Author: Pamala Clift

The Freedom of Letting Others be Free!

On By Pamala CliftIn Interpersonal Relationships, SocietyLeave a comment

Whee…

It is amazing how much we wish freedom for ourselves but want to curtail others.

It is also a knee-jerk reaction for women to want to tie down a man for their security, and men’s desire NOT to be burdened. So we have a gender issue here.

We have those who think their religion should dominate the planet and they will do whatever they have to do to make others See the Light! 

There are those that say they are scientifically minded and believe everyone elses experiences irrelevant, seeking to step on and smear anything that can’t be proved with numbers (as if numbers were not a fictitious construct created by man in the first place). 

Everyone is trying and working toward convincing someone else to do something. Advertising, politics, legal, education all societal constructs are meant to corral a person into thinking like someone else wants.

It is sad really that your validation as a human is in the hands of all those “others”.

But what if we REALLY let others be free. (to the extent they do no harm) What would happen? What if we were allowed to talk about the things that made us different without worry?

I have seen for myself the freedom of being non-judgemental grow. In fact, when you take the judgemental out of your perception the only thing left is sincere questioning and listening. “Uh? You like to lick rocks?”

Ok the first thing a judgemental person would do when confronted with such an observation is to pass a judgement that the person is an idiot and try to talk to them about how unsanitary and disgusting that is… BUT if you stopped being judgemental you may just inquire, “Why do you lick rocks?”  

This opens the gate to freedom. Now the person is being respected and not judged and an avenue of communication has opened. Then you are opened to be enlightened by this unusual activity, and may find out the geologist you’re talking to is extremely brilliant. You would have missed out on all that if you had stamped out your judgement.

So not judging others is freeing for you, freeing for them and is the beginning of what we all wish from this life: To be recognized as individuals with different talents and needs.

Imagine for a minute what it would be like if people were not afraid to say I’m Jewish, homosexual, drum player, artist, philosopher and met with a question like, “Tell me what that is like and why it is of value to you?”

This insight of life was beaten into my head with the seven years of the Roadside Philosophers. So many bizarre personalities that with time and understanding have grown to flower into the unique beauty of their true selves. 

Wow, the world is inundated with unique perspectives all stuffed on this little globe of a planet, as soon as you set yourself free you will find never ending explorations and understanding await.

Enjoy the journey!

Hugs, Pam

Whose Dogma is Reality?

On By Pamala CliftIn Interpersonal Relationships, Philosopher comments on Reality, SocietyLeave a comment

Oh Yeah?

Reality is a variable which depends on who is spinning the tale.

It saddens me to hear people get on their high- horses and use invalid trump cards without ever really thinking things through from the beginning.

There are the religious people who throw the trump card, “The Bible, Koran, Confucius, Torah, Budda…Says…” and that is supposed to end any further discussion.

There are the materialists that keep throwing Science up as their trump card without ever examining their thought processes either. That is even more distressing. They claim the scientific method trumps just Faith. Yet they have faith in things which are just as much of a story as Venus rising from the waves. 

We have dogma. According to Wikipedia, “Dogma is a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true. It serves as part of the primary basis of an ideology, nationalism or belief system, and it cannot be changed or discarded without affecting the very system’s paradigm, or the ideology itself.” 

The fight between the dogmas is just like the dogs above with the stick. “Its mine…no its mine.” The basis behind almost every war.

The materialists say things like…”I can’t see God, so it doesn’t exist.” (Well, that seems silly…since we have microwaves, music and all sorts of smells that can’t be seen either.) That does not mean it doesn’t exist. It only means we are infants in this universe and do not have enough ways of discerning something. You can never prove something does NOT exist.

…But I love this! This is where I bring in Gravity! Still materialists will say, I can SEE gravity work so that is real. 

What is Gravity? I will let you Google that, because the closest thing that science can say is it pulls matter together. Gravity is undefinable, just observable.  

