Ebb and Flow ~ Waves

In the human promenade through life, there is a continuous parade of new lessons that inevitably create perspectives, convictions, and directions in and about life. These personal realities become our truths, and we live and relive them daily. As we grow and mature, many, if not most, of our notions about our realities change, and what we once held to be hallowed is modified, sometimes radically, demonstrating that our truths and realities are in a constant state of flux. Those who are too rigid to see change on their paths eventually succumb to a fixed view of the world, making themselves and those around them miserable.

                                                                       -Wayne B Chandler  "Ancient Futures"


Nothing is truly "for" or "against" us. Let us not reject things stubbornly but rather find place and meaning in every experience. Let us not avoid our duties to fulfilling our potential and serving our brothers and sisters because of the intolerance to non-permanent appearances and disappearances of happiness and distress. We must execute in spite of these climatic inconveniences. We must keep our perceptions of the happenings of life even broader than the happenings themselves. As all is in constant motion and change, so must our interpretations of our reality.

Become Warriors of Light and vibrate to Love's highest frequency.

Happiness...

Walking barefoot through the city
Watching the sunset reflect off
Of broken glass and bottle caps

Sitting in an alley alone watching
A one legged pigeon succeed
In getting everything he needs

Standing on the edge of the top
Level of a parking garage
Looking at the city through your exhaled smoke

Walking through a puddle filled
Parking lot amazed at the
Colorful pattern created by gasoline

Laying awake at night watching
Your flickering shadow just
Before your last candle burns out

Wiping off a steamed mirror to
Reveal a nearly faded scar
Reminding you of times healing power

The tingle of fizz on your lip
Before the burn of the first
Sip from a fresh bottle of Coke

Silent reflection alone at 2 am
Under a street lit tree interrupted
By the laughter of two people falling in love

Contemplating the Word Friend

What is a friend? A friend is someone you can count on at all times no matter what. A friend is someone who has your back at all costs. A friend is someone who sees all your qualities good and bad but still accepts you at the end of the day. A friend is trustworthy. A friend speaks up when he sees you slipping. A friend pushes you to meet your goals even if he knows it might make you mad. A friend does his best to hold you up when you fall. If you do fall, however, a friend picks you up regardless of your mistakes. Friendship, genuine friendship, is a unique and amazing relationship full of love. Some people go through life without ever knowing this relationship. Some people are blessed and have more than one true friend. My hope is that I am as good to my friends as they are to me.

Osmosis Jones

Have you seen this movie? It's about the cells in a man's body living consciously with the many natural behaviors we observe in them. The cells take on many "humanly" characteristics. I'm wondering about the possibility of this. Truth is not dependent on our awareness of it. As humans, there is so much we don't know and so much more we don't even know we don't know.

I could accept the fact that the cells in our bodies live in similar ways as we do. Understanding their role in some greater environment (however limited it is) and that of the things "below" them or "of a lesser level". So our human body would be their Earth or greater environment and they would understand their bodies - mitochondria, nuclei, etc... In the same way as humans, these cells might not be able to connect their purpose or role beyond that of the immediate greater environment they perceive. They consider themselves the most important thing in life, in their universe, which is only the human body. So, from a human perspective, while these cells have great importance to all things, they would not be considered the most important by any means.

How are we as humans similar to the cells in Osmosis Jones. Humans commonly refer to themselves as having a higher intellect or as being a higher level species. It is also a prevalent thought that we are the only life in the Universe with this higher intellect. Perhaps at least in the known universe, but what do we really know? I am open to humans being equivalent to some extremely small level of micro life. Such that the Earth is some cell to the tissue that is our solar system. Then the collection of solar systems in our Milky Way galaxy would make an organ. A cluster of galaxies would be an organ system. Clusters working together would be the organism. The One. The higher being. Everything connected, everything serving some unique function and playing an important role to contribute to, everything.

infinity = 1
(1 not necessarily equaling infinity - I am 1 but I am not infinity but only a part of it)


Just some random thoughts that popped into my head today. Help me develop/process them if you would.

What is an Ideal World?

What Is an Ideal world?

