Bahama Dream Turns Nightmarish at Fyre Festival

William Golding and Stephen King plotting together couldn’t have come up with a better storyline. Truth really is stranger than fiction.

What was promised festival goers vs. what was actually delivered. Credit Screengrab/Twitter

Imagine paying $12,000 per ticket to attend the Fyre Festival. BET reported a cost of $250,000 for ten people. The ticket promises perks like guided meditation, yoga, and massages – all on the luxurious shores of the Bahamas. Headliners Blink-182 will lead acts such as Lil Yachty and Disclosure.

Upon arrival at this beautiful island paradise, you are man-handled by security, there’s little to no electricity or water, and half-pitched disaster-relief-like tents are strewn along the beach. Garbage covers the ground like it’s the country’s national flower.

At least there’s lettuce and tomato with it. No butter or mayo, apparently.

Lunch is a plain cheese sandwich served in a styrofoam take-out container washed down with an expensive cocktail given to you in a plastic cup.

Disaster and chaos reign. There is internet talk of a sequel to The Lord of the Flies. It’s also a bit reminiscent of Stand By Me. Everyone’s abuzz. Blink-182 released this on twitter yesterday:




Fans are upset and want to go what’s going on. There was nothing from the Ja Rule camp until an 2:30 PM EST today when he tweeted this:



This doesn’t tell us much other you are taking responsibility, yet it’s somehow not your fault. I’m not sure how that works, but I’m sure people are going to want more than this simple statement. This reminds me of OJ Simpson being found innocent on murder charges but guilty in a civil lawsuit. One just doesn’t make sense without the other. What went wrong? How could things go so seriously awry?

Who was in charge there and where were you? As host, you should have greeted the festival goers. Obviously, event co-ordinator as a profession is not in your future. Why didn’t you hire a professional?

As you have become the face of this festival, I commend you for taking responsibility. Who was the even co-ordinator? You? Who was at the other end to set up and take/track deliveries? Or, perhaps you got scammed, too. Making the safety of everyone on that island your first priority is a good first step in trying to make this right. But, we want to know how this could have happened in the first place. What are the “unforseen and extenuating circumstances” that ruined the whole she-bang? The Fyre Festival released this statement. Well, that’s simply not good enough.

Ja Rule, as one of the creators of this festival, you are more accountable than “it’s not my fault”.

Things such as this festival are fodder for the fire – fake news writers are having a field day. Some people are actually saying that because these are all rich white kid victims, they deserve whatever they get. That’s like saying because you’re black and poor, you deserve that. This has nothing to do with colour. Last time I checked, Ja Rule wasn’t white. I’m asking people to please verify tweets (such as the one below) before re-tweeting. There are people stranded and at risk, and it’s a dire situation for some.

This tweet came out at 10:38 this morning and is false:

Ja Rule hoax

This is not a social experiment gone wrong. It’s a case of someone being too big for their britches. Keep within the ordinary confines of the music industry and stop trying to be more than you are. This should be a lesson in how not to revitalize your brand.
This person needs to know what the hell happened:

Lamaan @LamaanGallal

Stuck at #fyrefestival trying to leave for the last 8 hours. barley any food or water or security or electricity

2:56 AM – 28 Apr 2017

I invite all comments. Again, please watch out for the fake news.

Unrest in Place

Although it seems what someone says or does or what occurs in life is the cause of one’s arising unrest, this is not the case. The unrest that arises is already in place, if it wasn’t there’s no way it would arise.

You can only react to life with what you have in place. Something like anger arises because it has been learned, this also goes for fear, greed, hate, and so on. I constantly reacted like this for many many years without any understanding whatsoever and it kept me locked into my unrest without an inkling that the only reason it was occurring was because it was in place. Simply put, when something occurred that I didn’t like, whether it was what someone said or did, or something that happened, my unrest arose without my permission or knowledge as to why I reacted in the way that I did. What arose was whatever my conditioning deemed appropriate. The only reason this happened is because it was already there laying in wait: like a lion waiting to pounce on its unsuspecting prey.

