Past Lives, Do You Believe in Them?

Posted on by serenitisparkles

A 3 year-old plays Mozart on the piano, a 9 year-old can sing like Aretha Franklin, a 7 year-old speaks 5 languages, and so many more unexplainable phenomenons that make you think twice about if we ever lived past lives.  It is said that the subconscious knows all, but your conscious spirit does not.  However, your conscious spirit feels more than we, at times, allow it to.  Unfortunately, Christianity, which rules most of the world, does not allow us to think into the past life spectrum.  It does not allow us to feel our consciousness as much as we need to.  To grasp the concept of past lives, we must be one within ourselves.  We must listen to the voice inside of all of us.  The voice that tells us that something doesn’t feel right, or it feels so right.  We ALL know that voice, but many of us try to look outward to define just what that is.

Let’s take a moment to pretend that past lives are 100% proven fact.  That we have all lived thousands of different experiences on this physical earth.  Every time we are reborn, we don’t remember what we’ve learned or experienced, but our being does.  The voice inside of us has already been down a road similar, or been struck by tragedy greater than your current imagination.  The voice has been with us, in all of our lives.  It speaks to us when no one else can.  It is literally our guide.

So then the question is, well why then does that voice sometimes lead us astray?  Why would that voice want to send us down the dark path?  Think about it, if you had thousands of lives to live, wouldn’t you want to learn everything this physical world provides.  Love, hate, sadness, physical pain, emotional pain, despair, torture, elation, success, intimacy, and everything you could learn would be at one of your life’s fingertips.  The purpose wouldn’t be to do everything right.  The purpose would rather be to learn how to be a positive beam of energy to carry the universe.  The purpose would be to force you into the darkness so you learn to LIVE in the light.  Isn’t that what we all want in the end?  To be in the right place at the end of it all?  Be the best version of you.  Learn to love beyond measure, live without bars, and take in every minute of every day with the appreciation that you get to be a part of something so boundless humanity has yet to comprehend.

Time is Our Most Valuable Resource

Posted on by serenitisparkles

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If I lose a dollar, I can replace it with another, but, If I lose an hour of time, I will NEVER get that hour back.  My father once said to me, “I’ll sleep when I die.”  This was a man who woke up every morning at sunrise and didn’t go to sleep until 1 or 2 in the morning.  He couldn’t have been more right.  Today, that same man is asleep forever, may he rest in peace.

Watching so closely the full cycle of life, from my daughter being born to my father’s untimely death,  has taught me a crucial lesson.  Time is my most valuable resource.  Every moment of each day is an opportunity.  It can be an opportunity to share time with a loved one, an opportunity to write, an opportunity to take a chance, and the most beautiful fact is that every moment is an OPPORTUNITY.

Many of us live in the past, or look to the future.  How many of us actually live in the NOW?  Since my father’s passing I try to ALWAYS live in the present.  I am constantly asking myself, am I happy with my moment right now.  If I am not, then I quickly adjust myself to think positively and change course.  I do not know many things, but what I am definite of is that this is my moment.  My life span could last another 50 years, or 50 seconds, but what I choose to do with my moment is vital to my quality of life.

When we fail to look around us and bask in our present, we fail to see the beauty of living.  Life is a gift.  No matter how many times we fall short, we are alive.  We have something that is so precious.  We have something that for all of us, will run out.  So when you wake up in the morning, appreciate and utilize the time you are given because it will be gone before you know it.

The Process of Progress

Posted on by serenitisparkles

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When was the last time you can remember writing down a goal, setting up a path to it’s success, and moving forward in CONSTANT pursuit?  How many people actually ignore social media and the lives of others in order to focus on their own life?  Unfortunately, in the age of information and social media, we are buried in a world of IRRELEVANT CONTENT.

The clouds grow thicker with the more posts shared online that it is easy to become distracted with someone else’s dream. You can be perceived to be progressing in your life via social media, but the question is, ARE YOU PROGRESSING OR REGRESSING?  If I am sitting still, how can I move forward? Progress is simply forward movement toward a goal. The only way to progress is to look inside YOUR mind for what it is you are trying to accomplish.  You can’t progress if you continuously make excuses for your delay.  Progress is a process that many people don’t have time for these days.

The fact is they do have time, they have plenty of time, they just choose to idolize someone else’s forward progression. I urge people to take a good hard look at what they want to stand for at the end of their journey.  Social media and the internet can either be a tool to aid us in our successes, or a diversion to our life’s plan.  Without the process of progress we will not accomplish anything. Instead, our minds will be used as a storage bank for the stories of others. Your progress can be simple, but if you are too distracted with the abstract world, the real world will pass you by.  THINK ABOUT IT!

Spiritual but NOT Religious

Posted on by serenitisparkles

 

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A religion is an organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to an order of existence.  When you are part of a religious group, you are a part of a group of people with collective practices and beliefs.  But how can one be spiritual, but not religious?

Religion is a faith based organization that has been used interchangeably with the words faith, belief system, and set of duties.  Spirituality is still undefined, but the overall perception of the word, is a process of re-formation which aims to recover the original shape of man, the image of God.”  So how do they differ?

