Be the change you want to see in the world.

Actually, Mahatma Gandhi said it.  I’m just repeating it.  But I have been giving that sentiment a bit more serious thought lately.  During a trip to Peru, we saw a carving of time lines that showed the current time line petering out, but a new parallel time line kind of a step above the original.  It was said that those of us who could raise our vibrations would be able to transition to the new time line.  Those who couldn’t – or chose not to – would remain on the old time line which would sort of wither out.

Energy work that I have been doing lately with Kenji Kumara suggests that a “new earth” is being designed and we might each want to put in our requests as to what it might look like.  So I have begun asking people “If there were one thing you could change about the present earth, what would it be?”  (Even if it’s not true, it’s an interesting concept to play around with…)

I don’t think the question is well phrased as the first answer I got was “peace in the world.”  While I agree that this is an admirable goal, I was looking for something more local.  There is peace in my world at present as there is no war taking place “here” and “now.”  (Yes, that’s a very parochial view, but parochially is the only way I can act, so to me it is the only practical view…)

Anyway, the intent of the question is to get you to think about what change you would like to see.  Once you have done that, the goal is to get you to start implementing that change wherever you currently are:  be the change you want to see in the world.  The change I would like to see is that all my nutritional needs be met by the food I eat and the water (tea, coffee, etc.) I drink, without the need for supplements.  So to me that means eating foods that contain all the elements necessary for healthy living.  Organic is a start, but we will also need to restore the soil so that it contains a healthy mix of elements – for both the plants and those who eat them.  Also eating foods that are ripened in place, not picked early so that they can ripen while they travel.

To implement that change, I can start an organic garden of my own.  I can patronize – or subsidize local organic farmers.  I can buy organic things from my local supermarket, showing them that there is support for those choices so that they will stock more and more such foods.  I’m doing those things – except for the organic garden of my own.

So what change would you like to see?  Tell us about it – maybe working together we can bring about revisions in our societies that will benefit us all.  Even if a “new earth” is not in the cards, that doesn’t mean we have to settle for the one we have, without making any attempts to improve it!

Is it “cheating” if everyone does it?

This question is prompted by my getting a book about Lance Armstrong from the library.  I had read his own autobiographical book so thought this new biography would be an interesting alternative view.  Wow was I wrong!  I found his attitude, as portrayed by this writer, to be so annoying, depressing, mind-boggling, that I have even blocked out the author’s name.  I based my opinion on the prologue where Armstrong is quoted extensively with rather foul language and demeaning comments about women.  So I skipped the book and went to the epilogue just to see if there was any reason presented there that would make me want to actually read the stuff in between.  There wasn’t.

The gist that I came away with was that although he used (and denied using) performance enhancing drugs for years, it wasn’t “cheating” because “everyone else” was doing it, too!  Well, the first question, posed by one of my friends, is how could he be sure that everyone was doing it?  If, in fact, even one person on the Tour de France – or any other competitions in which he participated – was not doing it, then it was cheating.  Actually, it is cheating if it is against the rules as these drugs clearly are.

At this point – i.e., when he granted the interviews to the reporter – he was owning up to having used the drugs, but showed no remorse, as everyone was doing it.  He is more annoyed at having been “caught” or having teammates report that he was using the drugs while denying their use.

But, in truth, the bottom line is that if he really felt that way, why didn’t he own up to it while using them?  If it truly, in his mind, wasn’t cheating, why not admit to it.  So, obviously, even though he claims it’s not cheating, it was something he didn’t feel “comfortable” admitting.  Which means, to me, that he knew it was wrong and that he knew the rest of the world would agree that it was wrong.

What an embarrassing and depressing conclusion to what had appeared to be a stellar career!

Why do we make things hard to do?

I’m sure you have noticed that some things are hard for you to do and some things are easy.  I have wondered about that.  There are some things that are hard for me to do but are easy for others to do, and vice versa.  I watched a famous musician playing guitar one time and said to myself, “Boy, I wish I could play like he does!”  But then I realized that he probably spends 8 to 10 hours a day playing his guitar and has for years.  If I spent that amount of time playing, I could probably be as good as he was…  So I dropped that wish because I knew I wasn’t willing to put the time in to get that good.

So.  OK.  Some people are good at things because they spend the time to be.  For most of us, the things we spend the time on are things we enjoy doing.  So it doesn’t feel like “work.”  It just comes “effortlessly.”  But then there are those things that seem like no matter how hard we try, they’re just hard to do.  That begs the question:  Are they really hard to do or are we making them hard to do for some reason?  For example, if something is hard for you to do, but others find it easy, some times they will do the thing for you rather than watch you struggle with it.  So your doing it “the hard way” has the benefit of getting you out of having to do it at all.

Alternatively, everything you make hard to do prevents you from doing something else because you spend so much time getting the first thing to work!  So some times we decide that we have to finish “this” before we can do “that” and making “this” hard to do means we can postpone starting “that.”

What prompted this whole line of inquiry is that I have designed a piece of needlework that (in my mind) will be beautiful when finished.  I have been procrastinating starting it even though I had already completed the design and bought the supplies to make it.  I started on it today and find that I can only do a very few stitches before my back starts complaining.  I am using a new stand to hold the work and that is my “reason” why it hurts to work on it:  the new stand is an awkward construction.

But is that really what’s going on?  Or am I afraid that my current level of ability is insufficient to make this item as wonderful as I have pictured it in my mind?  Stopping after every 10 or 20 stitches means that it will take forever to finish.  Literally, as I will probably give it up way before it is finished.  If I were truly dedicated to getting it done, a little tension in my back would not stop me…  Which leaves me with more questions at this point than answers.  If I do complete it, you’ll see pictures of it here, but as my aged Italian Granny would have said, “No holda you breath…”

Are you prepared to be the love of someone’s life?

We all want to be loved.  We all want someone who thinks we are the best thing that ever happened to them.  We want to be cherished and protected.  Well, what if what we want is what we are supposed to be?  What if, instead of looking for love outside ourselves, we prepared ourselves to be someone who loves and cherishes someone else?  What if we started loving and cherishing others?  Is it possible that when we stop looking for love outside ourselves and prepare ourselves to exhibit the kind of love we want to receive, when we stop looking, love will just find us?