On Line Food Sharing

This week NPR ran a story about a food sharing website in Germany. People with extra food (grown, prepared or purchased) are matched with people who need food in their neighborhood.

Here in the US there are other kinds of sharing sites, like ride sharing and house sharing.

Based on some of the problems I’m hearing about with Lyft.com and AirBnB, I can only imagine what might happen with a food sharing site here in America.

Here are four things that would probably happen in the first month of operation.

1. The IRS would hate it.

2. Ms. Jones would be happy to file a lawsuit if Mrs. Smith’s tuna casserole were a bit off.

3. People would worry that some sicko would use it as a way to randomly poison someone.

4. Health officials would shut the site down immediately, having no way to certify the safety of the shared food.

I love that the internet makes so much possible.

I love that people find creative ways to help each other in difficult times.

Food sharing is an amazing way to combat waste and hunger. I hope it works well in Germany.

I also hope I’m completely wrong, and that a food sharing site could and will work here in the United States. It’s a brilliant idea. Why waste food when you can share?

Krod Mandoon Sorcerer Makes Box Office Sizzle

Kevin Hart’s new movie, “Think Like a Man Too,” was number one at the box office this past weekend. Movie critics are celebrating Hart as the next Hollywood sensation. Personally, I think the praise is deserved. Hart is funny, good-looking and basically inimitable.

I will always think of Kevin Hart as the not-so-talented sorcerer Zezelryck in the cult favorite “Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire.”

“Krod Mandoon” was a 2009 six-episode cooperative effort between BBC2 and Comedy Central. You can watch it on your favorite video streaming service, and, if you have a certain sick sense of humor and/or a love for Kevin Hart, you definitely should watch it.

Krod Mandoon is a stunningly funny parody of every epic fantasy story ever told. Don’t watch it if are easily offended, because this series goes out of its way to offend everyone.

However, if you want to see Kevin Hart before he was dominating Hollywood, or if you want to know how a roving band of freedom fighters protects the land from the evil Chancellor Dongalor and Emperor Xanus (say that one aloud), you need to watch Krod Mandoon.

Three Ways to be a Great Dad

Father’s Day is such an interesting holiday in that it brings up “father issues’” for a lot of people.

I’ve been really blessed in my life. My adoptive father was wonderful to me, and my husband was a great dad to our kids.

But not everyone is so lucky. There is a paradigm in our society that seems to allow men the freedom to choose whether or not they want to be responsible to their children. Sometimes they don’t want to, sometimes they don’t know how to.

What many men don’t realize is the power they have to shape their children’s future, simply by being present.

Clearly, as a woman, I don’t know how to be a father. But, I have observed some things that make sense.

Fathers can teach their children how to be, and how to love. Fathers teach their kids whether they intend to or not, either by their presence or in their absence. Children who have appropriate relationships with their fathers seem more likely to make positive choices in their own adult relationships and careers.

I think sometimes young men shy away from actively participating in their children’s lives because their fathers weren’t active in their lives, so they don’t know what to do with their own kids.

Really, it’s easy to be a good dad. You just have to be there.

Here are three ways to be a great dad.

1. Play with your kids. Play with the toys they want to play with, not the toys you prefer. Many young fathers can dress a Little Pony in two seconds flat. Be that guy.

2. Don’t get caught up in gender roles. Take your daughter fishing. Have a tea party with your son. Teach your kids, by your example, that their interests don’t need to be limited by their gender.

3. Share your interests with your kids. Teach them your skills, share your hobbies and involve them in your life. Your kids want to know you, and through knowing you, will find their own sense of identity.

Being present, sharing interests and showing them their potential without false limitations with give your kids a great start. You’ll have fun, too. And you will rarely be as important to any other person as you are to your children.

Edge of Tomorrow not on the Edge of my Seat

I’m not a fan of Tom Cruise, but he does get such great roles that sometimes when I see him on-screen I forget that I don’t like him.  Nonetheless, had his new “Edge of Tomorrow” flick not been available in the 3D IMAX format I would have seen X-Men instead and called it a day.

Alien invasion in 3D was just too tempting.

