DAY JAW VUE or déjà vu

HAPPY SPRING! 

In 2015, my friend Rae Jacob posted this from her book, ACUPUNCTURE FOR YOUR SOUL: ‘Etheric spring cleaning.  IMAGINE having colorful acupuncture treatments travel through all your energy bodies, mental, emotional, spiritual, etc. imagine all no longer wanted or needed obstacles, wounds being vaporized into a puff of cosmic colors! IMAGINE this clearing traveling through your life's personal timeline. Be discerning as this also vaporizes our excuses for not listening to or not following our Soul's True Path! To Quote Dr. Hazel Pacells," is it time to trade in your wishbone for a backbone?" "

FYI, I capped IMAGINE. I know some people poo-poo imagination as a pathway to success or healing, but Einstein said imagination is more important that knowledge. Some people also poo-poo prayer and ironically, some faith-based people poo-poo scientific explanations of why prayer works. The overlapping area between science and religion is a constricted domain, indeed, maybe even strait and narrow, but I see it as the biggest small place in the world. Both religion and science speak the same language at some juncture, some place where synchronicity convergences with observation.

Evidence-based philosophies and perceptions are the wellsprings of lifelessness, for they rely on what was rather than from whence it is; like a co-occurring order or disorder, we see what we are. But let the dead bury the dead and scoop up the nutritious soil their carcasses fed for future generations. Everything we think today will be rightfully poo-pooed by generations to come, but without our erroneous perception, they would not exist. Our dead ideas are the nutritious soil of remembering who we were as part of who we are? 

Fortunately, existence might precede understanding. As Kierkegaard pointed out, it is understood backward but lived forward.  Existence is the Eternal Now, living in all places and at all times, now. Were it not so we would never have Deja Vue, a place where the future and the past meet in the now (now is the past of the future).

My friend, John Littlewolf, wrote a poem he published in “SEND” that in its unique way might address some of these ideas:


 

THE RIVERS CREST

"Whisper the reason

for the spring to me,

on the banks of the fatted river.
 

As you take my precious breath,

whisper to me,

the reason for my death,

drown me in your excess,

and rejoice,

in this wonderful rebirth at my expense."

 

If anything is right beyond time and space, it will be co-signed and consigned by both Creator and Created.

https://www.amazon.com/Acupuncture-Your-Soul-Collection-Life-Changing/dp/1627873406

https://www.amazon.com/Send-John-Littlewolf/dp/1634137515

 

 

“I’ll give of your love in me. I’ll be strong and lift up those who are weak.”

A friend of mine's son was killed in Minneapolis by an impaired driver on Oct. 27th, 2012.  His son was a loving, caring human being, as is his dad.  In his backpack was found a written commitment that governed his life:  "“I’ll give of your love in me,” he had scribbled in pencil. “I’ll be strong and lift up those who are weak.”  His dad and I will eventually speak together to stop impaired driving and turn lives around.  I've spoken with so many mothers and fathers through the years, whether it be in MADD or Minnesotans for Safe Driving and in other venues, who have lost loved ones.  This is a preventable problem, with many schools of thought as to how it needs rectification.  I have faith that expressing and receiving love is our true strength.  Strength through vulnerability.  “I’ll give of your love in me. I’ll be strong and lift up those who are weak.”

Here's the article:  http://www.startribune.com/driver-in-fatal-minneapolis-hit-and-run-gets-3-years/204119161/

There's Nothing New Under the Sun, Politics Included

The 2016 election has had zero effect on my perception of the truth. Same shit, different day.  While I believe that most Americans believe in their respective parties for legitimate reasons, a great many Americans are willing to subjugate intellectual integrity to "win" an election for their party of choice. Party loyalty is mutating into a carcinogenic mass. Republicans said that Bill Clinton was not their president after he was elected. Democrats are saying Trump is not their president.  

There is no such thing as reality; there's only perception. Caesar said, "What is truth?" He must've been close to the political pulse of Rome for that question to even occur to him. Truth, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. The same applies to politics.

A house divided cannot stand, and dividing Americans into either the political Democratic or Republican party, or to utilize the Adversarial System in a court of law, is to take a Poison Pawn and expect to win a competitive game of indivisibility for the greater good.  If only it worked. Politicians have been known throughout the ages to embrace dishonesty or war as a means of acquiring or holding power and riches. I perceive that very little has changed in today's world. Yes, there are some honest politicians in our Democratic Republic. But in a democracy, as it exists today, the good ones always get voted out of the public trough, and if said politicians become Loose Cannons, they will find a bullet in their head like JFK.  