Notice that the religious people use the exact same method of validation in their definition for God: “See the universe and all it’s amazing intricate complexities? This is an observable mathematical wonder that proves he/she/it exists. A painting can only exist if there is a painter.

So what materialists have done is given the word gravity to an observable unknowing interaction. That is when I say, lets switch words. Lets give gravity a new name…lets call it God. 

Now we have a construct, both unknowable, both do things that are observable but not definable, why is either name wrong? They are both just words for something we know little about. Calling it gravity, instead of calling it God does not clarify a thing! It is a dogma that we fall down on when we don’t know what we are talking about. One unknown, undefinable or the other still gets us no where. Everything is an infants story of how the universe works. 

Yes, science can take the few tinker toys we have and build a toy house, but never seem to be able to give the construct a complete enough infrastructure to make it work!

The cover of Scientific America May 2014 throws out an often repeated story to the gurus of the religion called science. It says: “A Crisis in Physics?” The article talks about the belief that was going to pull everything together appears to have died. In other words, just like the dozen or so other times that brilliant minds have come up short, they are almost faced with the confession that what they declared as fact is indeed fiction. 

That is the good part of science, at least at some point they may admit they are wrong, but it takes hell-in-a-hand-basket to get that.

As a philosopher that constantly examines reality, I see no point in arguing what is true, only what is perceived. Since every perception is relative any expressed perception or experience honestly conveyed has validity.

We don’t need more wars. We don’t need more dogma. We need to listen. We need the freedom to explore. We need to share without trump cards. 

Wouldn’t that be a wonderful journey to enjoy?

Hugs, Pam

Less is More

On By Pamala CliftIn Business, Insight Blog, Philosopher comments on Reality, UncategorizedLeave a comment

…more red tape

Marketing has always spoon fed us the notion that MORE=Happy. 

We figure if we have more food, a larger pool, a bigger house, more money, more friends that THAT will mean we are happy!

It takes a long time to reach the glutenous conclusion that “More” does not make one happy.

We have a government that figures MORE laws, MORE forms, MORE requirements will make things run smoother, but it doesn’t. More red tape helps no one. MORE is not the answer…less is! Wouldn’t it be lovely if all the laws were reduced to the Hippocratic Oath? “Do No Harm.” 

I have watched those that have it all, flounder, rot and die of boredom. The only thing that keeps them afloat is changing and starting over, because starting is exciting. We live to try things anew, to start new stories. A bit of danger and the insecurity of NOT knowing everything is safe produces endorphins that lift us out of ourselves and we strive to do the impossible. That is called living, whether we succeed or fail we have a story worth telling.

As you examine demographics of the baby boomers, you can watch the generation go through almost child-psychology-like steps.

  1. Everything is exciting and an adventure. (our childhood)
  2. What you tell me is not necessarily so, I will find my own truth. (hippies-teenagers)
  3. Well, I can do it better than you. (start families and/or careers)
  4. So I am successful if I have things? OK I will get MORE. I want to WIN! (cut throat “I” mentality)
  5. Deterioration of the dream, divorce, job loss, mid-life crisis, age related illness. (Awakening to the illusion 40-50s)
  6. What has been told me is not necessarily so. What actually makes me happy? (60)+
  7. Everything is exciting. To watch a new day dawn, a movement in the morning, the little things like a call or a card become extremely valuable…it is conscious thought that is valued. (70+ and maybe a good movement. lol)

So there you have life. The graph can be laid out on top of every generation as we start, beat ourselves up to play our cultures dictated game, give up and appreciate what we had from the beginning.

I am on the downhill side of this bell curve and watch others doing what I have done. Downsize which means, less to move, less to insure, less to lock up, less to look for things you have misplaced, less paperwork.

Your assignment is to look past your culture’s dictated game of life and create what makes you happy, taking the consequences and the lack of safety as part of your adventure. 

