How Do You See The World

by Don Shetterly

For many, experiences through life color the lenses in which they see everything around them.  No matter what they attempt to lead others to believe, these experiences alter so much of how we view the world.  We may not realize that we do this, but others can often see it in us.

I constantly see how people want things to remain as when they had a "safer" moment in life.  Maybe it was before something happened or while some traumatic and toxic stress moment was taking place.  These things become the norm against how we measure everything in life.

In one recent example, an individual wanted a TV program to come back because it represented a good time in their life.  They saw everything else as dark, gloomy, horrible and in despair.  Instead of them seeing the good in life that occurs each day, all they could focus on is the bad.

No, I'm not trying to convince anyone that all is good and we're living in the greatest times.  Often, the challenges we face in a day are rather difficult and mind-blowing.  We have screaming and gnashing of teeth with people picking a side in how they view things.  No one sees each other as human these days, only adversaries or friends.

Maybe the problem isn't the world and everyone else in it as it is how we view things.  If we see only the bad in those that don't match up to what we believe life should be, how can we see the good?  It might be more in what we do and present to the world than it is what others do.

I personally believe that each one of us has the power to effect great things or bad things in the world.  It is all in how we see the world and the way in which we react.  If we join the chorus of the masses in trying to pick a side, most likely we're going to see nothing good.

Instead, if we focus on how we can love ALL people and be there arm-in-arm with others, there's a good chance that things will get better.  It will improve not only our outlook on life but the world-at-large.

So, how do you see the world?  Do you see good or bad?  Do you see a friend or adversary?  If you do, what can YOU do to change this at the moment right now?  That is the question I will leave for you to ponder.

What Do We Actually See

It is far too easy to fool ourselves at times.  What we think we see and what we actually see are often not in sync with one another.  Our mind and our body have a good way of getting us to believe what we see, even if it is not the truth.

Whether it is in the latest "belief" of what is true in our society or politics or spiritual practices, often we have our minds made up and we're not going to allow anyone to introduce anything different to us.  We have our paradigms locked away in our box and that is it.

Unfortunately, the more we do this, the more we limit ourselves to what really exists.  There's no one that can tell you what exists in your world.  Many do try to do this and many will listen as if it is the truth, but the thing is, only you know what exists in your mind and body.

We are usually oblivious to it...

Even though we know what exists in our own mind and body, we are usually oblivious to it.  We've put it in specially marked boxes that only filter how it will appear.  Yet we think that with our filters we apply, that is how it is - end of story, period!

I was raised with a strict adherence to one way of looking at things.  I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt now that most of what I was taught would not hold water.  It would be like trying to carry water in a bucket full of holes.  Yet, it took me forever to understand that and now that I have, I am glad I finally came to my senses.

In the physical body, we often think that a doctor or healing practitioner or some other person has the answers to issues, illness, and ailments we face.  We don't realize that we hold the key to our own healing.  We see one way of looking at it, but we fail to see the entire picture.  We have our filters fully engaged.

If we are challenged...

Often if we are challenged to see beyond what we see, we come back and strike at the person.  We show them just how stupid they are in our eyes.  We hurl insults as if they are the ones that need to be enlightened.  We fail to see that it isn't about them.  They are only acting as a mirror to the depths of our own life.

It is up to us to allow ourselves to see beyond what we think we see.  It is through our own awareness and growth, that we begin to allow this.  It is through awareness that we become more conscious.

If you think you see your life clearly, you are probably chasing a mirage.  We need people who desire to truly get to know themselves from the inside out.  We need people in this world that truly want to be human, fully connected to every part of themselves, not hiding behind the filters we put up.

For when we truly see all that is in us, it is then that we are on the path of self discovery, growth and awareness.  Surely, to be human means that we are here to find our true potential and possibility.  Surely, we are not meant to hide from getting to know ourselves in every way possible.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
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Paradigms

This has been a subject near and dear to my heart for many years.  Way back in the late 1980's, I saw a video called "Paradigm".  In it, the discussion was about how people and companies that adapted moved on, while those that didn't often got lost in history.

Look at Kodak, a once major player that's been left in the dust by  digital cameras.  The paradigm shifted and I'm not so sure they kept up with the changing times.

