“5 Painfully Obvious Truths We Tend to Forget in Hard Times”

“5 Painfully Obvious Truths

We Tend to Forget in Hard Times”

by Angel Chernoff

“This is going to have a beginning, a middle, and an end.  

We are going to get through this, I promise, 

and we’re going to get through it together. “

- Dr. Jon LaPook

“You know how you can read or hear something dozens of times in dozens of different ways before it finally sinks in? The little truths listed below fall firmly into that category – timeless life lessons that many of us likely learned years ago, and have been reminded of ever since, yet for whatever reason we tend to forget in the heat of the moment. This, my friends, is my attempt at helping all of us, myself included, “get it” and “remember it” once and for all…

1. Life is short, and nothing is guaranteed. We know deep down that life is short, and that death will happen to all of us eventually, and yet we are infinitely surprised when it happens to someone we know. It’s like walking up a flight of stairs with a distracted mind, and misjudging the final step. You expected there to be one more stair than there is, and so you find yourself off balance for a moment, before your mind shifts back to the present moment and how the world really is.

LIVE your life TODAY! Don’t ignore death but don’t be afraid of life either. Be afraid of a life you never lived because you were too afraid to take positive action today. Death is not the greatest loss in life, neither is illness. The greatest loss is what dies inside you while you’re still alive and well. Even in these difficult times, be bold, be courageous, be scared to death, and then take the next step anyway. Just change the way you do it.

Invest your heart and soul into whatever you have right in front of you. Bring passion into otherwise ordinary moments. You don’t have to be surrounded by lots of people. You don’t have to be going anyplace new, passionately engage in each moment.

2. Everything will change again soon. Embrace change and realize in many ways it’s necessary. It won’t always be obvious at first, but in the end most forms of change are worthwhile because they force us to grow. So keep yourself in check right now.

What you have today may become what you had by tomorrow. You never know. Things change, often spontaneously. People and circumstances come and go. Life doesn’t stop for anybody. It moves rapidly and rushes from calm to chaos in a matter of seconds, and happens like this to people every day. It’s likely happening to someone nearby right now.

Sometimes the shortest split second in time changes the direction of our lives. A seemingly innocuous decision rattles our whole world like a meteorite striking Earth. Entire lives have been swiveled and flipped upside down, for better or worse, on the strength of an unpredictable event, and these events are always happening. 

So just remember, however good or bad a situation is now, it will change. That’s the one thing you can count on. Accept it. Breathe. Be where you are. You’re where you need to be right now. There’s a time and place for everything, and every hard step is necessary. Just keep doing your best, and don’t force what’s not yet supposed to fit into your life. When it’s meant to be, it will be.

3. Changing your response is what puts you back in control. Have patience with everything that remains unresolved in your head and heart. And realize that patience is not about waiting, but the ability to keep a good attitude while working hard to stay true to your intuition and values. This is your life, and it is governed by your choices. May your actions speak louder than your words. May your daily choices preach louder than your lips. May your inner sense of satisfaction be your noise in the end.

And if your present life only teaches you one thing, let it be that taking a passionate leap is always worth it. Even if you have no idea where you’re going to land – even when there are so many unknowns – be brave enough to stand up and listen to your heart. Remember that the most powerful moments in life happen when you find the courage to let go of what can’t be changed. Because when you are no longer able to change a situation, you are challenged to change yourself – to grow beyond the unchangeable. And that changes everything! (Marc and I discuss this in more detail in the “Passion and Growth” chapter of “1,000 Little Things Happy, Successful People Do Differently.“)

4. Life’s storms can be a great source of strength. Hard times are like strong storms that blow against you. And it’s not just that these storms hold you back from places you might otherwise go. They also tear away from you all but the essential parts of your ego that cannot be torn, so that afterward you see yourself as you really are, and not merely as you might like to be.

Ultimately, you realize you are here to endure these storms, to sacrifice your time and risk your heart. You are here to be bruised by life. And when it happens that you are hurt, or betrayed, or rejected, let yourself sit quietly with your eyes closed and remember all the good times you had, and all the sweetness you tasted, and everything you learned. Tell yourself how amazing it was to live, and then open your eyes and live some more.

Because to never struggle would be to never grow. You must let go of who you were so you can become who you are. Again, it is within the depths of the strongest and darkest storms that you discover within you an inextinguishable light, and it is this light that illuminates the path forward.

5. You don’t need all the answers right now. Accept the feeling of not knowing exactly where you are going, and train yourself to love and appreciate this sensation of freedom. Because it is only when you are suspended in the air, with no destination in sight, that you force your wings to open fully so you can fly. And as you soar around you still may not know where you’re traveling to. But that’s not what’s important. What’s important is the opening of your wings. You may not know where you’re going, but you know that so long as your wings are spread, the winds will carry you forward.

Truth be told, some of the greatest outcomes that transpire in your life will be the ones you never even knew you wanted. As long as you keep your mind open to new perspectives and yourself moving forward, there really are no wrong turns in life, only paths you didn’t know you were meant to travel. And you never can be certain what’s around the corner.  It could be everything, or it could be nothing. You keep gliding steadily forward, and then one day you realize you’ve come a long way from where you started.

