You are funny! When I was looking for artwork what was returned from a search on "retrreat" were nice sunny beach spots around the world!! So I thought of the same thing...maybe that is coming! I'll let you know!!
I think the massive attack on freedom of movement was to see what percentage would go along willingly or enthusiastically. That gives them a base from which to plan how to overcome the resistance. In a battle, you don’t waste ammunition on areas that will submit ahead of time. Find out where the resistance is, enlist the ones who are willing collaborators so you can cross them off your list of concerns, and focus all your resources on the difficult areas. Some of them will give in with increased pressure.
That’s where we are now. Go ahead and relax, but don’t think it’s over-or will ever go back to the way it was. Keep your eyes open
I do think we are being jerked around. There was a splash of "its all coming back" at the beginning of September, with fear of new mandates, etc. And that has seemed to fizzle out. Now this big Oct 4 scare (now) which I suspect will fizzle out as well. No zombies here. It seems we are going to cycle through a lot of these sorts of red herrings...probably all designed to discredit us "sensationalists"...It is probably best for us to "lay low br'er shrew, lay low"...
It was the 2nd Kingsmen film ... a signal from everyone's free cell phone makes them go mad (in a church...!) and then their heads blow up into coloured goo. Samuel Jackson was the villain.
I don’t remember, but it was a long time ago. Probably before cell phones. He watched stuff I stayed away from, because my brain doesn’t let go of most of what I see and hear and I don’t want that kind of stuff hanging around. It’s exhausting pushing it away
Normalcy bias. I see lots of that with people forgetting what happens like closing their eyes to the literal mountain right in front of them that appeared in the last few years. People have by and large been trained to have an inability to delay gratification, to have a short attention span, and to believe the comfortable lie as opposed to the bitter truth. People react emotionally and that, no matter what the emotion, can’t physically last. People need to realize this whole change mandates a basic retooling of how we think and move about our day, and that make you the sparse few on one path at the “Y” in the road when a vast crowd is on the other one.
Finally getting around to commenting - been mulling over your post for a week, Todd! 😅 I don’t think it’s retreat, and I don’t even think it’s falling back asleep. I AM tired, but I haven’t given up. I’m not walking around with chronic anger (at least not about all these things, not really 😂😅), but I do find that I’m more bold. Far more bold than I was 2 years ago, or maybe ever. Just last night I challenged a friend - in a peaceful, even joking manner, but I’m sure it jarred her. She was telling someone else’s story and talking about them being disowned by their family who were “conspiracy theorists who think the election was stolen”. I just chuckled and said “well, it kind of was”. It threw her. On Sunday, chatting with a visitor at church who’d just moved here and bought a home, I gabbed about how the housing market is about to collapse and how it’s all a charade. He totally agreed. I’m pushing back with friends about climate agenda. I ranted to a rather asleep friend about Noah Yuval Harari - how do people not know about these highly influential creepers?! I am continuing to point out propaganda to my children. And here’s the main thing: there is actually very little *I* can do alone apart from keeping my eyes wide open. But homeschooling my children and continuing to be present with them is not insignificant. Right now I am thinking of Life Is Beautiful, that tragically beautiful WW2era film of the comedian father getting his child through the camps by telling him it was all a game and preventing his son being traumatized. I will never get these days back with my children, and I cannot waste them in fear anymore than I wanted my friends wasting their covid years in fear. So, I’m not retreating, but I am trying to settle into my new normal. My very heightened-awareness new normal. And I’m learning skills that serve me now, and will in the future. In the last two weeks I learned how to render lard and forage and make wild grape jelly. I canned jelly, broths, and apple sauce. I’m fostering chicks for a friend. I’m even dancing with my children (we’re highland dancers). I guess I just think it’s both/and. Until bombs are falling (and even then?) there’s a sense of normalcy that has to be maintained, if only to prevent psychological damage to my children. I don’t want to instill in them a sense of fear, even of these things I see happening. I’m just rambling now. Back to making Halloween costumes with a kiddo!
This is so so well presented. I hear you, and I feel what you are doing is wonderful. This post, and reading everyone's comments, has really untangled a few "slightly tangled" threads for me personally. We are all different, and all have different callings in this mess...some are on guard duty 24/7, but all of us would take a mental and physical break if the situation allowed it. Mine doesn't, not so far. I can always step back, but unless I decide to stop what I feel I have been called to do, I can't step back too far. I think many of us feel we are in that situation, but that doesn't mean we would not take a breath if one came to take.
I used the words "Shrew Retreat" as my title primarily because it was catchy and created some tension and intrigue. I do this with most of my titles--most of them I do not intend to be taken literally. I also hope I did not imply that shrews were "falling back to sleep"...a few might be, but that really wasn't what I had hoped to imply.
I think it is perfectly natural for all of us to take a step back...even soldiers in battle during WWII would take a moment to dance with a pretty French girl and maybe have a glass of wine. I am now convinced, after reading most of these comments, that all of us will be ready when things get worse. None of us are "retreating."
Oct 3, 2023·edited Oct 3, 2023Liked by Todd Hayen, PhD, RP
It is somewhat paradoxical. I see many sheep "kind of" converting to shrews; not that I believe they are "hard core" shrews, but they seem to be less naive about believing "the official narrative". At the same time, "solid shrews" seem to be less vocal as things appear to "return to normal".
For me, it is not over. Although things appear to be "returning to normal", I believe the precedent that was created with the covid madness cannot be just "let go". We have to find a way to ensure that something like that never happens again.
Thank you, my brother in arms. My thoughts exactly.
Although I realize I have my own weird psychology, projections, traumas to work through, countertransferences, I have to say as well that the sheep everyone is saying have "flipped" and are wiser, are not really. Sure, they may be finally seeing things they could not see before, but I think very few of them would not do the exact same things if they had it to do over again but with different circumstances (such as a new variant the PTB have convinced them is "like nothing ever seen before.")
