We are fast approaching the holiday of Thanksgiving in America. It is a time when we are to be grateful of the blessings that we have received. It has its roots as being a autumn harvest festival starting with the Plymouth Pilgrims in 1621. There are even records of previous Thanksgivings held at St. Augustine in Florida beginning in 1565, but the Pilgrims are most remembered.
On a lighter note, some in 2008 are simply thankful that the presidential election is over, and the end to constant bombardment in the media of sound bites and commercials trying to sway voters.
This has been a very trying year for many. The stock market is down more than 40%, the economy has been sluggish at best and with a very dim outlook on the near future. What do we have to be grateful for?
Let's just start with the basics. Each of us are still alive and breathing. Nearly everyone of us certainly look like we have not missed a meal in some time. Most of us have loving and caring families that despite differences, tend to make up and come together for the holidays. Most of us have jobs or a way to earn an income for the time being at least. Providing for our families has always been a priority even dating back far before the Pilgrims. And on a more spiritual sense, most believe in a loving God that will provide for our needs.
Despite all that will seem to be the bleakest of times, there are always things to be thankful for. To fall back to the analogy of the half-full glass, there are always positives to be looked at in every situation. Perception is a very personal thing as I have pointed out before. You control what you think and respond, no one else does. When you think otherwise, you are out of control. You become a slave to the situation or person. Exercise your brain. Exercise your freedom to choose.
As always, the choice is yours.
I ask again, what do you have to be grateful for?
O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. Psalm 136:1 (KJV)
If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com
Also please note that you should now be able to leave anonymous comments to this blog without having a Google account (I finally found the settings tab!). If you find an interesting post in the past, feel free to comment.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Invisible Boundaries
I apologize to my regular readers for my recent absence. I've been out of town for two weeks.
Did you ever think about why your life is the way it is? Before I get into this, read the following sentence and count the number of times the letter f appears.
FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC
STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS
How many did you count? Three? Would you be surprised to learn that there are actually six f's in that statement? How many times did you see the word 'of'? It's so simple, that our brain sometimes ignores the obvious even though it might be right in front of us.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
--Aldous Huxley
Let me give you something else to think on. Consider the following social experience.
So what does bananas and monkeys or counting f's have to do with invisible boundaries? The point is we see what we want to see. We do what we want to do as long as it is accepted among those around us. But is the world that we have around us reality, or is it just the boundaries we constructed to make us comfortable? Did the replaced monkeys ever feel the cold water? No. But they did feel the attacks and learned what not to do. There is an English proverb that says One who makes no mistakes, never makes anything.
Meanwhile, there are opportunities all around us every day to change our lives. Some may be attractive, some not. Just as when we don't see the 'of' because it is so simple, many times others have to point out the obvious before it registers with our brain.
Now, let me add another level of complexity to the situation. Everyone understands what 2 dimensional means such as a piece of paper - length times width, but no depth. 3 dimensional adds depth such as a box or a cube so that something can be stored inside it. The fourth dimension is usually referred to as time. For example, a person can occupy the same space that another person did earlier, such as in a bathroom. For many reasons, it's not a good idea to share the same space at the same time!
So where am I going with all of this? What if you had a chance to meet yourself 30 years from now? What do you think 'your older self' would tell you to do now? Do you think your older self would tell you take more risks or play things more cautiously?
The answer to this really depends on the choices your have made with your life to date. Have you made horrible decisions in the past that carry consequences you are dealing with? Or, have you played it safe and are stuck with your life being boring and uneventful?
Earlier today I was driving to an event with some friends. We were talking about the location of our destination. Since I was driving, I was familiar with one way to go. My friends knew the area better and suggested an alternate route. Let's say it took the same time to get to the destination. Which way was better? Was it the way I had gone hundreds of times or the new way? Was there something wrong with the new way? No.
It's just because I was comfortable with what I knew. Habits are familiar. Our lives are probably comfortable because we are used to our surroundings. But are those lives truly fulfilled? Is living a fulfilled life even a possibility?
