Asleep With The Latest News Of The Day

This was one of the examples I used in the blog post on June 13, 2017, Are You Asleep?  This one is an epidemic in our country and most likely throughout the world, so it is important to bring up for discussion.

In this example, Louise has allowed the fear of needing to be up-to-date with the latest tidbit of news to keep herself asleep.  She doesn't realize she is doing this, but when you can stand back and see the bigger picture, it becomes quickly evident that she is asleep.

The news takes us into a dark hole of fear. It holds us there.  It is enticing because it uses all kinds of bright shiny lights and music that mesmerizes us.  Different people telling us how they think becomes how we think and all of this together drags us into fear that keeps us asleep.

At one time I had people in my life that said they never watched the news and I thought they were crazy.  I didn't tell them that to their face, but I thought it.  Yes, I'm being honest here.  However, several years ago we let cable go and we stopped watching the news as a result.

I could not believe how freeing it felt when we did this.  There was much more stress in watching the news, as each one of the pundits and guests they had on were screaming at each other as to what their opinions were. Being away from that felt lighter.  It felt more normal.

We don't realize just how much this is happening until we step away from it.  When we step back and let it go, it feels like freedom.  You begin to feel like you're getting your life back.

Now when I travel, I'll turn a cable news channel on and I end up with the conclusion, "I'm not missing much" by not having this in our house.  I get bored with it quickly because most of these news shows are not saying anything useful.  Most are repeating the same things over and over.  Few, if any, are even coming close to reporting the news.  It is all opinion.


Now, somehow without watching the news, I still seem to generally know what is going on. However, it is without all the noise.  Through Twitter I can see most things show up in a news feed, and in online news readers, I can see the headlines.  Beyond that, there isn't much that is useful.  I apologize to the media-at-large if this offends you, but it is the truth (and you know it).

When we see things in video format with facial expressions and music and words, it changes how our brain thinks.  Our brain is no longer awake and thinking for ourselves.  It is mirroring what we see presented to us.  It is being asleep with the latest news of the day.

If you're thinking I'm nuts, that's fine.  I don't take offense to it.  However, I'd challenge you to shut the news off for 30 days and see how it looks after that.  I bet you will see it differently.

 
Our body and our mind don't need this constant barrage of fear hurled at us.  We're only going to make ourselves more and more sick by stretching the nervous system beyond comprehension.  The mind and body need balance, not a constant bombardment of fear.

Knowing what is going on around us is a good thing, but bathing in it every second of the day is keeping us asleep.  It is not enlightening us as much as we may think it is.  May we wake up and treat our mind and our body with the respect that they deserve.

Make sure you check out the next part in this 11 part series

 Part 4 is "Asleep:  You're Wrong, I'm Right"

 

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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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Are You Asleep Online

So, if you read yesterday's blog post from June 13, 2017, this is the point where we jump into things a little deeper.  Are you asleep online?  That's the question, so let's expand upon what I briefly described as an example.

Here's an excerpt from yesterday:

Joe goes browsing through his many social media accounts and only reads a few words.  Rather than reading the whole thing or reading the link behind it, Joe furiously types on his keypad making his point known in response. (click to read the whole example)

We've all been there and done this.  One time doesn't mean much of anything, because we can get so busy that the social media feeds through quicker than what we can keep up with.  If you look at the number of followers I have, you'll understand why my news feed on Twitter zips by quickly.

However, this is more deep than just missing something.  This is not really reading or seeing what is before us, but only taking less than minimal effort to exist in the space of online social media.  Yes, online social media is designed to get us to react, not necessarily think about all the edges of where we are.

Sometimes we need to stop and slow down and think through what it is that we read.  Sometimes we don't have to click on everything we see, and engage.  We end up shortchanging ourselves and the person that shares stuff, which is not respectful at all.

However, in this case, we are far too quick to respond as if we have all the answers, rather than saying, "what can I learn from this" or "how can I apply it to my life?"  Yes, I know, there are far too many memes and thoughts circulated on Twitter and Facebook, but we do need to apply filters.

