The Fear

I want to be rich and I want lots of money
I don’t care about clever I don’t care about funny
I want loads of clothes and fuck loads of diamonds
I heard people die while they are trying to find them

And I’ll take my clothes off and it will be shameless
Cause everyone knows that’s how you get famous
I’ll look at the sun and I’ll look in the mirror
I’m on the right track yeah I’m on to a winner
 I don’t know what’s right and what’s real anymore
I don’t know how I’m meant to feel anymore
When do you think it will all become clear?
‘Cause I’m being taken over by the fear

Life’s about film stars and less about mothers
It’s all about fast cars and cussing each other
But it doesn’t matter cause I’m packing plastic
and that’s what makes my life so fucking fantastic

And I am a weapon of massive consumption
And its not my fault it’s how I’m programmed to function
I’ll look at the sun and I’ll look in the mirror
I’m on the right track yeah we're on to a winner
 I don’t know what’s right and what’s real anymore
I don’t know how I’m meant to feel anymore
When do you think it will all become clear?
‘Cause I’m being taken over by the fear
 Forget about guns and forget ammunition
Cause I’m killing them all on my own little mission
Now I’m not a saint but I’m not a sinner
Now everything's cool as long as I’m gettin thinner
 I don’t know what’s right and what’s real anymore
I don’t know how I’m meant to feel anymore
When do you think it will all become clear?
‘Cause I’m being taken over by the fear

The inordinate amout of bullshit

I have been thinking a bit about the ways in which people go about their lives in denial of reality. It boggles my mind really, how much bullshit is and was taking up mental space in my head.

I look back to my years in college. Only a small fraction of it was interesting and worthwhile, but still I did it. Kept doing it. Einstein's idea of insanity, right? And I think back to the papers that I had to write and how the act of bullshitting was rewarded. I mean how much of life is based on the talent of bullshitting? He who bullshits best wins? If I can submit a paper to a college professor and earn an 'A' based on a few sprinkled facts and a sack-load of bullshit, what does that mean about our society?

When people are filling up space and not living passionately, that is, not doing a job that they honestly care about, we end up with a world where bullshit is routinely dressed up, sprayed with febreeze, and shoved around to a bunch of people who don't really care. That's not life, it isn't living. How many people would happily fall from the WTC if they woke up and realized how much bullshit is filling up their world? Even love is buried in a huge heap of ego and bullshit. When someone can't even make up their mind to live their life the way they want to because it might "hurt" someone else is ridiculous. Who is this person that you would "hurt" and how in the world are they loving you to hold you back from such a thing?

Get real, stop the bullshit, live the life that you dream about or go jump off a building for God's sake.

September 11th, 2001

"I worked ten hours a day and commuted two. I cooked, cleaned, shopped, paid bills, and was lucky to get four hours of sleep at night. I told myself it was all for the children, but I always knew that was a lie. We could have done much better for the kids. We were just stamping out more versions of ourselves because that's all we knew how to do. We became just like our parents because we didn't know who else to be. That's what I'm thinking as I fall, that it's hard to be sad because I don't know who's dying. What does it matter that I'm gone if I was never really here? I'm seconds away from the end of a life that was never really mine. I was all these people but I was never me,  and now it's a beautiful September morning and my life is over and I don't know who to be."

Your world is only a representation of your mind

Kooky idea?

Ok, then I ask you: Is your world amazing, playful, joy-filled, and beautiful?

If so, consider your internal world. The only way that your world is like those above adjectives is because your internal thoughts could be described exactly the same way.

If the opposite is true, Here is something that could help you: Breathing.

Conscious, deep breaths are very calming to your thoughts. If you are fearful, anxious, worried, try it. Pay attention as often as you can to deep, belly-expanding breaths. If your internal world is calm, there is simply no way that the external won't be as well. 

Have you ever thought?

"Men fear thought more than they fear anything else on earth- more than ruin, more than even death. Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible; thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habits; thought is anarchic and lawless, indifferent to authority, careless of the well-tried wisdom of the ages. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. It sees man, a feeble speck, surrounded by unfathomable depths of silence; yet bears itself proudly, as unmoved as if it were lord of the universe. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man. But if thought is to become the possession of the many, not the privilege of the few, we must have done with fear. It is fear that holds men back- fear lest their cherished beliefs should prove delusions, fear lest the institutions by which they live should prove harmful, fear lest they themselves should prove less worthy of respect than they have supposed themselves to be." - Bertrand Russell

After reading this the first time, I really didn't see how this could be true. Now I can't see how it couldn't not be true.

