This was a great year for me. But not without its challenges. I taught my first semester at a law school (climate change law and policy at UH Richardson School of Law in Honolulu). I caught up on a lot of delayed travel plans with epic trips to Europe, Asia, Arizona, California, and Burning Man.
I made many new friends around the world and dated up a storm. I made serious progress on my new temple and community space. I finished my first “micro house.” I improved relationships with some people that had gotten raw or distant.
I lost my furry son who I had for 18 years (death is not pretty whether it’s in a cat or a human).
I said yes to life. A lot!
I made great progress professionally, deepening my work in Hawaii with Think BIG, a nonprofit I cofounded that focuses on resilience, equity and sustainability for the Big Island, and with the Hawaii EV Association that promotes electric vehicles and better transportation options around the state. I’ve been active in making policy and writing legislation for both orgs at the county and state level, as well as on public education events.
My day job as a renewable energy lawyer has been rewarding as the world moved heavily toward renewables in 2022 and we are now clearly on a path toward a fully renewable future. Mission accomplished? Almost but still got a ways to go…
I also spent a ton of time writing and arguing about public health policy, trying to wake the world from the nightmare of disastrous public policy choices during the pandemic. The narrative is turning back toward sanity but it will take a lot more work to ensure that this nightmare doesn’t repeat.
Our theory of consciousness, the General Resonance Theory, developed with Jonathan Schooler and now many others, has been gaining prominence and attention, and our special issue at Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (where I am guest lead editor) on “electromagnetic field theories of consciousness,” after starting slow now has over a dozen great articles either already published or in the queue. A book version of this issue will be coming out in 2023 and hopefully will mark the era of strong scientific interest in this approach to studying the nature of consciousness.
I’ve also made great progress on my creative writing efforts, almost finishing a novel about Hawaii that I’ve been working on now for nine years, as well as wrapping up a short story collection.
And stay tuned for my first coffee table book: “Sexy Trees of Hawaii.” Sure to be a hit!
My word of the year for 2022 was “discernment” and this meant for me mostly discerning when trying harder was the best path toward progress, and when not trying was the best option. I’ve learned that often less is more and sometimes not doing anything and letting the universe bubble up around me can provide the best outcomes.
This year’s word for me is calmness. I hope to find that moderation and calmness in my life that can carry me through the tough spots with the best equanimity I can muster. I find my anger rising a bit more quickly lately and I’m working on ways to calm that tendency (I’ll be releasing an essay soon on my personal techniques).
I hope the world more generally can just calm down and stop treating every new thing as a major crisis. Root down, calm down, grow up
