Soul Meets World

Time The Avenger

noreply@blogger.com (Alexys Fairfield) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:03:00 +0000

Wow, it’s already the last day of the first month of the year. I won’t lament about where the time went (through a mysterious siphon, no doubt) or how it seems to move faster through space every year or how it manages to leave my mouth agape at times or how each time when I think of it, I have actually lost time.

No, I won’t even mention any of that. We each have a different relationship with time. Some of us curse it, others bless it, but none of us can get away from it and yet we still don’t seem to have enough of it. Does that makes sense?

I was listening to the song, Time the Avenger by Pretenders and the lyrics are hauntingly profound.

“Thought that time was on your side,

Not, time the avenger.

Nobody is permanent,

Everything is on loan here...”

The only way to beat time is to make time. If you don’t make time, you will surely do time in the prison of your mind. The tick-tock of the clock will become accentuated. You won’t appreciate the time you have and thus continue to rob yourself of the quality of time.

Tune yourself to your internal clock, move your hands gracefully with loving care, tell those people who mean the most to you how you feel about them, so they won’t wonder. Mark your time with the hands of love.

Don’t put off what you can do right now to enhance this journey right now. Don’t make plans to have time, it’s never going to happen.

Let Love Shine

noreply@blogger.com (Alexys Fairfield) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:44:00 +0000

When it’s all been said and done, love is still speaking and doing. Love reaches around the world in a single bond. We are oceans flowing into each other waking the stars in our hearts. Let love shine.

Always Something

noreply@blogger.com (Alexys Fairfield) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:15:00 +0000

Some think the world is a cruel place. People may mistreat you, ridicule you because you are “different,” just because you don’t align with their ideals, opinions or fit into a convenient category or label.

Maybe you’re an independent thinker who can’t be coerced into status quo thinking. You are who you are and nobody can make you into what they want you to be, then you wouldn’t be you.

You may be on top of the world one day and the next day down in the pits. You may feel like you have no one you can trust or share your deepest intimacies, fears, secrets - your deepest self.

There are many people and factions around the world that want to bring hell to the forefront to create chaos, confusion, withhold true information, perpetuate fear, undermine your faith, but don't let that deter you from love or living a full life.

This is your time for your dreams, to go beyond where you think you can go, to carve the stone where it hasn’t been carved, to mark the path in a way it hasn’t been marked and make your footprints count. The tools are in front of you.

You must to continue to put love into the world otherwise, you would be living in hell, and the inferno you cause for yourself is much more intense than Dante could ever imagine.

If you’ve heard that you’re not smart enough, you have no talent, you’re not pretty enough, thin enough, rich enough, enough to do anything substantial or worthy, erase all of that misinformation from your memory.

Whether you feel neglected or cherished, understood or misunderstood, taken advantage or or taking advantage, you still have to come to a resolution in your spirit of your actions, accept them as part of you.

Accept yourself wholly without the soundtrack of negativity. Repair damage you’ve done in your life - to yourself and others.

You have a purpose in this world; something to discover, someone to discover, something to give, something to receive, something to feel, something to inflict, something to accept, something to reject, someone to love, someone to love you.

Everything is around you.

Twiddling Thumbs of The Future

noreply@blogger.com (Alexys Fairfield) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:34:00 +0000

I wish I had my camera with me on those days when I witness something incredible, funny, or something that poetically frames the times in which we live.

The other day while on my way to meets some friends, I saw a man and woman sitting next to each other on a park bench with a newborn baby, having family time together.

He was texting and she was texting with one hand while breast feeding the baby who had a cell phone rattle.

This is the point where my camera would have snapped. The expression on the baby’s face was priceless. The poor baby looked as though she or he was saying, “Hey concentrate here or I might bite.”

I remember when couples went out together and held hands not had hand-held devices. They would spend time alone together without outside interference; not so much as a beep, buzz, or ringtone. The only vibration they had was for each other.

