GOOD MORNING!
I hope all of you are having a great weekend, Sunday is still with us, so make the most of it. That is a great way to look at life, you have one day left, so make the most of the time you have.
My posting today deals with, and I love this title, "The Law of Unintended Consequences". Is that expression a load of crap or what. Everything in life has a consequence. When you wake up in the morning, " do I get up or do I roll over for a few more minutes". " Do I wear heavy wool when it is 90 degrees out, or do I wear light and airy cotton".
Is society not only tell us that we escape responsibility not only from our physical life, but now we escape that same responsibility from our spiritual life. I don't think so. Who are they kidding, the law should read as, "The Law of Intended Consequences". You can't escape responsibility just like you can't escape falling in love and getting hurt, it is an essential part of life, one which would render your whole existence meaningless if it didn't exist.
You have to take responsibility for all that you are, you have to own your decisions and live with the consequences. Now you don't have to carry around things you do as if it was baggage, but you do have to acknowledge that it is out there, understand it, embrace it, and if it becomes too much to bear, carry around, then just out it down because even if it is a negative piece of baggage, there is something to be learned, not just by you, but others on their journey. And the pathway you are on, will be trodden by others I assure you, and they also will benefit from your baggage and they will (after a while) make it there own.
Did you ever feel as if a weight has been lifted from you, that all of a sudden you understand, at least for the moment your place, your purpose in this life. Well, what do you think that is, well I will tell you, it is just some else picking up your baggage (there life lesson) and relieving you of that particular burden, that is of course if you have the understanding and the awareness to put the dam baggage down. Sounds easy, but you already know where I am going here, it is never easy, certainly never as easy as I make it sound here. Yet, it really is that easy. Here let me give you and example of what I am getting back.
We all walk through life with certain baggage, emotional and physical, no getting around it, some of us deal more effectively with it that others, but it is with us just the same. The emotional scarring from people, we oft times feel unwanted, unloved as if we are in the wrong family as it were. We also have real physical scarring, as if the emotional scratch could actually be seen on our physical being, much tougher to deal with. There is a point to this lesson, to the pain (both kinds), and it is a teaching moment, a lesson to be learned, but like Sigmund Freud's psycho- analysis, not meant as a way of life, but a teachable tool. Not to used as an all encompassing discipline, but as an adjunct to dealing with life's challenges.
You are suppose to understand it, learn its lessons, but you are also to put it down and move on, not carry it around with you like a medallion around your neck for a lifetime. Do you realize how many chains you carry, weighing you down. After a lifetime, that is a lot to deal with and you wonder why life seems to heavy, difficult and challenging? Isn't time loosen the chains, to remove the burdens of life, (physical, emotional and spiritual)? I think so, I think the reason we read blogs, books and articles on this subject is because we are looking for answers, keys to open the door and escape the pain and sorrows of our life. The problem is not the pain, but how we perceive it, what we do with it and how to dispose of it once we understand what it is all about.
So for today, just understand what your burdens are and also what they are not. You were not born into this universe to experience pain, sorrow and lack. You were born to have a life of Joy, Happiness and Abundance. What has happened is that you did not understand the laws and rules of life, or maybe you lost or misplaced them. In any case here is a 2nd chance or 3rd or 4th one to get it right and not only move forward, (sometimes it is just good to stay where you are and experience your life in the moment), to just live within your skin, maybe for the first time and learn to appreciate who you really are. You maybe pleasantly surprised and maybe not, but at least you learn to know yourself and if what you are or who you are are not where you are, than do something about, don't wallow win pity, don't complain how unfair life is, you have a million followers with the same addiction. Just take responsibility for who what and where you are, embrace it, but if it is not your cup of tea, don't let it define you and put it where it belongs. But for g-d's sake don't carry it around with you all the time. No one is required to go through life with the burdens you choose to carry, yes choose. Life is after all a choice, what do you choose for yourself? And yes life is what you choose and it is full of intended consequences.
Have a wonderful day!
Robb
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
WEEKEND OF JULY 21-23, 2010
GOOD EVENING FRIENDS!
I was asked about pain. How you can you be so upbeat and happy in a world of pain. It is all around you. Sickness, heartaches, disappointment and betrayal. Yes, it is quite a lot to take in as you try to live your life, as you travel the pathway on your journey to joy.
