Turn The Divisiveness Off

Written by Don Shetterly

It is too easy for us to engage with behaviors we think are helpful, but not be fully engaged as human beings.  We want to be conscious.  We want to be aware, but more often than not, we participate in life unconsciously.

It is epidemic these days as so many find their sustenance through every news headline, broadcast, and news shows.  They decry that which is said, but they cannot get enough of it.  They thrive on all that is reported as if their life will crumple to the ground without it.  If it is not the news, it is people that are like minded they listen to as if it is the gospel truth.

Many people say, "That's Not Me!" 

Many will say, "I Don't Do That!" 

Unfortunately, they do.

If as many people did not watch the TV news as said they did, we would see different programming.  If as many people didn't crave everything politicians said or tweeted, we wouldn't see much of this stuff show up.  If we learned to respect those we disagree with, we would be much more human and loving than we are.

The news and various people across the spectrum of our society get people cranked up.  They say and do things that will get a rise out of people and get them to respond.  Even while saying they won't, people seem not to be able to help themselves.

We worry far too much about what is in the news these days. My personal opinion is that there are little substance and value in the news reports.  Our society bases so much of our life upon this while screaming and raving about it.

If you want to bring change to the world, then turn the TV off.  There's very little value in what is purported to be news, and that is from all perspectives.  There is not anything out there worth consuming.  The more people that turn the TV off, the more things will change.

Yes, that is my view and opinion, but I do put my money where my mouth is.  We no longer get regular TV because it just had very little value to it for the money spent.  At first, I thought I could never do this, but I can tell you that I'm so happy we did.  We no longer miss it, and I believe that we've found a little more peace in a day.

The people grandstanding for all to hear in these times, thrives on someone listening to them.  If they are met with silence, it becomes like a clanging gong that no one needs to hear.  The best thing you can do to stop it is to just not listen.  Turn it off.

There is so much more to life, and we are consumed as a society by what is fed to us every day.  Let us find the joy and the peace, not the anxiety and despair.  Let us find love towards one another, not divisiveness and hatred.

The choice is up to each one of us in how we choose to live our daily lives and what we allow in.  We are at a turning point I believe, and I hope that each one of us will choose wisely each and every morning we awaken.

Our body, mind, spirit, and heart will thank us for it.

The Choice Is Up To You

One of the things that I learned a long time ago was just how much I could either impact my life in a good way or continue to go down the path that basically got me nowhere!  The choice was up to me in how I lived my life, how I let go of things in my life, and what I allowed myself to see.

There are far too many operating on autopilot following the crowd of beliefs, opinion and ways of looking at their own health.  Original thought and discovery has for the most part exited the building.  Understanding that we make choices is like a foreign concept.

Yes, people give lip service to these things and then they follow it with a "but" this won't work for me.  Many want to claim they are all knowing and are doing the most they can do, BUT they include the reasons and excuses that it won't work for them.

We are all entitled to our reasons and/or excuses of what works in our life and what doesn't.  I'm not suggesting that whatever reasons we have are invalid or inappropriate.  They may actually have a good basis for existence.  Unfortunately, the reasons become more who we are, rather than who we truly are.

I proved them wrong...

If I would have listened to the doctors years ago, I would have never recovered from Conversion Disorder, walked again and held a job again.  The doctors were reacting from my situation at that point and drawing upon their medical knowledge in the moment, but I proved them wrong.  I was not about to stay down in life.

There have been many times throughout my healing that I felt like I would never make it.  The odds were too great and the struggles were too difficult.  If I would have made the choice to just feel like I couldn't go on or find another way, I would not have made it this far.  I could have done that, but it was a choice that I had to make.

Some might tell me, "you don't understand" or "you're special" or you are different than everyone else.  I've heard many of those reasons of why I made it and others could not.  Yet, I was in those same shoes, doubting and wondering if I could make it.

Believe beyond myself...

It required me to believe beyond myself and keep moving forward even when I could not see what was lying ahead.  It required me to let go of all that I thought I knew and believed and felt was fact in my life, to see what else I was missing.  It required me to go in and not accept the condition I was in, so that I could find the way forward.

