Great meeting tonight with a new man in the circle. We rewrote some of the messages from our inner critics and even sent the inner critics packing! Great rewrites such as
“you can’t do it” —> “It’s already done!”
“you don’t know what to do” —> “I trust my creativity”
What are some ways you’d rewrite messages from your inner critic?
I have begun to walk again in the mornings. I have posted on FB my idea of walking to Niigata. I have begun to plot out some potential waypoints for the route.
So far, I have plotted waypoints for 5+ hours to walk to Seibuen Amusement Park
https://goo.gl/maps/YgmtgwGVbAALcXdH8
Seibuen Amusement Park to Tennenonsen Kachofugetsu Hot Spring via Miyamae Park, nico rico, and 5 other stops in Google Maps.
https://goo.gl/maps/FvvQDWknCoTLWpKp8
Tennenonsen Kachofugetsu Hot Spring to 鳩山町文化会舘 via Ikejiriike Park, Takakurakofuku Temple, and 6 other stops in Google Maps.
https://goo.gl/maps/W7Fs2vZjpEVJ9Vz59
鳩山町文化会舘 to 薪石窯PIZZA たんぽぽ via Kamigarako, Kamigarako, and 3 other stops
https://goo.gl/maps/pkJbSZmK7jj3eQcQ7
薪石窯PIZZA たんぽぽ to Minaregawa Park
https://goo.gl/maps/H3Vn3GMnqS5pshnD9
薪石窯PIZZA たんぽぽ to 結婚の森 via Gunma Prefectural Observatory tooo farrr
https://goo.gl/maps/Qn1NjwB4UQKmRZpK9
結婚の森 to ゆじゅく金田屋
https://goo.gl/maps/itsKLD3cYFLV195x9
ゆじゅく金田屋 to グンマーsaraアジト via Akayako Memorial Park, 源泉湯の宿 千の谷,
https://goo.gl/maps/rteWnfWG4w8Reb9j8
Minaregawa Park to 県立公園群馬の森 via Shitauike Water Park, Gusto
https://goo.gl/maps/KgebWfjm6YtGMimF7
県立公園群馬の森 to 利根川総社緑地 via 群馬の森北入口, Fuji Shrine
https://goo.gl/maps/Q2vqyvGz2JAAx6fM8
利根川総社緑地 to Kanai via 株式会社コメックス 漆原センター, Ichitora Chinese Restaurant
https://goo.gl/maps/N7521xbJZz5F7soo8
Kanai to 結婚の森
https://goo.gl/maps/WS6pwWykeTPGFzZw6
グンマーsaraアジト to Dragondola Sanroku Station
https://goo.gl/maps/eLgXnUV8nZ8mze9J9
Though I have decided to not stop at Lockheart Castle, I have not yet figured out a way to embed maps on my site. Working on that now. The Google maps API allows “only” 20 waypoints on a map.
Do you know any hospitals, governments, prison systems, companies, or organizations, (especially LGBT) that need millions of federally approved PPE (personal protective equipment)?
I understand there’s a shortage in PPE and other medical devices right now.
My dear friend Christine has refurbished her factories to manufacture all PPE, including facemasks (N95, Exportable KN95, 3 ply), gloves, coveralls and more.
They have a 30 year history with the factories and have got them switched over to PPE production since COVID shut everything down.
They started with only donating to prisons after they saw an article about how prison inmates were passing away while their families were not allowed to hold proper funerals for them. Their website still only talks about donations to incarcerated people, but they are updating their website now that more funds have come in, to include hospitals, schools, and other organizations on their donations lists.
They are an FDA registered distributor of medical devices, and also offer their own brand products.
They have secured all the necessary requirements to ship them around the world, US being top choice.
Check out their website here: https://bishopandbishop.net/
You can email my friend the owner, Christine directly at christine@ the same domain bishopandbishop.net.
Or call the company at 1 888 548-2238
I enjoyed leading the first Connection Circle on a Friday morning, as part of Oren’s Quarantine Activity Guide for April 2020. This was the fourth or so time I have led the workshop, and great to see all new people in attendance.
The list below was my agenda, with the numbers being minutes on each bit. 2 hours worked out quite well!
Next circle will be 9:30am - 11:30am Tokyo time Friday April 17th. Enjoy deep connection with like minded people in the safe setting of your own home! must RSVP to join!
So far today 2 people have let me know they will attend the connection circle I plan to lead tonight. Neither of them have attended before; I look forward to a great meeting!
It was a great meeting! Six people total, including myself. Here’s what we did.
Join our upcoming events via Tokyo Sōl on Meetup!
Do you remember how many times “terror” was mentioned in the media after September 11th, 2001? Do you know how much concern has been spent on protecting us from “terror” vs the number of lives that have been lost to “terror?” (0.05% in 2017)
"News, by definition, is something almost never happens. But
that's not the way our brains work. If it's in the news, if it's
talked about, if we hear about it a lot, we confuse that with it
being common."
