How many times have you wished to go back and change the things you did in the past? If only you had turned left instead of right…
Unfortunately, the reality is that the past is gone, and we can only move forward. We can reflect and learn from our past, but we must press forward. Live in the present and strive to the future. Always remember that tomorrow’s decisions are always more important than the decisions of yesterday.
A person may still be impacted by the consequences of their past actions, but it is more important to make choices to respond to the consequences. Wishing we had chosen differently in that pas only leads to regret, desperation, and hopelessness.
Keep your eye on the prize. Do not let the days gone down, drag you to their depths with them. Residing there will delay your race forward. The prize lays before us, not behind. As the Apostle Paul tells us, we need to keep our eyes on the prize.
“We still gotta long way, still a long way to go.”
To most people, the idea of power is equivalent to control. Power becomes synonymous with “power over” something. It could be a person, a group of people, an object, a behavior, or an idea.
Do not confuse power as control. True power comes from letting our souls free from forces that exert control over us. Power comes from a life of morality and resistance against immorality.
Real power comes from freedom in thought.
Compromising is the greatest enemy. It is important to remember that you can not control other people’s actions nor their moral compass. Each individual must make those choices though they will likely be influenced, coerced, or forced. In this we lose our power.
Our power is compromised, leaving us powerless and controlled. We become mindless drones.
Moral goodness is obtained within oneself by discovery. Take the knowledge and let your soul guide you. People are born with a conscience and the knowledge of good and evil. Do not do what is good because you are told to. It must be a desire- a passion!
Do not be a prisoner to this immoral world. Use your power to break free of its chains. Continue to pursue truth in all things every moment of your existence. There is no greater power!
They say with age comes wisdom. While I believe this to be true, I feel more than wisdom is gained with age. We gain perspective. When we are young, we are adventurous to the point of wrecklessness. There is a sense of invulernabity that people approach life early on.
We strive for the exceptional life, traveling a “yellow brick road” to fame and glory. We constantly dream of being more than we are, no matter how successful our life has been. How many times have you imagined yourself as a music star or a great actor? I know all of us dreamed of fame and fortune.
With age comes perspective and the realization that the road we walk is endless and will never reach the great kingdom of Oz. No matter how much we achieve, the human soul craves more and will be unsatisfied. It is human nature. There is a spark in each of us that strives to perfection even though we see clear as day that we are completely flawed.
We must come to a realization that perfection is impossible within the human framework. Perfection or success is not found on a road paved in gold or a penthouse in the highest building. We need to focus beyond the physical world of success.
It is the success of the soul.
Oh, I’vefinally decided my future liesbeyond the yellow brick road.
Cultivation of one’s soul is where satisfaction in life comes from. It is clear there is moral right and wrong and a life focused and learned on the moral good will bring about our best life. You may or may not believe in God, but I do, and I believe that the key is to sow seeds of peace, love, and holiness while rooting out evil, hatred, and selfishness. These things will strangle one’s soul, causing misery and despair.
Now is the time…. change your perspective and let go of the unattainable. Go beyond the yellow brick road and find a fulfilled life cultivating your soul.
This weekend, I was mulling over my next article, but I wanted to reach out to those reading my blog. Topics come to me from listening to news, reading books and articles, and many times, music ignites a thought. This time, I would like the audience to ignite a thought or two.
What about you? Is there a topic or thought that you would like me to write about? I would like to pursue topics that my audience is interested it.
Please share in the comments any topics you would like to hear about. The pursuit of truth always continues, and we must persevere, persisting in the hunt.
I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led. -Thomas Jefferson
How many days do we spend doing the same things over and over? Are we trapped in a monotonous existence, doing the same things expecting different results?
Insanity.
As humans, we are dynamic creatures that need to grow and expand. We are wired to live a progressing life, growing both spiritually and mentally. Yet, we continually find our lives trapped in a never-ending cycle of routine.
Are you stuck in the mud with your wheels spinning? All you are doing is making a muddy mess and unable to make it to the store for Tide.
The first step is to recognize the problem. Admit that your life is stuck in a vicious cycle – a “groundhog day” if you will. Problems can not be solved overnight, as much as we would like it to be. I challenge you to break the cycle and give yourself a nudge every day.
Change your way of thought. Throw off the mundane and explore the possibilities that are out there. Your soul craves adventure, even in the smallest amounts. It could be taking a hike, calling an old friend, or even mending a burnt bridge. It is never too late to heal, and healing can be an adventure of its own. We need to stretch and test ourselves and our limits to grow as individuals.
We are not and never will be at our full potential. Not even close. Humans are imperfect with a desire to be perfect. A successful life is always making steps forward.
Stop spinning the wheels, and don’t make today just another day.
The difference between being ordinary and extraordinary is doing the right thing while nobody is watching. -Jim Rohn
How many out there feel like they are out of gas? Do you? We need to keep moving forward but are running on the fumes left over from the empty gas in the tank. The human condition constantly takes a toll on us, draining our tank, while life’s road offers very few stations to refuel.
In ’69 I was 21 and called the road my own.
This song by Jackson Brown always resonates with me (even though I wasn’t even alive in 1969) every time I hear it played. When we are young, there is a fire within us. We drive full speed ahead, and we can do no wrong. Entering adulthood, we have all the answers and doubts are suppressed. For those of you who have teenagers and young adults for children, you can understand. They think they have the world figured out and will refuse to listen to reason. They are right and everybody else is wrong.
