I’ll talk about reaching for their dreams, visualizing themselves in the roles they want to play, and moving forward with focus and drive.

This is my first forray into motivational speaking, wish me luck.

So at those moments when you feel like you are always running 100 miles a minute and just have no time to possibly do something like meditate, even if it is in the midst of what you are doing, start to focus on your breathing and slow it down.

If you can focus or close your eyes and take 10 deep breaths, great.

Another great exercise to do is while focusing on your breathing, practice holding your breath. Breath slowly in, hold your breath in, then breath slowly out. You can do this exercise anywhere, and while doing almost anything. I’ll often do this while sitting at my desk.

So next time you are feeling stressed, or bored, or are wishing for a simpler life, get a quickie in.

Please don’t worry about that, just pick one, even the basic one, and just do it daily. Every day, even for just 5 seconds a day will make a HUGE difference.

This next meditation is a concentration meditation.

As always, get yourself comfortable, sit on a chair or on the floor in whatever position you prefer where your spine can be straight, and you’ll want to do deep breathing as always. Deep breathing consists of breathing in through your nose, and expand your stomach, out through your nose, and contract your stomach. If this is difficult, don’t worry about it, just relax. Meditation shouldn’t cause you more stress.

Now put a picture in front of you of someone you consider inspiring, or pick a circle or spot on the wall, or put a candle in front of yourself, and just focus on it. When your focus is lost, gently bring it back. Don’t get upset at yourself, don’t worry about the plethora of thoughts that are running through your mind, just gently bring it back.

Don’t worry about the goal or purpose of the meditation, just do it and practice your focus.

If you like this meditation over another, do this one, if you don’t like this one but prefer another, do the other. If you want to do one one day and another another, that’s okay too.

There’s so much dogma out there, what’s most important is that you are doing what feels good to you, and that you are doing something to elevate your spiritual self.

Best of luck, and always feel free to ask question.

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I realized that I’ve gotten into a habit of doing a bunch of the things I know I need to do, but not all of them.

So today, I review and print and post my goals on my mirror, I put my vision statement on my mirror, and I’ve set a date to do a new vision board with one of my team members.

Bring it on!!!

I’m in that position right now, so what am I going to do?

Meditate.
Review my core Mantra. (I am Happy, Healthy and Wealthy and make an impactful difference in people’s lives)
Review my Vision Statement.

Let’s see how it goes…

But first, let me quote something from the intro to this book:

“In every chapter of this book, mention has been made of the money-making secret which has made fortunes for hundreds of exceedingly wealthy men whom i have carefully analyzed over a long period of years.

The secret was brought to my attention by Andrew Carnegie, more than half a century ago.”

This secret was the Law of Attraction, and can bring you not only money, but anything and everything you desire. First issue however, is figuring out what it is you want. If you aren’t sure what you want, you’ll get well, who knows what… And for most of us, that’s exactly what our lives look like.

Quoted from Think and Grow Rich:

FIRST: I know that I have the ability to achieve the object of my definite purpose in life; therefore, i demand of myself persistent, continuous action toward its attainment, and i here and now promise to render such action.

SECOND: I realize the dominating thoughts of my mind will eventually reproduce themselves in outward, physical action, and gradually transform themselves into physical reality; therefore, I will concentrate my thoughts for thirty minutes daily, upon the task of thinking of the person I intend to become, thereby creating in my mind a clear mental picture.

THIRD: I know through the principle of autsuggestion, any desire that i persistently hold in my mind will eventually seek expression through some practical means of attaining the object of it; therefore, i will devote ten minutes daily to demanding of myself the development of self-confidence.

FOURTH: I have clearly written down a description of my definite chief aim in life, and I will never stop trying, until I shall have developed sufficient self-confidience for this attainment.

