The Journey

Is the destination...

Suddenly something happens that changes perspective and after them life is different. Incidents such as the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, the Challenger exploding after takeoff, the events of 9-11-2001 are collective experiences that changed the individual outlook of millions. For many it initiates a shift in thinking and an insight that forges change.

It happens with more personal events also. The moment when I knew my Jeep Wrangler was starting to rollover on a freeway froze time for me into an unspecified period of pure white until I consciously recognized I was on the side of a freeway staring up at a blaring sun with emergency personnel and bystanders surrounding me. It redefined my clarity of thinking to a new perspective in the days after causing me to start a long road of making changes in my life and ultimately thinking how to institute them permanently.

That is because changes keep coming and are reshaped resulting in life improving due to them. They never stop since you can make a list of things you want to accomplish or overcome but even when you reach a goal the next natural step is to keep going. Sometimes I think people are not successful at certain goals because they decide they're going to lose a certain amount of weight, work out to reach a certain look, read on a topic until they know what they want, learn to speak a language enough to be fluent and so on. After they reach their original goal they stop at that point rather than continuing and revising the goal to another level. Maintenance rarely succeeds at holding changes in place, except perhaps for short breaks to regroup, since it requires constantly raising the mark to keep it going. Maintenance really means continuously improving and learning.

My experience is life works that way. It took awhile for me to figure out the reason why I sometimes felt I hadn't accomplished arriving at a predetermined point was because I had reached and surpassed it but didn't recognize it since I kept on going. It is habit ingrained within me after learning from failure and a determination to figure out how not to lapse back into what I had decided to change. The pilgrimage doesn't end at the designated destination but progresses onward for a lifetime to keep learning and developing.

America's Biggest Concern

Is not economic depression but a psychological one...

No fear, no defeatism, no going backwards.

Personally I think political, education, corporate and financial institution leaders want to keep the populace off balance as a method of control. They view the despair and anger that fuels different corners ranging from the Tea Party to Occupy Wall Street demonstrators as silly little distractions to keep the masses occupied with infighting. People need to wake up and channel their energies into a more proactive plan of action. The first place to start is with you. It behooves us to take stock of what we have or don't, what we owe and what we don't, own up to the mistakes we may have made with money and constructively deal with it. However you do it, whether it is liquidate everything and repudiate debt, give up the escapism of consumerism, complex relationships, drugs and alcohol and own up to who you really are and embrace a self image as a strong individual. The road to mutual help is laid by being a powerful person that can help themselves so they may help others. It is a matter of survival and will; individuals must fight to keep their inner fire burning and continue moving forward.

To stop is to risk never getting started again and I refuse to do that although it is a battle within at times. Personally it makes no sense for me to get mad at behemoth institutions I have no control over. If your temperament is to get involved and shake down the windows and rattle the walls then doing it as an ant on a hill of thousands doesn't do much for you personally. It is why the large power brokers prefer it.

Far better to note Tip O'Neill's observation that "All politics is local" as far more useful since getting involved locally empowers you as an individual that effects change. Everyone is different in goals. What is my "local" thing? During general election years I work for the County Elections Board running precincts as a non-partisan Inspector. Work for the local political party, any local organization to make change. There's plenty unattended situations needing help, leaders and an answer.

Do anything but stand still doing nothing or moving around making a lot of noise with little result for the effort. Our biggest concern as a country isn't just an economic one. It is an economic depression that leads to a psychological one because people fall into the trap of feeling like failures. They believe they failed because they screwed up their finances, education, income, career or wasted time on banging the drum at the bank, the school or employers to no avail. They mistakenly escaped into complex relationships, sexual arrangements or drugs and alcohol. Even if you have fallen into trapdoors there is always some way out but it is rarely easy and takes effort.

This does take work though. Personal hard work, one foot in front of the other with times that every step of progress is painfully bought. There is also satisfaction that you are moving forward going somewhere rather than running from something. Run towards the light away from fear. The biggest fear most people have is living in a weekly motel collecting change for food and splitting their blood pressure pills. That fear will carry you there as a self-fulfilling prophecy if you take it to its ultimate end. Conversely being optimistic, working at moving forward, putting effort toward reaching light is a foregone conclusion of destiny. Refuse to allow the government, financial institutions, consumerism, corporations, marketing, political class to force you into a life of submission and manipulation you don't want. In doing so you become a strong individual of character that as a consequence will be supported by others and surrounded by people you can influence to make real change occur.

Leaves of Grass

Windmill blades awaiting breath of air...

Sun Setting

 Not waiting for poet...

Sanctuary Electric Blue

The soul and spirit are eclectic...

Let them conduct freely outside the walls.

Too many people are bound by religion and tied to beliefs that are tight and rigid. The message there is only one way, one path, one road rang different bells for me than the ones traditionalists hear. When I broke away from the mold shaped by thousands of years of interpreted history and read the authentic and verifiable origins for myself I gained a new knowledge. An open passageway that was truly free.

There is a difference in what is commonly meant as religiously holy and what is spiritually holistic. The thoroughfare to freeing the soul, spirit and mind is not a toll road encased in the narrow paths many religions consider holy. The constraints of religion in actuality turn people away from spiritual enlightenment rather than open the door. Spirit is everywhere, conducted by us that choose to be open to it and not confined to the walls of a building and the minds of self anointed officials. We all have a direct link to the Holy Spirit of God and a Higher Power if we choose to make the connection.

Rear Window View

Desert night street under urban light...

The World Went By

While I was asleep...

On The Other Side Viral

A lost week to some imported microrganism...

Since last Saturday afternoon for 15-18 of 24 hours in a day I have slept due to some kind of virus. I blame the winter visitors who annually always bring some unwanted gift from Back East. The bad news is I lost almost five days. The good news is apparently I didn't have it as bad as some people who didn't get a flu shot, therefore I missed the grizzlier aspects of it.

I'm determined to stay awake for the rest of the day with the help of pseudoephedrine and caffeine. Since I can't share the offending microbe I will share the unedited version of an unshaven bedheaded me. On the lighter side the last time I succumbed to anything was early 2006 and when I recovered I had a burst of creativity. My mind is already cranking, photos and videos that need editing with stuff in my head that demands to be written.

Grasslands

Neighbors make good fences...

Selfy Sunday | 10-09-11

Feeling Blue...

Jeff Smith and Levi Moore collaborate on a project called "Selfy Sunday" open to photographers on Google+ for posting and sharing a self-portrait taken that day or the week before. This photograph is my contribution to Self Sunday - Oct. 9 | 2011.

My contribution and the associated comments can be viewed by clicking on Feeling Blue | Jr Snyder Jr and clicking on +JR Snyder Jr will take you to my Google+ posts and profile. You may also want to visit my Picasa Web Photo Albums.