How to Navigate Bad Times

A few of my favorite things....

We all have our blocks and mean reds that we've collected through the years for one reason or another that may and/or can prevent us from reaching our goals.   And there are many resources out there that we can avail ourselves of that will produce amazing results, depending upon how much we take advantage of these resources. 

I liken this to the cafeteria line:  we can go through and pick out a nice lean meat, a couple of veggie side dishes, a salad, a glass of water or tea or we can go through and pick out a serving of buttered mash potatoes, a vanilla shake, and a piece of pie. Guess which one will last longer and not only give us greater strength, but lengthen our lives?  Duh!

Same is true of the resources and opportunities that are out there for us.  My particular issues are: fear and that I'm not allowed or encouraged to enjoy the fruits of my labor, sort of like the old Howard Jones song.

I looked upon the occasion of my recent financial struggle as an opportunity to not only improve the old issues, but to work my way through them to the other side of them so much so that it would convince me totally that I had conquered these old demons.

Two songs from Broadway that really reached out to me were:

• My favorite things from the Sound of Music
• I Whistle a Happy Tune from the King and I

Both of these songs are about positive visualization - that's it!  But what's so fun about them is that they both say what we are thinking - that we're afraid or just want a good feeling so we think about our favorite thing or whistle our favorite happy song, and poof, all of a sudden that fear and trepidation is gone.

Now why is it when we translate this to some more grand, that all of a sudden our mind kicks into non-belief.  It's OK to positively visualize our way into thinking about our favorite things, but it's not probable to think that this method will work with earning more money or loosing weight or bettering our love life? 

This sort of reasoning is beyond me.  If it's true for one, why not the other?

Well, it is true for both.  The truth is that it does work.  The simple and easy technique of thinking about our favorite things to get us into a better mood, can work just as well with more effort toward accomplishing greater goals and fulfilling greater dreams.

These songs show the power and empowerment of being able to think positive and good-feeling thoughts to bring about good feelings that will help us get our mind in the right mood to not only withstand bad things, but to also step up and accomplish greater things.

The stamina that is required here is not easy.  The higher and grander your dreams, the more stamina, energy, belief and resourcefulness is required. 

That's why it might be better to start with something simple and easy.  You need to see for a fact that the power of the law of attraction can really work.

If all you want to do is get up tomorrow morning and have a bed under your body, that doesn't require much stamina (or time for that matter). 

If on the other hand you want to not only have a bed, but a mansion to live in, that will require more time, stamina, resourcefulness and it will also require more time.  It will be possible, but it will require more of everything.

This isn't to say that I want you to re-evaluate your dreams and "grade them down" so as to meet something that you "think" will be probable.  That's not what this is about at all.

This is clearly meant to say to you:  If you're dreams are big, be prepared to spend some serious commitment and energy toward them.

In search of those magnificent accomplishments, I think of Winston Churchill who was defeated as PM before WWII for being a war mongerer when warning about the rise of the German Third Reich.  When he was voted back in as PM, he led England through its worst hours with such grace, elegance, stamina, perseverance that it is filled with enough quotes, anecdotes and stories to really give us a great wealth of comfort.  And of course England did persevere through those horrid times, and some of the greatest art, stories and literature came out of that era - that's what surviving those hard times does.

"Bigger the dream, the more God gets to shine" (Anonymous)

"Never, never, never, never give up." (Winston Churchill)

Good Friday

So here we are at the end of Lent - well, almost, and it's Good Friday.  The day Jesus died on the cross. 

Jesus dying on the cross completes a cycle starting with the exodus of the Jews from Egypt - kinda of a long story, but it's the biggest one of all mankind.....God, Sin, Christ, Love.....that's the synopsis!!!  With the death of Jesus came the resurrection of Christ and God of Love. 

But another interesting perspective is one of the time - the conditions and situations as it was on that day - the trial, the Passion, the death.  All on Good Friday.

During the time of Jesus's life in Palestine, there were many religious sects, and Jesus's group was considered just another religious sect.  Jesus did make a substantial mark, which brought him to the attention of the authorities, both the Jewish and Romans, who were both disturbed by his increasing popularity and unwillingness to bow to their authority.

The solution for the authorities was death - a particularly horrific, torturous death to stop any sort of insurrection to the authorities. This is what had always worked in the past.  Judea was a trouble-making spot in the Roman Empire and Herod had been sent to "clean it up" and no better way than through terror and torture and death.

So Jesus is sentenced to death and dies - no longer a leader - no longer available to his supporters, or so the authorities thought.

But from the followers point of view, this has to be a terribly scary time to put it mildly.  Peter has denied Jesus, Judas has betrayed him, Jesus dies and there's no hope.  The movement is doomed.  The Jewish and Roman authorities have retained their stranglehold on the people and their threat for any future religious sects.

So what happens to all that Jesus had preached?...is it valid?....is it to be followed?  What about ask?...seek?...knock?...believe?  What about the miracles?  What about this God of Love that Jesus preached about?  Is He gone?

