DON'T JUST BE GOOD, DO SOMETHING GOOD

Good morning, Good night, Good day, Good bye, Good riddence, Good for nothing, Good grief, Good God. Good for you, Good evening, Goodness Sakes,Good going, etc etc. Ya ever noticed how many times we all say something with good as the first word? Wonder why that is? Ya think maybe its because we inwardly know all things are "good". Well maybe not "all" things but most anyway. Its one thing I believe to be a "good" person but another thing to really apply that goodness in a way that will make this world just a little better for all of us. Think about your day that has just passed by for a minute or so. Was it a "good" day? Did you do anything "good"? Well, did ya? Only you know that for sure. Im guessing that the most of you folks reading this are by nature "good" people. Again each of us will have our own definition of what is good and what being good means. I also am pretty certain that all of you (and myself as well) could have done just a little more good than we did. No matter what you did today Im sure there was an opportunity for you to have done just a "little" more "good". Maybe instead of just thinking about an old friend you havent seen in a while you could have called and spoken to them. A small thing I know but you may be surprised just how much you can lift someones spirit by a simple phone call.Oh I know Ive done it a thousand times myself, Ill think of someone and say Im gonna gi ve them a call later on this evening or tomorrow, but then thats as far as it goes and the next thing I know its been weeks or months since I first thought about calling them and still I havent gotten around to doing it. Im sure you get the idea Im talking about. So instead of just being a "good" person today why dont ya do a random act of kindness? I think I will try to be a little better at being good" starting right now. I hope you will all join me. Hugs to all of you beautiful folks. May the rest of your week be filled with much love, peace ,joy ,and good health.And may the sun shine down on your backdoor always. I will leave you with a quote from one of my favorite writers Henry David Thoreau----"Be not simply good; be good for something."

AN OCEAN OF ONE

On vacation at theGulf of Mexico this past month with my wonderfull wife I managed to spend several days at the beach swimming against the waves of the ocean. The waters were pretty clear and warm and the white sand was beautiful. When I was not in the water I sat under the umbrella watching the waves roll against the shore and was almost hypnotized by the sound effects. I have used the analogy of a river or an ocean to our human lives in the past and once again I thought about that as I took in the warm sun.Like our individual lives make up all of humanity each individual drop of water make up the ocean.When I was in the water I accidently swallowed a bit of the salty ocean water.(It was quite easily to do because the waves hit me in the face at times whenI wasnt fully expecting it to.) As I now think about the drops I swallowed I can see the relation to our human lives once again.Once the drops were out of the ocean and into my body was it still a part of the ocean or not? Did I destroy the drops of water or just change its condition? Will it ever again become part of the ocean? These questions are akin to asking what happens to us when we are taken from the ocean of human life by so called death. Are we then seperated from the ocean of life forever. Have we been destroyed or just altered? Will we once again become one with the ocean of life? Ask yourself these questions when you are in a quiet moment with just you and your consciousness. you may be surprised at the answers that come forth from what I call Spirit. You may call this force God,Allah, Buddha,Universal Mind or any other label you think best.As for myself I truly believe that I never destroyed the drops of the oceans water, I only caused it to be altered into another form. For all I know it turned into urine while in my body, then outward once again from my body to a toilet into a sewer and eventually back inot the ocean. I cant really say for sure but I do know it continues to be a part of the "Ocean" of life. All energy is eternal and cannot be destroyed only altered. And as such I truly believe we all will forever continue to be one with everything. And that surely includes being one with each other right here on planet earth. So Im hoping and praying that everybody will soon learn to treat each other with love respect and kindness. May all of you have a wonderful weekend. Be safe and remember to keep on smiling! "Hugs" to all of you!

Acorns to Oaks

You ever wondered how a big majestic oak tree could be made froma really small acorn? Or how any seed can be planted and with proper nourishment it will grow into exactly what it is supposed to be. Its like magic as I see it. How can a little seed produce the crops we eat? All it takes after being planted is some water, some sunshine, and often times some loving care and it will ALWAYS manifest as it is supposed to. It cannot become anything else other than its inherent consciousness. Im amazed by all this stuff myself and think about it often.And when I turn my thoughts to my own inherent consciousness I am remined of who I am and where I have come from and where I am going. At least I hope I know all this. One thing I do know for sure is that everything comes from the ONE SOURCE and by natural law it will return to that source at its proper time. This same POWER that puts within the small acorn that process to turn it into the beautiful oak tree, is the very same Power that makes me and runs through my every cell atom and molecule. And that truth is the same for all of us. Thats the way I see it and even if Im wrong it doesnt really matter because in the proper time I will again return to the dust of the earth and my newest journey will begin. I hope that you can feel this power that runs through your being right now and that you can connect your consciouosness to this power and that in turn should fill your soul with great awe and wonder. Just knowing that you are part of this great Intelligence that I choose to call Spirit should inspire you to want to become the best human being you can possibly be. Take care my dear friends and remember you are already a hero just for being here on earth. God bless all of you!

