Tag: listen

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Destiny of the Soda Guy

The Soda Guy

Earlier this year I was driving in Burlington county and decided to pull in to the parking lot of a Wawa convenience store in order to get something to eat and drink. After making my purchase, I got into my vehicle which was parked by the front door of the store. As many customers of this particular store do, I sat in my car eating my sandwich, casually observing those entering and exiting the store.

One man in particular caught my attention. He was a young man who appeared to be in his twenties. He was portly but not excessively obese. The man wore a brimmed “captains’ hat” with an anchor insignia in the front. He rode up to the front of the store riding an older type bicycle. It was the type without any gears to shift. It looked somewhat like the bike that Pee Wee Herman rode in the movie Pee Wee’s Great Adventure.

He got off his bike, leaned it against the the front wall of the store and entered the store. When he exited the store, he was carrying three bottles of soda. One was a one liter bottle. The other two bottles were twenty ouncers. His bike had no basket so I wondered how he was going to carry the bottles and ride his bike. Walking over to his bike, he placed the three bottles on the flat top of the store’s metal waste and recycling container. Next, he opened the bottle of the one liter soda and proceeded to drink the entire contents. Then he proceeded to gulp down the contents of the other two bottles.

A Bottle of Spring Water

After finishing the third bottle of soda, he walked back into the store. Within a few minutes, he came back out carrying a half liter bottle of spring water. He stuck it in his pants pocket, got on his bicycle, and rode out of the lot onto Route 38. I continued to observe him until he rode out of sight, giving him the nickname of “The Soda Guy”.

For the remainder of the day, my thoughts lingered over my observation of Soda Guy. I conjured up a scenario in my mind based on my observations. The young man was born with some challenges with regard to his mental processes. He probably lived with his parents who monitored and controlled his soda intake for health reasons. He told his parents/caregiver that he was going to the Wawa store to buy some spring water. While there, he had the opportunity to guzzle soda. He had to drink it at the store because he could not bring it home.

What Is His Destiny In Life?

There is a special place in my heart for those who go through their lifetime here on earth dealing with certain congenital challenges. Nature dealt them a raw hand at birth. Nevertheless, like the rest of the eight billion humans on this planet, they were born into this world with something specific to achieve – a destiny. Perhaps the destiny of Soda Guy is to be a teacher. A teacher of the importance of expressing the divine quality of compassion and kindness and sacrificial love on behalf of a soul who cannot survive on his own.

The Electric Tricycle Guy

Not long after my observation of Soda Guy, I observed Electric Tricycle Guy. It was raining lightly in the morning as I set out for my place of employment. As I got into my car and started it up, in my rear view mirror, I saw a man riding in the middle of the street in a three wheeled adult-sized electric bike. It had a big basket on the back. As he rode past me in the direction that I was headed, I drove slowly at a distance behind him. The street we were on came to a “T intersection”. The man stopped at the stop sign and patiently waited until it was safe to go, oblivious to the rain. His rain jacket had a hood but he was not using it. He then crossed over to the opposite side of the intersecting street. Going up a driveway, he continued riding, now on the sidewalk.

As I made my turn in my car, and drove past him. I got a good look at the man. In some way that I am unable to explain, I intuitively knew that Electric Tricycle Guy was another soul similar to Soda Guy. Perhaps it was the sudden wave of compassion running through me that I felt. I only saw his face for a couple seconds but there was something that told me that Electric Tricycle Guy also had to deal with mental challenges that the average person does not have to deal with.

What Is Destiny?

There are those that define your destiny as that which is preordained to occur in your life. The Oxford Language Dictionary actually has two different definitions for the meaning of the word destiny. The first is “the events that will necessarily happen to a particular person or thing in the future”. The second is “the hidden power to control what will happen in the future”. Looking at those two definitions, the second one appears to be the more accurate of the two.

We all come into this world with a purpose. You, me, our loved ones, Soda Guy, Electric Tricycle Guy, everyone. It may be different purposes at different phases of our lifetime. There are specifics that we came here to accomplish. These specifics are your destiny. You can endeavor to understand and fulfill your destiny. Or you can make the choice to ignore your true destiny and go off your true life path. You make the choice. It’s up to you.

You Have A Unique Destiny

Your destiny encompasses the full use of your skills and abilities to be, to learn, to teach, to grow, to create, to experience, to accomplish that which was planned before you entered the world. You perceive your true destiny through asking Divine Intelligence emanating from the Kingdom of God within you. Ask with a humble heart. It will assuredly be revealed to you. It will be something that you are able to do with what you have to work with, wherever you happen to be.

