Wisdom and Choice
Choose wisely students of life!!! 

"Learn the lesson or retake the course, it's that simple." - Pastor Nate Elarton

Many parts of this blog are expressing knowledge in which the Lord has blessed me with, but even if you are not spiritual, there is much truth in these words. Honestly though, try as you may.. but I have learned that true growth won't really take place without Christ. I urge visitors to read other postings as well.. There is much to be obtained and growth may be hindered without diving deeper..  Praise God for answered prayers.  Please sit back, relax, grab a glass of water, clear the mind and take the time to read.  If the reader greatly desires to find peace and contentment, I truly believe you will find it by reading postings within this blog. I pray you find what you are searching for.  God bless you and yours. 

I'd recommend reading the topic of Thought first.  If someone doesn't understand their self talk and emotions, then in my humble opinion, this posting won't be understood fully as intended.  There was a lot of thinking, reading, and praying going on - a lot of thought on my thoughts and watching what they do in the body.  If someone hasn't spent much time on themselves, then I urge patience, and a slow pace.  Take the time to learn the body, the mind, watch the thoughts, watch how fast the thoughts trigger emotions and how those emotions compound more thoughts.  A terrible cycle that must be examined and understood.  As a friend once said "Play attention!" I don't know what the reader's enemy is, but mine is Satan.  You may name the enemy: depression, stress, lack of peace, worry, anxiety, addiction, fear, hurt, pain, sadness, etc.  For me, in order to beat the evil game, the answer is at the cross.  It is finished already, but that's a whole other topic.  I just see people turning to medication, dr.'s, self-help books, etc and in the end, the situation is never resolved because they are fighting a battle that they cannot win.

I wanted to add one quick thing here... If things seem confusing, please ask for clarification.  It all makes sense in my head, maybe not in the reader's head, haha.  Also, I am continuing to grow every day through the grace of God. So things I blogged about months (or even days) ago may have grown into a better understanding today .  For example, this specific writing was originally written back in 2006 or so.  The more He reveals to me, the more I reveal..  I do have to say that after re-reading this specific posting, it needs updating pretty badly...  There is so much more He has revealed to me.. Plus, I noticed that it could be about 1/3rd as long...I repeated a lot of stuff 4-5 times, haha.  Have fun!

I decided to start this topic because of an email I once received from a friend.  Before I get into this though, I wanted to reiterate, what I went over in my posting about thought.  If someone has a negative emotion, such as hurt, sad, anger, frustration, guilt, depression, greed, ashamed, embarrassed, offended, etc then evaluate the self talk.  Listen to what it's saying.  Write it down.  We have to go through this in order to determine where these words in our heads are coming from.  It can take weeks of evaluation because the emotions get triggered and more thoughts slam our heads - it happens fast.  We're looking for the very first words/self talk, before the snowball effect takes place.  I highly recommend writing things down.  Personally, some of my negative self talk stemmed from the world molding me during my upbringing.. i.e. friends, family, tv, etc. but I then later found it to be from Satan implanting the thoughts instead of the Holy Spirit.  I pray that scales from the eyes are removed, deafened ears are unlocked and hardened hearts are massaged with God's loving hands. 

We must realize we are animals.  Ever since we were born, we were learning what it is to be a human being.  In many cases, people are trained to be a human being like Adam (like man, the world, flesh, etc).  We should examine who our teacher was.  Society, friends, siblings, parents, TV, bad role models, etc.  Who was the teacher that taught us to get angry, to be sad, to get depressed, to go take medication, etc..etc?  Basically, we were molded/taught by society that we must think certain thoughts in certain situations.  When we keep evaluating this in our head (it could take weeks, it did for me... i have tons of garbage up there, haha), we will eventually find the triggers to our emotional state and it will be a phrase that we say in our head - the first phrase...  Write that down.  Now when we see the trigger, we will realize where those words came from.. Then, watch the steps after the initial words - Watch what it's doing to the body (emotions get triggered from the initial trained/implanted words, snowballing happens whereas the emotions trigger more thoughts - this feeds the emotion even more, then finally, an outward action such as depression, yelling, addictions, etc take place).  When we pay very close attention to the things going on in our body with thoughts and emotions, we will recognize an emotion... It will flush our body and rational thinking is out the window, it's all emotionally based from this point on.  For instance, my emotion was anger.  I heard self-talk, it triggered an emotion, then I felt a warming sensation start at the hips and watched it flood up my body.  If we can get to a point of slowing things waaaaay down (the triggered emotions literally takes place within milleseconds)... if we can get to a point when we recognize this, we should stop whatever we're doing and don't think any more.  Close the eyes, take a few deep breaths and concentrate on the breathing.  Clear the mind.  Don't stop until we're clear. 