            For me, an ideal world would be in balance. The harmony of our energies would create no waste or excess. All would have access to the essential elements of human life such as clean waters and atmosphere. Food would be used for energy not gluttony. Together, we would create a viable and sustainable connection with the environment so that its precious resources would be respected yet used to their full potential.

The equilibrium of nature is a beautiful thing. Given the nature of humans, it must be fought for with integrity to keep it. Positive focus, direction, and intent always on mind, the energy from our spirits would power the conduits of the body to instill these transactions. Humans must see themselves as a collected species, as one race. Ideally, working together to ensure quality life for the whole of its population. Our collaborated efforts would promote a collected advancement and evolution of our very gifted species.

Ideally…

·         Sharing over greed

·         Love over hate

·         Respect over violence

Yet what if this Ying Yang is necessary for the fluidity of life??

o   I caught myself taking a step back from make that list. I thought of the implications of one over another. How is the delicate balance affected when good triumphs over evil? Should they rather dance dangerously together mirroring their opposite. 

Of course it seems better to have more good than bad on a spectrum. But what exactly would those implications be? What do you think? 

Look at the past few posts about awareness of life and death. Avoiding death is an unconsciously natural direction of the mind but is it always beneficial?

Death

Humanity = mortality. As a human we are inevitably going to die. This is the sad reality we must face given our higher understanding of the world around us. Throughout history, humans have sought numerous ways to cheat death. Immense monuments, beautiful art works, supernatural feats, the list goes on and on. Our attempts of immortality are seen all throughout out literature and society. We are forced to create symbolic aspects of life to somehow achieve immortality in the face of the harsh reality that the end of our life as we know will come no matter what we do.

Religions are formed and cultures are developed with this in mind, perhaps mostly on an unconscious level. In placing faith in something many of our neighbors believe in, in placing faith in something greater than ourselves, we are some how comforted. The symbolic helps us move past our fear of death. I mean, in reality, we are a nothing in a vast sea of infinity. The forces of nature and of chance control us more than we even know.

My intent is not to send a bleak message or to say that all religion is hogwash. I am, in fact, very spiritual. My main purpose in writing this post is to increase the awareness of our inevitable death. Contrary to the main message, I wish to advance happiness in doing so.

Whatever ways we find to forget about death help us get past our fears and actually live life. But all too often, our methods blind us too much far beyond the initial goal. We forget completely about the incredible worth each second of life has. We lose focus on what is truly important because it seems everything will last forever. We lack urgency in our actions. We put off what we should do today for another day. We put our true and meaningful desires aside to work because maybe one day if we work enough we'll have a lot of money.

Death will come whether you like it or not. Don't wait to pursue the loves of your lives; be it a babe, a hunk, or any burning passion. And for that matter don't wait to tell the people in your life you love them. Don't wait to do things that make you happy. Re-evaluate your values with death in mind. Figure out what really matters. Don't waste any time on negativity. Make every second count because it could be your last.

What I've Got

So I tend to think myself as someone who doesn't complain all that much and in a humble manner, this is true. But it's also true that the limiting nature of my humanity brings me to have some degree of an unsatisfiable desire. As a student I fight against assignments piling up on my daily planner. I may complain to friends about how I'm swamped with homework. I realized today the gross ingratitude of this. Imagine for a moment my friend being some one in a third world country living in abject poverty. Someone who barely has clothes on their backs let alone shoes on their feet. This malnourished someone who has to trek multiple miles each day barefoot just for a clean source of water. Each step meaning life or death for his/her family. One tiny cut on the foot stands the chance to kill knowing all too way the poor medical system.

I'm not sure how to change these sick inequalities. This is a problem for which I eagerly search a solution. However, I do know what I've got. I know I have way more than I need. I know that by either some random force or by destiny I was born an American. While I may be lower to middle class here in the US, I am one of the very privileged in the whole of the world community. Not only have I been educated, I've had the opportunity of a higher education. To complain about an assignment that's due or a shower that's not hot enough is ridiculous from a more universal perspective. We should be grateful of these things - of everything we've got.

If you're reading this, given your access to some technological device with internet access, you've probably have more than you need just like me. Lets use our resources for good instead of wasting them on complaints and insignificant garbage.

