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.