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Caffeine saved my life. No lie. When I wasn’t feeling so good after my brain cancer scare, coffee got me back on my feet again. I went to numerous doctors and finally when I went to a neuro-opthamologist, she suggested I drink lots of water and some caffeine and I will start feeling better. I was skeptical at first and since my lifelong pursuit of health had me eschewing caffeine for the majority of my life, I took it one step at a time. I started drinking one Starbucks DoubleShot Espesso drink every day and saw improved results when it came to my headaches and impaired eye movements. But it did not work on its own. I also needed tons of water along with the caffeine. But that was of no consequence because caffeine is a natural diuretic, which means it forces water out of your body. So I kept myself from dehydrating while at the same time keeping myself feeling great. Sure, caffeine is addictive and I try to limit myself when I am feeling good, but if I am having an off day, I go for the best energy drink I know of to this day.

I can make coffee a healthy drink if I limit the cream and sugar intake. If I go to a gourmet coffee shop like Starbucks, the sugary, creamy drinks may tempt me, but I always stick with good old fashioned regular coffee. And I use only raw sugar in very small quantities (i.e. half a teaspoon for 10 oz.). I use occasional cream, but only enough to make the coffee taste unlike swill. It is a very dark brown. I might switch over to Silk soymilk creamer in the near future. I brew my coffee at home not because it will save me money, but because I control what is in the coffee. If I wish to make a frozen coffee drink in my Magic Bullet, all I have to do is put excactly what I need into the mix and nothing else. Raw cream and raw sugar are a big part of this magic drink I am accustomed to make every now and then. It will be great for this upcoming summer.

But I do prefer just a regular cup of joe. It is a nice pick-me-up, but I never do it to excess. About 12-15 oz. a day is all I can truly take because I don’t do it every day anymore and overdosing on caffeine makes you feel terrible. A wonderful lift can turn into the worst crash you’ve ever seen.

I shouldn’t ramble to long about this as the caffeine is really starting to get to my head now. I hadn’t had any real caffeine for a few days before today and I think I am seeing God now. And I thought only hardcore addicts got that far. Well, I’ll be back writing soon and I hope my loyal readers are still with me. I’ve been experiencing writers block lately and I need some inspiration.

Side Note: One fascinating practice I’ve been looking into is called breatharianism. Look forward to a post about that in the near future. It is the equivalent of spiritual and physical perfection where no more food or drink is needed. It seems out of the box, but then again, isn’t the box getting too crowded? Don’t worry because I am in no way going to try this any time soon because of the obvious health risks. But it is definitely worth studying because it is yet another weird little quirk I can add to my resume.

Thanks guys for reading.

For the past two or three weeks, I’ve been eating more raw foods.  Mostly fruits.  I am starting to shy away from the processed foods and candies.  Sure, they still taste good, but nothing compares to eating an apple right now.  It is almost like a cup of coffee, but without a crash at the end.  And the taste is explosive, much unlike any boxed food I can find.  Living foods has a wonderful quality to it that cooked foods do not have.  It gives me an extra boost that is hard to explain, but it leaves me clearer in all aspects of my body and mind.  I do not think us humans were meant to eat cooked food.  Sure, we can tolerate it because it’s been forced down our throats for so many years and we had to adjust as a survival mechanism.  But since we have evolved over millions of years not eating cooked food, what makes us think that we can all of the sudden eat food that has been cooked?

I know that we can survive on both diets, but with all of these diseases people are experiencing these days, from cancer to diabetes, I wonder what the root cause of all this is.  At least part of it has to be diet-related.  In America, we are a culture that loves food.  We even have a holiday devoted to just stuffing ourselves to the brim and then having dessert.  A country that cooks millions of giant birds every November to fill our gluttonous needs.  I believe the reason we overeat is that the foods we are eating are low in nutrients because of the cooking and the way the food is grown/raised.  Now that we’ve interfered with nature so much that our foods are grown with chemical fetilizer and our meat is raised with hormones and antibiotics, it is no wonder our country’s population is going downhill healthwise.  And it may be more expensive to shop organic, but the quality is well-worth the extra cash.  Also, not cooking the fruits and veggies you happen to purchase will also give you the best nutrient bang for your buck.

