Are You Sleeping?

You know the drill. The alarm clock buzzes, clanging against your eardrums, trying to get your attention and interrupting your dream. Groggily, you hit the snooze button to get just a few more Z’s, or to at least finish your dream. You know the inevitable is coming and you want to prolong it as much as possible.

You start swearing to yourself. Thinking you shouldn’t have watched late night T.V., but you had to hear Jay’s, Jimmy’s and Conan’s monologues respectively, then watch the ‘Simple Life’ marathon with that soon-to-be jailbird and her finger-thin cohort.

The alarm sounds again. This time, letting you have it in a continual succession of buzzes. Time to get up because this time, if you snooze, you lose. Now you’re at work, still trying to remember that dream, but you can’t seem to manage enough energy between yawns.

Time constraints have caused us to live in a sleep-deprived world. We’re driving our cars half asleep, radios blasting to just stay awake. We’re incapable of paying attention or hearing what others are saying to us. We swig coffee shots by the second to counteract our zombie-like state and make snap decisions in between yawning that could prove to be costly.

Sleeping is a time when we can relax, de-stress, curl into a fetal position and let the world go. We need every bit of this time to let inner and outer bodies repair from the day’s activities. Some of us can’t get enough of it, but too much can kill us.

The body needs 7-8 hours of sleep per day; 6 hours or less triples our risk of a car accident, but too much sleep--more than 9 hours--can actually be harmful to us. Studies show that those who sleep more than 9 hours per day are reversing the benefits of sleep and don’t live as long as their 8-hour-sleep counterparts.

Missing a few hours of sleep accumulates over time and a sleep debt of ten hours or more will affect performance. Most people’s bodies naturally become more tired in the afternoon, about 8 hours after we wake up. So what do we do?

We can’t sleep at work, but we still want to be our best at work. Sometimes, we can’t get a full 8 hour sleep for various reasons, but we can still get a little sleep time in the afternoon.

A midday snooze reverses information overload and makes the brain more receptive to learning. In New York city, they have taken sleep to the next level with ‘Power napping.’

High atop the city on the 24th floor of the Empire State Building, one such company has become a Mecca for the sleep deprived. For $14 per 20 minute session, (just long to rejuvenate) you can leave your stress behind and recline in a custom built “pod chair,” while succumbing to your favorite Sci-Fi fantasy.

The lights around the chair dim to initiate the nap. 20 minutes later the chair gently vibrates and the lights come on, bringing you back to reality much more relaxed and refreshed. However, if you aren’t in New York city or you’d rather spend your $14 for a cup of coffee at Starbucks, then it is up to you to design your recharge time.

Sometimes all it takes is to go outside and look at nature to rebalance ourselves. Even sitting in the car for a few minutes and closing your eyes. Even if you don’t sleep, take a few minutes to treat your body and your mind to a deep relaxation exercise. For example, focus on your breathing and progressively relax every muscle in your body, beginning with your toes and moving slowly up through your body to your scalp.

These meditation minutes are absolutely magical. As busy as we are, we have to be careful not to busy ourselves out of sleep. Now if I could only figure out how to get my work done in my sleep, I will have discovered yet another one of life’s little secrets.

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The World Is Yours

“Do not let your fire go out,
spark by irreplaceable spark,
in the hopeless swamps
of the approximate,
the not-quite,
the not-yet,
the not-at-all.
Do not let the hero
in your soul perish,
in lonely frustration
for the life you deserved,
but have never been able to reach.
Check your road
and the nature of your battle.
The world you desire can be won.
It exists, it is real,
it is possible,
it is
Yours."

~Ayn Rand

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Soul Food

There is an energy among bloggers, a special bond, a mutual admiration, respect and love. Bloggers are the voice of new generation -- Generation Be. We are a group of a selected few who take communication to the next level.

We are in the trenches. We are people watchers. We inform people -- implore them to explore their minds and listen to the world around them. For the most part I think this fellowship is flourishing and we are keeping the home fires burning.

We are new and improved guerilla filmmakers armed with passion. Shooting millions of millimeters of raw footage -- unscripted -- unedited -- in real -- reel time.

Our eyes record in high definition, our ears in THX surround sound -- freeze framing life in rhythmic nuances and riveting emotion pictures, trying to fit it all onto our IMAX screens just to premiere the split seconds and connect at high speed.

