F. P. Dorchak

Speculative Fiction (New Weird) Author

Philosophy

White Rock – Garden of the Gods – and Time

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White Rock, Garden of the Gods? (© F. P. Dorchak, 2017)
White Rock, Garden of the Gods? (© F. P. Dorchak, 2017)

I think this might be White Rock, in the Garden of the Gods. As I’ve mentioned, I haven’t kept good notes from that January 1st, 2017 day I went out and took these. But I like the perspective from which I took it. It has such a neat, prehistoric look and feel to it. Many times when I go someplace—any place, really, it just depends if my mind “goes there”—I always wonder what that location looked like millions of years ago…and what it will look like in the far future.

Damn, am I ever really in the moment?

But what if considering the past and the future is being “in the moment”? If that moment is really only a perspective, if that “spacious moment”…that “spacious present” some Great Thinkers talk about really is all that…would not that mean that “present moments” really expand out into other moments? Cross and permeate chronologies? And if there really is no Time…the forward chronological progression of successive moments…that it’s all a Human Perception as I believe it is…than wouldn’t this make sense? That the moment is far more voluminous than we give it credit for? It’s a concept that actually expands in ways we have little perception…or maybe we can, if we allow ourselves to be open about it?

Yeah. If I’m not thinking about writing, I’m thinking about weird shit.

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For Whom The Gods (burp)

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Yummy! (Image by By ESO, http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0332a/ [CC BY 4.0, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0], via Wikimedia Commons)
Yummy! (Image by By ESO, http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0332a/ [CC BY 4.0, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0%5D, via Wikimedia Commons)
I think once you read this, you’ll see where I came up with the idea. But if I tell you now, it kinda gives things away.

The universe is so incomprehensibly vast.

How can it be everything?

What’s containing it all? Outside it—and how can there even be a defining boundary?

Who’s running the whole dang show?

These are all deep, powerful philosophical investigations into our origins that I utterly shatter, simplify, and minimize in my latest effort.

Enjoy.

This has never been published.

 

For Whom The Gods >burp<

© F. P. Dorchak, 1991

 

“Isn’t it amazing how the galaxies appear?” the young one, Latissimus, inquired.

“Yes. There is nothing else quite like them, is there?” replied Trapezius, the Elder.

“No, nothing. How do you think they formed—I mean, some are so symmetrical while others are so disorganized!”

“Well,” Trapezius said, “they may appear disorganized to us from our limited vantage point, my pupil, but have you ever thought that perhaps—from other vantage points—they are very symmetrical?”

Latissimus pondered.

“Good point, Trapezius! Now let me ask you another cosmological question, since you seem to know much of this universe.”

“Know so much of the universe? Ha!” Trapezius said, snorting, “I, too, am a mere student, not an Oracle!”

“Oh nonsense! I know you for what you truly are—a wise and learned man!”

Trapezius held his head in humility.

“So, pray thee, what is this burning question of yours, that you seem to be teasing me with, Latissimus? Pray the gods I am worthy of such a challenge!”

“Oh, but you are, Trapezius, you most certainly are!

“My question, that I put to you, is: If the notion of the closed universe is true, what lies beyond the universal boundaries?”

At this, Trapezius guffawed a mighty open and merry laughter!

“Oh, Latissimus, you are surely a feisty one—for that question cannot simply be put to a simple answer!

“The universe, if it is indeed as is thought, will expand, only to contract upon itself. This in itself brings an interesting postulation. For if the universe is indeed all, then from what is it all shrinking…and to what is taking up all its previously occupied space? How can it even fall back unto itself?

“Furthermore…even if the universe is open, as some say…what is it expanding into if it is everything?

“These questions are not those that I can easily corner into an answer—a dialectic perhaps—but nothing is certain. You would be better off putting such a question as to how the galaxies get their very form!”

“Then that I do, my mentor! How do yon galaxies attain the form with which they sustain? Pray thee, I inquire!”

“My friend, Latissimus, you are certainly an endless pit of curiosity this day! Let us to investigate, then, to one in particular. Note that one there, the asymmetrical one next to Quesandromidea….”

