My brother and his wife are in town. Here's a photo after I beat them in 36 holes of mini-golf. :)

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Whether you notice it or not, tragedy is happening in our world each and every day.

And believe it or not, it has happened since humans stepped foot on this earth.

Yet, society does a piss poor job of doing anything about the things that are the root of most tragedies... anxiety, depression, PTSD, trauma...

THE HUMAN MIND.

The human mind is both the root of all the great things we see around us, and all the terrible things we see around us... and all the great things we feel inside us... and all the terrible things we feel inside us.

The human mind is the root.

Question to ponder:

You have two plant roots.

What happens when you starve the first root? And what happens when you pour an abundance of water, sunlight, and oxygen over the other one ?

The first root begins to rot, the second begins to grow and THRIVE.

Why is it so easy to conceptualize this with plants?

Yet, with the human mind, we as a society are doing the opposite of providing an opportunity (environment) for our "root" (mind) to THRIVE.

We douse ourselves in processed food, drinks, and alcohol.

We cripple ourselves with physical stagnation.

We continue to become more and more complacent to the hardships of life, because life itself has become so easy to order an abundance of stimulation and distraction through the technology within our own fingertips.

We are rotting ourselves from the inside out.

And the government, the corporations, the doctors, the schools... as much as you want to blame them... they are not responsible for us un-rotting ourselves.

They are just byproducts and systems that are comprised of us as individuals.

Accountability of 1

The fact is, nobody can LIVE for you.

Nobody can FEEL for you.

And at the moment, nothing, and no one, can make decisions for you.

What does this mean?

It means that it is our responsibilities as INDIVIDUALS to start holding ourselves to a higher standard in all aspects of life.

With this new attitude of becoming accountable to ourselves, accountable to how we are living, feeling, and deciding...we then showcase to others how to do the same for themselves.

As parents, we will hold a higher standard within our homes.

As family, we will hold our loved ones accountable to their higher standard.

As friends, we will not allow our friends to veer off the higher path they have set for themselves.

And as a community, we will start to come together to work for a higher standard, rather than tearing one another apart.

Good > evil.

And all the good starts from the environment we create within ourselves.

Pouring the water, sunlight, and oxygen of life onto our root.

START THERE!

BE THE CHANGE!

HOLD YOURSELF TO THE HIGHER STANDARD!

AND SHOW OTHERS HOW TO DO THE SAME!

The roots of a thriving plant will create an environment to help all the other plants around it grow, while a rotting one will suck the ground dry and dwindle the resources from everything in its path.

It starts at the root.

Please hold yourself accountable and help yours THRIVE.

#thriveon

CJ

p.s. I am grateful for the opportunity to wake up this morning and make the decision to do my best to be a better person. Not everyone is as fortunate as to wake up and be able to make that choice today.