Are You Out There?

Hey me, this is me, I am running out of patience over here! When will I know who I am?

Me says: “When you know ALL that you are not, and you have tried EVERTHING you could be.”

Damn. It is never easy is it?

A Myth About Sharing Feelings…

Have you ever heard this myth?

“If I talk about it I will only get myself in trouble.”

I think too many times people are afraid to talk about how they are feeling, and so they just shut down. The thing with shutting down is this:

If you do not tell others how you feel, they will use their perceptions and make ASSUMPTIONS about how you feel. The real kicker is how accurate do you think they will be?

I think they will not be accurate, and now the situation is worse in actuality.

I would like to suggest a change to the above sentence, it is not the idea THAT you are talking about your feelings, it is HOW.

Do you yell? Do you blame? Do you create an aggressive atmosphere instead of a calm one?

Everybody has emotions, and we all fall into good moods and bad moods, but we all also have a choice on how we relate to others, and whether or not our expression of our emotions brings us cooperation or isolation.

Foster relationships, discover your feelings, chose to be the master of your feelings, and share your feelings in a healthy way.

I promise, it feels better to share.

Late night Epiphany….

I just had to share this here too, this was previously published on www.donanobispacemcoaching.com

I just finished watching The Passion of the Christ which is a tradition for me since its release. You can say what you want about Mel Gibson he hit it out of the park with that one. Probably the best thing about it for me is Gibson used the Gospel of John as his main staple for writing the prose. John is my favorite set of Gospels, they seem to be deeper, more metaphorical, more something that is hard for me to describe. The true miracle is that the entire Bible speaks to me as a living word, but nothing as strongly as John’s Gospel, and the greatest miracle is that no matter how many times I read it I ALWAYS have a new insight, somewhere, with some passage, it speaks fresh to me again.

Tonight was no different. There are 2 passages I want to discuss that hit me in the temple like a jackhammer, I can’t believe I hadn’t had these thoughts before, but que sera sera I am having them now. Passage 1 Pontius Pilate is talking to Jesus;

“I was born for this, I came into the world for this: to bear witness to the truth; all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice.” Pilate answers, “Truth? What is that?” John 18: 37-38. Passage 2 we back up a little;

“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one can come to the Father except through me.” John 14:7

 

This begs the question; do I know the truth when I hear it? Or am I like Pilate, deaf to the idea that there is an absolute truth beyond myself? The truth that Jesus is talking about is something that exists without me or you or anyone else deciding it exists. God is the Truth. Too many times I think we get caught up in OUR truth, that is the truth we accept because it is good for us, or makes us feel better, or fulfills some need we believe we have; it is also subject to bias, stereotyping, selfish impulse, and all psychological static. So now I know that many times, but not always I hear the Truth, I recognize it when I hear it, even if it doesn’t suit my desires. I don’t think anyone can hear it for anyone else either; this is an intimate discourse between every person and God.

Now the second passage, everyone knows this one, and all the Christians out there are nodding with me, yep we already know that you have to be Christian to come to God because Jesus tells you so, uh, I think I realized something else here… you may not like it…. Christian truth as we create it may not be the same as Jesus intended it because our perceptions are involved. Look at that passage again, Jesus is saying that Jesus=Truth=God. It’s like math, all sides are equal, but we can do it this way too, Jesus = Truth, which means they are interchangeable, so Truth=God. Does this mean that if someone recognizes the absolute truth of God when they hear it, but is not Christian they can still come to God? I believe the answer is Yes.

Good Friday Morning….

I am a Christian, and so today marks a time of great victory and also sadness. I have always felt very responsible for my sins and imperfections which contribute to the suffering Jesus submitted himself too.

Like the women on the road during the crucifixion who wailed and wept. I feel the burden of my human imperfection. Thanks be to God for my salvation, for comfort  in times of duress, for the undeserving title- Child of the Creator.

I am called to imitate Christ and love all people, care for all, and take the sufferings of others upon myself in true empathy. This is the path to freedom. This is the way of love.

No judgement. No righteousness. Just a simple and humble commitment to recognize my place in Creation.

 

Late Morning Reflections…

 

Sufferings End…

I see much suffering in my current position of work. It seems like each day I have new reasons to be humble, and thankful for all the blessings God has bestowed upon me. The good news is that I am accepting this new-found humbleness easier with each passing day. In the beginning it was rough.

One thing that has struck me as important during this whole process is forgiveness, or the lack there of.

I know this truth through my life experiences, forgiveness is essential to healthy growth spirituality, mentality, and emotionally. None of us are perfect, and so it follows that if we can forgive ourselves those imperfections we may be able to find some peace. The next step of course is to forgive others their imperfections.

Forgiveness is a letting go. It does not mean we should put ourselves in situations that cause us harm, it means that we look for no compensation for the hurts done to us, and we have honest contemplation about our circumstances.

When do I hurt myself? Others?

When do others hurt me?

Can I forgive those transgressions and surrender the control of revenge. Revenge does nothing but extend the hurting cycle. Forgiveness stops it cold. Forgiveness is freedom.

 

Know thyself, Find thyself…

I think it is in the discovery of ourselves that we can finally know ourselves. When we choose to not know ourselves we are like shadows of what we could be.

Calm and more collected…

Today is better than yesterday. Thank God!

Have you ever noticed that you can be on top of the world one day, and the next it’s like Godzilla walked through your skyscraper? I have always marveled at how quickly life can turn and bam you are in the poo poo.

This is one of the reasons I have started paying attention to the days of calm collectedness, and when they are granted to me I try to slow them down and savor the flavor.

Reality is always there waiting to send the next curve ball, but the sweet chocolate days of pure goodness should be felt to my toes and the worrying can wait for a different kind of day.

“There are times when we stop, we sit still. We listen and breezes from a whole other world begin to whisper.”
― James Carroll