I hope the music didnt scare you and hopefully your coworkers arent wondering why you are listening to rap music. I heard this song the other day and really liked it, its got a really good message if you could get past the style. The artist is a Hasidic Jew featuring the "gangsta" rapper Akon. I thought if a Hasidic Jew and a rapper can get along, why cant all of us.
We all come from different backgrounds and environments but we all share the same planet. In this day and age it seems like anything and everything ticks someone off and causes a division. Two of the biggest rifts are caused in religion and politics.
This week we saw President Obama give his State of the Union address. Its strange how people can hear two, and possibly more, completely different messages from the same words. We often only hear what we would like to and evaluate based on our own feelings. Christians are familiar with the phrase and scripture, where 2 or more are gathered in my name I am in their midst. That is Jesus speaking about His presence among the gathered faithful. I am fond of another similar saying, where 2 or more are gathered politics is in their midst. I will leave politics to the politicians, what they say is often not what we get, so let them talk.
On the religion front we have much division among Jews/ Christians, Christians/ Muslims, Jews/ Muslims, and more importantly Jews/ Jews, Christians/ Christians, Muslims/ Muslims. People often say that religion is the cause of most wars. I argue that and say that it is used as an excuse for war by those who do not live out the faith they profess. If we all lived the faiths we profess the world would still have issues but it would be a much, much better place. This may not be agreeable to all but hey, its my blog, post a comment;)
I hope everyone has a great week and maybe one day.......
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Silence of the lambs
Bet that title got your attention! Dont worry this post wont be filled with anything of the sort except for an allusion to the character of Hannibal Lector. Let's dig in, shall we.
Mondays are always tough going back to work but this Monday was especially difficult because it was so dark out. We had heavy cloud cover and a consuming wind/rain one-two punch. However, there was a silver lining, it was 60 some degrees here in beautiful PA.
Id like to take some time to reflect on an interesting experience I had a couple months ago at the hospital. I was scheduled to have an MRI done at the request of my doctor. As I sat in the hospital filling out the paperwork I came across a question asking me about being claustrophobic, to which I responded healllll yea;) I initially thought Id be in this open area and go through a magnetic ring once or twice, oh no I was slated to be in that chamber of terror for 45 whole minutes. I quickly became anxious as the nurse assured me it would be ok.
I was placed in that tube of horror, which is about 2.5 feet in diameter and 6 feet long, with a plastic shroud covering my face. Thats where Hannibal Lector comes in, me with this plastic mask of death on. To give you an idea of how claustrophobic I am I would probably chew my arm off if I was trapped in an elevator for more than 28 seconds. Now I was being throttled into this cylinder of torture for the next 45 minutes with only a little plastic ball in my hand to let the nurse know if she needed to come save me from the magnetic monster. However, she said something that helped me through, she said just close your eyes and DONT OPEN THEM.
In the next forty five minutes I did not open my eyes, and to my surprise, I left feeling quite a tangible sense of peace. I reflected on this for days. How did I make it through and why was I at such peace. I was in that machine for 45 minutes with my head encapsulated in a plastic hood and my face was inches from the tube walls, for all intents and purposes and for drama's sake, I was buried alive. The reality existed but closing my eyes shielded me from the anxiety.
Isnt it interesting how our surroundings can play on our emotions and our feelings just as we experience on these cold dark days of winter. The power of our mind is incredible, we control our thoughts by what we let come in our mind. There is alot of noise in our world and we are constantly sifting through it letting in what we want and filtering out what we dont. Some of what we dont want is good for us, we need to learn to let it in and some of what we are letting in isnt that good. We must train our eyes to see, which takes hard work and good friends to help us when we fall. We have a great example of this today as we in the Catholic church celebrate the feast of the conversion of St. Paul. St. Paul was a persecutor of Christians in his early years but God blinded him and then led him to be one of the most influential people in all of Christianity.
We should strive for constant conversion of heart, mind, and soul. We have many means to accomplish this, but today lets focus on training our eyes to see what we ought and remove the blinders to what has always been right under our noses.
Peace, love, soooooooouuuuuuullllllllllll!!
Mondays are always tough going back to work but this Monday was especially difficult because it was so dark out. We had heavy cloud cover and a consuming wind/rain one-two punch. However, there was a silver lining, it was 60 some degrees here in beautiful PA.
