Monday, October 22, 2012

FORGIVENESS

A verse from the Travelin' Wilbury's hit single titled "The End of The Line" goes like this.
"Well, its alright even if you're old and gray-and its alright, you  still got something to say- and its alright remember to live and let live- and its alright the best you can do is forgive"
I agree!Forgiveness is just so precious if we only realize the power it holds for us.There is no way any of us can go through this entire life without being abused,cheated,or treated in any other negative way by someone else. Believe me, that is inevitable! But the key to having been a victim at some point will enable us to learn the power of forgiveness.Most of the "little" hurts we endure from the actions of others are fairly easy to forgive while the "larger" hurts and injustices, seem to take longer to forgive. And Im sure there are those who have yet to truly forgiven all of their enemies.I know from experience that we can at any time be blindsided by someone we love and trust, or by a complete stranger.Maybe an ex lover? Or maybe the person who sold you a "lemon" of a car etc etc.Again, from my personal experience I know its very possible to think you have forgiven while in reality you have only buried the injustice deep down into the subconscious mind where it doesn't bother you(at least on a conscious basis). And believe me, if that particular hurt or injustice hasnt been totally forgiven it will at some point in your life raise its ugly head and you will again be faced with dealing with it.When I talk about forgiveness, Im not saying that one should forget the injustice or to allow the perpertrator to do it to you again. In my own circumstances when I feel I have been mistreated by someone I try my best to forgive but I keep close to my conscious mind the facts so that I can better protect myself from further hurt.The biggest thing about forgiveness as I see it, is that if we carry around inside of us any old hurts or grudges we are then only hurting ourselves. As an example say someone you trusted to do the "right" thing by you instead chose to take your trust and use it against you to get something they wanted from you.Now, after the fact, you feel angry and rightfully upset.But due to circumstances there is no way to "avenge' the wrong so you instead just allow that "hurt" to become a part of your every waking moment. You want the one who has offended you to have to pay for their actions somehow.And yet, you see that person going on about their lives all smiles and seeming doing really well in life in general.And as you see this happening the anger and resentment you feel for this person continues to eat at you so much you are never fully happy. After some time the pain you feel has subsided but that is because you have buried it once again in the subconscious mind.But believe me, any unforgiveness you are withholding is slowly eating away at your inner peace day by day.The offender has gone on with their life and probably completely forgotten the way they hurt you so they are not suffering in any way. So if that is the case, then you tell me, who is winning? The one who caused the hurt? or the one who has been abused? I think you can see what I mean.As long as we carry a grudge against another soul, we are not hurting them, we are only hurting ourselves by not living with our "inner peace" intact. I also know that forgiveness can be very hard to do. Some folks can hurt us to our very core, and again from personal experience I know how hard true forgiveness can be. But it is an absolute must that we forgive if we are to truly live a life of peace. The author Norman Cousins once stated:"Life is an adventure in forgiveness." My hope for all of you is that you have totally forgiven all for whatever acts they have done, in the best way you know how. For if you have done that, then you should be able to live  your life with  a lot greater inner peace of mind than say those who refuse to forgive.Take care my friends and try to truly enjoy this one eternal moment you now find yourself immersed in. And if at all possible take a moment to appreciate all the beauty around you and within you and try and do a little something nice for someone right now, right here. My wish for all of you is the very best of everything now and always.

