BEING PEACEFUL AND LIVING SIMPLY

I know all of us have busy lives that at times seems to be stressful and jjust wears us out trying to manage all we think we have to do. That's just the way it seems nowadays especially here in the good ol USA. Ive heard that overseas the folks shut down their businesses for a lunch break and take an hour or 2 off to eat and rest maybe even a short nap. I dont know if they still do that overseas but Im alsmost sure noone does ithere in the USA. What a shame too! No wonder we are a country of overweight unrested unfullfilled group. We have let our lives become too much of a stressor to really enjoy the best things in life.I mean how can we be at peace within our own minds when we seldom slow down to just "be" for a little bit?I know all the arguments---I have to work to take care of family and pay the bills, I have to be an overachiever just to get to the top of my profession, I cant afford to slow down someone is just waiting to take my place if I pause for a moment, etc etc. And I do realize that these arguments have some very valid points and I know at times there really is no way to slow down but waht cost are we paying? A very high price I do believe.Personally I believe the greatest gift we have is that of being at peace within our soul and living a simple life. The more simple the better I do believe. There is a quote in the Science of Mind textbook page 539 which says "Peace, like an ocean of Infinite Life, reflects Itself through me and calms every turbulent feeling." I really believe this is true if we can only take the time to practice doing it--that is to relax breath deeply and remember who we really are. I also love the following quote from Lao-Tse which says "I have three things to teach; simplicity, patience, and compassion. These three are your greatest treasures." I sincerely hope that each one of you will have a great week ahead and that you can find at least 1 hour during that time to relax meditate and find that center at your true being that will calm the spirit and allow you to fully express the absolute wonderful person that you really are. Bless your hearts my friends! I love you!

THE WONDERS OF A MOTHER

In my mind at least the hardest job on earth would be that of being a mother. I know Im a man and I can never fully realize all the sacrificies a mother makes and of I sure as heck dont know anything about the pain of giving birth itself but from what Ive witnessed in my years is that a mothers job has got to be the hardest ever.I had a wonderful mom myself and when I look back on my life and hers I am still amazed at the things she did for her kids. And never once did I ever hear her say she was sorry she had chosen her path as a mother.I realize that not everyone had a great mother and that all mothers cant be really good ones but the majority of them just give and give without complaining. So today I salute every mother both living and deceased and give them my regards for a job well done. I will leave you with a quote from Tenneva Jordan:"A mother is a person who, seeing there are only four piecies of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie." Be well all of you dear people and keep on smiling!

DOING THE "LITTLE" THINGS

Ok, so how many of you wonderful folks have ever dreamed about doing something really great that made you famous, paid you lots of money, or otherwise just made you feel like you had accomplished something fantastic that really changed the world? If you are like me I'm sure there are times when you think about your true calling as a human being. I often wonder why I am here right now at this moment and if I am doing all I was meant to do.It can almost drive me crazy at times(or at least it used to). But as I have gotten older I have come to realize that maybe I have been doing what I was supposed to all along. When I was a younger man I really thought my reason for being was to write stories that would help others find their way a little easier.And even though I was fortunate enough to have had several of my writings published back then it still never felt like I had done enough. So I changed my thoughts and started looking for other ways to find my "true" calling.And it took me several years and lots of "hard" lessons to finally arrive at the conclusion that I was already fulfiling my purpose for being here. I gave up on the notion of writing a book that would become a best seller and help lots of people improve their lives.(If ya do know a good editor somewhere I still have a couple of unpublished books Ive written just lying around). It was, at first like I had given up on my dreams but I eventually saw that not all of us were meant to do something spectacular. So I gave up on that and decided to just do the "little" things in life that would be a life of service and one that I could be proud of.All of us can make a big difference by doing the "little" things. By the little things I mean like holding a door open for someone, saying hello to people you pass on the street, being quick to smile and to lend a helping hand to others, calling an old friend for no reason than to say hi I love you,rremembering someones birthday and sending a card, etc. I could go on lots longer with "little" things one can do. Now I know I will never be famous nor probably rich (unless I hit the lottery) but I now know and feel like I am being true to myself and doing all I can possibly do tomake this world a little better place for all of us.And anything I can do everyone else c an do also.So maybe the next time you find yourself wondering what your reason for being is maybe you should just take a look and see if you are doing any of the "little" things. And if you are I say great, keep up the good work, and if you are not then maybe your life would become more fulfiling if you gave it a try.Dont get me wrong, Im sure not trying to tell anyone how to do it Im only saying put a little thought into it and you may be amazed to find that you are already fulfiling your reason for being and just didnt know it.I will bid all of you a goodnight and leave you with the following quote from a very special lady who was named Helen Keller. This great lady once said "I long to accomplish great and noble tasks, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble."

GIVING THANKS

So, just how many things are you thankful for in your life? Im sure all of you have been blessed with at least a few things to be thankful for. But it is always so easy to overlook those "good" things and for us to be worried about the things we dont have. Why do you suppose we as humans are prone to look at life in that way? I wish I had the answer to that one. Our lives can be filled with many many blessings but instead of giving thanks for them we go round bemoaning the lack of things we want or think we need. And since life gives to us that which we think about the most is it no wonder so many of us find ourselves unfulfilled and less than totally pleased with our circumstances? If we can train our minds to give thanks for our good every moment then it will become second nature for us to accept only the good things we desire. I Know it sounds easy but I also know from experience just how hard it can be to look at our good when it seems everything is going haywire. But if we look closely we can find that our good really does outweigh any "bad" stuff.I really like the following quote from Meister Eckhart:"If the only prayer you said in your whole life was "thank you" that would suffice."So let us all begin to give thanks for everything that comes our way and lets see if that doesn't make our lives so much more fulfilling. I hope and pray that all of you are now doing well and that you and yours will have a really terrific weekend!