Just going through the motions of reading without fully seeing all that we are reading is behavior that has us asleep online rather than awake.  It is up to us to engage in a way that is honoring to ourselves and others.  No one can do that for us.  It is solely up to our own choices in how we proceed.

Online social media like Twitter and Facebook should be tools to help enhance our lives, not distract from what it means to be human.  If we want to be awake, it must start within each one of us, for what we do makes up the collective online social media experience.  Let us be awake, rather than asleep.

Make sure you check out the next part in this 11 part series

 Part 3 is "Asleep With The Latest News"

 

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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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You Must Think Like Me

When growing up, we were mind controlled every way.  From the fundamentalist church we went to and the family I grew up in, the unwritten rule and code of the day was YOU MUST THINK LIKE ME!

Now the inhabitants of the family and the church would never admit to this.  They would say I was crazy.  They would say I was brainwashed.  In fact, it isn't that they just would say these things, but they have already made sure our friends know that I"m crazy and brainwashed.  I've been ostracized by everyone that knew me.

You see, I didn't accept all of this belief any longer.  I challenged it.  I questioned it.  I didn't just subscribe to the mind control philosophy of YOU MUST THINK LIKE ME.

They didn't like that.  They tried further countermeasures but those didn't work.  They escalated the countermeasures through every means possible and yet those didn't work.  When they could not control and manipulate my mind anymore, they continued to pester me every day with hurtful assaults and comments.

I had to walk away...

In my case, I finally had to walk away from the family.  I had to leave it behind.  There was no way I was going to accept the mind control that they were forcing upon me.  I didn't want to subscribe to their views and beliefs that YOU MUST THINK LIKE ME!

Yet, today in this country and world, I see the continuation of the mind control methods being employed.  People look at one another and state, YOU MUST THINK LIKE ME or I won't be your friend or I won't have anything to do with you or I will ridicule you.

Off with your head...

It is epidemic that we have gotten to a place where we hate one another so much because of some position the other person holds.  It doesn't matter what position it is, there is no coming together and no balance.  It is all about thinking like what you believe, or off with your head!

Social media displays this far more than most things.  In fact, I think it is more efficient showing the hatred for one another than even the churches or mind controlling families like my own.  You see it every day and if you don't, you're not opening your eyes.

Why is it that our way is the only right way.  Why is it that YOU MUST THINK LIKE I DO or you are wrong?  Why is it that we cannot even begin to entertain something different than what we believe?

No way to learn from others...

There is no way to grow as a person if you only see things in one dimension.  There is no way to learn from others if you see all that hold different view points as the enemy or the losers or the ones that are horrible people and scum of the earth.  There is no way to rise to higher moments in our world if all we do is stand opposed to one another.

If what we believe and think is so solid, it will stand.  We will be able to accept differing viewpoints without harming our foundation.  Yet, if our foundation is something that is not strong or we do not have confidence in, then we will not feel as if we can stand with others who think differently.

Thinking differently and allowing ourselves to entertain those thoughts is essential to being human.  It is required for us to grow.  It is necessary for our survival.

When you look at life as "YOU MUST THINK LIKE ME", than you're limiting humanity and holding all of us in a prison of our own making.  May we shake this attitude that is so pervasive across all communities and peoples and see how we can come together for our common good.

If all of our ideas were right and all other ideas are wrong, will we ever make it into a new millennium or will we be the downfall of our own civilization.  We will destroy our own by thinking we know all and everyone else is wrong?

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

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News Focus

I don't get it.  I really don't!  We are supposedly an advanced species living on this planet and yet, we act as if we only have one brain cell to engage.  Yes, this blog post is a rant.  I'm sorry.  I apologize, but I just don't understand humans.

Everything now and for the past year seems to be all oriented to politics.  I don't care what issue about politics it is or who is up and who is down, I'm just sick and tired of seeing politics plastered all over the internet as being the only thing that matters.

Again, this isn't about one political viewpoint over another, so if you think it is - sorry, but that is not what this post is.

