What has man made of the Sabbath?

“The sabbath was made for man,” as a day of rest and refreshment for the body and of blessing to the soul. (Ex. 16:23)

I am not going to discuss the history of the Sabbath. I am not going to argue about the rules that have been applied to this practice by various religions. I am going to honor the idea that our bodies need rest and refreshment and our souls need blessing!

What is the purpose of establishing a rhythm to our lives. Our days are marked by the rising and setting of the sun. Our months are organized by the cycles of the moon. Our seasons are determined by the rotation of our earth which produces more or less warm and daylight. An oversimplification, but the idea is that the Universe organizes our time for us. We have done everything to move away from its natural order for our day.

What if we rose with the sun and set ourselves to rest with its setting?

What if we ate foods that were from our natural environment at the season when they are ripe and ready?

What if we intentionally rested from every aspect of our lives?

  • Resting our digestive systems by fasting.
  • Resting our muscles by not working.
  • Resting our brains by entering into a meditative state.
  • Resting our voices by honoring silence.
  • Resting our eyes by sleeping.

We would enjoy the blessing of our soul.

Sink or swim parenting

We all protect our children from harm.  Are we also protecting them from necessary growth and responsibility?  At what point are we handicapping the most intelligent, capable children and young adults by over parenting?

The children and young adults that come in to this world with physical handicaps, mental challenges and diagnosed disorders all have the opportunity to learn and grow.  In fact, their souls have come into human form  to do just that!   More often it seems that the particular “weakness” a child expresses is a much bigger deal for the parent than the child.  Our children have come in to this world as unique creatures, unlike any child that has ever come to this world before.  We place so much importance on accepting individuals from other cultures, colors, and religions. How easily do we really accept people who are just plain annoying?

Let us remind ourselves that, behind the scenes,  they are on their way to becoming a “Victorious Personality”!

Selections from Gail Sheehy’s Spirit of Survival

PEOPLE WHO HAVE A PERIOD OF DISTURBING EXPERIENCES IN CHILDHOOD OR ADOLESCENCE ARE NOT AUTOMATICALLY SCARRED FOR LIFE.  ON THE CONTRARY, CHILDREN OF TRAUMA ARE FAR MORE RESILIENT THAN HAS BEEN ASSUMED.  THE HUMAN SPIRIT HAS A REMARKABLE CAPACITY FOR SELF-HEALING.  MANY WHO FACE THE ADVERSITY, AND MASTER IT, BECOME ALMOST IMMUNIZED AGAINST THE ILL EFFECTS OF FUTURE LIFE ACCIDENTS AND EMERGE THE MOST SUCCESSFUL AND RESILIENT ADULTS.

The winner against adversity emerges with what I call the victorious personality.

Ironically, children who grow up in well-to-do homes often remain unaware of the depth of their own resources and ignorant of limits.  When faced with the first frustrations of young adulthood, believing themselves unequipped to prevail and resentful that they cannot have it all, they are likely to seek relief in drugs or other self-destructive escapes.  These youngsters may be the truly handicapped.Parents who expose children early to risk, by introducing a series of graduated sink-or-swim situations can actually help a child to develop that most precious of attributes…..the victorious self.

Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway. Kent M. Keith

from The Paradoxical Commandments

Why are you holding back?  FEAR!!!!

What are you afraid of?  Not being ___________________ enough.

One of my favorite quotes from the Abraham-Hicks materials is,

Enough is all you can do and all you can do is enough.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway. Kent M. Keith

from The Paradoxical Commandments

Why would someone attack you for trying to help them.  My experience with this is in raising children. The most prominent phrase in any child’s vocabulary is,

I can do it myself!

The intent you have when you try to help someone is the key factor. In his book The Mastery of Love, Don Miguel Ruiz talks about the difference between compassion and feeling sorry for someone or sympathy.

You feel sorry for me when you don’t respect me, when you don’t think I am strong enough to make it.  On the other hand, love respects.  I love you: I know you can make it, I know you are strong enough, intelligent enough, good enough that you can make your own choices.  I don’t have to make your choices for you.  You can make it.  If you fall,  I can give you my hand,  I can help you stand up.  I can say, ” You can do it, go ahead.”  That is compassion,  but it is not the same as feeling sorry.