I have gotten such an incredible feedback since I started blogging -- an avalanche of love and devotion. I just want you all to know that I appreciate you for being there. Your comments are prolifically profound. I feel your warmth and understand your heart.

Often times, we are in sync with our thoughts, ideas and topics, which proves that we are all connected in some way or another. We feed off of each other, which reminds me a parable I once heard about people in heaven and hell.

Even if you don’t believe in heaven and hell, you can easily substitute those places to coincide with your own beliefs.

A man spoke with an Angel about heaven and hell. The Angel said to the man, "Come I will show you hell."

They entered a room where a group of people sat around a huge pot of stew. Everyone was famished and desperate. Each held a spoon that reached the pot, but each spoon had a handle so much longer than their own arm that it could not be used to get the stew into their own mouths. The suffering was terrible.

"Come, now, I will show you heaven," the Angel said.

They entered another room, identical to the first -- the pot of stew, the group of people, the same long-handled spoons. But there everyone was happy and well- nourished. "I don't understand," said the man. "Why are they happy here when they are miserable in the other room and everything was the same?"

The Angel smiled. "Ah, it is simple," she said. "Here they have learned to feed each other."

Let’s continue to feed each other.

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The 3 C's

“The 3 C's of life are Courage, Capacity and Commitment. It takes Courage and a commitment to make many of life's decisions, and capacity to follow them through. The 3 C's of a successful relationship are Caring, Consideration and Communication. Communication opens the door between us, consideration allows us to pass through it and our ability to care for each other unites us.”

I don’t know who wrote the above quote, but I think it’s a powerful edification, especially the communication part. Technology aside, I think we are in the middle of a communication crisis, as I mentioned in Monday’s post.

It seems to be very difficult for people to make contact and those fortunate ones who make contact can’t seem to keep it. They lack the skills to maintain a conversation and they are left to utter Morse code between ellipsis points.

It has got to be something more than an electronic breakdown in the brain. Is it such a stretch to say something inspiring? Profound? Funny? Heartfelt? Real?

I think people have stopped having enthusiasm for life. They have stopped enjoying the moment. They have been put to sleep by a life less than perfect. A life that they are not willing to work. Rain has fallen on their dreams and they have abandoned them in puddles on the side of the road.

Let’s go deep for once. Break the surface. Wake the silence. Spark the darkness. Get to the root. Open up to people. Release your inner prophet. Ask people if they need something. Sometimes all people need is to know that someone has asked.

Life is full of opportunities and roadblocks, but that doesn’t mean we stop when the road has closed. We can take a detour, get back on track and continue our pilgrimage to our destiny. Remember to keep your head to the sky and rely on the 3 C’s to see you through.

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Heat Wanted

I have walked in several neighborhoods in my life and when I see other walkers, my first reaction is to say, “Hello.” Frequently I make a direct hit -- a heat seeking connection that makes contact.

More surprisingly, some people will keep walking without saying a word or acknowledging my existence. I assure you that my heart and smile are in their respective places, but they don’t seem to notice.

You can see it in their eyes. The vacancy. Dispiritedness. Deadly silence speaking volumes. People mouthing the words of loneliness. Walking through the shadow of their lives. Souls that are AWOL, pulled along like hollow husks on an invisible track connected to nowhere and nobody.

The interesting thing is that the people who respond with, “Hello,” a smile, a nod or other conversation goodies are usually very upbeat, like they are in on the secret of Soul. If the “It factor’ were to ever come in to play, they seem to have, “It.”

It is such a simple act to say, “Hello.” It is amazing how that brief exchange can splash your canvas with color and create a positive brightness.

Even in a supermarket when we are shopping, do we bother to speak to people -- people in the flesh, not on the other end of that little electronic mishap that’s responsible for reducing people to a decibel controlled by a translucent volume button -- or even worse -- a God awful ringtone.

That’s the whole problem in a nutshell. We are adept at cell phoning, text-messaging and I-M-ing our BFF, but not E-Moting or honing our antiquated communciation skills -- the ones before the technolgy revolution short-circuited our evolution.