Optimistic Action

It’s a great thing, optimism. It helps people get through the day. It cannot, however, be simply an idea. Optimistic thought still requires action. There is a difference between optimism and optimistic actions. Things can get better. Things will get better. Everything does happen for a reason and what doesn’t kill someone will make them stronger; however, it may take a little action. It may mean that ideas need to be put into practice. When something needs to get better, action of some sort or another must be taken. Recognize where things went wrong and act accordingly to make them better. This, though, is the confusing part. What is the right thing to do? Who says what is right and what is wrong? I find that it is entirely impossible to please everyone. At the end of the day, though, I need to know that I did my best.

Past Ruins for Future Greatness

If something breaks you, if something tears you apart, use it as an opportunity to make you stronger. If what you had thought was secure and solid turns around and falls apart when shock comes to the system, use it as an opportunity to rebuild the infrastructure of your life. Do not stay on the ground, lost in the dust and rubble, pick yourself up with tenacity. Get away from the destruction and clear your vision. Look at the past to find the weaknesses that led to the pain. With your new perspective and stronger heart, use the experience as a catapult to go further than ever before. Use the negativity to fuel positive agendas. Don't just exist, live!

It will be a process this rebuilding. One that may not at all be desireable. But unless you want to waste you life in the ruins of your past you'll buck up and do what you gotta do to get past the past. Live in the present. Work toward greatness now and in the future. Never let past sorrows bring you down or keep you down, use them to become stronger. As you evolve from your experience, you'll find yourself more apt toward happiness.  




God = Love = Happiness = Peace = Joy...find one and lead yourself to the others. Spread them all at every opportunity.  

Abstractions

Everything has been nice, and I agree with most of the thoughts people are expressing; but explanations are much too abstract for much too long per post. I think it's especially easy to write that we should dig deep into our souls and connect with people and think and make hydrating, cleansing waves to rush over everyone we meet. It's easy, because we haven't explained what the hell that means. I think more focus, more concreteness in posting would be good. Or at least a combination of both. I think more dialogue is good. Shorter posts would hopefully invite others to comment and provoke the main poster. Writing is about creating knowledge, as you force yourself to complete your ideas floating ghost-like in your brain and body. You draw out the parts necessarily, because you must put them into words to get them out of your head. You have a conversation with yourself as you write the words. You can hear yourself talking to your self, head and fingers. But then you can expand. Talking with someone or interacting with something outside of your own intellect and emotions will shock you into becoming sharper. You must scan your brain for original replies to someone else's comments. You don't have the luxury to pre-plan responses--which happens, often unconsciously, though sometimes intentionally--when only talking to yourself. You don't have the luxury to stay nestled in your baby nest, which only extends so far around you. Someone can drop a bomb and you have to pick out sense from the smoke and debris and rebuild something new in response.

My worry, ultimately, is that all of these posts are pretty similar-seeming, and we might become exhausting to read, exhausting possibilities for ideas and striking images for people to ponder. For us to ponder. Must stand out. Must be readable. Must be profound. Original. Creative. Pressing. Prodding, investigate the thought to know its surface composition, take the scalpel, open it up and look inside. Or else take the scalpel, and carve something masterful into the dull- block-of-wood-thought.

Hopefully I haven't seemed too hypocritical. I do run that risk, I am aware, seeing that I'm not about to comment on anyone else's posts. Tell me if I should just extract myself from this blog altogether for writing such self-aware posts. The other posts (save the dog tag one) don't acknowledge their medium, which is fine, but which is clearly also not what I'm doing, which ruins (perhaps) the blog's style and aim. DIALOGUE!

...dialogue, if you find it worthwhile to engage in it with me, and each other, about small details of life; and from there, we find similarities between things--between what it is to hug your mother, what it is to hug your brother, what it is to hug an acquaintance, what it is to hug your pillow--hopefully better things than that example, though; you find similarities, and you see what is different, and you come up with a thesis, a challenge, a formal thought. You have data to back it up. I gotta be done with this, becoming verbose, becoming diffuse.

With utmost fondness,

Danielle

Doing Things Out of the Ordinary

So, as a left-handed person, I've recently begun to use my right hand as much as possible. It's like learning things again, as a child would, repetition, repetition, repetition. Slowing and steadily, with focused practice, our brains learn to interact and control things in our environment. What we do with the world around us, the limits we push, and the capabilities we discover within us create new opportunities for us to explore.