It was probably totally natural for the park bench family to “interact” like this because of their electronic lifestyle. They were together, yet alone.

The baby, not knowing what was happening was so in the loop with the rattle. It’s first words would probably be texted.

It’s probably nothing too unusual for those who see it more than I do, but to me it sticks out like a sore thumb. Maybe the family that texts together stays together.

Maybe I am just a purist who sees the void of real conversations and frowns on scanty conversations generated by heteromorphic thumbs chiffonading words and fitting160 characters or less into a square box.

95% of all text messages are delivered within 10 seconds whereas talking face to face is instant.

German communications researcher Friedhelm Hillebrand did an experiment in 1985 by typing random sentences and counting the letters, punctuation and spaces, he found that the sentences were almost always shorter than 160 characters.

A light bulb went off in his head. He thought that 160 characters was “perfectly sufficient,” for quick communication. Because of tight bandwidth constraints of the wireless networks at the time which were mostly used for car phones each message would have to be as short as possible.

Today texting is the number one data service used in the world. In 2010, 6.1 trillion texts were sent worldwide or 193,430 texts per second.

Over 18.5 billion text messages are sent each month, earning $60 to $70 billion/year for cell phone companies.

4.2 billion people text worldwide or 3 out of 5 humans; more than the world population in 1975, 5 times the number of FaceBook users.

48 million people worldwide have cell phones but no electricity and charge their phones using car batteries.

In 2009, NATO launched a pilot program to deliver Afghani police officers their salaries by phone, thwarting corrupt middlemen that had been pilfering large portions of paychecks.

1 in 4 pills sold in poor countries are counterfeit. Hewlett-Packard has developed a system that lets Ghanaians and Nigerians text a code from their medicine wrapper to a database that tells them whether their medicine is real.

In October of 2011, the president of the CTIA Wireless Associate relayed that there are 327.5 million wireless connections in the U.S., which is more than our population. Data traffic is up 110 percent year-to-year, and there is a 50x increase in smartphone data usage year-to-year across all carriers in the US.

People bought $1.3 trillion worth of mobile devices in 2011 alone.

In 2012, 1.7 billion will have phones but no bank accounts.

Astonishing figures aren’ they? As I continued on my way to meet my friends, I saw them on the patio of the restaurant. They too are a couple. Their faces were buried in their individual iPads, while on their iPhones with bluetooth headsets.

They didn’t see me. I could have been standing there all day unnoticed. Though they didn’t have a baby with a cell phone rattle, they did have a dog (that’s why they were on the patio).

As I made my presence known by physically reaching out and touching them and causing a shock, they finally looked up from their devices.

So that’s what it takes. Physically touching, generating heat, skin to skin contact, heightened senses, hair standing on end, human electricity, electromagnetism to wake the senses and feel alive.

I have to get out more.

Fly Free

noreply@blogger.com (Alexys Fairfield) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 09:57:00 +0000

To be free in this moment is to fly like a winged creature through the ethers and siphon the liquid azure's majesty.

Time loses its numbers as you detach. Thoughts unfasten and fall motionless into orbs of glistening light.

Wake up released and kiss the birth of the gaze. Be free. Totally free. Do what you came here to do.

Don’t Let The Internet Die in The Hands of Government

noreply@blogger.com (Alexys Fairfield) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:28:00 +0000

This is not a political blog by no means, but when something comes to my attention that is so egregious I am compelled to take part.

The internet is a free form of expression where we can share ideas, pass information, publicize wrongdoings, give those with no voice a voice, offer aid and support to disaster victims, speak up for change and a plethora of other collaborative efforts.

The U.S. government wants to change all of it. SOPA and PIPA are pending US legislation that creates a punishing Internet censorship regime and exports it to the rest of the world.

On Jan 24th, Congress will vote to pass internet censorship in the Senate, even though the vast majority of Americans are opposed. We need to kill the bill - PIPA in the Senate and SOPA in the House - to protect our rights to free speech, privacy, and prosperity.

