I am inclined to worry about people who are in the political minority these days. I worry for their long term health.  The Meta-Trance of the day has these good folk rummaging though the internet information systems looking for evidence and strategy to make the world right again.  Some call it doom scrolling, but frankly it is more than that.  In the tension of this historic tragedy of politics these people are developing empathy for those poor swimmers who are ripped from the stable shore line and shot out into the sea by a rip tide.

To maintain this Project of The Good Decision I wake up each day and scan headlines and articles from a scope of sources.  The news as you can imagine is consistently disturbing, but more importantly, outside of my control.  The news is an almost constant insult to my sense of personal efficacy and efficacy is critically important to all human beings.  So I decided to build each day holding a ‘Beauty and Bad’ Balance.  This balance is a 2:1 matching system of beauty to internet news including political analysis and satire.  Because of my particular interest I work on art for at least twice the amount of time I swim in the rip tide prone Meta-Trance of the internet and its news.  I am not what people call an artist, but occasionally something near beautiful emerges from my art efforts  To immerse oneself in the discovery and illustration of your own particular ‘beautiful’ turns out to be  magnificent therapy.  In art or any expression of your version of beauty, your personal efficacy finds its response to a world that threatens to defeat it.  

Personal health is a decision and a good decision at that. We cannot binge our way to a happy ending like the streaming services promise.  The Beauty and Bad Matching Balance has to be treated like a job, a commitment and a test of your creativity.  My art is probably forgettable, but it is mine.  I think people are happy to see the less magnificent once in a while.  But the ultimate art of this life is the balance of responsibility, beauty, and spirit (whatever those words means to you).  In that balance is the health and hopefully longevity and you need to be alive and around to do the good the world needs now.