With a life duration of 20 years and counting, it feels like I've experienced much and grown significantly comparative to those around me at least. Yet I still humbly recognize my infancy in many, perhaps most areas of life. Experience induces evolution. The more I do and the more I see - the more I learn and the better I be! So I suppose my message is to not get stuck in the grim trenches of a mundane, unchanging life. Do things out of the ordinary in your life. See things from as many perspectives as you can. (Such as your home country from the foreign perspective or your life from that of your neighbor's). Bring your internal flame to as many corners of the bulk - I mean to say the infinite life around us that we call the Universe - that you can. Let it grow strong and fierce as you experience life to the fullest.

We do a lot of mindless things in our everyday life. So much so that it's way to easy to forget the truly important things in life. Family and friends are always there for us. If they fulfill the full function of their titles they will always have our back through it all. We know this, and keep this thought always in the back of our mind because their consistency is comforting. The unconscious recognition of their importance is overlooked too often in ordinary life. It's only when a shock to the system comes, cancer hits in the family or a drunken crash strips us of our life-long friend,  that we realize how much they mean to us.

Doing things out of the ordinary helps to bring some unconscious thought to the forefront. Seeing things from as many perspectives that we can helps to clear up the fog of our ignorance. It's not just trying to become ambidextrous, it's working toward universitility. Let's become utility players on the team of life. Let's bring all the knowledge and skill we've gained from our diverse experience to the Round Table at the center of the Earth. We'll add all that we have, all the goods we have cultivated and spread it to all.

Radiate light, love, peace, joy, and happiness in as many ways you can as many times that you can.

Time is precious - Make Waves.

I Can Do Anything I Set My Mind to Doing

In the past few weeks I have begun to realize that anything I set my mind to can be done. Anything. I want to inspire anyone who feels they can’t do something. Readers, if you dedicate yourself to making something happen, the goal you seek to attain, no matter how far-fetched it may sound to others, is that much closer to actuality. Hard work and dedication are some of the basic tools needed to bring revelation to those who seek something.
One of the greatest problems we face as a society today is that we are put down by so many things: judgment, people, or rules. We are constantly being told that we are not good enough, and when we think we have done some impeccable feat, there is someone telling us that we must reach one step higher. We all have a conscience, of this I’m sure, if you can be content with yourself, then that is all we truly need to be happy.
Excuses are foolish. By making excuses, we sell ourselves short. I urge readers to settle for nothing less than the best. Your best attempt at something is all that you can give to be successful. Half-hearted attempts are happening far too frequently. Until we start to admit that we are not giving our whole heart to something, we cannot and will not be successful not only in our individual lives, but also in the whole spectrum of our societal structure. So from top to bottom, from the aristocracy to the peasantry, from the upper class to the lower class, we must all give maximum effort.
Reach for the stars. The star that you are reaching for may not end up in your hand, but you will be among a galaxy full of stars waiting to be chosen.

Dog Tags

I'm planning on making some custom dog tags here in the new future and was wondering what you guys think should go on. There's 2 tags with 5 lines each. Every line can have only 15 characters. A space is a character but I wouldn't mind not having spaces for words with powerful meanings (ex. MINDBODYSPIRIT is 15 characters but 17 with spaces...I don't mind getting rid of the spaces to have that solid line)

So I'm just thinking we organize a set of things, ideals, principles etc... to live by. To give an idea here's what I have so far as potential lines.....

LOVE TO LIVE

SEE EVERYTHING

MINDBODYSPIRIT

PATIENCE

BALANCE

SIMPLICITY

FLUIDITY

MAKE CHANGE

EVOLVE 

EXPERIENCE

BE YOU, BE TRUE

P.R.I.D.E

HASTEMAKESWASTE

WHATEVERWORKS

Order could be used as well, a ranking system if you will.

Your ideas and thoughts are important to me. Your perspective could easily expand on my initial ideas. Together we are more than the sum of our individual parts. 

Thanks.

