War and Peace

My right hand has written all the poems that I have composed. My left hand has not written a single poem. But my right hand does not think, “Left Hand, you are good for nothing.” My right hand does not have a superiority complex. That is why it is very happy. My left hand does not have any complex at all. In my two hands there is the kind of wisdom called the wisdom of nondiscrimination. One day I was hammering a nail and my right hand was not very accurate and instead of pounding on the nail it pounded on my finger. It put the hammer down and took care of the left hand in a very tender way, as if it were taking care of itself. It did not say, “Left Hand, you have to remember that I have taken good care of you and you have to pay me back in the future.” There was no such thinking. And my left hand did not say, “Right Hand, you have done me a lot of harm—give me that hammer, I want justice.” My two hands know that they are members of one body; they are in each other.
-Thich Nhat Hanh

Life lessons from Cycling

My husband and I are avid cyclists, endurance, long hours in the saddle and the training time to be able to do so.  You could say it’s part of the glue that nurtured our early relationship.  Shortly before we got married, we bought a tandem bicycle.  Not the kind you leisure on at the beach, but the lightweight aluminum tubes, high performance disk brakes, and itty bitty saddles kind of bike.  We rode this bike fairly often, and as two strong cyclists, we realized we could average high speed on long distances, faster than each of us could average individually (definitely me).

In cycling, or endurance anything, comes an awareness of the physical body and the psychological phases that go with strength and fatigue.  On a tandem bicycle, where both are a contributing engine, the common goal is pungent,  sharing the passion for the undertaking, and the absolute of “doing your best”.  Doing your best sometimes means fresh legs, optimism, friendliness.  More notably though is when doing your best means sitting in, gasping for air, peddling lighter than you or your partner would prefer, and accepting that it is a necessary means to continue on this path together.  To allow, even in your own exhaustion, that your partner needs this time to recover, as a normal ebb and flow of being human.

We had a joke, a joke that spawned from frustration and strain, that is perhaps one that only a couple can humor together: “You’re not peddling hard enough”.  Affectionately, as awareness of each other’s need to sit in and refresh throughout the ride.  With life and two kids, we rarely get the tandem out any more.  But some days, when looking at a sink of dirty dishes, or another chore-in-need, I still hear in my mind an affectionate “You’re not peddling hard enough”, and I move forward knowing that we’re both Doing our Best, every day.

Nutrition Card

Admittedly and proudly, studying nutrition is one of my hobbies.  Nutrition, by which I mean, the act of eating mindfully.  My daughter put it best, "It's good for my mouth, but not good for my belly".  Even at 3 years of age when she said this, she's aware that some foods are better choices than others, and that it effects our moods and energy.  But don't we all stuff the cookie in our mouth regardless at one point or another. Mmmmm, cooookie.

One of the important topics in this blog and in discussion, for me, is the topic of what we eat.  How to minimize the rut of white flour and cheese, and maximize munching sun warmed kale from the garden's edge.  I have a surreal angelic image in my imagination at the moment.  And, how to help my kids make good food choices when they are outside the home.  "Good choices" is such a subjective statement, and the path we walk to attain that is fluid and fascinating.

Here is a card I wrote when my son was young that seems to capture our general nutritional beliefs.  I used this card to help guide our day care family.  As well, it is our grocery buying philosophy.

Happy Labor Day

http://www.codeforamerica.org/

Let’s start with context about why this is interesting, the video game industry is $10 billion in size.  The US Government software industry is $172 billion.  That’s big! Many of those systems are perceived to be slow to market, unappealing, vast, hard to navigate, and does not meet the needs of citizens.  

Code For America is an ongoing 1 year fellowship program containing 20 talented people who come together each year to not only come up with good ideas that help city and federal governments but also within that year to fulfill these ideas with technology solutions.

The concept is 'Government as a Platform'.  Open platform to enable citizens to do more. (Gethub)

Some of the ideas these teams have uses software not just to support existing processes but also to reinvent services.  Here are some examples of things they have done:

• Town hall meetings are under-attended and out of date.  Posters throughout the city to text an answer to a question using SMS technology
• Blight in cities, an app that provides building information, what the city is doing about a particular location.
• Bus route transit apps with wait times.
• See More

The group believes that: Government is what we do together, it's not a vending machine where something goes in (taxes) and it spits out services.

Check Out: Honlolulu Answers, a creation from this group.  Video about it.

People go to their local government site typically to figure out an answer to a question.  How to renew a license, business tax information, fishing permits.  They made this site question driven, with the predominant object being the search bar. They made it a community effort to identify the types of questions the citizens would seek to answer on the site. Oakland Answers

I found this to be an inspiring story about how software works for us, and wanted to share it!  Information is based on a speech given by Abhi Nemani, Co-Executive Director for Code For America at Agile Alliance 2013.  

