Life events

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Our Mental Hard Drive – “The Brain”


“Challenging Ourselves through Questions”

Have you ever done something and later asked yourself, “Why did I do that?”
Did you ever tell yourself, “If I would have know that, I would have done things differently?”

Information is generally involved in everything we do. Information is essential and can be critical as we take steps through life desiring to make the least amount of mistakes.

The information available today is at an all time high. Media and online resources are exploding. It is at our finger tips if we care to explore for it. Even if we don’t realize it, the information that is absorbed by our mind, plays a role in how we react to any given situation. It is at the heart of what we eat, the fun things we enjoy doing, the work details we perform, our reaction to things we fear, virtually every function or task we undertake.

In many ways we could look at the information absorbed by our brain similar to information stored on a computers hard drive. Our thinking process utilizes this stored information. We use our mind to search back in time to what we recorded in it, or we kick in gear an understanding or reaction based on past experiences. A little like an application running on a computer. Sometimes we utilize our stored information subconsciously in our decision process. Sometimes we need our subconscious mind to quickly react but it doesn’t because we never trained it properly. Then after the fact we might say, “If only I would have done this.” There are times when we react so quickly that we never recognize if we reacted properly all based on something in our minds that triggered the response. Only when someone calls us out do we possibly slow long enough to question if our understanding was correct.

Through repetition, receiving the same information several time, repeating the same thoughts, we begin to place a priority over less received information. Companies today monitor our activity online or our purchasing history. They begin to see a pattern and as a result, they put things in front of us that follow this pattern of thinking.

We need to be aware that we can subconsciously feed our minds with one-sided information.

If we feed our minds with one-sided information, then we become lopsided, or possible what someone else would like us to become. It may be our way of feeding our minds with things that bring comfort, satisfaction, or even fill our emotional desires. The more we feed or are fed the same information, the more we believe it.

Is it possible that we are allowing ourselves to become brain washed?

Sometimes a computers hard-drive becomes overloaded with outdated, incorrect, or flawed information. This can cause results that while looking correct, are not. So some hard-drives may require reformatting, or at the least, old files and programs need to be removed. A clean-up program can be run to enable it to operate correctly. Outdated programs need to be replaced with new one that have bugs removed. Proper information needs to be made available to them.

Our brain requires a similar type of updating. Some things we learned 10, 20, 30, or 50+ years ago may not be totally correct. Sciences continue to learn and produce updates. New findings become available that could totally alter what one was taught during their education years. If we stop our learning process, we become outdated, we lock in our beliefs and understandings.

What would be nice is if we could just install a mental program that would search out and remove all misunderstandings, erase old outdated information and beliefs, clean up all the fragmented thoughts and reorganize how our information flows during our thought process.

Our mind is a powerful tool that we are blessed to have,
and
Proper care and maintenance are required.

This brings us to the question about the evolution of, or the creation of our brain.

Regardless of where you choose to place your faith, in evolution or in creation, one need to explore and understand details behind both sides. Did we evolve or is God real? Do the sciences support both creation as well as parts of our understanding of evolution?

Are the grounds that you stand on with respect to God and creation solid?

 

 

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The Rope of “Political Correctness”


Have you ever tried to push a rope?

Have you ever tied something or even a friend to a rope and then attempt to push it in a given direction? I guess you would agree that it doesn’t work very well. However, if you pull on the rope, you at least have the chance of getting things moving in the direction you would like them to move.

A key question is:

Are you the puller of the rope or are you the one being pulled?

If you are the one being pulled, which in many cases we are all pulled from time to time, which direction are you being pulled? Are you aware of where you are headed? Do you know who you are being pulled along by? Have you peeled the layers back far enough to discover who or even why someone is pulling you?

In todays life in this country as well as many others around the world, people have been pulled in the direction of “Political Correctness” (i.e., PC). The “PC” movement is a force that is gaining momentum and goes unnoticed. It is as if it is pulling our rope and we don’t recognize that we are tied to it.

PC really is not the same thing as “Love for all.” PC keeps telling us that we should let everyone live and do as they desire. It is their choice. Live and let live. Stand to the side and say nothing. What they do won’t hurt me. We need to ask ourselves the question; But will it?

We can love someone, but do we let them jump off a cliff because they choose to do so just because it’s PC?