Joy is not the absence of pain, rather it is the acknowledgement of sorrow, but your willingness to push in the face of adversity. It is the ability to recognize what your pain is and still pursue your goals and live the life you have dreamed of. Tough road to hoe, yet you do it anyway.
Did you ever have sweater, not a smooth, buttery rich Cashmere one, but a woolly, itchy one that just makes your skin crawl. I had one, still do. Every now and then I try it one, it is so beautiful. Rich in color, and it fits so good. One problem though, every time I try the dam thing on, I can't wait to tear it off me.
To me that sweater represents pain. How you may be thinking, Robb is really reaching on this one. How the hell can life lived with intense, paralyzing pain have anything to do with an itchy sweater. Well, I say, give a second here and I promise you I will get to the point. As I was saying, I keep taking out the dam sweater and trying it on knowing full well that I can't stand it. It still is going to itch, it still makes my skin crawl, and I still can't wear for more than a few moments at best. Well, that is the point isn't it. No matter how uncomfortable that sweater is, I still keep trying to deal with the discomfort, the pain as it were.
The same with pain. whether it is the death of a loved one, the disappointment of love, a bad business deal, or even something as trivial as the loss of teddy bear. We all feel an emptiness when we deal with pain. We eat too much, drive too fast, buy stuff thinking that it will fill the void in our lives. But to no avail, no matter what we do to ourselves or for ourselves, the pain is still there. We can't escape no matter. We even punish ourselves thinking that this will free us from the pain. Our obsessions are our ticket out, but of course it never is, never will be.
So what we find out, the lucky ones anyway, is there is no magic pill, no book, or CD or guru who can help us through the maze of pain. It is there, and will stay with us like a friend until we are able to seal with it, look it in the eye and embrace it. For those who fail to recognize the pain, the loves are spent in obsessive, over indulgence behavior in order to mask the pain, bury it under layers of food, stuff, and possessions.
So what does an old itchy sweater have to do with this, I have a point, I promise you. Well get to it already, I can hear all of you out there in Blogdom. well, here it is. The fact that the wool sweater will never bring me joy, that I will never enjoy wearing it and believe me I have done just that. I thought (wrongly) that if I would just give it one more try, wear for just a few moments more I could get used to it. I tried and and I tried, yet I could never get used that scratchy, itchy uncomfortable feeling. But I did come to the realization that even though I can never get used to wearing that wool sweater, I have tried to do it, that is all I can do. Now I know I will never, ever wear that sweater, in that knowing, I have had a sense of relief, a sense of resignation, a sense of peace that though I don't like that sweater, and I am sure there are countless others who feel the same ( so I am not alone), I understand in my heart of hearts that I now know this to be a fact of my life, and I am willing to live with it and go on with my life. No longer is that itchy wool sweater holding me back, no longer am I using that sweater as an excuse for not getting on with my life, besides there are other sweaters to be sure that I will be able to wear.
The point of the story is this, there is no escaping the pain of life's travails, there will always be "an itchy wool sweater" in our lives. You either have to put it on and maybe you can live with the discomfort, it really didn't kill you did it. Or you can decide that you can't live with the pain, but you can acknowledge it's existence, embrace it, try it on and then out it away with the knowledge that you have seen it, felt it, put it on and decided that although living with pain every single moment of your life is something that you have decided is something that is not for you. But you are not running from it, your are not trying to dull the pain (through food, drugs or shopping), but rather you have decided that it is here, it is not going away, yet it will no longer be your life. It now has a place on your shelf of life, and maybe every now and then you will take it off the shelf and try it on, or maybe you won't. At least you can now be honest and know that it is there, and even though it is not something you care to have with you everyday of your life, 24/7, you are able to for the first time perhaps to move on, move forward and live your life as you have always imagined, cognisant of the pain, but not defined by it.
So for today, for this weekend, take out that itchy, scratchy old sweater. Try it on, see where you are on the scale of life. Wear it, put it back on the shelf in the back of the closet, either way, you are now ready to live again, unencumbered, shackled by the past and to move forward on your journey to joy!
Have a great weekend,
Robb
I was asked about pain. How you can you be so upbeat and happy in a world of pain. It is all around you. Sickness, heartaches, disappointment and betrayal. Yes, it is quite a lot to take in as you try to live your life, as you travel the pathway on your journey to joy.
