What do we really do with 2022?

We Survived - After a year like no other, when even the use of the word "unprecedented" in the global media was record-breaking. One of my friends made a point to call me during the holidays to ask me how I saw the coming year and for the first time in a very long time I was speechless. To say I took a long breath would not be the half of it. We have all had to take a hard look at ourselves and our choices since 2020 showed up on our itinerary. Will this decade be about developing 20/20 Vision when it comes to seeing who we have become and what we have created?

A New World - A whole new script is being written by our choices. It is a new story my friends and both the current scene and the set have certainly changed. I know I am not alone when I see the dramatic impacts recent changes have had in our society and in our world. Unfortunately many don't yet realize that the infrastructures we have created were for a world that no longer exists. The climate crisis alone has changed the journey we are on and all the rules we once counted on. But many less obvious changes will have even more profound impacts on the world we once knew. Anyone that is really paying attention to the state of our planet has been able to read the writing on the wall. Largely because the writing on the wall has turned into billboards. However, on the chance like a good traveller, you were paying attention to the traffic, while I have been gazing at the scenery. Perhaps I should share with you what I have been seeing from the back seat. It is not a pretty picture and it speaks to our future struggles. I do see the challenges but also opportunities.

A Matter Of Perspective - Those that know me well tend to credit my positive attitude about life as playing a significant role in my reputation as a "Cat with nine lives working on his eleventh" But in all honesty, my realism may have played a bigger role in my survival up to this point. When we face a dangerous crisis, I think preparation represents at least 90% of our ability to land on our feet and to survive when others may not.

Our Mentoring Matters - In the time that I was growing up, Robert Baden-Powell taught many of us to "Be Prepared" In fact, my father use to say "Success is the Ratio of Thought Before Action." To this day, in retrospect, I can't argue with the truth in either of those statements. So what I told my kids was that “Decisions Determine Our Destiny.” Any way you say it, I got the message that it pays to think ahead.

Wake Up Calls - Unfortunately this decade, and in particular this coming year, I am concerned that most folks have not been paying close enough attention to avoid some of the pain from what seems to be on our horizon. Those who have been vigilant, know that circumstances are aligning to make 2022 one of the most challenging years that most of us alive today have ever faced. During times like these it is paramount to remember that though we may not be able to control the events in our life, we have all the control over how we respond to them.

Taking Control - Too many people leave their life up to fate and don’t have a clear direction on where their life is going. We are constantly authoring our own story. We direct each scene in our script with the choices we make. In doing so we create our own reality, and we are living the story as we write it. Understanding that our decisions truly determine our destiny. The attitude we create changes everything about our experience. You have your hand on the helm on life's voyage, no one else. So take control and set a course for what you intend to create in your life.

Vision What You Want - Every year I create a vision board and a life plan that not only helps keep my focus on the possibilities for the coming year but to prepare my plan of action to manifest those potentials. Every year that I have done this carefully, I end up batting between 80% to 90% on my vision list.

Taking A Hard Look - Usually, the last week of the year is when I prepare my vision board for the next year. Part of what makes this process work for me begins by taking an introspective and honest look at oneself and the world we are living in. Unfortunately, we may not always like what we see, particularly at this moment in time.

From My Seat - 2022 looks like it will test everything we have learned about staying alive in difficult times. Its already proven to be a decade of major human transformation. It seems that our new reality has been developing within us for some time, it has been a long gestation and unfortunately, as we move into 2022 we are still only in the early stages of labour. The pain on our horizon may be hard to endure, but just like the magic first moments of a new life, these transitions will also bring realizations that mankind may never forget.

A Transformational Decade - For several years I have been saying that for better or worse, what happens this decade will determine the future of mankind and we need to carefully consider each step we take. If in fact, we are coming to the crunch in the human journey, let's not be crushed by the lessons it is offering. In my observation mankind seems to come from the “up against the wall” school of evolution. We often change only when we have little choice but to change. This decade has turned out to be the wall we have backed ourselves up to. So we need to make it a defining decade as our future is truly at stake.

