She took action when no one else would...

I was at a restaurant today and a man was at the bar. Old, decrepit, and not as one might say 'all there.' He was, however, loud and angry. He sounded his impatience with the waitress with a series of bellows.

"Helloooooo!" He would moan quite a few decibals higher than anyone else in the restaurant.

One thing seemed particularly odd, though...the old man was bleeding all over the place, and no one seemed to care or even notice.

Then a girl got up from one of the tables, a young woman of about twenty with shoulder length dark hair. She walked up to him and asked him he needed help. I immediately felt a sense of relief, knowing that with her intervention, help would soon be on the way.

It took longer than I thought it should have taken for someone to pick up the phone and call an ambulance for the old man, but I felt better with each passing moment, because with every question the girl would ask him, to which she drew no coherent response, she became more dedicated to managing his plight, even attending to his wounds with paper towels.

He had two gashes on the back of his left harm. They appeared to be self inflicted.

Within five minutes an army of paramedics swarmed the tiny corner market, police and firemen among them. For what it was worth I found it rather comical that they had moved a batallion to the aid of a grumpy, confused old man who probably needed less than five stitches, but it was compelled into action by the simple consideration of one girl who thought enough to reach out and help a stranger.

Good on you, whoever you are. It made my day.

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Bringing Chapter Two of this blog to a close with a major breakthrough!

Yesterday, I was finally able to lineate the driving ideology behind this blog, and it was revealed to me why I chose the title I did.

When I chose A Practical Approach to Spiritual Living as the subtitle, I knew that balance was the ultimate objective, but at the time, my own knowledge of how the two were connected was latent at best.

As I began to write, and to travel my own journey along with many of my readers, I was afforded tools, each erasing yet another crazy connection I had made between flailing helplessly and living well. As each frayed connection was replaced with simplicity, my life began to get a lot easier.

You ready? I give you The Introvert Exposed in a nutshell:

1. Less energy exerted on more focused causal links results in higher productivity.

2. The less energy we need to exert getting from point A to point B, the more energy we have to attune with the world around us, leading ultimately to adaptability.

3. Along with improved adaptability comes the ability to process more quickly--often more quicklythan those around us--, our senses, including our intuition, become sharpened as they are no longer exposed to the full weight of confusion, and it becomes much easier to manage our emotions.

4. The more command we have over practical ways of adapting to our environment (A Practical Approach) the more control we have over the vibrations that we send out into the Universe.

5. Whatever we send out is translated by the quantum field as intention and our intentions are compelled into reality by the Law of Attraction. (To Spiritual Living).

I can think of no better way to close this chapter than with such order to my thoughts. I've decided to let the driving ideology behind Chapter 3 identify itself through continued blog posts, listening closely to the sweet whispers of the Universe for hints as to what each post should entail.

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How to get emotionally organized...

...I have stumbled upon the solution to managing my stress so many times now that it defies logic that I should keep forgetting it. In order to manage my emotional stress, there needs to be physical order about me. In short, I need to stay organized.

When clutter is all around my room and things begin to pile up, the prospect of putting it back together becomes more and more overwhelming, and I run away from it with food, spending money, spending way too much time on my phone trying to keep myself entertained, et cetera.

Then comes the point where I simply cannot take it anymore and throw my laundry down. When that's done, I do something else.

The relief of once again having my living space in order is received as warmly today as it always has been. On a quantum level, the reason that emotional recuperation comes with clearing out the clutter is because an attempt to get organized physically tells the Universe that you wish to stay emotionally organized as well.  At face value, you just feel a whole lot better when you're organized.

Start with one thing. It doesn't need to be the biggest thing. It just needs to be something. And then another something. And then another something. You will feel a million times more emotionally ready to go about your day when it's done.

The reason I've decided to go public again...

...has less to do with getting back on the map than it does finally stepping into the light and standing up for myself. Things have been really weird for me lately. I've been getting a number of signs from the Universe that faith in the unlikely pays off. I have been hesitant to write about certain trivial things occuring in my life because of fear of what would happen if that information ever fell into the wrong hands.