-la paix sur toi

Centered

Ah, I seem to have achieved peace of mind. I seem to have found myself. Sure, I still have problems, pressures, and stress, but knowing who I am really helps me get through them. As I get through them being me, I am confident that there will be fewer problems in the future. You see, I have faith in that I can and will handle things correctly. Some people may disagree, pressuring me to handle them a different way. I’ll listen with an open mind, hearing their argument or suggestion. If I like it, I may use it or just part of it, if not; I’ll do what I was originally setting out to do. You see, I am the only one who really knows what happened leading to the problem in full detail. I am the one who really needs to deal with. I am the one who needs to set up my future after it is solved. I need to, understanding who I am and where I want to be, handle each situation to the best of my ability while still handling it the way I best see fit. I’m not, however, going to be stubborn and arrogant as I deal with the problem. In fact, I am suggesting that I will do the complete opposite. First, I question myself. My motives. My reasons. My thoughts. I need to fully understand what I was thinking while I got myself into a mess in order to understand how I will get myself out. After that, I need to turn to the people who love me and understand me most, asking them for their advice seeing as to, out of love, they will give me the best advice they possibly can. Lastly, I consider my self evaluation and the advice given to me by the ones who love me most in order to make the best possible decision. It will be one that considers my past, my present, and my future. It will be based on what is not only best for me, but best for the world. Every event creates ripples that go beyond us further than anything we can even begin to imagine. Considering this, be centered and at peace with yourself. If you are not, find your center. Find yourself. It is the first step in living a life of peace. Once you find yourself, you can start to eliminate problems, and, in doing so, you will start to make the world a better place which is my main goal in life. Hopefully, in finding your own center, you might make it your goal, too.

Some Frustrations about Blogging, and Life

How hard is it to deal with text and computers sometimes. These ideas are suppressed beneath the letters beneath the processor's white screen beneath the computer monitor. And before that, they were knotted up in someone's mind, and it's like the thoughts never got a fresh breath of real air. They went from mind to computer, never were tested in real-time speech and received by human ears, and responded to by another knot of thought-to-mouth.

And I write this now. Same way. Sitting alone, cannot reach anyone. When will I have created a situation where I am with people I want to be with on a consistent basis? When will I be disciplined and doing what I want to be doing on a consistent basis? These are simple but strange and infuriating questions. I'd like to be with you guys (who is everyone in the blog?) right now, talking. And then tomorrow, we'd get up and go do something. We would reflect on what we did and gain knowledge that way. We'd read. Write, but after talking things out. Or sit together writing, taking breaks to ask questions and push ideas further.

I write this feeling overwhelmed by how much there is to say about the posts posted, and how incapable of adequately responding I find myself. Because I have a paper due, and I have to sleep SOME time, and I need some interaction, so I am not thinking clearly, so what must be done is drags drags drags along, even though I want to think about the ideas I'm writing about.

GREAT SCOTT.

Redundancy, Complacency, Hypocrisy

So what if, and I mean just use your imagination to the best of your ability to picture it, but what if the world was full of people who felt like doing the right thing was more pleasurable than getting what was originally wanted? What if people stuck their neck out or sacrificed to help someone else out instead of trying to be first? Would small problems still exist? I think that they would work themselves out. Most problems people have are monetarily related. Something they have breaks and they need to fix it. Something they "need" is too expensive so they save up for it. We live in a society where having more possessions is supposed to bring happiness. What if we lived in a society where doing what is right brought more joy? Wouldn't big problems start to work themselves out, too?

