Shucking Oysters: Be Cool, Stay Chill

September 19, 2024

By Alex Allen

We just bought a new refrigerator last week. The old one, sadly, was getting incontinent. We were lucky; it was manufactured in the early eighties and has been in our kitchen for well over 10 years. Classic, two-door model with light blue plastic panels; the only fridge on Hornby without a fridge magnet. The end of an era.

Hanging on the back of our new (now unwrapped) cobalt silver fridge, is this official Government of Canada Energuide tag, letting us know that we have an energy-efficient appliance. And in little tiny print: “Removal of this label before first retail purchase is an offence (SC 1992, c. 36)” as per the Energy Efficiency Act. No tampering with the label. Ever.

Under the Act, an inspector may seize and detain “any energy-using product or other thing” and “no person shall remove, alter or interfere with a thing seized and detained…but an inspector shall, at the request of the owner of the thing or the person who was in possession of it at the time of the seizure, allow that owner or person or any person authorized by that owner or person to examine the thing.” Say what? If you have the wrong thing, you can be fined up to $200,000. This thing is more than a thing, that’s why I put the Energuide tag underneath the mattress.

Stocking the new fridge was a breeze. What a difference. The look, the feel. In the old fridge, the dark produce drawers were the bane of our existence. Constantly bags and bags of compost treasures. Unidentified edible objects. Was this the zucchini that the neighbours gave us a month ago? Or the cucumber from what’s-his-name? Lettuce is the worst. And carrots. Now, we have see-through drawers with humidity controls. I didn’t know that leafy-green vegetables, like lettuce, broccoli and peppers, need a high humidity setting. And fruits and vegetables, like apples, pears, and avocados, should be stored at a low humidity setting. Well, we’ll see how that all plays out.

And then. Drum roll, please. After about an hour or so plugged in, my partner asks me whether I can hear a high-pitched sound from the new fridge. Please, dear, gawd, no. She then informs me that she will go insane if she has to listen to the buzz 24-7. I’m not so sensitive. Sure, I can hear the buzz, but I also suffer from daily intermittent humming in my ears, which sounds like the high/low up and down hum of a distant fog horn. (I have issues with noise from chainsaws, weed whackers, and helicopters.)

Maybe the fridge needs to settle, I wonder out loud. Was it our driveway? Is that what new refrigerators sound like? How would we know? We were stuck in the eighties. Ever diligent, I went on the computer and typed in “high-pitched noise from new Insignia fridge.” I ominously read a string of complaints. I said to my partner, you think the high-pitched noise is irritating, check this out.

Lisa wrote: “We also have a problematic sound with our fridge. Like the other commentator it sounds exactly like animals moaning or groaning. We ‘joke’ that our fridge is possessed. It is a very unpleasant sound, not faint, and not one we could live with. We just bought this fridge new.”

Kim replied: “Ha ha! At least I can now laugh at my new refrigerator. Mine sounds like a newborn calf calling for its mamma. I actually went outside earlier today expecting to see a cow in front of my house that had escaped from a nearby field. I was surprised to discover the source of the sound was my refrigerator. I just got it today, and I hope the sound is temporary.”

Another shared: “Mine also makes wounded animal in the night noises. At first it made me laugh because it sounds like an upset Star Wars character, but because it does contain a level of discomfort to its call, it turns out to be one of those noises, like a crying baby or a whimpering pup, that you biologically cannot ignore. So since I will never get used to this noise, I will go through the hassle of taking back this fridge.”

Please dear, gawd, no. Now, bloody what? Let’s give it a day. In bed that night, I tossed and turned, waiting for the plaintive cries of a cow stuck in our kitchen. It’s been over 24 hours now and the fridge has, thankfully, not morphed into making any primal sounds…yet. Many years ago in university, I had a fridge that used to squeal every couple of hours, but in a pleasurable way, which was both amusing and distracting.

