Archive for America
The Economics of Self Esteem
Posted by: | CommentsHello Everyone,
I spend a lot of time noticing people, behavior, money and time. In ‘this economy’ It’s the catch phrase these days, so I have to use it for Googling purposes. But people seem to be working harder and faster, taking on more and more with a sense of desperation.
Perhaps they’re fueled by the idea that the unemployment benefits are going to run out; or they have to find that job, right now; or I’ve only got a certain amount of severance, so I’ve got to launch this business pronto. Always we are thinking there’s not enough – for me.
It’s precisely thinking like this that got us into this recession in the first place. No where else on Earth, save the UK, maybe, do people work so hard and so long for so little. It defies logic and common sense. I wonder how much we make per hour as a nation. Now there’s a question. If we added up the earnings of everyone in the US, then added up the hours worked and divided that into the earnings, what would we be making per hour? I can assure you it would be a pittance compared to our True Value.
This of course doesn’t even take into account the “j” factor – you know, J.O.Y. Now, let’s ask that question: how many of us really LOVE what we’re doing? Preposterous!
We’ve got it all backwards, because we think the harder we work the more money we will make.
Forget the penalty in stress paid by the body. We work for those benefits, after all. We stick at jobs we hate, damaging our physicality so we can cash in on those benefits when we have that stroke, the heart attack or get the big “C” – which by the way we wouldn’t have if we’d spent our days in joy.
How the heck did we get here?
I’d like to say it was a big conspiracy, but we all went along willingly like lambs to slaughter buying into the “American Dream” that the marketers were selling on behalf of the Banks, the HMO’s, the insurance companies, and the pharmaceuticals.
They package it up real pretty and sell it; we buy it lock, stock and barrel. We should have that McMansion, those cars, these clothes, this gadget and that particular widget. Then we’ll feel like we’ve made it; we’ve arrived – then there will be material proof that we’re good enough – at last.
Hamsters on the wheel, we are. Hamsters on the wheel.
What fuels this? Why could they sell us this crock?
We have a national deficit, but it’s not cash. It is a national deficit of personal and individual self-esteem.
We are poor in Spirit. We are poor in Who We Really Are. We don’t know our own value, our own worth, and we do not trust our own internal thought processes as valid. We don’t think for ourselves, we don’t question the premise, and we think they know more than we do.
In the old days, I think they called it Common Sense. Today, we’ve all but abdicated our personal sense of what’s a right and appropriate response to life. We trust ‘them’ to tell us what to watch on TV, what to wear, what to eat, what drugs to ask for at the doctor’s, what symptoms to have, what beauty is, what to think about the ‘news’, and we do it it all. We follow so well.
Nothing will change until we remember and value above all else, Who We Really Are – individually – you and me.
When we truly trust our responses to life as right and appropriate; when we value ourselves, our opinions, our time, our talents, our very being as the precious and beautifully unique thing that it is – then, folks, the economy of our nation will thrive, because we individually are thriving.
Only we can do this. Only you and I can begin the transformation of poor self esteem into one of personal high regard and respect. This is our job.
Then, one day, in the midst of our work day, we will stop at least once and say, “I cannot believe they pay me to do this! I love my work.”
Imagine this.
Thanks for reading!
Kath
New Year 2009: A Return To New Beginnings
Posted by: | Comments2009-01-01
Hello Everyone and Happy New Year to You!
I notice my last post was December 16. This is because the weeks have been wholly absorbed in relocating to Ohio, place of my birth just 30 miles away.
For 35 years I have been away. Now I return. The Chinese I Ching even has a hexagram for this earthly movement. It is called Return.
I left San Diego the day after Christmas and got as far as Phoenix. My leaving was full and complete. My friends and neighbors held a wonderful farewell party for me. I was amazed and humbled by the turn out and the profound realization of how much I am loved and supported in my earthly journey.