As for shrews...considering what I am reading here, I think there is less reason for concern. I don't believe, really, that most shrews have gone "complacent"...I myself have not, but I spend nearly every day reading, in order to write, I AM obsessed...so unless you are obsessed, I can see taking a step back...
I think your summary of the current mindset of “Shrews – not sheep” is accurate. I for one am exhausted from fighting in a propaganda war with the powers that own all of the universities, jobs, money, media, major industries, as well as the worlds political leaders, nations, and our digital twins.
We are slowly being imprisoned by modern technology and we are being threatened that if we do not comply with industrialized farming, digital currency, shots, surveillance… and pledge absolute obedience to the regime, we will lose our access to the industrialized world which now directs all of our resources including our travel/freedom, currency/agency, communication/connection, food, water, and medicine/health, and energy/shelter.
Up until now, our plan has been to awaken enough sheep to shift the power from psychopathic tyrants to regular people so that we could continue on in the lives to which we have become accustomed.
When the winter becomes unsurvivably cold, we want to be able to turn our thermostats up. When our children are hungry, we want to zip down to the local grocer, when the people that we love are far away at their industrialized jobs, we want to be able to purchase an airline ticket to see them. When we are bored, we don’t want to walk to our neighbor’s house and share a meal, music or moonshine, we want to switch on Netflix.
None of these things were available to mankind until the last 200 years of our 80,000 year timeline, or even during the last 6,000 years that we have been, “civilized.”
Maybe industrialized life on Earth isn’t “sustainable” for the human primate. Maybe sending and receiving one hundred twenty-one emails a day in an air-conditioned cubicle is the zoo version, not the wild version of humanity.
Maybe the only way to win this war is to walk off of their battlefield and return to our evolutionary farming foraging hunting heritage that kept us alive for the previous 79,800 years. Maybe Robin Dunbar was right and it’s true that human beings do not have the neocortex to connect with more than 150 people. Maybe our inundation with the intimate details of the lives of THOUSANDS of people is not helpful but taxing to our mental and physical health.
Maybe we are fighting for something that we were never meant for. Maybe we should plant seeds in the ground beneath our feet and find our way back to the animals that we were created to be that had an intimate connection with their food and their tribes and knew very little of the world outside of the 150 people that mattered to them.
Thanks for those thoughts. I'd read about the 150 people thing but forgotten and will revisit that. We kill, catch, grow, and gather most of our food, heat with wood we cut and split ourselves, and get our drinking water at the spring where it rushes out of the ground. So we hear you. It's all so much fun I don't know why people who do as we do are outliers.
We live on a 1-acre lot, so no wild food or firewood here. But it's plenty of space for a garden so we grow a lot right here. Catch fish in public lakes in our area (southern Indiana), easy to get plenty of panfish if you like to fish anyway. I love to drive to Lake Michigan tributaries for salmon and steelheads. Keep our eyes out for mushrooms all the time, mostly get morels on nearby public land in the spring (fish and wildlife areas) and hen-of-the-woods in fall (national forest). Chickens, Chanterelles in summer in the forest. Kill deer and rabbits on public land within 35 miles, and know a few people within a mile or so where I get deer (easier than public land). Pick blackberries in summer, easy to find. Firewood is a matter of taking advantage of it when it's there. People have trees removed and the professionals sometimes will dump the wood in our yard. Neighbors have trees taken down - can usually cut whatever we want. Have never had to pay for wood for 35 years of wood-burning. Cutting and splitting by hand is top-notch exercise. Found a spring in the forest via website find-a-spring and get about 25 gallons per trip. Always a fun drive and try to add a hike, mushroom hunt, or dinner at a nice place nearby - makes for a really nice day. We don't provide our own milk and eggs but get raw milk and free-range eggs from nearby farmers. We are lucky!
Yes...I think there definitely is a "transcendent" perspective to all of this. But I am a real believer in the idea that we are put on this material plane in order to work through whatever contradictions we see with the divine intention. I do think we can transcend the material "war" we see going on, and maybe some people are put here for THAT purpose, to transcend the material during their material "life time"...but I know I am not.
I know away from this material playing field is "heaven"...a spiritual nirvana...but what fun is that? I don't want to "positive think" my way out of turmoil and conflict, although I am perfectly aware that is possible to do. As long as there are innocent children to protect in this particular manifestation of reality, I will stay here to do what I can. When God shows me a more perfect world, I will follow that path. Right now I do not see it. This is where I belong...for whatever f--ked up reason!! :-)
Good points, Todd. I have often wondered myself why I keep doing this as well. Have seen many good writers quit posting or fade away over the 7 years that I have been linking articles @https://nothingnewunderthesun2016.com/ .
Not sure if it's due to frustration, complacency, or the feeling that they are not getting through to the sheeple and it's a waste of time.
But I will continue to pluck away. Because as you stated "When you get into a groove spending day in and day out researching, reading, watching, and listening, etc. it is then more difficult to slip back into “normal life” and just retreat." I agree completely with that. Linking as usual!!
I have just come to realize (long in coming I know, but I have been close many times) that the sheep are not going to be gotten through to. This is a difficult realization for me because I have many people I love dearly who are sheep. I also have been a firm believer that getting sheep to flip is the only way out of this mess. That may still be true, but the realization really is that they won't come to that realization of truth through anything that I do. It will have to come from a higher source.
That won't make me give up though. I am shifting to supporting those of us who DO know the truth. That now is the prime directive. In some ways it is a blind service...with no guarantee or even a suggestion of success. It is just the way it has to be.
