M.J. Blehart's Blog, page 16

Maybe You Should Stop Worrying About That

Not worrying isn’t the same as not caring.[image error]Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

The world looks pretty crazy right now. Between the election in the US, the Israel/Palestine conflict, Putin and his ambition, climate concerns, economic wackiness, and other matters, there’s plenty to occupy your mind.

It’s good to be aware of what’s happening in the world. That way you can make informed choices and decisions when it comes to certain matters. Specifically, though, this only applies to limited things you can do such as vote, boycott businesses, attend rallies and protests, and support causes you’re passionate about with flags, money, stickers, buttons, or a combination therein.

However, apart from that, being worried about these matters, so far removed from any control you can exert at all, is pointless.

All the worst-case scenarios will lead you down to dark places. War, oppression, economic and social collapse, and possible suffering resulting from each are distressing and upsetting. Give it enough time and attention and what can you do to help it?

The truth is, aside from the aforementioned vote, boycott businesses, attend rallies and protests, and support causes you’re passionate about – there’s nothing more you can do. Worrying about it, and all the “what ifs” associated with it is useless to you.

Before I go further, let’s address the elephant in the room.

Won’t people think I don’t care?

Short answer, no. Long answer – does it matter?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating for you not to care. What I am trying to point out here is that what other people think is not as important as you and I make it.

One of the affirmations I recite daily addresses exactly this.

I give my best. I do my best. The thoughts and feelings of others are outside of my control.

Ergo, it really doesn’t matter what people think. You have zero control over anyone else’s thoughts, feelings, intentions, or actions. All you can do is be, give, and do your best. That has little to nothing to do with the big-picture issues of the world.

Worry is a useless emotion. It does nothing but cause distress, anxiety, heartburn, upset stomach, sadness, and other negative feelings. It builds nothing, it gives nothing, and it helps absolutely nobody to worry.

You don’t need to worry to show you care. Given how disempowering worry is, do you think worrying is the same as caring at all? It’s not. So, not worrying about this, that, or the other thing is not indicative of whether or not you care. Time and energy spent on worry is wasted.

You’re limited in what you can do. Thus, worrying about things so far outside of your direct control does you a disservice. How? By distracting you from yourself and what you do and can control.

Worrying distracts you

Submitted for your consideration. When you worry, is it ever about you? Like, do you genuinely worry about and for yourself? In my experience, the answer is no. Worrying tends to be about other people, places, situations, happenings, and things outside of you.

Sure, those things might have an impact on you, which is why they concern you. Yet they are not in your head, heart, or soul. Ergo, they’re outside of your control. Since you can do nothing about them, and have no control over them, worrying about them does you no good.

All that worrying does is start you down a path of doubt, distress, concern, headaches, and numerous other negatives. It does nothing to show you anything useful to or for you. Worrying distracts you.

When you worry, you worry about things you have no control over. Ergo, you neglect those you can and do control. While all you realistically control is your thoughts, feelings, actions, approach, and intentions, that’s everything, really.

You are the only one in your head, heart, and soul. Nobody else can think your thoughts, feel your feelings, choose the angles of your approach, intend your intentions, or act on your actions. These all are yours, and yours alone,

Worrying takes you away from your conscious awareness. It shows you things that can be shiny, concerning, and seemingly important. But it’s all a distraction.

You can’t control the world outside of yourself. Worrying is all about lamenting that lack of control, but offers you no solutions, assistance, or options. Hence, it’s a distraction.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on UnsplashNot worrying is not selfish

Alongside the concern that not worrying might make people think you don’t care, not worrying also doesn’t make you selfish.

Yes, I care about these matters in the world today. This will impact who I vote for, businesses I support and boycott, and causes I support. That’s the extent of my consideration for those things.

Is that selfish of me? No, because there’s not a damned thing I can do apart from the previously mentioned vote, boycott businesses, attend rallies and protests, and/or support causes I’m passionate about.

Worrying distracts you from utilizing active conscious awareness – mindfulness – for choices and decisions. No matter what size they are, you have tons of choices and decisions available to you daily for how you live your life.

Worrying is a choice. Sometimes it doesn’t feel that way, but it is. It is not the natural state of human beings to worry. Concern is different from worry in that it’s direct and to the point. Worry lingers and holds on, where concern acknowledges but moves on.

Not worrying is not selfish. In fact, it’s a matter of self-care. When you actively stop worrying about this, that, and the other thing, you can practice greater conscious awareness. Via mindfulness, you can drive your life experience less distracted and with greater intent.

If you don’t believe me when I suggest how empowering not worrying is, allow me to challenge you.

Proof for the skeptical

For the next 48 hours, pay attention to things that worry you. Big or small, personal or global, note what makes you feel worried. When you find yourself worrying about those things, don’t just leave it in the background. Pay attention to it.

Is there anything at all you can do about it? If the answer is yes, then do it and actively pay attention when you start worrying about it to redirect and stop the worry. If the answer is no, actively pay attention when you start worrying about it to redirect and stop the worry.

Either way, recognize when you’re worrying and act to end your worry in whatever way you can. Journal about it. Watch something that makes you laugh. Meditate on it. Pause, reflect, and imagine it as a balloon floating away.

After two days of this, address yourself. How do you feel? Are you giving attention and energy to worrying about things you have no control over, or other matters you do and can control? Do you feel lighter with fewer worries or heavier? Does letting go of worrying make you feel empowered at all?

If this doesn’t impact you after 48 hours, extend it out for a few more days. If it does impact you positively, consider extending it out indefinitely.

You’re the only one in your head, heart, and soul. Empowerment comes from within rather than from without. Worrying is external and disempowering. This will show you that.

It is not easy to stop worrying. And sometimes, you’ll find yourself worrying because it’s tied to fear, and that’s more natural. However, you can change your state, change your position, and decide to stop worrying about this, that, or the other thing. Apply conscious awareness as needed.

Can you see how and why maybe you should stop worrying about that?

This is the six-hundred fifty-second (652) exploration of my Pathwalking philosophy. These weekly essays are my ideas for – and experiences with – applying mindfulness and positivity to walk along a chosen path of life to consciously create reality.

I share this journey as part of my desire to make a difference in this world and empower as many people as I can with conscious reality creation.

Thank you for joining me. Feel free to re-post and share this.

The first year of Pathwalking, including expanded ideas, is available here. Check out Amazon for my published fiction and nonfiction works.

The post Maybe You Should Stop Worrying About That appeared first on The Ramblings of the Titanium Don.

Life’s Choices and Decisions Are Yours to Make

There are always choices and decisions being made.Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash

According to multiple sources, human beings make over 30,000 choices A DAY. That is a lot of choices.

But for the most part, you don’t make them consciously. Let’s face it, if you did, I think you’d probably go mad. Thirty-thousand-plus choices, per day, add up fast. That means that in a 30-day month, you make 900,000 choices. Hence, per year you’re making more than 11 million choices.

It’s a very good thing that so many of the choices you make are automated. Again, I can’t imagine 30,000+ choices a day wouldn’t drive a person mad. However, just because most are automatic, by rote, routine, or habit, that doesn’t mean that they’re not all up for grabs.

In other words, life’s choices and decisions are yours to make. All you need to do is become actively consciously aware to take control of them.

Recognize and acknowledge the levels

When you get down to it, choices and decisions come in four sizes. Yes, there are more than that, but to simplify matters let’s use only four.

They are big, medium, small, and seemingly insignificant.

Big choices include major life-changing things like marriage and divorce, moving, college education, bariatric surgery, and the like.