Now maybe everyone is not ready to jump off a cliff, but one can show love and compassion and still speak up on issues of life. It’s ok and correct to listen, to try to understand, to discuss and exchange ideas. It’s also ok to have an opinion and to speak up about it, to be heard by the minority or the majority.

Being PC should never stand in the way of doing what is right!

In the USA, 85% of the people believe in God. The people around the world that believe in God, or Allah or just in peace and the study of how to live in harmony accounts for a major amount of the worlds population. So why do we allow the “Political Correctness” to take over and pull our rope in it’s direction. It appears that small minority is in control and are changing our culture and directing what our future generations will become. All for what appears to make them feel good, that fits their agenda, their life style preferences, or their beliefs.

However, the minority has rights and should be heard. The majority also has rights and should be heard. Love and understanding should be embraced on both sides. Political Correctness should not play a role in shutting down one side or the other, even if both sides believe the other has it wrong. Peaceful protest should be allowed, however non-peaceful protest should be shunned by both side.

A question to ponder:

When will we drop the momentum of “Political Correctness” and allow love, understanding, compassion, and an openness to “Truth” to find its way back to the top?

If God is real, and I personally believe He is based on my discovery down both roads, then why should I not be taught about this in my schools today as a possibility? Schools are for learning. Just because you may not believe in God, does not mean that there is no possibly that He may exist. I would think that in either case, one would want to know both side, be allowed to make ones own decision, to be given all available information, and to make ones own discovery and choices.

It truly takes a level of faith either way. I just wanted to know as much as possible so I could place my faith where I believed it belonged and not be driven by the “PC” of this world. I want to speak up and not let “PC” get in the way of someone who should be given a chance to learn what I have learned. To gain the knowledge allowing them to make life decisions based on what they choose to believe, not on what someone else tells them to believe.

So ask yourself:

Will you listen and share?

Will you look for “Truth”? 

or

Will you stay in a comfort position remaining
“Politically Correct – PC”?

 

 

 

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The Paint of our Heart


When you open a fresh can of paint it is clean and ready to beautify. If you have completely cleaned up all the dust and debris, your paint remains just as it was prior to opening the can. The more you paint the beauty continues to shows it face. It’s when our brush picks up some dust or dirt and we dip it back into the can of paint that the paint begins to change. If we forget and leave the top off for a period of time a film can form which creates small lumps in the paint can. Before long you notice something on the wall that you need to remove or even worse, it is not found until the paint is dry. What happen? It started out so perfect.

How we handle our fresh can of paint is the same as how we handle the emotional side of our heart. It starts out so perfect with nothing but love. But then we allow it to become contaminated. It’s never the heart itself, but it’s the surroundings, the environment, and the influences that change it into something different than how it began. If we put the cover back on the paint, debris cannot enter. If we protect our hearts or the heart of a loved one, we keep it clean.

The heart just like a fresh can of paint requires proper handling. We need to be aware of what we put into it or it’s beauty and love will change or even disappear completely. When this happens it takes some hard work to restore it. But just like a can of paint, once it is contaminated, it never returns back to it’s original state.

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Reflecting on Life


When I look back on my childhood, taking the time to evaluate my life, or maybe I should say the areas that I wrapped my arms around and embraced and those that I didn’t, it brings great joy and in some cases a level of sadness. Turning the clock back to my childhood, growing up on the farm during the 50’s and 60’s with little spare cash, just enough to get by with and sometimes not even that much, I had a good life that taught me more than I ever gave it credit for.

Graduating High School in 1968 while the Viet Nam war was in full swing, seeing many of my friends serving there and returning home not the same person, some in a box, some missing limbs, but mostly changed personalities due to the effects of the war, was a difficult time.

Getting married at age nineteen, building our first house at age twenty, becoming a father at age twenty-one, were huge steps in life for me.

The foundation learned as a youth growing up was never lost, only forgotten for many years. Saddened by so much I had witnessed as a youth and my mid-teenage years in the religious arena, set my life path in motion. Determination set in, a drive to enjoy life, to become financially sound, to take a stand against all that didn’t fit into my version of faith, all began while still in high school.

