity, life, Life's like that, living in the moment, panic, peace, politics, Truth

You lose your grip and then you slip into the masterpiece.

~ Leonard Cohen

I’d like to tell you that I’m even-tempered. That I keep a cool head when my patience or my sense of right and wrong are being tested. That the minute I feel my jaw clench in anger, I am able to say some kind of catch phrase like Breathe or Let It Go and I’m magically transported to the present where the stuff I’m losing my cool about hasn’t happened yet and may never ever happen at all. But I’d be lying.

Truth is, this is something I’m always trying to grow into and although I’m getting better at it, I may never master it. But that’s ok as long as I’m trying, right?

What seems funny to me is that when I’m in the midst of ‘losing it,’ I feel perfectly justified. Yet when I see someone else behave in a similar manner, My mouth forms the word WOW and I think to myself, ‘What a wacko.’

The Donald and how some of us react to him is a good example of this. “Oh those bad Canadians, they’re really screwing us over in the milk industry and softwood lumber industry by doing this and that and the bad Mexicans, something to do with chickens blah, blah, blah…and so I’m going to renegotiate to get us a better deal or just pull out of NAFTA all together.”

And then chaos ensues and people are running around to research if what he is saying is really true and if he can actually do what he says he going to do and the news is consumed with the silliest debates, things we all thought we were clear on like is the sky really blue and we wonder well is it and then we think, hey wait a minute… Ugh I GOT CAUGHT UP IN THIS AGAIN!

I’m seriously starting to wonder if he is a genius in the sense that he can so easily get us so wound up and I bet he’s having a nap, or reading the paper or doing laps in a pool, or worse working on something he doesn’t want the public to know about, while we are reacting to a non issue!

Well as it turns out, he can’t just pull out of NAFTA. The worst he can do is sign an executive order that indicates he would like to pull out in six months and then it would go through this huge process and many others would have to want to do the same – bottom line – it’s a process that goes way beyond Donald’s mere wishes…

Anyway, my point really has nothing to do with NAFTA or Donald Trump or politics or how we should navigate these issues. It merely serves as a globally recognizable example of something I struggle with daily – to not immediately react to a situation, to not get pulled into someone else’s chaos, to just breathe, stay in the present and respond in a caring and appropriate way.

` DIANA’S ENORMOUS BOOK OF QUOTES ~

What’s the thing you struggle with? Can you think of a good Trump illustration for it? 😉

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Having Enough

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200 words, debt, desires, Diana Schwenk, Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, enough, Fear, greed, human behaviour, humanity, joy, life, living within my means, love, needs, sacrifice, survive, wanting

There are two ways to get enough. One is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less.

G.K. Chesterton

Have you ever thought about what drives us to have more? Why we need a more expensive, newer car, the latest gadget, a bigger house, more money? Does what we have not work? Does our survival depend on it? Or is it simply a matter of social status? Why is it so pressing that we keep up with the Joneses?

We humans are wired to survive. We need shelter. We need food. We need security from those who might harm us. And once we have those bases covered, we need to belong. We need to be needed and we need to know that we can count on others when we need them.

But when do our needs become frivolous? What marks the event when we’ve gone too far? When we must ‘have it’ just for the sake of ‘having it’? When we decide to live outside of our means and willingly fall into debt? When do we cross that line of pure greed that sacrifices our fellow (wo)man’s ability to survive?

~ DIANA’S ENORMOUS BOOK OF QUOTES ~

Hindsight is 20/20

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compassion, courage, doing the right thing, economy, greed, History, human behaviour, humanity, integrity, mercy, minimum wage, oppression, poor, profit and loss, slavery, trickle-down effect

Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.

 – Abe Lincoln

Looking back, most of us are relieved that slavery was abolished. How could anyone, with even an ounce of compassion, have thought it was a good idea?

But just imagine what slave owners thought and how they justified slavery during the civil war.

“What would it do to the economy if we have to pay people to work? I mean it’s not like we don’t house them or feed them or clothe them – wouldn’t they perish without us?”

