A Change Gonna Come

You know, I’ve been conscious of a growing, gnawing discontentment with hearing stories from friends, family, co-workers and people I don’t even know about their life struggles, health, marital and financial issues ….. .  poor relationships with children, unreasonable working situations, etc.   I’m honestly tired, butt weary of such information.  I’m not a paid therapist.  Often it feels like there is nowhere to turn that I will outrun the overwhelming tales of what it is I want but don’t have or can’t seem to get or what/who I have and can’t seem to get rid of. 

Hearing stories like these seem inevitable, just part of normal daily interactions.  When I think of the individual who told me about the situation, it becomes difficult for me to think of him/her aside from what’s going on per our last conversation.  There are probably some wonderful things happening in their life too, but somehow, these are not the thoughts I’m left with when we part.

Well, it finally occurred to me.  Thinking of struggling situations over and over in our own minds, talking about our struggles and listening to others’ struggles over and over is what keeps all of us rooted in the same situations.  We keep piling the manure higher and higher seemingly in the name of being practical, (actually worrying), being a good friend, being understanding, demonstrating compassion and/or “being well informed”.  

Now I know there is no end to the gathering and sharing of stories whether they are told by family, friend or via television about someone living in Ditty Wa Ditty, on the internet, in blogs, tweets, etc. 

The bottom line is that most often they are the same garbage of stress and struggles continuing ad nauseam.  No wonder, “no matter how much things change, they stay the same.”

In my world, I’ve decided to do something about this.  This is for me but should you benefit from it and also incorporate it in your life, great!

My strategy for changing the world:  Daily in my interactions with others, if they want to share their story with me of what’s going on in their life, fine, but at some point in our encounter, if this didn’t happen early on, I am DEMANDING from this person, a “feel good story.” 

It won’t matter to me who or what the story is about.  It will not matter what humongous or tiny impact the story has for the person telling it.  The point is that there must be a reporting of an event from this person that makes me feel good. 

WHICH WORLD

What If You Lived In A World Dominated By Fear

What would it look AND FEEL like?

As we live and breathe in today’s world, it may not be so obvious to most of us that we are living in a world heavily dominated by Fear.  Looking round, it appears that we have almost unlimited freedom to reasonably express ourselves in discussions, movements and various activities.  Generally, unless we have broken some societal rules, there is no one forcibly prohibiting our self-expression. We can associate with anyone we choose, live where want, buy whatever strikes our fancy, etc. However, I see this very world a little differently.  I see that we live in a world deeply dominated by Fear, of which few seem to notice.  The see through doors of our prison cells are on display in public view but we see not that we are on FEAR Lock Down.

Fear Lock Down is telling me that if I don’t have an education or a decent job, I cannot participate in society. I need a good education and a job, so I can make money and live like everyone else or really, to live better than most. This is why I need an education and then a job.  The threat and fear here is that my education and job are tied into the fact that something unpleasant will happen if I don’t achieve these goals for my future.  Where is the joy of learning because I can and want to learn or working because I’m doing something I enjoy doing?

Once I am secure in my job, I will work hard to establish a good credit rating.  Having a good credit rating makes living worthwhile.  I can then buy more and more things and work harder and harder to pay for the things.  Of course, I realize that if I slip and get behind on payments, I will jeopardize my good credit rating.  When the numbers on my credit rating drop, in the future, I will be charged higher interest rates.  And there are those, who will see my credit rating has dropped and they will besiege me with ongoing, unsolicited opportunities to get even more credit at higher and higher interest rates.

I must have insurance for my house.  I need also to insure my car, my health and insure my life so those left after I die will not suffer or they will have more than when I was alive.  Yes, I must have insurance on my credit cards and anything else that I value.  If I don’t have insurance, the right kind or enough of it, I will be unprotected if something happens to me or to any of my things. 

Do I enter an agreement to have insurance to protect me with a sense of joy or out of fear that if I don’t have it, something may happen and I will regret not having insurance?.  Am I assured when I take out the policy that the company will pay my claims fairly and righteously without raising my premiums or me having to engage an attorney? 

Will I be able to really trust that the attorney is looking out for me or just for his/her own interest? 

