People relied on themselves and each other to survive

For the most of us the issue today is survival, how to survive on the income we have in an economy that is hostile to the working mans wallet. Food prices keep rising, the job market is pretty stagnant and business are cutting hours if not jobs. We can not rely on our government to save us or to fix the problems. Big business can only fix the employment issues and we are the only ones that will save our selves. We can learn how to make money stretch, grow our own food and trim the fat from our financial lives from our grandparents and great-grandparents. Some of them lived through the great depression and a world war, times were very tough back then and people relied on themselves and each other to survive.

Our economy is based on consumerism, yet the companies cut pay, jobs and send work over seas. How can Americans be consumers without money or a job? The corporations are cutting their nose off spite their face, they want to save money to make higher profits but they take away the consumers jobs and money that supply the profits. So I say lets start growing gardens, raising livestock and making due with less of the products from the companies that ship work across the oceans and who are cutting wages, benefits and jobs to Americans. I understand it is a global economy now days more so than just a national one, but if you neglect those whom helped you to get rich they will eventually wise up and stop supporting you and / or purchasing your products and services.

Maybe we need to start going back to a bartering system between us working folk and keep our unessential purchases to a minimum. Maybe then the big corporations will learn that the working class and the impoverished are not to be messed with or taken for granted.

Self-reliance, community and co-operation are the things that built the great cities and nations of our world.

Ray Barbier

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A kindhearted, compassionate and understanding person.

So much hatred and mistrust in our world, So little time given to peace, love and the welfare of others. Politicians play mind games with the public and with themselves. Media spin put on everything for the sake of ratings. Money seems to be all that matters to most people and the self is elevated over God and his teachings by many. The people of the world are starving spiritually for gods love. Religious leaders rather preach against other denominations of their own faith or against other religions than teach peace and tolerance. The governments need to wake up, they need to take care of the needs of their citizens and stop their political battles. Religious leaders need to teach peace and tolerance and compassion for all of mankind. Big business needs to learn how to make their profits without hurting the average Joe who works for them and the consumer who are the source of their wealth. People need to Feed their Spiritual self and focus on God more than they do.

Only in a perfect world would all of things be true, but alas we live in a imperfect world. We still can strive for a better world and we can work on being better individuals. As long as mankind is weak against greed,lust of power and selfishness we will have problems within our world. We should do our best in our lifetime to be a kindhearted, compassionate and understanding person. We only live a short time on this planet so we should try and make it a peaceful and pleasant experience for everyone.

 

If love, peace and understanding were our guides through life then the world would be a better place to live.

Ray Barbier

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Ego, the self and some random thoughts.

Ego, the self and the center of our consciousness is both the root to selfishness and to compassion. We are individuals and can not deny that part of our existence, but we are also apart of the group. Usually we interact with a small group that in turn interacts with other groups. in the end the collection of groups create a larger group such as a community. It continues on until we reach the collection of states, nations and in the end we are one big group called the human race.  It all starts from the individual and works its way up to the whole species. One individual can change the consciousness of the whole world, though sometimes it takes generations for a thought of one to reach the masses, nowdays with the internet any one person can get their voice heard across the world and do so in less than a few minutes. This is the era of information and the freedom of ideas and as long as governments do not censor the internet and the voices of the people this world will change dramatically in the next decade or so.

So in this era there should be more focus on individuality and the responsibility of each persons actions and words. What you put out on the internet is available for anyone to see from young to old and from one corner of the world to the other. This is the time for visionaries, dreamers, teachers and free thinkers to come out and voice their ideas and or opinions to help change our world into a more peaceful and happier world to live in. Where are the Plato’s, Socrates's of our time and when they share their philosophies for all to see? It is a time for change, a change that starts with the people not the governments. The governments will change along with us the people in time. But we must start with ourselves before we can enact change in the political systems of the world.