In 2020 I said "This will be an introspective year where world events would give us pause. We will see the beginning of major changes in the world around us and those that are paying attention will realize that the world we grew up in will never exist again. We will see a vast increase in desertification, fires, famine, disease, and extreme weather events will be rampant. We will see more signs of our global ecosystem collapse as another twenty thousand species will be pushed into extinction. These events may make us stop in our tracks and start to reassess what we have been doing. If we are smart we will take advantage of that pause for introspection and to reflect on finding a "20/20 vision" of what was really important in our lives. If we do so 2020 will truly be an opportunity for significant personal development. 2020 will present us with a new perspective on the challenges the world faces and if we are lucky the potential of a great reset button in our lives, if we choose to make use of that, we will change both our priorities and the direction of our journey."

2021 -Last year I said "2021 will be a year of personal growth. As we realize that for various reasons there is no end in sight for this pandemic, we will have the opportunity to learn how to make friends with our inner selves and with time spent alone. It will be a year where we will have the opportunity to develop new skills, we will learn how to use technology reach out and connect with each other, and to learn more about ourselves and our world. We will witness the real impacts of the Climate Crisis and face some of the consequences or our delayed response to it. Extreme and record-breaking weather events will begin to tear at structures and support systems that we have taken for granted in our lives. Many will come out of denial about the true costs of inaction on the climate crisis. We may do our best to cope by nurturing our nest with little renovation projects or spending more time in our garden or our kitchen, but it will be hard to ignore what is happening around us. Dramatic climate events and the growing pandemic crisis will not be the only challenge we will have to overcome. This year we will also see the beginning of massive upheavals on the world stage. The real economic implications of the climate and pandemic crisis will just begin to come into focus but the social impacts may not be so obvious yet. We will be paying more attention to environmental and public health issues in our lives but we will also see the seeds of imminent global scale conflicts begin to emerge."

2022 unfortunately is shaping up to be our year of challenges that will test our new understandings of ourselves and the newly learned adaption and survival skills like no year before. Prevention always takes fewer resources and energy than remediation yet generally most do not prepare even when risks are in plain sight. At this point, things are way beyond risky as a confluence of crisis gathers in front of us. Even those that have not been paying attention will start to feel that wall against their back.

A Pandemic Or A Plague - Like many others, I have lost friends to Covid. Unfortunately, there is no end in sight and with one variant after another if anything it is accelerating. Last year, there have been over 64 million cases of COVID-19 and that was only year two of the pandemic. Whether it is an escaped Bio-Weapon that has got out of hand or the planet's natural way to manage a species that is out of control the outcome remains the same. Many tragic and painful deaths is leaving our herd significantly culled and greatly diminished in more ways than our numbers.

A Broken System - Unfortunately we passed the point of taxing our health care system and this marathon has decimated the morale and ranks of our health care professions. Once again we were not prepared and a panic ensued to protect what we could. We now have perhaps a little hope with many vaccines competing for our government dollars, unfortunately not one offers any real form of immunity, and the varient continue to create moving targets. I am concerned that when the truth comes to light the corruption and manipulation behind the scenes will be jaw-dropping for all of us. Yet we persist with faith that somehow our best interests are being protected or at least the best interests of Big Pharma. (you might want pay attention to the non-disclosed contracts our governments had to sign to get delivery commitments) The Canadian health care system we have been so proud of, is at or beyond the breaking point.

Our Environmental Wall - The Climate Crisis which has just begun to wreak havoc on the world as we know it, is still getting worse, not better. We will see much more intense storm events, more severe floods and droughts, fires, and freeze-ups, with all the human, environmental and economic tragedies that they will bring. We knew this was coming... but what did we do?

Preparing For A Mass Extinction Event - What we feared is now upon us. It has already begun with over 20,000 species per year disappearing forever and the rate of extinction is growing. (BTW - When canaries in a mine-shaft go silent, smart miners know they have to yell it out and take urgent action) But the rest of us...? Well.... not so much. Our disregard for environmental issues has permanently damaged Earth’s vital biodiversity and unchecked will eventually threaten our own survival as a species. Will we now launch a “Save The Humans” campaign? Save us from what? Ourselves? Do you wonder what happened to those great civilizations of the past? I think we did.

We Have Geophysical Concerns - As the polar ice melts it is not only reducing reflection and increasing warming, but the resulting rising ocean levels transfers an enormous amount of weight to new locations over the oceanic plates so seismic activity will continue to increase until the "Ring of Fire" rips open with a whole string of quakes and eruptions.