I'm way more comfortable with rejection i get from sheep because of my shrewism than ever. I have one badge of honor leaving Dorothy Lane Market rather than comply & wear the mask handed to me. 1st I laid it in my cart, but was followed and told more than once to put it on. We're on to all the ways any attempt to subtly sell us tyranny "for the good of something or someone" isn't magic anymore, so I'm expecting a way harsher tactic, likely inescapable for all but a small dissident minority. It's so discouraging that businesses, churches, Dr's offices, schools etc complied, where will the courage to fight back come from?
Hard to say, and I can't resist the cliché remark, "the courage will come from within." Isn't it already? We really don't have much real support...friends, family, institutions, governments certainly, there is no support there at all...I am working on an article titled "Trauma Nation".... the trauma we are all experiencing is formidable. Even the sheep are experiencing trauma, just they don't really know it.
If this juggernaut keeps its relentless rolling (and there is no reason to think it will not) what is in store is probably like nothing we can imagine...well, I shouldn't say that...the world has seen some pretty unimaginable things in its human lifetime.
There are several reasons for me. The first one is the feeling of hopelessness that we can actually have any power to change anything - I never used to feel that way, but after the disbelief of the blind following of half of this country to the mob boss, I am shocked into silence. Second, I am generally beginning to feel like my opinions just don't matter to anyone at all - and even that individual people don't matter any more because of governments, businesses, and police just don't care about the huge numbers of people suffering from poverty, homelessness, escaping hopeless countries, workers passing out in the heat and places like Texas won't give them humane treatment. Covid is only one aspect of the long manipulation by the powerful bad guys that people don't know about and ignore. I fear that people aren't as very intelligent and aware as they need to be to even see behind the screen. Just watching the pathetic racism STILL permeating large amounts of people after hundreds of years just makes me speechless. Another aspect is watching everyone wildly rush into AI as fast as they can with absolutely no care for normal human interaction and connection to Nature. Also, the general ignorance and apathy of everyone I interact with so that I can't even bring up difficult subjects. And, (sorry, Todd, this isn't personal) the only "thinking" voices that I ever see or hear are online where I have to PAY to have a "friend" to talk to. That is my own personal issue because of being a shut-in for years. I don't want to PAY to have an understanding friend. Of course I understand that subscriptions are the new way for people to make money and it IS important to have sources for learn truths from, but it makes me feel more alone. I am feeling overwhelmed by all of it lately and having trouble overcoming it.
I share some of that hopelessness and yet I'm pretty well positioned. It was fairly easy for me to not capitulate to the mask BS and very easy for me not to take the injections. I did find like-minded people in my area and we bucked lockdowns to meet every Sunday no matter what, and we still meet every Sunday. Yes, I pay subscription fees to people who have kept me sane these last 3 years and am happy to do so, but they don't replace human contact. I highly recommend finding some friends!
Hi Barb, I value reading your heart felt thoughts. It is a journey and I feel we need to keep taking one step forward and pausing when we need to have solitude in order to recharge and stay true to our human values and the truth. From Dr Ryan Cole: "True happiness comes from freedom and freedom comes from courage." I love getting outside to feel the healing essence from nature. I find that healing music also helps us to refuel. Blessings to you.
My fear and expectation is Substack will lose momentum as COVID (really the response to COVID) wanes as a topic in the news. Seems inevitable. That doesn't mean it can't become bigger over the long haul, but at least a temporary lull is to be expected. Unfortunately that makes it harder for our Substack heroes.
I agree and saw it first hand when I was posting for Vaccine Choice Canada on Telegram. I had grown our subscribers from around 5k to almost 20k and then the Ukraine stuff and the dropping of the mandates shrunk our subscribers by thousands. I don't know whether people just lost interest or were tired of it all, but it's really hard to keep the outrage at 11 even for diehard shrews such as myself. I eventually stopped volunteering because I was just tired of it and wanted to start enjoying some aspects of life again. But complacency is dangerous so we must stay alert and keep supporting the truth tellers as much as possible.
Yes, this makes sense, and it is why I posted this post. I certainly do not want to see, "we need more fear porn to keep this going!!" but that is what it SEEMS to amount to. I agree with your last statement, so am trying hard myself to keep up steam...and that isn't hard to do, things have NOT gone back to any form of "normal" at all!!
But yes, it IS tiring, and it would be nice to enjoy the sunny days rather than focusing on rain in the forecast.
While it's good on an individual basis to reduce time spent obsessing over COVID insanity, it's not good for society. We need a loud and persistent push for accountability, even though that's a reach, with all power centers captured. I'm glad to see the federal government in the U.S. continue to push more jabs, so long as mandates don't return. I think it's to their disadvantage, just exposes them as who and what they are. The entire power structure is crap, and if they act more responsibly, THAT would be the smart move for them, until they're ready to spring another round round of fear-mongering. Anyone who is still getting jabbed is not our friend, we have to accept they've chosen the wrong side. So keep the jabs coming for them, and the AE's. That may sound unkind, and maybe it is. But you don't win by wishing your enemies well.
I have to admit I agree with you 100%. When I see all these small victories and hear from shrews how we are "winning the war" my heart sinks. These are trinkets they are offering...I really don't think any of this is making any sort of hurtful mark.
There IS something odd going on as they seem to have abandoned their "slash and burn" push they had going for a few years with the mandates, shut downs, etc. I think they are trying to get us all to relax...all of us...the hardcore sheep are fine to keep getting plugged, and the shrews are moving on to frying other fish.
I am still holding on to the possibility, a big one, another huge whack is coming soon.
I think the other side's acting strange too. Some of their backing off seems unnecessary. One possibility is they expect more bad news about the jabs to come out soon, and are being proactive. But I'm far from sure of that. There's always the potential joker in the deck that doesn't get much attention, no attention at all from politicians or the MSM. Geert VB is still predicting a variant that will be devastating to vaccinees. He keeps moving the timeline back - his predicted arrival for it has come and gone a few times at least. I have no idea how likely it is he's right, but not ruling it out.
