Another tragedy hit today. A friend from the past posted on Facebook that Ben Butler suddenly passed away. Ben and I had a close friendship and more back in the high school years. After my high school reunion, he wrote me here and we got caught up. He had gone to Oklahoma State University and then graduate school and was nearing his PhD in his field. He had been very successful since leaving Hugo, Oklahoma. I am saddened at this news.
I had received emails from him on the email connected to the blog. Over the weekend, I was at a training seminar in Philadelphia. We were asked to release anything that might be in the way of going forward during the weekend. The first thing that came into my mind was the grief I have had since January.
I last wrote for my blog on December 31, 2010 when my husband and I had returned to bury my sweet little pet, Precious after a Christmas visit with my son. I knew then that my friend Brenda, also a friend from Hugo, OK, was near her time to make her transition. Brenda died on January 11 from breast cancer and bone cancer. And my writing has been on hold since.
I get up each day and feel this underlying feeling of grief. I go on, but the hurt is still there churning and looking for sometimes very inconvenient times to rise to the surface. I would hear Brenda in my head telling me she would come around and drop in but only if I didn’t start crying. If I cried she would leave. It was comforting to feel her presence around and her beautiful laugh. But sometimes I have just had to go ahead and cry. I tried to put the grief aside on Friday night, but weepy and grief stricken feelings resurfaced in my dreams.
Sometimes, many times to be honest, I didn’t get up very easily. I am not one to get into depression and didn’t recognize it for a while. But it was what it was. I was depressed. I didn’t write on the blog. I didn’t write new stories or continue the stories I have started. Some people might call it a writer’s blog. I call it a time to heal losing the best friend I ever had.
I am very sad to hear of Ben’s death. He was 58 or 59 as he was a year behind me in school. He was a great football player in high school and a good saxophone player in band. And he was a friend. I am sad that Brenda and my little Precious are no longer here. But one of the phrases that is going into the end of one of my books is “Silly humans, there is no death!” Their Lights will shine on forever, for the soul, the Spirit of God, is infinite. I will never forget you my friends. As for me, it’s time to write again. I am back world!
Showing posts with label On My MInd. Show all posts
Showing posts with label On My MInd. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Random thoughts for Aug 31, 2010
It is the end of August and in a way, the end of the summer. It has been one of ups and downs, rain and very hot weather. There have been joys - seeing and spending time with my oldest son last week and my daughter the end of June. We built a natural swimming pool/pond and did very well. Then the hot weather hit and there wasn't much landscaping going on. We took some time off to visit my mother-in-law for her birthday and my father-in-law's birthday, Aug 20 and Aug 18 - 2 Leos that like to be the center of attention even at 80 and 82. It's no wonder they divorced 37 years ago.
Kansas provided nature at its finest with swarms of thousands of dragon flies, butterflies of all colors, grasshoppers flying in your mouth, praying mantises in abundance, cicadas keeping you awake on the warm nights, gold finches, night hawks, and blackbirds, and a parent coyote giving the pups a singing lesson on full moon night. Sunsets were varied and beautiful as usual. We tried to stay up many nights in a row to see the full moon next to Mars - no Venus - no Saturn - no the last official claim was Jupiter. I lost track of which one it actually was. On Thursday night it was supposed to be the biggest. I stayed up. It got to a certain point in the sky and then they started moving across the sky in the same position - it never got close. Then someone said the idea that it was going to be as big as the moon was an Internet hoax. On the other side of the sky Mars, Venus, and Saturn were almost lined up and bigger than Jupiter. But the night sky was full of stars and clarity. We saw something move across the sky several nights in a row that kind of bounced around with one big white light. We have noticed this before in Kansas. It doesn't move like an airplanes and they moved across the sky in opposite directions as the strange light. The airplanes usually have 3 lights, a red, a green and one white - not as big as the bouncy thing. We always end up wondering if our eyes are playing tricks on us when it starts bouncing around.
It was good (sort of) to see the family. The dynamics were the same BS and several people make no effort the have a better idea. In the midst of all of that, as I was able to get online, I found out that a high school classmate had passed away suddenly. He regularly posted on the class website funny stories and was in his own way quite a writer. (See previous post.) Before my trip I learned that my favorite published writer, Ted Andrews had passed away last October. I was very sad at the news of both of these men about my age.
I found myself screaming inside "Life is too short and can end without a warning for all of this childish petty bickering. Yes, all the drama gives you something interesting and different to listen to but find some joy to focus on and some love - if nothing else the beauty of the land!" But it isn't my place to judge or to tell others how to live their lives. I found myself increasingly hiding away in our little vacation like house and riding alone on the red 4-wheeler to the farm. It was fun except when that white pick-up truck would come flying down the dirt road and I would eat limestone gravel dust for five minutes. One day I put on sunblock before I took off for my ride - I had arms that looked like they had a coat of concrete on them after the dust from the trucks.
I am back in Georgia now. My 14 plus year old cat, Autumn just came by for a little holding - she doesn't like holding very often - and her kisses on the top of her head. She gave me some smiles and licked my hand and now she is washing me off of her. But that is Autumn. Zeus and Oden are more affectionate than usual and Precious is her usual hug me self. The dog is still mad at me and not eating yet. She does this for a few days when I leave her - though Buzz stayed here and she wasn't alone. She just has such a good pout when I displease her. When the act doesn't get anywhere she eats all of her food as long as no one is looking.
So life goes on. I choose to see the beauty and enjoy it. I want to make some changes and my husband and I want to produce income in more consistent ways. There are things we want to do and places we want to go. I look at it this way. If life as we know it is going to end in 2012, then let's live it up. Who knows what kind of life we will end up in next time? I choose to believe in moving forward to a new and better idea - right now right this minute. It is all good and all God. There is only One Power and I choose to use it for happiness. Katherine Ari
Kansas provided nature at its finest with swarms of thousands of dragon flies, butterflies of all colors, grasshoppers flying in your mouth, praying mantises in abundance, cicadas keeping you awake on the warm nights, gold finches, night hawks, and blackbirds, and a parent coyote giving the pups a singing lesson on full moon night. Sunsets were varied and beautiful as usual. We tried to stay up many nights in a row to see the full moon next to Mars - no Venus - no Saturn - no the last official claim was Jupiter. I lost track of which one it actually was. On Thursday night it was supposed to be the biggest. I stayed up. It got to a certain point in the sky and then they started moving across the sky in the same position - it never got close. Then someone said the idea that it was going to be as big as the moon was an Internet hoax. On the other side of the sky Mars, Venus, and Saturn were almost lined up and bigger than Jupiter. But the night sky was full of stars and clarity. We saw something move across the sky several nights in a row that kind of bounced around with one big white light. We have noticed this before in Kansas. It doesn't move like an airplanes and they moved across the sky in opposite directions as the strange light. The airplanes usually have 3 lights, a red, a green and one white - not as big as the bouncy thing. We always end up wondering if our eyes are playing tricks on us when it starts bouncing around.
It was good (sort of) to see the family. The dynamics were the same BS and several people make no effort the have a better idea. In the midst of all of that, as I was able to get online, I found out that a high school classmate had passed away suddenly. He regularly posted on the class website funny stories and was in his own way quite a writer. (See previous post.) Before my trip I learned that my favorite published writer, Ted Andrews had passed away last October. I was very sad at the news of both of these men about my age.
