#taking action

[tikkunolamresistance]

NATIONAL STRIKE FOR GAZA.

APRIL 15th 2024.

LET’S MAKE IT GLOBAL.

[jumpintothewaves]

If you haven’t already heard, a pod of orcas has decided to take direct action against boats around the Mediterranean Sea. Researchers are still unclear as to why, but they know it’s the same group lead by their matriarch, White Gladis. It is possible that White Gladis was hit by a boat or got caught with some illegal fishermen, resulting in her disabling people’s rudders and even sinking a few boats. The best part is she is teaching her calves how to do it.

[justalittlesolarpunk]

Playing around with this template - what I call the ‘Stop-Swap-Start Chart’ to help focus and direct my climate action in the new year. I’m a bit scared to share it all with you, as it feels vulnerable to admit I’m not a perfect activist, even though it’s obvious nobody can be and there are many reasons why people can’t always commit to every type of planet-saving lifestyle change in the face of the system we live in. But I *am* sharing it, both in the hopes that its flexibility, positivity and non-judgemental aim might help some of you come to conclusions about what you want to do for the climate, and to prove that just because I mouth off on tumblr doesn’t mean I’m the authority on solarpunk. We’re all on our own journey - by 2025 I hope to be drinking much less or no dairy milk, to have moved to an ethical bank, and much more. And I hope this chart brings as many people with me, wherever their starting point, as possible.

[violetsandshrikes]

Aotearoa Conservation Week is Sep 4th-12th in 2022!

Aotearoa New Zealand has a high level of endemic biodiversity with an estimated 80,000 species of native animals, plants and fungi. Endemic species examples include all the frogs and reptiles, more than 90% of the insects, approximately 80% of vascular plants and a quarter of bird species. In the last 1000 years, 40 indigenous land and marine species have become extinct. The most recent inventory identified 799 threatened species and 2,741 at risk species.

New Zealand has 425,000 kilometres of rivers and streams, almost 4,000 lakes larger than 1 hectare in surface area and about 200 groundwater aquifers. Current data indicate that only around 10% of New Zealand’s original wetland systems remain, covering approximately 249,776 hectares.

Agriculture occupies about half of the total land area of New Zealand, mainly on the relatively fertile lowlands. Indeed, there is less native vegetation remaining in lowland areas. Broadleaved native hardwoods, mānuka and/or kānuka, and tall tussock grassland have experienced the greatest losses. New Zealand’s indigenous forests cover 7.2 million hectares which is about 24% of the land area. (sources)

Here's some cool causes that can be supported:

Kea Conservation Trust fundraiser (Assists in the conservation of wild Kea (Nestor notabilis) in their natural habitat and aims to increase the husbandry standards and advocacy potential of those Kea held in captive facilities within New Zealand).

Te Kakano Aotearoa Trust (Te Kākano Aotearoa Trust is a Wānaka community-based native plant nursery that specialises in propagating plants of local origin (Upper Clutha region) and uses these plants for localised native habitat restoration).

Motu Kaikoura Trust (564-hectare island is now an open sanctuary for native flora and fauna and is subject to continuous pest control, with an aim to support the natural regeneration of the vegetation-free of invasive plants and animals).

Bushy Park Sanctuary (The 98-hectare sanctuary is a haven for endangered wildlife, with successful reintroductions of toutouwai (North Island robin), tīeke (saddleback) and hihi (stitchbird). Donations help support the biodiversity and biodiversity work for the sanctuary and our education programme).

Aongatete Forest Restoration Trust (Focused on restoring 500 hectares of native forest in the Kaimai Mamaku Forest Park, between Tauranga and Katikati).

[thepursuitofunderstanding]

Stress primarily comes from not taking action over something that you can have some control over… stress comes from ignoring things that you shouldn’t be ignoring.

Jeff Bezos

[thejackofalltrades42069]

Avoiding having a random life.

I’m back. I promise I’ll write a shorter post someday, in my mind this post was like 4 times shorter.

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Intro.

I had been thinking for some time about how contradictory we are, a lot of times we think something, or have some sort of “philosophy”, but when it comes to actually doing things, we often do things that are completely opposite to what we preach or completely different from what we believe are our values or our philosophies.

To a certain degree this is completely normal and we could even say it’s intrinsic to human beings, BUT, this could be pretty bad if it’s done too much because, if for example I’m thinking in a certain way and then acting the opposite way all the time, maybe I’m acting unconsciously too much, and that’s not good (because I’m messing up my own plans all the time).

Maybe I have an objective like saving money, I suggest other people to save money, and I say I’m saving money, but I end up going out every weekend and spending it all in fancy dinners, alcohol, and ordering things online.

As Rachel said in Batman Begins, “But it’s not who you are underneath, it’s what you do that defines you”, this is completely true, you can think of things you believe and things you value, but if you don’t act accordingly, then, you’re just behaving randomly.

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Ideas to fight this.

