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Yesterday I wrote on the benefits of suffering. I talked briefly about the superficial benefits of suffering; the attention, the pampering, the excuse for not doing something you don’t want to do. I wanted to expand on this some.
Some people experience suffering in all its glory (it may feel more like gory at the time) and they are molded and changed by the experience. Others only seem to experience the superficial benefits of suffering and may even become bitter from the experience. Why the two different reactions?

I have head it said that there are two types of clay. One type of clay when left in the sun gets soft and moldable; the other clay will get hard and brittle. You see, hardship and suffering may not necessarily build character but it sure reveals it. An amusing example of this is to consider two golfers. How does each react on the course? One may get angry with each poor shot, blaming the course, blaming the designer, blaming the water trap, blaming his clubs. The other golfer sees the challenge the course lays out and takes the opportunity to improve his game. The second golfer may make the same poor shots the first one did but he will handle it differently. One sees it as the world is against him, the other sees it as an opportunity to experiment and learn.

Which type are you? Are you flexible and open, willing to learn? Or are you hard and brittle and stuck in your ways, seeing everything and everyone as being against you. You may not realize it, but you have a choice.

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Did you know that suffering has benefits? I am not talking about the surface ‘benefits’ that are not true benefits. You know what I mean; benefits such as attention, being catered to, having an excuse. These can actually prevent you from obtaining the true benefit of suffering.

Are you confused yet? Suffering that comes from hardships and illness can have a major positive impact on a person’s life. Yes of the impact is judged as bad but a lot of it is actually desirable. This suffering builds character; it creates a means for growth. True spirituality and insights can come to the person who goes through such a trial.

Our society tries real hard to eliminate the benefit of suffering. We pity the person. We try to make the person more comfortable sometimes to the point of knocking them out with drugs. We don’t even want to mention or acknowledge the problems a person is suffering through – to their face. Oh we talk to everyone else about it but if we come face to face with this person we tend to talk about superficial things like the weather.

The sufferer has much insight to give us on what is truly important but we have to be willing to listen.

When the sufferer finally comes through to the other side of their suffering you will often hear comments from them such as “I could not pay me a million dollars to do that again but nor would I take a million dollars to give up that experience.”

As a society, we need to honor our suffering and look for the benefits we can obtain in it. If you are in the midst of a suffering cycle right now, know that there are benefits. You may not be able to see them now. But when you are finally able to distance yourself from the current pain and it is all in the past, you will be able to look back and find the diamonds the experience left you with.

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I slipped this week I had mentioned on Feb. 22, 2010 that I was giving up Excedrin for Lent. Well I lasted 21 days.

I came down with a headache that I could not shake on Monday and by Wed. morning I had enough of it. I took 2 Excedrin. It lightened the headache enough for me to be able to help at the college lunch our church does every Wednesday for the local college students. The headache was back by the afternoon, but I resisted the urge to take more Excedrin and settled for IB instead.

Excedrin may not seem like a big thing for you, but I have run into others who were addicted to it. I guess there could be worse addictions. But I am back on track and off the Excedrin again. The coffee every morning has helped keep the headaches at bay.

My husband went to a get a blood test today and I went along. In the lobby was one of those TV’s that run the medical propaganda – infomercials. They had a segment on migraines and mentioned that a little caffeine can help a migraine because it affects the blood vessels in the brain. Excedrin has caffeine so it is really the caffeine I am addicted to not the Excedrin. But the Excedrin does provide a nice little buzz and I can even feel it tingling on my tongue before I even take one.

But I am determined. The 21 days was a very long stretch for me. I am not sure I have been clear of Excedrin for that long of a time since my twenties (which was a long time ago).

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Who has written on the walls of your life? What I mean is who has said or done things that really influenced your life.

Often we think of the special people who had a positive impact on our life, like the teacher who pointed out what you were really good at, or the neighbor who took you in when times were rough at home, or the friend that showed you the world could be a friendly place.

Sometimes the writings are not that helpful. I am sure whoever put the writings there never meant for them to be a hindrance.

