“Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.” Pema Chodron

“We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.” Pema Chodron

“To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. To live fully is to be always in no-man’s-land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh. To live is to be willing to die over and over again. ” Pema Chodron

“The difference between theism and nontheism is not whether one does or does not believe in God. . . Theism is a deep-seated conviction that there’s some hand to hold: if we just do the right things, someone will appreciate us and take care of us. . . Nontheism is relaxing with the ambiguity and uncertainty of the present moment without reaching for anything to protect ourselves.” Pema Chodron

“We think that if we just meditated enough or jogged enough or ate perfect food, everything would be perfect. But from the point of view of someone who is awake, that’s death. Seeking security or perfection, rejoicing in feeling confirmed and whole, self contained and comfortable, is some kind of death. It doesn’t have any fresh air. There’s no room for something to come in and interrupt all that. We are killing the moment by controlling our experience.” Pema Chodron

“There is a common misunderstanding among all the human beings who have ever been born on earth that the best way to live is to try to avoid pain and just try to get comfortable. You see this even in insects and animals and birds. All of us are the same. A much more interesting, kind and joyful approach to life is to begin to develop our curiosity, not caring whether the object of our curiosity is bitter or sweet. To lead a life that goes beyond pettiness and prejudice and always wanting to make sure that everything turns out on our own terms, to lead a more passionate, full, and delightful life than that, we must realize that we can endure a lot of pain and pleasure for the sake of finding out who we are and what this world is, how we tick and how our world ticks, how the whole thing just is. If we are committed to comfort at any cost, as soon as we come up against the least edge of pain, we’re going to run; we’ll never know what’s beyond that particular barrier or wall or fearful thing.” Pema Chodron

HEY!! I AM LOOKING AT YOU!! THAT’S WHO!! LOLOLOLOLOL

If you are reading this then you have continued to survive Covid 19, so far, and so have I!! That my friends is an excellent thing for both of us. And I am crossing my fingers that I can continue to say this in the coming months.

When I started to write this blog on April 2nd, the death count stood at approximately 567,000. That is up 7,000 deaths since March 26th, this is when I published the last blog. Only 7 days between the two dates?? Wow!! And again, not in a good way.

At the start of April the number of new positive cases had started to rise with New York, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, Minnesota, Massachusetts and Texas all in the top 10 and nationally this increase continued for the entire month. Even with vaccination. The daily positivity rate was about 60 to 80 thousand new cases each day.

By the middle of the month the death count was about 581,000. An increase of 14,000. While this is a lot, the good news is that the number of deaths per week had plateaued. By the end of the month it had actually dropped to around 5,000 deaths per week. A decrease of 2,000 deaths per week. While that is still way too many deaths, at least we are heading in the right direction. The interesting part from a scientific point of view will be to see if the death rate increases again in the next 30 days after the current rise in positive cases during the month of April. The month of May could turn out to be a very different story.

By the time of publication the total death count for the nation was about 590,000 – an increase of about 23,000 deaths for the month of April. While this number is much, much better than what was occurring in January of this year (2000 to 4,000 extra deaths per day). That is still to large a number. 23,000 extra deaths due to Covid. Way too many.

If you are interested in the numbers yourself take a look at these links: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ and https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

Well it has been approximately 16 weeks since I got the second shot of the Pfizer Vaccine for Covid and… so far there have been no side effects for me. But the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, like the AstraZeneca vaccine, has had some reported serious bleeding / clotting issues and will need to be investigated further to work out who should get this vaccine and who should not. So far I believe that out of 6.8 million doses given of the J&J vaccine only 15 cases have been reported. So it is a very rare side effect. If you interested in Johnson& Johnsons statement on this, check out the link: https://www.jnj.com/johnson-johnson-statement-on-covid-19-vaccine-updated

By April 2nd the United States had approximately 58 million people with full vaccination. At the end of the month that number was around 90 million plus and climbing. A very good thing. To see the numbers yourself check out this link from NBC News: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/map-covid-19-vaccination-tracker-across-u-s-n1252085

Interesting to note and a very good reason to keep wearing a mask and social distancing while in public was the number of “breakthrough” cases after full vaccination. Several states, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington and New Orleans, started to report these cases by the first of March and that trend continued to grow in other states through the rest of the month and into April. But this was not unexpected. Take for example the Pfizer vaccine, which per the manufacture is 95% effect, this means that theoretically if 100 people get vaccinated, there may be five who do not have the same level of response to provide protection. Clinical trials of all vaccines in use included breakthrough cases. What does all this mean? Even though the numbers are small, the bottom line is you still need to take precautions. Thinking about this information would I still get the vaccine? Absolutely! It has been shown that most of the people that were part of the “breakthrough” groups have had a much milder form of the disease. Some did not even know that they were sick. A good general rule of thumb after being vaccinated is to remember that most transmissions occur “breathing the concentrated air of others.” With this knowledge, one of the things to avoid would still be indoor restaurants without good ventilation and physical distancing. Eating outside would be OK, but not inside. We are not there yet. Movie theaters are another example of a place to avoid. Bottom line, if you are going to be sitting or standing in one place for longer than 15 minutes, breathing the air of others, either avoid it or everyone needs a mask on. The only exception, following CDC guidelines, would be if you and the other people around you all have been fully vaccinated.