Devastating Humanitarian Crisis - We already have terrible (and out of control) impacts of the Global Covid Pandemic impacting millions around the globe. We have economic and social impacts and suicides are on the rise globally. On top of that, we will also start seeing millions of climate refugees from ever more intense climate change extremes. We also can't ignore the rising oceans themselves that will displace millions from coastal cities around the world. Yet once again. we have not planned ahead for this. So massive migrations will have tragic and devastating outcomes and bring on an unimaginable level of suffering and conflict in its wake.

Multiple Financial Crisis - Inflation fueled by supply chain issues and low-interest rates have overheated markets. The US treasure has printed more new money last three years, than in the entire history of the US. Between speculation and manipulations, there are bubbles in a variety of sectors at history-making levels never seen before. Last year the SEC began investigating market manipulation by market makers. DOJ has started an open investigation into Hedge Funds' illegal Naked Short Selling Activities and Financial media for market manipulations. The Derivatives Market is over-leveraged at a rate of up to 100 to 1 in debt. Much higher than during the doc com crisis and the housing crisis, dwarfing anything that can come before it. It is estimated that they could currently be leveraged to a Thousand of Trillions more than all the money in the world. The Evergrande Real Estate bankruptcy in China is so large it is likely to not only domino through the Chinese economy even collapse some currencies around the world. So why did we let these guys make a casino out of wall street?

Stock Market Crash - Not surprisingly all of these factors have begun to shake public confidence in a free, transparent, and open marketplace, but more concerning, they could congeal around a black swan event the could collapse the world economy. Many pundits are already projecting a Massive Stock Market Crash in 2022 that may make 1929 look like just the rehearsal. The catalyst for the crash may be caused by any of the following: interest rate hikes by the Fed, DOJ forcing the closure of short positions, pandemic lock-downs, the Chinese real-estate crash, fear around inflation, hedge funds bets on short positions, central banks tapering the money supply to fight inflation or a combination or chain reaction of all of the above. Don't kid yourself this reset button will be huge!

Destabilized Democracy - Democracy is under attack not just from outside forces but from within our own ranks. In the past, our ancestors died defending our freedom, and we need to honour that inheritance in how we act in the present. Authoritarian regimes are increasing in number, power and influence around the globe. The forces behind this would like nothing better than to see our grand experiment with democracy to fail and fall into anarchy. Historically when economic inequity grows the seeds of massive social upheaval are sown. It has happened many times before and will happen again. The fact that we forgot this fact is our current vulnerability. Today there are forces in the wings that are taking deliberate actions to disrupt and destabilize democracies with the full intention to create anarchy from which they can construct totalitarian regimes. There has been no more important time to speak to the issues that really matter than now, or we may see our rights, our freedoms and our future dissolve before our eyes faster than anyone could imagine.

Become Politically Engaged - If we believe in the ideals behind democracy as a force for good in our world, then this is the time to stand up for them. We can make democracy much stronger if we choose to. We must push to take money out of politics forever. We need to weed out dysfunction from our democracy. Perhaps make it illegal for politicians or public servants to knowingly lie to us. Straight goods all the time. Talk about refreshing. Imagine voting for a person's insights and ideas rather than fictional fabrications. We must always defend our freedom of speech but also our right to the truth. We must ensure a free press by moving them away from ownership that serves the agendas of corporate or special interests to collective or community ownership models focused on informing and empowering its readership. Perhaps only this will ensure public access to accurate information that is so foundational to any well-functioning democracy. We must insist on proportional governance where every vote gets represented and every point of view gets considered. It's time for a fair competition of ideas that can be woven into sustainable public policy that protects the rights of future generations.

Think Long Term - Since climate change is an underlying issue behind many of our crises make politicians aware that it requires very bold action now. Protecting our Environment and Bio-diversity are priorities and must never take a back seat as it protects our very life support system on this planet. We must support the scientific community's search for truth and insist on evidence-based public policy that we can justify to generations yet to come.

Justice & Equity - We must get past the blame and shame game and get on with doing it better. We must learn from history to inform our choices. When the wealth gap has been the lowest, the societies have proven to be safe, stable and successful. The Gap is now the highest it has ever been, so without a doubt, we need to take measures to reverse the increasing economic inequalities. Establishing a free, open, transparent and honest marketplace is urgent if we want to see our version of society survive. Our current form of capitalism centralizes corporate power, reduces competition and enables the manipulation of our lives and our world in profound, pervasive ways. We can do better and we need to talk about how.