All details aside, someday all the pieces will come together. Unimaginably good outcomes will likely transpire in your life, even if everything doesn’t turn out exactly the way you had anticipated. And you will look back at the hard times that have passed, smile, and ask yourself… “How in the world did I get through all of that?”

- https://www.marcandangel.com/

The Daily "Near You?"

Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Thanks for stopping by!

"Life Is Never Fair..."

"Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a 

good thing for most of us that it is not."

- Oscar Wilde

"You Won't Believe How Much We Spent On Groceries, This Is Shocking"

Adventures With Danno, 5/3/26

"You Won't Believe How Much We 

Spent On Groceries, This Is Shocking"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Point Of No Return..."

”There is a point of no return, unremarked at the time, in most lives.”

- Graham Greene

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“When swimming into a dark tunnel, there arrives a point of no return when you no longer have enough breath to double back. Your only choice is to swim forward into the unknown… and pray for an exit.” - Dan Brown

o

“And it was pointless… to think how those years could have been put to better use, for he could hardly have put them to worse. There was no recovering them now. You could grieve endlessly for the loss of time and for the damage done therein. For the dead, and for your own lost self. But what the wisdom of the ages says is that we do well not to grieve on and on. And those old ones knew a thing or two and had some truth to tell… for you can grieve your heart out and in the end you are still where you were. All your grief hasn’t changed a thing. What you have lost will not be returned to you. It will always be lost. You’re left with only your scars to mark the void. All you can choose to do is to go on or not. But if you go on, it’s knowing you carry your scars with you.” - Charles Frazier

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“Never be ashamed of a scar.

It simply means you were stronger than whatever tried to hurt you.”

- Unknown

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Kansas, "Point of No Return"

"How It Will Never Really Be"

That'll be the day! Read a book? God forbid!

"Banks Are Canceling Credit Cards, This Is A Bad Sign"

Full screen recommended.

Snyder Reports, 5/3/26

"Banks Are Canceling Credit Cards, 

This Is A Bad Sign"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

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Full screen recommended.

Snyder Reports, 5/3/26

"Americans Can't Pay Their Bill - 

This Is Only The Beginning"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Dan, I Allegedly, "They're Dumping Houses"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, 5/3/26

"They're Dumping Houses"

"The “silver tsunami” has officially arrived, and it’s about to reshape the housing market in ways most people aren’t prepared for. Millions of Americans over 65 are selling their homes, cashing out equity, and downsizing due to rising costs, inflation, property taxes, and healthcare expenses. With nearly one-third of all U.S. homes owned by this group, a surge of listings is hitting the market - especially in states like Florida and Texas - creating potential oversupply and shifting real estate dynamics nationwide. At the same time, major real estate brokerages are merging in what’s being sold as a “power move,” but the reality tells a different story. Deals like the RE/MAX consolidation reveal shrinking margins, fewer active agents, and an industry struggling to survive. This isn’t growth - it’s contraction. In this video, Dan from i Allegedly breaks down why the housing market, real estate agents, and the entire system are undergoing a massive reset driven by economic pressure and demographic change."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Think..."

"Think of your many years of procrastination; how the gods have repeatedly granted you further periods of grace, of which you have taken no advantage. It is time now to realize the nature of the universe to which you belong, and of that controlling Power whose offspring you are; and to understand that your time has a limit set to it. Use it, then, to advance your enlightenment; or it will be gone, and never in your power again."   

-  Marcus Aurelius

"Right Before Everything Collapses People Act Like Nothing’s Wrong"

Full screen recommended.

Historian Catalogue, 5/2/26

"Right Before Everything Collapses

 People Act Like Nothing’s Wrong"

"Why do people keep living normally - drinking coffee, booking holidays, buying luxury items - right before a financial collapse? The answer isn't ignorance. It's a deeply wired psychological mechanism called Normalcy Bias. And it has destroyed the finances of millions throughout history. In this video, we unpack the psychological forensics behind financial crashes - from the hyperinflation of Weimar Germany in 1923, to the Wall Street Crash of 1929, to the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis that wiped out trillions globally. We explore why the human brain is literally wired to deny incoming threats, how Pluralistic Ignorance makes entire societies freeze together, and how the Boiling Frog Syndrome silently erodes wealth one ignored signal at a time. This isn't a doom video. This is a pattern recognition video."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Foreclosures Sweep Across America! Hundreds Of Thousands Of Families Will Lose Their Homes"

Full screen recommended.

Epic Economist, 5/2/26

"Foreclosures Sweep Across America! Hundreds

 Of Thousands Of Families Will Lose Their Homes"

"Foreclosures are rising across the United States, and for many families, this is already a reality. In this video, we take a closer, more human look at what’s really happening behind the numbers. From rising mortgage payments and job loss to increasing living costs, more people are finding themselves in situations they never expected to face. As we react to a series of TikTok clips, the focus isn’t just on statistics, but on the emotional weight of what people are going through. You’ll hear stories of individuals on the brink of losing their homes, families asking for help, and homeowners sharing how quickly things can spiral when life becomes more expensive. These moments highlight how fragile financial stability can feel in today’s economy.

