Thursday, March 26, 2009

I Cheated

I know I shouldn't have done it but I could not help myself when I was playing a game on a hand held palm pilot. Text Twist is the game & you have 2 minutes to form as many words as possible out of 6 letters. I spell fairly well & know a few words so the game helps pass time while challenging my brain a little. The problem is that I am very competitive & challenge myself far worse than anyone else can & the other day I was reaching a milestone score when I ran out of words with about 30 seconds left on the timer. I knew that if I could find the right 6 letter word that I could reach this milestone of 100,000 points so I shut the game off, knowing it would start at the same spot when I turned it back on & that I would still have about 30 seconds left. I wrote down the letters & wrote down a couple pages of possible words but none of them were real words or at least I didn't know the words & didn't want to start game & try the wrong word & then run out of time. I went on the computer & it is amazing what you can find on a computer. I found a web site that when you type in letters it will instantly give you every legitimate word associated with those letters so yes, I got my word of which I was unfamiliar & then I turned game on & typed in word. hallelujah It was the word I needed & I reached the milestone.
My question is, does this count because I was smart enough to find the word even though it wasn't in the right amount of time? I just answered my own question, of course it counts, (JUST KIDDING). I know it doesn't count but if only for a moment it felt great to think I out smarted a stupid computer game.
I think that in life we quite often get caught up in the same dilemmas & instead of failing or coming up short, we manipulate the outcome in our favor so we can gain something or at least feel like we gained something. The problem with cheating is that we can become numbed to the emotional feelings of whether it is right or wrong & after awhile we just don't care.
I believe that each thing we do in life has an outcome, as the common phrase says "for every action there is a reaction". The more we lie, the easier it is to lie, The more we cheat, the easier it is to cheat & I believe that when we do things we know to be wrong, we need to block those emotional feelings of guilt out of our mind, or else the guilt would consume us.
I also believe that if we let guilt into our mind, we can change & not make the mistakes again or perhaps the guilt will remind us that we don't ever want that emotional pain again.
On the other hand, I believe that people who let their conscience or "light of Christ" guide them & not shove them out of the way, that you will avoid the pit falls of wrong choices.
I knew I shouldn't cheat the stupid game but the desire to reach the goal became more powerful than the knowledge it wasn't ok. I know it is just a game & doesn't really matter what I did or what my score was or how I got the score but it is the fact that I cheated & the fact that I am still thinking about it, tells me it must not have been ok. So because you are all trusted friends or family, I thought I would share my thoughts with you.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

What To Talk About

I get tired of talking so much about how corrupt our Government is & how screwed up the world is or how tired I am of Minority groups determining what the majority does regardless of the majorities vote or opinion but if I don't talk about this what else would I talk about because these topics consume the news & affect us every day?
I have had a revelation (vbs), I can talk about all the good things in the world & all the sacrifices made by people all over the world on behalf of others. These topics, for some reason get left out of most news because they aren't juicy gossip, hateful, demeaning or prejudice, which is what sells newspapers & makes people watch entertainment or reality tv.
Society, either driven by the media or an inherent human desire to see the underdog succeed & the successful fail is obsessed with life outside of their own.
I don't know if it is the unquenchable desire to have what everyone else has & if you can't have it, neither should they or if it is that we feel our life is boring & want to see how others live their lives.
I do believe that the more messed up a celebrity is or a dysfunctional person like "Octoman", the woman with 14 kids, the more normal we feel. I see some of the stuff that goes on & the seriousness by which these nut jobs live their life & realize I am not to bad.
Changing direction, I do want to high five all those people who day after day, do their job & pay their taxes without complaining, those people who spend all their free time helping others & regardless of their own hardships or trials, will always put other people first.
The real hero's of the world for the most part go un-noticed because they don't demand attention or expect anything. These are the people who are humble about what they do & don't realize they are doing something wonderful. They don't understand that most people don't give their time to anybody unless it benefits them self or unless they get recognition for it.
I feel very blessed to know many people who give to others & expect nothing in return & want to thank them for setting such a great example to me & others. I also want to tell them that you are the best part of humanity & regardless of how much money you have or how famous you are, you are the greatest hero's on earth.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Deep Breath