Medium choices include big purchases, vacations, buying and selling stocks, and so on.

Small choices include stuff like choosing what to wear today, where to go to dinner, the route you take from point “a” to point “b”, etc.

Seemingly insignificant choices are the most rote, routine, and subconscious. This includes choices and decisions about when to get out of bed, scrolling social media, what you eat and drink, how you brush your teeth, what tabs you leave open on your browsers, and other seemingly insignificant matters.

Nothing you choose is truly insignificant. Because they’re so numerous, they’re far more important than we often credit them for.

No matter the size of the choice in question, you can decide to make it consciously. Conscious awareness is how you recognize what your choices might be, and the options available to you. From there, you can make new choices, no matter what, how old they might be, their size, or the level they exist at.

Life’s choices and decisions are yours to make

When it comes to being consciously aware of choices, most people focus only on the big and medium choices. That’s where most people decide they must assume control because of the impact those choices can have.

While they are impactful, they’re the tip of the iceberg. That’s because below the visible are the small and seemingly insignificant choices. They are the base structure on which the medium and big choices are based and made.

This is why when you diet and focus solely on losing weight, you’re more like to yo-yo and get frustrated than succeed. Wonderful, you’ve chosen a medium or big thing – to diet. Great idea if you are seeking to get healthier overall.

However, the reason behind any need to diet is built on the small and seemingly insignificant things. This includes choosing where and when to eat, how and when to exercise, how much water you drink, how much you move, and more. Even deeper than that, largely among the insignificant things, such as how you feel when you’re eating (for example, do you eat more when you’re depressed?)

The choice to go on a diet is not going to produce the desired result if you don’t address small and seemingly insignificant choices. Ergo, taking these rote, routine, and habitual things and becoming consciously aware of them. Once you’re consciously aware, you can apply mindfulness to act on them.

Mindfulness puts you in the driver’s seat. You can use your knowledge of your thoughts, feelings, actions, intentions, and approaches to alter your choices. The power is wholly yours.

Photo by Monty Allen on UnsplashHow is this a matter of positivity?

The Universe is made up of energy. Everything from the smallest subatomic particle to the largest star in the cosmos is comprised of the same energy at its core. Energy has a frequency that it vibrates at. Lower frequency vibrations are negative while higher frequency vibrations are positive. Then, like attracts like.

Hooky spooky bullshit? No, it’s true that everything is energy and that like attracts like. The reason why I’m certain that low-frequency is negative and high-frequency is positive comes from experiences in my life. Whenever I’ve felt down, sad, unhappy, frustrated, and the like, my energy felt low as did my overall being. Conversely, whenever I’ve felt up, excited, happy, energized, joyful, and the like, my energy felt high as did my overall being.

I also know I don’t want to attract more things that feel low-frequency but desire to attract more things that feel high-frequency. Have you experienced that, too?

Your choices and decisions factor into everything you do. Big, medium, small, seemingly insignificant, and everything in between, you have the power to use conscious awareness and mindfulness to choose. That can change your life for the better.

Unfortunately, you live in a fear-based society disempowering you at every turn. False notions of lack, scarcity, and insufficiency are bombarding you to believe that you can do little to nothing to take control or make useful choices and decisions.

Nothing could be further from the truth. You have the power. Taking a positive approach is a choice you can make to see through the bullshit and use choices and decisions on every level to assume control.

The choice is quite literally yours.

Seeing how life’s choices and decisions are yours to make isn’t hard

It’s all about practicing mindfulness of your thoughts, feelings, intentions, and approach to direct your actions.

When you recognize and acknowledge that no matter the size, the choices and decisions in your life are yours to make, you can act on that and use mindfulness to consciously, knowingly make more as you see fit. Knowing that the seemingly insignificant and small choices are the root of your medium and big choices and decisions, you can mindfully take control of more of these to reach the outcome that you desire when making those medium and big choices and decisions.

This empowers you, and your empowerment can empower others around you.

Consciously choosing your approach to life towards positivity or negativity – from the vast cylinder that exists between them – shifts life in a way that opens more dialogue. With a broader dialogue, you can explore and share where you are between the extremes and how that impacts you here and now.

Choosing thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions for yourself employs an approach and attitude of positivity for realizing amazing potential and possibilities for your life.

The better aware you are of yourself in the now, the more you can do to choose and decide how your life experiences will be. When that empowers you, it can spread to those around you to their empowerment.

Thank you for coming along on this journey.

This is the five-hundred and forty-first (541) entry of my Positivity series. I hope that these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone. Feel free to share, re-blog, and spread the positivity.

Please visit here to explore all my published works – both fiction and non-fiction.

The post Life’s Choices and Decisions Are Yours to Make appeared first on The Ramblings of the Titanium Don.

You Choose Your Own Adventure Every Day

Even on the days it feels like a slog you make choices and decisions.Photo by Galen Crout on Unsplash

Consciously or subconsciously, you’re always making choices and decisions. When you allow your subconscious mind to do most of the work via rote and routine, it will feel like you’re not choosing and deciding anything.

That, however, is because of the passive nature of the subconscious mind. Everything in your subconscious is passive unless engaged consciously.

Your conscious mind has two facets to it. One looks outside and absorbs data via your six senses. The other looks inside and can access your thoughts, feelings, intentions, and all of your beliefs, values, habits, and subconscious memories.

Conscious awareness is active participation in your life experiences. Rather than living subconsciously, you make choices and decisions consciously.

This applies to big, medium, small, and seemingly insignificant choices and decisions. The big stuff includes major life-changing things like marriage and divorce, moving, college education, bariatric surgery, and the like. Medium stuff includes big purchases, vacations, buying and selling stocks, and so on. The small stuff is choosing what to wear today, where to go to dinner, the route you take from point “a” to point “b”, etc.

The seemingly insignificant choices and decisions tend to be the most rote, routine, and subconscious. Because they’re so numerous, they’re far more important than we often credit them for. This includes choices and decisions about when to get out of bed, scrolling social media, what you eat and drink, how you brush your teeth, what tabs you leave open on your browsers, and other seemingly insignificant matters.

Nothing you choose is truly insignificant. That’s because you choose your own adventure every day.

The seemingly insignificant is significant

You make hundreds, if not thousands of choices and decisions daily. For that reason, it’s good that many of the seemingly insignificant are done automatically.

Rote, routine, and habit are part of your subconscious mind. That’s where the automation lives. This allows you to do things with no conscious thought.

For example, when was the last time you thought about your eating routine? Not what, when, or where you’re eating, but the process itself. Do you chew your food thoroughly, or tend to wolf things down? Are you a person who takes drinks between bites, or only before and after you’ve eaten the solids? Do you savor the taste of what you eat or only vaguely recognize it? Are you a one-thing-at-a-time eater, or do you mix and blend plates and bowls of sustenance?

Most of the above is likely so deeply ingrained in you that you don’t give it thought. But you did, at one time. That’s how you developed the habit and routine you employ in how you consume food.

Seemingly insignificant. Except when you are changing dietary habits. Now you have a reason to reconsider all the above and see how changing these automated actions impacts you and your health, wellness, and wellbeing. That seemingly insignificant matter becomes significant when you are choosing your own adventure that is this life.

Shifting the subconscious to conscious awareness is where mindfulness comes in. Specifically engaging the inward-looking facet of your conscious mind.

Photo by Charbel Aoun on UnsplashThe adventure of life is yours to choose

Active conscious awareness can seem like a major challenge. This is especially poignant when you consider all the messages recommending subtly and blatantly that you let this, that, or the other thing do your work for you.

