Month: November 2020

Posted on

Give Thanks — You Really Will Love The Results

November 26 ………. Thanksgiving Day. Much will be said today about giving thanks and being grateful for blessings. Good feelings will abound. By November 27, the holiday will be officially over. For many it will be back to “business as usual” — carping and complaining.

Having a consistent attitude of thanksgiving has been well documented in a number of published scientific medical studies to actually improve both your physical and your mental health. Perhaps most important of all, it strengthens your spiritual health enabling you to get a glimpse past the surface of your life experiences into the deeper spiritual truths that are at the core of your very existence and are the basis of improving that life of yours.

Why is it important for you to feel gratitude for blessings received? There is another perspective besides the traditional ones. Usually you are told to be thankful because it is what is commanded of you by the religious precepts in which you were brought up. You are told that it is the will of God for you to be thankful. You are told growing up that you should always say thank you when you get something from someone. You are told people like to be thanked for their efforts. You were told by your Uncle Charlie that if you don’t say thank you to Aunt Gertrude for that sweater she gave you (that you don’t even like) that Aunt Gertrude is going to be pissed off and probably take it out on Uncle Charlie when they get home. You are told a lot of things about being thankful. What you may never have been told however is that the way that the universe is constructed, the more that you are honestly thankful, the more good things the universe is going to lay on you. Give…..Get.

What does an attitude of gratitude actually mean? Does it mean just saying the words, “thank you, appreciate it” and that’s it? Does it mean that you must come up with a way to actually demonstrate your gratitude in some way? Answers: (1) Action … (2) No … (3) Yes. For you to set into motion the Universal Law of Thanksgiving, you must actually live it. In doing so, you keep the force in play that sends you more to be thankful for. You might even say that being honestly thankful and demonstrating it by doing something to reflect that thankfulness, is something that is primarily for your benefit.

When the member of the clergy tells congregants that God commands them to be thankful, it tends to present an image of an old guy with a robe and long beard sitting on a throne looking down and saying, “Dance, my minions, dance”. Then he sees someone not thankful, frowns and orders St. Peter to bring him his zapper. Our Creator, the one true God, Universal Force of Unlimited Love and Unrestrainable Power, directs you to be thankful and then follow through with some action reflecting that gratitude because of the one hundred percent certainty that your gratitude in action will bring additional good to you, His beloved created being.

A thanksgiving action can be a silent prayer of blessing for someone, a kind smile, listening to someone who has something to say, a hug, tolerance when someone makes a mistake, an offer to help someone who is struggling, doing something for someone without the slightest expectation that they will ever even know about it or a thousand and one other actions that you can come up with.

There is no way to get around it. Thanksgiving is important. The thirteenth century theologian and mystic, Meister Eckhart, said, “If the only prayer that you ever said during your entire life was ‘thank you’, it would be enough”.

Posted on

Free To You…….The Lectures of Neville Goddard

One of the beautiful things about writings and recordings that are in what is known as “the public domain” is that they are absolutely free of charge to anyone who wishes to read, listen or copy them in any way they choose. One set of writings and recordings that are in the public domain that could help you jumpstart your manifesting efforts involve those of the twentieth century mystic, author and lecturer, Neville Goddard.

Neville Goddard (1905 – 1972) was born in the British West Indies on the island of Barbados. He was the fourth of ten children and immigrated to the United States in 1922. He was the author of several books as well as giving countless lectures in person, on the radio, on television and on recorded albums. He is not an easy person to pigeon hole as a proponent of this philosophy or that philosophy but was definitely radical in his explanation of scripture. I guess you can call him a proponent of the power of imagination to shape your reality.

If you are a person who would rather listen than read a book, there are many of Goddard’s lectures that are available on the internet. A quick sampling of just some of the lectures available to you include: How To Use Your Imagination; Live In The End; You Create The Reality You Live In; How To Really Pray; Your Creative Power; How To Feel Your Way Into The Wish Fulfilled. The lectures where he is talking to a physical audience at a lecture hall are the best as he seems to talk a little slower than when he is under time constraints (radio, tv, albums). This guy could make a fortune today as a voiceover artist. When you listen, it is as if you are listening to a kindly professor (with an melifluous English accent no less) in a lecture hall somewhere. Instead of a lecture on engineering or history or mathematics however, you are listening to a lecture about insights on life.

Q: Why bother with this? A: You can immediately take and use to your benefit the concepts put forth by Goddard to make your life better. If you truly commit yourself, you can shape your life how you really want it to be instead of getting stuck in a life, your life, that somehow just doesn’t feel to you like it’s hitting on all cylinders. If you feel that your life could be better than it is now and you have a true desire to do something about it, then, that is why you take the time to hear what he has to say.

Take advantage of these commercial-free lectures. Just sit, chill, and listen. Open the windows of your mind. Some ideas may give you an “aha moment” while others may give you an “I don’t buy that moment”. If you don’t resonate with all the concepts put forth, that’s ok. Take the ones that resonate with you at this juncture of your life and run with them. You’ve got nothing to lose but less than an hour of your time but you’ve potentially got a whole lot to gain.

Posted on

Smedley Darlington Butler: True American Hero

On this Veterans Day holiday, it’s a perfect occasion to talk about a true American hero that you have never heard of — Marine Major General Smedley Darlington Butler. He is one of only nineteen badass soldiers who have ever been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor – twice. And he just may have been resposible for saving American democracy.

Butler grew up in West Chester, Pennsylvania and was educated in Quaker schools. He entered the Marines as a teenager and served for thirty-three years, moving up through the ranks to major general. Wounded in combat and a recipient of not one but two Congressional Medals of Honor, Butler retired from the military in 1931 as the youngest, most decorated major general in the Marines.