I’m a well-known celebrity.  I love this person to death, to day.  Can I marry her without a prenuptial agreement?  Does love mean if this person doesn’t sign a prenuptial agreement I cannot marry her, because after all, if she doesn’t sign it, doesn’t this prove that she really doesn’t love me but is just after my money?  How does she feel, knowing I don’t fully trust her or don’t trust from the beginning that the marriage will last?

Today, many believe we live in one of the most progressive and technically advanced civilization to grace planet Earth.  Daily, hourly via television, I can learn of awesome medicines which may save me from certain ailments and yet, these wonderful medicines can also create other conditions including death, which was not on the table prior to taking this medicine.  And I’m noticing, while I’m being informed of the possible dangerous side effects of the medicine, the sponsors are showing pictures of engaged, active people laughing, talking, doing things as the voice in the background explains more insidious side effects that may occur.  Am I deaf and can’t hear the words or is it true that a picture is worth a thousand words?  Did the words at the beginning of the clip frighten me or filled me with joy that now I can actually have relief from my suffering?  Medicines that don’t heal but must be taken for the rest of my life ------- who are the real drug dealers?

I could go on and on with examples of the Fear Lock Down under which we are living now.  My point in this discourse is simply to ask you to begin to question the WHY behind whatever it is that you’re doing.  Are you doing it out of anticipation of joy or are you doing it based upon fear?. In the end, Fear begets fear and joy begets joy. 

Challenge yourself to really begin to notice and monitor throughout the day, what you are feeling as you hear or see seemingly different messages, directed to you, the public whether it’s via TV, the internet,  newspapers, cell phones, conversations with friends, etc.  Let yourself become aware of what you are feeling as you think and consider what it is you want to achieve, what or who you want to have in your life.  Are you planning from a thought/feeling based upon fear of the future or from simple joy that you’d like to have or to accomplish this, just because you can?.

As you hear messages coming to you from here, there and everywhere, truly understand what is really being directed your way day-in-day out.  Does it have to be this way?  Are you helpless in being bombarded with these messages? What is the price that you’re paying to take in Fear based messages?

No, it doesn’t have to be this way.  Everything begins with one person, YOU.  If you recognize you’re feeling fear, being overwhelmed, tired of hearing it again and again, begin saying to yourself the word “fear” as you listen to something on TV or walk away from a conversation.  When you say to yourself the word “Fear,” you’re actually dismissing the message.  Stating the word begins to breakdown the hypnotism of entertaining the message and/or absorbing it into your energy field.  When you energetically absorb such messages, overtime they siphon your energy, block creative thinking and create stress, resulting in mental, emotional and physical blockages.

The absence of Fear leaves the mind and body relaxed and open to greater expressions of joy, laughter and well-being. Know and FREE yourself from the man-made prison of FEAR Lock Down. 

A S O U L MESSAGE

What is the message that your soul is sending through your body and daily experiences?

Many of us are familiar with looking at our dreams for meaning as to what our inner self is telling us that we can relate to daily affairs.  However, to me, of equal interest, is what my daily affairs themselves are telling me about the deeper, unseen part of myself.   What does it, the deeper part of me want for my life?  How are the occurrences of my daily experiences reflective of need and desire on the part of my soul, my spirit?

Story: 

It was winter, December and now well into January that I had been driving around for weeks without antifreeze in my car.  I knew I needed antifreeze but for some unconscious reason, I chose not to buy antifreeze and to just keep on heavy clothing and not turn on the heater, while driving. Once in a great while though, I would put on the heater for two or three minutes, but then I thought I smelled an odd scent which I attributed to the lack of antifreeze in the car.  Also, I didn’t feel safe turning on the heat under these circumstances.  

During the third week in January, on an extremely cold day, my brother happened to be riding in the car with me.  I was going to drop him off.  His car was out of commission.  After driving about ten minutes, he asked why I didn’t turn on the heat.  Sheepishly, I told him that I knew certain fuels were lacking in the car and I didn’t want to take a chance on damaging the motor by turning on the heat and besides no heat would come out.