During my research, I did discover that refrigerators have quite the vocal range. A brand new fridge can make over 17 different sounds in four dialects, even when all is normal, from a hum and a buzz to a squeal and a gurgle. So, I’m not going to fret over the baby owl that has taken residence in our fridge…everything is chill.

NATO- Not a Tenable Option (Part 3)

September 19, 2024

NATO- Not a Tenable Option (Part 3) Sally Campbell

NATO billed itself as a defender of democracy from the start, with its 12 initial members (including Canada) all democracies, despite 1/3 of them still holding onto their colonies in Africa. Members were very concerned about the communist & socialist movements that helped defeat the Nazis, and a dive into the practices of NATO in Europe in the 50’s reveals the same kind of spying, subterfuge and demonization of socialists & communists as went on during the McCarthy era in the US.

NATO itself is not democratic. Its decisions are all made behind closed doors, with no recorded votes. It is outside the structure of the UN, there are no public referenda and no avenues for input into NATO decisions. NATO is in breach of its own Charter, the UN Charter, the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The US now has nuclear weapons in 5 EU countries (NATO: What you Need to Know @ 102).

There is so much to say about NATO that I was really having trouble deciding where to focus for this week’s article. Then Canadian Foreign Policy Institute sent a link to this Petition, which says it a lot better than I can.

e-4979

Petition to the House of Commons

Whereas:

Canada was a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949 and has participated in every NATO intervention;
NATO has failed to uphold Article 1 of its charter “to settle any international dispute in which they may be involved by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security are not endangered”;
NATO launched illegal interventions against Yugoslavia in 1999, Afghanistan in 2001, and Libya in 2011 that have caused mass civilian deaths and destruction of infrastructure with no accountability;
According to the NATO Defence Expenditures report, Canada’s military spending has increased from $20 billion in 2014 to $39 billion in 2023, which has diverted funding away from social programs and climate action;
Throughout the year, NATO engages in exercises and operations, which involve thousands of soldiers and vehicles that adversely impact the climate and environment;
NATO relies on a dangerous deterrence doctrine, which risks the use of nuclear weapons;
Canada has refused to join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons because of NATO;
Canada is leading NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence, a battlegroup, in Latvia and escalating conflict with Russia; and
NATO is a U.S.-dominated military alliance that impedes Canada’s sovereignty over our defence policy and civilian control of our military.

We, the undersigned, residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to, call upon the House of Commons to:

Withdraw from NATO;
Remove Canadian troops from Latvia;
Reduce military spending; and
Conduct public consultations on a new foreign policy based on peace and international cooperation.

Here is the link to the Petition: sign

Please take a few minutes to reflect and consider signing this Petition! While it will not result in Canada’s leaving NATO, much as some of us may wish, it is a very valuable way to get discussion going. Given our small population, Canada has outsized capacity to influence. Our silence signals complicity and gives permission for the dangerous global military escalation occurring today. If you don’t think we’re in a dangerous place, consider that the Heads of the CIA and the UK’s MI6 recently warned that the international world order is under threat not seen since the Cold War. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2gz4re394o

We need to ask: to what degree is NATO contributing to this threat rather than alleviating it? If we are going to remain in NATO, what direction do we want it to take? Why has our military budget nearly doubled in the last decade and how much of this is US/NATO pressure?

What kind of service to the world could NATO, composed of the world’s wealthiest nations (and alas, the nations most responsible for our climate crisis), actually offer and provide? NATO nations at the very least, could sign onto the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Let us think big and act boldly for peace, equality and justice. For a serious response to our climate crisis. Folks, the corporate weapons dealers, media sub-contractors and politicians are not gonna do it for us. They count on our passivity in fact. Let us bring into being the world we want. Let us model real democracy and actually have “government by the people, for the people and of the people.” That’s how I was taught democracy works; how about you?

Treason is Fertile: Empathy with Emily

September 19, 2024

“Empathy is a spontaneous experience that forcefully shatters all notions of being fully separate. Having empathy with other than human animals (and plants, forests, rocks, oceans, rivers, canyons, clouds, sunsets, marshes, etc. etc. etc.) means allowing ourselves to reconnect with those other-than-human-like parts of ourselves.” The words in parentheses are mine to expand on this quote from Martin Lee Mueller.