Friday, October 12, 2012

LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE

Hello my dear friends.Here's hoping that your day or evening is sure going in the right direction you are steering toward and that you are filled with much love, peace, and joy, in your heart.M y regular
 readers of this blog know that I am a very big believer in doing something nice for others every chance that I get.And thankfully, I do seem to get a lot of chances.Most of us, myself included a few years back, just do not realize the opportunities that arise every moment for us to do a "good deed" for someone. I've had to train myself to just be on the lookout for those precious moments.And thankfully after several years of training it has gotten fairly easy for me to be aware of the opportunities to be a part of the solution instead being a part of the problem.At first I thought that in order to really do something good for the world and the people in it, I would have to write a book, hold seminars, print cds or whatever else to get out my message of "love" for others.Looking back to those days I knew I wanted to do something "big" and try in my own way to improve this world for all of us.Well, let me tell you something. I was in for quite a big surprise as to how things were gonna work out in the end.I started out by writing short stories of my own personal life that told of my experiences that helped shape me into being a "giver" instead of being a "taker"., the events that had convinced me that I could and should share my stories with the world so I could at least give back a little of the "gifts" that life had afforded me in my search for wisdom and understanding. As luck(if one believes in luck) would have it the very first story I wrote down and sent in to a magazine was accepted for publication by the Science of Mind magazine.(I am still today an avid reader of the SOM and would suggest that maybe you give it a look see and see if it may be something to help you). Hey, they even paid me 25.00 and sent me 10 extra issues with my story included. I thought, man, that was easy. So to make a long story short I had around 8 stories published by the magazine over the years and while this was going on I decided to write even more.I have to admit that I was still more into my ego self that I would have liked. And that being the case led me to believe I could and should write a book and further my career as a writer.So I penned the book in no time it seemed, and thought well, here I go . Now just to find a publisher and Id be on my way. I couyld see myself on the tv talk shows taking questions about my books and really be a author who was helping others find a better way.And of course Id have lots of money and fame etc, just padding the old ego self.Well right then was when I found out just how difficult it is to get a book published unless you did it yourself.I purchased a Writers Handbook and proceeded to send out solicitations for my book to many many editors of high esteem as well as editors that were not as well known.Every day from that first inquiry to an editor it seemed my mailbox was filled with rejection.Why, I couldnt even get an editor to read my manuscript because I didn't have an agent.An agent, hey I didnt have much money then(or now) so how was I gonna afford an agent. And why should I have to share my money form the book with an agent? I didn't get it at first but slowly it all sinked in to  my brain. It came down to being all about money.The editors did not ant to take a chance on unknown writers cause it cost lots of money to print books. And they only wanted Published authors that they knew would sell no matter what the contents were. So there I was, all this stuff I wanted to share with others but unable to do so simply because I didnt have enough  money. So I did what most anybody would do. I quit! I quit trying to get my book published ( I still have it stored away somewhere I thi nk along with some other essays and poems and personal writings,and who knows maybe one day Ill giv e it a try again, but I seriously doubt it). I decided to just quit knocking my head against the wall and just things be.Funny now as I look back, but running into all those snags and receiving all those rejections, and facing failure more times than not actually helped me to get past the stage of allowing my Ego self to be the ruler.I have to admit now that if my book had been quickly published, and I had attained the fame I then desired and made all that big money, that really would have been the worse thing that could of ever happened to me. I know that may sould a little crazy but it is true.Because now, I can usually keep my Ego self in control(not always but most of the time) and I can operate by allowing Divine Mind to take me wherever Im supposed to be and doing what Im supposed to be doing.And along the way I have found that if I just get myself out of the way and let my Inner Light shine then I feel fulfilled and at peace knowing that I can still do nice things for others and dont even have to have any money to do it!That was really liberating when I discovered that one doesnt have to have a dime to do something nice for others.I still dont have lots of money and you know what-I have no problems with that at all! I wish I did have more at times but then again I truly believe that I will always have enough to get by on and still have a little extra to donate to those less fortunate.During these years I have seen have simple it is to be nice to others. I can hold a door open for someone, I can gi ve someone a big ol smile and and say a warm hello, I can call an old friend I haven't heard from in a while, I can offer encouragement to someone who is feeling a little "lost", I can tell my beautiful wife just how damned beautiful she really is,I can run an errand for someone who is ailing,why heck, I can even just sit quietly alone in the beautiful silence and send out loving, peaceful, thoughts and vibrations to the world at large.I can do so much good stuff for this world and it doesn't cost me one single red cent!How wonderful is that!! I thank all of you wonderful folks for bearing with me and for being a part of my own earthly experience.My hope is that you too , my friend will join me in doing whatever we can to make this earth a more wonderful place than it is now. Forgive me for not checking this entry for typos cause I'm either tired or just too lazy. If you can right now in this one Eternal Moment reach out your hand and make a friend if you can(a thank you to the Staple Singers for that line) and together we will be on a journey that not only helps bring others together, but also makes us a better person.I leave all of you with hopes for a larger love, greater peace, and more abundant joy. And I'd also love to hear from any of you as to what you do every day to be nice to others. I love you all. Bless you my friends