FIFTH: I fully realize that no wealth or position can long endure, unless built upon truth and justice; therefore, I will engage in no transaction which does not benefit all whom it affects. I will succeed by attracting to myself the forces I wish to use, and the cooperation of other people. I will induce others to serve me, because of my willingness to serve others. I will eliminate hatred, envy, jealousy, selfishness, and cycnicsm, by developing love for all humanity, because I know that a negative attitude toward others can never bring me success. I will cause others to believe in me, because I will believe in them, and in myself. I will sign my name to this formula, commit it to memory, and repeat it aloud once a day, with full faith that it will gradually influence my thoughts and actions so that I will become a self-reliant, and successful person.

Whether it is the radio, or the phone, or a txt, or the computer, or a conversation with another kid, or a thought, or often, all of the above all at the same time.

I’ve been reading about the importance of listening for years now, at Northwestern Mutual being an active listener was a vital part of my job, but somehow being able to unplug and really really hear what my kids are saying, THE FIRST TIME THEY SAY IT is something I’m going to have to work on.

Wow, there, I said it.

And I know, I’m not alone.

I’ve watched interactions between kids and parents where the kid says “daddy, daddy, Daddy, DADDY, DADDY!!!!! and then the father turns angrily and says “WHAT?” (seen both moms and dads do it, and I’m sure I’ve done it as well)

The general level of noise and distractions that we are subjected to on a constant basis is astonishing. TV, radio, computer, txts, phone, kids, horns, sirens, etc… All demanding our attention often all at the exact same time.

And this is what our kids are growing up with. Multi-tasking is becoming a way of life for them. And that can be a benefit, but at times it is also important to be able to focus, to concentrate, on one single thing. Many kids can’t do it, and they are getting diagnosed ADHD and being pumped with drugs at an astonishing rate. Maybe we just need to teach them to focus and concentrate a little. And maybe we need to do so by learning to do so ourselves first. (the next meditation I’m going to talk about is a concentration meditation)

Truly hearing something someone is saying and caring about what they are saying is an act of kindness, an act of love, a show of compassion. One that in the huste and bustle of our daily existence that is FULL of various means of communication, I think is becoming more and more rare.

Those not into the scriptures can stop reading now.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

This Word would have been meaningless if there wasn’t someone to listen to what was being said and understand it.

Who could you listen to better?

In the title, the word Yoga can be replaced with meditation, spiritual development, enlightenment, self realization, any number of words or phrases. Whatever works for you.

1. Keep before you the mind the fact that you have firmly decided to reform your life and to transform your conscious and subconscious mind into superconscious mind. 

2. Enrich yourself with every possible truth and renounce untruth as soon as possible.

3. Every mental and physical condition is in accordance with the judgement of supreme consciousness and supreme nature. The child may weep if an operation is needed by parents decide to do the operation to save the child. In the same way, you are unhappy and full of anxiety, but this operation on your mind is permitted by nature to save you from destruction. Even death is nothing but the greatest operation; after this operation, old age is removed and the Self is incarnated again as a child. Ponder over it and be free from all cares of body and mind.

4. An unhappy and restless mind cannot concentrate. Make every posible effort to make your mind happy and peaceful. The standard of admission in Yoga is a peaceful and happy mind.

5. Increase the atmosphere of expectancy and remove melancholy from the mind.

6. Believe in yourself and in your mind, and that you will obtain the supreme state.

7. if you fail to obtain some positive results in your practice, do not lose confidence. Owing to your in-experience, you are not yet able to recognize the positive of higher changes in your mind. You may have the traditional habit of looking at the back of your mind.

8. Make it a habit to stand as a witness in every mental activity. This, you will save yourself from being the agency of mind and become the guide to your mind as an instructor. Don’t play with your mind as if you were a servant and an agent. If you do so, you will face calamity.

9. Truth in speech, simplicity in manner, and firmness of mind are infallible divine instruments to certain success.

10. You must concentrate your mental waves with utter and complete confidence in yourself and in the nature in you and around you, which have manifested innumerable suns, stars and planets.

11. Don’t be nervous; a nervous attitude may interfere with your performance.

12. Know this: mental powers are looking to you to give you something that you have never seen before. They want to enrich you with divine and eternal powers. Eternal forces are serving you constantly, whether you know it or not. Before birth and after death, where no material things can go with you, those natural forces are serving you. Wherever you go, they are there before you.