I read Caitlin Johnstone’s latest article in the Grapevine, which inspired me to add a few thoughts before you read the following poem I wrote. The idea that positive changes in behavior are preceded by an expansion of consciousness raises the question of how to authentically raise human consciousness. I suspect that many brainwashed humans need to decenter the conditioned socially sanctioned anthropocentric/civilized mind and replace it with an animistic/panpsychism worldview. Panpsychism arises out of direct experience and empathy for all life forms; in Thomas Berry’s words, all beings, even rocks and mountains and microbes are “a communion of subjects.” Animism, according to Stephan Harding, “places more emphasis on working out how to behave in relation to these subjects by rooting ourselves more explicitly in the perception of indigenous peoples.” Our indigeneity, like our empathy, (well sorry but I dislike viruses and pathogens), is innate like a seed inside a fruit; waiting to be planted and nurtured. When we decide, each and every day, to let the mind play with the inherent creativity of the natural world, we are then released from greed, hatred and delusion. This kind of empathy goes against the mainstream and allows us to love ourselves, each other and the natural world.

_______________________________________________________________________

Treason is Fertile: Empathy with Emily

A single gigantic Sequoia tree still stands

At the corner of Burnside and Finlayson Streets

Where once lay, a rebel ragged girl, in the cool shade of

mossy ferns, by an ancient creek.

A trunk wide as the Goldstream River, and as tall as a tall cumulus cloud.

I met You 53 years ago

Walking along a bleak Victoria sidewalk,

Lost in a cloud of despair and filthy air, then

Awakened by a spiralling, trembling Gaian Giant.

“Treason” she whispered through the roar of relentless cars,

booming airplanes overhead, screeching sirens, flashing used car lot signs,

stinking fast food joints/beauty parlors, and banging construction machinery.

You, with no forest friends, no creeks, no crickets or frogs,

stay alive, even thrive

withstanding the glaring lights, metal clang and hard hot pavement.

Emily Carr was out riding her bike one day

and stopped at the ocean’s edge and spied a treasure

A strange-looking seed from faraway, she guessed.

She put it into her apron pocket and

wandered up the hillside full of tall grass and wildflowers.

At the top, she ate her lunch and

all afternoon sketched the Garry Oak meadows

Pulling out her pencils, the seed escaped

following a wrinkle in time.

Treason, it is, to be a lonely forest/sky painter.

poet, writer, child and husband-free

145 years ago, laughing in the face

of Victorian repressive, straight-laced respectable society

Emily of the Sequoia Tribe,

the Orca Tribe, the Wildflower Tribe,

Listening to the wind off the cliffs

instead of dining at the Elitist Empress Hotel.

May hurting humans tread the path of empathy

Loving the atoms’ inside vibrating starfields

Loosening fear with the compass of compassion

Dis-solving into trees’ steadfast roots and rhizomes pathways.

May forest seeds spread

Over the highways, carried on winds into damp ravines where

New dreams might sprout and shout:

“Treason is the reason life is so fertile.”

Don’t Talk About Politics At The Dinner Table

September 19, 2024

CAITLIN JOHNSTONE

SEP 15, 2024

Everything was going fine until Grandma brought out the roast Palestinian child for dinner.

“Who’s hungry?” she chirped, a small honey-glazed human corpse on a platter in her arms.

“I am!” said Grandpa.

“Oh boy!” said Tommy.

“OH MY GOD WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK??” Susan shrieked.

“Jesus, Sue, my ears,” said Ellen.

“What’s wrong, honey?” Grandma asked, frozen in shock.

“That’s a dead kid! Why the fuck is there a dead kid on that plate??” Susan yelled.

“Hey, you can’t talk to your mother like that,” Grandpa warned.

“Yeah, Sue, watch your mouth,” said Stanley, covering his daughter’s ears.

