Category: Thought of the day

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Are you using a rake or an axe?


p10131There once was a man who had a tree that constantly dropped leaves on his lawn. Every day he would rake up all the leaves and debris in his yard. He really hated that tree, it ruined his perfect lawn each fall. For years he raked the leaves tirelessly every day during autumn. This was so until one day his neighbor saw him raking leaves while cursing the tree. The neighbor asked him why are you using a rake when you could simply use an axe to cut that tree down?

Are you using a rake when it comes to your life problems? Are you just cleaning up the symptoms and results of a bigger problem or are you using an axe to cut down the source of your problems? You can either use the rake and react to the problem or use the axe and act on the cause of the problem.

Just a silly thought I had, right or wrong it is mine to share

Raymond Barbier

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The life you live is yours to live as you choose


IMG_1077 There is two ways one can go through life, one is going through life reacting to everything and everyone. The other is to walk through life as an activist,this means basically  being the cause of events in your life not being the effect. You can either ride the waves made by others or make your own. The problem with riding others waves is you have no idea where you will wind up most of the time along with the fact your life will be at someone else’s mercy. Riding your own wave you at least know where you aimed to go and the results will be yours alone. A good example of riding other people’s waves is when you are around someone who is persistently grumpy you tend to reflect the same attitude over time. You could have chosen to be happy or blissful instead, you choose how you feel at any given time. Even in times that are bad you can choose not to let the circumstances to control your emotions.

Though sometimes one must allow the circumstance to control their emotions at least for a short period. Circumstances such as the death of a love one is one of those times. You must grieve in order to have closure and so you can move on. But this should be as short of time you can manage for grieving too long can become depression. For the most part though you are in charge of how and what you feel. This only so once you realize you can choose to act instead of react to the world around you. There are two schools of thought on life, one is the school of destiny and the other is the school of Karma. The first school Destiny is the ideal that all things are predetermined and that there is no freewill or choice in what happens or what your final destination will be. The school is Karma, the idea that each thought and or action you take is what determines the outcome of your life.

Karma is the school of thought that supports the idea of freewill and self-directed paths of life. This is the school of thought I tend to believe in since I do not believe that we are totally predestined nor that we are without freewill. I will set aside the fact maybe some things may be predestined to a point but still we can choose how, when and why that predestined event happens. But far as our final destination is life, that is solely our choice as well as how we live that life. Being an open-minded Christian by faith I can see the idea of karma to a degree playing out in our scriptures. Freewill is the gift god gave us and we are responsible for both the good and bad we bring into the world. The wage of sin is death and the wage of goodness/righteous living  is life.

The life you live is yours to live as you choose, no one person can deny you the right to be happy in life. Others can only influence you if you give them the power to do so. Do not allow others to kill your happiness nor allow them to push on you there negativity. You only live this life once so make it the happiest and most peaceful one you can.

Just Some Thoughts That Came to me, Right or Wrong they are mine to share.
Raymond Barbier

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Our world may be a mess and in dire need of changes


IMG_1078fbI am but a dreamer, Dreaming of a better world and of more of a compassionate humanity.Though I may dream of better things I live in this nightmare we call modern society. A society were money is more important than the ecology and in some cases our own families. A society where drug companies rather treat a symptom than cure the disease so they can have record high profits. A world were the oil is slowly running out but no one is really trying to get off of the carbon based fuel addiction. Too much money to be made in the oil industry to make alternative fuels and / or energy a high priority.

A society where scientists can not seem to make up their minds on anything. Sometimes it makes you wonder how several research teams can come up with such conflicting results. I do not know if the scientists are on the take or just try for the results that will get them more grant money or what. I really hope it is just incomplete data or something not so sinister. Then here in the U.S. we have a congress that reminds me of grade school kids arguing over a ball in the school playground. Sticking to ones convictions may be a virtue but the well-being of our country and the citizens that elected them should be first priority.