The only way that you will find your happiness is by first appreciating every little component around you. If where you focus IS reality, which is my premise throughout this blog, you will be far happier if you can focus on what a generation of experience starts and comes back to…its the little things that are of value.

Enjoy the journey by creating it yourself.

Hugs, Pam

Dealing with NEVER…the word that ends something.

On By Pamala CliftIn Interpersonal Relationships, Philosopher comments on Reality, SocietyLeave a comment

NOT That…

One thing is for sure, everyone reading this (outside of bots) are inhabiting a biological unit.

That deteriorating biological unit comes with an expiration date.

Nobody likes that, so we pretend it does not exist. It is the fault of everyone else or things, or insurance etc. 

I sometimes have a hard time with people when they start ranting about their 95 year old parent getting an infection and dying in the hospital. They act like death could have been avoided? 

There IS an EXPIRATION date in everyone’s folder, but that is not what I wish to talk about today. 

The term NEVER has horrible connotations. We use it when dreams and expectations come to a final conclusion. “You will never walk again.”; “You can never have kids.” “He/She will never love you again.” These are definitely impactful statements that require rearrangement in thoughts, mind, and heart.

How do you deal with the envisionment of your life story terminating. Well I can pretty much guarantee there will be a time of bewilderment. You should properly mourn your loss with grieving rituals, but set a time limit.

When we envision our future we create a narrative and a dialog of what we think it will be…but it is just a story. There are sooo many stories and “Happily Ever After” is rarely one. We KNOW that we should do this… and run full steam in that direction anticipating that it will go straight to the simple conclusion, but that is not so.

Our story is more like a map, but we are too blind to see it that way. Our journey of life gets insights to turn left here; join a group, go to college, marry this person, take this job, move to this location etc. And we somehow always take the stand that this is the ONE direction into infinity. 

There are many twists and turns that will happen but as linear-time-line entities we never want to anticipate doing anything but going straight through the direction the left turn took us forever.

Try looking at life as a GPS device. “For NOW, I will do this…”; “I went in that direction until I came to a new cross road and was told to turn right.” Can right at this intersection of the journey of life be right at this location but wasn’t right for the last decision. Yes! Timing is everything. You can’t easily get to work if you take the exit before the one that takes you to your work location.

Never just means you have to make another selection, it is not a termination of your travels unless it is a termination. If we look on Never as a detour sign, or a reroute it is simply the opportunity to create a new story, than we can deal with Never. Your story gets a refresh, much more creative and entertaining opportunities await.

You might never walk again, but that single person hover craft you will invent works so much better! You make new goals and challenges and as soon as you decide on the new direction and let go of the past fantasies you can again enjoy life.

Life is a convoluted map and all we need to do is keep going forward with a story. Pick a story that energizes you and that you have some control over. (“…When I win the lottery”…puts you in a forever holding pattern. There is no travel there.) 

The saddest most depressed people are not the poor ones, the broken ones, the lonely ones…it is a person without a direction and a story. 

And guess what? You are totally in charge of your story and can change it with just a thought. Striving is fun…succeeding is not necessary, but a direction is.

The power of your story is everything. I hand over to you the key to the universe. Create the amazing entity that will be you…not once but at every intersection of life, and enjoy that journey.

Hugs, Pam

Project Manage YOUR Life

On By Pamala CliftIn Business, Insight Blog, Philosopher comments on Reality, UncategorizedLeave a comment

…and the graph says?

I meet a lot of Agile and Project Management professionals, but rarely do they think to take their business management expertise and apply it to their own life.

People seem to just be flotsom (material or refuse floating on water). Wherever the wave or current takes them they deal with it as if they have no control.

No one thinks. The day is filled with noise and demands from outside. They keep “background noise” going on all the time so they don’t have to examine their own thoughts? Why is that? One of my favorite sayings is: It takes a pretty good person to be alone and find themselves in good company!