Change must start within ourselves before it can manifest in the world around us.
Ray Barbier

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A Letter to my self : Self-Compassion

I am writing this to let you know how special you are, I know you have a lot of shortcomings and you're struggling each day with things you don’t like about yourself along with a few bad habits. I know sometimes you feel sad and lonely and I want you to know that everyone goes through that from time to time. Stop trying so hard to be perfect, for no one is perfect. Just know no matter how bad it gets, how hard life tries to be on you and how bad you think you are everything is going to be ok. You may not be perfect, but you are a pretty good person. Try to forgive yourself for those things in the past you regret and then forget them for they belong to yesterday. Just remember this most of all, no matter how alone and unloved you feel there is always one person here on earth that will love you and be with you. I will always be there and will always love you. Even if I fail you know for certain Jesus and God will never fail you, they shall love you no matter what.

Sincerely you friend

Me, Myself and I

Raymond Barbier

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Embrace that spirit of hope

We tend to look outwardly for our happiness, love and for acceptance. God gave us all the tools within us to be happy, love and be loved. Pretty much anything we need to be or do is within our own selves, God gave us everything within, it is only the matter of having the faith to utilize what we have been blessed with. We can not find happiness from an outside source if we can not even embrace the happiness god gave us within. It is hard to love anyone or anything if we can not embrace the love God gives us deep inside. Once we learn to have faith in and embrace the gifts god planted within our souls we then will not worry about acceptance because we know we belong to God. As long as we don’t allow the distractions on our modern lives to get in the way and we don’t fall to the spirit of fear we shall live a happy and successful life. We must embrace that spirit of hope and the sound mind God blessed us with. We can not allow those in this world who try to make us believe we are hopeless or condemned without salvation. They wish only to drag you down with them, we shouldn’t have hatred for those people for we should pray for their souls and show them the compassion we are taught by Christ's teachings.

Look within yourself for the blessings god blessed you with and do not fall for the traps of our modern world.
Raymond Barbier

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I am greater than the sum of all my parts

 

What is the difference between what we label as the mind and what we refer to as the heart? Aren't both just mental processes or biochemical occurrences in our brain? From the scientific view that is all we are, a big organic biochemical computer with no soul or spark of life. We only can act or react in the way we were programmed by the environment we live in and the experiences we have been through. We have no freewill because all we do is predestined by our life time of conditioning. If this is true then why can two individuals grow up in the same environment and are exposed to very similar experiences turn out so different. How can a man who has walked a very dark path all of a sudden change and walk a path of peace and love? I can not deny the influence on our psyche by the environment  we grew up in or the life experiences we may have through life but I do know we can choose to either let them be what defines us or we can choose to make our own path regardless of what hand life dealt us.

The thing about freewill is we can choose to use it or we can choose to be a victim of our environment and life experiences. Freewill is really nothing other than the ability to exert you own will and the ability to be more than the sum of your life experiences and the environmental influences of your life. The heart is your emotional self but it also the side of you that knows the difference between selfish and loving acts or thoughts. Could it be just logical processes or instinct or is it just a learned process from your parents? Is it a divine spark with our carnal mind? those questions are yours to explore and answer. All I will say is there is like two sides to ones personality, one that cares for itself and the other that cares for everyone and everything else.  To be honest if all I am is a biochemical computer programmed from experiences and by my environment then what is this lifetime I have been blessed with for? Well thank god I know that I am greater than the sum of all my parts and that I do have freewill . But I respect those who chose to believe otherwise and rather think that we are all victims of circumstance and experiences.

Just something to think on
Raymond Barbier

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No man has the right to deny another of those gifts and freedoms.

Every morning we wake up to a brand new chance to change our world and the path we are walking through life on. We have another day to start over and change direction along to make amends for our wrongs. We should not only forgive but we should also ask for forgiveness and display our regret for the wrongs we have committed. Once displayed then we should ask for the forgiveness and then move forward knowing we did all we could to make up for the mistake as well as showing  regret for our wrongdoing. We should then forgive ourselves for our shortcomings and begin moving forward in life. Every minute we live is another chance to choose a better path and a chance to change how we interact with the world. During the day there is a constant battle between the heart god blessed us with and the mind the world help program. The love god inspires within us battles the selfish mind for control of our destiny. The good thing is that we do have freewill and can choose to follow one or the other and even both. Of course it is better to choose one for we can only serve one master at a time.

