Be Free Birdie's blog

Time and Change

During my conversations with my grandmother, I wonder how time must feel to her.  The changes she has gone through by the age of 85 are no comparison to the changes I have encountered at the ripe age of 26.  I get the feeling that time has drifted away and living in the moment is all that's left for her. 

While playing with my daughter, age one, almost two, I see the same thing.  No real worry about time, she is only in the moment.  We view that as innocence, inexperience and childlike.  When I am with her, I can physically and emotionally feel her presence.  She has no where else to be but right there with me, playing with her blocks and squealing with joy.

Time has become much more than a tool to those of working and parenting age.  It has somehow stripped people of their ability to connect with others.  The watch one wears is a constant reminder of something that is not happening now.  The time clock at work is given even more value because it is sized up in dollar amounts.  There is comfort in knowing that each minute will count for something.  So where does this need come from?  How have people become so wrapped up in five minutes from now? 

What happens though when something happens outside of time?  Is that possible?  A death, a birth, a major event in nature.  These things happen whether or not the clock is running.  They happen whether or not we can predict when they will happen. 

While speaking with a mother-to-be in my prenatal yoga class, she made the comment that she likes everything to be right on time.  She worries that the baby will come while she is at work and won't have enough time to drive to the hospital.  The woman next to her who is having a second child just laughs.  She has had the experience that there is nothing "on time" about becoming a mother.  There is nothing "on time" about raising children.  When you think about it, not many things are "on time". 

Have you ever been around right after a natural disaster?  Were you in New York when the two towers fell?  Did you experience the Loma Prieta earthquake?  I would imagine that time just disipates.  It stops all distracting activity and causes the entire community to focus.  Focus on the disaster.  Sorrow and pain follow.  Fear arises and we look at the calendar and say, by this day we will fix this.

Time is only a tool.  A distraction.  A saftey zone for escaping the now.  Maybe it's time to put down the tools and bask in the now.

Changes

People fear change.  Some invite it.  It makes us curious and excited all at once.  Comfort and contentment are good things.  Complacency is basically the willingness to rot to death. 

The only thing constant in this world is change.  Cliche yes, but put the two beginning phrases of these paragraphs together and notice how horrific. 

So people fear the world?  People fear life.  You could say that the only thing constant in this "life" is change.  If people fear change then.... you get it.  Then why is it that change is so fearful?  Is it society.  Is it religion.  Is it simple an individual thing.  Is it just plain old human nature to constantly contradict itself? 

For most, and correct me if I'm wrong, people would likely ACCEPT change rather than EMBRACE it.  So what's the difference?  I think acceptance is reluctance (slight, that is) and embracing is to welcome it with open arms.  There really aren't many things in this world that we welcome with open arms if you think about it.  People in general have a predisposition to negative thought.  WHY?!  Is it that whole philosophy that it started with the first sin and has trickled down since?  Is it just the philosophy that we are all lost and need to be found? 

I think we were never lost in the first place, we just never embrace each other to even know that we aren't lost.  My "slogan" or "catch phrase" to this blog is "I am just like you."  It's really true.  I'm made up of exactly the same stuff as everyone else is.  Circumstances make me who I am but all I want is what humans want.  They want each other! 

What if we were all, collectively, an explosion of the almighty?  This never ending rebirth of what we think god is in general.  If so, we just need to put that explosion back together.  Each part needs the other part.  Many parts have been tainted and broken and chewed up and spit out.  Isn't it our responsibility to help each other find the pieces of their fellow man which in turn helps us find the pieces of ourselves? 

Change is such a plain word.  The weather changes, the seasons change, colors change, lights change...  I don't know.  Everything does.  But how can we describe the kind of change I am referring to here?  It's a change that is constantly going on within the hearts of those who embrace it.  It's constantly going on around those who fear it.  It's working it's way into the hearts of those who are learning to accept it.

The New Calendar Year

It's so interesting to me all the symbolic things we use in our lives to help motivate ourselves to keep truckin' on.  Things from birthdays, holidays, holy days and astronomy, to the new year, the new moon, anniversaries.  These dates give us purpose.  They offer hope and motivation.  It's really a beautiful thing I think.  For many people though, I know, these dates offer nothing but the opposite.  By giving these dates such significance, these dates can often let us down.  If things don't go the way we expect them to, these symbolic moments either lose meaning, or motivate us to make the next one better.

The new year is the most universal time to reflect and make changes.  But really, it's just another day just like all the others right?  I guess it's all a matter of perspective.  These perspectives drive our lives.  Perception becomes reality and visa versa and so on and so forth.  

So the question I have is at what point do we say enough with it all, EVERYDAY is just as special or insignificant as the next?  Well, we don't.  Humans need change, the need the chase, they need the challenge.  We need our lazy time, ambitious time, fun time, work time. 

The choices we have are so powerful.  The choices we make with the opportunities we are given is our greatest power.  If you think about it, the invention of the calendar is the most powerful form of human conciousness and awareness that we have.  Now, each culture may celebrate a different new year day, but within those communities, thousands upon millions of people are sharing in the joy and celebration of the new year.  What does the new year mark?  The fact that the sun is still there and that the earth is still moving around it.  Meaning that we are still alive and chances are we can expect the same to happen over the next 365 days.  What a random number that is right?  But really, the new year's celebration has nothing to do with the astronomy anymore.  We have collectively made it the most powerful holiday, celebration or whatever term you may have for it. 