This blog, your blog or website, your favorite blog or website could not exist if either of these bills are passed. Piracy is wrong, but this is not the right way to fight it.

If you feel inclined, you can sign this petition and write your local congressional representative.

Motion

noreply@blogger.com (Alexys Fairfield) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:28:00 +0000

Some days you are the rock, some days you are the waves crashing against the rocks.

You are both elements at different times; moving and standing still. You are always in motion, slow, fast, medium motion.

When the rock is stationery, the waves are moving around it. When the waves are moving, the rock is moving inside.

Inner and outer movement. Linear and lateral. You are always in motion, slow, fast, medium motion. Some days you are the rock, some days the waves.

Today's Mantra

noreply@blogger.com (Alexys Fairfield) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 10:47:00 +0000

Repeat after me. I am here. How can enhance my beautiful experience? How can I enhance the lives of people I love? How can I be happy “now?” I have to remember now. Right now.

I am everything I am right now. Tomorrow I will be different. Now is the time. Stop searching under rocks, in the clouds, mountains, or phantoms to find your interior. Stop plundering “now.” Be “now,” forever and a day.

God At The Post Office

noreply@blogger.com (Alexys Fairfield) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:55:00 +0000

A little boy was upset with his parents' financial situation, so he decided to write God a letter:

Dear God,

My mommy and daddy need $500 for bills and I don't know who else to ask. Could you please help?

Johnny

The letter was received by the local post office and put in the “dead” letters pile. The clerk, being curious of the letter addressed to God, opened to see what it said.

He was touched by the letter and decided to help. He asked all his fellow workers to “chip-in” a few dollars to help a family in need. When all the money was collected, it came to $300.

The clerk sent a money order in an official Post Office envelope with the return address simply: God.

Several weeks later the same clerk found another letter addressed to God in the same writing. The letter said:

Dear God,

Thank you for the $300, but next time don’t use the Post Office, they have a $200 service charge.

Johnny

~Anonymous

Socially Awkward

noreply@blogger.com (Alexys Fairfield) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 01:04:00 +0000

In films it’s sometimes funny to see a socially awkward person try and navigate through simple things we take for granted, but in real life it’s not so funny to people suffering from this fate.

This condition keeps them in fear and leaves them feeling less than adequate. Being socially awkward must feel like being a fish out of water.

Everyday on my walk, I see people who I would deem socially awkward, you know, those people who walk around looking at cell phones all day and don’t notice people in front of them?

If I don’t step out of their way, they would run smack into me. They aren’t even aware that I exist or that ANYONE outside of their phone exists.

Technology may have contributed further to social awkwardness. Do people “become” awkward or “are” they already awkward?

There seems to be a fear of social interaction because a fear of scrutiny. People are really afraid of being judged, embarrassed or humiliated by others so much that they would rather be by themselves.

I don’t think they would rather spend time alone, but I don’t think they know a way out. There’s sheer panic if they have to interact with people in person.

Perhaps at one time, social networking offered a solution for social maladroits, but now I think it’s made the condition worse. They get used to interacting online with strangers who don’t notice their awkwardness.

The gist of it is that they are afraid that they won’t be loved for who they are.

We all are a little awkward at times, it happens. We are thoroughly human, a myriad of thoughts, emotions, actions, and reactions.

You can have 5,000 friends on Facebook, not in real life. How could you possibly get to know 5,000 friends in real life? That would be a nightmare.

5,000 birthday parties, 5,000 weddings, 5,000 baby showers, 5,000 christenings, 5,000 graduations, multiplied by your 5,000 friends family and other friends, etc., you wouldn’t have time for yourself.

Whether you feel awkward or just selective in whom you keep company, you are meant to merge with others, not avoid contact.

You are meant to engage in conversation, lock eyes, unlock fear, be loved, be yourself, interact, connect, share, make contact.

