Shades of Gray

So many people look to fix intangible things on the outside vs. on the inside. If they were to look within, they’ll see that it's a power-struggle of "My Way vs. Your Way". Often times these intangibles are relationships with other people be they personal intimate, romantic, work-related, etc; each person is all-too-often personally vested in and polarized to their own position along with holding onto their own expectations of themselves as well as the other person / people involved. If they just let go and just be, then everything in life is much easier. All you can control and decide for is yourself.

There are an infinite variety of variables and situations I could pose as an example(s), but which answer(s) are right for YOU as an individual and for YOU as part of a couple/owner/employee/sibling/parent/etc ? Do the answers for one situation (say as an individual) mix and mesh or not with the others (such as part of a couple/owner/employee/sibling/parent/etc)?

Ask not to change without, but change within instead.

Ask not for the answer to what is perceived as a problem, but instead ask that the path may be clear.

It's about changing you own perspective and perception. It’s about the change within.

Sometimes to illustrate the point, I’ll ask someone ... "How many sides does a coin have?" and often times the answer given is “two”, which is a very valid and true answer from that viewpoint and perspective.

From my own viewpoint and perspective, my answer is that It depends on what you call a "side". I view most, but not all coins as having 3 sides….. The Obverse, the Reverse, and the Side. A dime from the US would have more sides than say a nickel would because all of the ridges/edges on the dime that the nickel lacks. Now when you're talking other countries...... well, you can see the variables and thus there is more than one answer.

See.... it's about changing the perspective.

Only perceiving two sides of a coin is, in my opinion, the same as only seeing answers (and coins) as two-sided and/or black and white. When you look at things from other viewpoints, they become less two-sided, less black and white, and more about a wide range of varying shades of gray.

Copyright © 2010 Ron Schreiner All Rights Reserved

Rich, Broke, Poor, Wealthy - The Nuances

I'm a huge Wordsmith. I love the various nuances of words and their meanings.....

To see if you understand where I'm coming from, see if you can explain what I mean by this statement below:

I have been broke, but I've never been poor.
I am not rich, but I am wealthy.
There are those who are broke and poor, broke and wealthy, rich and poor, and rich and wealthy.

What do these words mean as I mean them?

Rich
Broke
Poor
Wealthy

What are your thoughts? Comment on this post and I'll approve them so they show up here.

Copyright © 2010 Ron Schreiner All Rights Reserved

Freedom

I, like I'm sure many others have, thought about and considered the question: "What is Freedom and what does it mean to me?" Like so many things, it's a philosophical subject with many answers, all of which transcends mere meaning as put in the latest dictionary. I can only speak from my own point-of-view and what freedom means to me. To you, to my next door neighbor, to the stranger down the street or even beyond that, freedom may have anywhere from a slightly to completely different meaning. Be that as it may, agree with me or not, (in part or in whole), this is my interpretation of freedom is and what it means to me.

Freedom is personal responsibility
Freedom is not the right to say or do whatever you want without personal responsibility, being held accountable, or avoiding any consequences.

Freedom is the ability to think and do whatever we may choose, but to be held accountable and responsible for our thoughts, words, actions and deeds on all levels, personal, societal, global, and universal, along with any and all consequences thereof, see and unseen, acknowledged and unacknowledged which is freedom.

Freedom is responsibility, not the lack of it. It is responsibility to one's self, one's family, ones' community, one's society, one's world and one's universe; as all affects the All. The free person is responsible with their thoughts. words, actions and deeds, as these are things of power; and the power of freedom is responsibility. Bound together, these things cannot be undone, they cannot be separated, for when one is separated from their responsibility, one is no longer free, but enslaved. Freedom is anything but free, and so few people truly understand that. They think freedom is earned on the battlefield and wars over land and country; but I say the greatest war has still not been won. It is the war within. It is the war of our shadow selves, of humanity, or our lack of it. As a species, there are things that are right and wrong based on societal rules and expectations; but as species, a family on this planet which is but one small piece of a much larger albeit unseen universe; we have have a responsibility to ourselves, our species, and to the universe at large to not allow things such as as we do to this world, ourselves and each other, indeed to the All.