Big is not always Best? - Healthy competition is better at serving the public interest. Local sourcing not only builds robust and resilient local economies but they create a smaller environmental footprint. We must insist that corporate responsibility expands beyond profit to people and the planet if they want to continue to exist. We must make doing no harm not just a central part of our culture but of our laws. Imagine a world where justice and sustainability were our reasons rather than greed and growth.

Take Responsibility - Our values need to be reflected in public policy. We must take our role as stewards of each other and our planet seriously. We must always take care of each other throughout difficult times. We must use our collective ability to create a social floor below which no one stands. We need to ensure that no one should go homeless or hungry in this country. We must demonstrate that we are prepared to walk our talk and committed to making life and our future better for all of us.

Make a Survival Plan Now - So how do you prepare for a year like no other... Who really knows? But we all know that it pays to consider the big picture and to be prepared. All I can tell you is what I would consider important at this point.

Boost Your Immune System - Take control of your own health. Create a stronger immune system with more water to detox, better sleep and exercise as well as Vitamins D3, K2, C, A as well as Zinc and Quercetin supplements and of course make good masking and social distance practices.

Become More Resilient and Self-Reliant - Grow and store your own food reserves, maintain an emergency water supply and redundant energy sources, and have a bug-out bag at the ready. Forethought is much prefered to afterthought. So do make a plan.

Management Your Risks - Move to lower-risk locations further away from quakes, fire, drought, and flood risk areas. Tool up for self-reliance and your family's health, safety and security. Explore “what if” and find your own answers. You will find that common sense is rather uncommon but it can save your ass.

Create Community - To put it simply your support systems enrich your life and help you live longer. Build your networks and support systems within your community and share what you can contribute to the puzzle that makes your community thrive. Seek and dwell with those of like mind as we are all stronger surrounded by an extended family. There is simply no reason not to express love in all that we do and community provides that opportunity too.

Reduce Economic Risks - This is not advice, but this year I will be leaning away from paper and digital investments and leaning towards tangible asset investments. This year Stocks and Crypto may tumble dramatically, currency may de-valuate, and even banks may fail, so tangible goods and assets that they are not making any more of like gold and land I prefer. Even fine art may be a better plan than any paper you can buy. But do make a plan. As they say “If you fail to plan your plan to fail.”

Be a Life-Long Learner - Our educational system constructs our culture and builds our future. Income should be no barrier to education but standards should be and stay high. A highly educated population contributes to a stable and productive society. At the rate at which our world is changing, we must invest more of our time and resources learning about living within today's and if you can tomorrow's realities. We will all need more skills to deal with more challenges that are on our horizon. Your skills are your permanent toolbox in life so never stop learning. I am always the happiest when I am becoming more today than I was yesterday. A life of learning is never regretted.

Make a Difference - We are all in this boat together so do your best to be kind and try to have your actions result in positive impacts on those around you and the world at large. That often boils down to the choices we make daily. Opportunities to contribute always present themselves along our way. Look for them and act on them. They are gifts for your spirit.

Reflect On How You Think - Things are in a constant state of change on this planet and it is our ability to understand and adapt that insures our survival. I have found that it's not what happens to us that defines who we are but what we do about what happens to us. Therein lays the opportunity that presents itself on our path in every moment.

Survive & Thrive - I am still alive today because I learned that in every moment we can choose to focus on the difficulties or the possibilities. Our decisions determine our destiny. When we train ourselves to see the opportunity in every difficulty, when we find the lesson in every disaster, when we acknowledge the strength we gain in the struggle then we grow from every experience life offers. We can thrive when we choose not only what we do but how we feel. In many ways, even happiness is a choice we make. There are a lot of things we can not control in life but one thing we are in total control of is what we think. So with that in mind, I do suggest that we choose gratitude and happiness in the coming year. Our thoughts are the only things that are totally in your control and totally up to you.

New Beginnings - This is our defining moment. The choices we make now will shape the future for us all. So write the next chapter in your life the way you want it to be. At the threshold of every new year, I remind myself that you can take control and direct your story when you take control of your thoughts and focus on your possibilities. May that force be with you, Now and Always.

always with light,

Garnet McPherson