I spent time in 2 small downtown metro areas this week and saw the people coming and going. The same thing that they likely do every day. Over and over again. And that is how I know the above statement is the truth. And I even found myself thinking of the people who have influenced me in my life and felt anger and frustration about the fact that they never really spent any valuable time thinking about reality and how their lives are just being tossed in the trash. We find all kinds of excuses to rationalize why we do what we do rather than thinking about exactly what and why we do them.  But, as I always do, I realized that my anger and frustration was simply at myself for doing exactly the same thing for years and years. Not thinking. Not realizing that I was slowly flushing my life in the toilet.

This is what thought does, it leads you to uncomfortable realizations. But these realizations are exactly the fuel that is needed for change.

What If?

What if, today, this very moment, you made the following decision: "I will no longer do anything that I do not want to do."

What if?

So, now what happens is a voice comes in your head to explain to you the numerous ways why you couldn't possibly make such a decision. Now, if there was ever a time that you didn't know what the "ego" was, now you do. It is that exact voice. The one that thinks it has it all figured out. The voice who is making up all of those reasons why life can't be like you wish it to be.

What is that voice? How is it so certain? How does it create that fear fence that holds us apart from our dreams?

Human Adults and Human Children

My greatest aspiration in life is to become what Jed McKenna calls a “Human Adult.” He asserts that the world is comprised mostly of “Human Children” mainly because we don’t understand that there is anything such as a Human Adult to which we can aspire. In the coming days I will be talking a lot about this topic because it is THE subject of intense focus of my life and weaves perfectly into my goal of this blog, which is to help people at the individual level to effect change in their lives. The change I speak of is based on the awareness and transcendence of fear.

In his book, Spiritual Warfare, McKenna explains that the human race lives life kind of like a grasshopper that has been caught by a spider. The grasshopper is still alive, but wrapped in layers of the web. Alive, but not alive.  Thoreau suggests, at the end of Walden, “only that day dawns to which we are awake.”  In fact, I would go as far as to say that Thoreau is giving perhaps one of the first, most detailed accounts of what life as a Human Adult is like. Thoreau’s “mass of men leading lives of quiet desperation” are the Human Children who are sleeping through an unsatisfying existence.

As an introduction, I will note the traits of Human Adults and Human Children.

­Human Children

Fear-based, worrying, selfish, believe in reality of past and future, asleep, addicted, seeking  to be controlled, controlling, blaming, questioning, unknowingly ignorant, petty, dishonest, believe in imperfection, materialistic

Human Adults

Gratitude-based, surrendering, in the moment, awake, unencumbered, selfless, certain, appreciating, knowingly ignorant, magnanimous, honest, accepting of perfection, content, manifesting authentic desires, simple, finding of true calling

DIY HDT

In my last Thoreau post I was complaining about the fact that we are continuing to live our lives in exactly the same way for generations and generations. There is nothing new under the sun that truly represents engagement with new forms of art or new ways of life. Thoreau's idea was thus, "One generation abandons the enterprises of another like stranded vessels."

If we weren't so content with mediocrity and keeping the status quo, perhaps Thoreau's vision would be realized. But like I have stated repeatedly in this blog: we as a human race are strapped down by the forces of fear. One of the main purposes of this blog is to get the message out so that we take an honest look at the role fear plays in our lives at the individual level. It would be nice to affect change in the world, but this is mainly about what a single person can do to make a real change for him or herself. And I think Thoreau has some good suggestions.

"...find encouragement and inspiration in precisely the present condition of things, and cherish it with the fondness and enthusiasm of lovers"

Forget the past, stop worrying about the future. Life is right here; it's happening now. There will never be a time in your life that is not right now. So embrace what ever is happening. Forgive the people who you say have done you wrong because that keeps you stuck in the past and hurts only you. Who knows why people do what they do? By not forgiving you are asserting your own false ego by saying that you are better than they are. And that is never the truth, just a shadowy, imaginary thing that keeps you stuck. If you claim that you know for sure that everyone is not always doing the best that they can, you are living in a false reality where somehow you have been given the knowledge of God to judge. And worrying about the future is equally as futile. Accept fully everything that happens as if you planned it exactly to be that way. Because you have.

"Live in all respects so compactly and preparedly that, if an enemy take the town, he can, like the old philosopher, walk out the gate empty-handed without anxiety"

Henry is encouraging us to give up attachment to things. The material objects of the world are transitory and we have spent a large part of our culture becoming a slave to inanimate objects. If all of the contents of your home were robbed, would it really be such a big deal? What is it that you truly need?