What a tragedy to come to the end of ones life having never known who you are? …or spent time on the the things that mattered most to you.

So lets take steps to fix that. In Agile/Scrum the Product Owner makes user stories for the team to solve a situation with a program. Like, “We need to create a table with all the customer’s past orders; so the customer can reference them for future purchases.”

So lets make YOU the customer. First what is it you want? Most people don’t know what they want because they have never THOUGHT about it. They just dream of it being all handed to them in the lottery or something.

So the first step is communication with the customer…You! Set aside time alone with no distractions and talk with yourself. It could be out loud or in your head. You could write yourself a letter or video tape your thoughts for later play back.

Remember to take in SCOPE, RESOURCES and a TIME frame. You need the user story to have a conceivable conclusion date. Example: “Walk 30 min. a day on Johnson pathway, until I can get into my black jeans.” That user story terminates when you successfully get into your black jeans. 

Now if you’re a size 24 and your jeans are 8, that is a timeframe and scope doomed to fail. Make your user stories no more than 3 month personal sprints. In business it is two weeks, which would be more toward the ideal. We all need to have successes. It leads to more confidence and comfort when taking the next sprint.

“I want world peace.” is not a desire that is within your power, nor something that you will eventually be able to check off. So that is not a good user story.

Start with three things that you want. 

Say you want a new job. Well if you make that your user story, you’re doomed. These need to be action steps that can be checked off and fully within your power, so the user story would be more appropriately stated this way. “I will rewrite my resume and submit it to three positions I desire before the end of the month, so that I can feel satisfied I am working toward a better life.”

No one can guarantee success outside of your efforts, but your efforts should be stated in a way you will be able to feel success.

Life is a journey and persistence says you have never failed till you quit. If nothing changes and you don’t get a new job. You can create a new user story that says, “I am going to join the Rotary Club and make 3 new contacts so I can start networking toward a better job.”

There is no failure. There are just steps toward success, some are backwards, around mountains, underwater, and delayed but the maze of reality is an adventure to be enjoyed.

Find out who you are and then make this exercise of breathing-in-&-out one that delights you every morning.

What a wonderful journey. Hugs, Pam

When Choosing a Partner, Look for the Negative

On By Pamala CliftIn Interpersonal Relationships, SocietyLeave a comment

Wrong music

Making a decision about a mate is most often made by looking at what is desired. He must be tall; she must be thin. Must be a beautiful person, make lots of money etc etc.

We shop like it is a grocery list. “Sorry you do not meet my criteria. You’re dismissed.” This is totally the wrong way to look for a frail human companion.

The most important thing is to look at their faults. That’s right…their faults. These are the things that will cause you to tear your hair out down the road. 

A relationship is not a trophy on your arm for the evening this is a lifetime dance, or at least a decent length commitment.

If their worse fault is something you can tolerate and accept, you might have a match. It is the worse side of your partner that has to be examined yet we only look at the cover of the box.

I usually tell the men I date..(not that I am doing that very much at my age) that I do not call it a relationship until we have had a fight and get past it. 

The main reason is that you see people’s true colors when they are mad. Also if you can figure out a mutual conflict-resolution methodology that both of you can tolerate…you might have a winner. Until then it is just a getting to know you waltz.

Most things GOOD will change. He could lose his job. She could get pregnant and fat. None of those components will stay stable, but a mutual commitment toward conflict resolution will give you a firm grounding for a REAL relationship.

Life will NEVER be perfect. The Cinderella Story is just that, a story. What makes things work is examination, communication and integrity of effort. 

The role we play for our significant other gets old after a while and we can only pretend to be a perfect person for so long. None of us are perfect. *gasp*

Men and women are different. Our needs are different. If one member of the group is unhappy and we haven’t the energy or the commitment to figure out where things have gone astray…the relationship will enter the ending phase.

You may find out that the people that have the character traits for an enduring relationship are just the opposite of your original shopping list. He might not make much money, because he puts his efforts toward his relationships. She might not be as thin, because she spends more time on others than on herself and vanity.

