Fun!

I was talking to my brother and asked him what he thought I should blog about today. I had several ideas in mind but just thought I would get his thoughts. And so he comes up with one word, FUN! On the surface not all that helpful really, but let's have FUN with it.

"It's kind of FUN to do the impossible." - Walt Disney

Before we can really get into this topic, I believe we need to define FUN. I could get the Webster's definition but what would be the FUN in that? No, I will present my own definition of FUN. It is, my humble opinion, that FUN is a state of mind. FUN can be had anywhere at anytime. There is no need for anything for anyone to have FUN. FUN just is. Of course what I consider to be FUN, will not be FUN for all. FUN after all is a personal thing.

"There is no such thing as "fun for the whole family"." - Jerry Seinfeld

Even though I must admit, it can be easier to have FUN with FUN things in FUN places but once again not necessary to having FUN. No....one can have FUN sitting all alone in an empty room, if you think FUN! And remember that a FUNdamental (I just could not resist) truth is that when you are having FUN you are joyful, which is important for your mental, physical and spiritual well being. Are you having FUN yet?

"To love what you do and feel that it matters - how could anything be more FUN?" - Katherine Graham

Now, I will readily admit that FUN is a good topic but then I thought in what context should I write about FUN? Having FUN? Doing FUN things? How about living a "FUN" life? Then it hit me. Make it an acronym. That'll be FUN!

FUN - Finding Uniqueness Naturally

or

FUN - Feeling Unusually Naughty

or

FUN - Flowing Undisturbed Normally

"If you obey all the rules, you miss all the FUN." - Katherine Hepburn

Now, I am sure that those of you reading this can come up with some fun acronyms of your own and share them with me in a comment. Wouldn't that be FUN? I think it would be great FUN!

"Getting there isn't half the FUN, it's all the FUN." - Robert Townsend

So, please, let's have some FUN with FUN and let me know your FUN comments. Now wasn't that FUN?

That's all the FUN for today.

May you blessed always and in all ways!

Harry

Can you create a positive world by spreading negativity?

Sounds like a really illogical question, right? Or at least it seems like the answer is a pretty straight forward, NO! Yet that is what I hear from journalists that I talk to. You see a majority of them I have spoken with say they are in journalism to help change the world, in a positive way, but how is that possible when most of what they report on is negative?

It has been proven in numerous psychological studies that people exposed to negative images will have negative thoughts about the world. That seems logical to me. If you are constantly bombarded with negative images, it has to have an effect and not a positive one. I have yet to hear anyone say, after watching the news, "Well that was refreshing!" No, what I usually hear is "That was depressing!"

Why is it spiritual teachers will tell you that the easiest and quickest way to improve your life is to not watch the news? It's because most of the news programming is filled with negative images and stories.

Advertisers understand that their commercials have a psychological effect on consumers which, is why commercials are filled with mostly positive images and/or beneficial suggestions that appeal to consumers in some way. Buy this car and you will be powerful or help the environment. Drink this drink or use this body wash and you will attract the opposite sex.

Why is it then that journalists do not seem to get it? They constantly report on the negative and wonder why people are so negative. I know we do get the occasional feel good story of the day but shouldn't the reporting of the "good" news be the norm if we want to change the world for the better?

The next question I have is, when did all this start? Has the news always been negative? If so, what do we need to do to create a paradigm shift in journalism? If not, when did it start? How did it start? And, how do we change it?

I really believe the shift has to come from the journalists and journalism schools themselves. Someone, somewhere has got to recognize that they are source of the problem and do something to create the shift. Don't get me wrong, I know bad things happen but not to the extent that it is portrayed.

I had to chuckle at the headlines I saw this morning after Hilliary Clinton's speech last night. Personally, I am not a big Hillary fan but she delivered a powerful, uplifting, emotional and positive speech of her support for Barack Obama. But what were the headlines I saw today? Hillary Did Not Do Enough to Convince Her Supporters and Hillary Not Persuasive Enough. I have an idea, how about these headlines? Hillary Tells Supporters to Throw Their Full Support to Obama or Hillary Supports Obama All The Way.