I found myself screaming inside "Life is too short and can end without a warning for all of this childish petty bickering. Yes, all the drama gives you something interesting and different to listen to but find some joy to focus on and some love - if nothing else the beauty of the land!" But it isn't my place to judge or to tell others how to live their lives. I found myself increasingly hiding away in our little vacation like house and riding alone on the red 4-wheeler to the farm. It was fun except when that white pick-up truck would come flying down the dirt road and I would eat limestone gravel dust for five minutes. One day I put on sunblock before I took off for my ride - I had arms that looked like they had a coat of concrete on them after the dust from the trucks.
I am back in Georgia now. My 14 plus year old cat, Autumn just came by for a little holding - she doesn't like holding very often - and her kisses on the top of her head. She gave me some smiles and licked my hand and now she is washing me off of her. But that is Autumn. Zeus and Oden are more affectionate than usual and Precious is her usual hug me self. The dog is still mad at me and not eating yet. She does this for a few days when I leave her - though Buzz stayed here and she wasn't alone. She just has such a good pout when I displease her. When the act doesn't get anywhere she eats all of her food as long as no one is looking.
So life goes on. I choose to see the beauty and enjoy it. I want to make some changes and my husband and I want to produce income in more consistent ways. There are things we want to do and places we want to go. I look at it this way. If life as we know it is going to end in 2012, then let's live it up. Who knows what kind of life we will end up in next time? I choose to believe in moving forward to a new and better idea - right now right this minute. It is all good and all God. There is only One Power and I choose to use it for happiness. Katherine Ari
Thursday, October 15, 2009
The Faith of Tim Tebow by Katherine Ari
Readers who follow football, especially college teams, will know the name Tim Tebow. Mr. Tebow is a senior at University of Florida. Two seasons ago, Tim won the Heisman Trophy and almost won it again last year. Watching him, he didn’t think Sam Bradford of Oklahoma would beat him and watching him this fall season, he wants to win it again this year.
Tim is also on the number one college football team in the nation and it looks pretty definite that his team will be in the BCS or national title competition again this year. Personally, I think that it was the University of Tebow that beat Oklahoma in the BCS the first of this year – not the University of Florida. Tim leads the team and pushes himself and the team hard to play smart football and defeat all of their competition. It’s working again this season.
I am an alumnus of the University of Oklahoma and Sam Bradford. I hate to see Florida win – over and over. Sam won the Heisman last time and people think he is a bit arrogant but it goes with the trophy and being that good. No one but other winners can tell them how to handle that much fame. So I try to dislike Tim Tebow. The harder I try, the harder it is to find fault in him. He is strong and a good player in all respects. He is a leader on the team and according to the media, off the field too.
Tim is the son of a missionary family. Tim gets a lot of press traveling with his religious family and ministering to people in foreign places. It isn’t that I want to follow his religion. I don’t. It isn’t that I believe that he is favored by God because of his faith. It is his faith, his absolute belief system that carries him all the way.
I don’t believe in a God in the sky or a white bearded man that judges and picks favorites. I believe that the Universal Force that is called God acts impersonally. Whatever we put in our minds is what we get. All thought is creative because it goes into the mind of God that is in all of us. Tim Tebow believes so strongly in his religious beliefs without doubt that he creates that which is in his mind. I will be totally surprised if he does NOT win the Heisman again this year. He had a concussion two weeks ago and everyone prayed for his swift recovery. He believes in those prayers and those prayers got him ready to play again last Saturday.
He does not inspire me to change religions. He DOES inspire me to believe in what I want to create in my life. He believes so strongly, so completely with no doubt, in his beliefs. There are no doubts. He creates exactly what he believes in. We all have that ability. We can all show that kind of faith. There is no place for doubt because if we think doubt, that is what we will create. I strive to have the absolute faith and belief that creates what I want in life. “Tim, you are a fine example of faith helping you to create exactly what you want. It isn’t that I have to believe the same dogma you believe.” It is that I need to believe in my own beliefs with that same amount of unfaltering conviction. I declare that I put into my mind what I want to create and nothing else. And that is what Tim teaches me and everyone else.
Tim is also on the number one college football team in the nation and it looks pretty definite that his team will be in the BCS or national title competition again this year. Personally, I think that it was the University of Tebow that beat Oklahoma in the BCS the first of this year – not the University of Florida. Tim leads the team and pushes himself and the team hard to play smart football and defeat all of their competition. It’s working again this season.
I am an alumnus of the University of Oklahoma and Sam Bradford. I hate to see Florida win – over and over. Sam won the Heisman last time and people think he is a bit arrogant but it goes with the trophy and being that good. No one but other winners can tell them how to handle that much fame. So I try to dislike Tim Tebow. The harder I try, the harder it is to find fault in him. He is strong and a good player in all respects. He is a leader on the team and according to the media, off the field too.
Tim is the son of a missionary family. Tim gets a lot of press traveling with his religious family and ministering to people in foreign places. It isn’t that I want to follow his religion. I don’t. It isn’t that I believe that he is favored by God because of his faith. It is his faith, his absolute belief system that carries him all the way.
I don’t believe in a God in the sky or a white bearded man that judges and picks favorites. I believe that the Universal Force that is called God acts impersonally. Whatever we put in our minds is what we get. All thought is creative because it goes into the mind of God that is in all of us. Tim Tebow believes so strongly in his religious beliefs without doubt that he creates that which is in his mind. I will be totally surprised if he does NOT win the Heisman again this year. He had a concussion two weeks ago and everyone prayed for his swift recovery. He believes in those prayers and those prayers got him ready to play again last Saturday.
He does not inspire me to change religions. He DOES inspire me to believe in what I want to create in my life. He believes so strongly, so completely with no doubt, in his beliefs. There are no doubts. He creates exactly what he believes in. We all have that ability. We can all show that kind of faith. There is no place for doubt because if we think doubt, that is what we will create. I strive to have the absolute faith and belief that creates what I want in life. “Tim, you are a fine example of faith helping you to create exactly what you want. It isn’t that I have to believe the same dogma you believe.” It is that I need to believe in my own beliefs with that same amount of unfaltering conviction. I declare that I put into my mind what I want to create and nothing else. And that is what Tim teaches me and everyone else.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Racism - Jesus was NOT a White Man
Racism – Jesus wasn’t a White Man
October 14, 2009
Katherine Ari
I grew up in a traditional Baptist home in a small town in Oklahoma. For the most part, the Choctaws and other native people were respected but people of African descent were treated unfairly and a few other words much worse.
We sang, “Jesus loves the little children of the world. Red and yellow, Black and white, they are precious in His Sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.” I believed that and when my love extended to the African American fellow students, my mother and dad got upset. I felt I knew Jesus, that I had a personal relationship with Jesus. I believed then and I believe now that if he walked among us he would be loving to everyone.
The idea of being unkind and hating someone because they have skin that is a different color or different hair or different anything is absurd to me. To hate someone whose ancestors came from a different country is even more ridiculous because Americans ALL came from different countries and continents.
The fact that this intolerance is carried on in churches, in people who act all religious, righteous, and pious while practicing racism or other intolerance, like towards gays, toward anyone different with different beliefs is incomprehensible. Jesus would not do that. A friend once said you could take the Bible out of many churches and they wouldn’t know it was gone. Jesus would not preach hatred and bigotry. Jesus would love everyone. Jesus is humble and kind. If someone walked in and said he was Jesus and then acted angry and hateful, he would be kicked out of the church as a pretender.
