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David Parker, A Moment in 2008
It was once tranquil, blossoming with life,With days telling truths to utopia,
Neighboring nights of clear skies, stars were rife,
Just seen by those cursed with myopia.
For among the flowers, the black rose grows,
The sun infected before the twilight,
Cause the weary moon with doubt that arose,
Though, the meadow below keeps with the fight.
The outskirts of the field remain lambent,
As the rose consumes more, the light thrives yet,
New life thrusts right through, without circumvent,
In time it will consume the silhouette.
True light is born by breaking through the dark,
New plants will grow, trees will thicken their bark.
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Perception is Reality
But, only in the therapist’s office and only on the Dr. Phil show. Perception is important, but it is not the truth and to say that it is is to deny reasoning people the opportunity to discuss matters and come to the truth in a situation. For example, we use our legal system to help us with this chore thousands of times per day.So often, people cannot talk their way through difficult situations and difficult feelings. When communication does not happen, then we are left with our perception which is our own way of thinking that purposes from our own selves. That is why it is so important for communication to actually occur between two people. When we are left with only our perception, it is often flawed by what we have decided is true about the world. Often our perception stems out of our feelings of inadequacy and powerlessness, or conversely an over-inflated sense of our own importance and need for self-indulgence. Perception is a one way street without discovery and without discussion and input from others.
This is only one reason why discussion is important. Other people help us through with discussions because humans have a habit of thinking themselves down a slippery slope. It is the world famous discussion that we have with ourselves when we truly want something and don’t believe it is possible. Being able to speak with others is often a source of inspiration and faith. It is a fact that society and community shapes lives. For example; it is a fact that teenagers who attend churches with teen on teen activities are much less likely to pick up drugs in their lifetime.
So, next time you hear the term “Perception is Reality” realize that you are either 1. in a therapist’s office 2. on the Dr. Phil show or 3. speaking with someone who really does not want to communicate ;).
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Never Judge and Criticize Anyone: If You Do, It Pretty Much Guarantees That You Will Have to Walk Through That Person’s Particular Hell
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Choice is an Event That Must Be Maintained
In our lifetimes, we do not make that one choice and then that is it. Wish that it were, but life is not that simple. As an example, marriage is an ongoing choice that you must maintain in order for the marriage to be successful. It is not enough to choose your mate and then proceed to the big public event called wedding, you must also then continue to choose your mate long after the ceremony is over. If you are lying to your partner, then you are NOT choosing your mate, you are choosing something / someone else. Marriage is a relationship that fails with dishonesty. If you are abusive towards your partner, again, you are not choosing your mate, you are choosing something else, because the relationship will fail in the face of abusive practice. It is a moment by moment opportunity, you can change your choice in the next moment and end your relationship, if that is your choice.Choosing to be healthy is like that. On January First you may choose to be healthy and lose weight, however, you must re-choose to be healthy every single day, 3 or 4 or even 10 times per day. This is the difficulty with choosing, many people do not understand that the first choice is only the beginning and there will be many challenges to success. Challenges will take many forms; often, when your commitment is to yourself, then the challenge will come FROM you. Being successful requires us to continue to re-choose our commitments. Sometimes that means that we must work with our own contrary nature, or our own analytic efforts at distraction or destruction. Make no mistake, in order to be successful in our commitment, we must re-choose, over and over again.
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“Junk” and “Stylish” New Furniture
I’ve got to say that I do not think that there is a difference between “junk” and “new”. I’ve long ago noticed that designers invent a new color and a new curlicue, every single year. The reason they do this is to motivate people to buy new, in order to be “hip”. Stylists date, furniture, clothing and even sheets in this manner. The other point here is how we, as Americans, interpret ourselves based on our belongings. We actually invest our personal self value in our material wealth.If you have an old piece of furniture that your grandma once owned and this piece of furniture is NOT an antique, then what is it? It is furniture that says “I’m broke and I cannot afford to pick out what I want.” On the other hand, if you acquire something that stylists say is this year’s color and has this year’s curlicue, then you may show it proudly to your friends and pronounce “I can afford keeping up with the Jones-es.”
This kind of perception is powerful buying motivation for people. This is the perception that keeps furniture stores busy and clothing stores swamped with customers. It’s interesting, because in the end, no one is better off except the people who own stores and manufacturers. Our normal and everyday self does not benefit from a new piece of furniture in any way. There are those that say that new clothing is a nice ego boost, and I can’t argue with that. But, I can ask, and do you need a new ego boost every week?
The point is, that business owners using a thing called marketing, via TV, internet and print, convince people that they are “better” via a concept called wealth and that humans should prove their wealth by purchasing things. As a result of all of this purchasing, we own thousands of square miles of something called “Storage Space” and tens of thousands of square miles of something called “Garbage Dump”. It’s not productive and it saps energy, but there it is, too much stuff…