Archive for the ‘Relationship’ Category
A Need for Censorship?
Posted by: Ann
December 15th, 2009 >> Censorship, Life, Relationship, Sacrifice, Truth
This topic has come up in my family recently due to my son writing an English term paper on censorship in “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury. Did you know that book fell under censorship at one time?
Is censorship a good thing sometimes? Or is it always bad?
I understand that Google was only allowed into China when they agreed to censorship. Nothing about the Dali Lama and the Tibetan people is allowed in China.
What is China so afraid of Can they really keep their people in ignorance of what is going on in the rest of the world? Do they think their people are so gullible and ignorant that they will believe everything they hear? Or maybe they fear the opposite. Maybe China thinks their people won’t believe the powers that be any more. Is that a bad thing, for a government to have to toe- the- line and do what is right in the world and for their people not just for their ego?
When is censorship good? There was much censorship in the US in WWI and II. One of the sayings was “Loose lips, sink ships”. This was to keep our troops safe. If the enemy did not know our plans they could not prepare surprise attacks.
I guess it is how you look at it. I am sure the Chinese government honestly believes that censorship is needed to keep peace in their country. But then most of the rest of the world believes that kind of censorship is not good.
More on Contracts from Beyond
Posted by: Ann
December 6th, 2009 >> Life, Reincarnation, Relationship
Ok, your life is hard, too hard. You don’t think you can go on much longer. If this is your contract you made before coming here, you may have decided you have taken on more than you can handle, can you rewrite the contract?
Have an earnest talk with you guides and tell them how you feel. They are there to help you. If you want it changed, tell them. However they maybe able to see farther down the road and you may be closer to the end of your troubles than you think. Unless you anticipated such a move when you wrote the contract you could probably change it. If you anticipated that you might try and back out, you might have put a ‘no back out’ clause in the contract knowing that you could endure and the results would be worth the short term discomfort. Remember our current life is like a drop of water in the sea of existence.
Hang in there
I wrote about reincarnation yesterday. Today I wanted to tell you about a contract between my husband Paul and I that I believe we made before coming to this plane.
When I started dating, I always matched my stride to whomever I was going out with, checking to see if they matched. After going out with many boyfriends, I went out with Paul. We had the same stride! That had never happened before. Now this is not something I would base a marriage on but Paul was different. All my other boyfriends lasted about 3 months then there was a mutual drifting apart. After 3 months with Paul, I knew I wanted to be with him the rest of my life.
There is another side to this story, Paul’s side. Before we met, I had decided to die my hair a dark auburn color (it is usually dishwater brown or dirty blond. Appetizing names right?) I then started to look for a new church. One that I visited and liked had an active singles group of which Paul was a member. So the first time Paul saw me I had red hair. He told me years later that he was looking for someone with red hair like I was looking for someone with the same stride.
Another interesting aspect is that both Paul and I were born in Virginia to Texas parents who moved back to Texas as soon as they could. My family moved to Houston when I was 3 ½ and Paul’s family took a more indirect route through Oklahoma before arriving in Texas. Virginia has always been important to me. People would call me a Texan and I would get very indignant and say, “No, I was a Virginian”.
We took a couple of vacations several years ago that took us through Virginia. Going into the State I had the overwhelming feeling that I was home. When we started heading back out, the closer to the State line we got the harder I cried. There was such grief at leaving and I did not know where it was coming from. This summer I had a past life reading that explained the connection to me. Now I know it was very important for me and for Paul to be born there.
As I mentioned yesterday, you can have challenges and you can have problems. Challenges are a more optimistic way of looking at them. Challenges give a sense of hope that you can rise above the situation. Problems sound more ongoing something that you never quite get rid of.
You can turn your problems into challenges. This is not always easy to do. It requires you to stay hopeful and optimistic even when you do not feel like it. Thinking of your problem as temporary can make you feel more hopeful right away.
If you are jobless, or homeless or your relationship has just fallen apart, it is not the end of the world. It may feel like it right now but there is a tomorrow and you can stay hopeful of the possibilities of what is to come.
Dream big. Think about the best possible outcome. Who knows, you may get 4 job offers tomorrow, someone you hardly know may offer you free housing, you may literally run into someone who develops into the perfect relationship.