I feel I have little choice but to watch everything and heed all warnings. I do think the cry wolf agenda is used against us but the best defense is to learn all we can. Therefore I will stay subscribed and vigilant.
Tomorrow the Internet gets unplugged and my phone gets turned off. I have alerts turned off on my phone anyway but maybe Google can override it for Joe Pedo and his henchmen. The first time an amber alert screamed through my phone it almost caused an accident in heavy traffic.
Better to be take a chance and be safe and stay home October 4 2023 than maybe watch injected sheep die.
The "thing" tomorrow is so obviously some really whacked up event. I too am shutting down for it. Read the article I just cross posted...pretty intense dive into some esoteric stuff...it is hard to believe all of that is just coincidence.
In my life a quieter “ presence “ has led to less futile conflict . Retreat, give up , convert ….never! Just being smarter and wiser ( or trying at least ) .
Every now and then it’s necessary to hit the pause button and take time to reflect. The important thing is that so many more folks are now aware of the lever pulling and evil ones. I have backed off a few degrees but remain vigilant. I know there is a next thing coming.
Good words and thoughts...I'm in there with all that as well. Although I am not sure about the "so many more folks are now aware of the lever pulling and evil ones." I certainly think that is possible, but I personally have not seen it. I do hear "yes, they made some mistakes" but I have not heard, from a hard core sheep, "these people are all evil and knew all along what they were doing!" Again, I don't doubt there are some like that, but so far I have no reason to believe those numbers are significant...nor that those people are firm in their realization.
Oct 3, 2023·edited Oct 3, 2023Liked by Todd Hayen, PhD, RP
Exactly. As Todd said, it's inevitable that with less happening, all but obsessive shrews will shift focus away from COVID craziness to varying degrees. And that's a good thing for them as individuals. I don't think it means they're all forgetting lessons learned, although some will. But then those aren't really shrews. They are more like level 2.5 - tweeners.
Oh no...once a shrew, always a shrew...there is just NO compelling evidence to sway a shrew toward sheepism. That is actually an interesting thing to note, I have NEVER heard of a shrew changing their mind about all of this, yet have heard many sheep starting to buckle.
That very popular meme basically states, "not a single person that did NOT get a vaccine, ever has regretted their decision." That statement is SO true.
Agreed. As I said, they weren't really shrews. Between sheep and shrew - a 2.5. Probably should make that about 2.8 (closer to a level 3 sheep) now that I think about it, and consider your point. Their tendency is to cave and follow, but they are capable of seeing some truth. Unfortunately, they are weak-kneed and quick to put blinkers back on and return to the easier route of sheepdom.
Exactly. Truth is like that. For people that see it, it is solid, for people that don't, they can waver. The people that believe in lies, can waver because lies are not solid...they are at their base, illusory.
I’m not sure it’s complacency... for me, there’s a certain amount of fatigue. I just need to step away & stop talking about it for mental health. I’m not any less vigilant, and over these past few years, I’ve started projects for decoupling from the system. There’s only so much one can do, though. Stay vigilant but enjoy life - you only get one.
Very well said. I have a feeling we will all go down this route eventually. Make the best of it as they say. Maybe in the end the Sheep at the right idea all along.
Oh no. I’d never agree with sheep behaviour. It’s more about “doing” & less about talking. Those than can be red pilled have opened their eyes, but I won’t waste my time on the rest.
One of my favorite sayings of all time is, "Never try to teach a pig to sing, it is a waste of your time, and it annoys the pig." Nothing has been truer than that statement in this situation.
Agreed. If they can't see it by now there's almost no hope for them. Talking to them now -- when they think Covid is "over" -- just makes us look like hysterical lunatics. I'm always happy to talk to someone who is starting to see things as they are, but I can't say the opportunity has presented itself yet!
I do have to say that I am seeing an interesting mix with regards to waking up. I recently had a conversation with a neighbour who is fully vaxxed/boosted... these days I worry less about being ratted out to the c19 gestapo, so when he asked if we took the shots, I said no. He was surprised, and then quietly said he won’t be taking any more shots; he’d experienced health issues that he directly attributes to the jabs. This is good, but he has zero awareness of the coup that the globalists are trying to execute.
Conversely, I have another neighbour - vaxxed/boosted so she could eat out& travel (dear lord) who is now awake to the globalists but STILL didn’t connect some dots until I warned her away from the flu shots. Ugh.
On the bright side, I have 3 more neighbours who I convinced to take the firearms safety courses & they’ve now applied for their PAL/RPAL. My plan to have the most heavily armed hood is moving along 😁
I think it's best to have more experience with firearms than a few courses, but ideal isn't usually possible so major kudos to you. I think many have an unrealistic idea of what might get you through a true SHTF scenario. A group of armed, competent, like-minded people will up their chances. It will also be helpful if you do run out of food and water, everybody does so at the same time! Another impossible ideal.
You’re 100% right. I sure wish I could put these folks through some tactical training. But mindset & at least being licensed is a start! I’m busy trying to recruit more!
I thought you were arranging a retreat for us ... I was all ready to go!
You are funny! When I was looking for artwork what was returned from a search on "retrreat" were nice sunny beach spots around the world!! So I thought of the same thing...maybe that is coming! I'll let you know!!
I think the massive attack on freedom of movement was to see what percentage would go along willingly or enthusiastically. That gives them a base from which to plan how to overcome the resistance. In a battle, you don’t waste ammunition on areas that will submit ahead of time. Find out where the resistance is, enlist the ones who are willing collaborators so you can cross them off your list of concerns, and focus all your resources on the difficult areas. Some of them will give in with increased pressure.