A great link to check out on Covid is at the CDC: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home

Well that is probably enough about Covid. I am really getting tired of talking and writing about it but I feel it is worth while to help put some facts out with no political intentions or spin. I am not an expert in infectious disease, but I do have an extensive medical background in Emergency Medicine. All the information that I put out is from reliable and trusted sources – most of it verbatim or close to as possible from the source.

Now on to something better, while February was a challenging month for running and exercising in the great outdoors here on the Front Range of Colorado, March was a whole lot better. The temperatures warmed up, the wind picked up and the bad air quality moved out! Yea!

Of course March would not be complete without one hiccup in the weather. Some people think that Colorado gets it biggest snow storms during the winter months but that is not the case. While there have been some big storms in the fall and winter, the trend over the long term, is that most of our moisture and snow comes during the spring months of March and April. Of course that is changing a bit due to global warming. We will still get most of our “moisture” in March and April but it might not all be in the form of snow due to the increase in temperature.

This year March did not vary from it’s usual path of spring storms. On March the 13th into the 14th we got a huge snow storm that dumped anywhere from 12 inches to over 3 feet of snow in and around Fort Collins. The closer you got to the foothills, the higher the totals were for snow.

While we needed the moisture, the snow storm put a damper on trail running in the foothills for the rest of the month. That is unless you want to run in snowshoes or posthole quit a bit. It did melt down pretty quickly but it created some very muddy conditions and in order to prevent trail damage a lot of popular routes were closed until they dried out. Luckily the City of Fort Collins has a great bike path system and once the paths had been plowed you could get in a good run or ride without too much difficulty. Again I really cannot complain about living here too much. The access is what makes all the difference.

Post storm weather brought multi days of cooler temperatures and the occasional rain / snow shower but we had some wind and the “high pollution days” of February did not reoccur. The other benefit were some spectacular sunsets.

So in summary, the last part of March was a little bitter sweet in that the snow storm made running in the foothills nearly impossible, but it provided a much need shot of moisture and gave us some beautiful sunsets.

Training for the up coming “ultra running season” here in Colorado is progressing along nicely. The first race I am attempting is one that I have done before but not the 50 mile version. It is called the Quad Rock and it is right here behind Fort Collins on trails that I have run before. It is an early race for me and I usually end up doing the 25 mile option but this year I would like to see if I can get in the 50. This will be the first race for me since the start of the pandemic. I feel much more comfortable now that I have been fully vaccinated. While there is still a risk of contagion, I feel it has been greatly diminished due to vaccination. The biggest concern I have now is will the trails be clear of significant snow by race day. The race is scheduled May 8th (three weeks out) and as I am writing this it has still been snowing off and on here on the Front Range. Oh well, welcome to spring time in Colorado!! Lol.

The race is put on by GNAR Runners and in the past they have done an excellent job of race management. They host several different events during the season. If you interested check out their website here: https://gnarrunners.com/

A couple of book reviews and some art work before wrapping things up. The first book I would like to talk about is called “Maybe You Should Talk to Someone” by Lori Gottlieb. I have to be truthful in that I would not have picked this book to listen to or read on my own. It was Amazon that suggested it for me and as I read through the reviews and what the book was about I became more intrigued. And I have to say I am really glad that I did. On Amazon this book has almost 12,000 reviews and more than 75% of them are 5 stars or better. Lori is a therapist and a writer in real life. She starts the book at a point when her own life looks like it is going to implode. And finds herself in the predicament of needing her own “therapist”. She invites us into her world as a practitioner and as a patient using humor and real life drama to examine the truths and untruths in her life and the lives of her patients. I have to admit that I have never been to a therapist but there was a time that I probably really needed to do just that thing. My saving grace was journaling and so far that has kept me off of the therapist couch. In listening to Lori’s book I found bits and pieces of the stories she tells resonating with my own life. It has caused me to go back and reexamine some of the issues I have previously written about and to see if there might be deeper meanings. This is an excellent book and a joy to read. I listened to it as an audio book but I believe it would work in any format.

If your interested in who Lori Gottlieb is check out these links on Wikipedia and Lori’s website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lori_Gottlieb and https://lorigottlieb.com/

The next book I would like to review is a fictional geopolitical drama that is called 2034 – A Novel of the Next World War, written by Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis. I first heard about the book when the authors were interviewed by Mary Louise from NPR. You can listen yourself at this link: https://www.npr.org/2021/03/18/978832042/years-of-military-service-helped-inform-2034-a-novel-of-the-next-world-war

The authors, who both have military backgrounds, have written an entraining story of speculative fiction of what could happen when those that are in charge make miscalculations–thinking that they know how another country’s government will respond to a threat or a potential act of war.