We also explore the growing conversation around veteran foreclosures, where those who once served their country are now struggling to keep a roof over their heads. Whether it’s policy changes, financial hardship, or broken expectations, these stories raise deeper questions about trust, stability, and support systems in uncertain times. Another key theme in this video is the idea that this housing crisis feels different from past ones. Many homeowners aren’t losing their properties due to reckless decisions, but because costs like insurance, taxes, and basic living expenses have increased faster than income. It’s a quieter kind of pressure, but one that’s affecting millions of people.

Throughout the video, we reflect on what these stories reveal about modern life - the shrinking margin for error, the stress of staying afloat, and the importance of being prepared for the unexpected. This is about understanding the reality many people are facing and recognizing that you’re not alone if you’ve been feeling the pressure too. If you’ve noticed changes in your own financial situation, or if these stories resonate with you in any way, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. Your perspective matters, and these conversations can help others feel less alone during difficult times."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"What Will Food Prices Look Like This Summer? Prepare For The Worst"

Adventures With Danno, 5/2/26

"What Will Food Prices Look Like This Summer?

 Prepare For The Worst"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: Peder B. Helland, "A Dream"

Full screen recommended.

Peder B. Helland, "A Dream"

"Beautiful Relaxing Music • 

Norwegian Nature & Violin, Flute, Piano & Harp Music"

- https://pederbhelland.lnk.to/websiteYL

"A Look to the Heavens"

Full screen recommended.

"Stunning Stargazing In Yosemite National Park"

"Far away from light pollution and high up in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, Yosemite National Park's stunning views of the night sky and majestic natural wonders attract astronomers, photographers and city dwellers from around the country."

Chet Raymo, “Into The Night”

“Into The Night”

by Chet Raymo

“I first became intimate with the night sky on the sleeping porch of my grandmother’s house on Ninth Street in Chattanooga, Tennessee, during the early 1940s. A screened sleeping porch might be found attached to any southern home of a certain vintage and substance, usually on the second story at the back. On sultry summer nights you could move a cot or daybed onto the porch and take advantage of whatever breezes stirred the air. I slept there when I visited because it was the only place to find a spare bed. I was usually alone in that big spooky space, with only a thin wire mesh separating me from the many mysteries of the night.

Far off in the house I could hear the muffled voice of the big Stromberg-Carlson radio in the parlor, where grown-ups listened to news of the war or the boogie-woogie tunes of the Hit Parade. Outside was another kind of music, nearer, louder, pressing against the screen, which seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, a million scratchy fiddles, out-of-key woodwinds, discordant timpani. These were the cicadas, crickets and tree frogs of the southern summer night, but to me at that time they were the sounds of the night itself, as if darkness had an audible element.

Some nights the distant horizon would be lit with a silent, winking illumination called “heat lightnin’.” And closer, against the dark grass of the badminton court, the scintillations of fireflies- “lightnin’ bugs”- splashed into brightness.

The constellations of fireflies were answered in the sky by stars, which on those evenings when the city’s lights were blacked out for air-raid drills, multiplied alarmingly. I would lie in my cot, eyes glued to the spangled darkness, waiting to hear the drone of enemy aircraft or see the flash of ack-ack. No aircraft appeared, no ack-ack tracers pierced the night, but soon the stars took on their own fierce reality, like vast squadrons of alien rocket ships moving against the inky dark of Flash Gordon space.

In time I came to recognize patterns, although I did not yet know their names: the Scorpion creeping westward, dragging its stinger along the horizon; the teapot of Sagittarius afloat in the white river of the Milky Way; Vega at the zenith; the kite of Cygnus. As the hours passed, the Big Dipper clocked around the Pole. And sometimes, in late summer, I would wake in the predawn hour to find Orion sneaking into the eastern sky, pursuing the teacup of the Pleiades.

One memorable Christmas of my childhood, my father received a star book as a gift: “A Primer for Star-Gazers” by Henry Neely. As he used the book to learn the stars and constellations, he included me in his activities. The book was Santa’s gift to him. The night sky was his gift to me.

That book, now long out of print, is still in my possession. A glance takes me back half a century to evenings on the badminton court in the back yard of our own new home in the Chattanooga suburbs, gazing upwards with my father to a drapery of brilliant stars flung across the gap between tall dark pines. He told me stories of the constellations as he learned them. Of Orion and the Scorpion. Of the lovers Andromeda and Perseus, and the monster Cetus. Of the wood nymph Callisto and her son Arcas, placed by Zeus in the heavens as the Big and Little Bears. No child ever had a better storybook than the ever-changing page of night above our badminton court. My father also taught me the names of stars: Sirius, Arcturus, Polaris, Betelgeuse, and other, stranger names, Zubenelgenubi and Zubeneschamali, the claws of the Scorpion. The words on his tongue were like incantations that opened the enchanted cave of night.