Now imagine, and I mean really stretch your mind to picture this, but imagine a world where people didn't judge one another. Would the inherently good in all people come out? I mean a lot of problems come from external pressures. Judgmental pressures. Sometimes social pressure, sometimes parental pressures, but all people are pressured into doing something or being something that they don't necessarily feel they should do or be. They just do it because they are told to. They do it because it is normal. They think that it is the right thing to do.
It's weird that in American society people take so many anti depression medications amongst other things. Divorce rate is above fifty percent. People are always in a rush. Always wanting more. What about life? What about friends? Is that not enough? Family? Not enough?
Here the true test of your imagination. Imagine a world where people actually loved, and I mean love with no bounds, but imagine a world where people actually loved their neighbor as them self. Where people loved every other human being as them self. It's weird that I have to ask you to imagine it, because it is the number one law of three of the world's largest religions: Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. Would there be problems, though? How could there be? If you knew that everyone you came across had your back, whether they were black or white, pierced or tattooed, short or tall, would there be any problems? The answer is no. In fact, we would not even need government. Things would work out the way that they were intended to be. If you see me in the street, I will smile at you. If you say high to me, I will ask you how you are doing. Not to be polite, but because I care. I will hold a door open for you. I will pick up the id or credit card you dropped and return it to you. I will not judge you. I am here to love everyone that I come across. I am here to inspire hope in people. Hope of love. Hope of a better world. This is how I intend on living my life. Loving. Wholeheartedly loving to the absolute best of my abilities. It is the only way that the world's problems can work out. I'm not saying that I can work out the world's problems, but I hope to inspire at least one other person to live a life of love. The more love, real love, that we have in this world the better.

In Regards to the Recent Obsession With Change

With our mixing cultures, it is necessary to try to preserve the old traditions, but it is also important to keep moving forward. We must always be sure that we are not letting old cultural values hold us back from reaching the pinnacle of our capabilities. To be the most dominant culture that the world has ever seen, we must choose not to be ignorant
It is necessary to be cautious about the changes being made. There are many opportunities for failure. All people must aid in developing this brave new culture. It will take the hard work and dedication of the whole world to change. As a society, we must not sit idly by as those who are smarter than we are working for advancement. It is the responsibility of each person to do his part.
When one looks back at history, when people worked together for the benefit of all, we progressed as a country. A country founded on working for the benefit of all. The reason that the United States has always been the leader among other countries is because people were all willing to work for the country.
I am concerned when I see this great opportunity that is given to us. The reason for concern is that there is no person who is taking the next steps in the contribution. Our country no longer functions as a whole. Currently, a state of selfishness stands in the way of progress. Where is the generation of hard working, bold, and unselfish people? Have we reached the end of our dominance? As a member of the society of which these things are demanded, I am forced to be pensive about the possibilities that exist for us.
With all of this said, I think that the mixing of cultures is a good thing that will change our society for the better. There will be a lot of change that takes place with these cultural shifts. We have to find a good balance between skepticism and liberalism. If we have a true sense of leadership, we will be an unstoppable force capable of unimaginable things. We have an opportunity that we cannot afford to waste.

All we are is energy. Our bodies are just great energy conduits. All life has a given level of energy flwing through it. It just depends on how much energy you can hold or maybe to some extent how much you're willing to hold. A fly has much less energy flowing through it than a human. We have a great capacity to let the energy flow in, thorough, and out us and to play an essential role in the circle of life. Energy is never created nor destroy. We borrow our energy from the universe, it is given to us by God. Lets use it wisely, lets use it effectively. Creating a brighter internal light creates more heat and more energy. Even though we may have a physical body capable of holding x amount of energy we maybe only working with a fraction of that. Actualize potential. Share your energy with everything and everyone around you. Let your light shine!

I can change the world with my own two hands...with a little help from my friends.

At times it feels that as one person the scope of my actions will be too insignificant for me even to waste the time and energy. It's important to realize that things take time. The ripples of your actions can easily spread far with enough force behind them. The effects of a person's simple and sometimes mindless actions are frequently overlooked. A friendly, easy smile to someone on the bus might lead to a great change on the other side of the globe as the ripples flow out and the small deed is paid forward. Friends lets work together to make a difference.

The world is in constant motion, there is constant change, we never stop moving. What we do now will have a permanent effect on what we can experience in the future. Let's make it so what we do now only increases the possibilities of the future.

Everything created in 7 days. everything happening now and not at all. everything that has been, is, and will be, IS at all times and at the same time. It seems things are over or not yet happening but that is only from our perspective. From another's perspective, say God's, we could see the beginning and the end of time. One unfathomably huge dot in space. God sits on top if it all seeing everything happening the past, present, and future all continue to happen as he can see it all happening from well beyond the 4th dimension of time. To our human minds, this seems rather impossible. But look at what's going on around you, some many things have yet to be explained and understood. What's a bit more added on to discover?