Compassion comes from respect and from love: feeling sorry comes from a lack of respect and from fear.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway. Kent M. Keith

from The Paradoxical Commandments

I always think of Donald Trump when I read this commandment.  He has built and lost so many times but he keeps coming back.  Nothing stops him from getting back out there.

Marriages fail,  relationships dissolve,  financial security can be lost in an afternoon and health is determined by taking that next breath.  What do have to rely on in this life.

We have a purpose.  God’s plan for this world cannot be complete until we do our part.

In  The Noticer by Andy Andrews, Jones, the personification of wisdom, makes six points to Willow, a seventy-six year old lady, who had given up hope that she had anything left to contribute. (see chapter 6, pp. 83–85).

  1. God has a purpose for every single person.
  2. You won’t die until that purpose is fulfilled.
  3. If you are still alive, then you haven’t completed what you were put on earth to do.
  4. If you haven’t completed what you were put on earth to do, then your very purpose hasn’t been fulfilled.
  5. If your purpose hasn’t been fulfilled, then the most important part of your life is still ahead.
  6. You have yet to make your most important contribution.

Jones goes on to say,

If the most important part of your life is ahead of you, then even during the worst times, one can be assured that there is more laughter ahead, more success to look forward to, more children to teach and help, more friends to touch and influence. There is proof of hope . . . for more.”  http://michaelhyatt.com/why-you-aren%E2%80%99t-dead-yet.html

People Favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway. Kent M. Keith

from The Paradoxical Commandments

It feels like our whole lives are spent trying to be noticed,  appreciated and loved.  When are we going to get our 15 minutes of fame?  When are we going to be recognized for our accomplishments?  When is it going to be MY TURN?

In the cycle of give-receive-give-receive-give-receive,  we know that giving what we want to receive is the ticket.  Buy the ticket,  root for the underdogs in your life.  Maybe it is your child,  your spouse or the lost soul that has crossed your path for no apparent reason.  Accept the challenge:

AFFIRM,

VALIDATE,

 & INSPIRE

the people in your sphere of influence!

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the men and women with the smallest minds. Kent M. Keith

from The Paradoxical Commandments

The power of negativity!  No one experiences this more painfully than parents.  We,  unknowingly,  discourage our children by trying to control their lives.  We  can remember countless times when they were so proud of something and we did not share their success. Instead, we criticized and controlled until the child was afraid of our disapproval.

In the business world, people are always trying to get the upper hand,  put others in their place and create a safe place for their ego to reside.  In our social circles,  individuals are always jockeying for positions of strength based on material possessions or outward attributes of success.

The Magic of Thinking Big was a favorite book of my father’s.  My favorite quote has always been,

Action cures fear.

Take action anyway!

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway. Kent M. Keith

from The Paradoxical Commandments

Frankness is associated with being candid, straightforward,  blunt or outspoken.  One may often resort to  sarcasm when discussing a matter to ease the blow of  reality and to have a laugh.

Honesty, however,  is a much more difficult thing.   Deepak Chopra talks about how your gut feelings are real because the cells of your stomach have not evolved to the point of understanding sarcasm.

Above all else,  be honest with yourself and others……… anyway.

The Law of Value: Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment

from The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann 

How do you determine what to give?  If giving is so important how do I make what I give count?

  • Assess the situation logically.  What is really needed in tangible goods or services?
  • Assess the situation intuitively.  What are the people involved really asking for,  the intangibles?
  • What core need is being expressed that meets both the tangible and intangible elements?
  • What can I give?
  • How can I connect the people in need with the people who have what is needed?

Fill in the blanks!

I want to help__________________________  who feel _______________________________ to (do)

__________________________ so that  _________________________.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Kent M. Keith

from The Paradoxical Commandments.

The things most often remembered about the past are usually negative.  We feel guilt, anger or resentment regarding actions taken by ourselves or others over the entire course of our lives.  We can even go back in history and have these feelings about our history as a country, ethnic group or religious organization.

The really good things are forgotten.  The good things you do in life are like the water soluble B and C vitamins  that are flushed out of your system each day and need to replenished.

 We need to keep supplying the world with good thoughts and actions every day for it to remain healthy.