VOTE FOR YOUR LIFE

Some days it’s harder to get started than others. Today was that kind of day. Lisa had to pry me out of bed.

“It’s election day!” she said. “Time to get up and vote.”

You would have thought she was ten and it was her birthday, or that she was successfully running for mayor.

I wasn’t having any of it, especially not at 6:15 a.m.

“Let’s go get coffee. And then we can vote! We can be there just around 7:00 a.m. when they open. Then I can go to school.”

Lisa is a teacher, kindergarten and first grade.

Can’t you just see her in the classroom, “Look, kids, I voted!” as she shows them her red, white, and blue, “I Voted!” sticker stuck on her shirt?

Makes a grump like me just want to scream. Doesn’t she know I have things to think about, and things to be worry about, and things to be grumpy (I refuse to say depressed.) about?

Doesn’t she know that I woke up worrying about the recession, which is wearing me down financially and emotionally, at around 4 a.m., and couldn’t get back to sleep until about a minute before she woke me at 6:15 a.m., with her shuffling and getting ready and printing out the newspaper's Election day guide to the various candidates and ballot initiatives?

She had been preparing for this for days.

I wasn’t having any of it. I was genuinely tired. I still am, as I write this. (Can you hear the tiny violins playing in the background?) I would vote later in the day, at some reasonable hour, like 7:00 p.m.

“Be gone, with thee, woman, and let me sleep, or at least let me lie here feeling sorry for myself.”

She must have sensed my thoughts, or simply inferred from the pillow over my head that I wasn’t going anywhere. That’s when she broke out with one of her secret weapons. She was dressed and ready to go, but she quietly layed down in bed next to me, the guy with the pillow over his head, and snuggled close behind me. That’s all. She said nothing, but I could feel her back there. She rested her hand on my back. She took her time, the sneak, and just layed there breathing, of all things, right next to me.

And a lot of crap just drained away from me.

Yes, the economy is tough. Yes, I’m not sure where all the money will come from. Yes, real estate prices are still drifting downwards. Yes, I’m frustrated, but it’s a fine Tuesday, Election Day Tuesday at that. And my coaching practice is going well. And the kids are amazing. And I live in a great town, in a great, though somewhat bruised, country.

There are no thugs outside my door. Armed police wouldn’t break in and arrest me for criticizing the government, as they had just done to a billionaire (have they no respect?) newspaper publisher in Russia. Nor would they harass me if I voted for Daffy Duck for governor of California this fine Election Day morning. I know this is not true of all voting places in this great country of ours, so we need to be like Lisa, and get up real early and be one of the first to vote, and keep on voting, and keep on teaching those little kids, and those not-so-little kids, and those big kids, and those adults, and ourselves how to live full, passionate lives.

Tough economy or not, bad night’s sleep or not, grouchy or not, it’s time to get up, and be thankful for all the blessings in our lives, which if you are really lucky includes being blessed with someone in your life who knows how to get you out of bed and into your life when you’re not so sure how to do it for yourself.

Or maybe it’s your eyes that can bless you and help you get out of bed by showing you the magnificent light pouring through your bedroom window. Or maybe it’s your ears showering you with the raucous sound of crows from a nearby telephone wire. Or maybe you are blessed by the knowledge that your child needs to be awakened and fed and taken to school.

            Some days it’s harder than others. We all know those days. That’s when you have to try your hardest. That’s when you need help, like I did. But you have to let the world in so it can help you, whether it’s the touch of another person, the whistle of a teapot, or the light streaming in your bedroom window. The world is here for you, but you have to let it in.

            Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
            are heading home again. 

            Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
            the world offers itself to your imagination, 

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting--
over and over announcing your place 

in the family of things.

                                                Mary Oliver

I can be reached at drjohnfluca@gmail.com  805/680-5572.

CHINA’S NEW SUPERCOMPUTER AND YOU

China unveiled a new supercomputer that is 1.4 times the speed of the world’s next fastest super computer. The new machine completes 2,500 trillion calculations per second, a 40% increase in speed over the old slow poke machine that sits in Tennessee.

Is anyone under the impression that these machines will stop getting faster anytime soon?

This kind of change is taking place wherever you look.

The earth’s population is expected to rise by almost 50% to 9.5 billion people by mid-century, at which point it will hopefully stabilize rather than shoot straight for 12 billion.

In ten years China’s economy will be the size of the U.S. economy. In forty years it will be twice the size. The world economy is predicted to double and double again before today’s kids think about retiring.