I believe that people who are religious feel as if they know and understand their God.  Religious followers are in constant practice of following the guidelines set by their Holy Scriptures.  On the other hand, people who are spiritual have yet to know the image of God, and therefore are in constant pursuit of understanding the meaning of life and the higher purpose.  Spiritual people don’t have one collective scripture, and they don’t have any specific belief system.  Spirituality is defined solely by the individual who is spiritual.

Though religious people may be spiritual, people that are spiritual but not religious will have a different view on finding God.  They will not look to their ministry or structure of a religion for divine advice, rather they will search within themselves and nature to define what feels right about their actions and existence.

God exists in both types of people, but one has more of a perception of their God.  I believe that everyone has a right to their own personal belief system.  If what feels right to someone is to be spiritual yet practice no religion, then that is what is right for them.  The one thing I do know about this world, is that we all come from different places and we all have to listen to what is moral within us.  Religion can be very powerful and Spirituality can be as well.  The one thing they have in common is that they are both trying to get closer to God

The Opportunity of Life

Posted on by serenitisparkles

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I often look back at the life I have lived and wonder why I was not yet taken from this world.  I was not one to stay on the safe side and there were plenty of opportunities in my past where death could have become me.  But, for some reason, I am able to sit here and type these words.  I have witnessed loved ones pass away, however, I continue to grow and live on.  I’m sure everyone has witnessed a story, much like there own, where the outcome for the other person was death.  Car accidents, illness, and violence are things that can happen to all of us.  Some of us are still here, and others not.  So why am I still here?  Why do I get the chance to feel one more day?  I realize that the answer is very simple.

LIFE HAS GIVEN ME AN OPPORTUNITY.  Everyday that I am breathing I have the opportunity to play a part and create my story.  I have the ability to experience the most beautiful moments that life has to offer.  I have the opportunity to chase a dream, to love someone, to fear something, and most of all, to inspire someone.

So why do so many people live under the dark cloud of negativity? Why do so many never take chances and wait on death?  It is as if some people know the end is coming and make the decision to stop living because it’s over anyway.

But it’s not over.  As long as you are here on this remarkable planet, living in this incredible moment, you should have hope.  Life gives us the opportunity that so many have lost.  We have the opportunity to enhance who we are and what mark we will leave on this world.  Life is the most important opportunity in our existence, for without it, we can no longer experience.

Being witness to so many young people, my peers, who have passed on, makes me appreciate my moment that much more.  There was once a friend that I went to school with.  We were born on the same day, the same year, at the same hospital.  We grew up and went to the same school.  He is gone and I am here.  I can’t answer why, all I can do is become the best ME that I can be.

My message for everyone who has the ability to read these words, is, never stop LIVING.  Never believe that it is over for you, because as long as you can breathe you can change and thrive.  If there is ever a moment you feel as if the world is to heavy to bare, remember that if tomorrow comes and time passes, things will balance once again.  If you feel depressed about your life, realize there is someone who never got another chance.  Understand that there are people who are now faint memories, but you are here and real.  Life is our greatest possibility, so don’t be afraid to ROLL THE DICE.

Dad Your Death Saved My LIFE

Posted on by serenitisparkles

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Dear Dad,

You left me 12 years ago when your battle with Liver Cancer ended. The funny part is that, though I miss you, I feel you never missed a moment. I’ve always wondered when I would write you this letter, and as life went on and I gained more wisdom, I know that NOW is that moment. Our connection was deeper than life, it was more than love, if you could imagine. It was something out of storybooks. Like when you would tell me to close my eyes and think of myself in a field with butterflies while the sun shined down upon me, or how you would not let a day go by without telling me you were proud of me, you were preparing me. Something in you told you that life was not promised and that same something allowed you to live your life as if you were dying. You cherished moments, you held on tight, and you listened to the sound of your children’s voice. You never took it for granted. You were the strongest person I knew and even when the doctors told you that you had two months to live, you told me you would be OK. As I watched the illness take hold of your life, and I watched you LIVE like you were dying, it killed me. To watch you play with your one year old daughter, as you nodded out due to the heavy doses of chemotherapy, I was heartbroken. Yet you still gave it everything you had.

You went to baseball games bundled up and on the sidelines because you were too weak to coach, or you would do grocery shopping and cut coupons because it was all you could do, you inspired me. I held onto you, knowing the hugs would soon end, and it destroyed me. And the day you died, I died, and then, I was reborn. Your death saved my life. I no longer took anything for granted and time was so important. A conversation would become an experience, and a hug from me to my daughter would last my lifetime. I learned what this life was. It was an opportunity to love and to give of yourself so that people would be inspired. Every moment that I was scared or alone, I knew what you would say, I felt your hug and it made everything OK. I am strong because you were fearless. You stared death in the face and smiled. You were strong in your death, how could I be weak in my life? I cannot thank you enough for your courage and your message. These bodies that we have, are temporary, but the energy we leave behind can last beyond time. Your death saved my life, it became my strength, and most of all it gave me the courage that I will one day need, to face MY final moment. Because of you, I live a life full of butterflies and sunshine. I leave a trail of inspiration in hopes that I can help others live. Be thankful for each breath, and remember that there are many that can’t breathe anymore.

IN LOVING MEMORY OF ROBERT LOUIS GARNDER, I KNOW YOU ARE SMILING FROM HEAVEN.