Letter to God

Dear God,

I have an issue with prayer. I'm intimidated by it. I know its just supposed to be me talking to you, but I typically tend to feel like I don’t know what to say, and even if I knew what to say, you'd already know it anyway. I mean really, how am I supposed to tell you what's on my heart and on my mind if you already know? And almost any kind of prayer eventually turns into a laundry list of what I'd like you to do, either do for me, give to me, work out for me, do for someone else, make me understand or whatever, and I'm just so certain to the very core of my being that I'm not supposed to pray like that. And then I look at the scripture in Matthew where "the lord's prayer" is written, and it just feels so formulaic… it might as well be Mad Libs...

"Dear God, You are so (insert adjective) that you (verb) my heart mind and soul. Please give me (noun), (another noun), and (one more noun), while I promise not to (bad verb) and try very hard to (pleasing verb.) All this I pray with (name of strong emotion) because like I said, you are (intense adjective)!!! Love, (state my name) Amen

Can you possibly help me with this? Kthxbai,
-----------chris


p.s. Any chance of advance information on who wins the superbowl? No??? Yeah… that's okay… I kinda figured

I have a PRESENT for you!

Be. Here. Now. It's a mantra that has always intrigued me. To my mind it has always meant leaving the past behind. Dealing only with what's here right now and not allowing any baggage from the past to affect the choices you make now, the actions you take being totally independent.

But can you be SO present in this current moment that you absolutely have no investment in what happens after it?

I was, at one point a student in a school to learn how to be a professional Massage Therapist. I loved that school, and I did go on to have a brief career as a therapist, but that's beyond the scope of this discussion. Along the way, they take time out from teaching you physical techniques, and work on your mental/emotional processes and how they affect what you, as a therapist, are able to do. Over and over and over… "Be Present in THIS moment… have no investment in what happens afterwards." They would hammer the point home "Do what you do and then let go! Let it take it's own path after you let go of it!"

Being present in the moment, but not invested in the outcome. How do you do that? Especially if you're providing a service of some kind, and you're investing your will and intention into the process. People are paying you for the outcome of your service. The results ARE the reason they're there! How do you then let go and divest yourself from the outcome?

I saw a clip online this week of Johnny Depp being interviewed on David Letterman's show. They stumbled across the fact that Johnny doesn't watch his movies. They laughed a little… okay, they laughed a lot… cuz it seems so weird that a movie star wouldn't watch the movies he's made. Depp talked about how he loves the process of making the movies, and the interaction between everybody involved, but that when his job was done, the ultimate outcome was really none of his business.

As much as I don't want it to… that totally resonates with me! There's something in that notion of "I do what I'm here to do, and when I'm done, I'm done. What happens after I'm done isn't any of my business or even my concern. "

This whole thing is about searching for that one moment, and you can choose any moment you want, to be completely absorbed in the NOW of it all. Enveloped in the sights and sounds and textures and tastes, the thoughts feelings and emotions of this one, singular moment, without allowing any thoughts or worries from the past, or concerns or predictions of the future to invade your awareness in any way. Can you do it? I'll be working towards such a moment for myself and I'm interested to hear about yours. Please leave me a comment about your experience with it.

Until next time, be well…
-------chris

The 6 Things I Know You Need!

1)You Need… More gratitude.
I don't care how thankful you THINK you are… you need more of it. No matter what you're thankful for, or who you're thankful to, DOUBLE IT! TRIPLE IT! MULTIPLY IT BY 10!! If life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you react to it… react with thanks! You'll be 90 percent happier than you are now! Find that tiny speck of how this situation is good, and give thanks that you have it in your life to serve that purpose, and you will come MILES closer to feeling purpose and achievement than you ever have before.

2)You Need… to let yourself off the hook.
Stop beating yourself up! Of all the people you can forgive in life, you need to start with yourself. You alone know exactly what circumstances existed when you made whatever choice you made. Yes, you are responsible for the consequences, but creating horribly negative inner dialogue that continuously takes chunks out of your self esteem doesn't help you learn any lessons any faster, so accept your consequences, forgive yourself, and move on. Don't repeat it… just learn from it and don't go that direction again.

3)You Need… to forgive them.
I don't care who you are or what they did to you, the unforgiveness you hold inside of yourself is a poison that only hurts yourself. It's not doing anything to anyone else. Nobody is learning any lesson because you're being bitter, and that bitterness is actually hurting yourself. Refer back to the previous need to let yourself off the hook.

4)You Need… to just love them.
All those people that you "don't understand" or "wish they weren't that way" or think "they CALL THEMSELVES this or that BUT REALLY THEY'RE JUST…" well… you need to drop it already. Nobody's going to want to change because you think they're wrong and need to be like you! People WILL change, and WANT TO CHANGE, when they see how well you treat them. How you love them regardless of your differences. How you accept them and honor them and respect them for making their choices about their life. These behaviors will create in them a thirst to be like you. And that's what we're here to do, isn't it? Live in such a way that people see the joy that you have, and they want it so bad that they want to live like you.

5)You Need.. to realize that its not about you.
People are not, I repeat NOT making the choices they are to be purposely upsetting to you! They just aren't! Okay, I know, it really FEELS like it sometimes. When you look at the choices a person had in front of them and they some how MAGICALLY chose the ONE OPTION that would screw you the most, it can certainly feel like they're doing it TO YOU. But you've gotta wake up! Understand how the choices you make are based on millions of factors, including your childhood, your current situation, the future you desire for yourself. They're almost NEVER about the other people. They're almost always made based on their own personal factors. That's all there is to it!

6)You Need… To know that…
These things are, in reality, what I need. This is my own self-talk. This exists for only one purpose, and that is to remind myself these things. If they help you with anything, then GREAT!If not, that's fine too.

Thank you for reading. Be Well.

-------------------Chris

730am

I don't know what's going on. My sleep is all messed up. As much as I am a confirmed Night Owl (i've studied, passed the tests, and have the degree hanging on my wall!) out of nowhere, i'm up at 730 am! Really???

C'mon now, seriously! I'm a firm believer in Newtonian Physics, and I, just as much as the next guy, know that an object at rest tends to stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside force... like an alarm clock or a morning person. So then what's up with this "Awake at 730 am with neither an alarm clock or a morning person anywhere in sight" stuff???

I've read all the "get your sleep habits under control" articles... that's some good stuff, but it just doesn't seem to consistently work for me.

Do any of you have good ideas about how to #1 consistently get a good 8 hours sleep, and #2 modify your body clock to work on a circadian rhythm you want it to? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!