Health update...once again

I have been back to the hospital yet once again.  This time was pretty major, apparently a cyst formed on my kidney and pelvis.  It started out on Wednesday afternoon as a 2 mm cyst and by Friday Morning it was 8 cm in diameter, 40 ml of fluid were drained from it, there was no sign of bacteria or infection.  I am seriously wondering what caused this phenomena after 3 days of testing and draining of the cyst, I am still no closer to an answer than I was the day I was admitted to the hospital. Ever since I got back from Atlanta, my kidneys have been giving me a lot of trouble. I spent 3 days in the hospital when I got back to Florida, and I spent a day in the hospital in Atlanta before I left.  I knew that I was severely dehydrated and that my kidneys were in jeopardy.  This new addition of fluid building up in my body in areas that it isn't supposed to has made me wonder what is really going on with my body.

This is the first time in 20 years that I haven't been able to put a finger on what is happening with my body and knowing what I am supposed to do to fix it.  Unfortunately, with this new information comes a whole new series of questions. I have been constantly on top of my bodies health ever since I was diagnosed with cancer 20 years ago.  This is the first time that something new has cropped up that I haven't had the answers too.  It has also made my mind go into overdrive to come up with a solution. Unfortunately with the information that I have I cannot for the life of me understand what is going on inside of me this time.  So as with all things unexplained I leave it to the good Lord to sort out on His own, because in my mind He is the ultimate authority on the body since He created it.  It has to be His will that I go through this or it wouldn't be happening to me at all.

I have to keep in mind that even as I walk there are times when my strength has failed to move me forward and it has been His unwavering steps that I glimpse in the sand as I look back over my path.  I know it is Him who has carried me through those dark moments. I know it will be His divine wisdom that guides the physicians as the struggle to answer the newest mystery in my bodies physiology.  I have to keep in mind that all answers are not always self apparent and have to be searched for and researched.  I know that I wouldn't have been brought this far for an answer to be hidden and obscured that there is meaning in each of our lives and it is ours to seek out the answers.

I believe beyond a shadow of doubt that we are provided with all the answers to every question we will ever face when we are born onto the Earth, it is also my belief that if we look deep within ourselves that the answers to each question will be revealed in it's due course.  See, I have unwavering faith, that when man was still in the Garden of Eden, and the first sin took place, that the knowledge of the ages was imparted to man, and was passed on through our blood.  It is the philosopher's journey to unlock those hidden things within our mind. Most of you know that we only use a fraction of our brain during our lifetime, so why is it so large? It is my belief that in our own ignorance or arrogance which ever may have been the case for Adam and Eve's blatant refusal to obey the only commandment they were given, they ate of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. For which we have ever been separated from God and the divine.

Now, I know that you were not expecting a Sunday school lesson when you opened up my blog this evening, so I will leave it at this point, but remember that we are each on a journey and that journey is the search for the ultimate truth.  Is is not? I hope it is, but it may just be what is the meaning of life or why am I here! These are also good questions and one's that can be answered on the inward journey that I am proposing. See within us is the knowledge of the ages and we need to educate ourselves as we move forward in this life to unlock the secrets of that knowledge, that is the true test that we are faced with in our daily life.

Yet, even as I struggle to grasp the meaning of life and all the other things that are yet obscured by my vision of reality, I seek to find the answers to the my health questions as well. I know the answers are there and that God is waiting for me to reach the level of understanding or enlightenment to reveal these answers to me, and in time I know I will get there. So with all my thoughts and prayers going out, I keep firmly my belief that all things known or will be known will be revealed to us through our journey and our learning.  It is my hope that my health will hold out long enough for me to reach the place where I need to be to understand all of this.

So with all of that being said, I will continue to fill you in on what is happening with my health. When I was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday night it was apparent that the fluid build up was not normal from the reaction of the medical staff, however, it was surprising to find that my kidney's which had been such a problem just the week before seemed to be functioning at normal levels and all traces of kidney disease were gone.  Now that got me really thinking.  See sometimes it is the situation or circumstance that makes us break the mold of our thoughts and think outside of the box so to speak, and what was discovered is that despite the miraculous discovery that the kidneys were once again functioning as they should be there was still something not quite right with the whole situation, and what came to mind was that they had left the stint in place between my kidney's and bladder back in December for 2 months, now the normal length of time that a temporary stint should be in place is 30 days, anything longer the tissue grows back up around the stint and when removed a tear or rip in the organ can take place.  So now, we have to search the left kidney for a possible tear or rip that might be minuscule in size which might be allowing fluid to leak into the body unnoticed and be the cause of the cysts that seem to be forming. The fluid is vacuous and not infected by bacteria or contagion which seems to mean that the fluid is sterile as it enters the body cavity.  Urine is sterile until it is exposed to air.  Could this not mean that the leak might be from the kidney through a rent or tear that was made when the stint was removed?

This is a question I will be following up with in the morning with my doctor to try and get to the bottom of this mystery.  I am hoping that it is something as simple as this to my situation and that by now knowing what to look for might make it easier for the doctors to find.  Otherwise, I may end up back in the hospital with the same problem all over again.

So tell me what do you think? Might there be something to what I have written here or is it my imagination just grasping at some straws to answer that which I cannot answer?

I really would like to know what your thoughts are on this. Could I be on the right track after all and that all the answers to all our questions are locked right inside of us the entire time?

As always my hopes and dreams are with you,

Uncle B

Stop being so hard on yourself, the bruises aren't pretty!

I am not sure how I want to put this, but lately I have been thinking about how hard we are on ourselves.  We judge ourselves to a different standard than we hold other's too.  Why is that? Do we think we are better than others? Or do we just like beating ourselves up?  Do we let other people slide because we think they are incapable of doing a job better than us?  Honestly, I think it is more out of insecurity and frustration that we continue to beat ourselves up.  We take it to heart when we don't live up to our own expectations and we rush to judgement on ourselves and consider setbacks as failures.  We all do! You know you do, don't you?  You are your own worse critic, you don't like anything you do, and you constantly think that you could have done it better if you would have just tried harder, or whatever excuse it is that you tell yourself.

The problem is we are harsh with ourselves and we are awful quick to jump to the conclusion that we have failed at whatever task it is that didn't live up to our expectations.  The problem with doing this is your are constantly focusing on the negative, you are painting yourself into thinking you are a failure, you are belittling yourself and undermining your own self-esteem and worth.  If you are constantly doing that to yourself, and you second guess every task you undertake, what do you think others around you are going to think?  Before long everyone around you starts to see you as you do, and it becomes a cycle of abuse and cruelty.  I know that there are some of you out there that think everything must be done perfectly, that if you are off just a smidgen, then your whole project is a ruin and a failure.  Let me fill you in on something, do you know that perfectionism is just a form of procrastination? It really is folks, and guess what, you give a task to a perfectionist and it will never be completed, unless you step in and force them to end their work, because to them, it will never be perfect and therefore it cannot be completed.

I know it is easy to look at yourself and wonder why you aren't further ahead in life, and how you can beat yourself up over little things that shouldn't bother you. I can also understand why you feel that everything you do ends up wrong.  You have have set yourself up into a pattern of abuse that you need to break out of.  It might be something that you have been carrying around for years, it has become so ingrained in your daily life you don't even recognize it anymore.  Or someone in your life has criticized everything you have done and told you that you did it wrong, or you could have done it faster or better this way, or they go out of their way to make you feel bad just about everything that you do.  If any of this is true for you then you need to keep reading, because it isn't true that you are stupid, or dumb, or an idiot, what it means is that you have done something a different way than that other person, and they don't like it. They want to control you and manipulate you and they found that they can do that by using guilt or criticism to wound you.  See, there are those out there that cannot stand to see another person succeed they are so arrogant and set in their ways that they cannot accept that someone could possibly come along and do something any way that is different from their way.  But as I told you the other day there is no wrong or right way to handle a problem or situation, it is just a matter of perspective and working out the details and coming up with a workable solution.  

People that want to control you or manipulate you prey on your fears and weaknesses, they spite you and laugh at you when they are secretly envious, they want to hold you back and make you feel inferior to them because it gives them a rush and makes you feel like you are a failure. These are the people that you have to cut from your life, they are truly undermining your self-esteem and worth, they aren't doing anything for you and keeping you from realizing your own true potential. How can you honestly feel good about your accomplishments or even have a sense of fulfillment in a completed job if everyone around you is telling you that you are no good and nothing you ever do is right. Don't let yourself be caught up in this trap.  Because once you have fallen into it, it becomes so easy to stay there.  I can honestly tell you, that you may have already fallen into the trap in your youth or childhood and that is why you berate and belittle yourself now.  So if you are following me so far, you can see that there are two ways in which you fall into this pattern of behavior, the first is that you are always so hard on yourself that everyone around you begins to judge and see you as you do. Or you have people that have torn apart your self-esteem and question how you do everything.  In both cases the end result is the same, you find yourself always feeling that your best is never good enough and that everything you do fall short of your expectations.