Sure with children screaming for Captain Crunch and Oreos, the low lighting and the dozens of commercials in between the music, people are distracted, but a little love goes a long way. Speaking to them could make your day AND their day. Perhaps the art of conversation still has some life.

When you stand in the check out line, people behind you do everything to be closer to you. They will push your groceries up to put theirs on the belt and then brush against your back to move closer to you.

Intimate strangers trying to make a connection right? Remember that these are the same people who don’t speak when they see you on the street.

This friction causes a reaction. You may get frustrated because the person behind you is pushing into you uninvitingly and the pusher gets frustrated because you are not responsive to their advances.

All of this static could be neutralized if both of you spoke. There would be an affinity, a meeting of the minds. Contact brings heat and heat brings contact which brings connection -- even if it is only momentary.

We are a world of bumper car drivers who are resigned to jolt others but not feel them. We don’t want to get out of our cars for fear of being left behind. By bumping into each other, we push each other away, instead of embracing each other and holding them close.

I am convinced that there are millions of Souls in the universe trying to connect. Trying to intermingle their energies into each other to get that unspeakable communion of Soul and connect with a supreme force.

Even tapping on this keyboard in an attempt to elucidate, I am hoping to make a spark from these lettered flint stones to cause a little heat. A little life. A little tender loving care. People are heat seekers. We seek warmth, comfort, safety and understanding. In that heat, we are recognizing our Spirit. The God within us all. The God that many of us don’t even know.

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Train Of Thought

“Real, constructive mental power
lies in the creative thought
that shapes your destiny,
and your hour-by-hour
mental conduct
produces power for
change in your life.
Develop a train of thought
on which to ride.
The nobility of your life as
well as your happiness
depends upon the direction
in which that
train of thought is going.”

~Laurence J. Peter

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Together Alone

If you’re anything like me and who isn’t these days, you’re deluged with matter -- daily -- worldly -- Soul. After all, I’m a hot commodity, a blue chip stock that nobody would trade, a prime blog estate owner with a stake in love and compassion, one of God’s premiere properties -- a legend in my own mind.

Okay enough of the self-aggrandizing Alexys, you’re not here for yourself. If that were the case, you would be Oprah and we all know how large her head has gotten. Her ego has definItely not landed.

Alright back to the matter at hand. Like me, you probably respond to the superfluity of stimuli -- thought, feelings, action, form, sensory perception, energy projectile, waves of brilliance -- all of life's components.

At times, it feels like I have little sensors attached to my cranium, taking in any and everything -- yet my gray matter screams, “Feed me.” In fact, if you looked inside my head you would see rows and rows of stored information, a data center of experiences, memories, knowledge, specialist SCRABBLE words and piquant wisdom stacked to the ceiling. A real mental pack rat’s paradise.

As I walk by The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and peer into the window, I see all of those over stimulated people with their laptops and loganberry lattes sitting in the corner wanting to be alone, surfing the WiFi highway desperately trying to connect to anyone.

I think they have missed the boat. If you want to be alone, why go to a place with other people who want to be alone? Perhaps they want to be alone together or together alone.

I think it’s okay to disconnect the sensors and clean the connectors. It sharpens your awareness and gives you new access to life’s current.

One way that I achieve this is through meditation/contemplation. A surefire way to blow the cobwebs out of your head and reorganize your mental faculties and facilities.

Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Hold it for three counts. Let it out slowly. Let it all out. Quiet your mind. Let the over stimulation settle like coffee grounds. Repeat. Replace your filter. There’s nothing like a fresh perspective.

It’s really okay to be alone and commune with God and to reaffirm your commitment to your life’s purpose. Have a relaxing weekend and know that you are loved.

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The Tenterhooks Of Soul

No one likes pain. It’s as welcome as a leper. It can leave us feeling helpless, drained and completely flattened. The pain can be so unbearable that it’s like a meat hook in our heart. Sometimes it takes such a big chunk out of us that we never recover from it.

Some people walk around with the pain of a thousand lifetimes from spiritual wars long before this lifetime. They can’t seem to dislodge the shrapnel from their Soul. They spiral into the black hole depression.

A darkness so black that they don’t see any other color. A billowy smoke that chokes the life out of them. A hole so abysmal that they can’t climb out. An unfathomable weight on their consciousness.

