Showing posts with label Quote. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Quote. Show all posts

Ratatouille and Achieving Your Dreams

I didn't eat very well today, and am out of my points already at 4:15 pm.

I still have a long night ahead of me, but maybe I will keep within my points.

Well, I didn't keep within my points, but I only went into my weekly points by about 6 points. Not bad considering... oh, right, you probably have no idea what I'm talking about.

Let me explain.

Two weeks ago I started doing Weight Watchers, with a goal of losing 60+ pounds before sometime in the future.

So far I have lost about four pounds.

Better than nothing.

But that is why I am talking about points and going over my points and whatnot.



I am laying here writing this as my son and wife are watching Ratatouille.

Ratatouille is a good movie. I would describe it's main theme as...
"Anyone can do anything."
I'm not sure that that is true in all cases, but I do believe that many people are capable of learning and teaching themselves whatever is required to fulfill their dreams.

So, why don't I believe that is true for myself?

Why don't I believe that I, too, am capable of achieving my dreams?

I don't know the real reason behind that negative form of thinking and self-reflection.

I can guess that it is something that I told to myself over and over again over the course of many years in order to come to the point where I believe it to be true.
"Self-delusion is the most dangerous and pervasive form of sabotage."
 The movie takes a bit of a different view on it, as in the quote below:
"Not everyone can become a great artist; but a great artist can come from anywhere. " - Anton Ego, Ratatouille
I will never be a great artist.

But I can continue to do what I do as well as I can do it.

And that will make all the difference in my life.

Just Go After It



The above title was something I came up with a while ago, to spur myself on to something new and different.

The title seems a little past due now, a little over and done with.



But on second thought, maybe the title "Just Go After It" is spot on. Isn't that the way of things?

We harp on and on about what makes something difficult to do, or the reasons why we shouldn't do it, or the myriad different ways in which we could go about it.

In the end, just go after it.

That is the best advice I have ever given myself.



Just Go After It





Dig a Well

Dig a well.

Find your source.

Take action.

Resign yourself to accept those things you cannot change.

Change the things you can.

Do not conserve your energy. What are you saving it for?

Be the person you are. Embrace yourself fully.

Complete what you set out to do. Make sure your heart is in it.

Like yourself more and more each day.

"There's another train. There always is." - The Poozies
There will be no later, there was no then, there is only now.

Take a chance. Take a chance on yourself. Bet that you will succeed.

There is always some bit of strength left at the end of the day. Use it up.

Leave everything on the table.

Put yourself into the work you do.

Commit.

Dig a well.






This is where it all began.




This is where I began to be myself.

Completely and totally myself. Without care or worry of repercussions.

I am interested in becoming myself completely. I am interested in being myself completely.

And the funny thing is, I am succeeding.

I just want to create, I just want to make something all my own, on my own, for no real reason other than I can, and I need to express myself.

So now I am writing this, and I am trying to summon the feeling of being inspired to create something new. The feeling is there, that is for sure.

Inspiration comes to those who don't wait for it.

So where am I heading? What is my end game result that I am looking for?

I can do almost anything. I have the ability. But the only thing I want to do is to make stuff and share it. That is what I want to do with my life. Make things and share them. By being myself, by sharing my essence with the world I am able to even more fully become myself.

It is all a matter of three ingredients: time, energy, and focus. I have plenty of all three, enough to make something magical happen in my life.

It is really just a matter of time until I achieve my goals. I know what I want and I am starting to make it happen. It may take a long time, in fact it may take forever, but I have forever to wait if necessary, to allow myself to be completely and totally myself in all situations and interactions.

I have to not be afraid. I have to be courageous.

It is an important step for me to know that being myself is acceptable. Being myself is okay. Being myself is desired. Being myself is the only way I will be able to learn and let the right things go, and hold on to those which I cherish.

I know what to do.

I know how to do it.

I know what to think and be.

Myself.

My own version of my own person.

But this is where it starts. This is the beginning.

This is where it all began.

Where did it start for you?

Where were you when you started to bloom?

Do you remember? Can you remember where and when it all began for you?

"You Can't Get Out Backwards"

"Oh, you can't get out backwards. Gotta go forwards to go back. Better press on." - Willy Wonka

A Few Words of Encouragement (Or Lies I Should Have Convinced Myself Were True When I Started)

Save for future reference.