I had such great, good fortune in finding the perfect tenant for my home, Ranchito Luna Azul (the Little Blue Moon Ranch) in Descanso. Every detail fell into place perfectly until finally there was nothing more for me to do but leave. I walked my little ranch and thanked it for supporting me in these past 8 years. This land loved me and taught me so much; and my friends, family and especially my challengers and challenges all served to help me become more of Who I Really Am.
I cannot say adequately with words how full my heart is with gratitude, appreciation, and love for every step, every person, every moment all of which have brought me to Return.
I grew up here in Ohio and Pennsylvania. I ran wild in these woods and observed the seasons of the year as they passed outside my school bus window. Within I always understood the seasons, the passage of time, and most importantly, my place within it all. Everything has its time; everything has its season. Check out Ecclesiastes 3.
As I drove across our country, I was filled with awe and expectancy savoring the landscape as it passed by mile after mile. We have so much here in America. From Arizona to Oklahoma City are vast hundreds of thousands of miles of beautiful open lands. I only saw but a very few windmills at work. Somewhere in Missouri I saw maple trees with buckets strapped to them, ready to receive the running sap in the spring for maple syrup. And throughout large stretches, there is the heartland, the farmlands where we have good earth and a place to grow our food.
feยทcund adj.
cundus: 1. abundant2. fertile, fruitful 3. imaginative 4. productive (of offspring)].
Currently in the worldscape we are witnessing a time for tearing down. This must happen before the new can come into place. There is a time for a vacancy, a void, where the germination of new thoughts, ideas and inspirations can become existent. There is a time for rest, gathering our strength and nourishing our ideas for the new movements forward. And there is a time for Return; where we finally Return to Who We Really Are and our creations are fecund with Life and Light, once again. We are, America, Returning to our Oneness as a nation, but first individually each and every one of us.
This 2009 – a most blessed and fertile time of infinite possibilities to apply your spirit and create anything Good anew.
Thanks for reading!
Kath
9/11: The Unanswered Wake-Up Call
Posted by: | Comments2008-09-11
Good Day Everyone!
It’s a really good thing I use Yahoo mail, because then I know what day it is and what’s going on “out there”. Today, of course, is September 11, 2008, seven years after the 9/11 event in New York.
I wonder what we’ve learned or are beginning to discover?
September 11, 2001 was not “out of the blue” or “unexpected”. It was a culmination point of converging thought energies that were in that moment on the same wave length. We, were absolutely co-creators of that event.
Back then, I was doing a lot of public speaking in and around San Diego. As you might know, there are a lot of military and military related installations here. I target them for places to speak about Applied Spirituality.
Odd you might think? Not at all. Only to human eyes would speaking about spirituality in a military installation seem counter-think. But these folks, all of them, are spiritual beings as well. And they gave me the opportunity to ask the question out loud which should have been asked all across the country: How did we co-create this event? How could this have been prevented? What now?
If anyone had posed those question, we would have been on to a new path of course correcting our own “national vibration” rather than the one we did take,and continue to travel.
Yet, today, we will commemorate those who lost their lives in a devastating terrorist attack, seeing them as victims and perpetuating our consciousness blindness. Those souls who did leave the planet on that day, in that event, did so for a much greater reason. The evolution of our consciousness.
They wanted us to ask ourselves the question: “How did we invite this into our experience?”
If we would do that, ask that question and answer it; then, we would truly be honoring their “sacrifice”.
Even when I was just a little kid and got into a quarrel with my sisters, my Mom wouldn’t say, “Who started it?” Nope. She would paddle us all, because we were all participating in it: bad behavior as the result of low consciousness. Like consciousness matching like consciousness.
Today it is seven years later. Let’s ask the question now. How did we co-create the event known as 9/11? And once asked and answered, then let’s get about the business of raising our consciousness, shifting our collective vibration to one of health, safety, peace, prosperity and joy. We get exactly what we are vibrating (believing and talking about). It’s time for spiritual growth.
This blather about vibrations and energy is NOT going to go away. Collectively we asked to understand why 9/11 happened, and this is the answer to that asking. It was and is our American Wake Up call. We are creating it all, every single moment of it. If we want to experience something better, we must Remember Who We Really Are and refocus into Well Being.
