Don't Worry, Be Happy.

Ok, just to preface this whole thing; I do not claim to actually follow any of the advice I'm about to give, but I think I'm going to start. I've had a kind of breakthrough lately, a deeper look into a certain part of my psyche, something that is a huge barrier between me and Awesome. I realized what friends and family have told me for years, I'm a worrier.

I had noticed before, but I always shrugged it off, then I would go do something reckless and say to myself, "see, look, would an overly cautious, constant worrier do that?" I would then slip back into my old routine of worrying about what the worst possible scenario could be. It's funny what spurred on this revelation. I was reading a book, "Magician: Apprentice" of the Riftwar Saga, written by Raymond E. Feist. I would actually recommend the whole series, although I'm only about halfway through the second book. Anyway, to get back on subject, the hero in the story, Pug, is an orphan. He was a keep boy in the castle, doing his chores, running around in the woods, all the normal things. Then, on the day of choosing, when the boys became apprentices, he was chosen by a magician. From that point on, his life looked up. This is the point where I started to get nervous.

You see, I was very much engrossed in the story, because I could relate to the character a lot. I was ok with him struggling, that part I could look at and it seemed like at least he had something to look forward to, but once he began to succeed, well then I felt fear and anxiety that something terrible was going to happen and it would all come crashing down. This is when the light bulb went off, that is the same way I approach my own life. Well, not all the time, that was a gross generalization, but a lot of the time. When things are going wrong or there is drama, at least I know where the threat is, I know what I have to do to counter it. But when things are going well, and peaceful, I have no idea how to react, I can't manage to enjoy it for fear that it will end. What a screwed up view of the world! I can't tell you what gave me such an attitude, not because it is some deep dark secret, or a tragic story that I don't want to recount, but because I have no idea. I've had a pretty good run thus far, no real problems to complain about, nothing nearly as bad as many. I'd have to say life's been good to me, so why so cynical, why so fearful?

At first I thought I would blame all of our media outlets, mostly novels and movies. They pump us up, tear us down, then pump us back up again. I've always thought that every now and again there should be a movie that starts up, and just gets better from there, no drama whatsoever, but I guess that wouldn't hold people's attention. Honestly, I'm not sure how the Muses work, whether they imitate life, or if life imitates their work. I've often thought that Hollywood and their ilk weren't capable of pumping out some of the gems they have without divine intervention, so I definitely believe in the concept of the Muse, but I don't know how they work. That's a topic for another blog...

So if I can't blame literature, or film, or even my upbringing, then who/what do I blame? Well, the most obvious answer would be myself. Somehow I've managed to convince myself, or allow myself to be convinced that nothing good ever lasts. Even as I type that I think, "well, it's true." But really, it's not. Think about it, there are so many stop losses, and safeties in place in our lives. Look at our immune system for one, it will fight off all kinds of things. Our bodies repair themselves, I think we gloss over that fact a little too often. It's pretty amazing if you really think about it. Also, when is the last time any of you have missed a meal against your wishes, or slept out side, or really experienced any great discomfort. Some of you have I'm sure, but if you are reading my blog, you obviously have some leisure time now. We've all put up with crap, but it has always passed. Hell, even Holocaust survivors have gone on to thrive and live wonderful lives after the terrors they experienced. When you look at the entirety of the human experience, especially of the last 60 years or so, it's not been too bad. Even the worst possible scenarios have passed, to make way for good times, followed by some bad. Maybe it's all just a matter of perspective.

If I can just focus on what's in front of me and stop fretting about what could happen, then maybe I can find peace, and maybe so can you. It takes discipline though, it's so easy to allow yourself to be blown to and fro by all kinds of outside stimuli. If you do a really honest, in depth survey of yourself, you may just stumble on to a couple of your weak spots. I have a few, but I'm working on plugging them. The common factor among all of them is that they are "what ifs?" They aren't things that are actually happening, they are things that could happen, or might happen. Well, I might get hit by a falling plane, or I might win the lottery, but neither are likely, and I have only very limited control over either situation. That sounds a lot like life, so many opportunities, for either fortune or tragedy, but in the end, a lot of it comes down to "luck," providence, or whatever you would like to call it.

