Re-Gain

Playfully I explore fun ART: Appreciate for A; Rejoice for R; and Transform for T. It's fundamental or have fun; don't get mental.  Play and fun stimulates my sensory, physical and cognitive experiences. Also it fosters my physical, cognitive, social and emotional growth. Remember crying is laughing so grown men don't cry but growing men do. Be a kid - no kidding. Whether it is walking, hiking, birdwatching kayaking, skiing, horseback, and all sorts of other sports,  I play. It as simple as seeing how sacred one tree is.  Fun ART is showing enthusiasm allowing playfulness to happen. Having fun I playfully explore as an ART: Appreciate for A; Rejoice for R; and Transform for T. Being playful,.thankful and loving I lighten up. Just be child laughing in nature. If your game it is easy- just play. The score is having fun. Even last place wins! . Such fun enhances my well being and mind/body health. Fun art stimilates my strength, and forms resilience that greatly ...

  It is during our darkest moments that we must focus on the light - Aristotle I am a child of light and my initials are RA. Also this is the name of the ancient Egyptian sun god. Exploring my aversion with darkness allows me greater potential, possibility and purpose since new light always emerges. Winter solstice represents death and rebirth since the sun is at its weakest point. At Xmas it begins a new cycle of rays out of the darkest days. All spiritual traditions celebrate creation itself or this enlightenment of new beginnings. All awakening goes back to the beginning of human consciousness. All ancient people shared being children of light. On the Winter Solstice the sun remains on the Southern Cross constellation for three days. Then on the 25th the sun moves one degree North. It is born and grows out of darkness/death to light/life. We are all new seeds of light being germinated. Our luminous nature is reflected above in the Milky Way starlight. Native people belie...

Keep you eye on the ball not the ball on your eye.   I love stimulating questions alleviating my brain  sprain????? * If you get get your words wixed are you uck fup? *     changing your attitude creates greater gratitude? * Are we experiencing Benited States of Hysteria or Bewildered States of Mystery?    * Is this a eco-collapse or re-programming a survival lapse? * Do you feel less stress when you lessen your mess? * Can we revise artificial intelligence into a fresh wisdom algorithm? Or revise an info-wreck into philo-tech? * What's the point of being rich if you can't share it? * Does having interest work for you or against you? * Is the cheaper your pleasure the richer your well being? * The more you have the more you stand to lose. Is smaller better since bigness overwhelms? Is in theory there's no difference while in practice there's a big difference? Why spend countless hours getting something while wasting time to enjoy it? How do yo...

Every day, the news suggests we find common ground since our very Earth is in jeopardy. My greatest love is this beautiful world. Planetary destruction must be countered with vigilant preventative measures.  Need must trump greed if we are going to simply survive. Why? Record breaking global surface temperatures, Antarctic sea ice loss, ocean temperatures, extreme flooding, heat waves and extensive wildfires imperil us. Just in the United States, we lost $150 billion in damage costs last year. And this is just the tip of our melting iceberg. Over four decades ago the American Petroleum Institute established their model used oil recycling program. They advocated in their model program to place $0.05 a quart on the sales of motor oil. I helped start programs in D.C, Virginia, Florida, California and even went to Namibia to promote used oil recovery. Conservation happens once we can agree on its benefits. Now we're on a race to prevent our extinction. Today the only states ...

Everyday I celebrate Thanksgiving. My greatest gift is counting my blessings. Appreciation is the most positive thing I can do. Truly it's the gift that keeps on giving As times get more chaotic and adverse giving thanks comforts me. When I show my  appreciation I cultivate wisdom. Also when I pay attention to any grateful intention joy arises. Appreciation shifts me into a more loving friendly place. Also I enjoy greater freedom.. Gratitude is a sacred life celebration.  Seeing the positive out of the negative I become awakened. 1)  Does feeling gratefull elevate you? 2) Do you see a shift in your happiness when you count your blessings? 3) Does an attitude of gratitude benefit you? . When I give my thanks this inspires me. My overtly critical dialogue lessens.  I enjoy just simple blessings that I am so fortunate. Wow saying thank you is so magical. *Live gratefully  *Appreciatively remember  *Thankfully love