In this country alone the big business has had a 40% profit increase but yet they had no growth new employment. So much money flowing in you would think they would hire on more employees and or offer better benefits. Don’t get me wrong I am all for them making profits, that is what they are in business to do. I just think if they made the money here in the U.S. they should reinvest it here by hiring on American workers and paying their fair share of taxes. The present tax code leaves way too many loopholes for the big businesses to use in avoiding paying their full share of taxes.

So much is changing in the world, yet too many of us just sit by and say or do nothing about it. We just watch it change and let those in power make all the choices for us. Our governmental system is one of the best in the world if we exercise all of our rights and get our voices heard by congress. But they can not hear our voices if we choose not to speak. It is the American people who made this one of the greatest nations in the world and we can do it once again if we choose to act. We have seen in the news how citizens can make a change, though they had to go to extremes that are not necessary in a democratic republic as ours.

Our world may be a mess and in dire need of changes that luckily we can make if we decide to do so. The nations of the world need to pull together and make the changes necessary to make a better world for our children. The children are our future, that is if we leave them a future they can survive in. The choice has always been ours to make, Lets hope we make the right one for both ourselves and our children.

God Bless Our Children and may he lead us to the right choices to be made.
Peace
Raymond Barbier

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Natural Disasters, Political change and a Dysfunctional Government


009 Natural Disasters are becoming more and more frequent in the last decade or so. Everything from hurricanes, earthquakes and forest fires not only threaten the earths sensitive ecological system it also has become a big threat to all forms of life. There is many people without power, housing, food and or clean water from hurricane Irene. The U.S. Government is dragging their feet on sending aid via F.E.M.A. because they still are bickering over the budget cuts. These are the times when the citizens and businesses should band together to help those unfortunate people in need. There are even some trapped on islands created by flood waters from the hurricane. Trapped with no escape or ability to get food or fresh water. This is something I thought would never happen in the U.S., the government being unable to help the citizens that put them in office and pay the taxes that funds the government itself.

There is time for politics and then there is time for good governing and it seems our congress has no clue on the right time to do either. They enjoy the politics too much to focus on governing. I believe it is either time to do away with the political party system so the politicians can think independently and not be sheep following a blind agenda. I also still believe there should be term limits on a congressional seat so that new ideas can be introduced by new members after so many terms. Lifetime congressional members should be a thing of the past. It’s a new century and its time to overhaul the political system and time to cut away all the fat from our dysfunctional government. Political change never comes quickly nor does it come without some pain and or sacrifice.

The one thing I think the Americans are getting fed up with is this finger-pointing from both sides on who is to blame for the deficit. The cold hard fact is that it’s both sides at fault do to both poor governing and lack of the ability to co-operate and to put political party agendas aside to get work done.  Reduce Spending, rewrite the tax code to make it fair and fix all the loopholes. Stop messing with the so-called entitlements that we the people of the united states have been paying for and get rid of the earmarks. Make bills that are passed simple and direct with no string attached or hidden perks. Most of all congress needs to really listen to all of the people they were elected to represent.

When political agendas are more important than people who are in need then it is apparent or government has become dysfunctional and it has lost its way. Wake up congress and learn to prioritize as well as how to work together.

Well right or wrong, that’s my 2 cents worth
Raymond Barbier

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Open your eyes to see the light, open your ears to the truth


LP_product_c A man can go through his whole life feeling as is he has been walking alone. He never sees or hears the one that walks beside him. Never questioning the times he fell and he felt some one catching him and helping him up. Unaware of the many miles that he has been carried and blind to the truth before his own eyes. Looking for signs everywhere only to look past the sign right before him. Such blindness mankind suffers at times, always looking for the complicated answers when it’s the simple truth that he needs.  All his life Jesus walked beside him, many words have been spoken but not heard by him and he has been saved along with carried by Christ but unaware it was so.  Christ walks with us all and god is always with his children, it is our choice to ignore him or to embrace him. Freewill is a gift God gave us and with it we must make our own choices.