I enjoyed the experience, primarily because of the special effects. Maybe the glass of wine from the movie theatre bar was helpful, too.

I didn’t think “Edge of Tomorrow” was a great movie for two reasons. First, there was really nothing original. It felt like “Groundhog Day” meets “The Butterfly Effect” meets “Iron Man” meets Every-Alien-Invasion-Movie-Ever.

Second, there was no opportunity to develop an emotional bond with Tom Cruise’s lead character. I just didn’t care what happened to him, nor to his female lead played by Emily Blunt. Luckily the fate of the entire Earth was in question or I would have had no emotional stake in the plot whatsoever. The planet was the only character in the movie to whom I felt any connection.

On some level, “Edge of Tomorrow” is the shallow story of a shallow man facing his fears. It is a story of redemption, not only for the planet but for a single individual. It was just too bad that Cruise’s character was so wooden I really didn’t care.

What I did care about were CG spaceships, aliens, weapons and battles in 3D. The special effects alone were worth the price of admission, even if the script and acting were lackluster.

Harness the Power of Words

“This heat is killing me.”

It’s June 2^nd, and summer weather is in full swing here in Florida. I love summer in Florida, but it is hot. My friends, stuck here because of jobs and spouses, wish they could be snowbirds and complain from May to October.

I don’t mind it when my friends complain about the weather, or anything else. But I mind very much when those complaints use exaggerations that invoke death, dismemberment and suffering.

Saying that the heat is killing you won’t actually make you die. The power of words is not such that if you simply speak, an action will occur. Since that doesn’t happen, we learn not to be careful about the energy we invoke.

Affirming over and over that something you can’t control is actually killing you does hurt you, each and every time you do it. It hurts you in two ways.

First, it gives something you can’t control more power over you than it really has.

Second, it surrounds you with negativity.

I get tired of people who avoid negative energy at all costs. Basically, if you live on the planet you will deal with some negative stuff.

But why create more negativity then you need to?

The heat is not killing you.

You won’t die if you don’t get the exact thing you want.

You won’t kill someone you love if they disappoint you.

A part of your body that aches is also not killing you.

We can harness the power of words for healing and empowerment. Why use it to do the opposite?

The Blame Game

When addressing problems large or small, there is a difference between finding a cause and finding fault. Finding a cause helps us fix a problem. Finding fault distracts us so we can't fix the problem.

It seems to be human nature that, when a problem is discovered, the first thing we want to know is "Whose fault is this and how can we punish them?" Sometimes we might have better outcomes if we focus more on solutions and less on casting blame.

I wonder what evolutionary goal we are serving when we are more interested in blame and punishment than knowledge and solutions.

There seems to be something in our nature that divides us. It’s us against them, the good guys versus the bad guys. The truth is, there is more that we have in common than there is that divides us.

Our need to play the Blame Game, and our need to divide the world into good and bad, us and them, doesn’t seem to be serving us.

It doesn’t serve us in our personal lives, and it doesn’t serve us on a global level.

What if we worried less about punishing people, and more about healing people?

What if we assumed that the majority of people with whom we disagree aren’t inherently evil?

What if we came to understand that life is just life? Sometimes things happen and it’s not anyone’s fault.

What if we learned to forgive our own mistakes, and the mistakes of others?

Now, more than ever before, we, as individuals and as communities, have the opportunity to practice conscious evolution. We can pick a path and grow in that direction. What might happen if we chose to grow away from blame and punishment and grow toward healing and acceptance?

Six Rules for Success

Having achieved some success in my metaphysical career, I love the opportunity to encourage new students to move forward in achieving their dreams. Here’s the synopsis of a recent exchange that happened over a period of a week or so.

Student: I want to take the next step.

Me: Ask around and find the person who will give you what you need so you can do that.

Student: I asked three people and they said no. This won’t work.

Me: Ask more people.

Student: I ask more people, and someone said yes!

Obviously, that’s a simplification, but the truth is evident. If you want something, be tenacious and don’t give up.

Here’s the problem. What happens if you really are just banging you head against the wall? At what point is it appropriate to give up?

