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A Never Ending State of “Thank You”

The Concept of Gratitude

If you enter the word “gratitude” into the search box on a google search, you will receive over two hundred million search results. Obviously then, the concept of gratitude has evoked a huge ocean of human thought and opinion over the ages. If you go to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, under the word “gratitude” you find the definition “the state of being grateful”. Not very helpful. Continuing on and going to the word “grateful” you find the definition of “appreciative of benefits received”. Ok then, a generic definition could be described as a feeling – a human feeling of being appreciative of benefits received. So here is where we run into trouble with the concept of gratitude.

That Troubling Bible Verse

In my Sunday school class when I was a child, we were studying in the Book of First Thessalonians one Sunday. when the teacher got to chapter 5, verse 18. This verse states “In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. An alarm went off in my head regarding this verse. My mind went to all the people in this world who are suffering in one way or another. I hate suffering. I mean I really hate it. I have never seen anything noble about it. The very thought of suffering, whether it is my own suffering, or a loved one’s suffering, or the suffering of a total stranger, actually makes me sick to the stomach. I asked the teacher “how could you be thankful for suffering”? The general response that I remember was that (a) man’s sin was the cause of all suffering, (b) we do not have the divine perspective of God, and (c) suffering deepens one’s faith. I was about to respond with a “Yeah, ok, but…” however the last time I did that with regard to another verse, the group started giving me dirty looks. Thus, I just nodded my head, said “Ok” and kept my mouth shut. Inside however, I was definitely not satisfied with the answer.

Science Weighs In On Gratitude

In 2015, there was a scientific study of the brain neural impulses done at the University of Southern California, Department of Psychology, with regard to the human feeling of gratitude. Participants in the study underwent magnetic resonance imaging of their brains while external stimuli were used to induce the feeling of gratitude. The results revealed that the ratings of gratitude on the part of the study participants correlated with well-defined neural brain impulses observed in the anterior cingulate cortex and medial prefrontal cortex of the brain. This study in affective neuroscience pinpointed the brain circuitry that accompanies the feeling of gratitude.

So There It Is – It Is All For You After All

You live in an outer shell that we call the human body. Within this shell resides your spirit. At some point after our birth, you ultimately shed this outer shell when it stops working. We call this event “death”. Your spirit, which is pure energy, proceeds onward. I cannot tell you exactly where or how your spirit will proceed after death because this is not learned until after death. While on this earth however, your energy, your spirit, resides within your body. It is the true you, and, being pure energy, it can project outward. You may have experienced something of this when for no rational reason whatsoever, you felt “good vibes” or “bad vibes” from another person.

Electricity is a form of energy. Neural impulses within the brain are electrical. When we activate those neural transmitters in our brain that science has identified as dealing with gratitude, these electrical impulses are picked up on by Universal Intelligence – All That Is. The universe has consciousness. As the early twentieth century author Wallace Wattles put it, ” There is a thinking stuff from which all things are made, and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates and fills the interspaces of the universe. A thought in this substance, produces the thing that is imaged by that thought.”. Matching, or like impulses are then attracted to you by your transmission of gratitude neural impulses. In other words, if you truly feel gratitude, the universe has been created in such a manner that you will then be given something (“good stuff” I call it) that matches up with the level of your gratitude. Thus, the reason we are told by Scripture to “be thankful in everything” is for your own benefit or for the benefit of the one for which you wish to favorably intercede. If you are in trouble, it is a way out. Loving Omniscience did not create human beings so that there would be an endless supply of fawning sycophants. Loving Omnipotence has graced you with a never ending way of receiving good stuff in your life and thus displaying the glory of the I Am through your never ending state of gratitude. So there it is – gratitude is all for you after all.

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Make A Difference With One New Thing

Every Day For Thirty-One Days

The universe is absolutely chock full of different little life hacks that you can do to give yourself a boost. They don’t usually require monumental actions on your part. They may even be considered by a majority of human beings to be inconsequential and are dismissed as of no value. C’est la vie. One of these overlooked little things that you can do to add to your pile of life’s poker chips is to insert one thing different into your daily routine for a month. Pay attention. Watch for little signs of good coming your way. In some way, this alchemic action seems to help keep the pores of your mind open to better receive “good stuff”. Your creativity and brainpower are stimulated. You may ask just how doing something differently bring you any possible benefit? It’s stupid you say. Science doesn’t support such a notion. Well then, don’t do it. Stop reading now and wait for next Thursday’s post. As is always the case, you choose. Free will is a most beautiful gift from the Almighty.

