The post Can He See Where He’s Going! first appeared on Thinking About Thinking .

“Washing is the process of conveying a false impression or misleading information about how your thoughts, ideas, opinions or desires are sound.”

This is often called branding, however, for washer women brands change before the ink is dry on the new posters.  They jump from catch phrase to a catchier phrase and then to something with even less meaning so that nothing can stick. 

“Washing is always an attempt to capitalize on a known challenge without committing to anything.” 

While a real washer woman actually produces clean clothes.  When you hang out the words of the political washer women there is nothing to hang out of the line to dry. 

“Washing is conveying a false impression of concern.”

When the washer woman of politics words are flapping in the their own wind, no matter what weather of the day may be, you will feel no warmth while being left with the emptiness that will sap your soul. 

“Critics accuse washers of attempting to capitalize on issues without backing up their words with facts or details.  When details are used they are used to confuse not clarify.”

So when you are looking for the truth, for clarity, for understanding of what is really going on, remember there are other sources of information.  You may have to think, but it is better than being taken to the cleaners. 

The post Politicians and Washing or Lying first appeared on Thinking About Thinking .

For those who don’t have a dictionary at hand.  The word morbid is defined as “the state of being unhealthy or diseased”!  Their disease is not physical, though it does have aspects that express as mental and emotional disorders.  However, this disease is spreading challenges throughout our social order and deeply impacting the quality of life for a majority of the population. 

Before we go too far it is important to remember that this disease “morbid wealth” affects only a tiny fraction of the population, less than 1% or 1%.  Luckily it is not contagious to normal people, however, the fear and paranoia from those infected with this disease does impact on the healthy.  Their mental and emotional distress from being infected is spread globally as they are afraid of losing power, position, favour due to the rise of creative individuals who know the blessings of life are for all. 

Thom Hartmann in a recent opinion piece (<https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/politics/inside-the-gop-s-60-year-conspiracy-to-kill-our-democracy-opinion/ar-AA1yenMM?ocid=msedgntp&pc=ACTS&cvid=75522efb4b0140d08420e73065b3b10e&ei=144>) illustrates how this disease mutated from the “captains” to become the major threat to life in our time. 

As with their predecessors they may only harm you, if you get too close, or attempt to believe that the way they think and live is healthy.  Those who follow E.F. Schumacher (

Videos of Ef Schumacher Small Is Beautiful) will know and apply the secrets that will keep you safe and healthy while we have the task of watching those infected waste away and die.  By using these secrets we will be able to triage and help those they discard on their way to oblivion. 

The post The New Pandemic first appeared on Thinking About Thinking .

The room went quiet and I inwardly smiled.  I have never been that brutally honest about myself even though I have spent the last ten or fifteen years examining my preference/prejudices as they arise in the midst of my interactions with others. 

I have all kinds of preferences.  I have preferences regarding weight, height and width of people.  I have preferences about hair styles.  I have opinions about clothes.  I have prejudices about cars.  I have difficulty with some accents and dialects.  You name it and I have preferences. 

During my time of self reflection I have virtually eliminated my preferences about race and religion.  And I’m proud of this.  However, Ron’s introduction reminded me that my recovery and reconciliation work has a long way  to go. 

It is my prayer that you will join the journey towards a kinder more inclusive world by acknowledging your preferences, especially your prejudices and use your power of discernment to create a more inclusive society. 

To help lets look at a common phrase in our world today – Algorithm.  I first encountered this concept in the early 1960’s when friends were working as trainees in the Canadian banking system.  As loans officers they filled in forms prescribed by their bosses and made recommendations.  These piles of paper then made their way up the chain and most often came back with a notice that the recommendation had been rejected. 

In questioning these rejections my friends learned that the “brass” had a formula (an algorithm) so that they could quickly scan the reports and determine if it fit within their policy.  This formula was to allow them to more efficiently handle the volume of material they needed to deal with.  One of my friends said, “Their formula (algorithm) is used so they don’t have to think!” 

Our preferences and prejudices are also our tools so we don’t have to think.  So we can quickly respond to the situations in the world around us.  Our algorithms have been programmed into us by family and society from our birth.  And they affect everyone.  I do not know of a race, a church, a family that does not have an inbred set of prejudices that they utilize to avoid thinking. 

To determine if your preferences are helpful or harmful the key is to think!.  Examine how and why you jump to an instant opinion.  Question that snap decision.  Investigate the feelings and attitudes that are part of it.  And then gently and joyously think again. 