Joy is not the absence of pain, rather it is the acknowledgement of sorrow, but your willingness to push in the face of adversity. It is the ability to recognize what your pain is and still pursue your goals and live the life you have dreamed of. Tough road to hoe, yet you do it anyway.
Did you ever have sweater, not a smooth, buttery rich Cashmere one, but a woolly, itchy one that just makes your skin crawl. I had one, still do. Every now and then I try it one, it is so beautiful. Rich in color, and it fits so good. One problem though, every time I try the dam thing on, I can't wait to tear it off me.
To me that sweater represents pain. How you may be thinking, Robb is really reaching on this one. How the hell can life lived with intense, paralyzing pain have anything to do with an itchy sweater. Well, I say, give a second here and I promise you I will get to the point. As I was saying, I keep taking out the dam sweater and trying it on knowing full well that I can't stand it. It still is going to itch, it still makes my skin crawl, and I still can't wear for more than a few moments at best. Well, that is the point isn't it. No matter how uncomfortable that sweater is, I still keep trying to deal with the discomfort, the pain as it were.
The same with pain. whether it is the death of a loved one, the disappointment of love, a bad business deal, or even something as trivial as the loss of teddy bear. We all feel an emptiness when we deal with pain. We eat too much, drive too fast, buy stuff thinking that it will fill the void in our lives. But to no avail, no matter what we do to ourselves or for ourselves, the pain is still there. We can't escape no matter. We even punish ourselves thinking that this will free us from the pain. Our obsessions are our ticket out, but of course it never is, never will be.
So what we find out, the lucky ones anyway, is there is no magic pill, no book, or CD or guru who can help us through the maze of pain. It is there, and will stay with us like a friend until we are able to seal with it, look it in the eye and embrace it. For those who fail to recognize the pain, the loves are spent in obsessive, over indulgence behavior in order to mask the pain, bury it under layers of food, stuff, and possessions.
So what does an old itchy sweater have to do with this, I have a point, I promise you. Well get to it already, I can hear all of you out there in Blogdom. well, here it is. The fact that the wool sweater will never bring me joy, that I will never enjoy wearing it and believe me I have done just that. I thought (wrongly) that if I would just give it one more try, wear for just a few moments more I could get used to it. I tried and and I tried, yet I could never get used that scratchy, itchy uncomfortable feeling. But I did come to the realization that even though I can never get used to wearing that wool sweater, I have tried to do it, that is all I can do. Now I know I will never, ever wear that sweater, in that knowing, I have had a sense of relief, a sense of resignation, a sense of peace that though I don't like that sweater, and I am sure there are countless others who feel the same ( so I am not alone), I understand in my heart of hearts that I now know this to be a fact of my life, and I am willing to live with it and go on with my life. No longer is that itchy wool sweater holding me back, no longer am I using that sweater as an excuse for not getting on with my life, besides there are other sweaters to be sure that I will be able to wear.
The point of the story is this, there is no escaping the pain of life's travails, there will always be "an itchy wool sweater" in our lives. You either have to put it on and maybe you can live with the discomfort, it really didn't kill you did it. Or you can decide that you can't live with the pain, but you can acknowledge it's existence, embrace it, try it on and then out it away with the knowledge that you have seen it, felt it, put it on and decided that although living with pain every single moment of your life is something that you have decided is something that is not for you. But you are not running from it, your are not trying to dull the pain (through food, drugs or shopping), but rather you have decided that it is here, it is not going away, yet it will no longer be your life. It now has a place on your shelf of life, and maybe every now and then you will take it off the shelf and try it on, or maybe you won't. At least you can now be honest and know that it is there, and even though it is not something you care to have with you everyday of your life, 24/7, you are able to for the first time perhaps to move on, move forward and live your life as you have always imagined, cognisant of the pain, but not defined by it.
So for today, for this weekend, take out that itchy, scratchy old sweater. Try it on, see where you are on the scale of life. Wear it, put it back on the shelf in the back of the closet, either way, you are now ready to live again, unencumbered, shackled by the past and to move forward on your journey to joy!
Have a great weekend,
Robb
Sunday, July 18, 2010
WEEK OF JULY 8-15, 2010
GOOD MORNING!