The depression and rejection from the disciplines and all of Jesus's followers must have been over-whelming.  They had given everything to this man:  their lives, love and soul to Jesus, and now he was gone;  he was dead.  This was the end.

I can not help but be awed by the strength and courage of this group of people.  They had no idea what was coming and all they could see was no hope and possible annihilation, and the real truth is that at this time, if the crucifixion of the leader didn't quell the movement, then the major followers were also crucified, so many of the disciples such as John, Peter, Paul, Matthew were most likely consumed with the fear that they were next on the cross.  And although this was a terrifyingly horrifying way to die, the major loss would be their presence and leadership.

We remember Mary going to the tomb on Sunday morning, and the re-appearance of the resurrected Christ to his disciples and followers, but today, this sad day, Jesus has gone.

What would our life today be like w/o Christ?....without the life, teachings and example of Christ?  It's impossible to imagine, but this is exactly what the disciples and followers of Christ experience on the first Good Friday.

Here's to the third day.....Easter!  Isn't it wonderful we know we have this to look forward to.

The end of Lent

If you're like me, you probably haven't been as good at keeping your lent vows as you would have liked, but you have made some progress.

That's OK - fortunately we don't have to be perfect - we just have to try.  And even in the trying, we have help and lots of resources to get us and keep us in the right frame of mind.

Jesus did some of his most complete work in the Beatitudes & Sermon on the Mount.  The problem lies in that they seem to conflict - on one hand Jesus says blessed are all that are in trouble, downtrodden and poor and on the other hand he lays down rules and regs that are impossible to meet or follow.  

So here lies the rules and regs which are impossible, and yet we're forgiven for everything.  How can we reconcile this?  Actually we can't, and we're not really meant to.  God certainly doesn't want us to worry about it (the lilies of the field and all that), and yet it is vital that we give it all we have.

I think it can best be summed up by this wonderful passage in Romans: 

For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.  But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.  For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.  Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

I love this scripture, cause even in the more classical translations Paul totally expresses the frustration with the dichotomy and duality in all our characters.

God has repeatedly said that he will help in this endeavor - he wants us to succeed, even though it may appear that we can't or there's no chance.  As a matter of fact he wants to give us His kingdom.   And God doesn't even request that we know the total plan.  We don't have to.  He knows it, and in His timing will reveal everything.  Actually, this is a pretty great way of doing this. 

I call this process unfoldment.  It is an unfoldment of our own nature, character, capability and accomplishments.  If we do not even try, we will not only unfold, we will never know the true capability of what we can be.  As unfoldment implies, we do not necessarily know all that will be "unfolded" or revealed until we make the effort to try and unfold ourselves.

And then here comes Jesus.  He teaches us how to do this unfolding, sets a marvelous example, and just about the time we're at our rope's end (remember the Beatitudes), he dies on the cross so that we have a paved way to God.

The process I talk about here on this blog is about our unfoldment.  It hopefully will inspire you to take that risk to take that leap of faith.  This is the only way to unfold and experience life the way God and Jesus Christ meant for us to.

This weekend is the most important sacred weekend in the Christian faith.  It's a time to not only rejoice, but to renew our courage and stamina.  Even though our times may be tough today with the economy in constant turmoil, this is exactly the time to take that risk.  Start your own company.  Start your new career.  Start your new life.

A special day for me

I was very lucky to have been sent to a school that had a religious affiliation.  And although it was affiliated with one particular denomination, the leadership of the school made it clear that all faiths were accepted, which made it very accessible.  In addition the weekly sermon was geared toward girls (it was a girls preparatory school), ages 14 through 18, so each sermon was pretty meaningful for us.

The school also had a very forward-thinking and excellent rector at the time, who went out of his way to think through a lot of the problems that we girls would be facing in the mid-60's (OK, that dates me, but this is from the "personal" department!).  He tried as well to give us a solid footing to make decisions that would be happening to us as we matured:  marriage, dating, job-hunting, job dynamics, children, growing old, growing ugly, growing, growing, growing!

I have the fondest memories of the school, however at the time it was a huge upheaval in my life, but as I look back, I realize how fabulous the background I received was.  I was taught literature by the wife of the editor of John Faulkner's books (how cool is that);  taught Modern History by a teacher who would make us debate on capitalism vs communism and how to think for ourselves; learned incredibly music that is still with me today; and received a fabulous background in Bible and theology, with a little psychology thrown in for good measure!

The music was vital to me at that time, and learning all the new hymns of this religion was interesting and challenging.  On November 1st every we always celebrated the name sake of the school by singing Sine Nomine.  This hymn not only brings up the memories of the school, but particular those wonderful memories of studying the Bible, the meaning of the verses, my first introduction to a scholarly method of studying the Bible and the discussions that we would get into during our Bible classes.

I noticed that my Blossom series sort of overlapped onto All Saints Day, so here's my tribute, albeit late to my old school.