Note to self.

First, discover who you truly are, and be that.

Second, forgive your every mistake.

Third, accept that you aren’t perfect; you are a flawed human who makes mistakes but does most things well.

Fourth, decide what your ideals are.

Fifth, move toward your ideals, knowing that ideals are never attained; they are guide posts on the road ahead.

Sixth, stay in the present, the past serves as a reminder of how far you’ve come; the future is an unknown, ever changing possibility.

Seventh, ask for help every day, from people, from your chosen spiritual guides, from your God.

Eighth, do no harm, to yourself or to others.

Ninth, look around you and see.

Tenth, quiet your mind and hear.

Eleventh, feel what’s in your heart.

Twelfth, speak your truth.

Ideal for the present.

This day, this moment, our only chance for action; for change, peace, pleasure, grief, pain, serenity, surrender, love. Everything else is hindsight or conjecture, wishful thinking, expectation. It is only in this very moment that we live our lives. If we can love this moment, love ourselves in this moment - no matter what – the world is a better place. Reality is now, it is the globe that surrounds us now. Find acceptance in the now and be what you love. And love.

Teach Our Children

The most important task a society has is the raising of children; yet this topic not broached in schools beyond the realities of sex and conception, and even that isn’t broached in conservative parochial schools. So we end up with over educated elitists who have children and don’t have a clue how to raise them, nurture them, cook for them, balance day to day finances, or provide basic security for them.

This is by no means the rule, I know many parents who have managed to nurture and teach their children in these modern times, but it is an all too common scenario. 

Our current educational system is based on a model that evolved out of wealthy elite societies. The working poor didn’t need an education as they lived to support the wealthy. The educated wouldn’t need to know how to raise children as they had servants to raise them; they wouldn’t need to know how to cook or manage day to day expenses, keep their houses clean, grow food, clean and mend their own clothes, etc. You get the picture.

What I don’t understand is why we still use this antiquated model in educating our children and young adults. We heap a ton of useless information on them that makes them feel superior to their less educated peers, yet in reality they are less capable of surviving the day to day realities of life much less parenting.

The educated class of today can rarely afford the luxury of servants or a stay at home parent, they work until they are exhausted and leave the raising of their children to strangers and rely on the mega food producers to feed them.

This may not be the reality for the top wage earners in the first world but is the reality for most of the rest. Children raised by strangers, schooled by video and technology, minimal parental supervision, spotty nurturing, and toxic food.

If the saying “you reap what you sow” holds true, we could well be only a few generations away from the collapse of family.

We learn our values from our parents, so what values are the children of today learning? It seems that the same values the ancients had still hold true; the educated are elite, the uneducated live to serve the educated, if you have education your future is secure. Your future perhaps, but what about the future of your children and society? 

This is not a me world, it’s a we world. We have children, we have values, we live in society. This idea of elitism must be put aside for the good of all. We must teach our children how to be parents and guides; how to nurture and have empathy for others, how to grow food and cook it, shop and balance a budget, the value of a tidy and clean home, how to be content with what you have, how to ask for help and give it, how to help the less fortunate, basically how to live in society not outside of it.

WE NEED EACH OTHER IF WE ARE TO SURVIVE.

02/02/16

Light and darkness. Love and fear. Yin and yang. Thought and action. Peace and war. Fed or hungry. Answers and questions. We cannot exist without a balance of dark and light. A seed cannot grow without the darkness of the earth to germinate it. So it is with humans. If we spend too much time in the light we lose our perspective of the necessary cycles of growth, we burn out or become blind to new possibilities. Too much time in the dark can paralyze us and foster disease. Reflection, contemplation, rest, listening, meditation - the healing aspects of the dark - all bring us back into the light with renewed vigor.

Our society has defined darkness as being a negative force, something to fear, when in reality it is a time of learning and healing.

The mainstream media would have us believe that our world is tipping into darkness/fear but that’s just not possible. The universe demands balance. For darkness there must be an equal measure of light. Those who work on the side of light see hope and fulfillment in our future, those who work on the side of dark/fear see devastation and pain. Yes, we may live to see our race destroyed, and yes we may see the earth renewed. But more importantly; how do we perceive our part in all of this? Are we bringers of light, doing all we can to recognize the positive action all around us and contribute as we may? Or are we contributing to darkness/fear by focusing on disaster? We have a choice in all of this. Find your balance; embrace the light and the dark in equal measure. Question and listen, act and rest, get hungry and eat, learn and grow, recognize the problems and find the solutions. Is the problem your mindset, your attitude? Usually that’s a good place to start. When negativity/fear pipes up flip it to positivity. You jerk!/You nice guy! What a terrible day!/How can I improve this day? Get out of my way, I’m running late!/How can I help keep traffic moving smoothly? Look at that bum!/That person needs help. I can’t figure this out./I need to get some help. You get the idea.

If the TV news leaves you fearful, watch a nature program instead. You have a choice. Put down the gun and pick up a shovel, plant a tree, plant a dozen trees, then go home and rest. If you are angry or afraid, find someone you trust and express your feelings then look for solutions. 

Find the healing darkness and the energizing light, they are the true gifts of the universe.

8/2/13 Being Present

No expectations; being present; simple but not easy. To be still water in a world of noise and movement; to seek the spaces in between action; to be open to another voice besides the one in my waking mind, simple but not easy. There are many techniques for meditation, it doesn’t seem to matter which one I use, so far meditation is the best way to be in the present moment. As I sit emptying my mind of prerecorded thoughts, of exterior influences like clothes; discomfort, noisy appliances, neighbors, birdsong, traffic, a golden calm settles over me. The longer I can maintain my presence in the moment the calmer I get. This sense of peace promotes joy as I go through my day. Joy, a state of being that is new to me. Joy must be the absence of worry, guilt, and shame, things that belong in the past or future. Not only am I more joyful, I’m healthier in my body. Taking those few minutes to center myself and calm my mind make such a profound difference in my day. I wonder why I don’t do it every single day, but it’s a fairly new feeling, joy. More familiar are regret and worry, so it’s no wonder that I slip so easily into these thoughts and forget the more beneficial possibilities, possibilities that require such a small amount of time and effort. Simple but not easy, change requires action. Action brings results. Progress not perfection, it’s the way of the human!

I AM

7/24/13

I am. That is a complete sentence. But what am I? Am I the culmination of all the days of my life or am I the ideals I strive for? I think it’s something in between. At times I’m the bundle of character defects from my early training, at others I’m the person I strive to be. Uncertain in my skin, I keep trying to be someone better than I have been. Analyzing, always, my actions, my words, my thoughts. In the moments when I am, simply am, present and complete in the moment, I find peace, gratitude even, for the blessed fact of my humanity. The striving is necessary to be sure, but the being is the payoff, the reward for all the difficult work involved in evolving. Meditate, attune yourself with spirit. Clear away the negative thoughts. Find a way to be at peace, even for just one moment, in this cacophony we call life. Just be.