Seize opportunities! Life is short

 Ecclesiastes 7:2

"It is better to go to a house of mourning than a house of feasting..."

To go to a funeral is better than going to a wedding because at a funeral we  see how short our own life is.  We tangibly SEE the value of life and what's important in life.  We see that we need to seize opportunities.   We need to value every moment.  Live life now, not later.  Live in FAITH, not fear.💯

If we are afraid to live and be free then we aren't seizing life.💯

❤❤WALK IN LOVE❤❤

🙏🏽🙏🏽Walk in love of Jesus.🙏🏽🙏🏽

Sunday. . .

On Sunday I've always gone to church.  I think about G O D.

Why is it so wrong to mention God in social media? 

Miley Cyrus can be crude and crass and sexualize herself and objectify herself.  Miley doesnt get banned on social media though.

But mentioning GOD or the CONSTITUTION or FAITH would be offensive and would be cause for getting banned.

W H Y?

That's Satan.  Satan is SIN and corruption.  Satan is FALSEHOODS.  Satan LIES.  Satan is also charming and appears to be so sweet, because Satan is clever.  

Jesus IS TRUTH.  JESUS IS LOVE AND GOODNESS.

Jesus is FAITH and HOPE.

GOD is not bad.  

God is not nature,  God MADE nature.

GOD is not the Universe, GOD MADE THE UNIVERSE.  THE UNIVERSE AND BEYOND IS GOD'S HOME.

WE are not our house, we own our house or we dwell in our house, but we are not our house.

"Our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the authority, against the power of the dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm," (Bible).

We need to stay with Jesus and keep Jesus inside us.  Satan is strong and very charming.  Satan can look like our best friend and appear so sweet. Satan is manipulative and a con.  Satan knows how to sweet talk and make us hear what we want. Satan is the original sociopath.   Satan lured Eve in the beginning...so over 2000 years dont you/we think Satan has gotten more advanced in his manipulation?

In the end times, What is really GOOD is seen as evil, and what is really evil will be seen as good.  

KEEP our 👁eyes👁 open!!

JESUS 

Over

Fear.

The Bible mentions 365 times to never be fearful or to have anxiety or to have fear.  There are 365 days in a year.  Jesus wants us to know that for EVERY DAY in the year we should not be afraid, or anxious, or fearful.

Twenty Years Later

 Here we are in 2021, twenty years after the nightmare that struck us all on that somber September 11, 2001.

The material world and the construction world made more buildings and has made comebacks; however, we are strapped under tyrannical control. 

2001 - after September 11 -  began extreme airport security control.  

And now we have communism that some people are just dying to infiltrate into the U.S. so they use a virus to set the fear in motion to control the masses. 

Don't forget G O D.  The masses use fear  only...and they leave God out.  Whenever there is FEAR, God is left out.  

FAITH in GOD and knowing GOD is in control and protects us every moment is all we need. 

The mandates and the fear has made people become so neurotic and paranoid from just a sneeze.  Just because someone sneezes doesn't mean a virus.  

To quote Sebastian Maniscalco, "What happened to the common cold?!!"  

And what happened to just ALLERGIES?

Sneezing and feeling general malaise does NOT mean the c-word.  

DOESN'T ANYONE REMEMBER WHAT WE DID FOR COLDS AND FLU VIRUSES OR EVEN ALLERGIES?? OR JUST BURN OUT??

We stayed home, slept it out, rested, HYDRATED with juices, water, ginger ale, HOT TEA...We had self-care. 

Remember SELF-CARE? Remember what our grandparents did?  Much of the millennial generation has pushed away traditions and family and REMEMBERING our family ways.  They are the generation that wants new age ways and forget old ways.  That is not right though.

For those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.

Before tyrannical 2020 we could even go to work feeling sick,  AND NOBODY wore masks and nobody got sick either.

Before that tyrannical twenty-twenty year we just took care of ourselves and rested.  It was free to choose if you wanted to go to the doctor or if you wanted to just stay home and take care holistically.   

If someone has a headache do you have to go to the doctor?

The general trite public have become HYPOCHONDRIACS!!  They go to the doctor for EVERY last fart.  

Before twenty-twenty year we made fun of the hypochondriacs when we worked in hospitals.  

Holy Weekend and Spring Time

 Happy April, Happy Spring, and Happy Easter!  For some in the Upstate New York region they were blessed with a thin coating of snow for their April Fools Day to jump start into the month of April.  