Now I need to integrate all the parts of myself that I've only ever let certain people see. I want to be a whole person and the only way to do that is to bear my name and my crosses with integrity. I wrote a post awhile back about how to clear a decision. I can clear any decision that I make out of self-respect. I cannot clear any decision that I make based on fear, because any decision based on fear fails to meet the basic criteria for being a decision at all...it's a response.

There are people in my life who read this blog on a regular basis and who find hope in the way that I view the world. The driving ideology behind this blog is that less energy exerted on a more focused causal link will have a higher yield. I wrote a post back in September titled Access to the Spiritual Current, which explores this ideology more deeply than I will allow myself to do in this post.

The bottom line is it takes less energy to drive straight through your fears than it does to be walked by the same like a pet along their perimeter.  

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Eating the money frog...

I need $3,000 worth of dental work done in relatively short order. Instead of taking out a loan or getting on a payment plan with my dentist, I've decided to shake the hell out of the trees and see how many greenbacks come floating down.

I don't want another debt hanging over my head.

Recent events have tested my faith in the Universe and I need to remember that results arise where we exert our energies. Apparently the message I received in my dream the other night, "You've gotten everything you've ever wanted," was meant to remind me of that. Whenever I really drive at something I want, the Universe has my back.

Why settle for taking another step back financially when I can just put the work in and stay ahead?  

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The only app on my phone now is Words with Friends...technology time limit...

Another part of removing that which is not David is cutting ties with the people in my life who mean me harm, or who allow me to invite harm upon myself in some way. The only app on my new phone is Words with Friends, which I can play at night before reading a book and either retiring or meditating.

Also, starting today, I'm denying myself access to my mom's computer or anything having to do with this blog any time after 6pm. Up until then I can spend up to 15 minutes talking to friends through Facebook, regardless of what we talk about.

Kik is off limits.

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Removing that which is not David...

...consists of eliminating things in my life that don't need to be there. For many years I thought that instant gratification was the best way navigate this world. I thought that saving money meant dividing my assets between instant gratification and otherwise keeping myself occupied.

That touches a causal link but it isn't focused enough.

Think about it. Let's say a soda purchased at a convenience store is $2. Why purchase it at a convenience store when in the supermarket you can get for $1.50? Does the supermarket have a generic product that might be sold for $1.25? If they do, you might be able to purchase the drink in bulk for $1 per item.

The bulk purchase may end up amounting to $10, anyway.

Wouldn't it be better to bring tap water with you to work or to wait until you get home to grab a piece of fruit?

The $10 that you might have spent on that generic product can now be allocated to serve other ends. Freshly emerging companies have stocks at less than $10 per share. There are penny stocks that show promise. Could that $2 soda amount to $5k in missed opportunity for not having it available when you needed it?

Play the tape all the way through.

"It's like chess. Try not to look at just the next move, try to look three moves ahead." ~Jason Gideon, Criminal Minds: Season 1, Episode 2; 'Compulsion.'

If the Universe really is an echo, it means that the quantum ripple expands in every direction. Preceding great gains have been exerted great sacrifices in energy. Everything in the Universe has a steadily expanding energetic value.

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Cleaning out the proverbial clutter...pt. 1 (to be expanded upon tonight)

I had mentioned before that I felt as though I was going through a factory reset of sorts. Now, I feel as though I've been afforded the clarity to see through the parts of myself that don't need to be there, through the illusions that present as viable solutions to problems I keep rescucitating from my past.

When asked how he had carved the Statue of David so perfectly, Michaelangelo stated that "I did not carve David, I simply removed that which was not David."

I feel almost as though I've been given a map. I'll have more time to expland on this later but I wanted to get it down.


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I feel balanced again...

...More in control than I usually feel and happier than I usualy am. The sun has a tint that I've never seen before. My plants are their strongest yet, and I just added two new crabs to Sebastian's enclosure, Lana and Spot.