I even had the audacity of someone take such a benign statement I made last night that was about pets and turn it into something that was political.  I'm still scratching my head about how that could be related to the subject of politics in any way, shape or form.

I look at the news feed reader on google that I use and it is all politics.  There are no other stories.  I can't help but think that we are so puffed up and egotistical in this country that nothing else matters in the world.  I'd love to read "the news", but I guess it does not exist.

People will sit there and complain about one group or the other right now, one disaster or another or whatever it is that is being shown around the clock on the media.  Yet, they don't know how to turn it off.  In fact, I don't think anyone can turn it off.  They just keep watching it and complaining and getting mad at those who don't agree with them.

Your favorite news channel doesn't enlighten you...

Years ago we dropped cable and it was one of the best things we did.  Now, I don't see all the garbage trash being disguised as news and have no desire to see it.  Watching your favorite news channel doesn't enlighten you or make you informed.  In fact, all you're getting is the beliefs and opinions of that show disguised as news.  It doesn't matter the issue or the cause.  100% of all news sources do it!

On the Newsroom, the premise of the show was that to be informed with facts, not beliefs and opinions was the foundation of a strong country.  Yet, everyone today thinks that as they read the "so-called-news" that they have the facts.  Some even think if you listen to multiple sources, you're more informed.  I sit here completely amused by these things.

I can guarantee you that if people start disconnecting their cable and turning off the news, things will change quickly.  Do you honestly think the media will run programming that no one watches?  They make their money by advertisement dollars and the more people that sit in front of the TV there is, the more they make.  If people don't watch, the advertisers leave.  Yet, for some reason people are glued to their news source.

One good thing is if you turn off the news and quit reading all the slanted news stuff out there, you'll fine your life gets less stressful and your quality of life improves.  I'm so glad we turned the cable off.  Not only did it save us an enormous amount of money, but we got our life back.  We learned what being human was.

So instead of turning everything into one singular focus of politics or the latest news story of the day, try to unplug.  Try to find a way in life to discover what is truly important, not just what others feed you and get you to believe is important.  The entire planet will be much better.


#NewsStoryOfTheDay

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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. 
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Throw Words Together And Mean Something

There, I just did it.  Hey, why not be like all the major reporting outlets and newspapers and social media interactions?  Just throw some words together and have it mean something.  It doesn't matter if what you say makes any sense.  It doesn't matter anymore.

No longer do we need proper grammar or sentence structure.  It doesn't matter if you really communicate your thought, because after all, you're just trying to throw words together.  Social media has made this so much worse because no one communicates anymore.

Its hard enough to get your point across without just obliterating the meaning by throwing words together.  Yet, it doesn't stop anyone.  When you have to read something over and over again to try and figure out what you just read, there is a problem.

I'm not perfect either.  I know this.  However, I at least attempt to explain things in the best way that I can, so the point I'm trying to make is clear.  I don't try to game the system by slapping keywords together, one after another.  I don't try to play games just to get people to click.

Authenticity is lacking so much in online social media.  It's more about getting your own ego stroked than it is making a difference in the world.  It's all about the 'me' part of social media and not even beginning to ask, does what I do truly make a difference in the lives of other people?  Does what I do truly bring something good and positive into the world?

Improve the world...

There is far too much stuff posted online in a day and in the media, so let's try to improve the world by making what we share count for something good.  Let's help make the world a better place by posting and sharing content which makes a difference.  Let's stop wasting everyone's time with repeated material just so we can get noticed.

Let's show the world by our words and actions that we are authentic. 

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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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Dare To Disagree

Many of us want to show how enlightened we are.  We spout off new age rhetoric or feel good phrases.  We show the world just how much we know.  We often claim we are much more than we truly are.

Yet, do we really do as we think we do or are we disillusioned by the cloud of rhetoric we spew online and that which we give to those nearby.  Are we really practicing what we preach and portray or is it a facade that is a persona we give to the world.

Being vulnerable is not easy.  Just ask Brene Brown how vulnerability shows up and just how much it can take you down.  As a result, we hide our vulnerability with our puffed up words and actions.  We portray one thing to the world, while holding our true selves as a secret and hidden entity in our life.