He was a man of insatiable curiosity. His stories of the stars were more than “connect the dots.” He wove into his lessons what he knew of history, science, poetry and myth. And, of course, religion. For my father, the stars were infused with unfathomable mystery, their contemplation a sort of prayer.

That Christmas book of long ago was a satisfactory guide to star lore, but as I look at it today I see that it conveyed little of the intimacy I felt as I stood with my father under the bright canopy of stars. Nor do any of the other more recent star guides that I have seen quite capture the feeling I had as a child of standing at the door of an enchanted universe, speaking incantations. What made the childhood experience so memorable was a total immersion in the mystery of the night- the singing of cicadas, the whisper of the wind in the pines, and, of course, my father’s storehouse of knowledge with which he embellished the stars. He taught me what to see; he also taught me what to imagine.”

- http://www.sciencemusings.com/

The Poet: David Whyte, "Sweet Darkness"

"Sweet Darkness"

"When your eyes are tired the world is tired also.

When your vision has gone no part of the world can find you.

Time to go into the dark where the night has eyes

to recognize its own.

There you can be sure you are not beyond love.

The dark will be your womb tonight.

The night will give you a horizon further than you can see.

You must learn one thing: the world was made to be free in.

Give up all the other worlds except the one to which you belong.

Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet confinement of your aloneness

to learn anything or anyone that does not bring you alive is too small for you."

- David Whyte,

"House of Belonging"

“Life, Explained To You”

“Life, Explained To You”

Author Unknown

“On the first day God created the dog. God said, “Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. I will give you a life span of twenty years.” The dog said, “That’s too long to be barking. Give me ten years and I’ll give you back the other ten.” So God agreed.

On the second day God created the monkey. God said, “Entertain people, do monkey tricks and make them laugh. I’ll give you a twenty-year life span.” The monkey said, “Monkey tricks for twenty years? I don’t think so. Dog gave you back ten, so that’s what I’ll do too, okay?” And God agreed.

On the third day God created the cow. “You must go to the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves, and give milk to support the farmer. I will give you a life span of sixty years.” The cow said, “That’s kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. Let me have twenty and I’ll give back the other forty.” And God agreed again.

On the fourth day God created man. God said, “Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. I’ll give you twenty years.” Man said, “What? Only twenty years? Tell you what, I’ll take my twenty, and the forty the cow gave back, and the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back, that makes eighty, okay?” “Okay,” said God, “You’ve got a deal.”

So that is why the first twenty years we eat, sleep, play, and enjoy ourselves; the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family; the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren; and the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.”

“Life has now been explained to you.”

Free Download: Jack London, "The Iron Heel"

"I know nothing that I may say can influence you. You have no souls to be influenced. You are spineless, flaccid things. You pompously call yourselves Republicans and Democrats. You are lick-spittlers and panderers, the creatures of the Plutocracy." 

- Jack London

o

o

Freely download "The Iron Heel", by Jack London, here:

- https://www.globalgreyebooks.com/iron-heel-ebook.html

Read online The Project Gutenberg eBook 

of "The Iron Heel", by Jack London, here:

- https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1164/1164-h/1164-h.htm

"Iran's Air Defense Wall Kills 2000 Israeli Drones & 40 Jets - Nothing Got Through"

Scott Ritter Insight, 5/2/26

"Iran's Air Defense Wall Kills 2000 Israeli Drones

 & 40 Jets - Nothing Got Through"

"I spent thirty years studying aerial warfare. I have read every major air campaign assessment of the past century. What happened over Iranian airspace last night has no historical parallel. Israel launched its maximum offensive aerial effort - two thousand UAVs and forty F-5E strike aircraft - the largest single strike package in Israeli military history. Iran stopped every single one. Not most. Not the majority. Every drone. Every jet. Zero penetrations. The analytical community told you Iranian air defense was insufficient. Last night's engagement answered that assessment permanently. Tonight I explain exactly how Iran built the wall that nothing could breach - and what that means for everything that follows."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Dialogue Works, 5/2/26

"Ray McGovern: Israel’s Worst Defeat: 

New Wave of Attacks That Could END It All"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

The Daily "Near You?"

San Luis Obispo, California, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Too Often..."

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word,

a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring,

all of which have the potential to turn a life around."

- Leo Buscaglia

"Why Memento Mori Is The Ultimate Life Hack"

"Why Memento Mori Is The Ultimate Life Hack"

by Danny Kenny

"The plane lurched violently upward. “Ladies and gentlemen, we’re making an emergency climb due to traffic in our flight path.” In other words: There’s a plane where it’s not supposed to be, so we’re getting the hell out of here. The captain’s voice was steady, but the g-forces pressing me into my seat and the fast climb told a different story. It was the kind of airplane experience where your mind races to conclusions you’d rather not reach.

As turbulence shook the cabin, I noticed something strange happening in my body. While others gripped armrests and exchanged terrified glances, I found myself focusing on my breath to see how low I could bring my heart rate. Like a psychopath. In for four. Hold for four. Out for four. Hold for four. Facing the possibility of death, I needed to know: Am I ready?

