WWJD?

This question is like an extension that's been installed in my brain and is always running in the background of whatever application my consciousness is running.  As I've been processing the election, the results and the reactions to the results, I've been having a sense that I need to put words to the program that's running in my brain.  While I measure my words and actions according to the guidance Jesus gave during his lifetime, I rarely identify myself as a Christian publicly because so many others who call themselves Christian seem to be following someone I don't know or recognize.

I remember red letter bibles from my childhood.  These were bibles where the words of Jesus were printed in red.  While I don't have one in front of me, here's the jist:

1. The law says an eye for an eye, but I say turn the other cheek
2. Love your enemies, bless those who curse you.
3. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
4. Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, render unto God that which is God's
5. Love your neighbor as yourself
6. Love God with all your heart
7. Blessed are the peacemakers
8. Forgive Seventy times Seven
9. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked because when you do this to others you do this to me
10. This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.

These words send a clear message:  Kindness, forgiveness, peacefulness - Love.  He doesn't say Judge one another.  He doesn't say reject those you don't understand or feel threatened by.  He doesn't say protect your freedom by taking away the freedom of others.  

I'm writing this not for the people who think like I do, but for the people who don't understand why MANY of us are in distress.  I'm distressed because so many other people seem to have abandoned this message, while at the same time saying that they voted their conscience, their faith, their values.  I know that many who voted like I did, did so for a whole variety of other reasons.  I don't think being a Christian is any better or worse than being anything else.  I believe that their is one truth, and no one has a monopoly on it, that truth is love.  

To me Love looks like wanting the same thing for strangers that you want for your family.  If you want your family to feel safe, you want EVERYONE's family to feel safe.  (If you don't understand the protests and outrage at the election result, it's because many people don't feel safe right now; women, anyone not white, immigrants, LGBT.  The election rhetoric directed towards us and the voting record of those being considered for positions in a Trump administration cause us GREAT fear for what might be to come.)  If you want your rights protected, you want all rights protected.  (Since that might be too vague - if you don't want your right to bear arms taken away, don't take away my right to marry.)  I don't know how to say this another way; Treat people the way you want to be treated.  

I don't believe there will be some wild transformation and that the Electoral College process will be overturned before January.  So we have to make peace.  If you do nothing else, try to understand why we are concerned.  Try to walk a mile in our shoes.  Try to imagine waking up to a swastika painted on the wall and walking by that as you walk to work.  Try to imagine being a child in a school cafeteria surrounded by other children chanting "Go back where you came from".  Try to imagine being told you can make medical decisions for your dying spouse because you are not recognized as a married couple.  Try to imagine being judged as a threat based on the color of your skin, and not based on your own individual actions.  Try to imagine that you listen to others call you rapists and murders because of your country of origin.  Try to imagine that you never get to see your children again because your effort to make a better life for them has failed and you've been deported.  This trying to imagine is all I'm asking.  Try to imagine what is is that we are so upset about.  Try to imagine why as we try to stay above the line and not sink below our values and resort to name calling and negativity that we feel paralyzed to figure out how to move forward in the midst of so much vitriol.  

You can make a difference.  Reach across the "aisle" in whatever symbolic way you can and offer a sign of peace.  Bring comfort to those who are terrified right now by being reassuring.  Be loving, be understanding, be forgiving, be open and be willing to listen.  Be good, be kind, make somebody smile.

Free to soar!

Today I got the opportunity to tell a piece of my story.  I was reminded of how this blog was a venue for me to express what was happening on my journey.  I was learning and needed some place to process what I was thinking about, share my new found understanding, and make permanent what I needed to keep reminding myself - that I could change my life by changing my thoughts about my life.  I am still learning and growing, but I feel free now in a way I didn't back then.  I am so grateful for this journey and know without question, that all the experiences I have had up until this point were necessary for me to be where I am - where I need to be.  There were not mistakes or bad decisions.  They were the decisions that led to this moment.  It is.  There are no right or wrong decisions.  There is only what you do and what you don't do.  Either way leads you to the next moment, the next decision, and it all leads to NOW.  Now is all there ever is.

Grateful, Thankful, Blessed

It's been too long since I wrote a blog post. Period.  It's been too long since I wrote a blog post about intentionally using positive thinking to change my view of things in my life.  I have grown and changed and learned so much since I started this blog.  When I began, the Power of Positive Thinking was the tool; almost the only tool, I had at my disposal.  It opened a door, which led me on a journey of awakening.  Since that time when I first realized that rather than waiting for things in my life to get better, I could have a better life by looking at the things in my life differently, I barely recognize my life.

I was stressed OUT!  I was striving.  Competing.  Trying.  Achieving.  Proving.  Earning.  Winning.  Succeeding.  I was all Ego.  Nothing was ever enough.  The drive was about whatever comes next, the bigger, better, stronger, smarter, more successful next best thing.  I couldn't be happy because I believed I still had more to do/to do more.