I do not believe I am better than anyone else. It seems so many fundamental groups and individuals need someone to hate, someone to judge, someone they think is not as good as them.
No one has my skin color, my hair, eyes, lips, and genetics. All humans have blood, bones, muscles, and similar parts but there is one thing we all have in common. Everyone wants love. Loves takes many forms. We desire it. We seek it. When we feel it, we know it. Real Love is the same for everyone – even atheist. They may not believe in a man-God out in the sky, but they believe in Love. This One Power, Love, is God. And if Jesus is the son of Love and we are the sons and daughters of Love, then we must Love. If you hate, you are not living God or Jesus in your life. People who feel insecure in their own lives look for someone to put down. “Well, at least I’m smarter or prettier or something better than that person, that kind of person.” If Jesus were standing before me right now, he would love me. He would love my neighbors, black or white or Mexican or Gay – everyone. “What would Jesus do?” What would Love do? - Love. Remember, if you are really honest, Jesus was not a White Man. If you turn your back on dark skin, you may be turning away from him.
October 14, 2009
Katherine Ari
I grew up in a traditional Baptist home in a small town in Oklahoma. For the most part, the Choctaws and other native people were respected but people of African descent were treated unfairly and a few other words much worse.
We sang, “Jesus loves the little children of the world. Red and yellow, Black and white, they are precious in His Sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.” I believed that and when my love extended to the African American fellow students, my mother and dad got upset. I felt I knew Jesus, that I had a personal relationship with Jesus. I believed then and I believe now that if he walked among us he would be loving to everyone.
The idea of being unkind and hating someone because they have skin that is a different color or different hair or different anything is absurd to me. To hate someone whose ancestors came from a different country is even more ridiculous because Americans ALL came from different countries and continents.
The fact that this intolerance is carried on in churches, in people who act all religious, righteous, and pious while practicing racism or other intolerance, like towards gays, toward anyone different with different beliefs is incomprehensible. Jesus would not do that. A friend once said you could take the Bible out of many churches and they wouldn’t know it was gone. Jesus would not preach hatred and bigotry. Jesus would love everyone. Jesus is humble and kind. If someone walked in and said he was Jesus and then acted angry and hateful, he would be kicked out of the church as a pretender.
I do not believe I am better than anyone else. It seems so many fundamental groups and individuals need someone to hate, someone to judge, someone they think is not as good as them.
No one has my skin color, my hair, eyes, lips, and genetics. All humans have blood, bones, muscles, and similar parts but there is one thing we all have in common. Everyone wants love. Loves takes many forms. We desire it. We seek it. When we feel it, we know it. Real Love is the same for everyone – even atheist. They may not believe in a man-God out in the sky, but they believe in Love. This One Power, Love, is God. And if Jesus is the son of Love and we are the sons and daughters of Love, then we must Love. If you hate, you are not living God or Jesus in your life. People who feel insecure in their own lives look for someone to put down. “Well, at least I’m smarter or prettier or something better than that person, that kind of person.” If Jesus were standing before me right now, he would love me. He would love my neighbors, black or white or Mexican or Gay – everyone. “What would Jesus do?” What would Love do? - Love. Remember, if you are really honest, Jesus was not a White Man. If you turn your back on dark skin, you may be turning away from him.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Look at the One in the Mirror and Make a Change
It's 9-11-09, eight years after the terrorist attacks on New York. So much has happened since then. It was so surreal and you kept asking "Is this really happening? It just can't be real, but it is real. And what's going to happen next?"
We mourned. We came together and helped each other. And many, many good things have happened since then as well as many not so good. Many changes have come about because of it but it wasn't necessary to kill innocent people to bring about those changes. But people still don't get it.
Hatred never is necessary, but yet people still choose to hate, to be intolerant, to hold on to bigotry, racism and judgments, to work for separatism, to destroy, to act like they can tell others what to believe, what to listen to, who to love. But it is not just the "other" places. It is just as prevalent here in this country - in some cases more so. Can't they see that the very hatred they are angry about is their own hatred reflected back to them?
One of the Michael Jackson songs I continue to hear is the "Man in the Mirror". The best way to make a change is to change yourself. I personally like President Obama and I think he really is sincere. The medical system needs change and I ask readers, what are you doing to make the change? Fighting these new ideas is not helping unless you can suggest something better.
What are you doing to make the change about hatred and intolerance? Are you still being judgmental about people being judgmental? Am I? Are you giving love and respect because you want to be loved and respected or are you expecting it without giving it out? Do we stop anymore 9-1-1 attacks by war and more hatred or do we stop them before they happen by opening our eyes and making changes inside?
I hear people on Facebook looking for every reason they can to put our President down. I guess I was guilty of that with President Bush as I did not like his politics. (Although I would NEVER have been disrespectful if I had met him. He WAS the President of the United States, an honor.) These people who find loopholes in the health care ideas are the very ones that have suffered many health problems because the health care was not adequate for their problems.
I think of it like unions. There were these big companies that followed big plantation owners that got big and powerful by using/abusing the laborers. The unions came into power to protect the laborers. Then the power structure swung the other way. The unions became corrupt and too powerful. Either way, the government has had to step in. On the plantations, slave labor was wrong and eventually the society and the government stopped it - for then.
Big corporations and big medicine and big pharmaceutical companies have been making their money and the individual has suffered. The government is having to stop the Bernie Madoff's and the insurance companies but they aren't attacking the drug companies. Some effort to stop the current cheap labor also known as slave labor is coming around in the effort to stop illegal aliens from taking away the jobs of natural born Americans - but the real issue is SLAVE labor! But the media isn't saying let's stop slave labor because the politicians and lawyers and people with money like their cheap - slave - labor. They defend their rights to only want to pay a grown man $60 a day for hard work when they are getting $250/hour or more.
We are spending over $18,000 a year for insurance. The deductible is very high. Benefits have been reduced because our children are not in college and over the age limits. And we are healthy and spend less than $200 a year on health matters. But we have to keep the insurance because we might have an emergency even though we don't go to the doctor because we can't afford it because of the high deductible.
The corporations and high medical care have gotten us into these problems because of their greed. The government is stepping in to try to help the whole of society. You can label it socialized medicine or attack it because you are a Republican or a downright bigot. Maybe you talk a liberal talk but just plain walk a path of intolerance and fixed ideas you don't want to change. Your life is unhappy and unhealthy but you don't want to let that Black president come up with a new idea. It doesn't matter. You and I are all entitled to our own opinions.
But then that is a big part of why 9-1-1 happened. We ARE allowed to have our own opinions. We have so much to be grateful for. We have the government that will step in and try to do what it takes to protect the people of this wonderful country rather than continue to allow the government to suppress, control, and deny individuals their right of birth to choose and control their own destinies. We have all heard that, "You can't fight city hall - they make the rules and only they can change them." Well, that is the bottom line. City hall or the government itself is the only way that the government can change BUT we do have the way to get the government to make it change itself. It is NOT by hatred, more judgments, narrow-mindedness, and terrorist attacks. It is not by disrespectful behaviors liking screaming out at President Obama or teaching our children that is it okay to be rude to the President of the United States. It is not by telling more lies and undermining all attempts to make some changes by manipulating the media and the American public.
