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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…
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Do NOT Help Car Dealerships!
Car dealerships will always put their decals and license plate holders on your new car. They want you, the person they have just made thousands of dollars with, to advertise their dealership for free! WTH, really? Do not do it. If you buy a new car, make the dealership take all of their advertising OFF of your car. You don’t need their name on your car! -
I have been crying for 21 hours now and I know that she has been crying for a while longer
Here is the difficulty with love, the agony of separation. The awful, awful feeling of loss, the knowledge that your time is limited. The knowledge that you have become a visitor in the lives of those who you have been with, every single day, for decades. My daughters are beautiful, loving and smart women. Our relationships are often intense and always close. Our mutual feeling of intimacy is our harbor to ride out any storm that the world can throw at us. Four years ago we decided to change everything; change was inevitable, beautiful young women cannot “hang out” with their mother forever.
Honestly, in the last 4 years I have maintained an idea that our separation was temporary. I imagined myself right down the street from my daughters, just as my mother and I lived, close by each other. It seems to be the best way to raise kids; everyone living close by watching over the babies mutually.
Rhea is such an awesome woman to be with. When I am with her, I believe that everything will be taken care of. She has an air of confidence and competence, it just surrounds her. She is always beautiful, she works hard to maintain herself in a very healthy way and it’s awe-inspiring to watch. Now that Rhea has two sons, 11 months apart, she exhibits a lovely vitality that maintains who she is, separate from the kids. Rhea is one of those people that you just want to be around. Rhea is dedicated to her sister Johanna in an unusual way. Nothing on earth separates their love for each other, nothing. They have been horrible to each other, yet it is of no matter to their relationship.
Johanna’s gifts are so very different. You wish to be with Johanna because you will feel loved and completely accepted by her. That is why it is so important to be near her. There is no substitute for feeling loved like that.
All of America wants to say that “Everything happens for a reason.” I am so heartbroken right now, what could be the reason for that? -
Freedom
What I learned in school was that America was founded on the concept of escaping autocratic rule that was unjust. What I have learned in life is that it is not about autocracy, rather it is more about unceasing greed and the willingness to use wealth as a means to garner more wealth through any possible deed.I do not think that people escaped to America so much because they were chasing “freedom”. Instead I believe that people escaped to America in hopes of economic gain. European aristocracy was so oppressive that the only means for people to have any hope to keep what they earned was to flee and escape.
I am thinking that the world is looking that way again. Once again, the wealthy are using oppression to control others and keep others from gaining any wealth.
History teaches us, but the world changes; average, everyday people are finding power with each other. Those who would oppress, chase us into corners rather than to distant shores.
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Oh Stop It Really
Do you really need “shops” to browse through and at the end of the day, macaroni and cheese? It seems like lately… all we talk about is what makes us comfortable and our own comfort food.I’m guessing that we are a culture that is at the top of Maslow’s hierarchy. We have conquered hunger, for the most part, and we do not know what to focus on and how to find our actualized self. But – I am telling you that actualization will NOT be found in macaroni and cheese AND endless discussions about our own comfort.
The world is NOT about us, it just isn’t. The world has it’s own agenda, we are just part of it. Our personal comfort does not even make the top 10.
So really… stop. It’s not about you, your comfort, and really, it is not even about your self actualization. The world is more…so much more.