I have later found it is EASY to stop the rambling of thoughts and all bad emotions with 1 simple method -
Cry out: "Jesus, Save me!" and start praying.  If the thoughts/emotions continue during prayer, force the flesh to pick up the bible (it wont' want to, force it) and start reading in Psalms.  We will hee-haw about it, continue in the thoughts/emotional wreck... and it will continue on and on and on until a decision is made.  The decision will be to say something stupid to someone...or do something stupid..  Or it's going to be something good, such as letting it go, reading the bible, etc.  From my experience, if I couldn't (or didn't) stop the thought, which triggered the emotion, it was a lost cause.  Eventually, I was able catch the emotion as it was starting...I'd breath, stop the self talk and turn the self talk into something positive.  I now realize that this was Christ working in me and working with me.  Without Him, the evil thoughts cannot be battled.  Only through Him, the negative emotion was no more.  There was another tactic I used earlier in my life..  I would take a deep breath, and vision the goodness of the Lord coming into my body as I breathed in.  Then I would exhale the negative energy with an utterance "thank you Lord".  I would do this 2-3 times, and peace would come.  Just some suggestions..

Now to that email my friend sent..
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The Two Wolves

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.  He said, "My son, the battle is between two "wolves" inside us all. 

One is Evil.  It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is Good.  It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith"

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"  The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."
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This is the Holy Spirit vs Flesh.  Christ vs Satan.  Good vs Evil.  (See the topic, Spirit vs Flesh).  As the story goes, the winner is our outward actions - an addiction, stressed, depressed, happy, joyful, peaceful, etc.  For me and my body, it is the difference between the secular world and spiritual world.  Salvation vs hell, etc. 

Now to actually talk about this topic of wisdom, haha.  Wisdom/Knowledge will help our lives by leaps and bounds.  I see wisdom as those things that are repetitive in our lives whereas we gain knowledge and start to understand them.  Ever feel depressed, angry, frustrated, sad, worried?  Ever run back to an addiction over and over again?  Think about it.  How many times has the same bad emotion or event played itself out in our lives?  100s, 1000s, tens of 1000's of times?  Guess what, we're going to get the same results the next 1000 times this situation comes up - unless something changes.  Oooh, did you get that?  If not, re-read it.  A good word of knowledge.  As I heard once that I posted above - "Learn the lesson or retake the course, it's that simple."

It was kind of funny that I had this knowledge slapping me upside the head for years, and I didn't even see it.  I started to place a lot of thought into myself... I was writing things down such as self talk, triggered emotions and events.  I was talking to friends about it, examining it, and so on..  Placing every thought into captivity.. and all along, it was good knowledge and I didn't recognize it as such.  For instance, my ex-g/f and I had a common argument.  The topic would be different, but outside of the specific topic, it was always the same circle of events.  I started jotting down the steps of our arguments because we went through the same general scenario every single time.  I thought - "Man, I've been here before.  Same results.  Not talking.  Talking of break-up.  Feeling terrible."  The end result that I just mentioned always started with someone's thought, then an emotion, more thought, more emotions, words coming out of the mouth (the outward action), and then a full blown argument.  At the time, I didn't realize these things were wisdom I was writing down - I was writing down, step by step, what happened during a repetitive situation.  For example, on my piece of paper I had written down something like:

Step 1: I was upset. 
Step 2: I said something stupid. 
Step 3: It affected her. 
Step 4: She responded in like-kind. 
Step 5: repeat steps 1-4. 
Step 6: not talking for <x> timeframe. 
Step 7: talk about break up - another argument. 
Step 8: not talking for <x> timeframe. 
Step 9: things get patched up. 

