Salt and Pepper

What A Man

"Whatta Man"
by Salt N Pepa
featuring En Vogue

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LyAIzLHvxnY&feature=youtu.be

ps

Right Said Fred

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P5mtclwloEQ

Life, Liberty and what ever else that we may want

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

The Declaration of Independence

American Forefathers

Unalienable.
Isn't it such a peculiar sounding word?  Almost sounds like a double negative with the centerpiece of alien.  As far as I'm concerned, alien means foreign or unknown.  The current definition of unalienable according to thefreedictionary.com states:
Not to be separated,  given away or taken away; inalienable
So, anything that is unalienable can not be taken away from you...nor could you give it away if you wanted to...as a matter of fact...you can never be separated from it...and IT being your right of Life, Liberty and your pursuit of Happiness.
A right that belongs to you...a right that No One can take away from you...a right that you should not ever, under any circumstance, relinquish or "transfer" to anything or anyone.
Got it?
Good, now keep it because there are plenty of folks on this globe that lack the right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Which brings me to my next point, and it's been a theme of mine before.
The Pursuit of Happiness.
Let's not confuse that with the right to be happy, because being happy isn't so clean and easy.
I find too many people, mostly younger who expect to be entitled to the be made happy by others (or things).
Yes, that's what some (being most) people expect...
To be made happy.
Whether it's through their personal relationships, or their jobs and co-workers...perhaps their neighbors, friends and family...
Some way, some how...it's everyone else's obligation to make you happy.
Because it's your entitled right.
Right?
Wrong.
It's no one's responsibility to make you happy.
No it's not.
It's up to you to pursue your happiness and make yourself happy.
It's not up to your spouse or loved one.  It's not up to the wealth to make you feel complete and happy.  It's not up to anyone or anything to hand you happiness.
It's all up to you, and nothing else really factors beyond that.
Nothing external will ever fill that void within us, unless we fill it from within first.
First fact to understand:
Focusing too much of trying to feel good all the time will counteract you actually feeling good....because expectations aren't always attainable to the levels they are set...especially if you make them contingent on others to fill.
Second Fact to understand:
Things are just that, things.  Maybe initially they make us excited...but with time, they become just like anything else...
Things vary from money, jewelry, vehicles, clothes and so on....
Again, expectations set our standards and if we get more...there is rarely a fill point where we say we have too much...and we are always looking for more to satisfy our expanding expectations.
Third fact to understand:
It's not a destination.  There is no road that ultimately leads you someplace where you will eternally happy.  That only happens in soap operas and Disney movies....and life is neither.
Instead, being happy is something that we need to continually work on.
As in an everyday effort.  In other words creating habits that implement that connection.
One way you can understand why you should be happy, is understand and appreciate all the good things already in your life.
Happiness isn't a one an done event, but rather a continual progress towards experience every day life.
So, you have be satisfied and content with what you have.
You need to feel healthy and strong, in turn, feel good about your self.
Keep good habits as far as diet and sleep go.
Surround yourself with people that mirror this influence.
Stay optimistic, stay positive....expect good effort out of yourself, after all...that should be your primary expectation of yourself.
And most importantly, cherish what already is good and understand that this is a path that everyone has to walk...and everyone has their falls.
Contrary to how you may think and feel, Life is NOT here to conspire against you in order to make you miserable....rather we are all fortunate enough to be allowed to have these experiences, aka the miracle of life....and that, in itself entitles you to make yourself as happy as you want.
Anyhow, without experiencing the low, HOW will you be able to appreciate the high!
And let's be real people, how can anyone short of being medicated or just born funny...how can anyone be able to sustain the "high" of happiness all the time?
Is that even possible under normal everyday conditions?





Nothing makes me as happy as listening to Vikings chanting!
Viking War Chant

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mav2kkvakGY

Ps congratulations to Iceland's National Soccer Team in the Euro Cup

love Supercedes fear

I can't hold fear as my dominating form of inspiration
No! No! No!
I just will not do it...
Instead, I focus on how a solution needs to find its home....irrelevent of consequence
or

reaction

Resolution WILL always happen

with or without our consent

Time always moves forward
Combine the two and stop worrying of WHAT happens in the "in between"
When I have a problem
I calmly step back and think
In time, it will come to pass
Let me do the best that I can and hope for the best to come
(Although LUCK does favor the prepared)
Before I know it
A half century will pass
My hair will grey
And half of the people that I know will leave
The other half will be on borrowed time
But I won't stress about that
Time isn't a problem, if I Don't make it one


ps
to those that want to be in the "know"

Listen here Ms Joanne Webb, every problem that I have ever had in life...(and I have had many moments of chaos and/or crisis)...I have stepped back and told myself in due imminent time, things will come to a pass and everyone will move on regardless of my action/decision...Finding myself released of any stress or tension that this chaotic crisis might have created.

This thought process calms me, grounds me and it re-energizes me.  I feel focused to the tenth degree when I realiz(s)e that time solves my issue of deadline...and my world will not somehow implode at the endpoint of whatever is my chaos or crisis.

