The Caring Catalyst

Who Cares - What Matters

WISHLESSNESS

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W I S H L E S S N E S S
is a Buddhist term
that kind of means
Y O U
don’t have to have something in front of you
to run after
IT’S ALEADY HERE
. . .Just walk your Path

Which took me down the tracks
t o:

The Carrot doesn’t need to be dangled
The Road doesn’t need to be traveled
The Gold doesn’t need to be mined
The Silver doesn’t need to be refined
The Prize doesn’t need to be won
The Treasure doesn’t need to be unearthed
Enter into the rarely journeyed
newly undiscovered World of
Wishlessness
to experience the uncharted
n o w
and find it’s not just an Everything
but an ALL
that needs no
replacing 
enhancing

Psssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssst:
r u n
t o
t h a t
and know

A HOLY PLACE

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I’ve always thought that
THE HOLY
was never a Place
so much as
A PERSON
and more intimately. . .
Y O U
and from that came
THIS:

I went to Church
it wasn’t Church-ing

I went to the Playground
it was no longer a ground for play

I went to the Movies
they weren’t movie-ing

I went to the Show
it wasn’t showing
I went to the Concert Hall
it had been silently hall’ed away
I went to the Park
it was prohibitedly parked

I went to the Mall
it had indefinitely been mall’ed shut
I went to the Store
it had been mostly stored away
I went Home
it had been homed sheltered up
and though familiar 
so utterly unrecognizable 
and then
Then I journeyed in
to a cavern
to a nook
to a creaky cranny 
I seldom visit
And there
t h e r e
was the holy
an altar not often knelt before
a communion rarely shared
a hymn not yet sung
a litany never recited
a homily vaguely strange
(maybe imagined)
a benediction
challenging to go forth
and make a difference 
while urging me to stay
and know a sacred distinction
May be
(be it may)
that what’s Holy
is THAT which is
WHOLLY 
ME
Perfectly Imperfect
ME
Ahhhhhhhhhhh
Christmas, Easter, New Year’s Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan, Eid Al-Fitr, Eid Al-Adha, Diwali, Holi, Vesak, Parinirvana Day, Chinese New Year’s
At Once
Wholly
Holy
In Me

SILIENCE is never SILENCE

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It’s more than the profound question:
DID YOU HEAR WHAT I DIDN’T SAY?

It’s more like:
DO YOU RECOGNIZE WHAT YOU NOTICED. . . ?

In a few hundred blog posts past, I remember posting an actual BLOG VIDEO MONDAY of a famous 2007 experiment, when violin virtuoso Joshua Bell tried his hand at busking in a plaza of the D.C. metro, playing anonymously for nearly an hour on his priceless 1713 Stradivarius violin, a talent for which he is often paid $1,000 a minute. In the end, only seven out of a thousand passersby stopped to listen. He collected $32.17. When he finished playing each piece, there was no response from the passing crowd. But, as Washington Post writer Gene Weingarten noted,
“Every single time a child walked past, he or she tried to stop and watch. And every single time, a parent scooted the kid away.”

Are we seasoned experts of not noticing what we recognize;
of
obviously not seeing what we look at. . . ?

It’s far past being a casual
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm of the Day. . .

READ THE WORDS YOU JUST HEARD:

It’s fun to think of your favorite artists, back when they were just starting out. Playing the sidewalk in total anonymity. It makes you wonder, if they were right there in front of you, would you have noticed? Strange that something so vibrant as art is so nearly invisible. Strange how rarely we stop to savor the details, or hear the music playing in the background that’s far better than it has any right to be. It’s only after someone points it out, that you finally catch the tune. It makes you wonder if there’s brilliance all around you, hiding in plain sight, just waiting around to see if you’ll notice. Who knows how many Kafkas and Van Goghs you might be walking past? Maybe the next J.K. Rowling is living just down the street, maybe she doesn’t even suspect it, any more than we do. We assume that if a piece is any good, surely it’ll find an audience. But maybe it’s mostly luck. Luck that they’re not already famous. or luck that the right person just happened to look up. One never knows how two people find each other, if they ever meet at all. Imagine how much courage it takes, to show up and keep playing anyway, hoping it’ll resonate with someone passing by, though it won’t happen for everybody. To keep pouring your heart into something, even if it falls on deaf ears. Reaching out in the face of indifference, trying to give people permission to care. Indifference is easy. It takes a lot of courage to fight back against it. So maybe we should stop and count ourselves lucky that there’s still someone out there fighting the good fight.