One day while we were in the midst of a disagreement, I looked at the notes.  I said to myself - "Hmmm, we'll be talking about break-up in the next day or so."  Yep.  I had written down knowledge...and knew where things were going.  huh.  At this point, when a disagreement started, I knew every step along the way.  I knew the beginning, the middle and the end result.  It was the same cycle over and over, in which I had experienced 100s of times.  Then I thought to myself- "if I have this knowledge, then I can change the outcome for the good by making a better choice". If something didn't change with this knowledge in my hands, I would be accepting the fact that things will go down that path again.  I could not accept that..  I was creating a bad environment myself..  and I could change it.. Praise God for molding me...

Here's the greatest part - Take step 1 and break that down into further steps.  For example:
Step 1: My very first thought/self talk inside my head was <x> - be certain to write down the exact words/phrases. 
Step 2: I felt <y> emotion.
Step 3: More self talk of <x>. 
Step 4: I felt more <y> emotion
Step 5: i said something stupid

It opened many doors because it wasn't just these disagreements w/ my ex g/f in which this was gained.  It ended up opening doors to many other negative outcomes in my life.  It was realized that if I thought <x>, my emotion would be <y>.  After going through specific negative feelings such as hurt, frustration, worry, stress, etc 1000s upon 1000s of times in my life, I knew them inside and out.  I had wisdom all along and it wasn't being used.  See... these things that happen in our lives.. repetitively..  "Learn the lesson, or retake the course.. It's that simple". 

Like the wolf story above.  We keep feeding the negative self talk and negative emotions.  So guess who will win the battle?  These are habits and molds that are formed throughout life.  When we are born, we are informational gatherers.  We are learning what it means to be "human".  So as we are learning, what do we experience?  Who's teaching us?  We are taught via society, our surroundings, friends, family, TV, and have marketing materials in our face constantly.  We are trained to act a certain way, believe certain things, get upset when certain things happen, and so on.  One of my best examples is watching a father spend a lot of time and resources on having a really nice lawn.  What kind of things does he say and do in front of the child?  "Look how nice our grass looks."  When the father sees a crappy lawn, what does he say to the child?  This child is flooded w/ commercials on TV pertaining to fertilizers, the commercials show happy people on green grass, and there's all kinds of colors and cool sounds marketed at the child.  So now, this child grows up, judging other people's yards and spending resources and time on "keeping up w/ the jones's".  Why?  Because he/she was trained to believe that this is what life is about. We must realize as a society that we don't need to do these things, we have a choice.  Jesus will break the chains.  The Truth shall set you free indeed..

How do we break the molds?  Re-training.  We are now adults, and have new knowledge in us, in-Christ.  For myself and my House, this is called being born again - Romans 12:² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.  By utilization of our Helper, we are now retraining ourselves to make a better initial choice on Step 1 - to think a different thought.  His thoughts.  Then everyting flows from there.  We speak differently, we feel different, our relationships are different, and so on. 

Let's put it this way, now knowing these things, if we don't spend the time making a change, we now know we will be in the same situation again.  I'm betting that there are many readers that prefer to not be in some repetitive situations again.  Our souls scream out for change.  Take a look back throughout our individual lives, and remember the negative situations we go through.  See any repetitiveness?  Anything look familiar?  Been through similar situations 100s and 100s of times?  Boy, it sure did for me!  We experience certain things so many times that we know them like the back of our hands, and we just think "That's who I am!".  No.. That's who you were trained to be.  Make a change.  Don't accept what society made you to be.  Be something better for your family's sake, for your own sake, for the sake of society..

During the timing of bad situations in life, we normally think they are pretty bad because we are consumed with them at that specific time.  Lost a job, bad relationships, car broke down, problems around the house, etc.  These things can bring a lot of stress, worry, anxiety, depression and other challenges when we are in the middle of them.  But when we look backwards, these situations were truly just bumps in the road of life.  Were they really worth the aggravation, the destroying of our bodies, heart disease, etc?  Look back at some of the old events in life that just seemed so terrible while we were in them.  Were they THAT bad?  Not for me.. they were a bump.  But instead of just driving over the bump and staying in peace, we'll stop the car... open up the trunk and grab a shovel.  We'll walk over to that pothole and start digging.  Shoveling at the dirt..  "Stupid pothole.  I can't believe this is happening to me.  He/She shouldn't have did/said that.  Life sucks."  Before we know it, that bump is now a mile wide crater... and we're in the bottom of it digging.  All along, Jesus is sitting on the ledge up top, looking down...reaching His hand down..  Praying for you.  "Just look up.. take your eyes off of the dirt.  Look at me..  I got you."