There is no one in the world like you. No one can make what you make. Though you may struggle and want to give up, you shouldn't. The only way past a hurdle is over it. Get up and jump.

You make your own way. The world does its own thing. Don't worry about it. What I mean is, don't pay any attention to what the world does. It doesn't concern you. You concern you. What you do all the time is what is important.

You are capable of anything, except what you won't try, or what you give up on. Try everything. Don't give up. Forge ahead as far as you can, then go a little further. You will be amazed at your ability to sustain and strengthen your resolve.

When its getting dark, light a torch. If you don't have a torch, light a candle. If you don't have a candle light a match. The light will guide you, but you have to shine the light. You have to be the one reaching out your arm with the light at the end of your fingertips, searching in the darkness for the path.

The road will rise up to meet you. You are on your own journey. You can't make a wrong turn. Just as it is impossible to get lost anymore, it is impossible to get lost anymore.

You already know the way to go. You already know where you want to be heading. Head in that direction. Become the person that you want to be.

There are no better ways to do what you are doing, because no one else is doing what you are doing. Don't search for a better way, just keep doing what you are doing. Just keeping making stuff and putting it out there.

There are no wrong answers, because there are no questions.

The only question that you have to ask yourself is... nothing. Don't ask questions of yourself, provide statements of fact. Get lost in the obvious.

Your audience is too big. Don't write for everyone. Write for one person. Write for one person, all the time. You can change the person you write for at any given time, but don't try to write for more than one person at a time. The audience is only ever one person at a time anyway.

There is no great time to blow up on the scene and infiltrate the world. There is only now. There will only ever be now. Allow now to be,  and be yourself now.

This is too cryptic, too vague. What I mean to say is, be yourself. You try so hard to be the person you think you should be, the person you think other people will like and react to. Just be yourself. Hang the rest out to dry.

What does it mean to be true to yourself? I feel like I want to say that, that you should be true to yourself, "to thine own self be true", but I think what I really want to say is.... Be yourself. Be who you are, foibles and problems and nonsense and all. Just let yourself be.

And when you let yourself be, share yourself. Others want to see people who are themselves, because that is who we all want to be. We don't want to be another person, we want to be most truly and fully ourselves. We want to be free to be ourselves all the time.

Keep creating. You may never ever get it right, but you need to keep doing it. What is right anyway? The rightest thing you can ever do at any time is to make something that is reflective of where you are in life.

Follow your dreams.

"Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake."
Henry David Thoreau

More than follow your dreams, live your dreams. Don't be like, "I can't live my dreams." Yes you fucking can. Just do it. Make your greatest dreams come true every minute of every day.

What do you want from life? Create it.

You can make anything. So make it already.

The best thing you can do is do.

You will give up before you even start. Know this about yourself, and then refuse to give up. Learn from your mistakes. Your mistakes are not the end. Learn from them and grow.

You are a beautiful person. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. Stop comparing yourself to others. Others don't matter. You do. You matter.

And because you matter, what you make matters, so keep making it, through the hard times and the good.

Don't create for others, create for yourself. You are why you got into this business in the first place. Make yourself happy, not others. Lead by following your own example.


Stop thinking about everyone else.

Stop thinking about everyone else.

You are creating because you can connect yourself to another person through writing, but you can't connect yourself to everyone at the same time. There is no mind meld when it comes to reading and writing. Everyone is affected uniquely as they experience writing and what is written. Leave your baggage out of it.

If you derail, don't worry.

You'll get back on track.

Keep making somethings. Keep trying. Stay with it. Stick to it. Make it happen. If you don't, no one else will.

You don't have time to stop making things. You don't have time to second guess yourself.

If I told you twenty years ago you would be where you are now, you wouldn't believe me, that's why you don't know where you'll be twenty years from now, because you wouldn't believe it anyway.

It's okay to not know the answer.

Make something of your life. No one else will.

Might as well live the dreams you have already.

No matter your best intentions, things don't turn out like you expect. That's not positive or negative, it's just a fact, Jack. So roll with it. Expect the unexpected: you'll be surprised anyway.

If you give yourself enough time, you'll talk yourself out of everything. Don't talk yourself out of this.

Save yourself a little time at the end to polish. Not a lot of time, like 2% of the making time is all you need. It won't be perfect, but that's what makes it perfect.