Canadian society is filled with “dry drunks” people who say they have no prejudice yet their thoughts, words, actions, and governmental policies betray them.  Sobriety in prejudice is consciously looking at how you interact in each and every situation in life and how you honour and respect those you interact with through words and actions that affirm and support. 

The post On Being a Recovering Racist first appeared on Thinking About Thinking .

But as the bus approached Seventh Avenue, the driver got on the intercom. “Folks,” he said, “I know you have had a rough day and you are frustrated. I can’t do anything about the weather or traffic, but here is what I can do. As each one of you gets off the bus, I will reach out my hand to you. As you walk by, drop your troubles into the palm of my hand, okay? Don’t take your problems home to your families tonight, just leave them with me. My route goes right by the Hudson River, and when I drive by there later, I will open the window and throw your troubles in the water.”

It was as if a spell had lifted. Everyone burst out laughing. Faces gleamed with surprised delight. People who had been pretending for the past hour not to notice each other’s existence were suddenly grinning at each other like, is this guy serious?

Oh, he was serious.

At the next stop, just as promised, the driver reached out his hand, palm up, and waited. One by one, all the exiting commuters placed their hand just above his and mimed the gesture of dropping something into his palm. Some people laughed as they did this, some teared up but everyone did it.

The driver repeated the same lovely ritual at the next stop, too. And the next. All the way to the river.

We live in a hard world, my friends. Sometimes it is extra difficult to be a human being. Sometimes you have a bad day. Sometimes you have a bad day that lasts for several years. You struggle and fail. You lose jobs, money, friends, faith, and love. You witness horrible events unfolding in the news, and you become fearful and withdrawn. There are times when everything seems cloaked in darkness. You long for the light but don’t know where to find it.

But what if you are the light? What if you are the very agent of illumination that a dark situation begs for?. That’s what this bus driver taught me, that anyone can be the light, at any moment. This guy wasn’t some big power player. He wasn’t a spiritual leader. He wasn’t some media-savvy influencer. He was a bus driver, one of society’s most invisible workers. But he possessed real power, and he used it beautifully for our benefit.

When life feels especially grim, or when I feel particularly powerless in the face of the world’s troubles, I think of this man and ask myself, What can I do, right now, to be the light? Of course, I can’t personally end all wars, or solve global warming, or transform vexing people into entirely different creatures. I definitely can’t control traffic. But I do have some influence on everyone I brush up against, even if we never speak or learn each other’s name.

“No matter who you are, or where you are, or how mundane or tough your situation may seem, I believe you can illuminate your world. In fact, I believe this is the only way the world will ever be illuminated, one bright act of grace at a time, all the way to the river.”

 Elizabeth Gilbert

The post Transformation for all Choosing to Be the Light first appeared on Thinking About Thinking .

In watching the political spectrum swing around and with elections held at different moments in the arc of these movements it is a concern that very little research is focused on the influence of candidates on the O.D.D. spectrum (Oppositional Defiant Disorder in Adults: ODD Symptoms, Causes) and their rise and fall from public office. 

While there are no known medications to treat this disorder we are now seeing marketing campaigns based on this behaviour implying that their products, while not a cure, are at least a way to interrupt these behaviours. 

Might this be a good time to begin naming this behaviour in adults in leadership roles so that we at least acknowledge the challenges.  Only new elections may offer the interruptions that are promised by various meat packers.  But it could be a worthwhile effort until we are allowed to vote again. 

The post The O.D.D. Spectrum in Leadership first appeared on Thinking About Thinking .

Trump has won, then lost, then won again in politics.  What those he is playing with have not yet realized is that he believes that all of life, including getting elected to political office is a game.  However, he does not know the rules of the game or how to apply them so he uses what he was tutored in to become a reality TV star and to date no one is causing him to follow the rules of elected office. 

You see in reality TV everyone thinks there is no script, no rules, you just watch life happen and make certain the cameras are on.  When it truth there is a script, those being filmed, don’t know the script or the changes that are being made.  However, the producers and the directors to know the script.  It is very simple – ratings.  Is what is happening on the screen keeping the ratings high.  The only question is how do we increase the chatter about the show.  Simple we throw in twists, cause people to get emotional. They won’t quit watching, because their complaints may be heard and each episode has a sop or two that might cause them to think they will be heard. 