But going back to my original question why are we so hard on ourselves?  The reason is because we have no confidence in the decisions we make or the actions we do.  So my advice to you is to start to do things for yourself, prove to yourself that you can do anything you set your mind too.  That you don't need anyone else's approval or appreciation.  A line from one of my favorite movies is " I have taught myself how to cook, clean, sew, fix a pipe, and pat myself on the back, just so I don't have to ask you to do it".  This should be your motto too. I want you to remember you have nothing to prove to anyone but yourself.  You are your own person, and let's face it you came into the world naked and alone, and we all leave exactly the same way, naked and alone.  So to look for someone else's approval or opinion of what we do is really not worth it at all.

I want you to take pride in all that you do, even if it isn't perfect.  You know why because nothing ever is perfect, if it was we would have nothing to worry about or stress over. I also want you to look closely in the mirror and tell yourself you have come this far all on your own, you can succeed because you don't need anyone.  When you try to please everyone at the same time you end up making some of them happy, but not all, the only person you are guaranteed to make happy all the time is yourself, but that is if you do for yourself and don't care what anyone else around you thinks.  I have told you before when you let someone else dictate how you feel or makes you feel guilty in some way then you have given them way too much power over you, and you need to take that power back.  Further, when you feel like berating yourself or getting mad because something didn't go exactly as planned, you need to really look at it and give yourself credit for accomplishing the task at all.

You must respect and love yourself and accept that you are not perfect, none of us are, so why do you expect everything you do to be perfect?  Now I ask you to cut yourself some slack just like you would someone else, because you are just like them.  Put forth your best effort and be content with the result, build up your confidence and self-esteem and you will see that life starts getting a bit easier for you and your stress level will drop lower.  You will start to feel good about yourself and the negative that you have been holding will be released and as that happens it will be replaced with the positive.  Once the positive starts flowing in your life and mind the more will be attracted too it.  Have faith in your abilities and know that you have given your best. Let go of the small things and cling to what you have done and you will be so much happier in your life.

Stop beating yourself up, stop belittling yourself and give yourself the respect and praise that you deserve, and I promise you those around you will start to do the same, and if they don't let them go and move on, because you and only you have your best interest at heart.

As always my hopes and dreams are with you,

Uncle B

If these walls could talk....what would they say?

Today's introspection revealed to me that I feel alone even when I am with other people.  This is something that made me want to think about it just a little more deeply. We have talked about hurt, masks, defense mechanisms, the mind, the body, and a whole host of other things. But we really haven't discussed walls.  Each of us builds up walls, protections to keep us from experiencing the pain associated with emotional hurts.  In an earlier posting we talked a good deal about pain, and how it is the tool from which we learn and grow from.  In that entry I talked about forgiveness, moving on, and how time can help heal these wounds.  However, there are times when the healing process takes too long, the pain is still too fresh with us, so we construct emotional barriers, these barriers hold people at bay.  In effect these walls tend to keep people at arms length, they cloak us in secrecy and hide us from exposing ourselves to situations which we perceive dangerous or hurtful.

Have you ever found yourself in a crowd of people that you know, they are all having a good time and you feel alone and forgotten?  This could be a sign that you have built up barriers around yourself, that others find daunting and formidable, they have tried to get close, but you haven't let them or even given them a chance.  You find it hard to open yourself up to others, you have a tendency to push people away when they start to get too close, and you refuse to open up about yourself and your past. You shy away from social interactions, you only like to participate in events when there are lots of other people being there.  Exposing yourself and taking the chance to open your heart up to others may seem like such a frightening thing to you, but there are ways through this.

Now, I am not saying that emotional hurt and scarring are the only things that cause us to build up walls and barriers.  There are other factors that can influence them as well, low self-esteem, low self-worth, mental abuse and ridicule, and so many more.  Walls are mental defenses, they cannot be seen, but they can be felt by those that care about you.  When you come to recognize them you will know that they are there and they are solid and impassible.  They hide your feelings, thoughts, and most importantly they hide the real you.  Dealing with issues of low self-worth, and self-esteem are probably the hardest, sometimes individuals seek counselling and other forms of outside help to find themselves. Introspection and honesty with yourself are the first steps toward understanding your need for these walls, and once you start to understand you can start to tear them down.

When I was growing up my mother and father kept telling me that I was useless, that I wasn't worth anything, that I had no talent, that I was going to amount to nothing and always be a nobody.  After hearing these things for years, I started to believe them.  Then I found myself in a relationship where someone cared about me, they showed me that I was beautiful on the inside, that I was attractive on the outside.  They encouraged my writing and drawing, even singing and dancing.  I was finally beginning to like myself, to realize that I had talents and that I could be important, and something happened.  My friend contracted HIV in the early 90's and in 1996 he passed away.  I was hurt, heart broken, I had friends that understood, they encouraged me and tried to help me through the hard times.  Even my parents seemed to understand.  But, in 1997 I met someone new, he helped me to leave my past, pulled me out of the loneliness that I was feeling. It was great at first, we moved to Atlanta and started a life, but after some time things in that relationship began to change.  He too started telling me that I was nothing, even though I had gotten my Masters degree and landed a good job.  He tore apart my self-esteem and my self-worth. It took me years to figure out why.  But, in the process of this I lost myself, my direction and before I knew what had happened twelve years had gone by.  I got sick myself, with cancer for the second time, I ended up losing most of my large intestines and had to have a colostomy bag.  I even lost my job, my life started to spiral downward, I got lost in depression and despair.  One day I looked in the mirror and really looked at the person that was staring back at me, and something amazing had happened, I noticed that I had lost weight, I looked almost like I did in high school, I was different.

It was on that day in June of 2008 that I realized that I wasn't ugly, that I was attractive, and I remembered that I had been someone important, that I had talents, and I had friends.  It took a long time for me to rebuild my self-esteem, to actually come to like the person I had become, but it took even longer to find my self-worth.  It wasn't till December of 2010 when my best friend from the 90's pulled me aside and actually confronted me and told me that he didn't know who I was anymore, that I had lost myself, lost my direction and that I was like a log just floating in the stream, going with the flow, no longer an individual. That I had become passive, and let people use me and take from me everything that I had built up. It wasn't until that very discussion that I realized that he was right.  That I had stopped living my life, that I was merely existing, going with the flow, and that I had isolated myself from everyone with my walls and depression.  It took me a long long time to fight my way back to the person I am today.

Walls are built when we refuse to let anyone close because we are afraid of getting hurt or let down, or because of how we have been treated in the past.  Tearing them down can cause us to go to the opposite extreme. We have a tendency to overcompensate and when we do we fall into another pattern of behavior. In my case I went from being entirely closed off to way to open. My father jokes with me that I have never met a stranger, within five minutes of meeting a new person they know my entire life history.  This of course isn't necessarily a bad thing, however, as some of you may know I am have a problem with my emotions and holding them in.  When I am hurt I laugh it off, when I am aggravated with someone I make pointed jokes or comments. Most of which are funny and the person never gets the hint that they have done something.  Now this is the core problem I have built up walls around my heart, I hold in my pain, frustration, anger and every other emotion behind my walls, and I have perfected my mask so well that most people never know until I explode that something is even building inside of me.

In most cases walls protect us, keep us from getting hurt, but in some cases like mine they are more detrimental because they keep us from ever truly getting close to another person.  Hell it took me a full relationship of three years, to realize that I was really attractive again and that I could have someone interested in me.  I really messed up that relationship because I didn't believe that he loved me, I couldn't open myself up to him like I should have, I kept my feelings and emotions bottled up inside, and I surrounded myself with a whole bunch of other people so that I didn't have to deal with the things that I was feeling.  The relationship ended very badly, though today we are friends and hang out with each other, and we talk about serious things.  I think that maybe one day we might even be able to pick up the pieces of our broken past and rebuild something.  But I still have more to uncover about myself before that can happen.

Avoidance is another wall that can cause issues.  Always looking the other way, avoiding conflict and confrontation, and when you do that you open yourself up to be taken advantage of.  People take your kindness for weakness and they try to use you for whatever they can get out of you.  If you don't stand up for yourself and stop the problem, you will soon find that no one else is going to either.  You have to look out for yourself or expect to be used and hurt.  Walls, can lead to isolation, loneliness, depression and despair.  Sometimes you just have to take a chance and open yourself up.  In other words, when you fall off the bike get back up and try again.  Don't let a silly thing like fear keep you from loving and being loved.  Tear down your walls, look deep within yourself and really understand what has hurt you, what are you protecting yourself from and work from there.  Don't push people away and lose your chance for love.

