Visualize the Wish Fulfilled

A great philosophy to follow for success is a concept of visualizing the wish already fulfilled. I found this incredibly powerful, especially when the goal is a challenging one. By already visualizing what you want to be, you actually start to put it into practice.

There is also a downside to this as well, as if you visualize something negative, you can actually bring that into being as well.

This is why it is important to control your thoughts and learn to manage your own brain’s thought processes. The only thing you can actually control in life, is yourself.

The “Dopamine Diet” from Confucius

Having trouble finding the right motivation lately? There is a way to rediscover it. It is called the “Dopamine Diet” aka the Fasting of the Heart. This is a way to find your flow in life.

Many times, especially in Western Culture, we indulge ourselves way too much. We are also the target of a heavy bombardment of stimulation. This creates a pattern in our brain that is very hard to shake off. When our brain is constantly stimulated, it just wants to rest and shut down and leads towards apathy or zero motivation to do other things.

Here is a talk about it and how to take a fasting break from the constant stimulation so that you can have motivation in your life again for your genuine passions:

“You hear not with the ears, but with the mind; not with the mind, but with your soul.” – Confucius

NASA

A View from Space

Recently, the Linux Foundation interviewed NASA astronaut Christina Koch and it gave a wonderful view into the current state of space travel, technology and our planet. She participated in an all female space walk and talked about a vert interesting concept called the Stereotype Threat where a person who is the victim of discrimination faces more stress than a person who is not.

My favorite quote from the interview from her though, is what she had to say about JavaScript:

“My ultimate favorite thing is to look out the window of course, looking down on every spot that uses JavaScript in the world. Because I am pretty sure there is not a single spot in the world… except maybe in the ocean, where JavaScript is not running.”

Source: The Linux Foundation

Up-Level Humanity, Vegan Living & Jackfruit Tacos

Please all me to introduce some wonderful Vegan Living Artistas into your life. Two wonderful friends (Rebecca Muñoz and Jessica Kubiak) have been recording some great Plant Based Living Recipes on their YouTube Channel that you just have to check out.

They run a great operation called – Culture Society – and when we asked Rebecca why she started this, this is what she said:

“My plant based journey began in 2015 when I made the decision to transform my mind, body, and soul through holistic living. I had struggled with yo-yo dieting, emotional eating, rapid weight gain, allergies, hormonal imbalances, shingles outbreaks, headaches, stress, anxiety…you name it, I struggled with it.  At that point, I was sick and tired of feeling internally drained, imbalanced, and dependent on the pharmaceuticals that were only masking the issues I was having.

After years of experimenting with different methods of healing, I found eastern medicine and other holistic practices that took my healing journey to another level. In 2017, I took the leap and completely transitioned to a full Vegan lifestyle.  A month into my transition, I started to feel and see results that I hadn’t experienced in years.  

At that point, I was committed and determined to completely heal and restore every aspect of my life through plant based living. I found sustainable success through education, personal development, action, and discipline. I implemented as I learned. The more I learned and implemented; the faster I healed. 

I became passionate about teaching the power of plant based living as I continued to restore and heal my own life. My relationship with food completely changed the trajectory of my health. I aspire to teach people how holistic and plant based living can do the same for them.” – Rebecca Muñoz, Founder & Creative Director, Cultured Society.

The Long History of Colonialism in Puerto Rico

Recently NPR did an amazing piece on the history of US Colonialism in Puerto Rico. It’s a great podcast of what happened over 100 years ago to today. Many people are not fully aware of the details of what happened and why the relationship between the US and PR became what it is. From human rights abuses, to straight up murder and corporate take overs, this audio clip covers it all. Check it out:

Two Simple Tools to Secure Your Phone

In today’s digital age, it’s very easy to be tracked and have that information leaked and sold to the highest bidder. It is a constant battle to secure your privacy, but there are some tools that stand out of the pack more than others. Two of them very specifically are Duck Duck Go and Signal.

The first: Duck Duck Go is a search engine that, unlike Google, they take a conscious effort to not track and store your private data or follow you around with ads. It’s a great way to browse the internet without your internet history being snooped on everywhere you go.