With all of the emotional debris, in a sense they take on the appearance of a tenterhook; sometimes called a tenderhook. It comes from one of the processes of making woolen cloth.

After the cloth had been woven, it still contained oil and dirt from the fleece. It was cleaned in a fulling mill, then it had to be dried carefully or it would shrink and crease. So the lengths of wet cloth were stretched on wooden frames, and left out in the open for some time. This allowed them to dry and straightened their weave.

These frames were the tenters, and the tenterhooks were the metal hooks used to fix the cloth to the frame. At one time, it would have been common in manufacturing areas to see fields full of these frames.

Older English maps sometimes marked an area as a tenter-field. Somebody on tenterhooks means being in an state of anxious suspense, stretched like the cloth on the tenter, not being able to move, stuck in a certain situation.

Attachment is a main cause for such intense pain. We can’t let go. Can’t let go of what is no longer congruous to our spirit. As we evolve, we outgrow various situations, habits, likes and people.

When we try to hang on to them for comfort, they cause distress. Pain is God telling us to opens our hands and let go. It’s in the letting go that we reclaim our lives and reignite the fire in our Soul.

Embracing the pain will give you wings. So when you finally let go of that ledge of comfort, you will fly fervently through the air and make a soft landing.

Embracing the pain liberates your very essence and fills you with the satisfaction that you are evolving at a personalized rate of speed for your consciousness under the watchful eye of the universe.

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Crash Test Dummies

I admit, I am not a avid TV watcher. I probably watch one or two programs a week when I can, but sometimes nothing. I have accounts at Blockbuster and Netflix, but I haven’t used them lately. Within the last couple of months, I have seen about 200 films, out of that only about 6 were actually good enough to be called films.

The quality of films definitely leaves something to be desired. And if you see the ones with all the hype, you’re more likely to be less than thrilled. Sometimes the trailers are different from the actual film itself. The trailers supposedly show highlights of the film and are sometimes shot before the film has been has been edited. The very thing that makes you see the film may not even be in the film.

Knowing how the film business works, leaves me even more aghast. There is hardly anything worth watching on TV, except Boston Legal, Nip/Tuck and some PBS for good measure.

In between watching my one or two programs a week, I wind up watching television news, lots of it. Even with the popularity of reality shows, stations still have a lot of space to fill. They fill most of that space with news -- or what they call news.

My need and right to be informed about local and worldly events is usually offended by the news anchors. From the plastic surgery addicted anchor who can hardly open her mouth because her face has been pulled into her skull to the dancing weatherman who is as stiff as the Tin Man in the Wizard Of Oz.

These are anchors that I am supposed to trust to deliver the news? Anchors that get excited when someone dies. Anchors who are supposed to be objective, but whose opinions color each story. Anchors who offer quick scripted banter, focusing on the insignificant once more.

When one reporter described one of the wild fires that we recently had in California, the only thing she could focus on was the fact that someone loaned a woman who escaped the fire a cell phone.

She didn’t mention that thousands of acres has just burned, people were overwhelmed, lost their homes and loved ones and the only thing the reporter thought of was a cell phone?

As if this isn’t enough, the first fifteen minutes or so usually show death, destruction, war, violence and various shades of blood red. Images repeatedly blasted into our faces, leaving gaping holes in our sensibilities and detrimental imprints in our memories.

We watch the assault of humanity with our eagle eyes and recoil at the rancid human destruction, while we choke on the fumes and hold back the tears, crashing into each other like unwilling crash test dummies.

Often times, it is just too much to ingest. All that negative energy. Floating around, looking for something or someone to attach itself to. That energy has to go somewhere, but it doesn’t have to lodge itself into our Soul and deconstruct our Spirit.

Wouldn’t it be great if there were a device that we could place over our TV’s that would filter the news and make it more palatable? We could adjust the color, brightness, contrast, sound and effect. We could call it rose colored glasses. Okay, that sounds a little out there, but you get the gist.

This reminds me of an old joke, ‘What’s black and white and red all over?’ A newspaper. If we read the newspaper, we would still get the news without the subjectivity of a TV news anchor.

Don’t watch the TV news for a week. See if it makes a difference? I’ve done it. Apart from being very peaceful, it feels like you have more control over what comes into your consciousness.