He got off into my world, telling me about the importance of having antifreeze in the car at all times and how lucky I was that it had been so cold, otherwise the engine would have overheated, etc.,   I knew the importance of having oil and changing it on a regular basis but I hadn’t equated the importance of antifreeze to good maintenance of the engine in the same terms.  We stopped and got the antifreeze.  After a period of time, I turned on the heater and hurrah! …. H E A T!!!

Approximately, three or four days after this, one morning, passing by the thermostat in the dining room, I stopped and looked at it.  I noticed that it was set at 70° but it was only registering 60°.  I moved the lever back and forth a few times but didn’t hear the furnace coming up.  I went down into the basement, looked at the pilot light and saw that it was on.

A repairman came out later in the day.  He said it had something to do with a relay switch.  I had this problem about two years ago, but it was not the relay switch.  He fixed the problem and left.  I was so happy to have my heat working again.  However, that night, under a blanket, watching TV from the couch, I sensed the house cooling down.  I checked the thermostat and sure enough I was back to the same problem.

Speaking with my brother, this morning, he reminded me that I’d just gotten the heat in my car working and now I’m having problems with the heat in my house.  When he said this, a light went on in my mind.  These two and actually there is a third situation, are all about heat.  There is a message in this.  There has to be.  I absolutely need to stop and take notice.  What is the message that I’m getting about heat?

I began to dwell upon thoughts of heat, analyzing what heat is, what it does, etc.  Some of my thoughts were, heat is passion.  Heat causes energy to move.  Heat can be comforting, exciting.  I questioned what had happened to me as a result of not having heat in my car, in my house. 

The first thought that whizzed by, was the fact that when I was in my car, if someone were riding with me, I could not offer them comfort and warmth.  In my house, as a result of not having heat, I had missed out on seeing a client, missed a valuable connection yesterday, because I had to stay home and wait to be repaired. 

I studied the actions I’d taken in each situation.  I had put antifreeze in my car to protect it both from freezing up or over heating and being unable to go forward.  Initially, I contacted three different repair people to see who could come and address the problem.  I eliminated two of them, due to matters of trust, I’d conjured up in my mind. 

To simplify this, I saw the car and the house as myself.  As me, both needed heat in order to move forward in comfort and ease.  As heat is passion and warmth, both situations communicate that I, personally, need warmth, comfort and trust in my life now, working both on the outside and inside.

I am getting the message and responding accordingly.    

The Blaring Message

I think it was June, sometime in the late 1970s.  I was employed as Human Resource (HR) Manager for an Orthodontic manufacturing company.  This was in Denver, Colorado and it was my first diversion from HR within the banking industry.  The department was small.  It was staffed with a VP of Operations/HR, my position, a benefits/compensation person and two administrative support staff.  The financial health of the company of course, was directly linked to sales and the ability of operations to meet and deliver the demand for our orthodontic products.

Waking up one morning, thinking about the routine of getting up and getting ready for work, I found myself totally engaged in mulling over the words, “for whom the bell tolls.”  Where was this thought coming from?  Why was it in my mind?  I surmised it had something to do with my dreams but I simply had no clue, no conscious connection to it.

Later at work that morning, I started conversations and shared with a few co-workers the message and my puzzlement over it.  It had grabbed my attention and wasn’t letting go.  As the day progressed, I finally had a chance to talk to Ray, my supervisor and to ask him the question which had been on my mind for a few days now. 

I knew things were slow and the company was going to be laying off some people.  Senior management had decided the previous week to soon lay off at least one person from each department.  Part of my job, after the announcement was made, would be to place ads in local papers announcing the layoff and to list specific job skills of some of our departing workers.  I would also be contacting nearby manufacturing companies who employed welders or used other trained factory skills. This would be an effort to try and create out placement opportunities.

Being occupied with making preparations for the layoff, I’d forgotten about the Human Resource Department.  However, burrowing itself at first, quietly and deeply hidden from my daily awareness, the question had begun in the last two days to loudly and repetitiously present itself to my awake mind.

So I asked it aloud this day.  “Ray, who in HR is going to be laid off?”   He replied, “you.”  I said, “You must be kidding.”  No, he responded, I’m not. 

Of course, of course.  I don’t know why it wasn’t obvious from the blaring message.  “Ask not for whom the bell tolls.” It tolls for thee!!