The truth is that you, and only you, live inside your head, heart, and soul. You’re the only one who can make choices and decisions for you and the adventures of your life. Ergo, you choose your own adventure via mindfulness.

Mindfulness is applied active conscious awareness, By questioning your thoughts, feelings, intentions, approach, and actions, you gain awareness, consciously, of them. This applies to all things, big, medium, small, and seemingly insignificant.

You choose to turn things over to rote, routine, habit, and subconscious action. And you can choose to reclaim them to change them.

Nothing in life is written in stone, save birth, life, and death themselves. Everything else is up for grabs. Change is the one and only constant in the Universe. You get to decide and choose your own adventure on every level. Sometimes that’s within moral, societal, environmental, and situational constraints. Yet most of those are artifices you can choose and decide to walk away from.

The real question is – do you choose the path for your life, let it be chosen for you, or just go with whatever happens, happens?

Adventure is where you find and/or make it

It’s important to recognize and acknowledge that subconscious rote, routine, and habit are necessary. There are so very many choices and decisions to make daily that you simply can’t make them all via conscious awareness without going slightly mad.

However, if you’re discontent, unhappy, frustrated, and seeking a new adventure for your life’s paths, now the subconscious might need to be surfaced to the conscious awareness. Then, via mindfulness, new choices and decisions are made to drive desired change.

Often the focus is on the big and medium choices and decisions because of their overall impact. To get to them, however, you can’t disregard and leave to your subconscious the small and seemingly insignificant choices and decisions. Why? Because the big and medium are made up of the small and seemingly insignificant.

Think about it. The seemingly insignificant and small things, when grouped together and combined, form the bases for the medium and large choices and decisions.

The true meaning of life is TO LIVE. It’s all about your experiences, doings, learnings, growth, evolution, and the like. You have the power to choose and decide your paths, and your adventure. It won’t be easy, but I think it’s utterly worthwhile. And so are you.

Remember, you are worthy and deserving of choosing your own adventure for your life experience. You’re empowered to feel the empowerment and be actively, consciously aware. Mindfulness puts you in the driver’s seat. From there, you can choose and decide to cross the next ridge, take a different route, make that left turn at Albuquerque, or whatever you desire. Your adventure is the product of the choices and decisions, no matter the size, you actively consciously make.

Can you see how you can and do choose your own adventure?

This is the six-hundred fifty-first (651) exploration of my Pathwalking philosophy. These weekly essays are my ideas for – and experiences with – applying mindfulness and positivity to walk along a chosen path of life to consciously create reality.

I share this journey as part of my desire to make a difference in this world and empower as many people as I can with conscious reality creation.

Thank you for joining me. Feel free to re-post and share this.

The first year of Pathwalking, including expanded ideas, is available here. Check out Amazon for my published fiction and nonfiction works.

The post You Choose Your Own Adventure Every Day appeared first on The Ramblings of the Titanium Don.

How are Gratitude, Mindfulness, and Positivity Linked?

Gratitude leads to mindfulness and empowers you to do almost anything.Photo by De’Andre Bush on Unsplash

Distraction is everywhere that you turn. The internet and social media, while great means to learn and grow, are also dangerously distracting and disruptive. I can’t tell you how many times a brief glance at Facebook has turned into 10-30 minutes of mindless scrolling.

Text messages, email, radio, TV, and other instantly accessible information sources can take you on a tangent before you fully grasp how distracted you are. It takes surprisingly little for you to get lost in distractions. You start to wonder why you’re feeling sad, hopeless, lost, distraught, uncertain, afraid, and any number of other negative emotions.

You and I live in a fear-based, consumerist society. Messages of fear, insufficiency, lack, and scarcity are being rolled over you so frequently that they likely don’t even register. Before you know it, you feel bad about not buying that product or service, fear you’re missing out, and feel constantly like something’s lacking if you’re not consuming.

It’s easy to wade through the quagmire of this mindlessly. However, that also makes it sink into your subconscious more readily. That’s because you can ignore it all you want, but it’s still there.

How can you counter it? By employing the most powerful tool for taking control of accessing your conscious awareness that there is: Gratitude.

There’s always something to be grateful for

Even on the worst days you might experience, there’s always something that you can be grateful for. It might seem impossible in the face of sadness, grief, and uncertainty, but that doesn’t lessen the truth.

You can be grateful that you’re alive, you have a place to sleep, people in your life, and anything else material or immaterial you have. Beyond this, you can be grateful for the sun, the moon, the stars, gentle breezes, the smell of coffee, cute animals, and other abstracts of the Universe. If there are things you’re striving to get, you can be grateful for what you already have.

The trouble is that most people don’t express gratitude frequently enough. I don’t mean thinking about it, offering a half-hearted “thanks”, or throwing in a caveat like “I’m grateful but waiting on that thing”. I’m writing about a full-on, thought-and-feeling-tied-together expression of gratitude.

Thank you are among the most powerful words you can say and feel. They might be equal to I am and I love. Whatever follows “thank you” is a powerful acknowledgment of something that makes you feel good and positive. It empowers you not only to recognize and acknowledge the one item you’re saying “thank you” for, but also find and be grateful for more.

Even on the worst day you might be having, there is always something to be grateful for. That glass of water, the deep breath you took, the ability to feel even bad things, that you are here and living. So long as you’re alive there is always something to be grateful for.

With gratitude, you can become more mindful. From mindfulness, you can learn what you can and can’t control of your life, and make choices and decisions from there.

Gratitude is the ultimate fuel for empowerment

When you’re distracted, it’s easy to lose sight of your own conscious awareness. Distraction starts to pull you into mindlessness, taking you away from intent and action. That then allows you to lose yourself in your subconscious mind.

The subconscious mind will often take everything put into it at face value. Ergo, when you’re being bombarded with messages of that thing lacking, this thing being scarce, and not enough of those, you start to believe it. Before long, you’re afraid of what’s missing, what you aren’t doing, and other things that – in reality – are outside of your control.

This is where active conscious awareness comes in. When you step outside of your subconscious mind – by becoming aware of what you’re thinking, what and how you’re feeling, your intentions, if you’re taking a positive or negative approach to things, and what you are or aren’t doing – your conscious awareness kicks in. That’s mindfulness.

One of the best ways to begin to access mindfulness is gratitude. Finding and expressing gratitude for things tangible or intangible is a matter of intent borne of thought and feeling. Let’s say, for example, you’re grateful for the sun shining down on you. The intention is to acknowledge that gratitude. So, with thought and a feeling behind it, you say or write, “I am grateful for the sunshine.”

I don’t know about you, but reading through the above feels good, open, and strong, That’s because it’s empowering. You’ve opened the path to active conscious awareness. Mindfulness in and of itself is empowering.

That’s because mindfulness is where virtually all the control you can have over life, the Universe, and everything is. Your thoughts, feelings, actions, approach, and intentions, You and only you can choose what they are or aren’t. That’s your empowered superpower.

Photo by Joshua Gresham on UnsplashPractice empowers

The world needs more empowered people. If more people are empowered, those who maintain the fear base of society with artificial lack, scarcity, and insufficiency become visible. The so-called power they wield fades away like a shadow chased out by light.

The best way to change anything is with proactive action. Stand for rather than against things and use positivity to combat negativity. You get what you give to the Universe. So give more good, take that positive approach, and empower yourself to be more present, here and now, and in control.

One simple exercise you can do is to start a gratitude journal. At the beginning or end of the day (or both) take a moment to write down 5-10 things you’re grateful for. Write them out in complete sentences like, “I am grateful for this life I get to experience. Thank you.” Use both grateful and thank you in your sentence.