From a direction opposite and behind the philosophical prolegomena emerged a dark form…growing increasingly enormous in configuration and nascent in proximity. The two engaged in dialectic noticed it not, the shape blotting out the celestial fires to half the heavens.

{^.^ Xi yihYii kytc chatgh aNf ^.^}*

An immense fork reached down into the milky swirls below, a piece of French toast impaled upon its four-pronged end. The Hand at the other end absentmindedly swished it around in the starry sauce, the bright speckles sparkling spectacularly. The God returned to His actions, The Other nodding in agreement, He/She/Its Grin so immense that the magnetic fields of neighboring nebulae distorted.

* (translation:) “I just love the Magellanic Clouds, don’t you? They taste so sweet and cinnamonny!”

 

Short Story Links

Links to all my posted short stories are here.

 

Meeting My Oversoul—In Person

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I'll Give You A Memory! The Education of Oversoul 7, © 1973, Jane Roberts (First Pocket Books printing, December, 1976)
I’ll Give You A Memory! The Education of Oversoul 7, © 1973, Jane Roberts (First Pocket Books printing, December, 1976)

Okay, this may well get you all wondering what the hell’s going on with me, but I had one of the coolest metaphysical experiences happen to me the other night. Sure, if I were you, reading this, I’d have the same questions, but I’m not…I was at the receiving end and know what I experienced.

I went to bed early Wednesday night after rereading some of the novel, The Education of Oversoul 7. I was reading a section that talked about the Oversoul Seven character annoyed that one of its earthly personalities only saw him as an older guy with graying hair.

So, I go to bed.

About an hour or two later, I’m awakened by this guy my age or older—with gray in his hair—leaning out/down to me. He’s reaching out with his left hand with a focused concentration and tapping me on the forehead as I lay in bed!

I then actually (I physically did this—it wasn’t a dream) reached up trying to block his tapping, and said something like “Oh, come on…” or “Nooo!” because he was waking me up, for Godsakes!  You see, I’ve been having trouble sleeping the past week and I’d had a good sleep…even if for only that hour or two then!

The man’s face was neutral…not smiling nor angry. It was actually very intent—focused—as in trying to get through to me.

This has meaning.

I’m sure many of you think this totally fictional, another byproduct of the all-illusionary hypnogogic state brought on by the novel I was reading. And that’s okay. But I don’t feel this to be the case. It was far, far too coincidental. Stuff like this doesn’t happen to me where I see something, watch a movie, read a book, then dream about it. My dreams just don’t work that way (and I’m quite aware of what I dream about and have been logging them since I was a kid, so I do know what I’m talking about, here).

This has meaning because I’ve recently been hoping I could have more dreams where I meet my oversoul—and remember it. Then the new novel I’m beginning work on caused me to return to this particular novel. Then, given the passage I’d just been reading, I have the experience just described.

It’s all part of a series of related events. As I always say, everything’s related to everything else.

This has to be my oversoul making “an appearance.” It’s been a year or more where I haven’t had an obvious dream about him/her and remembered it. It’s just too “coincidental,” and I don’t believe in meaningless coincidences.

And given the intense look of “focused concentration,” well, it’s one I obviously did remember!

What does it mean?

It means that there is another “entity” out there listening to me…and trying to help out in the background. Back behind the curtain of life. S/he (the male/female form presented is not the only form “they” [being “them”] wear) came at a perfect time…and with a perfect array of physical circumstances…my need, the novel, the passage within the novel…it’s all beautifully laid out if you think about it! Perfectly executed, with even a flair of not only the dramatic, but humor!

Really—tapping me on the forehead?!

It’s something my dad would do… but if that doesn’t get one’s attention….

All very much like who I am (dramatic: writing; humor: me). I just can’t convey how utterly perfect the execution enough!

I’d been so busy (mentally and physically) this week, it didn’t really hit me until yesterday how cool the execution…how dramatic an event it was! This happens in our physical existences, where we get so caught up in the daily minutiae of life. But we all have the ability to step back and pause: re-evaluate our days. Our actions. Our experiences. Many couch their similar experiences in religious clothes—or even outright ignore them—and that’s okay. We all have our personal beliefs and our experiences will be so filtered to match those beliefs. But that we have these experiences at all…that some of us are open to them and their many and varied interpretations is what’s important. You may think I saw an angel…or a hypnogogic character from a novel I was reading—and that’s your interpretation. Nothing wrong with it. But it’s not mine. And there’s nothing wrong with my interpretation. We all interpret our lives as we will and must. It’s one of the reasons we’re put into physical reality. It’s our own personal and individual path toward growth.