Understanding this is where there is power in knowledge. If why unrest arises isn’t understood, there will be very little true periods where the unrest is not in control. Through awareness of what’s arising, one has something tangible to use to get beyond it. Why most people remain as they are and repeat the same reactions over and over is because of the total unawareness of why it happens. To me this knowledge has immense value because when it’s seen one can truly decipher whether what’s in place is beneficial or not. It is then that a course of action can be developed to change whatever’s in place that’s causing the non beneficial reaction to rear its ugly head.

For Shakespeare Students

If any of you out there are studying Shakespeare in high school or university and need some help with it, I have posted, on my blog, a number of analyses that explore the themes of many of the plays, as well as detailed synopses that go over the plays scene by scene.

If you're interested, here are some links:

https://mawrgorshin.com

There's no synopsis for Titus Andronicus, since I assumed few would be studying it. Also, that analysis was more about relating the cruel world of that play to today's world than just a strict exploration of the play's themes.

Pardon my naive drawings for the synopsis of A Midsummer Night's Dream. lol

I hope you find these useful. :)

Noticing Your Thoughts

It is imperative to learn to just be because even if what you do comes from a labeled place of love, this label produces the bondage of an unguarded thought which controls you like any other unguarded thought.

If you can’t watch your own thoughts to decipher which ones are truly beneficial, hold on because you’ll be taken on the roller coaster ride called life. Not that life does anything directly to anyone, but thoughts arise and they determine what kind of ride you will be on. Noticing the unguarded thoughts is essential if one is not be controlled by them. Thoughts are a natural part of life, they will arise. As far as I know there’s no way of controlling what thoughts arise, but I have found that noticing them allows for a split second hesitation that can be used to decipher whether or not the thought is beneficial. And remember, attachment to any thought causes suffering, no matter how one labels it.

I often say the Conditioned Mind is diabolical and unless there’s some awareness of how controlling your thoughts actually are, they will and this has to happen, control you as if you were a puppet on a string. So subtle is this control that even if you are doing things that are labeled as loving, if these thoughts aren’t watched they will eventually control you and bondage is bondage regardless of what label is applied to the thought. This is why the Conditioned Mind is diabolical because of its subtleness in using whatever it can to remain in control. This is also why it’s imperative to learn how to just be because even if what you do comes from a labeled place of love, the bondage this produces is that of an unguarded thought which controls you like any other unguarded thought.

Unknowingly Entrapped

When one is under the control of the Conditioned Mind they behave in ways not because it’s the way that one wants to be, but because it’s the way one has to be.

It was a lack of understanding of what I was truly up against that caused me to remain entrapped to it, and what I was entrapped to was my own mind that was conditioned to self serve. The problem with this type of conditioning is it causes one’s own destruction because the destructiveness is disguised as pleasure. This pleasure is pursued by many to their death. It was pursued by me in this way and I was at it’s mercy. It said to me to use drugs, alcohol, gambling, womanizing, lying, cheating, stealing and so on. This is how the Conditioned Mind is developed except for some who are fortunate enough to see this at a young age.

The way I was conditioned wasn’t the fault of anyone in particular, it happened indirectly by the inner and outer influences of my life which molded me to behave in the ways my conditioning dictated. Not because this is how I wanted to be, but by not understanding this, it was the way I had to be. You cannot behave in any other way except in the way you have been conditioned. Change the conditioning and change your entire existence or not and remain the same. The value of knowing my own mind is in the understanding there was no where else to turn; not to God, support groups, therapy, self help books, positive thinking, and so on. What I learned is when the Conditioned Mind is understood, the world is no longer in control. What I learned was it’s control slowly dissipates as one develops discipline, the mind actually slows down. Once this slowing occurs, the possibilities are endless because there are no longer the distractions that keeps one entrapped to the conditioning. With this solid understanding of what one is truly up against, you are able to develop the discipline so the conditioning eventually falls away.

Stigmas in South Asian Communities

Yes, stigmas. I'm sure you know many, and I'm sure you know who it falls on. You got it right, the girl.

This post is not about debating whether it is true. It is not going to bullet point each and every stigma that exists. It will not stereotype a culture (well I hope it does not) but it will cover my experience for two reasons. One, because I am a writer, and two, I want to increase awareness of a mental illness.

So where do I start?