“It’s — oh my God! It’s a dead kid! Why is everyone acting like this is fine?? What the fuck is happening??”

“Oh, Susan, sweetie, are you a vegetarian? I’m sorry, I didn’t know!” said Grandma.

“Did — did you kill this kid??” Susan asked, struggling to catch her breath.

“Oh Christ, no!” said Grandpa. “Is that what this is about? No, it’s some Arab kid that got killed in that Israeli war. They started selling them by the pound at Costco last month.”

“YOU MEAN THE GENOCIDE IN GAZA??” Susan bellowed, falling to her knees and sobbing.

“Oh, here we go,” Tommy sighed.

“Can we please not get all political at the dinner table?” said Stanley.

“Yeah, no politics!” said Grandpa. “We’re all here together as a family, let’s just try to have a nice time.”

“Politics??” Susan screamed. “I’m staring at a dead Palestinian kid right in front of me and it freaks me out! How the fuck is that political??”

“I mean, calling it a ‘genocide’, Sue?” said Ellen.

“Look, we can sit here arguing about the war and who started it and whether Israel has a right to defend itself and whether Jews have a right to exist in their homeland, or we can all just take a deep breath, and relax, and enjoy this delicious meal Grandma spent hours in the kitchen preparing,” said Grandpa, reaching for the carving knife.

“I swear to God if any of you so much as touches that kid I will never speak to you for the rest of my life,” said Susan.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” said Tommy.

“Tom!” said Stanley, putting down the knife to again cover his daughter’s ears.

“God, Sue why do you always gotta be such a hysterical drama queen?” said Ellen. “We’re just trying to have a nice meal together and you gotta come in playing Woke Police on everyone.”

“It’s a victim of genocide! You want to eat a human child who was killed in a genocide!” screamed Susan.

“You say it’s a genocide victim, I say it’s dinner,” said Tommy. “But nobody can be right except you, right Sue? Only Saint Susan gets to decide which opinions are valid.”

“I think we just need to have respect for one another’s different political opinions, Susan” said Grandma. “We’re not all going to agree on everything, and we need to be able to set that aside and get along together. This is a complicated issue. Who’s to say who’s right?”

“But this isn’t political!” wailed Susan. “How can you guys not see that?? There’s a DEAD KID on the dinner table! A dead kid!”

“I think they’re right, Aunt Susan,” said Morgan, taking off her headphones. “I didn’t want to say anything but a lot of the stuff you’ve been saying online about the war is really problematic and antisemitic, and actually kind of borderline fascist-adjacent. The kinds of things you’ve been saying about President Biden and Vice President Harris are going to land Trump back in the White House.”

“Alright, alright, what did we just say about politics at the dinner table?” said Grandpa. “This is what it leads to. A bunch of hurtful words and hurt feelings.”

“Fuck. Your. Feelings,” said Susan.

“Okay, well, dinner’s ruined,” said Stanley. “Morgan, Louise, come on, we’re getting McDonald’s. Thanks a lot, Sue.”

“Yeah, Sue,” said Tommy. “Selfish bitch.”

Everyone left, leaving Grandpa and Grandma alone with Susan — who was still crying on the floor.

“Susan,” said Grandpa. “Someday you’re going to have to learn that other people have feelings just like you, and that we all deserve to be treated as human beings, just like you do.”

“Really, sweetie, you’ve just got to learn to have a little compassion,” said Grandma, picking up the platter with the Palestinian child on it and carrying it into the kitchen.

“I guess we can use all these leftovers for sandwiches later,” she mumbled, shaking her head sadly.

_______________________________________________________________________

My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece here are some options where you can toss some money into my tip jar if you want to. Go here to find video versions of my articles. If you’d prefer to listen to audio of these articles, you can subscribe to them on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud or YouTube. Go hereto buy paperback editions of my writings from month to month. All my work is free to bootleg and use in any way, shape or form; republish it, translate it, use it on merchandise; whatever you want. The best way to make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. All works co-authored with my husband Tim Foley.