Every single person in the world has a unique destiny. That includes humans born with all types of congenital challenges. Every life is different with regard to that life’s destiny.

United States – Manifest Destiny

Sometimes, entire countries manifest their destiny. After the United States won its independence from Great Britain, it slowly moved west across the continent. After purchasing the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon in 1803, the idea of “Manifest Destiny” started taking root in the American psyche. The concept of Manifest Destiny was that it was the destiny of the United States to stretch all the way from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. And by 1850, that is precisely what occurred. Once the idea of Manifest Destiny was thought of as a reality waiting to happen, that idea took on an energy of its own. Americans would not rest, could not rest, until this destiny was fulfilled.

You Are The One To Manifest Your Destiny……YOU

You may confuse destiny with fate. You may say, “Well, it seems like it’s my fate to _________________.” Fate essentially refers to the notion that your life follows a fixed, inevitable course. On the other hand, destiny refers to the notion that you came into this world, this dimension, to fulfill specific experiences and achievements. You, and only you, make the choice of your path in life. You can choose to pursue your destiny or you can choose not to pursue your destiny.

Make no mistake about it. You are the one to manifest your destiny, whatever it may be. You choose to make use of your skills and abilities to accomplish your destiny. Or you can use your skills and abilities pursuing that which lies outside of your true destiny.

From personal experience, I can tell you this. There is no diversion or activity on your part that you could possibly spend your life on that even comes close to bringing you the fulfillment and inner joy that you feel manifesting your life’s destiny. Dear reader, do you understand? Your true destiny is the only reason that you are here.

Be Still And Listen

So how do you discern what your true destiny is? Be still and listen. Listen closely to what Emmet Fox called the Presence of God. Just shut the eff up. Go within to the Kingdom of God. Ask for guidance, then just listen. If you are sincere about really desiring to understand what your true destiny is, you will most assuredly be guided to it. It will be as if there is a universal magnet inexorably drawing you to your unique destiny. A destiny that is meant for you and you alone. You will then feel and believe that your life is worthwhile because you are doing what it is you were always meant to do. When you discern your true destiny, you will know. At that juncture in your life, you will feel as if you are asleep each day unless you are taking some small step (however small it may be) in the direction of fulfilling your destiny.

Ditch The Fake You

At Halloween and at masquerade parties, masks can be fun to wear as you portray this, that or the other as part of the playful respite from the workaday routine. One of the saddest and most tragic happenstances of human society is never taking the masks off as you live your life. You may choose to wear different masks all throughout your lifetime here. Wear this mask for this person or group. Wear that mask for that person or group. Why? To be liked. To be loved. To get ahead. To get money. To manipulate others. To feel secure. To assuage your fears. There are literally dozens of reasons why masks are worn. And it is so very unnecessary. Go within to the Kingdom of God within you, to the true you.

To manifest your life as you desire it to be, take off the damn masks. Center yourself. Practice focusing on the Presence of God. Continuing to wear the masks will only result in you being held back from your true destiny. Eliminate the masks. Once you ditch the fake you, something beautiful will begin to happen. You will begin to experience the beauty and joy of true freedom. Once you begin to live in the freedom of the Kingdom of God, you will never go back. You will look back, shake your head, and think “Why did I waste any part of my precious life wearing masks?”

Your Very Last Day Of Life

When your very last day of life comes, as it must for all of us, you will ask yourself two questions. As you lay in your hospital bed or perhaps in hospice care or wherever that event takes place, you will ask yourself – What was your true destiny? Did you achieve your destiny?

It does not take a great deal of imagination to picture your inner disappointment if your answers to those two questions are poor. My wish for you (and myself) is to avoid suffering that inner disappointment, both as you lay dying as well as later during your life review in the next realm. On that very last day it will then be too late to do anything more. Too late to fulfill why you were born and why you lived. The time to work on those two questions is right now.

Use What You Have, Wherever You Are

To manifest your reality is part and parcel of fulfilling your destiny as a child of God. Use what you have, wherever you happen to be. Believe. Believe as the penniless widow did in the biblical book of Second Kings. God’s prophet Elisha told the widow, who was buried deeply in debt, to borrow as many vessels (large jars) as she possibly could. She was told to put the vessels around her and shut the door of her house. (Big symbolism there). As instructed, she then took the small amount of olive oil that she had in the house and began pouring it into the first vessel. She kept pouring and pouring until every one of the multitude of vessels were filled to the brim with olive oil. She then sold the oil, paid all her debts and had enough funds left over from the sale of the oil to live on.