Working my way up the ranks of my first job, I worked hard. I took on two jobs in those early years trying to earn what I felt was required to be a good provider. Then becoming licensed in the electrical trade and eventually starting our own company my life was very busy. Between work, family and fun, I had my hands full. Then my eyes were opened to the rest of the world when I took a new job in 1986. Being able to travel to many parts of the world, I began to see and feel the effects that war really has. To be close to war, hearing how others dealt with war both old and new, grasping the many religious faiths and beliefs including those that have no belief in God, it kicked in motion my past and the emotions caused me to re-evaluate my understandings of life.

So what does this mean in the grander scheme of things? It shows that from childhood on, our lives and personalities are set in a direction and become altered as we continue to age, grasping new information, learning about others we cross paths with. The real question is; do we allow ourselves the freedom to open our mind and explore what we see and hear? Or do we remain set in our ways determined not to allow change? Do we even recognize that we are closed to anything that may disrupt our desires and beliefs in life?

For me, I spent the time to re-evaluate my past, examine what I had learned and experienced, and to wrap my arms around what I believe this life is all about. I worked hard to eliminate the mental blocks that so often accompanies our attempt to truly understand, disabling any rational outcome. What I found was that I could make a decision for myself, placing my faith in what I had come to understand. While it was influenced by many, it was in the end, my choice, my decision, my beliefs.

So there’s this lingering question

When was the time you slowed down long enough, shoved the distraction aside, threw out the external influences of those that educate with an agenda whether religious or non-religious or educational and dug deep enough that you allowed yourself the freedom to choose where you have placed your faith?

One of the biggest things I learned along this adventure is that it takes faith to believe in life, it takes faith to believe what it is all about. It takes faith to believe in God or to not believe in God. It takes faith to believe in the direction we choose for our lives.

Where is your faith placed?  

 

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What is Life Worth?


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“The Beauty Around Us”

Asking a hard question is not what most of us like to do let alone being forced to answer it. It is not what makes us comfortable and generally we avoid them if possible. However, sometimes the question is asked and we have little choice but to answer it. So what is life really worth?

If one is faced with making a decision about the importance of the life we know and the need to protect what we have or what we desire, how would we react?

Would we give our life for one last good meal?
Would we give our life for something we can experience only once?
Would we give our life for our wife or husbands safety?
Would we give our life for our kids safety and future?
Would we give our life for our neighbor in need?
Would we give our life for our country and its freedom?
Would we give our life for freedom around the world?
Would we give our life for our freedom of religion or what we believe in?

Just what is important enough to give our life for or to ask someone else to give theirs for or to just stand by while they do?

Ok, this is a heavy question I know. But how would we each react if faced with making a decision to live or to die trying.

Many lives have been lost over the hundreds of years of wars and feuds. Men and women have died protecting their families. Freedoms have been won and lost in the efforts that cost lives. To give of one’s life is no small deed and should not go unrecognized. Disrespect for those lost lives should not be tolerated. Those who take lives disrespecting others just to help themselves should be stopped. Each of us as people have rights and we should recognize how we attained those rights. For those that have lost their rights we should have compassion. To tolerate continued loss of rights should be condemned and stopped in it tracks.

“freedom isn’t free unless everyone is free”

In the beginning there was one man and one woman whether you believe in God or not. In the beginning there was freedom in the human race. What happened?

Achieve Victory!
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Achieve Victory!


Perseverance and faith will drive one to victory! Without either one of them we only stand in one place or wander about wondering why!

Orlando Espinosa

We all face daily challenges, but we shouldn’t allow these challenges to deter or discourage us. We should allow them to be a driving force until we achieve that which we set out to do. Too often we miss out on achieving success because we don’t persevere. We give up without realizing how close we are to victory. Remember that victory is achieved through perseverance!

Victory is achieved-orlando espinosa

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Reflecting
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Reflecting


Words of wisdom to live by. Pull up our boots, learn from our past and move forward. Thank you Orlando!

Orlando Espinosa

Reflecting on the past is good, but living in the past is not!reflecting Past-and-Future-orlando espinosa

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Should we ask ourselves – Just What If?