One of the writings that I had to struggle with was that God wanted us to give every thing away and live under a bridge. This does not make much sense. But I had a strong religious upbringing that somehow enforced this idea. Last Sunday I realized where this came from. We have been reading Proverbs and there are many sayings in there that talk about it being better to be poor and honest than rich and wicked. Somehow I got the part about it is better to be poor than rich but the rest of it went right past me. You realize who wrote most of Proverbs? King Solomon, the richest man in the known world at the time. Was he poor? NO.

He was just trying to make a point that happiness and honesty are to be valued and treasured. If you are a rich businessman but you are also dishonest in your dealings, you will have to work extra hard to hold on to your position and customers and sales because people will find out and not want to deal with you again. However if you are poor but honest and you consistently work toward your goals, you will succeed and prosper because people will see you are honest with them and that is what people want.

An idea that it is better to be poor than rich can be pretty limiting. How do you get over these debilitating writings on your walls?
Meridian tapping and EFT work wonders in getting you past this. I actually did work on this issue several years ago and it is no longer a strong influence in my life. You often have to dig a little deeper than just the surface statement such as it is better to be poor and give everything away. Often an objective 2nd party can help you see the trees in the forest that are causing the problems.

If you would like help discovering your inhibiting writings, check out my website and let me help you. www.naturallyresilient.com

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Ok I have recovered from my headache and I have been thinking about the symbolism of taxes. I think I may have something.

Lets think about giving. Giving is a show of abundance when you give willingly. Giving is also a form of showing gratitude. The law of attraction would approve of this. The more you willingly give without expecting anything in return, the more the universe will provide to you to allow you to keep giving. However, many people do not give, or do so grudgingly. When that happens, the law of attraction says, “Oh, you want to have to give and not like it” so then you are given the opportunities to give grudgingly.

Now let me ask you, do you give to the government willingly? If this were a purely voluntary program would you shell out the money? Where is your gratitude, your willingness to give? Remember the law of attraction; what you throw out there you will get back.

I can here it now. “But the government waste my money”. Well so do your children, are you throwing them out? Yes the government does some stupid and insane things sometimes (read tomorrows post) but don’t your children?

Think of taxes as a lesson in “letting go”. You must let go willingly and know it is ok. Don’t begrudge the greatest country in the world its share. You live here, you work here, and you are blessed.

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Ugh, it is that time of year when I drag out the receipts and get the books in order and start working taxes. We have several businesses, S-Corp, LLC’s and our own personal taxes.

Call me weird but I actually like doing them. There is something soothing about working with numbers. They always mean the same thing; I also like to see the progression as I work through the forms. It gives me a sense of accomplishment. I don’t usually owe anything so that also makes it easier.

A number of years ago, our taxes had gotten so complicated I was not sure I was doing it very well so I took a H&R Block class and was one of their star pupils. They hired me and I worked taxes for them for several years. It is very interesting when you are trying to do taxes for some one who does not speak English and you don’t speak Spanish. There is something to be said about being bilingual.

Back to work.

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There have always been influences in society. I don’t think our culture in the US is the only one that experience mass influences. Many through the years remember some TV shows and movies. In this remembering, a group consciousness develops. Sometimes it is just an episode that stays with the society in their memory.
One such episode that sticks in every one’s mind that has seen it is the Twilight Zone: The Complete Definitive Collection
episode of the bookworm. You know which one I am talking about don’t you. It has so pervaded our minds that it is like a group consciousness. The official title is “Time Enough at Last”.
Why would such a show stick in so many minds?
If this same show was shown in a different culture, would it stick in their minds also?
If it made such an impression on so many individuals, would it make an impression on the society as a whole? It does seem to follow that if such a large group of individuals have stored away in their minds the same images or ideas, that culture would be influenced in some way.
Lets look back at this particular episode where a man who loves books is prevented from reading them due to job and other obligations. He finds an escape in the bank vault where he can read undisturbed for a time. When he comes out of the vault, an ‘end of the world’ holocaust has occurred. But this man quickly realizes that this frees him from all obligations and he can now read to his hearts content. He collects books in piles and organizes them as to when he will read what and then the worst happens, he breaks his glasses.
Maybe this speaks to so many because there is so much we would rather do than what we are obligated to do. Just like this man we are lonely in a world full of people because we are not doing what we love. As soon as we are allowed the opportunity to pursue our dreams, does that loneliness disappear? (You can be alone but not lonely.)
Sometimes in the pursuit of our dreams our hopes are dashed to pieces. A long time ago, I found my dream job but soon realized it was not what I had expected. I was not thrilled with it. My dreams were dashed. It takes a while to recover from dashed dreams and to come up with a new one. You are afraid to pursue something new, as the dream now appears better than actually obtaining the dream. You don’t want to be disillusioned again. But it is the dream and the pursuit of happiness that this country is built on. As a human being we have to have a dream even if it is never obtained.
However if the dream is obtained, even if we are pleased with it, we still need a new dream. We always need something to strive for.