Time to refocus, America back into Well Being. That would truly honor those who died in the event known as 9/11.
Thanks for reading!
Kath
Politics, Racsim, and Fear
Posted by: | Comments2008-08-01
Hello Everyone,
I know that I am an innocent. I just am, and frankly, glad of it. What has sort of jolted me out of my pink bubble is the myriad political ads that friends and family forward to me as the election draws closer. America, there is a giant elephant in our living room. It is fear. It takes the form of racism, sexism, lying, cheating, name-calling, rumor and innuendo. It’s ugly and it does not become us.
Just so everyone gets a clear picture, I used to be a registered Republican, because to my mind, the principles of the Republican Party were closest to what I believed: in the absolute and sovereign power of the individual. I believe that with every fiber of my being, because I know Who We Really Are: God having a physical experience on earth. However, as human mind has so twisted the tenets of both parties, I confess that for awhile there I really couldn’t tell which party was which anymore. I still can’t.
So I shucked the label and registered myself as Independent. That feels more like me, anyway. I’m free to choose from the myriad candidates and myriad ideas, and I vote where it feels correct. I loathe the labels of left, right, conservative, liberal, democrat, republican, middle of the road. Labels are for those who can’t think independently. Labels are for lemmings.
Once someone says they are “liberal” or “democrat”, someone stops listening altogether. Not another word of what they have to say is given any credence by the closed mind and locked heart of fear. This is what I see happening in my inbox. Friends and family send these political missives; the latest one today was from a friend in Virginia. The e-mail was a compilation of the best bumper stickers – all of which were defaming Obama and the Democrats. As I read them, I realized that he is afraid. Only fear can make people attack another on such grounds.
The presidential race should be all about the issues; rather it is reduced to slurs around rumor and innuendo. Another friend forwarded to me an e-mail that was reportedly written by a soldier in Afghanistan recounting that Obama had snubbed the troops. This e-mail is not verifiable, nor does it trace back to his e-mail address for veracity. It just gets forwarded on, like it’s Gospel truth…out of fear.
I trust that Americans can figure out for themselves what is True and not True; but the catch to this is that you have to come to the table with an open mind and an open heart. You have to come to the debate with the attitude, “Tell me who you are.” You can’t come to the table with fears like racism, prejudice and preconceived ideas that obscure you from ever hearing what they have to say, let alone giving yourself the opportunity to FEEL the truth or see their beauty.
Fear is irrational. It has no reason, it just lurks within a heart and obliterates the Light. Fear is why we are at war. Fear is why we fight with each other. Fear is why we are sick. Fear is why people pass on information that is without verifiable truth, because it supports your fear.
If you want a safer, better, and happier America, then each of us, every single one, had better take a good hard and honest look at who we are as individuals, first. This self development is an individual’s inside job.
No one need know what goes on in that conversation between you and YOU. But we each had better have that conversation, because it is we, the people, that make up this country. You, me, the John and Jane Doe’s all across these 50 states. However much fear and hatred we harbor in our hearts, that’s what we are going to experience as a country in this world.
It’s time for some individual house keeping. I challenge you to have that conversation with yourself. Come to terms with the fact that you are afraid of those of different colors, different creeds, different ideas. Now, I challenge you to love them. I challenge you to listen with an open mind and open heart.
This is no airy fairy exercise, my friends. This country is only as good as the people who comprise it. If you love America, but clear hate certain Americans, how can this Nation stand? It won’t. It will crumble from within; it won’t take any foreign enemy to bury us.
This country is advanced citizenship. It takes clear hearts and clear minds to deal with serious problems. To be a citizen of America means you must defend the right of someone to voice their opinion about something you would spend your life trying to defeat. It means you will disagree with that person vehemently on the issue; but you will respect that person as an equal citizen and worthy being. These are not oxymorons.
You can disagree with someone and still respect their right to their opinion and their beingness. If you respect their right to their opinion, you will not defame, slur or disrespect someone by making a political argument into a personal slur. That is spiritual immaturity. We are called to become spiritual adults NOW.
