Daily Inspiration 3-14-19

"I am now choosing

to see my neighbor,

to see all those before me in love.

And I know that love is

unconditional acceptance."

-- Paul Selig,

The Book of Love and Creation

[Classic post from 10-2-17]

They continue:

"Every man and woman on this planet only wants to be loved. That is all they want, whether or not they will admit it. All they want is love. And what love truly is, is true acceptance regardless of who or what they think or they believe they may have been, done, seen, or anything else."

In the last several days I've stated that I'm shocked as I think about the fact that through thousands of years of evolution, we have continued to choose the same things over and over, knowing fully that they didn't work before.

We have so many justifications for acting out of love. We stand on our righteousness, and in our company in historical agreement to those same things in the same way we've always done them. The same reactions to the same kind of events. The same expectations of how people should be or react or live.

As we hold on to being right, being good over evil and such perspectives, we see separation between each other as human beings, and separate from God at the same time.

This is all choice. It is chosen again and again, even for hundreds and thousands of years. We can choose differently. We have the ability and the power to choose differently. It may feel like new ground for a while, but as we decide to change, to see the world with different eyes, to respond rather than react, we move toward love and away from fear.

Practicing some affirmations will help remind us perhaps. I know that it has for me. "I am now choosing to see that which I see before me in Divine Love." What a powerful choice. I am choosing love. I choose love. I see the Divine in each person regardless of their actions. I may not approve of their actions, but to deny their Divinity is to deny our own, and that of God as well.

What is the value of being right? Is it as valuable as loving without condition? Who am I to judge? Who am I to love? Who am I in fear? How do I act in fear? Who am I when I am loving? How do I see the world through the eyes of love?


Great Questions. Choosing Differently. Acting Differently. A Life In Love. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by deciding how you want to see the world. I'm hoping that that view is full of joy, unconditional love and acceptance, and appreciation. It is your choice, of course.

Daily Inspiration 3-13-19

"Be hearty
in your approbation
and lavish
in your praise."

-- Dale Carnegie

[Classic post from 9-10-18]

A couple of days ago I was looking at information on a new Redbox release of a movie and it had two reviews. I was amazed at one and laughed at them both. The title of the movie doesn't really matter, but it was Ideal Home. Redbox has a 5-star possible rating.

Here was the 3-star positive review:

"This movie is a heartwarming story, with lots of witty banter that makes you laugh. Touching, funny, well written. Even my boyfriend, who thought it was going to be stupid, [he] thought it was funny, and enjoyed watching it. Well worth the watch. I almost gave it a 4-star."

Here was the negative 1-star review:

"liberal rubbish."

I thought it was interesting that the 3-star was so positive and using words like heartwarming, touching, funny, lots of witty banter, and well written, and yet only gave it a 3-star rating. She even mentioned that she was on the fence of giving it a 4-star rating but chose not to.

The other review, of which I have seen so many on Redbox and elsewhere is so negative that it isn't worth any more than some laughter at the effort they took to put it down. How sad.

So, here's the message I intended. Why would we withhold praise? Why would we withhold approval? What are we saving those other two stars for? Why would you want to spread dung as in the liberal rubbish quote? What value is that coming out of our minds and fingers or mouth?

The joy of appreciation is in appreciation. The value of praise is in the praise or the upliftment. The value of approval is in approving. 

I have learned that to approve and appreciate and to praise openly and often has caused the most dramatic shift in my love centeredness. The Apostle Paul said to "pray without ceasing." This is to be in love, to be in joy, and to see the world with the new eyes of being "born again."

Years ago back in the 1970's, I studied Transactional Analysis. In that, there were those who stated that we have two bags with us at all times. One is a bag of warm fuzzies. They feel good to give and feel good to get and they are just delightful things to share with the world around us. The other bag had cold pricklies. These feel cold, harsh, and are not desired by anyone. Yet, somehow we came to think that the bag may become empty, and so we began saving our warm fuzzies for those special times and with special people. We never want to run out of warm fuzzies. They are so valuable that we must be careful not to empty the bag, and so we dip into the cold pricklies so that we at least give something. 

But, the underlying truth is that both bags are bottomless, and when we realize that we can pray without ceasing, praise lavishly, and be in love every moment of every day, we can then drop the cold pricklies bag and stick with the only bag we will ever really want or need.