13. Remember, you can do anything and everything that has been done by any great Yogi or Saint in human history. By your performance you can become a son of God, and by the highest performance you can become one with God. Nothing is impossible to the mind.

14. One wave of the mind is always skeptical of everything. Do not consider this wave as an ordinary one. Try to solve it in a right way through your instructor and practice; otherwise skepticism will wreck your performance. Here or hereafter there is no success or happiness for the skeptical. Always, from the beginning of your practice, it will try to create doubt and suspicion in your practice, but after a few days of practice these mental waves will be the first to applaud your success in concentration. These mental waves of skepticism at first refuse to recognize anything. They recognize facts: nothing but facts. No philosophy, no religion, no gods or God is recognized by these waves. They recognize only direct experience. Therefore, to conquer these waves, practice constantly. They recognize your successful experimentation. When these waves perceive directly the eternal electromagnetic current of supreme consciousness they recognize your feat and become your fast friend. When you have mastered your skeptical nature and obtained the right method of autosuggestion (dhyana) you will have powerful mental waves in your favor. Now those wave which are weaker and still present in your mind cannot disturb you because you have seen the truth. Now you are not only the master of your mind, but you are going to become the master of all material minds.

15. Practice of Yoga will open the third eye in you, which is called “Yoga dristi” “divya dristi” or “divine eye.”

16. Demand complete silence from your material mind and command it completely. When you achieve this control, nothing can disturb your practice.

17. Do your practice seriously. If you do it lightly, you may lose faith, confidence, and enthusiasm in yourself.

18. When you see any extraordinary vision, feel no fear; otherwise you may have a nervous breakdown, or you may harbor fear of ghosts or of death in your mind. No harm can befall you. Go into deepest experimentation. Place your body in a confortable position and soon you will magnetize your body. Your mind will soon be enlightened.

19. There is one other peculiar disturbing wave of the mind: the wave of arrogance. In practice you obtain success, and success sometimes brings conceit, and conceit brings hypocrisy. Be careful. Do not harbor this wave in your mind, as it may ruin you before the world for the service of all living beings. Be careful not to become arrogant and conceited. Respect all more than yourself.

20. A proper and clear-cut suggestion is important to your mind. If you do not start distinct and powerful autosuggestion, your mind will start its own suggestion to you, and you will be governed by your mind. By powerful autosuggestion govern your mind, but do not let yourself be governed by your material mind.

Sobek = Unite, Reuniter. Sobek was the Crocodile diety

Seqen = To be Trusted

Pedi = Wisdom, Wise

Wise and Trusted Reuniter.

Well, here’s my thoughts on that.

Let’s all just do what we can do, however small.

So, in order to make the world a better place, there are some things I do:

• I don’t ever litter, so I never make my direct environment worse. (working on being more Green)
• If I see trash, I usually pick it up. (just imagine if everyone in your neighborhood did that, it would instantly be clean)
• Something silly, but whenever I’m at the super market, I put my cart back, and fix at least one other.
• Smile at people.

Just imagine if we all started there.

I’m also imagining neighborhood clean up days, where all the neighbors in a one or two block radius meet together with plastic gloves and trash bags. One this gives everyone the opportunity to meet each other, and two neighborhoods (especially those in the city) can get cleaned up quickly.

What else can you add that’s easy for us all to do?

Here’s my verse by verse explanation of the Lord’s Prayer.

This was originally posted in a discussion on FB, so if the post seems like it is talking to a single individual, it is because it was. I’ve been doing a lot of posting about Christianity, Jesus and the Bible. Not exactly sure why, but I just let the Spirit guide me.

Matthew 6:9-13
[9] After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
[10] Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
[11] Give us this day our daily bread.
[12] And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
[13] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Our Father: Here Jesus is saying that we are all children of God, he is bringing us into the fold. This is supported by other verses as well, such as his words in John 10:34 “Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?”

You are a God because you were made in the image and likeness of God.