The consensus amongst climate researchers is that the earth is heating up, and no one is sure what to do about it. Icebergs are melting, sea level is rising, storms are increasing, and once-frozen waterways are now open for business. In the last few years it has become acceptable for scientists to discuss global climate engineering, engineering projects meant to slow down the earth’s warming, such as proposals to blow up ice damns to free fresh water trapped in fiords in an attempt to influence ocean currents and the climate.

Women around the world continue to take their rightful place in the world, regardless of what some men might think about it.

We seem to be running out of fresh, clean, water.

Oil, well you’ve heard about oil.

Will the divorce rate ever go down?

Will the speed at which our jobs change and demand new skills from us ever slow down?

Will the creatively disruptive technologies ever stop coming?

Is Facebook the last new thing, or Google, or Twitter or bioengineering or nano-technology?

Is anyone thinking that all the applications and disruptions and possibilities of this continually unfolding technological, economic, geopolitical, social, spiritual, and environmental revolution have been thought through, understood, planned for, and ready to be easily digested?

Is anyone thinking any of this is going to stop? Does anyone really know what's going to happen?

            It’s not the economy or unemployment or Obama or the Tea Party or terrorists or any one thing or combination of things. It’s everything. It’s the world we now live in.

The amount of data collected in the last five years is equal to all the data collected in the 2000 years prior to that. The new Chinese computer shows that it’s only just begun.

We are no longer in Kansas, nor will we ever be there again.

We used to think of our lives in terms of smooth arcs with rising living standards, increased wisdom, and the right to simply enjoy the fruits of our labor—at least if we were privileged Americans or Europeans. Our lives were predictable, or so we thought. We envisioned a straight-line trajectory towards a better life, but that safe Leave It to Beaver or Father Knows Best world was an illusion. Life has never been safe, predictable, or easy for the majority of the world’s people. Now we have a sense of what that feels like.

We can try to keep out the immigrants. We can fight the terrorists. We can huddle in private armed camps in Montana. We can become reactionary fundamentalists of one stripe or another, but change will find us anyway.

And don’t think it’s going to be easier for the Chinese or anyone else. The dislocations taking place in China right now are mind-blowing. There’s never been a greater migration of people from the countryside to the city in human history.

It’s not that things are bad, or that they won’t get better. It’s simply that from now on change is the name of the game. It always has been, but now it’s in hyper-drive. 

The idea is not to fight it, nor blindly accept all of it, but we must stop wasting time and effort trying to live a life that does not embrace change. This is not to say that we should stop working for the causes we believe in. On the contrary, this is the time to really check in with who we are and what we value. But no matter what we want or think, we set ourselves up for wasted energy and suffering if we do not embrace how the world is, and the world is changing--fast.

It’s like we are on a class five river with wild currents and whirlpools and waterfalls and hidden rocks and exciting, dangerous places to hit our heads, be thrown overboard, or have the most thrilling ride of our lives. We may long for those long lazy stretches of river where we can just sit back on our inflated inner tube with a beer and a slice of melon and take in the afternoon sun, but we must accept that those calm stretches will not last.

Sooner than we might like some change will come along and we’ll be in the thick of re-inventing ourselves once again, having to learn new skills, maybe having to re-locate, maybe having to let go of someone we love. And since we're living longer, we'll have to do it for more years than we've ever had to before.

This is not about despair, or loss of meaning or value. It’s not about hopelessness. It is about knowing who you are and where you are and what you need to do to thrive in the world as it is. You have to become an agent of change, a life-long learner in tune with your own deepest values and wishes. You have to be your own best resource. That’s the only thing that can carry you through the turbulent times.

It has become more important than ever to get grounded and centered. “Know thyself,” has never been better advice. We need practices, rituals, relationships, teachings, and inner wisdom and strength, because we can no longer expect our support to come from the outside, because the outside is always changing.

Maybe you meditate or pray on a daily basis. Maybe you go for walk alone or with family or friends. Maybe you retreat to the woods, the desert, or the mountains for a week. Maybe you go for a run, or shoot a few hoops, or hit a few balls. Maybe you meet with like-minded men or women to share what matters in your life. Maybe you play music, or paint. Maybe you take an adult-ed class, or a class online. Maybe you make sure to eat dinner with your family. Maybe you do volunteer work. Maybe you do yoga. Maybe you take a dance class. Maybe you make sure to laugh with your lover and do the wild and lovely as often as you can.