A Rather Big Manifestation

Recently I was working on a rather big manifestation. It was something that I was persevering with for a considerable amount of time. It had a number of moving parts to it. While being close to its realization, I asked Divine Intelligence for guidance to “get over the hump” so to speak. The Holy Spirit instructed me to proceed along a certain avenue. It was a path that I definitely would not have taken if left to my own devices, because of my own personal preference. There was nothing intrinsically wrong with that particular avenue. I just wanted the manifestation to come about in a different way. With manifestations however, you must have an open mind and an unclenched heart. Understand that you may receive your desire via a totally unexpected route. I finally relented (I am a stubborn SOB at times) and followed the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God. The result: the manifestation was fully realized with a few synchronicities thrown in for good measure.

Conceive. Believe. Receive.

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Are You Placing Your Trust In The Right Place ?

The Sixty-Four Billion Dollar Con Job

You have a substantial sum of money which you want to intelligently invest so as to make a reasonable return on your investment. You are not looking at any “double your money in ninety days” type of schemes. Perhaps you are the manager of a pension fund or a trust fund or a non-profit foundation. Perhaps you are a private investor and would like to stay ahead of the inflation rate without risking any of your principal. As the financial manager, you have a fiduciary duty to investigate and research any investment of funds that you make on behalf of the person or entity that you are representing. As a private investor you have the fiduciary duty to yourself, your spouse and your family to handle your life’s savings wisely. These are logical and rational approaches to investing funds. You need to place your trust in someone who you can unequivocally trust with your money. I will venture to say that you would not place your substantial sum of money in the hands of the guy in the image above. While some people reek of cologne, this guy reeks of sleaze. The only thing missing is a pencil thin mustache. If you would lookup the definition of the phrase “sleazy con artist”, you might even see this guy’s image next to the printed definition.

The bottom line in allowing another person to invest your money on your behalf is finding someone that you can safely trust with your money. Someone with a rock solid reputation. Someone who is vouched for by people whose judgement you trust and respect. Someone who perhaps is well known for his philanthropy. Someone whose lifestyle clearly reflects the ability to be quite successful in financial investment matters. Someone like…..Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. Of course I am referring to Bernie Madoff, aka Bernie the Con Man, aka Bernie the Sixty Four Billion Dollar Man, aka Bernie the Fraudster, aka Bernie the Liar, aka…..well you get the idea. Bernie Madoff, who ran the biggest Ponzi scheme in history to the tune of sixty four billion dollars.

A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing

If you google the image of Bernie Madoff, what you see is nothing like the image of poor Mr. Sleaze above. What you will see is the image of a very respectable looking, well dressed, well groomed businessman. Such is the stock in trade of the classic con man. The word con man is short for “confidence man”. In other words, someone who has a high degree of skill in gaining the confidence of his targeted victims. The con man presents the impressive facade that puts the investor at ease. That part of the con is called “the front”. Once the victim is hooked, the con man is adept at gently reeling him in. Part of the front of the con man is having word of mouth testimonials from actual investors. You may not put much stock in a paid advertisement but a testimonial from your brother, your uncle, your friend, your business associate, your current financial advisor, is something that carries a lot of weight.

In Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, he generated extensive word of mouth referrals by paying in full to a number of investors who wished to redeem their investment. He did this by using “new money” provided by new investors. He likewise generated a “history of proven results” by providing all investors with quarterly statements showing steady and consistent returns on their money of between ten and twelve percent per year. At that rate the investors who “let it ride” would double their initial investment in just seven years. Of course those statements were as phony as a three dollar bill. It was definitely not a “double your money in ninety days” type of con. It was perceived as steady and reliable as the Rock of Gibraltar. He carried on with this scheme for a very long time until it all came crashing down in the recession of 2008. Large numbers of investors requested redemptions of their funds and Bernie wasn’t able to cover the nut any longer. In 2008, he plead guilty to his crimes. He died in prison in 2021.

It Has To Be Legit, Just Look At His Investor List

The Madoff con job fooled some of the top hedge fund managers and major investment banks. The magnitude of the con is staggering. Some of the most highly touted MBA financial advisors in the world got flimflammed. Some of the most respected names in global banking got bamboozled. One poor money manger committed suicide by slitting his wrists while another jumped to his death from the twenty-fourth floor of an office building. Average everyday people lost their life savings that they had entrusted to financial advisors. Madoff was a giant money vacuum cleaner sucking in money from all directions.