If you're not too young, think back to the days of using carbon paper to make duplicates of something you needed to write.  I remember as a kid, that was some pretty fun stuff to play with.  Copiers were barely around at that time.  Printers and computers were nothing like we have today.  If someone would have said, "but carbon paper works just fine," that paradigm would have left them in history's dust.

That's a paradigm...

I heard a story about Thomas Edison wanting to "light" a town in Southwest Florida where he spent the winters.  The people were so scared of this new form of "lighting" that they would not have anything to do with it.  Of course, we look back and scoff at the thought that these light bulbs are so unsafe that we would never want them in our homes.  That's a paradigm!

At one time in the medical world, the paradigm was that washing hands was unnecessary. In fact, those that proposed the concept were laughed at.  Also in medical history, they thought that "blood" in the body or humors as they called it, was something you had to get out with the use of leaches.  We now know of course that blood is essential to our functioning.  It was a paradigm that fortunately went away.

Many things we believe...

There are many things that we believe as paradigms in our life.  While some of these beliefs can be helpful, all too often the paradigms get in the way of our discovery and awareness, thereby stopping our growth.  We get so entrenched with our paradigms and beliefs that we cannot see beyond where we are.

I see this in the world of religion, healing, and new age.  It is alive and well in the medical world.  We grasp on to that which has been regurgitated to us, but we don't go in and truly evaluate and challenge our beliefs and paradigms.  We end up holding ourselves back.  We end up holding others back that follow what we say.

Paradigms can be a good foundation to build on, but they should never be all that we see.  In order to survive among our own paradigms and beliefs, we have to challenge everything.  If it withstands the challenge through time, we have something solid to grasp.  If it does not, it means we need to look at our paradigms from another angle because we are most likely missing a key point.

Don't get locked into your paradigms.  They never serve you well.  Push yourself beyond what you think is true and right and all that there is.  Don't settle for what you've already come to understand.

Push yourself into the areas beyond that point.  This is what helps a human become all they can be and grow into a person that has much more potential.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
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If They Believe It - Then It's True

I once worked for someone that had some unusual business practices.  They did claim he was my boss, but well, a boss is generally a leader with integrity and this guy was anything but that.  Regardless of what I thought about him as a boss, he had one statement that just grated on my nerves.

His statement was that if they believe it, then it's true.  In other words, whatever it was you were trying to tell the client, if you get them to believe it, then it was true.  It didn't matter how outlandish the statement was or even if it was backed up by fact.

While this boss thought that those under him and the clients accepted his statements, I believe many saw through his charades.  His integrity seemed to be held high by those he answered to, but many didn't see it the same way.

If you don't have your integrity, what do you have?  It is one of the currencies of being human.  If people can't trust you, then what you say truly doesn't matter.  You may think it does.  Many may think that it does, but in the end, your word holds little weight.

Without going into specifics, we can see evidence of this in just about every place in the world and in just about every way known to us.  Garbage and statements are spewed all day long as if it is true.  Some buy it.  Some scream against it.  Some just have no desire to be a part of it or embrace it or listen to it.

Purported to be true...

On social media, nothing has to be confirmed as being true.  Tweets make people believe it and therefore, it is purported to be truth.  It doesn't matter if anything has been fact-checked.  Even if something has been invalidated as untrue, it doesn't matter.  The social media posts just keep getting shared over and over.

These days, it is hard to tell what is true and what isn't.  With all the fake news reports, I pretty much question everything.  I never pass on a link that I can't in some way verify.  Maybe one gets through every now and then, but for the most part, you won't see me be part of the propaganda machine.

Discern that which is true...

If we listen with our mind to our body, we can often discern that which is true and that which is not.  However, most of the human population has a mind that is disconnected from their bodies.  They don't feel much, let alone have a comprehension of what the body says to them about truth.

I personally believe it is a horrible way for someone to live by a code where they just spew stuff everyday and yet it cannot be backed up by fact.  There are far too many that gobble it up as if it is the last morsel of food they will ever eat.  The entire practice degrades all of humanity.

If you want to have your life matter or be taken by your word, then find your integrity.  Make your statements count.  Make your sharing count in social media.  Make it so critical that if someone hears something from you, they can almost take it to the bank because it will be real and substantial.

The world needs people with integrity to step up and take this world in a direction that offers to help one another, lifts one another up and bring us all together.  There is too much fake reality in this world and it is not helping us.  It is hindering us from advancing on to greater heights.  There are serious problems in the world, and try not to be a part of them, because the world needs people who are human, not fake.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
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What We Think Holds Us Back

I've seen this so much lately that it makes my head spin around fifty times.  Okay, by the time this is posted, some of what I'm triggered by will have passed.