When I was young, my foster mother stated that voting always boils down to picking the lesser of two evils. The truth is that like Sartre told us, "We are condemned to be free." Christ said, "The truth will set you free." Neither neglected to mention that the facts would probably piss us off first.  My spiritual advisor told me that I don't have to attend every fight him invited to and to never get into a passing contest with a skunk.

Say what you mean, mean what you say, but don't say it mean. Truth without compassion is cruelty. I respectfully submit that in a country where someone can get ten years in the penitentiary for punching someone in the nose, and someone who rips off hundreds of thousands of Americans for their life savings and only serves a small amount of time in a plush penitentiary, we should ask ourselves why is this the case? I think it's because people with money can get away with almost anything, and these are the ones who can secure political power in this country. They are the same lawmakers who send the poor to prison, and so unlike Christ, set the rich free.

Since I can't seem to get a real job, maybe I'll run for office.

Bill Moyers Documentary about Riker's Island is a Must See.

"Rikers" has had a scary reputation for a long time.  While I strive to be positively focused and look for the good, I have noticed through the years that people only get better in this country (?) after everyone has milked the every problem for every cent he or she can steal from taxpayers.  Maybe this is meant when saying that 'the love of money is the root of all evil.'  Whether it's roads or prisons, health care or other types of social reform, change is discouraged by the status quo, but a revolution is always imminent.  It begins in the hearts and minds of the person and then migrates to the people.  

To avoid the future's nationwide carnage, I strongly suggest we make the next one a Revolution of Love.  LOVE ONE ANOTHER is not a new precept, except concerning practicing it.  If you love someone, you will not hurt them.  If you love yourself, you will not throw oneself in harms' way, either.  People typically take action only when they have to.  It is called hitting one's bottom.  We can push that moment into existence a little sooner, but that does not mean sitting on our hands or our laurels.  

When we get honest and drop our fear-based, knee-jerk reactions to the issues defacing our Constitution and Bill of Rights, then we will address problems before they grow unmanageable. The Declaration of Indepence was drafted in part as a response to oppression and taxation without representation.   Well, if EX-convicts are disenfranchised from voting yet pay taxes, where's the representation?  Representation is not a mindless yielding to the pipedream idea that persons "they" cannot vote for will respond to "their" needs because politically, THEIR voice is just noise.  

Me, I am done yielding to politicians telling me I am damaged goods.  My last crime was June 30th of 1984.  The person I was has long since disappeared from planet earth.  Yet, securing employment in the helping professions is ILLEGAL.  Since I cannot get a real job, I guess I will run for office.  :-)  Yes, tongue in cheek humor, as I know, politicians work very hard sometimes, but you know what I am saying.

SALUTE to Kathy Morse!  https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathy-m-8b3b9794/

Call to Empathic Realists: Fellow Right-Brainers of the World, UNITE!

At an Artist's Way Meetup a few years ago, I purchased a book, titled, "The Right-Brain Business Plan, A Creative Visual Map for Success", by Jennifer Lee.  I am reviewing this book since I'm finally taking classes on drafting a business plan. NOW is the time to get the energy flowing.  I'm also conducting a class on Vision Boards for MN-DEED on April 6th for the Job Club and taking ideas from this book for teaching aids.  I have done Vision Board classes with Ex-convicts at 180 Degrees, knowing that if we change our vision, we change our future.  Karen Casey wrote a book that I referred to with clients on probation, titled, "Change Your Mind, Change Your Life."  http://www.womens-spirituality.com/

I saw so-called Offenders walking away with a spark in their eye that shone with hopefulness long-since dampened by life's' circumstances.  But we are more than what happened to us and more than what we've done.  I AM MORE THAN MY MUGSHOT.     

After my release from Stillwater Prison, I acquired tools in Lakewood Community College on how to study effectively.  It must have helped because I was a member of Phi Theta Kappa, the Honor Society.   One of those tools was to write down what I learned and then to teach it to someone else.  It aligns with the idea in recovery, that, "If you wanna keep it, you gotta give it away".  Therefore, I am telling you about this book and touching on Vision Boards for your edification.  

If you are a Left-Brain thinker, this book and the idea behind Vision Boards might seem childish, but to Right-Brained Intuitives like me who swim in creative compassionate ecstasy, aka Empathic Realists, this book might be exactly what you are looking for!  So check it out!  Jennifer Lee has the eBook version if you want it, though I Old Schooled it by getting the paperback version.