Well. . .
Did you miss anything?
Q U I C K:

Re-wathech the video again
and ask yourself the same question:
DID YOU MISS ANYTHING?

John Koenig’s new book:
DICTIONARY OF OBSCURE SORROWS
will invite you to look at things in a new way
B U T
John
or any book can’t make you
Recognize what you notice. . .

THAT’S
the secret power only you possess
(if you will not just recognize what you notice
BUT ACTUALLY IMPLEMENT IT)
c o n t i n u o u s l y

A BRUTAL COLD

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The FORECASTS

are now becoming

NOW CASTS

and it’s freezing

l i t e r a l l y

with the high being a balmy -1 below zero

NOT COUNTING THE WIND CHILL. . .

and it on the cellular level has huge consequences

that we hopefully will never have to experience

but maybe need to understand any way

Here we are bracing for their coldest temperatures in decades today and the rest of this week with conditions predicted to feel like 50 degrees below zero or colder in areas of the Dakotas, Minnesota and Iowa, . Temperatures in Chicago are also predicted to dip below negative 25 for the first time since the mid-1980s, AccuWeather says.

Health officials have warned residents to stay indoors as much as possible, since the brutal cold in just minutes. But what actually happens to your body in the frigid air? TIME asked Dr. Ronald Furnival, a pediatric emergency physician and a professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School.

Almost as soon as you step outside, your body starts to siphon blood flow away from your extremities to focus on keeping your brain and internal organs warm. That’s why your fingers, toes and ears tend to get cold before your core, Furnival says.

“The blood vessels would start to contract and reduce blood flow” to areas including the face, ears, nose and fingers as a “defense mechanism” against extreme cold, Furnival says.

For most people, at least in the short-term, this adjustment is pretty harmless. But Furnival says people with preexisting heart conditions may be at risk of complications associated with these blood pressure changes, especially if they try to do strenuous outdoor activity like shoveling snow.

After a few minutes

In extreme cold, frostbite — or the freezing of skin and underlying tissues — can start to set in after just five to 15 minutes outside, Furnival says. The process can be especially quick if your skin is wet, or if you’re not properly covered up with hats, gloves and boots, in addition to warm clothing.

“Exposed extremities and digits and things can get frostbite fairly quickly,” Furnival says. “If there’s a strong wind and the weather’s pretty cold and the windchill is pretty low, then it goes a lot faster.” Risk of frostbite intensifies whenever the temperature drops below five degrees Fahrenheit, according to the Mayo Clinic, and becomes especially pronounced when cold and wind cause temperatures to fall below negative 16.6 degrees.

While mild to moderate frostbite can be reversed with warm water and blankets, severe frostbite can lead to permanent or long-lasting damage in the affected area. Signs of frostbite include a prickling feeling, followed by numbness and changes in the skin’s color and appearance. It may turn pale, red or blue, or take on a waxy look, according to the Mayo Clinic.

After 30 minutes

Furnival says signs of hypothermia, or a core body temperature that falls below 95 degrees, can surface after just 30 minutes to an hour in frigid temperatures.

“You start to have some decrease in your central temperature, so you can have some mild hypothermia to moderate hypothermia develop,” Furnival says. “People might start to feel confused and start to slur their words and start to have some neurologic changes. Some of the central core organs might be affected, so they might have problems with rapid heart rate and even worsening of the extremities, if blood flow is further reduced to those extremities.”

Furnival says individuals with preexisting medical conditions and children, who have less insulation, are at particular risk. But everybody, even otherwise healthy adults, should be aware of these dangers and take appropriate precautions, Furnival says.

“Cover up as well as you can with hats and gloves and mittens and boots and warm clothing, and then limit your exposure outside,” he recommends. “It’s okay to go outside, but you have to prepare for it, and you have to be coming in periodically to warm back up.”

Brutal Cold. . .

But is it the worst kind of
C O L D
experienced. . . ?