The second: is Signal, this tool is pretty much indispensable and everyone should be using it. It uses open source end-to-end encryption to send text messages and make phone calls on the network. This prevents anyone from listening to your conversations or reading your text messages even if it is intercepted. Encryption is key, and so too is your privacy.

Both of these are desktop websites and mobile phone applications available on Apple iOS and Google Android. You also don’t have to take our word for it. Look them up! From Edward Snowden to some of the world’s brightest minds in security highly recommend them too!

School Supplies for Puerto Rico

Children are the Future

During our efforts to help get Puerto Rico back on its feet, we learned a very important lesson about the future. Just like how a seedling turns into a powerful tree, so too does the education of children turn into a wide array of businesses, companies, organizations and efforts.

After Hurricane Maria, and even in many ways before it too; there was a lack of resources and support for children in these impoverished neighborhoods. When a call came out for help, we took it upon ourselves to raise some funds to help support these kids. A little bit goes a long way and we hope that this model can be an example for others to follow.

With only $800 from a PayPal transfer, we were able to put a smiling face on these kids and beyond when it came to their first day of school.

Sign a Petition for Public Sanitation Stations

In an effort to halt the tide of COVID-19 infections, we have created a petition for public sanitation stations inside the transportation system. The idea here, is that without a way for regular people to have easy access to sanitize at areas of intersecting high volumes of traffic, there is very little they can do to protect themselves unless they are already prepared. It honestly is a shock to me nobody thought of this before, can we at least get hand sanitizer on the trains?

Please sign and share if you agree – https://www.change.org/p/united-states-department-of-health-and-human-services-public-sanitation-stations-and-efforts-in-the-local-global-transportation-system – Thank-you!

Secure your Crypto

Securing your Cryptocurrency Wallet

One of the main tenets of Bitcoin is to be your own bank.  Putting this into practice in real life often requires some form of compromise when transitioning from the fiat system where we are so used to letting someone else take care of our financial security for us.  For example, many people have to at some point give their money to an exchange like Coinbase when they trade for BTC.  During this time their BTC is not under their control, and thus breaking this core tenet.  At any time a third party can choose not to give you your funds for whatever reason. Putting your funds into your own private wallet as soon as possible mitigates this risk.

Wallets are easy to set up. I recommend Samourai for Android, Electrum for desktop, and BreadWallet for iOS. Samourai is by far the best wallet out there employing privacy features far and above any other product right now. Their company is also partnering up with another company to release DOJO, an integrated lightning/full node that pairs with their wallet which is super sick and necessary if you truly want to be your own bank. Electrum is also great, has been around a long time and is packed with features for the advanced user. Sadly, iOS has few options as far as I know and BreadWallet is the easiest I’ve encountered.

The important part is security. How do you not screw yourself storing your digital gold? Or better yet, how DO you screw yourself? Understanding the game theory is important to understanding the potential implications of this new technology. The main way people lose bitcoin is they break their phone, or lose their PIN, or lose their backup seed.

The backup seed is given to you when you create your wallet, 12 to 24 words that can be typed in when starting any new wallet and will restore the wallet those words are linked to. Write down these words on a piece of paper, do not store them digitially. Hide a second copy in another trusted party’s house. Laser etch them on a pet tag and screw to a stud. You get it? If you’re buying a large amount of BTC, a Ledger or a Trezor hardware key is the way to go.  Always double check receiving addresses vocally with the party you’re transacting with if possible.

How to do a bitcoin transfer:

  1. Open the bitcoin wallet 
  2. Go to receive
  3. Copy the address
  4. Go to Coinbase (or whatever platform you’re sending it from)
  5. Go to send/withdraw
  6. Paste the receiving address
  7. Double check the beginning and end characters in the address in both places before hitting send.

That’s really about it. As long as you got your private wallet backed up, and you double checked the address you were having your bitcoin sent to, you’ll be good to start your foray into owning digital gold.

Welcome to VerdeLuz.eco

We are happy to welcome you to VerdeLuz.eco, a community based on self-sustainability and cooperation. Our goal is to inspire action through education. By aligning with the needs of the Planet we can create a world that is more green and safe for everyone.

Stay tuned, as we are just beginning. Expect to see topics ranging from security to food preparation and technology.

This is our blog.