If your TV was broken, you would call in a technician to repair it. Who are you going to call if your consciousness is broken? Only you know what makes you work. You have to be the technician to adjust your own level of consciousness. Only then will you live an uncluttered and more fulfilling life in which you will be the only reporter.

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Your Stock

"You have a four-fold life to live:
a body, a brain, a heart and a soul.
These are your living tools.
To use and develop them is not a task.
It is a golden opportunity.
Hidden down in every person
is the Divine --
Real faith, dreams and visions.
Lift your thoughts above
the commonplace and live in
the Presence of the Best.
Spiritual investments are
repaid a thousand fold.”

~William Danforth

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The Human Race

Your heart. Racing. Rolling thunder. Bass drum. One-two. One-two. Syncopated rhythm. Gets faster. Louder. Harder. One-two-one-two. One-two-one-two. Chest rises and deflates. Pulling. Pushing. Pulling in oxygen. Pushing out carbons.

Heart's beating four times faster than normal. Buckets of sweat pour from your skin. Making it glisten. You don't think you can make it. You don't think you can take another step. Your skin is burning. Your mouth is like a hot desert. Tumbleweed blows across your tongue. You want water. You need water.

Spring water. Moistening. Your tongue. Sliding. Down your throat. Making its way to your fatigued organs. Regenerating. Refreshing.

You are tired of running. Consumed. You think to yourself “What's the point? Nothing’s going my way. I may as well stop now. Stop wasting my time. Stop striving for the goal.”

Soul is in no hurry to unfold. It doesn’t care if it takes a lifetime or a thousand lifetimes. We will learn exactly what we need to learn and do precisely what we need to do in God’s time. Not thy will, thy will be done.

We're all running the same marathon. It’s called life. We have time to get to the end of the race. If we run around like chickens with our heads cut off, we won’t get anywhere.

So many people try to run the race without pacing themselves and wind up on the side of the road hurt, disappointed, disillusioned and laden with the phrase, “If I had only done this? I could have been somebody great. I could have been a contender.”

What happens if you stop short of the finish line? What happens if you get off of your path to glory? You miss out on self-illumination. Afraid of finishing last? It doesn't matter if you finish first or last, you’re not racing against anyone except yourself. All that matters is that you finish.

Put in a good effort. A good game. Go the distance. If you turn back now, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life. A life full of regret is a sad, lonely, angry existence where you blame everyone for your failures. It’s nobody’s fault if you give up.

A soldier doesn’t always see combat, but he is always prepared to fight. If you find you can’t run anymore, walk. Keep moving. It’s okay to take pit stops and reorganize, re-strategize, and recommit yourself to your goals. Recommit. Resubmit. Re-Cognize.

The human race is a long one. Enjoy every step you take into the abyss. Expect sights and sounds that you never thought were possible. Expect not to know. Prepare to learn. Every step you take is a step to spiritual freedom.

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It's Yours To Keep

A little something about consciousness.

• You were born with one.
• You will die with one.
• It is not contained in your body -- you are the consciousness that contains the body.
• You can’t touch it -- you can be touched by it.
• You can’t buy one.
• You can’t sell one.
• No one can take it away.
• Nothing can replace it.
• It can expand as much as you stretch it -- not guided by the mind, but the Spirit.
• Stretch it -- it won’t break.
• You can lose consciousness -- and still have your consciousness.
• The more you put into it -- the more you’ll get out of it.
• It’s the past present and future all in one.
• Consciousness draws to itself form through which to express.
• Your mind cannot exist in the moment. You cannot think your way into the moment -- you can only think your way out of it.
• Only your consciousness is aware of NOW.
• True freedom is a state of consciousness.
• Amplify your consciousness to cultivate pure, blissful, unforgettable, heartfelt moments of this life.
• Be aware. Your consciousness isn't going anywhere -- unless you take it.
  

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Living Under The Influence

By now you probably have heard that as predicted, Spider-Man 3 took a huge bite out of the box office by swallowing an estimated $148 million in domestic ticket sales in its opening weekend, including $59 million when it opened on Friday, trouncing former champ, Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.

Not bad for a weekend gig. Spider-Man 3 broke records around the world too, as it opened abroad even before hitting screens in America. The film took in an estimated $227 million in 105 foreign countries. It’s the biggest opening ever in the U.S., Canada, Japan, Korea, China, Russia, Italy, Mexico and Brazil and it broke records in 26 countries.