. . .Maybe the worst
the most
B R U T A L K I N D O F C O L D
comes from us
A L L
W H O H O L D
T H E L I G H T
W H O C O N T A I N S
T H E W A R M T H
and actually refuses to share it
or only shares it
with a
s e l e c t e d f e w

Can it be
T H A T
s i m p l e
o r
T H A T
d i f f i c u l t.          .          .



Maybe with the
C O L D
it’s not so much time to
B U N D L E U P
but a true opportunity to
O P E N U P

TO ALL
FOR ALL
BECAUSE OF ALL




Write to Jamie Ducharme at jamie.ducharme@time.com.

A STAR IS BORN

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Top selling movie over the past couple of weeks.          .          .

A third remake of

A               S  T  A  R            I  S          B  O  R  N

The worst thing about

A            S  T  A  R            I  S            B  O  R  N

isn’t a movie critic’s bad review

or petty criticisms.          .          .

The worst thing about

A            S  T  A  R            I  S            B  O  R  N

is     N  O  T

r            e            c            o            g            n            i            z            i            n            g 

the STAR  BORN  IN  YOU

never quite noticing

or passing over

d i s r e g a r d i n g

your talents

your dreams

your aspirations

your essence

Because of Someone Else’s

o p i n i o n

or lack of one

about youYou are not a firecracker

that’s mere lit and momentarily sparkles

or a nub of a candle almost burnt out

so      much      as      a

d                 i                 a                 m                 o                 n                 d

s  h  i  n  i  n  g         a   l   w   a   y   s

refusing to be seen

or  s h o w n

.          .          .d     i     s     p     l     a     y     e     d

Pssssssssssssssssssssssssssssst:

O  P  E  N          Y  O  U  R          E  Y  E  S

BE     BLINDED

BY     YOUR     OWN

L               I               G               H               T

and then

S               H               I               N               E

e  v  e  n      b  r  i  g  h  t  e  r

 

 

BIRTHDAY’D

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A  N  O  T  H  E  R      B  I  R  T  H  D  A  Y.        .       .
s  u  r  v  i  v  e  d

I almost always get a standing ovation during one of my presentations when I let the audience know:

“IF I WERE YOUR CEO, I WOULD MAKE IT MANDATORY, NON-NEGOTIABLE FOR EVERY EMPLOYEE TO NOT ONLY HAVE THEIR BIRTHDAY OFF, BUT THE DAY BEFORE AND AFTER; IN FACT, IF YOU WERE CAUGHT WORKING ON YOUR BIRTHDAY OR THE DAY’S BEFORE AND FOLLOWING, YOU WOULD BE FIRED ON THE SPOT; AND BEFORE YOU EVER BECAME AN EMPLOYEE OF MINE, YOU HAVE TO SIGN A DOCUMENT STATING YOU UNDERSTOOD THESE TERMS AND WOULD BE TERMINATED FOR VIOLATING THEM!”

W               H               Y  ?

Because it’s more than a billion dollar loss each year that unscheduled PTO days are costing companies, agencies, and employers.  What a better way to compensate each employee, NOT WITH A RAISE, BONUS, or even additional sick or additional time off, but by actually SHOWING THEM just how important you are to their respective organizations/agencies and to management in particular.  What a lightning strike of PROACTIVITY  in sensing, understanding and ACTING on how everyone should celebrate THEMSELVES.          .          .

A HAPPY, A VALIDATED, A AFFIMRED  EMPLOYEE is a productive employee, right?

Well, it gets raved reviews and loud cheers and even a few job offers for me to become, at least, an interim CEO.          .          .

In that vein,
I did exactly that this past week as I celebrated
M  E

I took a vacation from myself and
visited myself on in one fell swoop; 

and it’s been great;

not only do I even more highly recommend it,
there’ll never be another time that I won’t REPEAT IT.          .          .

And.          .          .
What a FANTASTICAL DAY. Thanks for all of the warm Birthday wishes, thoughts and expressions. I am severely humbled and severely gratified by this magically enchanted life I live because of all of the wonderful people who surround me. Each and everyone of you prove unequivocally how greatly healed I am by RELATIONSHIPS and CONNECTION; these are most powerful mediums and medicines in their own rights. You inspire me to want to be better and to help me spend my days helping serve others, SERVE OTHERS.          .          .