It Doesn’t Hurt and It Can Be Fun

There is entirely too much drudgery in the daily life of human beings, especially after the “school-job-marriage-children-family-duties-responsibilities-blls to be paid-crises to be handled-conflict to be dealt with-“you better go to that job you dislike or else”-“maybe I will get five years after i retire to do what I like” phase of your life begins. First of all, plotting out “thirty-one days of difference” is not painful. It will not hurt you. Second of all, you may even find it to be a fun diversion from your regular rut, excuse me, I mean, routine. When you can do something that you find is fun that also contributes to your overall wellbeing, I believe that is what is termed a “win-win” situation.

Don’t Take The Freeway Home Today

To jumpstart this little personal experiment, here are thirty one examples of ways that you can experience something different each day of the month. If you find that some are not to your liking, feel free to cook up your own.

1) Take a Different Way To and From Work or School (that it may take longer is not the point here).

2) Eat your meals with your non-dominant hand with one eye closed (after this you will appreciate more your dominant hand and your second eye).

3) Drink your morning coffee out of a different cup in a different place in a different way (for example, if you drink with with cream and sugar, drink it black).

4) Do a one day fast from something you do every day (social media, texting, soda, beer, food, tv, sugar, talking, worrying. etc.). I know, this can be really hard.

5 ) Do something totally random in a public setting (like Peter Finch from the movie “Network” – “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore”).

6) Go to the supermarket, pick out one fruit or vegetable you never ate before and eat it.

7) Block out one uninterupted hour without fail to something that you have been wanting to do or start but never seem to have time for. If you can’t do this one, maybe you really do not want to do it.

8) Read one full chapter in a new book.

9) Take a short walk along a route that you never walked before (please be safe, no walking where you do no feel safe).

10) Learn how to say thank you in a foreign language and say it to someone when the occasion arises (ie., someone holds open a door for you). An example would be “As the Polish say, Dziekuje”.

11) Watch a movie (something without commercials) that you never watched before.

12) Buy a newspaper and read something on each page.

13) Wear a shirt that you haven’t worn in over a year.

14) Pick out one favorite bible verse or a favorite quote from someone and continually repeat it in your mind over and over again for 20 minutes while you are commuting to or from work or school or some other activity where your train of thought will not be interrupted

15) Treat yourself at one meal (breakfast, lunch or dinner) to something you never eat or drink because it is just too expensive. Savor it.

16) Just get started on something, 15 minutes will suffice, something that needs to get done that you have been procrastinatiing on. The starting of it sometimes busts the dam.

17) Spend fifteen miniutes outlining a plan to accomplish one single thing that you should have done years ago and have always come up with an excuse for not doing it. Then, even if it is a tiny ten minutes per day, start doing it, even if it takes you another ten years.

18) Drink eight eight ounce glasses of spring water over sixteen hours (four half litre bottles). That comes to four ounces per hour.

19) Go to bed three hours later than usual (for me this would be 1:30 instead of 10:30) Or wake up three hours earlier than usual (for me this would be 3:00 instead of 6:00).

20) Send 3 people a silent blessing that you pass on the street or in a car. An example: “God bless this person today. Thank you”.

21) Get a full eight hours sleep. Or if you already do, then stay in bed for another hour or two.

22) Take the stairs instead of the elevator.

23) Walk in the rain for ten minutes (a light rain, not a deluge).

24) Declutter for a solid hour (closet, bureau, storage box, your car, your mind).

25) If you live in southern New Jersey, order a cheesesteak from Chick’s Deli (Cherry Hill) or a pizza from Marinos Pizzeria (Runnemede) or Szechuan food from Han Dynasty (Cherry Hill).

26) Take an old fashioned 30 minute soaking bath.

27) Compose a four line song and sing it once every hour in your mind (or if you are alone, out loud).

28) Take your blood pressure once in the morning and once in the evening.

29) Write down something you want to learn about the computer or your smartphone – spend one solid uninterrupted hour at least getting started in learning it.

30) Watch the geese or the birds or the clouds for ten solid minutes.

31) Find one different thing every hour to say a silent thank you for (probably the easiest thing to do of this whole list).

32) If you experience a really vivid dream that sticks with you after you wake up, write down the main points of it and ponder it over the course of the day.