The Choice Is Ours Alone. Knowledge Is Powerful. Awareness Is Supreme.

Spread some joy today--by being hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise. Give lots of 5-star reviews wherever you roam. You will notice the difference immediately.

Daily Inspiration 3-12-19

"What would religion do

without the devil?"

-- Alan Cohen

[Classic post from 9-1-17]

Indeed. What would the protagonist do without the antagonist? As I consider all the ways I can think of in how struggle, roadblocks, external authorities, and our own internal games play in the mixture of living life, I see nothing but the same. Well, perhaps, the same with a different name and face and time. But, same modus operandi nonetheless.

Yet, we all have the power to change this. We have always had the power; however, we have not often used it. The reason we have not is that we see the big bad wolf and we are scared. Our fear rules.

The more I grow in my studies, the clearer all of life becomes. The fact that we are dealing with the same scenarios and situations that plagued humanity thousands of years ago is an amazing thing to me. Why has it not changed? I know the answer: WE haven't changed. And, since we are the perceivers of our world, if we don't change, our world doesn't change either.

I have so loved this quote from Jim Rohn: "For things to change, you have to change." But, this is not clear enough. It is still focused on the outside. A far better way to state this truth is this way: "For things to change, I need to change." Yet, this is an edict. We have the power of choice. So, the best way to say it might be this: "If I want things outside of me to change, inside of me to change, I have the power to change what I think, what decisions I make, and how I act, react, or choose not to act."

As one changes, that one gives permission to all others to change as well. Lao Tzu stated that "the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step," and so it is with one person's change. The journey to change your own environment, the collective environment begins with ourselves in whatever capacity or situation we may find ourselves in.


No Longer Waiting On The World To Change! 

Spread Some Joy Today--by creating the world of your dreams.

Daily Inspiration 3-11-19

Make more decisions in every day. 

Because a decision is a summoning of life.

-- Abraham, Esther Hicks

[Classic post from 8-27-18]

As I was reading yet another post from Abraham, Esther Hicks (I get one every single day), I was amazed and delighted anew. The way they explain things so that it is so easy to understand without a bunch of hocus-pocus, ten-twelve-twenty step confusion is so empowering to me. So, here's the quote that was the reason I am writing this today:

"Make more decisions in every day. Because a decision is a summoning of life. That’s why a little chaos is good for you because often you don’t make a decision until you get yourself in a jam. And then, in the middle of the jam, you make a decision, but that decision summons Life Force. Have you ever been a place where you couldn’t quite make up your mind and you just felt sort of limp? “Oh, I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.” And then you decided, and you felt alive again. We want you to know that you’ll never get it done. So don’t approach this from, “I gotta get on this” because you’re not ever going to get it done, anyway. And the other thing we want you to know is, you cannot get it wrong. So, make a decision. Let it flow."

I imagine that you can relate as I do how we get ourselves into a situation where we are sort of forced to make some kind of decision to help extricate us from the situation we are not pleased with. It might even feel a bit painful at the time; however, as Abraham states, that is a summoning of life energy. We don't think of it that way, do we? Yet I love how they see that big picture that then takes the heat off of the whole scenario. We are summoning life energy. It's all good. We can't get it wrong. It is living the life and we are the constant choosers though we may think we are justified in blaming someone or something else for our troubles.

And, just because I'm in the praising mood of Abraham, here is another that follows very well with the above quote:

"There are no choices that are really a detour that will take you far from where you’re wanting to be — because your Inner Being is always guiding you to the next, and the next, and the next. So don’t be concerned that you may make a fatal choice, because there aren’t any of those. You are always finding your balance. It’s a never-ending process."

The key thought here for me is this: We are always finding our balance. It is a never-ending process! Yes! Constantly finding our balance as we make choices, as we make decisions, as we are learning.

I celebrate mostly the simplicity of the Teachings of Abraham and how I resonate with all of it as if I have always known it this way!


Happy Monday!

Spread some joy today--Absolutely. What better thing to spread. Be a carrier. Spread your contagiousness around.

Daily Inspiration 3-10-19

"Life instructs,

regardless.

Love is all,

regardless."

-- Terry Minion

[Classic post from 5-23-18]

Last night, I was laying in bed and the words above came into my mind. It is always strangely fascinating when this happens.