And this is the most important lesson of the day: stay grateful. You can't be anything without thanksgiving. Thanks to those who came before you, thanks to those who inspire you, thanks to those who formed your dreams, thanks to those whose dreams rest upon you, thanks to those who love you the most, but mostly, and most sincerely, thanks to the source of it all.

Thank you.

Time and Energy



One foot in front of the other. Bit by bit, I work and move forward. I press onward, and step by step, I am able to push ahead.

It can be slow going, and lack of visible movement can seem like no movement at all. But in the end I am going somewhere. In fact, I am hurtling through space and time, and moving ahead and beyond farther and faster than I can comprehend. It takes time and energy to move and respond. It takes time and energy to be a part of the working of the world.

If that is all it takes, time and energy, why am I not a part of more in the world and in life? I think because my time and energy are limited. But only self-limited. I limit my own time and energy. I limit the amount of time I spend on writing and expressing myself, and I deplete my energy by doing other things, some worthwhile, and others not.

Time is a finite and infinite concept. Clock time is finite. We don't get any back. Once the date and time are past, they cannot be reclaimed or brought back again. However, there are an infinite number of dates and times. I can experience new things all the time. All the time. All of the time there is something new. All of the time there is something new and worthy for me to get involved in.

It takes me time to create something new. It takes me a while to come up with a concept and to start typing and to turn it into reality. But really, it doesn't take that long at all. In fact, all I have to do is sit down and start typing.

Lo and behold, after that small amount of time and energy invested, there is a something on the other side. A blog post. A bit of energy and time, contained in words, spat out onto the other shore. And then there is the time and energy to be spent on honing what was written, so that there are no sharp edges, so that everything makes sense, so that the time I took to write it is as worthwhile as possible.

It is always worthwhile to create something new. It is always worthwhile to use time and energy to create something new.

And, as always, there is time to take a time out and check Facebook. That comes with the territory. There is always time for that ubiquitous reason for being online in the first place. To share. To be social. To be a part of what is going on in the lives of others.

It doesn't take long to understand that we are all together.

We are all one. We are all the same and all together in time and space. And when we realize we are all together and all the same and all one, then we can be different too.

What is happening here is that we are meeting. We are taking the time to meet and be a part of belonging to one another. And when we are a part of belonging to one another we take time and energy to share.

Time and energy are all the world is made up of: the two elements of all events and actions. Time and energy.

Energy is an accumulation of action and it's potential for being released. It takes a bit of time to create energy. It takes a bit of time to release energy. And when energy is created and released, it is always a special occasion.

What do I mean when I say that all it takes is time and energy? Time to pass and to invest, energy to use and to invest.  Energy is a glorious reason for being. I tend to not have enough of it. I tend to want more energy than I generally have. I want to obtain more and more energy as I move through life.

It is acceptable to watch others and learn from their interactions and experiences.

What am I learning by watching others?

I am learning that there is a glorious trend toward interaction, and that there must be interaction for the world to work and to expand. The most basic interaction is person to person interaction. We are all to become one, one giant family, living in peace and harmony. All it takes is time and energy.

So what am I wasting my time and energy on? Where can I stop investing time and energy and start moving some of my wasted time and energy toward something more meaningful and helpful? Toward something more mindful? Toward something more aware and all inclusive?

I am wasting my time and energy on being lazy. I am wasting my time and energy on smoking cigarettes. I am wasting my time and energy on being fearful and anxious about things that have never happened, and are unlikely to happen at all. The things I am fearful of may indeed happen, but it is unlikely that they will, and so it is more important for me to spend my time and energy elsewhere.

Where else do I waste my time and energy? On non-value added activities. What is a non-value added activity? Worrying. Spacing out. Daydreaming. Being without focus or action. Non-learning.

What should I be spending my time and energy on? On creative self expression. Because through self expression I am learning about myself, I am creating a process of creativity, I am allowing others to witness the process of creativity, and I am allowing others to benefit from my process of creativity.

It takes time and energy to creatively express myself. But it isn't a waste of time or energy. And it isn't false. It isn't deceptive. It is straightforward and part of reality.

I am part of reality. I am part of the truth of living. I am part of the learning and the unlearning of the universe. The unraveling of the truth and the unraveling of the false both happen at the same time. The duality of nature cannot last, and will not stand the test of time. We will all one day realize that all is one, and we are all together with the same love for each other.