Perhaps a lot of times it’s not enough to just be aware of things, to read things, to talk to a therapist or other people, because even if we are skilled or know certain information, as humans, we have certain tendencies, and we’re biased by our environment way too much, so we end up doing what people around us (and in social media) are doing.

As Rah’s al Ghul said in Batman Begins, “The training is nothing, will is everything, the will to act.” If we don’t take action with our lives, we’re not doing much, we’re just existing (that’s not necessarily a bad thing for everyone), even if we’re knowledgeable or if we’re trained, it’s easy to remain in “inaction”.

It’s completely necessary to take practical measures to change our biases in a positive way so we can improve ourselves and stop behaving randomly as our emotions dictate in that moment, if we always act as our emotions dictate at the time being, we take many bad decisions very often (like buying a bunch of stuff online that we don’t need, like behaving in a shitty way to a friend).

Perhaps a good place to start with is learning information, but that information needs to be taken to practice, and it needs to be followed up, by reading more, and by applying it to our lives and sticking to doing it at least for a month so a habit can be created. After that, we need to always give some sort of follow up, by consuming useful information, and by forcing us to make some practical changes.

Example: we can do a schedule for activities, and really do them, say you want to exercise because you sit on your butt all day, find the best time in the day, force yourself to exercise even if it’s just 30 minutes. Use sticky notes or whatever, wake up earlier, or force yourself to do it right after work or school

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Don’t do random stuff all your life.

These ideas lead to my next topic I’ve been thinking a lot recently; most people just do random actions all their lives until they die (not that there’s something wrong about it, but I can’t live like that myself).

To clarify and give examples:

When people don’t have a clear objective about what they want in life, they end up doing a bunch of senseless and random things like having a completely awful job for years and keep working there because they think they’re making a lot of money and they think they need to have a certain lifestyle, but, that could lead to a totally stressful and meaningless life.

Another example is how many people don’t have a clear idea of how a love relationship should function in the long term, some don’t even know what to expect from a relationship. Others have wild unrealistic ideas of how relationships should be, so most people end up breaking up all the time because they have a very poor management or unrealistic expectations of the relationship. This info needs to be learned, not just through experience, but also, through books, podcasts, through other people like therapists, friends, and so on.

A lot of other examples come to mind, like how so many people just spend all weekends getting drunk and being hangover, or how they spend the little money they have in fancy meals and in fancy clothes. We tend to do what others around us do, but, is that really what you want to be doing? Do you really enjoy that? Is there any meaning or future in doing that? Asking many questions like these can help find an answer, the answer will be different for everyone.

Anyhow, the way I think we can counter this random lifestyle is, knowing what we want (something realistic), and with baby steps, walking toward that goal.

If you don’t really know what you want out of life, you can start with small goals, achieving one, then the next, for example, you want to continue learning Spanish but you don’t have a lot of time, well, set a schedule and get an easy app for language learning like Busuu or Duolingo, find the best time to do it 15 minutes, and really do it, and, don’t worry if you skip a day or two, but be consistent, avoid other social media so you have the energy, take the time to do it even more in your holidays.

To provide a real example for a larger goal:

When I was 18 I was taking a French class, a guy asked another guy how come he was taking a full time French class and not working, he replied that he saved money, he said that since he was a lot younger, when his parents gave him money, he would put away some of that money, when he worked he always put away money, by the time he was taking the class he could quit for some months because he had a bunch of money saved (not the case for everyone I know, but a lot of people who can save money just spend it however they can). After I heard that guy I thought that was real smart, when I started working I would always save money, just in case I wanted to quit or in case I wanted to buy whatever or travel, over the years I accumulated a bunch of money and I thought, “huh, I could buy a house eventually”, I kept saving money for about other 5 years with that house in mind, and after about a total of 10 years guess what, I just bought a house with my girlfriend a couple months ago, thanks to my savings it’s a nice location, a nice hose, and a small mortgage (now I’m very poor, though).

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Conclusion.

My goal changed through the years, but the fact remains that I achieved a great thing because I kept saving money, it would be the same case with other goals, we just need to take small steps toward those goals, learn useful information that can guide us, do some trial and error, and so on. Even if our main goal in life changes, it’s a lot easier when we have a solid foundation of knowledge and practical skills, it’s always good to keep learning a few things here and there and taking action (beware of being too passive, but do things progressively, don’t go insane).

And, as a personal note, don’t overwork yourself and don’t try to have huge and unlikely goals, many people end up very badly when they want to achieve something that’s too great (perhaps I’ll write about this next).

[dreamer434]

"All these little moments aren’t just reality, they’re authentic. Interpersonal drama doesn’t always have to be open conflict. It can be restrained hate and even love, not just the romantic kind but also little genuine moments of affection. Parts of people they don’t even know they’re showing, though like I said, the camera sees all. It’s hilarious that this is a show about hunting ghosts, and some think the little candid human moments are the stuff that’s faked and scripted."