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Featured image via Adobe Stock.

cannibals

September 19, 2024

Spectra Health News

September 12, 2024

More Physiotherapy available on

Hornby and Denman Island starting mid September

Hello Denman and Hornby islanders,

In this article I am going to introduce myself for some and re-introduce myself for others. My name is Christopher Mainella and I have returned to live on Denman Island and to provide Physiotherapy services to the islands. I am very excited to be back!From 2019-2021, I was providing Physiotherapy services on Denman and Hornby island, as well as in Parksville. Then from 2022-2024 I moved to Switzerland with my wife Maya and was working as a Physiotherapist in the Gruyère region (where the delicious cheese comes from, lucky me!).

I will be collaborating with Carmen and Spectra health to provide quality and consistent Physiotherapy services. Every Tuesday on Denman and every Thursday on Hornby. I have been practising Physiotherapy since 2007 and have taken the opportunity to work alongside a variety of healthcare practitioners and healers. In those years I have learnt to weave my own tapestry of healing techniques and approaches. Through my curiosity to try to better understand the complexity of the human body, injury prevention, injuries, the nervous system, the pain cycle, stress, the inflammatory cycle and much more, I am regularly registered in a large diversity of continuing education courses. My belief is that the more tools I have in my toolbox, the more prepared I am to support and educate those going through the healing process.

My approach is holistic, education focused, and hands on. We will take the time to discuss, question, research your ailment and I will try my best to get to the root of the issue and guide you on your wellness path. I strongly believe in the team approach and I will refer you to the appropriate healthcare practitioner if needed.

Possible reasons to book an appointment with me: injury prevention, pain and limitations in one of your joints and/or body areas, post surgical rehabilitation, post fracture rehabilitation, chronic pain, inflammatory conditions, arthritic conditions, degenerative conditions, sport or activity injuries, neurological conditions, vestibular conditions, lymphoedema and lymphatic drainage, burn injuries, postural education, habit changes education, fall prevention and more.

If you have any questions and/or would like to book an appointment please do not hesitate to contact us at

(250) 335-2260 or www.spectrahealth.net

News from the Denman Island Garden Society

September 12, 2024

News from the Denman Island Garden Society

The Denman Island Garden Society would like to extend a sincere thanks to all who contributed to another successful Show What You Grow segment of the Fall Faire – the volunteers who made it possible, those who contributed your garden produce, and those who turned up to admire the wonderful vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers on display. A special thanks to the businesses (and anonymous individuals) who donated prizes for the competition: DIRCS, Abraxas, Denman Island General Store, Corlan Vineyard and Winery, Denman Island Tea Company, Denman Island Chocolate Factory, and Crooked Warden Cider. You put a lot of smiles on grateful faces.

Now that the gardening season is winding down, the Denman Island Garden Society is gearing up for another interesting run of monthly meetings. Please note that our meeting time has changed and is now from 1 to 3 pm on the third Wednesday of the month at the Gathering Place at the United Church.

Our first meeting will be on Wednesday, September 18^th at 1 pm. Devmurti Singh Khalsa and Hari Amrit Khalsa will give a presentation on Growing Figs, Other Fruits and Nuts. New members and drop-ins are welcome. Memberships are $15 for an individual, $20 for a family. Again, the meeting time is from 1 to 3 pm.

Green Wizardries: Quiet Desperation

September 12, 2024

Green Wizardries, Quiet Desperation by Maxine Rogers

Harvest is upon us! This is the busiest time of year for any gardener or farmer. Gardeners have a cascade of green beans, figs, tomatoes, apples, some lucky ones have plums and pears to deal with too. The onions have to be lifted and cured; the potatoes the same.

I spent yesterday blanching and freezing one cauliflower. It was one of the largest I have ever grown. I ended up with a large baking tray heaped up with cauliflower florets. Then, we went on to canning tomatoes. My husband went out with a large, strongly-built basket and came back with it overflowing with tomatoes. We chopped the beautiful, fully vine-ripened tomatoes up and cooked them quickly and then poured them into clean and warmed glass quart jars and popped them into the water-bath canner. Then, we had 45 minutes to do other things so we went and watered and fertilized greenhouses and garden beds.