Thomas Jefferson once said, "I'm a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it." I think that is a very wise piece of advice, you can't just sit around and expect things to happen for you. At the very least, you have to change your attitude, or you will miss all of the opportunities that life throws at you. I still don't know what I think of this whole, "The Secret" mess, but I do think that our thoughts effect our realities. Whether through perspective, or more tangible ways, I don't know. I'm not sure if my pessimistic attitude will lead to more bad things happening, or if it will simply make me notice the normal things more, but I do know that either way, it's not productive. I'm going to resolve to get back to the here and now, worrying about the future is senseless, and I know it. It will work itself out, and in the long run, say, you make it 100 years, so what, it's a flash in the pan, enjoy the ride.

There are more blogs coming!!!!

Hey faithful readers, I swear I'm working on some blogs, but I keep allowing myself to get sidetracked. I could give you a ton of excuses, some pretty valid, and a few not so much so. They range from, "I've been working a lot more," to "I've been too distracted to write anything with any substance." Either way, you know how it goes.

If you will notice though, I said, "I keep allowing myself..." that is something that I'm going to start working on, at the suggestion of Charles Hamel's blog. He reminded me that what we think and say is what we become, so, rather than putting the blame on someone else and making myself the victim by saying, "I've been getting sidetracked" I changed it to, "I allowed myself..."

In addition to all of the other distractions, I've also been doing some research on FOREX trading, it is yet another way to generate income without working all the time, so you know I'm on board with that. Another great blog that I've come across is Paul Zimmerman's. That is where I got the information that is going to get me started with this whole FOREX adventure.

Well, more to come later, check out these other blogs and I'll get to work on some new content!

All my thoughts on God (well, a lot of them)

I have heard it explained like this, "there is one mountain, but there are many paths." Looking even deeper, I think that one will find that each path leaves much to be interpreted for oneself. Faith is also a very important factor. Every religion contains its own mysteries, but they tend to all relate to one another. Without these mysteries that require faith, I think people's understanding and appreciation for the Divine would be much more shallow and taken for granted.

Hinduism is one of the world's older religions, and one of the most open. Barring all of the cultural aspects, caste system, and such; Hinduism seems to have a very timeless and broad wisdom that some of the newer religions have not developed. Long ago, Hindu's recognized that all "gods" were part of one supreme God, and that through liberation from ego, we could all connect to and at some point merge with that "Brahma." The Buddha built upon Hinduism; through his unique enlightenment I feel that he made that liberation more attainable. I believe that one must first purify before empowering, the Buddha also stressed the importance of ridding oneself of the attachments of ego. Unlike the ascetics who went to the extreme in purification, or the Tantric groups who may have went to the extreme in empowerment, Buddha stressed the middle way, something some refer to as "impeccability."

Zen especially took into account the realization that every moment holds a possibility for enlightenment, and it seems to me that while a purification and empowerment regimen is most helpful in attaining what we are aspiring to, it is possible for a person to drop all ego in one moment and "realize" their enlightenment. However, we all have varying layers of ego, and different amounts of resolve and determination, so it is unusual for a person to reach that point without hard work and dedication.

The Abramaic religions take a different path, but still have very useful aspects that I include in my own personal belief system. Judaism did not start out as a monotheistic religion, but through the years it grew and spawned the world's greatest monotheistic traditions. While the writings speak of Yahweh basically declaring himself the one true God, it could be argued that the evolution of the beliefs was an intuitive process of understanding of one Supreme Being, that the other gods were merely a part of. This is very similar to the progression we see throughout the different cultures and religions of the world.

Judaism did not originally introduce an idea of pure good and pure evil. Satan was considered an agent of God, and was used as an adversary against people, not God. It was not until Zoroastrianism that we see the idea of cosmic battle between Good and Evil. In the teachings of Zoroaster, we basically see the story of the New Testament. Just like in the Christian tradition, there is a Creator, and there is an antithesis to this creator. In order to escape the evil one, you must place your trust in the good one. There is also the idea of a hell, but instead of being an eternal damnation, it was a place of cleansing for the unrighteous.

Both Judaism and Islam stress religion as a central part of their culture, it is a daily commitment to doing what is necessary to stay on track. Islam is, in my opinion, one of the more shallow religions, and I am saying that after objective research. With the exception of their daily prayers, and constantly keeping Allah in the forefront of their thoughts, they are quite focused on the worldly. It seems that the more enlightened religions that have been around for a longer time all focus on the idea that suffering is tied to the ego, but Islam takes another approach.

Buddha said get rid of attachment, and you will get rid of suffering. Jesus died on the cross to show us the path to liberation from our suffering, yet Mohammed advocated fighting against it; he preached Jihad, which literally means struggle. This is where impeccability comes in to real play. I think that is the chief contribution Islam has made, that I can relate to; they have the empowerment to stand against oppression, yet some lack the purification to do it impeccably. Christianity teaches a different kind of struggle against evil and oppression.

The teachings of Christianity are very similar to Zoroastrianism, but Jesus stressed a few different key points. The idea of service was chief among his teachings. Service without ego is perhaps one of the most identifying characteristics of Jesus. He showed the way to God through his actions. Due to a mistranslation, many people look at mere belief in the idea of someone dying for them as a way to salvation, but many sources claim the correct words stated that, "no man gets to the Father, but by my example." Jesus' entire life was a practice in impeccability, through his purification, he became such a hollow tube for God to work through, that his power became that of God's.

Although it may take some digging for someone who is uninitiated into the mysteries to see, there are countless symbols and metaphors within every tradition. It is my opinion, and I have found I'm not the only one, that Jesus' crucifixion is an example of the death of the ego, and his exit from the tomb is meant to signify a "rebirth." It is through this ego death and rebirth that we can realize our place in the world as parts of the whole, or as part of the Tao.

Taoism is a tradition that I have a particularly strong connection to, because the simplicity of it seems to make so much sense. The Tao is, "I am," you are, we are. The words are just as true now as they were when written down by Lao Tzu or by Moses on the mount. Taoism stresses living in accordance with the Tao, rather than fighting against it. Just as a Christian, Muslim, or Jew might attempt to live a righteous life, and choose their actions in accordance with God's will.

Each religion, just like every person, every event, every thing, has something to contribute to the world, and to the makeup of each individual. The very fact that there are so many religions just bares witness to the disconnect between people and the Divine. There is definitely something that needs to be done, but I feel like the ball is in our court. We won't make any headway, as individuals or as a group, unless we take the first steps, the leaps of faith into what we feel is right. This is perhaps the most unifying aspect of each of the world's major religions, bold faith in an unknown higher entity or purpose for service toward the betterment of humanity.

How to get rid of writers block.

Writers block is a real affliction, and it's especially damaging to professionals. I can't think of any other pursuit that has a "block" of it's own. Think about it, you call up the plumber because your pipes are busted and he says, "you know man, I'd love to help, but I've got a bad case of 'plumber's block,' I just can't seem to fix anything." If everyone had the luxury of being "blocked," then it wouldn't be long before everything fell apart.

The reason that you don't hear of plumber's block, electricians block, painters block, etc. is because these activities are all much more tangible than writing. Writing takes place in the mind, these other activities take place on a physical plane. When someone is suffering from writers block, it is just a symptom of a larger problem. They have spent too much time in the mind and they have become lost. Action is the cure. I have been sitting around for the past few days thinking, "wow, I need to write something...," but I haven't written a thing. Finally, about 15 minutes ago, I sat down and started writing, you're reading the results. It isn't my best work, but it is work, and sometimes that is enough.