Id like to take some time to reflect on an interesting experience I had a couple months ago at the hospital. I was scheduled to have an MRI done at the request of my doctor. As I sat in the hospital filling out the paperwork I came across a question asking me about being claustrophobic, to which I responded healllll yea;) I initially thought Id be in this open area and go through a magnetic ring once or twice, oh no I was slated to be in that chamber of terror for 45 whole minutes. I quickly became anxious as the nurse assured me it would be ok.
I was placed in that tube of horror, which is about 2.5 feet in diameter and 6 feet long, with a plastic shroud covering my face. Thats where Hannibal Lector comes in, me with this plastic mask of death on. To give you an idea of how claustrophobic I am I would probably chew my arm off if I was trapped in an elevator for more than 28 seconds. Now I was being throttled into this cylinder of torture for the next 45 minutes with only a little plastic ball in my hand to let the nurse know if she needed to come save me from the magnetic monster. However, she said something that helped me through, she said just close your eyes and DONT OPEN THEM.
In the next forty five minutes I did not open my eyes, and to my surprise, I left feeling quite a tangible sense of peace. I reflected on this for days. How did I make it through and why was I at such peace. I was in that machine for 45 minutes with my head encapsulated in a plastic hood and my face was inches from the tube walls, for all intents and purposes and for drama's sake, I was buried alive. The reality existed but closing my eyes shielded me from the anxiety.
Isnt it interesting how our surroundings can play on our emotions and our feelings just as we experience on these cold dark days of winter. The power of our mind is incredible, we control our thoughts by what we let come in our mind. There is alot of noise in our world and we are constantly sifting through it letting in what we want and filtering out what we dont. Some of what we dont want is good for us, we need to learn to let it in and some of what we are letting in isnt that good. We must train our eyes to see, which takes hard work and good friends to help us when we fall. We have a great example of this today as we in the Catholic church celebrate the feast of the conversion of St. Paul. St. Paul was a persecutor of Christians in his early years but God blinded him and then led him to be one of the most influential people in all of Christianity.
We should strive for constant conversion of heart, mind, and soul. We have many means to accomplish this, but today lets focus on training our eyes to see what we ought and remove the blinders to what has always been right under our noses.
Peace, love, soooooooouuuuuuullllllllllll!!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Fity mil
O hello, I didnt see you there, you caught me mending my fences!? Thats from a Will Ferrell skit, pretty funny. Hes a funny guy, a bit vulgar at times but funny. I had a friend who met him in NY while Will was filming Elf, when my friend approached him Will said 'hello my name is Fil Werrell."
Enough about that, yesterday was chock full o'stuff in the world. Not in any special order: the March for life in Washington DC - The march is a collection of about 250000 folks supporting pro-life legislation and trying turn the Roe vs Wade legislation that legalized abortion on January 22nd 37 years ago. This is a very contentious point were common folks become enraged at the mention of the issue, and thats on both sides of the coin. One thing, for sure, is that we should all thank our parents for giving us the opportunity to have and share those opinions. One thing is certain, 50 million of our American brothers and sisters are not here because of abortions (hence the title) and thats only the recorded cases in the last 37 years. Worldwide that number is probably approaching a billion with the China and India boosting the numbers. I cant imagine what a woman goes through when having a child but I could imagine the emotions of shear terror as well as utter bliss. Regardless of the emotion or situation we should encourage all women to honor the tremendous gift that is a child. We as men must treat women with the dignity and respect they deserve, they are Gods most beautiful creation and we must not use them for our own desires and pleasures. The man whose female counterpart has an abortion is just as culpable as the woman. We as men need to stand up and protect our women and help them release their true beauty as they help us to realize our own inner strength.
On a lighter note it was also Conan Obrian's last night on the Tonight Show. What a drama there but he had some really great words about life that he gained from his experience at NBC. To quote him "Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen." In my first post I linked the 32 Keys to life and today I read about TODAY. Conan's words and Todays are resonating with me today. We often hope for something in the future that is going to make us happy, a better job, a nicer car, nicer home, and so on. Sometimes we think we are owed something or should have this or be doing that and be happy like those people. When this, that, or those never comes self pity and doubt set in and it can ultimately lead to depression and despair. I know I struggle with this and I think it is something many struggle with. Quoting a good friend, "happiness is a choice we have to make every morning when we wake up." If we go on seeking something this day and come to the end of the day and have not found it, we have lost today. We need to mend our fences ;) and start enjoying the day.