Thursday, October 4, 2012

BEING A SURVIVOR

Oh man, how many times do we have to try and overcome a crisis in our lives? Admittedly, most of these "hard" times are ones we bring on ourselves but it never seems to get much easier.One thing all of us have in common is that we will find ourselves dealing with all sorts of "problems" as we wind our way along this soometimes rocky path of life. I feel its how we face these times that make us either a better person or one who continues to lose their grip on things.I read a quote that was attributed to Mother Teresa and I just love it! She stated:"I know God will not give me anything I can't handle, I just wish that He didn't trust me so much." Ya gotta love that quote. But as always I truly believe we can overcome anything when we get our minds attuned with that "inner being" which is truly who we are.From the Science of Mind comes another nugget of wisdom: "Then, as the mist disappears before the sun, so shall adversity melt before the shining radiance of our exalted thought." So may I suggest that you keep a wary eye on your inner most thoughts especially when confronted with any obstacle.And out thoughts today are what makes up our tomorrows.Take the mental part of you and attune the thoughts to what it is you wish to manifest in your life.And remember as Emerson once said;" People only see what they are prepared to see.My hope is that all of you are at this one eternal moment find yourself happy, feeling well, and finding much joy in all that transpires in your life. As always too, please take a moment and do something nice for someone else and then for yourself as well!

Monday, October 1, 2012

CAUSE & EFFECT

In the world today many of us have yet to understand that conditions in our lives are usually there by our own design wheather we admit it or not. It has become so convenient for us to readily place blame on something or someone for the "mess" we find in our lives from time to time. I mean its so easier to place blame than to admit we are responsible for our own ills. And if we cant find blame on something or someone we oft times just put it down as bad luck.While I do admit there are things that seem out of our control I still believe we can and must use our own intelligence to overcome these so called "bad" things.There really is no such thing as luck in my world. I either have caused the thing in my life or I have allowed my thinking to stray from the truth--that being that Me and only me is responsible for things that arise as conditions in my life.Are there other worldly influences in this world that help shape my destiny? Of course there are, but it is ultimately up to me to decide what it is I want to see made manifest in my world. There are times when I would perfer to blame a "devil" or something else for my problems but I know that is not the case.At least for me as I see it.Everything , and I mean everything arrives as a condition in my life directly related to my thoughts and actions. And yes, that is a lot of responsibility to own up to.One of my favorite authors of all time Ralph Waldo Emerson has stated the following and I agree with him completely."Shallow men ( women) believe in luck, believe in circumstances....... Strong men ( women) believe in cause and effect." And a quote from the Science of Mind states this:Just so far as we depend upon any condition, past, present, or future, we are creating chaos, because we are then dealing with conditions(effects) and not with causes.So I feel if we are to correct or change any challenges that we find ourselves confronted with, we must turn within, and then work on creating the cause that will produce the solution we are seeking. My sincere hope for all of us is that we as a world of human beings will soon realize that we are in "control" of our lives and that we can effect any outcome that we may desire. I now leave all of you wonderful folks with thoughts of pure love, peace, joy, and understanding. And as always, if you have a free moment take advantage of it and do something nice for someone.I bless you all and say thank you for visiting me once again.