I'm looking at the one in the mirror. If you want to make a difference, look at the man in the mirror and make a change in what you see. Thank you, Michael, for reminding me what I NEED to DO.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Do You Need a Guru to straighten out your LIFE?
Today's subject - When to look for a teacher or guru.
Throughout our lives we are learning. We are gathering facts and if we are awake, we take those facts and experiences and integrate them into who we are - a compilation of those events, beliefs, ideas, and situations. Sometimes it is appropriate to find a teacher, someone who has gone before us or studied more than us willing to share their knowledge so that we don't have to re-experience everything. Teachers are good when from their heart they share their life experiences just because they want to. They sometimes can put into words things we know but can't express.
Now I am definitely not one of those people that believe that if someone is spiritual that they shouldn't get paid for what they are good at. Spiritual people do their best work when they can stay in the spiritual place all of the time but they have to pay bills and eat just like the average person that is just bringing home a paycheck - or not. And spiritual people can live comfortably and still be loving and real and "Spiritual". They don't have to be paupers!
The issue I have is the "teacher" or "guru" that doesn't do anything without an agenda. I'll help you if you promise to follow me, pay me this amount of money, be in my circle and do as I say.
The guru pulls in the person looking for new lessons and experiences and convinces them that they can't do anything for themselves unless they follow the guru's instructions. They tell the followers that there is only one way to do things and it is theirs. And if the participant questions the instructions, the guru and other members guilt this person who dares to question with all sorts of mind trips. This vulnerable, insecure person doesn't believe in their own abilities and this person takes advantage of it and convinces them they NEED to follow this group.
If your body says to eat, the guru or leader says no, you can't eat until I say so. No, you must do exactly what I say when I say it and by the way, have you paid your money so that I can fly back and forth across the country chasing women, I mean to do my work? How many such groups have women with money that are attractive but don't have any self-confidence?
There are all sorts of people doing sweat lodges. And I hear, "my leader has helped me so much!" It isn't the leader that helps you. It is what you find inside yourself when you enter the sweat lodge BECAUSE it is in YOU. And any water pourer that wants you to praise him or her for what a great lodge they did is on a major ego trip. If they are really letting spirit run the show, then the experience you have is between you and your understanding of God.
I heard recently how on some reservations when someone from the outside comes that the leaders make special effort to torture the outsiders. That is not what the sweat lodge is for. It is for cleansing and making contact with the higher power. If you need to purge some crap, it is not for the water pourer to decide. He/She is just there to pour water and do what spirit says.
I had a dream last night where this leader, a former person I associated with, was really determined in the dream to make it hard on me. He didn't like it that the first part of the "journey" did not give me any trouble. So he was going to make it harder for me to do the next part of the "test". I was further told that I couldn't eat until he said so by the others in the group. And then I woke up. I find that pretty profound. I WOKE UP!
It is my sincere goal to work with people to help them find their inner guru, their inner teacher to help them as they WAKE UP. I am not the final know all. I don't want to be. I don't want to take responsibility for your life. I want you to find it inside you - it is guaranteed at birth. You have the knowledge inside you to find your own way. I am just a guide, a helper, one who has traveled down the road at my own pace and found the beautiful clear lake at the end of the walk. I decide whether to jump in and when. I share love, experience, enthusiasm, energy. If my inner guide tells me to pick up oracle cards or pick up an animal book, it isn't for my benefit or glory. It is for the person seeking some answers, some direction. It isn't for me to judge or control.
I need income just like anyone else. A wise therapist told me once that most of the people that come in to her office she can "fix" in one session. And she did, but it didn't keep her in business. But she just couldn't keep people coming back just to pay her bills. In management organizations, they spend a lot of time teaching you how to get customers to come back over and over. So the full time guru is doing the same thing - keep people coming back to keep steady income. It is capitalism. I understand all of that. There just has to be a better way! I mean, is capitalism working for us these days in the current economy?
Seek your teachers who share knowledge, but be careful not to become dependent on them. If they foster that pattern, they may not be sincere. If you find a spiritual center that makes you happy, make it about the teachings - not the preacher/minister. I love this well liked spiritual lady in Atlanta who answers the doctor that tells her things she doesn't want to hear, "That isn't my truth." Know your own truth. KNOW YOUR OWN TRUTH!
Katherine Ari
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Time to Control the Changes we Want to be in our Lives
Today is Sunday and our speaker today at the Spiritual Living Center of Atlanta was the Reverend, David Barrett. He talked about the changes we are all growing through these days. The economy is going through changes and challenges. Most of us are having to take a look at our thinking and how we spend our money - as well as how we make it.
Change is guaranteed in life. Many people, as he brought up, want things to go back to the way they were. When we were going through water shortages during the recent drought, we were told to stop wasting water, conserve, and do things differently. Many people made some conscientious changes. Many people believed that things would improve and they could just go back to the same old habits and wasteful behaviors. And those are probably the same people wanting to go back to the way things were with their jobs and the economy.
But you can't go back. Changes are here. Wake up.
I was moaning one day how I hated getting old. And a woman younger and at that moment, wiser than me said, "Consider the alternative? If you don't get old, you are dead." We are making changes. We are shedding the old ways and ideas. We are creating waste products that when spread around are like manure on the garden. Quoting David again, "if we spread the manure and create fertile ground to grow something new, what do we get if we don't take control of what goes there? We get weeds and more chaos."
We are at the opening to grow something new in our lives. It is up to us to choose what we grow and take control of our growth. If we focus on lack and struggle, what are we going to grow? If we focus on love, abundance, gratitude, and a new economy, that is what we receive.
Let's take control of our growth and from the fertile ground let's grow something wonderful and beautiful. It's time and it's up to each of us to create the kind of world we want today and tomorrow.
Katherine Ari
Change is guaranteed in life. Many people, as he brought up, want things to go back to the way they were. When we were going through water shortages during the recent drought, we were told to stop wasting water, conserve, and do things differently. Many people made some conscientious changes. Many people believed that things would improve and they could just go back to the same old habits and wasteful behaviors. And those are probably the same people wanting to go back to the way things were with their jobs and the economy.
But you can't go back. Changes are here. Wake up.
I was moaning one day how I hated getting old. And a woman younger and at that moment, wiser than me said, "Consider the alternative? If you don't get old, you are dead." We are making changes. We are shedding the old ways and ideas. We are creating waste products that when spread around are like manure on the garden. Quoting David again, "if we spread the manure and create fertile ground to grow something new, what do we get if we don't take control of what goes there? We get weeds and more chaos."
We are at the opening to grow something new in our lives. It is up to us to choose what we grow and take control of our growth. If we focus on lack and struggle, what are we going to grow? If we focus on love, abundance, gratitude, and a new economy, that is what we receive.
Let's take control of our growth and from the fertile ground let's grow something wonderful and beautiful. It's time and it's up to each of us to create the kind of world we want today and tomorrow.
Katherine Ari
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Why Do People Want to get Rich?
Why do people want to get rich?
I think the main reason is:
1. People want to do what they want to do when they want to do it, buying what they want when they want to. And they want to pay someone else to do what they don't want to do.