JUST SAYING HELLO

I wanted to say hi to everyone and see how things were with all of you. We just got back from a weeks stay in Destin Florida and Im still trying to catch up with things. Ive missed you all while I was gone and hope that all of you have had a great week. I will be posting again as I find the time. May God bless you and yours now and always.

ONENESS

Today I would like to express my thoughts and beliefs on unity or oneness since I do believe that all of us are "one". By that I mean I feel all of us have come into being from the ONE SOURCE of everything. That Source is what lots of folks call God or any other name they feel comfortable with. I prefer to use the term Spirit or Universal Mind simply because the word God seems to mean so many different things to so many different people. And wehn you mention God most folks take that as something religious. Not that I have anything against religion but I feel religion only goes so far in helping one to find their meaning in life.But geting back to the point of us all being One I cant seem to imagine it being any other way. I know we all come from different backgrounds, different races, and differnet places in the world but I feel we are all spiritual beings who have incarnated into this 3 dimensional plane to experience our personal spiritual growth. And sine I believe we are all one that is why I cant understand why we treat each other so horribly at times. When we attack another we are only attacking ourselves at the same time.If we could all just live as if we all were brothers and sisters we could quickly put an end to the absurdities of life. As the late great John Lennon once said in song"Imagine all the people living life in peace" --Now thats a really nice thought. Anyway I am trying to live my life by treating everyone as if they are "one" with me and I hope more of the worlds people will begin to do the same. I will leave you with the following 2 quotes--The first is from Swami Vivekananda He says "All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything." And from the Science of Mind Textbook comes the following thought--No false sense of seperation can come between people, nor disturb the realization of the unity of all life. I wish all of you continued happiness and joy in all you do.God bless you and yours now and always!

SADNESS

It is with a heavy heart I find myself this moment. I have just found out that one of my friends here at Blogger has just lost a dear friend due to a car accident. My friend spoke so highly of the young man I felt a terrible loss to this world by his passing.I know all I can do is keep all of the people affected by this horrible accident in my thoughts and prayers. And this also serves to remind me of just how fragile our time on this earth really is. Ive been blessed to be here for over 50 years and then again here is this young man in his teens already taken from us.If wecould all only keep in mind of how quick our loved ones can be taken from us in one swift moment maybe then we would be quicker to forgive and more eager to tell our loved ones just how much they mean to us. Do it now before its too late--tell everyone you love them. Tomorrow could be just too late. Take care my friends. I love you all!

STRESS--LIFE'S GREATEST THIEF OF HAPPINESS

I really really do hope and pray that all of you wonderful folks find yourselves feeling great and being happy. A lot of you are enjoying an extra day off from work and planning a big day for tomorrows celebration. I believe that for anyone to be really happy they have to become stress free and that is a monumental achievement for many of us.You all know just how stressful this life can be at any given time. You can have a great day going and just one act or comment from someone can totally ruin it for you. There is stress in the workplace, in the schoolroom, on the golf course, at the beach or any where else one may find themselves. And stress can come from the most unexpected sources and at the worst times ever. It seems to be everywhere and it will find you sooner or later probably sooner. And sad to say but the ones we love the most can be the ones that apply this stress into our lives. Stress affects us in many unhealthy ways. It makes our blood pressure go up, it causes us to not be able to get a good nights sleep, it affects our digestion system, it causes us to make bad choices etc etc. Personally, I believe that stress is the biggest problem that any of us will have to endure from time to time. Fortunately there are many different ways to deal with stress. I choose to use meditation, taking a long walk in the woods, and just becoming aware that the stress will eventually pass and I will still have lots of loved ones who care about me.Just counting my many blessings always helps. I sincerely hope that all of you can and will find a good way to deal with your stress and can keep it from making your lives miserable.Be aware that whatever the reason for your stress you are bigger than the problem. You can adjust to any situation and you can survive anything! I love the quote from Marcus Aurelius in his book "MEDITATIONS" He says "If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment."
I hope all of you have a safe, stress free, and happy monday. Be safe, have fun, and God bless.