Open your eyes to see the light, open your ears to the truth and your heart to his love.

God Bless
Raymond Barbier

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Not even happiness can exist indefinitely


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Emotions, friend or foe to the modem man? Both, for without emotions we would be nothing but uninspired automatons. Each emotion serves a purpose and some emotions serve several functions. Fear is meant to protect our physical body by directing us away from things that endanger our well-being. Anger serves as a protector emotion by putting us in fight mode when there is either no escape or we feel secure enough to fight. Happiness is an emotion that inspires us to be creative and social so we can grow culturally as well as socially. Sadness keeps us rooted in reality, it reminds us that loss is a part of life as well as the constant reminder of our mortality. Even jealousy can serve a good purpose, for it shows that we cherish our mate when it is over a person and inspires us to work harder so we can better our life when it is jealousy over possessions. Each one of these emotions can either serve us in a positive or negative fashion and which way it does is based on our ability to control them.

Since emotions are a necessary part of our physical experience they should never be shut off or suppressed. The negative aspects of our emotions will exist and even though we can not turn them off we can learn to make them short-lived as well as temper their impact on both ourselves and others. They must be expressed and allowed to come to fruition but they can be channeled into a less destructive way of expression. Surprising them are an unhealthy way to control them and causes a lot of physical side effects that can create an unhealthy body. This is one of the most common ways people get high stress levels, and that in turn creates health problems such as high blood pressure and mental problems such as depression and even nervous breakdowns in the long run. One way to express the negative emotions with little impact on others is to write a journal or log and express them through writing. This gives them an outlet but restricts the negative effects. Express them and then let them go, for no emotion is meant to be permanent. Not even happiness can exist indefinitely, though it would be nice to be in permanent euphoria but it would be unproductive and probably would be troublesome down the line.

Seize the moment, Leave the past and hope for the future.
Raymond Barbier

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There is so much the arts have to offer


001Music touches the soul of the listener, each listener walks away with a different experience from the same song. Music can affect our mood, mind state and the heart rate in our bodies. There is so much music does for us as a species and yet schools are dropping music classes and choir thinking they are not useful. The arts are a very important part of education and our culture. Take away the arts and you have uninspired teens and less culture in our society.

A painting can say different things to each viewer and just like music can affect our mood, mid set and stress levels. There is so much the arts have to offer to our children and teens.

Just my 2 cents worth on the subject.
Raymond Barbier

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For the physical is self minded and the spiritual is selfless


p10234  There is always a constant battle going on within, the physical and the spiritual struggling for absolute control. The lack of balance within is what creates the power struggle and unless the balance between the physical and spiritual self is restored all will remain in chaos. Though the body may be considered nothing but the vehicle for the soul it is also our primary way to interact with the physical world. In the physical realm both the spirit and body are equally important and necessary for our existence. So balance of the two are essential to the fulfillment of our time in the physical world.

One should take care of their spiritual needs as well as the physical. The body needs food, exercise and rest and so does the soul. If you don’t feed your soul it will starve and if you don’t exercise it, it will become week and unhealthy. Even setting a day aside for you to put the spiritualistic aside to let it rest is good. Feed your soul the scriptures of the religion you follow and exercise the soul through following the rituals of your faith. Be it meditation, prayer, fasting or serving the less fortunate it does not matter as long as you do it with conviction and sincerity.

For the physical is self minded and the spiritual is selfless, so the balance of both is the key to living and the secret to being happy. Put more emphasis on the quality of what you have in life more so than the quantity, for materialism leads to a more self-centered than selfless life. Plus all the material wealth and possessions one has can be lost or stolen, the peace, love and happiness you possess can not be stolen only given away. The love you give away usually will return to you exponentially down the line and  it is not always returned from the one you gave it to.

