Inspired by the great Ruby Dee on BET

Last night I watched BET's "Black Girls Rock". Every black girl watching should have felt special at the end of the show. There was such diversity of women and their accomplishments, and even teenagers who were entrepreneurs. They did a good job helping girls know what is possible. There were not only actors and entertainers, but there was the first black woman Major General in the Air Force.

My favorite was someone I have grown up with and watched and known all of my life...Ruby Dee. I almost can't write her name without writing Ossie Davis, as they were hardly ever apart in life. This couple lived and taught what possibilities could be made. They marched in Selma, they were the emcee'sfor the March on Washington (which I attended)they spoke on behalf of black folk everywhere. Last night, though Ossie has now transitioned, Ruby was there, proud, articulate, her mind alert, still showing what you can do if you choose wisely and include giving as a part of the plan. They lived for human rights and social justice, they gave their time and talent to many programs and institutions in the black community and other communities as well.

They created their lives with pride, dignity, and patience. If you are still breathing, no matter what age, you can do the same. We all have the opportunity to live and give and help as they did. Use your gift of creation! Make a difference today!

Peace

Another thought about making choices

I appreciate the response to the blog about making choices. I gave it some more thought and decided our first impulse is to do what we think will accomplish what we want in the shortest time. If only we had waited a moment and searched ourselves for our real desire. At the moment I thought I wanted ice cream, did I really want ice cream or did I want to be in a really loving relationship that would fulfill my desire to be held and appreciated. Was the ice cream a quick fix to a deeper problem? I think our desires get stirred in with our need to be gratiated at that very moment in time. No one to hold me now, the ice cream will suffice.

Have you waited and searched your desires when you make a decision to do or get something?
When was the last time you took a moment to really pay attention to your desire?

Peace

Why do we continue to make the same choices?

This is really an issue I ponder. I don't have a lot to say about this. I am really pondering this issue. I would love for you to talk to me about this.

We know what things we should not choose. We will choose the same thing, the same characteristic, the same behavior or whatever we know is not good for us. Why?

Whether it is a food or a partner or a behavior, we will go right back to it knowing we should make another choice. Is it that we don't believe we should have more? Is it that we believe that we can't have better? Is it that we don't want to move to some other place in consciousness? Excluding the idea that there is a devil, what are we doing?

Maybe there is such a thing as spiritual disciplines. Underlining the word discipline, that requires us to keep our minds on higher things, with some regularity. We can even testify to seeing, and feeling more clear about everything, when we work on our minds and spirit regularly. But even knowing this is the outcome , we will run and dig ourselves into the worse holes just so we can do what we first think is what we want, rather than what we need or would want the outcome to be. How do we reach for the best the first time? How do we expect only the best and even more than that how do we desire only the best?

Please leave a comment!

Peace and Blessings!

Parents Read for the sake of your child!

I heard a great conversation a few days ago. Several viewpoints from persons representing different places in their lives. One was a parent who has always actively participated in providing an education that played to the strengths of her children. Another participant, another parent, frustrated with the response of the public school system's inability to serve her child. There were two children who had both been homeschooled. One is now considered a child prodigy, having skipped middle school and high school, and presently a college student;
the other presently in high school enjoying learning at his own rate.

The parent of the college student made a statement about how labeling children was causing a problem. The other parent quickly agreed. But quietly the child prodigy spoke the real truth. He said, why should I care if am labeled ADHD if I can perform certain functions twice as fast as anyone else. Our focus should be on what happens after the label is given. The label tells us something we need to know about how our children learn. We seem to walk away angry believing that the label is wrong. With increased information about the brain and instruments that can look at how the brain works; the label simply tells a "real educator" the process that best works for that brain. When do we question those who have the responsibility of educating our children? The problems in public education have to do with the absence of teachers who know that all children do not learn the same way,systems that have unacceptable expectations of teachers (too many students in one room) and no idea how societal structures and changes in patterns of learning and living have changed teaching (pedagogy).

Those of you who are in New Thought know that we believe we create our lives. Value or non-value stem from what we say is or is not valuable. It seems that when we come to questions of education we leave behind our spiritual understanding. If our source is God and we co-create with God, why do we believe what others express about labels. Understand that you assign meaning as a co-creator. You accept only the information and then you create what is possible and what can be . ADHD is not bad, it is information about learning styles.
Some of the most genius persons are ADHD. Why do you believe that this label may be bad? Every child brings something special into this world. It is often lost because we want to measure every person in the same way, expecting every person to produce and add value to the world in the same way. We are all valuable, we all have great possibilities. Those who have had more experiences in certain areas may outpace those who have not. The child prodigy was taught math at the age of 2. Most students did not encounter addition until 1st grade. There are many
things that influence our learning and learning styles. If you are really serious look for what works with your child, not what works with your neighbor's child. In New Thought we learn that we are responsible for our lives. We are not victims. No one is doing something to us. We make the difference. The homeschooled high school student asked why do people blame others for what happens to them. He noted that even though he may not always do his best he understands clearly that in the final analysis he is responsible for his life. Listen, our children know more than you think. Less talk and more listening may help you glean what they need.

Love and Peace

Bejeweled game - a lesson in life!

I love games, especially word games. I've spent hours with Word Whomp and Daily Word Find on Club Pogo. I recently tried Bejeweled, something different for me. It is a simple matching game. Find two gems that match place a third that matches and they make points and the puzzle reconfigures. While playing this game I realized that most of the time what I was looking for was near or close to my search area, but I would miss it. The game has a hint button which points to what you need and even then sometimes I was unable to see the right configuration.
How often in life are we searching for something and what we need is really right in front of us or at least nearby, and we don't see it. We look and look and don't see.
Trusting spirit, believing God, are moves in the game of life that help us make the match needed. We say we believe but we mumble about not having enough or our inability to do something. Neither of those things are true. God does not lie. Our inability to see is not the fault of spirit but our unwillingness to commune with spirit so that we see what spirit sees. Our unwillingness to be so wrapped in God, breathing God, being one with God keeps us from making the matches we need. In Christianity, Jesus is theone who came to show us how to make the matches. He even said "the Father and I are one". When the Father and each of us is one we can see the matches and win the game.
Peace!

Expanding Good News!

I planned all last weekend to write about the discussions in the news around whether a mosque should be built in New York near "ground zero". In New Thought we are told that anything we focus on be it negative or positive expands. I had to rethink my plan to blast, and ask questions of how amazingly un-Christlike the whole conversation is. Instead of taking that route I have decided to expand the Good News. Some would say what good news? The good news is that we have a president who wants us to remember our Constitution. We have a mayor (in NY) that remembers our history, where persons of any religion could come and be free to practice their religion. And we have those who know that being Christ-like is to extend an open heart and hand to those who want to share in their faith and communal care.
We create the space for this to occur each time we place one group above another. Baptist are better than Methodist. Pentecostals are holier than Catholics. The Jews are better than the Muslims. We must expand the Good News that all of us have some part of "Truth". To have it all would be Omniscient as we claim God is. Let us expand the good news that all of God's creation is good and worthy.
Peace!

Abraham-Hicks - Listen carefully!