How do we invest ourselves and our lives when springtime begins to wake up and bloom?  Are we still numb from winter? Are we too consumed by the regimented battles of every day life that we cannot see spring?  Are we sneezing from allergies?

Some of the PTSD effects from the fears of COVID are being afraid of people who sneeze or cough.  I know we've been fed that it is "deadly" but people with HIV still exist and bleed in the world, people still sneeze and cough too.  These effects doesn't mean we will be sick, nor is it contagious. Just as when someone has diarrhea, doesn't mean we will have diarrhea.  

CHECK IN WITH OUR IMMUNE SYSTEMS.

How have we strengthened it today?

People are so inclined to go to the gym and think of their EXTERNAL body with how it appears and much of the masses never think about the INTERNAL body - like the immune system.

If we pay more attention to strengthening the immune system then we would know there is nothing to fear.  

I know there are people who will then interject and mention people who've died of covid or are sick with it, but I wonder at this juncture who really had it and who really died of it.  The media is not something to be completely trusted.

Even when Sully, the US Air pilot, who made his water landing on the the Hudson River on that cold January day (remember that?)...the media fed the masses rumors how they all had hours or minutes to live.  

They feed on drama and like to make everyone worry and FEAR the worst with their narrative.  If the media did that with a forced water landing back in the early part of the millennium, wouldn't it make sense that they would feed more dramatic lies just to sell the newsfeed and newspapers? 

Media information is extremely confusing, especially when we know certain facts that we've always known, but then all of a sudden they want to change the narrative to fit their fearful agenda.

IS THAT EVEN RIGHT???

Let's get back to our own internal bodies and not give the attention to the news...bring back common sense and live the life we've always led.

FAITH OVER FEAR,

The Life Experiment & The Taboo Questions of Current Life

💥Here I sit in a coffee house without a mask.💥 Of course I am sitting. And I am in a blue state, for now. (Last year this coffee house was the only business still open and the owner never wore a mask. What happened?  How did the maskhole Karens infiltrate his business?) I am actually allowed to sit down anywhere without a mask (with food in most cases)...but as soon as I am vertical again people look at me with a distorted glance like I just said something profane or as though I stood up naked with two heads and five purple breasts.  

👉SITTING WITHOUT MASKS.  I view Facebook posts of people who say they don't wear them at all and just continue to enter places.  I don't see how.  One inch below my mouth and the clerk at the coffee house blows their liberal brain and says, "Pull your mask up," and they look at me like I just blew virus particles into their faces.  

👉STANDING UP.

I stand up and walk three steps.  I become an alien in my own territory.  "Put your mask on," they say.  

"But I tested positive for C.S.," I say. 

"What's that?" they ask as they back up.

"C.S., you know, Common Sense."

They don't laugh, "Pull your mask up or no service."

I shake my head and hope to God they don't spit in my drink when they make it.  But then how can they when their masks are so high it touches their eyelashes?

Is the alleged virus more contagious when we are standing above four feet?  

But then in Texas and Florida and other Constitutional states where they understand true democracy people can walk into any business without a mask.  

Why are blue states still  living the disillusion?  Can't they see how weird it is to sit without a mask for two hours inside and then the moment they stand up they have to cover their mouths👄 and noses👃?  

Where is the sense?

We have no fear sitting down without one. How is there fear when we stand up?

 💩💪We need to STAND UP and face them and tell them that wearing masks needs to be a CHOICE.  EVERYTHING should be a choice.  The freedom to CHOOSE to vote, the FREEDOM to CHOOSE to smoke, the FREEDOM to CHOOSE to drink alcohol, the FREEDOM to CHOOSE to get jabbed in the arm, the FREEDOM to CHOOSE to wear a mask.  

💫Faith over Fear🙏It says so throughout the Bible.🙏🙏Jesus has told us to never have fear.🙏🙏Why have blue states brainwashed the masses so much that the masses no longer have faith and only fear? Pray.  

Meanwhile, red states are living life just how democracy was intended. There are people in Florida and every other red state who still wear masks.  BECAUSE IT IS THEIR CHOICE.  The mask "mandate" was lifted so that the FREEDOM to CHOOSE is there.  If someone wants to wear one, then so be it; and if someone doesn't wear one then SO BE IT. 

In Jesus' Name, Amen. 

