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I think we can all agree that 2020 was a horrendous year. 

2021 wasn’t much better for that matter but it felt different. 2021 was like being in an ever present and otherworldly kind of limbo where no one is quite sure how to move forward. At the moment the world lacks clarity not just in terms of returning to the freedoms so many of us took for granted but returning to normal life in all its facets. 

I’m not an anti-vaxxer nor am I someone who believes this entire pandemic was engineered to snatch away our freedoms. I refuse to believe the world could be that evil but I don’t hate those who hold that belief, people have a right to their own opinions. 

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## "We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day. " - Edith Lovejoy Pierce ##

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Do I believe the vaccines are totally safe? Absolutely not. Just like the virus, the vaccines appear to have unpredictably dangerous side effects for certain segments of the population. Myocarditis, for one, is a huge concern. 

What I do feel is that many aspects of the response to this pandemic have been grossly mishandled. Livelihoods and businesses were destroyed. Certain aspects of life will never be quite the same. 

The pandemic has pulled back the curtain to reveal the depth of incompetence and corruption at the highest levels, how ill prepared we were for a crisis of this magnitude, and how much influence the media and corporations have on the world stage. 

Much more emphasis should have been given to therapeutics in the fight against Covid. Research is clear that if more people had more access to monoclonal antibodies and other therapeutics early in their illnesses lots of lives could have been saved. 


As someone who’s lost friends and family to the virus and have seen many otherwise healthy people taken to the brink of death by it, I know first hand that Covid is significantly more dangerous than the flu. I’ve seen smart, worldly and vibrant people who’ve been brainwashed by disinformation to believe that this was all a hoax and have lost their lives because of it. 

More than anything these past two years have taught me how dangerous disinformation is. In many ways disinformation is the most dangerous of all viruses. There's also very little pattern of predictability as to who succumbs to it. 

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## “No matter how hard the past, you can always begin again.” - Buddha ##

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Time always reveals the truth. As always the truth can, predictably, be found nestled between the two extremes. At a certain point it doesn’t matter who was right and who was wrong. Why? Because neither side was totally right or totally wrong. It’s the same thing with Republicans and the Democrats, progressives and conservatives, etc., etc.

At a certain point being angry with each other becomes just another bad habit that we do without thinking about. We get to a point where our very first instinct is to dig our heals in and do battle instead of trying to work towards a mutually beneficial solution or consensus. Eventually anger weighs us down and paralyzes any kind of progress for the whole of humanity. Anger is toxic, poison for the soul. It’s torn apart families, friends, and colleagues. 

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## “I took a walk in this beautiful world, felt the cool rain on my shoulder. Found something good in this beautiful world, I felt the rain getting colder.” - Mark Lanegan ##

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As I step into 2022 I refuse to live in anger any longer. 

I also refuse to live one more second in fear. 

Like many others I've learned a lot, some of the lessons were extremely difficult. We all have one life, only one, and we should be using it to run towards our dreams, to love, to make more memories. 

There is still so much good in this world, so many goals to achieve, all we have to do is realize this and focus on it. The clock is ticking. As Michael Altschuler said, *“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.”*


### Happy New Year to you all! May 2022 bring us all good health, prosperity, peace, and most of all...clarity. ##





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<center> [![alt text](https://i.imgur.com/HxpLgqSl.jpg)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B095HXB8WQ) </center>

Poetry should move us, it should change us, it should glitch our brains, shift our moods to another frequency. Poetry should evoke feelings of melancholy, whimsy, it should remind us what it feels like to be in love, or cause us to think about something in a completely different way. I view poetry, and all art really, as a temporary and fragile bridge between our world and a more pure and refined one. This is a world we could bring into creation if enough of us believed in it. This book is ephemera, destined to end up forgotten, lingering on some dusty shelf or tucked away in a dark attic. Yet the words, they will live on in memory. I hope these words become a part of you, bubble up into your memory when you least expect them to and make you feel a little more alive. 

[Pick up a copy of Ephemera today on Amazon.](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B095HXB8WQ)  



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Most of us have experienced a moment of perfect peace at least once in our lives. In these moments we lose ourselves and feel connected to everything. I call these mindful moments. Words can’t describe how complete they make us feel. 

These moments are usually fragile, evaporating in seconds. What if there was a way to train your mind to experience more of them? It’s deceptively easy and requires nothing more than a subtle shift in mindset. My new book, [Mindful Moments](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08PJPWK2W/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1), will teach you to be much more content despite the chaos and imperfect circumstances continuing to unfold around you. Upgrade your life experience today for only $15.99 on Amazon.com. 



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