Religion Should Be a Guide Not a Prison

It is said that one of the most dangerous subjects to talk about is religion. So here we are about to discuss a most controversial subject. So what exactly is the role of religion? For most of us it is a set of rules for living, guidelines for behavior that will net us a reward when we die. The down side is that there is a threat of punishment if we do not follow those guidelines. It is about the after life; if we follow the rules we go to a good place when we die, and if we don’t we go to a bad place when we die…

So it seems that the focus is more about death, reward and punishment for our life. The focus should be more on what we do when we are alive. The focus should be on how we live and love. What good does it do for humanity if we live like cruel heartless beasts, then the minute before death we accept “salvation” and so we still go to the good place when we die. According to the rules set by some religions as long as you “repent” you get to go to the nice place when you die.

So what happens if you “repent” earlier in life and not just at deaths door? You get to lead a life of repression, following rules that tell you what not to do, causing you to have less happiness, less joy from life. Following draconian rules and practices; being taught to hate others who do not have the same religion as you. Having to lose things that we like, sacrifice activities, and give up certain behaviors that are actually fun. Then after all that; you get to go to the good place when you die.

Seems like a complete waste of life to me. Going by the rules of those religions you can live like a total monster, just plan to repent as soon as you know you’re dying and hope that you do not suffer sudden death…

These rules and regulations that religion tries to push upon us are mostly dogma. Dogma is a set of beliefs that a certain group holds to be true. These tenets more often than not are man made rules and not actual divine guidance. There are people in this world who will feel like they have power when they can make a rule that takes something away from other people. The worse kind of religion is the ones that remove free choice, telling you how to dress, defining a social pecking order, and so on. Again there is no divine guidance, just rules from some sicko that got to feel powerful because he got to force people to lose something.

You can force a person to accept the rules regulations and dogma of a religion. You can threaten them with torture and death to compel them to believe the way you do. However a person coerced is not convinced. You can not be forced to believe a certain way. You can be forced to say you do to avoid further pain and punishment, but inside you will harbor secret beliefs that you can not state as you will then no longer be in compliance. This sort of thing eventually leads into insanity, and then acts of nastiness and spitefulness causing both you and those around you to be miserable.

So what is the good news? I am glad you asked. First let me start out by saying that there is indeed a God, a supreme being, the Great Spirit, the all, the source. You can give the one a name, or not but the existence of this force is still there whether you “believe” in it or not. What does this force desire from us mere mortals? Only our love, and that only if it is voluntary and sincere. We can not have our love directed by another; it can only come from us.

So what are all these religions trying to do? Many of these religions started out by having a certain enlightened individual attempt to show the rest of us the truth. Then along came other individuals who saw a chance to feel power by creating rules that stole people’s freedom of choice. These rules were introduced slowly and so the mass of people did not rebel and change religions. As these people procreated they passed down the rules and so on through the generations. After a while the rules became traditions and nobody questions the why of the rules. For to question these rules, is to risk being called a heretic, or worse, and then being punished.

Do you think that the Supreme Being actually spoke and told us to dress in a certain way, or to oppress other people? NO! This did not happen; these rules were made from and of man.

All gods are one God, just different apparitions of the one. Did you ever hear the story of the three blind men who touched an elephant? One found the beast to be large and rough skinned, one found it to be long and flexible; the other found it to be hard and smooth. Each one touched a different part of the animal and so formed a different opinion of it. They all had indeed touched the elephant but each came away with an opinion that differed from the other. Then three men argued about what is truly an elephant. Instead of comparing notes and working on discovering the overall view, each took his small part of knowledge, knowing it to be true, and told the others they were wrong. Instead of a great discovery and sharing of knowledge, each became enemies of the other.

So it is with us and the One. The One is too great for us to comprehend, much less to understand. If we try to learn the universe we will understand nothing. If we try to learn about our selves we will understand everything. So what should we be doing? We should be working on ourselves and working on understanding each other.

