I watched a few minutes of TV this evening, and it was long enough to see an ad for a drug that works in addition to your “regular” anti-depression pills, if they’re not working well enough. Twice mentioned before the ad was done was the side-effect of death. How is this acceptable?

Lies and half-truths are commonplace (primarily from parents/guardians, teachers, etc., etc.), gossip is second-nature, and ranting about someone behind their back is pretty much expected. It doesn’t matter whether you consider yourself spiritual, religious, or otherwise saintly. I’ve seen the worst of this from the self-proclaimed “best” of them. If we do have core values, clearly there is an imbalance between actions, and beliefs.

Business executives hide behind corporate practices and titles, and sit ready and willing to call foul. But they’re even more prepared to fabricate justifications for lawsuits, and most frequently against those who cannot afford to defend themselves in the chosen arena.

It’s about image and profit, not what’s best for everyone, or humanity.

Law – suit. Hadn’t noticed that before.

Accountants for huge companies are now called “creative” accountants, as they’ve earned a new title that goes beyond simply being “certified” because that simply isn’t good enough when you’re looking to cook the books, take advantage of loopholes, or manipulate terms of contracts and maximize “losses”. In the entertainment business, in both music and film, this is done every day. I’m sure you might be aware of similar practices, in varying degree, closer to home.

The term “corporation” has become synonymous with “coward” to me. The spillover of this is seen in most everything pop-culture and mainstream media. Strange and unbecoming behaviour is “OK” because it’s so frequently seen on TV, in film, in music, in magazines, by political leaders, by community leaders, and well just about everyone. That nagging voice of consciousness is relegated to a mere annoying whisper, that is shunned, silenced, and beaten down. We can’t handle the truth!

Marketing and public relations (image / false-front) firms are disgusting, and so are those odd animals that work for the powers-that-be, who need endless distractions to keep the general population numb, dumb, and stupid. It’s easy to hold hundreds of millions of minds in a lower vibration when you know which buttons to push, having derived a system (from infant, to adult) of self-denigration, subservience, countless limitations and illusion. WAKE UP! MOST OF IT IS NOTHING BUT NOISE! Look beyond the big, bold letters on the front page and find the real story therein.

On the one hand, it’s good to see that some things are being shaken up, by those who are willing to stand up. But I’d wager that most people who complain about something, stop there. Being a slave to a kind of lifestyle, paycheque, belief system, or social status is hindering, no? We’re petrified of perceived repercussions. But what price do you pay for continued silence or status quo?

Truth is, it doesn’t have to be this way. In your own personal bubble, and in the global community bubble, it really doesn’t. But if constructive, forward-thinking and unifying changes are going to constantly be counterbalanced with morons-in-suits upon high, humanity is never going to get it together – not without some catastrophic consequences.

But it starts with you, and with me. It starts within, as I’m sure you’ve heard before. The challenge in front of you is to step up. Petty interpersonal indifference and malignments echo into the world, as much as fake wars and made-up headlines do. If you’re afraid of confrontation, shut up! Deal with YOUR issues, and quit projecting your nuisance and noise upon others.

For now, concern yourself with your own bubble, and let your countenance reverberate out into the greater consciousness and let it be. No matter what, love still rules the day.

But what is clarity? Sure, you can decide “once and for all” that it’s time to finally pursue that dream or passion. Or, you can make a resolution that “this year is the one” for whatever it might be you’ve been putting off, shelving as a hobby, or dabbling with for most of your life.

That’s all well and good. And isolating the idea, placing it in front of you as a singular focus is important. But, how long will it last? Are there emotions, feelings or other inclinations immediately brought to the surface simply by stating this intention? For most everyone, this is the instant side-effect of stepping forward in faith, confidence, and giving the universe the ultimatum of your newfound clarity.