Be open the to weird. It has wonderous things to show you!

Faux Metaphysical Interview with F. P. Dorchak, Author of Voice

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The Circles of Life. (By Mariano Deheza [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)
The Circles of Life. (By Mariano Deheza [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)
The following is the second part to a faux interview with me by one of the characters in my new novel, Voice. It delves into my metaphysical leanings and was removed from the main faux interview of me on my other blog, which is more about writing.

Voice: In Voice you wax philosophical. How did you get into all this New Age/metaphysical philosophy?

F. P.: New Age. My thoughts on the philosophy are similar to my thoughts on the writing of its fiction. It’s a term I’ve come to not like—and only because of all the negative connotation associated with it—otherwise, I have nothing against the term nor the “movement.” “New Age” has been around a long time. The concepts have been so associated with floozy philosophies and daisy power that I think it’s hurt the label. And since humans like to label things, I think we might need a new label—or a reeducation. But I like to think that my work can help change perceptions. Get people to be [more] introspective. Expand their awareness by considering other possibilities for why things might be. Give consideration to what might be happening in the background of our lives. Get them to not-so-easily dismiss the little “weird occurrences” that happen to our lives, for they are many! I’m not setting myself up as some guru or saying I know everything…I’m just trying to show other possibilities about why things might be.

I got into my Weltanschauung (world view), kind of interestingly. As I mentioned, I’ve always been interested in the strange and weird…the paranormal. As a youngster I had gotten these weird mailers for “occult” and supernatural books and I’d send away for them. Then one day—I had to be around 14 or so—I got a particular flyer for a book called Seth Speaks, by Jane Roberts. It totally blew my mind! It kicked ass with respect to human thought and why we were all here, and anything else you wanted to ask. It—and all of Jane’s successive books that I bought—was simply and utterly amazing. If any of this was true, man, the world changes we could effect! It was staggering! The information came from Jane Roberts, as she channeled an “energy personality essence” who called itself “Seth.” All major religious change started from some kind of inspiration, and I maintain that “channeling”—while I am highly, highly suspect of anyone who outwardly claims this, highly, highly suspicious—is no different than anyone else’s inspiration: John the Baptist or John Smith, you pick the “john,” the leader. And I’m not saying just because you’re inspired you’re right. I’m just talking pure mechanics, here. Followers and writers just call it “inspiration”—or madness. Who’s to say that inspiration isn’t channeling? That our ideas, though coming from us, our personality vessels, might not also come from something or someone deeper within? Not just God, but other “personalities” within us…nonphysical energies behind and a part of who we are? Might they not come from “world views” like has been written about in The World View of Paul Cézanne, and The Afterdeath Journal of an American Philosopher? And if this was true (which I feel it is)…isn’t it exactly how it might work? Just think outside the box for a second. Now, whether or not you should hang your hat on any of this inspiration is another story…but, again, I’m just talking about the involved mechanics…not the content of the inspiration. Inspiration can be misinterpreted. But, then again, all interpretation is highly individual…and is interpreted by individuals as it will and must be. But that still doesn’t make it “right” for others.

So I read this Seth material and was stunned by every word of it. Amazed. Even downright scared at times. I remember one day, as a kid, going to my mother and talking to her about this. I told her how scary some of it sounded, and asked her how could it be real? I don’t recall much of the conversation, but I do remember my mom being very supportive and understanding, and somehow putting me to ease. Must be a mother thing.

Voice: It is.