If you have a religion; look for the wisdom that is there. People have discovered small parts of the whole and while trying to explain it to others developed a religion. So seek the truth that is hidden there. Ignore the rules that are obvious fabrication such as dress code, etc. Find the part of the One that was discovered and add it to the other parts you have discovered. Share the knowledge as you can but be prepared for the people who are convinced they are right and you are wrong. You can not force others to see it your way. You do not want others to force you, so do not use force yourself. Some people are not ready to understand what you do. Others understand more than you do so always be prepared to learn more.

Our lives here are short compared to the overall picture of the world. Our goal, our mission for life is to discover the truth of whom and what we are. We have to find the pieces of knowledge and wisdom; then put them together to form understanding. The Supreme Being created a puzzle for us to put together.

So why did the One make a big puzzle for us? So we would have the enjoyment of solving it.

Be Blessed

Why are You Here?

First up, why are you here? Really ask yourself that question. Why have you decided to change your life? Maybe it was the promise of some extra free knowledge, or maybe a little extra free time. Is it for happiness, inner peace, comfort, or something else? Do you want to get a better job? Maybe start your own business and go all the way and quit your job in the future? Do you want to be able to face the world with self confidence and know it is yours for the taking? Or maybe you have some other motivation?

This is the basis of setting goals. Why are you here? When you've answered that question, remember it. Keep it filed, updated and well a truly embedded in your mind. Any tough times you come across, or any problems that may arise in the future, remember why you're here and why you're doing this and why it is worthwhile. The answer to this question is what's going to spur you on and keep you going and moving on up the ladder.

Some people like to create whole elaborate plans around their goals, but for now we'll leave it at that: Quick and simple. It's not hard, it's not time consuming but it is an extremely important part of your success. All you ever need to do is ask yourself those three questions. Why am I here? What do I want? How do I plan to get it?

Is it really that basic? It can’t be that easy, can it? It is supposed to be hard and painful…. You may think so, but look at it this way, without this motivation, you may find yourself waking up in five years time, sitting in the same chair, in the same place, in the same situation and wondering why you haven't moved forward. It's likely because you didn't set yourself a goal, which is done simply by answering those three questions. Don't let this happen to you.

Next up, I want to touch on something that I still see every day, and to be honest, it does make me wonder. I want you to remember what you're doing here. The problem I see every day is this; there is many an opportunity out there, it is there for everyone, but it doesn't seem to sink in that they're actually working on their future. They let opportunity after opportunity pass them by.

I can understand how you'd be a little miffed about it too. You probable have awakened in the morning and realized you could have done something the day before that would have propelled you on your way to success, but you failed to act. You did not recognize the opportunity when it was on front of you. Why is that do you think?

The reason people fail to see the opportunities is that they do not know what they desire from life. You must know inside yourself what it is you want, what you want to be, what you want to do, what you want to accomplish. Without this simple knowledge you are doomed to wander aimlessly and squander your life.

To give you a little food for thought, the purpose of life is happiness. What make you happy? Every person is different in what they perceive as happiness. Discover your reason; find out today what it is that makes you happy. Remember happiness comes from inside but there are many external triggers. Learn your triggers and then you will know what you want.

So, one more time, why are you here?

Be Blessed

How to Have Anything You Want

The seperation of Church and State

We receive a lot of e-mail and solicitations telling us what a shame it is that there is a separation between church and state. There are all sorts of ads and propaganda going around saying all sorts of things that all boil down to it is a shame that the government has taken religion out of influence. Today we must learn something important: The separation between government and religion is a good thing!

All throughout history there are many examples of what happens when a religion holds political and legal power; repression and suppression. There was a single religion that held power in most of Europe for over one thousand years. This reign is known as the dark ages. The church held power over governments, and a single religious leader was able to dictate to governments what was acceptable. This single religious leader was responsible for the crusades; true total religious war.