"This spending of the best part of one's life earning money in order to enjoy a questionable liberty during the least valuable part of it, reminds me of the Englishmen who went to India to make a fortune first, in order that he might return to England and live the life of a poet. He should have gone up garret at once."

It completely amazes me that as a society we are content with handing over our lives to corporations or ways of making money that are unsatisfying, stressful, and unfulfilling. It amazes me even more that I didn't question this idea more strongly and spent years and money towards a career that was absolutely NOT what I wished to spend the best part of my life doing. What is going on? Why do we do this to ourselves? Well, the obvious answer is fear, but more importantly it's the fact that we are sleeping our way through life. Working for the weekend. Working to make money to do fun things that we scarcely have the time to enjoy. Is money that precious or are we guilty, like I am, of not investing the energy and thought in the direction of those things that light the fires of our passion? Thoreau says, "Let not to get a living be thy trade, but thy sport."

"All nature is your congratulation, and you have cause momentarily to bless yourself"

Take the time to appreciate nature. It seems that it is an innate characteristic of being alive that we are abundantly blessed with the ability to take joy in our natural surroundings. Go camping. Get a birdfeeder. Go for a walk and find your favorite tree. Henry is probably rolling in his grave at the sight of how disconnected from nature we are. There is a satisfying and awe-inspiring effect that nature has on our lives. We simply just have to notice : )

The Irritation Game

A little game I like to play with myself is to look inside and find out what I am irritated by. It's fun because it always helps me move forward and always keeps me honest with myself.

If you aren't honest with yourself, then you are destined to keep running in that hamster wheel of life.

Here's what I do:  I either catch myself at the moments when I find myself irritated at other people or sometimes I simply look inside and figure out what my triggers are. Then I ask myself why. Why am I irritated by this person or triggered by a particular thing? And the same answer comes up time and time again. There is something that I don't like about myself or something that I am not being honest about.

For instance, people who act like they know stuff REALLY has the power to irritate me. Why? Well, I have played the know-it-all act for most of my life. Acting as if I know the answers. The reality is, as I have said here before on the blog, is that I don't know shit. (Keep that in mind anytime I act like I do or write as if I do)

So, that's why people that act like they know stuff annoys me. Because it is a part of myself I dislike. In fact, I challenge anybody to take an honest look at the things that trigger them and you will find that it is intimately linked to something that you don't like about you.

We are much better off behaving and thinking like the ignorant beings that we all are. Socrates said, "I do not think that I know what I don't know." And he further explained that the only real difference between him and other people was the fact that he had an understanding of his own ignorance.

The only things we know for sure is that we are experiencing the world with our own senses. Oprah actually has a list of Things She Knows For Sure   I actually kind of like her list, but these things are true for her and you have to verify them for yourself. And the question I would ask is, how do you really know for sure each and every time? Make your own list, but beware that they are mainly just your own thoughts and opinions and that we actually really don't know shit ; )

Oh, Henry!

“How can he remember well his ignorance- which his growth requires- who has so often to use his knowledge”

I think Thoreau is expressing the fact that society promotes continual use of what we know and how we are perpetually adding on to existing knowledge, nowadays through the media of television and internet, that we forget what we don’t know. Humility is a virtuous trait when it comes to our own knowledge. We have to be willing to realize that we don’t know that much. In fact we know hardly ANYTHING from direct experience. We continually take the word of so-called “experts” and keep adding to a belief system based on endless information. Even science is subject to so many biases and distortions that we truly cannot accept ANYTHING without first-hand experience.  He was big on the notion that you need to try things out for yourself. What information do you accept with blind faith? More importantly, what type of behaviors have you adopted based on what somebody else tells you?

“The Finest Qualities of our nature, like the bloom on fruits, can be preserved only by the most delicate handling. Yet we do not treat ourselves nor one another so tenderly.”

I would say this quote speaks for itself.

“It is never too late to give up our prejudices”

Amen, Henry!