Again, if you fail to see how any of this will help you, just do it anyway. It won’t kill ya. See what happens. None of the things above will take more than one hour out of your day (most will take much less). For one measly month, you can afford it. And you just might have some fun along the way. Before starting this experiment, write your thirty-one things down in your notebook or a sheet of paper and check them off each day as you do them. If you subsequently perceive that nothing happened as a result, you are wrong. You experienced thirty-one new experiences to add to your life’s collection. Those experiences all add to your lifetime of learning. And learning is good (especially if you do not have to do it “the hard way”). If you don’t like some of these examples, by all means, make up your own, exercise your Imagination. If good things happen for you following this little experiment, the skeptic will say, “Nonsense, they would have happened anyway.” How about this response — You decide. Refuse to allow any other human being to decide what you are supposed to believe. Refuse to allow the controllers to have control over your beliefs. They do not have that right. You were born with free will. Use it. Live free. Believe free.

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Busting Free From That Damned Stupid Cycle

The Stock Market Chart Syndrome

Is there anyone else besides me out there in internet land whose life resembles one of those stock market charts (picture in your mind a series of connected “W’s”). Things go good for a time, then something happens and troubles set in. Then the troubles eventually subside and good times return to embrace me. Then they decide to go on vacation and the bad times come in to take their place. I term it “that damned stupid cycle.” I can picture the gods on Mount Olympus looking down at me when times are good and Zeus says to another god, “He thinks things are good now. Watch this” (and he pows me with a lightning bolt of misfortune). Then Zeus and his confederate start boisterous laughter as they high five each other.

Me Helping Me

It has taken me almost seven decades but I have finally arrived at that point where I think I have figured out the primary reason why my life has been as it has been. It is a different reason for each of us. In my case, there is no more margin of error for me as my time on earth is quickly running out. Only a few short years remain. I feel like Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz in the tower where the wicked witch turns over the hourglass and says, “See this – This is how much time you have left to be alive. And it isn’t long my pretty, It isn’t long.” Now is the time for me to act with urgency to do what is necessary to bust free from that damned stupid cycle.

As I have written these weekly posts over the course of the last year, I have slowly come to realize a grand irony in my writing these posts. It hit me the other day that they are meant as much to help me personally as much as they are to help anyone that may be reading them. I have a number of manifestations pending now in a number of different areas. The thoughts and ideas that wind up on paper in the form of these blog posts are all part of my crystallizing those manifestations into my reality.

What Are You Prepared To Do ?

In the movie, “The Untouchables”, starring Kevin Costner and Sean Connery, when Costner as Elliot Ness requests help from Connery’s character, Jim Malone, an honest Chicage cop, in putting Al Capone in prison, Malone asks him, “What are you prepared to do?” Ness answers, “Everything within the law”. Malone responds, ” And then, what are you prepared to do? If you open the can on these people Mr. Ness, you must be prepared to go all the way because they won’t give up the fight until one of you is dead.”

For the purposes of this blog post, I will reframe that last statement by Connery into this statement – unless you do what is necessary in your life, either you will be walking around captive to the damn stupid cycle or the damned stupid cycle will finally be put to death.

Are you ready to do what is necessary to bust free?

The very existence of your true life depends on your raw honest answer to that one question.

If the answer is yes, then proceed forth now and do it. If the answer is no, then stop bemoaning your fate. Accept living in the cycle for the remainder of your time here and just try to make the best of it. Maybe right now you are just not ready. Maybe at a later time you will change your mind and be prepared to do what is necessary.

The choice is yours. You have been given free will by Divine Source in order that you may live full, live abundantly, and live free of that damned stupid cycle if you so choose, but, only if you so choose.

What do you choose? What are you prepared to do?

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Attract Good Luck With “A Lucky Pony”

YOU CAN ALWAYS USE GOOD LUCK

Come on now, who doesn’t want to have good luck. To have something good just kind of fall into your lap. Everything you were hoping for all comes together for you. Wouldn’t it be mindblowing if you could actually do something, something you actually had the ability to do, to literally attract good luck to you. How would it feel to experience good luck without waiting for the fickle finger of fate to tap you on the head with a dollop of it. Well, you can. You can draw good luck to you in your daily life with a calm certainty, just as a magnet always draws to it all manner of ferrous metals. How powerful your magnet becomes depends on just how much you choose to commit yourself to the process. You can choose to be a dollar store magnet or a large electro-magnet. The process consists of three things that you can do, starting today, starting right now, to magically induce Lady Luck to cozy right up to you.

PERSPECTIVE

How you view circumstances, events and conditions is of course colored by your conditioning by the society and culture in which you live. Starting in childhood, you pick up ways of looking at things from everyone around you. Nevertheless, when it comes down to the bottom line, you are always the ultimate arbitrer of your perspective. Perhaps the most well known tool of measuring human perspective is the “glass half empty…..glass half full” question. A person is shown a drinking glass. Within the glass is water which takes up half of the volume that the glass can hold. The person is told to state whether the glass is half empty or half full. The response then indicates the perspective of that person. There are actually about a half dozen possible answers to that question that would all be true. The point of the exercise however is to gauge how that person sees life and life’s events……their perspective on what they see. You may believe it or choose not to believe it but, how you look at things, your perspective, can bring you good luck, bad luck or blah luck. Cultivate the perspective that everything that happens to you ultimately brings you good luck.