Remember it is never too late to start this process.  Look at me I am in my 40's and I am going through it.  It took a long time to truly understand my hurts, to get myself back into a position that I can stand on my own, I am not dependent on someone else to make decisions for my life.  I can do it all on my own.  I am not saying that I am anywhere near finished tearing down all the walls around my heart and mind, but I have come a long way.  It took me sitting down and writing and talking to everyone in my past, to tell them that I appreciated them and cared for them, that I have recognized the mistakes that I have made and that I saw the sacrifices they made for me.  In other words, I attempted reconciliation with each and every friendship, relationship and family member in my life.  I also searched deep within me to remember how I felt when I was in those hurt situations, and came to terms with them.  I forgave, but didn't forget about the incidents.  Now when I look in the mirror, I don't see the fat person staring back at me anymore. I see me!

If my walls could talk they would tell you that here you have a kind and sensitive man, who has a loving and huge heart that wants to help and love everyone, but he has been used and abused by so many people that he is scared and skeptical about opening himself up to anyone. Who isolates himself because he doesn't know how to tell people when he is hurting or angry, a person who wants to be everyone's friend and yet doesn't know how to move slowly.  He is a person who goes from one extreme to the other, not knowing how to vary how open he is to those around him.  A man who has a tendency to make himself from savior to victim, and helps those who victimize him do it.  I know this about myself and I am working daily to tear down the obstructive walls and replace them with constructive walls, to learn moderation and above all express to others how he is feeling at all times.  To show emotion, love, passion, and caring sensitivity to the ones he really loves and cares about.

So if your walls could talk what would they say about you?   Working through the issues of your life may be beyond your ability to deal with, if you find that you cannot work them out for yourself, I suggest you talk to a pastor, counselor or even a life coach.  Take back your life it is yours, and guess what you do deserve to be loved and be able to return that love.  You are worth something, you are important, you are unique, and you can never ever be replaced.

God loves you, I love you, your family loves you and there are so many others out there that want to love you, you just got to give them a chance.  It is time for you to make a change in your life.  Don't let yourself be defeated by your defenses, don't let you past dictate how you are going to live your future. Above all else make sure that you are totally honest with yourself, and express your feelings to others. One last piece of advice here.  No one has the power to make you feel anyway about yourself that you don't want to feel.  You are your own individual with your own style and personality.  If someone makes you feel guilty or makes you feel uncomfortable about how you dress, how you feel, anything at all, that person has too much power over you.  Take your power back.  You shouldn't care what other people think or feel, that is on them.  I am not saying listen to what they have to say, but remember it is only their opinion.  Which everyone has like assholes!  You must be you and be comfortable with who you are.  Live your life for you because no one else is going to live it for you.  Watch your own back because despite everything no one truly has your interest at heart but you, and only you know what that is.

Each new day is brand new, a clean slate, there are no mistakes in it.  You must wake up and be glad that you did, fight that depression and anxiety you feel.  Put on your PMA (positive mental attitude) and march to your own drum, express yourself in your dress, you hair and attitude.  Then go out and screw up your day anyway you can and have fun doing it, because guess what tomorrow is another new day and you can do something totally different and unexpected.  Walls are made to protect us, not keep us captive, which is what ends up happening. Tear them down find someone to love and build something new and positive together.

As always my hopes and dreams are with you,

Uncle B

2 fold reality..thought forms, and permanence

Yesterday, I spoke about beliefs and believing, and how I wanted to talk about reality.  I also told you that I was basing my understanding on Plato's Allegory of the Cave.  I am not sure how many of you have read it, but I want to give you a synopsis of it here, so that you might be able understand where I am coming from, and where I am heading in this discussion.

Before, I do that however, I want you to realize that this is for discussion purposes, and I do solicit and request your feedback and comments. This is a spiritual journey we are on, and I would love to have others opinions and questions, as well as comments on this.  Remember that nothing you say is going to be judged against you.  I would like this to be an exercise in learning and expanding our personal vision and understanding of what reality is, and how it interacts with us.

Plato wrote the Allegory of the Cave in his work called the Republic and the central characters in this allegory are Socrates, who by the time of this writing had already died, and Plato's cousin Glaucon. Steven Kreis wrote in his lecture on Modern European Intellectual History (2000).  " In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato described symbolically the predicament in which mankind finds itself and proposes a way of salvation. The Allegory presents, in brief form, most of Plato's major philosophical assumptions: his belief that the world revealed by our senses is not the real world but only a poor copy of it, and that the real world can only be apprehended intellectually; his idea that knowledge cannot be transferred from teacher to student, but rather that education consists in directing student's minds toward what is real and important and allowing them to apprehend it for themselves;".  

The Allegory of the cave presents a group of people that are living in a cave from birth. They are chained and forced to look at a blank wall, they have no way of moving or looking elsewhere.  The mouth of the cave opens up to the light, but between our chained assembly is a walk way that separates them from a huge and roaring fire.  It is across this walkway that others carry and drag things and objects across, which cause shadows to form on the wall in front of the assembly, as these objects were being carried across and their reflections being seen by the assembly.  Over time the assembly would come to recognize and describe these shadows and name them, when asked what the shadows were they could guess as to the object being displayed along the wall.  Sounds associated with the crossing would also help and cue the assembly in their identification.  Now, imagine if you will that one of the assembly was taken by force and dragged from the cave into the light.  Plato theorized that they would not be able to see at first because their eyes were not accustomed to the light, and would be terrified, though as the pain lessened and they would began to see things, and they would not recognize them, for they had only known the shadows on the wall, but as they were introduced to the items they would come to understand and see them for what they were, but would not believe it at first because they had only known the shadows. Remember that their reality was only that of shadows, so physical forms would be dismissed as fake.  Though with time and patience, they would soon grasp that the forms were one and the same, and would not if taken back into the dark forget and be able to play the game of shadows with his fellows that have never left the cave because his eyes have been opened to a different sight.  Plato also theorized that the ones that had never left the cave would not believe the one who had left saying his site was corrupted and that his version of the truth could not be correct.  Therefore, because their reality was challenged and the one that had left was no longer part of the collective they would seek to kill him, because he was wrong.  

Please keep in mind that this is my own interpretation from reading the Allegory, and if you would like to read it for yourself, I would ask that you do so.  For the version I have presented here is condensed and paraphrased by me, but it is enough for me to draw the points out that I would like to convey.  If you would like to read excerpts of either Steven Kreis's lecture or Plato's Allegory of the cave I invite you to check out this link http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/allegory.html.  

Now what I would like to do is break this down a little for you, because I find that those chained in the cave and learning in the darkness is humanity as a whole and we learn by what is revealed by our senses.  Though I also believe that it is true that nothing in this world hold permanence because just as with the images on the cave wall, and the items that were shown the escapee, they corrupt, rust, crumble, decay and fade away.  However, in the true spiritual world the idea, or concept remains, and therefore is the truth.  This might be hard for you to understand, but I will try and make it easy.  Philosopher's refer to what I am talking about is thought forms, I call them base objects.  These base objects are the ideas that we use to create things.  Therefore, the idea is what is permanent, not the actual object themselves.  From the idea more objects can be created and made.  Therefore as long as someone can remember the idea or base object that object can still exist.  An example of this is a chair, we all know what a chair is, we know that it is eventually going to rip, tear-up, get broken or disintegrate, unfortunately time has a way of doing that to all things including the human body.  However, a new chair can be created to replace the old chair.  Why can we create a new chair because we know of the concept or idea of the chair, it is the thought form or base object that is remembered and passed on.    

What I am trying to tell you is that there seems to be a 2 fold reality at work in our universe, there is the one that we can see, touch, taste and smell, but that is just a mere reflection of the true reality that is made of thoughts, ideas, energy.  As humans we rely on our senses to show us and guide us, it is how we learn, but there is more to the learning, and we have to leave the darkness of our cave and climb into the light. Though it maybe painful, and we have to wait for our eyes to adjust to the brightness and the pain, then we have to learn it all over again.  Because what we have known as reality and truth, is not entirely accurate.  This is the philosophers journey, but is also a spiritual journey toward enlightenment, and a closer understanding of the divine.  I believe that which we live and reside in is our physical reality, but there is a spiritual plane of existence that is super imposed upon this one.  It is here where the angels and God reside, it is where our prayers, meditations and desires are manifest.  I also believe that the universe has constant laws that are opposite between both realities.  If you go back and look at my blog entries on "Creative Visualization" you will see the law of attraction and how in the physical reality or plane of existence opposites attract, such as when you hold a negative and positive end of a magnet toward each other.  In the spiritual reality or plane of existence the inverse happens, like attracts like and negative attracts negative.  