Simple, marriage. A girl reaches a certain age, and the parents turn around and state the same rhetorical question 'Is it not time for you to get married?' I will put my hands up and say it does not happen to all families of course! I guess it's my experience more so than anything.

First and foremost, I will say that my parents are amazing and extremely understanding. If I say no, then it's a no. It hurts to know that you read reports of it not being the same case for other girls.

But let us focus on the men's side of it all and the matrimony sites. Oh and add my experience.

My mother had to do a lot to push me to sign up to one of these sites. Being from a particular culture, it was the 'time' to get married, but the problem was, we weren't exposed to people from my culture when growing up. I grew up in an area where we were a minority, so knowing someone and finding someone was one big problem. Everyone has requirements, so naturally I'd have some.

Naive is probably the word I'd use to describe myself at the time, until I received a rejection based on something that I could not control. Forget that I'm highly educated or into my religion, it was ALL about my condition. At the time, I suffered from on Epilepsy and for some lady to state that I would need looking after and I would pose a problem for her son and family, was a shock. Shock slowly turned to hurt, and then it dawned upon me that not everyone thinks like I and everyone I knew think. Does a medical condition identify you? Does a medical condition dictate how to live your life? For sure, I had to make adjustments, but I had accomplished more than those without the condition.

Now I move to the matrimony sites. People talk about how it has brought people together, and certainly it has! I've seen it and attended the weddings. However, I place myself in their position and start thinking of the probability of finding someone. This where I want to raise awareness:

Two years ago, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Has it affected how I live? Yes of course. If anything, I've been pushed to become more healthy, but do I sit at home all day? No. I go to work. Do I expect to be treated as an invalid? No. I can walk and talk, jump, laugh and write write write! So what is the big problem? I get tired suddenly, pain in body, but like everyone else, I suck it up and carry on with life. Accepting that you have an autoimmune disease is huge if you're in your 20s. If anything, accepting aid from someone when once upon a time you could do it yourself is a huge thing. Furthermore, knowing that you have to now pace yourself, be aware of the level of energy you have is a huge thing considering you're a person who does everything (although gets away with not cooking!). Then it's one thing to receive support from people you know, you love, but then it's a completely different feeling when a stranger makes you feel like you're a burden.

I hope I haven't lost you yet.

In simple terms, I've been suffering from Epilepsy since childhood, and recently diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and due to this, one guy after another have said that they don't want to take it further. Forget the convos stating that they want to pursue it and that they love your personality, IF you have a condition, then its a direct no. What makes me laugh is that they want to be friends. But what boils my blood is when they state that you cannot have a criteria because no one will marry you. That if you want a companion, regardless your credentials, you have to say yes to everything the guy demands. So my question to you is, 'Is that right? Should the community get away with such perception? Yes, certainly the guy has a choice, but why not state on their own profile that they aren't looking for someone with a condition, but can directly tell the girl that she has to write it out so guys are aware of it?

Moving onto being a writer, I published my first book and that is because I found out that I had Multiple Sclerosis! Why should I allow my condition dictate how to live my life? Why should I allow my condition determine whether I should be happy? But here's the thing, recently a guy told me that he 'worries' how my writing will affect my outlook in life. Writing about love will affect my expectation of what I want in a husband. Oh, this same fellow stated that I don't have a right to any expectation due to my condition.

I'm almost done...

All I want to state that ladies from South Asian communities having the same experience, do not give up, you're better than these narrow minded individuals.
Those suffering from mental illness, especially Multiple Sclerosis, only you control your actions, so be positive and do what you love because...

I'm a South Asian writer who published her book (which can be found in numerous schools and libraries) due to refusing to give in to the horrid side of this autoimmune disease.

More info can be found on My Writing here! My books are available on Amazon, but do take a trip to my site to check out the stories that I am currently typing and the articles. I promise you, you'll enjoy it!

Guardian Angel: Me, Us, Them

Kindle

Guardian Angel: Me, Us, Them

Guardian Angel: Before and Now

 Typed but not checked!

Where is Social Media Heading?

Where Is Social Media Heading?

Social Media is evolving as the classic era of MSN, Orkut and Hi-5 has transformed into the present age of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Pinterest, Instagram, etc.