In your own way, you find the quiet center in the midst of the storm, and you nurture it and you get to know it, and it will save your ass during the times of difficult change.

I’m not saying there will be nothing but storms, but I am saying there will always be storms, so stop trying to live a life without them. The best you can do is make sure you have a good sailing vessel, a good crew, and that you know your craft and are resourceful and flexible.

Dylan has a great line. He says, “He who is not busy being born, is busy dying.”

I’m going to have that tattooed on my hands where I can always find it when I need it.

That’s what the world demands of us now, that we be able to continually renew ourselves, that we be able to tap into inner strength and vision and recreate ourselves throughout our lives, as the world keeps demanding new things from us.

You may not like it. You may feel like screaming, “Stop the world, I want to get off.” But this is the world we have, so do the work you need and want to do, but never forget that it will never exactly be the world you want unless you learn to love and want a world that is forever changing.

I can be reached at drjohnluca@gmail.com. Namaste.

WHAT HAVE I EVER LOST BY LOSING?

The Buddha somehow did a lot with his life, so did Jesus, and Gandhi. I’m calling these guys winners, same goes for Mother Teresa.

Winners win, and losers…well, you know what losers do. And who wants to lose?

Play along with me here, and don’t get too philosophical about the whole win/lose thing.

Can you see yourself as a winner? Can you see yourself, as master coach Robert Hargrove asks, living an inspiring impossible future that you can passionately engage in?

Can you begin to live that future right now?

One of our challenges is that often we are semi-guided missiles. We have a target, maybe, but once we hit it, we’re done. And it’s off to the next target.

This is fine, if we’re enjoying the journey. It’s deadly if we’re not.

We have to keep our eye on the separation between who we are and who we want to become. Of course, we’re all about change and growth and learning and all that good stuff, but just like your vision of an impossible future draws you forwards, it can pull you away from the present moment where all the gifts and all the blessings are.

The great dance is to embrace the present moment as fully as possible with all its faults and shortcomings, and yet move ahead trying to learn, and grow, and even do the impossible. Impossible is the way of the universe, by the way. Impossible stuff like flowers and babies are happening in and around you all the time. It’s how you play the game of life that matters. That having been said, here’s an interesting little win/lose game for you to play.

Ask yourself, and answer quickly and generously, “How have I won?”

            Here are some of my answers to serve as an example.

I have won the being a human game (rather than the being a pet rock or an ashtray game).

I have won the love game.

I have won the divorce game.

I have won the parenting game.

I have won the being a son game.

I have won the great place to live game.

I have won the real estate game.

I have won the laughter game.

I have won the spiritual journey game.

I have won the education game.

I have won the health game.

I have won the travel game.

I have won the love of nature game.

I have won the friendship game.

I have won the writing game.

How can you win at divorce? I won because we did it well, with respect and decency and concern for the children. How can you say you won the real estate game? A few articles ago, you said you lost your shirt this last year. I did, but I’ve done some great remodels and I’ve made much more than I’ve lost.

Play the game. Look at all the things you have ‘won’. Did you learn to speak, walk, and write? If so, you’ve won the speaking game, the walking game and the writing game. Have you ever loved anyone or anything? Then you’ve won the love game.

The idea is to take your winnings to heart and embrace them.

So, how are you a winner? What have you won?

Just in case you’re stuck on being a loser, here’s an interesting game for you to play.

Ask yourself, “How have I won the losing game? How have I won by losing?”

I’ve lost a lot of sorrow in my life.

I’ve lost some old habits.

I’ve lost some negative self-talk.

I’ve lost some emptiness.

I’ve lost some fear.

I’ve lost some ignorance.

I’ve lost some old stories.

I’ve lost some guilt.

I’ve lost some failures.

I’ve lost some limiting beliefs.

Now, please, play the winning and losing game for yourself, even if only in your head. If you do this seriously, you will be surprised at how well you’ve lived your life, how much you’ve gained by losing, and how much of a winner you really are already

Now, let’s really blow the doors off our little game and bring in the big guns. Here’s a little Rumi for some serious perspective on this whole winning and losing business.

For millions & millions of years I lived as a mineral.
Then I died and became a plant.
For millions & millions of years I lived as a plant.
Then I died and became an animal.
For millions & millions of years I lived as an animal.
Then I died and became a man.
Now what have I ever lost by dying?
- Rumi

Have fun and burn bright. And don’t be a pain in the neck.