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Are things worse or better than they’re being portrayed?

“If you watch the news, you’re bound to think things are pretty darn bad. If you look at statistics, especially those around quality of life, war, freedom, etc, you are likely to see that things are better than they used to be. If you look at the racial injustice, climate change, and political leadership, you’ll probably feel pretty grim. However, if you hear the spiritual rhetoric about the evolution of consciousness, great awakening, birthing of a new age, etc, you may feel optimism once more. In short, ‘better’ and ‘worse’ are dualistic, subjective terms. They are not concrete – rather, they depend on your vantage point. The only common denominator is that there is great change, just as there always has been. Change is occurring in every bit of matter, every corner of consciousness, every nook and cranny of existence. Given this, we must not grasp at smoke – that is to say, hold onto a model of ‘good’ or ‘bad’, ‘better’ or ‘worse’. All we can do is accept present circumstances, study past trends, and envision a future that aligns with our deepest truths.”

What is the single most effective way to make a positive impact on a daily basis?

“Existing in a joyous state of acceptance and appreciation for what is. Allowing what is, to be. Moving through the world in a state of joy. This means that we are not resisting or perpetuating existing challenges, but rather healing them through our awareness and presence. Then we can offer our appreciation (of what is), which can only help improve the moment for all life. So to summarize: moving through a world with a foundation of mindfulness and appreciation is the most sure and effective way to make a positive impact on a daily basis. To me, this is love. Present moment appreciation is love.”

What is freedom?

“Freedom is a feeling. Freedom can be defined from many vantage points of life, i.e in society, in the mind, in nature. On one hand freedom is the ability to do what you want, free of impingement from another. One the other hand, and perhaps more essentially, freedom is the feeling that arises when we are in a nonresistant flow with life. It is a mixture of relaxation, vitality, and empowerment. This can occur in both conditional freedom, being unshackled by external factors, and unconditional freedom, the same mixture of feelings regardless of the environmental or physical conditions the body finds itself in. Naturally, unconditional freedom is harder to attain.”