As I have been studying for so long now, it has become clear to me that life is instructing whether we are paying any attention to it or not. Learning is building, though we have full choice to ignore it or to open up to it. It has become equally clear that in the end there is only love, which reminds me of that early Beatles song, "love, love, love, all you need is love, do-ta-do-ta-do," except that this would be: "love, love, love, all there is is love!" Everything else is an illusion, something we simply made up either individually or collectively.

It is easy now for me to look back and see how life has always been instructing me. It is easy to look back and see that however painful something seemed at the time that I was learning what I needed to learn from that experience. There are surely many of those experiences. It is my awareness or paying attention now that allows me to celebrate those times and become so grateful for them, otherwise, I would be dragging unhappiness along with me everywhere I went. The challenge for me in my growth has not been to see the value then in my now, but to see the value as it is occurring in my present moments. I have been playing with this for some time in the last couple of years and I am making so much progress that I am celebrating that right now.

Seeing instruction and the learning that comes from experience is one thing, and learning to see that love is all there is, well, that is somewhat more challenging. Yet, I am getting this day by day and I am so grateful to Abraham, Esther Hick's work which I've studied since 2007, along with Bashar, and Paul Selig's work more recently.

It's easy to not see that love is all there is. In fact, I could even say that it seems to be the norm, but one thing to me has become clear: All that is an illusion. It merely attempts to cover love with fear. I used to think that all there is, in the end, is love and fear and our choice is between them. What I see now is that fear is simply an illusion. I think of fear as a hill blocking the sunrise or sunset and then simply walking to the top of the hill and see nothing but the sunrise or the sunset. Fear is no more unless I choose to see it or pay attention to it as being real.

I used to think that there is all this nasty stuff going on in the world and now I see that was in my head and covering up my heart. As I learn to see the instruction that life has been giving me all along and open my eyes to the love that is all around me everywhere, I am whole, renewed of mind, in peace with all including and perhaps especially within myself. Truly, that is where peace begins. It is not without, but within. As is love. To seek love without is to accept fear as real, which makes love something that is fragile, yet love is all the strength there is. It is the strongest thing. It is the only thing.


Love Is All There Is.

Spread some joy today--by opening your heart and mind to the inner knowing that we each have that love is all. As you do, you are filled with joy.

Daily Inspiration 3-9-19

Number one:

Stop all criticism.

-- Louise L. Hay

from a live talk,

How To Love Yourself

[Classic post from 5-21-18]

I went for a long walk today and listened to a one hour live recorded audio titled, How To Love Yourself by Louise L. Hay. She had ten steps to discuss loving ourselves more and she said that if we only did number one, all the other steps would take care of themselves with no effort. The number one step is to stop all criticism. That begins with all self-criticism, and any criticism of others, things, circumstances, whatever.

How many times each and every day do we criticize ourselves, or others, or to be critical of circumstances and things? The worst thing is to be critical of ourselves. It is so disempowering. It's been said that there is no such thing as constructive criticism, and I agree with that; however, we do have discernment at our beckon call. Discernment is simply a choice of what we want or don't want, but it is not born of criticism. To be critical is to be judgmental. and it is such a negative thing that if we could or would simply cease this one activity of the mind, our lives would dramatically improve immediately.

Try it for yourself. Stop all criticism for one hour, then one day, then one week and watch what happens. It may take a while but it is worth the effort of practice to move toward a far more loving and fruitful life and the thing that will help us move away from being critical, and especially of ourselves, is to begin to praise ourselves and to praise others.


Praise Will Release All Criticism Very Quickly.

Spread some joy today--in your delight in yourself and those around you. Praise is a choice, criticism is a choice, and joy is a choice. We are the choosers.

Daily Inspiration 3-8-19

"Lifting weights without resistance

is completely pointless 

and without any benefit whatsoever."

-- Albert K. Strong

[Classic post from 5-20-18]

I went for a walk yesterday and I was listening to an audiobook and one thing that was said at the end of the book about this very successful entrepreneur. The author said that he would continue to innovate as long as he was leading the company and able and would be equally successful, or when there was no one that was standing in his way. I thought, "Wow! That is a powerful attribute of contrast in the overall value of successful accomplishment!"