Tenacity tells us to keep knocking on doors until one opens. But if no doors ever seem to open, at what point should we just go with the flow and figure the Universe has other plans for us? Sometimes it’s confusing to know the right thing to do.

The answer is usually this. If you are grounded, patient and hard-working, your tenacity will usually pay off, as long as you have the talent to go along with it.

Spiritual people, by their very nature, bring their spirituality to their business practice. This is helpful, as long as we understand some simple rules. Tenacity is one important rule. Here are five more.

Trust that the Universe is always operating in your best interest.
When bad things happen, this can be a hard one to swallow.  Trust anyway.

Have a fearless and accurate understanding of your own talent.
Neither false modesty nor overestimation of your ability will get you anywhere.

Learn from every experience.
Everything that happens is a helpful lesson if you look at it the right way.

If you are not talented enough, make it a hobby instead of a profession.
Lots of things can bring you joy. There’s no shame in being a happy hobbyist.

Don’t overthink things.
The Universe is simple in its complexity. Thinking too much will make you more anxious, not more prepared.

A New Trend in Television

When I first started this Dark Forest blog for my non-tarot musings I was going through my “Glee” phase.

I haven’t had cable TV or even broadcast TV in almost twenty years. I really do think TV is basically a terrible drug. But there have been some shows over the years I have liked. I watch them on Hulu, Amazon and Netflix, at my convenience.

Recently, I’ve noticed something new afoot on my dependable entertainment websites.

Now, they have original programming!

That’s right. There are now original series that you can only watch on Hulu, on Netflix and on Amazon.

Even more amazing, some of these shows are really good and really popular. Some of them feature talent you already know, like John Goodman on Alpha House.

I am particularly enjoying “Deadbeat” on Hulu. It’s the story of a pot-smoking ne’er-do-well who happens to be a talented psychic medium and a lousy businessman. He has a crush on a famous TV psychic whom, he discovers, is a fraud. I always enjoy an arch-nemesis and romantic interest rolled into one. The TV psychic has an assistant who is played by Lucy Devito, the talented daughter of Danny and Rhea.

This show, like many others of these new, original series, is fresh, funny and unexpected.

There is something about TV series that are produced independently of the traditional networks that makes me really happy. The fact that the shows are truly worth watching isn’t bad, either.

Why I’m a Lousy Gardener

It was one year ago when I first put the flowering house plant into the ground. Now it’s a huge, pink tree. It, and its new offspring, are a favorite feast of snails. I know this because last spring snails were the bane of my existence.

Gardening experts told me I could get rid of the snail problem, once and for all, by baiting the snails very early in the springtime. I bought my bait and waited.

Then, in February, little holes in the yard began to appear. Hundreds of young armadillos were venturing out in the night to feast on snails. The armadillos had cute little pink snouts. How could I deprive them of their snail delicacies?

Now the armadillos have grown up and, for the most part, moved on. My garden is ravaged by snails. As I go to the shed to get the snail bait, a snail is climbing on the screen door.  The snail and I are face-to-face. The snail is so cute, with its little antennae.

Three Ways to Nurture your Inner Child

Why do grownups become so pedantic and stubborn?

Maybe it is because we fail to nurture the inner child in happy ways, so the inner child throws tantrums and misbehaves!

There are so many ways to nurture the inner child. It starts when we first acknowledge that within us resides a remnant of childhood self, who still wants to explore and enjoy life as only a child can.

How can we honor this inner child in healthy, helpful ways? Here are three ways to try.

1. Sing and Dance.

   Music is a fact of every child’s life. Every child sings, dances and performs, and most try a musical instrument. By the time we are grown, only the most talented continue to explore music.

   Regardless of our level of expertise or talent, there is always a way for us to enjoy the creativity of music with the joy of a child. Take a lesson, join a band, purchase an instrument or just go dancing.

2. Embrace Color.

   Children have favorite colors, and delight in wearing, eating and creating colorful things.  When we grow up we trade our crayons and markers for black pens, and our color clothes for neutral-toned business suits. You inner child will squeal with delight when you welcome color back into your life.

3. Play!

   Why not, swim, ride a bike, blow bubbles or fly a kite? Your adult self needs the exercise, and your inner child will thank you.