You don’t have to feel like you are alone in the world. This world is made up of over 6 billion people, all you need is one to understand you, to love you, to know you, to love.

What are you waiting for?

Three Kernels of Corn

noreply@blogger.com (Alexys Fairfield) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 10:30:00 +0000

Three young men were once given three kernels of corn apiece by a wise old sage, who admonished them to go out into the world and use the corn to bring themselves good fortune.

The first young man put his three kernels of corn into a bowl of hot broth and ate them. The second man thought, ‘I can do better than that,’ and he planted his three kernels of corn.

Within a few months, he had three stalks of corn. He took the ears of corn from the stalks, boiled them and had enough corn for three meals.

The third man said to himself, ‘I can do better than that.’ He also planted his three kernels of corn, but when his three stalks of corn produced, he stripped one of the stalks and replanted all of the seeds in it, gave the second stalk of corn to a sweet maiden, and ate the third.

His one full stalk’s worth of replanted corn kernels gave him 200 stalks of corn. He continued to replant the kernels, setting aside only a bare minimum to eat. He eventually planted a hundred acres of corn.

With his fortune, he not only won the hand of the sweet maiden but purchased the land owned by the sweet maiden’s father. And he never hungered again.

Spend what you have wisely; be it your time, income, energy, love, etc. How you decide to do it will dictate the quality of how you live.

Story brought to you by Spiritual Short Stories.

Why Can’t Everyone Just Say What They Mean And Mean What They Say

noreply@blogger.com (Alexys Fairfield) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 23:34:00 +0000

The title is such a simple question that garners so many different answers. If we could all just say what we mean and mean what we say, we would be free from all confusion, misinterpretation, and other people thinking we said what we didn’t mean.

Wouldn’t it be so nice if it worked that way and everyone could get along better and understand the communication conundrum? When making new years resolutions, it may not occur to people that they could resolve to communicate more clearly.

Sometimes clear communication is like Rubik’s Cube, very few can figure it out. When (and if) they do, the other person has already made a decision based on what they think we said or meant. How confusing is that?

If we told people how we felt when we felt that way, would they be able to handle it or still interpret it their way? Maybe, maybe not.

As it stands, we don’t tell people what they need to know and they make other decisions based on what they know, which may not be the whole truth.

We are living a life of secrets and unspoken truths that backfire on us and causes hurt and wounds that don’t heal easily.

By not saying what we feel, we are making our lives unnecessarily miserable. When we do get to that spoken moment of truth, it’s often too late to reverse the hurt.

When people argue, it’s usually over misinterpretation. We will say, “I never said ‘THAT,’ I meant THIS.”

Well we DID say THAT even though we meant THIS. They interpreted THAT as THIS and the argument is the explosion of THIS and THAT.

That’s a very basic analogy, dissecting the anatomy of an argument is more complex, but that’s the gist.

So this year if you don’t have enough new years resolutions, make this the year of saying what you mean and meaning what you say. You will feel so uplifted.

Happy New Year Everyone

noreply@blogger.com (Alexys Fairfield) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 01:10:00 +0000

New years are new beginnings. A time to start fresh, forget past grudges. Let the goodness in your soul rise to a new day.

May the new year bring you excitement, accomplishment, good surprises and extended blessings.

May it be everything you want it to be and more.

Make everyday count, make everyday love. Celebrate the time of your life.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Madame Cicily’s Psychic Den

noreply@blogger.com (Alexys Fairfield) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 23:34:00 +0000

My mother took great pleasure in predicting the future. She loved it so much that once every couple of months, she’d hold readings for those who dared to heed her words.

Wearing a colorful head scarf, shawl, and Aladdin slippers that she’d bought at a garage sale, she turned our living room into a psychic den of sorts with Papasan chairs, throw pillows, a beaded door curtain and enough incense to choke a horse.

She called herself, "Madame Cicily" and although her predictions weren’t based on any facts, she drew you into her world like a magician. That was sometime in the 1980’s. Fast forward to 2012.