We are free to drop a pebble in the pond, but lest we be fools, we should know that the action of tossing the pebble into the pond affected not only the water into which it was thrown and passed through, but also the rock itself, the air through which it passed, the land from which it came, the ripples it caused, the pond or lake bed in which it settled, the sediment in which it displaced and albeit minutiae, the ecosystem and indeed all life on Earth is affected, seen and unseen, known and unknown, et al.

Freedom is the authority over ourselves. It is the responsibility in the microcosm and the macrocosm, in, for and of the All.

Copyright © 2010 Ron Schreiner All Rights Reserved

Why I'm Still Here

I wrote the following in response to someone who is currently going through their own battle with cancer; and I thought I'd share my words here as well. After writing it on the fly, it reallt reflects why I'm still here in my currently incarnated state of being. I wrote it this way, no edits, no drafts, one pass and off into the Internet ethers my words were posted.

So here we go......

At age 34 in 2001, I was diagnosed with Malignant Melanoma. Most skin cancers are not deadly unless left untreated. They simply remove them and life goes on, that's it. Most skin cancer deaths are caused by Melanoma; and of the 4 types, Nodular, (of course the type I had), is the most invasive and the most deadly because it grows DOWN vs OUT. There are also 2 scales by which they measure the tumor, Clarks is one, and Breslow is the other. One measures depth, one measures width. I was a Clarks Level 5 and a Breslow Level 4, the highest on both scales.

the tumor was 9mm deep (half in inch) in the left-lateral side of my scalp. Chemotherapy and Radiation do not work on it. It would have been better to have another form of cancer where those methods DO have some sort of viable affect, but on Melanoma, they do not. It's all a guessing game of trial and error. they did surgery and said they got it all, which they did. I had a great Oncologist, who is also a Surgeon. (He did the usual College > Medical School > Internship) to become a doctor, but then he went BACK again to become what is he is today; so he's got a total of 21 years in just in schooling and internship. he's both an Oncologist and a Surgeon, which most people are not both. Suffice it to say, he had a LARGE part of my staying here......

However..........

Within 15 minutes of getting the news, I made a conscious decision to live or die (from this incarnation anyway). Death, like birth, is not a begining nor an end, but instead is only merely a gate of transition through which we all must pass.

From whence ye came, so shall ye return; the only difference between is, what did you learn?
What did you teach and who did you reach?

You see....we enter this World with nothing, but it is up to us if we leave it the same way we came into it, or if we leave it with everything that matters... love, family, friends, memories and experiences, all the intangible things that really matter. The things that matter cannot be held within your hands, but only within your soul, within your heart of who and what we really are. It is within this essence of pure being, and of being, that we simply are.

I did not leave this realm, this incarnation, because it is not my time, I am not ready, and I have too much to do here yet in the service of others. I firmly believe that while my surgery and medical care was needed, and while many sent love, prayers and healing energy my way; it is this spark of divine conscious decision to stay or to leave which made the difference.

It's been 9 years. I'm 43 and still here.

Nick, I don't know you in this incarnate state, but I know we are one. I know the greatest force, indeed The Source of All That Is, is Love. I send you this Love not from my human mind, not from my incarnate state of being, but from the being of my true self, our true self. As I have survived this cancer in my incarnate state, as I send this Love to you, I pray that your journey be long and your path be clear. You will both learn lessons and teach them. Knowing what I know now, I would never undo my experiences, for they helped define me who I am today, as your experience will help you define yourself. I'll close with my email signature, as it says it very well, I think....

Manifest your reality.

So shall you perceive it, so shall it be.

The only limitations you have are the ones you believe in and place on yourself; because who you are is who you choose to be.

Do not let others define you, nor should you define anyone else. Instead, define yourself and live honestly. Others will see you as you really are.

What you believe is a possibility.
What you choose is a destiny.