Living the Dream or Dream to Live? (Pt1)

Greetings to another week's installment of the "be yourself, often" blog at www.joelwlamoure.com . This is a time of the week we connect you stop and step back and reflect on the moments that were in the moments that will be. This is a point in time that we will never get back again and so it is important that we look with mindfulness and reflection at the valuable increments that are sands through an hourglass.

This is the first of a two-part series. Although I have written about this before, I think given some of the discussions that have happened and transpired of late, it is important that we stop and look at what we do. Are we for sure getting our absolute all to the moments that are or are we deflecting for a future time that may or may not come? Are we stopping and being at one with the moment, or are we adversaries with the moment?

For the first week we will take a look at the living the dream question. I believe if we take a look at ourselves from a spiritual entity having a human existence than that becomes very clear. However, if we look at it from the converse, and we are merely humans than we may not feel the excitement, love and joy that transcends each and every moment.

First Peter chapter 3 verse four states, "rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. My gentle friends, we have the opportunity to be a gentle and quiet spirit, as opposed of and within the chaos that exists in the here and now.

We have the opportunity to assist us in a pool of isolation within the sea and tsunami that exists around us. This is our choice. We can truly live the dream, drink the margaritas and enjoy the surf, sea, sun and sand that a balance about us. That is truly living in the moment, living the dream.

So how do we do this in the busy life that we exist in? Does it have to be such? This is a choice that we have my friends taking a look at the free will covenant that exists within each and every one of us. We have the choice to embrace the insanity society or step back and truly be ourselves, at one with the moment.

As we find and become ourselves, we can realize that we are not alone. And our island of isolation is full of people similar like us. It is not about the commercials, magazines, celebrity worship that we have been sold. It does not have to be like this. Indeed, we can have the best life ever. It is about stepping back and looking at the healing parameters at each and every one of us has within us. So how do we unlock it?

That is about being comfortable with the moment. It is being at one, mindful with the tastes, touches, smells, sights and embrace them fully. It is about not caring what others think and about embracing our individual inner child. It does not have to be about worshiping others, but about finding and being ourselves.

And in order my gentle friends to live the dream we need to identify what is the outcome that we are looking for. What are our hopes, goals, dreams, and aspirations and how do you think that we can make them happen? Embracing the child within, not having a worry about being judged. Judge not, lest you judge thyself. And in order to realize what is important to us, we need to stop and reflect with mindful awareness of exactly what we are able to do. These gifts and transitions that we have, what we do for ourselves and for others, will truly ultimately identify and become and be yourself, often.

~~~Rev. Dr Joel Lamoure   February 2013

We Do Reap What We Sow

Greetings my gentle readers to the "be yourself, often" blog at www.joelwlamoure.com. This is a time of the week when we can sit back and quietly reflect, meditate and was deliberate mindful thought see the week that was. Last week, we took a look at karmic batteries and how to determine whether the battery was charged, under charged or dead.

As we were able to conclude with last Tuesday’s night radio show,  “Prescribing Spiritual HOPE” http://www.spreaker.com/show/tuesday_prescribing_spiritual_hope “, sadly there are too many people that are existing with a dead battery. How can it be, that they consider this to be living? Perhaps my friends it is because what they are living is what is encouraged by our societal and item driven society. There are very few opportunities that last across time, person and space that allow for an internal validation and continuous win. To use a comparison, it is not unlike a person with diabetes getting a high sugar meal and the resultant microvascular and macro vascular complaints and problems that occur long-term. Even a person without the complications of diabetes if given a high sugar meal will have a corresponding drop with fatigue, feeling down and lack of energy.

Why then is any difference from a spiritual perspective? If we tend to reap what we sow, then all we are achieving inner item driven world is small term successes that will cause an increase in dopamine, which is our pleasure reward neurological hormone. We well know from a clinical perspective, the increases in dopamine in the corresponding reductions afterwords are linked to a dependent state. Therefore, with constant reinforcement based marketing, advertising, idolizing of celebrities we reinforce this psychopathology. What is the cost? It means that not dissimilar to an addiction, which is a real medical condition rooted in brain circuitry changes, we too can become addicted in this market driven life.

That my gentle readers is what we have sown. Why then should we be surprised when we have karmic energy and karmic batteries that are dying? We go from high to low, victory to failure, never appreciating the true balance of life and always striving for the next rush. Basically, in a first world society we are nothing more than rats in a Skinner maze. Now that may seem a little blunt, but the general constructs of control of human society are exactly that.

If we want to achieve a more positive spiritual driven life, we need to take a look at what are our outcomes that we are looking to achieve. If we take a look back over 2000 years from a purely Biblical perspective, this is clearly identified in Galatians chapter 6, verses seven through eight. This piece of Scripture states "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man so with, that shall he also reap. For he that so with to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that so with to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reaps life everlasting."

In my mind, and from my clinical and ministers perspective this means that we need to go beyond that of flash. We need to engage ourselves into beyond what our eyes are able to capture. It is the mindfulness and miracles of the moment that we should embrace. These moments of mindfulness and embracing sure you are writing about a level of positive influences and sister entering our thought stream. And as we well know, our thoughts will define our actions, and our actions will define our outcomes. As such, when we step outside of ourselves we are able to take a look at the world that exists beyond the here and now. Although not quantified by science, this is an area that is addressed in the world of metaphysics.

Metaphysics it allows us the opportunity to conceptualize a spiritual driven life. That driven life goes beyond the world of the highs and the lows, the world of the celebrity idolization and certainly beyond the world of a root dopamine surge system. It is a world where we can talk to each other, dialogue with each other and engage in healthy appreciation for one another. And truly that is the definition of love, which is an intelligent concern for others.

Who could have imagined that sowing the seeds would have such a positive outcome? For it seems far easier to approach this world of spirituality as opposed of killing ourselves in the process of achieving items that won't matter at the end of our days.

This is about learning in a healthy way the concept of mindfulness with regard to color, taste, senses, sound, sight, smell and touch. In mindfulness, we are able to become a beacon of light that radiates out and inspires others. We start to see, how what we reap is what we have sown. We start to see, how we can become a positive influence simply by one person being more attuned with the metaphysical parameters that exist in every cell, and every atom, and every quark around us. It is an opportunity to be able to realize exactly what is happening is exactly what is meant to be.

Perhaps as we learn what is meant to be and appreciate that what is meant to be is exactly right for this particular moment, and we have contributed to what this moment is, then perhaps you can truly be yourself, often.

   ~~~ Rev. Dr. Joel Lamoure    February 2013