The world we live in is constantly bombarding us with conflicting messages and negative images along with immoral themes through modern media. If we see the negative and immoral enough we will become insensitive to it and eventually such insensitivity and tolerance leads to complete acceptance to such things. The problem is, there is no way we could stop all the negativity or immorality in our modern media, but we can make sure we do not become insensitive to it or accept it in any way. We must remind ourselves that even though it has become commonplace that it still is not acceptable and still is wrong. We must teach our young of right and wrong and how not to allow themselves to be mislead by the social acceptance of immoral and negative things. Just because everyone is doing something or says it isn't wrong anymore doesn’t make it so. We shouldn’t judge others for accepting the wrong, we should just avoid the same traps they fell for. We should also try to get them to see the truth and help guide them away from such illusions. The one thing we must always remember is they have freewill and have the right to believe and live as they choose. God gave every one of us the choice and the right to freewill and no man has the right to deny another of those gifts and freedoms.

Our mind is a collection of ideas and beliefs that we gained through our experiences in life , those ideas and beliefs are a mix of both treasures and garbage.

Raymond Barbier

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All we can do is learn from our past and work in the present to make a better future.

Seems the person we all judge the hardest is ourselves, We hold ourselves to a higher standard and expect to achieve it. We tend to forgive and overlook other people's faults and mistakes much easier than our own. We can have compassion for every one around us but we seem to find it hard to have compassion upon ourselves. We need to learn we are also human just like everyone else and we can't be perfect or without flaw. We must accept ourselves for who and what we are and forgive ourselves for our shortcomings. We always have room for improvement but we must realize we are beautiful and good as we are. We should build upon what we are and not try to destroy that which makes us unique.

We definitely need  to wake up to the reality that we are who we are and that it isn't that bad being an imperfect human.  It is quite relieving to know we are like everyone else in the fact we are imperfect and make mistakes. We just need to learn from those mistakes and improve what we don’t like in ourselves as well as embrace the light that dwells within. God made all of us the way we needed to be in order to learn the lessons of life he set before us. We can not live in the past or the future because we live in the present and we shouldn’t dwell on what was or what might be. All we can do is learn from our past and work in the present to make a better future.
We need to love ourselves and one another in the same way God and Jesus loves us.We need to accept the grace given and give as much grace as we can to ourselves and others. God gave us the spirit of love, and of a sound mind not of anger or fear and Jesus taught forgiveness and compassion.  For the spirit of love, forgiveness and compassion is not only meant for others but also for ourselves as well. For it is hard to love, forgive or have compassion on others if you can’t even have it for yourself. The sound mind comes with loving oneself and having the compassion to forgive yourself. With a sound mind you will find that there is very little others can say or think about you that will matter much. You will only be concerned with the truth and not of opinions and/or hear say.

 Listen to the heart God blessed you with and not the mind that the world helped program.

Raymond Barbier

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Where has all the compassion, love and respect gone?

Where has all the compassion, love and respect gone? People seem to be colder at heart and have only interest in themselves. Compassion is a key part of being human and respect is like the super lube of society. Without one or the other the world begins to become chaotic . Seems selfishness and the lack of respect for others is becoming the driving forces of the world we live in. Thing about selfishness is it is the seed to other things such as lust, greed, envy and vanity. I was brought up to respect elders, authority and have compassion for those who are less fortunate and in need. I was also taught that everyone is equal in the eyes of God and no person is greater than another. I never could see how anyone could find pleasure or some kind of satisfaction in causing physical or emotional pain to others. To help others and to make them smile or to make them laugh is the right path to follow and can be quite rewarding emotionally too.

It seems Karma does exist in one form another, what you sow you shall reap and what you give you will get back seven fold. So when you show compassion it will be shown to you and when you give hate it will come back to you. It may take years but you always pay for both the good and bad you do in life. I just don’t understand why for some people being compassionate and carrying a heart of love is such a hard thing to do. Is it fear of being considered weak or the chance of being hurt by others? No matter how tough or how compassionate you are, you are going to be hurt from time to time in life its part of being human. It could be they have a deep wound or emotional pain blocking them from becoming what God had planned them to be. I wish everyone could be compassionate, understanding and full of kindness and we all could follow the teachings and examples god gave us through Jesus.