Whenever we eat cooked food, our white blood cells go on attack mode.  That should tell us something.  If our body is telling us the Egg McMuffin is a foreign invader, not suitable for consumption by anyone, then why do we keep eating it, putting a strain on our digestive system and our immune system?  If our bodies are constantly working to fight off the food we are eating, is it any wonder to you that disease just happens to slip in under the guard?  And this is the big problem.  If there is an opening for any sort of virus or bad bacteria to get through, it will get through and cause problems.  The body will need all its resources to fight these intruders, but if you are still eating the cooked diet, it will need to expend some energy digesting the massive amount of french fries and fried dough that is resting in your stomach.  I believe that is one reason that when we are sick we do not feel like eating.  Our body sends us a signal that we should not be eating right now because our body is trying to repair itself.  And if you are going to eat anything at all, why not make it a fruit or a green smoothie?  It digests much quicker than cooked food, in 20 minutes to be precise.

I am no expert on raw foods, but I do know one thing.  To me, it makes sense.  It just makes sense to me.  Intuitively, logically, and spiritually.  I just think about all the times I’ve burned myself on the stove.  That is what we are doing to our food.  If you stuck your hand in a pot of boiling water for ten minutes, wouldn’t you think there would be some damage?  That is the same thing that is happening to our foods when we put them in the pot.  We are damaging our foods.  I, for one, do not feel that this practice will contribute to optimal health.  It will most likely contribute to premature death.  All the toxin accumulation from the harmful free radicals that from when food is put at a certain temperature will take us all down slowly if we do not monitor our raw vs. cooked foods.  This may or may not be for everyone, but the more I think about it, the more I believe that raw foods is food in its natural state, the way the Earth is offering it to us.  It is there for our survival and to change its nature in any way is to alter what is intended for you.   Why not try it?  I bet it is the ultimate weight loss diet.  I’ve read plenty of testimonials that say so.

It is now pomegranate season again, and as I mentioned last year, I was still a bit intimidated by the fruit with a thousand seeds. Armed with nothing but a knife, a bowl, and a pomegranate, I went out into the unchartered wilderness of mysterious and exotic fruits, and I came out a victor. So far this year, I’ve eaten two and I’ve gotten them done in less than a half hour, which is much faster than my previous attempts last year where I used a spoon to try and pluck every last seed out of their homes. This year, I took a new approach. I decided I would use my hands, which undoubtedly would be stained red by the conclusion of this episode, but it would allow me to eat in the most efficient way possible. Cutting this mammoth fruit into fours and further breaking it up with my hands while diving down for ten to twenty seeds at a time, it was pure bliss. Before I knew, it, the only seeds left were the ones in the bowl, smothered with a small quantity of juice, which tastes so wonderful unpasteurized. The only problem is that this juice stains everything it touches. Why are antioxidant juices so staining? It seems as though the more potent the antioxidant, the harder it is to get out of a white T-shirt.

It is by far the most interesting fruit, except maybe the kiwano, which has spikes and does not look like it is very inviting to eat. It is probably one of the only fruits that can be called a “deadly weapon.” I would like to try one of those some day, but right now I just wouldn’t know where to start. Ever since I got on what some people refer to as a “health kick,” I have tried more and more new fruits, most of which I had never even heard of or was afraid of. Just to list a few: a pluot, a tangelo, an avocado, papaya, mango, kiwi, bosc pear, pomegranate, mangostein, and someday the kiwano. The only reason I may never try the kiwano is because it reminds me too much of the dreadful acting skills of Keanu.