So if what you really want is a relationship that will last? Try looking on both sides of the shopping list… the good and the bad. If they are short on the good but you can tolerate their worse. You might still have a great deal.

Enjoy the journey. Hugs, Pam

…But a Name Makes it Real?

On By Pamala CliftIn Business, Philosopher comments on RealityLeave a comment

My name is…

The “What is Real?” question about virtual existence has brought about tons of questionable aspects of our real life.

Names: What are names? Well if you pay the right people and fill out the right documents…”Poof” you now have a REAL company because it has a unique NAME! Did it exist before? Well, yeah you were working on it for awhile before you decided you wanted to be official. So giving it a NAME makes it real.

Back in the farming days people raised animals. I remember being told NOT to name the animals that were destined to be on the table, because you can not eat a pet. Naming an animal made it a real entity not just a future dinner.

Naming is a very powerful intimate association. It sets the level of engagement between two people. If someone you don’t know comes up to you and says “Mr. Smith great to have you with us today”, you respond in a formal mode. That addressed-name gave you your interaction path.

However, if someone you don’t know comes up to you and calls you by your first name and slaps you on the back, you instantly start racking your brain for any past association with this individual that would bring it into the familiar. You have again been given an interaction path. 

So when you create something, a drawing, painting, poem, song, product, a lot rests on that name, because it will announce how the expected interaction path should go.

Online we take new names. These new names are meant also to direct our interactions. They tell in advance if you want to be considered in a certain strata of society. PunkRocker, DumbBlonde, VetReturned, SmackMyAss, ProfessorKnowItAll, QueenofAll, PriestofEverything…so many ways of naming our envisionment of ourselves.

Just like in real life those lovely titles that people add to their names is suppose to give a certain framework in another’s perceptions.

These are only aspects of us; not us in entirety. We are called by many different names and respond differently to each. If someone addresses you as Pastor Bob, there is a list of characteristics and mannerisms that you pull from a file in your head that says this is how I interact.

However, when you get home and your wife says, “Come here lover.” you pull from a whole different folder. Does that mean only the one with the official name is real? 

They ALL are Real because they are names you accept as a folder composite of your characteristics. 

So is the name you use online real? If you accept it as real. If others know what perceived interactions are associated with that name, it is just as much a real folder composite of you as any of your other names.

My question to you is? At what point in time and what selection of folders will you bring into the entity that you are designing as the final YOU.

Discard the names that you do not identify with. If your childhood name was pee-pants, that is no longer you. Do the examination of all your folder names as you work toward the guru’s advice of being one and whole.

Whatever final composite of you that you create, examine it. Don’t let others choose your names unless that is an interaction you wish to embrace. You do have the final control over that package. Enjoy the exploration.

Hugs, Pam (The Roadside Philosopher)

We do not live for Reality; We live for our Fantasies.

On By Pamala CliftIn Interpersonal Relationships, Philosopher comments on RealityLeave a comment

…and they lived happily ever after.

What is true about our dreams? …About comic books? …About making Barbie talk to her doll friends? …About having your action heros save the day? …About watching a movie? …Reading a novel? …Seeing art or visualizing reality in a different way through music or touch?

All creativity is intrinsically valuable and it can make us happy, sad or introspective. The very components that we value as humans are materially NOT Real. Courage, Loyalty, Peace, Creativity, Beauty, Love, Challenge, Wonder etc. are Not touchable in this material world? 

Many of these things that we value and can not touch we have made a representation for in this material world, but are still not really touchable themselves. Music, writing, math, ideas are all non-material but we work like crazy on those items trying to show what contains our real passion. 

Watching a garden grow has its own intrinsic value even if the crop doesn’t quite work out, the process intrigues us and makes us happy. We wonder, ponder and that is where we reap joy. Questions, not answers, engage happiness.

