DW's Blog

The Purity Trap: When Being Right Goes Wrong

by DW Green — June 25, 2025

“What would it look like to hold our convictions strongly while remaining curious about our blind spots?”

I caught myself doing it again last week.I was scrolling through social media, feeling a familiar surge of righteous indignation at a political post. “How can they be so hypocritical?” I thought. “Don’t they see they’re doing exactly what they accuse us of doing?”Then it hit me: wasn’t I doing the same thing? Wasn’t I accusing them of the very behavior I was engaging in—pointing fingers while remaining blind to my own contradictions?This uncomfortable moment of recognition led me to what I’ve come to call the “purity trap”—a psychological snare that seems to be tightening around our political discourse, and one I suspect we’ve all fallen into more often than we’d care to admit.The Seductive Logic of PurityHere’s how the trap works: When we deeply believe in our cause—whether it’s social justice, individual freedom, environmental protection, or economic prosperity—we naturally want to see ourselves as the good guys. This isn’t inherently problematic. Caring about principles and values is part of what makes us human.But something curious happens when our identity becomes too tightly w...

by DW Green — June 18, 2025

“The spiritual truth remains: we can only give away what we have genuinely
experienced and become ourselves.”

We humans seem unable to define ourselves without creating an “other.” Our identity crystallizes not through self-knowledge, but through opposition and exclusion—we know who we are primarily by knowing who we are not.This tendency reveals itself in a persistent human question: “Where can my negative energy go?” We feel compelled to export our darkness, to project it outward rather than face it within. The tragic irony is that we rarely recognize the truth: we ourselves are often the source of the negative energy we see reflected back at us from the world.Our ego protects us from this uncomfortable recognition. It refuses to acknowledge its own role in perpetuating the very negativity it claims to oppose. This blindness keeps us trapped in cycles of projection, always finding new targets for our unexamined shadow.Breaking free requires what can only be called a foundational conversion—a transformation from the egoic self that sees only external threats to a deeper awareness that recognizes our own complicity. Few undergo this shift, and fewer still sustain it.The spiritual truth remains: we can only give a...

by DW Green — June 11, 2025

“Gratitude moves stagnant energy when we’re feeling stuck in life.”

Lakota author and activist Doug Good Feather writes about gratitude and generosity with wisdom that speaks to our deepest need for hope and connection. I connect with his words, and for a moment, clarity cuts through the noise of our divided world. In times when it feels easier to focus on what’s wrong, what’s missing, or what’s broken, his perspective offers a different path forward. I ask that you take a few minutes and read Mr. Good Feather’s thoughts on gratitude and generosity—wisdom we need now more than ever.“Each and every morning offers us a chance to start anew, fresh, and to begin again. Each morning when we wake— should we choose to listen—is a message from the Creator to remember the privilege we were given of waking up. It’s a reminder to get up and prepare ourselves, to honor ourselves, to go out into the world, to connect with Mother Earth and the hearts of other beings, to inspire and encourage those who cross our paths, and most importantly, to enjoy life.Gratitude and generosity are similar virtues, but they differ in that gratitude is an internal characteristic and generosity is our external expression of our sense of gratitude. Basically...

by DW Green — June 4, 2025

“So the next time you walk outside, remember: you’re not you’re not separate from any of it.”

“You’re not in the Universe, the universe is in you… Ultimately you are not a person, but a focal point where the universe is becoming conscious of itself. What an amazing miracle.” – Eckhart TolleI’ve carried this knowing in my bones for as long as I can remember – that I am not separate from the rocks beneath my feet, the dirt between my fingers, the trees swaying overhead, or even the smallest bug crawling across my path. We are all expressions of the same cosmic story, temporary arrangements of the same fundamental elements that have been dancing together since the beginning of time.The Miracle of Stardust The iron in your blood was forged in the nuclear furnace of a dying star billions of years ago. The calcium in your bones was created in stellar explosions that scattered the building blocks of life across the cosmos. The water in your body has been rain, ocean, cloud, and river – flowing through countless forms before becoming part of you. You are quite literally made of stardust, and when you touch a rock or hold soil in your hands, you’re reuniting with family.The Paradox of ScaleHere’s what ...

by DW Green — May 28, 2025

“We exist only by chance, after all.”

Elsewhere in the universe, a star many times the mass of our third-rate sun is living out its final moments in a wild spin before collapsing into a black hole. Its final exhale bends spacetime itself into a well of nothingness that can swallow every atom that ever touched us and every datum we ever produced—every poem, statue, and symphony we’ve ever known. This entropic spectacle remains insentient to questions of blame and mercy, devoid of why. Holy Moly!In four billion years, our own star will follow its fate, collapsing into a white dwarf. We exist only by chance, after all.

Read More – The Calming Effect Of The Grocery Store Produce Sprayers

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by DW Green — May 21, 2025

We’ve been seeking through external circumstances has been our nature all along, waiting patiently for us to return home to the eternal present.”