F. P.: So, as I grew up, I continued reading absolutely any book Jane and Seth (Jane’s husband, Rob Butts, transcribed all these books as Jane related them aloud) put out. I also studied religion—I was actually raised Roman Catholic—and philosophy. I did this both on my own and while studying in college. I was actually one class short of a philosophy minor. I decided to see if these concepts really worked. See how much of life’s questions they could answer—and I don’t mean like those simple “it’s the Devil’s work” wave-of-the-hand snippets. I needed more…and what “more” was I wouldn’t know until confronted with it. Well, what I found—and I’d actually gotten back into the traditional religious side of things for a spell—was that whether I was “religious” or wasn’t I would get what I wanted…so how could one faction be wrong and the other right? Well, these mind-bending philosophies from Jane’s books explained everything to me—or a helluva lot more than anything else out there I’d ever read before or since—including traditional eastern philosophy. Seth’s work is like a Venn Diagram: I can place absolutely every other philosophical thought or concept or issue into the answers and explanations I got from Seth/Jane’s books, but not the other way around. I used my life experience to prove these concepts and didn’t just blindly accept what I had read. I simply found that “Seth/Jane’s concepts” worked in everyday life. Whether or not she channeled the information or “made it up”—it didn’t matter to me, it all worked, and made sense to me, even if they didn’t appear to work.

Voice: Explain.

F. P.: Most of the concepts are based on us controlling and creating our own lives—not everything that is, but our physical lives. That we are the energy behind the rocks and trees and pollution, you name it. God, or as I prefer All That Is, is the energy behind us. Within us. Allowing us our lives and value fulfillment. Giving us unconditional love and support. In a nutshell. There’s a little more to it, but that’s why there’re so many books on the subject. So, when things don’t work, the philosophy explains why it doesn’t work, and there could be any of a number of reasons. For example: say you have a fear of intimacy—and most of our seeming failures, by the way, seem to be related to some kind of fear—you seem to get close to a person, but always end up breaking up…or never finding that one “perfect” person. Well, the quick and dirty explanation could be that you—not the world, not the people you’re dating and meeting—but you are the one pushing people away. You are bringing into your life situations that consciously or unconsciously reinforce your system of beliefs that (maybe) you are unworthy. Your fears are keeping you from finding who you want…not that there’s no one out there for you. The people that are coming into your life are there for their reasons as well, but this doesn’t negate that you brought your version of them into your life to begin with. You attracted them. So, the theory goes, by changing your beliefs, which is not always an easy thing to do (but should be), I’m saying you’ll change your life. We all interact with each other for our own physical and nonphysical reasons, but our own circles of influence are brought on by us…individually and en masse…not by any “external” forces or causes. We bring everything into our own lives, good and bad. Any further explanation here, gets book length, and that’s why there are so many books! The books get very detailed.

In any event, I try to incorporate aspects of all this philosophy into all I write. Sometimes it’s more obvious than others. Sometimes it’s not. Sometimes it’s sexy, as with Voice.

Voice: Well, thank you for some insight to your philosophy and how it ties into your work!

F. P.: You’re most welcome!

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2014 Graduation Speech: Were I To Deliver One

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Give Your Life Some Serious Thought! (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Graduation_Thinker_LuMaxArt.jpg)
Give Your Life Some Serious Thought! (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Graduation_Thinker_LuMaxArt.jpg)

Perusing through the Sunday paper, last week, I was inspired by an article that talked about graduation speeches. I’ve never been called upon to deliver one, doubt I ever will, but I thought, hmmm…what would I like to hear in one, were I, once again, graduating from Saranac Lake Central High School or Northern Arizona University…and my life was still ahead of me?

To The Graduating Classes of 2014:

Take control of your life.

When you leave here, setting out for your course through life, you will have all sorts of choices. Some of you will enter the military or government services. So will become celebrities of one kind or another. Some will become academicians. Journalists. Managers. Writers. Film makers. Some will lead simple, quiet lives.

But you will all, eventually, die.

We all will.

How will you look back on your lives at the end?

Will you be satisfied? Even have time to do so? Will you have helped make life a better place to live?

Here is what I ask: be yourself, and don’t cave into the fear mongering that’s out there. Create the world you would like to see, to live in, and spread the joy.

There’s a lot of “evil” out there, and evil is as evil does…but there is also far more good. If there wasn’t, we wouldn’t be here. We would not be enjoying what freedoms we do have, however meager you may, now, feel we are or are not enjoying. Now, there are a lot of arguments out there about protecting those liberties, and the “mechanics” behind said protection, but I’m here to tell you of a very simple way we can all practice without putting ourselves into harm’s way or debating global politics.