If you want to test this thought, try reading social media postings from the people whom you disagree.  See if you can hold your tongue or your fingers from typing for 2 minutes, not wanting to obliterate the other person's thinking because you are right and they are wrong. See if you can have the same love and compassion for your fellow man that you portray every day to the people that vehemently disagree with you.

See if you can hear their anger and poison filled words and yet be okay knowing that this is their issue, not yours.  I know that is not easy to do.  I struggle with it as well just like most of us do.  The media and various issue groups use this to their advantage as they pit one person against another.  This is how they win.  This is how they hook people into following their news and political revolutions.

I think you do need to be careful that you don't immerse yourself in the rhetoric that seems hateful and full of poison because it can truly drive you insane.  There is far too much of this posted every day on social media and it is not good for society or humans as a whole.  We don't have to pick fights and take sides.  We can rise above this.

Sometimes the best thing that can be done is to just say nothing.  Allow the people to rant and rave all they want but if they don't have an audience, they will soon burn out.  They will be like a candle flame that consumes itself.

The media loves the people who are outside the lines because it emotionally engages those that follow the stories so they will be hooked for days and weeks to come.  It isn't all the media's fault though because the people who consume this stuff are just as much a part of the problem as the media or the ones spewing the rhetoric.

We owe ourselves a lot more in this world and a better experience of what it means to be a conscious individual.  We cannot say we love one another while calling each other all kinds of names and showing our hatred for those who dare to disagree.

We cannot say that we enlightened only if we have others in our lives that agree with us and what we think.  It is a shallow part of the pool and dangerous indeed when we only huddle with those that share the same water.

At the same time, being human requires us to learn how to be conscious and aware.  It requires that we learn what civility and respect is all about in life.  It means that even though we may disagree with others, we need to see the big picture and will this disagreement define our entire existence, or is there more common ground that we share with those that are unlike us.

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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. 
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Screaming Nonsense

We huff and puff.  We pontificate.  We make sure the world knows just how special we are, how angry we are, and how much attention we can get as we scream nonsense to the world.  It is the way of politics and the media and organizations who are clamoring for attention.

Yet, it is sickening.  It is the lowest form of communication there is.  If we had a small child screaming and throwing a temper tantrum, you can sure bet in this society, that kid would be spanked so hard they wouldn't sit down for a week.  We would consider the reaction of this discipline to the child a good thing.  Yet, the adults scream nonsense to the world and it is considered okay.

The adults are setting the example for the children to follow and from what I see in the news and shared on Facebook and Twitter, the adults are failing the children.  If you lead by example, maybe in this day and age it is better to not self-proclaim you are a leader.  Maybe if the people in the news every day would quit screaming nonsense to the world, we could begin to be human.

Truth Within

These days, everyone seems to want to believe what someone or some product says.  It is like a media person holds truth or a product holds truth or a belief system holds truth.  However, within each person, product, or belief system, there are parts that are truth and there are parts that are not.

Truth within a person, product, or belief is the gem.  It is the diamond in the coal.  It is what we should be seeking after.  We hold others up so high on a pedestal that we cannot even see who they are.  We don't even acknowledge we do this - and yet we do.

Growing up in a church, I always heard the minister say we should put no minister or person on a pedestal.  It sounded good, but in all reality, it never happened.  Everyone thought the minister or priest had all the answers and more often than not, they didn't.  No one could accept that the minister (ordained by God) would not have the answer they needed.

Reality Is Just Too Real

No greater evidence of this is required then just by turning on the TV or going to social media these days.  It is obviously evident that reality is just too real for most people.  In fact, the main love of everyday TV watching is a category called "reality TV".

In "Untethered Soul" by Michael Singer, he wrote that "reality is just too real for most of us, so we temper it with the mind."  (pg 14 Kindle Edition)  If you think about this for a moment, you can see how true it is, yet we all do this in one way or another.  It is how we exist.

