Death of Common Sense

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.


He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:

Knowing when to come in out of the rain; why the early bird gets the worm; Life isn't always fair; and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place.

Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouth wash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an Aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement ...

Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust.

His wife, Discretion, his daughter, Responsibility, his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights; I Want It Now;

Someone Else Is To Blame; I'm A Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

Nudity

Truthfulness is so uplifting. Nudity is the most truthful act. No one likes to admit when they are not truthful. However being untruthful starts arguments, which lead to conflict of many sorts.

Death is not the end

“People speak of a will to live. They rarely speak of a will to die. Because people are afraid of death. Death is dark and unknown and frightening. But not for me, it’s not the end. Enzo, The Art of Dancing in the Rain

Death is just a transition in the state of being and the great voyage of existence. Souls never die.

Dancing

Dancing is an expression of total freedom. To dance you are expressing your individuality as well your unity with everyone. The rhythm of life is most vibrant within us as we dance. When you dance you have to express yourself. It is very therapeutic when done in anyway. Some like more structured setting, and some prefer to make their own moves.

Therapy

One of the best therapies is writing. Therapy is basically where you get stuff out of your system and of course pay a lot of money. Writing is free, you just need a pen and paper and you get stuff out of your system and feel pride of yourself. it does not even matter if no one reads it, you at least put it out there.

It is really for shame the length we go thorough to make a point. If we only sat down; with a pen and paper, and wrote anything most, if not all the conflicts will be resolved even before they occur. The power of writing brings us together, share ideas; however they will show most of us how similar we all are.

The “Skin” We’re In

Have you ever wondered how it is that you can love someone without liking them?

On the surface, it doesn’t make any sense at all… how could you possibly love someone without liking them? The answer, though, is in the last sentence, right at the beginning… “On the surface”.
Personality “Layers”

We all have multiple personalities, and I don’t mean in the insane way (although that may just be a more severe form of the norm). We have one personality, our core, that is deep down inside of us. That personality is who we really are. Over the top of that we have various layers of “skin” that we show to different people.

The skin that’s on the outside is no more who we are than the clothes that we wear. When we love someone, we love them at a deeper level than the “skin” that they are currently showing the world. We hold on to that deeper layer that we have come to know, and we instinctively understand that the layer that we love is more truly who the person is that the skin that we dislike.
The Problem

People don’t all have the same number of layers… emotionally powerful events can either create or rip off layers. Powerfully negative events tend to build up additional layers, to insulate our core from harm. Powerfully positive events can melt away layers, essentially healing the remainders from past problems. Some events can do both at the same time… the death of someone close to you, for example, can rip away some of your layers of defense, while at the same time causing you to build new ones.

We present different layers to different people, too… we even have layers that we show ourselves most of the time. We then add other layers to the ones we’re showing ourselves as we move to people we identify with less… the closer to ourselves we regard someone, the closer to the core us they get, but if we seldom show ourselves our core, imagine how much less likely we are to show someone else. Many people may go all the way through their adult life without ever showing anyone else their core self. It is impossible to let someone else deeper than we allow ourselves to go. If you don’t look at your core, you can’t show it to anyone else, no matter how much you love them.

Everyone else starts at the layer where you place your self and moves outward from there.
The Solution

There is only one way to consciously move someone closer to you, deeper into your layers: spend more quality, quiet, slow time with them.

Want to be closer to your wife or husband? Spend more quality, quiet, slow time with them. Children? Same answer. Family, friends, acquaintances? All the same answer.

Want to improve your relationships with all of those people at the same time? Spend more quality, quiet, slow time with yourself. Remember, everyone else starts with at least as many layers as you show yourself. If you remove a few of those layers, you move the starting point for every other person closer.

When is the last time that you actually sat down and looked within? I’m talking about time you didn’t worry about what you need to do tomorrow (or today), you didn’t try to solve problems, you didn’t worry about someone else… just sat there, by yourself, closed your eyes, and let that core self, the real you, rise closer to the surface?

It’s hard… life sometimes seems like it’s actively trying to keep you from doing it. You may have a wife and kids, friends, two or three jobs, etc., etc., etc. You know how I know it’s hard? I have those things, plus I actually know what I need to do and how to do it, and I still have a hard time taking that time for myself.

The most effective times to do this, at least for me, are first thing in the morning, before the day gets started, and right after work. The morning goes much deeper, but the time after work lets me get enough off of the surface that my time with my family is higher quality… which helps me to keep from building up yet more layers for both myself and them.

I think any time helps, though, as long as you can do it consistently enough to make it into a habit. Making something into a habit requires that you do something at the same time, every day (or nearly so), for somewhere around a month.

When I say “the same time”, by the way (and not just in this article), I mean in an event-driven sense, not in a clock-based sense. ”The same time” means first thing when you get up, or right after lunch, or something like that, not 7:15 AM (though that may be first thing when you get up).

It’s easy to let good habits slip over time… I’ve let many of my good habits slip, including the time mentioned above, and writing new articles regularly. It takes a lot of mental effort to establish, or re-establish, good habits (but very little mental effort for bad habits), but that effort pays off immensely… you’ll find that the amount of mental energy that you have to spend increases substantially once the good habits are in place (and often your physical energy level, as well).
Your Turn

Getting away from quantity time and toward quality time is hard to do, whether it’s time for yourself or time with others. Have you found anything that works for you? Anything that makes it easier to turn quantity into quality?
From A Miracle A Day

Inspiration

Inspiring ideas are great. They encourage us to change as well as push the limits. Inspiration is a bit humorous though. It may inspire us to go down the wrong path as well, we however learn a lesson, on every path we choose to go on.

The choices we make influence other choices and further lead us to great opportunities. The bad part is you cannot see how the choice will affect you until you make it. No one can make your choice but you. Others can encourage or discourage you, but only you have the power to make your own choice.

Inspiration takes place before as well as after the choice is made. Without inspiration life would not be fun at all. Inspiration gives you that extra push you need to make the choice that seems right to you.