Focus on the good in your own minds.

Now, this might sound all Pollyanna nonsense, but think about this: nothing becomes exterior in your lives that has not first existed within your minds.

There is a quote by Joe Queenan, columnist in the Wall Street Journal (not sure if he still is), who said, “People are…sensitive about what they put into their bodies…but will put anything into their brains. They eat free-range chicken, but they watch TV shows about headless suburban demons. They ingest loads of parsnips but never Picasso. Call me a hidebound traditionalist, but the brain as every bit as important as the small intestine.”

I substitute “mind” for “brains,” but the sentiment is adequate.

You put out what you think about, what you concentrate upon. If you think the world a bad place to live, you think everyone’s out to get you, absolutely every one of your actions will telegraph that. Spew that. Absolutely everything you do will be to that end. Consciously or unconsciously, this will be your experience.

If you believe we all get sick the older we get, this will happen.

If you believe all politicians are all corrupt, this will happen.

If you believe in living in fear, this will be your experience.

There is much truth to this on a Zen level, but on an everyday level it also bears itself out. You will not look for optimistic, beneficial solutions. You will only look and see and select the negative side of things. You will only see fear and only do things that will attract and corroborate fear mongering. Because you cannot see past it.

If, however, you look outside the box, as the phrase goes, if you open yourselves up to the optimistic, you have now given yourself at least twice as many options. While living in fear, you only see half the coin. Flip that damned thing over. Put as much effort and energy into the rest of the equation, into positive approaches to living and creating life.

On the Zen side, we’ve all heard the other time-worn phrase that like attracts like. Where do these trite phrases come from? Might there not be some truth to them?

Haven’t you ever notice that when you were in a bad mood, a sick mood, everything appeared dour and wicked…while in a great mood and enjoying yourself, everything seemed happy and optimistic? It’s not just brain chemicals, no matter what your science courses may have tried to impress upon you. Sometimes the effects are real, not just chemically induced hallucinations.

Simply stated, there is a lot to be said for sunny dispositions. Positive outlooks. Even medical and psychological sciences are beginning to see this. Sub-atomic physics.

Find new and creative ways in expressing this philosophy that fits into your life.

Take control of your life.

Change the entrenched paradigms of fear and negativity that seem to be permeating the media. Turn off your damned cell phones and look up, as that one video rapped. Look around, look down. Look into the faces, the eyes, of the people and places you meet. If you’re going into the film or video business, quit making films that degrade or cheapen the human experience. There’s a lot of talk about whether or not video games or movies make killers out of people…but if all you do is immerse yourself into violence and depravity…whether in a movie or video games…all day, and that is the sum total of your daily experience, tell me, what the hell else do you expect of that person when they go out into the real world? In fact, what is real, what becomes real, to someone like that? What the kind of output do you actually expect from that kind of mind? You honestly expect that person to become a preacher, a teacher, a kind and caring parent?

If all you watch are news reports about death and destruction, do you really expect to have a positive outlook in life?

Take control of your life.

If we can all take control of our lives in more positive ways…the benefits will be enormous. Earth- and life-shaking. It can, literally, change the direction of all our lives. Because, and this is another Zen thing, there are things called probabilities out there. Roads not taken, waiting to be taken. And they all intersect, so one road not taken at one point, can certainly be taken later on down that other road taken. Not everything talked about has to be manifested into physical reality. Wars, droughts, climate change. Sometimes they can be manifested in the nonphysical, the mental landscapes of Humanity…and sometimes both. There seems to be a lot of angst and fear out there…and through all this—all I’ve had to say, here—I ask that all of you out there steer clear of that fear and angst. “Go around the rocks,” as I’d once read. Expect a different probability than what we are all currently experiencing. A more positive one, free from wars (or lessened conflicts, at the very least). Where we can all live among each other, tolerating each other, trying to make a go at this thing called life, but not at any others’ expense. Wish for the best, and the best will come. Maybe not completely (not everyone is a saint…but not everyone is a sinner, either…), maybe not exactly as you might expect it to be, but it will come. If we all focus and act in the best possible ways, then what else can one reasonably expect—even if you don’t buy into all I’ve said 100%? What could it hurt? Even 10% is doable. Would make a difference.