In today's world, there is way too much noise and input for our minds to deal with in a day.  There is too much distraction and stress and bombardment from all directions.  If we begin to immerse ourselves into this culture, we quickly become overwhelmed and no "right thinking" will undue what we subject ourselves to each and every day.

If you are a highly sensitive person and you are following the news on TV, it is a big mistake.  If you're following it online, it is almost as big a mistake.  There is just too much coming out of that.

Rush To Judgement

These days, there is no such thing as innocent until proven guilty.  In our current form of news dissemination, we all rush to judgement before we know the facts.  It doesn't matter what story is reported, everyone seems to be an armchair quarterback on every news event of the day.  If everyone was as smart as they purported to be about world events and happenings all across our land, I think we would have the mental capacity to solve every problem known to man.  Okay, maybe I'm being a little too over the top by saying "everyone".

Am I cynical about all of this?  Yes, I will be upfront and tell you that I am.  I hear people tell me that they watch different news sources and then make up their own informed opinions.  Unfortunately, no matter what news source you watch, they all have their bias and their point of view.  You aren't watching "facts".  You are watching "opinions and beliefs".

Money Behind Anonymous Comments

More and more, all news media is a major turn off these days.  If it was something that added to the discussion, it would be one thing, but more often than not, it is something that degrades humanity.  If you look at the real reason behind anonymous comments on news sites, you will often find it is all about the money.

Recently in the Orlando Sentinel, one of their columnists wrote an article about anonymous comments.  He was very correct in what he wrote, but unfortunately his employer will not do anything about stopping this practice.  It is not in their best interest to stop them, because it ultimately brings in money.  Of course, it is interesting that his column is drawing a great deal of criticism by the very people that are part of the problem.

News is not news these days.  News it not about informing you.  News is nothing more than a tabloid press designed to draw you in, engaging your ego and adding some fear, to the point where you need more of it.  News is about exciting you and upsetting you so you will come back and pay attention to more of what the crafty creators know will continue this relationship.  Yet many people continue to consume what they think "news" is just because they are mesmerized by the illusion of news.

Illusion Of Emotions

I remember growing up and getting letters from my mom where she talked about "HOW" my Dad felt. It was like she was sharing his feelings with me instead of him sitting down and writing it in a letter or calling me.

While I do understand my father wrote extremely poorly and the couple of times he did write a letter to me, the words were blasting me with every baseless and false accusation under the sun. Regardless though, my father never shared his feelings with me or how he felt. Unfortunately, I longed for this connection with him instead of the illusion I received.

These days, our society seem to be fixated on the latest news story of the day. The more tragic, the more horror filled or scandalous, the more fixated we become. It consumes our every moment, conversation and the events that we choose to be a part of in our day. Of course, there is great money to be made in these things so those who follow the media day in and day out, willingly participate in the money grab.

We as a culture and society take these things one step further. We emote and release our feelings through these tragic events by sharing them on social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter. We comment as if we have a personal connection to the event unfolding. We align ourselves with a political persona to give a voice to what it is we feel inside. Last but not least, we comment on these news stories and we argue with others to prove our points. We press the like buttons, the thumbs up or thumbs down thinking the illusion really does matter.

Our comments, our alignment with politics and the things we constantly share in social networking are how we let our feelings out. These things have become our feelings in life. The awaiting disaster in all of this is that we still have these emotions locked within our mind and body, yet we give our self the illusion that by participating in the media culture of life, we are doing something positive.

Just like my mom in days past, by her speaking for what my Dad felt, it really had little connection to me. I longed to hear his words and connect with him. It was a false illusion that was reality to me just as our current day fixation on what the media or social networking sites feed us as truth. We have yet to figure out the illusion we are living but I hope that one day, it will be replaced with the reality of sharing real connections and feelings, not suppressing them.


Further Reading:
1) Commenting Online Without Thinking (Blog Post 06/07/11)
2) Anger In Our World (Blog Post 1/5/11)



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David And Goliath Meet Fear

For most of my life, fear has been one of my driving forces in all that I do, the decisions that I make and the things that I choose. Fear is prevalent. It is everywhere and in everything and is often a part of us. However, the thing I'm learning in life is just that I can stand up and face the fear head on, and then let it go.