That’s where we are now. Go ahead and relax, but don’t think it’s over-or will ever go back to the way it was. Keep your eyes open
I do think we are being jerked around. There was a splash of "its all coming back" at the beginning of September, with fear of new mandates, etc. And that has seemed to fizzle out. Now this big Oct 4 scare (now) which I suspect will fizzle out as well. No zombies here. It seems we are going to cycle through a lot of these sorts of red herrings...probably all designed to discredit us "sensationalists"...It is probably best for us to "lay low br'er shrew, lay low"...
Emergency! I thought about a movie my husband watched where people’s brains exploded with a certain broadcast signal, or something like that…
It was the 2nd Kingsmen film ... a signal from everyone's free cell phone makes them go mad (in a church...!) and then their heads blow up into coloured goo. Samuel Jackson was the villain.
I remember that too!! I guess it is a recurring theme in the psyche of the collective.
Was that movie "Cell"? I have not seen it, but heard that is what it is about...through cell phones and cell phone towers no less.
Scanners. It was scanners
Yes, it sounds like "Scanners"...I don't think I saw it, it was a long time ago, and it was indeed about people's heads literally exploding...
I don’t remember, but it was a long time ago. Probably before cell phones. He watched stuff I stayed away from, because my brain doesn’t let go of most of what I see and hear and I don’t want that kind of stuff hanging around. It’s exhausting pushing it away
Good morning sir!
Normalcy bias. I see lots of that with people forgetting what happens like closing their eyes to the literal mountain right in front of them that appeared in the last few years. People have by and large been trained to have an inability to delay gratification, to have a short attention span, and to believe the comfortable lie as opposed to the bitter truth. People react emotionally and that, no matter what the emotion, can’t physically last. People need to realize this whole change mandates a basic retooling of how we think and move about our day, and that make you the sparse few on one path at the “Y” in the road when a vast crowd is on the other one.
Very wise...thanks for this.
Finally getting around to commenting - been mulling over your post for a week, Todd! 😅 I don’t think it’s retreat, and I don’t even think it’s falling back asleep. I AM tired, but I haven’t given up. I’m not walking around with chronic anger (at least not about all these things, not really 😂😅), but I do find that I’m more bold. Far more bold than I was 2 years ago, or maybe ever. Just last night I challenged a friend - in a peaceful, even joking manner, but I’m sure it jarred her. She was telling someone else’s story and talking about them being disowned by their family who were “conspiracy theorists who think the election was stolen”. I just chuckled and said “well, it kind of was”. It threw her. On Sunday, chatting with a visitor at church who’d just moved here and bought a home, I gabbed about how the housing market is about to collapse and how it’s all a charade. He totally agreed. I’m pushing back with friends about climate agenda. I ranted to a rather asleep friend about Noah Yuval Harari - how do people not know about these highly influential creepers?! I am continuing to point out propaganda to my children. And here’s the main thing: there is actually very little *I* can do alone apart from keeping my eyes wide open. But homeschooling my children and continuing to be present with them is not insignificant. Right now I am thinking of Life Is Beautiful, that tragically beautiful WW2era film of the comedian father getting his child through the camps by telling him it was all a game and preventing his son being traumatized. I will never get these days back with my children, and I cannot waste them in fear anymore than I wanted my friends wasting their covid years in fear. So, I’m not retreating, but I am trying to settle into my new normal. My very heightened-awareness new normal. And I’m learning skills that serve me now, and will in the future. In the last two weeks I learned how to render lard and forage and make wild grape jelly. I canned jelly, broths, and apple sauce. I’m fostering chicks for a friend. I’m even dancing with my children (we’re highland dancers). I guess I just think it’s both/and. Until bombs are falling (and even then?) there’s a sense of normalcy that has to be maintained, if only to prevent psychological damage to my children. I don’t want to instill in them a sense of fear, even of these things I see happening. I’m just rambling now. Back to making Halloween costumes with a kiddo!
This is so so well presented. I hear you, and I feel what you are doing is wonderful. This post, and reading everyone's comments, has really untangled a few "slightly tangled" threads for me personally. We are all different, and all have different callings in this mess...some are on guard duty 24/7, but all of us would take a mental and physical break if the situation allowed it. Mine doesn't, not so far. I can always step back, but unless I decide to stop what I feel I have been called to do, I can't step back too far. I think many of us feel we are in that situation, but that doesn't mean we would not take a breath if one came to take.
I used the words "Shrew Retreat" as my title primarily because it was catchy and created some tension and intrigue. I do this with most of my titles--most of them I do not intend to be taken literally. I also hope I did not imply that shrews were "falling back to sleep"...a few might be, but that really wasn't what I had hoped to imply.
I think it is perfectly natural for all of us to take a step back...even soldiers in battle during WWII would take a moment to dance with a pretty French girl and maybe have a glass of wine. I am now convinced, after reading most of these comments, that all of us will be ready when things get worse. None of us are "retreating."
It is somewhat paradoxical. I see many sheep "kind of" converting to shrews; not that I believe they are "hard core" shrews, but they seem to be less naive about believing "the official narrative". At the same time, "solid shrews" seem to be less vocal as things appear to "return to normal".
For me, it is not over. Although things appear to be "returning to normal", I believe the precedent that was created with the covid madness cannot be just "let go". We have to find a way to ensure that something like that never happens again.
Thank you, my brother in arms. My thoughts exactly.
Although I realize I have my own weird psychology, projections, traumas to work through, countertransferences, I have to say as well that the sheep everyone is saying have "flipped" and are wiser, are not really. Sure, they may be finally seeing things they could not see before, but I think very few of them would not do the exact same things if they had it to do over again but with different circumstances (such as a new variant the PTB have convinced them is "like nothing ever seen before.")