Well, all I can really say is that experimenting with different types of fruits/vegetables has really paid off so far, although sometimes I get disappointed, like with the avocado, it is worth it for the experience and it will broaden your variety within each meal. Going raw was at one point an option for me, that is consuming only raw foods, but right now I do not feel that I can make the transition quickly, so I am still eating vegetable soups and with Thanksgiving coming up and a dead bird in my freezer, I have to assume a turkey will become part of my diet this Thursday. If it is any consolation, I did get the turkey for free. One thing I will never bring myself to eat is veal, for obvious reasons and the vegetarian movement has somewhat stopped at my house. Even though I know that most of the meat we buy (and believe me, I do not eat much) is full of antibiotics and growth hormones and of animal diseases, you fry it in olive oil or butter and I can’t tell the difference. Of course I thank the animal for giving its life so I can eat, but it can’t hear me because it’s dead.

I do feel better when I do not consume animal products for weeks at a time. It makes me feel lighter and more spiritual, but definitely not self-righteous. I keep my diet to myself, except on this blog. People always want to know why you live a particular way and I say that if you are so curious, why don’t you try whatever I am doing for yourself and see how it goes? I cannot tell you if something will work for you. I can tell you if it works for me, but I am not you and I do not know the extent to which your social conditioning will not allow you to make any significant changes for fear of being excluded from “the group.” I figure that if you want to try new things and other people tell you that you’re crazy, it is because they are indeed scared that what they have been doing all those years in contrary to the best way to live and do not want someone like you to show them up. Or maybe I am just talking for the sake of doing so. Either way, I know what works for me.

Okay, off to buy some more POMs. The best nature has to offer.

I’ve been considering fasting for some time, I just can’t do it. Can’t make a commitment. Not eating for days on end, not something I can make a conscious effort to do. I am aware of the potential benefits, especially of a juice fast, where all I would consume are fresh juices, but then I’ll have to clean the juicer three or four times a day, not something I want to do. I realize that fasting is a detox mechanism which allows for repair and gives my digestive system a rest. If I did a water fast, I am sure I would get sick of water after a certain amount of time and move on to heavier things, like broth, then juice, then eventually something tastier–soda. I’m just curious as to how a fast is constituted and how I can get a doctor to write me a note for three to five days off work so I can try this whole fasting thing and see how I like it. I think this whole fasting dream I have is all a scheme for me to get off work a few more days each week.

“I can’t come into work today. I have toxins in my body and if I let them stay there too long, I could die. I need to detox for at least five days, maybe six.” I would have to do it in the raspy voice I usually use to call in sick, a voice that sounds like I just got out of bed and haven’t said a word all day. I bet I could pull that off, if I had some sort of research on it. I would most likely try and break the fast at breakfast. That way I coud be doing one of those double entondre (?) things where I can say I’m breaking my fast at breakfast. I may have to hire a maid to make me juices and to go shopping for me and maybe I can pull it off. I can feel all the accumulated gunk from years and years of pizzas and doughnuts, not to mention that Mountain Dew addiction I had for the first nineteen years of my life. My arteries are probably lined with High Fructose Corn Syrup, which makes for a nice lubricant I hear.

As I’ve always said, it is easier to not do something than it is to do it unless it is an addiction, like a sugar addiction or a food addiction. No matter how lethargic I am, no matter how late it is, I can always muster the energy to go over to the cupboard and get myself a high-sugar, low-fiber poison snack and shove it in my mouth for an emotional lift and sugar high. I think maybe the Fit for Life diet gave me this sugar addiction with their whole, “nothing but fruit in the morning” approach. What did they think was going to happen? They say, “Have as much fruit as you want, but do not overeat.” What? Does that make sense? No. It’s a living paradox. Here I am, eating pints of blueberries, followed by six bananas, and then sixteen Medjool dates, and I’m still hungry, but not hungry in the stomach sense, hungry in my mouth, the salivary glands are going wild, and I know what my problem is, a sugar addiction.

I still eat fruit, but I need some time away from food. I need to find a practical time to do this fast, I may even request some days off from work to accomplish it. My family will inevitably think I’m crazy, but I think that is for the best anyway. If everyone thinks you’re crazy, you’re either right, or crazy. Sometimes the only reason I eat is because I think I have to. I’m not hungry, I just feel if I don’t, people will start saying, “You didn’t eat lunch? Why?” Because I didn’t feel like it. But that’s not a good enough answer. Going against conventional wisdom takes more courage than you think.