 

How To Cope and How to Keep God in our Hearts

Hello friends,

It's been a day or so since my last post.  

When we get used to a certain routine or when we make plans, don't think it's set in stone because God has other ideas for us.

If we relax on the couch we could hear a noise and a water pipe could burst causing a flood in the house. 

When we are at work and an array of computer glitches arise we need to figure it out, too.

When we are detoured when we drive then we have to follow the detour as directed.  

Everything is to make us stronger, and more devoted to God.  

It is unfortunate that no matter all the chances God gives unbelievers they never seem to get there.  

Forgiveness.

Unconditional love.

Embrace moments with our beloveds.

Forgive, again.

We forgive often because we, too, want forgiveness.  Love with an open heart and open arms.

❤I love you❤💫

🙏🏼God Bless you🙏🏼

Which Mirror Do You Use?

We are all drop dead gorgeous and handsome. 

Do you believe it?

Many people look at external appearances - including us.  We are warped by society and media to view appearances.  Why?

Judging outward appearances is where we get in trouble though.  

We look at ourselves the same judgmental way people look at us.  Why?

When we just go about our day without looking into the mirror how do we feel? What is it that makes us sparkle and smile? What carries us through the day when we are most productive.

I'll bet the things that make you sparkle and smile have nothing to do with your appearance.  So why are we so hung up on it?

The media is a powerful weapon of self-destruction.  

Our truest friends and family never see our appearances as negative even if we were 250 pounds and unmodel-like.

So why do we?

God sees beauty in us, too.  What does God see? He sees our hearts and souls.  Our heart and soul is that beautiful thing that we feel inside of us when we are doing something fun or just going through our routine - without a mirror. 

Hey, LOOK at That!

 Meditation has been a long-time practice and it helps relax the mind and body.  It eases anxiety and allows clarity and focus.  

That's all well and good, but some people cannot let go of their thoughts.  That is one of the biggest complaints among beginners is that they say their brains don't shut off.  

It's not supposed to though.  Our brains will always have thoughts as long as we are alive.  Meditation isn't supposed to shut thoughts out or off; meditation pushes thoughts in the background instead of it being on the foreground.  Got it?

So that's when people use verbal mantras.  Verbal mantras can be a phrase or word that is repeated.  The repetition of a mantra actually pushes away the thoughts...but there are some people who find this to be challenging too. Have no fear, there's another way.

Visual meditation mantras or mindful looking.

According to UCLA'S Mindful Awareness Research Center there is a real difference between looking and seeing something.

A visual focal point is an image or an object.  You can look at a candle, a photo on the wall, 

Meditation with the eyes open engages the eyes on something outside of itself, yet as you meditate you will detach yourself from the external setting. Meditation has always been traditionally done with the eyes closed in a peaceful way to shut out any external stimuli.  

So if you're a person who is more of a visual person, try focusing your eyes on a specific focal point or image and settle into it.

That New You and Our Own Views

👋It is now January Sixteenth - almost midway into the month.  Remember when we heard those scripts about "new year, new you?" Well guess what?  Each day we wake up is a new day and a new you.  

I begin today a new me.  Yesterday was a better day than the other day before that.  Was it perfect? No day is perfect.  We can only do the best we can in this moment to do better than our "yester-self." We have twelve chances to always be "new" and "reborn" with every new month.  Why should a new year look so empowering? For me, February First and June First have more transitional change than January First.  Even our birthday has more of a "new year, new you" interpretation than January First.  Why? Because for our own birthday it really IS a new year for our personal journey and life.  

Truth be told, if we really want to make January First an empowering new day of a new year, we need to prepare for it on December First from that prior year.  December is the LAST month of the year so for each day in that last month we need to create a plan that will prepare our mindset that January is that new year to make ourselves new again.  That means we need to shed our preconceived ideas about New Year's Eve. The trite notion is to stay awake past the time we typically go to bed (knowing we needs to have a certain amount of hours to sleep) and people consume alcohol during that time. So the next morning of that alleged new year we begin by sleeping late or hung over. 

Beholden to Fear

What society do we live in? Will we be swallowed up by fear and conditioned so we no longer have ourselves? Our own minds? Will they dwell into our minds and be embedded there as a result of their conditioning?

What about the fear? 

Has fear sunk into all of our minds so much that we are completely paranoid and overwrought and overcome with the thought police and thereby thinking we are always wrong?