Everyone plays the game until the season ends.  Some are happy, some are sad, some are angry, some quit watching the network, but most are simply waiting to the next season to begin. 

Trumps cabinet picks, his policies, his agenda are not intended to achieve results.  The only point they make is to create ratings to keep his name in the news.  So if those in the house and the senate will stop playing the game and get back to the rules and work they were elected to serve good government is still possible. 

The president elect will continue to treat the high office as a game.  He will do everything in his power to create emotional chaos going forward.  However, the machinery of government is not a game and it those elected to be civil servants will simply follow the rules and do their job, regardless of the ratings going up or down the citizens of the country will be well served.

The post Is Politics a Game first appeared on Thinking About Thinking .

Not everyone will take elections seriously.  They might even vote, but likely won’t think too much about it before they arrive at the polling station.  In the midst of these thoughts the melody and lyrics from Simon and Garfunkel’s Mrs. Robinson filled the space between my ears and lit up behind my eyes.  

“Sitting on a sofa late on Tuesday night

Listening to the candidates’ debate

Laugh about it, shout about it

When you’ve got to choose

Every way you look at it, you lose”

In my minds eye the images of a few hosers flipping between the game of the day and then laughing and joking as they hear the candidates debate.  Before I can jot down the quips and insights they share the voice of the lyrics change to a much older group of voters rueing the changes and getting caught up in losses and wondering what will replace the loss of the familiar structure of society. 

Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?

A nation turns its lonely eyes to you

Wooh, wooh, wooh

What’s that you say, Mrs. Robinson?

Jolting Joe has left and gone away

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey”

Then, while the ear worm continues the voices change to the knocks on the door, the pamphleteers at the mall, the talking heads in the press. 

We’d like to know a little bit about you for our files

We’d like to help you learn to help yourself

Look around you, all you see are sympathetic eyes

Stroll around the grounds until you feel at home

They may say all the right things, but seem tone deaf when you talk, if they give you the opportunity.  So the chorus comes around again:

And here’s to you, Mrs. Robinson

Jesus loves you more than you will know

Woah, woah, woah

God bless you, please, Mrs. Robinson

Heaven holds a place for those who pray

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey

Thank you for joining us in prayer.  Think about it – and remember no matter the result – there is life after elections.  A life that will thrive on your smile, your hope, your persistence is doing what is best for all.

The post Late Tuesday Night first appeared on Thinking About Thinking .

Because of our antiquated party system some will see themselves as being government, they are not.  And some will see themselves as being opposition, and they are not.  They have all be hired to work to create a better BC for everyone, with a special focus on those living in their riding. 

I ask my MLA (I did not vote for the winner in my riding) to remember who is paying the  salary and to whom primary loyalty is owed – the people of the riding.  While loyalty to party and leader are a small part of the equation the task at hand is to work with the other 92 to make things better for all.  I know each MLA has one or more good ideas to improve things – they need to find others of like mind, no matter party affiliation or leadership pressure, to work cooperatively and civilly to take these good ideas and give them life through positive change. 

I would ask each representative to be aware we are watching.  And although you parties and leaders do not believe this – voters have memories.  This was proven wrong again by the 2024 election results. 

To all 93, thank you for stepping up.  May your next four years  be a blessing to you and those you serve.  Remember if you cause us to waste our hard earned tax dollars before 2028 you will not have our votes at the next election.  May you prove worthy of the position you are serving. 

The post Off We Go first appeared on Thinking About Thinking .

The 93 are now responsible, for the next four years to work for the citizens of their riding to make life better for them and for all of the province. 

It is my hope that someone will develop a check list that we can use to grade their words and work going forward.  The checklist should have at least two categories.  PSCP (petty self centred person (politician)) and SL (servant leader). 

It is my prayer that the 93 will focus on the real needs of the people and the province and work together to create the solutions that are both needed and available.  This is not a difficult task.  It simply requires them to give up the desire for power over and shift to an understanding that all great things in life blossom when we learn to use the concept of power with. 

This election show that there are winners – in fact there are 93 of them and they now have the sacred trust to work to fulfill their responsibilities together to lead the province forward. 

In this process they will learn that the people of BC did not elect any one party, rather they elected individuals to work and lead together.  We all know the challenges.  They now have the opportunity to show their leadership and lead us towards the solutions. 

Truly the elections gods have smiled upon us and given us the opportunity to walk into the wonderful future together. 

The post The Election god’s Smile on BC first appeared on Thinking About Thinking .