Consensual reality: those agreements humans collectively make in order to be flexible and create webs of cooperation. In fact, that trait is likely what has enabled us to dominate the planet. Money and laws, for example, those myths and stories that are woven into the fabric of daily life.

As we dance our way through holiday doings, here are some suggestions to perhaps make that journey more pleasant. Connecting with supportive family and friends is more meaningful to my mental health than the endless commercial consumer onslaught of the season.

For millennia, what killed humans were variations on the unholy triad of famine, pestilence and war. That has now changed. The effects of our disregard for our planetary home contribute to a host of chronic ailments.

The reality is that we often can’t keep up with baby, infant, toddler and early childhood energy, and so we are failing them on some level from the beginning, even with a support village behind us. Their endless curiosity and boundless explorations once mobile can be exhausting.

As I continue the slow recovery from my mystery virus, I am deeply reminded that the health care system, despite its many flaws, continues to produce miracles

So if, in these unfolding moments, words can’t express the turmoil and transcendence within, then perhaps creating something beautiful can. I simply must reconfigure and expand my imagination of the possible.

I also have finally admitted that I have been experiencing some election anxiety. Anxious is not a normal state for me, especially mid-night or when waking up. My default is more a dark Sicilian down mood. Yet I have been stoking the fires so to speak by regularly checking in about polls and headlines in the latest verbal battles between candidates.

Some adventuring in the Cruces Basin on a horseback muzzle loader elk hunt. Will it be my last?

It seems that one of the songs we must learn to dance to as we age is some degree of memory loss.  Paying attention to good sleep, exercise habits, stress levels, diet, and other essentials of nurturing the mind-body connection can mitigate the memory marbles dissipation. I explore some other tips to keep the memory muscle toned.

I have few regrets in my life, but one of them is clearly having spent so much time indoors, somewhat divorced from the planet and all the gifts that its wild generate within me, just by being a witness to their incredible magnificence.