I don’t know when that road turned into the road I’m on.
Once the world smacks us in the face with a bucket of ice, cold water and our bubble bursts, we are lost. We thought we knew everything that there was to know. Confidence is shattered, and we are left with a pile of questions that have broken answers. Many times, we stop and think, “How did I get here. Where did it go wrong?”
Just like the song, we find ourselves on an unknown road and have no idea how we got there.
I don’t know how to tell you all just how crazy this life feels
When faced with life, we face decision after decision, and all of these decisions impact the road we choose to travel. Even small, seemingly insignificant choices can alter the direction we are heading. Most of the time we are oblivious to this due to the chaos of existing; another symptom of this human condition. It also comes back to conformity. There is so much happening, that people find it easier to lay back and “go with the flow.”
You may suddenly come to this realization that you are lost and have no idea what road you have driven onto nor how to get back on the road you were on. Don’t run blind and hope you will eventually find your way back. Stop for a moment and realign your soul.
All is not lost, and it is never too late.
Dive deep into yourself and seek what is good and right. Follow those even if the people you are sharing the road that you are on disagree. Be an individual, for we are all unique. Life is not about getting every person to all think the same and agree. It is about the individual discovering a life of meaning- a life of good that pushes back against evil or the immoral.
Look around at the friends that I used to turn to to pull me through. Looking into their eyes, I see them running too…
We all have the ability to rise above this condition. It is a condition that we all share.
You know, I don’t even know what I’m hoping to find.
This reflects how many people feel, rushing down a road with an unknown destination. What are you hoping to find?
We close another year and begin what has been labeled as the year 2025. Resolutions will be made and may last to February. We will promise to lose weight and be a “better” person. All of us start with strong resolve, but it almost always seems to fade.
Many years ago, I gave up on making the New Year resolution. It seemed an exercise in futility, because shortly after they failed (as they always did), the feeling of regret and disappointment took over the remainder of the year. Change can be so stressful, difficult, and nearly impossible. Why is this?
The American Heritage Dictionary defines the word, “institution”, as a custom, practice, or behavioral pattern of importance in the life of a community or society.
Make note of the term, “behavioral pattern.” Society has institutionalized the people to fall into a certain behavior pattern. From birth, people are conditioned to act a certain way. They let this institution mindset bleed into every aspect of life, and it makes a person resistant to change. We are conditioned to conform and set ourselves into a pattern or cycle that is extremely difficult to break. Have you learned to conform and just accept things in your life as they are? Do you find yourself wanting to break out and change everything but feel trapped or ill equipped to accomplish it?
Resolutions to change should not be made at the beginning of a new year. These should be made every day. Make small steps to break free from destructive cycles every day of your life, slowly chip away at the wall of the prison that has you trapped. Over time, you can begin to drop the bad and replace it with the good, getting one step closer to reaching the higher morality.
I have decided to change my cycle and make a resolution for 2025. I know that I just contradicted myself, but for me this is a break from my usual cycle of refusing to make resolutions. Flawed logic? Wouldn’t be my first time. I am going to spend my 2025 year focused on pushing to break from the institutions that trap humanity and control its way of life.
I hope you continue to follow me on this journey. My hope is that you will continue to stretch your mind, question everything, and be a force of change. I am not asking you to agree with everything I write, but I am asking you to a least listen and consider; constantly challenge and explore all options.
What is your greatest fear? All of us, even the bravest of persons, have fears we face and struggle against frequently in life. Fear is a natural emotion that humans experience, especially fear of the unknown. The future can always be unnerving as we plan and adjust our lives in the attempt to have a better outcome. If only there was a magic ball that we could gaze into and see the events and outcomes that are awaiting us.
How different would life be in the here and now if a person knew the future. If a person knew what was ahead and it was something horrible, would they not try to make changes to gain a better the outcome? Yet, to change the outcome and alter the future, what you knew would become invalid…. a philosophical paradox. Alas, could it be true that everything is preset and no matter what a person would do, the outcome would be the same….
Sorry, I am sure your brain hurts now. I know mine does when I flip this question over and over in my mind.
I feel that fear of the “unknown” is essentially the greatest fear a person can experience. We toil and struggle with the uncertainty of our future as we see wars, violence, divided politics, lawlessness, inflation, hostages, human trafficking, and on and on. Turn on the nightly news and there is always something new going on that makes the future look dim and sometimes hopeless. Does humanity have a chance to survive in this treacherous storm that engulfs its existence?
Our world has abandoned its morality and embraced a reckless philosophy devoid of basic principles and structure. It has let itself dive into an environment of hate, depression, hedonism, and the lack of any accountability. Morality cannot exist without accountability, otherwise we are in chaos, and, unfortunately, this world is churning in this chaos now more than ever.
So here we find ourselves with a bleak future as we let the principalities of this world rule our lives, suppressing our ability to embrace higher principles that supersede humankind.
You should be afraid of the future.
Ignoring this chaos or hiding in a hole will only end in disaster. Being brave does not mean that you are not afraid. It means you face the challenge in spite of the fear. It will take many of us to rise up and stand for what is good and trust that we can in a way “change the future.” It begins with an insurrection against the immorality that the world continues to worship.
What will you do? Embrace the fear or let the fear destroy you?
Insurrection Of The Mind 
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