If the Mayans are right about 2012, it should be an explosive year. There was a film called 2012 that came out in 2009 but doesn’t really address the Mayan claim.

The Mayans have a 5200 year cycle, which will reach the end at 2012. These cycles always signify something of great importance, major changes.

The year 2012 is supposed to be a year of spiritual transformation (or apocalypse.) Several esoteric sources interpret the completion of the twelfth B’ak’tun cycle in the Long Count of the Maya calendar (which occurs on December 21 by the most widely held correlation) to mean there will be a major change in world order.

Though 2012 is not here, there has already been a change in the world order. Several economies have collapsed, dictators and terrorists have died, natural disasters have occurred, tectonic plates have shifted, eclipses and new moons have arrived and we have shifted along with the universe.

People have moved in and out of our lives and we have moved in and out of their lives. We are too busy living to worry about doom.

In numerology every number has a corresponding letter associated with it. The date 12-21-12 reads as, A-B-B-A-A-B. Because the Hebrew language is read from right to left, this date would read BA ABBA. The Hebrew translation for BA ABBA is “Father comes/is coming.”

NASA predicts that the Sun will also reverse its own magnetic poles during 2012 as result of reaching the end of current 11-year sunspot cycle.

Some believe this will amplify the effects of retarding magnetic field on earth, as harmful charged particles blasted away from the sun would more easily penetrate the earth's atmosphere.

The December 21 date which many believe is accurate coincides with an incredibly rare astronomical phenomenon: the conjunction of the sun with the center of the visible Milky Way galaxy. For the Mayans, the Milky Way signified their “Sacred Tree,” and such an alignment would’ve been very important.

Some scholars think it’s too outlandish a coincidence to dismiss. Many believe the Mayans would interpret the conjunction as the beginning of a new age, the sun crossing from one side of the Sacred Tree to another.

In Mayan mythology, the sacred tree holds the sky up. Others think that it’s a load of mumbo-jumbo to cause chaos and fear.

I don’t worry about it. As far as I am concerned, the end of the world is when you stop living. And if you are going to chase what may or may not be true, then you have already given up on living.

If you spend too much time trying to predict the future, you rob yourself of the present. The notion of wanting to live forever limits your spiritual growth. Your soul is forever, your body isn’t. Live your best moments now, the future will take care of itself.

Remember that whole Y2K scare when all of our computer information was going to disappear? It never happened. When the big day came, many utilities and other companies switched off their main computers and put backup computers to work.

You don’t have to visit Madame Cicily’s Psychic Den to get a glimpse into your future, you are your own psychic. You predict your future by what you do today. So live with love, compassion and enjoy this glorious ride to the stars throughout 2012 and beyond.

Happy New Year to all!

You Are The Pencil

noreply@blogger.com (Alexys Fairfield) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 11:21:00 +0000

The pencil maker took the pencil aside, just before putting him into the box. “There are 5 things you need to know,” he told the pencil,

“Before I send you out into the world, always remember them and you will become the best pencil you can be.”

“One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in someone’s hand.”

“Two: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, but you'll need it to become a better pencil.”

“Three: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make.”

“Four: The most important part of you will always be what's inside.”

“And Five: On every surface you are used on, you must leave your mark. No matter what the condition, you must continue to write.”

The pencil understood and promised to remember, and went into the box with purpose in its heart.

Always remember that you are the pencil and you will become the best person you can be.

One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in Love’s hand and allow other human beings to access you for the many gifts you possess.

Two: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, by going through various problems in life, but you’ll need it to become a stronger person.

Three: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make.

Four: The most important part of you will always be what’s inside.

And Five: On every surface you walk through, you must leave your mark. No matter what the situation, you must continue to do your duties.

Story brought to you by Spiritual Short Stories.