I am hoping that you can see what I am trying to say.  If you were the person that was taken from the cave and shown all the things that you once saw and thought of as real were not, and come to realize that all that you have known was wrong, could you go back into the cave and see the same things, I don't think you could.  Because once you have seen what is real the reflections of them would no longer be relevant to you.  I believe it is the same with any revelation. Once your eyes are open to the truth you can no longer go back to seeing them the way you once did.  When you take your first steps on your journey your eyes may not understand what they are seeing, and you may even doubt, but as you keep going you are going to realize that what you once thought was reality, isn't.  No matter how much you want to go back and liberate those that you left behind on your journey.  They aren't going to see the same things as you, you are going to be different, and they won't accept or believe you until they start their own journey.

A friend of mine wrote to me on Facebook that he was glad to see that I am taking everything with a positive attitude.  My response was that it is hard to see the negative side of things anymore because so many wonderful things have been happening.  It is true, I don't look at things the same way I once did, because I don't see them the same exact way.  I don't see the negative, I only see the good things that have come from my journey.  I know this all sounds so confusing and hard to understand.  But as you progress and make your own journey you are going to see that your attitude as well as your vision changes.  Things that were once so bothersome, are now small and mundane, and are mere reflections of a much larger picture.

Even if you don't agree with me, I hope that you will take some time and research what I have been talking about.  Maybe you will come away with something different from the Allegory of the Cave then I did, and I hope that you will be willing to share it with me.

I hope you will come back tomorrow, because I want to focus a little bit on what Plato was talking about when he was speaking on education and learning. Because I believe that learning and education are an important part of understanding the journey that we are on in this life.  I also believe that as we learn and grow, we mature, and tend to comprehend more, and when that comprehension builds it drives us toward further enlightenment.  The more enlightened we become the more we understand.  

As always my hopes and dreams are with you,

Uncle B

Beliefs and Believing are they the same thing?

I was thinking about how I wanted to open up this discussion that I have been kicking around about Reality, but it dawned on me that as with all things reality is based on perception and beliefs.  So I decided that I needed to backtrack just a bit and discuss beliefs and believing, because most people think that they mean the same thing.  Most would be incorrect in that assumption though, because the human mind works in such a way that we can believe something differently then the belief in which is is founded. You might think that this is a play on words, but it is truly remarkable how the human mind has the ability to compartmentalize and evaluate different concepts and assign a value to them, which later become ingrained in our own belief system and structure.

See a belief is something that we have either learned or experienced, it is first hand knowledge of something that has happened or transpired.  Whereas, believing in something is an act of faith in some cases, and in others is just a reinforcement of a belief that has been experienced.  Taking religion as a basis for this discussion, I can show you the difference between a belief and believing in something.  There is however an inherent danger in beliefs and believing, because believing in something gives it strength and power.  It is also possible to manifest or create a believe and bring it into existence.  All of this I will try to demonstrate and explain.  It is upon this type of idea and abstraction that the current religion is based.  For the majority of people there are two primary and competing religions in the world.  Now, I said for the majority, I want to clarify that there are other religions out there and belief structures, and I am not trying to say one is better than the others, or any of them are right or wrong.  My personal beliefs are actually a culmination of several beliefs and structures, but that is for another time.  What I can say is that I was born into a Christian home, I was taught from the Bible and I have maintained that core in my own personal belief structure, though I have incorporated and utilize different portions of faiths and religions to build and customize my own way of thought and living.  I uses Buddist chanting and meditation techniques and I incorporate Wiccan ceremony and rituals into my own life.  I am not asking anyone to follow me in my pursuit because it is mine and mine alone.

Yet, I have come to realize that I can believe one thing and have a belief in another, and both can exist and be correct at the same time.  You might think that this is impossible but it is not.  I can also believe in something and have no discernible proof that it exists.  This bridging of fact and belief is called an intellectual synthesis.  Sir Thomas Aquinas created a synthesis that allowed science and religion to co-exist together.  He postulated that science was only furthering to prove the existence of the Divine and in such pursuits God Himself.  Because of this new found belief Reason was no longer thought to be the enemy of faith, but rather that reason would expand and explain faith.  It also brought about the renewed change in thought of the time that  philosophy was no longer the enemy of theology, but would also expand it and broaden it's reach. Though theology is often time a part of philosophy the depth and breadth of philosophy reaches far further.  For philosophy is reason personified and rational and irrational thought studied and followed to it's conclusion.

It is important for you to understand that you can have a belief while believing in something else entirely.  Just because you believe that God speaks to you through prayer, doesn't mean that you can't believe that he talks to someone else through meditation and divination.  It is elusive to describe in detail what I am trying to say because beliefs and believing in something are very personal and deeply ingrained in us, whether by, culture or denomination or even religious devotion. You might even liken a belief to a personal conviction.  By doing so you make it exclusively your's, and that conviction can be a part of a greater belief and it be right for you but only you.  However, by believing in something you are giving it energy and life. I am asking you to trust me that believing is different than having a belief but as I sit here trying to force my mind around it, I keep looping back.

I guess what I am trying to say is having a belief is personal where believing in something means you take part in it.  What comes to mind is that I believe there are ghost and spirits in this world that interact with us.  However, because I am a believing Christian, I am taught that there aren't.  The same aspect could be true.  I am a believing Christian, but there is no empirical evidence or proof that God or Heaven exists.  Where are the graves and markers of the Saints?  We are to believe without seeing which is called faith, but isn't faith another world for belief?  I think it is.  I also think that having a belief in something and believing in something are two separate things.  I also believe that this is made possible by the fact that our brain can think, rationalize, analyse and process information on several different levels that let us be able to accept incongruous things.

Therefore, it is possible for two people to have differing belief's yet believe in the same thing. Just look at church denominations.  The all believe in God, but they have different approaches and internal dogmas that make them separate.  Because I am a member of the Church it is said that I am a believer, but depending on my denomination my belief may differ from another believer and we both might be correct.  This little tidbit of knowledge is hard to grasp, and I have explained it as well as I can to help you understand what I have been trying to say.

Because what I am leading up to is that I believe that there are different types of realities that exist simultaneously and each are perceived and interpreted by the brain differently depending on you level of enlightenment.  This is just the first in a little series I want to explore on reality. I am basing what I am writing about on "Plato's Allegory of the Cave".  

 I hope that I have intrigued you enough, or maybe even confused you enough that you will want to come back and follow the next few blog entries that are going to deal with the spiritual journey and the path towards enlightenment. What tools we have at our disposal, and how the further we go on this journey different things will start to look, and how our understand of what we perceive as reality may in-fact be just a shadow of the real world hidden behind.

As always my hopes and dreams are with you,

Uncle B

Do you know you are truly blessed? We all are...

Today has been a good day, and I have had a lot of time to think and write, which is a good thing and something that I really enjoy.  In my last post I was talking about immortality and how I think we should take the time and live in the moment and treat every day like is our last one.  But it got me thinking on how is it that I find it so easy to live day to day.  The answer is quite simple really, as I was  pondering this it dawned on me that in almost every single blog, I tell you to slow down, take time to enjoy life, that life is short, and that we need to live one day at a time, but I have never told you how I do.  It really isn't a secret, and something that honestly should be shared with you.

As most of you know I have been diagnosed with several terminal illnesses, and I had come home to Florida to basically die. Well, surprisingly enough things are changing and happening with my health that frankly have me extremely excited.  However, before I go into all of that, I need to get you on track with daily living and how to overcome those pesky bouts of depression, those lingering doubts, and inherent fears that we each face in our daily lives.  It isn't easy at first, and like I have told you it over and over again it is a matter of perception.  By perception, I mean the way in which you view the world and the circumstances that you find yourself in. I always try to keep in mind that I am human and I make mistakes, and that each day is a brand new day with no mistakes in it.  This means that I can start all over again tomorrow, and screw it up too because I have the day after.  Not that I intentionally plan on screwing up each day.  But it is a comforting thought to me knowing that when tomorrow comes I have a chance to start over fresh and do it the right way for a change.  I have also mentioned over and over again how people keep telling me how strong a person I am, how positive my outlook is and they don't understand why I am not mired down in depression and crying.  Again the answer is simple and when I tell you finally you are going to say " I should have thought of that myself".

In my life, I do sometimes give in to depression and bouts of wondering if I am doing the right thing, but you know what it is always very short lived. Because here is the thing, I cannot change what has happened, nor would I want to I think.  I have learned and met a great deal of people that mean a lot too me because of what I am going through.  I also like being able to talk to people about what is happening with me and explaining to them how they can overcome and withstand what they are going through.  I don't necessarily like when people look at me for inspiration, because guess what, I am human and as I have already admitted I make mistakes.  Plus, I have learned from experience that something that may be right for one person might not be the right thing for someone else.  So living as an example isn't always what it is cracked up to be.