As a lifelong tennis player and teacher I focus on  "happy returns." There are many similarities to playing tennis and best serving. Keeping my on the ball I better serve and benefit. My ultimate game is to advance my greater purpose, potential and possibilities. I have developed an inner game using three R's.  Quieting my mind and listening to my heart I call "Happy Returns." Below are my three R’s for increasing my well being. 1) Reduce my suffering by giving my best. I benefit since what goes around comes around. 2) Reuse my virtues kindly cultivating joy and love. 3) Recycle all sacred things and fully honoring what is here and now. Embracing my shadows enables me to apply my 3 R's as I find peace amidst all the turmoil. This the inner game of happy returns. There are three life struggles; one against nature; one against others and one against oneself.  Focusing on my inner health helps me accept these struggles. Early in my life I notice my haunting ...

The Lorax - “I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues .” My forest gives me shade, joy and fresh air. Trees have survived for over 360 million years.  Climate change is quickly accelerating our appreciation for forests.  Where I live the mighty hundred year oaks are dropping.  My four acres inhabit aspen, ash, cherry, locust, oak, hemlock, cedar, pine and other species.  Also located in my home town is Camp Roosevelt, where the first Civilian Conservation Corps camp began. Over 2 million men were employed and planted almost three billion trees revitalizing our 1930's American depression. Nearly five billion acres of deforested land awaits restoration worldwide. The annual economic benefits of restoring this land are an estimated  $84 billion dollars. The U.S. Forest Service estimates that filters $4 billion worth of air pollution and prevents of 700,000 respiratory incidents. Plants experts now document the wisdom of the woods in their intera...

Carl Jung advises us how to be happy. Seeking a higher guidance I pay attention to this virtuous intention. Skillful action happens through my love of wisdom. Applying this philosophy I find a higher existence. Finding inspiration out of desperation I enhance my tranquility. When I take care of my mind and body all aspects of my life improve. Overcoming my anxiety by being in nature I thankfully proceed. Exploring my subconscious I better address my shadows. Then I face my negative feelings.  When I face my emotional fears greater courage emerges. Such mindful inquiry lessons my mindless reactions. Then I freely respond. Such responsibility liberates me. I celebrate healthy relationships by treating everything as sacred. Kindly then I proceed to best go forth. Joyfully I explore that love persists. Such heartfelt action increases all aspects of my life. Seeing the wonders of nature I increase my inner and outer wellness.  Appreciation elevates my awe when I fall in love with a...

https://youtu.be/OsAd4HGJS4o Silencing my mind and listening to my heart I overcome my stinking thinking. What is true is a constant humble perspective of awakening with what I call "no self help." Above is a David Foster Wallace video that shows us how our mind is both our master and slave. Unfortunately Wallace loses his own struggle by taking his own life. We are wired to spend most of our time enslaved by our stinking thinking. Wisdom will result if I take a more selfless outlook. When I become so self absorbed I must unlock this door of suffering seeking what I love. Yes being selfish at times is vital to survive in my challenging world. However skillfully tapping into my higher power improves my mental health. When I awaken and treat everything as sacred I foster greater purpose, possibility and potential. A more selfless exploration brings me greater liberation. Humor helps me to make fun of my "selfing" by embracing the absurd. Also it uplifts me from...

Open and kind abbreviated is OK. Open to accept whatever arises. Kindly showing both inner and outer compassion I best go forth. OK gives me greater grace, awe and wonder. In my journey may I be OK so to enjoy the blessings of life.  With enthusiasm may I be happy, free and well!  Celebrating my new possibility with each new breath. Breaking from my past conditioning I can reframe these patterns into the gifts showing increased love. How can I best cultivate a friendly and free way of being?  Being OK gives where I wisely proceed with moment to moment awareness.  Ignoring my the voice of my inner critic. Exercising my greater potential happens when I fully listen.  Overcoming my shadows I find purpose see everything as a child would. Embracing my defects I find that home is right where my heart is.  All things are sacred if only I can remember to arrive back here and now. It is time for me to let go of old ancestral messages that I am not enough.  For ...

