Month: June 2012

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Just follies and illusions


{love and happiness}

Each morning I wake knowing I am blessed with another day of life and with someone to love me as well as a job. The things I used to take for granted seem to be so much more important nowadays. With the world caught up in a whirlwind of troubles that seem to be getting worse. The fear of those troubles are far less than they used to be and the appreciation of family friends and those who are special to me grows. The simpler things in life seem to have more importance than the ambition and social statuses ever had. The things that once mattered are shown to me for what they are, just follies and illusions. The things I took for granted finally become my fist priority like they used to be in my youth. The happiness of those I love and know comes before my own, though I’ve found that their happiness brings me a fulfilling happiness of my own. The selfish me is fading away as I embrace the humble and caring side of myself once again.

What good is all the gold and silver in the world if the ones you love are left behind.
Raymond Barbier

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We get so caught up in the whirlwind


"Where there is love there is life."  Stop, look around and see all the faces around you and embrace the love you have for them. Life is way too short to allow work to completely consume you and your life, we need to maintain balance or we wont survive long at such a heavy and fast pace. We must constantly remind ourselves of what is our true priority, the health and happiness of ourselves and those we hold dear. No money, company or idea is more important nor greater than those we love and the love we share with them. Even friends are an important part of the balance we keep. We need our friends to help keep us sane and give us an escape from work and home once in a while. Though getting and giving your spouse and children everything money can buy is nice but not at the price of never seeing them or the lack of spending quality time with them.

 

The love of friends and family is more precious than any amount of money or gold.
Ray Barbier

 
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Just another Sunday morning Rant.


002Human history has proven humanity is capable of some horrific actions, from ancient conquerors , the trail of tears, world wars 1 and 2 we have seen some of the worst possible sides of humanity. There were of course some times that we rose up and done some miraculous things as well. When we are able to put behind us our differences and learn to forgive as well as forget we seem to be able to come together as a species and perform some very wonderful and spectacular feats.  The question remains of how this generation is remembered by the future generations to come. Is this going to be a generation of conflict, politics and the depletion of our natural resources or the generation that saw what was coming and took action as well as faced the dilemmas of our times. Between the media and the big corporations the average person is bombarded constantly with images and ideas of what we are supposed to look like, act like and what will make us happy. The sad part is a lot of us actually buy into all the sales pitches thrown at us. They pitch at us how a new smart phone makes our life easier or makes us look cooler or how we need to have tax cut for the wealthy. Too much information being sent at us 24/7 and it becomes almost like brain washing by seeing it so much.

Look at our food, it is so full of preservatives and unhealthy fillers or fats so that they can sell it cheap to us but anything that is good for you cost a lot more. Our meat is less nutritious than 2 generations ago and so was our fruits and vegetables. Our meat is becoming so low quality they was irradiate it to make sure it doesn’t have any bacteria or virus’s in it. It has all come down to profit, even to our governments. They spend our money and borrow from other countries and then try to cut off Social security which is by the way a paid for entitlement by the people. Our politicians are more worried about their political parties, agendas and careers than the economy or the state of our country. They are great at spinning tales, taking the words of another politician of context but they are lousy at reading and or passing bills to benefit the common worker.

To be honest, I believe some of the politicians in office really need to grow up and do the job we the tax payers pay them to do and stop playing party politics on our dime. We the consumers need to pay less attention to the illusion we need the newest thing to be happy and just be happy with what we have. We also should stop buying the unhealthy convenient foods and either buy fresh vegetables and fruits or when possible grow our own. We need to be more independent for the economy wont be getting better any time soon and the cost of food is unlikely to decrease. The more independent and self-sufficient we are the easier it will be to survive the possible hard times ahead. Even if the economy gets better it is still a good practice to be self-sufficient.

To be the generation of solutions and of change we must start changing our own lives and lead by example. We need to educate ourselves and help educate others on self efficiency and we need to get back to being more community minded. We can as a species either create a better world for our future generations or we can continue allowing the world to spiral downward as it has for years. I myself rather fix as much of the problems today in our world so that those who come after me will have a better world to live in than to leave them a mess that may not be fixable in the future.  It is our children’s and grandchildren’s world we are messing up today. Well enough ranting about this generation and the woes of the world of today and possibly of tomorrow for now.

We can be led by those in power or we can show those in power the way to lead.
Ray Barbier

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Kindness, laughter and love are contagious


O_C_fo03bu The power of a hug, smile, laugh or just a few kind words can make someone’s bad day turn into a great day. You must be willing to be a bringer of goodwill and kindness if you desire to have kindness and goodwill returned. You reap what you sow and you get what you dish out to other people. You must be kind-hearted to yourself and let it grow outwardly towards everyone around you. It’s like a flame, it slowly spreads outward and eventually there is a fire and it keeps spreading. Kindness is just like that it grows and grows spreading everywhere. Yes there are some people who can repel kindness and others that will try to kill it with bitterness but as long as you keep sending it out it will not be extinguished.

Kindness, laughter and love are contagious, once they start to spread its almost impossible to stop them. Even the smallest spark of kindness can overcome the greatest anger just like a candle can rid a whole room of darkness. Plus it is far better to go through life choosing to be happy and spreading kindness than to be bitter and spread the seeds of sadness.