If I really want to scare the people I know, I should start quoting the Bible while I fast, every day and every night. Start saying how fasting is the only way to salvation and that if I do not do this, I will never get closer to the Lord. And He is the one wa all long to get close to. And it’s all here in this pamphlet. I should start going door to door, like a Jehvovah’s Witness. You know, maybe their theme song should be, “Knock, knock, knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” Going off topic has become more and more familiar to me in the past six to eight months. But I accept it because I accept myself unconditionally. And I never edit because if I think something, I think it for a reason and there is no reason to cut out part of the process, like I see on those reality shows. They’ll cut to someone screaming at another person and don’t show how that all started. It gives me no basis for judgment.

Anyway, fasting is something I think I should try and I will post results when I start to fast. I’ll have some time to post because I will not be eating. When everyone is around the dinner table, eating their roast duck, I will be slaving away at my master, my computer, documenting how it feels not to do something everyone regards as necessary. I don’t want to make a big thing out of it, though. It’s not like I’m going on a hunger strike to fight world hunger or poverty. I’m doing it because I can. I can make a choice to not do something. It is strikingly similar to my voting fast. I’ve never registered to vote in 21 1/2 years because where I currently live, my vote would be drowned out by a bunch of conservative Republican voters. And voting for yourself makes you look narcissistic anyway. Probably wouldn’t be the best idea. That is all I have for today. Come back soon for more insanity.

Like I mentioned before in my previous posts, I am attempting to refrain from any TV watching, except for maybe one to two half-hour shows a week, but now that I realize how pointless the whole activity is, even during shows I do enjoy, I can finally put to rest the fact I do not need to watch this box anymore. Even the shows I like, the shows I love, are not half as good as I thought they were. Even if I do laugh a couple of times, it is not half as funny as some of the ideas I can come up with myself. I am not saying this to brag, but just to show how bored I’ve become with the whole television paradigm. At this point, I would rather read a script from a television show than actually watch it. That may seem odd, but before all this, I did read movie scripts on a semi-regular basis, and got the same, if not better understanding of characters and how they related to one another.

TV news is another thing that just cracks me up. They get hooked on these seemingly meaningless stories for days, weeks, months, and even years. I will never forget the Natalie Holloway case. It is sad she disappeared, but so do millions of other children and adults each year. I could not help but think the only reason they focused almost exclusively on her was that she was attractive and her parents had money. Then, recently, the Anna Nicole Smith thing where I guess she died or something and there was a baby and they didn’t know who the father was. I could not help but think that if I was subjected to another dose of this sort of “news,” that I would have to smash the television set myself. It’s pretty obvious that people die, sometimes unexpectedly, and if they have contributed something meaningful to society, and when I say meaningful, I am not talking about the creator of Desperate Housewives or the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. I am talking about people who revolutionize the world. Someone like Albert Einstein or Martin Luther King, Jr.

I wish the television was used for good, but it is used for bad much more often. It has a wonderful potential to inform, but most of the programming insults my intelligence and the intelligences of most people watching it. Putting us in a state of fear constantly, painting the world as a dangerous place with mostly drug dealers, thieves, murderers, and rapists. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been robbed, bought drugs, seen a murder, or been raped, so why do 90% of news stories revolve around things like that? Reportedly, murder is the least common crime and it is reported on the most. It is this sort of sensationalism that drives our country down. Even the newspapers have that “catchy headline,” like School Shooting in Arkansas. I don’t know why we are all obsessed with the bad, the evil. Maybe it makes us feel better about ourselves, about our situation. All I know is those stories would not be on the front page or dominate the news if it did not build an audience.