So often we may think that if no one was in our way or things were lined up perfectly so that there was no resistance to our forward momentum that all would be so much better, in fact, well. My thoughts on this walk were that this is not the case and that there is so much value, in contrast, resistance, naysayers, and the like, that we should be praising their very existence. It seemed to me that without them, there would be little of value created.

Just imagine the growth and expansion that comes from those who are resisting our progress. That resistance strengthens us. It causes us to rethink, to reimagine, to reformulate and to refocus. All of that is powerfully good and has a tendency to help us come to conclusions that would not have been available to us in any other way. These things cause us to expand, to become more, to create better ways, to expand our own knowledge as we expand our influence.

So today, I suggest that instead of thinking negatively about other people and their lack of support and participation that we thank them instead. Get excited when people are pushing against our ideas and thoughts. Get excited about people having other ideas. Begin to find value in that miraculous collaboration that comes from the Ying and the Yang. Get fired up about hearing no, or hearing the boss or whoever thinking we have a screw loose. Get jazzed about the possibilities that can come from this delightful, insightful, and empowering contrast.


It's All Good When We See With The Right Eyes!

Spread some joy today--by feeling joy instead of unhappiness when others seem to be pushing against our thoughts and ideas. Listen and learn and find the joy in what they are bringing to the table!

Daily Inspiration 3-7-19

"Illness or pain

is just an extension of negative emotion. 

When you are no longer feeling any resistance to it, 

it's a non-issue." 

-- Abraham, Esther Hicks

[Classic post from 4-25-18]

When I read the quote above, the first thing that popped into my mind was the title of The Beatles song, Let It Be. Then I immediately heard the song in my head.

Let's see if I remember the lyrics. . .

When I'm in my hour of darkness, that is when I need to sing: That's my final answer, let it be, let it be.

I used to feel so down and dreary, but now I have new eyes that see, me honor my emotion and let it be, let it be.

Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be. I now focus on the light of God and all the rest, I let it be.

I know it was something like that. And, of course, it is true and we know that in our own lives that regardless of what is currently vying for our attention, we always have the choice to choose the direction and amplification of our gaze.

To lament the negative emotion we are feeling, however justified we think we are, it is always and only harming ourselves. Even as someone or some situation seemed to have been the culprit in our feeling of demise and anger, it is our resistance to it--our struggle with that emotional jungle gym that causes increased pain and illness.

I have found the intense value in honoring the feeling that I am having, and then to simply and exquisitely let it be. Like this: "Oh, that's interesting. Hmm. I think I would rather look over here at that warm bright light!" As I turn toward that light, I am released from the torture of my own resistance. I am back in alignment with All-That-Is, my True Self, my Inner Being, my God within.

Here's a final bit for the moment from Abraham, Esther Hicks gleaned from the DVD, New Thoughts. New Ideas:

"It's about alignment. When you have things on your mind, and you do, And when these things that are on your mind are on your mind because they are active in your vibration, and that's the way it works, then it serves you to find a way of making those things that are on your mind fit in a way that feels good to you. And, that is the only medicine."


I'm Laying Down The Rope Now, Let It Be, Let It Be.

Spread Some Joy Today--feeling your way to health and joy. Others will notice!

Daily Inspiration 3-6-19

"Inner peace is never more than one thought away.

-- Alan Cohen

[Classic post from 4-24-18]

Of course, I totally agree with Alan Cohen and his quote above. There is one thing though. . . it sounds so easy. And, it is. And, it's not. It's easy when we haven't gotten into the feeling of the thought, and it's harder when we have. Once we start feeling it, we are quickly attracting more thoughts that create very similar feelings, and as we spend some time pouting about it, talking about it, even just thinking about it within our own head, we heap layers and layers of resistance on ourselves and simply changing a thought has such a hard time getting through those layers.

Many people probably think of me as someone who doesn't let things upset me very much and maybe even some think that I'm happy all the time. It's true that I no longer let things get going within me for very long as to cause me to feel down--or, at least, nowhere near how down I've been in the past. I do know what depression and powerlessness feels like because there were times in my life where I was like the dog getting wagged by the tail letting all manner of things within my mind and visually expressed outside of me seemed to lead my life from pain to feeling okay and it was all over the map of emotions so to speak.