The altruistic answer is:
2. They want to help others - but ultimately they still want #1
The self serving answer is:
3. They want "things" and "To Travel" - but #1 still comes first.
I'll be honest. I want to make money. I want to see 4 to 6 clients a day and get paid for my writing. I enjoy what I do. I love life and I am on a Spiritual path. But Spiritual people have to pay the same for food and utilities and gasoline and insurance, etc., pay rent or a mortgage, as everyone else. It's hogwash when someone says Spiritual people shouldn't get money if they are Spiritual.
Are you honest about money?
Can you say, "Yes, I want to make money."
It's okay, you know. We can enjoy life as much as we can envision and that can include money.
Think about it.
Why do you make money? Why do you want to make money?
It's on everyone's mind these days, so let's take a honest, straight forward approach about it and work together to move forward.
It is an avenue of exchange. I can't grow my own food, make my own clothes and electricity and do what I do best.
Why do YOU want to make a lot of money?
I think the main reason is:
1. People want to do what they want to do when they want to do it, buying what they want when they want to. And they want to pay someone else to do what they don't want to do.
The altruistic answer is:
2. They want to help others - but ultimately they still want #1
The self serving answer is:
3. They want "things" and "To Travel" - but #1 still comes first.
I'll be honest. I want to make money. I want to see 4 to 6 clients a day and get paid for my writing. I enjoy what I do. I love life and I am on a Spiritual path. But Spiritual people have to pay the same for food and utilities and gasoline and insurance, etc., pay rent or a mortgage, as everyone else. It's hogwash when someone says Spiritual people shouldn't get money if they are Spiritual.
Are you honest about money?
Can you say, "Yes, I want to make money."
It's okay, you know. We can enjoy life as much as we can envision and that can include money.
Think about it.
Why do you make money? Why do you want to make money?
It's on everyone's mind these days, so let's take a honest, straight forward approach about it and work together to move forward.
It is an avenue of exchange. I can't grow my own food, make my own clothes and electricity and do what I do best.
Why do YOU want to make a lot of money?
Friday, July 24, 2009
What is a Spiritualist?
Spiritualist
by Katherine Ari July 24, 2009
As readers navigate around my blog, there is a section to the upper right about me. A storyteller is pretty obvious, but some ask what is a spiritualist? A Native American elder told me many years ago that being Native American meant being in harmony with Nature and being connected to God or the Great Spirit in everything you do. In the Bible of the New Testament, Jesus taught two great rules – to do unto others as you would have them do unto you, The Golden Rule, and to love the Lord thy God with all your heart in everything you do. Being connected to God in everything I do and to love God with all my heart is the same thing to me.
For most of my adult life, I have been studying religions and spirituality. The most important thing I have found is that in all religions or belief systems there are common truths. These truths are interpreted differently by different people, and different dogmas or religions evolve. The problem arises when one group decides their understanding is the one and only way to understand God. We have separatism and wars and hatred and judgment – all things completely in opposition to the basic teaching to love God in every thing we say, think, or do.
For that reason alone, when I say I am spiritualist, it does not mean dogma. It does not mean that I subscribe to a particular set of rules or requirements. I am not going to preach at anyone or judge or condemn. I believe if you have a chosen religion or church that makes you happy, then that is good. If you have a church but don’t always agree with what they say or find yourself going but coming home angry or feeling guilty, then perhaps you should find another spiritual home.
Yes, I use this blog to talk about my own ideas and interpretations. I have a traditional upbringing and know a lot about scripture from the Bible though. And as you can find any scripture in the Bible to back up your beliefs, you can also take anything I say in my way and go to the Bible and find it says what I say. I do NOT believe in literal Bible. I believe in the metaphorical meanings of scripture as well as teaching or writings from other religions. Again, Truth is Truth.
Everything I do and everything I think and everything I say is Spirit led. Even when I write animal stories or essays, the decision to write that story or post that story is because of an inner prompting that I consider my inner God voice. For some reason I am compelled to share that on that day.
What is God? God is Love. God is the Creative Force in the Universe that is the beginning and end of everything. It is everywhere in everything. In the Science of Mind, those three sentences in some form are the first step of a Spiritual Mind Treatment or Affirmative Prayer. They are also Truth and rarely would any positive religion disagree with those words. The argument starts when the next thing another group says is that God is angry, vindictive, biased, spiteful, conditional, and condemning. For me, God is Love and anything fear induced is NOT God. You cannot feel God if you feel fear.
I do believe, I know, that we are all here on a spiritual journey. We are here to learn and to grow. We are here to feel Love and to give Love. I suppose the atheist would disagree, but then I really don’t know. I must admit that because I have always had some kind of belief in a power that created the universe – something had to get things started somehow – that it is really hard to understand atheism. The ones that make it on the news are usually very angry, argumentative, and stressed out because the reasons that ARE on the news is because they are fighting for their rights. I am open to discussion about the subject because I would like to know what that means to the atheist.
My “About Katherine Ari” column also includes Life Coach. My approach to coaching or guiding is first and predominantly Spiritual. I love to work with young adults and older as well helping them find their path and making decisions that will help them fulfill their reason for living. That is always a spiritual journey to me, and most of the time, when I am working with someone, they feel that way too. Sometimes I get intuitive impressions. Sometimes I use Oracles, Tarot, Spirit Guides, Hypnosis, Past Life Regression, Celtic or Shapeshifting, or Numerology to add to my directions or suggestions. Ultimately, the answers are within each individual. I am NOT a guru or Know-All teacher. My goal is to help others find what is inside. I don’t have all the answers and I am still learning myself.
I ask, “What are you looking for? What do you want to learn? How can I help you on your life journey?” I am a Wise Woman Spiritual Guide and I draw from several different techniques or modalities – whatever works for the moment and time. When there is a next time, the client’s dreams may be the focus and the next, a profound contact with an animal or bird. And maybe I just need to let you talk and process.
I remember one time over 30 years ago going to my own therapist and spending the whole time talking, over two hours. I ended saying I didn’t feel like I did much work that day, just rambled on and on. She said, “No, you were processing a lot and I am impressed with what you are learning on your own. You are doing great.” I left and drove home thinking about what I had been talking about and realized she was right. I was beginning to see the “light at the end of the tunnel” and it really felt good having someone to listen and let me do what I needed to do for my own healing and growth.
I have been very fortunate to work with other spiritual helpers and teachers. But then since everything I do IS spiritual, then everyone I meet brings me a spiritual lesson – even when I don’t think that is the case at first. There is always a spiritual lesson.
Everything I do is Spirit Led.
I do not subscribe to any dogmas or set of do’s and don’ts.
I take a spiritual approach with my clients and my writing but do not try to convert anyone to my beliefs. I share them and listen to their beliefs.
There is One Great Universal Power in the Universe and everything is connected to that. This Power is everywhere all the time in everything and it is so magnificent that it can “speak” to me in my ways and I am open to receive the message of the One Power, but I do not believe it is a man out there in the sky.
I am a Spiritualist.
by Katherine Ari July 24, 2009
As readers navigate around my blog, there is a section to the upper right about me. A storyteller is pretty obvious, but some ask what is a spiritualist? A Native American elder told me many years ago that being Native American meant being in harmony with Nature and being connected to God or the Great Spirit in everything you do. In the Bible of the New Testament, Jesus taught two great rules – to do unto others as you would have them do unto you, The Golden Rule, and to love the Lord thy God with all your heart in everything you do. Being connected to God in everything I do and to love God with all my heart is the same thing to me.