Genesis 1:26-27
[26] And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
[27] So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

This is where language becomes important again. There is the Most High, in Hebrew Elyon Elyon El, then there is another word used which is Elohim, but in English they all get translated into the same thing.

So the verse Jesus was referrencing was

Psalms 82:6 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.

So it is time to go back into the Concordance and see what word is used there for “gods.”

We’ll see it is elohiym. This happens to be the exact same word used in Genesis 1:1.

http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H430&t=KJV

So what we are seeing is there are destinctions between Elyon Elyon El, and Elohim.

We are of the Elohim, according to Jesus, but we are not the Most High.

Who art in Heaven: This is saying that God the Father, is in Heaven. This is where the etymology of words becomes important. If we look into a Concordance, we’ll see that the word used for Heaven is ouranos.

http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G3772&t=KJV

For now I’m not going to get deeper into that, don’t want to scare you off.

Hallowed be thy name: Holly is His name. But what is his name? Is it God? Is it Jesus? Is it Jehovah? Is it Yahweh? Is it…? We’ll take this opportunity to speak briefly on Jesus’ name. In the Hebrew and also in the Aramaic, which is the language Jesus spoke (Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?) there is no J.

So his name could not have been Jesus. It was actually Yashua, or Ya’shua. Also, the Bible says:

John 1:41
He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.

So Chris is an interpretation, but he was really the Messiah. Again, to the concordance, we’ll see that Messias or Messiah means annointed one.

http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G3323&t=KJV

Since the Lord’s prayer makes mention of names being Holy, we should call on Jesus by his proper name, so in his language his name would be Ya’shua Ha Mashiach. Ha simply means the.

Thy kingdom come: So we are waiting on God’s kingdom to come, from someplace, to someplace. So where is the Kingdom of God? According to Jesus, it is within.

Luke 17:20-21
[20] And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
[21] Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven: This is a prayer, so we are asking that God’s will be done here on earth, as it is already done in heaven. Again, that word for heaven is ouranos. If you follow the etymology of the word ouranos, you’ll see it means Orion. So now we are starting to get a glimpse of just what is being said here. God is “up there” in heaven, in Orion, and we are “down here” on Earth. So it seems heaven is an actual place. Hmm, just ponder that for now.

Give us this day our daily bread: This is one of the most powerful verses in the Bible. Bread doesn’t only mean literal bread, it means whatever we need in life. This is asking us to be faithful that God will provide for ALL of our needs. That we are never to worry, ever, at all, that God will provide.

Jesus confirms this elsewhere as well.

Matthew 6:25-33
[25] Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
[26] Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
[27] Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
[28] And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
[29] And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
[30] Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
[31] Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
[32] (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
[33] But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors: In the version i learned as a child, we said “Forgive us our traspasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” This simply means forgive others, never hold malice in your heart.

This is much easier said than done for many people. But anyone who has ever done us wrong, no matter what it is they have done, we are commanded to forgive them.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: Please oh God, there are so many temptations out there, so many people doing evil, doing things which aren’t good for my Soul, please keep me on the straight and narrow path.

And when I am in the midst of evil, or do commit evil acts, please take me out of those situations as quickly as possible.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever: So lest we get confused, yes, we are Gods, we are Elohim, but all of the Glory still goes to the Father, the Most High, Elyon Elyon El, who is in heaven. And this power is eternal.

Amen: Now this is an interesting way to end a prayer. In the Hebrew, the word Amen means faithful. But if we go deeper into the etymology of the word, we see that it comes from Ancient Egypt. Amen was one of the major Sun gods in Ancient Egypt. Now what are Christians (and Jews and Muslims) doing ending their prayers with an Egyptian Sun God’s name?

Well, that answer is beyond the scope of this conversation, but I can point you to some resources if finding that answer interests you.

This isn’t only true today, but has been true for tens of thousands.

The problem is today, in order for something to be “true” it has to be written down. There needs to be “proof.”

In reality, many of the “secrets” were and still are only passed on mouth to ear.

It is time to stop ignoring the oral tradition that is in Africa, and also time to preserve it.