My grandfather used to say, “Make sure to have your bags packed.” Not to literally have your luggage by the door, but to be ready to leave life without regrets, unfinished business, and words left unsaid. As Flight 447 to Orlando climbed through that storm, I did my check: Am I good with all my people? The answer surprised me. Despite all my achievement-chasing and productivity-hacking, despite the endless striving I’ve documented in these pages…I was good. I’d added warmth, humor, and joy to the lives I’d touched. My relationships were in a good spot. The world was, perhaps, a slightly brighter place for my existence.

It honestly wasn’t the answer I was expecting, but it was a grounding one. A few minutes later, the plane leveled off. Thirty minutes later, we were safely on the ground in Orlando. But something had shifted. The rest of that trip felt clearer, less anxious, and more grounded. The obnoxious emails waiting in my inbox had lost their sting. The “urgent” meeting that wasn’t really urgent revealed itself to be something not worth spending any additional energy on. Death, it turns out, is an excellent BS detector, and we could be thinking about it way more often in our daily lives.

The ancient practice modern high-achievers need most: Memento mori, which literally means “remember you will die,” sounds like the kind of thing that would send modern optimizers running for longevity protocols (such as infrared light, collagen, and definitely some kind of algae) and the promise of immortality. But as Tim Ferriss observed: “I think about death all the time and it’s not a morbid, sullen exercise for me … I find it to be, and this might sound strange, but greatly encouraging because it drives a sense of urgency, or at least time sensitivity, to a lot of my decisions.”

He goes on to describe looking at stars and contemplating that the light hitting your eye might be from a star that no longer exists. That realization isn’t an excuse for nihilism; it instead provides perspective, clarifies, and empowers. Suddenly, that workplace drama or Twitter beef reveals itself as the cosmic irrelevance it always was. “It’s all dust,” Ferriss said. “Nobody gives a f*ck.”

Ryan Holiday put it even more directly in his exploration of Stoic practices: “Meditating on your mortality is only depressing if you miss the point. It is in fact a tool to create priority and meaning.” The ancients knew this. Emperor Marcus Aurelius reminded himself, “You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.”

But here’s what Ferriss, Holiday, and the Stoics are really pointing to, and what that moment on Flight 447 made visceral for me: Death isn’t the enemy. It’s the life coach you desperately need but never, ever, ever wanted to hire.

Befriending your mortality: Ernst Becker won a Pulitzer for "The Denial of Death" by arguing that human civilization is essentially an elaborate defense mechanism against our awareness of our own mortality. We build monuments, chase achievements, create legacies to somehow convince ourselves we’ll find a way to overcome the one thing guaranteed by our biology. This denial drives what Becker calls our “immortality projects,” the ways we try to ensure that our existence will echo beyond our inevitable end.

For me, it was the 4.0 GPA, the PhD, the six-figure consulting gig. For you, it might be the IPO, the bestseller, the perfect family photo that gets 500 likes. We’re all running toward some imagined future, achievement, or trophy that grants us immunity from dying. We’re scrambling to find the thing, and we’re scrambling to get the thing, and we’re scrambling to hold onto it forever.

We don’t have to do that. This shift from seeing death as the enemy to recognizing it as a clarifying force has been gradual for me: years of Stoic practice, meditation, and simply observing life unfold around me. People in my life dying, some way too soon. People diagnosed with long-term illnesses. These are consistent, regular reminders that life is a finite, non-renewable resource.

The irony is that befriending death doesn’t make life feel shorter or scarier. It makes it feel more vivid, more precious, more worth living authentically rather than performatively. When you truly internalize that you could leave life right now - not as some abstract philosophy but as lived reality - several things happen:Your real values emerge from the noise. Suddenly, being seen as successful matters less than actually connecting with people you love.

Fake urgencies reveal themselves. That ASAP email? Unless someone’s actually dying, it can wait. Your tolerance for BS approaches zero. Life’s too short for meetings that should have been emails or relationships that drain more than they give. What actually matters becomes blindingly clear. Hint: It’s usually much simpler than your brain wants to believe.

The 90-year-old test: Here’s an exercise I give to every coaching client as we start our work together. It never fails to cut through the complexity we create around our lives: Close your eyes. Fast-forward to age 90. It’s a Tuesday, and you’re sitting on a porch (because apparently all 90-year-olds have moved south and have porches in our imagination). What’s true about the best version of this moment? When I do this exercise, the picture that emerges is remarkably simple: I’m healthy enough to move around and be active. I’m surrounded by people and family I love. I’m still sharp enough to write, teach, and serve others. That’s it. That’s the whole list.

Notice what’s not there? The size of my bank account. The prestige of my job title, the number of LinkedIn followers, whether I ever gave a TED talk. None of it makes the cut when you’re staring down the barrel of your own mortality. This isn’t about having low ambitions - it’s about having accurate ambitions. When you know how your story ends, you can work backward to figure out what actually matters now.