If you think about it, very little of the material world makes us happy for very long at all. All material information or things do not trigger in us anything more than a temporary satisfaction. 

When we look back on our life, we might say “That was a sweet ride.” of a car we owned, but was it the car or the girl you got into the car that made it sweet? If everyone else thought it an ugly car would it have been as valuable. The components of this real life are validated by the non-real.

The identity of humanity does not lie in the material world. 

The material world IS the game! We judge if we are winning by the $ we get just like points. We might count our popularity polls or the votes we can get, but we are aware that all of these things are transitory. They can shift at any moment. 

So how and why do we persist in stating as derogatory that “something is not real”?  “Not Real” contains the most value in our search for happiness and satisfaction.

It seems sad that we are not allowed to express our childlike thrills unless given a material spacial-excuse for such behavior. You can only be silly or crazy at a party, bar, or a specially allocated location designated to say you’re allowed to fantasize, such as a theme park or interactive play.

When we get up in the morning we do not live for coffee, the news, hygiene rituals, laundry or traffic; We live for the conception of the future that is currently a dream…vacation, weight loss, finding love, retirement, saving the world, going on tv or any other illusion that gives our life a goal and a meaning that sends our mind into fantasy. 

It is one of my favorite statements now and I say it often, when someone states what is truly not real. 

We do not live for reality; We live for out fantasy! Enjoy Yours!

Hugs, Pam (The Roadside Philsopher

Seeking Romance Online?

On By Pamala CliftIn Interpersonal RelationshipsLeave a comment
10 points to examine
A delightful plan to shop for a like-minded person online…IF what you read online was 100% true.

First decide the probability of truth for each item you read.

A huge amount of profiles on dating sites are foreigners working the site…trolling for lonely hearts, which they eventually wish to get close enough to… to spin a story that will wring money from you.

The list to the left is one I put up on Facebook for my friends. 

I work my recommendations almost daily, examining for those items listed.  Verbal communication almost instantly identifies a fraud. 

None of these by itself says they are a fraud but with each combination the odds go up exponentially. Some dating sites give you 3-24 suggested matches, based on your location, or profile questions.

Look for income first. If they list income (which you should never do on a public website) and it is high, you know they are begging for a response. In this economy everyone is seeking to add security to their lifeline. If you do have a high income the last thing you want are gold diggers, so only those who don’t have it will list it.

Like I advise in my book do not ask people for answers to “What?” questions, like: “What kind of car do you drive?” “What do you do for a living?” Questions that ask for What? will get you a huge chance of being a fabrication. Instead, Ask why? Why did you decide to buy that kind of car? Why did you choose that profession?

If their first comments are generic and highly complementary. “You have such a lovely smile.  I want to make you mine. I can tell you have a loving heart. We belong together.” Anything you would put on candy hearts or the back of a romance novel should be a red flag. No one has talked to you yet, they can’t possibly discern WHO you are or make any kind of absolute statement in such a void.

I would say that 75% of your responses (unless you are indeed a super model) will be of this caliber. Prepare in advance. Do not set your heart on any story spun for you. That includes the ones spun when you meet them in real. Falsifications happen in real as well as online.

Expect rejection. Can’t emphasis this enough. When men go online they expect super models, not real women, plus they want the loving devoted female that will sacrifice for them and support them. This is almost a total oxymoron. Those who are focused on “I” and getting all the right clothes, makeup and exercise are not going to lose all that to focus on you. What you get if you land one of these is a princess. You are their to serve HER.

If you are a woman looking for the successful alpha male that looks like a movie star you will get the same thing, plus you won’t be valued and can be replaced at anytime with a new gal to stroke his ego.

We do not live for reality; we live for our fantasy. People don’t believe their desires are a fantasy, but the emphasis you place on the components of this life tells you what is valued. If that is not what you value you need to rethink what you are shopping for.