I believe we need to be informed about what is going on in the world, but learning about celebrities dying or a school shooting is something that usually does not affect us personally. If we keep concentrating on all these negative stories, all these terrible deeds that the media cannot help but report on, then we will create these things in our lives. What we have to do is focus on the good, and set the intention to bring more good into the world. Does it make sense to spend our lives listening to stories about people we do not know committing acts we do not need to know about? And if there is some colossal news story, something I really need to know, I am sure someone will tell me about it. If they do not, well, I’ll know soon enough.

One thing I am noticing is I now have a lot more time to concnetrate on my hobbies and this blog, to some extent. Reading is another hobby I am enjoying much more. There is so much more you can do with your life than be familiar with pop culture references and recite the opening theme song to Family Guy. So, please, turn of your television and plug into life. I need to go mow my lawn now. Good day.

Starting a new eating routine is a challenging ordeal to accomplish, but I feel like I am finally getting it to a point where I feel comfortable. I am convinced that natural hygeine is the key to having exuberant and vibrant health. Their concepts of food combining and only fruits before noon sound very appealing to me. It is a mostly raw diet, and that is something I definitely will enjoy. I am not a fan of cooking, and I know how much cooking damages food. Ideally, I hope to go completely raw in the near future. I just need to find a way to make some raw vegetables palatable. Perhaps soaking them in water will do some good…

At this point, I do not eat on a set schedule. I eat when I feel hungry and that is it. I eat “meals” at least three hours away from each other, and only one “concentrated food” at a time. I can mix the concentrated foods with non-concentrated foods. A concentrated food is a food without high water content, like walnuts or cooked food. The thing that is fascinting to me is our bodies are over 70 percent water and yet we do not have 70 water in our diet. The key is to up the high water content foods and lower the concentrated foods to balance out the body’s natural system. I find this whole concept very interesting.

I recently bought a book entitled Fit for Life. I’m not sure if you’ve ever heard of it, but it is an amzing book so far. I am about halfway done reading it and it is something I could see myself adapting to, their way of life. I decided I am going to try it and see how my results are. If they are promising, I will keep it. If not, I will look for another diet. It is not that I need to lose weight. I am at a healthy weight and I am getting in good shape, but my energy level is still a little low, so I am trying to find the diet that will boost my energy levels to the point I can start accomplishing more and having the energy to do so. I know this post is shorter than my usual posts, but I really have to get to working out. Have a good day.

The key here is getting everything I do not need out of my life. All of the things that are no longer useful to me. Get rid of the thoughts in my head that do not help me. Start implanting thoughts that empower me and keep me going. Understand that living simply is a means by which you let others simply live. I believe Ghandi has a quote something like that. There is a feeling of lightness that comes with this territory, a feeling that you are no longer bound to the things and feelings you used to regard as a neccesity. Attachment is the root of all suffering. Attachment to things, outcomes, and feelings is what causes all the bad things in the world. To no longer hold stock in expectations does not demotivate me to take action, it makes taking action that much easier because even if I fail, I am more concerned with the experience than the outcome.

I sometimes question the way we live as human beings, and I realize that it will take a massive catastrophe for any of this to change. We never see problems that creep up to us slowly, like global warming, but if something were to happen, like a meteor hitting the Earth or something, then we would know how to adapt, we would made due. Perpetuating our existence is a must from a humanistic perspective. Why, I don’t know. Whenever people talk about the “end of the world,” what they are really talking about is the end of human existence. Like we are so much more important than the other creatures on this planet. WE need to be interdependent with nature, not independent of it. But from a universal perspective, it isn’t all that important, but on a local one, it is the most important thing possible.

There is a saying like, “If we all did out part…” Well, that would be nice, wouldn’t it? Everyone doing their part for a better world, a better existence. But for some reason, people are too caught up in their situation, their immediate surroundings, not the fate of the planet. I guess it is a challenge to think in terms of the whole planet, of every action we take furthering the world in one direction or another, and making a conscious effort to see the consequences of our actions is not a pleasant experience. But after you do this, and realize what is happening, you start to question many of the activities you took for granted. I am not a vegetarian yet, but seeing how animals are treated in slaughterhouses and understanding that if we are all one, every animal I eat contributes to the suffering of consciousness, the karmic debt is enormous. The way people tear down the rainforests to make room for cattle to graze. The way the cattle are pumped full of hormones and antibiotics so they do not die and produce more. The feeling that contributing to suffering is not the best option.