  True caring fully happens once self care happens. Taking care of oneself is a conundrum since self care is required.   Fostering new behaviors that are none judgmental help motivates me to lessen my pain. Also this helps me encourage my greater well being.  Developing and wiring this internal feedback loop can be thought of as turning on one's inner light switch. Shower yourself with the starshine above. So much of my life has been filled with negative self talk and/or unskillful thoughts that distract deter or lessen my happiness.  Finding both people and an environment that encourages more illuminating ways of being and thinking is what I welcome.  As a tennis teacher I have for years coached how to accomplish this feat from a perspective of match and recreational play.  How can I boast motivation or make their instructional time the most enjoyable and productive experience? I come to a threshold.  I can continue to allow my negativity to furt...

Keep Your Eye on the Ball Not Ball On Your Eye A green revolution is happening in, on and off the courts. This is a comedy of survival when we create happy returns. Otherwise if it's a tragedy and we're doomed. Remember the tennis court oath in the French Revolution? It failed because it was not fully supported, especially those of significant means. Recently at the US Open protesters glued their feet to raise attention.  I have advocated a different form of stickiness to recruit support. Over the years I have invented many characters including the Trash Pirate, Noah U Water and Les More urging folks to help out. I even presented a recycled paper at a national behavioral symposium at Virginia Tech.  Additionally, I ran for a precedent as a court jester on April Fool's Day as Ray Cycle tm .   I was permitted to perform on the United States Capitol steps. Since I brought my racket I was a  Loud boy  yelling  "you're not dealing with a full deck when...

Just when I almost freak out I remember to trust the mystery.  Nobody knows how our future will unfold.  Yes climate change is profoundly accelerating.  Global warming threatens billions of people and costing countless trillions of dollars. While water, food, housing, health and human rights are all in peril resilience is essential. Each of us can cultivate awe with finding new possibility. Embracing the mystery helps me to be present. May I quiet my mind and listen to my heart! In today’s climate of despair I plant new seeds of hope. This helps me to best foresee and let go to. All I can do is to lessen my impact. Sustainable economic measures and formulating a global insurance plan are essential. Adopting ingenious mitigation measures will reduce these catastrophic costs and devastation.   Better design and management requires massive political will. Simply doing more with less will happen to increase our very quality of life. Compassion and insight is th...

This recent inspirational TED talk recently done by Al Gore confirms my own dealing with the oil industry as a recycling expert for four decades.  They rob Peter now to dump toxins on Paul.   Mr. Gore is spot on how we can best go forth.  Because of greed we're enabling a select few to jeopardize our very future. Here we are approaching the 2024 election and climate change is barely addressed if at all. This is so UCK FUP I can even properly say what's happening. Just follow the money and you will find out that we value destruction at expense of our survival. I think it's ironic that the fossil industry is made up a bunch of old men who only care about the almighty dollar at the expense to life on earth.  The elderly oil boys, or  the "Fossils", are literally getting away with mass murder. The gaseous waste created by the fossil fuel industry is already caused many trillions of dollars in environmental damage. Their emissions have no bounds. Last year gover...

Recently I was shocked when a childhood friend suddenly died.  Many of my friends and relatives are now gone.  Spending over  30 years doing mindfulness meditation I now realize how mindless I  am. The real takeaway is that I find liberation when I lessen my inner drama . I spend way too much time freaking over stuff outside my control. My way reveals the way if only I can get out of  my own way.  So my no self or no self helplessness I embrace.  Yes we think things do not change in our transitory world. Then BAM -Death happens!  At this point this could either be a FUNeral or a funeral. Let's remember to celebrate how much we got to live.   Yes every moment allows us a tidal wave of doubt or new possibility. All my years of  failure come back to share their misery. However, I hope to transform my curses into blessings. A lifetime  of rejection, and failures also has much joy and triumph.  My freedom comes from not taking ...