5 Senses Game

It is utmost important in my mind that I teach my kids about differences of perspective and that variety is the spice of life.  This is grounded in virtues of equanimity and compassion.  As the Dalai Lama once said, "a super market with just one product is not super.  [Variety is] food for the mind.  Food for the emotions, growth."

I play a game with my kids that they really enjoy.  It has endless possibilities for keeping it interesting.

Sense of Touch:  In the dark at bed time, I collect a few items, toys, tools, materials, ect and one by one hand the item to my child.  I ask them to describe what they feel.  They can't taste, or see, smell, or hear it.  When they're really little, I can coach them with comments like "is it soft or hard, light or heavy, warm or cold, smooth or scratchy".  My older child now is good at describing qualities.  This is a great skill all by itself, but then I ask "what color is it." They usually have an answer, which prompts the discussion of what is truly knowable.

• Can you really tell from the sense of touch what color it is?  We have a set of plastic critters, a brown bear and a panda bear are included in the mix, both from the same toy mold but painted differently.  
• We talk about the 6th sense of mental formations, imagination.  It is the picture in their mind that's helping them determine the color.  
• Is it plausible that the color of the bear is not what you believe it to be?
• What other senses might you need to find out the answer?

Feeling the shape of a CD, is the music on the CD knowable without using their sense of sight or hearing?
Other senses: find items around the house that have a scent to them.  If you have instruments, use them to make noise.  Forage for some tasty items in the fridge, and turn the lights out.  Point out that eating is both taste and the sense of touch (texture).

The older they get, you can use life examples:
1. The boy was mean to you and doesn't want to be your friend.  How do you know that he doesn't want to be your friend?  Facial expressions, body language, he said so.  Is it plausible that the boy was angry, but that the friendship is not in danger?  What can you do to find out?
2. (For big kids:) Your spouse doesn't like what you cooked, and thinks you are a mediocre chef.  How do you know this to be true?  Is it plausible that your mental formation is incorrect?  What can you do to find out the answer?  And how might you feel or behave differently if you were to find out?

Define Entertainment

Have you ever noticed after watching a comedian, say John Steward or Seinfeld, that you have their canter of joke telling in your mind next time you say something witty.  The pauses and the head motion or eyes.

Or the last time you watched a love movie with your partner, how you may have sat a little closer, or hugged them longer before falling asleep that night.

Or maybe you modified your garden after reading a french novel that detailed out beautiful landscaping within a scene of the book.  

Wrote a note to yourself about a holiday tradition after watching or reading about a lovely idea you think your family would enjoy.

Watch a professional game, and try some of the strategies we saw next time we're on the field.

This list could go on, but also what about books of fables, prayers, jakatas, proverbs, Berenstain bears, and other books with virtuous plots that help teach your child life's examples through story.  And if we're reading a book that isn't directly for this purpose, do we pull out notable events of human interactions: "gee, that boy was mean, how do you think the other person felt."  "That girl used a bad word, in our family, we choose not to use that word."

At what point in our child or adult life do we stop learning from the content we ingest and consume something purely for the purpose of entertainment.  I'm bringing to awareness the justification adults make for themselves or for their children about watching/reading something that is violent, aggressive, mean, discriminating, or any other adjective to describe behavior we ought not mimic.  "It's just entertainment, [it doesn't effect me]".  

Is that possible?

Snot-Nosed Children and their Microbiomes

Michael Pollan - Microbiomes (Click here for article)

This "article" is a small novella, but I enjoy Pollan's writing and perspective on health, food, and the world around us.  I enjoyed this one too.

Short-notes: the science of Microbiomes is brand new, and they make no claims out of certainty, but are confident to recommend diets inclusive of fermented foods (probiotics): kimchi, kombucha, yogurt, saurkraut, lacto-fermented pickles, craft beer (unpasteurized, for real!), ect.   As well, food preparation makes a difference, al dante noodles, crunchy steamed veggies, steal cut oats vs rolled oats.  Fermentation is our friend.

When pathogens and toxic chemicals are involved, wash.  When they are not, consider not washing...your hands, your food, ect.  Munch out of your organic garden with the sun on your back, but wash the grocery store produce.

Additives, antimicrobials and processing of westernized foods adds to the sterility of food, of good and bad bacteria, cutting down on the variety of bacteria present.  Diversity, at least, is a cornerstone belief in microbiology as a good thing.

Fascinating comments on the study of breast milk and early colonization of infants!  Fascinating comments on remote communities of the world!  And lots of implications surrounding better understanding of how healthy gut, mouth, and skin flora may impact our common chronic ailments.  All good reasons to stay tuned as discoveries evolve in this area of study!

Want more (or smaller bites of information)?  American Gut Project