My life good (better than not too bad). I have a beautiful and loving companion. I have a cat. I have friends that probably shouldn’t love me, but they do. I have beautiful daughters and two x-wives that don’t hate me (as far as I know). I am reasonably healthy for a man of my years. Enough good health to allow me to pursue that activities that I love. Who could ask for anything more?
I’m not sure why. I don’t know if it is physiological or emotional or something else. I’m not even sure if it is a problem or a good thing. (I’m hoping it’s not a problem.) It’s been occurring almost once a day. It’s often brought on by music but not always. I think music stimulates this response because our thoughts alone are not able to move us quite as easily as music can. Music engages more senses than thought does. There could be other reasons. Let’s get weird for a second, not “bank truck at a funeral parade” weird, but truly weird: Perhaps I have finally succeeded in slowing my life down enough that I am starting to feel things I should have been feeling all along. I think as humans we are supposed to feel, but we have trained ourselves not to for all sorts of reasons. I think we are becoming a society that only thinks what we are told to think. In a way we have lost the skill required to feel what is inside of us. Of course there could be other explanations. Perhaps I am reaching the end of my life and this is my body telling me to pay attention while I still can. Perhaps I am rewiring my brain to be more aware of myself and what is happening around me. I have no idea really. I don’t find it unpleasant. The only reason I can give is that it just is. I don’t want it to stop. I want to appreciate it.
Yoga was first practiced in the Indus Valley some 4,000 years ago. Approximately 2,000 years before it was adopted in India and China. Archeological digs in the Indus Valley reveal a different form of yoga than is commonly practiced today. Statues of people practicing yoga reveal a sitting posture with focus on breathing — what today we call Breath Work. Vinyasa Yoga, or the practice of flow and movement yoga did not become prevalent until yoga practice moved east from the Indus Valley. Of course, this is a very simple explanation of the evolution of yoga. The history of yoga is a fascinating subject in itself. One I have barely tapped. I do know that I would like to lean more about Breath Work. From what I have read it has amazing healing power and can be very beneficial for overall health (as can Vinyasa Yoga).
I am currently reading the book “Breath,” by James Nestor. Nestor spent ten years researching this topic and it is an inspiring work. I’m planning to incorporate Breath Work along with meditation as soon as I complete a bit more research. I would like to find a teacher. I recently went to a Qi Gong class at my local Senior Center and was pleasantly surprised by the experience. Qi Gong is a gentle form of Vinyasa Yoga. I think the practice of Meditation, Breath Work and Qi Gong) can be very beneficial. I’m excited to try all three.
My writing tends to be pretty personal. Not what you would call non-fiction. That’s how I roll. There is a danger however; I need to be cautious not to fall into the “Manifestation” trap.
Manifestation can be compared to wishful thinking. For some, “imagining” an outcome you would like, means you can obtain it by persistent thought alone. That’s not how the world works. You can’t will the universe to give you what you want simply by concentrating your thoughts on your desires. I wish it were that simple.
In order to manifest any change in your life, you need a plan. A process to accompany that desire. I can’t simply write wonderful thoughts. My study of the Stoic masters and my occasional rants here about desirable attributes are not enough to effect change. I have to take substantive steps to achieve those things.
This is how I plan to achieve those things I write about, the ones that I find valuable. I’m going to meditate. I’m going to focus on my physical well being. I think these are the two things I can do on a regular basis to avoid simply “wishing” for change in my life. The first I commit to doing daily. The practice I plan to follow is wholly my own. The focus will be on asking myself how did yesterday go and what should today look like. I’ll also be critiquing my actions and looking for ways to improve how I am living. The second thing I commit to doing daily is exercise. I think exercise leads to more than good health. Besides making the body strong, I think it makes the mind strong. Both of those things bring the confidence to make the changes that are desired. To support those practices, I am also going to continue reading and writing. I like lists, so here is my list to help me “manifest” my self-improvement goals.
Whenever you use your brain (all the time) you are wiring your brain for its next thought. There is a reward circuit in your brain that takes whatever you are experiencing and records it. That circuit is accessed and whatever has been stored becomes what your brain seeks out. Whatever emotion you indulge in becomes what your brain seeks. So watch what you allow yourself to indulge in. Hate, anger and conspiracy will foment more hate, anger, and conspiracy. Love, happiness and joy will foment more love, happiness and joy. The choice is ours. Time spent intentionally cultivating the thoughts you would like to experience more often is time spent rewiring your brain. A few minutes a day is all that is needed. This is brain science.
Choose your friends wisely. Those with nothing to say sometimes make the best companions, even if they do steal your chair.
Jeffrey Epstein wrote in 2017 to former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, “I have met some very bad people, none as bad as Trump. Not one decent cell in his body.”