OPEN

Open your mind to accept that possibilities for good luck for you can come down one of a thousand different avenues. It does not all have to come down those two or three or six roads that you expect. The Imagination of Supreme Universal Intelligence is breathtakingly endless. Your breakthrough that you are longing for, striving for, dreaming about, may just jump out at you from the least expected places and people. Hone your intuition. Pay attention. Listen to it. It is your tool of power but not if you choose not to use it. Your logical mind wants you to always follow its instructions without question but your intuition is your personal pipeline to the Almighty. If you open all the doors and windows of of your mind so that good luck can come in from any direction, the easier it will be for good fortune to find its way to you.

NEW

Ruts. We all get into them. They are comfortable. The thing about ruts however is that the more you travel in the same ruts every day, the deeper they get and the harder it is to get out of them. The Grand Canyon was formed by the endless flow of the Colorado River along the same route. If you want to have good luck, stop today and look at everything you do, everything you say, everything you think and everything you feel. Is there one point during your waking hours, that you can consciously do something differently, something in a way more beneficial to you than the way that you have been doing it. It doesn’t have to be all four activities (doing, saying, thinking, feeling). Just pick one. It doesn’t have to be every waking hour. Just start with one thing during one hour and do it in a different way, if the way you are currently using is not bringing you the results that you desire. Always search for a better way, a way that yields more benefit to you than the way you have been proceeding. Sometimes you have to step out of your comfort zone. When you shake things up a bit, you can cause a electical charge that attracts good luck. Why ruts are so appealing to us? We are comfortable with them. You will find that the more you are willing to adapt to changing circumstances through new approaches, the easier it becomes. The Universe sees your efforts and ultimately responds with good luck showing up on your doorstep with a suitcase and telling you it’s going to visit with you for awhile.

YOU

Godd luck doesn’t come from a rabbit’s foot or a horseshoe or a four leaf clover or a fairy godmother. Good luck comes to you as a result of you. You. How you think – how you feel – how you perceive – how you speak – how you act – what you choose to believe. You may possess one of the above-noted talismans but their power to bring good luck all comes from you. The good luck comes from your belief that they bring you good luck. The belief is the key, not the talisman, and that belief comes from within you. For heavens sake, just try it why don’t you. Put on your imaginary white labcoat and treat it as your own scientific experiment. Get a bound notebook. Write in it (1) a record of your perspective of how any circumstance you experience can end in benefit in some way. Write in it (2) a record of any new possibilities that arise to which you open your mind. Write in it (3) a record of that one new thing that you did that day. Write it in any way you want. It is your experiment. Perhaps on some days there is nothing to write. That’s OK, just stick with it. Do it for a solid six months. It won’t cost you a single red cent (unless you have to go to the dollar store and pick up a few bound notebooks and a pen). And yes, be sure to meticulously record it in your notebook when that beautiful good luck, both big and small, comes your way. You will be pleasantly surprised. Be forewarned however – you may experience a measure of disappointment in yourself for not doing it sooner. When then happens, just remember the old saying – Better Late Than Never.

One last thing – What about that “lucky pony” mentioned in the title of this post? Well, I love acronyms for remembering things. If you take the first letters of the words – perspective, open, new and you, what do you have – that’s right, the word “pony”.

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What An Incredible Waste of Time

Lines Fom A Movie

Whenever I hear or think the phrase, “What a waste of time” or “That’s just a big waste of time”, my mind occasionally brings up lines from one or both of two movies that I have watched. The first is in the movie, “Groundhog Day” with Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell. The basic premise of the movie is that Bill Murray, who begins the movie as an egocentric jerk, gets stuck in a time warp and is forced to re-live the same day over and over again. During his time in this time warp he attempts to seduce his co-employee Andie MacDowell. As he is wining and dining her over dinner in a restaurant, he is feigning interest in the various aspects of her life. During this charade he asks her what she majored in during college. She answers that it was nineteenth century French poetry. Murray can’t help himself and starts derisively laughing saying, “What an incredible waste of time”. The other movie line comes from the movie, “Middle of the Night” starring Frederic March and Kim Novak. In this movie March plays a successful businessman and lonely widower in his early 60’s who begins a romance with Novak, his secretary who is in her late 20’s. Almost everyone around March (family, friends, etc.) strongly disapproves of this romance, especially his daughter and his sister. One day as March is struggling as to how to proceed, his business partner, who is stuck in a loveless marriage, counsels him to follow his heart. If the romance does not last, then so be it, he says to March. The business partner, named Walter Lockman in the movie, disparages his own life for not doing so and during the conversation says to March, “You know what they’re going to put on my tombstone – Here Lies Walter Lockman – This Was A Big Waste of Time”.