Television celebrities, movie stars, sports figures, politicians, charities, pension funds, hedge funds, universities, churches, financial management firms, banks of all sizes, they all got sucked into the Madoff vacuum cleaner. One investor told the judge at Madoff’s sentencing hearing – “He stole from the rich. He stole from the poor. He stole from the in between. He had no moral values whatsoever. He cheated all his victims out of their money so he and his wife could live a life of luxury.” (As to stealing from the poor, I would assume the investor was talking about the charities Madoff stole from. Said charities would have aided the poor).

A telling quote comes from another of the victims – author of fifty-seven books, Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor, Elie Weisel: “We thought he was God. We trusted everything in his hands”. Of course Weisel did not mean to infer that Madoff was believed to be God. He just used that as a figure of speech to indicate the utmost trust that the victims had in Madoff.

Seek Ye First The Kingdom Of God

Jesus states very clearly in the book of Matthew what the objective of every person on earth should be: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness”. If you are able to free yourself somehow from the countless distractions of the world and center yourself in the Kingdom of God within, everything that you came here in this world to do, shall be done. Human beings throw themselves needless detours when they base their lives and place their trust on anything outside the Kingdom of God. Does this mean that we should neglect the reasonable and daily duties that help sustain us as well as the lives of our family members? Of course not. Surrendering to the benevolence and power of the Kingdom of God however, serves to sharpen your intuition, and thus allows enhancement of your intuition so as to guide you unto your best path in life, the path that is the most personally fulfilling to you.

So how do you go about seeking the Kingdom of God?

Prayer. Go into your inner place and in solitude ask, seek, knock. Ask for guidance from the Divine for any and all situations. After asking, seek the door to which your intuition subsequently directs you. Once reaching that door, gain admittance by knocking until the door is opened. Once inside and you see that your heart’s desire has been granted, then believe and receive with thanksgiving.

Meditation. Every day reserve some minutes to stop everything and just say to the world and everyone in it, “Quiet please”! Then say to your mind that is throwing thoughts around in your head like the wild man of Borneo, “Quiet please”! Then just sit in silence for your designated time and listen. You may be quite surprised at what you will hear. If you find it difficult to stop all the chatter inside your mind, conduct research as to the best way to have your mind be still. One suggestion is either aloud or silently just slowly repeat the phrase “Thank you Father”. Sometimes music can help. If you really want to, you’ll find the best way.

Surrender. Your ego’s job is to protect you and keep you safe based on its knowledge of everything that ever happened to you and everything that you ever learned or observed. Sometimes it gets a bit too bossy and dogmatic. When that happens, just say to it, “please just sit down and relax. I trust God. God has this, so relax”.

Listen. Pay attention to your surroundings. The first human tragedy is that many can hear but do not listen. Be confident yet humble in spirit and your “inner hearing” correspondingly sharpens.

Observe. Pay attention to your surroundings. The second human tragedy is that many look but do not observe. Be confident yet humble in spirit and your “inner vision” correspondingly sharpens.

Follow Through. If you have ever closely watched a pitcher in the game of baseball, you will see that his follow through when he pitches the ball “seals the deal” regarding the success of each pitch. He can be highly skilled in gripping the ball. He can be physically strong and possess great stamina. He can be perfect in his initial approach, called “the wind-up”. If however, the pitcher fails to properly follow through on his pitch (arms, legs, hips, torso), his pitch will be drastically reduced in quality. The pitcher has to do more than know the perfect style and approach for pitching the ball. He has to fully follow through with each pitch that he makes. So it is with your life, with my life, with all lives. Without true and consistent follow through, you will find yourself on life’s dreaded “hamster treadmill”.

Today, stop at some point for a few minutes and ask yourself in the quiet of your mind: “Where are you placing your trust”? Answer your question with raw, uncensored honesty. Nobody will hear you except you. Where you place your true trust in your life determines the tenor and substance of your existence.

Believe. Receive.

