Spiritual Vision

   "Am I a failure?" "Where did it go wrong?" "What am I supposed to do now?" These thoughts are dangerous to men who have lost their livelihood. This scenario has been happening for decades as companies restructure their organizations. Men in their 40's and 50's are told by companies, both large and small, that they are no longer needed and the company is 'going in a different direction.' Let's face it...sometimes that's  code for "we need someone younger."  To be told in life, that you are no longer of value can be devastating. To some, their value is all they have. I'm not talking about performance based issues. Poor performance has no age barrier. To start over on a new career could be a blessing in disguise, but that conversation needs to happen much later when there's time to look back and reflect. Now is not the time to go down that road. I'm talking about companies that cut back on payroll. That burden ...

Throughout our life, no matter the age, we accumulate a fair amount of visible scars. Scars that are  physical that leave a lasting effect on our bodies and cause us serious and unbearable pain. Bruises, surgeries, broken bones, you name it, we have all had them. Hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, rehab centers, doctors offices, etc. are full of people in pain.  But what about the ones that are hurting on the inside? The scars that we never see. Trauma such as discrimination, abuse, hurt, loneliness, depression, divorce, separation, isolation, financial ruin, loss of a loved one, etc. These scars are the deepest and hurt the most. They are the deepest cuts of an unseen kind that never go away. They are there forever and just when we start to push  the scars aside and move on with our lives, something reminds us of times and  situations that we wish would disappear and just go away. I call these the scars of the heart. What can help us deal with these scars? Welcome t...

What if tomorrow never comes?  What do we do in the little time that is left for us? Reach out to people to tell them we love them?  Reach out to people that we have hurt and ask for forgiveness? Reach out to people that have hurt us and grant them forgiveness? If we believe in a higher power, ask for mercy?  Many of you know my story of spending 238 days in the hospital of which 200 were in ICU. In the beginning I was given a 15-20% chance of living. I was in a partial coma for the first forty- five days and my heart had to be shocked mulitple times a day to get it back on track. Trust me when I say there were many people in the hospital far worse off than me. I had to have a heart  and kidney transplant and by the grace of God, here I am. I now try to take nothing for granted. I laugh more than I use to, I'm more compassionate; more giving, more appreciative of trees, flowers,  the sky, clouds (things I didn't see for eight months), and more blessed to have fa...

 The moral compass...the light that is supposed to point us in the right direction and keep us there so that we don't stray off the path, has disappeared, or at least, to many of us. has taken a sabbatical. What happened? Where did it go?  Better yet, did we ever have one and what about right and wrong? The difference between right and wrong is no longer a clear choice.  The lines have been blurred. In todays marketplace of ideas, politics, finance, business, etc., it's no longer making a right or wrong choice. That is a dualistic mindset that no longer applies to many. The right choice has been replaced by the lesser of two evils. We now look at choosing the one that hurts the less. Right and wrong is a matter of pereception.  Morality is never a matter of perception. It exists on it's own. To do what is moral rises above right and wrong; it is never up for debate. Our moral compass didn't fail us...we failed it.

Question... what if others could hear our thoughts? What would it mean  to our family; our work or career; our friendships, people that we meet for the first time, etc.? What would they hear? Would it be devastating or encouraging news to them? Hopefully they would hear the good that we see in others...the compliments, the happiness,  the love, the kindness, the encouragement, etc. Unbfortunately, they would also hear the cruel, mean, back-stabbing, wish they were hurt or dead, jealous, envy, judgemental, thoughts as well. We know this is true, because we've all done it. It satisfies us at times to see people fall. It's our wicked, shadow self at work. Negative energy is stronger than positive energy because we give it  more freedom to remind us that life is unfair and we didn't get to grab the brass ring. Negativity teaches us that the quickest way to success is for others to fail. This is because we never come to grips with failure. So, how can we make a course correcti...

 We had plans...after high school; after college, after our first job, our first relationship, etc. We thought  about what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go. We had plans to find our partner in life, get a  good paying job, have kids, the car, the house, you name it we wanted it. Then life got in the way and continued to get in the way, as we stumbled our way in and out of jobs,  relationships, financial burdens, etc. We became zombies of the cosmos. What should have been the perfect life, melted away before our eyes, as we resigned ourselves to the humdrum life we now have. We lost the dream...or did we? Dreams and plans in life seem to come and go, but are they gone forever?  No...they are buried in our subconscious, waiting to be resurrected, but in diffrent forms. The poet, dreamer, artist, writer, dancer, musician, athlete, that is buried within us somehow comes  out but as a better dream, a better plan, a better way of life. If life has gotten...

 See if this resonates with you.  It's 2024, things are going well in my life, health is good, family is more  than I deserve, finances are okay, could be better but also could be worse, buay writing my third book, I  have a nice home with my beautiful wife, beautiful children, great daughter in law, son in law, and awesome grandchildren. Then why do I feel like I do not fit in to life?   Some friends don't get me or at least don't wantv to get me since "I've changed." The Universe said to me, 'you're looking at it all wrong. "Don't try to fit into life, have life fit into you!" Yes, I've changed, we all change...it's called an awakening  but it took time as awakenings often do,.  I'm evolving into what I was meant to be all along; an authentic person. If you ever feel that life is getting in your way, stop what you're doing and get in the way of life. Live life on your terms and nobody elses. It's your life and nobody...