Rock On!  Oh, if you are interested in attending our Artist's Way Twin Cities Meetup group, here's the link:  https://www.meetup.com/Artists-Way-Meetup/

Change Your Mind and Your Allergies Will Follow

I remember the day I decided I am not allergic to pollens. I reduced my reactions to it significantly. It's AMAZING what the mind does to us. They've shown through studies that people with Multiple Personality Disorder can be allergic to a thing in one personality, like nylon, and have a severe reaction to it. But in another personality, have ZERO reaction to it. Some people have breakthroughs with hypnosis, too, with fears, allergies, and more. The way we talk to ourselves is critical to healing, big and small. Studies in the Spontaneous Remission of Incurable Diseases (Chapter 2, Evolve Your Brain by Joe Dispenza) approaches the ART of Healing if you will. The Quantum Art of Healing might be a better phrase. Anyway, THINK about it less if it's negative. Quit thinking about things you don't like or don't want. Fake it until you make it.

There's No Such Thing as Reality. There's Only Perception.

When the student is ready, the teacher appears. I am in charge of what I say. You are in charge of what you hear. What WE hear is of an entirely different nature, for when our ears become unified, nothing compares. Only the EGO can notice ego. We all have it, I suppose, but so what? There is a unifying principle that happens when we release our hearing to our HP. Our HP meets us where we are at. As my Spiritual Advisor (RIP) used to tell me, "We don't get ready to meet God. We meet God to get ready. The world is addicted to judgment, but WE can reshape OUR perception through Surrender.

Self Limitation

In my early twenties, I was sickly for a variety of reasons, one of them being a heavy smoker. I got a trainer and started exercising. I could not bench press 45 pounds, I weighed maybe 130 pounds at 6' 0", and could not run twenty feet without fighting for breath. My trainer started to teach me a wide variety of disciplines, including boxing. He said to exercise like I was actually in the ring, because then when I am actually in the ring, it would seem easy compared to a person that didn't push themselves to the maximum during training. I coughed blood but kept running when I caught my breath. It was excruciating! I slowly grew stronger and stayed committed to my routines. Three years later, I was lapping athletes on the track. After about four years, I ran two consecutive 1-mile runs, both in under 4-minutes. When I ran the first mile under 4, my trainer said there must be something wrong with the stopwatch and told me to do it again. I balked but did as he instructed. I ran the mile again, and that's when he said I did it in under 4...both times. He was amazed! I was tired. I bet had he told me I did it under 4 the first time, I would not have done it again. I thought it would be IMPOSSIBLE to run an under 4 mile. But it goes to show that we are capable of more than what we give ourselves credit for. So don't talk yourself out of success! This was a great article, and it reminded me that I need to drop my self-sabotage with speaking too.

Morning Ritual (because not all habits are bad)

“I paint not by sight but by faith.  Faith gives you sight.”  Amos Ferguson

 

The way we start our day can make or break us.  How do you start your day?

Here's how I start mine.  When I awake in the morning and open my eyes, I also open my heart, mind and spirit with an “Attitude of Gratitude,” thanking my Higher Power for another day of life.  Regardless of what might be happening in my life, this is my law od self-care. 

 

How did I get inspired to take this course of action?  Well, I initiated this Morning Ritual as a result of hearing Chris Berg speak at a Mother Against Drunk Driving Victim Impact Panel.  A drunk driver hit Chris, and she incurred severe brain trauma in the crash, losing all of her memory from the point of impact backward.  She did not remember her family and friends, fiancé, the fact that she was a manager for a store, or valedictorian education, pets, etc.  Chris went through hell to get her life back.  She is now married and has a beautiful daughter.  Chris said, “Every morning when I wake up when my feet hit the floor, I thank God for another day of living.”  Chris is a fantastic role model.  I figure if Chris can do it, then maybe I can do it too.  From that day forward I have been thanking God for another day of living every morning that I wake up.  Thanks for that Chris.

 

Next, I grab a pen and paper so I can take notes, and turn on encouraging programming. I spent the next half-hour listening and processing ideas to give me strength.  I pray and meditate upon how I can use what I learned to help someone in the day ahead.  “If you want to keep that you gotta give it away.”

 

Then I turn to my daily readings.  At the time of this transcription, this morning, I read from The Artist’s Way, A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity”.” Then I read my daily reflection on Facebook, written by Karen Casey.  Lastly,  I look for ways to offer encouragement to someone in need.  Every good thing in my life has come as a direct result of helping others, so it’s a win/win to give and receive love for healing.

 

Finally, I turned to my prayer list, and let the spirit and lead me in what to pray. 