When a religion holds power over a government individual freedoms are randomly and arbitrarily taken away. Rules are enforced in the name of god that are usually not in mans best interest. Segments of society are stratified, and classes of people are created that are strictly enforced. Free speech is curtailed, as to speak against the church is heresy and blasphemy. Any view contrary to the church is brutally suppressed.

Let us look at a few examples:
- The young Jewish nation while conquering the land now known as Israel would kill every man woman and child of a city or province when they took over.
- The Romans invaded England to wipe out the Celtic druid religion.
- The very Catholic Spain had the lovely institution known as the inquisition. Any person of a different religious belief was arrested, tortured and executed.
- European countries had a few wars, the French raised an army to eradicate other religious factions, remember the Templers?
- The Catholic Church raised an army to wage war against the Baptists.
- We won’t even try to list all the witch hunts that killed more people than Hitler’s holocaust.

Think those days are over? Look again;
- Until recently Afghanistan’s ruling government made it illegal to listen to music unless it was first approved by the church.
- Women in most Middle Eastern countries can be killed by any male relative; as long as it is called an honor killing the man will not be prosecuted.
- In most of those same Middle Eastern countries women can not own property or have a business, they have to rely on male relatives to support them.
- Jim Jones moved his congregation so he could be the government as well as the spiritual leader, once a person was in his group they did not have the freedom to leave; they did not even have the freedom to make the choice between life and death.
- In modern day Iraq it is well documented that religious fanatics seize, torture and kill people of different religious views. These same fanatics will commit suicide and kill even children just because those people are in an area that supports a different sect of the same religion.

So it can be easily proven that when a religion hold power over the people it is a bad thing. It does not matter the actual name of the religion, the results are the same. Life becomes very hard for the individual, and many freedoms are lost.

Look at just the major religions, all of them have many different sects, or off shoots. If church had power in government then whatever church had the most votes would be in power and the rules you were used to living with would change. Every sect has slightly different rules for their religion. Some do not dance, some do not allow coffee, some women have to cover their face and only wear dresses, an so on. Imagine is you will what could happen: One day you are perfectly fine, the next you are in danger of being jailed for heresy just because of a change in the town’s mayor. One day you can go to the bar and dance. The day after elections the rules have changed, you are now a heretic and in danger of loosing all you have. Personally I would have to become a coffee smuggler if coffee was ever outlawed.

Could you imagine not being able to go where you want to worship when you want? Can you imagine being forced to worship your god in a way prescribed by someone else? Could you imagine being told what god you must worship?

Let us take this a bit further; organized religion is a money making business. If you do not believe that just do a little research, it is public record how much money a church makes. If you think about it most churches are franchises. They have a central office, a central training facility for management, and a standard set of rules for operation. Most have a recognizable trademark symbol so you can identify the building from that sign long before you can read the title. The similarities are amazing; it is a very viable modus opernendi.

Could you imagine if a set of fast food joints vied for political power? One day it would be fine to have your burger any way you wanted it, the day after elections you can only have square burgers. It wouldn’t make sense would it? So why should a person be forced to call their god by a certain name, or to worship in a certain way? Yet people get very worked up that their religious view is the correct one and all the others are wrong and should be converted. If you give those same people legal power to act on those views… I shudder at the possibility!

So it is a Very GOOD thing to have a godless government. By godless this does not mean that the individual office holders do not have a religion, only that the government itself does not endorse one religious view over another. Religion should never be allowed to have sway in areas where its’ doctrines can be enforced. Any area of common and public interest should remain free from religious domination.

The people remain free from oppression when the religions can not enforce their view. To be able to choose your religion instead of it being chosen for you is a fundamental choice that all humans should be allowed to have. A relationship is an individual experience. Your relationship to anyone else is different than any one else, it can not be regulated by any law how you relate to another person. So it is with your god, your relationship is your relationship, and no human can dictate to you how you should relate to your god.