You see, this makes it all

not just another BIRTHDAY.        .          .

everything we do

especially special days

are always more than  j u s t

ANOTHER’S.       .       .

H     o     w.           .           .

How can we assure that anything goes beyond

J  U  S  T        A  N  O  T  H  E  R :

By intentionally making  I T  so;

As I travel towards 64 years on this little blue ball

each day I’ll attempt to be a

P  E  R  S  O  N         O  F         N  O         A  G  E

to protect myself from

JUST      ANOTHER

I’ll notice what I recognize:
(and now invite you to do the same)

TEN THOUSAND FLOWERS IN SPRING, THE MOON IN THE AUTUMN,
A COOL BREEZE IN SUMMER, SNOW IN WINTER,
IF YOUR MIND ISN’T CLOUDED BY UNNECESSARY THINGS,
THIS IS BEST SEASON OF YOUR LIFE
                                               By Wu Men (Hui-k’ai)
Kind of makes wearing the Birthday Sombrero Hat

s          p          e          c          i          a          l

YOUR COMMERCIAL BREAK

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C O M M E R C I A L S

.       .       .DO   YOU   LIKE   THEM?

Q U I C K:

What’s your Favorite Commerical?

What’s the Commercial you dislike the most?

It’s hard watching your favorite TV Show

It’s hard watching a Sporting Event

It’s hard flipping through television at any time and not getting caught by one;

But hold on there

Caring  Catalysts

the Stats are out:

Though marketers probably don’t want to think about it, Americans really don’t like advertising very much. A 2012 survey by Mancx found that advertising is a big complaint about the internet (54 percent of those surveyed think there are too many ads), and a Gallup survey found that 37 percent of people have a negative view of the advertising industry overall. A Harris poll conducted last summer found that millennials—that darling group that every advertiser is courting—are especially ad-averse: seventy-four percent object to being singled out by brands in their social media feeds, and a whopping 56 percent have quit a social media site just to get away from the ads.

So it’s worth pointing out a finding by a just-released study from the Burson-Marsteller Fan Experience (BMFE): fifty-three percent of Americans say they’d be disappointed if the Super Bowl went commercial free—and that number is actually up 5 percent from last year.

Setting aside that a commercial-free Super Bowl is probably never going to happen, think about what that means: Could the Big Game possibly be the only time of year that people actually want to stare at advertising?

“Yes, without a doubt,” said BMFE chair Jason Teitler—and there’s a reason, he adds. “People want to see what the brands are doing because it constitutes entertainment.”

“We found a lot of people who’d prefer to see the ads for the first time during the game. They want the surprise factor.”
BMFE chair Jason Teitler

Another way of putting this: Most ads that Americans encounter these days—from pop-ups to pre-rolls to sponsored tweets—are usually not fun. But Super Bowl ads usually are, so watching them doesn’t feel like the poke in the shoulder that ads so often are.

BMFE’s findings (drawn from a sample group of 1,000 Super Bowl fans) mirror some of those revealed last summer by HubSpot Research. HubSpot polled 1,055 consumers and learned that 85 percent of them believed “not all ads are bad,” yet many people found advertising to be intrusive, unprofessional, or even insulting to their intelligence.

Another key finding of BMFE’s survey: Not only do Americans generally enjoy watching Super Bowl spots, they wish brands would quit releasing them days or even weeks before the game.

“We found a lot of people who’d prefer to see the ads for the first time during the game,” Teitler said. “They want the surprise factor.” If a brand is going to drop $5 million for a “big punch,” he said, “why not do it in the biggest way possible?”

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.          .          .

Still not a big fan, you?

But in many ways,

though we might not like them a whole

Our day to day

L  I  F  E

is in full-out-right-in-search

of a Commercial Break.        .        .

Hence,

we go to dinner

we go to the movies

we go to concerts

we got to play

we go on vacations

we go to museums

we go to galleries

we go shopping

WE  GO.          .          .

