4.28.2010

April 28th 2010 - Wondering

I'm wondering about wondering today. How much wondering is healthy? How much of our wondering do we spend on needless curiosity? How much of our wondering is fear-based? Where is our wondering taking us?

Wondering is healthy in many respects. It runs in concert with imagination. I think that it carries within it the seed of growth. Where in this world of infinite possibilities should I go next? Where will Life take me, and where will I take Life?

The problem with many of us is that we never get past the wondering stage. We think that our imagination is just a side show. We are constantly wondering, without letting that wonderment fill our sails and carry us to our next destination.

A lot of us waste a lot of our wondering time, wondering about what will go wrong next. Things will always go wrong. That's what makes Life interesting. If everything always went our way, we would be completely bored. We learn from our mistakes. If we play it too safe, and try to shield ourselves from making mistakes, the zest of Life will be completely absent from us. We'll go to work, watch our TV, go out for dinner, and that is Life for us. Life holds a billion more surprises than the most wild imagination could ponder. Life is limitless, boundless, filled with mystery and endless opportunities. If you give a bit more of your time to nature, the magic will find you.

When you catch yourself wondering what could go wrong next, see if you can shift that into a creative flow. What could go right next? What could Life hold in store for me? What magical opportunity could come out of nowhere and shift my Life completely? What can I do to make things better, or at least to feel better?

And, please, do yourself the favor of following your imagination sometimes, instead of staying stuck in wondering mode. What if this happens? What if that happens? If you keep wondering, nothing will improve. Your imagination is feeding you with possible journeys to take down the infinite paths of Life. If I hadn't decided to start writing this blog, you wouldn't be reading it right now. I had to get past wondering who would like it, and just put it out there.

I was on the beach, not even an hour ago. I had just finished a jog and was doing some stretching. A huge pelican came flying straight at me. I love pelicans. I love the grace of their flight, and their wide-reaching wingspan. As it flew right by me, I realized how free that pelican is. Never wondering where its next meal will come from, or whether it will get home in time for a television show. It knows it will find a meal if it flies long enough, as the ocean is filled with ample food. It knows that the world will provide. And, if not, it will just follow the endless cycle of Life into the next stage.

Wondering Aloud,
Alan

P.S. That pelican has no idea about the economy. It is completely unaffected by it. Now that is freedom.

4.17.2010

April 17th 2010 - The Shift

I never thought that I'd review a movie in my blog, but I just got finished watching "The Shift" by Dr. Wayne Dyer and it was amazing! It was recommended to me by a friend, and encapsulates a lot of my own thinking, and a lot of what I say in my blog.

The shift that Dr. Dyer refers to in the title, is the shift from living a life controlled by our Ego personalities, to living a life connected with our authentic selves. In the movie, Dr. Dyer beautifully weaves together the teachings of many different spiritual philosophies. He repeatedly quotes Lao Tzu's "Tao Te Ching," which I "coincidentally" just reread on my recent trip to Colombia. I really like the Stephen Mitchell translation of the "Tao Te Ching," if you are interested in reading it.

I do not want to ruin the movie for you, so I am not going to go into a lot of detail about it. It is available from Netflix. Here is a link to a YouTube trailer.

It is not a fast-paced, action-packed, Hollywood-type movie, so please don't expect one. It is a thinking person's movie that may move you to review your life priorities. It's a movie with a purpose beyond pure entertainment. I give it ten thumbs up. Please give it a watch and let me know what you think.

Continually Shifting,
Alan

P.S. Love this poem Dr. Dyer quotes in the movie from the Sufi poet Haifiz:

Even
After
All this time
The sun never says to the earth,

"You owe
Me."

Look
What happens
With a love like that,
It lights the
Whole
Sky.

4.13.2010

April 15th 2010 - Releasing Blame - Part 3

When we begin to take responsibility for our vulnerabilities and weaknesses, we can begin the lifetime job of rooting them out of our operating systems. Just like the anti-virus software maker, we need to constantly observe the weaknesses in our operating software, and fine-tune our software to deal with them. One of the most important steps to take, in my humble opinion, is to stop feeding our negative emotions.

We feed our negative emotions by constantly reacting the same way. We feed anger every time we get angry. We feed frustration every time we get frustrated. We feed sadness every time we get sad. These emotions are like individuals. It's like they have a life of their own. They feed on their own specialized meals of our habitual reactions.

We can gain control of our emotions by becoming an observer. Instead of reacting the way we always react, when an emotion comes along, we can look at it from the standpoint of an observer. "Here comes Person X again. He always makes me angry. There he goes acting that way again." When this happens, we can observe what is happening inside of us, and we can see our emotion start welling up inside of us in a detached manner. We don't have to act out that emotion, as we realize that that emotion is not who we are. We have the power to release any emotion that we do not want. We just observe it, and let it go.