Religion is a choice that is made by the individual. What style, type, sect, or denomination, if any, is solely the choice of the individual and this choice can never be regulated, or even hoped to be controlled.

The one god, the Supreme Being, seeks only our love, and does not want your love unless you are giving it freely.

Be Blessed

How to Have Anything You Want

Blaming the Parents

It seems that nowadays that more and more people are blaming their parents for a bad childhood, and somehow that reasoning gives them a license to misbehave as adults.

Blaming your parents for your current behavior is irrational and irresponsible. One of the steps towards adulthood and self fulfillment is to understand that every person is responsible for their own actions. You are responsible for yourself.

Most people dutifully profess love towards their children and parents. The reality is that the love is only lip service to sooth the public consciousness. When in fact through many past and present irrationalities, conflicts, and demands there is no real love. Lack of respect for the others rights leads to loss of genuine love and enjoyment between parents and children. The lack of trust makes love impossible.

However with that said, we all must realize that an important step towards emotional growth is to acknowledge that no one has an actual duty to love another. Not even parents towards their children, or children towards their parents.

Genuine love occurs only voluntarily, through a mutual exchange of objectives and emotional values. Genuine love between parents and children can and does occur in those relationships in which objectives and values are exchanged and allowed to grow.

When there is no love between parents and children both are partially responsible for some problems experienced by certain adolescents and young adults. Major problems between parents and children are often the result of loss of trust and respect between them. Parents fail to treat children as human beings with individual rights. Parents often resort to force and physical violence under the euphemism of discipline, protection or control.

The cycle becomes sustaining, but can be corrected with effort. It all comes down to an act of defiance, followed by harsh discipline. What should happen is open communication to discover the cause of the defiance. Physical violence is proof of communication failure, and should be avoided.

Too often parents are blamed for their grown children’s faults and behavior. Once a person has reached the legal age they become irrevocably responsible for themselves. Blaming parents only hides or avoids self responsibility and the efforts needed to develop ones own self.


If children are never given respect, they never develop respect for their parents, for themselves or for values. Such children become the future problems as they do not value honesty with themselves or others. Always seeking to survive by usurping others, to get revenge for their upbringing while not taking responsibility for their own life.

The most valuable gift a parent can give to their children is the environment where they learn honesty, integrity, independence and the ability to use assertive effort to produce value for others. If your children are young enjoy them while you can, but respect them as fellow humans and they will grow to respect you and voluntarily love you.

If your children are grown and are still problems to them selves and society, tell them that you are not responsible for their actions, they are responsible for their actions. Give them a short explanation that they are independent human beings with individual rights and responsibilities. Tell them if you must that you apologize for their poor childhood, but the past is gone, all you have is now.

If you are an adult and you cannot talk to your parents, realize this; you are solely responsible for what you do and who you are. The past may have been less than desirable, but it is gone, over and done. You can be who you want to be!

So to sum up, treat each other as you would want to be treated, and the whole world becomes a better place.

Be Blessed

How to Have Anything You Want

How to Use Your Mind

The movies “What the Bleep” and “The Secret” have revealed a most startling finding of modern science; in that there is no material substance in the universe! Everything comes from nothing, the nothing always exists, and as soon as a desire is made energy is created that causes more to be created and then it becomes reality.

We have been led to believe that consciousness is a delusion of our minds. The real delusion is that a universe of such magnificence could have been accidentally formed. The universe as we know it is not a random accident. The universe was deliberately created. There are countless scientific findings from the past century that point to this truth. One vital understanding is the saying “As it is above, so it is below.”

Protons, electrons, quarks, and all of the fundamental particles that science has discovered, all turn out to be various manifestations of energy. This energy is in turn interpreted as shapes and information. Everything in the universe is a product of this ever-moving, ever-changing energy. All that we experience physically is simply an interpretation of that energy using our physical senses. So in the most practical, physical sense, everything that you experience is the result of your mind’s interpretation of the energy of the universe.