After you’ve written them out, read them (preferably aloud). As you read, let the feeling of gratitude that goes with the thought and words sink into your consciousness. Read them three times each. Note how you’re feeling after you do this.

Gratitude is always positive. It always empowers, both when given and received. Gratitude, mindfulness, and positivity are linked because all are tools of incredible empowerment that, together, can change your life and put you more in control.

Seeing how gratitude, mindfulness, and positivity are linked it isn’t hard

It’s all about practicing mindfulness of your thoughts, feelings, intentions, and approach to direct your actions.

When you recognize and acknowledge that this fear-based society needs you and me to be empowered to steer it towards reason-based, you can use gratitude to open your mindfulness and choose genuine positivity for abundance. Knowing that gratitude is always positive, and empowering when both given and received, you can use gratitude to practice being mindful and positive to take more control of your conscious mind and strengthen virtually every element of your life experience.

This empowers you, and your empowerment can empower others around you.

Consciously choosing your approach to life towards positivity or negativity – from the vast cylinder that exists between them – shifts life in a way that opens more dialogue. With a broader dialogue, you can explore and share where you are between the extremes and how that impacts you here and now.

Choosing thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions for yourself employs an approach and attitude of positivity for realizing amazing potential and possibilities for your life.

The better aware you are of yourself in the now, the more you can do to choose and decide how your life experiences will be. When that empowers you, it can spread to those around you to their empowerment.

Thank you for coming along on this journey.

This is the five-hundred and fortieth (540) entry of my Positivity series. I hope that these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone. Feel free to share, re-blog, and spread the positivity.

Please visit here to explore all my published works – both fiction and non-fiction.

The post How are Gratitude, Mindfulness, and Positivity Linked? appeared first on The Ramblings of the Titanium Don.

A Much-Needed Lesson in Patience

One of the places I find I am most lacking is patience.Photo by Abbas Tehrani on Unsplash

I’ve struggled for years to build more patience into my life. I struggled because, to be blunt, I’m bad at it.

Sometimes this has served me well. Rather than simply awaiting a timely healing, when I was severely injured, I pushed. That push was borne from my impatience but wasn’t a lack of patience. It manifested instead into an unwillingness to accept anything but my vision of my healing.

The physical and occupational therapists I worked with loved me. Why? Because they could beat the tar out of me, push me harder and harder. Rather than the resistance or pushback they regularly got, from me it was demands for more. Conversations frequently went like this,

Therapist: Does that hurt?

Me: Yes.

Therapist: Do you want to stop?

Me: Nope. Keep going. Will hurt less next time.

I healed swiftly and completely because my inherent impatience got redirected and refocused into useful effort. This extended beyond the physical into the mental, emotional, and spiritual. It took far less time for me to heal completely – and more completely than expected – than they thought possible.

You would think that such a lesson in patience, and that amazing result, would take hold. Yet, no, in fact, it didn’t make me any more patient. Only now, more than two decades later, do I see the difference between my impatience turned to focus and empowering me versus being impatient.

How deep does that go?

A recent lesson in patience

I have been fencing – medieval rapier – for more than 30 years now. Along the way, I’ve developed a modicum of skill. For years, I was pretty close to the top of the game. It was very cool to have athletic skill, which I sorely lacked during my childhood.

Recently, it was pointed out to me that my skill hasn’t so much deteriorated, as the overall skill of the fencers in our community has increased. A lot. The newest fencers out there have dozens of resources that I didn’t when I began in this game.

Somewhere along the way, much of the patience I’d developed in my game seeped away. Despite being reminded of this by numerous people, I keep forgetting it. Then, I fall back into an old bad habit and wonder why I’m increasingly being frustrated by my game.

I write about conscious reality creation, mindfulness, manifestation, and the like frequently. Each time I write about it, I explore how it requires combined thought, feeling, action, and a positive approach. Then, from there, you must apply intent with your action to make manifest the tangible or intangible.

Intent and action and time. Seldom, if ever really, is it instantaneous. I know this. Quite well, in fact. And yet, when it comes to me and my choices, do I apply them?

Not enough, no.

This doesn’t just apply to fencing at all. Overall, my patience on nearly every level of my life has been disregarded, ignored, and shunted away. Ironically, as much as I teach patience here and to new fencers, my own is lacking.

Photo by Marek Piwnicki on UnsplashWhat do I do with that?

The irony of how “do what I say not as I do” being my way isn’t lost on me. This is especially true of how I teach new fencers. I’m constantly pointed out to them that they need to be patient as their muscle memory and skills advance. Me? Nah, I should already be there and what the hell is taking so long?

As I pause and reflect on my lack of patience in my fencing – apologies, Nefi, you have been telling me this for years and I should have been paying attention – I see that’s just the tip of the iceberg. No, my lack of patience is way beyond that.

I’ve been writing on Medium for 5.5 years. Along the way, I have acquired more than 1600 followers. Yet, I’m not a top earner. Not even close, really.

Over the years I’ve self-published more than a dozen books. Yet my monthly earnings are small, and I’ve spent more on covers and editing than I’ve made on book sales.

My weight has been up and down all my life. Even with improving my diet and exercise, I keep getting stuck heavier and more out of shape. It’s very frustrating, especially when I have excellent endurance and cardio fitness from fencing.

All of these combined are trying my patience. Clearly, more than I realized. This has created a block that’s been impacting my mental, emotional, and spiritual health (then leading into the physical, too). It certainly looks like impatience is the elephant in the room when it comes to my health, wellness, and wellbeing, and issues therein.

How very interesting.

Recognizing and acknowledging the need for greater patience

Upon closer examination, it certainly looks to me like a lack of patience is causing me distress on many levels. The blockage I’ve been trying to identify might all come down to this.

It starts by recognizing my impatience. This isn’t limited to fencing, it’s coming out in everything I do. The more I consider this, the more I recognize that “do what I say not what I do” is my dominant affectation.

Recognition is only the beginning. I can’t just recognize that my patience is lacking. It needs to also be acknowledged. That way, I’m saying not just “I see I’m being impatient,” but also “I acknowledge my lack of patience needs to be adjusted by me.”

Recognized and acknowledged, now I can start to do something about this.

What do I do? The first step is to pause. Pause before I type, pause before I attack when fencing, pause before I get on the road. Then, be mindful, and consciously aware of what I’m thinking, what and how I’m feeling, my approach, then my intention and actions.

Am I being patient or impatient? This is a question I haven’t been asking, but clearly need to be. When I meditate, this should be considered. When I do, going forward I need to be more cognizant that I’m doing as I say.

Maybe you have patience that I don’t. Pausing, however, is good for you, too. In a society where it’s always “go go go”, pausing allows you and me to better get a handle on things. You and I can take more time to be present, here and now, and work smarter (not harder).

I see I have some work to do here.

How are you when it comes to patience?

This is the six-hundred-fiftieth (650) exploration of my Pathwalking philosophy. These weekly essays are my ideas for – and experiences with – applying mindfulness and positivity to walk along a chosen path of life to consciously create reality.

I share this journey as part of my desire to make a difference in this world and empower as many people as I can with conscious reality creation.

Thank you for joining me. Feel free to re-post and share this.

The first year of Pathwalking, including expanded ideas, is available here. Check out Amazon for my published fiction and nonfiction works.

The post A Much-Needed Lesson in Patience appeared first on The Ramblings of the Titanium Don.

Why Is It Usually Easier Said than Done?