Now that I am aware where the tail is and that I am in charge of my own tail, I never get that far down the emotional rollercoaster, but I do get down. It is more like an off feeling as in I'm not feeling good and I would rather feel good. The good news about this is that I know what to do now. Before, I would think about it and create more layers, and now, I do as Anthony Robbins taught me: Change my state. In other words, do something. Sometimes anything will do. Move. Go for a walk, a bike ride, a car ride with the windows down, or exercise, or almost any movement that gets me out of that state I was stuck in.

Sometimes going to sleep helps. It's too early to go to bed normally, but that is the tail wagging the dog again. Who cares? I need rest. I need to change my state. I need to get back to feeling better, feeling better about myself, and feeling better about living.

I got that way today and I immediately recognized the symptoms and turned on the Blue Ray Player and inserted a movie that causes me to laugh hysterically out loud every single time I watch it and it is inspiring at the same time. That movie is my top go-to movie: Morning Glory with Harrison Ford, Rachel McAdams, and Diane Keaton. The one in the cast that gives me the most laughing though is an actor named Matt Malloy. So tonight, I watched this wonderful movie again and I was back where I wanted to be. I changed my state. I changed my thoughts. I let go of that resistance that was trying to pull me down.

Once I realize what is going on in my mind and in my thoughts and actions, I have control. The only question is, do I exercise it? That answer for me is, yes! I often call it practice. I honor how I'm feeling, and then I ask myself if this is how I want to feel and if it isn't, then I change my state. Sometimes it is a movie, other times I've gone to bed really early. Sometimes I go for a walk, or sometimes I call my business partner because he always makes me laugh. The bottom line is that I am wagging my own tail. On purpose.


How Do You Want To Feel? Wag Your Own Tail.

Spread Some Joy Today--Woof! Woof!

Daily Inspiration 3-5-19

"In each of us, there is a spark 

that can reverse the trends 

of violence and depression 

spiraling within us 

and in the world around us. 

By setting in motion 

the spiral of gratefulness 

we begin the journey 

toward peace and joy."

--Br. David Steindl-Rast

[Classic post from 4-23-18]

We don't fix things by focusing on the things we perceive that need fixing. We fix things by focusing on the unbrokenness of things.

It doesn't matter what we are thinking and feeling right now. It is as temporary as anything in the world is temporary, and by the way, everything is temporary! All that matters is that we are okay with where we are. If we are, all is good, even if it may seem bad to someone else.

However, if we are not pleased with where we are, don't like the feeling of it and don't want this, as we realize that everything is temporary, this need not last any longer than right this moment. We have the power to change it in a heartbeat by changing our thoughts about it. This will change the feeling of it, and as we open our eyes, we will see the manifesting of the change in motion.

Here's some great wisdom from Abraham, Esther Hicks on this subject:

"There are many situations, attitudes, lifestyles-even food choices-that you do not want to participate with. Through the living of your life, you have identified many wanted and unwanted aspects, and it is important to remember that none of those unwanted things can jump into your experience, because there is no assertion in your attraction-based Universe. [Bold type is mine because this line jumps off the page toward me!]

The choices that others make cannot negatively impact your experience unless you include them in your experience through your attention to them. Things come to you only through your Vibrational invitation-and they remain only by your continuing attention to them.

Your Universe is based upon freedom. Freedom for everyone to choose what they give their attention to, and therefore what they choose to experience. And your interaction with one another provides a contrasting basis that assures continual expansion.

When others achieve Vibrational alignment with something they desire, they in no way deprive you of your desires. If your time-space reality has inspired a desire within you, it is certain that your desire can be fulfilled, for your Earth environment has the potential of satisfying the essence of all desires."


Whatever We Choose To Look At We Will See.

Spread Some Joy Today--by choosing what causes joy within you, or as much as possible.

Daily Inspiration 3-4-19

"Just let it be

and figure it out along the way." 

-- Abraham, Esther Hicks 

[Classic post from 4-20-18]

It occurred to me a few minutes ago while standing outside feeling the sun and enjoying the clear blue sky and the nice breeze that so much of my learning that has been of value has come from my focus on how it feels to me. Does it resonate with me? Does it feel like I am in alignment? Does it feel like the truth to me?