Craig Dilouie from Episode Thirteen

[necessary-scenes]

[kc22invesmentsblog]

The Courage to Continue: Unlocking Your Path to Success

Written by Delvin In our pursuit of success, we often face triumphs and tribulations. Winston Churchill once wisely said, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” These words hold a profound truth that can inspire and motivate us on this Monday morning. In this blog post, we will delve into the significance of embracing this philosophy and discover…

[eelhound]

"Dorothy Day, whose work I read in medical school upon the recommendation of a Catholic classmate and friend, co-founded the Catholic Worker Movement, which created Catholic Worker Houses (where my friend worked) to serve those who are poor or marginalized. The Catholic Worker community here in town, Casa Juan Diego, says that they offer 'hospitality and services for immigrant women, men, and children.' They also have a clinic and food distribution program. So they are meeting people’s basic needs in the community. For Day and others in the movement, working in these settings was not only a way to serve the community but to build community, which was fundamental to a person’s faith. Faith — and one’s practice of works grounded in faith — was a communal, not individual, experience:

Together with the Works of Mercy, feeding, clothing and sheltering our brothers and sisters, we must … 'give reason for the faith that is in us.' Otherwise we are scattered members of the Body of Christ, we are not 'all members one of another.' Otherwise our religion is an opiate, for ourselves alone, for our comfort or for our individual safety or indifferent custom. We cannot live alone. We cannot go to Heaven alone.

'Community is good' seems obvious, but Day’s words always struck me as rather profound, as I grew up in a Catholic family but always felt that no one in the Church (priests, Sunday catechism teachers) ever talked about the social responsibilities of Catholics or about how faith ought to be expressed in social, or communal, and not individual, ways. (My Catholic friend also introduced me to liberation theology, which, with its emphasis on political liberation of oppressed people, was, I discovered, more my speed.)

I don’t think Day’s ideas only apply to Catholics or to matters of how to practice one’s faith. I’ve always interpreted Day’s quote about 'the long loneliness' not just as a metaphor for her journey toward Catholicism (she converted as an adult) but as a metaphor for the loneliness each of us experiences in our lives — the physical and emotional and existential loneliness of modern life, or even the search for meaning and purpose in life. The solution, according to Day — love — must come about through active engagement in community, not just being an individual actor alongside other actors in an increasingly impersonal society. The Catholic Worker movement was also about the concept of personalism, which 'emphasized the freedom and dignity of each person' and moved 'away from a self-centered individualism toward the good of the other.' This is such an important concept for people who live in hyper-individualistic societies like the U.S."

- Lily Sánchez, from "The Surgeon General Should Stop Telling People to Solve the Loneliness Crisis on Their Own." Current Affairs, 3 May 2023.

[mychampagne-mybubbles]

Howard Stern: How was it like to fall in love on the set?

Harry: I had a good experience…

*for f**k sake*

A bit later…

🔥

[poulnabrone]

Why is this so painfully accurate 😭

[ardp13]

Making Things Happen: The Power of Proactivity

Are you tired of waiting for things to just happen to you? Are you ready to take control of your life and make things happen? Well, today is your lucky day because that's exactly what I’m going to talk about!

As the famous quote goes, "Things do not happen. They are made to happen." This means that instead of sitting around and waiting for opportunities to come your way, you have to actively create them yourself. But don't worry, making things happen doesn't have to be a daunting task. In fact, it can be quite fun and inspiring!

First things first, you need to have a clear goal in mind. What is it that you want to make happen? It could be anything from landing your dream job to finally starting that business you've always wanted to. Once you have a goal, you can start breaking it down into smaller, manageable steps. This will make it easier for you to take action and move forward.

Next, get organized! Create a plan of action and set deadlines for yourself. This will help you stay on track and make sure you're making progress towards your goal. And don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it. Whether it's getting advice from a mentor or recruiting a team of like-minded individuals, there's nothing wrong with getting a little support along the way.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, don't be afraid to fail. Making things happen is about taking risks and trying new things. And sometimes, those risks don't pay off. But that's okay! Failure is an opportunity to learn and grow. So when things don't go as planned, don't let it discourage you. Instead, use it as motivation to keep pushing forward and making things happen.

In conclusion, the power of proactivity is not to be underestimated. By actively creating opportunities and taking control of your life, you can achieve anything you set your mind to. So go out there and start making things happen!

[wyndaknight]

Manifesting: How to Use the Power of Positive Thinking to Attract Abundance

If you’re looking to improve your life and achieve your goals, manifesting might be the key to unlocking your potential. Manifesting is the practice of using positive thinking and visualization to attract the things you want into your life. By aligning your thoughts, emotions, and actions with your desires, you can create a powerful force that draws opportunities and abundance towards you. Here…

[kidstuph]

Perpetual Good - Treasures In The Deep - The "Why" of Your Story

Click one of the icons below to listen to the Perpetual Good podcast on these platforms: The story of Michael Kent and Tiffany Whittier is inspirational all by itself – a black, female parole officer is assigned to a white supremacist parolee, and their interactions causes Michael to turn his life around. However, it is only when you go deeper, to get to to the story behind the story, that you…