In numerous ways this transformation has revolutionized the way people connect and communicate with each other. Compared to previous technology, social media has transformed much of the world into a global village by allowing users to communicate much of their daily lives in real time.

The consulting agency ‘We Are Social’ updates yearly their global collection of online statistics which gives us some valuable observations into the worldwide usage of social media. As of January 2017, they estimated that there are 3.773 billion internet users worldwide with 2.789 billion of those users actively using social media. Since a large scale proportion of the online population spend much of their time on social media, businesses around the world have been compelled to extend their reach into the virtual world and market to the vast audience pool presented.

This online marketing evolution has reshaped social networking platforms into thriving e-commerce marketplaces for small and enterprise businesses alike. In response, many social media sites have actualized their own commercial potential, by bringing about significant modifications in their functional paradigms.

Evolution is on the rise and it has become imperative for digital marketers to level up their social media game. Here is an insight into the latest trends that will steer social media in the future:

• Social Media Trends will Define the Way we Communicate

From scraps and statuses to live feed and stories, social media channels are in a consistent quest to transform communications. Aside from that, bots, AI, and analytics too will reinvent the ways people engage, interact and communicate through social media.

• Your Employees will become Your Social Representatives

Your employees will be your best ambassadors to represent your business on social media.  Being directly associated with the businesses, their opinion and advocacy of the business is perceived as authentic and credible among consumer segments. Therefore, more businesses will train and engage their employees to raise awareness and promote the business in the social media sphere.

• Social Media for Customer Service

The spontaneity of networking and communications of social networks will be used to foster an instant an efficient customer service mechanism. For instance, Royal Dutch Airlines is efficiently using its Twitter handle to respond to queries, update flight status and resolve customer issues.

• Content will Transform

Textual content will maintain its significance; however, it will minimize. Innovative, rich and appealing media such as vines, GIFs, and cinema-graphs will enhance the impact and increase consumption and retention at the user’s end.

• Social Platforms will Compete on Similar Trends

Story-based updates that once used to be a prime attribute of Snapchat and Instagram have been incorporated into WhatsApp and Facebook too. Similarly, live broadcasts and 360-degree videos too have bagged immense popularity among social media users and have actually brought Facebook a cutting edge over YouTube. So, this is evident that any breakthrough feature introduced by a social network will become a social media trend. Therefore, it is essential for digital marketers to keep an eye on the tides of trends.

• Businesses will Only Target Selected Social Networks

Since a majority of social media platforms are trying to level up their game by introducing features, the strive to maintain your presence everywhere is likely to go redundant and might bore your audience. Smart business marketers will torque their efforts to maintain a strong and impressive presence on selected social platform, rather than the bombarding the same media everywhere.

In summary, it is evident that social media is here to stay and trends indicate that we are heading into a time where a company's social media management and online reputation can, and in many cases will, determine future success in the marketplace. Story based selling utilizing videos and live streams will capture a company's culture, goodwill and online presence allowing consumers to see them as the leaders in their chosen industry. Although it is difficult to make an exact prediction of which trends will successfully fly in the future, it is evident that businesses who do not keep up with the upcoming social media progressions will find themselves missing out on a  critical and powerful internet marketing platform.

About the Author ~ Joanne Farrell

Joanne Farrell is a professional with over 15 years of sales, marketing and entrepreneurial experience. Her mission is to help businesses manage their social media and content marketing in a capacity so great, that her professional marketing team becomes an essential extension of your company’s current team.

Beliefs Don't Liberate

Too many people worry about getting to heaven and because of this, life passes you by. A belief isn’t needed to see this, but it will take a mind that’s settled not to make it into one.

At the core of every belief is a self appointed authority that makes it so. This self appointed authority manifest from an inner structure that we create so we can live in the most pleasurable way. We believe in everything we have in place because we ourselves have decided (even though it was probably done unconsciously) that these beliefs will make life better. There’s no other reason to form a belief except for the sole purpose it will provide pleasure in some way. Look into this very carefully to see how this manifest in your life. God, money, material possessions, love, programs, spirituality, social status, enlightenment, and so on, are all formed to provide a fictitious pleasure based in a belief. If this isn’t questioned, the belief will continue its control even though it will not truly provide the pleasure that it’s being created for. It can’t because the nature of any belief is bondage and bondage to anything is suffering, even if it’s not seen as so.