"One love! One heart! Let's get together and feel alright" - Bob Marley

What am I going to do now? I am going to appreciate the time I spent here. It was worthwhile. I am going to be thankful that I got out and spent three dollars on a cup of coffee at Starbucks and wrote for twenty minutes and grew to know myself and my fellow humans better, while expending time and energy, while renewing my time and energy. It is an exercise, and all exercise is beneficial.

It doesn't take long for the calendar to turn around any longer. It takes no time at all in fact. We go along in all of our days and ways, and the next thing we know it is tomorrow and the next day and the day after.

It is wise to spend some time focused on the here and the now, stopping time as it passes for just a few moments, to reflect on where we are and where we were, and why we have come and become who we are in the world and beyond.

We are experiencing time as never before. We can sense ourselves hurtling through and past it, we can almost move at the speed with which our lives are lived. It doesn't take long, and it doesn't seem that we will have much longer to worry about the time we take and spend here and there.

I thank you for the time and the energy to create this.

I thank you for the opportunity to create.

I thank you for the action of writing and exercising my true creatively expressive self.

It doesn't take much time.

It doesn't take much energy.

But it does take a little of both.

And that is how we fly.

Sprinkle ourselves with the stardust of time and energy and fly off into the sunset.

Where will we land for the night?

Where will all our time and energy take us?

Only you can know.

Only I can know.

Take us somewhere. Appreciate the journey. Note the time and the energy provided and used.

Quote

"Just do your best. It's the only way to keep that last bit of sanity, maybe I don't have to be good, but I can try to be at least a little better than I've been so far." - The Avett Brothers

Quote


Success

"The secret of change is to focus all your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new." - Socrates

The secret to success is focusing all your energies, not on abhorring what you don't want, but on embracing what you do.



"Do you want to get understood?" - Spoon

Thoughts and Quotes

"Without planning, change will fail."

5 Steps of Change

  1. Pre-contemplation
  2. Contemplation
  3. Research and Planning (DO NOT skip this step)
  4. Action
  5. Maintenance
"In life, it's good not to get too comfortable."

Write the book. Create your life.

Create positive content.

Share often.

Be inclusive.

Develop a strong voice.

Allow space/time for wonder.

Bring it all in (focus).

Learn and love.

Be thankful. Be grateful. Share the thanks.

Give thanks for the inspiration.

Life is well worth living. It can be magical and glorious.

Live life to the fullest. Don't let time stand in the way. Clock time that is.

Buck the trend.

Allow yourself to be yourself.

Awake early in the morning each day.

Remember the reason for breathin'.

It is all gonna hang out sooner or later. Why not let it out now?

Make my life a musical masterpiece.

I am in the flow.

The mountain streams can feed my soul. The spirit lives and breathes.

THANK YOU!

What does it matter, you ask? It all matters.

Bring your spirit and let the source be your strength.

Work in all the corners of your mind to extract the ego.

Dismantle the ego.

Bring the ego forward in your mind and take it apart as a master craftsman would dismantle a timepiece.

Allow the source, the force, the spirit, to work in your life to accomplish amazing things.

Let go. Let go. Let go.

Let it be. Let it be. Let it be.

Allow. Allow. Allow.

The heart that is the hardest falls first.

The ending of the gap is the beginning of knowledge. Live in the gap.

The work of the universe knows no bounds.

There is no wrestling with the universe: only roughhousing and horseplay.

Let your dim light shine.

Reflect your light.

Allow it to be.

It is, was and always will be there, you and others just hid it under a bushel.

Make your mark. Not by will, but by spirit.

Come into being. The water is warm. (You might as well swim.)

Make a source forge in your mind for a space the source can work. Allow for many tries and many fails. Let it all be. Work the magic. The gift of the magi.

We are all so self-important, we can stand to get knocked down a few pegs. In fact, I'd like to bury my ego. Not bury it. Burn it.

That was fecking awesome!

This is where I live. This is my work, my play, that I refer to in my affirmations.

Make it special. Make it special. Make it special.

We are all children of the same universe.

Let us not mistreat our brothers and sisters. 

We cannot stand alone.

We need not fight at all.

Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me. Or someone else. I don't really care, but I will continue the chain, unbroken.

Work out all the kinks. Work out all the kinks. Work out all the kinks.

There is a chink in my armor. Let's exploit it.

It was amazing. And joyful. And full of glory.