No, it is not about right and wrong, and it isn't about anyone else's truth, or edicts of so-called truth regardless of the source. It is simply and completely a matter of whether it resonates or is in discordance with my inner knowing.

Making the conscious decision to follow my heart so to speak was the most powerful decision I have ever or could ever make. I just reread a delightful small quote by one of my favorite mentors, Alan Cohen. He said this: "You already know." It is so true.

I do know and I realize that I am in my knowing as that information resonates within me. This is also important because virtually everything is vibration, whether physical objects or thought, and as vibrations are in resonance, they are said to be in tune, and when they are not, they are out of tune. It has become very easy now for me to feel the difference. As I feel this, I am in my knowing.

There are many things that I was taught over the years, that I have found to be discordant. Many of them were hard for me to accept as truth even as I was instructed that they were. In other words, they were out of tune with my inner knowing. But, so much of this came from authority figures whether living or not and so I was trying to accept what they said I should believe, but inside I was struggling with it like trying to put a square peg in a round hole.

I love this quote from Abraham, Esther Hicks that came this morning from a quote recorded in 1997: "Even though you would like your government to orchestrate the laws or God to orchestrate the law or somebody to give everybody one set of rules, it's not ever going to happen. [And here's my favorite part:] Each one of you, individually, are seeking your own vibrational balance, and when you find it, then you will welcome all kinds of different beliefs, because you will never fear that the belief will take you someplace that you don't want to be." 

There was a good part of my recent journey where I have, to say it kindly, have felt shortchanged by what I was taught and by the teachers involved in the teaching of it, and so I thought I had to focus on letting go of all of that. But, what I learned is that this is not the least bit necessary, and the quote above that I just left explains how that can be.

As we decide to come into our own knowing by feeling the resonance or discordance of something, we are exercising our full power, which will lead us to focus on that resonance, and just let the discordance be. Just like the quote at the very beginning that says to "just let it be, and figure it out along the way." I am so thrilled with coming to this place of being in my knowing, feeling my own guidance within that to push against any manner of discordance is not only not necessary, it is not beneficial to me or anyone else.


I Am In My Own Authority. This Is A Power-Full Place To Be.

Spread Some Joy Today--as you come to realize your own inner knowing by accepting the power that we all have within us.

Daily Inspiration 3-3-19

"It is one thing to hear a concept

and feel the resonance of it when you hear it,

and it's another thing altogether

to practice it until you own it, to be it."

-- Abraham, Esther Hicks 

[Classic post from 4-19-18]

It is so easy and goes down so smoothly to read or hear about unconditional love and feel good about the idea of that, and yet, it is a whole other thing to actually practice it in our lives. We get it. The idea of it resonates with us because it is truly in alignment with our inner knowing, our God within. Actually living that is another thing altogether.

This is true with a lot of learning perhaps even the majority of the things that we learn in concept, speak of, write of. So many things we can discuss in a lot of detail, but when it comes to actually living it, well, we become forgetful.

Abraham, Esther Hicks is famous for saying, "words do not teach. It is experience that teaches." Of course, that is true. And so, I continue to choose to engage in practice so that it becomes my experience. Victor Hugo is famous for saying, "There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come." And, as powerful as that is, it is anemic in comparison to executing that idea through action and thereby becoming experience. We learn by doing more than we learn by thinking or receiving information.

Anyone who has read these Daily Inspirations for any length of time knows that I write about love more than anything else and though I write of it that often, I am more famous for practicing it. I learn about love by loving. I learn about unconditional love by loving without condition. I don't simply share platitudes, but ideas and thoughts that when they become active in our lives change our lives for the better.

This is where practice comes in. With our historical perspective, and seeing popular movies, video games, television shows, and watching people in real life around us, it is easy to see the need for practice and it is easy to see that there isn't much going on in the way of practice but a continuing repetition of the past, adjusted perhaps, but not really different. Jim Rohn is famous for saying, "for things to change, you must change." I prefer to put that in the first person and say, for things to change, I must change, and change will require practice, especially considering my habitual patterns from history and viewing the history in action that I see all around me.