In my early days of therapy, I would remember my therapist asking me to "name" the fear that was coming up and then we would talk through what is the worst thing that could happen. Once we did that, we would talk about what I could do if that happened. By doing this, I soon found out that most of my fears were just not as big and powerful as I thought they were. Yet, when you are looking at them face to face, they are often gigantic monsters.

Do you remember the bible story of David and Goliath? Where David took his little slingshot and a pebble and brought down the giant? Just think of fears in that way. They seem like they are bigger and more empowering than us but all we need to do is use our little pebble of courage and determination to take them on. Once we decide to do this and let go of the fear that holds us, the giant falls to the ground.

Fear though can show up in so many ways and often we do not recognize it. From the speeches of politicians, to the talking loud mouths of pundits on TV and the media doing their daily news reports, it is all filled with fear. Even the weather forecasts these days are fear based. Take a moment and think about this. When you turn on the TV or whatever it is that you're listening to, you hear them talking about some issue, some concern or topic. And if you take a moment to look at that and see the "fear" behind what is being discussed, how does that impact you? For example, let's say we turn on the TV and they are talking about some terrorist plot that is being cooked up but they do not have concrete details, just that it might involve a football stadium or some other public place. What's your reaction? Do you get a twinge of unease within your body that maybe the football game you are going to could be the possible target of the terrorists? Most likely you do at some level. Well, guess what - the media has been successful in instilling fear within you that you didn't have before you watched or listened to the program. I'm not saying you need to hide your head in the sand and be oblivious to what is happening in our world, but I am urging you to realize that most of the stuff is fear based. And if you don't believe me, put on your objective glasses and pay attention to what it is that you take in to your eyes and ears from the media and talking pundits in a day. Evaluate it and look at it. Don't just accept it.

Another source of fear is in the medical world of health or what we perceive health is. All of us have been through a moment where either our self or our loved ones run up against a physical condition. What do we do first? Please be honest here. Let me repeat this. What do we do first? We usually try to find something we can take to alleviate the pain, the condition or situation. If we have nothing that works, than we head to the doctor. We may demand tests or medications or procedures to "cure" us of this condition. But if you take a moment and look within all that's going on, fear is alive and well. Fear feeds upon us and we feed upon fear. It fuels all kinds of biological conditions and most of us are oblivious that this is going on. Yes, sometimes a doctor is needed to treat things. That's not the point I am trying to make here. The point is, when we come up against a biological condition in our bodies, let us first look within ourselves as to the cause instead of going into the fear that will only make things worse. If you do this, everything will be more different than you can imagine.

Fear can also show up as anger where someone is so angry and they try to bite everyone's head off at every chance. They rule with control and they belittle anyone that tries to alter what is going on. They can be loud and boisterous making sure that everyone hears them or they can talk a mile a minute dominating every conversation. In the end though, it boils down to the fear these people face and by using these different behaviors, it adds a layer of protection between them and the outside world. After all, if the fears of a person are great, it can be to much to connect with anyone around them in a meaningful and deep way.

Fear often has a way of keeping us from truly walking the path that we so deserve and healing from those moments in life that were very difficult. It is much easier to paste a fake smile on our face and try to convince the world around us that we have 'moved on' from all that we may have experienced. I know this is true because I've spent a lifetime doing it. All of these things get locked up in the body. They are somatically a part of us just as is any body part is a part of us. While we try to separate the two, fear and somatic memory components are as much us as we are them. And while you're trying to convince the world around you that you have moved on, deep down within yourself (if you let yourself go there), you know that this isn't true. I completely understand just how difficult it is to stand up and grasp fear in your hands. It seems to be much easier to run away from it as fast and hard as you can but in the end, fear will find you out.