If we do not comply we are vaporized and removed?  

Censorship of our words and then of our lives?

Do clocks strike thirteen? Do they strike fourteen?

Is our speech and language changing?  Have we adapted to a Newspeak?

The eyes are always upon us.  

We are being watched - cameras everywhere; credit card payments charged automatically; cars tagged on the highway so they know where we are going.  

Is that where this is all leading?  Are we already there?

Was it all in Winston's head? Or were they all in his head? Who was at the helm?  Have we lost our way completely?

Was George right?

In God We Trust

 Anxiety has become a familiar acquaintance in recent events.  When faced in an anxious moment our breathing is not as normal.  Sometimes our anxiety is when we feel all alone.  But we are not alone - ever because God is always by our side.  What can we do when we find ourselves holding our breath, and our respirations are shallow? What can we do when we feel doom in the moment?

• Stop what we are doing and mindfully breathe in and breathe out.  
• Touch a wall to ground ourselves or touch a desk or piece of furniture.  
• Say the mantra, "I am here and I am safe. God is with me right now."

Breathing is the breaking point of whether we are calm, centered, or anxious.

Bible Fun!  

Open up the Bible at random and wherever the it opens to is where God needs us to read.

This can get our focus onto the scripture. 

Thank you for reading today's blog post.

Love you always. Stay connected.

 

Evening Edition

👉 My 10 p.m. natural circadian bedtime is almost upon me, but before I retire for the night I wanted to talk about how sometimes when something comes up that is not welcomed or unwanted it is meant for us to cope.  

Today my car needed a new battery.  It was definitely a hurdle I really didn't want to bear because I just wanted to get in the car and go.  The blessing was that I was home when this incident occurred.

I could have been at work (been there, done that) or somewhere else where I was stranded in the cold.  

But going back to the fact that I was not able to just hop in the car and take off was a real unwanted challenge.  It delayed me an hour, but it was something I needed to cope with and God wanted to see how I handled it.  Once I fished out my AAA card, everything was fine.  

Maybe I was spared from an accident on the highway? 

Maybe I was spared from some other encounter within that hour I awaited the AAA man.  

There are things in life that come at us and we have to just live through.  

We cannot delete social media platforms (or deactivate them) simply because we need a break.  Life doesn't have a pause button.  

If something comes on the TV, radio, or a social media platform we simply have to cope with what we see and hear by expressing ourselves with civil communication.

💥Nobody should judge anyone for their behavior from January 2020 through January 2021 because people don't know how to act anymore.  People do not have the same social cues and people do not pick up on inflection.  Throughout our "quarantine" when we were kept from each other we lost a lot of our social skills.   Just because the government removes things and makes us avoid things doesn't grant us permission to continue to avoid things in life.  

Avoiding things and people is not healthy for the mind.  

 It's like in public speaking class and students have to sign up for when they want to give their speech.  Some sign up first but then other sign up on the last day.  Those people who wait it out are avoiding the first spots because of fear.  They do not want to face their fears.  They do not want to cope with the task that they need to accomplish.  

The students who sign up within the fist ten slots are usually the people who get better grades.

So what's the lesson?  C O P E.  We need to learn to face challenges and cope with what comes at us.  

And now it is 10 p.m. and I will catch you all in the morning.❤💖💗💕

Daily Routines and Our Nervous System

 💟Do you know the best time of day is the best time for you to write? 💟

👉Our nervous systems are quite particular about our routine and about what we do to our body.  Sitting for too long can create havoc with our muscles and tendons.  Do you have an office job that makes you sit for many hours at one time?

👀When we first wake up it is our eyes that pop open, but our bodies require motion and stretching to restart properly. 

💤💤💤 Do you get enough sleep and do you get to bed by 10 p.m. each night?  (I know that these rules may not apply to all because some people work different shifts.  I will help you to figure out a sleeping plan for you if you do have an nontraditional work schedule).

So why is it important to be in bed by 10 p.m.? Our bodies repair itself and requires to be sleeping during that 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. period for REM sleep.  That is the period that our bodies are optimally working to help restore and heal.💤💤💤💤

If we rush-rush out the door to our jobs and do not prepare for a steady morning of prayer, reflection, journaling, and/or stretching then our bodies will soon find illness and imbalance.

💓stretch every morning for at least 15 - 30 minutes

💜drink hot water before coffee

💓reflect and write your thoughts down (nothing official, and it doesn't have to be an official journal; just something to write on to get your thoughts down).