Before sunrise this day, thought, bubbling up from the stream of all knowledge, had already clearly addressed and correctly answered the unspoken question.  "We are divinely connected at all times." jrt

Finances - Of What Am I Convinced?

“And I would encourage you to understand that financial limitations exist because you do not accept that money flows freely to you as your belief allows it to happen.”

Dialogue on Awakening, Tom and Linda Carpenter

Waking up this morning, lying there, thinking about my dream, I realized that the really dominant and persistent thought in my mind right then, was the phrase, “of what am I convinced?”  Often at the end of a dream, I will become aware of a phrase.  It will present itself separate from the dream, seemingly just dangling in my mind, all by itself.  I’ve found if I take the time to explore the phrase, it will actually answer a question or provide insight into something I’ve been pondering for awhile. I noted this one and promised myself I’d think about it after I made sure I remembered the details of the dream.  Incidentally, it was a great dream, filled with joyous anticipation and beautiful colors.   

My first thought in thinking about “of what am I convinced” was to recognize that this was a response to my questioning a few days ago, how the above quote was true in my life.  I had been asking myself, what are the thoughts, maybe subtle ones, that I have about genuinely accepting that money flows freely to me as my belief allows it to happen.  I thought I was pretty familiar with beliefs I hold which could be road blocks to abundance of money.

“Of what am I convinced” was pointing me to consider thoughts of which my feelings are at a deeper level than just the possibility that a belief was true or not.  I recognize now that to be convinced is to know without a doubt.  To know without a doubt, to me, means that “it is.”  I am contrasting this with the idea of what I’ll call a “front-line or superficial belief.”  I think this is usually what we deal with when we talk about beliefs.  These are frequently thoughts that we think or consider could be true.  To think or consider something as true is to leave the door open that the outcome can be another way. 

I see immediately why I need to know and to be aware “of what I am convinced.” “Of what I am convinced,” goes deeper into my feeling experiences than that which I casually believe.  This level is a one-way street and in simple language, it TRUMPS “front-line and superficial beliefs.”    

What are my thoughts on the subject that I know here and now, without a doubt are true?  What are the unexamined thoughts which rise up in my mind, of which I am convinced and continue to repeat to myself, never recognizing their impact on my bank account?   I began to ask myself, listening for play back of messages I have heretofore accepted as truth and facts of reality itself.   

Of What Am I Convinced:

Money is hard to come by

Money doesn’t come to me freely as the air I breathe

You have to work for money

Money doesn’t grow on trees

You have to save your money in order to have money later in life

People have limited amounts of money

And more!!!

Asking for, making lists and identifying thoughts/beliefs, of which we are “convinced,” are real/true, can be powerful tools for discovering why things remain the same in our lives.  Conscious knowledge of what it is that we are convinced will sometimes cause certain conditions to simply fade away as we are no longer mentally and emotionally feeding them.  

It is definitely good to know, “Of what am I convinced?”  I thank my dream partners for bringing this tool to my awareness.

COMPETITION - THE PRICE WE PAY

  

To Compete Means to Oppose

Common Beliefs: 

      Life is based upon competition 

      Competition helps to make a person stronger   

      We are in competition for the abundance of earth’s goodies 

      We must compete for work, for land, homes, money, health, relationships, education. 

      Competition is natural.  It is the law of “survival of the fittest.”

       “Only the strong survive.”

To Be Considered: 

In America, as children, most of us are taught to compete against one another.  The idea of competition, consciously or not consciously so, I believe, often, begins in the home, amongst family members.  The pointing out of actions and abilities, the comparing of differences, giving distinctions and value to them, extends to the same occurring in school, on the job, in relationships, sports and beyond.   

As we grow, we learn to declare our actions, abilities and interests from others as being better than, the same (average) or not as good as and we go on to learn to compete against our self.  We judge and score our actions and abilities against other periods in our lives, concluding we are now better than, as good as or not as before.  We accept that it is natural to look back and to conclude the meaning and value of life activities based upon the number of years, age, $$$ amounts, locations, titles, possessions, events, etc.     