Many call a belief faith, to me they’re basically used in the same manner. I haven’t found one iota of usefulness in having faith or believing in something that would truly benefit my life. I live in the space of what is and since there isn’t anything that needs to be different than the way it is right now, where would a belief be beneficial? This is true liberation to be in the space of not needing. It doesn’t take any effort or a story to be liberated. The reason why so many don’t become liberated is they try to create it by forming a belief about it; if I do this or that, liberation will follow. Too many people worry about getting to heaven and because of this, life passes you by while you are here on earth. It doesn’t take a belief to see this, but it will take a mind that’s settled not to make it into a belief.

JUST ENJOY YOUR MANGO.

As we lazed around the living room table just after office, waiting to have tea together, ritual. We gathered our energy with another day just about folding up. Reminding our teenage son to fix his homework first and then do whatever he feels like doing. A thought snapped in. For about past six years, we have been waiting for our financial situation to improve. Even though our income has increased every year, it doesn’t feel like it. Feels there is still so much we are unable to do. Are we settled and satisfied in life?

Most people, no matter what their current financial situation, feel they need just 10% more income in order to be happy, settled and satisfied with life. 

The elusive last 10% syndrome. Forever unsettled and unsatisfied, the 10% more rule applied 5 years ago and even today.

The striving. The dreaming is essential. However, the trap is, when you start filling up your time with abstract ideas about life, existence and other things that are not part of the physical world. Filling time, looking around the home or career imaging improvements. Thinking, need be some enhancement would subside the fear of future.

Researches and studies have proven that not being able to contain one’s mind can be scary and detrimental to anyone’s life. The ego latches onto comments, likes, glances, situations, and outcomes. And we replay them over and over in hope of self-assurance and understanding.

How often do you read the newspaper peacefully?

We prevent our self from being happy. While sometimes the thorough approach to problems and tasks is helpful. But one has to train the mind to stop racing away and start working against itself and goals.

Ramakrishna Paramhansa advised his disciples not to waste time over metaphysical speculations. He said that you go to a mango tree to eat mangoes, so eat them and enjoy. Why waste precious time over counting the number of branches and leaves? It will be an exercise in futility.

When you seek satisfaction through the pursuit of more, you are always left wanting at the end of the day.

It’s about time you start enjoying what you have.

http://www.themarketingthinking.com/

HOW TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO FIND POWERFUL CONSUMER INSIGHTS.

Brands using social media as a mere CRM tool or for tracking brand sentiments, are losing big.

Social media provides enormous consumer research opportunities. The speed, cost, number of respondents, honesty. . .the benefits are endless. Mostly known, few unknown. For instance, link people’s interests to purchase behavior and gain wider consumer insights. More over, pick the valuable consumer thinking from the conversations, posts, complaints and compliments people post.

Social Media is like a live focus group. The knowledge gathered should be utilized into more quantitative research.

One of the many advantages of social media is, it lets you eavesdrop on the consumer intentions.

Arguably these are the real hardcore consumer buying insights. Which are unbiased, real untapped intentions. For this reason, the naked truth.

There are quite a few other possibilities with social media. One of them being, testing the creatives, the communication. It lets you carefully select the sample. You can spot influencers. Reach to the audience who is unaware that they have an influence.

Having genuine advocates

It is a myth that one has to really spend money to reach to the real advocates. There is a clear opportunity plus method to organically reach out to the brand fans.

An emerging myth within the audiences is, everything which is being pushed at me is promotional and paid. 

Why you should use the first
cubicle in public loos?

Even if your brand fans have a smaller following, reach out to them sincerely. Since you already have something right going with them, use the opportunity to make them stick and trust you more. Whenever you reach out to them acknowledge their loyalty. Here lies the opportunity, simply reach out to the loyal base…without asking them to buy anything, but making them feel special and rewarded. These brand fans are far priceless assets compared to the paid influencers, which are like online banners. And we all know, people have banner blindness, our mind is trained to look away from ads. Another social insight is, identifying a strategy for ‘lookalikes’.