There were many great prophets, philosophers and sages god gave man, he gave us great philosophies and examples to follow through them all. He just wants man to be kind, compassionate and forgiving towards each other. Far as the many branches on the tree of life and the many religions spawned on our planet, let each person choose their path and be good to one another. We all have freewill and the right to choose which religion and or faith we want to follow. We shouldn’t force our belief on others or judge them if they choose differently than ourselves. The judgment of who is right and or wrong is God’s alone, not that of man’s. We of different religions and faiths can get along and even be friends, I have many friends that are of different religions and faiths than myself and we have no hatred or distrust between us because of our differences of belief. We have respect for each others beliefs and live with each other in friendship and peace.

“ Learn from the wisdom of the old and the innocent truths of the young.”

Raymond Barbier

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A Fork in the Road

Lately the cycle of life has really sped  up around me, so many pregnancies and people either dying or getting life threatening diseases. This world is speeding up and we are heading towards a fork in the path we are going down. One of the paths ahead is to a dismal and foreboding future of selfishness, greed and eventual depletion of natural resources. The other path though will be rocky and hard to follow leads us as a species to a future of peace, equality and the saving of our wonderful planet and home called earth. We can not continue to walk through life with a selfish and/or apathetic heart, we have to become humble, compassionate and take care of this world we live in. We are all on this rock together and not one race, religion,country or individual has any more or less rights to live here. We are all equal and are equally responsible for our home and the life forms that live within it.

Some of the rich and powerful believe they are superior or at least deserve a better life than the average and impoverished man. This is just plain selfish and heartless thinking and not true, it isn't about wealth, power or even physical prowess but it is about the spirit and the heart. The common and impoverished are not as naïve or  as uninformed as the rich and powerful believe. We are waking up and seeing that we are not being treated equal in taxation and not being represented equally in our governments. Eventually the meek shall awaken out of their groggy state of mind and will help bring some of the change needed. Sometimes I see big business as a kind of bully, they raise prices to gain huge profits with no concern about if the average person can or can not afford it.  Nothing matters but the profit margin and the bonuses they get each year. They fill their banks with money that was earned by underpaid worker's in both their home country and 3rd world countries .  I understand the need for profits, but to be too greedy and have no care about the workers or the consumers who helped build that wealth is just not a good business model. Eventual things will become so costly that only the rich will be able to afford to buy anything beyond just food. And since the rich are just a small percentage of the whole consumer base there will be a lot of businesses failing.

Though not all of the current financial crises is the fault of big business a lot of it falls on the consumer as well by using credit to purchase items they can't really afford to have as well as buying luxury items that they could have lived without. Then the credit card companies also have their part in the mess as well as the mortgage lenders. There is many reasons why our world is in such a financial mess and the blame falls all across the board. The solution will also have to come from each level of the financial pyramid in order to fix it all. Greed and Envy seem to be the root of most of the mess, the businesses want more money and the consumer wants to keep up with the people next door.

We better change direction and choose the better path in the fork ahead, if we don’t our children, grandchildren and the generations afterwards will be living in a very dark future. We need to take care of the imbalance of wealth and start taking care of our home.

Just a rant of a middle-aged man.

Raymond Barbier

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Have faith, Trust in god and live life Christ like as possible.

Being positive is not an easy task, but it is the most rewarding path to follow. Negativity is a path that usually leads to self-destruction and the harming of all those around you. Your attitude towards life effects everyone around you in one way or another. It may not be intentional but when your negative you bring others around you down and even cause them harm sometimes. Though there is a time for negativity but it is not something that is meant to occupy your life for any great amount of time. Positivity on the other hand rarely ever causes harm, it usually lifts up the spirits of those around you, heals the emotional scars within your self and it tends to attract positive people into your life. The hard part is realizing that happiness and/or positivity is generated within yourself and is not supplied from an outside source. God gave you the spirit of compassion, love, positivity, creativity, healing and much more. He did not give you the spirit of fear, anger, envy, lust, greed or any other negative emotion or action. The negative is something you created or accepted from the world around you. The lack of faith, low self-esteem and a poor self-image are spawned from the acceptance and embracing of the negativity in your life. If you face negativity with faith in god and with love within your heart then you can not fail.