This is not easy stuff. I have not yet mastered releasing all my negative emotions. Some issues are harder than others. When someone victimizes you, it is very difficult to accept that you are the cause of the victimization, or at least a co-conspirator. If you can observe the victimization without getting emotional about it - without getting angry, frustrated and blaming - are you really a victim, though?

Taking Responsibility,
Alan

April 14th 2010 - Releasing Blame - Part 2

In order to clarify my last post, I want to use the analogy of an operating system. There are hackers all over the world that make a hobby of trying to infect our computers' operating systems with malicious software. In order to do so, they exploit weaknesses or vulnerabilities in our operating systems. In order to protect ourselves, we buy anti-virus software, which is constantly updated to protect against the newest threats. This software monitors any process happening in our operating system, at any time, for suspicious behavior. Running an operating system without anti-virus software these days is considered irresponsible and foolhardy. Hackers are working 24/7 to find new vulnerabilities to exploit, and constantly looking for operating systems with their guards down. It seems there is always some new weakness to exploit. Anti-virus software makers must be vigilant on our behalves - constantly watching for the newest vulnerabilities and threats - to help us protect our operating systems. If there are no vulnerabilities to exploit, the hackers are harmless to us.

Our minds are like the operating system. In our minds, we have all these memories, emotions, habits and automatic responses stored. A lot of this software is vulnerable to being exploited by certain people who know how to push our buttons. Some of these buttons are right on the surface, and easy for anybody to find. But some of them are buried deep in the subconscious, and are not found until the more evident ones are uncovered. If we walk around with these buttons exposed long enough, someone is going to push one. It's just a matter of time. It's the nature of life.

How do we protect against our buttons being pushed? What anti-virus software can we use to protect us from our own vulnerabilities? The first step, again, is to take responsibility for our vulnerabilities. We need to understand that our weaknesses are our own, and it is only because of our weaknesses that anyone can hurt us. If we did not have vulnerable programming within us, no matter what anybody would say or do to us, we would not need to react with anger, frustration and blame. We could keep our operating systems running smoothly, despite the probing of others for our vulnerabilities. Remember, if there are no vulnerabilities, these probes are harmless.

Taking full responsibility for our vulnerabilities is crucial to securing our operating systems. Taking responsibility doesn't mean we have to do it alone. We can employ the help of those who have been successful in securing their own operating systems, and often that is the more responsible route to take.

Let's continue this discussion tomorrow.

Taking Responsibility,
Alan

April 13th 2010 - Releasing Blame - Part 1


One of the biggest illusory obstacles to happiness is our perception that other people are keeping us from it. This person did this to me. That person always treats me that way. I can't stand it when Person X does ______. How do we get above blaming others, and all the attendant anger and frustration? We need to take responsibility for our emotions and for the people that we are drawing into our lives. You may find it hard to believe, but there is a lot of theory out there that says that we are doing EVERYTHING in our own lives. As I have observed my own life, I find this to be true.

Nobody can do anything to hurt us, unless there is something inside of us that is calling for that hurt. So, if someone is called into our lives to do act out a particular script, it is because we have called them into our lives to act out that script. There is something inside of us that magnetizes that person to us. It can be some fear or emotion or subconscious desire.

Did you ever notice all of the cyclical things that seem to happen to people? This person is always getting robbed. That person is always attracting abusive relationships. Do you think maybe there is something behind that? Is it possible that that person is a magnet for that type of behavior because his or her fears or emotions are constantly inviting that cycle of energy into his or her life?

If we can begin to take responsibility for what happens to us in our lives, and realize that it is something within us that is inviting any negativity that "happens" to us, we can start to remove the causes within us that are inviting the negative effects. We can become the "cause" of our own happiness, instead of the "effect" of what anybody else is doing to us.

To be continued...

Taking Responsibility,
Alan

4.11.2010

April 12th 2010 - Make Happiness Your First Priority

Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence. - Aristotle

What does it take to be happy? Nothing more than the desire and intent. Why does it seem so hard to maintain happiness? Because we believe there are other requirements. When we believe that there are obstacles between us and happiness, we make it so. We think we need money to be happy. We think we need a certain person in our life to be happy. We think we need a certain brand of car to make us happy. All hogwash. It is those imagined obstacles to happiness that are keeping us from it. All it takes to increase our level of happiness is practice, just like anything else. We need to build our happiness muscles.

If we make happiness our primary goal, and release our false perception that we need any "thing" prior to being happy, then we can build a foundation of happiness that can never be taken from us. Happiness is not a "thing," so why should we need any "thing" prior to having it? When our foundation of happiness is strong, we can build anything we want on top of it.