I cultivate humor since having a light touch helps me to enlighten myself.  Humor helps me liberate by becoming less dense.  Also it uplifts me from the funny lessons life teaches.  I transform my inadequacies so as to reconcile both disaster and success.  Transmuting the negative with the positive I awakened to new possibilities to deal with difficult circumstances. This frees me from my negative internal critic. Then my curses transform into amazing blessings.   Also this allows me to foster a more tranquil flow of just being.    Listening awakens my heart to greater fun and fearlessness.   Also a courageous quality emerges within me when I laugh.  As I lightened my internal baggage I celebrate my higher self.   With less clinging or grasping I radiate a funny loving presence discarding my possessiveness.   Being humorous magically allows me boundless creativity.  Unskillful habits become dissolved and insightful ...

                            My Work is that of Conservation Our current opportunity is to be more ingenious.  Let's learn from America's most clever champion.  George Washington Carver, was a leader in American resource conservation. Few people in history practiced the idea of thrift by conservation better than George Washington Carver; his philosophy was " Throw nothing away, everything can be used again ." Many knew Carver as the "peanut man" because he transformed this legume into a major agricultural product, but few recognized his greater achievements. Besides the 300 products he developed from peanuts and 118 products from the sweet potato, he developed many new products from waste materials, including recycled oil, and paints and stains from clay. Throughout his life he practiced the ethic of preservation, inventing the science of ersatz, or substitutes. Born into slavery in 1864, orphaned, then ...

When go to the source of my emotional pain this lessens it. Saying yes to whatever arises I lighten up.   Being mindful allows me to embrace how mindless I am. I realized appreciatively to  proceed by being kind to myself. Yes we wired to be "there" instead of being "here."  My  l ife experience brings both the meaning in present regardless if its pleasant or not.   In some of my darkest times I seek in another form of hereness- listening.  Also both stillness and insight is a priceless journey. Thoreau exemplified this by stating; Direct your eye inward, and you will find a thousand regions in your mind yet  undiscovered. Travel them, and be an expert in home-cosmography. I lessen  my suffering and tap greater freedom with such introspection. Thoreau recognized  simple contemplation.  Travel is a matter of perspective, not location.  For over 31 years I’ve lived alone in the woods and profoundly experienced this. I came 100...

Attention is the beginning of devotion,” the poet Mary Oliver wrote in her final collection of essays.  W e are entering the Darwin Awards since our lack of attention destroying future prospects.  Showing up insure our grandchildren's well being is our number one priority. Never in our history have we more distractions and less wisdom.  While never has more brilliant people lived right now our collective behavior is more mindless than ever.  This is an age of intellectual dishonesty and emotional disability since we ignore our reckless ignorance. Without some honest evaluation of how we can best focus on our future by lessening our impact our very existence will be in question. Awakening to the shortages of fresh water, food and excess people are just of the few indicators of such a conclusion.  Other ecological and economic circumstances support that in years to come sustaining humans will be increasingly dismal. Given such a bleak future picture how can each o...

For over 50 years I have observed trillions of dollars of government waste. For example a resort I once worked for got $400,000 in Covid relief money even though they had their most profitable year.  Axel van Trotsenburg, senior managing director of the World Bank, recently stated . "If we could repurpose the trillions of dollars being spent on wasteful subsidies and put these to better, greener uses, we could together address many of the planet's most pressing challenges.  Such abuses include; *Fraud: Our government loses countless taxpayers dollars from fraud and abuse. *Corporate subsidies: The government wastes hundreds of billions of dollars in unnecessary subsidies to corporations each year. *Inefficient healthcare spending: The U.S. has one of the highest healthcare spending rates per capita in the world, yet still has poor outcomes compared to other developed countries. * Defense spending: The United States spends more on national defense than any other country b...