When swimming, don't stay in your lane.

Go with the flow.

Breathe easy.

Rest in the knowledge that knowledge won't save you.

Do you need saving?

Do you need enlightenment?

Do you need an end to your suffering?

Only you can decide.

I can do nothing. The source can put tools out there to be revealed, to help, to lead and to guide, but ultimately it is up to the individual.

I have been gone so goddamn long, that it looks like home to me.

I'm back, baby.

Rest assured.

Breathe easy (Important to say it twice.)

When in the arms of the world, don't forget who built the arms. Don't reject the embrace, just remember who and / or what directs the embracing.

We all have much to learn and much to do and with all of it we can get through.

My mind wanders as I wonder and at times it gets stuck on something sharp. That is the ego. I just pinch off of that point and move on... *pop*...

Overwhelming sense of ease.

Breathing fills my day. There was once so much negativity but it is all gone now. I am in a space to create and to feel and to love.

Why did all this happen to me? Why did all of it come? Why did all of it go? It was beautiful, and that was the experience of it.

Make time to take time.

In the flow it does not matter to decide, you do not need to know, just go, take action, move on, let it all come and go, feel it if you want, it is the greatest experience I ever had.

I am not addicted, I just love and like it.

Be it compulsive? Something I cannot control? If I could control it, would I want to? Should I want to? Should's can desolve. Make my own way.

Breathe easy.

Relax.

Import. Implore. Empathize. Love.

The brilliant and the stupid both have the same potential for conscious awakening. In fact, the brilliant may have a disadvantage for they have to get out of their own way first.

These are my people. We are all our people. 

I am me. I am letting me be.

Breathe the fullness of life.

Lean into the flow.

Feel it.

It is always there. It always has been there. We have just been ignoring it.

I don't need to think. I need to feel. And through feeling, let it all out. But feeling is not the end.

Continue to let the ego go. Let it go. Let it go and go. There it is. Let it go.

Peace, Serenity. Presence. Relaxation. Nearness. Flow.

Thoughts are objects. Let's put them away for a while. We are like spoiled children with too many toys. Let's put all our thought toys away for a while. Relearn what the meaning and usefulness of thoughts are. I do not know what thoughts are for yet. I will try to put them all away then take them out again one by one to examine them.

I need an attitude adjustment around my perception of safety.

Connected.

It is free.

It is all.

What is it?

It is being.

Being is free.

Being is all.

Imagining and daydreaming do not get the job done. Thinking and acting do. Not thinking. Acting. Action.

"All personal breakthroughs begin with a change in beliefs."

"Learning is a web that grows outward, not inward. The branches expand and the mental spiders at the edges spin to create new content."

Who is the spider in this web?

Quotes for the New Consciousness

"It is what it is."

"Fuck yeah!"

"OK GO!"

"Make it so."

"Do or do not, there is no try." - Yoda

"Tell me the truth."

"Plenty 'o nosh and dranks."

"Lay some truth on me, brother."

"Pound it."

"Kick ass."

"Fecking awesome."

"Steer it up."

"Clear the mechanism." - Baseball movie with Kevin Costner

"That's fucking teamwork!" - Tenacious D

"He was waiting for something to be developed, and BOOM! he got developed!" - Madden

"The only thing to fear is fear itself." - Rickie / FDR

"Fucking sweet!"

"Stick that up your tailpipe and smoke it."

"Kick, don't splay."

"Take your shot, the worst thing you can do is miss." - MONK and maybe Pat Croce

"Where does evil come from?"

"People do not die." - Father Sleep

"Bah da bah bah bah! - AIDS." - Deano

"Kick, don't splay." - Important to record here twice

"Don't make a mountain out of a molehill."

"Make hay while the sun shines."

"The owner of a lonely heart is much better than the owner of a broken heart." - Yes

"Get down to bedrock."

"Make your life a musical masterpiece." - MONK

"Take that back to the hive and start fockin'." - MONK

"Do a favor for yourself, then three for someone else."

"What happens at summer camp stays at summer camp."

"What's the difference between a bug and a drone?"

"You look fucking bad ass!"

"Slide."

"Let all that truly doesn't matter... slide." - Fight Club - Chuck P.

"Take your helmet off."

"Breathe deep, let it all out."

"Srad, dogg."

"Put my deck in your mouth."