Happy Christmas, Hanukkah or You Name It

noreply@blogger.com (Alexys Fairfield) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 19:30:00 +0000

To all of my readers, whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah or no particular religion or teaching, I wish you all love, peace and joy this holiday season.

This is the time to feel your spirit rise and share your heart.

May the spirit of these days stay with you throughout your days.

Remember the love you spread today is the love you can spread everyday.

May peace, joy and blessings be with you all.

Why You Are Here

noreply@blogger.com (Alexys Fairfield) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 10:22:00 +0000

Life is quid pro quo. You get out what you put into it. You have a choice to either take the high road or intensify your numbness by journeying into the emotional disintegration of the lower world.

The bargain is what you make with yourself - - to either live with love or without it. You are who you are and you can either be happy with yourself or not.

If you are happy with yourself, then you can do things to enhance others. If you are unhappy with yourself, then you must work tooth and nail to make yourself into who you want to be.

Love truly is the sum of all that we are.

Unloosen Your Fingers And Let Go

noreply@blogger.com (Alexys Fairfield) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:46:00 +0000

A wise man cracked a joke and everybody laughed like crazy. After a moment he cracked the same joke again and a little less people laughed this time.

He cracked the same joke again and again, when there was no laughter in the crowd, he smiled and said, “When you can't laugh at the same joke again and again, then why do you keep crying over the same thing over and over again?”

This illustrates something significant deep within the psyche that takes a significant chunk out of our lives and begs the question, why do we keep replaying the scenes that cause us pain?

They are painful enough when we experience them, but when we keep experiencing them over and over again, we are not disassociating ourselves from the pain.

The pain becomes a vampire sucking our blood and making us feel like vulture food, except that we’re the vulture pecking from the inside.

If we keep pecking, eventually there will be nothing left and if there’s nothing left how can we go on to the next experience?

One reason we may not be able to overwrite those painful instant replays right away is that we don’t want to admit that our expectations were wrong.

Who wants to be wrong, right? Letting go of the past must be done at our own pace, but if the pace is too slow to cope with other events in our lives then we have to expedite matters.

Don’t get stuck in an emotional sieve, release yourself from yourself and be free from the past. Accept that some days are harder than others, but keep going forward towards positivity. Don’t cling to frustration, anger, or regret.

Start with a clean slate, rebuild your emotions steadily, restore your faith and trust in love. If you broken up over a relationship, a job, a situation that you had no control over, mourn, cry, let go.

There are so many more experiences that will give you a sense of peace and fulfillment. Strive for more of those.

“Relationships are like glass. Sometimes it’s better to leave them broken than try to hurt yourself putting them back together.” ~ Unknown.

A Porcupine Tale

noreply@blogger.com (Alexys Fairfield) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 11:47:00 +0000

It was the coldest winter ever, and many animals died because of the cold. The porcupines, realizing the situation, decided to group together.

This way they covered and protected themselves; but the quills of each one wounded their closest companions even though they shared their heat with each other.

After awhile, they decided to distance themselves one from the other to stop being wounded. As they did this, they began to die alone and frozen.

So they had to make a choice: either accept the quills of their companions or disappear from the Earth.

Wisely, they decided to go back to being together. This way they learned to live with the little wounds that were caused by the close relationship with their companion, but the most important part of it was the heat that came from the others that enabled them to survive the coldest winter ever.

Dancing Shoes of Patience

noreply@blogger.com (Alexys Fairfield) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 11:10:00 +0000

Often times you are so focused on what steps to take that you don’t stop and let your steps catch up.

You may feel that you are spinning your wheels, or running in place while everything and everyone else is passing you by.

Like life, progress is a process and process is progress. Don't buy into the misconception of immediacy.

There is no such thing as overnight success. You can never run ahead of your karma just because you want something faster.

Life is your dance partner, sometimes you move forward, backwards, sideways, in circles, are thrown in the air, and land on the ground, but you are not standing still.

The various steps, kicks, twists and turns will always keep you on your toes.