Try it.

Take control of your lives.

Congratulations to all of you, I wish you all the best. And congratulations, Alek!

Having It All—A Reality Check

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This Is Your Life. (Photo: Wiki, Five-set Venn diagram, by Branko Grünbaum)
This Is Your Life. (Photo: Wiki, Five-set Venn diagram, by Branko Grünbaum)

The title of this site is “Reality Check,” so I’d like to “reality check” something I recently read somewhere and to which I do hear mentioned a lot out “in the wild” of life. This, and another issue, had been buzzing around in my head all week.

Having it all.

What does that mean?

Can you really?

When I was in my twenties I tried to “have it all.” I was an Air Force officer, I began putting in serious, daily efforts in fiction writing (even took a Writer’s Digest correspondence course), and I did the following physical activities in a typically weekly cycle (certain activities, like skiing and road biking,  were obviously seasonal, but I did run in the snow and cold and hiked as weather permitted):  weight training (heavy!), martial arts (two styles), running, [road] biking, swimming, skiing, hiking, softball. I think that’s everything. And, for a period of time, I was getting four hours of sleep (I don’t recall how long I was doing this, but I did experiment with it; as I remember it, I did pretty good with it, just don’t recall for how long–and no, I don’t do that now). I had a resting heart rate in the 40s, was around 185/190 pounds at just under six feet.

I thought, yeah, man, I really can do this! If I keep this up, keep working out, I’ll be in superior shape in my later years and will look and feel and be better in my 40s+ than most people my age, and won’t tweak myself picking up a glass of water.

In short…I thought I could have it all.

You know what happened?

My joints started killing me.

Even in my twenties, my body couldn’t take it. Sure, it was fun, I had a blast, but I learned that in our physical existence, we have to make choices. In fact, I’d go so far as to say, that we’re not meant to “have it all.” We’re meant to make choices from the vast array of life experiences and focus in minute detail on that which we choose. Now, I do make the argument that in my belief of living multiple, simultaneous lives, there we can “have it all,” in that all the different versions of ourselves will make different decisions. That they will take the paths not traveled, the forks-in-the-road, not taken. And those decisions will lead to other decisions and choices undreamed of.

I also believe that those experiences bleed across our simultaneous lives to enrich the other lives, because, as I always love to say, all things are connected. Everything is tied to everything else. I also believe we can all see this in ourselves, if we look to our latent-but-not-use talents. Tangential interests. Daydreamed and nocturnally dreamed activities.

Do you have an interest in art, but are a Forest Ranger?

Does your vision correct to 20/10, but you’re myopic?

Are you a “natural” in the cockpit of a plane and unafraid when you lost altitude and the instructor pilot told you you better pull up?

Are you a Cubicle Warrior, but love the outdoors and find nature skills easy to learn and put into practice?

Look within yourselves and see what latent abilities, what likes and dislikes you secretly harbor and wonder about. They could very likely belong to another “Probable You,” running around out there this very minute…and day dreaming about you.

To be blunt, there is no physical way any of us can “have it all.” Let’s face it, we’d be God. We’re not God. Any idiot can tell you that by just turning on the TV. We are who we are, we’re here for whatever purpose, but within the Venn diagram of all this, we have to make decisions. We have to have some things, reject others.

We have to learn from our choices, live with our choices.

If you feel such a burning need to “have it all,” ask yourself…why? Do you understand the ramifications of such thinking? The damage it will do not only to your personal well-being and physical body, but also to your life and those in orbit around you? We all need time to recuperate, physically and mentally, and I don’t see a lot of that these days. I see a lot of literally violent, explosive behavior. Now, I’m no psychiatrist, but I would heavily wager that many of us are becoming so mentally stressed out, so pushed beyond the edge by the super-sized overloaded and the “have it all” society that we’re short circuiting.

So, I ask that we all aim for a “quality of life,” not a “have it all” attitude, factor in some down time, turn off the electronics, and save some activity for your Probably Yous.