Oh Be Careful Little Eyes What You See

Oh Be Careful Little Ears What You Hear

For the father up above, is looking down with love

Oh Be Careful Little Eye What You See

These words came back to me this morning as I was considering my mental state.

When I was a child and sang this song, it always put a picture of a God much like Santa Claus in my mind. An overlord determined to catch every misstep and every mistake and write it down in a book for use in the future. Then, when the time of reckoning was upon you, Christmas or the Apocalypse, you would be called to account for your actions, or punished with fewer toys.

However, as these words came to me now, they are accompanied with higher wisdom.

“Consider your input.”

The benefits of the considering your mental diet is very important. With your food diet, if you put in healthy whole foods that haven’t been overly processed, covered with pesticides, genetically modified and denuded of nutrients, you benefit with improved health.

The more processed, contaminated, devoid of nutrients, a food is, the less good it will do for you and potentially even generate harm.

This is equally true with your information diet. By the time a story reaches us, through the news, it has been processed, spun, mangled, rewritten and usually has lost all truth and value. Stories can be spun to mesh with the goals of the storytellers or edited for short attention spans and sensationalism. Regardless of the reasons behind the alteration the results are identical, you’re consuming something that really isn’t good for you and may even be bad for you. We are being fed junk food information.

Consider your input.

I’ve been a little disheartened recently about the state of the world. There is a lot of negatives going on. Wars and posturing for wars.

People fighting over who gets the rights to destroy the planet, by ripping out the natural resources and selling them to the highest bidder.

Conflict over religions ideology.

People terrorized in their homes and schools and persecuted for their beliefs.

But I also see glimpses of hope.

More and more people are finding their own path to spirituality.

The sun keeps rising each morning (sometimes hidden in clouds, but it’s there).

People keep making a choice each day to help one another and make this world a better place, one person at a time.

The world is an amazing and beautiful place full of wonders and marvels.

Remember next time you’re fed, mass media wonder bread, that it’s not real food.

I don’t often quote the bible. But I do think, like all holy books, there are powerful nuggets of wisdom in there. This is one:

“…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things” – Philippians 4:8

Consider your input. Be aware when it’s junk food. Focus on the good things to guide your path.

Namaste,

Kevin

We live in a world obsessed with comparison. We are constantly contrasting every item that comes into focus, trying to determine if it is better or worse than the alternative.

Comparison shopping

Comparison of ideas

Employee evaluations

Rate your experience on a scale of 1-10

We learn comparison at a very early age and then start to apply it to everything around us. It can be very beneficial to compare things. However, comparison goes down a dark path when we start to apply it to ourselves and people around us.

There will be times when you start to compare yourself to those around you.

“I’m taller than him.”

“I’m not as smart as that girl.”

“He’s better looking than me.”

The voice of comparison is strong and constant. It is a fundamental construct of our thinking process. It operates in the background on everything we look at.

There are times when you start comparing yourself to yourself.

“I used to be a faster runner.”

“I think I’ve lost weight”

“I can’t believe I used to believe that!”

There is a time and a place for review and reflection, but it is ALWAYS the right time for acceptance.

A vital skill in this world is acceptance.

Accept yourself as you are.

Accept others as they are.

Unconditionally embrace what is.

Don’t worry about what isn’t.

Release your obsession with judgment of yourself.  Express the grace that you need and are worthy of. You are exactly the way you are supposed to be. Break out of contrast and stepping into acceptance.

Namaste,

Kevin

Good versus Evil

Liberals versus Conservatives

Republicans versus Democrats

Paper versus Plastic

Sometimes the right choice is to not to get pulled into the dichotomy.

Polarity consciousness is a way of processing the universe as differentials. It has been argued that this it is a result of our fall from enlightenment to where we are today.

Some would even say it is a bad thing.

Oddly calling polarity consciousness a bad thing, is a result of polarity consciousness. It is the way 99.9 percent of the people on the planet see the world and process information. I would say 100 percent, but I’m certain there are few people processing on a higher level than me, though I don’t believe they are running the planet or in our government.

Pain is meaningless without pleasure. Good is impotent without evil. We process the world, and experience the world, through the differentiating of one thing versus another. In order to judge one thing, it must be contrasted against another.

There are a number of gotchas or challenges involved in polarity consciousness that we should be aware of.

Having an understanding of how we process ideas can help us guard against that process being used to manipulate us. A great example of this a political election. We typically come out of a major election with a polarized country. Half the country thinks the other half is crazy. Half things they have won and the other half feels they got the shaft.

In truth everybody is a little crazy and everybody is a little sane.

If we could see past the labels applied to us by people that are trying to manipulate us, we could see, we really have a lot in common. Everybody on the planet really just wants to live a life of meaning and value. But we get caught up on polarizing ideas and think we must defend our side against perceived attackers.

Polarity consciousness leads to this type of thinking, and this type of thinking leads to separateness and destructive behaviors.

Polarity consciousness leads us to the illusion that we are individuals separate from others. Regardless of your metaphysical leanings, this type of thinking is blatantly false.

Walk with me down this path for a moment.