I had a strange dream last night but from within it there arose a clear message, spoken as a dying man's last words to his student:

"You've gotten everything you've ever wanted. Stop throwing it all away and let this thing go."

I don't know exactly what that means right now but it will be extremelely important in the near future.

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Been awhile, doctor's orders!

I apologize for not being around. Where things had begun to slow down before, they have now begun to speed back up. I developed an abscess shortly after dental work, contracted a lung infection from my daughter and I think on a lower level I've been concerned about something rather significant that I won't publicize. In a few weeks I'll be having a cholesterol test and an A1C test, and I'm doctor's orders to lose 30 pounds.

How nice to hear it from the man in the white coat. I'm sure I've told myself a thousand times that that is what I need to do, but it was never at the forefront of my thinking. I'm starting to be honest with my doctors and with my family about certain things in my life and have reaped the benefits thereof.

I know that this post thus far has been a bunch of rambling but I needed to get it all out. Imagine carrying all that around with you in your head all day?

Back to grassroots living...saving money, eating right and loving others.

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The Instruction Manual for Adulthood

I think it was my mom who told me that Olivia wants to be an adult but that she doesn't have the instruction manual for it.

It just occurred to me that I have an instruction manual of my own and I still don't follow it.

I still try to do things the easy way and pay twice for it later. I still spend money when I know I shouldn't. I still occasionally talk to people I shouldn't--I had a quick lapse with the chat app which has been causing me so much trouble lately and uninstalled it again last night, but not before being dragged at least part of the way down the emotional gauntlet that always waits for me when I do.

Why do I do the same things over and over and expect a different result?

You can only really make a mistake until you've become fully aware that action leads to consequence. Every time you repeat the action from that moment forward, you've not made a mistake, but a decision. 

99.99% of the stress in my life right now could have been avoided. I am responsible for managing that stress and for ensuring that I don't repeat the actions that got me here.

We are intelligent beings. We are aware, for the most part, of the major causal links in our life, particularly where they concern our serenity.

I intend to bear this in mind for the rest of the day.

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Still going strong with the social media temptations...

I'm now downstairs on the computer instead of upstairs in my room on my phone. My efforts to avoid chat apps using that phone have been successful so far. That makes a little over 24 hours. I've had to plow through my own resistance to the idea, fueled in part by a need to fit in with the rest of the world.

The only positive social influences in my life come through Facebook and I'm glad for the fact that I only have one app to keep track of. I tend to switch rapidly between platforms when I have them all downloaded on my phone, a hurried, desperate attempt to read messages as soon as they come through.

After all, who doesn't like to receive a new message?

I'm sitting here eating banana bread, the only thing I can really tolerate. My appointment with the dentist was amazing. She does beautiful work, but unforeseen circumstances have rendered me unable to chew on the right side of my mouth.

My gums are black.

Work went well, which is to say I got through it without getting fired. I recently celebrated a year with the company. When I brought it to my immediate supervisor's attention, his response was: "What the fuck? Already?"

I had had much the same reaction a few days earlier.

I hate to recede to the solitude of my room but Time is not on my side this morning. It is fast approaching 1:30am and I need to be up early. If afforded the patience, the money, and the opportunity to do nothing but write for the rest of my life, I think I would. This post, however, already too long, must be injected into the cyber void, and I must retire.

Same blog time, Same blog channel.

Until then...

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I am realigning my social assets...life among wolves...

I actually did it.

I needed my Android for an alarm clock this morning, but I have not reinstalled any social media apps on it. I mentioned a couple of posts back that without online friends, I get lonely.

It's scary being alone in my head.

And didn't it just occur to me that the fear I have of being alone stems from the people I talk to? I have no good reason to be talking to people who satisfy me emotionally if I need to sacrifice values that dictate the depth of my spirituality.

Humility and concern for others are among them.