My neighbors at Sony are celebrating by passing out little Spidey cigars while serving chilled bubbly and cocktail filet mignon burgers. They have stripped off their Brioni suits to do the victory dance at a foam party on the sound stage. Okay, so that part is in my imagination, but they are really celebrating.

In this town, it’s all about the money. How much do you have? How much do you need? How much do you want? How much can you get? How much can you keep?

Spidey fans lined up days before the opening weekend, just to be among the first to see the latest installment of the web wielding superhero. People love their pop culture icons. They love being a part of the superficial. American Idol, Survivor, Big Brother. Celebrity rises and falls. Births and deaths.

We are a culture of watchers. We watch everything. We gawk at it with our mouths open. We point to it. We pick at it. We make it bleed and the blood never runs dry. It suspends our disbelief.

We know more about Paris Hilton's lack of discretion (and a camera lens); Britney Spears' lack of underwear (and hair); Lindsay Lohan's paparazzi-induced demolition derby; Anna Nicole Smith’s oversupply of her baby’s fathers; and Donald Trump firing shots at Rosie O'Donnell and vice versa, until Rosie falls out of view and Trump raises his flag on her cheeks (Yes those cheeks.)

We know more about these people whom we have never met and probably won’t ever know on a personal level than we do about our own families. And that’s not a good thing. Sure we engage in the folly of the celebrity for fun, but when it replaces real news then there’s a problem.

Our soldiers are dying daily, a tornado obliterated Greensburg, Kansas, students were murdered at Virginia Tech and all we are asked is if we think Paris Hilton should go to jail for driving on a suspended license? (Which she has requested a pardon from governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.) Why not send her to war. She’s fought the war with the paparazzi, but she’s losing the war with herself.

That’s the real problem. We shouldn’t lose the war with ourselves. We have to continue to fight. We can’t just give up because we feel life is not fair. We are in it for the long haul. We have to stick it out. We have to develop tools to cope. Aren’t we more than reality show gawkers looking for the next celebrity dilemma?

We praise people who haven’t really enhanced our lives. People who should be embarrassed to parade themselves in public. People whose antics are a cry for help. If only we were so diligent on things that really matter. Wordily issues. Humanistic issues. Personal issues.

Though Spider-Man 3 broke all records, is it really about the movie or something deeper? Could it be that just for a split second, or in this case a split 2 hours and 20 minutes, that the audience felt they were part of something bigger than a movie? They felt a common cord that united them in thoughts, feelings and tangible experience. Could they have felt a bond of camaraderie?

Isn’t that the crux of social networking? It’s like finding your place in society, feeling like you’re a part of it all. Fitting in by not fitting in. It’s finding your own spectacular moment. The defining moment when you make a connection with something greater than yourself. When you feel there’s a greater force pulling the strings, shaking the trees, moving the clouds and realigning your consciousness.

When was the last time that we praised someone for NOT driving under the influence. What about praising the great surgeon that saves lives; the scientist that discovers the cure for cancer, AIDS or any other deadly disease. The parents that don’t abandon their children? The private citizens who do the work of angels. The invisible ones that comfort those in pain, assist the needy, help without being asked. Those unsung superheroes who are in the background, unseen, unheard but greatly felt.

These are the people that I praise. Hopefully the media will get back to a sense of what really matters and help elevate the world consciousness instead of propelling us to live under a spider’s web of shallowness.

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Summit Yourself

“I've believed ever since
that living on the edge,
living in and through
your fear,
is the summit of life,
and that people who
refuse to take that dare
condemn themselves
to a life of living death.”

~John H. Johnson

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Love Versus Fear

The power of love is endless. It can tickle your fancy, make your heart skip a beat, catch you off guard, cause you to smile from ear to ear, tuck you in at night and make you do things you never thought you would do. It is extraordinary.

Love frees the senses. If you place love against fear, love will win every time. Love responds, fear reacts. Love connects, fear separates. Love uplifts, fear deflates. Love creates, fear destroys.

Go about your life with love in your thoughts, heart and your actions. For every action, there’s a reaction. Love needs no reason, it just is.

Wishing all of you love and blessings.