I’m striving to live one day at a time as best I can.Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

I’ve been writing about positivity every Monday for more than 10 years. I’m frequently exploring new paths to positivity, new ways to view it, different perspectives on what it is and isn’t, and more.

There are three reasons why I share these ideas.

To inject positivity into a world dominated by a fear-based society. Especially on a Monday morning after the weekend.In the interest of clarifying genuine, usable positivity over toxic positivity.To remind myself to seek the positive.

The third is often the most challenging. In the face of being only human and reacting to matters that come up personally and impersonally, it’s easy to lose sight of positivity.

Recently, a situation has presented itself that’s been majorly plaguing my ability to feel positive. It’s been causing me a great deal of distress, anger, and self-doubt. While I can keep a handle on it most of the time, certain things make it flair up and make me feel negative.

Don’t get me started on the upcoming election in the US. How people can blindly follow a convicted felon who doesn’t even deliver clear speeches is beyond me. Not to mention the BS happening overseas with Ukraine, Israel/Palestine, and more. Seeing the good and positivity in a world going increasingly mad feels impossible sometimes.

That, however, is part of why I share positivity every Monday. Both to remind myself and you that the good and positive of the world is more abundant than the negative.

So why is it usually easier said than done?

Your psyche can only take so much abuse

There is a mental health crisis in the world today. Many don’t see it, but it’s very much messing with you, me, and virtually everyone.

The tools created to connect us all are actually causing far more disconnect than connection. Social media, texting, and the internet overall have created a space of anonymity where accountability is close to nil. On top of that, new technology like AI is being used to disrupt in nearly as many good ways as bad ways. Those elected to make laws are too concerned about petty things and matters that line their pockets – and those of their backers – to do the good they should be.

All these things and more begin a swirling, spiraling cacophony of input that’s as jumbled as it is overwhelming. Nearly all of it is far outside of anything you or I can control. That makes it worse because nobody teaches you how to look within and get to know yourself.

Hence, your psyche can only take so much abuse. In time, you start to feel disillusioned, lost, distressed, uncertain, confused, and unsettled. Is it any wonder that the idea of “woke”, something everyone should aspire to experience, is being weaponized? It keeps you off balance.

Still, in the face of this ongoing insanity. I’m striving to share and spread positivity with the world. Every Monday I continue exploring various aspects of it. Even when I don’t feel it myself, in part to help find it I keep sharing it.

You can counter the abuse to your psyche with positivity. That, however, requires time and effort to one degree or another.

Easier said than done doesn’t mean not giving it ongoing effort

Because of all the reasons mentioned before, this is frequently easier said than done. Many weeks have found me scrambling to come up with a topic worth exploring related to positivity.

This is where toxic positivity gets it wrong, FYI. Toxic positivity is all about ignoring, negating, and avoiding negativity. But you can’t. It is always present and, frankly, necessary.

The yin and yang of life is unmistakable. You cannot have good without bad, up without down, happy without sad, or positivity without negativity. The opposites need one another. What’s more, they’re the extreme ends of any given spectrum. It’s between them, to one end or the other, that you and I exist.

Seeking out, finding, and/or creating positivity in this fear-based society is essential to your mental health, wellness, and wellbeing. Negativity is a huge element of this fear-based society. It ranges from the innocuous, like most advertising and notions like FOMO; to the downright obscene like notions that transgendered people will turn kids gay or immigrants are taking your jobs and freedoms away.

Positivity is necessary to counter this. Not toxic positivity and its disregard of the negative. Genuine positivity is the opposite of negativity that needs that opposite to stand on its own.

Because of how important this is, and because I deeply desire to make the world a better place in whatever ways that I can – even when it’s easier said than done – I share these ideas weekly. Moreover, because I know that positivity can and does benefit you as much as it does me, it’s much more worthwhile.

So why is it usually easier said than done? Because overcoming this fear-based society is so challenging.

Photo by Tyler Nix on UnsplashFor me as much as for you

Life is going to always be challenging. That’s because there are always things you and I can’t control that are going to come up and complicate things.

Everyone has bad days. Everyone. That’s part of life. You get to choose, every day, how you move through it. It might be easier said than done to seek, find, and/or create positivity sometimes. Yet it’s always worth it because positivity is there to counter the lack, scarcity, insufficiency, and negativity of this fear-based society.

Everything I can do to change the narrative is as good for me as it is for you. Hence, I continue sharing weekly positivity ideas with you. Together, we can shift fear to reason, and genuine positivity can play a major role in that. Thanks for doing your part, too.

Seeing that easier said than done doesn’t mean not doing it isn’t hard

It’s all about practicing mindfulness of your thoughts, feelings, intentions, and approach to direct your actions.

When you recognize and acknowledge that this fear-based society needs you and me to change for it to change, you and I can choose – even when it’s easier said than done – to seek, find, and/or create more positivity. Knowing that positivity is the yin to negativity’s yang – and that it’s a choice that can counter the fear that so dominates the world – you can choose your approach to things to feel better and take control over how you think, feel, intend, and act.

This empowers you, and your empowerment can empower others around you.

Consciously choosing your approach to life towards positivity or negativity – from the vast cylinder that exists between them – shifts life in a way that opens more dialogue. With a broader dialogue, you can explore and share where you are between the extremes and how that impacts you here and now.

Choosing thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions for yourself employs an approach and attitude of positivity for realizing amazing potential and possibilities for your life.

The better aware you are of yourself in the now, the more you can do to choose and decide how your life experiences will be. When that empowers you, it can spread to those around you to their empowerment.

Thank you for coming along on this journey.

This is the five-hundred and thirty-ninth (539) entry of my Positivity series. I hope that these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone. Feel free to share, re-blog, and spread the positivity.

Please visit here to explore all my published works – both fiction and non-fiction.

The post Why Is It Usually Easier Said than Done? appeared first on The Ramblings of the Titanium Don.

Does Mindfulness Separate Opinion from Fact?

Being consciously aware makes you aware of many things.Photo by Usman Yousaf on Unsplash

Living in a fear-based society is problematic on many levels. First, virtually everywhere you turn there’s something in place to make you fearful. The play on your emotions is often deeply subtle, sometimes even subversive, and always present.

Advertising plays on fears of lack, scarcity, insufficiency, and missing out. Buy this item to be more lovable, sexier, and appear smarter and more refined – or suffer. Utilize that service to stay on top or gain the upper hand. Vote for this guy or allow the “other” to take away all that you are. It’s very nasty, insidious, and ever-present.

Fear, in its original incarnation, was healthy. It kept humankind’s ancestors alive in the face of predators, environmental threats, and other matters of life and death. When it was tangible, fear was a lot more helpful.

Now that fear has become mostly intangible, however, it’s less about saving life and limb and more about holding onto fluid values, beliefs, and habits. These, in turn, get attached to equally fluid notions that are presented as limited, though that’s largely artificial constructs intent on disempowering to maintain a person or organization’s control.

Unchecked, it’s very easy to fall for opinion over fact. When you aren’t mindful and consciously aware, but instead living via rote, routine, and habit, you’re more easily swayed by opinions that match your values and beliefs.

This is why mindfulness – active, conscious awareness – separates opinion from fact.

Why the notion of “woke” is being weaponized

There is this deeply disturbing. Increasingly shared narrative about being “woke”. That those who are “woke” are ruining the status quo, turning the world away from the tried and true, and ruining things for everyone.

I fail to understand how this is even a thing, though. Wouldn’t you rather be awake than asleep at the switch? Don’t most people prefer to be conscious and take control of their lives?