For most of my adult life, I have been studying religions and spirituality. The most important thing I have found is that in all religions or belief systems there are common truths. These truths are interpreted differently by different people, and different dogmas or religions evolve. The problem arises when one group decides their understanding is the one and only way to understand God. We have separatism and wars and hatred and judgment – all things completely in opposition to the basic teaching to love God in every thing we say, think, or do.
For that reason alone, when I say I am spiritualist, it does not mean dogma. It does not mean that I subscribe to a particular set of rules or requirements. I am not going to preach at anyone or judge or condemn. I believe if you have a chosen religion or church that makes you happy, then that is good. If you have a church but don’t always agree with what they say or find yourself going but coming home angry or feeling guilty, then perhaps you should find another spiritual home.
Yes, I use this blog to talk about my own ideas and interpretations. I have a traditional upbringing and know a lot about scripture from the Bible though. And as you can find any scripture in the Bible to back up your beliefs, you can also take anything I say in my way and go to the Bible and find it says what I say. I do NOT believe in literal Bible. I believe in the metaphorical meanings of scripture as well as teaching or writings from other religions. Again, Truth is Truth.
Everything I do and everything I think and everything I say is Spirit led. Even when I write animal stories or essays, the decision to write that story or post that story is because of an inner prompting that I consider my inner God voice. For some reason I am compelled to share that on that day.
What is God? God is Love. God is the Creative Force in the Universe that is the beginning and end of everything. It is everywhere in everything. In the Science of Mind, those three sentences in some form are the first step of a Spiritual Mind Treatment or Affirmative Prayer. They are also Truth and rarely would any positive religion disagree with those words. The argument starts when the next thing another group says is that God is angry, vindictive, biased, spiteful, conditional, and condemning. For me, God is Love and anything fear induced is NOT God. You cannot feel God if you feel fear.
I do believe, I know, that we are all here on a spiritual journey. We are here to learn and to grow. We are here to feel Love and to give Love. I suppose the atheist would disagree, but then I really don’t know. I must admit that because I have always had some kind of belief in a power that created the universe – something had to get things started somehow – that it is really hard to understand atheism. The ones that make it on the news are usually very angry, argumentative, and stressed out because the reasons that ARE on the news is because they are fighting for their rights. I am open to discussion about the subject because I would like to know what that means to the atheist.
My “About Katherine Ari” column also includes Life Coach. My approach to coaching or guiding is first and predominantly Spiritual. I love to work with young adults and older as well helping them find their path and making decisions that will help them fulfill their reason for living. That is always a spiritual journey to me, and most of the time, when I am working with someone, they feel that way too. Sometimes I get intuitive impressions. Sometimes I use Oracles, Tarot, Spirit Guides, Hypnosis, Past Life Regression, Celtic or Shapeshifting, or Numerology to add to my directions or suggestions. Ultimately, the answers are within each individual. I am NOT a guru or Know-All teacher. My goal is to help others find what is inside. I don’t have all the answers and I am still learning myself.
I ask, “What are you looking for? What do you want to learn? How can I help you on your life journey?” I am a Wise Woman Spiritual Guide and I draw from several different techniques or modalities – whatever works for the moment and time. When there is a next time, the client’s dreams may be the focus and the next, a profound contact with an animal or bird. And maybe I just need to let you talk and process.
I remember one time over 30 years ago going to my own therapist and spending the whole time talking, over two hours. I ended saying I didn’t feel like I did much work that day, just rambled on and on. She said, “No, you were processing a lot and I am impressed with what you are learning on your own. You are doing great.” I left and drove home thinking about what I had been talking about and realized she was right. I was beginning to see the “light at the end of the tunnel” and it really felt good having someone to listen and let me do what I needed to do for my own healing and growth.
I have been very fortunate to work with other spiritual helpers and teachers. But then since everything I do IS spiritual, then everyone I meet brings me a spiritual lesson – even when I don’t think that is the case at first. There is always a spiritual lesson.
Everything I do is Spirit Led.
I do not subscribe to any dogmas or set of do’s and don’ts.
I take a spiritual approach with my clients and my writing but do not try to convert anyone to my beliefs. I share them and listen to their beliefs.
There is One Great Universal Power in the Universe and everything is connected to that. This Power is everywhere all the time in everything and it is so magnificent that it can “speak” to me in my ways and I am open to receive the message of the One Power, but I do not believe it is a man out there in the sky.
I am a Spiritualist.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
What's not in Parenting Books
Parenting – What’s not in the Parenting Manuals July 21, 2009
The subject today is parenting and the subjects missing from the parenting books. I have long expressed the plan to write a parenting book with the prospective of metaphysical or new thought philosophies. Most parenting books are either written by psychologist or behavior specialist (frequently who have not been parents) or are written by someone whose agenda is their own religious dogma filled with morality and rules based on Judeo-Christian beliefs.
There are” shoulds” and “should nots” and theories based on statistics and averages in books. The personal core ideas of the writers are injected into the book as if those ideas are the gospel, set in stone, or hard clinical facts. I think that is BS. But then my own beliefs are going to show through in any parenting books I write. So what I want to present are some new ideas or different ways to look at things, or think about differently.
It isn’t that I haven’t been writing this book. It is in progress and my research continues. I noticed the other day there are some subject that are not in any traditional parenting books. The books don’t tell a superstar celebrity parent how to give their children normal childhoods (whatever that is) or why they need to. They don’t explain to the rest of the world how hard it is to be in the spotlight 24/7 and then have “down” time. And if the star is the kind that gives 1000 plus into their work, what they will be like as they crash. It doesn’t mean they are bad parents, just don’t know how to be a star parent.
The books don’t have any answer for a superstar that wants kids who has the money to get them in whatever way he wants (surrogate mothers or foreign adoptions) and then the superstar dies leaving the children without a parent. Or they are a couple and adopt and then the adopted orphan has their world upset and destroyed once again when the two parents divorce.
Yes, Michael Jackson has biological family but the tabloids continue to bring it up. Are they really his biological children? The damage these papers are doing to his three children in order to sell papers is hard to determine. And there is no standard to measure any of this by, nor any way to shut them the _____ up. Johnny Depp has his own island and keeps his children totally away from the media. But he is an incredibly talented actor and children tend to inherit some of the parents’ talents. Are they going to be sheltered away from acting when it is possible that they have similar talents? The books don’t tell any parent how to keep their child actors stable and able to cope with the fame. How many child actors grow up and have drug problems and have to go into some sort of rehab? The psychologist can’t claim they know what is “normal” for celebrities unless they are celebrities themselves – but that still doesn’t mean they know what is best in each situation.
And how does Cher deal with birthing a daughter that wants to be a man now? If you are a parent, how would you deal with that kind of change? I am not passing judgment on Chastity’s life path decision. I am just thinking about my children (four of them) and how it would be to be standing in the same room looking at them as the opposite sex from what they were when I birthed them. It does something to your mind. It’s very hard to grasp. And I am a very non-judgmental tolerant and loving mother.