There are so many ways fear shows up and if we begin to keep an eye out for it, we'll start to see it. Fear is an energy drain and it robs us of so much in life. When fear builds up to a high level in our lives, we become overwhelmed and we either deal with it or it deals with us. Yes, sometimes we can go for a long time and it seems like everything is fine but deep down, our body is hurting and getting ready to explode like a volcano. We'll see this through aches and pains, weight issues, medical conditions, depression, anxiety and so on and so forth. These conditions are a result of something in our body that needs to be healed and something that we are hanging on to. It is the direct result of fear showing up and controlling our lives.

Waving a magic wand to get rid of it would be nice but there is no such thing. I get messages all the time about "products" or "healing methods" that allow you to bypass the fear. I have heard this so many times that I cannot even keep track of it. Yet, each person, healing method or product is convinced that something they offer is the key to your well being. Unfortunately, there is no way around fear. The only way to do it is to go head first into it and take back the power it has robbed from your body. You can create the illusion for yourself that method or product x works but if you're really and truly honest with yourself, you'll see the fear hiding deep in the shadows.

Again, I know it isn't easy to do this but once you take that pebble and put it in your slingshot, you too can drop the giant, Goliath, to the ground. It may not be easy nor as instant as we are accustomed to, but it will be life changing and long lasting. That which you can feel in your body and connect with is where healing comes from. It does not come from methods, procedures and products. The methods and procedures that have you totally connected with your mind and body that allow you to go into the fear - now that's the way to heal!

*For more articles, check out the Mind Body Thoughts Blog

How Awake Are We?

How awake are we? This is an important question to ask one's self. I'm not referring to hitting the alarm clock and pulling ourselves out of bed to start our day. I'm not referring to being asleep in the night time or awake as in the day time. This is the basic question of our lives that is philosophical, yet very real.

Through The Media:
If you watch the news and follow the accounts of what is happening in the world according to the different media outlets, there is a good chance that being asleep is normal routine for your life. Most of what is reported in the media is not balanced, not factual and not fair and balanced as some outlets would suggest. There is no more balance in the far left reporting than there is in the far right reporting. CNN, MSNBC, and FOX NEWS all have their biases and their own pools of thought that yield to their agendas. Yet, many millions of Americans take the news to be the authority on what is happening in the world. We even have pundit after pundit now analyzing the way we should look at news.

It is not a world that allows us to wake up no matter how much we may think it is. Try turning the news off for a month and only reading some headlines if you feel the need to know what is going on. If you tune out all the extra stuff and just focus on the main thoughts in a headline, you'll be surprised at how your view changes to the news. Try turning off the TV news and you'll begin to breathe much easier and find more enjoyment and peace in life. If you don't believe me - try it and see if you can prove me wrong!

Our Daily Activities
Another major area where we tend to "sleep in life" is that of what we choose to do in our day. Time and time again, I see people who are running to and from all kinds of activities for their children, all kinds of events and various other things as well as all the running in high speed that they do in their jobs. There is never a moments rest. All is about getting to this place and doing this or that, having this day filled up and that weekend booked with things. Granted, some of these things are good things but when they get to the point where you have no down time and no rest in a day or even in a week, they become interference and noise in our lives.

Our bodies need the down time and the rest. We were not meat to multitask forever and ever in our lives. The brain and the body can not rest and repair itself when we're running in high gear. Try taking a look at your schedule for a week and see if you cannot cut in half all the things you do. Give yourself some down time where you might just go for a walk, or sit in a park or maybe read a book, take a bath or some other restful activity. One that does not involve the TV would be very important in these down times. And at the end of the week, see how you feel and see how life seems to you. I'm willing to bet that you'll see a difference in your life and things that you thought were helpful and important may appear differently.

Health Care
Another area where virtually most of us are asleep is in the area of our health. We tune into the media and health care ads to see what it is that we should do to keep our lives healthy. Some of us might consider the route of exercise as being the way we keep our self healthy. While this does help, health is much more than that. Some of us might be looking for a drug that helps some infliction that we face in our life or maybe a term that describes a condition we face. We feel that is healthy. Some of us feel that test after test prescribed by the medical community gives us the edge on preventive measures while in some ways, they are masking the true source of what may be going on.