What we think can truly hold us back in life.  Instead of evaluating something that may be beneficial, we just put the wall up.  We don't even give ourselves a moment to look at it or see it.

Not everything that we believe to be true and put our trust in is true.  We may think it is.  We may fully believe it is.  We may be convinced that it is.  It just doesn't always make it true.

Holding ourselves back in life from experiencing something that could help us or further our lives is not doing anyone any good.  We're too eager these days to believe things others tell us are true, but something that is standing right before us that may help us, we shun it like a hot potato.

It defies logic and common sense...

So much of what we think and believe is not grounded in science or fact that can be proved.  It is in the falsifying of what defies logic and common sense that we stand on as if we know all the answers.

If we continue to only see what it is that we think and believe, are we truly exercising our ability to be human?  A human should advance and grow, not stay stagnant in what someone has convinced them to believe.

Each one of us needs to evaluate what we hold on to and what we think and believe.  If we don't continually challenge it, we're staying stuck in one place.  This is not good for us or human civilization.

I think back to the story about the town down in Southwest Florida where Thomas Edison wanted to install his new electric lighting.  It was his gift to the town.  However, the townspeople were so afraid of it at the time.  It went against their beliefs of how lighting should be that they stopped him from doing this.

Just think, if each one of us does the same thing that the townspeople did, where will that get our civilization?  If you don't think you do this, guess what - we all do it.  There is not a one of us that doesn't hold on to something we think or believe without fully evaluating and challenging it to its core.

We will grow and become more if we allow what we believe to be challenged to its core.  It is then that we will see whether it is something solid for our life or if it needs to be let go and replaced by something that is. Maybe I'm just an odd-ball in life but I always keep pushing myself to be more than I am today.

Learning From Brexit Ignorance

I've been thinking so much about this vote ever since it happened.  No, I'm not from Europe or the UK.  I actually live in the United States.  To be very honest, I was not following Brexit until the last moment.

It seemed or at least gave the appearance that it was racially motivated in many ways.  Maybe that's a harsh assessment, but I'm sure in the days, months, and years to follow, we will come to understand why this happened and what exactly made it unfold in the way that it did. Most likely if it is racially motivated, most will not even see the log in their own eye, but they will see the stick in the eye of another person.

Looking back on Brexit at this moment, I can see how many regretted what they voted for and would like to reverse course.  There were several that celebrated their victory, while seeming to ignore the consequences of their actions.  There were political leaders that thought it was a win while other people realized just how much of a financial cost it was to them.  Ignorance of what everyone voted for was at an all time high.

Impacted the entire world...

It was not just a Europe and UK vote.  It impacted the entire world in many ways and I'm sure it will significantly strain the global and individual economy of the world population. We no longer live in an isolated world because the internet has connected people from one part of the planet to the other.  We are all connected, even without the internet.

I don't understand the ignorance of how people could vote for something and not be fully informed.  We live in a day and age where we swallow what is fed to us on TV and in the news.  We tweet, like, and share the banter of the day through social media.  It is as if it becomes the gospel truth.  Yet, we don't stop to really think through our actions and decisions.  We just keep the rhetoric going day in and day out.  We are not learning from our actions, but perpetuating fear and ignorance.


Right now, I can only think of the slogan, "a mind is a terrible thing to waste" and yet, that seems to be what happened in the UK.  It is also happening in the US with our political system where everyone gets up and screams, rants, and raves all day long, but no one really engages the brain while listening.  Listening has long been forgotten in our normal communication between humans.

We really need to learn to respect one another.  We've gotten so good at hating one another, that it seems as if love is almost irrelevant.  We abhor those that don't think the way we do.  We despise those that look different than us.  We make sure the world knows how right we think we are, while condemning everyone that thinks differently.

A family of intolerance...

I grew up in a family where you had to walk the narrow line of what the family believed.  If it was in regards to church, you didn't deviate from what you were expected to believe.  If it was other people, they were always wrong in spite of you being right or wrong.  If it was some group or organization or company, they were the ones that just didn't understand.  We cowered in our corners with people who thought like we did so we could feel confident in our narrowly focused views.  It was a family of intolerance.