With this knowledge, as well as the above-mentioned examining of self, we can now realize that we have a choice versus getting consumed in the moment.  Now, instead of being consumed in the garbage, let's try getting consumed with thinking about our thoughts (listening to our self talk), realizing knowledge, placing every thought into captivity, and then moving on to making a better choice.  There's quite a bit more to expand upon.. with learning about Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit and Satan.  I'll probably post an updated version of this in the near future.  For instance, it's like driving down a 2 track road w/ a rut off to the left side.  Some of us are stuck in this rut.  All we have to do is give that wheel to Jesus, He will give it a good pull to get us back onto the smooth road.  An initial phrase in our head/a thought will start the vehicle drifiting towards the rut in the road.  If we surrender the thought and put them into captivity with Jesus, He will grab the wheel and we'll stay on smooth ground with a surrender to Him.  Close the eyes, let go of the wheel, and trust Jesus by calling out "Jesus, Save me!".  If we don't do this and we try to do it on our own, we get into the rut, and at this point, it's very hard to get out.

Sometimes we can't get out of the rut all because we are concentrated on being in the rut.  We get consumed by the rut we are in, and we may even say something like "I'm in this rut and I want to get out.  I can't though."  <— Stop.  We are what we think.  Our outside actions are a result of what we are thinking.  We can keep trying all we want, but as long as we keep thinking we can't get out, we won't.  As in, the effort and thoughts are focused on the actual challenge.  Let it go.  Stop.  Keep looking at it, and the challenge continues.  Put the effort into looking to Jesus, calling out for Him to save us, grab the bible, and pray!  He is Just and will rescue us immediately if we look at Him.  Take the mind's eye off of the situation and look at Him.  For me, it was extremely difficult to get out of the rut once I was there (because it's what I thought was the way I was suppose to be in life.  It's what I always had known to think).  In order to get out, a reset of the mind's eye had to take place.  This reset was important.  It may sound funny, but it worked well before I realized the power of Christ.  I pictured my mind like an etch-a-sketch.  As soon as the mind (self talk) started drawing this negative picture, I would shake the etch-a-sketch.  See, when these negative pictures start getting drawn, we now have the wisdom to know where will be in about 5 seconds if we don't make a better choice - shake the etch-a-sketch!!  I now realize that this was me reaching out to Jesus and my Helper was helping me, Praise God.  Sometimes if I couldn't rid the thought, I'd literally give a few short stutter shakes of my head, imagining I'm clearing an etch-a-sketch, haha.  Ya, funny, but it worked. 

Nowadays, it's much easier to just call out to Jesus "Save me!".  It saves the headaches.    He will immiediately reach down and grab us, just like as Peter was sinking in the water as he looked at the waves crashing in around him.  If we can't clear our heads this way, all we have to do is force ourselves to pick up the bible and start reading.  It's really that easy - Call out to Jesus "Save me!", Pray, and force ourselves to pick up the bible.  Where is our mind's eye?  On the challenge at hand?  Well, that's where we will be.  Change what the mind is looking at.  Put it on Jesus, Peace will overcome us, guaranteed. 

As soon as I had a clear view of the cleared etch-a-sketch screen, I would take a deep breath, and exhale with a "Thank you Lord for this Peace".  Then I would think about my thought I just had without getting sucked back into it.  Now here's the key: when we're not emotional and have stopped the negative thinking (when we're out of the rut) - change into evaluation mode, as an unbiased 3rd party.  Look at it without getting sucked back into it.  "Hmm, let me look at that.  Interesting how that worked."  For me, I'm now looking at it from the Spirit versus being a part of the Flesh....and now look at the postiive and ask ourselves a question "What if....<x> is happening?" whereas <x> is something different than our original view.  For example, a friend says something that's perceived as being not so nice, we can begin to feel offended, sad, hurt, angry, etc.  Or, we can stop that thought w/ the Spirit and think "What if they had a terrible day?  I love this person and want good things for them.  Don't get consumed on the negative.  Take the higher road out of love for this person."  I have found that this can be done with almost every situation.  Create the "What if.." scenario and place the Spirit's eye on them.  "What if that person who just cut me off is a sweet old lady (my grandma)..  What if his/her father is in the hospital...  WHEW, I'm thankful for not getting into an accident!"  It's looking at the other side of the leaf, the glass 1/2 full, and so on.  I put a positive view on it and smile.  I usually end this with a deep breath, a smile and a "Thank you Lord" as I breathe out. 