As for shrews...considering what I am reading here, I think there is less reason for concern. I don't believe, really, that most shrews have gone "complacent"...I myself have not, but I spend nearly every day reading, in order to write, I AM obsessed...so unless you are obsessed, I can see taking a step back...
Exactly!
Dr. Hayen,
I think your summary of the current mindset of “Shrews – not sheep” is accurate. I for one am exhausted from fighting in a propaganda war with the powers that own all of the universities, jobs, money, media, major industries, as well as the worlds political leaders, nations, and our digital twins.
We are slowly being imprisoned by modern technology and we are being threatened that if we do not comply with industrialized farming, digital currency, shots, surveillance… and pledge absolute obedience to the regime, we will lose our access to the industrialized world which now directs all of our resources including our travel/freedom, currency/agency, communication/connection, food, water, and medicine/health, and energy/shelter.
Up until now, our plan has been to awaken enough sheep to shift the power from psychopathic tyrants to regular people so that we could continue on in the lives to which we have become accustomed.
When the winter becomes unsurvivably cold, we want to be able to turn our thermostats up. When our children are hungry, we want to zip down to the local grocer, when the people that we love are far away at their industrialized jobs, we want to be able to purchase an airline ticket to see them. When we are bored, we don’t want to walk to our neighbor’s house and share a meal, music or moonshine, we want to switch on Netflix.
None of these things were available to mankind until the last 200 years of our 80,000 year timeline, or even during the last 6,000 years that we have been, “civilized.”
Maybe industrialized life on Earth isn’t “sustainable” for the human primate. Maybe sending and receiving one hundred twenty-one emails a day in an air-conditioned cubicle is the zoo version, not the wild version of humanity.
Maybe the only way to win this war is to walk off of their battlefield and return to our evolutionary farming foraging hunting heritage that kept us alive for the previous 79,800 years. Maybe Robin Dunbar was right and it’s true that human beings do not have the neocortex to connect with more than 150 people. Maybe our inundation with the intimate details of the lives of THOUSANDS of people is not helpful but taxing to our mental and physical health.
Maybe we are fighting for something that we were never meant for. Maybe we should plant seeds in the ground beneath our feet and find our way back to the animals that we were created to be that had an intimate connection with their food and their tribes and knew very little of the world outside of the 150 people that mattered to them.
Thanks for those thoughts. I'd read about the 150 people thing but forgotten and will revisit that. We kill, catch, grow, and gather most of our food, heat with wood we cut and split ourselves, and get our drinking water at the spring where it rushes out of the ground. So we hear you. It's all so much fun I don't know why people who do as we do are outliers.
Where do you do all of these things may I ask?
We live on a 1-acre lot, so no wild food or firewood here. But it's plenty of space for a garden so we grow a lot right here. Catch fish in public lakes in our area (southern Indiana), easy to get plenty of panfish if you like to fish anyway. I love to drive to Lake Michigan tributaries for salmon and steelheads. Keep our eyes out for mushrooms all the time, mostly get morels on nearby public land in the spring (fish and wildlife areas) and hen-of-the-woods in fall (national forest). Chickens, Chanterelles in summer in the forest. Kill deer and rabbits on public land within 35 miles, and know a few people within a mile or so where I get deer (easier than public land). Pick blackberries in summer, easy to find. Firewood is a matter of taking advantage of it when it's there. People have trees removed and the professionals sometimes will dump the wood in our yard. Neighbors have trees taken down - can usually cut whatever we want. Have never had to pay for wood for 35 years of wood-burning. Cutting and splitting by hand is top-notch exercise. Found a spring in the forest via website find-a-spring and get about 25 gallons per trip. Always a fun drive and try to add a hike, mushroom hunt, or dinner at a nice place nearby - makes for a really nice day. We don't provide our own milk and eggs but get raw milk and free-range eggs from nearby farmers. We are lucky!
Well done!
Bang on the nail!
OMG Vivian, you have taken the words out of my mouth. What you say here is profound, indeed.
I am sitting here trying to come up with something else to say, and I cannot...
Remember, the “battle” is in your mind and soul, FIRST.
Most battles are won before they even get to the battlefield.
Yes...I think there definitely is a "transcendent" perspective to all of this. But I am a real believer in the idea that we are put on this material plane in order to work through whatever contradictions we see with the divine intention. I do think we can transcend the material "war" we see going on, and maybe some people are put here for THAT purpose, to transcend the material during their material "life time"...but I know I am not.
I know away from this material playing field is "heaven"...a spiritual nirvana...but what fun is that? I don't want to "positive think" my way out of turmoil and conflict, although I am perfectly aware that is possible to do. As long as there are innocent children to protect in this particular manifestation of reality, I will stay here to do what I can. When God shows me a more perfect world, I will follow that path. Right now I do not see it. This is where I belong...for whatever f--ked up reason!! :-)
Good points, Todd. I have often wondered myself why I keep doing this as well. Have seen many good writers quit posting or fade away over the 7 years that I have been linking articles @https://nothingnewunderthesun2016.com/ .
Not sure if it's due to frustration, complacency, or the feeling that they are not getting through to the sheeple and it's a waste of time.
But I will continue to pluck away. Because as you stated "When you get into a groove spending day in and day out researching, reading, watching, and listening, etc. it is then more difficult to slip back into “normal life” and just retreat." I agree completely with that. Linking as usual!!
Thank you brother!!
I have just come to realize (long in coming I know, but I have been close many times) that the sheep are not going to be gotten through to. This is a difficult realization for me because I have many people I love dearly who are sheep. I also have been a firm believer that getting sheep to flip is the only way out of this mess. That may still be true, but the realization really is that they won't come to that realization of truth through anything that I do. It will have to come from a higher source.
That won't make me give up though. I am shifting to supporting those of us who DO know the truth. That now is the prime directive. In some ways it is a blind service...with no guarantee or even a suggestion of success. It is just the way it has to be.