This is normal for us so we don’t get too excited. We are, however, getting older and cannot accomplish so much each day as we used to. My sister and brother in law visited recently and helped us with project work such as summer pruning the apple trees and thinning the apple crop. They also helped on a construction project so I fed them like royalty and sent them home with many farm presents.

What we really need to do is to cut back on farming and gardening but we have to think how much we can afford to cut back. I am always amazed at how little I buy at the grocery store and how extraordinarily expensive it is. We don’t really buy food there, just coffee and soap and such, so I wonder how people without a garden and farm can manage at all.

I am sure a lot of people around here think they will always be able to afford a good diet purchased from grocery stores but I did notice the last time I went grocery shopping that the store had many fewer products for sale. Seems odd to me but shipping around the world is much impacted by the drought in Panama which has interfered with shipping. They need a lot of fresh water in the canals to float the really big boats but the drought meant they had to conserve water so the biggest ships could not use the Canal. And of course, the jolly old Houthis in Yemen are making the transit though the Suez Canal and Red Sea so much more exciting than it used to be.

Ships are now having to take much longer routes to avoid these conditions. This makes shipping much more expensive. If some product becomes too expensive due to shipping costs, it will not be shipped.

On the subject of shipping, if the Americans go to war with Iran, as the Israelis seem set on, the Iranians will probably close the Strait of Hormuz by sinking a few ships in the narrowest parts and suddenly, everything made of petroleum will cost vastly more and be in short supply.

Almost all the food in our civilization is grown with petroleum-derived fertilizers, drenched with herbicides and pesticides also made of petroleum and planted and harvested by machines that run on petroleum products and finally shipped by truck, train or airplane all of which run on petroleum products. It is enough to make a person thoughtful.

Considering all these factors, it makes sense to harvest and process whatever a person can both as a learning experience and as a tiny cushion against troubled times. In any case, what you preserve yourself will always be better than what you can buy and at a fraction of the cost.

Some of our friends are so accomplished that they make their own smoked salmon which is delicious. That is, kind of, post doctoral work but dehydrating some fruit and vegetables is really easy and it is so convenient to have a jar of dehydrated onions or peppers or zucchini on the counter to add to meals if, for example, you have run out of fresh. Dried peaches, apples and pears make wonderful candy.

Blanching and freezing vegetables such as cauliflower, broccoli and green beans is also really easy and a good place to start. Drying herbs is even easier. I hang bunches of mint and lemon balm from a beam in my living room and I have enough of these herbs dried, rubbed up and packed to supply us with tea all winter and into next spring. If you have trouble sleeping, I hope you will try a pot of lemon balm tea before bed. It gives a wonderful, refreshing sleep.

If you are new to vegetable gardening, and are in a bit of a panic as everything seems to come ripe at the same time, don’t worry. Just go out there and harvest what won’t wait and know at the end of every long day that you have made your household that much more secure, better nourished and cozy.

Denman ART Studio Tour – announcing 2025 dates!

September 12, 2024

Denman ART Studio Tour – announcing 2025 dates!

We had a wonderful weekend for the Denman ART Studio Tour this year. Despite the rain on Sunday morning, we counted on average 150 visitors per studio. Some of our studios recorded higher sales than last year. A very successful weekend!

Thank you to all our sponsors that made this event possible: Denman Works, Arts Denman, Denman Island Homes – Jordan McDonald/Local Wizard, Terry-Lynn Hemmerling Yoga, SURE Copy Courtenay, Denman Water, The Denman Island Tea Company, Denman Craft Shop, Denman Island General Store, Abraxas Books and Café, Coastal Arts Academy and Atlas Café Courtenay.

Also book your calendar for next year! The Denman ART Studio Tour will take place August 16 & 17, 2025. Save the date!