A person believes they are right and the other group is wrong. They wish the argument, and the group, would simply go away. Magically they get their wish. The next week they find a new group to disagree with and that group goes away. This would continue until there were only two people left on the planet. They would have a disagreement and now it’s just one man (or woman) and the planet. Then that individual would get in an argument with the planet and suddenly find they got their wish and they were all alone. Needless to say living without others and the planet is unsustainable.

This falsehood leads to wars over meaningless differences.

Gratefully nobody has been given this banishment power. When someone tries to seize it, for example Hitler, the world fights back.

But this kind of thinking is still going on today because we operate in polarity consciousness.

Given the state of our consciousness as a planet, it is difficult if not impossible to escape this way of thinking. In mindful states and during meditation we can catch glimpses of what other perceptions of consciousness are like. But in the end we return to this physical world where we perceive ourselves as ‘other’.

Take some time today to remember we are all in this together. Remember your connectedness to others. Unite in the common cause of living a life of value and meaning.

Namaste,

Kevin

The season of family and remembrance is upon us. As we enter this time it seems that the world has set siege upon our senses. Black Friday appears to be turning into black week. Economists are warning that we are in an almost apocalyptic recession. To make matters worse December 21, 2012 is almost upon us. Some say it will be the actual apocalypse, some say the end of the mayan calendar, and still others believe it’s just the day before December 22.

What do we do with all this input and chaos? How do we deal with the end of the world, the end of the economy and the eager businesses looking to max out your line of credit?

Appreciate it.

If the world were to end tomorrow how would you want to behave today? Wouldn’t you want to be the same lovely person that you’ve been your whole life? Continue living to help people, enrich the lives of others and generally practicing ahimsa (avoidance of violence).

Express gratitude in your life for the inciter’s of passion (walmart, target, et al.). You don’t have to agree with them or their tactics. But there is nothing inherently evil or wrong about black friday. It’s just another day on the calender where awareness will serve you better than hysterics.

Appreciate the world for what it is today, just in case it’s gone tomorrow. And most of all live in the moment that is now, for the moments beyond this one are never guaranteed.

Most of all, live your life in rebellious gratitude. Appreciate everything and everyone for what they bring to the table.

I wish you all peace, love and joy in this holiday season. But most of all, I wish you awareness.

I am grateful for all my readers. Thank you.

Namaste, Kevin

“Don’t allow the future to harass you. Express what you need, and be grateful for what you have.” – Greg Nelson

As I was meditating this morning, I was struck by the power of this statement. Starting my own business, and having end of year goals looming in front of me, I find, I have begun to doubt myself, my abilities and my future. How can I grow the business? What will happen tomorrow? How can I feed my family and my passion at the same time?

I have found recently that my thoughts tend to dwell on my finances instead of my passion. And the financial thoughts lock me up creatively and emotionally. So when I came across this saying during my meditation this morning, I was struck by how important it is to me right now. I have been allowing the future to harass me.

As we approach this time of cultural gratitude (Thanksgiving), here in the US, it is crucial to embrace the opportunity for thankfulness. Thanksgiving is a beautiful time to pause and reflect on what we have. So why not get started a week early and appreciate the things in life that keep us going. Be grateful for your passions and your quirks. Appreciate the things that set you apart and the things that bring us all together.

Most importantly, be with what is, and not what may be. The future will unfold and become whatever it needs to be. Worrying about the future, dreading it, or trying to force change into it, is just a waste of precious energy. Embrace the river of life that we all flow with, and follow the current to your goals. Embrace your dreams and release the outcome.

Namaste,

Kevin

Living in California, specifically the San Francisco Bay Area, you lose the stark contrast of seasons. Winter is the time when my lawn is green and in summer my grass dies and turns brown (I should probably water it more). Our magnolia tree loses it’s leaves during the summer and blooms in the autumn and winter. And generally the seasonal changes are soft and gentle, distinct, but subtle.

I am presently in the middle of a two week visit to the heartland of America, I am in Michigan. Michigan seasons are not subtle. You cannot ignore the oncoming autumn, nor the incoming winter.

Viewing the autumn colors and feeling the cold in the air, I am reminded directly of the natural order of things. It is powerful seeing the changing of the seasons again. The awareness of just how little control we have over nature. Everything is either dying or going into a deep state of hibernation and sloughing off everything not needed to survive through the long cold winter.

Rains come almost daily, and we experienced a good old heartland thunderstorm this week. I sure do miss seeing a good storm!

Change is powerful.

Change is unyielding.

Change is cyclical.

I cannot stop the leaves from falling from a tree.

I cannot hold onto summer.

I cannot change the weather.

It is wonderfully liberating to remember there are things beyond my control. Remembering that I can, and must, let go and allow nature to take it’s coarse.

Please don’t misread me, there are many things in my life in California completely beyond my control. But I frequently forget. Often the lapse in memory works to my detriment as I stress over the changing of the tides. I foolishly waste energy in my attempt to manage the unmanageable.

It is so easy to burn up valuable resources trying to resist change, to hold back the seasons.

As change approaches you this autumn I invite you to welcome it. Remember it’s only a phase. Change will come and change will go, and if we’re lucky, we’ll learn a little something in it’s passing.

As we move forward in this wondrous fall remember the serenity prayer:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

The courage to change the things I can,

And the wisdom to know the difference.

Namaste,

Kevin