There is one all-important truth that you must accept if you wish to develop in to a greater human being. You must discard the idea that the physical universe is a meaningless, uncaring, random machine, and that human consciousness is a chemical accident within this machine. In fact precisely the opposite is true. The universe is a living, conscious, intelligent energy which manifests all physical realities. Thought, emotion, consciousness, and life are the true substance of our universe.

You use your thought energy to create, the thoughts you externalize become things. There are ways to quicken the formation, but for the most part once you have externalized a thought it will come into your reality.

This insight is the first step to true freedom and personal power. If you believe the universe is a random, meaningless, violent place then in your experience it will be so. If, on the other hand, you believe that your mind controls the substance of your experience, and that the universe is primed to fulfill your needs, then you will meet with experiences that confirm this truth.

With that in mind consciously decide to send out thoughts of a positive, constructive nature in order to change the experiences of your life.


Once you have your thought life in good order, and have experienced some inner peace and a little true happiness, then you will be ready for the next developmental stage of this life we all share.

Be Blessed

How to Have Anything You Want
All About Manifesting

How to Change Your Thinking Habits

You are What You Think About

You are not what you think you are, but what you think, you are! Look at that sentence again. Make sure to pause at the commas.

Employing positive self-talk on a consistent basis can work miracles in your life. To quote Napoleon Hill; “Without doubt, the most common weakness of all human beings is the habit of leaving their minds open to the negative influence of other people.”

Your subconscious mind will faithfully draw into your experience whatever you consistently think about. This has been stated before as the Law of Attraction.
Do not let your doubts, your fears, or your skepticism get in your way, this works without your conscious control.

The truth is that you are already using suggestions on your mind 24 hours a day. If you think thoughts such as “I am not creative,” “I am not happy,” “I am poor,” “I am unhealthy,” or any other negative statement, you are telling your subconscious mind, the universe, to bring these ideas into your reality.

You are doing it constantly. The trick to creating your life is to fill your mind with statements which are aimed at creating the life you desire. The easiest and most simple way to begin is with affirmations. Not only do they have the power to instantly transform your life, but they will stimulate your mind to find ways to make these suggestions real for you.

Positive affirmations are constructive directions for your mind. You have the power to use affirmations to set the course of your life. Use this power!

First find a small piece of cardboard. Use the boxtop from your cereal box. It should be trimmed to fit in your pocket so that it is even with the top. Now, let’s write a few positive statements on it. What is one of your negative statements? Do you tell yourself you are not happy or you will never be happy? Then write on this positive board an affirmation that is the opposite. For example; “I am happy with my life all the time.” You can put more than one positive affirmation on it. Print small enough and you could really put a lot of them on your board.

You then want to put this piece of board in your pocket. Place it in the same pocket you place your change in. If you don’t have pockets, or you use a purse, Place it where you will find it every time you look for money, keys, ID, etc. For those that wear an ID pouch place it on the other side of the ID so you see it every time you hold it up.

Just follow these simple rules:
Whenever you reach to get some change and feel the cardboard, pull it out and read the positive statement.
When you catch your self having a negative thought, pull out the board and read your affirmations.
When you hear someone else having a negative thought, pull out your board and read it.

It is vitally important to have a positive, simple habit such as this with which to focus your mind. Do this for a whole week and you will start to see good changes in your life. Do this for a whole month and you will see major changes in your life. Do this for the rest of your life and there is no limit to what you will be able to do.

So start now, go rip off the boxtop and get started, right now, do it before you leave the house today. Do not even think of going anywhere without this positive affirmation board. It would be better to be a minute late than to not have this board on you. Yes it is that important!

Be Blessed

How to Have Anything You Want
All About Manifesting

A Better Life through Inner Strength

You have taken it upon yourself to grow as a human being. Inevitably you will face resistance, or the appearance of resistance, in the form of negative people and negative self-talk from your mind. The time must come when you will satisfy yourself by steadfastly depending on the inner self, and not on anything in the outer world.