The 90-year-old test is where I start my values work because it’s the only perspective that can’t be fooled by short-term thinking or social pressure. Your 90-year-old self doesn’t care about inbox zero or Q3 targets. They care about whether you were present for the people who mattered. They care about doing work you find meaningful. And they care about not dying with a life unlived.

Practical memento mori: Here are a few more concrete practices that bring death’s clarity into daily life:Write your own eulogy. Many people have heard of this, but I recommend writing two versions: 

Write the eulogy for if you died today, and then write the one for if you lived a life aligned with what truly matters to you. The gap between them is the work for you to do and the places for you to focus.

The deathbed story filter. Before any major decision, ask: “On my deathbed, will I regret not doing this, or will I regret the things I sacrificed to do it? What’s the story I wish to be able to tell about this when I’m dying?” This question has helped me see through superficial achievement traps and, on the other side, has helped me choose the short-term painful thing that benefits me in the long term.

Study the stars and get outside. Adapting Ferriss’s advice, go outside at night and look up. Find a star. Consider that its light traveled years to reach you, meaning the star itself might already be gone. Find ways to be in grand scenes in nature. Find places that bring you awe. Let that cosmic perspective shrink your problems to their actual size.

Here’s what nobody tells you about memento mori: It’s the ultimate productivity system. Not productivity in the mercenary sense of cramming more into less time. But productivity in the truest sense: producing what matters, eliminating what doesn’t.

When you truly grasp your mortality: You stop procrastinating essential conversations.

You quit optimizing systems that optimize nothing meaningful.

You delegate or delete those many trivial tasks to focus on the vital few.

You stop trading time for money once you have “enough.”

You start creating things that might outlive you in valuable ways.

After that flight to Orlando, I noticed immediate changes. Emails that would have sent me into an hour-long response spiral got two sentences or silence. Arguments that would have escalated got met with a, “You might be right” or “This isn’t worth our energy.”

I began to understand what Becker was really saying: We’re all going to die, and no amount of achievement can change that. Instead of this being depressing, I found it liberating. But the biggest shift? I started prioritizing shared meals with loved ones as if they were board meetings with God because, from the perspective of mortality, they basically are.

When you stop trying to outrun death through achievement, you can start using your limited time to contribute something meaningful. The question shifts from “How can I matter forever?” (an absurd exercise likely to lead to shallow, inauthentic answers) to “How can I matter right now?” (a powerful question for finding compassionate action to make the world a little bit better around you, in this moment).

Your mortality, your mentor: As I write this, I’m thinking of my uncle Ward. A kind, lovable, and humble man, he was an example to all who met him. He passed, far too soon, in August 2023, after a horrific battle with throat cancer and Crohn’s disease that meant he could not eat and barely speak for months. He was far too gentle, too kind, too good to have deserved a fight I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. And yet, even as he lost weight and even when words became too painful to form, my uncle still showed up for his family, managed to communicate love through presence alone, and found ways to express care even as his body betrayed him.

I remember how he’d text me about the latest Cubs game or to share the latest news on my one friend who made it to the MLB. For anyone he knew driving to or from Chicago, he would be checking the weather for them, letting them know the forecast and the ideal driving windows to avoid the worst of it. And there was nothing any of his many nieces or nephews could accomplish without my uncle Ward being one of the first to congratulate them for it.

By remembering him, I remember to live. I remember how he loved his family and his friends. I remember the generosity of his spirit, being the first to serve charity, to leave behind a bigger tip, to congratulate someone on their latest accomplishment.

My uncle can no longer do those things on this earthly plane. But I can. This is the paradox of memento mori: The more we remember death, the more fully we live. The more we befriend mortality (our own or the people in our lives), the less it controls us. Admittedly, this embrace feels weird. But death is the feature of our existence that makes life meaningful. Without scarcity, there’s no value. Without endings, there’s no urgency to begin. And without mortality, there’s no reason to choose what matters over what’s merely urgent.

So I’ll ask you what I asked myself on that turbulent flight: Are you ready? Are you good with your people? Have you said what needs saying, done what needs doing, loved who needs loving? If not, what are you waiting for? Death is waiting to help you figure out what actually matters. All you have to do is listen."

- https://dannykenny.substack.com/

"How It Really Is"

"Thomas Edison said in all seriousness: "There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the labor of thinking"- if we bother with facts at all, we hunt like bird dogs after the facts that bolster up what we already think - and ignore all the others! We want only the facts that justify our acts - the facts that fit in conveniently with our wishful thinking and justify our preconceived prejudices. As Andre Maurois put it: "Everything that is in agreement with our personal desires seems true. Everything that is not puts us into a rage." Is it any wonder, then, that we find it so hard to get at the answers to our problems? Wouldn't we have the same trouble trying to solve a second-grade arithmetic problem, if we went ahead on the assumption that two plus two equals five? Yet there are a lot of people in this world who make life a hell for themselves and others by insisting that two plus two equals five - or maybe five hundred!"

- Dale Carnegie

Dan, I Allegedly, "No Police, No Help, No Money! What’s Happening?!"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, 5/2/26

"No Police, No Help, 

No Money! What’s Happening?!"