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Your Silent Power – Focus On The Mystery of Centering

Stand Up Straight, Stop Slouching

At some point in your life, you may have been told by a parent, or a teacher, or a caregiver, or a grandparent or, well you get the idea, “stop slouching, stand up straight or “don’t slouch at the table” (dinner table) or something in that general vein. Or maybe while you were in line with siblings at an amusement park, you were told by the sibling in front of you, “stop leaning on me”, as your anticipation of getting on that ride almost magnetically pulled your body forward. You have an etheric body, a human energy field or aura, that surrounds your physical body. When you crave things too deeply, your etheric body leans forward toward others that you feel will help you get what your ego craves. This etheric leaning causes you detriment in two different ways. First, it annoys and repels whoever you are leaning towards, a person, the people in a business deal, the purchase of a new house, a new job, a relationship. Second, its trashes your own inner silent power, the power that gives you both incredible strength and peaceful serenity.

At some point in life everyone needs to ask for help when encountering a particular set of circumstances. There is a huge difference however between asking someone for help with something and constantly leaning on others to satisfy your perceived needs. Put forth effort to shape your thoughts, shape your feelings so that you do not require things from others. Yes, it takes work and discipline to shape your thoughts and feelings just as it takes work and discipline to take off that extra twenty pounds that is bogging you down. However, just as getting that twenty pounds off allows you to feel better, disciplining your thoughts and feelings will do likewise. People may not say it but they really do not like being leaned on by your etheric body. Learn to center yourself. Discipline yourself not to constantly lean toward the future but instead to center yourself in the eternal now of each new day. If you are not able to tell for sure if you are in fact leaning forward, keep this adage in mind, “When in doubt, lean out”.

Struggle: Action Laced With Negative Emotion

All people struggle with something or other during the course of their lives. You have. I have. Struggle can be defined as activity toward some type of achievement with said activity laced with negative emotion. Activity or effort with regard to achieving something is natural but the negative emotion is not. That something that ensures ultimate achievement of an undertaking is faith…….faith in the power of Universal Intelligence…….faith in your inner power emanating from the Kingdom of God within you. Not forcing, not pushing, not leaning, but calm action in the now in an organized and patient manner. You say you need $5,000 by next Friday? Well dear reader, fear and anger over the situation is a turning away from your inner silent power. Yes, a manifestation of that type is definitely a major undertaking. As such, it is imperative that you draw from your silent power to bring it forth. Stop, go within, be silent and listen. Just stop talking, whether it is on the outside or on the inside. Just shut up. Then just listen. Then, do what you naturally feel to be able to do in the time frame of now without leaning into the future. When you properly center yourself, when your etheric body is standing straight without leaning, you can most assuredly feel it in your solar plexus area, the third chakra. It is a feeling that is difficult to translate into the proper words. Rather than a wielding of power, when you are centered, you feel that just by being alive that you are expressing silent power, radiating out into all directions, like the rays of the sun. And yes, it is a beautiful, beautiful, transcendent feeling.

Tomorrow Never Comes…….Start Now

Does bringing forth your own inner silent power sound like something you would like to do? Does exuding a silent inner power that is there with you at all times, in all places, in all circumstances, seem like something that you would want for yourself? You may say to yourself, yes, I would really love to have that power in my life, I will get started looking into it tomorrow. NO, tomorrow never comes, get started now. When you get something started, momemtum kicks in and starts carrying you along like a log being carried by the current of a river. But where to start?

An excellent way or place to get started with the process of developing your inner silent power is simply to designate one room in your dwelling, or one area of your dwelling or your desk or work station at work or your car or a favorite plot of ground outside or whatever place you choose. Then begin the process by getting everything in order in your designated place. Make this space clean and as close as you can, pristene, until it resonates a beautiful energy and a perfect zen. If it is your car, get those three month old fries out from the crack in the front seat. If it is your bedroom, get those dirty socks from last year out from under the bed and into the laundry hamper. Go to your clean energy place each day to generate your silent power. Dwell on God. Dwell in the Kingdom of God. During this amount of time, everything else in this world in which you live is of no importance to you. You are free of anger. You are free of fear. You are free of grudges. You are free of regrets. You are free. Just stay within your inner power that comes from the Divine. Keep with it day after day after day. Gradually, the silent energy within becomes part and parcel of your daily life. You feel stronger because you are stronger. Your etheric body becomes lighter and whatever part of it carried darkness begins turning to light. Your life becomes a living, breathing expression of this inner silent power and a calm peace and serene strength courses through you as you live your life each day.

And if you really want to get yourself into the right frame of mind when you go to your special place, go to You Tube and listen to the fabulous jazz singer, Dianne Reeves, sing the song “Testify”.