And lastly, my girlfriend got me tickets to go see the Knicks and Lakers at Madison Square Garden in NYCizzle. It was a great time, Im so glad I got to share it with her and her family, I will never forget it. A side note: President Clinton spoke about the Haiti relief efforts. He and President Bush are both doing more good now then when they were in office, whose with me on this one ....... have a great today.
Enough about that, yesterday was chock full o'stuff in the world. Not in any special order: the March for life in Washington DC - The march is a collection of about 250000 folks supporting pro-life legislation and trying turn the Roe vs Wade legislation that legalized abortion on January 22nd 37 years ago. This is a very contentious point were common folks become enraged at the mention of the issue, and thats on both sides of the coin. One thing, for sure, is that we should all thank our parents for giving us the opportunity to have and share those opinions. One thing is certain, 50 million of our American brothers and sisters are not here because of abortions (hence the title) and thats only the recorded cases in the last 37 years. Worldwide that number is probably approaching a billion with the China and India boosting the numbers. I cant imagine what a woman goes through when having a child but I could imagine the emotions of shear terror as well as utter bliss. Regardless of the emotion or situation we should encourage all women to honor the tremendous gift that is a child. We as men must treat women with the dignity and respect they deserve, they are Gods most beautiful creation and we must not use them for our own desires and pleasures. The man whose female counterpart has an abortion is just as culpable as the woman. We as men need to stand up and protect our women and help them release their true beauty as they help us to realize our own inner strength.
On a lighter note it was also Conan Obrian's last night on the Tonight Show. What a drama there but he had some really great words about life that he gained from his experience at NBC. To quote him "Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen." In my first post I linked the 32 Keys to life and today I read about TODAY. Conan's words and Todays are resonating with me today. We often hope for something in the future that is going to make us happy, a better job, a nicer car, nicer home, and so on. Sometimes we think we are owed something or should have this or be doing that and be happy like those people. When this, that, or those never comes self pity and doubt set in and it can ultimately lead to depression and despair. I know I struggle with this and I think it is something many struggle with. Quoting a good friend, "happiness is a choice we have to make every morning when we wake up." If we go on seeking something this day and come to the end of the day and have not found it, we have lost today. We need to mend our fences ;) and start enjoying the day.
And lastly, my girlfriend got me tickets to go see the Knicks and Lakers at Madison Square Garden in NYCizzle. It was a great time, Im so glad I got to share it with her and her family, I will never forget it. A side note: President Clinton spoke about the Haiti relief efforts. He and President Bush are both doing more good now then when they were in office, whose with me on this one ....... have a great today.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
The best psychologist
Ive heard it said that a puppy licking your face is the best psychologist. How can you not love that, it cracks the stone of the coldest hearts. Dogs have a way with humans, in a way we are intimate with them. They are the only animal that sleeps in the same bed with a human. Why is that so? They love us regardless of what we do, they forget that we havent been home all day and shake their butt and wag their tail when they see us again. They just want to be loved back and, in a way, thats what we all want.
God loves in the same way, albeit on a different level, he just wants to be loved and he wants to love us. He has given us many great tools to encounter him, these are called sacraments. God calls us to interact in a real way through these gifts.
I have a great joy today because my puppy (really my girlfriend's) lifted his leg to pee today for the first time. Yea this might be silly but the older I get the more I realize it truly is about the little things in life. I typically would have shrugged this off but Im making a big deal out of it because, well, why not. I woke up, said prayers, went to work, ate lunch, went back to work, and went to class. Life is full of obligation and responsibility, why not take some joy in the little things because before you know the little things go by and never come back. So rejoice in the little things tomorrow and have a puppy lick your face, or let em pee on your leg or something and smile about it. Good night and God bless.
Here are the doggy 10 commandments, think about em, they make sense.
1. My life is likely to last 10-15 years. Any separation from you is likely to be painful.
2. Give me time to understand what you want of me
3. Place your trust in me. It is crucial for my well-being.
4. Don't be angry with me for long and don't lock me up as punishment. You have your work, your friends, your entertainment, but I have only you.
5. Talk to me. Even if I don't understand your words, I do understand your voice when speaking to me.
6. Be aware that however you treat me, I will never forget it.
7. Before you hit me, before you strike me, remember that I could hurt you, and yet, I choose not to bite you.
8. Before you scold me for being lazy or uncooperative, ask yourself if something might be bothering me. Perhaps I'm not getting the right food, I have been in the sun too long, or my heart might be getting old or weak.