There is an example of nature that we can use. It is the basket of crabs; when a crab tries to escape from the basket, one of the other crabs will reach up and pull it back down. People do the same thing. As you try to change your situation, other people will pull you back down. I am sure you have experienced it first hand. If you have never experienced this, try this as an experiment. Tell your friends and relatives that you are thinking of starting your own store, and observe carefully their reactions. Some will be supportive, most will be negative and tell you that you will fail, or that nobody can do that, you’re not the type, and so on.

Now can you imagine what kind of reaction you will receive when you try to tell them about your new path in life? Imagine if you will; a whole church full of hard core christians, and you are standing at the pulpit, you are going to make the announcement that you are a witch. What kind of reaction will they have? Are you brave enough to risk instant burning at the stake? I know in real life nobody would do that, I am just getting the point across that the rest of the world does not need to be invited into your personal life.

Avoid negative people and situations. Do not allow anyone the opportunity to douse their negative energy on you as you try to evolve. It is not necessary to explain to anybody where your new mental attitude is coming from, unless they are completely supportive and genuinely interested.

Protect yourself from negativity! Do not argue or defend your new ideas to anyone! Ignore those people, and get away from anybody who cannot understand the psychological principles you are learning. This is the easy part. The hard part is actually you. You must also banish the negative self-talk that incessantly occurs in your mind. Replace all negativity, criticism and self-doubt with an honest belief in your ability to change anything in your life.

You do not have to pretend that you do not have problems, or that things do not always go smoothly, but you must realize that you have the ability to solve any of your problems, and the potential to attain all of your goals. This is not blind hope, but literal fact.

The easiest way to banish negativity from your life is to have an optimistic view towards the future. Perhaps your past has been filled with negativity and pain, but there is no reason to drag this pain with you as you grow older.

You have the power to make your life a positive expression of your spirit. Realize that you have the power to change anything in your life with which you are unsatisfied. This knowledge will give you the strength to go beyond the negativity we are all surrounded by. Also, with optimism, it is much easier to turn your problems into opportunities for growth.

Optimism for the future is the easiest shortcut to banish negativity. Today, create for yourself a simple, short statement that you can repeat to yourself whenever you feel doubt, or fear, or anger. A good example is “I am healthy, wealthy, and wise,” or “Everyday, in every way, I am getting better and better,” or simply “Everything is going my way.” Find a statement that you are comfortable with and apply it throughout your day.

Then write it down, put it in your pocket or coin purse. That way every time you reach for some change you feel the paper, and remember to be positive.

Be Blessed
How to Have Anything You Want

Be Loyal and Honest to Yourself

Honesty takes effort; it is a continual conscious choice that you must exercise every second of the day. Honesty is not an automatic behavior in most people. Honesty is the most important trait a person can display, but is the most unused part of your inner self. So why is honesty such an important thing to practice?

Honesty is the key to a successful life. What is greatly misunderstood about honesty is how it is used to solve problems. Every one knows that dishonesty can result in serious consequences. Lying, cheating, stealing, and unreliability are just some of the behaviors of people who are not aware of the effort required to maintain honesty. These people use out of context scenarios to easily escape from the current reality of the situation. They avoid their current problem by the seemingly easiest method they can. They do not desire to solve their problems; usually all they want is to escape from any difficulty with the least amount of effort. Self deception and laziness relegate honesty to a low priority, making honesty an arbitrary behavior, especially where emotions and feelings come in to play.

Honesty is a tool for solving problems, for achieving prosperity, happiness, and self realization. The question is now one of degrees; to whom should I be honest? Let us examine a few definitions of honesty. The dictionary defines honesty as the quality, condition, or characteristic of being fair, just, truthful, sincere, and morally upright. Wow, that is a lot of stuff for one character trait. I was telling you that honesty takes work, and now you see it for yourself.