I know if we all start to focus on what is good with life, our community, our country and our world, then we will make positive changes. Everything will get better, if we can just get people to focus on the positive.

That's all for today!

May you be blessed always and in all ways.

Harry

What do you see in the mirror?

Today, I wanted to share a story that I read in one of the discussions in the social networking site, Tee Bee Dee. I will add some thoughts at the end.

The House of 1000 Mirrors

Long ago in a small, far away village, there was a place known as the House of 1000 Mirrors. A small, happy little dog learned of this place and decided to visit. When he arrived, he bounced happily up the stairs to the doorway of the house. He looked through the doorway with his ears lifted high and his tail wagging as fast as it could. To his great surprise, he found himself staring at 1000 other happy little dogs with their tails wagging just as fast as his. He smiled a great smile, and was answered with 1000 great smiles just as warm and friendly. As he left the house, he thought to himself, "This is a wonderful place. I will come back and visit it often."

In this same village, another little dog, who was not quite as happy as the first one, decided to visit the house. He slowly climbed the stairs and hung his head low as he looked into the door. When he saw the 1000 unfriendly looking dogs staring back at him, he growled at them and was horrified to see 1000 little dogs growling back at him. As he left, he thought to himself, "That is a horrible place, and I will never go back there again."

All the faces in the world are mirrors. What kind of reflections do you see in the faces of the people you meet?

Japanese Folktale

What I would like to add is that you are the mirror to the world for what is going on inside of you. What are you projecting to the world? If you have a positive attitude, you will reflect that, if it is the opposite, you will project that too.
If you want the world to look better to you need to look better to the world.

May you be blessed always and in all ways.

Harry Shade - Author, Rare Sense; One Day It Will Be Common www.raresenseunlimited.com

Do You Always Give Your Best?

Do you always give your best in everything that you do? Do you at least try to give your very best?

Many times in life when things do not go our way we want to blame things outside of ourselves but can we always say that "we" gave our very best.

Doesn't the responsibility for our actions lie with us? What influence are you having on those around you by your actions? Can you look yourself in the mirror and say, "I did my best today."?

Click on the movie below to watch this inspiring you tube clip about a football coach and his challenge to his player. Now, this coach has passion for his players and is a true teacher of life.



May you be blessed always and in all ways!

You Are a Teacher, Part 3.

In the last two posts I covered how you are a teacher to others and yourself. Today, I am going to narrow the focus a bit and talk about the most precious of students, our children.

There is always a lot of talk about creating a more harmonious world, one where peace and love rule. A place where we want to raise kids to be better citizens. Well, if that is true then we have to realize that it all starts at home.

Kids are a blank slate so the only way they can learn hate, prejudice, violence, deceit, bad attitudes, worry, deviance and anxiety is by example. Whether it is from the people they are in direct contact with or the almighty boob tube, it has to be learned.

So how is your home life? Do you show love and compassion? Are you honest and happy? Is it a calm, peaceful, serene place? Do you value service to others? Do you have a positive attitude? Are you a caring, kind and considerate? Do you tell your children that you love them? Are you encouraging them to play, create and explore? Is acceptance and tolerance taught? Are you flexible, patient and open?

Sure parenting is a tough thing, probably one of the toughest things you will ever do but it is so full of joy and priceless rewards that nothing can replace it.

The beautiful thing is you are not alone, ever. Everyone has someone they can turn to for support. Be it family, friends, mentors or social service organizations, there is always someone willing to lend a hand.

As a parent myself, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that there were times where I had no clue what I was doing and I know that I made some mistakes when raising my daughter. Overall, everything I did, I tried to start from a position of love and when I did that it all seemed to fall into place. Our soul instinctively knows what to do.