I have begun eliminating these online contacts from my life, assigning them to a 'Dark List' and storing them in a proverbial Chamber of Secrets (Credit to J.K Rowling here). They reside with all the other parts of myself that I've not yet mustered the strength to examine at length.

There is a proverb about good and evil. Everyone has within them a dark wolf and a light wolf. Which wolf will prevail?

Whichever wolf you feed.

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I forgot about my meditation room...

It happens as it needs to happen. We zoom in and out on spirituality like a camera lens. Things which held my interest months ago have been replaced by new and exciting aspirations.

For me, emotional investments are polarized.

I'll either win the Boston Marathon or I won't. If I'm not going to, why bother running? I'll either become a worldwide best-selling author with my first book or I won't. If I'm not going to be an overnight success, why bother writing?

The same rules apply to my meditation room. It's either crystal clear, or latent at best. Rarely am I able to experience my meditation room withoiut the belief that it will continue to grow and evolve, and that I will be responsible for remembering what goes where each time I visit.

Maybe.

Whatever happens in the future, I'm glad to have it back with me now, because I really need it.

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What is gratitude?

Generosity is important. Giving of yourself just to see the smile on someone's face is one of the most rewarding things you can do for someone.

But showing gratitude is even more important. I spent the day with someone who, though hurting, went out of her way to express her deepest gratitude for my efforts to comfort her, in spite of her inability to communicate her gratitude nonverbally. It brought me great joy to know that I had succeeded in what I had gone up there to do.

Its just so freaking impressive how starkly genuine people stand out against their pain. It's not even that they wield their ingenuity as a means of healing.

They don't even know that they have it.

Time to stop lying to myself...update to training regimen

My technology sabbatical failed almost before it started. I've been avoiding new posts so that I wouldn't look weak to my new readers, or feel weak to myself.

I'm not weak. I'm addicted to technology, and lonely without it. Truthfully, I would have benefitted more from admitting that I was unable to turn away as soon as I had turned back, but I can't reap what I've not sown.

Below is my updated training regimen. I cannot guarantee complete adherence but it will get me started . I tried this some time ago and after falling short I was reminded of how intense of a module it actually is. I have my ___ and my power beads, as well as my power ring. I believe I only had access to the former two when I was last engaged in regular training.

So here we go:

I thought I would take the opportunity to formulate and publish my spiritual training regimen for the next thirty days, with one value per day, starting tonight:

1. Not speaking unless spoken to during work hours.
2. 10 minutes solitary reflection
3. 20 minutes solitary reflection
4. 30 minutes solitary reflection
5. Being of service to someone else
6. 24-hour phone fast
7. 30-minute activity with OlIvia
8. Falling asleep without a sleeping pill

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Back on sabbatical...

I don't need the pressure of technology right now. I'll be back to update you all on March 10th!

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Quantum Exposed: Wresting Color from the Canvas; 9

This 'House Rule' and others can be found in Dan Millman's book Living on Purpose. I accredit all direct quotations regarding the House Rules to Dan Millman. The subsequent lay analysis is mine. I want to be clear on one thing: I am not being paid to convey the information contained herewith. My intention is to use the concepts contained herewith to give my more ambitious readers, including myself, a Universal Law on which to reflect daily. 

1. Earth is a school and daily life is our classroom
2. Our teachers come in many forms
3. We learn best through direct experience
4. Failures are the stepping stones to success
5. Lessons reappear until we learn them
6. If we don’t learn the easy lessons, they get harder
7. Consequences teach better than concepts
8. Only action brings ideas to life
9. We can control efforts, not outcomes

We have control over general aspects of our lives with respect to what we attract based on what we inject into the Universe, but these results can neither be predicted nor repeated . We have a limited understanding of the Universe because of our finite perspective. This is something that will never change.

We do, however, have direct control over the efforts that we put into reaching our goals. What a gift! I have come to realize that no amount of effort in the Universe goes unseen by the forces that matter. We may not have direct control over the result, but we have unlimited agency with respect to how much effort we put into seeing our desired result into realization.

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