Saturday, October 26, 2024

I don’t know where to start or what to write about. I’m closely following the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and the ferocious battle for America’s presidency. It doesn’t help my brain’s muddled state that my dog has gone missing (again!) after being allowed a few moments outside earlier.

Russia is training North Korean Soldiers to help it conquer Ukraine. Israel and Iran are bombing each other. American women’s rights are on the firing line. There’s plenty to worry about. I add a personal woe to the world’s. Who needs a dog that can’t be contained, and ultimately, what may become of him?

My brain might feel muddled, but it is informed and has decent opinions. I hope Ukraine wins over Russia and joins NATO. I hope the Middle East’s mixed population can merge and learn to live together. I hope Iran’s restrictive ruling forces will be overthrown and replaced by enlightened leaders. I hope heavy tanks run over Putin and Kim soon.

China’s power, potential, status, and my sweet dog’s future are also important factors to consider.

Dear Friends: Think through elements, gain defendable opinions, and above all, vote! Diana

Thursday, October 24, 2024

This year, I made some decisions quickly. Each ended with me overpaying for an outcome that might have been different. Essentially, my intense, determined focus turned me into my own victim.

A common understanding is that humans often make fast decisions that will most likely have costly consequences. Another is that excitement’s effect can overcome an innate human need for caution.

I was following this year’s Nobel Prize award, which introduced me to Daniel Kahneman’s classic book, Thinking Fast and Slow, published in 2001. In it, he explains critical elements of human rationality and irrationality. Reviews of that book encouraged my brain’s rational side, and I ordered it.

The book’s main thesis is that there are two modes of thought: “System 1” is fast, instinctive, and emotional, while “System 2” is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. 

I often find myself thinking and deciding rapidly. I wondered if I could gain insights from Kahneman’s work to help me pause such active, almost overwhelming thought processes. Essentially, by slowing thoughts appropriately, ideas might start regrouping.

Applying correct knowledge also could mean bypassing the awfulness of brain drain, money loss, and postmortem anxieties.

The book arrived yesterday, and today, I will start reading it.

Dear Friends: Ideas that may facilitate fast-moving thought processes are welcome. Diana

Sunday, October 20, 2024

The waning Hunter Moon was gorgeous in yesterday evening’s cloudless sky. I couldn’t resist its beauty while coming home from work and later feeding my horses. The moon’s fullness had softened some, making the globe seem huggable.

That’s my almost favorite moon sighting, second only to watching a full moon rise with light interrupting sky darkness.

The header photo is AI-generated and evolved more into what I wanted after several iterations. The technology is mind-blowing already and is improving rapidly. I’m finding it can adjust a single image to specific requests. My learning is asking correctly for desired specifics.

The moon’s attributes are mind images now, temporary feel-goods before I must prepare for today’s early shift at my part-time job. Yesterday, a scheduled co-worker was a no-show, and I worked longer to cover our area. Coming home, I was dog-tired and appreciating the visible, friendly moon.

Dear Friends: Christmas shoppers, already! The Season Has Begun. Diana

Saturday, October 19, 2024

In my part-time work of selling jewelry in a large department store, I find many women shoppers deciding to tell me about their lives and their current, changing status. Generally, these women are in their seventies and beginning to cope with significant life changes. Those could be caused by a husband losing memory and becoming very dependent, or because a husband recently passed away, or because an individual is rethinking her life following an illness.

These ladies have in common that most have cycled through typical life phases, such as marrying, mothering, working, and retiring. Now, each faces a forced transition, and her future lacks the ongoing support and typical responsibilities she has understood, accepted, and accommodated for most of her life.

These women exhibit strength by articulating their situations and actively searching for different futures. Maybe they tell me their personal stories because I like people, and in the right circumstances, I will listen and ask questions.

My usual advice for exploring women is to “join a shared-interest group.” Most want to start “finding themselves,” identify as “newly alone,” and actively seek new roles, among others with similar lifestyles and interests.

At this point, I’m sorry to break away, but now I am running late for leaving to sell jewelry. I’m thinking about those women in transition and will say more in a future blog.

Dear Friends: New issues pioneered by people outliving typical expectations. Diana

Friday, October 18, 2024

This AI-generated header image reflects my pleasure yesterday evening while watching this season’s lovely Hunter Moon. I planned to photograph this special moon before realizing my camera’s battery needed charging. So, I took a chair to my property’s highest hill and sat, sipping wine and reflecting.

Bright moonlight lit the evening sky. The combo felt warm, and my wine helped. I spent too much of the earlier hours working physically, shoveling and moving dirt from one section of my property to another, filling spots made bare by horse hooves.

Horse-keepers have few restful moments. We constantly spot areas prime for repairs. I needed last night’s clear sky, moonlight, wine, and especially time doing nothing.

Well, not “nothing,” because my brain was busy thinking about my lack of time to read the books stacked and waiting for me, about ongoing brutalities in Ukraine, the Middle East, Sudan, and Myanmar, and about the too-tight race between America’s presidential candidates.

The mind is a wonder, an attribute capable of adjusting and offsetting stress. Last evening’s mild temperature and sky beauties refocused me, making worries routine and not overwhelming.

Dear Friends: Fall weather turning colder means fewer sit-out evenings ahead. Diana

Thursday, October 17, 2024

Yesterday morning, while short of time, I hastily wrote my blog. Thinking about it later, I wondered why I claimed to be satisfied with having some socks featuring the images of a few outstanding women. I began thinking about women leaders over the years and know that many more images should be in my sock collection.

Admirable women in my lifetime have included the influential Eleanor (whom I mentioned yesterday) and, I’ll add, First Lady Betty Ford, who was open about her battle with alcoholism. I admire the one and only Ms. Fannie Mae Hamer, whose energy and activism have been featured on PBS. There’s Hillary, too, and although she’s very human and, like us all, has flaws, she’s knowledgeable with hands-on experience and would have been a capable President.

Those are some “quick grabs” from my list of admirable American women. Some of those I’m naming were active in the late 20th Century, and others are still active today. But now, recalling more outstanding women–those active in the nineteenth-century–I could list more of them.

If I could have image socks for all my choices, I’d need a standalone building to house them.

Our voting for America’s President has begun and will end soon. Many Americans, both men and women, remain daunted by thoughts of a woman in our national leadership role. In fact, women have excellent track records of successful leadership in other countries. Examples are Golda Mier and Angela Merkel.

Dear Friends: These are typical nail-biting days preceding the voting tabulations. Diana