I did a bit of research on the internet and this is what I came up with:
Regarding this quote, it originated from: “The emails released by the House Oversight Committee in November 2025 as part of a massive, newly disclosed trove of documents (over 33,000 pages) from Epstein’s estate and the Department of Justice.”
If Jeffrey Epstein said Trump is a bad person, that shouldn’t leave any doubt in anyone’s mind about what sort of person Trump is.
There’s a lot of nonsense on the Internet. Occasionally you stumble into something that resonates with you. This is a perfect example.
“A wise man was asked, ‘What is anger?’ He gave a beautiful answer, ‘It is a punishment you give to yourself for somebody else’s mistakes.’”
I occasionally fall into this trap. When it happens, I regret it almost instantly. I try to walk away from those situations as best I can. It saddens me is when I see someone I love fall into this trap — and is unable to walk away. Instead they fall deeper and deeper into the pit of anger and keep returning to it over and over. Avoid this if you can and remember, we all fall victim to this from time to time. The key is to recognize when it is happening and do something to break the pattern.
“Too Broke,” by Tinsley Ellis
This is for all you Accounting Professors and Financial Advisors out there…
Wise man told me back in the day
Just can’t keep unless you give it away.
I’m too broke to worry,
Too broke to worry.
If you don’t wanna worry,
Stay broke all the time.
Give some to me and I’ll give some to you
That’s how it works and you know it’s true.
I’m too broke to worry,
Too broke to worry.
If you don’t wanna worry,
Stay broke all the time.
I seen a lotta weird stuff in my day
But I never seen a bank truck at a funeral parade.
I’m too broke to worry,
Too broke to worry.
If you don’t wanna worry,
Stay broke all the time.
Lke that came a lot you know,
You can’t get to heaven with a whole lot of dough.
I’m too broke to worry.
Too broke to worry.
If you don’t wanna worry,
Stay broke all the time.
Thank you… Here’s a tip, the best way to stay broke is to own a custom overland Tacoma… Also 5 bicycles, 2 pedal kayaks, an overland trailer, and a dual sport motorcycle…
Calm doesn’t come from controlling your experiences. Calm comes from allowing your experiences to unfold how they may.
I’ll be the first to admit this is not easy for me. I recognize the wisdom in this. I’m working on incorporating this philosophy into my consciousness. I think it would make a good mantra.
Today I will allow my experiences to unfold on their own path rather than try to bend them to my will.
When you choose kindness you are protecting yourself. No one can take that away from you. Your path is life is what you choose it. Make it a path that is controlled by you and no one else. Make it a path that is guided by kindness.
There is too much anger in the world. We all need to take a deep breath, exhale slowly through our nose, and think about what it is we are trying to accomplish. Our anger will only make us and those around us sick.
“Writing is both a craft and an art: a practical skill that can be taught and refined, and a creative practice through which sustained effort yields insight. The formula goes something like this: We read things, we have conversations about them to unravel their many levels, then we write. In that final part of the cycle—the writing part—are torments, perhaps even tortures, but good things happen. We become thinking people, mingling with complex ideas and perhaps coming up with some of our own.”
I stumbled into this piece by Jake Lundberg, a staff writer at The Atlantic. This pretty much describes what I do, for fun, here. He raises an interesting question in his piece. Will AI and Chatbots make the practice of writing irrelevant? Lundberg postulates that writing is vital to the formation of an educated mind. In my case, the writing I do is not vital to the formation of my mind, it’s more for the preservation of it. That’s another story. It does seem though that writing, for the sake of writing, is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.
I’m not about to declare writing dead. I love it and it serves an essential purpose in my life. When I can’t write any longer, I’ll have someone use a chatbot for me. It shouldn’t be hard to find a volunteer to do that. That won’t be a huge ask I’m sure. For the record, I don’t use one here and never have.
I got sucked into Substack again. I know better. At some point I’m going to have to remove that app from my phone. But today was another lesson in restraint. Believe it or not, I’m getting better at restraint even though today’s events wouldn’t necessarily lead you to that conclusion… Someone wrote a long piece about Trump’s speech today on the subject of Black History Month. The gist of the piece was that Trump talked about himself instead of about Black History Month. The speech was given before an assembly of black leaders and dignitaries. Oh well, nothing new here really. What was interesting were the replies on Substack. One person in particular was critical of anyone taking exception to Trump’s behavior. That person accused anyone that did not agree with him as having “TDS.” (Trump Derangement Syndrome.) Okay, I probably qualify as deranged, deranged about a lot of things. When it comes to skiing and cycling, I’m pretty deranged, I also have a tendency to be very particular about my bourbon, probably to the point of derangement, but I think when it comes to political analysis, I’m looking through a pretty clear set of lenses. Sorry, I digress. Getting back to the subject at hand, Substack posts, I had to chime in. Against my better judgement I replied. Before I tell you what I said, take note that when I post on Substack (the very few times I have) the posts show under my name “Brad Adkins.” Most posts are written by people who use pseudonyms rather than their real names. That’s the world we live in to be sure. That said said, I replied:
I don’t wear a mask and I use my real name. I prefer to think of myself as having TDNS rather than TDS.
