Addiction vs stupidity

So, the longer I live with aches and pains as part of life, the more I think it's normal.  For years, as far back as Adam and Eve, people have lived with adversity. I often wonder if Adam and Eve had any aches and pains....other than working the fields and BIRTH!  I mean their bodies were not born but created by a heavenly parent.  I suspect their bodies were perfect in make unlike today where we have all sorts of maladies.  But I digress......

Aches and pains have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.  There have been lots of ideas for "solutions" to these present day maladies but how does one depict the good solutions from the crazy?  Besides deciding one makes sense over another, there are feelings that can keep us motivated when it seems like a "solution" isn't working.  Sometimes even this is just a waste of time but we think we are moving forward in our quest for relief so everything seems to work out ok.

Now let's look at the other side.  The, what makes our pain worse, side.  Again we see lots of suggestions but which ones are real?  Sometimes it's easy to decide when something makes us feel worse because we are doubled over in pain and there is no doubt where it came from.  Other times we think back to try to remember which foods we ate recently, what activities could have contributed or which choices we have been told would cause such mind numbing suffering.  Sometimes we even know the culprit but continue to doubt because it's easier than admitting we can't eat chocolate anymore. These are the times we can ask the question, "Does this "need" for this item/activity come from an addiction or is it just my stupidity(pride)?"

Against oneself or comfortable in our own skin

    When learning about oneself, it can be hard not to take what other's have said and use that against ourself!

    I have been, again, traversing an educational "course" that depicts aspects about actions, facial features and thinking processes. The next stage is energy levels. This, I'm interested in because for years I have been told who I am and I find I either fight it or acclimate to what I'm told. (I fight it a lot!) 

    My mother liked to tell me I was stubborn and selfish. As an adult I have not met too many people as selfish as my mother....and yet she had a "seemingly" unselfish side too....as long as she made clear all that she had done and sacrificed (especially the sacrifices) to do whatever she had accomplished "for you." (I digress.)

    It's funny to me that I was doing fine until the part where this course claimed what came next would be fun. This I struggled with and it took a week for me to get through one 20 min. session. I had to go back multiple times as well.  (though luckily not a week each time) I am the dynamic type. The one everyone thinks is too pushy or assertive.  Amazingly, I seem to be the only one who gets things done in my immediate family. I wonder why.

    See, the "course" I'm following recognizes our traits and focuses them as strengths instead of detailing how the "downsides" need to be "fixed." It does acknowledge that some traits are difficult for some people but interestingly that tends to be due to how their own traits function. (Funny that!) 

    For instance, a person who tends to be calm, cool and relaxed can find someone like me maddeningly boorish! I had decided that calm, cool and relaxed people were boring, lazy and undependable. They seem to never get things done. At least, I used to feel that way.  : } 

    It seems to always come down to perspective. How we view someone determines whether we get along with that person or not. That would include our perceptions about ourselves.  If we think of ourselves as boorish or lazy then we tend to dislike ourselves because those negative words don't take into account the benefits those traits can be, nor does it recognize more positive ways to describe them.  If we see ourselves as assertive or relaxed then we may be more comfortable in our own skin, assuming you don't see either of these words as negative.  Definitions of words mean different things to different people.  

    If we change our views, maybe we can see the positives someone can be in particular situations. Even if we don't want to be around that person, maybe we can still choose to view them differently which will change our perspective of them.

Our future?

    Where are we headed? What is it that we see? Where are the dreams this country was built upon? When are we going to recognize our worth, our responsibilities, our rights, our freedoms?

    There is an empty hole being created where our once great ideals used to exist. We are no longer standing for something. We are being led to the slaughter and going willingly. We are being told to destroy our rights, our freedoms and our standards and replace them with ideals that are making us weaker and more vulnerable. And the scariest thing about it all is that we are enthusiastically following along.

As the stomach churns

    When Obama was first elected in 2008, I didn't have much opinion about him other than, "Cool, a sort of black person becoming President. What a great country this is that we can go from slavery to presidency in such a short amount of time." Then I listened to his inaugural speech.

    I was at the library and noticed a group of people standing in a back room watching something on the television and being very excited.  I was curious.

    As a homeschooling mom, I kept my kids busy learning but politics never interested me. I taught them that the Constitution was the foundation of our governmental workings. I taught them that I felt it was an inspired document that, when followed, would ensure we all had the opportunity to live prosperously and find happiness. That just reading it was not enough and learning the construction of it was important as well. But that is where I stopped. 

    I spoke of action as being important but I am so against the negativity that politics creates I never wanted to go any farther than learning about that particular document. Oh, we went to the Capitol and lobbied for bills and such. I wanted them to know the process but I never had strong enough opinions about most things to do more than that.

    As I listened to Obama's inaugural speech, I was vaguely aware of the shouts of support around me. I was shocked that he could make such claims as he was making. "You already won the presidency. You don't have to lie anymore." was what I was thinking. To actually pull off his promises would mean his family was in danger because the most powerful people in our country, and abroad, were not about to give up their power that easily. 

    There was no way for him to do what he was claiming. If it was that easy then other presidents would have done them already. No, there were tycoons keeping circumstances beneficial to themselves at the cost of our country's freedoms and prosperity. Obama would never be able to fulfill the claims he was making in his inaugural speech, no matter how pretty the words. My stomach began to churn. The elated nature of everyone else in the room was very contagious and I wanted to believe. They were such beautiful ideals! Still, that nagging feeling that we were in for some loss of our freedoms wouldn't go away.

    I believe in acting when our freedoms are in danger but what does one do when everyone around you is caught up in the hope of a better future?