See, we are trained.  We have issues.  Break the molds.  We don't have to get upset, frustrated, depressed, we don't have to worry, we don't have to turn to an addiction, we don't have to argue with people.  We can turn a new leaf and start looking at things differently.  We can place these wordly things on the Cross in Christ-Jesus, and in return, we get His Mind, His Heart, His Eyes, His Ears.. We get His Righteousness in return.  This means we see things totally differently.  We will know when this happens after we start realizing what a mess this world made us. 

I must touch base on the assumptions, perceptions and the conclusions we draw.  I don't know how many times I started a negative emotion without having a clear understanding of something.  Our perception, assumptions and conclusions that we draw are drawn from our own thoughts (I'm speaking of negative assumptions, etc.  If we have a positive view on things all of the time, then this discussion wouldn't be needed, haha)  Unless we ask questions to clarify, then the meaning is only our self's meaning, not the speaker's.  If our ego/pride/self says we're being attacked, then we should just be quiet, relax, and evaluate..  We'll usually find we were basing things out of our own understandings.  When we look around and listen, our self will hear assumptions all day long.  Basically, if we cannot be 100% positive on someone's exact meaning, then we cannot accurately engage the situation..  Realites get changed with incorrect perceptions, assumptions and drawing up our own meanings.  I have had, literally, hundreds of thousands of times in my life that I was wrong in how I viewed a situation (again, wisdom was gained from self evaluation of repetitive cycles, but all the Glory to God because I prayed for Wisdom!).  I now ask clarifying questions (not all the time, but I'm growing...) and communications have never been better in my life.  It really boils down to listening.  There is a huge difference between "listening" and "hearing".  A listener's mind is clear and they are taking in information, not processing/creating information with their self talk, which will most likely lead to an emotion, assumption, a new reality, etc.  When we "hear" something, we are typically hearing what they are saying and immediately we start thinking of ourselves, how we relate, the expereinces we have had, our assumptions on what they are meaning, etc.  When we "hear", we can usually repeat the words that were said, but we do not know the true meaning.  When we "hear", we are playing with the computer, reading something, etc.  We have our concentration elsewhere versus eye contact (or the Spirit's eyes having a connection).  When truly listening, it's like listening to your best friend tell you something.  There is an eye contact that is different..  There is engagement in the conversation for clarification.  For instance, we say things like "If I understand correctly, you're saying...", "If I were in that situation, I could see how you feel..", and so on.  It's like we can feel their emotions and their meanings of the topic. 

There is a huge huge difference between engaging in conversation while being with the speaker versrus thinking about our own thoughts on the topic, thinking about our own experiences, thinking about giving advice/guidance, etc.  Hearing is not listening.  It's hearing the words with self talk going wild, having thoughts of our own experiences, having thoughts of how things have bothered us, our ego is talking, etc.  This is when someone hears what we say, but they aren't getting the meaning because their self talk is spinning.  They heard something that jogged a memory, that caused self talk, and so on.  These are the situations where someone is assuming meanings and changing realities, and then engaging them, from their own experiences/molds.  Once again, it boils down to self talk.  Or to be more accurate, it's based on Flesh or Spirit.  It's either the self/flesh/ego/satan that is thinking or it's Jesus' thoughts.  Are we truly listening and putting the speaker first, are are we placing ourselves, our ideas, our experiences first?  Evaluate, examine, and watch.  You'll see it.  We are truly selfish people..

If someone is unable to do these things, then keep practicing, it's easy to do once practiced.  We have to retrain ourselves.  Remember, however old you are are right now, you were trained for that many years to be the person you are today.  If there are areas that need adjusting, it's going to take time.  It literally took me years of reading, evaluating my thoughts, catching the thoughts, changing them, using wisdom, positive thinking, getting rid of the negative, and so on.  Eventually, we start to make better choices. 

