CHOOSE: Money or Passion

This blog is in response to the following blog:
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/03/choosing_between_making_money.html?goback=.gde_26417_member_107582484

What this author failed to mention is that this world revolves around money so being money-oriented is a survival skill that is learned. It is also a habit so learning when to shut it off is yet another learned skill! I need to learn a new skill to manage my old learned skill? Egads, where does THAT end?

It does sound nice though. The old axiom "Do what you are passionate about and the money will come," just isn't realistic in a world that undermines everything I'm passionate about: music and food. Most famous musicians that I admire don't make near as much money as you'd think ($40-100k) while the median salary for an NFL player is about $1,000,000....per year! And that's the dude sitting on the bench, NOT the guy rocking it out on stage. As for food, well it's obvious that a different mentality governs salary. $7.64/hour for an experienced pizza chef... nuff said? Nope. To be called a Sous Chef or Chef without being laughed at you have to go to school just to wind up starting out at 9 bucks an hour and busting your ass to get up to $40-50k. That's why I'm now blogging about food and attempting to monetize my blogs by serving a niche market.

I'm not being negative and combative here just so you know. I WANT to agree with the passion statement. But if people truly valued what I have to offer I bet I would get more FB likes when I post about important current events and issues, or a blog about some great food I made, OR post a song. It just goes to show that if you want to make good money, you have to serve at least part of the masses out there.

Vegetarian Diet Unhealthy?

I was making a bean taco salad yesterday and thinking what a good vegetarian I am being right now when it dawned on me how much cheese I was putting on top, then slapping a huge glob of sour cream down on top of that. I noticed at that moment that I was making up for the meat in my diet with dairy. After some recent research into vegan diets I learned that dairy products are far worse than most meat out there. First off dairy has loads of artery clogging cholesterol. Second it is high in fat and lower in protein than you might think. Third it requires a lot of energy to produce. Yes you get B12 from dairy, but are the amounts of unhealthy substances being introduced to your body really worth it? Is it conscientious to eat a lot of something that puts a strain on society and our planet?

So after realizing this meal was about as healthy as eating a cheeseburger and fries, even though it was all organic ingredients, GMO-free and fair trade, I decided to cut back on my dairy intake. So now instead of slopping on the sour cream I use a mounded teaspoon and just a spattering of shredded cheese. What do you know... I can taste the chili better.

Thrive: Should I Believe The Gambles?

First, I will admit to being deeply affected by the movie Thrive, a movie that seemingly reveals the whole picture of the world in dramatic, conspiracy-theory glory. But I have to ask myself, as a person who questions everything, how the Gambles were even able to release Thrive if the people they are exposing are so ruthless. I don't believe that they could have done all of that completely covertly. It is entirely possible that they were either allowed to release it by the powerful families they point their fingers at, or that they are wolves in sheep's clothing. Perhaps they are essentially, either way their intentions fall, collecting data on people that care enough to sign up for critical mass actions on their site and that data is accessible by the powers that be. Perhaps that data will be used against us under the Patriot Act and we're all going to get herded into concentration camps because we threaten their families and empires. Just a thought. I don't want to believe that they are malevolent in their intent but I have to consider all possibilities, and I just can't resist the urge to look at everything forwards AND backwards sometimes. Is it better that we unite under a quieter banners to discuss what we think would be best for the world? Is it wise to jump up and wave your hands in the air that you are against the establishment? The only way the Gambles' quest will succeed is if the movie goes viral, and quick. So far I only see a few thousand people on these critical mass actions. I guess we'll see if the world feels this is a worthy cause or just another conspiracy theory.

One other question I have about the film is in response to the statement that free energy devices like Nikola Tesla's cannot be metered because they are pulling energy from the air. For one thing, Tesla's design didn't pull or create energy from nothing, it took already generated power and stepped it up in voltage for easier distribution. And it sent energy through the ground as well as the ionosphere, however the ground-based energy grid is what Tesla was trying hard to fund. In Morgan's defense, the design wasn't at all practical fro commercial application. And do you REALLY think that giving the average Joe unlimited power is a good idea? Just think about it for a minute.

Really. Think about it.

Done? Well, that's my three cents.

Too Busy To Accommodate You

Three of my best friends recently told me the same thing; that they think life is too short, and that they didn't feel they had time to accommodate, ie; "tip toe around" other people. Now granted, there are some neurotic people out there with some outlandish demands, but for the most part majority of us just need something simple... like acknowledgement... or compassion even. But society doesn't operate with compassion. I don't even have to look out my window to see that. It's difficult pill to swallow and is certainly not a solution for modern living.

This train of thought has led to, well... a train-load of frustration towards each other, and we are less healthy in so many ways because of it. We are truly stuck in a cycle of survival, not of the fittest, but of the fattest. It is fed by unrealistic expectations put on us by our jobs, families, friends, government, business... as a matter of fact EVERYTHING revolves around expectations.  We need to better communicate and manage those expectations so we can understand them and establish an honest rapport. This will help us finally come to terms with what common sense actually is. Being caught in the ego mind forces us to ignore common sense, and we require constant reminders to listen to our hearts and guts in order to stay sane.

And there we have it: INSANITY. Overuse of the mind results in less of a connection with your true self and everyone else. It's probably why intelligent people tend to have a harder time relating to others. Balancing that intelligence with compassion and right action is what will help connect the dots better between us.

Isn't that really what we need anyway... to integrate and balance every aspect of our own being so that we can better understand ourselves and how we fit in to the world? To simply roll everything outside of your wall right off your shoulders is ignorance in that you are ignoring the basic premise of human existence: to create based off of experience. If you limit your experience then you are doing your self and the world a great injustice.