All posts by Alternative Perspectives Author

Where There’s Stress, There’s a Story

by David Cain at Raptitude

I tried something new with my most recent vacation. I planned to spend seven days in Portland, visiting a friend, riding bikes, eating artisanal donuts and drinking craft beers. But I divided this week into two, and in the middle, spent an entire week at a silent retreat.

The basic idea of a silent retreat is to see how quiet the mind can get when you stop feeding it entertainment, conversation, and daydreams. Instead, you notice what’s happening inside you and around you, and come back to that when you get distracted. Continue reading Where There’s Stress, There’s a Story

5 Best Homesteading YouTube Channels to Binge Watch

by Jeffrey Green at Activist Post

Can you picture yourself living a homesteading lifestyle?

Waking up early to milk the cows, release the chickens to scratch the barnyard, collect their eggs and then update your blog before your stay-at-home family rises. The rest of the day you do chores aimed at delivering an authentic human experience for people you love. You produce high-quality food and happy healthy humans. You have independence and security but still enjoy the fruits of modern convenience.

Yes, you can do it. Many families are already living the dream and sharing their experiences on YouTube. Continue reading 5 Best Homesteading YouTube Channels to Binge Watch

The Art of Looking Like a Fool

by David Cain at Raptitude

You’ve probably experienced a phenomenon we could call the “Spiral of Delay”. You put off an obligation repeatedly, until it seems so stupid that you haven’t done it yet that the thought of doing it becomes almost humiliating. So you delay a little longer.

You can’t always know what costs you’ll face in embarrassment and penalties to, say, renew your tenant insurance eleven weeks late, but we all know that those costs can only get larger when you make it into sixteen weeks, or six months. Yet, so often we procrastinate anyway, for a very predictably worse outcome.

I suppose some of you do everything more or less on time, and don’t know what I’m talking about. You can click away now if you like, or you can continue to read, out of curiosity about what’s quietly tormenting many of your fellow humans. Continue reading The Art of Looking Like a Fool