I don't know why I still attempt to tell people about my dreams and nightmares as pretty much every time I start describing them, the realization hits me that the person I'm telling it to doesn't have a clue what I'm talking about. :)
Last night I turned the dishwasher on before bed; my wife, Maggie, was out of town. Not too long after I went to sleep I heard a noise that woke me and I sat up in bed for a minute listening, then I realized it was just the dishwasher. I laid back down and was facing the door when it began opening. Already a little jacked up, I grabbed my pillow (I guess I was going to beat the intruder with it), and stood up. When my feet hit the floor, my dachshund, Shadow, was standing there. I thought he had already made his way to the bedroom but he must've fallen asleep on the couch and was pushing the door open to get in. Relieved, I put the weapon I was going to use on the intruder back down on the bed and laid my weary, and partially scared head, on it. :)
I’ve been reading a book by Terry J. Scroggins called: Start Here, and one of my favorite parts so far about the book is when he goes over the impact that our subconscious minds have on our lives. One of his premises is that most people know what they should be doing but don’t do it. When we figure out the why as to what is holding us back from moving forward, then we can begin taking charge of the direction of our lives versus just existing and having life take us where it wants.
He writes that a huge part of what holds us back from experiencing a better life personally, professionally, and spiritually is due to what’s called: “Limiting Beliefs.” It’s a subconscious foundation of beliefs which impacts what we think about ourselves and our capabilities, along with our expectations about life in general. Our conscious mind processes information and makes decisions but we’re often not aware that our subconscious mind kicks some data up for the conscious mind to process as well. This is what causes us to consciously know what we should do in various situations but find ourselves doing just the opposite and we don't know why. How different might our lives be if we did figure out the ”why,” behind our decision making? I recently talked to a couple of people about trivia competitions in our area. One of the individuals I was talking to (Kristen), said she gets mad at herself because she doesn’t speak up often enough during the competitions. Someone would shout out the answer and she realized that she knew it but was afraid to say anything in case she got the answer wrong. I thought about what Terry wrote in his book and this situation was a perfect example, so I asked her why she was afraid to put herself out there. I don’t have time to go into the details, but it ended up being a great conversation because she realized that the other participants didn’t really care if she got something wrong. Quite frankly, she thought they were paying more attention to her than they actually were. I’d say we’re all guilty of this at times in a variety of settings. We get self-conscious and get in our heads about what people are thinking about us when they're probably not giving us a second thought. We begin questioning what we said during our conversations when more than likely the people we talked to don't even remember what we said. In Kristen's case, all these trivia contestants really care about is getting to the next question to see if they can get it right. Her belief system that if she got a question wrong she'd be embarrassing herself, was holding her back from enjoying the game and gaining more self-confidence. Terry mentions that the results in our lives stem from what we believe at both the conscious and subconscious levels. He wants us to question what we believe instead of going through the motions day in and day out and ending up in the same place five years from now that we are today. Certainly, if we’re happy with how things are going then that’s great, but if we feel things could be better, it’s probably time to find out why they aren’t. “The costs of not examining our thoughts are high.” – Terry J. Scroggins. What if the things we believe about ourselves aren’t exactly true or not even true at all? What if we’re basing our opinions on faulty data and that’s why we’re not experiencing the life we had hoped? Our subconscious mind stores information that is out of context all the time. It doesn’t logically decide what’s valid and what isn’t, like our conscious mind attempts to do, it just sees and feels things and then plugs it in our mental database. I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of people over the years who were smart as can be but often made terrible decisions. Their intellect, organizational skills, being goal oriented etc., that comes from their conscious mind sometimes isn’t enough to overcome limiting beliefs that are running in their subconscious minds. Some people think that we can’t do anything about the impact of our subconscious, but they’re wrong and Terry explains why. By the way, it doesn't include seeing a therapist to bring out our deepest darkest secrets. It's in having a road map of how to track down our limiting beliefs and get to the bottom of what caused them to see if they're legitimate. Maybe some beliefs are legitimate, but there's no doubt that a lot of them aren't and they've been wrecking our lives. I didn’t do the topic of “limiting beliefs,” justice so if you’re interested in learning more please check out Terry J. Scroggins’s book: Start Here, on Amazon. The book is atypical as he isn’t an author per se, but an extraordinary life coach/teacher and speaker. He decided to not go the usual route of having a bunch of editors modify his content and kept the book more conversational; basically, the good and the bad of information flow as if you were just sitting around the table talking with him. He didn’t want to create a boring textbook. He’s not an academia, he’s a regular guy with tremendous life lessons who has always been passionate about why people do what they do. If you’re looking for a book that will stretch your mind (and knowledge seekers usually are), Start Here is a good one. One last thing. Since the book just came out, it would help greatly, if you like the book, to provide a positive comment on Amazon. The understanding of limited beliefs is critical so if more people would pick up the book, more lives could be changed. Thanks. Any deaths are terrible so us losing about 4,500 lives since we entered Iraq, is tough. A lot of people don't have the stomach for these losses. Just a reminder that over 60 million people died during WWII, two-thirds of them being civilians. The greatest generation was so much tougher than ours. Keep in mind that although some liberals, mostly young people, don't respect or appreciate our country, that we weren't engaged in WWII to protect Americans, we joined the war effort to protect our allies. No greater love hath any man than to be willing to lay down their life for another. We are a great country, don't let them fool you.