God wants all his children to be happy, healthy and live a good life, he does not want us to suffer nor to be lost in the darkness of sin. He gives us all we need to face off any enemy and to stand in the face of any storm, he planted a seed within each of us that we must cultivate. We must plant it in good soil and feed it with that which is good or positive. The only external force that can bring you happiness and positivity is God. He can work from within you and through those around you as well. Even an enemy can be a messenger or a finger-pointing the way, God will approach you in every he can to get you to see truth and to feel his love. Jesus taught us to be non violent, to love one another, to forgive and to be compassionate. All positive emotions and actions, all part of the path of righteousness. To judge is not our part to play, and to turn any sinner away from god is a sin in its self. Be positive, Have faith, Trust in god and live life Christ like as possible.

 

Though no man or woman can be without sin, all sin can be washed by his blood except blasphemy of the spirit.

Raymond Barbier

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Groggy thoughts before coffee… lol

Sometimes I can stare at the screen for hours and my mind stays blank, sometimes thoughts come flowing out like a river. Sometimes there is no one who can stop my serenity and other times the littlest thing can cause me to explode. Some days I am fearful and other there is no fear within me. In the end regardless of what emotion goes rampant in my head the logical and reasonable mind kicks in and restores the peace. The battle between reason, logic and emotions is one that has raged on since my birth, The mind usually wins but sometimes emotions become too powerful to contain. Maintaining a balance of the mind and heart is essential to a healthy life, yet its one of the hardest things to do at times. Writing blog posts is one of the ways I try to keep balance and seems to be quite therapeutic in the end. It helps me express my opinions, emotions and the real me few ever get to know.

If my blogs ever get popular or not isn't something I worry too much about since they are already successful in the fact they have helped me be who I really am. Hopefully it has at least sparked a few ideas in others if not gave them some entertainment. Random as my thoughts are and as unstructured my writing style is, the blogs continue to grow in traffic.

 

Raymond Barbier

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Nothing is for free, the programs are paid by working citizens

  Food stamps, public housing, welfare and other benefits provided by states and federal government are a necessity in times of high unemployment. The problem is the cost of these programs are bankrupting states and adding to the national debt. I don’t see why the states and the federal government couldn’t just require any able-bodied person who is receiving on or more of these benefits who are unemployed to work for the state or federal government in exchange for the benefits. At least it may offset the cost if not balance it out with the labor received. Nothing is for free, the programs are paid by working citizens and I see no reason a healthy person couldn’t work in exchange for the benefits. If it be just cleaning up trash off the side of the road, landscaping, mowing grass, custodial work in schools or any other job that could benefit the citizens and/or governments. Of course I support the idea of drug testing to receive benefits, If a person who is working a job has to take one to get and keep his job then why shouldn’t it be the same for a benefit recipient.

Plus if you require the healthy recipients to work then they can feel useful and it will keep them inspired to find employment. Also there should be more investigations and inspections on recipients to help prevent fraudulent benefit claims and beneficiaries. I do not wish to see the shutdown of the programs that are put in place to help those in need, but if we don’t find some way to alleviate both the cost and the waste created by fraudulent claims they will eventually either be stripped down to nothing or canceled. I am no expert and I don’t have all the answers, but I am intelligent enough to know the way things are going that all our benefits and entitlements will be gone in a generation or two if we don’t figure out how to keep them.

 

Just a few thoughts

Raymond Barbier

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I still consider Overland, Missouri my one true home

  Just chilling in my computer chair, feeding my addictions and listening to music from days gone by. Reminiscing and reflecting on the 44 years I have spent on this pretty blue rock traveling through space. Thinking about friends I have lost and those I have found. The many places I have lived and the many memories I have of the people I knew. I just pray that those I done wrong can forgive me and those I did right will remember me. Too many years have passed since the days of my youth and the friends that I will never forget. The summers walking all over town. I guess that the saying that you can take a person out of their hometown but you can never take the hometown out of that person is true. For no matter where I live I still consider Overland, Missouri my one true home. No matter how much its changed and even the fact it has become quite dangerous still doesn’t take my love of it away. The schools, the streets, the people and the memories will never fade from my heart or mind.

 

Raymond Barbier

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Love - So sought out and so easily took for granted.