But, back to the point, which is how to live day to day, with a positive outlook and hope for a bright and shining tomorrow.  My answer to this is a question "Do you know you are truly Blessed?" if you honestly do, then this is going to be a no-brainer for you and so easy to achieve.  Here is my secret, I wake up every morning and I count my blessings one by one.  I give thanks for those blessing and when I am done I am ready to face anything the day has to throw at me.  Because I can see each day when I open my eyes, how blessed I am, I know that I have been given another day of life, my aches are less this morning then the were the night before, and the list goes on.  Do you begin to see how this can make you feel so good, how you are receiving the positive energy of those blessings and you are thankful and joyful that you have been granted them.  How can the day look bad when you start it off like that. Trust me when you actually start looking for your blessing and start counting them you are going to see what I mean. There are hundreds maybe thousands of them that you have been given over your lifetime.  Count them, remember them, be thankful for them, and trust me nothing will compare to it.

I know you have heard the saying "look for the silver lining in all things" that is a very motivational thing to do, it is telling you to look for the good in everything that happens too you.  When you do that take the time to look for the blessing that is hidden there too because there always is one.  When you can see the blessing and the silver lining you will no longer see the negative side of things, your perception will be altered and all you will see is the positive that is coming your way.  Plus if you read any of my earlier writings you will find that positive energy attracts more positive energy in your life and before you know it there can be no negative around you.  Pretty easy huh?  I told you it would be and it is so straight forward.  You honestly have nothing to loose if you try it out and so much to gain by doing it.

All I want you to know is that if you live your life one day at a time, and live each moment like it is your last one. You are going to see that there is less stress, and problems aren't as impossible as they once seemed to be and your attitude and outlook is all going to change for the better.  Living a positive life and having positive energy is just the process of counting your blessing and being thankful for them.  Really that is all there is too it.

Nothing holds me down for long because I know how far I have come, what I have been through, and I see that tomorrow is going to be bright and shiny with hope, love, joy, laughter, compassion, friendship and so much more.  All because I see how I have been blessed.  I see what I have been brought through, and I know I am thankful for the Divine love and mercy that has been granted me.

Remember my hopes and dreams are with you.

Uncle B

So What? Who Cares? Get over it and move on!

It occurred to me yesterday that sometimes people hold a grudge, when an issue comes up they just cannot seem to let it go.  I am serious, why hold a grudge?  What does it accomplish?  It keeps you angry and focused on whatever you perceive is an injury, insult or problem. Hasn't it ever occurred to you that you cannot change the past, what is done, is done! No matter how you try or how much you wish you could change it, the fact still remains: it happened and it is over, nothing you say or do can change that fact.  No amount of rationalization, kidding yourself or even trying to convince others, of your point of view, the situation is going to remain the same.  If you run around looking for someone to blame, what are you accomplishing?  What you are actually doing is rubbing salt into an open wound, you are stirring up conflict and trouble and keeping the issue alive.

In simple wound care if you don't cleanse the wound and let it begin the healing process do you know what happens?  I will tell you, an infection, and what happens when you get an infection, the whole body becomes endangered of becoming ill and possibly dying. The same is true with all other types of wounds.  If you don't let them be, and you keep picking at them, they are going to get infected.  When that happens the whole body becomes ill and in danger of weakening.  A grudge, or perceived wrong, hurt of injury is also a type of wound.  This is a wound to the spirit, and if you don't let it be, if you keep it alive, talking about it, moping, whining or even holding a grudge doesn't let the injury heal.  Infection is inevitable and will surely invade every aspect of your life.  Anger and hatred is the infection I am talking about in this case.  Every relationship and aspect of your life will be colored and affected by this hatred and anger.

As I said earlier, there is no amount of talking or wheedling that is going to change the past, once something happens, it is done and cannot be undone.  What I would like you to try and remember is that everybody makes mistakes, there is none of us perfect, and if we are expecting perfection we are going to be disappointed time after time and are not going to have any type of satisfying relationship.  You cannot change the past, but you can and should learn from your mistakes.  In my experience the only way we can truly learn and make changes in our life is to make mistakes and feel pain.  Now I know life isn't fair and no one ever promised you a bed of roses.  But what I do know is that we have many opportunities to turn things around.  To make amends for the wrongs that we have done, and a lovely thing called karma evens the playing field for everyone.  Have you ever hear the saying "What comes around, goes around"?  Well that is karma in a nutshell, I find it best that if you live by the motto "Do unto others as you would have done unto you" it helps eliminate the pain and retribution of karma.

One thing you might not understand is that anger is an emotion that is more detrimental to you than any other.  Anger can keep you locked into a rut and a pattern of behavior that is self-defeating. But if you keep in mind that each of us is only human, and that we all make mistakes, and learn to forgive the endless cycle can be broken.  In my Facebook post I stated that to "err is human, to forgive divine and we all could stand to be a little more divine."  I meant that, a grudge or anger at someone that has hurt you accomplishes nothing, if you forgive them and move on you are helping yourself and you are grounding out the negative emotion of anger and hatred and moving forward.  Now, when talking about forgiving someone means just that, you let go of the hurt and you move forward, I am not saying forget, my advice here is to never forget, but to move on, trust is a commodity that can and must be earned.

I know when you are hurt and betrayed by someone that the trust you once had with that person is shredded and torn.  If you always keep in mind what they had done in the past and be wary of it, you can ensure that it doesn't happen again.  I honestly don't expect you to blindly trust that person again, and I would encourage you to make them work to earn your trust again.  I promise you it is not going to be easy at all and depending upon the hurt you have sustained may take a lot of time till you are ready to do this.  But the old adage "keep your friends close, but your enemies closer" is telling you exactly how to handle this type of hurt.  I honestly know how hard it is to do what I am telling you to do.  I have been there and in this type of situation many times.  However, I am the type of person who gets mad for about 15 minutes of time, and when I have something to say I say it and get it out.  Once it is out I am fine and I return to business as normal like nothing ever happened.  Many people don't understand this, they cannot understand how or why I can do this.  But no matter what happens I cannot stay angry for any length of time, and I have a very unique way of always looking for the good in every person and forgiving the bad, because I honestly believe that all people are basically good and they only do what they have too to survive.  If I get hurt it is only because I was in the way of their plans or a hindrance of some kind.

No matter how much you care, or want to help others, you cannot help everyone, and you have to be careful because there are those out there that are going to use your kindness as a weakness and use it against you.  There are those out there who are going to use you and get all they can out of you all the while proclaiming they are your friends.  This is what I call a frienemy, they can be anyone, and they are around you always.  You can find out more about them in my blog entry about frienemies...

So, here is the bottom line of what I am trying to tell you. Live your life for yourself. Make sure you do for you.  Because you are the only one in most occasions that has your own best interests at heart. You may be lucky and find some one you can be with that shares common goals and dreams with you. Someone that is going to watch your back and protect you.  However, in all honesty that is very rare, and super hard to find.  If you do find someone like that I suggest you do whatever it takes to keep them in your life.  Life is short, we all make mistakes, we are all prey to human nature and we will all follow what we know.  Live each day like it is your last one. Take each moment and wring the most out of it, because we are not guaranteed another day.  Celebrate living and life, and thank God each morning that you are alive to face another day.  Keep in mind that each day is a new day, a clean slate if you will, there are no mistakes in it. So go out and screw it up and have some fun doing. Don't dwell on the past, learn from it and move on.  When things get tough, turn that frown upside down and find something in it that is funny.  Joke about the heavy things and make them lite, and be awed by the beauty and wonder that surrounds you.  But most of all shrug off everything and keep on saying, "SO WHAT, WHO CARES? GET OVER IT!" Trust me when you can do that you will have a fruitful and happy existence, and the little things won't matter so much, and you will find that the large things start to take care of themselves, and all it takes is just a little attitude adjustment and the ability to smile.  Because if you don't let things get to you, you won't be weighed down with them.

So please take my advice, it is freely given, and something so very easy to accomplish.  Life is way to short to carry around grudges, resentments and hatred.  There is so much out there to love and behold and do.  So if you live every moment like it is your last one, and you practice my motto, you will see that nothing really matters in the grand scheme of things, because. SHIT JUST HAPPENS, and I honestly believe that Whatever is supposed to be will always find a way to happen.  It is all up to us and how we look at it.  Remember, we are not judge by how we fall or fail, but by how we handle that setback and defeat with grace, talent and ingenuity.  Trust me the world will be a much better place and easier to live in if you can just remember my simple little phrase, So what, who cares? Get over it and move on.

As always my hopes and dreams are with you.

Uncle B

What is Mediation, and how can you benefit from it?

First, let me take a minute to say Thank You for coming this far with me on this little journey toward enlightenment and self-awareness.  This is the last blog entry in this current series.  There will be other to come in the future I am sure.  So take the time to join my blog and follow the entries as they unfold.  I am attempting to build my audience and would love to have you be a part of my community.