In 1924, the corruption in the city of Philadelphia was so bad that the mayor asked President Coolidge to release a military general on a leave of absence to fight the corruption as police chief. He sent General Butler who did indeed reduce corruption, so much so that the mayor fired him in 1925. You could almost hear the mayor say in a back room somewhere, “I wanted him to fight corruption, not eliminate it”.

After his retirement, Butler maintained contact and popularity with veterans and was a strong promoter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). He was disgusted at the way that then President Herbert Hoover refused to meet with the 1932 Veterans Bonus March protestors and how Hoover used Army calvary to disperse their campground. Although Butler was a Republican, he campaigned tirelessly against Hoover’s re-election.

In 1934, Butler exposed that he was approached by a middle man for powerful banking, Wall Street and industrial interests. They wanted to gauge his interest in leading a conspiracy (being a front man) to overthrow President Franklin Roosevelt and establish a fascist dictatorship of the sort that was taking place in Germany and Italy at that time. When Butler exposed the plot, it was quickly and quietly dissolved. All the big shots behind it stuck together and called it a hoax and fake news. Congress held hearings on the matter but the puppet masters effectively quashed any subsequent action regarding the plot and it became a forgotten footnote of history.

Throughout the 1930’s, Butler continued to speak out against the big corporate interests who he said actually pulled the strings of the puppet politicians. In his 1935 book, “War Is A Racket”, he wrote, ” I spent thirty three years in active military service ….. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers.”

The military-industrial complex, that was first identified and warned about by President Eisenhower, has now grown to epic proportions as generals and admirals in retirement slide directly from retirement to the boards of giant defense contractors. People of General Butler’s truthfulness, character and honesty are needed now more than ever.

General Smedly Darlington Butler, (1881-1940)— A Man of Remarkable Achievement, Uncompromising Integrity and Rock-Solid Incorruptability — A True American Hero.

Posted on

In Love With Autumn

I am one of those people that like the change of seasons. Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter all have their own unique charms and idiosynchrocies. As one season takes a break for nine months, the next season slides in to do its thing for the next three months. Of the four of these lifelong friends however, I confess that I have always been in love with Autumn.

The Cooler Temps. The sunshine and warmth of Summer are nice but for the most part I just barely tolerate it when the heat gets humid and sticky. Ninety degree weather is perfect for some but for me it gets old after a while. When that first snap of cooler Autumn weather arrives, it always quickens the beat of my heart. The brisk air of Autumn fits me like a glove. There is no need to break out the sweaters and coats. I just continue with my short sleeve shirts but now without getting all sweaty. The hot, sticky, humid days have gone. The cold, biting days of winter have not yet arrived. It is the time of the year to enjoy the brisk, Autumn air that makes the leaves dance.

The Leaves. To see all of those universally green leaves change to a rainbow of colors before my eyes never fails to delight me. I love evergreens but the show that the deciduous trees put on every year in Autumn is always worth the price of admission. The explosion of color before dying and dropping to the ground is sort of how I want it to go for me when my time comes — a kind of “last blast” of achievement before my body goes in the ground. Another thing I like about the leaves when they do fall to the ground is that crunchy sound that they make when you walk on them.

Autumn Holidays. Two Autumn holidays within the season that I have always enjoyed are Halloween and Thanksgiving. As a kid, Halloween was great. It was the only way to ever get such a large haul of candy. And back then, there were no snack size candy bars. We got full sizers as well as home made candy and caramel apples. Yum. Thanksgiving to me is the best holiday of the year, hands down. No gift giving…..just thanks giving. Turkey…stuffing…gravy…family…football…pumpkin pie. When we went to my maternal grandparent’s house, there was kielbasi, pierogies, golabki, ham, kapusta, barley and babka. Everybody was in a good mood. A heartfelt Thanksgiving prayer. Taking a walk or throwing around the football after dinner. The greatest holiday ever.

Pumpkins and Apple Cider. Making Jack-O-Lanterns from pumpkins right from the pumpkin patch and of course eating pumpkin pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Fresh pressed mugs of apple cider, both hot and cold, with or without spices. Usually got the cider at a roadside stand near an orchard, where we also got a basket of crunchy winesap apples.

The Houseflies and Mosquitoes Hit The Road. The universally annoying house guest and the vampire of the insect world both go bye-bye in Autumn. Halleluah! I am sure most of you have had the experience hilariously parodied on the tv show Family Guy where you have the window open for the fly to go out and he proceeds to fly everywhere around the window but out, even with you shouting “You SOB, the damn window is open right in front of you. Get out!” Likewise, getting situated in a lawn chair in the back yard in the pre-dusk evening with a cold mug of beer when the mosquito world Count Dracula and his minions decide that all parts of my body is one big juice bar. Autumn means that these irritating critters go elsewhere. Good riddance.

The Lawn Goes Into Hibernation. I actually find that I enjoy mowing the lawn during Spring and Summer. It is good exercise for my arthritic knees. I love my Ego (electric) lawn mower (highly recommended by the way). I recite enjoyable affirmations in my head while I am mowing. With all that said however, it is nice to have a break from mowing the lawn until the Spring.

The Room A/C’s Get Turned Off. I am truly grateful for the coolness that the room A/C’s bring during the Summer but the rooms sure do get nice and quiet when they go off in Autumn. Also, the electric bill goes down as well and the moderate temps mean the heating bills stay low also.

College. To be blunt, high school, for me at least, totally sucked. College however was a completely different matter. I loved my four years in college and of course, Autumn meant a new school year in September. New professors. New courses. New experiences. Another step closer to the diploma. Being on campus in the Autumn was always a great experience.

I have always been in love with Autumn. I will continue to savor however many of them I get to enjoy before my number is called.