Be the Change no. 41

“Change is difficult when you keep telling yourself the same story. Change your story and change your life.”

Be the Change.

I was one of those guys that made fun of the healthy folks. I lived my life going from one chemical to another to get me through the day. Using caffeine and sugar to get me going and moving through the day and nicotine to calm my nerves and alcohol to shut it down. There are many folks drugging themselves all day long living seemingly normal lives. Or what I thought was normal. I thought getting healthy and taking care of myself was for suckers. I didn’t expect to live a healthy life. I expected to be something outside the norm by being just like everyone else. Living unhealthy among all the other unhealthy folks. And I had no plans on changing that story. Until I did.

Eventually you get to make that choice that you don’t want to go from one fix to another. And that fix is not always socially unacceptable. We get constantly bombarded by acceptable ways to damage our health. There are always acceptable limits to what we can do to our bodies without disdain from others. We can get a giant coffee filled with dairy and sugars and no one bats an eye. We can dine from a fast food bag and no one says a word. We can snack all day on chips and soda and no one takes a second glance. But do a line of cocaine or shoot some heroin and now you are the one with the problem. And we want healthcare for all in this country? We need nutrition for all in this country first. We need folks to consider their health first.

You can make the change to make sure your life is abundant BUT you have to be willing to rewrite the ending of your story. Some of us come here after years of doing things the wrong way. We come here with misconceptions about health and our lives. We come here enslaved to bad decisions and need a way out. What we need to do is to rethink our story. We need to figure out who we are. We need to take some time and really wonder what it is that makes us want to wake up in the morning. And it isn’t the Starbucks or the Dunkin or the McCafe . . . that’s just getting you through. What does it mean for you to be truly alive?

And then write that story. Have the day you want. I hope you find whatever you’re looking for.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #MyBodyMyChoice #MakeYourselfGreatAgain #BeTheChange

Personal Meditation no. 178

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

Embrace the Within.

I can abide a city for about twenty-four hours. No more than that. The novelty of food variety and shop variety wears off after that. So, it is wonderful that we are in the city for less than a day this year to celebrate the help we were given eight years ago when Python was born prematurely.

Today, we will walk again for the memory of those days when we didn’t know what we were going to do, where we were going to stay, and who we were going to talk with all this about. And then there was the Ronald McDonald House. And that is why we and others walk each year. Because when we needed a place, they were there. And they don’t just evaporate from your life after the fact. They stay around. They are family and you will do anything to help your family.

I think a lot of us get tormented by family. We get tormented by the idea that folks that are on a genealogy list or share a home or somehow link in your lineage are your family. BUT family isn’t genetics or bloodlines or trees, family is a relationship you have with other folks. A relationship that means you would sacrifice your comfort, your safety, your future for the preservation of theirs. And I think a lot of what we see as family falls short of that reality.

In my two decades of government teaching, I have heard stories of parents waiting for kids to turn 18 so they can put them out of the house. I don’t know how that is family. I have heard stories of parents abusing their children and destroying them physically and emotionally. I don’t know how that is family. I have heard stories of relatives spreading rumors and lies about relatives. I don’t know how that is family. And there are countless more inhuman acts I have heard and seen that are beyond how animals treat their young as examples of family. That is not family.

Family is a relationship. Family is accepting. Family is compassion. Family is understanding. When we think about the infinite compassion that is open to us, when we think about the infinite love that we are capable of showing, when we think about the perfectly imperfect relationships we could create, we understand what family truly is. It’s reaching out to our brothers and sisters. It’s making sure we are alright and they are alright. It’s sharing smiles and happiness as well as tears and sorrows. It’s a state of hope in a world that definitely needs hope.

When we are born into families that are not those things, then we need to find our own family that are those things. And there are still plenty of good folks, good families, good situations out there. We only need to look and we will find them.

So, cherish your family today. The one that looks out for you even when you don’t deserve it. The one that is always willing to help without asking. The one that you feel the same about. Those are the relationships that you need. And if you don’t have those relationships, then I hope you find them soon. Those are the things that make the messiness and complications of life easier and not more difficult. That is what family is for. And that is why we walk.

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

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