 

To be happy one must choose happiness, to be kind one only hast to try from the heart.
Ray Barbier

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A Letter to my self : Self-Compassion


018 I am writing this to let you know how special you are, I know you have a lot of shortcomings and you’re struggling each day with things you don’t like about yourself along with a few bad habits. I know sometimes you feel sad and lonely and I want you to know that everyone goes through that from time to time. Stop trying so hard to be perfect, for no one is perfect. Just know no matter how bad it gets, how hard life tries to be on you and how bad you think you are everything is going to be ok. You may not be perfect, but you are a pretty good person. Try to forgive yourself for those things in the past you regret and then forget them for they belong to yesterday. Just remember this most of all, no matter how alone and unloved you feel there is always one person here on earth that will love you and be with you. I will always be there and will always love you. Even if I fail you know for certain Jesus and God will never fail you, they shall love you no matter what.

Sincerely you friend

Me, Myself and I

Raymond Barbier

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Discipline of the mind will in turn help discipline the heart and soul.


English: Holistic health, body, mind, heart, soul

We can be slaves to our desires as well as the pleasures we seek. We also can be slaves to our emotions. We can be the master or the slave when it comes to desire, pleasure and emotion. If we choose to be the master over them they serve us and we are at peace and can find inner serenity. But if we choose to be a slave then we are at their mercy and have a very unstable life that usually is chaotic and full of woes. Even the so called positive emotions can be problematic if we allow them to be in control. They tend to cloud our judgment and create a illusionary feeling of happiness that eventually leads to disappointment in the end. Take the emotion love for instance, If you allow yourself to fall in love at the drop of a hat it either causes problems in your current relationship if your in one or it leaves you wanting every person you find remotely attractive, which will also create an uncertainty within you that only leads to loneliness in the end.

I have seen so many times where a guy or girl goes from one love to the next and as soon as they find a new one they are looking for or at another. That kind of life may have some appeal to it but in the end you wind up lonely and misjudged by people around you. Sometimes I think people like that come about from the misconception there is a perfect soul mate out there. A perfect soul mate is not something you find its something that is created after years of work between the partners. Sure there are soul mates, they will not be perfect but they will be what you need and want. They will be your best friend, lover, teacher, student and all around buddy. They will have flaws and will even be annoying at times. That is until you and the soul mate fully discover each other emotionally and spiritually. Then they morph into the perfect soul mate and you will be theirs.

But harmony between mates is hard to obtain if one or both of you are slaves to your emotions, desires or pleasures. You have to somewhat master those things in order to obtain a great life and great relationships. The body, mind and soul all crave balance and discipline, they thrive in that kind of environment. One of the obstacles in the way of being the master of your emotions and desires is the ego. If a persons ego is too big it hinders all positive progress of the mind and spirit which in turn will cause stress on the body. Self discipline is a very important key to ones spiritual, mental and physical health. The imbalance and lack of discipline in any of the three will affect the other two.The body, mind and spirit are always talked about like they are three separate things, they may be but they are like one for one always affect the other two They are all interconnected and because those three are like one is why we are the unique species we are.

For those who are in a relationship and still seek your soul mate just know the one your with more than likely is the one. You and your mate must work together and communicate with each other so that you can be the perfect soul mates for each other. Forgiveness, compromise and compassion is required in all relationships and most important is the need for unconditional love. Far as being the master or the slave of your emotions and desires, you know which path is the better of the two and you are the only one who can take control of them. Discipline of the mind will in turn help discipline the heart and soul, which will lead to the mastery of your emotions.

Love unconditionally but do not throw you love away on those who will never return it.
Have compassion for all living things and do not forget to have a little self compassion as well.

Raymond Barbier

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God gave each of us the right to believe as we wish


Symbol of the three Abrahamic religions.

The world is in darkness,the world is trying to extinguish the spark of light in all of us. Those that promote hate, prejudice and intolerance are trying to keep us from finding the light we have in this world. In this world of darkness there is a light to be found.  God created a spark of light within us all and most of us are unaware or unable to feel its presence anymore. When we were children that light was bright and made life wondrous and beautiful. We allowed the world around us to cover the candle within us and we need to uncover it. Place that candle on a candle stick for all to see and so it can force the darkness away from us all. We can not allow the distractions and road blocks the darkness throws in our path to get in the way of being the beings of light god wants us to be. He wants us to be peaceful, loving, compassionate and full of hope. Things such as greed, lust and fear stand in the way of most of us and they keep us preoccupied and distracted from happiness and peace.

Three religions that were spawned by the one true God, yet those three religions still are distracted and preoccupied by their differences instead of being tolerant of each other. A house divided against itself surely will fall and that is the case with the three religions if they do not learn to co-operate or at least tolerate each other. We all serve the same God, even though we have differences in beliefs on some subjects that are sensitive we can learn to accept one another. We are all brothers and sisters in the eyes of God and we should love one another regardless of our different beliefs.  I am a firm believer in freewill and the fact God gave each of us the right to believe as we wish. Of course if we choose the wrong beliefs there will be a price to pay. This though is the price of freewill and is something each of us should consider when choosing our religious beliefs. I will not state which belief is the right one for only god knows the answer to that question and it isn’t my place as a mere human to answer. I believe as I do and respect the religious beliefs of all others in hopes they will do the same for me.

 We all have to live on this planet together, we can do it as brothers and sisters in peace or continue to go down this road of mistrust, hatred and of war. The choice is there for each one of us to choose and hopefully most of us will choose the path of peace and of love than the one of hate and war. Let us all be adults and civilized, let us live together as a great family and as the unique human species we are together in harmony.

Raymond Barbier

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