In our fast-paced world of constant notifications, deadlines, and expectations, we often forget a profound truth about our existence: peace, undisturbable peace, which is independent of circumstances, is our inherent and ever-present nature.This isn’t just a comforting thought—it’s a recognition of something fundamental about who we are beneath the noise of daily life. We spend countless hours chasing happiness through achievements, possessions, or relationships, yet what we’re seeking has been with us all along. Thus, peace and happiness, in all circumstances and under all conditions, are two ever-present qualities of our Self.Why, then, do we feel so disconnected from this natural state? The answer lies in our relationship with time. Our minds construct an “imaginary self”—one that exists primarily in memories of the past or projections of the future. Such is the fate of this imaginary self, to be forever escaping the Now in favor of a past or future where we long to be.When we reminisce about better times or anxiously anticipate what’s coming next, we abandon the only...

by DW Green — May 14, 2025

“I love those competitors that won’t sell the neat stuff, I call them Sales
Preventions Managers.”—Wise retailer.

There’s no guarantee of keeping a customer for life. However, having an unconditional product and service guarantee can go a long way in maintaining your base of loyal primary shoppers. A guarantee is a promise or assurance that a company will stand behind the quality of products it sells or services it performs. Guarantees build trust and loyalty with consumers. In essence, a guarantee is a company’s commitment to the well-being of its customers.5 Reasons Why A Guarantee WorksFirst, it pushes the entire company to focus on customers’ definition of good products/service, not an executive’s assumption. Second, it sets clear performance standards, which boost employees’ performance and morale. Third, it generates reliable data (through payouts) when performance is poor. Fourth, it forces an organization to examine its entire service-delivery system for possible failure points. Finally, it builds customer loyalty, sales, and market share.What Makes a Good Guarantee?A good guarantee is:

Unconditional
Easy to understand and communicate
Meaningf
...
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Coper River Salmon

by DW Green — May 7, 2025

“I love those competitors that won’t sell the neat stuff, I call them Sales
Preventions Managers.”—Wise retailer.

Salmon from the Copper River in Alaska could be the world’s best tasting fish. It’s truly a very special early summer treat. I remember back in the late 1980’s, suggesting a Copper River salmon promotion to an Alaskan retailer. The owner said, “No way Jose. They wouldn’t sell. Because everyone who lives in Alaska, catches their own salmon.” After some arm twisting, a couple shots of bourbon and a small wager, he agreed to promote them. It was a huge success and they continued to promote Copper River salmon every year thereafter. Now days, the cost of procuring Copper River salmon is the reason cited by retailers not to promote them. They are expensive, nearly $50 a pound retail in California.“I love those competitors that won’t sell the neat stuff, I call them Sales Preventions Managers.” Funny yet true. How many times do retailers discourage or prevent sales? Fear of loss always prevents gain.The Copper River salmon season in 2025 officially begins on May 22nd with a 12-hour opener for sockeye and Chinook salmon. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) anticipates a strong sockeye run, forecas...

by DW Green — April 30, 2025

“By practicing stillness, we don’t retreat from life—we dive more deeply into it.”

In our perpetually busy world, stillness is often misunderstood. Stillness is not emptiness or absence—it’s presence in its purest form. Like a serene pond whose surface barely ripples, stillness may appear quiet on the outside, but beneath teems with vibrant life and profound connection.When we allow ourselves to be still, we create space to discover what already exists within us. Life is within. Love is within! By pausing and becoming still enough to notice the love that dwells both inside us and all around us, we engage in an act that is simultaneously personal and revolutionary. This practice of intentional stillness becomes a deeply powerful and countercultural statement in a world that values constant motion.Most contemporary society operates on the assumption that movement equals progress—that we must continuously move quickly and climb upward. Stillness challenges this deeply ingrained notion that being busy and occupied is inherently better than being present and attentive. It refuses the constant call to distraction and the expectation that we remain perpetually plugged in to the digital stream of information and stimuli.When we embrace...

by DW Green — April 23, 2025

“Activities are the building blocks of your business model and the foundation of
your competitive advantage. They answer the question:
“What do we actually do?”

In marketing, we often focus on traditional metrics—brand awareness, customer acquisition costs, conversion rates—but there’s a more fundamental metric that deserves our attention: activities.Beyond the Status Quo:Most businesses operate within established industry norms. They analyze competitors, observe standard practices, and make incremental improvements to existing models. This approach inevitably leads to imitation rather than innovation.True differentiation comes not from doing things marginally better, but from doing fundamentally different things— or doing the same things in dramatically different ways.Activities as Competitive Advantage:Activities are the building blocks of your business model and the foundation of your competitive advantage. They answer the question: “What do we actually do?”Consider Southwest Airlines. Their market position as a low-cost carrier isn’t just a tagline—it’s built on specific activities: