Thankfulness

According to Merriam-Webster, Thanksgiving Day is a day appointed for giving thanks for divine goodness—and I concur!  However, Thankfulness is about coming home again to a time when there was a shred of hope while hanging on to that fragile thread of life laden with uncertain signs of suffering which without family and friends we find ourselves living in the shadow of doubt and fear.  It’s about deconstructing old Thanksgiving images of the so-called saintly pilgrims praying with pious Indians preparing for a long cold winter in America.  It’s about remembering the pictures of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Dr. Martin L. King permanently displayed on your mother’s dining room wall with a desire to place a picture of President Barack Obama beside these icons as a living witness of change—and be thankful!

You NOW know that Thanksgiving Day is more than turkey and dressing with all the trimmings; pumpkin pie and turnip greens with hot rolls while listening to cool jazz.  It’s about loved ones sharing their stories, telling old jokes, and remembering your childhood experiences with sweet memories and laughing out loud—and you realize that you must re-construct the image of Thanksgiving with a cultural twist.

It’s in these moments in the midst of your wounded life, filled with anxiety and anticipation—you don’t have to accept a flawed sense of self.  You can come home again!  You can come home, first to yourself and your ideas and then to others who matters most in your life.  So life’s finite existence with all its limits, boundaries and confinements—at home it doesn’t matter!   No matter how accomplished you may appear to the outer world, you experience yourself lacking permission to feel and desire what you feel.  Thus, the pattern of doubt that transcends your consciousness allows you to believe that you are not valued, and yet, when you come home to yourself, family and friends confirms just how valuable you are and how much you are needed in their world.

How do we avoid the powerful currents in life that sweeps us away from our own dreams and aspirations?  What relationship do we have with ourselves?  It is the unknowns in our lives that make us uncomfortable with ourselves.  In many ways, we remain in service to the past.  It’s those repeated “silent instructions” from our parents, grandparents and mentors in our lives.  And then you must admit it is ME and—it is the “Other Person” in ME that holds both a distraction and a painful reality that gets my attention.  But when you come home again, you can start all over again with new ideas, be authentic, think savvy but be humble, define your vision, speak with more clarity, don’t follow the crowd, and be faithful to the dream.

When Ordinary Becomes Extraordinary

There are times when we wish that we could be lifted out of the ordinary mundane existence we call life to something that perhaps more than what was given to us.  Maybe more than what we have already achieved!  We are compelled to strive to make a difference, not only in our lives, but in the lives of others.  It’s those individuals that we are sure that have been left behind.  When we can face the facts that we don’t know what to do, maybe this boring, taxing life is just “all made up” by a small band of wealthy people who decided to play a game, a hoax which is only real to those who choose to play the game—it’s all a game!

 Go sit on the bench called Reflection.  It’s on the bench where you will find truth.  It’s on the bench where transcendence is a possibility and ordinary becomes extraordinary.  Did the recession teach us anything about the game?  Only 1% of the population sold out 99% of the rest of the population.  Amazing!!  It is the greatest hoax EVER!  You don’t have to play “follow-the-leader” any longer.  The leader is lost!  Go to the bench and Imagine-a-Nation filled with happy, talented, creative, loving and powerful people.  You can go to the bench NOW!!  You can get out of debt, go back to school, write the book, produce the play, solve the mysteries of that math and physics problem, write a new computer program, plant a garden, learn to play the cello, visit the sick, become an entrepreneur, go to a concert—sing, dance, practice yoga, meditate, pray—but don’t get back in the game!

On the bench you will see the truth in plain sight.  You will recognize the noise of silence.  In the game of life our silence is “noise.”  When we transcend to the awe and wonders of real existence, then silence has meaning—silence has purpose—silence becomes the gift of the extraordinary life.  So go to the bench and sit quietly and do absolutely nothing.  You will feel a glimmer of hope, a new idea will be realized, a fresh thought will come without any help, and joy will replace sorrow—and the ordinary will be replaced by the extraordinary.

Waiting………..And Waiting ……………………

Everyone endures waiting—often impatiently, sometimes anxiously, and sometimes with excitement.  We wait in the emergency room when a loved one or a friend is rushed to the hospital.  We wait in traffic, at the bust stop, at the train station, the post office, the grocery store and even the stop lights.  We wait for the seasons to change from Spring to Summer; Summer to Fall; Fall to Winter and, yes, Winter to Spring.  We wait for changes in the world—better health outcomes, a new vaccine for a dreaded disease, better schools, clean air, the computer to boot-up or just a friend to call.

What can we do while we are waiting?  Can we use the time to give thanks for life, for love, for joy, for grace and for mercy!  Can we give thanks to the Creator for the air we breathe or the water we drink—maybe give thanks for another day, another hour, another minute and for the potential in our creative imagination that may change the world for the better!  Can we give thanks for our children, our family, our career and a place we can call home!  Can we think about thinking to see our thoughts in action!  Are we so angry, sad, tried or frustrated to the point that we can’t feel or see any possibility for happiness or joy?  Do we think about “others” who may desperately need our help?  Are we too busy to care, to vote, to send a card to a friend or text a child and say “Love Ya!” 

You can decide what to do while waiting—you only have the moment that you are in NOW!! 

Part I - What is Success?

Life is strange.  You have choices in life that will determine your joy or pain.  You must be careful not to be deceived by appearances.  Nature holds the ultimate laws of life and the laws are relatively simple.  You must eat, you must drink, you must breath and you must sleep.  How you obey these laws will determine how you live life, but you have choices.  You can eat too much or maybe not enough.  You can eat the wrong things, drink what is not healthy for you, smoke tobacco that will injury your lungs or choose two-hours of sleep when you already know you need six or eight hours of sound sleep.

What do these laws have to do with success?  These laws influence the extent to which you live and enjoy life.  Real success is in the inner world---that world which money can’t buy.  Success is in the heart where true feelings reside.  The heart is rich when it throbs with joy.  It is rich when you have made the right decisions and you are receiving the benefits of joy and peace.  The heart is rich when it is in alignment with nature by breathing right, eating right and drinking what’s best for you and you are getting plenty of sleep.

If you can reflect for a moment on an apple tree whose design and purpose is to bring apples into this world with the help of the Creator.  The apple tree is not trying to be anything but an apple tree.  The apple tree is not competing with the peach tree or the pear tree.  The apple tree is responding to its original purpose, grow apples!

Success is about talking to a friend while listening to cool jazz or classical music.  Maybe its about just sitting quietly doing absolutely nothing.  In silence you can know what you really want—not just some quick-fix or some mundane answers to serious problems.  It’s about a more serious reflection on what you really want out of life.  One thing is for sure—it’s not worldly things that will produce the solutions—things create worry, anxiety and frustration.  Every real success is in the inner world.  It’s the inner world that money can’t buy.  What is success for you?

The Beautiful People

The Beautiful People are suppose to be the idle rich who follow the “sun of the good life” from Manhattan to Palm Beach to Monte Carlo and by yacht to the French Rivera and the southern coasts of Italy and Spain.  They are the people who show up on the “red carpet” where they can be seen wearing the latest fashion creations by—Versace, Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Gucci, Vera Wang, Ralph Lauren.  These beautiful people are the style-setters, pace-makers for what smart, cute and glamorous people will decides “what’s in.”  The rest of us are likely to envy them, their good fortune and big fortunes, and wish that we could be like them as latter-day-sun-worshippers.  So we invest millions of dollars in “look a-likes” to pretend we are one of the style-setters. 

If you look behind the sparkle and make-up you will likely to discover something not so beautiful.  Many of these people with nothing to hold on to except their appearance are likely to be in a constant, desperate, losing battle against the bulge in the wrong place, the unwelcome wrinkles, the drying skin, the crows’ feet under the eyes, and the middle-age paunch in the men.  One begins to wonder how beautiful are these people, so many of whom must disappear from sight for substance abuse treatments or a bout with alcoholism.  They seem anxious, disturbed, trying too hard to be merry and happy.

There is another kind of humanity that many might call the “beautiful people.”  They are the ones who should be admired, supported and respected.  They may be wearing sweatshirts, jeans and sneakers, but they are visiting the sick, taking care of the environment, leaving corporate America to volunteer in African to care for HIV/AIDS patients, planting gardens in the inner-cities, teaching under privilege children in poverty stricken communities, and joining the protesters when public policies negatively impact the poor and underserved.  These “beautiful people” care for those who are vilified, castigated, ostracized and marginalized in our society.  Are you a “beautiful person?”  Let us hear from you.

Transformed Living in Tough Times

What can one person do?  When confronted with a poverty-stricken world, one can use clarity of purpose to offer practical steps to create lasting change.  Fear of tough times can paralyze the best of us, but it need not be that way for transformed people.  The fact that you can rise above the storm during tough times, you can survive by keeping your focus on the evidence of awe and wonders of a living and loving Creator who is the Provider for all of us.

You can change the little things.  If you will remember the fun of friends and family with deep respect; then seek to forgive with a sincere heart, be honest, help all those people who want to quit or slow their lives down.  This path of transformation is replete with certainty that there is a better way to live, even in these tough and hectic times.

One of the models of ministry can be found in the life and teaching of Jesus who became the Christ.  In one faith tradition, Jesus was scheduled to have his second coming on October 22, 1943 which is the day of the month that I was born. The centrality of my faith in the Creator and in the teachings, works and ministry of Jesus the Christ and “Mother Earth,” provided a way of being in the world.  Jesus was given a consciousness called the “Christ Consciousness.”  This consciousness is available to all who seek that level of centering and being.  Inherent in my name CES’ which means “Conscious Enlightenment of Self” is the same call to my ministry—Ministry in the Margins.

Regardless of the pain, contradictions, disappointments, and failures in this life, you can transform your living with a certain commitment, purification and surrender to the power that is greater than yourself.  This is what one person can do.  If it is done well, then many people will benefit from your efforts.  Don’t wait—you are needed NOW!!!

Caring for the Soul

Soul is translated in Greek as Psyche.  It’s what we consider to be our Essence.  Our essence is what is available when we surrender to the Creator.  Thus, the Creator has a Master Plan and we all belong to the Creator and we are part of the Master Plan.  Because the Creator gave us the “Freedom of the Will,” one can choose to be or not be a participant in the plan for your life.  If one chooses to follow the plan, one must first melt away pettiness, melt down selfishness, and forge away sickness and brokenness.  This prepares one to grow in Grace.

We must all learn the language of unity, compassion and love which is embedded in our feelings. Before we can be compassionate, the fire of love will burn away the fears, prejudices, and hatred many feel toward those who are different.  Thus the sunlight of possibilities—forgiveness, patience, and kindness—begin blooming into existence.  Sunlight begins working on the soil of life which resides in the Heart and tender plants of understanding take roots.

Trust someone with your feelings.  It is the language of the heart and, in many instances, there is no logic to these feelings.  You can’t be rational with your feelings.  There is a certain deep knowingness that separates feelings from what comes from the mind.  One must examine one’s life and find one’s own way into life lived with passion.  We are constantly faced with the daunting task of finding new ways to tell the Truth about who we are in a meaningful way.

Part II: What Matters Most

The moral fiber of our society has been unraveling for sometime now.  There have always been moral failures and lapses in human decency here and there, but the tone changed to the extent that causes us to hear an uncertainty which ignites fear and anxiety.  It is difficult to maintain moral consistency, mental poise, and emotional tranquility when one have lived one’s whole life in a fractured world and trying to grow faith in hard places.

We all need to be equipped with a well-grounded, defensible, and authentic system of values to serve as our moral compass.  We must appeal to whatever strategies and methods which are available to contribute to the strengthening of the moral fiber of our society.  We must learn from each other because no person can boast of perfection.  But with the awareness of forgiveness and restoration we move closer to understanding what matters most.

Like it or not, you are that person with all of your private historical data with your unique DNA and blood type which means you’re your own moral incubator in which to interact with parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, neighbors and friends.  With the acceptance of this reality, one can affirm one’s personhood that is conferred upon oneself.  Your matter!  You can participate in the “game of life” as a full citizen of the world.

You are not a statistic, a digit in somebody’s research or a bundle of tangled instincts, drives and emotions; but a thinking, reflecting, remembering, reacting, feeling, analyzing, choosing human being.  You are a unique creation of a loving everlasting, holy Creator.  One must began to understand what matters most at the point where one discover one’s own individuality and acknowledge, affirm, and celebrate one’s personhood.

What Matter The Most?

 

What matter the most is what emanates from your heart.  This requires a cleansing of the heart that starts with deep meditation.  In meditation there is an opening to true feelings which can only come from the heart.  When the heart is clean—free from hatred, malice, resentment, guilt, and jealousy—then one can experience the essence of love.  This love is the prelude to joy, peace and serenity.

What matter the most in the life that you have lived.  Every life is an enactment of stories, the sum of which is our biography, our resume’ or our career.  So who are you and what is your story?  Do you spend your life acting and reacting to all kinds of distractions, contradictions and collisions?  What story do you tell others about yourself, more importantly, what story do you tell to yourself.  Perhaps it’s too personal.  Perhaps it’s so personal that you dare not tell a single soul just how hard it is to be yourself—to be authentic--without the lines and fairy tales and the masks. 

We live our lives in the shadows of others by becoming who we are by default.  It’s time to move beyond the silent rage.  It’s never to late to choose to tell your story and find meaning, value and worth in who you are.  Today, just one time, be honest and tell your story.