It’s time to grow up America. We can conduct healthy, spirited debates and actually learn from each other. Only fear closes our ears to what someone has to say. It costs us nothing to listen, not just with our minds, but also with our hearts. Times are changing, as they always do. It just feels so much better when you listen with your heart open, even to something you don’t like. It’s the idea you disagree with; the person is just like you: God having a physical adventure.
We have a duty as Americans to be very good stewards of democracy. Democracy is a place where everything, every idea, every people get to be here, much like the books in a library. The books in the library sit side by side offering their unique and individual thoughts for those who wish to read them. Those books don’t hop off the shelf at night and duke it out. So it is in this wonderful place. We all get to be here. It takes advanced citizenship to fully grasp what this really means and how great a challenge this is to each of us every day of our lives.
We have nothing to fear, except fear; because fear will undermine us and crumble us from the inside out. Next time you see someone whose political views you think you hate, try this: take a deep breath. Acknowledge that he/she is a unique individual with unique things to say, just like you. Acknowledge that you might be afraid of some of the things they might offer. Now, listen to them with your full attention and respect. Breathe in again, breathe out. Now, realize that you are in no way diminished because they have that idea. You can thank them for sharing. You can chew over what they had to say. You can discard all of it; some of it; non of it. Nothing bad is going to happen just because you listened with an open mind and an open heart. The only time something bad can happen is when you fear it, then, my friend, you will attract it.
This Universe can supply every one’s needs at the same time. There’s enough for everyone. America is the place on Earth where we are either going to learn to do that in the physical; or we will go the way of all the other civilizations that came before us. We can trust in the Good in each of us. Speak to that. Listen to that.
Everyone is God at center. America is the great experiment. Can we learn to live with all those different Gods in the same place and know that each of our Good is always at play? I say we can. That is applied spirituality in action.
Thanks for reading!
Kath
World Happiness and America
Posted by: | Comments2009-07-02
Hello Everyone,
Yesterday I came across a wonderful news item. It’s a study that has been conducted for several years now testing how happy people are all over the world.
The interesting thing about this study is that Denmark seems to be the happiest “western” country right now, and America has dropped to 16th. Hmmm.
Not like we didn’t know that already, right? Seems we’ve gotten to be quite the doomsayers over the last few years. I’ve noticed it all over the place.
Americans are worried and concerned about everything. We’re worried about the war in Iraq, terrorism, the economy, gas prices, cancer, heart disease, toxins in everything: food, water and air. It seems to be a bloody mess. And like traffic passing a car wreck, we can’t seem to not look.
Let’s first talk about the usefulness of noticing our discomfort when we think about these awful things. That unease or fear that you feel when you’re dwelling on a distasteful subject is powerfully useful for one thing: in that instant you are absolutely clear about what it is you desire.
So, when you’re noticing that Congress just voted another $162 billion for the war and you feel that rage pop up, ask yourself: what would I prefer? The answer comes easily. I wish we were at peace. Or perhaps I wish that $162 billion would be spent on supporting organic food production, or cleaning up the water supply or creating a car that emits zero emissions. You have just launched your new creation.
Now what usually happens is we get up from the news cast and call a friend and rant and rave about the state of things. By doing this we are creating more energy for continued manifestation of the “problem” but worse, the new creation is being left alone, with no new energy being focused there. So what could you do? You could go on the Internet and Google “hydrogen cars.” You could sit for a few minutes and imagine dollars flowing into research for a really cool car that goes the distance with zero emissions. You could imagine in Iowa, the flood waters receding and the farmers choosing to replant with non-gmo seed great vast fields of organic crops with success and taking them to market to nourish the consumers with healthy, whole food. You get to choose. Your Internal Guidance, your Godchip, is always telling you via your emotions your relationship to any subject.