Maybe not. It’s becoming increasingly clear that lots of people prefer to have things done for them. Many people appear to want others to make their choices and decisions and direct them to where they need to be.

Is that really true? Hard to say, because I can’t get into the head, heart, or soul of anyone other than myself. Yet certain leaders – business, political, religious, and more – think they can. So they numb you and me with fear at every turn, and when anyone shows a hint of self-awareness or employs mindfulness, they are turning that into a negative.

Hence, “woke” is weaponized. Being “woke” has been turned into this idea that those who desire equal rights for all, fair treatment for the marginalized, and greater representation will take away what you already have. There’s only so much to go around, and the “woke” will take yours and leave you nothing.

When you look closely at this, from a place of conscious awareness, I think it’s clear that this is almost entirely opinion-based, rather than factual. For example, if you’re reading this, I presume you are interested in being consciously aware. Ergo, mindful, and awake.

The clear-headedness of consciously aware mindfulness is far more open to seeking out fact rather than accepting opinion.

Mindfulness opens the door to fact

Active conscious awareness is different from living via rote, routine, and subconsciousness. That’s because it’s a choice to be awake, aware, and present, rather than simply existing.

Subconscious living via rote, routine, and habit is just existing. It’s not an active approach to choices and decisions about how you live life. Thus, it’s highly suggestible and prone to accepting opinions as facts if they match your values and beliefs.

Take the idea of flat-earthers, for example. They will go out of their way to deny all the scientific evidence, facts, and reality to hold onto their opinion that the Earth is flat. They’re so convinced that what they know is true that they reject all logic and reason in the face of what stands against their values and beliefs.

Flat-earthers hold their subconscious opinions, beliefs, and values and refuse to accept they might be mistaken. Similarly, white supremacists, transphobes, homophobes, and the like allow subconscious opinions that hold to their beliefs and values to override fact, logic, and reason.

Then they weaponize the idea of being “woke” to shout down anyone trying to present anything that’s counter to them and their ways. Living subconsciously, they close the door to fact.

Being actively consciously aware and applying mindfulness opens the door to fact. However, it’s important to recognize and acknowledge that this starts from within you.

Photo by Ian Schneider on UnsplashMindfulness in action

Active conscious awareness – mindfulness – is about what’s inside of your head, heart, and soul, first. That’s how you can view the world outside of yourself with clarity, logic, and reason.

Activating mindfulness is easy. You simply need to ask questions like,

What am I thinking?What am I feeling?How am I feeling?What is my intent?Is my approach positive or negative?What am I doing?

All of these, together, make you actively consciously aware, here and now. This is important because the present, the now, is the only time that’s wholly real, and in which you can gain near-total clarity.

With mindfulness, you can see more clearly what’s opinion versus what’s fact. By starting with conscious awareness of yourself, your self-awareness opens you to external awareness.

That’s how mindfulness separates opinion from fact.

This helps you. But what about those who buy into things like the negativity of “woke”, flat-earth, transphobia, and the like?

Change begins with you

The only person you can control is yourself. You can only change your beliefs, values, habits, and opinions.

What about all those who are out there making terrible choices and believing opinions that are counter-factual? All you can do is lead by your own example.

You cannot change the hearts and minds of those who choose to allow opinion that meets their beliefs and values to rule them. No matter how much they are falling for demagogues or opinions counter to fact, you can’t sway them.

Save in one way. By example. Make your own choices and decisions. Live with active, conscious awareness. Practice mindfulness, be here now, and learn all that you can. Do everything in your power to live your life, and seek out the many wonders, potential, and possibilities the world has to offer.

Lead by example. Actions speak louder than words. When you present a life that’s awake and aware, you show you have control of the only things you can and do control. You become empowered, which raises your energetic vibrational frequency. Like attracts like, but it also turns you into a beacon that draws in those who feel stuck, disempowered, and like the world is moving away from them.

Choose your battles, your words, and your actions with care. Be consciously aware of who, what, where, how, and why you are and what you present. In that way, without pushing or trying to change the hearts and minds of others, you can show (rather than tell) how mindfulness separates opinion from fact. Be the change you wish to see in the world via fact, logic, and reason.

Who, but you, can make the choices and decisions to live your best life, and separate opinion from fact?

This is the six-hundred and forty-ninth (649) exploration of my Pathwalking philosophy. These weekly essays are my ideas for – and experiences with – applying mindfulness and positivity to walk along a chosen path of life to consciously create reality.

I share this journey as part of my desire to make a difference in this world and empower as many people as I can with conscious reality creation.

Thank you for joining me. Feel free to re-post and share this.

The first year of Pathwalking, including expanded ideas, is available here. Check out Amazon for my published fiction and nonfiction works.

The post Does Mindfulness Separate Opinion from Fact? appeared first on The Ramblings of the Titanium Don.

It’s Good That Today is Just Another Day

It sure beats the alternative.Photo by Tyler Nix on Unsplash

Life can be confusing. Moments of amazing, moments of awfulness. Good things and bad things are happening with little or no fanfare. It’s utterly unpredictable.

Today could be a holiday. Or it could be a weekend. Perhaps today is a day you’ve looked forward to with excitement, or today could be a day that you’ve long dreaded. Anything is possible.

No matter what your perspective is, no matter what day it is as you’re reading this, today is just another day. That’s a good thing.

Why? Because you’re here. Now, in this moment, at this time, you’re here. Today. When you are here today, the world of potential and possibilities is wide open. Even if you’re going through some things, having a hard time, or otherwise struggling, it’s good that today is just another day. Because the alternative sucks.

What is the alternative?

Death is the alternative

Every day that you are here is good. Why? Because you’re here. You’re alive.

There is nobody on the entire planet for whom every day is a good day. Nobody. All 8 billion individual people on Planet Earth have bad days. Every single person you know and don’t know experiences pain, uncertainty, joy, excitement, anticipation, anxiety, and every other emotion you can name to one degree or another.

Today, right now, no matter where you’ve come from, what you’re going through, or what you’re anticipating, is just another day. It’s another day where and when you’re here, experiencing life and all it has to offer.

Many people get caught up in the rote and routine society loves to press on us as “the norm”. This can cause one day to the next to feel like a challenge, a slog. Then you might start feeling like life itself is a challenge and a slog.

To be fair, it can be. That’s part and parcel of being a human being. Yet being here, alive, now, is the thing that makes just another day incredible. You’re living, not dead and gone. Death is the end, and inevitable. Just another day like today, you’re here, not dead, and that’s hugely positive.

Just another day means another day

Today might be good, bad, or a blend of both. But it’s a day, and you’re here, now, alive to experience it. What’s more, so long as you’re alive, there are things you can do to make your life how you desire it to be.

I know that’s not easy for everyone. Lots of people are ill, experience crippling trauma, and have numerous things making today challenging. Yet, here you are, alive. That means potential and possibilities are open to and for you.

That’s amazingly positive. Because that means that it might be just another day, yet that means it’s another day. Here you are, and you can make choices and decisions to alter and change your life experience.

The empowerment of this truth is immeasurable. That’s because your power is beyond what you can see, taste, touch, smell, hear, and sense. To claim this, all you need is active conscious awareness.

Photo by Robert Collins on UnsplashMindfulness for the win

Active conscious awareness is mindfulness, here and now. Self-awareness of what you’re thinking, what and how you’re feeling, your intentions, if your approach is positive or negative, and the actions that come from that.

Being mindful is being self-aware. Today might be just another day, but that’s not a disempowering statement. It means you have a day that you’re here, alive, and open to numerous potential and possibilities.