9. Please take care of me when I grow old. You too, will grow old.
10. On the ultimate difficult journey, go with me please. Never say you can't bear to watch. Don't make me face this alone. Everything is easier for me if you are there, because I love you so.
God loves in the same way, albeit on a different level, he just wants to be loved and he wants to love us. He has given us many great tools to encounter him, these are called sacraments. God calls us to interact in a real way through these gifts.
I have a great joy today because my puppy (really my girlfriend's) lifted his leg to pee today for the first time. Yea this might be silly but the older I get the more I realize it truly is about the little things in life. I typically would have shrugged this off but Im making a big deal out of it because, well, why not. I woke up, said prayers, went to work, ate lunch, went back to work, and went to class. Life is full of obligation and responsibility, why not take some joy in the little things because before you know the little things go by and never come back. So rejoice in the little things tomorrow and have a puppy lick your face, or let em pee on your leg or something and smile about it. Good night and God bless.
Here are the doggy 10 commandments, think about em, they make sense.
1. My life is likely to last 10-15 years. Any separation from you is likely to be painful.
2. Give me time to understand what you want of me
3. Place your trust in me. It is crucial for my well-being.
4. Don't be angry with me for long and don't lock me up as punishment. You have your work, your friends, your entertainment, but I have only you.
5. Talk to me. Even if I don't understand your words, I do understand your voice when speaking to me.
6. Be aware that however you treat me, I will never forget it.
7. Before you hit me, before you strike me, remember that I could hurt you, and yet, I choose not to bite you.
8. Before you scold me for being lazy or uncooperative, ask yourself if something might be bothering me. Perhaps I'm not getting the right food, I have been in the sun too long, or my heart might be getting old or weak.
9. Please take care of me when I grow old. You too, will grow old.
10. On the ultimate difficult journey, go with me please. Never say you can't bear to watch. Don't make me face this alone. Everything is easier for me if you are there, because I love you so.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Welcome everyone
This is my first post and hopefully not the last, I get lazy ;) My intention is write/comment about what is happening in the world and in my world, and how to embrace or cope with these events. I hope that you find this beneficial and perhaps enjoyable to read so please comment and give me some feedback.
The title of the blog is Phinding Phreedom because life is about living free (and its an alliteration of my last name). Quoting Pope John Paul II, “Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.” Freedom comes from braking bonds to what is called "sin." A good definition of sin is to miss the mark. God has created all things good but sometimes we twist these things for our own good. Our own good may not be good at all but it may seem so because there is something pleasurable we think we will get from it. This blog is about encountering those things and making the best of situations in the light of faith with a bit of psychology mixed in.
Lets start with today, there is alot going on in the world and at the top of my list is being out sick from work today. The blessing in this is that it has given my time to start this page and that I am grateful for. Making lemons out of lemonade is trite but I have found that thinking positive does make a difference in how we approach things, we can either regret or rejoice.
Another happening in the world today is the Senate election in Mass. where Democrats have held the seat for nearly 40 years. There is a great deal of focus on the election because a Republican may actually win and can swing the process of healthcare reform. I heard a few months back someone call it "health insurance reform," I think this is a better way to view it and discuss it. I guess we will see tomorrow what the future holds, until then, thanks for stopping by.
Here is a link that has alot of good info about life in general
32 keys for life
The title of the blog is Phinding Phreedom because life is about living free (and its an alliteration of my last name). Quoting Pope John Paul II, “Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.” Freedom comes from braking bonds to what is called "sin." A good definition of sin is to miss the mark. God has created all things good but sometimes we twist these things for our own good. Our own good may not be good at all but it may seem so because there is something pleasurable we think we will get from it. This blog is about encountering those things and making the best of situations in the light of faith with a bit of psychology mixed in.
Lets start with today, there is alot going on in the world and at the top of my list is being out sick from work today. The blessing in this is that it has given my time to start this page and that I am grateful for. Making lemons out of lemonade is trite but I have found that thinking positive does make a difference in how we approach things, we can either regret or rejoice.
Another happening in the world today is the Senate election in Mass. where Democrats have held the seat for nearly 40 years. There is a great deal of focus on the election because a Republican may actually win and can swing the process of healthcare reform. I heard a few months back someone call it "health insurance reform," I think this is a better way to view it and discuss it. I guess we will see tomorrow what the future holds, until then, thanks for stopping by.
Here is a link that has alot of good info about life in general
32 keys for life
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)