Get Real -Turn Off The Media and Find Reality by Joseph McCaffrey

Let me propose an experiment, one aimed at immediately improving
the quality of your life. It's simple, it will cost you
absolutely nothing, and as a bonus it will give you a clearer
understanding of our modern world. Interested?

To begin, let's cover a little background material. Here's a
bold claim: Our point of mental focus determines our quality of
life. That may overstate it some, but consider that claim for a
moment.

Mental focus means what you pay attention to. It's what you look
at, think about, remember, imagine, ponder, and dream of. You
have a point of focus in every moment, and your experience of
life is what you're looking at.

Here's an example of mental focus. Right now chose to remember
two events from your past. First, pick one that was moment of
great joy and success. As you recall that moment and think about
it in detail, how do you feel?

Your point of focus has affected the way you feel right now.

Now, recall a moment of disappointment and failure. How do you
feel as you relive that in your mind? I suspect not as good as a
moment ago.

Get off of that subject. Go back to the good memory.

Now what changed as you went from one memory to the other in
that little thought experiment? Weren't all the details of your
life - where you live, what you do, who you know, etc - the
same? Yet the quality of your experience of life in the present
moment (the only moment we have) changed as you shifted your
focus from one memory to the other. Your mental focus affected
your quality of life.

That's what I mean by our point of focus determining the quality
of our life. So what determines our point of focus?

It's possible to choose our point of focus, but most of us
don't. Most of the time, most people give their attention to
whatever is most noticeable around them. They don't choose. As a
result they give up control of their life's experience.

With that background, consider the new media. The media picks
stories based on the story's sensationalism. They are always bad
news stories, the more heart-rending the better. They certainly
are attention getting. As you focus on them, how do you feel?

Why would you choose to focus on something that makes you feel
that poorly? You don't have to. You do have a choice.

And that brings us to the experiment I mentioned at the
beginning. The experiment is this: go without reading, watching
or listening to any form of news media for two weeks. That means
no newspapers, no top-of-hour news summary, no news magazines,
no news blogs, no evening news shows - none of any of it.

If you want to go to the next level, fill the time you'd
normally use to focus on the media to focus on something that
you find fun, that's uplifting, that's positive. In short, to
focus on things that create the opposite experience of the
media's choices.

When I first read of this experiment years ago, I was a little
skeptical. Then, my clock radio went off one morning right in
the middle of the pop rock radio station's hourly news summary.
In rapid-fire sequence, they reported on a school bus accident
in New Jersey, a local man killed when someone threw a cinder
block off an overpass as he was driving by, and a child trapped
in an abandoned well in Texas. I had gotten to get to the "off"
button as quickly as I could, and they still managed to get
those juicy tid-bits into my brain.

Why in the world did I need to think about any of that? What
could I do to change any of it? The only effect any of those
stories had on my life was to make me feel bad as I thought of
them.

Using just that example, imagine going through your morning
routine with thoughts of a school bus accident. Is that really
the best way to begin your day? Wouldn't you rather be listening
to uplifting music, thinking of things you're grateful for, or
thinking of... Well, whatever you want to think of.

And that's the point. Your power is your power to choose. Don't
let the media do it for you.

Try it for two weeks. It's only an experiment - you can always
go back to listening to all the news you want when the
experiment's over. My bet is, you won't want to.





About the author:
Joseph McCaffrey believes in living life as a work of art in
progress, and writes on all aspects of livng life fully at:
http://www.masteringlifespuzzle.com/

Intention, Passion, Faith and the Pursuit of Happyness by Eric Huber

I awoke, today, to sounds of ice covered limbs cracking and crashing to the ground.

Stepping outside, I could hear the trees near and far as they creaked, snapped, cracked and splintered. Large and small pieces stripped away from their normally strong limbs and fell to the ground, ambivalent to the fences, cars, homes and other things they destroyed below them.

Some majestic aged trees were ripped asunder. Half of their mighty trunks splayed across roadways causing traffic to slow and re-route their normal path to and fro.

Such devastation frozen water can create.

But is this a good thing? Does this help clense the earth of too much growth? Let the trees regrow stronger? Give younger saplings a chance to reach for the stars as well?

I'm no botanist.

But I do tend to see bigger pictures from time to time.

--

Are there things in our lives that do the same thing?
Strip away the old thoughts and help the new thoughts break through?

If you haven't seen the "Pursuit of Happyness," I highly recommend it. It is, sometimes, a hard movie to watch. And without giving anything away (as the man whose life it is based on has been interviewed countless times on tv and radio), it is a prime example of having things stripped away to create something new and stronger.

How was this done?

By setting his intentions.

It's that simple.

It's that hard.

So many people in my life waver regularly in what their intentions are. They change and shift their focus so often that they constantly get stuck and struggle and don't understand why they can't achieve what they most want. Why they can't break through some mental block to get what they've dreamed of having.

And guess what?

So have I.

It's the only reason I recognize it in others around me.

I set my intention and head off in the direction I believe I want to go. Not always knowing the path, but always heading towards that goal. Whether it's a job, car, house, place, or person... I am doggedly persistant in my approach and in my intention.

It becomes my passion.

But the road is beset by distractions.

Some distractions feel like they are part of the journey I'm taking. The intention I'm focusing on. Only to find out, it isn't. I've taken a detour that has led me away from what I want most.

Fear and doubt creep in. Can I do this? Do I deserve this? Am I good enough for something this wonderful? Some person? Some place?

But we must not hesitate. Must not doubt ourselves. "He who hesitates is lost" is a phrase that came to mind. Although in doing a quick bit of research, I discovered the English essayist and poet Joseph Addison is credited for actually writing a version in regards to women. "When love once pleads admission to our hearts, the woman that deliberates is lost," he wrote.

However, no matter your gender, no matter the time... when you hesitate, the moment is gone. And to reset your intentions, it takes more time and strong effort to try to recapture your focus and set your course for your goal.

You have to believe in yourself.

You must have faith.

And you must take action.

"Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works."
"Show me your faith without your works,
and I will show you my faith by my works."
-James 2:17-18

The Muslim belief is "In order, to obtain salvation a person must combine faith and action, belief and practice. Faith without doing good deeds is as insufficient as doing good deeds without faith."

Intention. Faith. Action.

It's that simple.

It's that hard.

You may lose everything.

And gain more than your wildest dreams.

So, my friends, family, loves, passions... the ice storm is passing and I have been stripped bare of many thoughts and views. It is an ongoing process. One where those I've been blessed in meeting from all walks of life, beliefs and backgrounds have taught me things to strengthen my faith, reset my intentions, feed my passions and help me on my own "Pursuit of Happyness."

Thank you all.