I know this isn’t always easy to see. Lots of uncertainty is out there. But you have the power via mindfulness to direct it, control it, and move it how it best suits you. It sure beats the alternative – because while death is inevitable, every day you’re here is a day you can do things, make things, and/or change things for yourself for the better.

Even one percent better today is better overall. Consider this with whatever today presents you with.

Recognizing it’s good that today is just another day isn’t hard

It’s all about practicing mindfulness of your thoughts, feelings, intentions, and approach to direct your actions.

When you recognize and acknowledge that today being just another day means it’s more opportunity to see the potential and possibilities for new life experiences, you can make choices and decisions to work with that. Knowing that even if you’re facing lots of challenges, you’re alive and able to make choices and decisions today, you can use this as the superpower it is to better your life experience, even just a little bit, so long as are alive and here today.

This empowers you, and your empowerment can empower others around you.

Consciously choosing your approach to life towards positivity or negativity – from the vast cylinder that exists between them – shifts life in a way that opens more dialogue. With a broader dialogue, you can explore and share where you are between the extremes and how that impacts you here and now.

Choosing thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions for yourself employs an approach and attitude of positivity for realizing amazing potential and possibilities for your life.

The better aware you are of yourself in the now, the more you can do to choose and decide how your life experiences will be. When that empowers you, it can spread to those around you to their empowerment.

Thank you for coming along on this journey.

This is the five-hundred and thirty-eighth (538) entry of my Positivity series. I hope that these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone. Feel free to share, re-blog, and spread the positivity.

Please visit here to explore all my published works – both fiction and non-fiction.

The post It’s Good That Today is Just Another Day appeared first on The Ramblings of the Titanium Don.

Just Live. You Have No True Control of Anything

This is an amazingly empowering realization.Photo by Simon English on Unsplash

Life is unexpected and uncertain. No two days are alike. Similar, maybe, but not the same. Change is the only constant in the Universe. That’s because the Universe and everything in it is impermanent.

Buddhism takes a deep look into the nature of impermanence. But outside the Buddhist way, it’s often disregarded, ignored outright, or denied. You strive to create things permanent and enduring, as does everyone.

The reality is that nothing is permanent. Nothing is enduring. Even with millions, maybe billions of years of time, what is now will cease to be. Our sun will die, the planet will meet its end. Hell, the entire cosmos as we perceive it will change and end, too.

Many find this idea terrifying. It’s human nature to fear death and related endings. That’s why you and I strive to control whatever we can, because control creates a sense that – in the face of ultimate impermanence – we can take a stand and make a mark in the Book of Life.

Sure, you have that ability, and so do I. In this moment, at this time. However, that mark is impermanent. That little bit of control you have is incredibly limited. That tends to be deeply frustrating. However, the truth is that when you pause to examine this, recognizing what little control you have empowers you.

How is this empowering?

You are one of 8 billion individual people on Planet Earth. Every single person has one unspoken goal in life. To live.

Think about it. No matter who you are, where you come from, what you know, your goal in life is simply to live. You will go to great lengths to ensure that this comes to pass.

Fear in its rawest, basest form is an instinctual device to keep you alive. It’s fear that protected long-ago human ancestors from getting eaten by lions on the Serengeti. Fear allowed them to meet the goal – To live.

What it takes to live in this day and age is wildly different depending on where you are. Living in the United States, for example, to live, you must work, earn enough money to afford the basics and more, and minimally contribute to society at large. In war-torn Ukraine, Gaza, and similar places, to live you must avoid those who seek to take your land and life. In the jungles of the Amazon basin, what it takes to live is something I can’t fully comprehend.

All of the above is a lie. Everything above about what it takes to live is artificial. To live, all you truly need to do is breathe in.

I recognize my privilege here. Though there’s room for improvement in my life, I have it pretty good. Yet I still strive to control things I can’t and get frustrated when that happens.

When I pause and look closely at this reality, it’s clear that no matter what I do, what I control is super limited. Ergo, when I shift my focus and breathe into what is, here and now, I feel a sense of relief. I live. And that’s what matters most and is deeply empowering,

All you can control is your inner being

As of this writing, I’ve been doing medieval fencing for over 30 years. While I have learned a lot of different forms, styles, and ways, there’s still room for me to improve my game. To that end, in part to get better and in part to enjoy this sport I’ve developed an aptitude for, I attend from 1 to 3 practices a week.

Some nights, I see my skill and longtime practice show themselves. Yet some nights, it’s like I’ve not got 30 years’ experience under my belt. Instead, it feels as if I can hardly fight my way out of a wet paper bag with scissors.

When that happens, the voices in my head tell me that, after all this time, I should be better. I shouldn’t lose to those far less experienced fighters. This can take me down a dark and stormy path of anger, frustration, and other negative emotions that steal away my self-sovereignty, confidence, and mindfulness.

Can I control the skill of my opponents? No. Can I control when the arthritis in my right knee flares up? No. If I eat too heavy a meal before practice, can I control how that might slow me down? Nope. Can I control how tired I might or might not be, if the drive to practice was pleasant or unpleasant, and if my shoulder is getting achy? No, no, and no.

Nothing at all in the entire Universe will give me control over any of the above. What I do and can control, however, is my reaction to it.

Specifically, my inner being. I control my thoughts, feelings, actions, approach, and intentions. What I do in the face of adversity, pain, suffering, frustration, and the like.

Photo by Knut Troim on UnsplashHow is this an empowering realization?

I can’t control anything external at all. I can and do, however, control my emotions, thoughts, feelings, and actions.

This is empowering because it means I can shift my focus and stop trying to control what I can’t control.

The messages you are beamed from the internet, TV, radio, and all other forms of media suggest you can and do have control of external things. Buy that product and you’ll gain respect. It’s more specifically implied that you will gain control of how other people view you.

That’s utterly bullshit. You have zero control over how others view, perceive, accept, reject, or ignore you.

Likewise, you can take a drug to mask pain, reduce inflammation, help bridge gaps in brain chemistry, and so on. Yet you still have no control over these, and whether those drugs will be effective or not.

What you do control is your thoughts, feelings, actions, approach, and intentions. However, it takes mindfulness and active conscious awareness to do this. The empowerment comes from this realization.

You are the only one in your head, heart, and soul. Nobody but you think your thoughts, feel your feelings, intend your intentions, and take your actions. These are all that you control. That’s a lot, because controlling them determines what living looks like for you.

Real, genuine, actual living. Life can’t and won’t always be one given way. It will be amazing and terrible. Happy and sad. Positive and negative. Enlightening and terrifying. That’s part of the impermanence of the Universe. Being one with this notion empowers you because it helps you let go of trying to control what you can’t.

Accept control of nothing and just live

When shit happens, you will have an immediate reaction you can’t control. Anger, frustration, fear, excitement, joy, revelation – they simply occur in response to happenings in your life. That unexpected kiss you deeply desired will make you feel initially ecstatic. That elation might shift to joy with what comes next. Or, it might turn to horror when that kiss sparks the end or the shifting of an existing relationship, friendship, or the perception of others that you’re a good person or a bad person in their eyes.

You have no control over this reaction just as you have no control over the happening itself. This shows you how life just is. It happens, no matter what you try to do.

One day I left my apartment, thinking to get exercise and walk to the post office. A week later I found myself in hospital, having been hit by a car crossing the street. I had no control over what happened, or how fast or slowly I would heal. If at all. Faced with this reality, I controlled the only thing I could. My thoughts, feelings, actions, approach, and intentions. Apart from that, I was grateful to be alive and worked hard to just live.

