Audio Tidbits

Come celebrate with me.

Are you being seduced by what you are watching on TV?

Scene One:

It has been many sun cycles since we first initiated infiltration with the Earth humans, far too many cycles for Earth humans to grock. At first, we took care not to be detected by the Earth humans. We grocked that it would be too traumatic for the Earth humans to discover that they are not alone in the universe. The factor we did not initially consider is Earth human indifference.

What do you intend when you posit indifference.

Let me take a pass at explaining. We grocked that if the Earth humans were to detect our presence, they would react unpredictably. Not knowing how they would handle knowing about us, we chose prudence. Despite our effort to remain undetected, we were detected by one of the more clever Earth humans who shared the discovery with other Earth humans. Very rapidly, our covert approach to infiltration became unsustainable. Our presence on the Earth planet was no longer hidden from the Earth humans.

Although our presence is not widely known among the Earth humans, knowledge of alien infiltration is real and expanding. I agree that the reaction of the Earth humans could not have been predicted. Humor is the most common reaction. Earth humans know of our presence but only find it amusing that we believe we think we are not of the Earth planet. They deal with our presence the same way they deal with any unidentified flying object that enters their awareness. They simply deny the possibility of an alien origin. Any U F O sighting is dismissed as nothing more than some natural or man-made phenomenon. The possibility of an alien origin is rejected out-of-hand.

The good news in all of this is that we can come and go on the Earth planet without worrying that the Earth humans will ever grock who we are or where we originated. We need only take care not to draw avoidable or unnecessary attention to ourselves. Our leader in the capital city of the America pod has already mastered this outing in plain sight technique. He makes no pretense of being one of the Earth humans. He boasts about being unique, smarter and more clever than any of the Earth humans and the only entity capable of rescuing the inhabitants of the America pod in particular and the Earth planet more generally from the grips of the liberal left who will destroy the America pod if our leader in the capital city is not permitted to continue to reign large. With Lieutenants like Mike p and Mitch M to support his every comment or action without regard for accuracy or authenticity, our leader in the capital city is good to go indefinitely.

I suspect that you have gotten distracted. If I grock your point, our leader in the capital city makes no effort to disguise his alien origin. It just is not necessary. The Earth humans in the America pod do not so much as give even passing consideration to our leader in the capital city not being an Earth human. Your point is that if our leader in the capital city has not been outed as alien, we need not concern ourselves about the Earth humans grocking to us and our origin. I totally agree. We can continue our infiltration as we come and go among the Earth humans. Our strategy to consolidate wealth and political power within the inner circle is progressing quite nicely. We are getting close to the tipping point where any pretense of equality and individual opportunity is no longer necessary. Soon now we can shift our focus to more aggressively dismantling the remnants of representative governance. Our leader in the capital city and his cohorts have been picking away at traditional rules and regulation, but we are near the time when governance by the few for the benefit of the few can be open and will go uncontested. The inner circle will be complete.

Scene Two:

Don't worry about their overhearing us. We can hear them but they can't hear us. Right now, they aren't hearing anything except each other.

If you listened carefully, you could tell that they are still obsessing about the infiltration of Eart...

Being nice is usually a good approach to most everyone. Even more important is being nice to you. Listen and see if you agree. I'll bet you do.

Do you remember way back before social distancing was a thing? Just to prompt your recall, join me on a little trip down memory lane. It's good not to forget since one day we might actually return to those days when we did not give any thought to hanging out and crowding close to each other.

Welcome Tidbitters. The podcasting team has some thoughts and advice for the writers and bloggers among you. Since they are all podcasting from their homes, you will notice that not all audio is equal. The team is social distancing and wants to assure you that they are still here for you. They know how difficult writing can be and how much that difficulty is amplified when trying to blog. I think you will find their tips and notions about writing and blogging helpful as you pursue your passion. Please enjoy. If you have any feedback for the team, tweat Gary @DrGaryCrow or send a note to [email protected]. Gary will make sure the team gets your comments.