I've just dealt with the experience of the Orlando Massacre and I'm really getting tired of seeing hate and ignorance on display.  I've seen some glorious moments of beauty as people came together in Orlando and all over the world, but I've also seen and heard the bigotry and hateful rhetoric being spewed as if somehow they have the moral superiority.

When will we begin using our hearts and our minds, rather than fear to determine our course of action?  When will we begin seeing each other as human, rather than someone we automatically hate and despise and want to destroy.  I feel for the ones that are despised because I know how that feels.  The fear you live in robs our planet and civilizations of so much.

Maybe we can learn...

Maybe we can learn from Brexit and discover greater truths within ourselves or obstacles that hold us back in life.  Maybe learning from Brexit will help ease some of the fear and stress that everyone is experiencing.  I hope things reverse course and stability comes back into the world, but right now, its anyone's guess what will happen next.  Ignorance is having a hay-day. 

It seems like we don't always learn from our past.  It seems like we continue carrying the same ignorance from one generation to the next.  May we learn something different.  May we shed all that we think is right and test it to truly see if it is.  We can no longer continue to cower in the corner with only those that agree with us.  This is a recipe of disaster in the making.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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I Thought I Knew It All

At one time, I thought I had it all together.  I thought I knew it all.  When it came to taking care of myself, of course I did that.  When it came to eating right, of course I did that.  When it came to understanding all things about the universe and being spiritual, of course I did that.

The thing is, I didn't know as much as I thought I knew.  I had swallowed up all that had been shoveled down my throat by my family, society and the church.  I was gulping it as if it was my last meal.  Unfortunately, it didn't get me too far in the direction I needed to go.  Sorry, if this doesn't sound like something you want to read, but it is the truth.

We can convince ourselves...

We can convince ourselves that we know all, but when our actions don't align with what we think and say, then who are we fooling the most?  We all do it, whether we want to admit it or not.  Its part of being in a human body that is functioning every day.

I am not saying this because it is a pie-in-the-sky concept.  I've seen it first hand in my own body and I've seen it in a lot of other bodies.  We often don't know as much as we think we know or see or understand or believe or I could go on and on.  I know that steps on toes.  It stepped on mine many years ago.

Back in 1991 when my life came crashing down and I took my last breaths of air, I realized one thing.  What I thought I knew was not what was true.  In fact, in order for me to heal and come back from the brink of death, I had to discard most of what I had been taught.  I had to discard most of what I thought I had learned.  It was the only way to move forward and to walk again and to function normally in life.

Yes, I tried to convince myself and others that I knew a lot, but when life knocks you flat on your butt and you are gasping for your last breaths, you realize just how much you don't know!  You begin to see what you have not seen up until this point.

Yes, I fought it.  I didn't want to change and let go of all that I depended upon in life.  I didn't want to let go of the foundation of what I thought I knew.  Yet, the more I was clinging to it, the more my life was drifting out of my reach.

Afraid to let go...

I see many that have done the same thing I did.  I see many that cling on to that which does not work, but they are too afraid to let go.  I was too afraid as well to let go.

I'm not going to sit here today and tell you what you have to do or how you need to get to your next point on the journey of your life.  This is for you to figure out and understand as you take steps.  How would I know the truth of what lies ahead for you anyway and if you listened to me on that, you'd be missing the best part of discovering that truth for yourself.

If we are talking about truth and fact and fiction, the following blog post addresses this in more detail.

 

(click here to read)

We, as humans, are super pros at convincing ourselves that we know more than we do and we have life figured out more than we do.  Its called being human.  However, the evolution of our consciousness and awareness is what leads us to discovery.  Its the moments where we let go of all that we know and venture into the unknown that we truly discover more about ourselves and who we are as humans.

Question Of The Day - Have you ever had a moment where you thought you knew it all?  Leave a comment below and let me know if you or have not.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Don't Jump On The Wagon Going Over The Cliff

We are so locked into what we believe in life that if someone presents anything but this conclusion, we bring the claws out.  We don't dare let anyone tell us anything different then what we believe.  We don't dare let anyone present something that doesn't fit into our crucible.

It is my way or the highway thinking in this country and world that is taking us down into the depths of the dark ages once again.  Either you follow what I tell you to do, or you will perish or you're stupid and ignorant.  This is what is going on in our world today whether we want to believe it or not.