 

Now I’m ready to meet my day with gratitude and vigor.Love is my religion. Action is my Gospel.  Laughter is my Holy Spirit.  Now, make someone’s day magical.

Truth and Trust: the Art of Connection

Truth without compassion is cruelty. Say what you mean, mean what you say, but don't say it mean.

We had just shy of 100 professionals committed to helping youth attending the YIPA event today.  Some folks from 180 Degrees showed up and talked about Britany's House, which in my estimation is the best thing that ever happened in Minnesota. They help Sex-Trafficked girls have a chance to just be girls again!


We also had four women from MCF-Shakopee come in from the Challenge Incarceration Program, and they were spectacular! It is so uplifting to see people turn their lives around and find support in the system that is GENUINE. Sargeant James Churchill accompanied them; I have heard him present on several occasions at various Minnesota Correctional Association trainings. He's the REAL DEAL!


We did have some Minnesota Representatives show up, so I know there is interest in helping fund Youth Intervention. Paul Meunier, thanks for all you do with YIPA! I'm proud to be a member of your wonderful organization!

Robin Williams Story

The captioned story is unverified, but who cares if it's true or not?  Yes, the truth will set us free, but our healed perception of the truth allows us to see God's Messengers everywhere we cast our eye.

This story yields great compassion within us, and that's a beautiful thing. True or not, it is like our own lives. There's what happened to us and what we THINK happened to us. Perception is everything. I do not possess a Universal Skeleton Key to unlock the secret temples of the human mind, but like Houdini who spent hours struggling to unlock an open door, we eventually realize freedom is an inside job.

Convergence & Synchronicity

Convergence & Synchronicity have been powerful in my life, so I celebrate your words, even where words fail. The heart of a word is rarely seen, for it is buried beneath the soil and would not take root sitting on a museum relic shelf on display. Yet we love to see the seed and meditate on its beauty; but the plant that bore the seed is sometimes forgotten. Remember what unlocked your heart in the first place, and treasure that moment, even if the catalyst has long since passed. The poem I sent you, Since Feeling Is First, was told to me by my lover who has since passed. She drank herself into the next world, but her healing powers will never be forgotten by me. I wish she could have healed herself. She said I was the Healer, but we both were. You, Melanie, might be a Healer, too. Right? A Healer is someone who had something to heal from, and then passes it on, planting the seeds of forgiveness, peace & love. You are a beautiful soul and I felt your innocent power. We are all innocent, but so few among us ever touch that part of ourselves, so we need to transform ourselves into Messengers of Remembering...remember who we really are and not what the world has said we are. It's an honor and a privilege to have played a small part in your recognition of being on your Sacred Path.

YESterday and NOtoday...WHILE OTHERS SLEPT

We are so much more capable than what we permit ourselves. In my twenties, I ran two consecutive 1-mile runs, with maybe a 30-second break in-between, in under 4-minutes. My trainer said something was wrong after I ran the first one, thinking he did something wrong with the stopwatch and told me to run it again. I balked, saying I just ran a mile at my fastest and was winded, but he told me to "do it again", so I ran that a mile again. Afterward and with an incredulous look on his face, that's when he let me know I ran the mile in under 4 minutes...twice.

I didn't believe I was physically capable of that. Three years earlier when I started running, I could not run 30-conconds at any speed, it seemed.  I had been a heavy smoker and had not eaten right for about a year.  I was frail and sickly.  My trainer kept pushing me and I keep pushing myself.  I would stop and cough blood, but then would start running again.  In time my lungs and legs improved.  I quit saying NO and kept pushing myself to excellence.  When running track, others in training would call me names as I lapped them.  I remember two athletes talking as I lapped them, one saying I would run out of steam and they would still be running.  I continued lapping them until they quit.  

When we had a heat wave that had everyone inside, the National Guard was called to bring the populace fans, I was outside running track.  That day, I admit drinking a lot of water and jogging in a very slow, controlled pace, but I was out there.  I didn't believe it was too hot, so it wasn't.  That's the way it works.

But I know how I am.  Looking back, had my trainer told me I did the first mile under 4-minutes, I would have run slower the second time. I also did other things I had no idea my body was capable of.

What I am saying has little to do with "me". This is not an exercise in narcissism.  I believe we all underachieve, telling ourselves stories that reduce us to a "believable" level. Ironically, when we walk tall, some people will want to cut our head off to make us the same height as everyone else, because THEY don't believe they can do it.

But they (we) CAN do it, whatever it is, beyond our limiting or learned beliefs.  It might require serious training and patience, wading through the pains of perception, but just count your blessing and power through it with a smile.