- Bruce Schneier, 2017 (1:50 in the video below)
Boeing 737 Max got pulled from service because air travel is super carefully controlled and super safe (we have to live 188,000 lifetimes to die once in an airplane). Terrorism isn’t even on the above list as a possible way to die in the US in 2017.
And yet, the risk of dying in a plane is far more likely to happen from non-terror (red line) than terror (gray line)
So with all that in mind, I look at the Covid 19 spread numbers and do not understand what all the fuss is about. In my understanding, influenza is a pandemic every year and no one really worries about it.
This NY Times article compares influenza and corona virus.
Influenza kills 0.1% of its victimes and apparently the corona virus is twenty or thirty times as deadly as influenza.
Okay fuck. I see. If 3% of the population die this year, that would be pretty significant.
Y’all better start washing your hands, and don’t touch ya face.
"... The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives
valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because
there is no effort without error and shortcoming ..."
Theodore Roosevelt, 1910
Review of my first sold-out + interpreted eye gazing workshop:
I learned a lot during my first workshop which was both sold-out beforehand, and interpreted during the workshop itself. It was an eye gazing workshop with the point being that “eyes are the window to the soul.”
What I learned: many of the attendees wanted to eye gaze with me.
I was surprised by this because one main point of the workshop is that we are all equal and equally beautiful inside. Gazing into another person’s eyes can be like a mirror for what is inside of the person doing the gazing.
"So why do people want to sit with me?"
Rob Nugen, 2020
As workshop time started winding down, people started speaking up, wanting to sit with me. Upon realizing how important this was to the participants, I ended up feeling an overall sense of shame by the end of the workshop, apparently having “let down” some/any of the participants.
Oh, and I just realized I forgot to have anyone take pictures of the workshop for social media.
Speaking of social media
In the past month, I have hired a business development duo and plan to start leading new series of circles in Tokyo as part of The Bold Life Brotherhood™. I have not set any dates yet, but I will be leading some practice playshops/games for Bold Life Brotherhood Tokyo once I get the content sorted.
A huge part of this business is “getting myself out there” which I hate with a passion. I just want to stay holed up in my little space to make my marble track and draw art, not facing anyone who might say “no” in any sort of way.
Maybe this counts as my big “thing to learn” this year. (As if learning from leading 36 workshops isn’t enough haha)
Upcoming workshops
My friend Jacob asked me if I have a reason to send out these newsletters. “What’s the big picture plan?”
Basically these newsletters intend to follow the ups-and-downs of my leading 36 workshops this year. These newsletters also offer me a safe way to begin putting myself “out there.”
If anything, I write this newsletter with hopes to inspire people to take tangible consistent steps toward their highest goals, to encourage anyone feeling fear+excitement about something: Go for it!
I’d love to hear about your exciting project or what scares you about getting started.
Love and light
Rob!
I am sitting on the train with hot tears drying on my face. Feeling relaxed after a good cry on the way to the station. Riding my bicycle along the same route that I walked with Ma and Madeleine multiple times while they were here brought the emotions forward.
Sadness is the emotion of loss. I need time to grieve the loss of having my mom here with me. Now I’ll have her on Skype but no hugs or carrying bags or overhearing her and Madeleine sharing notes and photos about their day.
After allowing myself a wet sniffly slobbery cry, I feel super chill and strangely warm even though it’s cold. Maybe it’s my new jacket that Ma gave me from the back of Jon’s closet. But definitely feeling relaxed after a nice cry. I don’t have to hold all those emotions in.
Tomorrow will be a new day as I head back to work, but for today just cry and cry like no one’s looking.
Allow yourself to cry if you need to.
On this same subject I had a great cry in my men’s group today. Tears gushing, sobbing, deep gasping breaths. Gratitude for the men supporting me.
Ma, Madeleine, and I enjoyed a great day walking through the old Japanese houses, speaking with some of the volunteer guides as we enjoyed spectacularly clear blue skies and crisp fresh air. It’s a natural haven just 30 minutes from Shinjuku, the busiest train station in the world.
Great to see the New Year’s decorations and we received some hand-made souvenirs: grasshoppers made of grass, and mice made of paper!
The indigo dye workshop was amazing fun. I told the staff I’d come back hundreds of times. It was a bit of a challenge to understand the Japanese, but we had a great time dyeing and created some beautiful handkerchiefs!
This officially counts as my second of 24+ workshops this year. Past Lives Memories was a great success! Three people attended, and it is the first time I actually turned a profit on a workshop. (Previously I have lost money on room or materials or both.)
The workshop went really well and I got good feedback from the participants. Special thanks to everyone for attending!