Inaction will lead to stagnation. Just think of it like a creek or a river, when it is flowing, the water stays clean and clear, it moves with ease and a purpose, but if the flow is obstructed, then the water starts to smell, vegetation takes over, and eventually you have a stinky, rotting swamp. The good news though is that it is incredibly simple to reverse the process, all you have to do is start moving. At first it will be hard and slow, but eventually you will start to build momentum and those obstructions will be knocked out of the way. Once you open the flood gates, I hope you have your pen ready because the ideas will start to gush out. These times are great opportunities to jot down as many notes as you can. You can refer back to these notes later on, when your well starts to dry up again.

Eventually the flow will slow down, so don't take this time for granted, get as much done as possible. Life has a funny way of sneaking up on us, so remain vigilant of that. For me, time is usually the culprit. Little obstructions are easily ignored, my writing becomes rushed, the words become more difficult to find, and eventually I just "don't have the time" to write. Once I realize that I've quit writing, months have gone by, and I've once again lost my way. The trick is to avoid this pattern altogether, don't let time slip up on you.

All you have to do is keep moving and it won't catch you. If you are writing daily, something, anything, then "writers block" can't rear it's ugly head. A journal is a great way of doing this, so is email believe it or not. Many of my best ideas have come to me in the middle of a letter to a friend. Think about it, it's the perfect time, you are relaxed, you aren't forcing the words, and there is absolutely no pressure to write anything worthwhile.

Of course, like anything, I probably don't have the answers for you, I just have the ones that work for me. And they only work for me when I actually put them into practice, which is probably about 60% of the time, to be really honest. I guess the point is to keep moving forward. If you fail, so what, you are further along than you would've been had you never started, and in the end, what is the destination anyway? To sum up one of the most successful marketing campaigns ever, "Just do it!"

Goals aren't enough.

Setting goals is great, however, you have to actually do something to reach them. This is kind of one of those, "so what?" statements, but it is something that doesn't really sink in with most people. Now, before I pretend to be an expert in "goal reaching," let me just throw out the disclaimer that the inspiration for this particular post was a little self evaluation that I was doing. I realized that I have huge ambitions with little follow through. This isn't exactly a new revelation, it is conclusion that I come to every year or so, and then I make a decision to change. A year later, I realize that I've made little to no progress, and I repeat the whole process again.

This blog is the perfect example, it's about my fourth attempt at starting and maintaining a blog. This time though, I am using one of my prime motivators, money! I know, that sounds greedy, but honestly, it has a lot more to do with my laziness than my greed. I want a lot of money, so I can be free from the financial restrictions that keep me from being lazy. (Right here I got sidetracked and wrote about two paragraphs worth of a new blog post, now, sorry for the interruption, but be looking for a link to it fairly soon.) As most of you know, I have a goal of monetizing this blog and drawing enough money from this free blog platform to fund a better website. Through linking this goal to such a prime motivator, money(sustenance), I am recruiting much more energy to assist me with it. If I was just writing to fill space, or using this solely as a journal, I'm sure I would've slacked off and not put nearly as much effort into it.

This brings us to the point. Most people don't put enough pressure on themselves to actually reach their goals. If your life/job/home/food/sex life, etc. relied on you reaching your goals, then I bet you would. You would find some way to claw your way through all of the crap and you would force it to work. This isn't an original idea, many others have probably said it before, but one in particular is Dan Millman, in his book "Everyday Enlightenment." I would highly recommend you check it out as it is jam packed with steps to improve nearly every aspect of your life.

Speaking from a poker player's point of view, I know that my level of play increases with the stakes. For some more skilled players, they can play a top notch game even if it's for play money, but for someone like me, I have to put a little skin on it to really do it right. I'm sure it has everything to do with discipline, but hey, you do what you've got to do right? In a way, I have to trap myself into a situation that won't allow me to fail. Now, the real goal is to break free from that particular shortcoming and do things just for the sake of doing them. Maybe that will be a topic for next blog, right now, I'm just about blogged out.