Here is another subject missing from the parenting books, TV and the movies. The mother-in-law story has been shown a million different ways – all negative. She is possessive and won’t let her child leave and get married. She interferes and tries to run their lives. She goes to her child and new spouse’s house and rearranges things and injects her ideas of what is right on her children. And the new daughter or son-in-law resent it. There is never a really good relationship portrayed. What about the mother who is tolerant, not controlling, loving, and accepting?
I can’t say honestly that every boy or girl that has dated one of my children have been easy for me to befriend. I hope I did not come across as stuck up though if they were not right for my kids, I knew it. In my mind, I just kept my distance and knowing that they weren’t going to be responsive to me did not try to talk to them.
The really hard situation as a parent is when your child’s friends or romantic interest are really likable and you enjoy their presence in YOUR life. Then they break up and this person in your heart, is no longer there. The son divorces his wife. The former wife is still friendly to the mother-in-law who is in turn friendly to the former daughter-in-law and mother of her grandchildren – EXCEPT when the son comes around with a new girlfriend. This grandmother doesn’t know how to act around the former daughter-in-law. If she is friendly, will it make her son mad and the new woman jealous? If the split was unfriendly and he is bitter toward the old wife, does his mom have to take sides? If she doesn’t, that could make the son mad at her and feel she doesn’t love him. It becomes an uncomfortable situation and there aren’t any guidelines or in the media.
But the mother-in-law loves that woman who birthed her grandchildren. She isn’t mad at the former wife of her son. Yes, there are some women who can separate their feelings even if the wife DID do something like have an affair. There are those of us that don’t judge or maybe understand why the daughter-in-law might stray – just don’t project our own interpretations of what happened. It’s is not any of our business.
I have found myself in this position several times now. I opened my arms, my home, and my love to these children temporarily around. And when they broke up, it really hurt. It isn’t just about their romantic interest either. When one of my children has left home, I don’t get to see their friends anymore. I miss them. But it’s the break ups of the long-term relationships that hurt the most. I loved them and not just because they loved my sons or daughter. I feel their pain or hurt when my children move on and I don’t know how to be a friend to them. It becomes AWKWARD! And what happens? We end up having to sever our connection. Or we can only talk when the former romantic partner isn’t around. It’s a dumb social norm!
Parents – is it easier to find fault and get mad at the former lover of your child? Is it easier to keep your distance just in case they break up later on? If you always got along with the in-law, what did YOU do when they broke up? And if you carry on your relationship or friendship with your son’s former girlfriend, will he think you are trying to get him back together with her or just not want to be around her and he avoids you? Will she be hoping for a reconciliation if she stays friends with you? Or will the son think that is the case? Think about these things. They are real questions and how to deal with your feelings of loss are real. They are actually grief and it isn’t just because your child may be hurting because of the break up. YOU are hurting too if you had a good relationship with the girlfriend or boyfriend. And I don’t have the answers YET. This is a work in progress.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Believe in Yourself and Believe in Others
BELIEVE IN YOURSELF AND BELIEVE IN OTHERS
by Katherine Ari July 12, 2009
My children are ages 21 to 27. I work with teenagers at my spiritual center. Because of this I have many teens and young adults in and out of my home and my life all the time. I love it. I love seeing them as they unfold their talents and futures as the next adults running the world. They have so much knowledge, talents, and new perceptions.
It is sad when other adults discount the youth. They see them doing things that are “weird” or wearing strange clothes and bucking the established system. But it has always been a natural thing for the next generation to do things differently. They get to the age they desire autonomy from their parents. They strike out and seek to find a way to be different from their parents. Some parents have forgotten and try to exert more control. “You have to be in control,” another parent told me one time.
“Why?” Why should I think as a parent that I should control their bodies and minds and force them to see things through my eyes. When I say this, it doesn’t mean that I don’t recognize that their brains are still growing and forming. They still need guidance and limits. Sometimes it as simple as telling them their brains are still growing, but I must recognize they have their own way of thinking.
It’s kind of like coaching a soccer team that I did many years ago. When we were at practice that was the time to teach them how to play the game. When we played the games that was the time to rely on what they learned at practice – but as children, there was always more to learn. We adults have to know when to teach and when to shut up. Being a parent is not controlling – it is teaching and loving.
One of the things I heard was children not believing in themselves. “Oh, I can’t score. They would get mad at me.” “I’m afraid.” The thing that many coaches and parents alike don’t realize is that when you don’t believe in the abilities of the child, they know it. When you have little chats about this child or that child, they know it. They feel it. I heard another teen counselor making “poor ugly child” comments about a boy that was actually in her family at camp. She was in her mid-thirties and did not have children herself. Inside I was screaming, “Don’t you know that if you feel that way about him that he feels it!” It was an overheard conversation and not the time or place to try to tell her.
It is just that they know without knowing why they know. It is important as adults that we never, never say or think anything negative about a child, because they feel it if we do and it becomes their self-worth, self-esteem, and their core belief – all false ideas. If you don’t believe in yourself, ask yourself where does that idea come from? It is usually someone else’s idea and NOT the TRUTH.
by Katherine Ari July 12, 2009
My children are ages 21 to 27. I work with teenagers at my spiritual center. Because of this I have many teens and young adults in and out of my home and my life all the time. I love it. I love seeing them as they unfold their talents and futures as the next adults running the world. They have so much knowledge, talents, and new perceptions.
It is sad when other adults discount the youth. They see them doing things that are “weird” or wearing strange clothes and bucking the established system. But it has always been a natural thing for the next generation to do things differently. They get to the age they desire autonomy from their parents. They strike out and seek to find a way to be different from their parents. Some parents have forgotten and try to exert more control. “You have to be in control,” another parent told me one time.
“Why?” Why should I think as a parent that I should control their bodies and minds and force them to see things through my eyes. When I say this, it doesn’t mean that I don’t recognize that their brains are still growing and forming. They still need guidance and limits. Sometimes it as simple as telling them their brains are still growing, but I must recognize they have their own way of thinking.
It’s kind of like coaching a soccer team that I did many years ago. When we were at practice that was the time to teach them how to play the game. When we played the games that was the time to rely on what they learned at practice – but as children, there was always more to learn. We adults have to know when to teach and when to shut up. Being a parent is not controlling – it is teaching and loving.
One of the things I heard was children not believing in themselves. “Oh, I can’t score. They would get mad at me.” “I’m afraid.” The thing that many coaches and parents alike don’t realize is that when you don’t believe in the abilities of the child, they know it. When you have little chats about this child or that child, they know it. They feel it. I heard another teen counselor making “poor ugly child” comments about a boy that was actually in her family at camp. She was in her mid-thirties and did not have children herself. Inside I was screaming, “Don’t you know that if you feel that way about him that he feels it!” It was an overheard conversation and not the time or place to try to tell her.
It is just that they know without knowing why they know. It is important as adults that we never, never say or think anything negative about a child, because they feel it if we do and it becomes their self-worth, self-esteem, and their core belief – all false ideas. If you don’t believe in yourself, ask yourself where does that idea come from? It is usually someone else’s idea and NOT the TRUTH.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Thought on Michael Jackson
I watched the memorial to Michael Jackson yesterday and was reminded of the humanness of the famous star. I have thought about his unexpected death a lot and wanted to share my final feelings about him.
Thoughts on Michael Jackson
by Katherine Ari July 8, 2009
I have spent many hours thinking about the unexpected and untimely death of pop star Michael Jackson since June 25. It was sudden and unexpected but yet not surprising that he died young. But I am saddened by it.