Reaching out to the lookalikes

A Lookalike Audience is a way to reach new similar people. People who are likely to be interested in your business because they’re similar to people who already are engaged with your product or brand.

Since you have fair amount of predicted information about their buying needs and habits. It is easy to influence similar audience and bring them into the consideration phase of buying your product or service. All one has to do is know your existing consumer well. And lookout for me too’s.

You can dive deep into the social data, understand the existing consumer habits and behavior by heart. Which will become the basis to predict new similar buyers.

Social media data is all about the behavioural aspect rather than attitudinal. Hence it is very useful in highlighting customer groups that brands may not have previously considered. Know how to create a lookalike audience

Test creative campaigns

Brands constantly need fresh content and new ideas to propagate it. But how and where do you get the content that resonates with the target audiences?

Social listening is being used more and more to know what clicks with audiences. Testing creative and adapt campaigns before final release is something that is done very effectively . If once you are able to get a hang of what is hooking up with the audience a lot can be done well. For example, if your ad is getting past that five-second ‘skip ad’ moment on Youtube – then you know it is working.

If you want to be a CEO,
you should be the middle child

Further more, you may get one piece of the consumer insight from one platform but you can go back and see if it could fit well with others too. Not just all of what we said and discussed, one interesting aspect is you get and have audience that you wish to target sharply in abundance

Something everyone takes of granted is finding a small and right sample size to test, social media provides you the same.

Social Media is a potent tool to find powerful consumer insights. Social media will continue to develop and evolve as a research tool. 

http://www.themarketingthinking.com/

Truly Loving Yourself

No one harms you as much as you harm yourself, and it’s done through your own unguarded thoughts. The essence of life is to truly learn to love yourself unconditionally so you can in turn love others.

For forty nine years I did things to myself that I wouldn’t allow anyone to do to me. Not all of these were glaring self destructive actions, some were in the form of very subtle thoughts, but it was harmful none the less. If I truly loved myself, I would have never done this, but I didn’t know any better so the self sabotage behavior was the norm. I’m not talking about lip service love here, I’m talking about genuine unconditional love where there is absolutely no judgement whatsoever. Love is a word that is given more lip service than actual action. You will never truly love your neighbor if you don’t really understand how to love yourself and this is because you can never be anything different than what you are in any given moment.

Everything I do is done because I’ve learned what behaviors are loving and which ones aren’t. I love myself to the point where I don’t want to not only cause harm to me, but I also don’t want to harm you. Although it may seem that I share to help others, it’s only partially so. I share because it reinforces the love I have for myself. This isn’t an ego thing, it’s about learning how we are our own worse enemy, that is until we aren’t. There was no greater harm done to me by anyone than what I did to myself, but in the space of quietness I have learned to stop doing this. To me life isn’t about being good, moral, honest, or any other story that can be made up, it’s one thing and one thing alone, that’s to truly learn to love yourself unconditionally so you can in turn love others.

Third Time Excited. A pink cloud carried me up and away on the day I learned that my first book was released to the public of eagerly waiting readers. That cloud-walking lasted for days. I did not believe I’d get that excited ever again about anything, because slowly, the cloud turned grey and later disappeared. But I was wrong. With the publication of my next book, the pink cloud returned and I thought nothing can copy this feeling, let alone top it. Again I was wrong. Third time round the excitement is just as strong and the gratefulness that I have the privilege to have yet another book out on the market is indescribable. Unlike my first book, “My Father’s Will”, “The Bigger Fish” and “Man in a Picture” are a little heavier reading and a lot more emotional. Proofing “Man in a Picture” made me use as many Kleenex’s as when I was writing the story. It begins at the death of an eighty-plus old lady. In her cold hand that was pressed close to her heart, the matron of the old age home where she lived, found a picture of a few men; one face was encircled in red. The family did not know who this man was, but they were determent to find out. Their search took them all the way back to World War Two where it all began. During the bombardment of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, a family was split up. The father fled with his young son one way, the mother taking her little girl another way. The bombs kept on falling and looking back, to where her father and brother had been, the girl saw with anguish that only rubble remained. Before her mother could turn back to see if they survived, they were grabbed by soldiers who came to their rescue. How could anyone come out alive out of the heap of broken bricks and plaster anyway? While following every possible lead, the mystery was cleared up from an unexpected source. This part is where the box of Kleenex gets emptied. And Polly the parrot is part of it. (Oh, no, just thinking about it, makes me reach for a new box). Anyway, contact was made, new relationships were formed and lives were changed. The end always has to be a happy one to make up for all the heartache. And now full steam ahead with the next novella, “Seagull’s Prey” and full length novel, “The god of these Times” which I hope to have ready for my publisher before the end of this year. Happy reading: “Man in a Picture”. Magdel Roets Poet & Writer of Christian Fiction. http://authormasterminds.com/magdelroets http://amzn.to/2gmYpjQ