Mindfulness of control and no control to live

You don’t need to be the victim of a hit-and-run to come to this realization. At any time, you can be here, present in the now, and use conscious awareness to know what you’re thinking, what and how you’re feeling, if your approach is positive or negative, what your intentions are, and what actions you do or don’t take. Doing so is mindfulness.

Mindfulness lets you accept what you can’t and don’t control. Then, when you be here, now, you live. You’re alive. Your heart is beating, you’re breathing, and thus you’re living.

“Just live” looks small. But isn’t that, truly, the goal of every single being? Aren’t you on this Earth, here and now, primarily to live?

This is the six-hundred and forty-eighth (648) exploration of my Pathwalking philosophy. These weekly essays are my ideas for – and experiences with – applying mindfulness and positivity to walk along a chosen path of life to consciously create reality.

I share this journey as part of my desire to make a difference in this world and empower as many people as I can with conscious reality creation.

Thank you for joining me. Feel free to re-post and share this.

The first year of Pathwalking, including expanded ideas, is available here. Check out Amazon for my published fiction and nonfiction works.

The post Just Live. You Have No True Control of Anything appeared first on The Ramblings of the Titanium Don.

Why Is Reason the True Opposite of Fear?

Fear is frequently weaponized to be unreasonable.Photo by Daniel Jensen on Unsplash

All opposites, like positivity and negativity, black and white, good and evil, are extremes. They’re not, as most would suggest, opposite sides of a coin. That’s because the space between them isn’t so thin as the edge of a coin, but far broader, making it more akin to a cylinder.

To clarify. Let’s take black and white. On one side of the cylinder, there’s black. The other side of the cylinder is white. Between them is every color and shade of grey you can imagine (literally and metaphorically). Particularly in the non-literal sense, you probably exist and experience life somewhere between these extremes.

There is one more complication to this. The cylinder between given extremes isn’t solid, It’s flexible. That’s due to the nature of the extremes coupled with human free will and the inevitability of change. Hence, extremes like good and bad can shift over time, with added knowledge, or due to other factors. That’s how yesterday’s villain is today’s hero and vice versa.

Recognizing this is important because you and I live in a fear-based society. From the semi-harmless, like certain forms of advertising, to blatant falsehood and lies, like large swaths of politics and religion; fear is everywhere you turn.

Fear is so deeply interwoven in society that it frequently goes unrecognized. Before you know it, you’re buying something you don’t actually need because you’re afraid you’ll miss out on something important if you don’t. Or you’re voting for a politician who couldn’t care less about you and working against your own self-interests out of unreasonable, unrecognized, unchecked fear.

That’s why reason is the true opposite of fear.

Reason versus fear

Fear is not necessarily bad. After all, without fear, human beings would never have survived to become the constructive, creative beings we are. Without fear, your ancestors would have fallen off more cliffs, been eaten by more lions, and might not even as a species have survived, let alone thrived.

As humans evolved, so did fear. The trouble is, it has become less tangible and more intangible. Fear now tends towards having no material manifestation. Fear of missing out, fear of loss, fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of success, and the like, are abstract. They’re very different from the fear of something that could kill or maim you.

Thus, intangible fear is weaponized blatantly and subtly to direct and misdirect you. If you don’t buy product ‘X’ you will be thought poorly of or miss out on something. When you don’t vote for that politician, the ‘other’ will win and take your way of life from you. If you don’t worship in this way, your afterlife will be all terrible suffering. Look familiar?

The only way to combat this sort of fear is not fearlessness, but reason. Reason is looking at the fear and asking if it will truly harm you. Will the suffering you most fear destroy you or genuinely harm you? Is the fear legit or artificial to line someone’s pockets, give someone false power, or control people?

The key to reason is active conscious awareness, of course.

Mindfulness of fear

Mindfulness has two district brands. Internal and external. Part of the nature of this fear-based society is to distract you. Thus, its focus tends to the external. That’s why news media of every sort clambers for your attention at every turn. Look here, look there, be mindful of the world around and outside of you.

Yes, you do need to know what’s happening. However, you don’t need to know every minute detail to the exclusion of your inner life. When you give all your attention to what’s happening outside of yourself, you’ll lose yourself.

Frankly, that’s what “they” prefer. When you’re overwhelmed by all that information, you lose sight of yourself. Before you know it, you’re confused, lost, disconcerted, and wondering how in the hell you got there.

This is where internal mindfulness comes in. Active conscious awareness is self-awareness. It’s the key to being aware of you, yourself, here and now. That then tells you who, what, where, how, and why you are.

To do this, all that’s required is recognizing, acknowledging, and knowing what you’re thinking, what and how you’re feeling, your intentions, if you are approaching life from the positive or negative end of the spectrum/cylinder, and what actions you are or aren’t taking.

ThoughtFeelingIntentionApproachAction

These five elements can be known, genuinely known, about you, by you. They are also the only elements over which you can exert complete and total control in your life. How? By making choices and decisions with reason and intent.

Photo by Ivy Schexnayder on UnsplashChoices and decisions

You make choices and decisions every single day. Some are big and especially impactful. Most, however, are small, partially by rote or routine or habit, but still impactful.

What you put on when you get out of bed is a choice. Whether you brush your teeth or not is a choice. What you choose to eat or not is a choice. Buying or not buying any given item is a choice.

This might not seem important, but it all is. That’s because no matter their size, the choices and decisions you make impact your day. They direct your life.

Hence, when you let fear do the driving, you will be swayed by outside forces. Conversely, when you let reason drive you, you’re practicing active conscious awareness. Ergo, you’re taking control.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but fear makes you stupid. It robs you of active conscious awareness. Ergo, it makes you unreasonable. That’s why reason is the true opposite of fear.

Lastly, when you approach life from a place of negativity, lack, scarcity, insufficiency, and the like, you’re more susceptible to fear. That means you’re far more likely to be swayed by outside influences. Reason, and questioning not from without but within what the result of the fear might be, opens you to take control of your life experience. Ultimately that empowers you.

Reason in face the fear defeats fear. The more each individual practices reason, the more habitual it becomes. That, over time, as it gains traction from person to person, can turn this world from fear-based to reason-based. Can you imagine what a reason-based world might look like, and what people could achieve within it?

Recognizing that reason is the true opposite of fear isn’t hard

It’s all about practicing mindfulness of your thoughts, feelings, intentions, and approach to direct your actions.

When you recognize and acknowledge that fear is unreasonable, and the suffering implied is frequently untrue or looks far worse than what you might genuinely experience, you can use active conscious awareness – mindfulness – to apply reason and take control. Knowing that you’re the only one in your head, heart, and soul, and that you alone can make choices and decisions to apply reason in the face of fear, you can make better choices and decisions to drive your life and not be victimized by this fear-based society.

This empowers you, and your empowerment can empower others around you.

Consciously choosing your approach to life towards positivity or negativity – from the vast cylinder that exists between them – shifts life in a way that opens more dialogue. With a broader dialogue, you can explore and share where you are between the extremes and how that impacts you here and now.

Choosing thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions for yourself employs an approach and attitude of positivity for realizing amazing potential and possibilities for your life.

The better aware you are of yourself in the now, the more you can do to choose and decide how your life experiences will be. When that empowers you, it can spread to those around you to their empowerment.

Thank you for coming along on this journey.

This is the five-hundred and thirty-seventh (537) entry of my Positivity series. I hope that these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone. Feel free to share, re-blog, and spread the positivity.

Please visit here to explore all my published works – both fiction and non-fiction.

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