Welcome to this week's Upwarding newsletter.  My blog, with more in-depth content, can be found here.

Picture

The usually gentle country of my birth (Canada) has near-universal government support for the clubbing to death of seals.  Most seals killed are babies between the age of 1.0 – 3.5 months.

I’m being a little deceptive with this picture – you can't kill seals this young.

How is this different from killing chickens (average age at kill: 40 days, not many people seem to mind)?  Answer: seals are cuter.

Mindfulness/Spirituality/Chill

To paraphrase Tara Brach:

“We go through our life thinking something’s missing or something’s wrong”

It’s amazing how hard it is to be ok with being ok.

Health/Wellness

Public radio in Japan broadcasts “rajio taisō” or “radio exercises”, every morning.  China’s into it too.  In the US, more workplaces are instituting pre-shift stretching routines.

If you’re a little stronger, here’s the Tibetan version, which adds some spiritual references.

Investing/Money

My book is now available.

Here’s a one-two combination that helps you win the online shopping game!

1) Rakuten toolbar.  This gives you cash back at many merchants – it modifies your Google search results like this:

2) Wikibuy Toolbar.  This edits in the best price on the amazon page for the product, like this:

Wikibuy also automatically tries all available coupon codes while you check out at independent shopping sites.  Fun, free, and highly recommended.

Random Thoughts

“Give a man a mask and he’ll show you his true face” – Oscar Wilde.

What kind of mask are we hiding behind as we type comments into online forums or Facebook?

Political Facebook posts NEVER lead to gentle and informed discussion, but rather dozens of confirming posts from like-minded friends, and increased anger*.  I know of several people who unfriended others who disagreed with them on Facebook.  Must all of your friends share your viewpoint?  Would you do this in real life?  Or are we hiding behind Oscar Wilde’s mask?

I wonder what is happening to our democracy if we’ve lost the right to respectfully disagree.  Maybe start by reading both Breitbart and MSNBC…

*I would love if you could send me a counterexample

Reflection/Quote

“Wanderer, there is no road.  The road is made by walking.” – Antonio Machado

Stay well,
Chris