2006 April (|_| Drink Deeply |

Change is inevitable, whether it comes from within or is prompted by outward forces. What seems chaotic seldom is. In turn, what appears insignificant cannot really be so. There are those who would have you believe that to affect your destiny or create the very change you want, you need only think it hard enough – w/sufficient belief. While it’s certainly true that our outlook absolutely impacts our fate, it is a far more symbiotic relationship. Directed thinking touches on just how very much our minds & bodies interact but is only a beginning.

Our psyches & somas are not mere partners in crime. Each is wholly impacted by the other. Being the proud owner of various psychosomatic diseases not only makes me feel a little psycho @ times but actually causes numerous others to assume it’s true. Of course, the reality is that what is preexisting (not to mention very real ;->) physically is affected psychologically. Unfortunately, that can then create a vicious cycle. Should I get discouraged or – God forbid – panic, I both lessen my ability to cope w/my physicality & actually worsen.

Endorphins are our body’s best gift to us & the scientific reason to laugh. By seeking out change in any form, be it that sudden burst of laughter or an entire lifestyle upheaval, we keep from stagnating. There is nothing so downwardly mobile as inaction. Stillness is a reprieve, an opportunity to rejuvenate, but staying still too long devolves. If you find yourself still still even after an idea has cropped up or simply a readiness to do whatever is next on your list, you will not only lose motivation but desire.

W/out desire, we would all accept status quo as an ideal reality. Okay, pardon me while I take a moment to be downright frightened. What is especially frightening is that I have seen that non-approach to life employed time & again. What is so sad is how unnecessary such inaction is. Tho’ it is easy to imagine change is perhaps not even just hard but maybe even impossible, remember it really doesn’t take much. Alas, that works both directions. Each opportunity is a fork in the road & the missed ones will keep you from a myriad of other opportunities as well.

On the other hand, each moment seized opens a new world. That world we have created & recreated w/each decision expands by leaps & bounds the more open we are to new things. Sometimes, the best new things are revisitations of old ones. For example, while a smile is far from new, adding one in an unexpected place &/or to an unsuspecting recipient, will create a chain reaction which will change your whole day. Furthermore, when I knew it was time for drastic change 2 years ago (Does it get more drastic than returning to full-time employ?! -_-), I revisited old ideas & realized that it was the video stores I enjoyed most of my 2 decades in retail.

Thus, we can direct our own lives & daily experiences powerfully but not w/thought alone. A friend shared her daily horoscope w/me today & I particularly liked the included advice, “make the decision to respond, instead of react”. Whereas reaction is born of emotion, response is an acting on it which utilizes thought too. Therefore, you become proactive, now reacting w/intelligence which creates ideas & finally motion. Once in motion, you can steer your own course. Admittedly, we do not have control over outcome & course corrections will always be needed yet, if we’re plotting new paths, just the journey is worth the effort. Whether or not it leads where you want or ANYwhere @ all, strike out, be bold, take strides &, above all, try something new (or anew ^_^)!

(_)> “The changes in our life must come from the impossibility to live otherwise than according to the demands of our conscience not from our mental resolution to try a new form of life.” – Count Leo Tolstoy

{ 6 comments }

Easter has gone by,
just as Passover passed over, & Spring is springing. Thus, rebirth is in the air. My own rebirth actually came towards the end of summer but human cycles are not always in sync w/planetary ones. It was the Spring prior that the seeds of my emergence were germinated tho’. Long dormant, they slowly sprang to life amidst questions I tho’t I had answered. Renewed questions led to intriguing challenges et voila. Granted, I had to not only be ready to seek new answers but willing to be changed by them.

Speaking of questions, what form are they taking in your mind? Did I “find God”? “Discover religion”? Become a “Jesus freak“? Yes and no to all 3 & many more. I finally addressed God in a new way for I already knew he existed. I ultimately recognized the point of religion. I discerned a desire to be Christ-like which, by the way, is *all* ‘Christian’ means. Tho’ I am one, I am still not religious, nor am I pious (I swear ;->) &, most importantly, I feel no sense of being better than ANYone. In fact, quite the opposite.

How can we seek to become more in tune w/ourselves, God, others, the Universe or what have you w/out wholly accepting how very imperfect we are? It’s important to not take refuge in our faults, either as excuse or from some twisted sense of pride. Oh, the humanity of it all, literally! We are all alike; wondrous yet infinitely flawed, individual while part of a whole, doomed & destined for greatness. The thing is, it’s just TOO synchronous, even when & where out of kilter for “out of” implies that there is kilter to be had.

My point?! We’re not an accident – there is a far larger picture thus a much greater wisdom. Be it Bradbury’s ‘Butterfly Effect’ or the planets themselves, there is a source. Whatever you believe, or don’t believe for that matter, I do believe in one true God. True being the key word for therein lies absolute Truth of which we have only pieces. As archaic as so simple a creed may seem, it is precisely its simplicity that allows its plausibility. With all things working together for good, despite all our interference via free will, I see everything as part of God’s plan.

You see, I also recognize the myriad other possibilities in our existence & beyond. It is precisely because I understand there to be a source, a beginning that is also an end, a cycle of creation both coming & having gone full circle, that I cannot help but see how truly anything IS possible. For God to be who I have faith He is, there is nothing w/which He can be mutually exclusive. The real beauty of this all is that, while I had an actual epiphanic moment on August 11th of 1986, each of you will grapple w/these truths in your own way. It is utterly not my place to even imagine you should think as I do.

Whatever my belief in a greater, singular Truth, its impact on you is inherently different. While the questions & especially doubts hold the same importance for all of us, just getting us questioning is key. What should be naught but a pursuit of truth, has become so many various forms of Religion that what was born of noble intent is defeating itself. Religion has become exclusive rather than inclusive, a system of judging rather than growing &, worst of all, a means of condemnation rather than salvation.

I do not believe all religions to be aspects of the same principle or even journeys to the same goal. Instead, they are cultural traditions which are simply how we each interface w/our internal journey. They each have beauty & will all serve individual needs. However, what we have come to know as churches, whatever size, shape or sort, are neither Christian or non-Christian. Just as w/any tradition, they can lead or distract. Christianity, aside from ‘Christian churches’ (of which there are both bad & good, as w/anything else man-made), is in fact just a relationship.

I truly hope this did not come off as preachy. It was intended as purely observational for it, as w/each post herein, was simply where my musings led.

(_)> “Every one who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe-a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble.” – Albert Einstein

{ 3 comments }