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Salty Lips

“Let’s do lunch,” is a popular phrase people say here in L.A. -- and you never hear from them again. If it were said elsewhere, people would expect to have lunch with the person who said it, but here it’s something you say like saying goodbye.

Unfortunately it’s become acceptable to say what you don’t mean and mean what you don’t say. It’s not acceptable to make a promise with no intention of keeping it. It’s not okay to be rude, a liar, or to get someone’s hopes up just to shatter them.

We have come to accept it like it is no big deal. Well, it is a big deal. If you don’t value your word, nobody else will value it.

Lying is so routine that it’s natural to some people -- too natural. Even in night clubs, guys will approach ladies, buy them drinks, take them home and spend the night with them.

The next day he says, “I’ll call you,” and she never hears from him again. He doesn’t even realize that she has given him a fake number and the joke is on both of them. He had no intention of calling and she had no desire of him calling.

"What’s your word worth? Your word should be worth more than gold, worth more than all the money in the world. Priceless, not worthless. Your word is a contract."

Contract law is based on the Latin phrase pacta sunt servanda (literally, promises must be kept). A contract is a legally binding exchange of promises or agreement between parties enforceable by law.

Like your word, a contract is a promise. It is a spiritually binding promise. It’s not enforceable by the same law as Contract Law, but it is enforceable by your consciousness.

Granted if you break a promise, you won’t be arrested, thrown into jail and known as a convict for the rest of your life, but it does take a toll on your integrity and character.

In the film “Liar Liar,’ Jim Carrey plays a dishonest divorce attorney and habitual liar who makes a pact with his son to tell the truth and that little pact almost kills the truth sayer. Although it’s a film, it’s not far from the truth. The truth doesn’t kill us, it sets us free.

It behooves you to honor your contract. Keep your word. In a society that is more concerned about protecting and keeping their money, you would think that we would place just as much importance over protecting and keeping our word?

Imagine the number of lawyers who would have to look for another line of work if people honored their word?

So if you’re ever in L.A. and someone says, “Let’s do lunch,” take it with a grain of salt. Just because they are insincere doesn’t mean that you have to be.

By honoring your word, you are holding yourself in the highest esteem.

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Are You A Joyeur?

My love for words never ceases to amaze me. Just when I think I’ve learned enough, one sneaks up behind me and astounds me. This one is really stimulating.

A clever word that is pure genius. A word that I wish I created. A word that rings off the tongue and the mind. Now without further ado, I’d like to introduce you to, Joyeur.

A joyeur is a watcher. Someone who watches through the window of life, never going outside. A joyeur is a sideliner. Someone who waits on the sidelines watching the joy in life. They live vicariously.

A joyeur dangles lifelessly from a noose of self-doubt, fear, loathing, anger, unhappiness or whatever mental trap they’ve fallen for. The illusion has let them down and they can’t get up or out.

They wish their lives were better but they don’t know how to step across the line and become a participant in their own life. They are stuck in a rut. Boggled in the static that surrounds them.

They wish their lives were more exciting. Better job. Better relationship. Better health. Better everything. Everything that they think would give them the upper hand in their joy. They are used to postponing their joy and think they don’t deserve it.

You deserve every bit of joy. We all do. We all owe it to ourselves to have joy daily, otherwise the minutiae will bog us down and make us feel like the air has been knocked out of us. Like dead Souls walking.

A joyeur is as good as it is bad. It’s a good word to know, but a bad position to be in if it consumes you. Our mind is full of mental snapshots that drudge up joy and pain. We need them both to grow, however we don't have to hang on to the painful ones. We have to let them go so we can grow.

Build your life on a foundation of joy and your joy will proliferate. If you don’t know how, start by creating the life you want in your mind. Cultivate your mental landscape.

See the type of people, places and experiences you want. See the images everyday and before you know it, you will have created exactly what you want.

It is simple, but it doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time. And there is no time like the present. If you want to find your joy, you have to take an assessment of your life. Work for it.

Discover new things that may bring you joy. In discovering new adventures, you undoubtedly will find some that you won’t like, but at least you are moving out of the box. Motion brings contact. Contact brings connection. Sparks. Then your passion is flamed.

First you have to find your joy. Claim it. Live it. Let it run free in your Soul. You want joy? Bring it on.

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