Shucking Oysters: Don’t Worry, Be Happy

September 12, 2024

Shucking Oysters: Don’t Worry, Be Happy

By Alex Allen

Anytime I have a “negative” view on anything, I am constantly reprimanded. How can I think that way? It’s not as bad as you think. Why are you such a downer? Stay positive. Think good thoughts. One platitude after another. Nathan J. Robinson, wrote that most platitudes are just “needlepoint-pillow wisdom.” Everywhere, pillows, wall art and people, imploring you to breathe, to be happy, to be thankful, to have hope, to relax. Well, there’s a word for this, my superficially bright and optimistic acquaintances. Toxic positivity.

Yes, it is possible to be too upbeat and optimistic. Toxic positivity is all about avoiding or denying any acknowledgement of stress or negativity. It’s a preoccupation with viewing everything – even something unavoidably tragic – in a glaringly, positive light. Your house burned down, but “it could have been worse.” Laid off from work. “Maybe it was meant to be.” Broke up. “Everything happens for a reason.” Even suffering and early death?

According to clinical psychologist, Dr. Jaime Zuckerman, the inherent problem with toxic positivity is that we assume that if a person is not in a positive mood (or whatever we think a positive person should look or act like), then they are somehow wrong, bad, or inadequate. We are saying to them that they should feel ashamed for feeling sad or that they should feel embarrassed for being concerned.

It’s human to have emotions. Ups and downs. That’s what it’s all about. Anger and sadness, just like happiness and joy, come and go. Zuckerman warned, “If you don’t confront or process emotions in an effective and timely manner, the science shows that it can lead to a myriad of psychological difficulties including disrupted sleep, increased substance abuse, risk of an acute stress response, anxiety, depression, and even post traumatic stress disorder.” We need to let ourselves experience painful feelings. It’s OK, to not be OK.

Nicole Karlis writes: “Humans are meant to feel and embrace a full range of emotions – not to be happy robots all the time, especially when bad things happen. And yet, the phrase ‘good vibes only’ is consistently splashed across walls, screens, and doormats, and has become a sort of millennial and Gen Z mantra.”

In a Salon interview, Nora McInerny, author of “Bad Vibes Only (And Other Things I Bring to the Table),” questions those who naively believe that if they think positively, that they will be rewarded, that good things will naturally unfold. But we all know (well, some of us), that we are not our thoughts. Therapy is not to just think happy thoughts, and then you will be magically transported to a joyous, pleasure dome.

It’s hard to go to a bookstore or online without seeing book after book on how to be happier. “The Art of Happiness.” “The How of Happiness.” “Mastering the Art of Positive Thinking.” “You are the Happiness You Seek.” There is this assumption that a good life is a happy life. We’re bombarded with the message that happiness is the most valuable thing that we should aspire to. (And yes, money can buy happiness, but it can’t buy a sense of purpose.)

Happiness can’t be pursued, it happens, it’s the byproduct of leading a meaningful life. Research shows that when we chase happiness and value it in this obsessive way our culture encourages us to do, that we actually end up feeling unhappier, lonelier. But if we do things that we think are meaningful, we’re left with this deeper sense of well being and contentment.

There is much academic debate about whether meaning and happiness are different. When you try to look at people who say that their lives are happy and meaningful, they correlate very closely. People who have meaningful lives tend to be happy and vice versa. But these two are different pursuits. What motivates you and what is your orientation?

If you are motivated by the pursuit of happiness it’s a little bit more of a personal journey because it’s about your happiness. That orientation changes your behaviour. Studies show that when you tell people to go out and pursue happiness, they do things like sleep in, go to the spa; whereas if they pursue meaning, they volunteer in their community, visit an elderly neighbour. Each action changes our mindset, and the distinction is very apparent.

This idea that difficult emotions need to be pushed aside is, no doubt, accounting for so much of our fragility in our communities and in our psychological well-being right now. Emotions are normal. The world is not. As for me, as Lawrence Durrell wrote, “I am neither happy nor unhappy; I lie suspended like a hair or a feather in the cloudy mixtures of memory.”