Tuesday, May 13, 2014

The Road to ? Is Paved with Good Intentions and Commitment, or How Emotional Release is Exhilirating!

Good feelings abound as holidays and special occasions take place, only to dissipate once the calendar page is torn away. What does this mean? Basically that holidays come with more than festivities - they come with good intentions, too. And lots of emotions.

Let's take a look at the following, well-known holidays and what transpires before, during and after:
  • New Year's Eve. Leading up to it we feel anticipation, excitement at the opportunity for a brand new start. During the evening we revel and speak of new beginnings - resolutions that will turn our lives around. The change is generally short-lived as, after New Year's Day, we feel the let down of the momentum and the reality that change takes place when we make a commitment to our emotions and intentions.
  • St. Valentine's Day. Leading up to it we feel excited about love - having it, looking for it or finding it. We're convinced that our soul mate will manifest in response to our heart's wish and our mind's good thoughts. We assure ourselves that we will proactively participate in our relationship or open ourselves up to love, hence receiving our true love. Afterward, when the last petal falls off the delicate rose, we are left with no observable difference in our life because the momentum left and we did not commit to our emotions or intentions.
  • Independence Day. Leading up to it we feel an enormous pride in our nation, community, family and those serving on our behalf. We buy the red, white and blue plates, cups and napkins, purchase colorful fireworks and go to town having a good time in recognition of our country's past, present and future. We vow to undertake duties not taken before, and participate in events that support our nation. What happens a day later is back to what is in front of our noses - no more, no less. The passion, pride and momentum falls off abruptly as the red, white and blue garlands are packed away; emotions and intentions packed away with the decorations.
The same goes for Thanksgiving, Chanukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and personal celebrations.

The point is, emotions and ideals, of what we should be doing in the big picture and for the greater good, is short lived when it is based on sensory emotions: seeing the hustle and bustle leading up to a big holiday, hearing the associated music, smelling the special holiday foods and, of course, tasting them. The holidays play on our emotions like violin music in a romantic drama.

There is no way that the intent to commit to the moment will last. It's like walking out of the movie theater, eyes red from crying, and twenty minutes later chomping on a smoked meat sandwich with your friends, laughing at one of their inane comments.

Now, there is no right or wrong here. Just like having a good cry after a sad movie (or a laugh after a particularly funny one) is good for the soul, so are the holidays, and the emotions they evoke.

On the other hand, if you don't want it to be short-lived and disappear in a puff of smoke, try drafting a map for yourself. The greatest journeys have all started with one little step. This blog is more about having options and fulfilling your own personal needs than it is about redirecting. We all love to be the directors of our own movie. This is one way of looking at two possibilities during the year's many holidays and special occasions.
Emotional release and personal change are both good things. Be open to either.

The

World

is

Yours.

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Tick – Tick – Tick

Watching the World Population Clock I witnessed 40 births documented within a span of 10 seconds.
It was estimated, March 1, 2007, that by the year 2050 there would be 7.3 to 10.7 billion people on earth. Our planet's population is currently at over 7.230 billion, and it's only 2014.
Life is doubling, tripling, expanding at a rate never imagined. Mother Earth has a heavy load, and as the world's population expands and (figuratively) explodes (or is it literally?) the collective consciousness is becoming more aware and questioning what life is, what comes after life, and is this the only life?
If you think this is the only life, consider this: after an egg is laid, a larva forms and a caterpillar is born, after which the pupa (or chrysalis) emerges as a butterfly. The life cycle of the butterfly takes on many forms and never ends. From egg to larva, caterpillar to butterfly, and egg once more, the cycle continues.
The World Population Clock documents births and deaths – the growth of earth's inhabitants surpasses deaths by more than two times.
And if you know that energy is never extinguished, it only takes on other forms, eg. ice, water, steam, and you understand the life cycle of the butterfly, where do you suppose our energy (soul, spirit, life force) goes? Where does it end up – and does it ever end?
Speculation as to life after death, reincarnation and a higher consciousness that never needs to return to the cycle of life, is ongoing. The greatest minds, and most inquisitive and creative thinkers, still cannot conclusively determine what goes on after our flame has been extinguished.
Yet we know that the energy is never extinguished, and it is for this reason that we may want to focus on our eternal energy that is a continuum, linking from past lives and situations to more positive experiences that build to a point where energy is pure.
Like stacking blocks, lower ones are bigger and more cumbersome supporting a size less massive, lighter and higher - reaching toward the sky. Can this be a model for our life force? Is our own personal evolution moving toward a time where we need never to return to physical form, only a mind – consciousness with no body, floating on the thin air between galaxies?
Speculation, interpretation, creative thinking and evolution, both of the mind and the physical form, have not been able to arrive at a final conclusion.
What we may wish to figure out is how to become lighter, higher more evolved to the point at which we mingle with the souls of our past and float forever in the vast universe.
Is this the goal – heaven – panacea for the many lives we've lived? Maybe it's time we started thinking about it.
The clock is tick – tick – ticking.