"California’s emergency system is facing a breaking point. In this video, I break down how the 911 infrastructure - built decades ago - is now failing at scale, with tens of thousands of hours of outages every single month. Despite tens of millions already spent, the system still isn’t reliable. What does this mean for everyday people? It means when you call for help… no one may answer. This raises serious questions about government spending, infrastructure priorities, and public safety across the state.It gets worse. The Los Angeles Police Chief has now admitted there aren’t enough officers - or funding - to safely handle the 2028 Olympics. Combine that with rising crime stories, economic instability, and warnings about inflation and supply shortages, and you have a perfect storm. In this video, we also cover shocking fraud cases, retail theft, and what you should be doing right now to prepare financially and protect yourself. "

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Millions of Americans Are Doing Everything Right… And Still Falling Apart"

Full screen recommended.

Across The States, 5/2/26

"Millions of Americans Are Doing Everything Right…

And Still Falling Apart"

"Why Americans are dying younger is no longer a mystery - and it’s not just healthcare. This video breaks down the deeper economic crisis affecting life expectancy in the U.S. Here’s the thing: something started going wrong years before anyone noticed. Even as headlines claimed growth, everyday life got harder - higher costs, more stress, and less stability. That disconnect isn’t random. It’s a signal that the system people rely on isn’t working the way it used to. What most people miss is how this shows up in the body. Rising anxiety, burnout, and long-term health issues aren’t separate problems - they’re tied to financial pressure, job insecurity, and the cost of simply staying afloat. When survival gets harder, health follows. The reality is, this goes beyond hospitals or medicine. It’s about wages, housing, debt, and how much control people actually have over their lives. Even younger generations are feeling it earlier, and the long-term effects are already showing."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Millions of Americans Are Tapping Out - The Cost of Living Is Breaking Them"

Full screen recommended.

Global Discovery, 5/2/26

"Millions of Americans Are Tapping Out - 

The Cost of Living Is Breaking Them"

"Millions of people across the country are facing growing financial pressure as the cost of living crisis continues affecting households, workers, and retirees. In this educational documentary, we examine why more Americans struggling with rising rent, food prices, healthcare costs, and debt are reconsidering what life in America looks like in 2026. This video explores how changes in the U.S. economy, wage growth, and inflation may be contributing to the ongoing middle class crisis. From housing affordability to shrinking savings, the documentary analyzes how Inflation in America and the housing crisis USA are impacting everyday American families and reshaping working class America. We also discuss the growing concerns surrounding American economy decline, poverty in America, and broader economic struggles USA affecting communities nationwide. Through data, personal experiences, and historical comparisons, this documentary examines the challenges of Living in the U.S. and the reality of survival in America during uncertain economic times."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"A Flashing Red Warning Signal: In California, Gasoline Is 6 Now Dollars A Gallon And Diesel Is Now 7 Dollars A Gallon"

by Michael Snyder

"You have probably noticed that gasoline is starting to become extremely expensive. That is really bad news for all of us, because our entire way of life depends on cheap energy. We can’t make stuff without energy. We can’t move stuff without energy. That is why the cost of energy directly affects the cost of everything else. In fact, energy is literally the foundation of our entire economy. If we have cheap energy we will have a high standard of living. If we do not have cheap energy we will not have a high standard of living. It really is that simple.

Prior to the war with Iran, energy prices were quite low, but now everything has changed. Oil production in the Persian Gulf has dropped by 57 percent from pre-war levels, and hardly any oil and natural gas have been getting through the Strait of Hormuz over the past couple of months. As a result, energy prices are soaring all over the world.

Here in the United States, the average price of a gallon of gasoline just hit $4.30…Gasoline prices nationwide surged 27 cents over the past week as oil prices spiked. Drivers paid $4.30 per gallon on average across the U.S. Thursday, compared to $4.03 a week ago. In late February, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States was less than 3 dollars a gallon. At this point, U.S. consumers are paying $1.32 more per gallon than they did just prior to the war. If the conflict with Iran is not resolved quickly, things will get a lot worse.

In order to get an idea of where things could be headed, just look at what is going on in California. The average price of a gallon of gasoline in California just reached $6.01…California gasoline prices hit $6 per gallon on Thursday, a 30% increase since the U.S. and Israel launched the war against Iran in late February. Drivers in California are paying the most in the nation at $6.01 per gallon on average, according to data from AAA.

A 30 percent increase in two months is crazy. But this is the reality that we are living in now. Before the war began, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in California was just $4.64. This just shows how rapidly conditions can change.

Needless to say, the price of diesel has been going up even faster. In California, it is up a whopping 47 percent since the beginning of the war…. Diesel, meanwhile, cost about $7.50 per gallon on average in California on Thursday, a 47% increasse since the war broke out on Feb. 28. Diesel is essential for the economy because the fuel is used by trucks and trains to deliver all the goods that consumers buy.

If prices for gasoline and diesel remain at these elevated levels, it will be very painful, but we can survive this. But what will happen if oil prices continue to skyrocket? On Thursday, the price of Brent crude actually hit $126 a barrel before falling back… Oil prices surged to a wartime high Thursday, with Brent crude, the international benchmark, topping $126 a barrel as concerns grew that the Iran war will drag on, tightening global energy supplies.