In this entry we are going to talk about meditation and it's possible benefits that you can get out of utilizing meditation in your daily life.  So, let's start this off right by first telling you that Mediation is derived from the word meditate.  According to Webster's Pocket Dictionary and Thesaurus defines meditate as: "to be in continuous contemplative thought; to think about doing some thing."  There are many schools of thought on meditation; some believe that meditation opens the mind to a higher form of consciousness, others claim it is just the stilling of ones mind to allow exploration of the subconscious, still others say that it is the key to ultimate knowledge and enlightenment, there are so many different opinions that it would be impossible to list them all in this blog.

It is my own opinion that maybe every single one of them are right in some way shape or fashion.  No matter what your religious beliefs are or what school of thought you identify with, it will not change what meditation is and how it can help you.  Personally I like to think of it as prayer and a form of inner evaluation, a form of self-reflection and a tool to help us divorce ourselves from the physical world and glimpse and sometimes enter the spiritual realm.  I have studied many of the worlds religions, and have practiced some of them from time to time.  Each religion teaches and embrace mediation.  In Christianity it is in the form of prayer, in Hinduism it is in the form of lighting candles and incense and assuming the lotus position, and so on and so forth.  Each time I have tried to learn the religious aspects of meditation I found it confusing , hard to accomplish and at times elusive.  The reason why this happened is because the simple concept of self-realization and inner focus was incorporated into the religious culture and dogma and became wrapped up and cloaked in religious tradition.

The concept of meditation is very simple.  It is the stilling of ones mind and allowing the conscious thought to relax control over the body and surrenders control to the subconscious, it is almost like the rational mind (conscious) falls into a light slumber where you can still think and remember what is happening.  Once you have stilled your mind your body relaxes, your respiration and breathing slows as well as your heartbeat.  As you enter this state the subconscious is able to focus your mind on issues or thought abstracts that your waking or rational mind has not been able to work out or deal with.  Thus allowing you to have deeper thoughts, explore the inner recesses of your mind.  Further, when you reflect inward and review your life, you can see and understand things that have been bothering you and you had no idea why.  As you think these deeper thought you are opened up to a greater understanding and spiritual awareness and awakening is able to enter into your body.  Dreams they say is how the subconscious mind works out problems and issues that your conscious mind is either unaware of or are too complex for total understanding.  It is through mediation that we are able to view these issues and allow the subconscious to work on the issues without the constraint of the rational mind holding you back.

As you meditate and your mind calms, you will be able to focus your will reduce your stress, contemplate and understand complex abstracts.  As your mind stills and your body relaxes your subconscious takes control, now remember that the body's autonomic nervous system is control by the subconscious mind.  So when I talk about how you can benefit from mediation, you receive improved and efficient respiration, breathing is normalized, stress is reduced and blood pressure drops, basically your body's natural health is improved and becomes more efficient. Meditation is definitely a tool you will want to use on your journey of self-discovery and spiritual enlightenment.  Another benefit of letting the rational mind relax your subconscious becomes open and receptive to abstract thoughts and spiritual energy. You are able to glimpse and possibly at times enter into the spiritual realm and gain better insight into yourself and those around you.

I find myself mediating at various different times and because it has become second nature too me I seem to slip in and out of it with out sometimes even realizing that I am doing it.  I also have a dedicated time when I meditate, I like to meditate when I am grounding and centering, I find that it helps me align my bodies energy field and focus my will to a singularity of purpose.  Feel free to mediate whenever you want and as often as you would like. It will become second nature to you as well and you will be amazed at some of the thought you will begin to think and understand.  I also like to mediate when I write, for some examples of this look at my blog entries on vision 20/20 and happiness, and time..I think you will begin to see what I mean by abstract thoughts can be analyzed and your how your knowledge and understanding of them improves.

Take some time just like I described in the last entry on grounding where you can be alone and uninterrupted for a period of time, close your eyes, relax your mind and let your body relax as well.  Just let your mind go and follow where it leads, look into your self, and be honest with yourself and you will see what I mean about becoming open and receptive.  That is all there is too mediation.  Pretty simple right!  Keep in mind that using meditation with ground will help keep your body in balance and strengthen your inner focus and sharpens you will to a point of singular purpose.  Your body will benefit from renewed health, vitality and become more efficient in handling negative energy and help you to live in a positive state of being.

This series has been about that allowing us to have to tools needed to reflect inward, begin a journey of self-awareness and self-discovery and spiritual enlightenment.  It was also about using our unconscious(subconscious) mind to view and pick up on abstract thoughts and take those inner issues that our rational mind cannot handle and working to resolve them.  It allows us to be open and receptive to change and allows us to understand ourselves and those around us.

Learn from mediation, use it and see how great you will feel.  Again you have nothing to loose by trying it and you have so much to gain from it.  It is a win-win situation all the way around.  As always I look forward to hearing from you and I appreciate your feedback and comments. Tell me what you think and how you feel on this or any other subject I have written about.  You can contact me directly through the blog, or write to me on facebook at www.facebook.com/bryan.zepp2 or via email at bryanzepp@gmail.com.

All my hopes and dreams are with you

Uncle B

Techniques and Practices that will help you successfully ground yourself

In yesterday's blog entry I spoke to you about the concept of grounding and how it can benefit you.  Now, what I would like to do is explain just a few simple techniques you can use to achieve grounding. Believe me when I tell you there are many ways and techniques out there that a person can use to achieve grounding.  My goal is to narrow down that list, by giving you a foundation upon which you can build on.  Feel free to customize and adapt either of the techniques I am about to talk to you about and make them your own. Find the easiest most comfortable way to achieve this and it will become second nature and automatic. Like I said be creative, have fun with it and make it your own..  All I ask is hat you push your fear and skepticism aside and just try it, you will be glad you did and will feel the benefits right away.There is nothing to lose, it can't hurt, and you have so much to gain, just have to do it.  As with all things that are new to us we have natural doubts, we are skeptical and may have second thoughts or misgivings about grounding.  But, if you go into it with an open mind and a receptive heart you cannot go wrong.

Getting rid of negativity in your life, freeing yourself from the rut that you have been stuck in, ending the cycle of depression and fear that has been keeping you prisoner; are just some of the things you can expect to gain.  Others, will include more energy, a feeling of inner peace and you will have a sharper focus.  Things around you will start to change, the new positive outlook, will start to draw more people and things to you and around you. Opportunities will begin to open up for you and your whole life will become enriched.  Keep in mind that positive attracts positive, inner calm brings inner peace and with our stress reduced, our body can rest easier and will benefit from more efficient healing and recuperation, which in turn lets us sleep more peacefully, allowing us to feel renewed, refreshed, relaxed and energized. Trust me when I say it is a win-win situation, you have absolutely nothing to lose, except maybe depression, anxiety, stress and the familiarity of despair.

Now, I have your interest right?  I think I might! So how do you get to this point? It really isn't as difficult as you might think, keep in mind that there are many ways to do this and it is your job to seek out which one is easiest and right for you, then make it your own.  There are an unlimited possibilities, techniques, methods, techniques, and philosophies on this out there, feel free to mix and match, add, subtract, personalize it anyway you see fit.  A few examples are Gardening, Baking, Reading, spending time with nature. As I said there are unlimited possibilities you just got to figure out which one fits you and then you just incorporate some basic techniques and then you are all set.  Doing something outside of your comfort zone will give you the most outstanding results.  Now we are going to delve into the basics and give you a thorough understanding of them so that you can incorporate them in your daily life.

The basic of grounding are pretty simple and easy to follow:

• Set aside a dedicated time of day. It works better if you use the same time as much as possible.  Though there will be times when you can't do it at the same time or you may find you need to have more than one time set aside per day.  Personally I have my time set for the morning so the tone of my day is set.  Then when I need to I throw in an evening time when appropriate. (15 to 30 minutes is all the time you need)
• Make sure that you have selected a private place and you will not be interrupted.  Turn off your phone and isolate yourself all outside influences and distractions. 
• Clear your mind and relax.
• Feel the energy flow from above you and through you.
• Let it pass through you into the ground.

With all this being said lets get to it.  These are my simple techniques that I use.  Sometimes I add music and other things when I am trying to relax and ground, as I told you earlier the possibilities are unlimited and there is no wrong way or right way, it is just your preferences and what you feel comfortable with.  My favorite and probably first choice is a natural approach and incorporates nature in all the beauty and wonder that exists there.  If you live in a city it maybe a little hard for you to find the perfect spot.  But, the neat bonus is that you can try all sorts of different spots, and change them as frequently as you want.

In our overview on grounding, I explained that grounding is a natural phenomenon therefore somehow it seems fitting that the first technique takes place and incorporates nature in its usage. I have set aside a time for each day to explore nature.Personally I choose to do my grounding in the morning. My reasoning is this I am not a morning person, it takes me a bit to wake up and get my day going. Therefore, when I ground and commune with nature I set the tone for my entire day.  When I step out of the house I am positively energized, I am eager to face the day with renewed joy and vigor.  