Have you ever been overwhelmed with the trials, obstacles & daily routine of life or have you been stressed out over a job interview, responsibility or challenge? Well I just finished a training two weeks ago that addressed these issues & how to stay focused as well as sane so I will give you some tips I learned.
I have been to this training twice before over ten years & was looking forward to the same instructor & the "pearls of wisdom" she presented in her training. The company is called SUNDOOR & the instructor who founded the company about 25 years ago is named Peggy Dylan. She happens to live fairly close so she offers local trainings when she is here, while most of the year she travels the world doing these trainings & firewalks.
She is the main person who introduced firewalks into American culture although they are & have been done for centuries all over the world. Yes this is the burn a 1/2 cord of wood & spread the red hot coals over a 15 to 20 square foot area & then walk across them without being burned (at least that is the goal)haha.
To begin the training this time, Peggy had an illustration of a young man that was thinking about a tree where he enjoyed going to work out problems & unwind from stress. While walking to this tree he finds a thicket of thorn bushes & thistles which prohibit his progression. Does he stop & go home because the obstacle is to large or does he find a way through the thistles or around the bushes? once he finds a way through the obstacle, he finds himself by a beautiful stream full of fish & it reminds him of when he was younger & his grandmother took him fishing. He remembers how much he enjoyed that time of his life but what did he do? He lost focus on what he wanted to accomplish & that was to get to his tree so that he could work out some problems.
You can say that having good thoughts isn't really bad & you are right but what is bad is that the young man lost focus & when we lose focus we don't accomplish anything or if we do, it is less than what it could be.
One of the tips for dealing with obstacles is to stop everything & take 3 deep breaths because oxygen helps relieve stress & helps us think more clearly & if we focus on those breaths, we take our mind off of the obstacle.
We need to focus on the rewards, the goals & what we want to achieve in life & not on the obstacles or the distractions.
One of the excercises about half of the class participated in was to take a target arrow from a bow & arrow, you then place the tip into the soft part of your throat, under your chin & then stick the feather end into a pre drilled hole in a board that is half way through the board & becomes a holder for the feather end of the arrow. Another person holds the board study & you lunge forward, hopefully breaking the arrow in two pieces.
This excercise teaches that if you focus you can accomplish anything but if you lose focus you will have a very sore throat.
After discussion on focus & on objectives we went outside to the pile of red hot coals & then we focused on what we were trying to accomplish, which was reaching the other side unburned. We would take 3 deep breaths & focus on what we wanted to achieve. taking our mind off of the obstacle & then walk across the coals with no problem & no burned feet.
Maybe these excercises are extreme but the point of my comments is to stay focused in life & don't be distracted by obstacles or fear.
Overcoming obstacles begins with a few deep breaths, focus & determination.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Do You Want To Help

If you really want to help America then here are some sites that are fighting for your freedom & are trying to take back our Country.
newamericanteaparty.com---Americans For Tax Reform--Institute For Liberty--
The Heartland Institute--Freedom Works--Coalition For A Conservative Majority--
American Spectator--Young Conservative Coalition--

I understand that fighting is usually wrong but we need to stand for something otherwise we stand for "nothing". If you are happy with the way Government does business & spends your money then by all means, disregard this & we can agree to disagree but if you want to see change & aren't a front line type of person, at least support those that are fighting for you.

Get Off Your Butts

The time for sitting around & talking is long past & if we don't get off our butts & fight for what is right, we will lose everything this Country stands for & everything we fought for & everything that makes us great. Do you not understand that we can never go back & that we have already jumped off the cliff without a parachute? When we allow Government to do whatever it wants & our votes are overturned by judges or congress then we are no longer a democracy that is controlled by the majorities voice, we are a Country run by Dictators, Kings & Rulers.
I am shaking my head right now by the amount of arrogance & spineless behaviour shown by many politicians. I can't believe that illegal aliens have more rights than me. My son in law has to join the army at 32 so he can support his family after being laid off from work & not able to find a comparable job that will support my daughter & two grandchildren. He is a hero because although he is receiving tax dollars, (HE IS WORKING FOR THEM) & protecting our rights in the process.
Do you care so little for your rights that you don't care what happens & will only sit around & wait for crumbs tossed your way in the feeding frenzy of vultures wanting free handouts? I hope not & I hope you realize that if you don't open your mouth & get off your butt, you won't have anything left to call your own.