Sunday, May 22, 2011

In Search for Me

In the search for me, I discovered TRUTH.

In the search for Truth, I discovered LOVE.

In the search for love, I discovered GOD.

And in GOD, I have found everything.

COMPLAINING

What am I complaining about?

Sometimes, for no good reason I can discern,
I find myself complaining
about anything and everything
"It's their fault, not mine."
"How could they do such a thing?"
And so on.

Yet this complaining doesn't serve me.
Not does it serve anyone else.
The complaining puts me into a frame of mind
where everything is wrong,
where nothing is right.

Complaining isolates and paralyzes me.
I may be "right."
but because of all the negativity,
I block anything good from happening.

This complaining doesn't serve me.
so I will leave it behind now.
I ask forgiveness for wallowing in self-pity, and
I decide that this is not how I choose to live.

Most Powerful Meditation You Will Ever Do

In view of the failed prophecy that the world would end on May 21, 2011, I thought this would be appropriate.

Sit back and relax. Clear your mind. Breathe deeply. Now imagine the following:

Imagine that today is the last day you will be here on Earth. Believe for just a moment that, when the sun sets this evening, you will be here no longer. Fix this firmly in your mind. Now, simply ask each question and consider the answer carefully:

What would you do today?
Where might you go, in these last few hours?
Who would you like to be there with you?
What would you say, and to whom would you say it?
What would you try to accomplish in this single day you have left?
What amends would you make if you could?
What would you like to leave behind?

Really think about this deeply. You might find that the answers provided here conflict with the goals you have been striving towards day after day. If so, be aware that the goals you imagine here are your real goals.

Wake up and think clearly. You are perhaps puttiing your happiness in the future. It will not be found there. It is only right now, this minute. So many of us look forward to the time in the future when things will be different that we forget to live right now. Our lives pass us by as we sit waiting. Such a waste, never to have lived waiting on a time that will never come. This is insanity beyond comprehension. Right now, this moment, stand up and do something that will allow you to appreciate your life as it is right now.

Eliminate from your thinking now all ideas and past or present situations that have caused you to believe you need to settle for anything less than what you desire. Do what you can for the future, but then let the result go.

Now each morning, ask yourself the above questions again, before you start off chasing all those silly ego goals you hold. You will find your day, your life transformed. You will experience peace and joy not in some future time but in this very moment.

Michael George

The Ten Vows of Success

  • Never again will I pity or belittle myself.
  • Never again will I greet the dawn without a map.
  • Always will I bathe my days in the golden glow of enthusiasm.
  • Never again will I be disagreeable to a living soul.
  • Always will I seek the seed of triumph in every adversary.
  • Never again will I perform any task at less than my best.
  • Always will I throw my whole self into the task at hand.
  • Never again will I wait and hope for opportunity to embrace me.
  • Always will I examine, each night, my deeds of the fading day.
  • Always will I maintain contact, through prayer, with my Creator.

End of the World

May 21, 2011 has come and gone and we are still here. No catastrophic worldwide destruction, No worldwide earthquakes. Some questions though: what happened to all those people who believed the world would end yesterday? And what happened to Mr. Camping? What happened to the millions of dollars donated to Mr. Camping?

This has happened before, with Mr. Camping in 1994 and with the Jehovah's Witnesses and others at different times. I guess it is a sign of the times when people are under such stress that they look for any way out.

I have a lot of living to do and plan to do a lot of living. Things could be better but things could be worse. Me and you could be here alone. Now that's a thought, isn't it?

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Is it me?

Is it me or has anyone else noticed how the news, all negative, is repeated every hour on the hour, every day? The news motto is, "if it bleeds, it leads." So we are subjected to who got shot, who robbed who, the latest gang activity, usually a shooting, who got raped, who was a hit and run victim, who embezzled what bank or which investors, and on and on. ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!

Take News 12 New Jersey, for instance. I have turned to this news station, gone out for a couple of hours, and come back to hear the same news stories being repeated. As if no other news occurred in the time I was out. First of all, if it's repeated, it's taped so what are the reporters getting paid for? The news was taped early in the morning and repeated all day. WTH? I'm not trying to get people fired but get real. If the news program is going to repeat taped information all day, they should set it up like the Music Choice stations and just play the story without showing the reporters as if it's a new live report.

Then there is all the negativity. Is there no good news in the world - and I don't mean the demise of Osama Bin Laden? If we are lucky, we may get a story about a dog, cat, squirrel or some other animal that was rescued from a hole in the ground or drain pipe. Or maybe a story about the birthday of some sweet little lady who just made 100 years old. Wonderful.

How about leading with one of those stories? What about the person who went back to college and got their degree at 60 years old? What about Michelle Obama dancing to the Move Your Body video made by Beyonce? What about the man/woman who donated hundreds/thousands/millions of dollars to build houses for the veterans or whoever? Or the person who lived a very austere life and when they died it was discovered that they had millions that they left to their school or church?

It's time to change direction and focus on the positive and not the negative. What a pleasant surprise that would be.

50 Years Later

Today is the anniversary of the beginning of the Freedom Rides during the time of Jim Crow segregation in the South. I grew up both in North Carolina and in New York. I remember the "Colored" and "Whites Only" signs over water fountains, bathrooms, waiting rooms, etc. I remember adult African American men being called "boy' and African American women being called "gal". I remember Woolworth's 5 & dime stores with their segregated lunch counters. I remember being ignored waiting to pay for something at the cashier if there was a white person standing there also. I definitely remember sitting in the back of the bus when in NC but sitting anywhere in NY.

The Freedom Riders, who were white, Black and Jewish, brought to light what was the remnants of an awful time in American history, left over from slavery. God bless them all.

Now, let's hope that we are not moving backward into that same darkness. We have an African American President and some still insist on calling him "boy". How? By not respecting him or his office. By not placing his title before his name, whether in print or verbally. White presidents were not disrespected like this. By demanding to see his birth certificate, which basically says that he is lying about his nationality. By demanding to see his grades in college even though he graduated from a top notch college and was the first African American editor of the Harvard Review.

Racism is unfortunately still alive and well in the US.