"At the end of the game, the queen and the pawn go into the same box." - MONK

"What doesn't destroy you only makes you stronger." - Gary / Neitzche

"It's never too late to be who you are." - Crispin

"Fuck it." - ADH

"I don't like the drugs but the drugs like me." - Marilyn Manson

"I don't have all the answers." - Crispin / Yoda

"Yeah bitch, magnets!" - BB / Aaron Paul

"Put on a diaper and you'll be fine." - Aaron Paul

"Gonna start to thread the needle."

"Be positive."

"Always look on the bright side of life."

"Flip the script."

"Someone will. All you need to do is help yourself."

"You have to help you before everyone else can help you."

"Ask for help and it will be given."


Sailing Heart Ships

"Sailing heart ships through broken harbors out on the waves in the night.
Still the searcher must ride the dark horse racing alone in his fright.
Tell me why. Tell me why."


America's Holiday Wish: Open Letter to Those with the Power to Change

Our fellow Americans,

We have reached a crossroads. We are standing on the corner wondering which direction to turn. There is traffic whizzing by. The traffic lights are out, not even blinking. Suddenly, a truck smashes into a sedan, and both drivers are left unharmed but dazed and confused as traffic continues to move quickly around the delay. We stand there and post the traffic incident to the news wire from our smartphone. We call the police, but they will be unable to respond for another hour or two due to other accidents around the city. We stand there. We are confused. We are cold and lonely. We page through our smartphone and think about leaning into that familiar distraction. But we don't want to look away this time. We decide for some reason that this time, we will look at the car wreck. Stare our issue square in the face. The times are changing. We are changing.

For the written history of mankind we have believed that forward progress and increased speed and complexity will make the world a better place. It is clear that advancements in technology, science and interdependence of systems has made life easier for many of us. But at what cost? We each lead terribly busy lives. We move quickly from one thing to the next, fulfilling obligations, taking care of business, making sure the children are cared for in one way or another. The holidays become an especially busy time, trying to cram all the buying, eating and drinking we can possibly handle into our already busting-at-the-seams lifestyle. On a larger scale, our educational system is not providing the education required for the jobs our companies are creating. Our youth are not able to find jobs easily, or are unwilling to take jobs they feel are below their stature. Experienced personnel are being replaced by entry level workers for reasons of cost alone, disenfranchising the companies of valuable resources. The political system is too busy with infighting to get necessary, important and beneficial tasks accomplished.



The truth is, we are running out of time. We can't squeeze any more "life" into our days. We are in such a rush, that we have begun to disregard other people. People who we feel are in our way or trying to slow us down. We want exactly what we want, when we want it. But our days are so full, that we rarely have time to get exactly what we want. We almost don't even know what we want any more. What do we want? If we are honest, are we pleased with all the things we have put into our days? That is a question we each need to ask ourselves. If we are not pleased, we need to change. Forward progress, increased speed and interconnected complexity are only alleviating the symptoms of our core problem. We need more time.

The good news is we can get more time. We can take more time. We can minimize our schedules and take the time we need to do the things we want. We can re-prioritize the way we live to include enough time so that we are not always rushing. Not disregarding other people in order to get to the next thing.



There is another force that we have at our disposal that can combine with time to fix our predicament. It is our most precious resource. Thankfully, it is a sustainable resource, and forever renewable. It is what keeps the engines of our hearts cranking, what makes faith, hope and progress possible. This unending force is simple, and we all have plenty of it. The force is love, and contrary to popular belief, love won't run out, it only changes. The love we have for our family doesn't have to stop at our front doors. We can love our neighbors with as much fervor as we love our children, just in a different way. Love has no hierarchical structure. Either we love someone or something, or we don't.  There is no need to compare how much we love one another.

We have created a system that rewards individuality. Our uniqueness is an important part of who we are. Each individual has an amazing capacity for nuance and differentiation. But along with all our differences and diversity, we are all the same. We all want the same things. We may have covered up our similarities with individualism, but at the center of our being we all want the same things. We all want to be happy. We all want things to be easy. We all want to be whole and love those around us.

Albert Einstein said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. This holiday season, we would like to try something different. Let's slow down instead of speeding up. Let's take time to be able to enjoy what we really cherish in our lives: time to share our love with each other. Life is not about all the work, chores and obligations we have to do, though we do have to do those things. Life is about all the love we have to give, about loving those around us. Life is about taking time to really tell the world and ourselves that we are loved and cherished and that every. little. thing. is. going. to. be. alright. We have often forgotten that love and time can heal all wounds. With love and time, we can heal our own wounds...