If you look up TDNS you won’t find any references, I made it up. So for your edification I’ll spell it out, and I mean this in the kindest possible sense. TDNS stands for “Trump Does Nothing Syndrome.” That’s a bit of an understatement, I should have said, TDNTMAGAS.
Your 401K might be up, but at what cost?
Is it worth it to be told Obama Care is bad and a better replacement is coming… and you’ve been hearing that for 9 years?
Is it worth it when the press and television are being censored at the insistence of the President of the United States?
Is it worth it when your First Amendment rights are being trampled?
Is it worth it to have a para-military organization deployed to American cities and the National Guard Federalized to provide immigration enforcement?
Is it worth it to have American citizens harassed and detained without a warrant?
Is it worth it to have American citizens murdered by agents of the federal government?
Is it worth it when you have a president that has more time for selling his personalized merchandise than he has for working on legislation to fix the problems he complains about on a daily basis?
Is it worth it to support a political party that does nothing else but provide financial enrichment to America’s most wealthy business people?
Is it worth it to support a political party that blames the opposition for every woe they can contrive with no solution other than saying the we alone can fix it?
And consider this if you will, what evidence do you have that says your 401K would not have done as well, or even better, if you had voted differently? There is more to life than money. Sometimes we need to make choices that will help our brothers and sisters, even if it means we won’t profit quite as much from the stock market as we might have hoped.
The word mantra in Sanskrit means “sacred utterance.” Using a mantra is settling and can provide the ability to focus on what we need to move forward. It can also block what is working against us. In short, it can give us a path to clarity.
These recipes are good for heart, organs, and brain.
Drink this in the morning
Boil for 10 minutes
Drink this in the evening
Boil for 10 minutes
I went to whitehouse.gov and submitted the following on the contact form there:
“I have voted Republican in the past. I do not approve of the immigration enforcement tactics or policy as currently managed by President Trump and his appointees, including Kristi Noem. I believe the current operations of ICE are unconstitutional and criminal. I’m writing to ask you to cease and desist all ICE operations immediately and apologize to the American people for the harm you have done to America: Harm to her own people and harm to our country’s reputation as viewed by citizens of other countries around the world.”
I had to acknowledge the following disclaimer:
These messages are being captured and archived in compliance with the Presidential Records Act or the Federal Records Act.
Not only has President Trump documented my personal opinion as an official presidential record, if there is any confusion about how I feel, he can always look here to resolve any doubt he may have. That made me feel better too.
As a reward for reaching out, I received a text containing contact information. The photo of the President can best be described as a mugshot. (That could be considered wishful thinking I suppose.) It probably came straight out of his “Mugshot Trading Card” collection that he has proudly hawked as part of his personal profiteering efforts.
Einstein once said:
Weak people seek revenge.
Strong people forgive.
Intelligent people ignore.
I recently got into a discussion on Facebook over a post. I received a message from someone that was upset by what I had said. I responded by trying to explain why their position was wrong. The conversation did not go well. I then responded and told the person I loved them anyway. The conversation ended when the person responded again, I choose to delete that response without reading it.
I guess that means I’m weak and strong and intelligent…
There is one more lesson in this story, there is no arguing with stupid people… For the record, that last sentence probably means I’m weak despite my best efforts to pretend otherwise.
Here are, in a few words, are some guidelines for living. There are many ways to live with intention. Our job is to find the ways that work best for us. Living with intention frees us to experience the things in life that are beautiful, and dismiss those things that are distractions. Keep these things in mind throughout the day.
There is a moral crisis in American. Nothing else can explain why 77 million Americans voted for Donald Trump. If you tell me it’s because his leadership is the reason why your 401K is doing well, I rest my case.
Cats are Buddhist Monks in disguise.
Here are, in a few words, are some guidelines for living. There are many ways to live with intention. Our job is to find the ways that work best for us. Living with intention frees us to experience the things in life that are beautiful, and dismiss those things that are distractions. Practice these things upon waking and when retiring at night.
When you wake in the morning, say to yourself:
Before lying down to sleep at night, say to youself:
Thank you “Daily Buddhist.”
Life is bigger than the loudest thing in the room. Constant immersion in the latest news will lead us away from peace, caring, and love.