I'm way more comfortable with rejection i get from sheep because of my shrewism than ever. I have one badge of honor leaving Dorothy Lane Market rather than comply & wear the mask handed to me. 1st I laid it in my cart, but was followed and told more than once to put it on. We're on to all the ways any attempt to subtly sell us tyranny "for the good of something or someone" isn't magic anymore, so I'm expecting a way harsher tactic, likely inescapable for all but a small dissident minority. It's so discouraging that businesses, churches, Dr's offices, schools etc complied, where will the courage to fight back come from?
Hard to say, and I can't resist the cliché remark, "the courage will come from within." Isn't it already? We really don't have much real support...friends, family, institutions, governments certainly, there is no support there at all...I am working on an article titled "Trauma Nation".... the trauma we are all experiencing is formidable. Even the sheep are experiencing trauma, just they don't really know it.
If this juggernaut keeps its relentless rolling (and there is no reason to think it will not) what is in store is probably like nothing we can imagine...well, I shouldn't say that...the world has seen some pretty unimaginable things in its human lifetime.
There are several reasons for me. The first one is the feeling of hopelessness that we can actually have any power to change anything - I never used to feel that way, but after the disbelief of the blind following of half of this country to the mob boss, I am shocked into silence. Second, I am generally beginning to feel like my opinions just don't matter to anyone at all - and even that individual people don't matter any more because of governments, businesses, and police just don't care about the huge numbers of people suffering from poverty, homelessness, escaping hopeless countries, workers passing out in the heat and places like Texas won't give them humane treatment. Covid is only one aspect of the long manipulation by the powerful bad guys that people don't know about and ignore. I fear that people aren't as very intelligent and aware as they need to be to even see behind the screen. Just watching the pathetic racism STILL permeating large amounts of people after hundreds of years just makes me speechless. Another aspect is watching everyone wildly rush into AI as fast as they can with absolutely no care for normal human interaction and connection to Nature. Also, the general ignorance and apathy of everyone I interact with so that I can't even bring up difficult subjects. And, (sorry, Todd, this isn't personal) the only "thinking" voices that I ever see or hear are online where I have to PAY to have a "friend" to talk to. That is my own personal issue because of being a shut-in for years. I don't want to PAY to have an understanding friend. Of course I understand that subscriptions are the new way for people to make money and it IS important to have sources for learn truths from, but it makes me feel more alone. I am feeling overwhelmed by all of it lately and having trouble overcoming it.
I share some of that hopelessness and yet I'm pretty well positioned. It was fairly easy for me to not capitulate to the mask BS and very easy for me not to take the injections. I did find like-minded people in my area and we bucked lockdowns to meet every Sunday no matter what, and we still meet every Sunday. Yes, I pay subscription fees to people who have kept me sane these last 3 years and am happy to do so, but they don't replace human contact. I highly recommend finding some friends!
Hi Barb, I value reading your heart felt thoughts. It is a journey and I feel we need to keep taking one step forward and pausing when we need to have solitude in order to recharge and stay true to our human values and the truth. From Dr Ryan Cole: "True happiness comes from freedom and freedom comes from courage." I love getting outside to feel the healing essence from nature. I find that healing music also helps us to refuel. Blessings to you.
My fear and expectation is Substack will lose momentum as COVID (really the response to COVID) wanes as a topic in the news. Seems inevitable. That doesn't mean it can't become bigger over the long haul, but at least a temporary lull is to be expected. Unfortunately that makes it harder for our Substack heroes.
Unfortuately you are probably right regarding Substack. And yes, it does make it harder for me (assuming I am one of the heroes!! HA!)
I agree and saw it first hand when I was posting for Vaccine Choice Canada on Telegram. I had grown our subscribers from around 5k to almost 20k and then the Ukraine stuff and the dropping of the mandates shrunk our subscribers by thousands. I don't know whether people just lost interest or were tired of it all, but it's really hard to keep the outrage at 11 even for diehard shrews such as myself. I eventually stopped volunteering because I was just tired of it and wanted to start enjoying some aspects of life again. But complacency is dangerous so we must stay alert and keep supporting the truth tellers as much as possible.
Yes, this makes sense, and it is why I posted this post. I certainly do not want to see, "we need more fear porn to keep this going!!" but that is what it SEEMS to amount to. I agree with your last statement, so am trying hard myself to keep up steam...and that isn't hard to do, things have NOT gone back to any form of "normal" at all!!
But yes, it IS tiring, and it would be nice to enjoy the sunny days rather than focusing on rain in the forecast.
While it's good on an individual basis to reduce time spent obsessing over COVID insanity, it's not good for society. We need a loud and persistent push for accountability, even though that's a reach, with all power centers captured. I'm glad to see the federal government in the U.S. continue to push more jabs, so long as mandates don't return. I think it's to their disadvantage, just exposes them as who and what they are. The entire power structure is crap, and if they act more responsibly, THAT would be the smart move for them, until they're ready to spring another round round of fear-mongering. Anyone who is still getting jabbed is not our friend, we have to accept they've chosen the wrong side. So keep the jabs coming for them, and the AE's. That may sound unkind, and maybe it is. But you don't win by wishing your enemies well.
I have to admit I agree with you 100%. When I see all these small victories and hear from shrews how we are "winning the war" my heart sinks. These are trinkets they are offering...I really don't think any of this is making any sort of hurtful mark.
There IS something odd going on as they seem to have abandoned their "slash and burn" push they had going for a few years with the mandates, shut downs, etc. I think they are trying to get us all to relax...all of us...the hardcore sheep are fine to keep getting plugged, and the shrews are moving on to frying other fish.
I am still holding on to the possibility, a big one, another huge whack is coming soon.