Love, Such an illusive emotion and such a powerful force. When you are within its warm embrace life is wonderful but when you wander away from it you feel the cold reality of life. Hard to find but so easily given away, impossible to capture but simply surrendered too. So many levels and so many depths, so fleeting yet so eternal. Not just a biochemical reaction and more than just a word. It is so grand you can not see its boundaries and it has no limits. So sought out and so easily took for granted. One of the greatest treasure one could find and the easiest one to give away.

Love has no prejudice, it comes to the rich, poor, powerful and the weak. Love humbles the strong and then it gives strength to the meek. Love has been blamed for the start of wars as well as bringing peace. Such a wonderful thing love can be and it still remains one of mankind's biggest mysteries.

 

 

Love is the question and it is the answer as well.
Raymond Barbier

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Send positivity back to the source

Negativity, something we all must face from sources both inward and externally. How does one deal with negativity? I know of only three ways of dealing with negativity either you absorb it , avoid it or try to convert it to positivity. Absorbing it or internalizing it causes too much stress on one's body and mind, avoiding it which is my first choice usually is a very hard thing to do. Converting it is  to temporarily absorb it and to convert it into positivity in the hopes of returning the positivity to the one who sent the negativity. The third choice is not easy to master and takes quite a bit of effort but in the end is the best choice. Not only do you rid yourself of the negativity but you send positivity back to the source which will dilute the negativity remaining in it.  Also I notice if you are very positive minded and charged it seems to repel a lot of negativity and usually attracts more positive people. There of course is always a few negative people who charge straight at the positive, they seem to find some kind of enjoyment out of causing others to suffer along with them. I guess the old saying is true “Suffering Loves Company”…

I am but a student of life and am still in search of better ways to face the problems of modern life as well as the human dilemma. I share what I find and hope to learn more as I go and grow. I never claim I know the only answer or even the right answer, I just relay what I have found to work and so far has proven to be true. For I am only a fool seeking to be a sage who looks for fellow travelers along the way.

 

Peace and Love to all

Raymond Barbier

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BEES

A price to pay when they misbehave

The years within a family unit is when children develop all their life skills, they learn their fears and learn how to relate to authority as well as peers.  In school they learn some of these skills but usually the main influence on their world view and their capabilities to relate with the world comes from their parents and siblings. This is why parenting is an important skill to learn and usually is learned on the job so to speak. Children have to learn that the world isn't always fair and that to get something they have to either work hard to or trade something of equal value to get it. One of the most important rules of life they should learn during their childhood is that every they take has either a consequences or reward. Too much of the present youths out there today have little discipline nor do they have any idea about what consequences they may have to pay for breaking rules or laws. They usually learn too late and repeat the mistakes many times before figuring it all out.  As the bible says spare the rod and spoil the child, not that I am condoning child abuse or whipping a child to death but there has to be consequences to bad behavior or the child might grow up with some major issues. There are many non violent ways to teach them right from wrong and that there is a price to pay when they misbehave. What works for one child may not work for another and its one of those you have to figure out the best way for yourself kind of things.

I also find it kind of interesting that now most schools teach our children that there is no losers just the big winner and the next winner and so on. If they don’t learn to face that sometimes you just lose they will be quite emotionally challenged when they move out and have to face the real world. Losing teaches you how to be humble and it also builds character. It also makes most people want to try harder to succeed at the next try. But if there is no winner or looser then what is there to inspire them to try harder and soar higher in their lives? Yes it is not so fun loosing, I had to deal with that quite a bit through life but I also have experienced winning and usually it was because I was moved to do better by a previous failure. I think political correctness is becoming to important and we all are getting too carried away with it. Sometimes you hurt someone else's feelings or they hurt yours, that’s part of life. The pain is short-lived and if you are fairly secure in yourself then you don’t let it bother you or slow you down. We should teach self-confidence and good self imagery in our school system and promote compassion towards others.

 

Just a few thoughts I had, right or wrong it is the way I see it.

Raymond Barbier

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God does not create ugliness, he only creates things of beauty and purity.