“If I have any experience which I think valuable, I am sure to reflect that this my mentors said nothing about…so little has been tried”

Oh, Henry!  I love this quote because one of his assertions is that we rarely accomplish anything new. The mass of men, as Thoreau calls us, are living mostly the exact same lives that our parents lived and theirs before them. Yeah, we may have more convenient technology, but what is the point of existing to just keep the cycle going endlessly? The same thing. Grow up. Go to school. Get a job. Have a family. Die. Repeat. Where is the new frontier? What is the last thing that was radically new? Like Henry says, so little has been tried because we keep living the same fucking lives. Fear keeps us this puny little nothing race that has nothing to offer especially to this beautiful planet that we are trashing. We are human beings with the intelligence and materials to continue to expand and create. All we create is something to stick on a wall or titillate our senses.  I am sorry, artists, but I’ve seen enough paintings and the movies that come out are mostly the same goddamn stories rehashed. Is this all we are limited to? Let’s turn off the television and think of something radical that doesn’t require a paintbrush or a computer. Aren’t we better than this??

2 Links 2 Share

Thanks to KC for this one: http://advancedriskology.com/sunk-costs/

This seems to be somebody who likes straight talk, and I admire that : )

Thanks to Mamasu for this comedy and honesty gem!

What is Energy?

If you have spent any time around New Age freaks and goofs you have likely heard the word “energy” or “vibes” tossed around with little explanation. These terms have also been infused into common vernacular with comments like “eww she has a really bad energy” or “ I really like the vibe in this room.”

What the hell are people talking about? Well, I have come to the realization that maybe those New Agers aren’t so freaky or goofy and perhaps there is something to this idea of energy. This realization seems to be coming to me over the soul searching that I have been doing in regards to money. Money is simply a representation of energy (and not a very good one actually).

The issue also came up during my retreat through an internal voice that said, “I no longer want money as a parent.” Well the last time I checked, money wasn’t changing my diapers or pushing my stroller around the zoo. So what does that mean? I think it means that what we have done as a society is set up this monetary system as a parental figure. Fear makes us desperate for something to control us so we don’t feel scared about being in control. That is the irrationality of fear: trade one scary thing for another, but dress it up as something that only seems less scary.

Let’s face the facts people. We are scared of being in control of our own lives. And the people who appear to like being in control are the most scared. So, we have set up the system of money so that it has the seeming power to control us. Look at the world you live in. How much power do you give away daily? By having a boss who is in charge. A government to watch over you. An literal parent still controlling your life even though he is sitting in a nursing home. And then at the end of the day we let the television suck out what’s left of it.

So, my own fears about money have led me to the point where I am literally sick of it having control of my life and praying for a way to release its power and reclaim my own.  And the idea of energy is now starting to make more sense to me. The energy I put out is always given back to me. And most of the time the energy returned is in surplus of what I have expended.

Can you honestly answer the question, “what is money?” I mean really get down to the root of what it is? Paper?  What is behind it? Gold in some stockroom that none of us have laid eyes upon? Numbers being added and subtracted in a computer at some bank by God knows who?  Speculation passed around by companies and governments? I mean, somebody please tell me what the fuck it is!?!!?

So how do I remove the power of money? I think the answer is energy.  We put out energy into the world by noticing beautiful things. By loving the people that we care about and even ones that we don’t. By noticing my own joy and encouraging the joy in others. And overall, through appreciating and the gratitude that we take the time to send out back into the world. As long as I am doing that, money loses its power. Because it has no actual power. Meister Eckhart has a famous quote, “If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is thank you, that would suffice.”

If I am allowing fear to run my life, if I am concentrating on more negative things than positive, if I am not appreciating life then I am sucking energy out and it is not being returned to me. If I am doing my job of taking the time to dedicate myself to my passion, enjoying what is around me, and using the moment to express gratitude, money no longer needs to neither remain a fear nor rule my world. And you skeptics out there who think I am full of shit have actually done all of these things that I am talking about, right?

So, I made the comment about money not being a good substitute for energy because it has no real value. Energy has value in terms of its expression in our lives. I don’t care if it is money that I am getting back or a fresh fruit basket that comes to my door by a smiling and sexy deliverer. The joy is what gets returned. There are plenty of trust-fund babies who have tons of money coming to them without any seeming energy being expended. But what is the money truly affording them? If they are experiencing joy from the money it can only be because they are putting joy back out into their world. So, don’t judge people by the amount of money they have, rather, judge them by the amount of joy they experience and follow THAT example.

Walden's Inspiration

Hey everybody! As I mentioned before, I am going to share some inspirational quotes from Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" which I read during my rehab retreat.

I want to stick with the subject of internet and television addiction for just a bit because I was strongly inspired during my retreat to address this issue for myself and share it with you guys on the blog. Also, Thoreau's writing is very applicable in today's world despite the fact that it was written over 150 years ago. I would go as far as saying that his writing is even MORE applicable today because of the influence of television and internet in modern culture.

"Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind." 

This quote made me consider the fact that our own imagination and creativity is not engaged in the act of watching television and surfing the web. I have heard people express dismay over the fact that we haven't seen the likes of Einstein since he has passed away in the 1950's. Sure, we have some inspiring and smart people, but nobody that has expanded our thinking of the universe as far as he did. And I always remember Einstein's quote, "imagination is more important than knowledge."  So where is the new Einstein? Is he sitting at home playing video games instead of wondering about the cosmos?

"Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end"

So somebody please tell me what the last great invention has been!?!  Many would say the internet, but let's be honest, what has it really done for us? For our lives? Ok, so yes it has been used to share some important information and dismantle some corrupt governments in the Middle East. And I admit that it has some good qualities. I love laughing at the newest YouTube silliness and I am obviously making use of it now. But it has hardly been an agent of social change in this country. About the best it does here is promote the cult of celebrity or help you reconnect with an old boyfriend. I will admit to being wrong here if I am being narrow minded, but I need some help being convinced.

"A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone"

I love this quote. If only because it appeals to my non-conformist (wink, KC) bent that I seem to have. But, in addition to that, Thoreau is honestly trying to get the message out that our lives are not being improved by the luxuries of life. If we are not engaging our creativity or interacting with nature, how is it possible to have a fulfilling life? I am not saying there aren't other ways, but I haven't heard about them. The television and the internet may expose us to some interesting and valuable ideas, but if all we are doing with those ideas is putting them in the back of our mind so we can watch the next episode of "Jersey Shore," what the hell is the point?

"If men would steadily observe realities only, and not allow themselves to be deluded, life to compare it with such things as we know, would be like a fairy tale and the Arabian Nights Entertainments"

What I think Thoreau is trying to express here is that we are walling ourselves off from a greater, richer, more glorious reality when we allow ourselves to be deluded. Sure it is great to get swept away in a good movie or just relax with a mindless show once in a while, but we have to realize that without the steady engagement of imagination and creativity, we are blocking ourselves off from real life. And, according to Thoreau, "reality is fabulous." But, how would we know this? We have spent out entire lives being plugged in to the boob tube or reading about what kind of dress Kim Kardashian wore when she was served with divorce papers. But try it out for yourself. What is the longest stretch of time that you went without seeing a TV or looking at a computer screen?

I am not sure what this reality is that Thoreau is talking about, but I have glimpsed it. Since I have seriously restricted myself from the internet since my retreat, I have felt more motivated, have been waking up earlier, and have a more palpable sense of joie de vivre   Try it for yourself, you won't believe me until you do.

"That which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake"

Ok, so this might be my favorite. What Thoreau is effectively saying is that unless we are using our own eyes, hearts, and minds, we are essentially in the dark. And this is what TV and internet does. It shuts off our own brain and we are linked in to somebody else's creativity and imagination. He goes even further to say that the mass of men are "asleep" in the sense that we are not seeing the true reality of the world because we are too busy looking at what other people are creating. It's time to wake the fuck up. I am not saying that television and internet should be banned. How could I talk to you here? What I am saying is notice how dependent you are on technology. Notice how we walk into a living room and without even thinking about it we have turned on the television and 3 hours later realize that we haven't moved from the couch the whole time. Notice how the simple intention of going to check your email leads you to an endless search to see if you can win a Publisher's Clearing House prize or find out about Justin Bieber having sex in a public bathroom.

Return from Rehab

Well, I made it back from my solitary retreat and it was completely worthwhile.

The very first night confirmed to me that I was definitely addicted to the internet. Not because I was experiencing "withdrawal" symptoms, but a strong realization came to me that I have allowed the internet and to consume my awareness.

This is the same thing that television did to me when I was younger. When I was about 22 or so I completely gave up television, but shortly thereafter, I let the internet take its place. Kinda like swapping heroin for crystal meth!

This is a true addiction and I would say that television and internet are probably the most common addictions that people in this country and most of the developed countries experience. What is happening is that the TV and internet live our lives for us. We hook in to the stream of these images and mindless stories and thus give away our own life force. We shut out the world around us and our own nature, creativity, and passions are sucked out of us as if we have a vacuum cleaner attached to our head and our heart.

