Sometimes there are flashes of energy that zap into your mind out of nowhere and speed through your body down into the hands. This is one such moment…..

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Understanding the forces of nature helps to understand the flow of your everyday life.  For every action there is a reaction. For every up there is a down.  For every light there is a dark.  For every move to the left there is a move to the right.

Everything in the universe is in balance.  There is no right or wrong.  There just Is.  There just Is.  So when a mountain is formed, so is a valley.  When there is a cloudy day on one spot of the planet, there is a sunny day on another.

The key is to understand and accept that for every move there is a complimentary move in another direction.  And although one move may seem to be a “good” move, say – a movement upward, there will be a corollary movement sideways, or even downward, which may seem “bad” to you.

This is not to be seen as a “bad” thing that has happened.  It simply is the reaction to another movement of energy.  It is energy reacting to energy.  To Itself.  It is neither good nor bad.  However, all movement is progress.  It is the movement itself that is what can be called “good.”

When the wind blows, she does not pick her direction.  She simply moves; sometimes fast, sometimes slow.  The same can be said for water, for fire and electricity, and for your planet herself.

Birth and death are movement too.  So is the act of saving a life or ending one. (And do not limit your definition of ending a life to refer to just a human one)  It is all just energy in motion.  It is all good.

If you learn anything in your life, learn this.

Understand this deeply.  Drink it into your mind.  Let it soak in.  Accept it.  Use it.  The knowledge of this one thing will eliminate almost all of human suffering.  It is the key to happiness.  It is what will enable you to move forward and progress physically, emotionally and spiritually.  Make the object of the energy, the movement, LOVE.  Make the reason for the movement LOVE.  Make the goal of the movement LOVE.  Your lives will become much easier to handle and work with on a daily basis.  Your mind will become free and at peace when this secret is held in your hand and shared with all others.

Be free.  Be at peace with yourself.  Be in LOVE with yourself.  You will never understand how you could ever have thought any differently.  But don’t wait, like some choose to do, until the moment of your death to come to this realization.  Accept it now.  Everyone does, some just sooner than later.

But regardless of what you choose to experience, it’s okay.  It’s all okay.

Take care and seek peace my friends,

Vince

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Unless otherwise indicated, all words and images copyright vincegreen111058. www.artbyvincegreen.com.

When it comes to food, I am a really too simple-minded. I think that is a good thing. Yet it can be boring. Which of course is why I like boring food to begin with:  It is simple.

I don’t particularly like eating at restaurants. They always seem overpriced to me. Maybe a better way to put is I that usually never see the value in it. The value for me, that is.

I was a vegetarian for about ten years. It was a difficult journey in a land of omnivores. My wife at the time, Stacey, was very supportive when I changed over – not because she joined me, or heard the same voices I heard – rather she adapted her, and our family’s, lifestyle around mine. I really appreciated that, nonetheless it was still difficult navigating a course through menu’s that always seemed to include meat.

My mom always asked me the same thing:  “You can still eat fish right?”

Sigh.

With a young family, fast food joints were always easy for us on the watch, the wallet and the mind. We used to do Wendy’s a lot because I could eat baked potatoes and Frosty’s; or Burger King because they used to have a veggie burger on the menu. Maybe they still do?  And fries don’t have meat in them – see where the difficulties arise?

I started eating meat again when I needed to lose a bunch of weight (the result of vegetarian bread and beer). I went on a very strict diet and exercise program that I felt needed to include protein from meat. I’ve been eating meat ever since, never very much, and rarely beef, but I am very close to being a total vegetarian again – and on the path toward vegan.

I’ve also been single again for almost 9 years now and cooking for yourself creates a whole other set of challenges that most of you are either familiar with or can figure out for yourself.

So my food-eating principles are pretty clear-cut. I eat as clean as possible:  Little or no processed foods. I like to jumble up all the nutrients my body needs into one dish or serving. I like to keep things simple.

So this means I usually prepare my meals en masse and then store them in single-serving containers to eat later. So it was this morning. I thought I’d share this very simple vincemeal with you.

Ingredients

– Two hands full of white potatoes, boiled then mushed up.

– A can of kidney beans, low sodium and rinsed anyway.

– Two carrots roasted.

– Turmeric, black pepper, red pepper seeds/flakes, ginger.