Now that we have a new president-elect of Barack Obama, many think that he can bring change. Obviously, this is why he was elected. But I will challenge you this - name one example of just one person you know that their life was made significantly better by a decision made by the government. I would be greatly shocked if there is one.
All the time we wait for someone else to act. It's easy to blame our misfortunes on the economy or the government or the current target of society's persecution. What about us? Don't we make the decisions that direct our lives? Aren't we driving the car of our own life?
As I have described my motto in this blog many times, here it is one more time.
Information is not knowledge without action!
Knowledge creates choices
Choices allow us to change our lives
As always, the choice is yours! Choose your own path wisely.
When pride comes, then comes disgrace,
but with humility comes wisdom.
If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com
Did you ever think about why your life is the way it is? Before I get into this, read the following sentence and count the number of times the letter f appears.
FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC
STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS
How many did you count? Three? Would you be surprised to learn that there are actually six f's in that statement? How many times did you see the word 'of'? It's so simple, that our brain sometimes ignores the obvious even though it might be right in front of us.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
--Aldous Huxley
Let me give you something else to think on. Consider the following social experience.
Start with a cage containing five monkeys.
Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the other monkeys with cold water.
After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result - all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.
Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him.
After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.
Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked.
Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.
After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana. Why not? Because as far as they know that's the way it's always been done round here.
So what does bananas and monkeys or counting f's have to do with invisible boundaries? The point is we see what we want to see. We do what we want to do as long as it is accepted among those around us. But is the world that we have around us reality, or is it just the boundaries we constructed to make us comfortable? Did the replaced monkeys ever feel the cold water? No. But they did feel the attacks and learned what not to do. There is an English proverb that says One who makes no mistakes, never makes anything.
Meanwhile, there are opportunities all around us every day to change our lives. Some may be attractive, some not. Just as when we don't see the 'of' because it is so simple, many times others have to point out the obvious before it registers with our brain.
Now, let me add another level of complexity to the situation. Everyone understands what 2 dimensional means such as a piece of paper - length times width, but no depth. 3 dimensional adds depth such as a box or a cube so that something can be stored inside it. The fourth dimension is usually referred to as time. For example, a person can occupy the same space that another person did earlier, such as in a bathroom. For many reasons, it's not a good idea to share the same space at the same time!
So where am I going with all of this? What if you had a chance to meet yourself 30 years from now? What do you think 'your older self' would tell you to do now? Do you think your older self would tell you take more risks or play things more cautiously?
The answer to this really depends on the choices your have made with your life to date. Have you made horrible decisions in the past that carry consequences you are dealing with? Or, have you played it safe and are stuck with your life being boring and uneventful?
Earlier today I was driving to an event with some friends. We were talking about the location of our destination. Since I was driving, I was familiar with one way to go. My friends knew the area better and suggested an alternate route. Let's say it took the same time to get to the destination. Which way was better? Was it the way I had gone hundreds of times or the new way? Was there something wrong with the new way? No.
It's just because I was comfortable with what I knew. Habits are familiar. Our lives are probably comfortable because we are used to our surroundings. But are those lives truly fulfilled? Is living a fulfilled life even a possibility?
Now that we have a new president-elect of Barack Obama, many think that he can bring change. Obviously, this is why he was elected. But I will challenge you this - name one example of just one person you know that their life was made significantly better by a decision made by the government. I would be greatly shocked if there is one.
All the time we wait for someone else to act. It's easy to blame our misfortunes on the economy or the government or the current target of society's persecution. What about us? Don't we make the decisions that direct our lives? Aren't we driving the car of our own life?
As I have described my motto in this blog many times, here it is one more time.
Information is not knowledge without action!
Knowledge creates choices
Choices allow us to change our lives
As always, the choice is yours! Choose your own path wisely.
When pride comes, then comes disgrace,
but with humility comes wisdom.
The integrity of the upright guides them,
but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.
Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath,
but righteousness delivers from death.
The righteousness of the blameless makes a straight way for them,
but the wicked are brought down by their own wickedness. Proverbs 11:2-5 (NIV)
If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com
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