A woman wrote a book titled, "While Others Slept".  She was a single mom holding a full-time job and going to school full time.  She earned a degree and proved it could be done...while others slept

PHOENIX 490 MEETUP GROUP

I'll be starting a MeetUp Group for monthly meetings, too. Open to the public. The name is based on Matthew 18: 21-22.

"Ignis aurum probat, miseria fortes homines." ~Seneca (fire refines or 'tries' gold, and Trials by Fire refines humans)

PHOENIX 490 is for people who have or are turning coal into diamonds, lead into gold, and for some of us transforming tragedy into triumph. No matter how far down the scale we may have gone in life, our experiences can benefit others. Be the change.

Great Recovery Story from My Friend, Fred Hundt!

Here's his Story:

"Good Morning, Favored Birdbrains. I posted the story of Screwdriver the wild turkey four years ago. I'd like to share it again.

When I left treatment, I lived in a sober house for about half a year. It was recommended by my treatment counselors, but I approached it with fear and trepidation. What would it be like? Would I get along with my housemates? Would I freak out from loneliness? It turned out to be a very important experience for me, and I learned quite a bit. One of my lessons came from an unlikely source.

I went for a walk early the first morning. As I stepped out the door, I was confronted by two wild turkeys, good-sized toms, who followed me for about half a block. I felt unnerved, but just kept walking and talked quietly to them. I learned from a housemate that there were several wild turkeys that lived in the woods behind the house. He fed them corn every day, and they tended to approach anything appearing human in search of food.

After a month or so, I had developed a great relationship with the turkeys. They would follow me down the street, but never more than a block. They’d come out to see me when I was getting in my car or coming home. My friend and I could sit at the dining room table after breakfast and watch the entire turkey family eat and carry on.
One day, we noticed something sticking out of the neck of one of the toms. It was a large screwdriver! Some jerk had stabbed the turkey. We were sure it would be a fatal wound. We tried to get close to the bird to remove it, but he (understandably) was not going to let a human get within reach of him.

Over the succeeding weeks, “Screwdriver” the turkey surprised us. He came and went as usual. He showed up looking for food in the morning. He and his buddy “The Other One” would still walk down the street behind me. He would chase away the younger birds when they got too close to him. Once some people from the business across the street tried to trap him with a blanket to pull the screwdriver out, but he eluded their grasp. Then, one day, the screwdriver was gone. Did it fall out? Did someone pull it out? We never found out.

I began to notice the similarities between Screwdriver and me. Though I was now sober, I still felt I was carrying my addiction like a screwdriver through the neck. It was always there, and others might have thought it would eventually kill me. But Screwdriver the turkey taught me to just go about my life, living it one day at a time. If I focused on accepting life on life’s terms, eventually I could heal around the blade.

Screwdriver didn’t complain about his impediment. He didn’t say “oh, I can’t do this.” He didn’t stop doing the things that a turkey should do. By going on with his life, he eventually healed to the point where the blade could fall out or be removed (maybe by his Higher Power).

The turkey taught me something else. He could have been rid of the screwdriver earlier if he had been willing to trust others to help him. He avoided letting we humans get too close because a human had been the source of his injury. I, too, could heal faster if I trusted the right people and let them get close to me. I started opening up with others I met through AA. I found a good sponsor. I listened to the stories of others and tried to learn from their experiences.

After several months, I realized that I wasn’t carrying my addiction around anymore. My “screwdriver” was gone. I could focus on learning to live this new life before me, and I didn’t need to dwell in addiction thinking. Did my “screwdriver” fall out or was it removed? I’m sure the hand of my Higher Power was involved. I had learned the lesson he sent me via Screwdriver the turkey.

I stop back at the sober house from time to time, to see my friend there. I get updates from him on the turkeys and, I’m pleased to say, Screwdriver is doing fine. And now there are several "mini-drivers" running around the yard."

Today's Thoughts

I've been busy with Unemployment, even busier than when I had a 9-5.  Maybe it just feels that way.  

After viewing my Vision Board, which I decided to rename, My Experience Board (imagine it so clearly, your "Vision" becomes an experience), I went on to other duties.  I have had a focus of chasing down Ray Bradbury quotes from Fahrenheit 451, starting with, “It’s really weird when your present catches up to your future.”  

Here's more great food for thought from the book:  

“If you hide your ignorance, no one will hit you, and you'll never learn.”

“We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is, at last, a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses there is at last one which makes the heart run over.” 

“The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us.” 

“It doesn't matter what you do...so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away.” 

Great quotes, eh?