Biochemistry - Week 3

"..the human species is living as if it had more than one planet to occupy..."
I would say that for the most part, this is true. This is true for the more "privileged". It seems the most true for many of those who have so much more than they need that they have because they want. Those that have not yet experienced a solution they could not buy. However, it is also true for those in this seemingly "privileged" society that are pretty much enslaved due to the high cost of living and the three jobs they need to have just to make ends meet, those who have no choice but to "keep going" to survive without any time at all to really think and ruminate on these things, time to find new ways to conserve. It is true for those who bought into this oblivious paradise of thought that we can live like royalty, just work for it, pay for it, live it up and gorge. Leave behind a trail of damage that someone else can fix, for a fee, of course, and someone else can pick up that tab or just deal with the consequences, it's not like we're rich or something. We can move on, move trash around, make more land somehow.. right? I'm pretty sure it is not the whole of our species, but the modernized world. (Sorry if I sound bitter..)

Thoughts on today's discussion:
It seems we have been so fearful and controlling as a species that we have both directly and indirectly ruined the equilibrium with this planet's oldest inhabitants.. bacteria. I mean, did we think we'd win or something?  Not only are we screwing with our own health with our obsession with antibiotics, anti-bacterial soaps, and perfectly sanitary everything, but apparently, we screwed the bees! So not fair for our helpful, hardworking bees. We've damn near wiped out the native species of plants they evolved alongside and left them with a small variety of our choice processed brands. We might as well have just made them their own 7-11. I can only imagine them going up and down the blocks like, "Umm.... where's the REAL food? Seriously... WHERE is it?? Well... this resembles it.. I guess...? I'll just.. I guess.. I'll just eat this. *Nom Nom* This is lacking in something... I guess I'll just supplement some of that with umm... concrete? There's gotta be a variety of minerals or bacteria in that.. *Sigh* Ok..." We brought the food desert to the bees. Holy crap. This is sad news.

Guilt-free non-action

7/2

I thought I was actually good at this, but apparently, not so much. I have not really achieved this very well this semester. I was doing this well last semester to keep me sane, but I think that I'm so overloaded this semester, I just can't do it without the guilt. I keep freezing up and/or getting lost in my "OMG, how the heck am I supposed to do all this and continue simple self-care practices like feed myself and clean" thoughts and then I lose track of time. I'm never done with what I need to do and I end up penalizing myself for the lost time by trying to force myself to do anything involving study or self-care instead. The closest I can get so far is my occasional hanging out with a friend who I know I can talk TCM with and get to know what I have already absorbed a little better. It's my strange way of doing "nothing", but still doing something. Not sure if that counts though..

7/13
I'm not entirely sure about this non-action, and I'm definitely not sure about this guilt-free thing. At this point, I'm struggling to stay not too far behind, so even the productive things I need to do like getting food and cleaning are starting to come with a smidgen of guilt, but at the very least, in the moment I'm somewhat guilt-free, the guilt usually comes when I'm looking at all studying I have to get done again and trying to figure out how I'm going to do it. I'll say that I have small successes in between studying when I need to just take a break, I'll eat a snack and watch a short video or go for a short walk. I have been going for walks with a friend most mornings guilt-free, but I don't know if it counts as non-action. It's a well-calculated "non-action" maybe, because I'm not exactly doing nothing. I am letting myself enjoy a break while crossing multiple things off my to-do list (socializing, exercise, breakfast, and Chinese medicine talk). Does that count as non-action? I don't know...