The Post-Death Life Review

There are times when I reflect upon my own lifetime thus far and wonder if that is what is going to be inscribed on my tombstone when I die. In my mind I observe my many successful positive manifestations as well as my numerous failures and flaws. I observe the minor miracles I have gratefully been privileged to experience as well as the stupid blunders I have made. I review my life as a son, a grandson, a brother, a father, a spouse, an employee, a friend, a businessman, a neighbor and so on. As I review my life now, during my lifetime, I look it as a kind of rehearsal for the big enchalada life review that will take place when my spirit exits the body at death and moves on. I will be looking at successful opportunities and missed opportunities…intuition followed and intuition ignored…productive use of my alloted time and time thoroughly wasted on trivial matters…keen perception and total lack of perception. To manifest a reality in these final few years of my life that will give that life review movie a happy ending is the one focus of my remaining time now.

And Yet, If You Have Breath, You Have Hope

As I was formulating the idea I wanted to convey in this post, I was led to this quote from the author Alexander Solzhenitsyn from the book, “The Gulag Archipelago” – “There is nothing that so assists the awakening of omniscience within us as insistent thoughts about one’s own transgressions, errors, mistakes.” With these last ten years or so, it is my heart’s desire to take full advantage of all oppprtunities, to explicitly follow my intuition, to use my precious time on things that matter and to continually sharpen my perception. Will I succeed? I sure hope so. How about you? Every day of life, regardless of whatever current circumstances which you find yourself in, is a new lifetime, with new opportunities. If you have breath, you have hope. Even in the midst of the prison gulag hellhole, at the end of one day in his life, Ivan Denisovich could say to himself – “All in all, it was a good day”. With that sixteen or so hours that you have to work with each day, put everything you have into whatever it is that you are doing, wherever you happen to be. Everything. Then at night go to sleep “living in the end” in your Imagination. It is your choice. It always has been. It always will be. And by your choice, the shape and texture and substance of your life is sculpted.

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Are You Investing Or Burying Your Treasure

The Parable of the Talents

The parable told by Jesus found in Matthew 25 is commonly referred to as “the parable of the talents”. To give a rough outline, this is the parable about the head of the estate preparing to leave on a long journey. He left the estate in the hands of his servants. Not wanting to leave his assets lie dormant, he chose three servants and gave each of them a substantial amount of money to invest for him while he was gone. The amount of money entrusted depended on the demonstrated skills of each of the servants. The largest denomination currency of the day was called a “talent”. One talent equalled 6000 denarii. A day’s wage was around one denarus. So you are talking about a huge chunk of change. Eventually when the household head returned, he found that two of the servants had invested wisely and were able to yield good profits. The third servant was not willing to risk any type of investment with the funds entrusted to him. He looked upon the household head as a hard and cruel man who would punish him if the results were not satisfactory so he merely buried the talent where nobody would get it. He thus provided zero profit to his master. The first two servants delighted the household head and were invited to enter into his joy. The third servant was soundly rebuked for his action and chastised for merely burying the gift of the household head and not doing anything productive with it.

Sunday School Discomfort

When I first heard this parable as a child in Sunday School, I was troubled by it. I felt at that time that the third servant was being treated unnecessarily cruelly. After all, he had kept the talent entrusted to him safe and sound and duly returned it to the household head upon his return. Yes, he could have put the money in a bank and at least gotten interest on the money but what if the bank was robbed or failed. Then he could expect severe punishment. The Sunday School teacher explained that the money entrusted to the servants could be likened to skills, abilities, and opportunities that we possess. If we bury them, we are not being good stewards of these skills, abilities and opportunities. I responded with a “yeah, ok, but” that expressed my discomfort at the severity of the punishment of the third servant – the taking away of everything from him and giving it to the two servants who already had plenty. At that time I noticed the other kids in the small group were looking at me disapprovingly so I decided to just keep my mouth shut. Inside however, I was still not totally satisfied with the teacher’s answer.

Use It Or Lose It

In time, I developed resolution to this dissatisfaction by continuing to search for an answer that was acceptable to me. That answer is this: every human being on the earth whose mind is capable, has been gifted with the limitless Kingdom of God through Imagination. Imagination is our union with God. Imagination, the ability to see and feel yourself already in possession the object of your desire, which culminates in creating a reality, is the treasure that all are freely gifted with. How is this treasure being used? Many choose to bury this treasure by worshiping the things around them – all the facets that make up a society or culture.