Is this easy to do?  No, it is not!  It takes a lot of determination and courage and strength.  It takes someone never giving up even when the odds are stacked against them.  It takes seeing outside of what you think you know to be true that is beyond the blinders we all wear.

The choice is up to you in what you do with life.  Sure, some of us are going to stay where we are no matter what.  That is our choice.  Some of us will try to go into healing and find how difficult it is and stop for an extended rest.  Some of us will shed the shackles were bound with and through determination not stop until we find greater peace in our life.

In my view, healing from atrocities sucks!  I wish no one had to go through anything, but to this day, the only way I've found to conquer it is by healing through it.  I've learned that I have to muster up all the strength I can and fight through it as I discover things I never knew existed.

What we do with our mind and body is our choice.  Just don't let that choice define your entire existence.  Go beyond it and see what is possible - what is healthy - what is freedom and peace.  Go into the darkness of the unknown so you can find the light of all that there is.

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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. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Doom And Gloom Worry

If I am not careful, I find my mindset going into an area I would rather not travel.  It is easy for me to see a situation and think all is doom and gloom.

In my mind, it feels like the end of the world or like I will not get through the situation I face.

Worry comes easy for me during this doom and gloom thinking.  In fact, I can hold my ground with the best if it was a competition of worry.

I was taught how to do this all my life and I had some excellent teachers.  Unfortunately to unlearn these behaviors of worry, it is much more difficult.

I am doing better these days with worry during doom and gloom thinking.  I am able to stop myself quicker so that I can see a different route to take in situations.

Instead of trying to do everything on my own, I am learning to ask for help from the universe and angels.

The more I heal my life, the more I see that there are options beyond worrying about a situation.

Sure, it is easy for me to get swallowed up by the events of my day, but I am learning that I have a choice.  I don't have to go down the route of doom and gloom thinking.  I can choose differently.  It is all up to what I allow into my life.

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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. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Feeling Overwhelming Stress In The Body

Yep, its there!  Yep, I can feel it.  Sure, we all think we can really feel what is going on in the body at times, but most of the time were actually pretty numb.  I've been doing some special therapy to help me get through this overwhelming stressful moments in life right now, and believe me I'm really feeling it in my body.

Feeling the stress in my body isn't easy.  It is intense.  It is overwhelming at times.  It is more than I care to experience some days.  There is no mistaking it.  There is no escaping it.  I really feel it.

Today as the chaos struck and went on for hour after hour in a nonstop fashion, I felt my breathing change. I felt my body tense up.  I felt the exhaustion and fatigue set in.  There were moments where every fiber of my being was withdrawn and trying to survive.  I literally felt all of this in the most magnified way I ever have.

Sometimes We Need A New Path

If you find yourself walking down a path that seems to be going nowhere, maybe its time to change direction.  Maybe, it is one of those times when we need to find a new route.

If you see signs ahead that indicate your route is closed, maybe a new path is what is needed.  Maybe it is time for a new direction.  You do know that you don't have to keep going down that path.

Its all a choice in life that we make every day.  Just because we chose a path for yesterday, does not mean we need to continue it today.  Today is a blank slate and in the end, sometimes we just need a new path.

Selected Bigotry By Religions

I see this all the time and it really bugs me.  In fact, I just read a Facebook comment that said "if Christians and other people of faith were not required to accept and service the homosexual lifestyle choice and marriage against their will and faith, that basically the religious people wouldn't care so much.  Hmmm... let me think about that one some more.

I normally don't wade into the social issues much because there are so many people screaming.  It just bothers me when I see comments like this posted.  It feels like selected bigotry by religions.  Their statement makes them feel validated but that's about it.  It is highly disrespectful to gay people that they so vehemently hate.

Now, before you get all up in arms with me and accuse me of intolerance,  religions are protected in the constitution and they have buildings to go and preach at whatever they believe every single day of the year.  They take in lots of money in a year and while I don't think they use it wisely most of the time, they don't pay taxes on it.  Lots of people in the church earn a good living and some have a pretty nice income.  Some religions and people of faith understand things good and too many others show the evil side of religions.

Straight Talk About Being Gay

For a long time in my life, I didn't know what "gay" meant.  I had no clue what it was all about and had absolutely no role models to depict being gay.  In fact, I didn't really know it was something that needed a label.  So here's some straight talk about being gay to help everyone in the world understand my world.