THINKING, SEEING, AND ACCEPTING OUR GREATER GOOD

Right now I sincerely hope that all of you are experiencing only the good things in life that you desire. But if I'm correct Im sure that some of you could be feeling less than satisified at the moment. And thats because I know that life doesn't always flow easily for us. But there is always a way out of our current affairs if we only take the time and make the effort required to change those conditions we find less than wonderful.And one thing I really believe we have to do is to carefully watch our every thought and word we speak. Even when we are just joking around we say things like I am so unluckly, I never can do things right, Im always in the wrong place etc etc.Well whether we really mean those words or not when we speak them the Powers that be take those words as being true and give unto us what we said . And those Powers also do not distinguish between our words and our thoughts. They are all the same to this Universal Mind. What we say what we truly think is what we will keep on getting in this life. And when we try to change our thoughts it is easy to say something like Im gonna be real successful, Im gonna find my soulmate, Im going to win lots of money etc etc but extremely difficult to really change our inner beliefs. As Wayne Dyer once put it "You will see it when you believe it" and not the other way around. So right now may all of us reclaim our own Power and start right now to make our lives the ones we truly want to have.I will leave you with the following 2 quotes:
The first quote is from the Science of Mind Textbook: Any thought which tends to inspire, to comfort, and to give peace to the mind is good.
The second quote is from one of my favorite authors of all time Ralph Waldo Emerson: But power dwells with cheerfulness...while despair is no muse, and untunes the active powers.
I truly hope that each one of you and your families and friends have a very wonderful week ahead. May each day be filled with lots of love, peace, and joy. God bless you all!

TRUST

How often do we as human beings quit trying to become better at anything just because we lose our trust in our own abilities? More often than one would like to admit I'm sure. Its been said that to accomplish the thing you set out to do you should keep it to yourself until you have done it lest others will try to convince you that your idea is crazy or utterly unattainable. I agree with this but I also think the biggest problem we have is that we just don't trust ourselves enough to get it done. How many great ideas have you had in the past but failed to act on them because you just didnt trust yourself enough? I know I have been guilty of that more than once myself. So let us all this day be reminded that we are made of "Godstuff" and can accomplish anything we set our minds to. I will leave you with the following quote from Shakti Gawain:
"When I'm trusting and being myself...everything in my life reflects this by falling into place easily, often miraculously."

THE POWER OF HOPE

I believe that without hope all things in this life may just be too much to bear for us. May all of us continue to have hope for a brighter future not only for ourselves but for our world of humanity.Never lose hope and never give up. I love the following quote from Emily Dickinson:"Hope" is the thing with feathers/that perches in the soul/ and sings the tunes without the words/ and never stops at all."
I sure hope all of you wonderful folks are having a great start to this brand new week!"hugs" to all of you.

A NEW CONSCIOUSNESS

Hey folks. How ya'll doing these days. I sincerely hope things are going just the way you want them to and that your lives are filled with much joy, peace, love, good health, and happiness! If you are like me I believe that you can see a new consciousness taking shape in todays world. When you think about it it hasnt been all that long ago that the average person lived to their 70's, today the 90's are a norm it seems. We were here in the U. S. still a divided state with some of the states still believeing in slavery. Women were told to stay in their place which was to stay home, raise the kids, and do what their husbands said. They couldnt even vote believe it or not! I must say our forefathers were just a bit of a male chauvinist. Im surprised that you ladies let us get away with it for as long as we did!!! Im sure you get the picture, we have come a long way in our thinking even if we still do have a long way to go. But the collective consciousness of humans are beginning to take shape and I believe for the better. I am so thrilled with our young folks today(most of them) even if they do dress a little funny at times. We are starting to see a nation of people who accept each other and color makes no difference.Thats not to say that things are perfect. You and I both know there is still a lot of prejudice in the world.But the younger folks are so much better at accepting each other than a lot of us "older" folks. I beliv e that eventually we will be able to overcome our differences and finally learn that for us to survive as a people we must start living by the golden rule. Such a simple concept but one if lived by would make most of our 'problems" go away.This world is changing one thought at a time and if we want to be a part of this greater "good" I think we must change our thinking patterns and start becoming part of the solution to this planets problems. As each of us becomes more aware of who we really are the consciousness of this planet will be lifted up.I bless each of you today with thoughts of love and harmony. I will leave you with a quote from one of my favorite authors Eckhart Tolle:

....both the Old and the New Testament....speak of the collapse of the existing world order...."A new heaven" is the emergence of a transformed state of human consciousness, and "a new earth" is its reflection in the physical realm.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY

You never saw a fish on the wall with its mouth shut.
Just a little something to contemplate. Hope all of you are doing great!

PROCRASTINATION

Procrastination! That is a big word that usually causes us as human beings from achieving all of our lofty goals. I know that I really have a hard time on occassion to make myself get up off my butt and do the things I know I need and want to do. It is just so easy to tell myself it can wait until tomorrow. But as they say tomorrow never comes. And I know from experience that there are a lot of folks just like me. We have good intentions but at times let the old procrastination take over. Hers a story Id like to share with you about this thing called procrastination.
There was once a painfully shy young man who fell in love with a young woman. He sensed that she felt the same way about him but he couldnt find the courage to ask her out. He kept putting off asking her. He did decide to mail her a love letter every day for a year tehn he would ask her out after the year was gone. Faithfully he followed his plan, and at years end he was finally courageous enough to call her--- only to discover she had married the letter carrier.
I do hope all of us ,myself included, that we will not wait a moment longer to act on what we know we need to be doing.May all of you have a wonderful weekend!