We are being warned that the price of oil could easily reach 150 dollars a barrel if the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened quickly. Unfortunately, it does not appear that is going to happen any time soon. So I am encouraging everyone to prepare for an extended crisis. Literally just about everything is going to become more expensive.

And that is really bad news, because a survey that was conducted before the war ever began discovered that more than half of all Americans were struggling to pay their bills on time each month…A separate survey of 5,000 Americans, conducted by Talker Research for Current in December 2025, adds context to how raw the financial picture looks. In that study, 87% of respondents said the country is in a crisis because of how unaffordable life has become. More than half (52%) said they struggle to pay their bills on time each month, and 50% said they’ve had difficulty affording groceries.

Please read that paragraph again. That was where we were at prior to the war with Iran. Needless to say, substantially elevated energy prices will make our affordability crisis a great deal worse.

Of course it isn’t just U.S. consumers that are being affected by this. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is warning that “the whole of humanity is paying the price” and that we are now facing the “specter of global recession”…The head of the United Nations warned Thursday of the “specter of global recession” if the U.S.-Iran war doesn’t end soon, imploring both sides to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and “let the global economy breathe again.”

Speaking to journalists in New York, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that despite the “fragile ceasefire” between the U.S. and Iran, the consequences of their ongoing standoff in the Strait of Hormuz “grow dramatically worse with each passing hour.” “As with every conflict, the whole of humanity is paying the price,” he said. “The pain will be felt for a long time to come.”

I normally do not agree with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres about anything. But in this case, he is right on target. If the Strait of Hormuz does not reopen soon, there is no way that we are going to avoid a major global economic downturn.

Guterres is also claiming that 45 million people living on this planet could soon fall into “extreme hunger”… If the constraint on shipping through the strait “drags on through midyear,” he said 32 million people would fall into poverty and 45 million “into extreme hunger,” he said. According to the UN, the number of people experiencing acute hunger was already at an all-time record high even before the war with Iran started.

Now we are facing the worst fertilizer crisis in history. If you have not read the breakdown that I published about this earlier in the week, please go back and read it now. There are so few prominent voices that are telling the truth about this. The spring planting season in the northern hemisphere is going to be a disaster, and six to nine months from now global food shortages are going to hit us like a freight train. Food prices will rise to shocking levels in wealthy nations, and there will be widespread famines in impoverished nations. We desperately need the Strait of Hormuz to be reopened immediately, because we really are heading into an unprecedented nightmare."

- https://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

"A Prayer For Struggling Americans From Iran"

Full screen recommended.

"A Prayer For Struggling Americans From Iran"

Brick Beat Battalion, "We Share the Same Pain"

Full screen recommended.

Brick Beat Battalion, "We Share the Same Pain"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Canadian Prepper, "Alert! WTF! Trump Cancels Congress, War To Restart!"

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, 5/1/26

"Alert! WTF! Trump Cancels Congress,

 War To Restart!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Adventures With Danno, "Prepare For Massive Price Hikes, It's About To Get Ugly"

Adventures With Danno, 5/1/26

"Prepare For Massive Price Hikes,

 It's About To Get Ugly"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Something Is Wrong With American Food - And People Are Getting Angry"

Full screen recommended.

Epic Economist, 5/1/26

"Something Is Wrong With American Food - 

And People Are Getting Angry"

"Ninety-three percent of Americans are metabolically unhealthy. Thirty-eight percent of kids under twelve are pre-diabetic. American white bread is classified as a plastic in forty-three countries. The food in the United States is not the same food the rest of the world is eating - and a wave of Americans coming back from trips abroad are saying the same thing: "I ate whatever I wanted in Italy, France, Jamaica, the DR - and felt fine. The moment I came home, my body started reacting again." This video pulls together the clips going viral right now from the people noticing it first."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: Ludovico Einaudi, "Oltremare"

Ludovico Einaudi, "Oltremare"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Close to the Great Bear (Ursa Major) and surrounded by the stars of the Hunting Dogs (Canes Venatici), this celestial wonder was discovered in 1781 by the metric French astronomer Pierre Mechain. Later, it was added to the catalog of his friend and colleague Charles Messier as M106. Modern deep telescopic views reveal it to be an island universe - a spiral galaxy around 30 thousand light-years across located only about 21 million light-years beyond the stars of the Milky Way. 

Along with a bright central core, this stunning galaxy portrait, a composite of image data from amateur and professional telescopes, highlights youthful blue star clusters and reddish stellar nurseries tracing the galaxy's spiral arms. It also shows off remarkable reddish jets of glowing hydrogen gas. In addition to small companion galaxy NGC 4248 at bottom right, background galaxies can be found scattered throughout the frame. M106, also known as NGC 4258, is a nearby example of the Seyfert class of active galaxies, seen across the spectrum from radio to X-rays. Active galaxies are powered by matter falling into a massive central black hole.”

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html