We believe comparing ourselves with others is a natural way to keep improving individually and collectively.  While continuing to seek stimulation of one’s interests and abilities is helpful in providing insight and pleasure for self and others, the measuring of activities within certain set boundaries and the subsequent judging of best, worse, average, etc., often stifles the desire for spontaneous self-discovery and enhancement of interests.  I believe the innate propensity to want to over come boredom, is truly the most natural tool to get movement and creative juices flowing.  

Instead, we look to the model, that in nature, animals compete with one another and the strongest one wins in order to perpetuate the best traits within the species.  We do not know if truly a dominate animal looks upon his/her “being the best, being the winner,” in the same light that humans do.  However, those who study animals and their behaviors often project and equate the meaning of one animal winning a physical struggle in the same light as they would for a human.  It is called “survival of the fittest.” This is just a story, used to “naturalize” human life as a competitive game. 

It translates into human models, somehow continuously measuring and identifying outcomes of human activities as indicative of smartest, strongest, best.  “Best of the species?”   

The early lessons of competition, the concepts of “survival of the fittest” and “only the strong survives,” have taught many to measure and judge ourselves against one another, using numbers to contain possibilities, giving value to the limited, summing up who and what we are with names and numbers. 

As long as we believe this is necessary to “survive,” we will not look for other ways to play in life.  There is I believe, a difference in playing a game of “survival” and living a creatively happy life. With our present beliefs in competition as being a helpful and necessary way of life, we will not discover how stressful this game has become. 

We will not remember that we have made up the game and can make up other games with rules of pleasure and joining, celebrating differences.

Beliefs at Work

Beliefs at Work

I’ve been looking forward for quite some time now to having my own blog site.  Thanks to my good friend CB, I have a blogging site.  I also have an “OMG, where do I start?  Am I really going to be able to do this?”

Well, I’m starting right here, right now and yes, I’m pulling up my big girl pants and I’m doing this.  I know my subjects, having researched, lived and practiced them for many years.

Through upcoming blogs, I’d like to share some of the discoveries and insights I’ve made about beliefs and dreams.  I’d like to contribute them in hopes of enriching individual and collective awareness ….. Making life a little easier to navigate, providing healing outcomes.

Beliefs as you may or may not know are any thoughts that one takes, more importantly, accepts, as a fact of life.  In the mind of the thinker, it cannot be another way. 

Example:  Some years ago, I signed up to work as a census worker.  It was late in the evening when I reported to the location to take the test. As was my pattern, anytime, I could escape wearing business attire, I was all for it.  I usually dressed in sweats or something equally beyond casual.  First thing, I noticed when I walked into the room that day, was that the four or five people, already waiting for the facilitator, were all dressed in business like attire.  Most of they were chatting away with each other.  I happened to sit down next to a man immaculately groomed in full business garments, seemingly all by himself.   

Sitting for awhile with my own thoughts, I found myself thinking about how the man next to me was dressed and how I was dressed.  I began separating myself from him in my mind.  I kept thinking that he was judging how I was dressed, what I knew, where I was from, etc.  I was at a point in my self-development, however, whereby I realized that this didn’t have to be true.  He didn’t have to be thinking this way just because it was in my mind.  It did feel true though and my mind further told me that since I’d come in and the man was already seated before me, he could have said something to me but he didn’t.  It had to be because of my sweats.  I was sure he didn’t want to talk to me.  I decided to challenge the thought.  … Didn’t know what the outcome would be, but I wanted to open myself and prove my own bravery in willing to get the truth.   

I turned to man, smiled and said something probably about the weather or some other minimal ice breaker.  I eventually had to excuse myself as the man seemed to have (excuse the noun) diarrhea of the mouth.  He wouldn’t stop talking.    

Sanity ---- I interrupted my own belief of what I thought was reality – “people judge you by what you wear.”  Sometime they do.  Sometime they don’t but you do judge yourself all the time in all areas of relationships and project your conclusion/s outwardly onto others, believing them to be truth. 

What I believe to be true makes my world go around.  What we believe collectively to be true, makes THE WORLD go around.  Could it be different than what we’re thinking?

Learning to ask oneself, if it’s possible that something can be another way, is one of the first steps in examining beliefs vs. reality.    What do you think?