Yes, some medical procedures are warranted and one should always make informed decisions but so many of us follow the medical establishment blindly because a Doctor makes some statement, or a internet site makes a claim or there is some "research trial" that suggests it is so. Do you know just how much research is done that is not being truthfully and honestly reported? Some of us might think that taking a flu shot is the best way to stay healthy when in fact, it is in all reality introducing the toxin into our system. I'm not advocating that all shots and vaccines are necessarily bad but I am urging people to open their eyes and be 100 times more informed than they are.

If you think I've fallen off my rocker, try to consider this? Listen to all the side effects of the drug commercials and in fact list them on a piece of paper. Now, take some time to ponder what these are. I'm sure you'll begin to see that some of these drugs can be more harmful than good. Realize to that with each drug that helps to alleviate some symptom in your body, it means that some other part of you is being turned off which of course leads to an imbalance in your body that will require further drugs or treatments. That's a mind blowing thought if you think about it.

Spirituality
One other big way people are asleep is through their spirituality. Yes, as spiritual as people want to be to themselves and the world, they are often asleep. Whether it is one church denomination or another or some spiritual self help group or even some new age/spiritualism thought pattern, they are all acquainted with being asleep to some degree. I'm often amazed at how one church feels they have more figured out than the next and they are the ones going to heaven while the others are going to be lost in Hell. I've even seen churches where clapping, instruments and certain activities are ok while it being considered wrong and sinful in others. Oh how I remember one church we went to that the church split up because some people liked to clap in a worship service while others thought it was immoral.

I'm more amazed at just how the new age spiritual movement tries to flee some of the teachings of the mainline churches. In it, they think that they have reached a higher enlightenment because they don't do things like the main denominational churches do. Yet, if they truly looked at what they did, they would quickly notice that their vocabulary and customs mirror that which is in the churches. Yes, there may be differences but if you look at the root of these things, you'll see the same elements in the churches.

Again, I ask you to take a look at yourself and see what is similar and what is different. Don't just follow someone's teachings or some book's teachings and treat it as the entire basis for life. That is being asleep. Question everything that is being taught and realize that much of what is being said, is nothing more than that person's own interpretation of what spirituality is all about. Spirituality is much more then following dogma or church teachings. Most of us limit spirituality though to something that has been regurgitated over and over throughout the ages without giving a thought to what is the true meaning behind our spirituality. I've got a feeling that there are going to be many surprised people one of these days when heaven and hell don't appear in the form they were taught.

All too often, we as humans look to others for our source of inspiration, knowledge and answers. We feel that the answers we seek to the conscious and unconscious questions of life, lie in what others tell us. In fact, the answers we all seek to life are within ourselves. This involves the spiritual, the physical and the mental. We all have the power within us to do much more than we realize and to understand much more than we allow ourselves to. Instead, we take the easy road and wait for someone out there to show us the way, to take us out of pain and to make up for our own insecurities. However, in doing so, we have given up the most basic part of our human nature. We have made ourselves powerless when in fact we are powerful.

Stepped On Toes
I realize that I've probably stepped on many toes here and I'm sure to those that read this, many are saying - yeah right - I don't do that or this writer is just not aware of what I know. You can take whatever road you want to take after you read this but at least consider how your life matches up to some of the things I've written about. I'm not asking you to take my word for this. I'm just hoping that you'll think about these things in an honest and truthful way to see if there is something within these words that sparks something in your brain. If you're not able to get to that place, than just hold this in the back of your mind for a future time in life where it will become more valuable to you.

It's In The Body
Many things that I now know in my life came to me many years ago. When I first heard them, I scoffed at them and tried to distance my life from them. I thought, how crazy can someone be to even think about these things. Yet, I have been shown things through very physical ways in my body that I could never understand before. When you see things through your own physical body and not as just some "unknown concept", you can know for sure that there is something to it. Too many follow too many unknowns when in all reality, the answers for most of what we need lies within us. That's all the further we have to go. If you can experience it in your body, than it is real.