Maybe the

U L T I M A T E    C O M M E R C I A L

is the one advertising

what it BEGS us to buy

Maybe  the   Utmost Commercial   of  all

is the one that touts

is the one that urges

is the one that illustrates

is the one that inspires

is the one that motivates

us   to

G     I       V      E

(for    free    with    no    motive    to    receive    or    benefit)

S                                        T                                        O                                        P

D o n ‘ t     t o u c h

T           H           A           T

c  h  a  n  n  e  l

P E R S P E C T I V E

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https://youtu.be/D9IDoco2UB4

It’s   really   not   about   perspective.        .        .

It’s   all   merely   about

Y     O     U     R

P         E         R         S         P         E         C         T         I         V         E

.       .       .and then again it’s not about your

p  e  r  s  p  e  c  t  i  v  e

it’s all about your

s          h          a          r          e           d

p  e  r  s  p  e  c  t  i  v  e

and then again,

it’s not about your shared

p  e  r  s  p  e  c  t  i  v  e,

it’s about your received

p  e  r  s  p  e  c  t  i  v  e,

and then again

it’s not about your received

p  e  r  c  e  p  t  i  o  n,

it’s about your perceived

p  e  r  s  p  e  c  t  i  v  e,

and then again

 it’s not about your perceived

 p  e  r  c  e  p  t  i  o  n 

it’s just about.       .       .

well.            .            .

p        e        r        c        e        p        t        i        o         n —

(y     o     u     r     s)

and.       .        .

just  what  is

i   t ?

 

Cell by Cell

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images-4Have you ever felt

L    E    S    S ?

Have you ever felt

as if you just could get comfortable

for just more than a few seconds,

that your life would take on a different

 S       H       A       P       E ?

Easy for what you wish for.        .        .

There’s probably nothing that a Study hasn’t been done.        .        .

EVEN AMOEBA’S.           .           .

A few years back there was a study done by Researchers at the University of California, Berkley.

The Researchers did an experiment that involved

a   l o n e l y   Amoeba

and placing it into a perfectly stress-free environment.       .       .

It was absolutely

P      E      R      F      E      C      T !

Ideal temperature
Optimal concentration of moisture
Constant Food Supply

P        E        R        F        E        C        T !

The Amoeba had an environment where literally,

there were absolutely no adjustments to be made or compensated for whatsoever.

It’s kind of easy to assume, isn’t it,

that this was one happy little  A m o e b a .       .       .

Whatever it is that gives Amoebas ulcers and high blood pressure was gone–

A      B      S      E      N      T

And.         .         .and here comes the funny,

no, the scary part:

I  T      D  I  E  D  !

The study,

which was run over and over again, hypothesized.      .      .

PROVED  apparently there is something about all living creatures,

AMOEBAS included, that demands

C      H      A      L      L      E      N      G      E !

We.        .        .ohhhhhh nooooooooooo,

seemingly require CHANGE.

We require V A R I E T Y.       .       .

Adaptation and Challenge are just as necessary as food and air.

GET THIS:

Comfort all by itself

A Stress-free atmosphere

Total Ideal Conditions over a long,

sustained period of time

are  D   E   A   D   L   Y !

Is   it   true?

Or is it just

Amoeba-related?

Maybe the whole deal of

B       E       I       N       G

thriving,

living creatures

is that we need

Change
Alteration
Variety
Action
Stimulation
Modification

Real, live, day-to-day consequences.             .             .

L I F E.        .        .

We are living,

walking,

breathing

C h e m i s t r y   sets that prove we need

C            H            A            N            G            E

to remain the same to continue to grow under the not-so-noticable Microscope called the World’s eye.

Maybe.      .      .maybe it really is true:

We are quite the

P     R     O     J     E     C     T

(ALWAYS ONGOING.        .        .and THRIVING because of it)

BEWARE OF THE LONELY AMOEBA–

it’s deadly!

Hmmmmmmmm of the Day:

THE   ONLY   THING   CONSTANT   IS   CHANGE

is  actually  a  HEALTHY  THING!

Do  you l ike

C         H         A         N         G        E  ?    

Pssssssst.      .      .

Check yourself–l i t e r a l l y–

even at this very nano-second

you’re changing cell by cell !

Can’t feel a thing, huh.      .      .      ?

or,  c a n    y o u ?

Professional Speaker, Author, Assurance Man