 Does this sound extreme or exaggerated? Try giving up TV and the internet for a whole week and see how you feel. As a matter of fact, have you ever went more than a couple of days without having your attention somehow absorbed in a form of technology? We are collectively robbing ourselves from the beauty of life, the beauty of nature, and our own creative potential by spending our time consumed by technology.

While I was on the retreat, I finally read "Walden" by Henry David Thoreau from cover to cover and it blew me away. It was the exact message that I needed to hear. I took many notes from the book and will be sharing them in the days to come. But even in Henry's day, people were unaware of how they slept through their lives by not being aware. Not being awake. And that is what the internet and television is doing to us: effectively putting us to sleep. If you don't believe me, how long can you give it up? How do you feel when you do?

Rehab Retreat

I realized that I am an addict.

I am addicted to having my awareness filled up constantly. Mainly through electronic devices like my laptop and my smartphone. And I think it is stifling my creativity.

So, I am going to do something that I have never tried. Go off completely alone for about 6 days. All I will have with me is food, clothing, toiletries, notebook, pen, and one book.  This will be the first time ever that I will be completely left to my own devices.

My prediction is that I will benefit from the experience. Stay tuned to find out if my prediction is true! See you in 6 days.

Sending a clear message

After re-reading some posts and talking to some people, I think it is time to really make a clear and concise message so that this post can be referred to as a way to eliminate confusion. This isn't a blog to complain about things like fear and death. It is to display them in the most beneficial light because those 2 things are what we have to get serious about to make some changes. And the most wonderful thing about this message is that a better life IS possible. A more fulfilling life that actually has some meaning to YOU rather than the manufactured and spoon-fed meaning that we receive from society. The only thing is that you have to actually do something. I can't write something or recommend a religion that will pull you up to where you want to be. You have to have a burning desire to stop living the life that you have and be willing to do whatever it takes to change. If you are happy and satisfied with your life, then keep living it and for crying out loud, don't read this silly blog!!

Ok, so in no particular order here are the things that it takes to get you started:

- Question the notion of free will. At least realize there is a margin of error here. I think this is important so that we stop blaming each other and ourselves for what isn't going right in our lives. You are destined to stand still if you are blaming anyone for anything. This is about taking 100% responsibility for yourself and directing your free will (if there is such a thing) towards things that are helpful.

- Recognize how fear rules your world. The reason for this is that fear has to be exposed to you. You have to see the variety of ways that fear is controlling you. Once you see it, you start to break its power. You develop a healthy contempt for it and start to take the necessary steps to free yourself from limiting beliefs. This step probably requires written question and answers. Writing is a POWERFUL tool. I can't exaggerate what help can come to you by putting thoughts on paper or a computer screen. It is amazing and you can accomplish way more than just bouncing thoughts around in your head. Start by asking yourself questions to yourself and keep going. For example: "why do I get up in the morning?" "why do I care what she thinks?" "who do I still blame him for what happened 3 years ago?" "what is the purpose of life?"  Come up with your own questions designed to get to the truth about your own motivations.

- Practice gratitude and awe. Start to recognize all of the amazing things in the world. Write about the ways in which you have been blessed. Keep a journal or take photos of the things that you appreciate. Ignore the television news. In fact, ignore the television that cuts you off from your own creativity and go outside and just look around. This is a beautiful place. Full of creatures, friends, trees, poems, tastes, art, tenderness, and magic. And a million other things that are constantly coming into awareness. Maximize the gratitude in your life. See the world as a friendly place and that you belong here. You have nothing to prove to the world; in fact the world is constantly proving itself to you by sharing its beauty. Stop ignoring it. Welcome it.

- And if all of the above don't work all you need to do is start getting real about death. Face the facts: you have absolutely no clue when death will come knocking on your door. If you are creating stories in your head about how death isn't approaching for years to come, then you are creating the breeding ground for fear. Why does this create fear? Because we are covering up the fact of our death and by doing so, the fear of death starts to manifest in our lives in a multitude of ways. We are all scared of dying. And is isn't the act of death. It's more about dying and not having lived a life that means a damn thing. The meaninglessness of a life lived under the iron fist of fear. If we live our lives ruled by fear, what the hell is the point? To make more kids who are ruled by the same thing? It seems like a big cruel joke. And it is, until you get real. Let death enter your awareness. Let it define you. If this was your last day on earth, how would you spend it? See how making friends with death makes every other problem you think you have seem ridiculous. See how death comes in and immediately shuts up every petty complaint that someone is about to make. See how death makes an old tree in your yard look like the most beautiful thing you have ever seen.