Whatever your desire may be, it can and will be yours if you persist in imagining it as your reality and dwelling in its fulfillment (also called “living in the end”). With regard to this, be forewarned – refrain from imagining with hate or malice in your heart. That never, ever turns out well for you.

To the servants, five talents were given to one, two talents to the other and to a third, one talent. Then one day came the accounting and those who used their imagination and expanded the talents were invited to enter into the joy of their master. And the one who was afraid to use imagination, the one who refused to even try, was rebuked and the knowledge of the true power of imagination that was his, was taken from him through atrophy.

The talent referred to in the parable is God’s free gift to you of Imagining and Creating Reality. It is entrusted to you for your use. Use your talent or lose your talent. The choice is always yours to make. You have been gifted with Free Will. Use your talent tonight by falling asleep in the assumption that you are right now – not tomorrow, not some time in the future – but right now, in the circumstances you desire to be in. Persist. Regardless of the rate of speed of the manifestation – persist. Persist in your imagined assumption as your reality. Persist as you fall asleep every night in the “reality of your Imagination”. Although your human reason will deny your assumption, if you persist without backsliding, your desire will, in time, harden into fact, as a result of stepping aside and letting your Imagination “run the show”.

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Absurdism……….What Do You Think ?

Proponent of Absurdism, Albert Camus

What Is Absurdism?

Have you ever heard of the term absurdism. No it has nothing to do with an instructional school for clowns. And speaking of clowns, no, neither does it have anything to do with our politicians. Absurdism is a term coined to reflect the writings of the twentieth century French author and philosopher Albert Camus, shown in the image above. It is the belief of absurdism that human beings exist in a purposeless, meaningless universe. Thus, according to the absurdism philosophy, there is something intrinsically “absurd” about the ongoing strivings of a human being to find meaning in their life. The absurdist remedies this tension between universal meaninglessness and the human desire for meaning by revolting against this meaninglessness through “constructed passion” in their daily chosen activity. One could generally say that absurdism is in the middle ground between existentialism and nihilism.

The Fork In The Road

According to absurdism, humans, in some manner or form, attempt to find a meaning or purpose to their lives in some way. Usually this search follows two basic paths…..the fork in the road. The first path is the conclusion is there is no Supreme Being from whence we came — a-theism. The universe has no deeper meaning other than…..it just exists. That is the whole ball of wax so to speak. Each of us must take what he or she is presented with in life and then construct their own meaning, even if that meaning is ultimately pointless. The second path that you can take is that your life has a true purpose established under the auspices a higher power – theism. This requires that you step off the road of logic and take the proverbial “leap of faith”. Camus called this leap of faith “philosophical suicide.”

You Make The Choice Of Which Road You Take

At some point along the road of life, every single person in the world that has the ability to make a choice at that fork in the road, will in fact make a choice. This choice is always made, either consciously or unconsciously, but make no mistake, it is made.

First Choice

Perhaps your life experience has led you to conclude that with all the pain and suffering and violence and avarice and greed and indifference and ignorance in the world, that there is no underlying inherent meaning to any of it. The whole thing, the entire universe is a rudderless ship chaotically bobbing along. When one or more of those things that cause suffering keeps slapping you or a loved one in the face, it is only natural for a human being to wonder……….why? And if nothing has any intrinsic meaning, all that you can do in order to make it through another day is to focus with passion on whatever life activity you are doing because you do in fact exist, you do have life and suicide as an escape or revolt from the pointlessness is simply not an option. The choice of absurdism can be described as human freedom through a “self constructed meaningfulness”.

Second Choice

The other choice that you can make as a soverign being is to go ahead and take that “leap of faith” that there is indeed a Divine Power and that your life has a definite purpose in line with a master plan of this Ultimate Intelligence. Every ripple your life creates is part of “the long game”. Every single event, every single person, every single happening, every single breath, has meaning, regardless of whether you are able to perceive it or not while you live on the earth. If you choose this belief, then when the body finally shuts down, your life continues on in the realm of spirit and your perception becomes clarified.

So what do you think? Is this life truly absurd? Or Is there underlying meaning to it all?