It is said that practice makes perfect and that is a great truism, yet practice is simply turning an idea into action. As we look around, we can see the manifestation of ideas turned into action and much of that action is based on ideas that were meant to control us and not serve us. The idea of right and wrong, good and bad, sinful and saintly, falling in and out of love, and more. It can be quite a challenge to find a movie that is not about killing or falling in and out of love, broken relationships, greed, revenge, etc. Uplifting movies is not the norm, but what if they were? Loving without condition is not even seen in movies generally, but what if it was?

Yesterday I mentioned a quote from the Paul Selig books that we are not independent of our environment. What that means to me is that whatever environment that I want, I must choose it. I must practice it. If I want to see more unconditional love in the world, then I must learn to practice loving without condition. Mahatma Gandhi is famous for saying, "you must be the change you wish to see in the world." Again, to put it in the first person and accept the idea, I must be the change I wish to see in the world. Accepting the idea is fine, but for the change to come about, I must practice being the change.


I Am Not Independent Of My Environment. I Am My Environment.

Spread Some Joy Today--by deciding to practice what you want to see in the world.

Daily Inspiration 3-2-19

"Today, I will experience some magic. 

I will be alert to all that goes on around me, 

and I will be delighted and amazed. "

-- Terry Minion  

[Classic post from 12-24-17]

Most likely, today will be a busy day.

Don't forget to take your peace and love with you. The busier we get, the more we need to remember that everything we feel we create within us.

Make it a special day full of delight and wonder.


When Love Is Your Guide, You Are Always At Peace. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by creating some joy out of thin air. That's another way of saying to choose it by choosing thoughts of joy.

Daily Inspiration 3-1-19

"Those who cannot remember the past

are condemned to repeat it." 

-- George Santayana 

[Classic post from 4-18-18]

Along with some of the biggest changes in my life, in the last year, I have been studying every day five texts by Paul Selig. I've gone through them about six times because I wanted to really not only understand the wisdom contained in the texts but to adapt it in my life. Even with a year of these posts I could not share all that I have learned, but some subjects stand apart from the rest, and the one I want to share this morning is about our history, or more accurately, our habitual historical perspective which rules our lives so much, and we are not really aware of it being that way.

Let's take the quote above, which is often misquoted as, "those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it." The truth is that we repeat it all the time. It has become what we do without any effort or realization that this is the case.

But, before I go on, I must refute the part about being condemned (or doomed, if you prefer) to repeat it. This is ALWAYS our choice, though we claim to want change. It does not happen to us, it is chosen by us in many, many ways that on the surface do not seem like a choice at all.

The one most powerful thing that I have learned from these five texts is that we are always choosing and more often than not, we are choosing the past.

I was in the grocery store the other day and saw a magazine in the rack by the checkout that showed a robotic man-like figure in protective gear holding a rifle that looked like some kind of laser weapon and as I recall the title was war in 2030, or it might have been the weapons of war in 2030. In either case, this is pure history. It is a historical perspective. And many, if not most of us, buy into the idea that war will always be happening somewhere in this crazy world and that we need to stay ahead in the technological expansion of the tools of war. It is complete and utter silliness to me, and so I laughed at the magazine cover as I went about my day.

In these texts, this idea of history and living in a historical perspective and continuing to choose based on our history is the most discussed thing. The first couple of times through the material I was tired of hearing about it, but then I started to truly realize that this was so important for me to get that any repetition only reinforced the idea that I wasn't yet accepting it. My eyes have been opened and I can now see how this is happening in my own life and that of others and the world we live in.

Can we change? Absolutely. Will we change is a better question. But, before we can change, we must understand what and how we are choosing along with the fact that we are always choosing, and have always chosen.

One of the best quotes from these texts is something I've shared before and will again because it is so powerful: "You are not independent of your environment." But, we think we are. We think that the world rules and that our goal is to comply and adjust as necessary to get what we want, and we are often thwarted at that by circumstance or by what we consider to be other people's decisions, heredity, class stature, etc. This is not true. We certainly can operate this way and I have for most of my life, but that is not the truth, it is merely an interpretation that I make from a historical perspective.

I will continue more tomorrow and beyond, but I want to end this post with a wonderful quote by Benjamin Franklin from his autobiography: "So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do."


Here's A Perfect Historical Perspective To (Re-)Consider: "Peace Is The Only Battle Worth Waging." -- Albert Camus

Spread Some Joy Today--as you see that you are not independent of your environment and that you are in charge of it.