I grew up in a home with a father that thought molestation was right and approved by God, but that two guys who loved each other was wrong.  I grew up in a home with a brother that molested me for most of my early life, and yet he views me as a sinful person before God. 

I struggled for a long time that I might be gay.  I was afraid I would burn in hell and forever be the scorn of everyone in the world.  At the same time, I didn't even know what it was.  I just knew that girls were not sexual creatures to me.  They were just someone that I wanted to hang out with, but in no way wanted a sexual relationship.  Ewww...  yuck....  Sorry, but that's the way I feel.

What Does It Mean To Take Responsibility For Your Actions?

This morning, one of my twitter followers posted this question.  I thought it was interesting because I have struggled with this at times in my own life. To state a little more, Frank Fine said most clients struggle with this even though they tell you they are doing just that.

Frank Fine ‏@frankfine asked, "What does it mean to you to take responsibility for your own actions?"

My initial response was simple or as simple as you can state in a tweet of limited characters.

@frankfine Realizing that my choices create my outcome and I chose my actions/behaviors/thoughts whether they are healthy or not healthy.

While I thought I had explained what I meant clearly, I soon found out there were gaping holes in my explanation.  Another twitter follower pointed this out and when they did, they made me really stop and think about what I had said.  Here is what they tweeted.

Dealing With Regret

Sometimes we are our own worst enemy and we hold ourselves back.  It is easy to allow our lives to be consumed by regret, but we are doing this at our expense.  Regret not only takes us from a point of evaluating our previous days, but if we aren't careful, it can paralyze our future days.

Like most other people in life, I'm sure I am not the only one that has had moments of regret.  There have been actions that I took which led me into things I would have not wished upon anyone.  There are moments of shame that I wish I could have stepped out of and not had to live with it as many years as I did.  There have been decisions that I have made which I wished I could have went back and changed.

Regret though can be a killer.  Sometimes regret has hog-tied me to the point of keeping me from moving forward.  Regret loves fear and it often walks hand in hand with it.

I'm sure if I asked you what one thing you had regret for in life, it would not be difficult to name.  However, if I asked how you began to let regret go and began dealing with it, the answer would be much harder to state.  Unfortunately too many of us continue to harbor regret for most of our life.  We don't let go of it because of the shame and fear associated with it.

What Choice Are You Making

I often wonder how I fit into this thing we call life.  It seems like I beat to a different drum than many do, and sometimes I feel like I create the drum that I beat to.  Yet, I feel like I'm part of this habitation experience called the world in which we live, only to find out that I feel so much different than most people I meet.  I have no way to fully know how to put all of this into words, but yet I experience it and feel it and see it on display before my eyes.

There are so many out there that I see who are following some myths taught to them as the only truth.  While these myths hold truth within, they are not the absolute truth for life.  In fact, the truths are being covered up with beliefs and opinions that are regurgitated at will.  If you try to breach these subjects with these people, you are met with a skepticism of doubt, fear and trepidation.  You are viewed as one that just doesn't understand, even though I understand far more than they realize.

There are many out there that uncover one rock and think that the grubs they have found underneath are the sole food source for the entire civilization.  As they go around proclaiming this, a funny thing happens.  They stop looking under the rest of the rocks on their path.  They fail to see that the first or even the second rock is but one in the road of life.  They miss the remaining rocks and what is underneath them, because they stop looking.

Free From Our Past

Do we allow the programs of yesterday to run unhindered in our mind, or do we evaluate the credibility of these outdated programs and insert new ones that gives us options like we have never seen before.  It is up to us to make the choice between living in the past, or embracing each new moment of the future, free from our past. - Don Shetterly

Make The Choice To Live Differently In Life

Do you ever feel stuck in the same old loops of life where your mind seems to travel familiar pathways?  You know, where an event happens and your mind reacts automatically with essentially the same result.  I'm sure all of us have experienced this at some point in our life or maybe on a daily basis.  I"m sure there are some reading this that are not able to see the old loops of their mind that they are stuck in.