A Bran Muffin Philosophy

noreply@blogger.com (Alexys Fairfield) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:15:00 +0000

As Christmas and the New Year get nearer, nerves get frayed, tempers flare, patience wanes, and stress is unleashed. This is the dark side of an otherwise joyous time and many people get stuck in that darkness.

While the spirit of the holidays are awe-inspiring, the toll it takes on us physically, mentally, and emotionally is exhausting. So if you are getting a little stressed about now, take a break to remember the reasons we are celebrating.

Even what we eat and drink takes a toll on us. I recently attended a holiday party and almost everyone hung out at the bar to get free drinks. They ignored the fabulous spread of food and opted for the tongue loosening elixir.

It is a shame that many of them won’t even remember the party at all, except that they had free alcohol. The overconsumption of alcohol is not really what this season is about. It’s about something much more profound; celebrating the people in your life, your accomplishments in love, your career, yourself.

This is the time you should remember, not forget. A time to embrace those who mean the world to you. The season of love. Enjoy the time you have with your loved ones and create fond new memories for years to come. Whatever you do now will be remembered.

I remember the story of a long-time retired, elderly couple were married for over sixty years. Although the man and women were not poor, they were far from being rich. They managed to get comfortably by skimping and watching their pennies.

The elderly man and women were both in excellent health for their age, mainly because of the wife’s insistence on eating healthy foods and exercising since their sixties.

As fate would have it, their excellent health didn’t help when they went on a rare vacation and their plane crashed. Being a good, honest couple, they wound up in Heaven.

When the man and woman reached the pearly gates, they got a welcome from St. Peter who escorted them inside Paradise. First, St. Peter took them to a beautiful mansion, furnished in gold and fine silks, with a fully stocked kitchen and a waterfall in the master bath.

A maid could be seen hanging their favorite clothes in the closet. The couple gasped in astonishment while St. Peter said, “Welcome to Heaven. This will be your home now.”

The man asked how much money all this luxury was going to cost.

“Nothing,” replied St. Peter. “You have earned this by being good during your lives and this is your reward: Heaven with all its blessings and luxuries.”

The man looked out the window and saw a championship golf course, finer and more beautiful than any ever built on Earth.

“I love golf but how much for the greens fee? I couldn't afford to play much more than twice a year on Earth.”

“Remember, this is Heaven,” emphasized St. Peter. “Play as much as you want and every time you golf you get it for free, always on the house.”

Soon they went to the clubhouse and saw the lavish buffet lunch, with every imaginable cuisine laid out before them, from seafood, lamb chops, steaks, exotic deserts, free flowing beverages and all the over 200 varieties of wine.

“Don't even ask,” said St. Peter to the man. “This is Heaven, it is all free for you to enjoy.”

The old man looked around and glanced nervously at his wife. “Well, where are the low fat and low cholesterol foods, and the decaffeinated tea?,” the man queried.

“This will amaze you, more than the fact everything is free,” stated St. Peter with a smile on his face. “You can eat as much food and drink wine as much as you like of whatever you like, and you will never get fat, sick, or really drunk. This is Heaven!”

The man was still not totally satisfied, “No gym either?”

“Not unless you actually want to exercise for the fun of it.”

“No testing my sugar or blood pressure or all the other tests my wife has asked me to do over the last twenty years.”

“Never again,” said St. Peter. “All you do here is enjoy yourself.”

At this point, the elderly man glared at his wife and uttered, “You and your fricken bran muffins and all the other healthy stuff. We could have been here fifteen years ago!”

The Strawberry Journey

noreply@blogger.com (Alexys Fairfield) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 13:19:00 +0000

A young woman, deeply in love with her beloved, had not seen him for some time and missed him greatly. She also had a teacher whom she loved and looked forward to the day when they would meet again and she would receive her next teaching.

The day came and she went eagerly to greet the teacher, hoping also perhaps for a blessing. The teacher welcomed the woman and handed her a huge basket of freshly picked, perfectly ripened strawberries.

