I grew up at a time when skinning your knee was the norm and didn't require anyone to swoon over your injury. It was kind of like a badge of honor to wear the scab that resulted.

That self sufficiency can be good and bad as you mature. Good, because you think you can go it alone. Bad, because you think you can go it alone. 

No one gets through life without support of some kind. The challenge for us is to set boundaries that honor our personal space. It's hard to put ourselves before others, but it is a necessity that requires a commitment to self.

Your obligation is always to yourself first. If you don't set yourself as a priority...no one will. Read that again.

Be kind to yourself. Be kind to one another. <3

Don't promise when you are happy, don't reply when you are angry, and don't decide when you are sad. - Tiny Buddha.

Pause until you feel peace, then react.

I've allowed my ego to make some pretty unhealthy decisions in the moment. It's hard to ignore the ego because it is loud and obnoxious and your need to quieten it overrides our sensibility. 

It is important to ask yourself why you are about to make a decision. Are your intentions pure? Are you making the decision that is right for you or is it to spite/impress someone else?

Pause until you feel peace, then react.

When you rely on soul over ego to make a decision you know you will make the right one for the long term. It will feel right. In order to get to that feeling you need to pause and reflect in order to have no regrets. <3

When you first read the words in the photo you are filled with warm fuzzies knowing that good is on the way. But when you read them while at the same time understanding karma, the words take on a sinister meaning.

I knew early on in life that doing all things with pure intentions was necessary. Was I perfect at it? No. Did I earn bad karma along with my good? Yes. Does my good karma outweigh my bad? Yes.

It's a very fine balance that God, Creator, Universe, Source has to keep. You know the rule...for every action there is an equal or opposite reaction. What does that mean exactly?  If object A exerts a force on object B, object B also exerts an equal and opposite force on object A. In other words, forces result from interactions. There is always an outcome...good or bad...for every decision you make.

Your life's circumstances are a direct result of your ability to make choices and decisions. There is no hiding from karma. So, when you know better, you should do better. Exert your force in a good way with pure intentions to keep your energy flow clear. <3

When you are striving for perfection, who are you trying to impress? A whole pile of people who don't care in the first place?

We are taught to believe that what other people say or think about us matters. So much so that we gain behaviours such as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCB). Inherently we know we cannot control other peoples thoughts, so we try to control a thing.

My OCD is having everything linear. I cannot control an out of control world, but I can be sure to have all my pictures straight at all times! 

No one is perfect. It's impossible. What IS possible is being real with yourself. You have nothing to prove to anyone else. All that energy that you are using to do that can be better spent proving to yourself how great of a being you are. Be your imperfect self and know that its an okay place to be. <3

Dear Optimist, Pessimist, and Realist:

While you were busy arguing about the glass of water, I drank it. 

Sincerely,
The Opportunist

                                 ++++

It's humbling when you realize that you are not always right. That the thoughts in your head are making you believe things that are not correct. By this I mean really important things like...skin color is an issue. Or who/what you worship is an issue. Stuff like that.

The world is round or flat...THAT doesn't matter.
Political parties...THAT doesn't matter.
There are/are not UFO's...THAT doesn't matter.

How we treat each other is the ONLY thing that matters in the whole scheme of things. Unless and until that is understood, we will continue to create the ugliness that pits us against one another. And then blame one another for the ugliness that we are each responsible for. A vicious circle that we each have the power to change. <3

My Gramma used to say..."less said, easier mended". When you are young and impetuous this doesn't really mean a whole lot. As you mature it becomes a more relevant statement.

The tongue truly is the strongest muscle in the body. It can hurl words in a good way and a bad way that can have a lasting impact. 

Many a times I've sat with an email in my drafts reading and re-reading its contents. I've had to shave off negative wording and add in positive. Prior to hitting send, I needed to be sure that I was prepared to deal with any feedback that may arise. 

The same goes for my mind in a social setting. Determining why I want words to be presented is the key to sounding informed. Am I speaking just to speak or am I prepared to deal with any feedback that may arise?

​Sometimes it is best just to remain silent. Be in the moment. Listen to learn. Walk away with peace on your side. <3

From a very young age I lived my life as if someone was watching my every move. Those who believe in a higher power say it was God. Those who don't say it was paranoia. Thankfully as I got older I trusted in my own truth so that I could learn to understand the power of my karmic energy. An energy that we all possess.

Simply put: Send out good energy, receive good energy back. Send out bad energy, receive bad energy back. Why though? What is this mysterious karmic tracking system all about? And who is in charge of it?

What I have come to determine is that we aren't simply flesh and bone. We are energy that emits positive and negative frequencies. How you love or hate determines the balance or imbalance of energy you have in your life. 

I've also come to determine that the reason we only have access to 10% of our brain is because our humanness couldn't handle the truth in the other 90% of our brain. Inherently we know that our very existence is beyond human comprehension. Its too mind boggling to decipher the facts from the fiction. So some beings live in denial while others live to understand. 

What I know for sure is this: If we all did the right thing even when we think no one was looking, we'd have a very different place to live. <3 

There is no past, there is no future, there is only every this moment. This is extremely hard for people to accept. Somehow we think we can control our life's circumstances by worrying the heck out of them. This does not work. In fact, it will only make things worse.

The past is in your mind.
The future is in your mind.
This moment is your reality.

No one can see your past.
No one can see your future.
No one can see your present moment.

Nothing exists unless you want it to exist....good and bad. You can worry yourself into bad or you can just be and allow the good to come to you.

Use your "being" to bring peace and calm into your life. When you have peace and calm you will have clarity, because then, and only then, is the time right. <3

I use the word soul over 800 times in my book The Sun Neither Rises nor Sets. An excerpt from chapter five titled "You Have a Soul": 

We scoff at this thing that we call a soul because we cannot explain its ultimate goal.

It is easier to think that our body is all biological because the thought of a soul is not logical.

It is easier to believe that when you are dead you are done instead of believing in God and His son.

We would much rather plod along in our life and not listen to our soul’s divine insight.

We struggle with feelings felt in the brain and heart and forget that the soul is another body part.

Your soul uses the brain and heart as its tools to show you that neither the heart nor brain rules.

Your soul is your heart and brain’s discontent; it is the side of us in which our entire life is spent.

Your soul is that whisper that you hear deep inside of where your brain and heart both must reside.
​
It is that whisper that we choose to ignore as we saunter through life thinking there is no more.
<3

Patience was not my best virtue. My younger self believed that if I did all the right things then life would go my way. My older self knows that all things happen exactly as they are supposed to and no amount of wishing will change that.

When you stop and think about all the intricacies that must happen second to second for you to be alive, it is actually quite fascinating.

No one goes it alone here. Whether you are a hermit in the woods or a self made billionaire, you will always need a life other than yours in order to live. The hermit needs the deer for food. The billionaire needs someone to manufacture his food. 

Your life literally depends on other lives in order to remain alive. When you drill it down to this understanding, then you will have acceptance. 

Stay in the now because that is all there ever will be. Accept that where you are at is needed for a whole host of reasons that you will never get to know. Find peace in that. <3