One of the best things anyone can learn in life is that even though you have reacted the same way to some event in your life, does not mean you have to operate the same way in the future.  You do have a choice as to how you react and a choice to do something different.

I am not talking about avoiding something, or passing it off, or thinking a happy thought to make it disappear.  After all, if we hide our self from these things, how will we ever grow and evolve?  What I am talking about is looking hard at these things in your life that you do, and then questioning whether this is what you wish to continue for your life.  Once again, you do have a choice as to how you react and what you do.  You can revisit it as many times as needed.

We Choose To Create Our Day

Book Quote: Hope And Possibility Through Trauma
Author: Don Shetterly
Page 181

Every day we wake up into a world that has not been created at that moment. It is each waking moment, each step we take, and each thought we derive, that creates our day. What we choose to do with it and how we choose to live it, is our choice and our choice alone.

Trauma Recovery: Self Sabotage

As a Trauma Survivor - Things I Struggle With:

1) Hips and legs still don't move freely
2) It's hard for me to realize people like and love me
3) Too often I see my life as a struggle
4) I focus more on what I don't have, than on what I do have
5) I convince myself that I am not good enough
6) I'm afraid I will fail at anything I do
7) Often I feel I don't fit in with the world
8) It is difficult to see that things will get better
9) Do I have the determination and courage I need

It is amazing when I begin to think about the good things coming my way in life, how I sabotage everything. These are deep rooted and long held concepts that have cemented themselves into my mind. While I wish that I would not believe these things, I know deep down that I do worship these thoughts.

When it states in the Ten Commandments of the Bible, "Thou shall not have any other Gods before me," maybe what is truly meant is different than we've been taught. Yes, I know the church teaches that this is all about worshiping idols. What if it had a focus on my inner being or inner spirit, which this is the God that I must worship? It is the God within me. Allowing the fears to rule my life would mean that I am allowing other Gods before me. My awareness is the God within me. Perhaps the passage from the Ten Commandments refers to honoring and respecting the spirit and awareness within my body or the power I have within myself.

It is too easy for me to wander through life discounting so much about myself. Other people I know are able to see things within me, that I exclaim to myself, "I'm not good enough!" Where I see a lack of self confidence, others see in me, strength and determination. Even though I see my life as a struggle, the universe and the angels see my life as unfolding in the manner it is meant to happen. When I focus on not being good enough to accomplish a task, others already know I have the ability to get it done!

Even as I write these words and struggle to let these things go in my life, I hear the voices in the back of my head saying, "who are you kidding?" "Do you really think you can change?" I try to tune the voices out but they continue to talk with gusto and strength.

Then I realize that the voices or the old tapes I hear are nothing but fears. They are the fears that haunt me day and night. They are the fears that paralyze me while holding me back from action. I recognize each one of them. There is not a one of them that is unfamiliar.

I have no idea how to let go and release these long held fears of my life. I desire freedom from the things I struggle with in my life. I no longer wish them to be my king, yet I give them the power. It would be a joyous moment in my life if I could see myself as the angels and others see me.

The only thing I know to do in order to move past this, is acknowledge that all of these struggles and fears I have in my life are a part of who I am. Each one has made me who I am. Each fear and struggle has brought me to this one moment in time. It is now my choice to continue holding them fast in my arms or releasing them to the angels to be transformed and transmuted.

The question I leave for myself is "what will be my choice?" Will I allow myself to tap into my courage and strength to let these things go? Will I allow myself to part company with something that feels like a major part of who I am?

Of course I am the only one that can answer these questions for my life. I am the only one that can choose to let go of these parts of my life. Ultimately, I am the only one that can allow all of this to unfold in the space and time that it does, being patient and understanding with myself. It is up to me to fully love and accept myself just as I am in this current moment. The rest will work itself out when I'm ready to travel down the rabbit hole of life.

Note: After reading Chapter 2 (Gifts) in the book "Walking Through Illusion" by Betsy Otter Thompson, I was inspired in my own thoughts, which led to many of the things that I wrote today in my morning meditation. On page 23, the quote she wrote had a strong impact upon me. "Disappointment comes from thinking that life should be different. Enjoyment comes from thinking that life is wonderful the way it is."



(Above Picture taken at home in my backyard, FL - (c) 09/14/10)

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