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Synchronicities……….Hello, You Have An Important Long Distance Call

Synchronicity

Sin-kro-NIS-uh-tee. The word rolls off the tongue with a flair, doesn’t it. Just what is a synchronicity anyway. Let’s go to the writings of Carl Jung for a little clarification. He actually provided two good definitions for the word. The first is ” circumstances that appear meaningfully related yet lack any causal connection“. The second is ” a meaningful coincidence of two or more events where something other than the probability of chance is involved“. I will add my own humble definition to the mix – a sign, signal, person, or event, either requested or unrequested, representing communication to you from the dimension of the Unseen. Even an a-theist will confess that things do occur in the realm of “physical reality” that cannot be explained via our current knowledge of the physical laws of science. The spiritual-based person will agree but will state that the unexplainable circumstances are an intertwining of the physical world and the spiritual world. Thus, a synchronicity can be described as a “long distance phone call” from a totally different dimension – a dimension of spirit rather than our physical world constructed of atoms and molecules.

A True Life Example…..251

I will present to you a true real life example of a synchronicity. There was a person that I know well who was grieving the death of his mother. He and his mother were very close. At the end of her life his mother spent ten days under twenty-four hour hospice care before she passed on to the next realm. This man was also at that time experiencing several very trying and challenging problems that had to be solved, not the least of which was a lack of sufficient funds. As the many challenges were pressing in on him at a time of profound grief over the end of the life of his beloved mother, he felt overwhelmed one day and just dropped to his knees to pray. He asked his Creator with all his heart and soul for some type of sign or signal, anything, that would let him know that he was not all alone. When he finished praying nothing different happened except he felt better by voicing his concerns to Divine Presence. He went about his business of everyday activities. A few days later, he was stopped in traffic at a red light. On the license plate of the vehicle in front of him were the numbers “251”. He took notice of it because that was the room number of his mother’s hospice care room. About an hour later, he drove by a large billboard advertising a business and noticed the telephone number xxx-xxx-x251. Still later he stopped in a convenience store and made a purchase. His change came to $ 2.51. He felt it was more than a coincidence and that his prayer had been answered. He was not alone. Pursuant to an inner urge, he decided to purchase a lottery ticket for that evening for the number 251. He had fifteen dollars in his wallet and purchased the ticket in the amount of ten dollars. The odds of winning were one thousand to one but sure enough the ticket was a winner that evening, paying off a total of over four thousand dollars on an investment of ten dollars. If he had had more faith in the synchronicity, he would have gotten more money and purchased a ticket for a higher amount. Nevertheless, he used the faith he did have, and received the sign that he had prayed for. If you have not already guessed, that man was me.

Stop. Look. Listen. Act. Thank. Receive.

Ignore synchronicities at your own risk. There were many aspects to the above happenstance. Taking the time and effort to be aware of my surroundings. Acting on what I observed and perceived. Being thankful, even before learning of the winning ticket, that somehow just continually seeing the number 251 meant to me somehow that I was not alone. Receiving the windfall with humble gratitude. You do not need to walk around like Sherlock Holmes with a large magnifying glass closely inspecting everything around you. You do however, need to pay attention to what is going on around you. You may be in the middle of a synchronicity that you need to act on but the window of opportunity may be short.

Use Your Connection

You have your own personal wifi “hot spot” to synchronicities. It is called true prayer. An earnest and unrelenting indwelling on Divine Intelligence, Original Source, the Almighty, God, Jehovah, whatever name you choose to ascribe. It is yours…..free of charge. You are invited to use this connection. You are expected to use this connection. You were created to use this connection. If you do so, your lifetime here on this earth plane of existence can manifest all manner of good things for you. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

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Flipswitching 101 – Magic Magnet For Things You Want

Flipswitching

In the world of consciously manifesting your reality, have you ever heard of the concept of “flipswitching”? It is a manifesting technique introduced by author Lynn Grabhorn. It is elegantly simple in concept. It is totally free. It can be done by anyone, with any level of education, at any level of society, anywhere in the world. As in most manifesting techniques however, the “catch” is that it requires total commitment on your part to the process. It also requires your patience, your perserverence and your determined self discipline in order to for you to produce successful results. It is not for those who dabble in it, then flitter off to something else when they hit a roadblock or become impatient. If you decide to get onboard with it, it can be a fun and enjoyable activity that you look forward to each day as opposed to a chore that you have to do in order to get something you want.

A Way To Break Free

Whenever a detrimental thought infects your mind, like a virus, if you allow it to settle in, you have just made the choice to go backward. And you will. When a negative thought comes in the door of your house so to speak (your mind), immediately flip your switch. By this is meant, immediately think of something that makes you feel good, something that you are or that you have experienced or are experiencing now that you appreciate, that you enjoy. It could be a person or group of people, a past or future event, something about your personality or your body or a skill that you have that makes you feel really good. It could be something that has occurred in the reality of your innner mind but has not come about yet in the physical realm. It could be…….whatever. Once you decide on about a minimum of a half dozen items in whatever category you choose, then practice holding each thought (and the accompanying pleasurable feeling) for between fifteen and thirty consecutive seconds. Train yourself. It sounds simple and it is but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. It will be difficult at first to do it for more than a few seconds but just keep working on it. Keep the “feeling good” thought fully occupying your mind and no other thoughts will have room to barge in and take over.