Wisdom and Choice.  Using Wisdom to make better Choices.  After evaluating for a while, you'll start seeing a battle going on inside of you.  You will want to make better choices, but you don't.  You'll do things that you wish you weren't doing.  When you get to a point of thinking you are going nuts because you see both sides of the coin (recognizing the good vs bad thoughts), but still make unwise choices, then there is no other place to go but the ultimate choice.  Choose God or choose this world.  This is where a book is recommended - The Holy Bible.  Everything that the self-help books have, this has, but in better context and 'real' context. Please get this book if you can. 

At any rate...if you're the type of person that says "He/She made me feel this way..", then that is only blaming.  No one "makes" us feel any way.  We are full of self, pride, ego, etc. and we are missing the fact that Satan is implanting thoughts that we are allowing to guide our lives.  People do not have switches and remote controls to make us feel any way.  The lack of making good choices for ourselves is what makes us feel bad - Choosing good thoughts of the Spirit or bad thoughts of Satan.  When we aren't jumping to conclusions/assumptions, and we realize when someone else has failed in their choices, then we can look at it from an intellectual, caring, compassionate and loving standpoint and not from a baggage standpoint.  We can say, "They are in a challenge right now, I don't have to be affected by their negativity.  They are in a rut.  I can respond with kindness, compassion, understanding.." 

If we allow people to pull us/suck us into their thoughts, then obviously both parties are pretty much screwed.  With all of this wisdom, if we get sucked into it, we pretty much just made a poor choice...and we reap what we sow.  Watch what happens within the emotional body the next time someone starts talking about something negative, i.e. "Can you believe what they are doing politically?  Can you believe our taxes?  Can you believe what this person did to me?"  You can almost hear that sucking sound as you read this, can't ya?  Watch what happens...  we will start feeling the way they feel.  Anxious, upset, angry, etc.  Or, we can realize what's going on, remain in-Spirit, thank the Lord, then pray for the individuals.  As the saying goes: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.  We can not change someone, only God can.  I guarantee it.  Only via their own choice and God's Grace can they change something.  And if we try to get them to change their choices, we'll only get negative feedback in return because they feel attacked.  So, I'll say it again, we can not change someone.  "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change".  All we can do is love and try to help w/ knowledge, love and encouragement.  It's ultimately their situation that they will have to decide to change, not ours.  All we can change is ourselves, our thoughts, our actions, the fruit we show, we change how we respond, we change by not being fuel to other people's fires, etc.  "courage to change the things I can" and "the wisdom to know the difference". 

The way I looked at Choice was simple.  That "good guy" and "bad guy" situation on our shoulders.  Pretty much like that email above pertaining to the wolves.  Basically, we have these 2 sides of every situation.  Flesh vs Spirit, Satan versus Jesus, Self versus Spirit, etc.  Deep down inside, we have thoughts on many situations.  What is right and what is wrong.  Left shoulder/right shoulder.  In the middle, we have our minds, our souls, making the choice.  If we cannot realize BOTH sides and look at them both with a clear mind, it is impossible to make an intellectual Choice.   If a clear mind isn't possible, we will make a choice based on our current emotion/self-talk (which means we're still stuck on self talk, emotion, etc.  We're still stuck in what the world formed us to be).  This is very important.  Let me reiterate as I like to do, heh:  If we cannot sit back w/ a clear mind (this means zero emotion/zero self talk) and use our intellect to evaulate the 2 choices, then we cannot make a correct choice.   We have to go back and evaluate the self talk, emotional state, the triggers, etc.  If we can't be as a 3rd party, then there is probably something we are not resolving and we cannot go any further until we find the triggers.  We must evaluate and examine with a clear consience in order to make a better choice.  Remember, we do this in a non-emotional or unbiased state of mind.  We have to be able to use knowledge to evaluate the 2 choices, with a very clear mind.  Sorry to beat a dead horse here.  It's very important.  Once we are able to just be...without anything running through our minds, then we can take a situation and look at it from a 3rd party standpoint.  Look at the positive and negative that are sitting on our shoulders.  Then we can allow our minds to evaulate.  Then with historical knowledge, which one of these choices will bring me bad things in life and which one will bring me good things in life? 