America, we were once the shining beacon of the world, but have let ourselves down over the past few generations, so low we can barely cover the costs of our own mounting debt. Give us a chance to love each other again. Not just our immediate families, but our friends, neighbors and colleagues as well. Acquaintances. Strangers! Let's use love to open the key to our hearts and let others in.

We no longer need to be in such a hurry to get things done. What is meant to be done, will be done, and the rest doesn't matter yet. Take time to enjoy other's company. Strike up a conversation while in the check out lines. Chat with a stranger while taking a walk in the park.

To each of the congressmen and women, to the President and all the White House staff, to all three branches of the government, to the 1% and the 99%, to those disenfranchised by the system, and those who thrive in this country, to foreign aliens who have made America their home, whether permanently or temporarily, to EVERYONE who collects a paycheck with the words "Tax" or "In God We Trust" written on the pay stub, we want to try something different for a change this holiday season. Here are some ways we can make a difference.

Give a monetary gift to everyone before the holidays. Issue a check or wire money to everyone in America. If necessary, call back government subsidies or loans to current or former Fortune 500 companies in order to accomplish this in a timely manner. Undocumented workers can be paid from company profits. The money can be used by individuals to pay the bills, or hopefully just to get that great Christmas gift or dinner or experience that may not have been purchased without help.

No scare tactics are necessary to get the buyers in the stores this holiday season. With all this pre-holiday gift money floating around, retailers can rest assured that their books will balance without having to make people feel like they won't get a good deal if they don't knock somebody else over on the morning of Black Friday. Starting at 00:01 on Black Friday, all items would be priced and supplied so that the prices are as low as possible, while still covering costs and helping the companies get into the black. The prices would stay low and rise incrementally back to their standard prices as supply and demand dictate. A Black Month instead of a Black Day.

Unfortunately the government shut down for a decent period of time this year. Maybe we should follow suit and close all the businesses between Christmas and New Year's. Or at least make work voluntary, and base the work schedule on those who actually do want to work during the holiday week.

Let's have that holiday week be a week of positive influence for everyone. Let's show only positive movies and stories on all the stations. The programming can be pre-formatted so the staff and engineers don't even have to be there. Our news can be devastating in it's coverage of all the negative things that are going on. Let's read that important but negative news like a monotone telegraph wire every ten minutes, without video, and focus instead on the positive changes we are making as a nation.

We find ourselves still standing at the crossroads. The traffic is whizzing by the accident and no one has come to help. We decide it is time for action. We walk over and make sure all the people are alright. They are fine and begin to exchange insurance information, while waiting for a tow truck.We look down and see a whistle around our neck. In our hand is a flashlight. We look up at the traffic light and see that it is still off. The traffic is going wild around us.

What will we do?

What can we do?

We can take our time and love and step into that intersection and start directing traffic. We can start showing the way for all the busy people who can't seem to slow down. Start showing everyone that there can be a new way that is different, that things are changing. That we are changing.



Time is on our side. We have all the time in the world to become the people we are meant to be. We just need to take it. Love is in our hearts. We have an immense capacity for love that we haven't yet tapped into. We have all the love we need, we just have to give it.

To modify what one of our wonderful songwriters wrote, : "In the caverns of tomorrow with just the flashlights of our love, we must shine, we must shine, we must shine."

Let us shine. Let us love. Let's take our time and let us, the people, come back to work for you, America.

Thoughts

Identify your feelings. Acknowledge that they exist.

"Hi, how you doin'?"

  • We rarely want the person we asked to truthfully answer that question
"Good, thanks, how you doin'?"

  • We rarely want to truthfully answer that question
BUT

We must answer these questions honestly for ourselves on a regular basis. How am I doing? What do I need to do better or differently to be doing in a way I would rather be doing?

Why is negativity a stronger force than positivity?

Why do we like to wallow?

A gratefulness log - must write something different that you are grateful for each entry, no repeats. Why no repeats? Then we can start to become thankful for each and every little thing and experience in our lives. The goal is really to be thankful for every thing we have in our lives, not taking anything for granted.

"Successful people in life often become more successful because they are constantly thinking of their successes."

Define your own version of success.