I will admit I still eat meat on occasion. I realize there are many negative consequences to doing so. Eventually, I hope to phase out meat completely. There are numerous benefits to doing so, if I do it right. I may have to take supplements and eat more vegetables, but it is something I am willing to do to increase my gift to the world. And it will help take away some of the resources used for animals. If we all did this, all of us, then maybe we could start some changes, radical changes. But for some reason, I do not see this happening. It may take over a century even if everyone is willing. It would take a consciousness revolution for this to happen. I see spurts of this sort of revolution, but not to the extent that would be required.

The best thing I can do right now is simplify my life and the lives of the people around me. Start having people question the norm, the status quo. Encourage change, encite a movement, wake people up to the world and show that we can all be just as happy living simply, living with a high state of consciousness. It will be far more joyous than we live today. I guess you could say I am an optimistic pessimist, but I am more on the optimum side right now. I am not going to deny that the world is in bad shape, and the best way I know how to encite change is through informing people and practicing what I convey. If we all start to do this, maybe, just maybe, we will fix the problems of the world, start to develop renewable fuel sources that do not pollute the environment, and even save many of the dying species occupying various regions of he globe. I am hopeful we are up to this task. We may need a collection of individuals to complete this task, to advocate change and to move higher on the consciousness scale, so let us all get together in simplifying and raising consciousness. It will be a fun ride. You better wear your seatbelt.

Spending time with nature is one of the best things you can ever do. I can attest to this personally. The unbelievable beauty contained within this world is only seen through a certain lens, and if you are now carrying that lens, I encourage you to go out into nature and get a look at everything you are missing by spending hours a day inside, working at a job, or just spending time inside. One of my favorite things to do is to take an undetermined amount of time and spend it out in the wilderness. Where I am from, there is not much wilderness, so I guess a golf course will have to do. Even so, watching the animals get their food for the upcoming winter, the birds flying about, chirping incessantly, or the wind blowing the trees back and forth, back and forth, until you feel like this is where you are supposed to be, where we were meant to be.

I am a strong believer in coming back to our natural state of being, and I definitely feel that nature has a strong part to play in all of this. It is there from whence we came, and we shall return back to this natural lifestyle with epic proportion, soon enough, as so I hope. I feel that the more time I spend in that sort of area, the more centered I become, the less worried I feel, the more peace I can invite into my life. I feel that humanity, in a sense, has lost touch with our natural roots and are so concerned with technology and deadlines, not to mention fear of nature, that we completely neglect what is out there and focus primarily on what we have created rather than what has always been. To watch a tree, to know that it has grown for twenty, thirty years to get to where it is today, that there are whole networks of animals and insects, and whatever else could be contained inside that tree, living there, instinctively, intuitively, as if it came natural, without any rhyme or reason, except it is the only way for them to survive effectively. There is no logic behind this, it is all instinctive.

This is the concept I am talking about here, our instinct, our intuition, our sense of knowing without having to justify it. Things that just feel right. For the most part, humanity no longer relies on its intuition, except in some very rare circumstances. We have lost trust in our inuitive senses, spending so much time away from nature, and it has denied us a very powerful tool. I find that the more I get in tune with nature, the more I feel trustworthy of my intuition. I think what scares most people about nature is it is not logical in any sense. There is no math equation that can describe nature. And if there is, I don’t want to know what it is.

I know that the way we are currently living, with the destruction of nature, our original home, our overconsumption of resources, our complete disregard for animal rights, and our high stress environment workplaces. That is not a utopia. There is nothing there that even resembles a paradise. We need to get back in touch with our roots, people, and I sure hope that it starts happening fast. We have turned our backs on our place of origin in the pursuit of “progress,” whatever that means, taking more and more natural resources out of the Earth and further depleting the very clean air and water we need to survive. And when you spend time in nature, you will wonder why we allow this outright destruction of such a beautiful thing. It is only because we have lost touch and now this nature has become the enemy. We fear what we do not understand, and until we once again understand nature, we will fear it, and be ready to destroy it. That is all I have to say about that. Good day.

