The world is no stranger to hard times these past couple years. With an ongoing pandemic and the recent discovery of the new Variant of Concern, the Omicron, and ongoing disasters and social, political and economic challenges, we all need the tools we collectively possess to deal with our fears and anxieties and increase our resilience. Two philosophies can help us: "Zozobra" from Mexican philosophers, and "Sisu" from the Finnish. This episode explores how these concepts can strengthen our resolve as we face off against hardships and uncertainty.

Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay

Outro Music: "No Starlight Dey Beat" by Nana Kwabena

Musical Mentions:

"I Got You" lyrics, James Brown: https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/jamesbrown/igotyouifeelgood.html

"A Little Bit Off" lyrics, Five Finger Death Punch: https://genius.com/Five-finger-death-punch-a-little-bit-off-lyrics

"Zozobra":

Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA "Zozobra" event: https://burnzozobra.com/all-about-zozobra/

Feeling disoriented by the election, pandemic and everything else? It’s called ‘zozobra,’ and Mexican philosophers have some advice, Dr Francisco Gallegos, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Wake Forest University, Dr Carlos Alberto Sánchez, Professor of Philosophy, San José State University, November 2, 2020: https://theconversation.com/feeling-disoriented-by-the-election-pandemic-and-everything-else-its-called-zozobra-and-mexican-philosophers-have-some-advice-148576

"Sisu":

"The Sisu Within You: The Finnish Key To Life, Love and Success": https://finland.fi/arts-culture/sisu-within-finnish-key-life-love-success/

"What Sisu Can Teach Us About Well-Being" by Dr. Marianna Pogosyan, Psychology Today, Aug 27, 2018: https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/between-cultures/201808/what-sisu-can-teach-us-about-well-being

Joanna Nylund, Sisu: The Finnish Art of Courage (2018, UK: Gaia; USA: Running Press): https://www.runningpress.com/titles/joanna-nylund/sisu/9780762493371/

New episode of Be Strong To Be Useful - BSTBU out: "Dealing with Pandemic Recovery Anxiety"!

Got mixed feelings this year? Feeling melancholy with a pandemic which may or may not really be over? Join host Vin Nelsen as he mulls over these feelings of blaaaah and hope with the reopenings and potential walkbacks due to COVID-19 variant resurgences.

Photo by John Hain on Pixabay

Outro: "Komorebi" by Futuremono from YouTube Audio Library

Do you want to work into your older years? You can be a Super-Ager and adapt the Flow Theory during the golden age of your life! Join host Vin Nelsen as he discusses these eye-popping themes here!

Photo by Alexandr Nebesyuk on Pixabay

What are your goals for your older years? How can you stay fresh and productive? Join BSTBU host Vin Nelsen as he discusses keeping young and making major accomplishments late in life. Topics include aging and the human brain, mentoring and hanging out with youth, BIPOC (black, indigenous and people of color), multiculturalism, diversity, climate change adaptation, warding off human extinction, etc.

While other people are winding down as they age, why not join the rare few who are winding up!

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Link for "Learning rewires the brain" by Alison Pearce Stevens, September 2, 2014:
https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/learning-rewires-brain

Photos are from Unsplash (Singapore woman in yellow: BBH Singapore; Japanese man with glasses: Hideaki Takemura; Venezuelan Caucasian woman: Luis Machado; South African man with cowboy hat: Takalani Radali; Iranian man with backpack: Ashkan Forouzani; black and white pic of Kyrgyzstan woman: Frans Hulet; Caucasian man with bracelet: Jonathan Cosens Photography; Indian woman with head covering: Oriol Casas) and from Pexels (middle photo: Teacher and student: Katerina Holmes)

Outro Music: "Find Your Way Beat" by Nana Kwabena on YouTube Audio Library

Are you blooming late in life, in your 40s, 50s, 60s +? Then age like a sage and join the Late Bloomers' Club! How can we do it, even if we're not rich elites?  While other people are winding down as they age, why not join the rare few who are winding up!

In this episode, Vin discusses young and reclusive stars, late bloomers, religion, deconversion, fate and fatalism, circumstances, individual effort and aging with passion. 

Links

Brielle, 3 years old, on The Ellen Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nGz7xgGJzc

Actor Yahoo Serious: https://youtu.be/LgEdr-wuAb8
https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2020/07/a-serious-case-of-disappearance-whatever-happened-to-yahoo-serious/

Rapper Zack de la Rocha: https://consequence.net/2020/01/zack-de-la-rocha-editorial/

John Belushi documentary: https://www.sho.com/titles/3433572/belushi

Khalid - "Young, Dumb & Broke": https://youtu.be/IPfJnp1guPc

"Learning rewires the brain" by Alison Pearce Stevens, September 2, 2014:
https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/learning-rewires-brain

Photo by PIRO4D Pixabay

Outro Music: "Oh Fire" by Carmen María and Edu Espinal on YouTube Audio Library

Why not age like a sage? The star of the Netflix film "Revenger" is 50+ year old South Korean martial artist Bruce Khan. He is kicking royal *** now, and plans to be showing off his craft well into his 70s. Why not learn from his example?

While other people are winding down as they age, why not join the rare few who are winding up!