Even if your own childhood was not the best, you can still be a good parent. You have a choice as to how you are going to raise them. Just like any other thing you will choose throughout your lifetime, you can choose to be an involved, positive parent and raise a loving child.

My own father was an alcoholic and just never there, so I grew up essentially without a father. Now, I had two choices when I became a father, I could choose to be like him or not. I chose to be the exact opposite and I can say that it has worked out very well. I have a lovely daughter!

I'll sum this up with one of my quotes from my presentation, "The ABC's of Life".

"Children are the canvas on which is painted the next generation."

You Are a Teacher, Part 2.

Yesterday I wrote about all of us being a teacher and I focused on what we teach others. Today I would like to expand on that thought by turning the teaching inward. What I mean by that is while we are teaching others with our words and actions, we are also teaching ourselves.

How do we do that? Actually in the same ways we teach others, through our words and actions. Self-talk is one of the greatest teaching tools that we have in forming who we are for the rest of our lives. Especially after we leave childhood, our inner dialogue is more responsible than ever for who we are today and who we will be in the future.

Here are some questions to ask yourself: How is your inner dialogue? Do you say/think good things to yourself or are you constantly saying/thinking negative things to yourself? Do you encourage or discourage yourself? If a friend talked to you as you talk to yourself, would they still be your friend? Why do we put up with negative talk from our self when we probably would not from others?

To expand on this teaching thing a little further, how we treat ourselves teaches others how to treat us. If we are being negative towards ourselves then we are giving permission for others to treat us badly, in fact we are attracting those that treat us badly and then wonder why it happens. Like a bee is attracted to flowers because of the scent, we are sending our signals to the world (our scent) that it is OK to treat me badly because I don't really like myself anyway. The ironic thing here is that all of it is self-perpetuating. The more we think/say bad things about ourselves, the more we attract negative responses from the world, so the more we feel badly and dislike ourselves even more.

However, we can reverse the cycle by simply saying/thinking good things about ourselves. If you want to have good things happen to you then start by being a better friend to you. Then you will attract positive people who will treat you right, which in turn will build your self-esteem and self-confidence. Since at this point you are feeling better about you, then you will think/say good things about you and in turn you will continue to attract positive things. Once again it is self-perpetuating and will continue to feed upon itself.

Our words and thoughts are powerful things and they can lead us down two very different paths. One path of joy, love, happiness, peace & harmony and the other path of depression, despair, guilt & misery. What path do you want to be on? It is all up to you and you are teaching yourself and the world which path you will ultimately be on.

Well, that's it for today. I'll be back soon with more Rare Sense Thoughts!

May you be blessed always and in all ways!

http://www.raresenseunlimited.com/

We are one or are we?

Of course in the spiritual sense we are in fact one but can we achieve this in the human sense?

For anyone that knows me, I will try to keep this short and simple as I feel that is best and allows people to ponder what I have to say without trying to decipher it. So here goes.
Yes, we can be one in the human sense but we have to get rid of or look past all the things we use to seperate one another. In fact seperation is so impervious to our society that this is why I say we need to start here. I mean other than the obvious (race, creed, sex, religion, nationality, sexual orientation) we do it in sometimes more subtle ways, from what teams we cheer for to what is our favorite color. Our society does its darndest to keep us seperate through labeling and membership in organizations. Don't get me wrong that is where our individuality lies but it is not where our humanity lies!

I am going to give everyone a simple and easy way to get us back to one and that is first looking at each other from the basics and that is first and foremost as human beings. Start there and all the seperation simply melts away. There is really nothing else we need to know about one another! If we simply start here we can create a society that values all its members, a society where harmony, balance and peace are the norm. A society that protects and loves all its citizens. A society where judgement, hate and fear is obsolete.

We can continue to use all those things that seperate us and we will continue to have a fractured society but the one fundamental truth will always remain, waiting to be recognized and acted upon. We are all human beings, period!