Of course depending on which research company you reference, the numbers will be off some as far as the rankings are concerned, but listed below are the top 20 television shows based on criteria such as fan feedback, ratings, show longevity, etc.
1) M.A.S.H. 2) Law and Order. 3) The Tonight Show. 4) The Price is Right. 5) Seinfeld. 6) I Love Lucy. 7) Saturday Night Live. 8) 60 Minutes. 9) The Honeymooners. 10) Sesame Street. 11) The Ed Sullivan Show. 12) E.R. 13) The Cosby Show. 14) Hill Street Blues. 15) The Simpsons. 16) The Mary Tyler Moore Show. 17) The Carol Burnette Show. 18) Gunsmoke. 19) The Oprah Winfrey Show. 20) The Today Show. Unfortunately, as human beings, we take the easy way out which includes something really easy and that is to find faults in other people. It takes much more work to look for the good but it sure is worth it.
1) The mainstream media has been running articles that state President Trump is considering lowering payroll taxes to stave off a recession. The problem? There isn't a recession in sight. A large majority of economists, besides those who places like the New York Time's like to quote, say that predicting a recession at this time is ludicrous because so many of the economic indicators are great.
Once again the media is creating a problem that doesn't exist in an effort to help Democrats. Trump might want to reduce payroll taxes because it's so easy to manage and it provides immediate economic relief to everyone who works. Keep in mind this is a pay cut for all economic classes. Remember the Dems have tried to make it appear that the middle-class didn't get a tax cut which is absurd. Even more absurd, the people who believe them when there's no evidence of their claim. Tax cuts kick started our economy in a huge way and the Trump Administration is heading down the same strategic path he ran on by creating more ways to get money in our pockets to spend locally versus in the government's pocket to waste on special interests created by both parties. 2) Liberals have been trying for the last several years to get federal and state governments to spend billions of dollars on solar roads. We haven't done it yet and France beat us to the punch three years ago by creating a trial road. How's it going? It's been a disaster according to the French newspaper "Le Monde." Some of the road's surfaces have deteriorated beyond recognition so it didn't hold up as promised; now they're tearing up sections to get paved roads back in. Citizens were complaining because the road noise (tires on panels), was much worse than tire noise on pavement. The energy they promised to generate off the panels was a bust. It wasn't going to come close to paying for itself as liberals once again promised. Many liberals demonize Republicans for not supporting initiatives such as the solar road when it isn't a matter of them not liking the concept, it's more a matter of not wanting to throw taxpayer money away when they don't feel a project is viable. Quite frankly, if it weren't for Republicans keeping us out of so many of these wild schemes, we'd be in much worse shape debt wise than we are now. Remember Solyndra? Lightning can be scary and I think that a lot of people don't know, or don't remember from school, that it is very beneficial to us. Lightning helps dissolve the atmosphere’s nitrogen, enabling it to combine with raindrops, which makes a great fertilizer for plants. Lightning also helps to balance earth’s electrical field, and it contributes to the ozone layer, which helps shield us from the harmful rays of the sun. Lightning storms also clean and revitalize the air which I'm sure you've felt after a storm.
Our planet is dependent on thunderstorms, and so are we. We couldn’t survive for long without them. Next time you see a flash of lightning and hear the rumble of thunder, thank God he has sent it your way. About noon on Sunday and my To-Do List has officially become a To-Done List. Yeah! Never mind, Maggie just handed me another list.
If you want to hear President Bill Clinton, Secretary of State (and presidential hopeful, Hillary Clinton), along with President Obama crack down hard on illegal immigrants, all you must do is type in their names and the subject of immigration, on YouTube, and you'll get an eyeful.
They've said the very same things Trump has, let me repeat, the very same things Trump has, but there was no backlash from Democrats and the mainstream media. But, when Trump says these things about securing our border and getting illegal immigrants out of our country, he's a racist. Obama even threatened illegals from bringing their children here. Let the above sink in. This is what we're up against. The mainstream media has become a propaganda machine just like what is used in places like Cuba and Russia. They've become dangerous because they're attempting to shape the hearts and minds of people with false narratives. The sheep, and there are many, are buying into the lies so it's up to us to not shy away from discussing politics in our personal lives because for some people it might be the only time they actually hear common sense and logic. The only time that they'll hear another side to the story. So fight the good fight if not for ourselves, then for the younger generations coming up. Thanks. |
Author: John Mann |