Personal Meditation No. 181

“It’s not all in your mind but if you don’t control your mind, then the rest doesn’t matter.”

Embrace the Within

Can I tell you that there are a lot of crazy ideas that I get the opportunity to witness. I get them all because I think folks find me a reliable sounding board for any manner of thought they embrace. And I am thankful that so many diverse ideas make their way across my purview. There is stuff that is never on my radar that I ends up in my face just from the variety of folks I enjoy conversating. I did enjoy that my brother this weekend endorsed me as not being one of those crazy folks BUT just a guy that is willing to listen and, as he calls it, stir the pot. And I think he probably knows me better than I do and I will take that as an endorsement. Because, I get a lot of ideas thrown my way about how things are and in spite of all that, I just do me.

I have a lot of friends and acquaintances that are out there doing so many diverse things. Some of those things I endorse and and a lot I call out. I am not one to not tell you what I think about your philosophy BUT I am also not one to force a change in your philosophy. I will just challenge it. Like all these folks that want to embrace war and killing. I was hoping we could evolve beyond that BUT here we are with ROTC programs in high schools and colleges . . . Here we are with “matching energy” . . . Here we are with an “eye for an eye” . . . . Here we are.

Unlimited knowledge at your finger tips. Unlimited ideas at your disposal. Unlimited potential for greatness and abundance. And we still want to kill folks and put them in cages. We still want to act like being violent is noble if it is blessed by the government. We still don’t get that the means are the means and the end . . . We still don’t.

There have been highs and lows the past three days. I got the privilege of taking my daughter on a college weekend and I had the setback of a predator in my chicken run. And life still continues. It doesn’t take a time out.

BUT, regardless, it was a great weekend. I got to show off my incredible navigating skills in Carlisle and I am feeling in great shape. My brother verified that even though I am a pot stirrer and instigator, I am in deed not as crazy as

So, we get to choose whether we are going to worry about things that we cannot control or are we going to take control of what we can change or are we going to overreact and make ourselves insane. And I get to manage all of those things this week.

Have the day you want. I hope you find whatever you’re looking for.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #MyBodyMyChoice #MakeYourselfGreatAgain #EmbracetheWithin

Personal Meditation no. 180

“Your beliefs are your actions. What you say is just what you think.”

Embrace the Within.

Continuing with that seed from yesterday that hopefully landed with you, folks are easily caught up in what mattered yesterday. When you start changing your focus, you have to be willing to let those things that were in the past go. When you thought those ways and worried about those things, you were a totally different person. If you want to be who you were, then keep worrying about the things you once worried about. If you truly want to change, then you have to let those things go.

I find that this is one of those things that just takes time and practice. You have to retrain your brain because your brain, as I have pointed out endlessly, is not on your side in this one. Your brain wants to go back to those easy decisions, those easy reactions, that well-worn rut. Change is mind changing, life changing, and paradigm changing. Change makes your brain make new connections. Change makes your life go along a different path. Change makes you consider new perspectives, ideas, and modes of thought. Change is reflective, introspective, and adaptive.

I was scared fourteen days ago. And fear is a great motivator. BUT fear led me to ownership. I was afraid because I wasn’t doing enough. I was the one to blame if I ran out of food. I was the one to blame if I couldn’t do something as simple as produce. I was the one to blame for sitting on more than enough land to provide for my needs and not putting in the work. I was to blame for thinking someone else was going to provide for me. And the change grew from there.

Never underestimate the power of radical self ownership. When you start holding yourself accountable, there is no one else to point the finger toward BUT yourself. So, I started planting seeds and failed miserably. And that could be the end of the story of change. BUT it was not the end of the story. When my father-in-law asks me about what is growing in my greenhouse, when my father asks me about the raised beds, when folks compliment the eggs my chickens lay, when I get to make my breakfast salad from greens I am growing in my yard, when folks want to see my plantation . . . I know I didn’t make the wrong choice.

You can always choose to do things the easy way. You can just go out there and consume and consume and keep taking. Or you can choose to produce? You can be a burden on your community or you can be a benefit? You can take or you can give? You get to choose. You just need to hold yourself accountable for that choice.

I used to think it was fine to rely on going to the store until things changed fourteen days ago. Sometimes the store doesn’t want you there. Sometimes the rules change. Sometimes the folks that say they care about you and have your best interest in mind really don’t. And you have to always be prepared. I learned that lesson back in the 1980s and it carries with me to this day.

We all had choices to make when the fourteen days began. We all still have choices to make because things seem to repeat themselves in time with rhyme. So, what are you going to choose?

Have the day you want. I hope you find whatever you’re looking for.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #MyBodyMyChoice #MakeYourselfGreatAgain #EmbracetheWithin