That’s it. Mixed together and as you can see, partitioned out into one serving for breakfast and four for later over the next few days. I was going to add some more protein by frying up some tempeh, but eh, I’ll use that for something else later.

Simple is as simple does.

Boring but that’s how I like it. A few dollars and I’ve got 5 meals. To me, this is more satisfying than anything I can get in a restaurant.

How do you like it?

Take care and seek peace my friends,

Vince

Change ALWAYS means the loss of one thing and the gain of another.

The ease or dis-ease of the Change is the result of how much control we have, or perceive we have, over the actual event. On one hand, if you are consciously creating Change in your life, then its occurrence will be expected.  On the other hand, if Change occurs suddenly and is unplanned, then we become surprised or shocked when it happens.

Regardless of whether we consciously plan Change or if it occurs spontaneously, the surprise that most experience with Change is directly related to the time element involved. In many instances, even when we meticulously plan out change in our life, we become surprised at WHEN it arrives. Sometimes it takes too long for our liking. Sometimes it occurs immediately, or sooner than we expected.

In addition to these elements of time and control, loss of any type involves the individual journey through grief. Some journeys are short, like when one loses their favorite pen or the front door key. Other journeys are long, such as when our home burns to the ground or a beloved pet dies.

Yet, always at the end of the grief is redemption. We always gain something from Change; even if we are unaware of the nature of the gain. The loss of your front door key meant you had to get another one; and in the process you managed to smile at the clerk in the store and compliment her on her hairstyle and color. You feel better for it, and she gained the confidence and energy to make it through the rest of her shift.

The inherent turmoil of Change has no panacea. Yet, it occurs as naturally as the growth of your hair and fingernails. For yes, that too is Change! The impact Change has on our well-being is a direct relation to how we perceive the event. When the nail on your left big toe changes by growing a millimeter you are not in the least bit affected. When the nail on your right big toe grows into the skin and begins to inflame, you react differently. Loss and gain occur at the cellular level when that left big toenail is growing. Loss and gain occur at a more visceral level when the ingrown toenail on your right foot begins to swell and throb.

Other than powers of magnitude, how is your reaction to the changes in your toenails any different than your reaction to say, the loss of someone from your life?

The process and elements of the Change are the same. How you react can be the same too. What you feel will be different, most definitely. Learn the difference between how you react and how you feel. How? There is only one way – through self-examination.

When Change arrives and your reactions and feelings are confusing you, ask yourself these questions:

• Am I in control of what is occurring or not?
• How am I surprised at this?
• Do I know and understand the grieving process?
• What exactly have I lost so far, and what do I still stand to lose?
• What exactly have I gained so far and what do I still stand to gain?

Change ALWAYS means the loss of one thing and the gain of another. Many times we have no idea of what we stand to lose or gain from a Change event. However, the elements of Change and the process of Change are static. It is only the form that is different.

Change has a very big role in divine creation. It is the spark that moves life forward. Change is progress. Always. Whether you agree or not. Whether you notice or not.

Take care, seek peace and keep listening to the voices.

Vince

Image credit:  http://artbyvincegreen.com/featured/beauty-in-decay-study-2-vince-green.html 

Savannah Spiritual Cinema MeetUp

on April 25, 2014

Thoughts on the film “Forgotten Kingdom”

This film left me in visual overload.  I was thrown into a very foreign situation.  At the end of Joseph/Atang’s journey back into his tribal experience and own sense-of-self I felt overwhelmed.

After a good night’s sleep and a search for some wisdom from others* I can reflect better on the lessons learned from this very beautiful and thought-provoking film.

Most times we cannot move forward emotionally or spiritually without remembering, recounting the stones we’ve collected in our pockets** so to speak, from where we have come.  Re-discovering those forgotten kingdoms.  When we truly know what it means to be human – not just come to some understanding – but truly know in our innermost being what it feels, smells, and tastes like; what it hurts like; what it aches like…then we become ready to know what it feels like NOT to be human.

We remember that Forgotten Kingdom where we find our divine sense of self.  Our true self.  And…just as in the last scene of the movie…we can throw away all that we thought precious and important and simply live in the divine present moment; find ourselves a couple horses** and move on.

*http://www.cinemafunk.com/movie-reviews/the-forgotten-kingdom.html

** A specific scene reference, you’ll have to watch to understand

Take care and seek peace,

Vince