We often live our lives the way we read a book. We rush through the pages and chapters only to get to the end of the story to find out we either didn't "get it" or missed so much of the real story. Ever get into a group discussion, nothing formal, where a few friends talk wildly about a book they just read. You get excited and run out to get a copy of the latest tome.
You sit down, determined to really get into it. You wear comfortable clothes, choose your favorite chair, good light, maybe even a refreshing drink. You are psyched and ready for the journey into pleasure only a good book can take you. Then, you fall into your usual trap.
You read a bit, have a few interruptions, and then you fast forward your reading from pleasure to drudgery. You have to get through this, finish this assignment and instead of pleasuring your mind and nurturing your soul, you again become obsessed with finishing the task, getting to the end, instead of enjoying the journey. You get behind the wheel of your car and put the pedal to the metal in order to get to the last page, to the finish line, to your destination.
Unfortunately, you just happened to miss the entire trip. You zoomed past the whole point of the story. You missed the colors of the sky, the aroma of the wild flowers, the people and towns along the way. You did not stop to taste the local fare or even take in latest incarnation of "Our Town" by the Dootyville players.
See where I am going, do you get the point? Sure you do. You know you need to slow down, smell the roses and give the love of your life a bear hug. ( Don't have someone special, hug a parent or a friend), you will bring untold pleasure and a measure of certainty that will be welcomed, also you will add a aura of surprise to your life.
You can't live in the present ( if only I do this or that), you can't live in the past ( i was so hurt by so and so), you can only live in the here and now and I mean you can only have this moment. What are you waiting for, life does not get any better than it is right now. Sometimes you just have to get out of your own way, you have to catch up with your present. That is all you really have. You have to decide what that now will be. You have to write your book, you have to write, edit and publish your story. If you leave it to others, I can assure you with a high degree of certainty that you will not be happy with the finished product!
So for now, slow down, if you are in a relationship that leaves you wanting, either change how you view it ( your paradigm) or change your address. You will be adding a positive dimension to your life's journey, and that can only lead you closer to your true path on the journey to joy. If you are hurt, a live nerve, realize the world is full of survivors, broken hearters, who like you hit a wall only to find a doorway through the pain and disappointment.
Have a great week!
Robb
We often live our lives the way we read a book. We rush through the pages and chapters only to get to the end of the story to find out we either didn't "get it" or missed so much of the real story. Ever get into a group discussion, nothing formal, where a few friends talk wildly about a book they just read. You get excited and run out to get a copy of the latest tome.
You sit down, determined to really get into it. You wear comfortable clothes, choose your favorite chair, good light, maybe even a refreshing drink. You are psyched and ready for the journey into pleasure only a good book can take you. Then, you fall into your usual trap.
You read a bit, have a few interruptions, and then you fast forward your reading from pleasure to drudgery. You have to get through this, finish this assignment and instead of pleasuring your mind and nurturing your soul, you again become obsessed with finishing the task, getting to the end, instead of enjoying the journey. You get behind the wheel of your car and put the pedal to the metal in order to get to the last page, to the finish line, to your destination.
Unfortunately, you just happened to miss the entire trip. You zoomed past the whole point of the story. You missed the colors of the sky, the aroma of the wild flowers, the people and towns along the way. You did not stop to taste the local fare or even take in latest incarnation of "Our Town" by the Dootyville players.
See where I am going, do you get the point? Sure you do. You know you need to slow down, smell the roses and give the love of your life a bear hug. ( Don't have someone special, hug a parent or a friend), you will bring untold pleasure and a measure of certainty that will be welcomed, also you will add a aura of surprise to your life.
You can't live in the present ( if only I do this or that), you can't live in the past ( i was so hurt by so and so), you can only live in the here and now and I mean you can only have this moment. What are you waiting for, life does not get any better than it is right now. Sometimes you just have to get out of your own way, you have to catch up with your present. That is all you really have. You have to decide what that now will be. You have to write your book, you have to write, edit and publish your story. If you leave it to others, I can assure you with a high degree of certainty that you will not be happy with the finished product!
So for now, slow down, if you are in a relationship that leaves you wanting, either change how you view it ( your paradigm) or change your address. You will be adding a positive dimension to your life's journey, and that can only lead you closer to your true path on the journey to joy. If you are hurt, a live nerve, realize the world is full of survivors, broken hearters, who like you hit a wall only to find a doorway through the pain and disappointment.
Have a great week!
Robb
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