  It seems the old dilemma of if one is good-looking or not still weighs heavy on our children and even some adults. We as a species are obsessed with physical beauty and perfection, this leads to so much self-esteem  / worth issues. God made us as we are and God does not create ugliness, he only creates things of beauty and purity. Mankind creates the ugliness in the world as well as the illusion that one body type or face type is prettier than another. Go made each one of us in his image, and god is not ugly so neither is any one of us. Yes beauty is in the eye of the beholder so we may find one type more attractive than another. The problem is in modern society we are bombarded with what someone else believes is pretty, sexy or perfect so much that we can not have our own version of what is hot or not. I guess even before television and photography there was some worries about such things as physical beauty but it wasn’t so wide-spread and usually didn’t cause so much low self-esteem / worth.  We seem to get so hung up on what other people think about our appearance and about us as an individual and this keeps us from accepting ourselves as we are. What other people think may matter, but only to a small degree. What we think about ourselves is what really matters in the end. For physical beauty fades with time but inner beauty and our personality is what remains basically the same throughout life. The truth is that not everyone will think you are physically attractive or like you, but those who matter will and that is what counts. One person may think your ugly but the next may think you’re the best thing since sliced bread. So don’t fret over what others think about your appearance or if they like you are not. Just worry about what you think about yourself and try to live happily. Teach your children to love and accept themselves for who and what they are. Teach them to think good about themselves and not to worry about the opinions off others.

 

 

 

 

 

“God made you, so you must be beautiful and a great person.”

Raymond Barbier.

 

God Bless…..

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Which way Will you Choose?

  The Bible teaches that love is one of the greatest things, It heals, nurtures, guides and bonds us as humans. Jesus taught us to love one another and he asked us to do it in the same way he loves us. Unconditionally, fully and without any hesitation is how we should love one another. Love is limitless but unfortunately mankind's capacity to find excuses why not to love each other is also limitless. It so much easier to remain closed up and hidden from the world around us than it is to open up and love everyone and thing in the world. When you open up to love you leave yourself open to be hurt and that fear is what stops love from manifesting in both in our individual lives and in this world we live in. The benefits of loving and being love is worth the risks involved, when your closed you miss out on so much of life and the happiness it can bring.

Being heartbroken is an emotional rollercoaster and can be quite devastating if you allow it to be. Eventually the pain fades and happiness returns and you open back up to the love that is all around you. Life will not always be a rose garden but it is far better when you are open to love. Love comes abundantly to those who give love freely and fear fades once it is faced. The choice to love, be loved and to be happy is your choice to make or not. You can give in to fear, cynicism and anger or you can embrace love and all its wondrous benefits.

Which way Will you Choose?

“As long as your still breathing there is always a chance to change the path your on.”

Raymond Barbier

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001 - Snow - 2-19-2012

Verum Peto–Lost Voyage

Royalty Free Music - Stock Music Library | Jamendo PRO

Mountains Near Evarts Kentucky 2-14-2012

Photo of Mountains Near Harlan County Jail

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Beyond the trap of following the social ideals

  Low self-esteem seems to very common place in America now days, seems a good percentage of the population have little if no faith in themselves or their abilities. Some of this is created by the family environment during the early years of our social and personality development.  But it seems that he age of mass media has the greatest effect on our self image and in turn it affects our self-esteem. Being bombarded with unrealistic thin supermodel females and overly muscle-bound males would make any average man or woman feel inadequate or sub par. Too much focus has been on the physical and not enough on the actual mental and emotional side. What one looks like does not dictate who they are or what they can achieve in life. The truth is that what society considers beauty changes decade to decade. There was a time when a heavy-set woman with pale skin was considered  very sexy and tall thin men were the hot item on the market. Unfortunately we seem to always look to society to choose for us what is sexy or not. This creates a lot of self-image problems for the majority of us that are just average looking . Until either society gets real or we as individuals get beyond the trap of following the social ideals we are handed we will be dealing with a lot of low self-esteem.

The truth is each and every one of us have their own ideal of what we consider attractive and/or sexy.  Not all men like skinny model types or bombshells and not every woman wants a Weight lifter. In the end the physical beauty fades and only the personality and heart remains. So it seems we should be more concerned with what one is inside than what they look like on the outside. Though I believe we all are beautiful and that being sexy is more an attitude than a look. For god does not make ugly things, only mankind labels things as such. Is it possible that we judge others negatively in order to try to hide our own faults?

 

 

“If the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence it is only because you have not taken care of the lawn you have.”

Raymond Barbier

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