I hate it when people bitch about how terrible their life is and you feel like you’re stuck there, unable to get out of such a conversation. You know, the people who complain and complain and complain until they can’t complain any more, but they still keep complaining. Hell, if I complained even one fifth as much as these people do, then I would be complaining once every sixteen seconds. What do you say to these people? “Stop complaining, you’re dragging me down with you!”?? I call these people energy vampires. You could be in a great mood, a wonderful state of mind, until these people come across and try to suck the good feeling right from underneath you.

I don’t like to talk to these sorts of people, the people who are perpetually negative, all their emotions swirling in what they don’t have or what they need to get, and how depressed they will be if they don’t have whatever they think they need. If you have ever had a conversation with these sorts of people, then you know exactly what I am talking about. The people who don’t even listen to anything you have to say, and would rather have something to complain about than have a meaningful conversation. The people who probably secretly like their suffering, as it at least gives them something to talk about, something to take up your time from meaningful work. That’s just my theory on that, because we only attract what we want, so if your life isn’t what you want it to be, it actuallly is.

I have seen people complain about things I don’t even give a second thought. I find it very trivial when it comes to complaining. I guess I have a slightly different perspective being a cancer survivor and all, having been through a horrific experience like that. But I am grateful for the experience and I did not complain much. When I would hear people complain about things that were so unimportant, like they didn’t make the soccer team or they scraped their leg or whatever, I would think that if they knew what some people go through in everyday life around the world and don’t complain at all, then they might see that they have nothing, absolutely nothing, to complain about.

One reason why I hate complainers is because complaining about your problems gets you nowhere except deeper into depression or frustration. Why don’t you try and change the situation if it is so bad? I’ll tell you why. Because then you’d have nothing to complain about. And if that happens, you’ll most likely have nothing to talk about. Good. At least then I won’t have to listen to your negative comments about how horrible your life is. If you are one of these people who complains constantly, I encourage you to go to a hospital to see the dying patients and complain to them about your backache or sore neck. It is all about perspective. That is what helps me not complain whatsoever. Whatever is happening, it shall pass.

If you look at your current situation and think to yourself, “What am I going to care about this situation I am in right now ten years from now?” Like if you’re in debt, and it is making you anxious, think about how trivial it will seem ten years from now, in your ideal life, your ideal way of living, where all your problems are solved, except for what to do with all the money you have or whatever else you desire. If your life sucks now, you have the power to change that, by making positive changes in your life, not by dwelling on the negatives, like how you can’t do this, or didn’t get that or whatever. I mean, some days I wake up and don’t want to get out of bed, but I do because I know there is a potential to do better, to live a better life, rather than lie down and just think about how tired I am or whatever else is going on with me. Life is a journey, and to live life to the fullest, you have to be grateful for the good, the bad, and the other.

Know that you have power in every present moment and that you have the power to make each of these moments better than the previous. I have used this numerous times to better any situation. If you are having a rough day, take some time to laugh about it like you would laugh about it five years from now looking back. I remember working in the supermarket and it was Fourth of July weekend and all the tourists were in Myrtle Beach at my store shopping like maniacs. It was very intense, and at one point, I just burst out laughing. And I laughed and laughed and laughed just like I would laugh about it now at how ridiculous the situation was. I know I must have looked like a crazy person, but what did I care? I was happy at that moment and took that happiness throughout the rest of the day, unruffled by all the stress looming around me. I just wish everyone had such a cynical sense of humor.

The main message here is to start being grateful for every experience, every moment you exist, because we all know how fast your existence can come to a close. So no matter how bad things are, at least you’re still here, and at least you have the power to make the next moment better. Instead of dwelling on misery, start creating positive fulfillment.