It's like riding a wave to shore

I catch it with my focus and ride it with my skill

At all points

I am fully calm and focused

Ohm to those that get it

Pss

Don't sweat the little things

It's the big ones that often get us

All the Right Angles In All the Wrong Turns

Life so shamelessly angers me...because everyone around does not seem to comprehend it

It's Tuesday morning on my calander and my clock reads roughly a quarter to eleven.  Nothing to do, nothing to say...no place to go and no person to see. Like a blind bat I play fiddle with words, knitting them together to bring a thought before your eyes....and it is your eyes that I am coming to see...for it's the bridge to your mind...an endless mind of eternal hope and doubt.  Where would we be if it weren't for our dreams? For...there is where...you will find the purest of aspirations brimming with a naive confidence and an undivided ambition for the ultimate degree of successful expectation....all for this life's transient yet luxurious desires...Vibrant with fight, angrier than any rooster and more violent than a violin...
We
as in you and I
As Well As
Everyone We have come to know
Fall victim to this "paradox" of taking everything you can and destroying whatever you can't have
All in the name of a better, safer tomorrow...

How self centered of us

Humans are the epitome of a virus
Spreading an uncontrollable greed to all reaches of humanity
Creating Gods only to disbelief in their existance...
This arrogant greed will swallow this world whole in a deluge of distinguished entitlement....
After All
man is the center of this world
At least according to him, her and everyone else...

The Human Condition

Our flesh is our prison
Our knowledge creates our principles, morals and ideals
and
Our prejudice sets our limits
...
Our arrogance blinds us
yet our hunger drives us
and our thirst WILL drown us
If there's a God...we can all use the help
But you can't help those that don't want to be helped...


I wish, with all my heart that I can live long enough to see the change that I am hoping for

Monday Monday

It's only Monday...and I feel as if I can barely recall this past weekend...
As Well As, a long ways away from this upcoming event filled weekend.
But hey, at least I have The Mermaid Parade on Saturday in Coney Island and the Pirate Festival in West Sayville...plus the Strawberry Festival out in Mattituck this entire weekend.
If I make it out of here, I will make it to there.
See Ya


by
The Mamas and Papas


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=h81Ojd3d2rY

roots grow to where there is water

In general terms, Samskara is the ancient Indian philosophy of how our (past and current) experiences root themselves deeply within us and subsequently create the basis of the subconscious mind to lay the ground work for our expectations, behaviors, emotions and memories.
This "imprint", in essence, manifastates itself anywhere from our instincts, impulses, impressions, disposition...all the way to our own self worth.
Hence, how this value system impacts our created memories...and in turn define our sense of happiness or suffering...and in my case, my lack of contentness with how Things Are.
Some people might even call that Karma...
and Karma is what Karma was...and What Karma will be...
(quick aside, Karma is the belief that our past actions affect our fate)

Interesting study that I came across.
The behavior/mood of approximately 250 senoirs living in an assisted facility.
Prior to the start of the study, a baseline test determined depression levels of the seniors living at the facility.
A high volume of them were moderately depressed, and understandably so.
Then a campaign was introduced to them...a Hugging Campaign.
That's right, Hugs...
The Theory was that if they had more physical contact, it would enhance their mood.
So...to kick off the festivities there was a flash mob to the song Macarena

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XiBYM6g8Tck

With the Entire staff of the assisted living facility.
Hug Me buttons were given out.
There were contest prizes award to high volume huggers.
Before you knew it, the grumpy old guys in their walkers were asking for hugs....
The seniors went as far as to create their own flash mob.
Net result: seemingly all borderline depressed seniors tested the second time around in the happy to be here range.
The Human Touch
The Human Experience
Samskara

You can decide for yourself.


Jefferson Ferry is the assisted living facility that conducted this study.

born more of light than heat

It was A most pleasant surprise to be Resolute in my own true way

With no confusion and without any outside interference

I am in the midst of converging thought with action

On this beautiful road where desire meets heartbreak

against the headwinds of accepted wisdom and logic

come truths riddled with limitations and disappointments

My Wealth

is rooted somewhere between

My Heart

and

My Mind

in the wake of this difficult birth
unfolds a wonderous life
Without question

Yours and Yours to decide

Amongst a savage society that masquerades with class, order and sophistication
The only thing sophisticated I can witness is the machinery constructed to facilitate our own demise
Our own cruelity comes with great creativity
A creativity that instinctually alienates anything foreign to our reflection
Principles fostered by greed, sloth, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and Pride
Hate is our mental byproduct
Anger is our escalulated motivator
Destruction is our net result
Burning our forest when we can't see the blue in our sky....only to char the fruits that nourish our being
and sheer our flesh with the naked sun
Destruction, unfortunately is our main primal reflex that has buried our past beneath acres of ash

How can humanity lift from this arrogance and ignorance?
And evolve in a positive direction

Where meaning has substance

and

We can all value each other

Love needs to be our highest value
understanding and accepting are the tools in achieving the goal
of Global Unity

Otherwise in a thousand years, no one will know that we ever existed....