I think the other side's acting strange too. Some of their backing off seems unnecessary. One possibility is they expect more bad news about the jabs to come out soon, and are being proactive. But I'm far from sure of that. There's always the potential joker in the deck that doesn't get much attention, no attention at all from politicians or the MSM. Geert VB is still predicting a variant that will be devastating to vaccinees. He keeps moving the timeline back - his predicted arrival for it has come and gone a few times at least. I have no idea how likely it is he's right, but not ruling it out.
I feel I have little choice but to watch everything and heed all warnings. I do think the cry wolf agenda is used against us but the best defense is to learn all we can. Therefore I will stay subscribed and vigilant.
Tomorrow the Internet gets unplugged and my phone gets turned off. I have alerts turned off on my phone anyway but maybe Google can override it for Joe Pedo and his henchmen. The first time an amber alert screamed through my phone it almost caused an accident in heavy traffic.
Better to be take a chance and be safe and stay home October 4 2023 than maybe watch injected sheep die.
The "thing" tomorrow is so obviously some really whacked up event. I too am shutting down for it. Read the article I just cross posted...pretty intense dive into some esoteric stuff...it is hard to believe all of that is just coincidence.
Thank you for hanging in there...
In my life a quieter “ presence “ has led to less futile conflict . Retreat, give up , convert ….never! Just being smarter and wiser ( or trying at least ) .
I think it might be the time for that...not sure how long it will last though.
Every now and then it’s necessary to hit the pause button and take time to reflect. The important thing is that so many more folks are now aware of the lever pulling and evil ones. I have backed off a few degrees but remain vigilant. I know there is a next thing coming.
Good words and thoughts...I'm in there with all that as well. Although I am not sure about the "so many more folks are now aware of the lever pulling and evil ones." I certainly think that is possible, but I personally have not seen it. I do hear "yes, they made some mistakes" but I have not heard, from a hard core sheep, "these people are all evil and knew all along what they were doing!" Again, I don't doubt there are some like that, but so far I have no reason to believe those numbers are significant...nor that those people are firm in their realization.
It's very simple: hypervigilantism is exhausting.
Exactly. As Todd said, it's inevitable that with less happening, all but obsessive shrews will shift focus away from COVID craziness to varying degrees. And that's a good thing for them as individuals. I don't think it means they're all forgetting lessons learned, although some will. But then those aren't really shrews. They are more like level 2.5 - tweeners.
Oh no...once a shrew, always a shrew...there is just NO compelling evidence to sway a shrew toward sheepism. That is actually an interesting thing to note, I have NEVER heard of a shrew changing their mind about all of this, yet have heard many sheep starting to buckle.
That very popular meme basically states, "not a single person that did NOT get a vaccine, ever has regretted their decision." That statement is SO true.
Agreed. As I said, they weren't really shrews. Between sheep and shrew - a 2.5. Probably should make that about 2.8 (closer to a level 3 sheep) now that I think about it, and consider your point. Their tendency is to cave and follow, but they are capable of seeing some truth. Unfortunately, they are weak-kneed and quick to put blinkers back on and return to the easier route of sheepdom.
Exactly. Truth is like that. For people that see it, it is solid, for people that don't, they can waver. The people that believe in lies, can waver because lies are not solid...they are at their base, illusory.
Yep
I’m not sure it’s complacency... for me, there’s a certain amount of fatigue. I just need to step away & stop talking about it for mental health. I’m not any less vigilant, and over these past few years, I’ve started projects for decoupling from the system. There’s only so much one can do, though. Stay vigilant but enjoy life - you only get one.
Very well said. I have a feeling we will all go down this route eventually. Make the best of it as they say. Maybe in the end the Sheep at the right idea all along.
Oh no. I’d never agree with sheep behaviour. It’s more about “doing” & less about talking. Those than can be red pilled have opened their eyes, but I won’t waste my time on the rest.
And that exactly what it is, a waste of time...
One of my favorite sayings of all time is, "Never try to teach a pig to sing, it is a waste of your time, and it annoys the pig." Nothing has been truer than that statement in this situation.
Agreed. If they can't see it by now there's almost no hope for them. Talking to them now -- when they think Covid is "over" -- just makes us look like hysterical lunatics. I'm always happy to talk to someone who is starting to see things as they are, but I can't say the opportunity has presented itself yet!
I do have to say that I am seeing an interesting mix with regards to waking up. I recently had a conversation with a neighbour who is fully vaxxed/boosted... these days I worry less about being ratted out to the c19 gestapo, so when he asked if we took the shots, I said no. He was surprised, and then quietly said he won’t be taking any more shots; he’d experienced health issues that he directly attributes to the jabs. This is good, but he has zero awareness of the coup that the globalists are trying to execute.
Conversely, I have another neighbour - vaxxed/boosted so she could eat out& travel (dear lord) who is now awake to the globalists but STILL didn’t connect some dots until I warned her away from the flu shots. Ugh.
On the bright side, I have 3 more neighbours who I convinced to take the firearms safety courses & they’ve now applied for their PAL/RPAL. My plan to have the most heavily armed hood is moving along 😁
I almost took some handgun shooting lessons from a reputable trainer I know in Virginia...but of course am not licensed in Canada.
Come on Todd. No time like the present. Just take the 2 day course. The subsequent license application is streamlined these days.
I think it's best to have more experience with firearms than a few courses, but ideal isn't usually possible so major kudos to you. I think many have an unrealistic idea of what might get you through a true SHTF scenario. A group of armed, competent, like-minded people will up their chances. It will also be helpful if you do run out of food and water, everybody does so at the same time! Another impossible ideal.
You’re 100% right. I sure wish I could put these folks through some tactical training. But mindset & at least being licensed is a start! I’m busy trying to recruit more!
Here, here. Right on. Perfectly said.