I don’t care what anyone says, but the worst thing in the world for me is when my alarm used to go off in the morning and I knew I had to get my exhausted body out of bed and rush to go wherever the hell I was going. My body jerked out of bed at the sound ofthe pulsating box that was trying to let me know I had to get up, and I would do anything to fight it. My snooze button got so worn out that it became inoperable. I knew I had to do something drastic or this damn alarm clock was going to run my whole life. So what did I do? I left it at my college after I left there. I was through with the constant stress it put on my every morning, sometimes jolting me out of bed so fast, it caused neck strain.

I cannot see, in any way, how using an alarm clock is healthy. Sure, it may be “effective” for someone who needs to be awake at a certain time, like a farmer or whatever, but besides that, if you have to be awake at a certain time in the morning, isn’t there a less stressful way to do it? I don’t know. I really do’t know. But what I do know is that I am not going to let a piece of technolgoy rule my life unless it is a computer. I am not going to let something that tells me what time it is and what time to wake up rule my life. So I thought of different ways I could get rid of this dependence on alarm clocks.

The rirst thing I came up with was working with my subconscious mind and intuition. They have an internal clock within them and if I need to be up a certain time, and am conscious of it, and ask my body to wake myself up, then usually it will. It is not fool-proof, but I often use a back-up alarm just in case, fifteen minutes after I am originally supposed to wake up, so if I am already awake, I can turn it off before it shocks the hell out of me. I hate being startled when in a deep state of dreaming. Setting my mental alarm is soemthing that works when I have to wake up ata certain time, which is rarely at best. I doubt that anyone has such a laid-back lifestyle where getting up early does not factor into their life. But right now, I do. I can wake up anytime before 12 and still have a productive day. It is not the quantity of the time you spend awake, but the quality.

So I do not have a set time of going to bed or waking up whatsoever. I am not really limited by going to bed too late or waking up too early, as long as I really don’t have anything to really be at at a certain time, except for my job, which is mostly second shift, 2-10 PM, or 3-11 PM, but sometimes it is earlier, but that does not happen but once a week. I feel it is the best way to live your life, sleeping as much as you feel you need by sleeping until you wake up. Your alarm clock doesn’t know how much sleep you need to feel rested, but your body does.

I feel that whenever I am awaken by my alarm clock, I do not feel rested throughout the day. I feel exhausted most of the time, whereas if I wake up when I need to wake up, based on my biological and internal clocks, I feel more rested and don’t constantly feel the need to close my eyes at every turn. In high school, having my eyes closed in class and on the bus there and back was a constant theme for me. Closing my eyes was something I loved to do. Every day I would come home exhausted, but go to work the next hour and work for three hours. I don’t think the problem was the school itself. It was that I went to bed too late and was jolted awake by my alarm clock. Another thing was I was inactive at at school for the most part, as all you really do all day is sit in a chair at a desk and listen to some guy drone on about missiion statements and whatever else he is talking about. Gym class was the only class I could keep my eyes open.

I have chosen a life, so far, atthis moment, that is not dependent on alarm clocks for functionality. I am not sure if anyone else is interested in doing so, but I feel it is the best way to live for optimum fulfillment. IF you go to bed early enough, you can still be an early riser and catch the worm or whatever activities you do while up at the crack of dawn. I have heard, and this is scientific, that the optimum time to go to sleep is between 9 PM and 11 PM, as hormones are released in your body from 11 PM until 1 AM to enrich your sleep, but if you aren’t asleep, then they won’t do you much good. This is something I am going to have to work on. Getting to bed earlier. Because it’s not like I do anything useful from 11 PM on. Maybe I should read at around 10 and fall gradually asleep.

I pulled the plug on my alarm clock and no longer own own, except on my cell phone, which I use mostly for reminders of certain things I have to do. It is more of a calendar alarm clock and is not used to wake me up, but rather to catch me while I am awake and remind me of things I need to do, like pay off my student loans on time or eat an orange. With that said, I am going to go eat a tangelo and enjoy my alarm-free day. Have a nice one.