Send messages with questions and don’t think about them again unless they respond. So you send out 10 messages a night and then not get any response for a month. That is OK!! In fact that is desirable. What you are shopping for is your Match. You are a unique person. You are fishing through a whole ocean of creatures. That takes time.

Be yourself and work it like a job. If you are serious and want a companion and think it is too time consuming to do trial and errors at a bar or church, then online is perfect. I particularly like virtual worlds to date in first, but if it is a real life companion your shopping for you’re gonna have to meet them in real.

Don’t be discouraged. This is an adventure and with each hiccup you have a wonderful story to relate.

Good luck, be cautious and keep everything disassociative until your match arrives.

Hugs, Pam

Information Credibility vs State of Being

On By Pamala CliftIn Education, Philosopher comments on Reality, Society, UncategorizedLeave a comment

What is true?

Since I am constantly examining “What is Real?” in the digital environment I have to explore tons of websites that claim credibility.

By what credentials does a website become valid? If I was Google I most likely would go by the USA standard culture of what is right and wrong. That would mean science and data from academia, government sites and traditional medicine would be higher rated…BUT.

I have worked in government and academia and they truly don’t know any more than the man on the street often times. Someone, somewhere collects data from imperfect sources (usually a survey from some regular people) and instantly THAT becomes the final word. Rarely is that data traced back to its source or method. That means that a question asking you to select A or B, or rate something will likely not fit exactly your experience, but that doesn’t matter. Once you have made a selection “Numbers are GOD”. 

Nobody has real access to everyone, even Google. They can access what you choose to say, view and engage with online, but not everyone puts their true thoughts online, many have a facade.

The “State of Being” lecture, which is the volume control of engagement shows that not always do we interact at the same volume. Sometimes we engage disassociatively just for entertainment, sometimes we are grasping at what validates our perspective immersively, and finally we are using our judgement mode to augmentatively add selectively to our frame of reference. All of these modes will vary with the moon, hormones or life experiences.

I worked at a research facility one time on air quality and was accumulating data by a strict criteria to ascertain if the particulates in the electron microscope image were fly ash, sulfates, pollen, or unknown particulates. I worked very diligently to follow the guidelines and report accurately, but at one point I recorded my findings on the back of the picture and came back to it and recounted them later. It was dismally disappointing. My perception of the data was significantly different. The results also at times didn’t match expectations with the professor and so modifications were made to the formula by removing the parenthesis in the algebra? This is what we use as absolute governmental and scientific TRUTH?

At the Roadside Philosophers we have a first person group, which means we share perspectives and experiences one-on-one. The person is right there to question and we encourage cross examination and the “Whys”. It doesn’t take long to ascertain what volume they are engage in by the words they use in their first person account. This is invaluable in deciding their engagement level. Those little adjectives and sentence formation gives us their State of Being. However scientific papers are stripped of such clues. It is not considered scientific so all you see are numbers and graphs and bland documents. Lack of that context information is supposed to make reports MORE truthful?

I witness more and more scientific articles that say things like, “Taking Vitamin C MAY help ward off colds.” The words May or Can or Might is more truth… because they really don’t know. Just like Betty down the street tells you that gargling with salt has helped her sore throat. If you have someone right in front of you, you can bounce your questions off them directly. Experiential first person accounts can be falsified just as easily as modifying a calculation. So what do I consider valid? The right to interrogate. If the website has an email to contact and the person responds with something other than a

form letter, I will seriously consider it to be… An immersive perspective to consider.

We can examine validity all day, but the bottom line is that you need to understand that all perspectives are fluid and none can actually reflect 100% accurately the perspective from where YOU stand. 

So this is my point. You can never take a vacation from thinking or reflecting. Only you can draw the line from what is presented to where you stand in your journey of life. Do not give over your truth just because something claims validity over your experiences, unless you have the right of interrogation.

Enjoy your journey and claim your right to validate.  (Trust, but validate!)

Hugs, Pamala