No matter how simple the reasons may be for what it is that is truely happening in the universe, it is we who decide how meaningful it is to our lives.  Each individual life is so unique that we can't possibly expect everyone around us to give the same value to the new year.  But really, just imagine what could happen if we all did?  Imagine if every 365 days, we were all able to put the past behind us and progress like never before.  It's really just a bad side effect to our gift of memory, but the past can really make or break it for you.  

Just the fact that we celebrate with such fervor the significance of these specific moments in time, we all must know deep down inside that it is only in this moment that we are truely alive and free. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

What is it that makes you believe?

I just stared working at Whole Foods.  There are many reason I want to work there, mostly because they stand for something I believe in.  That is helping people live healthy lives by offering healthy foods and products for their bodies and the earth. 

While sitting down on my break today I got into a brief but thought provoking conversation.  I told a fellow co-worker that, for starters, I really like my new job.  He asked what brought me to Whole Foods and I told him that I wanted to work for a company that resonates with my personal beliefs and lifestyle.  He went on to tell me that Whole Foods once may have been a grassroots type of business, but it now falls short of its mission statement in many ways.  Unfortunately, this is true, it's become a huge corporation.  My reply and defense of Whole Foods is that I really believe that no matter how hard you try to spread the gospel of what you truly believe, you will fall short somehow and in some way.

I don't in any way feel that I am in somehow justifying the fact that Whole Foods has become a monster in its own right.  I'm simply pointing out the fact that no matter what it is you say you believe in, NOTHING is 100%.  There is no possible way that any company, who strives to be as big and successful as it is, can avoid things like stepping on others to get to the top or bending the rules to stay there. 

This really can be said for a lot of things.  Things like religious organizations and other non-profit organizations are just as much at fault in this regard as any large company may be.  A sin is a sin so to speak. 

Whatever it is that makes you believe in something, stick to it.  While you're sticking to it, understand that there is no such thing as perfection.  There really isn't any reason to step on your neighbor's toes to get them to start doing yoga and shopping at whole foods.  Or stand up for abortion rights or Jesus either.  Be who you are.  Let people see the good.  Let them see the bad if it's the truth.  That is the greatest witness to whomever is close to you in your life.  

But I do say, believe in something that is good.  Something true and real.  People will love and respect that about you.  And hey, they might even join you!

The Master Key System

This text is free on the internet.  You should find it and download it and do it!  I'm working on it.  So far, week one #4 has got me stuck already.

"This is true because we must “be” before we can “do,” and we can “do” only to the

extent which we “are”, and what we “are” depends upon what we “think”." - Charles F. Haanel

This makes so much sense, but it makes you go a little crazy at the same time, right?!  Body and mind, brain and mind, brain and soul.  Each its own entity but completely useless without the other.  So, at some point we became what we are, which leads us to think about that.  Why are we we?  Why are you you?  Why am I me?  I remember contemplating this by the age of eight or so.  What it comes down to is, it just is what it is.  So things like existentialism come about because of the knowledge of things like this.  However understandable such belief system may be, that it exists in the depths of every human heart, it's completely counter productive and NOT true.  So how do we get past those feelings of, well, "it is what it is so why move forward with a feeling that I can change it?"  That my friend is called complacency and it leads to things like countries being rule by dictators.  It leads to things like war.  It leads to a great many terribly destructive human actions.  How does it do that?  Because we have refused to own our thoughts. 

Humanity as a whole decided at some point not to own itself.  Hmmm, contemplate that one!  Do you agree?  What I see and feel from those around me is just that.  Complacency and lack of ownership.  Makes you wanna curl up and let Jesus return doesn't it?! 

Next time I hope to write of the first true active thing that happens as a result of The Master Key System.

Just look at this picture.  Think about it.  Let it consume you a little...  Drown yourself in the possibility of a creator, a beautiful collective energy of love and power.

Mai Inspiration

This lovely woman came into my life while I was helping to hire for Bluefin.  She didn't have to say much, I just had a feeling we needed her.  Before meeting in person, I knew who she was right when I saw her.  As time went on, I think it was I who needed her.  She has a positivity that exudes all others I have ever encountered.  She is very close to God, the creator, the universe and in turn, HERSELF.  Just watch this video and let it bless you...  inspire you... and give you hope.  She has truly been an inspiration to me in the short time we have known each other.  I think she has this contagious loving attitude that we all could benefit from.  Enjoy. 

Thanks Ti for being such a necessary spice to the recipe of love!

Harnessing the power of our thoughts is probably the most difficult human obstacle. From birth we are inundated by a social framework and basically doomed to a starkly dry life. Overcoming this damnation is my obsession. There are many different texts that can help a person find their way to freedom of the soul if you will. But which is it that really does set you free? Is it the list of ancient texts like the bible, or could it simple be a piece of music by the great classical composers we all love?

Floating through life can be pretty fun actually. So many times I choose to tune out to the drone of the television and indulge in someone else's fantastical ideas of what life is. So many times I wonder through shopping malls looking for a release by feeding my addiction to stuff that makes me feel a certain way that the media tells me to. All the while, I know it's not what I need. At all. Ever.

Join me on this journey. I'll be searching for certain texts, musical pieces and artwork of all kinds that may help bring me and you back to the center. Back to what you and I may soon find to be FREEDOM.

Whether you live in New York City or Bonny Doon, Ca, you can really find freedom from this abyss of the institute.