Being honest applies to living things. You can not be dishonest with non living things. For example the door to your house; can you lie to it and trick it into opening the wrong way? Maybe you could tease it and make it close its self. Then try to make it open by using false promises of reward. Of course not, it behaves the same way all the time as it is an inanimate object that has a single purpose that it fulfills well.

The number one top person that you must be honest with is you. You must be honest with and to yourself. Above all be uncompromising with you. Stop lying to yourself. Any bad behavior, any flawed character trait, and low self esteem problem (too fat, too skinny, too short, too tall etc. etc. etc.) is the direct result of not being honest with yourself. You must at all times and in all places be honest with yourself. You have the freedom and the right to your own life. You have the responsibility for your own life. It is you who is living inside your skin. So if you have not been honest with yourself, start now and never stop.

Like money in the bank, a newly added value will accumulate interest. With time you can grow so strong that no outside force will be able to effect you. Self built continually added strength is your only real security, and foundation of happiness. By being honest with yourself you are free from external and independent sources of influence. With this strength of character you will be able to be prosperous and happy.

Be loyal to your self, you are who you are because you have chosen to be that way. Other people can not change you unless you want to change. Conversely you can not change other people unless they first desire to change. You are what you are, to pretend to be anything else is to present an illusion that requires you to be dishonest. If you fear that you will be found out, or exposed, then you have been living your life dishonestly. Acceptance by other people is not a requirement for a successful life. You, and only you, must choose your actions. To do any less is a distortion of human nature and contrary to your own happiness.

So be yourself, be true to who you are. Can you pick yourself out of a group picture? Do you know what you really look like? Start with looking at yourself in a mirror, see what you look like. Do not make a judgment about yourself, just see what you are. Knowing what you are will make the ability to change easier. See yourself fully; do not hold back from your own self what you are. Look at every detail, again not judging yourself, observe and see what is there. Avoid the temptation to say this is too big, or that too ugly, and so on. Just see what is! From here you can choose to maintain, or change what you are.

Once you discover what you are, you now need to learn who you are. This takes some introspection. Start with what you do. Write down things like what you do for a living, what you do for a hobby, and so on. Then write down what you like. Do you like a nice lawn, or a garden? What is your favorite color, scent, song, clothes, food, and so on? Then write down achievements. Do you have a trophy, or a certificate of achievement? What did you do to earn them? Do you know how to ride a bike, drive a car, and fly a plane? What else can you do? Now write down your skills. Can you weld, or cook, or navigate? As you write these things down if you remember something from a different category then by all means write it down. This will keep you busy for a while, but we are not done yet. Now the hard one; write down your values. Review your list of all the above and convert them to values. What do you believe? Present yourself to your self. This is who you are, accept yourself. If you find erroneous or destructive traits you should make note of them with the intent to correct them. Be willing to accept that you have not been your best and then seek corrective action.

For example, do you criticize people for their perceived shortcomings or faults? Do you criticize yourself for the same things? Whether you criticize to them or behind their backs, or to other people about other people, is an undesirable personal trait. Choose instead to remain silent about them, unless asked by them. If a person asks your opinion, freely give it as long as it will not cause harm. Do not be cruel, just honest. If a person does not ask for your opinion then simply remain silent. If you find yourself criticizing others, stop. Backbiting and gossiping is destructive behavior, so be honest with your self and choose to not do it.

You have the guiltless freedom to live your life. All people have the same right and responsibility to live their own life. You can make an error and are free to correct it. You are free to grow in the direction that you feel is right for you. You start by learning about what and who you are. Once you know that you are ready to develop yourself to greater and better things. The one thing that will cause you to grow is unswerving honesty.

Be honest with your self, be loyal to your self, and love your self.