But how do I achieve all of this? Simple I select my personal block of time, as stated earlier about 15 to 30 minutes each morning., where I isolate myself from the outside world.  This means that I turn off the cell phone, television and ensure that I avoid any distractions and interruptions.  I step out into nature and observe it in all of its beauty and majesty.  I actually don't have to physically go anywhere I personally like to sit in my backyard, or go to the beach or even the public park.   Next, I feel the sun warming and this helps me quiet and still my mind.  I also like to touch the plants, smell the flowers, talk to the animals that are in the vicinity. As I am doing this I let my mind grow quiet pushing out all thoughts and distractions and I feel the energy of the sun flowing all over me and through me.  As the energy courses through my body from the heavens toward the ground, I actually feel the negativity and stress of the world and the previous day drain slowly out of my body. The positive energy flows from the sky through the top of my head and then through my body and leaving it through my feet and my hands that touch the plants and other things.  All the while I rejoice and give thanks for another day as my body fills with the energy of the sun.

The second method is just a little variation on the first instead of walking around and touching things to ground, I find a tree to rest on, I place my back and head against the trunk as I lean back.  I can feel the energy of the sun flowing down from the sky into the trees leaves and flows through the trunk heading to the roots for grounding but because I am leaning against the tree, I am actually part of the trees circuit the energy that flows down frAom the sun, enters my body through the trunk into my head and flows through my body, and exit through my back and drawn down into the ground by the trees roots. As the energy is drawn through me and suffuses me in every way and as long as my mind is free from all outside thoughts, influence and then isolating me from the clutter and activity of the world for just 15 to 30 minutes each morning I feel refreshed and energized to face the day.  Now, if for some reason I cannot get out into nature, I do the next best thing, I sequester myself away in my room.  Again turning off  all distractions and shutting my door so I am not disturbed.  I then go through the steps again, visualizing the energy from the sun flowing down through my roof through the top of my head and travelling through my body seeking to reach ground.  Remember there are so many ways to customize this that whatever you choose to do will work as long as you keep to the basics. As you can see the only difference between the above techniques is the venue where the grounding actually takes place.

In just a few moments after starting the grounding process I feel the tensions, stress, emotions and all the negativity from the day before to melt and begin to be washed away. It is just that simple, and I can start my day and know that I am going to have a positive one.  The one thing that I do is to give thanks for being granted another day, say thank you to the tree or nature that has been so kind as to assist me in my grounding efforts and then I take a few minutes to think of some key words to help me through the coming day and help me maintain my positive focus.  These are words that I hope to demonstrate, exhibit, impart to those with whom I may come in contact with or might interact with throughout my day.  These are words like: Love, Compassion, Understanding,, Caring, Wisdom, Kindness, humility, gratitude etc.  I keep these words in the front of my mind throughout the day and to help me maintain focus.

Well you made it this far by reading this post, please don't give up just yet bear with me just a little bit longer as I summarize what I have been trying to get across to you and the key points I hope you will remember.  By now I have defined what grounding is; given you the benefits of; then through in my concept of key words to help us manage and cope with the day.  All you need to walk away with is this: Ground yourself daily, be open and receptive, make it your own, experiment with it, have fun with it, and customize it anyway you want so that you are totally comfortable with the process. But above everything else I want you to try it!

The techniques I talked about were Nature Grounding (or using nature and natural surroundings and settings).  The other is when you couldn't get out in nature then you use what I call Visual Grounding (grounding utilizing visualization) and is done in your private place where you won't be interrupted.  Remember the basics, use key words and you will be amazed at how your day turns around and how things begin to open up for you. You will also notice the immediate benefits of renewed spirit, health all the while of experiencing a positive focus and will be amazed at how relaxed and refreshed you feel.

Please join me for the next entry as I will be going through mediation and how it can and will benefit you.  As always your feedback and comments are appreciated and solicited.  Feel free to ask any questions and remember that I am here for you.  Write to me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bryan.zepp2 or bryanzepp@gmail.com.  If you have enjoyed what you have read please follow my blog, join up and become a follower.  I am trying to build up my audience and I want you to be a part of my community.

All my hopes and dreams are with you.

Uncle B

Today is Mother's Day do something special for all the special women in your life that have sacrificed and provided for you.  Make sure you tell them thank you and acknowledge what they have done for you.

All my love,

B

What is Grounding and how can it help you?

This is the second entry on embarking on the path toward spiritual enlightenment and personal growth, with the aim to helping you fulfill your goals, dreams and desires.  The first entry was about Creative Visualization and if you haven't had a chance to read it, not to worry, you can and will still benefit from reading this one.  This entry is on Grounding and how it can benefit you in your daily life.

Even if you do not embrace spiritualism or visualization, grounding will still benefit and enrich every aspect of your daily life.  Let's begin!  First, you might ask yourself, "what does he mean when he says grounding? Does that have something to do with the ground?" Simply, yes it does! Grounding is the act of putting something in or applying it to the ground.  Now, according to Websters Pocket Dictionary ground is defined as: "the surface of the earth; soil, sand, and other natural materials at or near the earth's surface; the connecting of electric current to the earth through a conductor."  In some ways we are going to deal with both parts of the mentioned definition.  In Spiritual and metaphysical terms when we speak of grounding,we are speaking of grounding out the negative energy, stress, pain or other harmful emotions from our bodies and mind and sending it into the ground or earth.

In a limited way our body does this automatically when we rest.  However, have you ever had a really bad day where everything went wrong and nothing you tried to do was accomplished ever went right, you were so stressed out that you wanted to cry or scream; your head felt like it was going to explode and the least little thing caused you to snap and lash out at everyone around you? Of course you have! We all have been there and done that or been on the receiving side of the equation.    On days like this you probably ended up with a headache, heartburn, acid indigestion, felt anger and when you tried to relax and rest, your mind probably was racing and so full of thoughts that it was impossible.  Then being wiped out and totally exhausted you try to climb into bed and get some sleep, but you end up tossing and turning, you mind is going a million miles a minute and sleep is long in coming and when you finally do succumb to sleep it is light and fitful and when you wake you are still exhausted and feel spent, and it is a new day, uggh, so what are you to do...you really can't go back to bed things have to get done and you are the only one who can do them.

This is where learning and utilizing grounding comes in. By using grounding you can flush all of the stress, harmful emotions, restlessness, anger and can calm your mind and achieve that so sought after rest and respite from the world around you.  You will be able to finally get to sleep at night getting the rest your body needs and will wake up feeling renewed and refreshed. It isn't as hard as you might think and like I said earlier it is something that our body does in a limited fashion all on its own.  So when you learn how to ground properly it will become second nature and almost automatic.

Grounding is a natural phenomenon and follows the laws of nature and physical science.  Current (energy) in nature flows from positive to negative following the path of least resistance to reach ground.  This is an immutable fact and can be demonstrated in the following example using a electricity, a cord, a lamp with switch and a light bulb.  Electricity is the energy or current that we are going to apply to the cord to the lamp, when the switch is thrown, a circuit is completed and the current flows through the wire up the lamp through the bulb across the filament where light is created by the heat of the current flowing through the resistance of the filament as it rushes back down the lamp through the cord seeking ground.

In terms of spiritual grounding or the ground of ourselves, the mind is the switch, the body is the conductor and ground is the ground.  But what of the energy where does it come from, it is an external force or pressure, it can be stress, and it definitely comes from everything around us, the world at large.  It impacts us and hits us all day everyday and if we don't ground completely and thoroughly it will cause problems. You can think of the outside energy force as stress, grief, turmoil, pain or any other strong emotion that you and your body are subjected to throughout your day.  Just a little bit ago I explained to you the law which energy follows that it flows from negative to positive following the path of least resistance always seeking ground.  The earth being a big solid mass it can absorb and dissipate immense quantities of energy and is our natural ground.  You must bear in mind that energy is subject to all physical laws include that of relativity which simply states that energy can be created, manipulated, changed but it cannot be destroyed.  Energy therefore always seeks to ground and yearns to be dissipated otherwise it goes on and on for ever and always.

Therefore, unless we ground it out of our body, we begin to fill up with negative energy and negativity because energy flow from negative to positive always seeking ground if it cannot reach ground because we are not open then it has to build up, just like with our switch it doesn't light until the switch is thrown and the circuit is completed and the energy is able to pass through the bulb and return to ground. This negative energy builds up within our body and is harmful and throws us into imbalance, which can lead to illness, depression and other ailments that could possibly be avoided.  It does even further than this, it also reacts with our own inner energy field and an electrical current that travels through our central nervous system.  As the energy of the outside interacts with our internal energy field something unique occurs, the energy begins to transcend the laws of nature and physic and starts acting in contrary ways.  The reason why this happens is our inner energy field is spiritual energy or life-force, it interacts with our brain and other planes of existence it is also a perfect and closed circuit constantly flowing through our bodies and allowing us to function, with the interaction with the outside energy a conversion takes place between both energies, resulting in spiritual energy.  Now in our physical reality opposites attract, negative attracts positive, and that is how the current or energy is transferred, when the energy converts from physical to spiritual energy within our bodies that law no longer applies because in the spiritual realm likes attract and opposites repel, the total flip of our natural law.  Now, can you see what is happening our bodies are becoming loaded down with negative energy and as the conversion is taking place, we are drawing more negative into our lives.  This is the reason why grounding for us becomes so important.  We want to shunt that negative energy or negativity into the ground or the earth and get it out of our body and our mind.