The main thing is to remain positive and optimistic.
Which do you have problems or challenges.
Do you hear the difference in the two words?
One makes you feel limited; it is like a thorn in the side, an irritation that is always there that you cannot get rid of. The other is more optimistic; it is something to rise above, to be conquered.
Which would you rather have in your life?
I am often guilty of seeing problems instead of challenges. I am working on the more optimistic challenges instead of dwelling on the problems. It is hard work and I don’t always succeed but at least I do see the difference and am trying.
Some people think that God does not talk to us mere mortals. That He only talked to the prophets of old.
I don’t believe that.
He talks to us all the time.
Some people are in such alignment with God that they don’t know that God is talking to them. They take it as their own thoughts. In other words they own the thoughts.
Others are on such a different wavelength that they have to be hit in the head before they finally ‘sit up and take notice’. That is when they realize their thoughts are coming from somewhere else. I think this is what happened with Neale Donald Walsch in his Conversations With God books.
Others start to seek Him out, usually after they realize they are hearing such thoughts and they realize they are not from themselves. I am not getting all psycho on you. This is meditation. These conversations leave you at peace with yourself and the world. If you are more upset afterwards, these thoughts are not of God. God leaves you will peace, joy, love, harmony, the fruits of the spirit. He also leaves the judgment up to us, He does not judge.
Just realize that God is talking to us all the time, no matter where we are. It is our choice whether to hear Him or not.
I just watched “Mr. Bean’s Holiday”. It was rather silly, but every once in a while you need a silly movie.
I started thinking about his holiday. It was not what he wanted or how he had envisioned his vacation. But it sure would be one he would remember and cherish the rest of his life.
Have you ever had a vacation like that? I have. A good friend and I took a 7 day vacation one Thanksgiving to a Jack Tar Village in St. Kitts. We love telling the story of the clock that lost 10 minutes an hour that we did not realize until 2 days latter and we tried to fix but caused it to explode, about the tub’s water valve that came off in our hands shooting water all over the place, the sliding door that would not close and trapped the attendant on the balcony who came to help us with it. Then there was the broken electrical line that blew out the electricity to the rooms but don’t worry the resort had back up generators, for the casino. Every day and almost every hour was an adventure. For families these vacations are bonding experiences. These events become inside jokes.
Maybe that is the way we should look at the hardships in life. Not as hardships but as bonding moments. Just take them in stride and go with the flow. Then when you get to the other side you can look back on it and say “wow, that was exciting” and you will have something to talk about.
In other words, don’t have died before you die. Live, Love and Laugh.
The world is not perfect. I guess that is nothing new. But do we really want a perfect world?
What would a perfect world look like? No conflict, no challenges, nothing to overcome. Just the right temperature, good food for all, whatever kind of housing you with to live in. Would this be heaven or hell?
I remember a “Twilight Zone” show where a gangster type died and found himself in a big casino where he could never loose. At first he was in “heaven” but all the wine, women and constant winning started getting to him. He was more than bored, no challenge, he wanted out. It finally dawned on him that he was not in heaven but in hell.
We need the challenge, the adversity. That is why we come to this plane: to experience something we cannot get on the other side in the spiritual realm. So rejoice in your challenges, say thank you to those who throw roadblocks at you, they are helping to strengthen you in a way you could never do on your own.
“If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love. Don’t be surly at home, then go out in the street and start grinning ‘good morning’ at total strangers.” — Maya Angelou, Poet, Writer and Performer
We are reminded in church each Sunday to greet those around us especially those we do not know. But have we greeted our own family members with kind words that morning? The tone of the day is set in your family by how you greet them in the morning.
To Practice This Thought: Greet your children and spouse with a smile and a “good morning” and mean it. Send your loved ones out the door with a kiss and a hug because life is uncertain and this could be the last time you see them.
Quote: “People say, ‘What is the sense of our small effort?’ They cannot see that we must lay one brick at a time, take one step at a time.” Dorothy Day quoted in Words to Live By by Eknath Easwaran
You never know when your small effort can lead to something large. Someone may see you doing something nice and that sparks them to do something. This can have a snowball effect.
To Practice This Thought: Make an effort — no matter how small it might seem to you — to improve your community.