Years ago, a friend of mine, who’s father worked in developing the first atomic bomb, told me that his dad thought the world was entering another dangerous period of “nuclear armament” in that the people that have actually seen the destruction caused by an atomic blast first hand were all dying off of old age. His fear was that unless you have actually seen the destruction caused by a nuke, in real life, you don’t really “know” the severity of one and therefore you might be more likely to order it’s use. The last above ground nuclear test was about 60 years ago and most of those “old military and science guys” have died off.

Another major part of the book is based on “who” has the best cyber tech and if your not evenly matched, your at a significant disadvantage. To the point that you might as well take you planes and ships and go home so to speak. The authors argue that the next war will be won or lost based on who has the best offensive cyber tech and the best defensive cyber security.

In summary, I liked this book, but if your someone that wants more of the “Tom Clancy” type of ending or a book full of the “techno thriller details”, you are going to be disappointed. In the above interview with NPR, the authors state they want this book to be a cautionary tale, a wake up call to America and anybody else in the world that reads it. And in that regard I believe they have succeeded. This book would work in any format. I listened to it as an audio book. As a bonus, at the end of the audio book, there is a question and answer section with Admiral Stavridis and his reasons for cowriting the book.

The last one I would like to give a recommendation to is called Exercised and is written by Daniel E. Lieberman. Like the above book I first learned about this one from an NPR interview with the author and Terry Gross. You can find the link here: Scientist Author Busts Myths About Exercise, Sitting And Sleep : Shots – Health News : NPR

I found this book thoroughly entertaining, especially since I am an ultra runner. I probably fall into the category of being addicted to exercise. Lol. All kidding aside this is a great book to help you ponder the questions of our “current culture” of exercise and physical fitness. Some of the questions Daniel looks at are as follows:

• If we are born to walk and run, why do most of us take it easy whenever possible?
• Does running ruin your knees?
• Should we do weights, cardio, or high-intensity training?
• Is sitting really the new smoking?
• Can you lose weight by walking?
• And how do we make sense of the conflicting, anxiety-inducing information about rest, physical activity, and exercise with which we are bombarded?

Note: the above questions are right out of the Amazon description, but there are many more he takes a look at that are not listed.

Daniel Lieberman is a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and is well qualified to answer these questions and to give more food for thought on the subject matter. I listened to the book as an audio book but it would work well in any format.

Well last but not least a few pieces of art work before I go. All are pen and ink, mounted on painted wood, coated and sealed with Mod Podge. These two are 9 1/4 inches by 12 1/4 inches. When hanging they are about 16 1/2 inches tall.

I have always liked the Simpsons and when I saw the episode called Goo Gai Pan, where Homer poses as a Buddha to gain entry into an orphanage in China, I knew that I had to incorporate it into art. Lol. I am an atheist but if I had to pick a religion it would be Buddhism. I do practice meditation everyday because I have found it helps me to deal with the conflicts of everyday life and work.

Meditating Homer with Skittles

In my practice with meditation, I have found that I can create a space that allows me some breathing room before facing the stresses in the world and work. I started this piece not really knowing how it was going to turn out. I just started drawing after a stressful shift at the day job. Initially I was not even going to include “Meditating Homer” since I just finished the above one but as the drawing evolved I knew I had too. Lol. The yellow jackets if you have not guessed represent all the craziness out in the world. Here Homer has created a bubble before he has to deal with it. I used the same colors both inside and outside the bubble to show that all of life, all of its issues, all the troubles, all the conflicts and all the joys are connected.

Homer’s Meditation Bubble

If you interested in the clip where Homer plays the part of the Buddha then check out his link on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S03IteC82Vo The episode in question is from Season 16 and is episode 12.

These are all for sale and can be found on my Etsy site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/strugglingprotoplasm/edit?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

Well that is going to be about it for me on this blog post. Even though I have said this before, I am going to say it again. I hope you have given more thought to minimalism and how it could make a positive change in your life and in the world. It is something that we can all do on an individual level, based on our own comfort zones, to help make this world a better place to live. Our consumeristic culture is unsustainable at it’s current level. You could even say that the death and destruction caused by the current pandemic is just a foreshadow of things to come because of our rampant “consumerism” in the world view of things. What is the old saying “Growth for growth’s sake is the definition of Cancer.” If your not happy with the current social and economic order then this is a way to protest.

Becoming minimalist is just a change in mindset. Nothing to buy, nothing to purchase, just a change in how you look at your life and the world. If this appeals to you and even if it doesn’t at the moment but you are curious, a good place to start is here: https://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/

So take care my friends and remember to wash your hands, wear your mask when in crowds or indoors and practice physical distancing. And when a vaccine becomes available, please consider getting it. Adios!!

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous…, leading to the most amazing views.” Edward Abbey