No, it isn't in some other remote part of the world we have never been.  No, it isn't by some other culture or race that we know next to nothing about but what the media and politicians tell us to think.

This happens every day by those with a dogma or belief system.  Even the ones that can't see they have a belief system, they are as much of a problem as the ones who know they do.  It happens as a result of followers gulping down the poisonous kool-aid as if it is the only sustenance in the world.

Through time, we've not welcomed new concepts.  We've all gone to our own little caves and acted as if we had the facts.  Those that believe like us, we embrace.  Those that don't believe like us, we shun.  Yet, we proclaim to the world how right we are and how much we are enlightened and accept the beliefs other people hold dear.

Unfortunately, each and every one of us are locked into our own paradigms.  When we can't explain things fully for people to understand, we retreat back into the safety of our paradigm.  It is the paradigm that we hold on to so tightly that is choking the air out of our lungs.

Question all that is said.  I don't care who the person is or how popular they are.  Question them and if you aren't satisfied, continue to question them.  Don't accept what they say because its the popular thing to do and everyone has jumped on the bandwagon.

If you saw a wagon heading toward the cliff and everyone jumped on, would you jump on to the wagon?  If you tried to tell the same people that they were heading towards a cliff and they shunned you, would you stop trying to tell them?

In all reality, we as humans are like the wagon going towards the cliff.  Yet, everyone thinks that you have to jump on and be part of their group.  If you don't, they laugh and wail at you, but when you see they are going over the cliff, you can only weep in sadness for them.

Let's expand our awareness not by locking ourselves into religion or science or beliefs, but by recognizing that we are doing this.  Let's expand our consciousness by letting go of all that we think is truth so we can find truth.  Let's expand who we are by learning what it means to become human, not just one of the group riding over the cliff in the wagon.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 1/23/16 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
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Truth We Believe In

Far too many times, we come across all that makes up our truth we believe in.  Whether it is a product, cure, device, or belief system, we latch on and embrace things which may or may not add up.  Often times, it is just nearly impossible to tell on what is truth.

Truth is repeatable.  If it can't be repeatable, then something is not clearly understood or defined.  It is okay if we can't fully define truth at this point.  The search for truth is the promising part of all we know.

Often the fast talkers are the ones that convince us to spend many of our hard earned dollars on products that will solve all our problems.  They are very good at doing this, but in the end their words may be nothing more than a foundation built on quick sand.

I cannot tell you what truth is or what product, cure, device, or belief system is absolutely correct.  This is for each one of us to figure out.  Yes, some try to do this, but if you gulp down their kool-aid, you may wake up one day to realize you're drinking flavored sugar water.

In order to help bring this out for discussion, I wrote an article on Somatosync.com to help give some guidance for determining what is truth and what may not be 100% truth.

Go and check out the Somatosync site for the 15 Ways To Not Get Taken and see if you have any that you can add to this.  It is not that I have all the answers.

I'm just like everyone else, in that I'm trying to sort through everything that gets blasted into our conscious thought every day. The truth we believe in varies, but lets not allow it to become the only fact we understand.  Instead, let us use it to discover deeper truth for our life and humanity.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 1/26/16 by Don Shetterly

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We Believe We Are The Pain

We begin to believe and experience that we are the pain, and we then become the pain. Our brains activate this belief, and our experience confirms this because we have no way to process a different reality.  Freedom From Pain by Peter Levine (Pg 19)

This quote from his book is one of my favorites and it isn't until we begin to process the pain in a different, more conscious way, that we begin to see it for what it is. 

Believe In The Answers Within Me

Lately, it seems like some events in my life are happening at lightening speed.  If I am not careful and not watching for them, they can pass me buy without me noticing them.  It is interesting to observe and be part of in my life.  However, I find myself worrying about needless little moments and the minute I do, I feel the pains in my neck and arm show up full force.

All my life, I've been a worrier.  I worry about the good things, the bad things, and the things in between the good and bad.  No matter how much is proven to me that I do not need to worry, sometimes I feel like it is my profession and I'm at the top of my class.  Okay, I may be a little fictitious here, but in many ways, this is reality.

However, as I have been seeing lately, that what I allow my mind to focus upon, that is what begins to come together.  Maybe it is the fact that I don't want to believe I have the power within myself to create any part of my life.  All I have to do though, is look at the evidence from my past days and years.  It is sometimes hard for me to believe in myself even if the evidence smacks me in the face.