Happiness and wealth, for example, are two different destinations. I strongly believe that people who pursue wealth before happiness are taking themselves for a ride. I highly recommend making happiness the first destination. When you build a foundation of happiness, everything else you need, including money, will come easier, because you will be going with the flow of life, instead of struggling against it. Happiness will make balanced effort, but happiness won't accept struggling, being worn out or miserable for very long. If you make wealth the first destination, you may not find happiness there when you arrive (if you ever do), or the happiness that comes with wealth may be short-lived. You also may inadvertently trade away your happiness in your struggle to stay wealthy.

I have nothing against wealth, but my point is that wealth without happiness is worthless. Better to learn how to be happy first. You may find that your values about wealth and what to do with your money will be reshaped, as your base level of happiness rises.

Make happiness first. It's smooth sailing from there.

All Smiles,
Alan :)

P.S. I'm still working on my foundation of happiness, but I understand now that the reason it needs work is because I set too many other priorities before it. I feel it is important for me to let the reader understand that I am not perfect, but that does not mean that I am not qualified to speak on the subject. People often reach a point of clarity, before they reach the goal that's been clarified. Yes, we have to make a living, but we also have to make a life. Make yours a happy one. :)

4.10.2010

April 11th 2010 - Unlimit Yourself


I don't believe that limitation is real. I believe we are all unlimited beings. I believe that we only experience limitation, because we believe we are limited. I still experience limitation, but I think it is only because I still have work to do with regard to my beliefs and my certainty in them.

I think that there is good evidence that we are unlimited. Look at all of the technology we've invented, for example. How did we create computers that can process billions of instructions in a second? Someone had to first believe that they could do it, and then was certain enough in that belief to see it through to completion. You know that our bodies are doing trillions of things per second, all in near-perfect coordination?

One day I was driving home from work, and I was asking myself a question about whether my thinking about some subject was too limited or not. At the moment the question ran through my mind, I came around a turn and right in front of me was a big billboard with an ad for metroPCS that said "Unlimit Yourself." It was the first time I had ever seen the billboard or heard of that ad campaign. The timing was absolutely perfect. Too perfect to be just coincidence. Just something to consider.

Yours Without Limitation,
Alan

4.09.2010

April 10th 2010 - The Value of Now


What does Yesterday have to do with Now? The residue of what happened Yesterday and the results of the choices we made Yesterday shape Today, but place mostly illusory limitations on the direction we can choose Today. The direction we choose Tomorrow will be shaped by Today, but, again, will place very little limitation on our options Tomorrow. Our options always seem very limited, but they are always infinite. Every moment is a rebirth. Every moment offers an opportunity to choose to remain the same or to change anything or everything. EVERY MOMENT. Each moment stands on it's own.

I know it is easier to perceive this than to act upon it. For me, too.

Sweet Dreams (Day & Night),
Alan

4.08.2010

April 9th 2010 - The Clam


I'm absolutely flabbergasted that it's been over 2 months since my last post. The season in my family business was extremely busy due to the chilly and rainy weather. People came shopping. Enough with the excuses, though. On to my post.

I have not been able to get the idea of the clam in the shell out of my head for the past few days. I am not an expert on clam biology, but it seems that the clam is almost completely concealed from the light. Only a little light can penetrate the membrane that drapes between the two shell halves that house the clam. One of the biggest problems with humanity is that so many of us are like the clam. We are completely close-minded, and we won't open our shells wide enough to let in the advice or ideas of others. We stay inside our ego shells, believing that our ideas are superior, and discounting the intelligence and worthiness of others. If we are so close-minded that we never allow others' ideas to penetrate us, we are probably missing out on some good guidance.

One of my past teachers would always say that God doesn't talk to people from bushes and clouds these days. He said that God talks to people through their thoughts and intuitions, and also through the mouths of other people. From my experience, I believe this to be true. When I became more open-minded, I realized that even the simplest person will sometimes have some words of wisdom. Sometimes the greatest ideas come from the least-expected sources. Sometimes some random person I meet in some random place will say exactly what I need to hear. You have to be open-minded, alert and a patient listener to pick up on what the Universe is trying to deliver to you, in my humble opinion. Most of us, including myself, could use a little work on at least a couple of those skills.

Of course, some of us are TOO open to others' advice. Many people are easily swayed by anybody else's opinion. This can be just as much a problem, because it is symptomatic of a lack of self-trust. I, personally, err more this way.

How do you know whether to be open to the advice and ideas of others? It takes discernment, but your natural inclination is a good hint. If you tend to very quickly discount the ideas of others, you are probably losing some helpful advice. If you tend to be instantly swayed by anything another says, you probably need to practice a little more self-reliance. There's always a balance to be found. These days, though, I notice a lot of clams out there.

Sincerely,
Alan