Fortunately, I heard two special people speak about moving away from Fear and towards Love.  I could recognize that all my stress was about fear, and that the thoughts that were stressing me out the most, were of my own creation.  Kara and Jen became my friends, my business partners, my pit crew and my guides.  It was from them that I first heard of Dr. Wayne Dyer, and his message - "When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."  Profound truth.

I know that Jen and Kara are divine gifts.  Together we are so much more than the sum of our parts.  I am so, so grateful that we found each other.  We have been the magnet pull on each others' souls - each exerting different force and and influence at different times.  I learned along the way that there was nothing I needed to do to be enough.  I learned that I have all that I need to do anything - I have love in my heart.  I know that Love is All - the Beginning, the End, the Truth and the Way.  I am so thankful for the Peace I have in my life.  I am so blessed to have found these companions on the journey.  Together we Shine our Light!

Cooking my way ~ Healthy

Recently I started a cleanse following the recommendations in the book, The Candida Cure by Ann Boroch.  The cleanse involves eliminating or avoiding gluten, dairy, corn, sugar and caffeine.  Of course my initial reaction was, "What will I eat?"  In reality, I've eaten very well and I feel great!  I will admit, I couldn't keep up with out caffeine.  I went a week without coffee and the brain fog was so thick I was becoming dysfunctional.  So, I compromised and am drinking one cup of coffee a day, and very grateful for it.

I realize that there are lots of people whether eating a Paleo diet, or just trying to eat cleaner who might be interested in recipes.  I love to cook and experiment in the kitchen, so as I come up with something worth sharing - I will.  I have added a My Recipes page to this blog.  It's also a good motivation for me to resurrect this blog.  I have been wanting to get back into blogging, and this is a good place to start.

Wants and Needs

I've been saying for so long, I need to sit down and write, I love to write, I need to make time to write, I'll be so much happier when I find time to write, writing is so helpful, healthy, creative for me, it fills my cup, it renews and reenergizes me, and yet, the amount of time I've actually committed to it, could probably fit in a thimble. While there are lots of ways to write and I do periodically make entries in my pen and paper journal, it's been two years since I blogged on this site and I loved this blog! It helped shape my current view of my existance, it helped propel me forward from being stuck as I reacted to the events in my life to understanding how I could use intention and affirmation to create the events in my life. But, here I am taking a few minutes to write and I'm going to savor it. I'm going to indulge myself and write about nothing in particular just to remember how to get my thoughts out of my head. They are so much more interesting when they are not bumping around and bouncing off each other like siver balls in a pinball machine, clinking and clanking as one hits bonus points and another sinks into the gutter. They are hard to keep track of when they are flying around in there and out here, well they don't escape before I can figure out what they are. It's like dumping my purse out on the table so I can throw away the crap that ends up in the bottom and put the change that's loose in the bottom back in my wallet, and find the missing receipt and put the pens and lipstick back in the compartment they belong in and get it all back together, first it has to get dumped out in a big mess on the table. Here's the big mess from dumping my thoughts out on the page. I'm entranced by how much I'm enjoying listening to audiobooks. Right now I'm listening actively to two and have 2 more that I've started and come back to periodically. I'm currently listening to The Book Thief and Silver Linings Playbook. The Book Thief has the most tremendous figurative language I have ever heard or read, it's so captivating to listen to the descriptions. I was so taken by the use of language I had a hard time attending to the story at first because I was so busy thinking about and picturing the images and colors and smells as they were described. It's also a slightly peculiar book because it's narrated by Death. And as grim and morbid as that sounds, it's not. The narrative voice is very observant of human behavior and has reverence for the subject of the story, a young foster child living in Germany during Hitler's reign. If the purpose of literature is to transport you to another place and time, this book is living up to it's purpose and then some. I'm thinking about how much time I spend watching TV vs. reading or listening to books. Watching TV is effortless, mindless and for both reasons, very easy. But as much as I'm enjoying these books, which another time perhaps I'll list my recent reads, why haven't I made any attempt to listen to or read more and watch less TV. What is it that I want and need from TV? and Why? Topic Change. The joy of vacation vs. the joy of everyday life. So, right now, I am on vacation. I am sitting on a dock, on a deck of a houseboat, at a Marina outside Key West. The sun is shining and there are marvelous diamonds of light dancing across the water reflecting the magnificent sun in the sky over head. There's a breeze and it's just quite nice and pleasant. The fact that I am on vacation has played into the fact that I am feeling like I have time to write and take time for a pure pleasure activity that doesn't result in getting something done. I feel like sometimes I put off enjoying the moment and save it up for vacation. I want to find a way to have more balance when it comes to this. I want to spread out the joy and pleasure, rather than save it all up. Sure, vacation's great and it's fun to visit new places and have adventures and all that good stuff. But, the fact is, I could sit at home and give myself an hour to just do something that accomplishes nothing, rather than think the only time I can do that is when I'm on vacation. And this thread relates to the previous thought about TV vs. literature. That's a waste of time I allow myself when nothing get's accomplished and writing's not. What's up with that?

Imagine Compassion

Audrey Hepburn on "Beauty Tips"

"For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day. For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone. People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone. Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands; one for helping yourself, and the other for helping others."