What if? What if everyone that has ever lived in this world had never asked the question – what if? To just accept and never question should eliminate the required thinking part of our brains. We only would need enough brain that our body would function a little like how our heart works and we never have to tell it to beat, it just happens. But we can think if we choose too. The world is flat? But someone questioned that idea and guess what, it’s round. If one never questioned a thing, would there be any new inventions, cures for diseases, actually anything outside of what just happens on it’s own? So we could agree that using the word “IF” is an essential part of our life. It adds clarity to how we view thing, what we use, what we eat, and etc. So what if the world is not as you believe it is. Across this world we live in, we continue to see the evil that people do. Most of the time when someone does evil they truly believe the other deserves what they get. There is also good being done but we so often only hear about the bad on consistent basis. If you don’t ask or look for the good you generally never hear about it unless you stumble onto it. It make little difference what ethnic race you are, or if you are a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist, or someone that doesn’t believe in any god, evil affects us all. As this world we should all love spirals downward, it may just be the time to ask some important questions. Asking questions about why and then follow it up with the question “what if” could just possibly change the world we live in or at least how we view it. Here are some interesting life altering questions that maybe should be pondered.

  • What if evolution is real and no god exist? Would you say that nothing much else maters once you die? Of course most would want good things to happen but in the end, would it have any effect on the one doing the bad because he and/or she would just cease to exist. The end.
  • What if only good people that die come back as something or someone else? What is it that constitutes good? And if you are not good what happens to you? If you just cease to exist then again it has little consequence to the one that is not deemed good so they really wouldn’t care if they have no reason or desire to be good.
  • What if the god of Christianity is the real God?
  • What if the Devil is real?
  • What if there is a God of everything and a Devil trying to disrupt everything? This would explain why we have good and bad things happening no mater who is doing either.
  • What if the Bible is really full of nothing by facts?
  • What if the Islamic god of the Muslim Shiite is the real God?
  • What if the Islamic god of the Muslim Sunni is the real God?
  • What if the Sunni and Shiite God is real and it is the same God?
  • What if there is a good place and a bad place like heaven and hell we go to when we leave this world as we know it?
  • What if the Muslim god Allah is really God?
  • What if the god of Christianity and the god of Islam is truly the “God” the very “same God”?
  • What if God said “Thou shall not kill”?
  • What if we didn’t evolve and we were created by someone much bigger than we are.
  • What if God is real? Then maybe we should look up to Him and honor Him because He is far beyond our understanding and comprehension.

If God gave us the ability to make choices, He knew it could be a good choice or a bad choice. But if we didn’t have the ability to make choices, the life we live would be without purpose. If God likes us to make good choices then why do we kill in his name? Is killing a good choice in anybody’s name?

A lot of questions that so many just take for granted. But what if???? Are we ready for the decision that we have made??? Are we willing to stake it on anything other than our own personal investigation? Are we willing to take everything on what someone else tells us is the truth and never question what they say? Are we really ready for the real end result? Only one is true!

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To Love or to Feel Love


Do you love what you love, or just the feeling? This question was part of a personality test written by Jonathan-Safran-Foer and posted by my friend David Kanigan. A great question that is worth the time to ponder. Giving this some thought it brought many questions to mind. These are just a few.

Do you love the feeling you get or do you love unconditionally?

Do you love when someone is not there or only when you are with them?

Do you spring into action when something attacks what you love or do you sit and wait for the dust to  settle?

Would you die for what you love or only attempt within reason to help?

Can you show your love or is your love just a hidden feeling you can’t or don’t express?

Can you show your love even when it is not to your benefit at the time?

Can you love and forget the shortcomings of your love or do you let the shortcomings affect your love?

Do you always nurture your love or just when you want that feeling of love?

Would you give up anything and everything for your love or would you sit back and wait until your timing was better for you?

Are you addicted to your love for the right reasons or are you just addicted?

Can you let your love go and still love what just left?

What is true love of someone or something? Love is very precious and should hold a place in our heart that no one can disrupt. Only we can spoil that love. That love does not spoil itself. One can spoil love for the other but it was not love that spoiled it. If we could all choose to love unconditionally then love would flourish! The hurts would disappear. The lives of everyone in this world would be affected in a positive way allowing God’s plan for each of us to be fulfilled. The golden rule comes to mind. “Love your neighbor as yourself”. Do to others as you would want them to do to you as my Grandmother always said. True love would change our lives and those around us. My resolution for the future is to attempt to always love unconditionally. What will be yours?