Be Blessed

A New and Better Universe

3 Steps to a Better and Happier Life

All human pleasure and happiness is experienced through and by emotions. It is in the supreme purpose of all humans to achieve happiness their life. Emotions, also known as feelings, are among a person’s most valuable assets. Emotions deliver the ultimate rewards and penalties of a person’s life. Without feelings or emotions you could never be happy; you would never experience joy. The emotion of joy is the most sought after prize on this planet.

People go to great effort and expense to feel joy. Joy is often misconstrued and is the least understood of all the emotions. Once a person has experienced joy they will try again to recreate the feeling any way they can. If that person does not understand their inner self, they will try to achieve joy by external means: They will try drugs, or drink, promiscuity, sadism, masochism, vandalism, thrill crimes, binge eating, purging, or other similar behavior, seeking to once again feel joy.

Human pleasure is experienced by sensory and emotional means. To fully develop into a state of human happiness and experience joy, you must be aware of your emotions and have a guilt-free acceptance of them. You must also be honest with your inner self, and must understand that you are fully responsible for your own well being. A person’s happiness truly does revolve around the axis of whether or not a person is being honest with their own self.

Emotions are a real part of every person. To know your self you must learn your feelings, discover your emotions. Not only to share them, but to prevent them from becoming destructive. Have you ever understood the difference between fear and destructive fear? Fear is a response to a stimulus that allows you to prepare for facing adversity. Destructive fear is unreasonable fear, not based on a threat to self or others, and prevents one from taking action. Not just a response action, but any action at all. Unreasonable fear is destructive to self esteem, and low or damaged self esteem will prevent you from feeling happiness and joy.

Emotions are not controlled by any law. There is no conceivable way to legislate emotions. Emotions do not have action. It is only action that can be right or wrong: Only actions can be judged. An individual is always responsible for their actions. Feeling anger is different from striking out with anger (verbally or physically). You are not forced by your emotions to act. A person only has to take responsibility for their self and choose to either act or not. So it stands to reason that you cannot be found guilty for having an emotion, as long as you do not act...

Some religions try to control the masses by trying to control emotions—when that doesn’t work then religion tries to control people by guilt; to make them feel guilty for having a feeling. To do this, they invented the concept of sin, and with this single concept discovered an effective tool for convincing everyone that they needed religion. Since all humans have a full range of emotions that cannot be controlled by any outside force, you became victimized by religion; convincing you that you were condemned just because of your thoughts, and so were guilty.

You must find those teachings that have been ingrained inside you and UN-learn them. Every human has the right to be happy, to experience joy. There is no sane reason for feeling guilty about an emotion. Sure, you might want to feel guilty for having an angry thought, but as long as you did not act upon your emotion, there is no reason to feel guilty. You can have any emotion you want, and are not guilty of anything. Learn to forgive yourself. Find what is holding you, and let it go.

To experience joy you must take a few conscious steps. Step one; you must be true to yourself. This is your life; there is no one else inside your skin but you. Know who you are, what you want from your life, and above all be honest with yourself. When you are having negative emotions these are you telling you that you are getting away from your values that make you who you are.

Step two; you need to set a standard for yourself. There is a way of guiding your actions called “always do the right thing.” To do that you must faithfully act with fairness and honesty in all matters that you undertake to accomplish.

Finally step three, do not act solely upon what others think or say. Always use your own independent judgment when doing anything you decide to. Yes, you can seek advice and task direction from others as you learn a skill, or for the performance of your job. However, you must endeavor to not live your life by the demands or wishes of others. If your friends and relatives think you should be a doctor, but you want to be a circus clown, who will be happy if you become a doctor? If you are unclear about the answer to that question ask yourself this: What is the supreme purpose of all humans? (Hint: read the first paragraph)

When you are able to think freely, and to act independently and honorably, you will begin to feel happiness. When this happens you are on the right path to joy. Then when you do feel joy, you will know it is yours, and that you can recreate it at will by living up to yourself.

Be Blessed

A New and Better Universe