Earlier in my growth, I had to keep "resetting" my etch-a-sketch by the Grace of God.  I don't think we'll ever be perfect, until the end when we are Chirst-like (which should be everyone's goal).  My thoughts have to constantly be put into check.  It's hard work and I'm very thankful to God for answered prayers.  After many months of doing this, I now do not have to concentrate on my thoughts as much.  (As I'm re-evaluating this blog posting, I realized how foolish I was to make that comment.  Years later, I can't be successful all of the time).  I'm retraining my soul with the Helper of God, and my soul is getting shown what is the right way to be in life.  I now don't get stressed as often.  I will feel the stress coming... I see the forethoughts forming, and I pray.  I don't let it consume my body.  If it does start getting more a hold of me, I pick up the Bible, while calling out "Jesus, Save me!".  Peace comes every single time..  I don't give many negative thoughts any substance nowadays.  If I did, I would be consumed by it. 

Our reality will be whatever we are thinking.  We are what we think.  It's a very peaceful state of mind when this is realized.  I want everyone to experience this!  It's beautiful.  For instance, I feel the air now and it feels good.  I say "What a beautiful day eh?" and someone says "Ugh, it's cold and rainy".  Well, it's all perception.  I like the brisk cold air entering my lungs and the feel of it on my skin.  It energizes me.  The rain smells great!  I love feeling the water hit me.  Basically, we learn what our souls like versus what the world tells us to think.  Society/Surroundings trained us - "It's a gloomy day outside."  The Spirit says "What a great day to be alive!  Listen to that wind and the birds!  That air feels awesome.  Mmmmmm, I love the smell of rain."    (One shoulder says it's gloomy outside, the other shoulder says it's a beautiful day.  Choice comes in.  Which choice do we make?). 

See, it really all boils down to back-tracking in our lives, evaluating our minds, and in the end, we'll find God, and then learn a new way.  Analyzing each step our mind goes through and why it goes through it.  I spent a lot of time at each level.  I tore each section apart, learned it inside and out, found out what's wrong with it, corrected parts of it, then moved on to the next step.  For example, on one situation within me, the end result was frustration (and this model ended up being the fix all for all situations) -

Start with the end result and work backwards while analyzing every step. Do this until things are understood on an intellectual/analytical level (non-emotional), and then resolved it with the Helper of God, Wisdom.  So back-tracking for me went like this:

• The end result, let's say, is an emotion of frustration
• The frustration was triggered within the body from self talk from the flesh and we get consumed by it
• Society, surroundings and upbringing molded the type of self talk that was generated from the flesh
• After watching this happen 100s of times, we now have knowledge of this repetitive path in life
• While utilizing this knowledge, realize we have a free-will/choice and can change the outcome
• Recognize the blessing, which is the opposite of self and pride - The Holy Spirit/Humility
• The Holy Spirit has other thougths, better thoughts
• Choose His thoughts first = an opposite end result in my life - no frustration.

What is opposite of frustration?  Peace?  Joy?  Happiness?  I changed my outcome by choosing to accept Christ and choosing His thoughts for me.  See?  When we are stuck in the self talk/emotional state from the flesh, we cannot possibly move on until we take a deep breath, realize where we are in our thoughts, realize the knowledge, and realize we have a choice.  Realize we are sinners and we need a Savior to get us out of this mess of pride, ego, self, flesh, etc.  We get out of a bad frame of mind by realizing where our thoughts are at any given moment - which are usually with self, satan, ego, pride, etc - We realize these are on the Cross in Jesus, and then we accept Jesus' Righteousness into our lives in return.  Then the Holy Spirit intercedes to our souls (different words hit our minds, words from God), and then we make a better choice for ourselves.   There are 2 sides to everything. People call it Yin/Yang.  Positive/Negative.  Good/Bad..  But in the end, there is one Truth.. and the 2 sides are: in-Christ or in-Adam.  Self and the Holy Spirit.  Sin or Righteousness.  Pride or Humility.  They are both in us...  Our Free-will/Choice decides what state we will be in.  If we are on a bad path in life, all we have to do is use our wisdom and make a better choice by calling out to Jesus, praying and forcing our flesh to obey - pick up the bible.. force it..  Remember, we put ourselves wherever we may currently be, via our own choices.  No one "makes" our choices for us, we have free-will. 

Back-tracking further in my mind, I have found other things that open doors to the soul.  Moving further, I will be speaking mainly about God, Jesus Christ, my Soul, the Holy Spirit and so on.  It's all God, regardless of how you look at it.  The unseen are things that are eternal.  The things we see are temporal.  We experience and believe in Love, but we don't see it.  The Word says: "God is Love". 

God bless you and yours,

joseph