Try not to judge others, but if you must do it so with a light heart for how you judge others is how one day you shall be judged in return. This is why compassion and understanding is a must in one’s life, for if you show compassion to others then you shall receive compassion likewise. It all boils down to the idea of karma or the old saying what comes around goes around. the idea of karma is supported by The third of Newton’s laws of motion of classical mechanics. The fact that forces always occur in pairs. Every action is accompanied by a reaction of equal magnitude but opposite direction pretty much sums it up.

Well enough of my Spiritual Nonsense for now.
Seek the truth (for yourself) and it shall set you free.

Raymond Barbier

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We dig a pit in which we feel there is no escape.


003 I see the emptiness in the eyes of others, they endlessly try to fill it with material goods and through pharmaceuticals. Unfortunately these are only temporary distractions from the emptiness they feel. The lack of meaning in their life and the absence of self-worth makes the empty feeling in them harder to overcome. What exactly is that emptiness or what causes it could be something as simple as low self-esteem or depression. It also could be the lack of spiritual fulfillment as well as not being accepted by their peers. It seems quite apparent that humans as a species require some sort of community and to be accepted in some sort of social group. We tend to be a very social species and we thrive on being  a part of such a group as well as being loved.

Sometimes we tend to create a false image of ourselves within and can not see the real person we are. We deceive ourselves into believing such negative things that we dig a pit in which we feel there is no escape. The hardest part is coming to the realization that we are not as bad off as we believe. It’s so easy to fall in to the pit but it is very hard to climb our way out. It is one of things that it probably took you many years to create such a negative self-image and it will take some time to teach yourself to have a more positive image. There are many methods of building self-confidence as well as improving your self-image such as attending religious meetings, meditation, exercise and even writing poetry or a journal.

Every day is but one more step in your personal journey through life and each step leads you forward in your self discovery.  If you search within to find out who you really are you may just find that you are far better person than you once believed. For we seem to be a far stricter judge upon ourselves as well as or actions than we are on others. We have to look at ourselves like we look at friends and family. Judge ourselves with compassion like we do those we love and care about, knowing no one is perfect and to expect perfection from ourselves or others is just plain illogical to say the least. To remember your past mistakes is wise but to punish yourself over them is foolish. We paid the price for the mistakes shortly after we committed them and guilt shouldn’t last beyond a few day to a week. Forgiving ourselves and others seems to be one of the hardest things to do., but it is a necessary part of our life.

Well enough of my Psycho-babble Nonsense.
Peace and Love to All
Raymond Barbier

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Come up with some real proven facts.


Most meats such as chicken contain all the ess...Ok here we go again with another flip-flop on the health news front. Now they are claiming that salt is now good for you and that being fat is also good. The once believed fact that cholesterol in food elevates your serum cholesterol in your bloodstream is now been revised to say it is not the cholesterol it is only the fat. Well at least so far they have not wavered on the saturated fat issue as of yet. I really wish they would get their theories behind them and come up with some real proven facts. This zigzag technique of informing the public has caused more worry and harm than good in the long run. I am beginning to think they best policy is to just eat a well-balanced diet and keep active and pay less to what you eat but how much of it you consume.

I also am convinced it’s the quality of the food we consume now days. It seems the nutritional value of most foods bought in supermarkets have lower nutritional values than what our grandparents had back in their day. Plus we have so many chemicals added to food along with the food being processed to death before we even cook it. And we can not forget all the pesticides and herbicides that are used in farming now days along with how much food contamination is happening lately. Food safety and quality should be one of our biggest concerns along with water quality. We are what we eat and if we eat junk we get bodies that run like junk. All in the name of progress and cheaper production costs. The food quality crisis also heavily influences our healthcare problems.

Hopefully they will get real accurate facts about what food is or isn’t or bad for you to eat as well as finding the best way to raise the food quality and safety. Until they do, they should keep the theories and unproven facts to themselves to avoid confusion as well as unnecessary stress on the public.

Well that’s my thoughts on the matter.
Peace to all
Raymond Barbier

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