Then he said, “Do you see that mountain?”

The woman said, “Yes.”

The teacher said, “Carry this basket of strawberries up that mountain.”

Before the woman could protest or question, the teacher was gone. Reluctantly, she hefted the basket into her arms and turned her steps to the high mountain.

Slowly she wound her way up the difficult path, wondering what this assignment was about. What was the teaching?

Grousing and grumbling, stumbling now and again, feeling the sun burn hot on her back, the basket of strawberries growing heavy and cumbersome, she found something inside that kept her going upward.

Finally, as the sun was moving deep into the west, she came to the top of the mountain and found herself standing in a beautiful, peaceful, flower-filled meadow.

She had made it. Furthermore, the exquisite basket of strawberries was intact. The woman looked across the meadow, and saw her beloved moving toward her, gazing at her with eyes of profound love and a smile of sweet welcome.

The woman thought, “If I had only known that the strawberries were for the beloved, that the journey was toward my beloved, I would not have been so puzzled, grown so weary, or failed to notice the beauty of the mountain I was climbing.”

Whatever your journey, whether you complain or accept it, the fruit that it bears will be rewarding and teach you the value of life.

Story brought to you by Spiritual Stories.

Simple Formula

noreply@blogger.com (Alexys Fairfield) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 10:43:00 +0000

You don't need to go to a foreign land outside of yourself to arrive at enlightenment. It’s your God given state.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it is to put love into the world wherever you are.

It is simple, put love into the world and that is the secret of your spirituality.

Don't let words get in the way.

Ex Factor

noreply@blogger.com (Alexys Fairfield) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 22:35:00 +0000

We meet so many people in our lives that it’s difficult not to get attached to them in some way. When we like them, we want more of them, when we don’t like them, we can’t wait to get rid of them.

No matter what we do to keep them or lose them, there is one thing that is inevitable, whatever we do will probably be exploited or exposed on the internet.

In the past when we ended relationships, it was over. We left on good or bad terms, packed our baggage and usually didn’t see the person again.

Now ending a relationship may take a lot longer because privacy no longer exists in a world of cell phone cameras and other video recording devices that track our every move from where we live, shop, visit, eat, travel, etc.

Cameras are practically implanted in every aspect of our lives. I still don’t know why everybody wants to see what everybody else is doing. Have we become so bored with our own lives that we place importance on the lives of strangers?

A friend of mine is so paranoid that her ex is going to expose her in some way that she looks at his Facebook page everyday to see what he is saying about her.

Another person I know does not want to leave her boyfriend because she is afraid that he will release racy photos she sent him over the course of the relationship.

Our exes are some of our greatest teachers. We don’t forget what they did, how their character may have changed or how love took a detour.

How can we explain how we loved the person in the beginning and now there is no love there? The reason they become our exes is that we have grown within ourselves.

We no longer require what they teach us, we have graduated from the experience. Though we are in relationships with other people, we are ultimately in a relationship to hone ourselves.

When we were with them, we may have loved them in that moment, but while the purity of love doesn’t transmute, the interaction between people does.

We are growing all the time. We grow where we need to grow; be it different directions, different towns, or different experiences. Some people are only meant to be with us on part of our journey and it’s okay.

Just like passing the baton in a relay race, they pass on what we need and we take it from there.

We are where we need to be right now and we don’t need to look back if everything we did came out of love.

What we learn about ourselves in every relationship is priceless and we must learn to appreciate those special moments in between the drama. We can build on those.

What have you learned about yourself from your exes?

Coffee of Life

noreply@blogger.com (Alexys Fairfield) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 08:12:00 +0000

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said, “If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups have been taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones.

While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee.

In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and then you began eyeing each other's cups.

Now consider this, life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of life we live.

Sometimes by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee. Savor the coffee, not the cups.

The happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything. Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.”

Story brought o you by Spiritual Short Stories