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Link for "Interview with Bruce Khan" by Brad Curran March 7, 2019":
https://kungfukingdom.com/interview-with-bruce-khan/

Photo by Mohamed Hassan on Pixabay

Outro Music: Outlaw's Farewell (part I) by Reed Mathis on YouTube Audio Library

Why are you here? What's your purpose? What are you doing on this planet? We ask ourselves these questions so often, and maybe now more because of this stupid pandemic that drags on and on. Here we look at life and death, suicide and anti-suicide, choosing to continue or deciding to throw in the towel.  These are musings on our sense of purpose . . . and why we should not even think of suicide, even for a minute.

Photo by Benjamin Davies on Unsplash

Link: https://www.verywellmind.com/top-depression-symptoms-1066910

Racism is a huge issue. It permeates society here in Canada, the USA and around the world. Join Be Strong To Be Useful - BSTBU host Vin Nelsen as he learns how to fight racism and white supremacy, using the wisdom of the best teachers such as Desmond Cole, Heather McGhee, etc.

Desmond Cole's book is The Skin We're In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power, Penguin Random House Canada, 2020.
Heather McGhee's book is The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together, Penguin Random House, 2021.
Canadian director and Samuel L. Jackson probe transatlantic slave trade in ‘Enslaved’
Oct 16, 2020: https://cfjctoday.com/2020/10/16/canadian-director-and-samuel-l-jackson-probe-transatlantic-slave-trade-in-enslaved/
How One Man Convinced 200 Ku Klux Klan Members To Give Up Their Robes, NPR, Aug 20, 2017: https://www.npr.org/2017/08/20/544861933/how-one-man-convinced-200-ku-klux-klan-members-to-give-up-their-robes
No charges in death of Ejaz Choudry, 62-year-old shot and killed by police while in crisis, CBC, Apr 06, 2021:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ejaz-choudry-no-charges-siu-peel-police-1.5976266

Photo by Kon Karampelas on Unsplash

Ilia Calderón is a famous TV journalist with Univision, the premier Spanish TV network in the United States. She is a proud Afro-Colombian who has accomplished great things in her life, being among the first journalists of African descent to break through glass career ceilings in Colombia, South America and then in the USA. A lover of culture, she also appreciates her Syrian roots, as well as her wonderful Korean-American husband and their daughter. She has covered major events such as Hurricanes Katrina & Maria, the earthquake in Mexico City and the migrant caravans to the USA, as well as interviewed a threatening Klu Klux Klan leader on his own turf. Ilia Calderón opened my eyes to the triumphs and trials that faced her, as systemic sexism and racism could not hold her back from her wonderful contributions to the greater good! So, here is a review of the book!

NOTE: Check out the PDF of Vin's super-cool doodle notes & language learning resources!  https://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/8/8/8/888269d623f41e13/My_Time_to_Speak_by_Ilia_Calderon_BSTBU_32.pdf?c_id=98938424&cs_id=98938424&destination_id=2336975&expiration=1616304602&hwt=7f5b0cfefa53049712120e7e186fba27

Get your mind off your worries and learn a language! Join BSTBU host Vin Nelsen as he describes how he's learning a new language during this pandemic. Prepare for all those folks you're going to meet when this traumatic event fades and face-to-face becomes a "thang" again.  PS - After having learnt a few other languages, I'm giving Spanish a go!

NOTE: Check out the PDF of Vin's super-cool doodle notes & language learning resources! https://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/5/4/9/54909cdaad64a5af/Learning_a_Language_During_the_Pandemic_BSTBU_30.pdf?c_id=97152197&cs_id=97152197&destination_id=2336975&expiration=1614582945&hwt=eba40f09f88c6e8e79491eafb75b14a9

Links:

Afro-Colombian group Choquibtown's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFQLtgkemuWw0R_ztEk2VgQ

Sarah La Morena's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbrX0GktA9leyO0MRebdK5Q

Emmy Award–winning journalist Ilia Calderón from Univision, the USA's Spanish language network and her book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52767510-my-time-to-speak

Matthew Lockwood's To Begin the World Over Again: How the American Revolution Devastated the Globe: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300232257/begin-world-over-again

Mexican Philosophy in the 20th Century: Essential Readings, Edited by Carlos Alberto Sánchez and Robert Eli Sanchez, Jr.: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/mexican-philosophy-in-the-20th-century-9780190601300?cc=us&lang=en&

Basic Spanish, Premium Second Edition by Dorothy Richmond: https://www.mheducation.ca/practice-makes-perfect-basic-spanish-premium-third-edition-9781260453492-can

Collins Spanish Dictionary & Grammar: https://www.harpercollins.ca/9780008241391/collins-spanish-dictionary-and-grammar-two-books-in-one/

Say It Right in Spanish, Third Edition, by Clyde Peters: https://www.mheducation.ca/say-it-right-in-spanish-third-edition-9781260116304-can

15-Minute Spanish by Ana Bremón: https://www.dk.com/us/book/9781465462985-15-minute-spanish/

Poems: https://www.fluentu.com/blog/spanish/easy-spanish-poems-to-memorize/

Erica Ray YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/EricaRayLanguage/videos
Bilingüe Blogs YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/BilingüeBlogs/videos