In the study the report says that the Baby Boomers are a really unhappy lot. Ya think? These are the folks who in the 1960′s followed their Internal Guidance and rallied for peace and love. Now 40 years later, they have forgotten who they are and have pursued lives and careers disconnected from Who They Really Are. Their Inner Guidance is telling them to refocus, create again. Change course. Follow your heart.
In a second interview on the same topic a researcher explains why American Women are unhappy.
=news
In this research, it is not that American Women love their children less than other mothers across the globe, but rather they are so split in their FOCUS. They try to do to much. He explains it like this. I’ll paraphrase: if someone loves the opera and they go to the opera and devote their full focus to that presentation, they are loving it and thoroughly enjoying it. If they love playing scrabble with their children, and sit down and have a fully focused game of scrabble with their kids, they love it. Each experience is a 10 for them. But when they try to combine listening to the opera and playing scrabble with the kids (to save time), the result is not a 20 but noise.
This further explains the concept of focus and fully supports my claims that multi-tasking is miserably inefficient and ineffective. You as a focuser of Source Energy, dilute and split your energies, getting neither satisfaction (joy, pleasure, fulfillment) from this strategy, and your creations aren’t happening, either.
My dear Dad says, “You eat an elephant one bite at a time.” He’s such a wise being. You focus on one thing at a time, fully absorbed in it. Then, refocus on the next subject. The Internal Guidance of your Godchip via your emotions tells you when enough is enough. When it stops feeling good. Time’s up.
So, chew slowly and savor each bite of that elephant, America. Take your time, choose the delightful focus, and watch time expand and contract to accommodate all that “needs to get done”. The most important thing is that you feel good.
Thanks for reading!
Kath
The Renaissance in America
Posted by: | Comments2000-02-08
Hello Everyone,
What an amazing time to be alive! There are profound shifts happening in America, shifts many of us have been waiting to see for 40 years. The John and Jane Doe’s are awakening. What does this mean? It means that individuals in vast numbers are feeling the Life stirring within them and taking back the power and authority unto themselves.
At the peak of the Dark Ages they have found that they are sicker than ever before. Following the dictates of science and chemistry has landed them in illnesses by the droves. Diabetes, autoimmune diseases, cancer, heart disease, ad nauseum. And one by one they are disillusioned by the protocols that are dispensed. They are not made well, but rather land on a merry-go-round of more drugs, more appointments, more symptoms and counter symptoms until, at last, they are disgusted, frustrated and asking for the first time, the right questions: how can I get off this ride?
In the educational sector things have gotten progressively so disagreeable to students, teachers, administrators and tax payers alike, that at last, the same question is finally being asked: how can we change this for the better?
Economically we have stretched the rubber band so far that now millions upon millions of Americans are asking the question: how can I get off their merry-go-round, have a financially abundant life AND time to enjoy it. Sick and tired of huge mortgages, low wages, two incomes and large debt. Tired of being enslaved and not enjoying Life itself, John and Jane Doe are seeking their financial freedom independent of government and corporations. Finally they are asking the question, “How can we?”
Nutritionally there is a new and rapidly growing demand for whole, healthy foods. People even in the heartlands where industrial agriculture is well entrenched are finding the local Farmer’s Markets in greater demand than the supply can allow, thus showing a new economic opportunity for small farms to raise whole, healthy organically produced foods, meats, poultry, etc.
They can dip and dive and loop de loop all they want to on Wall Street and in their political polls, but they have never captured the spirit of John and Jane Doe when making their projections. Frank Capra in all his movies pointed to this illusive thing: the human spirit. It is Alive; it is Divine. It is that in each and every one of us that keeps moving upward, outward and expanding to find the sunshine, the Real, the True and the Goodness just like a weed will grow right on through the asphalt to find the sunshine and bloom.
It’s happening right now in America, at last. John and Jane Doe are beginning to hear the Common Sense of their own Godchip. John and Jane Doe are beginning to follow the desires expressed in their hearts. But most importantly, John and Jane Doe are beginning to realize that they are the authority, they are the Spirit, they CAN.
I wouldn’t have missed this for anything. Can you feel it, too?
Thanks for Reading!
Kath