When we are filled with the negative, more negative comes, our inner energy field begins to get corrupted and our body is unable to defend itself properly, we become overwhelmed and burdened and then physical problems begin to manifest themselves through illness, depression, bad moods, and the cycle becomes cyclical because our bodies are a complete circuit and we keep recycling that negative energy through our entire body.  This in turn begins to draw even more negativity into our lives which then begins to change our environment, leaking into our interactions and dealings with others.  Every thing around us begins to suffer just as our body suffers, you will begin to see everything withering, fleeing or dying just because it is near us. Now I am talking about everything, friends, health, relationships, our luck, wealth, everything. Negativity is something that can and will destroy us from the inside out.  Like I explained it becomes cyclical, meaning it goes around and around never changing unless we ground it out.  As the negative continues to build  we open ourselves up to depression and a myriad of other illnesses both physical and mental that can and will keep us stationary and prevent us from moving forward or backward for that matter, we get stuck in a rut and cannot break free. It becomes so easy for us to fall into despair and surrender to our lot in life and become accepting of all the rotten things that befall us.  We get used to it and we wallow in it.

But I am here to tell you that there is a way through this, there is a way to regain the balance in your life, to lift the veil of despair and depression and fight back and that is use and live with grounding. Grounding is a way for us to rid ourselves of this negative and replace it with positive.  It allows us to become healthier and gives our mind and body the opportunity to rest and heal and recuperate more efficiently.  In the next entry I will start explaining the techniques for ground in a way that will be easy for you to follow.  Thus allowing you to be healthier, happier, it will open you up to being receptive of love, wealth, and the blessings you truly deserve.

So, What is Grounding and what can it do for you? It is the shunting of the negative energy that your body is continually accumulating and making it go to ground.  What it will do for you? It will make you feel better, give you more energy and strength, allow you to pull more positive energy into your life to replace the negative and when you are constantly operating in the positive, you will be open to a whole new world.  Opportunities will come, stress will be reduced, you will be able to sleep more soundly and your body will get the rest it needs and will be able to heal and repair itself more efficiently; your mind will be quieter, clearer, and able to focus better.

So please join me for the next entry as we go through the techniques to accomplish this.  As always, I welcome your feedback and your comments, I am here for you and will answer any questions you might have.  Write to me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bryan.zepp2 or bryanzepp@gmail.com.  If you enjoy what you have read please follow my blog , become a follower please. I am trying to build up my audience and I want you to be a part of my community.

All my hopes and dreams are with you,

Uncle B

What is Creative Visualization and how can it help you?

I am about to embark on a series of posts that should be helpful and enlightening and if you have faith and an open mind will help you in achieving your goals, desires. Allowing you to receive blessings and start you on a greater spiritual path toward knowing and understanding God, Nature, the human body, meditation and prayer, as well as different planes or levels of existence. So lend me an ear, open your mind and enjoy the read.

This first entry is a very simplistic overview of Creative Visualization, each entry after this will build upon this first one and by the end you should have a firm understanding of Visualization, meditation, grounding, manifesting and all the parts in between. As always your feedback and comments are appreciated and solicited.  Feel free to ask any questions and remember I am here for you.  I can be reached directly through the blog page, or via email at bryanzepp@gmail.com or on Facebook www.facebook.com/bryan_zepp2.

Let us get started with the overview.  Salt-n-Pepa sang a song called the "I Am the Body Beautiful" which was featured in the movie "To Wong Fu - Thanks for everything Julie Newmar", this song is where we are going to start our series.  They sang "whatever the mind can conceive and believe you will achieve" and it is absolutely true.

You may be wondering how this can be manifested in your own daily life, which is where our entry here will attempt to explain and as we go forward teach you how to make it an automatic and a constant experience that will enrich and enhance your life. I need to explain that the human body has 3 distinct aspects that act and operate on different levels of consciousness.

                                 1. The Mind
                                 2. The Body
                                 3. The Soul

Together these components make up the Spiritual Body. Each part of the spiritual body then acts on different levels or planes of existence.  These planes of existence are:

                                1.  The Etheric or Astral Plane ( also known as the Divine or Holy Plane)
                                2.   The Physical Plane
                                3.   The Elemental Plane

Let me digress here for a minute to give you a little brief overview of these planes and attempt to explain how they work.  First I want to talk about the etheric plane or astral plane, it is also known as the place of dreams the ethereal realm, and in metaphysical terms the place where Heaven and the Angels reside.  It is also the plane of existence that our unconscious mind travels when we are deep in sleep or when in a meditative state.  The physical plane is what we know and count as reality.  This plane is governed by the physical laws of nature and science and of course life.  This is also the plane where creative visualization manifests its results. (More on that later in the series)  The elemental plane is the plane where the elements reside, it is also where the life energy resides that flows.  This energy actually transcends all planes and if found in every living thing on Earth.  It is commonly referred to as the "Godhead" or "Spark of Life", and it is where the energy of the Divine instills in us the gift of life and provides the power for our bodies.  It is also the enduring force that Albert Einstein describes in his theory of Relativity.  The theory states energy cannot be destroyed, it can only be manipulated, converted and changed and is represented by the formula E=MC Squared.

As we get further in the series more information will be discussed in greater detail and explain different aspects of them and how they correlate to the 3 different aspects of the spiritual body.  But for right now I want to delve into the tenant of  "Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, you will achieve." Is true and how you can accomplish some amazing things in your daily life. There are some factors that need to be reached before you can achieve your hearts desire.

In order to achieving or manifesting a desire or reach a goal, a few things must first take place.  Probably first and foremost is that the union of the aspects of the spiritual body must be aligned, balanced and in harmony with each other. This is a critical understanding point in order to achieve and receive the end result or desired outcome of any situation the mind, body and spirit must be in total harmony and balance. When I talk about alignment and harmony I am speaking that these aspects must work together and be perfectly blended or united.

But how do you harmonize or align your mind? This is where we are going to start because I think this may possibly be the hardest aspect to align and focus.  Now when I use the words align and focus, what am I actually talking about?  The idea is this we need to free our minds of any and all distractions and we must remove all doubt, any emotions need to be focused and grounded (grounding is a technique for eliminating negative energy and focusing of our will and thoughts, more will be discussed in the next entry about grounding).  When we are grounded and focused our minds are free from doubt, distraction, positively energized, and focused toward a single purpose.  At this point all I am wanting you to understand is that when your mind is focused to a singularity of purpose it can align with the body your desire or goal or dream is imprinted or planted on the astral or ethreal plane, because this is where the mind operates and influences.

The Body which dwells and operates on the physical plane and reality harmonizes with the mind and aligns through strong emotion or desire which strengthens the imprint  and starts the manifestation process.  Which incorporating the Spirit through mediation and focus provides the rest of the power needed to manifest your desire or goal from the etheric plane to the physical plane thus bring about the desired end goal or achievement.   Remember that this is a very simplistic overview of the process.

I do want to take another moment here now that I am at the end of the overview to state that different cultures and beliefs reach unity or harmony in many different ways, spiritualists use grounding and mediation, christian's use singing and prayer, where Buddists and Hindu's utilize chanting and prayer with the lighting of incense to direct their inner focus.  However, the end result is the same turning and inner concept, idea, desire, vision or goal and bringing from within to without by manifestation and visualization...all of which is accomplished by the total aligning of the 3 aspects of the spiritual body: The Mind, Body and Soul.  Reaching a state of singularity of purpose and total harmony, fueled by desire or strong emotion and infused and powered by divine energy that comes from the spirit.  Always remember that whatever your mind can conceive and believe, you will achieve! Further when you set your mind to something you will get it.  Even the Bible states that "whatsoever you ask shall be given unto you".  However, I must caution you at this point that another adage also holds true "Be careful what you wish for you just might get it."

Be safe and like I told you earlier write to me let me know what you think and if this has helped you in any way.   If nothing else maybe my own personal quote will help some of you "Anything is possible in this world, if we only strive for perfection one day at a time."  Do me a favor and take sometime to smell the roses, appreciate nature and those around you.  And as we get even closer to Mother's Day please take time to acknowledge your mother or another special woman in your life and tell them how much you appreciate them and love them.

All my hopes and dreams are with you,

Uncle B