Does sheltering in place put added pressure on your family? Are your family relationships subject to increased jeopardy? Is your family at heightened risk? The answers to all of these questions is, "It depends." It depends on how well you personally handle the added stress and how conscientiously you attend to the pressures and stresses on your family relationships. The episode includes some tips and perspectives that you may find helpful.

We are all under a lot of pressure these days in addition to the virus itself. Those extra stresses may include economic as well as emotional. Just having to shelter in place and social distance when we do leave home are definitely not normal and only add to our sense of uncertainty and anxiousness.

We each know how the situation effects us and have some idea about how it is effecting others in our families. What we may not think about is how much pressure current circumstances are putting on our relationships, especially our relationships with our significant others. Even solid adult relationships can give in to the pressure if we aren't very careful. For that reason, I am sharing an episode focusing on long-term relationships and those things we need to remember and give the special attention they deserve. It takes about an hour.

The Audio Tidbits band is practicing, but the gang is not all together. It's that social distancing thing. You'll hear how that works out for the band and maybe pick up a little life principle that is worth a think or so. Listen and see what you think about everyone working from home on a long-term basis.

Even if you are still leaving home to go to work, your activities are probably quite restricted. There is a long list of things you can't do and places you can't go. That means that you are spending more time in close proximity to your family. And being closer to each other does not necessarily lead to more closeness. It's perhaps even more likely that you are working from home or – worse yet – without a job. The result is that you spend most all of your time with your family.

Can you relate to this? My parents have been gone for several years; but when they were still alive, I loved them dearly but definitely would not have wanted to live with them. Had it been necessary, we would have worked it out; but living together is not something either they or I would have chosen. The same holds for my adult children and for their children, for that matter. My family is special to me; but living with them on a 24-hour basis sound like a prescription for trouble.

But this is a time of little to no choice. That's why we are sharing some tips for getting along when there is not much opportunity to get apart.

Our tips start with some wisdom that has been around forever. It says that it's not what we love about each other that helps us get along, but is what we are willing to put up with from each other. What we love about each other is why we want to get along to start with. What we are willing to put up with from each other is what keeps us from blowing up or walking out. But when we can't get some distance from each other or time away, putting up with what we have been just putting up with can get very hard to handle. Putting up with it – whatever it is – on a 24-hour, 7 days a week basis can stress the limits of tolerance and sensitivity for the best of us. What we just put up with before is now way over the top, even for us. …

The key here is understanding that our relationships with our family are as strong as ever, and our love for each other is as strong as ever too. None of us needs to love more or love better. But we do need to put up with more of whatever was hard to put up with before we got so cooped up with each other. How to do that? Sorry, there is not a quick or easy solution to the reality that we may be driving each other up the wall. Each of us just needs to suck it up and make a doubled or tripled effort to be calmer and nicer, twenty-four seven.

By themselves, being calmer and nicer will help a lot but aren't enough. I suspect we all know what annoys, frustrates and irritates others in our family about us, how we behave or about what we do or do not do. What about us are others just putting up with? I know and so do you. We also know what we need to change or do at least until things get more back to normal. We simply need to be calmer, nicer, more cooperative, less annoying and make it easier for others in our family to spend so much time around us and unable to get some distance from us. They are fine with putting up with us and our quirks part of the time but not twenty-four seven.

You definitely have a good point. Maybe a good way to think about it is that we should try at least as hard to cooperate and fit in at home with our family as we would at work or when visiting in someone else's home. Using our good manners and being cooperative may be as important at home as they are when out in public. In these trying times, they may be even more important. It may help to remember that others in our family are as frustrated, anxious and unhappy about what's happening right now as we are. It's not all about me nor is it all about you. From the perspective of our family, it's all about us. The goal is for all of us to get through this and to deal with whatever happens. We are here for each other.

This is all well and good, but what happens when our patience and tolerance bucket runs dry? I'm asking myself that question and am pretty sure that at least some of our listeners are asking it too.