Old Habits Will Strenuously Object

Warning: If you decide to dive into the pool of “flipswitching”, your addiction to negative emotions (fear, worry, doubt, panic, etc.) will strenuously object to this manifesting technique. You are evicting them and they will not go quietly. Just like the junkie who is hooked on drugs, your old habits of thought and feeling will tell you life can’t go on without a fix. You may start flipswitching, see nothing happening after a while and give up telling yourself that it’s just a bunch of baloney. If you really and truly commit to the process, you will most assuredly ultimately begin to see good things happening. That should give you incentive to perservere. At the very least commit (no matter what) to thirty consecutive days (no days off). Another warning: negative feel goods (ie., hurting others, imagining harm to others, etc) won’t work to bring you what you desire. The Universe will give you something but it will not be what you want.

Backsliding Will Turn Off The Flipswitch

Everyday responsibilities and chores can be overwhelming. They can squeeze the juice right out of you. You might have three or four (or more) things at once to deal with. You may find your inner focus swerving over to a multitudes of “if I don’t do this, then this bad thing will happen to me” and “I don’t have time to focus on anything but my problems.” Once you allow your focus to change, the flipswitch gets turned off and the good stuff that is on its way to you comes to a screeching halt. In my own experience, I have found the toughest part of the flipswitching “feel good” experience is staying there once you get there. Also, I have found that the manifestation usually comes much slower than I desire, causing impatience, causing switching my focus to other things. All of us humans have faults and frailities that tend to trip us up. There are a number of ways to approach flipswitching. Experiment. Search for the way that works best for you. Then, stick with it and reap the rewards.

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It’s Halftime…..2021. Time For You To Get Real.

It’s Halftime

OK, now where did you put those New Year’s resolutions that you wrote down back in January? It’s time to dust them off and see how much you’ve been conning yourself these past six months. Whether it was one resolution or twenty-one, now is a good time to assess precisely where you stand. In the parlance of a football game…..it’s halftime 2021. In halftime of a football game, while the marching band is performing on the field to entertain the fans, the teams go to their respective locker rooms to rest and re-evaluate. Rest up for the final half of the game, hydrate, attend to any injuries suffered in the first half, and generally prepare for the second half. Led by the head coach, the team reviews what happened to make the score what it is at halftime. The team will be advised by the coach what they need to do in the second half to either maintain their success or remediate their failures.

180 Days: July Thru December 2021

You are in life’s locker room now. It is July 2021…..halftime. Your coach is the Holy Spirit of God. Deep prayer is your method of evaluation. Ask. Seek. Knock. Expect. Receive. Thank. If you really desire it, guidance will be given to you. Thoughts will enter your mind. Situations will unfold before your eyes. Someone may say something that is exactly what you needed to hear. Something may bubble up to the surface from your deep intuition. Stop, look and listen. Then it will be up to you to act. Act according to whatever guidance you receive. If things are going well for you, the guidance will be how to sustain it. If things are going poorly, the guidance will be how to improve your situation. If things are just going “so-so”, ideas or avenues will present themselves to you to allow you to bust loose to the “things are going good” plane of existence. Ask. Seek. Knock. Expect. Receive. Thank.

This Game Called ” Your Life”

In 1925, the author Florence Scovil Shinn wrote a book entitled, “The Game of Life and How To Play It”. It is interesting reading and is available to you free, as it is in the public domain. Agreeing with what you need to do is never enough to fulfill those resolutions and change your life circumstances for the better. You need to do. You need to do. Allow the eternal I AM to work through you by you actually doing what you know you need to do. It is halftime 2021 my friend. Time for you to play the second half of the game. If you are ahead in the game, be aware that the other team will come out ferociously in the second half to reverse your position. If you are behind, take stock, put the non-essential aside and come out of the locker room with a calm ferocity to win the game in the second half. If the score is tied, it means you have done some things right and some things wrong. Now is the time to double down on your winning game plan. For the next six months, twenty-six weeks, one hundred and eighty days, live and breathe winning the game through sustained right action. Embrace the guidance of the Holy Spirit and proceed accordingly. If you make the choice to do this, the year 2021 will end with you as the winner and you will enjoy the wonderful fruits thereof.