I personally really liked his music and his performances – though I never saw him in person. He was extremely talented, energetic, and entertaining. I saw his videos and his performances on TV. I watched some of the interviews over the years. I saw the pictures in the tabloids. And I looked in his eyes as he talked. I saw a loving and kind child – no, not a man. The rest of what was said about him including the accusations and trial was all influenced by the observer or writers. I do NOT know the truth because I never met him nor talked to him. I had my own interpretations of what I saw but they are colored by my own beliefs systems and experiences. I unknowingly talked to a couple of pedophiles over a period of a few weeks. There were similarities between them. I didn’t see that in Michael’s eyes.
There used to be this woman living in my neighborhood that was a gossip and busy body. Behind her house was a rental house. A lady was living there for a while and she had frequent late night visitors. The gossip lady decided she was dealing drugs and called the police on her. My interpretation was that the woman may have been doing something illegal but it wasn’t drugs. She moved away.
The next renters were a family with children. The children acted strange and out of control. Their mother never came out of the house. She stayed hidden. The gossip didn’t understand why she was so reclusive and so she decided to call the police again and told them she was dealing drugs. If she didn’t understand the behavior, they were dealing drugs. I had another interpretation myself. The mother was mentally ill but not in treatment. I had worked with children of mentally ill parents before and they acted the same. My point is that when the gossip woman didn’t understand something she judged it based on her own fears and judgments – not on facts. And that is what the media did about Michael Jackson. They, like the busy body, form opinions based on limited knowledge and then put it in print. No one could ever understand what being as famous as he was from a young age was like. There have been several people who did know Michael Jackson personally. But when they talk to the reporters, they have different stories too. The fans, and I was a fan, will never know and it is a loss to the world of entertainment. The jury did not completely believe that he was guilty.
I know something else. I am married to an extremely gifted artist. He is different. If I had met him sooner when he was a child and if we had known then what we know now about believing in ourselves, my husband could have become a famous artist. But if he had become known the world over and famous, I doubt if we would still be together. He couldn’t have handled attention from fans and the media. He is probably not famous because he really doesn’t want to be. I refuse to project my beliefs on what Michael was or wasn’t, but I know because I live with a highly sensitive and creative person that he couldn’t have handled fame with that kind of recognition nor could he have handled hundreds of millions of dollars. If he had created at the level that Michael Jackson created with his talent, he also would have died young or ended up in a mental hospital.
Edgar Allan Poe died young. Elvis died young. Mozart died young and he was probably considered the greatest musician and performer of his time.
As Elton John sings, “their candle burned out long before their legend ever did.” There is a writer, Linda Schierse Leonard, Ph.D., who has written several books in including The Call to Create and another Witness to the Fire. In the latter book, she has researched several famous creative people. Some of them met their inner demons, overcame drug and alcohol addictions and became better at their art or talent. And some of her subjects did not overcome them and died young.
We can get an idea of how hard it was to be Elvis or Michael Jackson but we can never understand just how extremely hard it was. Having what society and psychology books say are normal lives did not exist for them. And there was no one that could help without their own belief systems and projections and they weren’t famous. We think that kind of fame and fortune might be exciting but we really have no idea the things they had to sacrifice that we take for granted. They had to be that famous. It was what they were here for.
I admire what Michael Jackson accomplished and that he lived to the age of 50. He had a very difficult journey and he was good at his job. Whatever mistakes or errors in judgment he made are none of my business. I wasn’t there and I could not walk a mile in his moccasins. I am sad for the three children and his family. I honor his talent. There was nothing like it.
Thoughts on Michael Jackson
by Katherine Ari July 8, 2009
I have spent many hours thinking about the unexpected and untimely death of pop star Michael Jackson since June 25. It was sudden and unexpected but yet not surprising that he died young. But I am saddened by it.
I personally really liked his music and his performances – though I never saw him in person. He was extremely talented, energetic, and entertaining. I saw his videos and his performances on TV. I watched some of the interviews over the years. I saw the pictures in the tabloids. And I looked in his eyes as he talked. I saw a loving and kind child – no, not a man. The rest of what was said about him including the accusations and trial was all influenced by the observer or writers. I do NOT know the truth because I never met him nor talked to him. I had my own interpretations of what I saw but they are colored by my own beliefs systems and experiences. I unknowingly talked to a couple of pedophiles over a period of a few weeks. There were similarities between them. I didn’t see that in Michael’s eyes.
There used to be this woman living in my neighborhood that was a gossip and busy body. Behind her house was a rental house. A lady was living there for a while and she had frequent late night visitors. The gossip lady decided she was dealing drugs and called the police on her. My interpretation was that the woman may have been doing something illegal but it wasn’t drugs. She moved away.
The next renters were a family with children. The children acted strange and out of control. Their mother never came out of the house. She stayed hidden. The gossip didn’t understand why she was so reclusive and so she decided to call the police again and told them she was dealing drugs. If she didn’t understand the behavior, they were dealing drugs. I had another interpretation myself. The mother was mentally ill but not in treatment. I had worked with children of mentally ill parents before and they acted the same. My point is that when the gossip woman didn’t understand something she judged it based on her own fears and judgments – not on facts. And that is what the media did about Michael Jackson. They, like the busy body, form opinions based on limited knowledge and then put it in print. No one could ever understand what being as famous as he was from a young age was like. There have been several people who did know Michael Jackson personally. But when they talk to the reporters, they have different stories too. The fans, and I was a fan, will never know and it is a loss to the world of entertainment. The jury did not completely believe that he was guilty.
I know something else. I am married to an extremely gifted artist. He is different. If I had met him sooner when he was a child and if we had known then what we know now about believing in ourselves, my husband could have become a famous artist. But if he had become known the world over and famous, I doubt if we would still be together. He couldn’t have handled attention from fans and the media. He is probably not famous because he really doesn’t want to be. I refuse to project my beliefs on what Michael was or wasn’t, but I know because I live with a highly sensitive and creative person that he couldn’t have handled fame with that kind of recognition nor could he have handled hundreds of millions of dollars. If he had created at the level that Michael Jackson created with his talent, he also would have died young or ended up in a mental hospital.
Edgar Allan Poe died young. Elvis died young. Mozart died young and he was probably considered the greatest musician and performer of his time.
As Elton John sings, “their candle burned out long before their legend ever did.” There is a writer, Linda Schierse Leonard, Ph.D., who has written several books in including The Call to Create and another Witness to the Fire. In the latter book, she has researched several famous creative people. Some of them met their inner demons, overcame drug and alcohol addictions and became better at their art or talent. And some of her subjects did not overcome them and died young.
We can get an idea of how hard it was to be Elvis or Michael Jackson but we can never understand just how extremely hard it was. Having what society and psychology books say are normal lives did not exist for them. And there was no one that could help without their own belief systems and projections and they weren’t famous. We think that kind of fame and fortune might be exciting but we really have no idea the things they had to sacrifice that we take for granted. They had to be that famous. It was what they were here for.
I admire what Michael Jackson accomplished and that he lived to the age of 50. He had a very difficult journey and he was good at his job. Whatever mistakes or errors in judgment he made are none of my business. I wasn’t there and I could not walk a mile in his moccasins. I am sad for the three children and his family. I honor his talent. There was nothing like it.
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