Visit this link to see my view on the scriptures. http://Okolo.org/?p=716

So we all know the story, Jesus died on the Cross for our sins. But just what does that mean, and more importantly what does it mean for us?

John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

So many people only focus on the story of how Jesus relates to them, and not how they are supposed to relate to the rest of the world. The answer to both of those is the same.

Jesus was so passionate about what he believed that he was willing to give up his entire life in the service of others. Not only did he spend his life teaching and healing, but was willing to put his life on the line, and everything in between.

So let’s bring that down to our level, where we can relate.

Are you willing to give your last dollar to a friend, or even stranger in need? (I’ve done it more times than I’d like to count)

Are you willing to ge up in the middle of the night and help out a friend, or talk to a friend?

If a friend or family member needs you to help them, let’s say move, do you make yourself available, or are you always “busy?”

We can get so caught up on focusing on sin sin sin, and how Jesus died for our sins, we are missing a major part of the story.

I’ve seen recently people getting colder. Even if their children or family members ask for help, they turn their backs on them and say no.

Jesus was trying to set an example for how we should live our lives.

John 15:22 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

He wanted us to be Gods just as he was:

John 10:34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are Gods?

So start making sacrifices for others. Stop being selfish. Start being more giving. Start acting more like Jesus.

I feel there is a lot of good and inspiration messages in the Bible, which is why I often quote it, just as there are in the Torah and the Qur’aan, just as there are in the teachings of Buddha, or just as there are in one of my favorite books “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle. And I also feel that some or all of those teachings/messages/scriptures were Divinely inspired. But it is my heart which weighs what I want to do, what I want to think, what I want to feel or believe. I do this through what the Ancient Egyptians called Ma’at. Ma’at can be defined as justice, or balance. And it is through a direct connection with the Divine (through prayer and meditation and other spiritual disciplines) that Ma’at is maintained. It is something I’m continuing to work on, not claiming to be perfect, but I am striving for perfection.

To accept blindly a book that was written over 2000 years ago (supposedly), with contradictions throughout, I do not feel is wise. I’ve found that most people who do accept the Bible blindly, haven’t actually read it all. Reading it all, every word is step one. Then, you’ve got to (at least to a small degree) study Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic and Greek and use both Study Bibles and a Strong’s (or other) Concordance to dig deep to try to get at the original intent. Yes, I’ve done that with both the Bible and the Qur’aan.

Here’s a very quick example. The confusion starts off in the first verse of the Bible.

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

If you look into the Strong’s concordance, you’ll see that the word used for God is Elohiym, and is defined as “plur. of elowahh; gods in the ordinary sense…” And it continues on.

You can read the rest here:

http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H430&t=KJV

So from verse one, there is a mistranslation and utter confusion.

it should read:

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning Gods created the heaven and the earth.”

This gives us a whole new basis to start understanding the bible…

There’s a lot more to this, but this blog is not a scriptural study, if there are folks interested in more just leave a comment and I’ll expand.

I see spirituality as the connection that each individual is able to have with God. (The All, The Creator, Amun, Amen-Re, Allah, The Most High, Jehovah, Yahweh, Yahuwa, Adonai, The Universe whatever…) I personally don’t like to use the word God, but it seemed to flow best in this post so I used it. If you don’t like the word, please just replace it with one you do like.

On the other hand, I see Religion as the attempt to explain that connection and give people a pathway to that level of spirituality.

So look at these two pictures. One is of beautiful sun rays. Alive, and in the full glory of God. This is spirituality. There is an old, boring looking book, that’s religion.

The more time we spend in our religions, and convincing ourselves that our religion, our way to God is right and everyone else’s is wrong, the further and further we get away from that true original message and purpose, which was to create that spiritual connection with God.

Religion has its grip on many of us because of fear. (darn fear again) Fear if we don’t do what’s right, or don’t do what our religion says, we’ll go to Hell. Once you make that spiritual connection, and have a direct communion with God, those fears go away, because you know you are living God’s purpose.

So again, I say, spend time every day in meditation, this will bring you closer to that spiritual connection. Every step you take towards God, She takes an infinite number of steps towards you.