Peace of What Is

Being sad because a loved one dies is natural. If one could just be with the sadness without tightening up like a closed fist, you would remain open and an I story wouldn’t come into play.

Here is one of the main problems as to why so many people are seeking peace and why it remains elusive. Peace is mostly being sought as a concept through the thought realm, and the thought of peace will never bring about that which is thought to be desired. Only the thought that one isn’t at peace makes one not at peace. You can ask, well if I think I’m at peace then will I be? I say no because it’s as if you are talking yourself into it, it’s like whistling in the dark to keep away the boogeyman. It becomes a distraction more than a real tool of peace. To go deeper, notice the thought I at the center of wanting peace, anything from the desire of I always creates a problem, creating problems is the nature of I. This is because I pushes away the truth of what is and looks for what isn’t. This is what I does, it’s constantly looking for what isn’t in the form of wanting the present moment different. It uses all kinds of concepts that one blindly adheres to in doing this.

Here’s an example using a loved one dying. The sadness that arises from this is truth, but now take grief and watch how it arises strictly from not wanting the person who died to be dead. I will miss them is an I story, this creates tightness as if one closes their fist. Being sad because a loved one dies is natural and if one could just be with the sadness, the fist per se would remain open and an I story wouldn’t come into play, nor would the suffering of grief. Anyone who says grief is a natural process has never truly investigated it at this level, they’re probably only repeating what someone else said. Don’t take my word for this, investigate it for yourself, or not and remain a prisoner to the concepts that I makes up which will always keep you from truly being at peace as it remains only as a thought.

Let Go

Sitting on my favorite beach, in the comfort of the soft sand,
allowing myself the feeling of a Pacific Ocean breeze to blow my hair,
I'm listening to the crashes of the waves as they break against the shore.

I give the crashes the cries of the pain in my heart, and right there, in
the solitude of the little bits of grief being let go, I find the beauty
of the peace brought to my soul.

Don't Know Mind

In this life everything is impermanent, if you’re stuck in a “need to know mind” the door to true freedom will never be experienced because there’ll always be the thought that there’s something more to know.

Every belief arises from a thought that makes it arise and until it’s questioned to see if it has validity, it will continue its control. In the space of a “Don’t Know Mind” is where each moment can be seen anew without it being a concept or belief from some deeply engrained Conditioned Mind Pattern from the past. These are the blocks to truly living the life one is given. The Conditioned Mind constantly draws on the past and brings it into Now. This is because the mind has been conditioned with the need to know. This is one of the reasons programs, therapy, self help books, and whatever else are grasped for, even though they have a very low success rate. If something has a very low success rate, why would you rely on it? I’ll tell you why, it’s because the mind tells you at least it’s something you can knowingly hold onto. Case in point, 12 Step programs and rehabs have a very low success rate, yet they are constantly used. To me this makes no sense to hold on to something with a low success rate. Same thing with therapy, 3 years, 5 years, you will know all about yourself, but after that time you are still in bondage.

The “Don’t Know Mind” opens a door into the vast space of emptiness and it can’t be understood because it’s not what’s being looking for; what is mostly looked for is something that can be known, this way it can be attached to. Stop all the nonsense that you think you need to know about and start investigating what you have in place that keeps you from understanding, there’s nothing to know. Oh how the noise in the head keeps the noise of the “Need to Know Mind” in place. In this life everything will pass because everything is impermanent, but if you’re stuck in a mind that needs to know, the opening of the door to true freedom will never be experienced because there will always be the thought that there’s something more to know and needed to rely on.