Up to 105,000 gallons of oil obtained via offshore drilling have spilled from a pipeline owned by Plains All American at Refugio State Beach in Santa Barbara County in California. At least 21,000 gallons have poured into the Pacific Ocean and the spill’s impacts stretch nine miles, according to the Associated Press.

As a result, California Governor Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency in Santa Barbara County, which he said in a press statement “cuts red tape and helps the state quickly mobilize all available resources.”

by Paul Lipton

Numbers are everywhere. You can’t avoid them, even if you try. They are arbitrary, yet we have given numbers an amount of power that is disproportionate to true power and influence. The biggest number that seems to control us is our date of birth. This is especially so with numbers after 30. There is the 35 or major 40. Then, you arrive at numbers that seem to have a false power over you, such as 50, 60, 70 and so on.

With each life marker, you may start feeling that there is less opportunity or others might be treating you differently. There is some sense of becoming invisible or just not being included in events of the moment. It is corrosive and hurtful, but so arbitrary and uncalled for. You are not different. You have just lived and experienced more that life has to offer. You are more vital than ever. Your wisdom is just finally coming out of its cocoon. Instead of being excluded, you should be sought out.

When you are frustrated beyond measure, you are sure that frustration has to go away from you. No, dears, it is you who must unattach from frustration. You know I am not suggesting that you let frustration keep beating on you. I am saying the contrary.

You are speaking of frustration that gets the better of you, as if you have no say in the matter. What you can do, no matter how reluctantly, is to keep some distance between you and frustration. Frustration isn’t going to kill you. It is not out to ruin you.

For whatever reason, you have reached your limit. It is you who sets your limit.

Frustration comes from people and from things that get your goat. When the computer seems to have a mind of its own, the computer isn’t out to get you. It doesn’t have it in for you. In effect, the computer doesn’t know how to compute.

It is the same with people. They have a certain perspective different from yours. It is you who says you have come up against a stone wall. You have come up against something that takes you away from your purpose. Does your purpose have to be so thrown by disturbances in the world? When someone or something may seem to be blocking your way, what’s the first thing to do? Step around it, dear ones. You don’t have to meet frustration head on.