2012 - Let’s Replace Power And Control With Peace and Hope

I have spent a few days working on this post because I am deeply concerned about the world and the dominance of the ego-mind.  The following is not as well written as I would like it to be but it shares what concerns me and I hope you will find it thought provoking enough so you join me is working for peace and a better world in 2012:

In additions to my work in mental health for 35 years I have been a passionate advocate for peace. I consider war to be insane and always caused by the human ego in search of more power and control. From my viewpoint there are no legitimate reasons for starting or being in a war, no matter how much war is rationalized by our leaders. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are about gaining power and control not for the reason we were told. Our next war will be with Iran because we want more power and control. This ego-driven need for power and control is willing to kill people, ruin people’s lives, destroy countries, crush our economy, and do many other terrible things just in hunger for more power.

Sadly there are also great financial benefits to corporations who profit from wars. Leaders who seek more power and control drive these companies. Our defense budget is 100% about having more power and control. All the military leadership is about gaining more power and control. Many corporations are run by the ego’s need for power and control rationalized as seeking profits.

We have a world run by those who care most about power and control. This world is a reflection of our fears. We elect people who we think will protect us from our fears. This makes for: more money for bombs than education; a government run by people who only care about power and control; people having their homes taken away; a large percentage of our population in prison; a great inequality in resources; elections dominating by the funds to keep corporations in power and control; a health care system based on power and control not on healthcare for all; laws that take away our legal rights and allow us to be detain indefinitely; and ultimately the decline of a once great nation caught in the ego battles for more power and control.

The Occupy Movement, which is being suppressed by those who want power and control, is the first hopeful movement in many years because it stands up to the ego domination in this country. Peace rallies and marches do very little to stop wars and to bring about significant change these days because the dominate mindset is about fear and the need for more power and control.

It is time we come up with some more effective strategies. There are no clear answers to breaking the cycle of ego’s need for domination except by removing the ego from the drivers seat in our government and in our corporations. Change in governmental leadership can only come by eliminating the influence moneys of those who are seeking power and control over our government.  Election reform is essential because the buying and selling of influence is very destructive to a democracy. Corporate rights need to be shifted away from personhood to serving the needs of the people.

Fear is the other aspect of the ego’s power over the world. When the ego wants more power it simply does what it does best - it spreads fear. People will give all their power away if they are afraid. Therefore governments seeking power, corporations seeking power all use the same tactic. They spread fear. This all adds up to the ego running the world and no one stands up and says we have had enough. It is time we move past the old manipulation of fear and see the more accurate truth of power seeking running the world.

The deeper truth is that if we all stand together there is nothing to fear. We human beings have much more in common than differences. We all hope for a better world, we want the best for those we love, and we all want to have love, joy and peace in our lives. Together we can bring an end to the dominance of the ego-mind and instead live with compassion and caring for our fellow human beings.

Let’s all begin 2012 by being mindful when our egos want to run our lives. We know when the ego is in charge because we are afraid. We know when the ego is not in charge because we feel love, hope, and peace of mind. Our emotional state will reflect our mental state. A healthy mind run by our higher nature is about peace and joy. 

We can bring peace to the world by finding the peace within.



What Is Your Purpose In 2012

If you are wondering what your purpose is in 2012, I want to suggest two ultimate purposes we all share.

Those two purposes are:

1.  To have an open heart and spread as much love, compassion caring and kindness as you can in 2012.

2.  To have an open mind and become as conscious as you can and spread that light out into the world.

These two purposes will enhance you life and bring positive changes to you and the rest of the planet.

Can you imagine a world where the heart and higher consciousness guided us all?

What kind of world would it be where love and compassion shaped what we did and higher consciousness lifted everyone to be the positive possibilities they are?

• I choose to be more open with my heart and to practice compassion and loving kindness in all that I do.
• I choose to daily work on expanding my consciousness and spreading light out into the world.

Would you join me?



Take A Chance On Being Bold

Over the next few days I will be busy with family and holiday events. My previous post is about seeing yourself in new and more expanded ways in 2012. I have an assignment for you below if you are truly interested in making 2012 something special. This next year will most likely be the most important year of your life. The expectations for 2012 are high because of certain indications but only you will determine how you experience this upcoming year. Yes there will be circumstances that will have influence, but you will interpret those circumstances and assign meaning to them through your thoughts and heart.

Imagine seting your mind on the idea that this will be the year of breakthroughs for you, the year you got your life heading in the right direction.  If that is what you want to happen, you have the ability and mind power to shape those experiences. Why not think extraordinary?

With the many changes around the world in 2011 and the now World-Wide Occupy Movement there is bound to be many more changes. You can be part of what happens. The time is ripe for you to make a positive difference. 

What if you left behind, your old definitions of self and began the year by redefining yourself, redirecting your energies, reorganizing your thoughts, and recharging your life with new ideas, more self-awareness, and greater purpose?  What if you deepened your experience of life by exploring inner practices? What if you made feeling good about your life as a priority?  Would 2012 be different than 2011, you bet it would.

Assignment: Grab a pen and paper and write down at least 10 new ways of seeing yourself from the previous post. Then write about how you would implement them in your life in this next year. Be creative, brainstorm, and let all ideas be considered.  Then when you are ready, decide what you are willing to commit to and put together a plan, do a vision board/collage, write a manifesto, of whatever will get the year going with lots of energy and inspiration.

If you feel like sharing, let me know what you are up to; I will do the same.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays To You

Nine Ideas To Make 2012 A Year Of Positive Changes

The beach walk this sunny morning was nice. I found a really beautiful agate as I walked and enjoyed the cool fresh air. 

I wanted to continue on my theme yesterday about finding hope. How do we build hope into this next year? 2012 is supposed to be an important year in human history. My belief is that are minds are very powerful and that if we decide to make 2012 a powerful year, we will. I propose that we put together some positive ideas for 2012 and bring our collective minds and hearts together to make this year the most powerful in human history. 

Nine Ideas For 2012:

1. Redirect the dominance of greed in the economic sector towards how can we make a positive difference for all humanity.
2. Redirect the money influence in elections to funds for healthcare for all, to end hunger and homelessness, and others acts of compassion and kindness.
3. Commit to taking better care of the planet through developing others sources of energy and going greener.
4. Make education a priority by expanding creative expression, values exploration, and successful communications and reducing the importance of test scores.
5. Put people to work by creating a meaningful work initiative, there is much that needs to be done for the good of communities.
6. End corporate personhood and instead make all corporations accountable to the people and the planet.
7. Change the idea of endless growth as the savior of humanity to careful growth with future generations in mind.
8. Change politics towards honesty, finding solutions, and truly serving the needs of the people.
9. Make peace a priority and stop ruining our nation’s financial well being by spending trillions of dollars on killing machines.

What would you change or add?

We all can make a difference.