💜 bathroom time for b.m. evacuation, showering/bathing, oral hygiene, etc...

COMMITMENT is key to success.  By committing to this regime for AT LEAST 30 days will tell  the nervous system  the body and mind is serious about a schedule change.  COMMITTING to 90 days will become a second nature routine because it will become a ***GOOD*** habit.

 

 

 

 

Facing the World

 I have always been an observer of life and of the world.  I am well-read, well-educated, and I am an observer.  Since I was a child I have always observed by writing down my thoughts, words, and what I felt in the moment. That has become my solace and my coping device.  It is my breath and my meditation.  (And I still meditate the regular way, too, with breath).

I am not coded to avoid things.  I have endured the realities of facing things.  Nobody protected me from realities.  So when I hear people say they are avoiding social media or their televisions or cable, I know that they must  have lived in a very protective environment as children.  They do not know how to cope with realities.

I grew up with many kids who lived in controlled environments where their daily lives were always the same stable life.  Is that good?  

I do not think that living in controlled environments is good for the mind, body, or spirit.  We have to learn to cope by seeing, feeling, expressing, and communicating what we are faced with in every moment.  That doesn't mean escape, flee, or avoid.  Avoiding things is denial.  Denial is the shock absorber of the heart and mind, but if we use that all the time to cope then it doesn't benefit our longevity and productivity of life.  

Who is always there with me and who I can never escape from? God and myself (and my mind).

Some people avoid and remove God in their lives because they hold grudges against God; that is sad to hear.  

I love to teach college kids how to use their talents and tools to think about life.  They are allowed to believe what they want to believe and I always tell them that I will never hold it against them because who they are is what has made them the beautiful people that are today.  I would never take that away from them.  I only want to inspire, encourage, and motivate them.  I want them to reflect and think for themselves.  I want them to see that their opinions are valid, as well as someone else who does not share their opinions.  I instill respect, safety, and non-judgment in my classrooms because it is a learning environment.  Learning environments should always hold a special safety and special feeling where our voices and opinions are heard.

It is just like when we go into a church.  It feels special and exudes non-judgement and love.

Why? Because God.

 

Moving Beyond Words and Taking More Action

If we are starting a new year, then we should have a new approach, right?  As the days fly through December and New Year's Eve is upon us we all realize a new year is there.  We have to get used to writing a different month and a different year.  For some, January is a  month of struggles due to insurmountable bills in addition to cold and snowy weather.  New resolutions in the middle of winter aren't always good to set so how can we create and redesign a way to put new habits into action without failure?

Every year we hear the same platitudes and metaphors and it is becoming rather cliche about "New Year, New You."  It is always a wonderful opportunity to get a jump start on putting forth new goals, but do we have to continue with the old catch phrases? We need to create a new script and recreate a better approach to redesigning and revamping our routine for a new year.  When people begin to see those cliche words "New Year, New You," it is rote and quickly disregarded.  

These little cliche catch phrases are unfulfilled expectations that turns to disappointment.  Younger people who are using these words for the first time think they are being cute and trendy, but they haven't created anything new.

What is a way to restate these words in a fresh new way? People aren't always receptive to words, we need to prove with action and with something tangible and motivational that people can utilize. 

So is it really about going beyond the script and beyond words? 

We can survey our community and reach out to people to hear what has worked and what hasn't worked.  Are there any tools that can be given to help people reach their "new year resolutions?"

Should we even use the words "new year resolution" anymore?  Many are tuning out to that all together.  

We all know the trends and how people post "New Hair, New Year" or "New Year, New 'Do."  We know it is a new year the moment we ring in January 1st.  We even know a new year is approaching when we celebrate Christmas.  We all see our calendars.  

So why with the same old, rote, cliche catch phrases if we are saying it is a NEW year and a NEW you? Shouldn't we have a new approach and a new word or phrase?

Patience with ourselves is the one thing that will help people continue new habits.  Habits are hard to break in, especially when they are new and good habits.  

•  physical giveaways
  
• outside meetings
• supermarket tours
• handouts (not in email, but real, paper handouts)

People want to hold something in their hands, especially when they  pay with their hard earned money.  Many are tired and also facing "virtual anxiety" or "Zoom Gloom" from so much Internet and screen time, so we need to take that into account, too.