Yet doing the right thing by abolishing slavery in America did not end life as we know it.

These days, there are those who work for so little pay they struggle to survive. Many are only one pay cheque away from losing everything.

“What would happen if we raised the minimum wage? I mean we need to make sure corporations make a profit so they can keep hiring. Eventually it trickles down, right?”

Will giving people living wages really collapse our economy and end life as we know it?

~ DIANA’S ENORMOUS BOOK OF QUOTES ~

I wonder what future generations will think.

Perspective

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200 words, building community, community, Community engagement, compassion, Diana Schwenk, Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, division, human behaviour, humanity, integrity, judging, justice, love, perception, perspective, understanding

When man calls an animal “vicious”, he usually means that it will attempt to defend itself when he tries to kill it.

Unattributed

As we encroach more on and more on wild animals and their habitats, we inevitably find ourselves in situations were animals have mauled people. Often the offending “vicious” animal is relocated or destroyed.

It got me thinking how that also happens in our interactions with each other when we perceive a threat to our way of being.

When we see ourselves as superior because of race, religion, no religion, social status, political affiliation, income tax bracket, level of education, gender, or any other form of discrimination.

When we justify our attacks on those who are not like us because we perceive them as a threat to our culture and way of life.

When we oppress the weak, the poor and the sick in our efforts to gain even more wealth for ourselves.

Yet, we are surprised at their indignation and “viciousness” when they retaliate; when they fight back to defend themselves and their children.

~ DIANA’S ENORMOUS BOOK OF QUOTES ~

Think about it. If attacked, wouldn’t you fight back? Wouldn’t you protect your family and way of life?

Doing the Opposite of What I Intended

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Alberta, Calgary, Canada, caring, community, compassion, Diana Schwenk, good intentions, Homelessness, human behaviour, judging, kindness, life, living in the moment, Purpose

YOU EVER GET THIS IDEA in your head and you think, “I’m going to do that,” and then it comes time to do it and you don’t do it?

Grrrr I could just give myself a good kick in the butt when that happens!

One of the luxuries (if you want to call it that) of living on this good earth for half a century and a bit though, is I know I’m not the only one who sets her mind to something and then craps out at the last-minute. Rather than beat myself up about it, I am confounded by it, in a scientist-observing-and-documenting kind of way.

Most Saturdays, I meet my friend Helga for coffee at 12:30 at the Starbucks on the second floor in The Core shopping Centre. We have this little thing we do to the barista, you know when they ask you your name? Helga tells them Hell and I tell them Heaven. We usually show up at different times so it’s fun to watch the barista’s face when whichever one of us is the second one shows up and supplies their name. But I digress.

Last Saturday, as I was getting ready to walk downtown and have coffee with Helga, I put a couple of twonies (the Canadian Two Dollar coin) in my front pocket with the intention of giving them to any homeless people asking for change during my walk. In particular, I was thinking of the two homeless men who usually sit under the underpass and panhandle on 4th street SW.

I know, I know, many folks think you shouldn’t give money to people who are living on the street but I do so occasionally, or buy someone a meal or something because it feels like the right thing to do.

Anyway…

With the coins safely tucked into my pocket, I walked the block to 17th Avenue and was immediately approached and asked if I had spare change.

“No, sorry,” I said. “No worries,” he responded, “Have a great day!”

Walking away I wondered why I had said no. Was it because I had to the two men that are usually under the underpass on my mind? Was it some kind of automatic unconscious response? Amazingly, while these questions were going through my mind someone else asked me for change and again I said no.

What the heck? Didn’t I intentionally put two coins in my pocket for THIS EXACT REASON?

And so I continued to 4th Street and toward the underpass completely perplexed by my response to those who asked for what I prepared to give and yet withheld. Long story, short, when I came home later that afternoon, those two coins were still in my pocket. The two men who usually sit under the underpass were not there when I passed on the way to my coffee meeting earlier.

~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

Do you ever find yourself doing the opposite of what you well-meaningly and intentionally decided to do? Do you find it as bewildering as I do?