Give up the zombie lifestyle

Are you tired of shuffling around, shambling through life not especially aware of where you are and where you're going, except that you have a gnawing desire to eat brains?

You're not alone – well, maybe except for the brain-eating part – and you may find a way toward a more focused life by reading my little book A Scream of Consciousness.

Have you ever stopped what you're doing with a sudden sense of awareness and frustration and said, "There's more to life than this!"?

That's a scream of consciousness.

Have you ever opened your eyes and realized with a peace beyond understanding that the world around you is overflowing with beauty and possibilities?

That's a scream of consciousness.

Have you ever felt a surge of energy when you realized exactly where you needed to be and what you needed to be doing to have the life you were born to have?

That's a scream of consciousness.

Now, how do you maintain that sense of joy and purpose moment by moment, every hour of every day?

That's the purpose of my little book A Scream of Consciousness.

It's a quick read; you should be able to zip through it in an hour or so, and then come back for a reminder of how to Be Here Now and stay aware of the moment.

If you're not convinced this is a book you need to read, my friend Wally Conger and I spent some time talking about the concepts in the book – and overcoming the zombie lifestyle – in this podcast interview. Give it a listen and then come back here to buy the book.

And if that doesn't do the trick, here are three sample chapters.

Open publication - Free publishing - More awareness

A Scream of Consciousness: Wake Up and Embrace the Present Moment is designed to help you experience life in its fullest, every moment. Thanks for reading this far, and if you'd like more, you know what to do.

'The definition of a peaceful revolution'

(This is the introductory essay to my newly published edition to Resistance to Civil Government a k a On the Duty of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau. Always feel free to order one or more handsome dead-tree copies of this edition at this link.)
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Even a cursory reading of Henry David Thoreau’s immortal essay about civil disobedience reveals echoes in contemporary discussions of individual rights and the limits of government in a free society.

Its themes resonate into the 21st century. Faced with a federal government that condoned the institution of slavery and was waging a war of questionable origin in Mexico, Thoreau pushed his readers to consider the responsibility of an individual with conscience.

What Thoreau said about Mexico could have been said yesterday about whatever foreign adventure the current U.S. president has sent the military on (and I refrain from naming a specific president or adventure because this has been happening for several administrations, “right” and “left,” as of this writing – witness Kuwait, Iraq, Somalia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Libya ...):

“when ... a whole country is unjustly overrun and conquered by a foreign army, and subjected to military law, I think that it is not too soon for honest men to rebel and revolutionize.

“What makes this duty the more urgent is that fact that the country so overrun is not our own, but ours is the invading army.”

Thoreau wrote about slavery as the ultimate violation of the individual, and although it may have been revolutionary to think of a slave as an individual, his context provides insights into what it means to be an individual as well.

Uncle Warren's Attic #73 - Swinging into April

Click here to listen to/download Uncle Warren's Attic #73.

Sometimes you just have to let the music take over - and that's what this show is all about.

Get Happy - Raymond Scott
I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter - "Scat Man" Crothers
At Last - Glenn Miller
Got a Date with An Angel - Hal Kemp
Frenesi - Artie Shaw
When You Dance - The Turbans
I Got Rhythm - "Scat Man" Crothers
Chattanooga Choo Choo - Glenn Miller

Click here to listen to/download Uncle Warren's Attic #73.

Announcement

Doing some spring cleaning and assessment, and I have come to the conclusion that the Myke Phoenix emagazine has not been successful enough to continue for the time being. Therefore the release of Myke #4 is postponed indefinitely.

The good news is that lessons learned in developing this project can be applied to my various other projects. And I am too fond of Paul Phillips, Dana Dunsmore, Hi Dawson and their host of evil adversaries to let them sit in limbo forever.

You can speed the day toward their return – or catch up on what you've been missing – by taking a look at Myke #1, Myke #2 and Myke #3 or even Myke Phoenix Quarterly #1, and then sharing your enthusiasm with the world.

As for my other projects, they include the Uncle Warren's Attic podcast, a growing stable of ebooks and a slew of paperbacks that are worth reading.

Thanks for checking out Myke Phoenix over the years, and please know this is just a detour, not the end of the road.

You can do it

The will to do springs from the knowledge that we can do. Doubt and fear are the great enemies of knowledge, and he who encourages them, who does not slay them, thwarts himself at every step.

He who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure. His every thought is allied with power, and all difficulties are bravely met and wisely overcome. His purposes are seasonably planted, and they bloom and bring forth fruit, which does not fall prematurely to the ground.

Thought allied fearlessly to purpose becomes creative force: he who knows this is ready to become something higher and stronger than a mere bundle of wavering thoughts and fluctuating sensations; he who does this has become the conscious and intelligent wielder of his mental powers.

James Allen

As A Man Thinketh

We are all creators

You must get rid of the thought of competition. You are to create, not to compete for what is already created.

You do not have to take anything away from any one.

You do not have to drive sharp bargains.

You do not have to cheat, or to take advantage. You do not need to let any man work for you for less than he earns.

You do not have to covet the property of others, or to look at it with wishful eyes; no man has anything of which you cannot have the like, and that without taking what he has away from him.

You are to become a creator, not a competitor; you are going to get what you want, but in such a way that when you get it every other man will have more than he has now.

Wallace D. Wattles

Read more about it here.

'Are you Willow?'

"Are you Willow?"

Red and I had sat one last time with our old golden retriever, Onyah, as her gentle life passed out of that beautiful furry frame the day after Easter 2009. And Red insisted that it would be a long time before she was ready to bring another pet home. I suspected differently, but I nodded and agreed with her.

Sure enough, a little more than two weeks later, she looked over the newspaper at me and said, "Do you think we should get a puppy?"

I made a show of saying no, you wanted to take time to grieve, but we both knew that we would soon be welcoming a new member to the family. As wonderful a companion as Onyah had been, I did not object when Red declared it would be another golden retriever.

After we set a date to visit a breeder, we sat across a table one night throwing possible names back and forth. What would be a suitable name for a golden retriever?

Roberta. Isabella. Mozarella. Ziva. Toni. McGee. Abby. Kaylee. Zoe. River. No, no, no, maybe, no ...

Angel, Buffy, Willow – Willow.

Willow? What a beautiful name for a lovely red-haired puppy girl. Willow it was.

The breeder had only 5-week-old one golden left from the litter that would be ready to go home in mid-May. Before we arrived she brought out the little fluff ball and left her alone in the waiting cage.

When we entered she was sitting in that awkward way that puppies sit and looked up at us with curiosity. The breeder plucked her out of the cage and eased her into my hands.

While Red carried on a conversation with the breeder, I held her to my chest and looked down at the little puppy eyes. I completely lost track of what the two women were saying.

"Are you Willow?"

The only response was to knead my chest and snuggle into me. Something melted inside me.

I became aware that the breeder was offering to show us puppies from a younger litter if we weren't sure about this one. "No," I said perhaps a little too firmly.

Willow joined our family a couple of weeks later on May 16, 2009. I only remember two dates connected with family dogs – Feb. 7, 1959, when my parents surprised us with Lady, and May 16, 2009, when we brought Willow home.

Willow fit her name. But that's a story for another day.