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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.

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I have been struggling for a number of years with the idea of abundance. This has been a hard lesson to learn and I still have not learned it. Most of my life I have been in conflict with abundance and spirituality. I thought to be spiritual you had to give away all you had and live under a bridge. In striving for spirituality, I could not come to terms with loosing everything.

The thought that God is abundance and all things are His to shower on us as He wills somehow did not include me. In my religious upbringing, it was enforced to me that I was nothing, a worm, worthless and God was everything. If I was a worm to be eaten and sacrificed to a bird then I was just here to be used and God did not really care about my physical life and comfort. But this just did not make sense. Deep down I believed in God’s abundance and His concern for us but my mind would not let me accept that.

I guess I got this idea of sacrifice from Matthew 19:17-24. This is where the rich young man asked what he must do to have eternal life and Jesus replied to keep the commandments but the young man said he had done that and what else should he do. Jesus told him to sell all he had and give the money to the poor and follow him.

This conflict came to a head about 3 years ago when I had a Body Talk session and this issue came up to be dealt with. It was very interesting. I went into the session feeling that God wanted me to give everything away and live under a bridge and came out thinking and feeling I did not have to do that to be spiritual. Referring back to the Matthew passage, Jesus told the young man that if he wanted to be perfect he should sell all he had and give the money to the poor and follow him. That was if he wanted to be “perfect”. I am not perfect and don’t pretend to be. I am not at that point where I can get rid of everything and live only in God’s abundance.

God doesn’t want you to be a burden on others or society. The well known spiritual people that have given up everything to live with those they wanted to help, did so because that was how they could best help others. Some can best serve others by having resources and abundance to share.

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Do the Enlightened Sacrifice?

This one is deep and I am not sure you will grasp what I am saying but here goes.

I have been reading “A Course in Miracle” which is a 1-year course and I am on year 4 (yes, I am slow). I was just reading some of my old notes and wanted to post this one. Lesson 100: 7.3 reads “Then realize your part is to be happy.” and 7.6-7 continues with “You have indeed been wrong in your belief that sacrifice is asked. You but receive according to God’s plan, and never lose or sacrifice or die.”

As I thought about what this said it dawned on me that the word “sacrifice” is mans attempt to put in words a spiritual idea but failing miserably at it. Materialistic man is trying to explain what they see you do when you are spiritual or enlightened, however when you are far enough along the spiritual road, you realize there is no such thing as sacrifice. To give others what you have is no sacrifice because you know more will be coming to you.

The way common man uses the word sacrifice implies scarcity but there is no scarcity for the spiritually enlightened. The idea of scarcity is keeping many people of the world poor materially and spiritually. God, (Higher power, Infinite Being or however you want to describe it, but I will use God for simplicity) is a God of abundance.  All things are His and so all things are yours as a child of God.

The idea of suffering and sacrifice is a forcing of a higher spirituality on those who are not yet ready for it. It is trying to get people to behave in a more spiritual manner. It is like little children who have never been to school, playing teacher. They go through the motions and think they know what is going on but they don’t really grasp the whole concept. The spiritually enlightened appear to be sacrificing for others but they are really living out of abundance, out of a knowing that there is plenty more out there.

No I am not there yet.

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