This, too, is how we inhibit and defeat our potential, without any extra effort – and without being conscious of it. The mind and ego are in constant battle to keep you “safe” (which essentially means stalled, blocked, or small and unsure), so when you’re intent on this clarity, it’s important to realize that your old friends and lifetime companions, defined as “beliefs”, will have something to say about it. So, immediately, you have new choices to make, and your resolve may need a stronger foundation upon which to base the next step in your journey.

True and complete clarity is possible only if you allow the simplicity of what it is you desire to be all that is given any energy of thought or consideration. It requires that you empty your creative space entirely of conflicting requests, so that the purity of your singular focused intention will have plenty of magnetic potential to manifest as quickly as possible.

This, of course, is generally easier said than done. It really depends on how you’ve lived your life thus far and how much mental or spiritual “baggage” might be impeding your ongoing efforts to simply be and approach your journey with ease, grace, lightness and joy. Notice what rises to the surface. Be with it and perhaps take the time to finally address the underlying energy that keeps it anchored in your body, mind, or spirit. Isn’t it time to let it go?

If you live in a consumer-driven, or materialistic culture (as we do in the West) then the effects are even more dramatic. There is an overriding conditioning that handicaps much of your mental and spiritual clarity by default, and your first steps must be to unwind that blindfold, enabling you to ease up the constricted mind, body, and spirit. It’s important to reclaim the power you’ve given away to objects, circumstances, or other influences in your life…

Thus, clarity can be achieved! Then, witness how easily people, places, and events manifest to aid you, urge you, and entice you to expand, explore, and dive into what it is you truly desire to experience in this lifetime.

Steve Pavlina has an excellent blog post about this topic: 11 Ways to Gain Clarity

As I see it… Some good ways and means to suffering and shortening of the lifespan:

1. Believe everything other people say
2. Believe everything your mind/ego says
3. Hold a grudge
4. Try to be popular
5. Work hard
6. Fashion a mask for every occasion
7. Prejudge, categorize, belittle, demean others
8. Be and act cowardly
9. Dramatize the insignificant
10. Defend ignorance and limitations
11. Lie to yourself, silencing your inner voice
12. Avoid taking risks
13. Avoid falling in love (again)
14. Deny yourself the pursuit of your real passion/purpose
15. Stop growing intellectually, spiritually, or metaphysically
16. Believe that yours is the only way
17. Suffocate or ignore your inner child
18. Defend a country or property
19. Awaken each day with fear in your heart, or mind
20. Forget that you are one with all – “death” is a sure way back

Image: “Edgar Allen Poe – The Raven” by oddsock

Consider for a moment in how many areas of your life this statement applies.

Probably ALL of them, for how you perceive anything, is how you experience everything.

Think about your partners, in business or in romance. Think about your career, or spirituality, or daily routine from the moment you open your eyes and return to the physical once again to wake and walk another day (or how about how you perceive the dreams you may have just had?). Even if you are without vision, you still perceive that which is around you, and how you perceive it will ultimately determine how you experience your life.

It’s a powerful statement and realization. It’s a tool in your experiential arsenal. For if you know and understand that perception is everything, you can then change anything about that perception, and thus the experience of it, instantly.

We don’t often give ourselves that space in time, just before making a snap judgement or decision, based on how we’ve done it countless times before, or how we’ve seen others around us do it and it thus became the “normal” (ie. trained, conditioned, programmed, emotionally triggered) way of things. If you’ve observed something to be black or white your whole life, it tends to stay either black or white, held tightly within a well-practiced determination and limitation, based again only on perception.

This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t trust your intuition about something. That’s a different form of energy based on established inner peace, love and alignment, not ego and presumption and precedence. It’s not “knowing” something because “those people are just that way” or because “that religion is wrong” or “you can’t trust anybody,” but a knowing that transcends the mind, comes from the heart, and uplifts and unifies naturally.

Question your perceptions. Allow yourself to let go of those that no longer serve you.

Image: “Reflections at the Lagoon” by lrargerich