« Previous | Home | Next »

You wouldn't deny your own child would you?

June 29, 2007

You wouldn't deny your own child would you? (Photo Copyright by Fred W. Black use without permission prohibited.) In Western Culture (not that I'm an expert on world cultures, but I know more about my own culture than others), most of us are raised with common belief systems. I used to work with someone, or rather for someone, who professed to be an ardent Christian, yet his pursuit of money and the next "big deal" always made me, as a Christian myself, a little uncomfortable. "It's easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven" I would hear from somewhere deep inside me. Yet I wanted those nice things too. I wanted the big house, acres of land, expensive sports cars, boats, etc. Did I have those things? No. Did he have those things? Some: some the bank owned, and some he owned.

I've learned that we bring into our life the things that we truly desire. This includes both the good and the bad things. Maybe we don't realize we desire them, but the fact is that this is a fact! Another way to say this is that we bring into our lives the things that God, The Universe, The Devine, etc. perceives us to desire. We certainly don't want the bad things, but they come from somewhere deep inside us. As Barney Fife of The Andy Griffith Show says, "Ignorance of the law is no excuse!" Deny it and you remove any ability you have to improve your life.

As I inferred in the first paragraph, this also clashes with basic values a lot of us are taught as children: "Money is Evil". To make matters worse, television and movies reinforce these viewpoints, and television in particular, constantly injects subconscious programming into our lives that sets us up for failure. Television programs are not generally made by a group of well-meaning people trying to help humanity (although a few are), rather, they are specifically created to sell advertisements or bring in some other form of revenue. If a new or current program does not meet those revenue requirements then its cut from the lineup. Television programming is full of people, families, and business that are failures, idiots, moralistically challenged, or all three. The underdog is seen as good and anyone with money or success is usually seen as evil.

So what we have is a nation (a good portion of the world actually) programmed to be failures, view wealth as evil, and spend their lives just getting by. Pretty sad huh?

Let's try a different viewpoint.

Do you have children? When your child was born and you held him or her and rocked them to sleep at night what did you feel? I'll tell you in case you don't know; it's the best feeling in the world. The joy you feel in watching them as they grow and change is immeasurable (while they're young that is: teenagers are another story!!!). You want to give them every comfort possible, every opportunity possible, every thing that they need to grow, learn, and mature that you can. As a parent, nothing gives you greater joy than watching a child succeed in the things they try to do.

If you were God, would you feel any differently? I don't think so. You wouldn't deny your own child, and God doesn't want to deny US.

If you were God looking down on me you might say: "Fred I keep trying to give you that recording contract you want and that red Dodge Viper you want, but you keep getting in the way". Now if I were able to hear that, I might reply: "What... but you're God, you can do anything, how have I, little ol' me, stopped you from giving me those things?". And you, as God, might reply: "Well Fred, deep down inside you, in that spot where your heart quivers when your wife gives you that certain look; you don't really believe you deserve them yet, and what's more, you keep a long list of things in your head that you feel you must accomplish first, when in fact, all you need to do is ask and believe. Why don't you leave the navigation to me and just worry about where it is that you want to end up?" And I would probably answer God by saying: "Well God... I'm ready. But I don't want a recording contract, I'd be happier as a song writer so that I can spend more time with my family... I'd like to start by having Rhonda Vincent record a song or two of mine. And God, about the Dodge Viper, you know Joe Vitale? Well, he's got this really nice Panoz Esperante GTLM convertible; that's what I want instead."

So, How DO we say YES and start receiving what we want? These are some good starting places.

MONEY IS NOT EVIL; its how it's used that can be good or evil. It can be hard to shed those deep, ingrained beliefs about money, but we have to. It produces a really good feeling to do something good or just plain nice for someone else, like buying groceries for a family when they're having a hard time. However, if you're also having a hard time making ends meet you can't do that. You can't help if you don't have the resources. We need to think of the good we can do with the wealth we want in our lives.

TV is generally bad and sucks you down the drain into the sewer without realizing how much time you've wasted getting waist-deep in crap. Try not watching any current shows or news for a while and you'll see what I mean. If you want to watch something, put in an old show, from back when they had some moralistic values, or a good movie. Stay away from the crap. Even if you're watching something good, the commercials can be enough to drive you over the edge.

Your Current Situation has SURFACE TENSION: Surface tension is what allows a water bug to walk on the water. If you look closely at its little feet, you can see the water forming a dimple where each foot contacts the water. The water is actually holding the bug up. If the bug was a little heaver, or moved about too fast, it'd break through the surface tension and fall into the water. Your current friends, family, job, everything you do creates surface tension to keep you where you are. Your true friends and family will help you get to where you're going and not hold you back. Don't make the mistake of staying in your current situation because of fear over what someone will think or what they may do. It takes some energy and effort to break the surface tension and start moving towards your goals.

Your current situation reinforces your current situation, which reinforces your current situation, which reinforces your current situation so that it stays the same. On and on it goes like a merry-go-round. You have to take a step, even a small one, to start breaking that cycle. Try reaching out and doing something towards your goals that makes you a little uncomfortable. Maybe you don't think you're quite ready yet, but go ahead and try anyway.

Make your wishes known: Before a child can talk, it is really frustrating at times when they want something but can't communicate their wants to you. As the child gets older and their communication skills (and your interpretation skills) get better, it gets easier. At first they realize that they can point to what they want... they point to the freezer and you realize that they want ice-cream. In a few months, they will just start saying "me want ice-cream". After a while and with some work, they'll hopefully say "may I have some ice-cream please". And unless it's close to dinner time, you'll give it to them! You have to learn to ask for what you want!

Until next time,
Fred

About the Author

Fred Black is an experienced online business operator, programmer, web site developer, father, husband, musician, and songwriter. Visit his Internet Business Blog at: http://www.pqInternet.com.

You may reprint or distribute this article as long as you leave the content and the About the Author resource box at the end intact.