Enjoying the Moment

So far so good as far as sticking to my blogging schedule. The schedule definitely helps me out. I’m sure once I consistently follow the schedule that I set writing in my blog will become even easier.

Originally I was going to examine a topic which I have seen many people comment about recently, Planking. But after further thought, I will delay my opinion on it and possibly not even write about it at all.

One thing that I focus on daily is living in the moment. I finished an amazing book a few months ago called The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle (Find it here)and reading that book changed me in many ways. I now focus more on living in the moment and enjoying the time that I am given. I’ve observed so many people, even myself at times, focusing on past decision good or bad and worrying about what may or may not happen in the future. These thoughts take us to a point where we forget to take advantage of now and we can become obsessed with reliving past moments to the point where we subconsciously take ourselves from the present to the past.

“No use thinking of the past for its gone, don't think of the future because it has to come, think of the present because that’s where you are.”

If we allow ourselves to step outside of the box which we place ourselves in, we will realize that no moment is more important than now. The actions and thoughts that we have now shape our path that we will travel in the future. But, you cannot live in the future now for it is not here. You can only live in the moment and it is our choice to take advantage this moment or let it go to waste never being able to have that exact moment in time again.

I am still working daily at becoming better at living in the moment. It takes practice. But, I am learning more and more that the past has happen and there is nothing I can do about it. But, what I can do is enjoy my coffee that I am having this morning and enjoy typing my thoughts to share with others. What happens next? Who knows…but I will remain present and focus on now not the things that happen before and hope for more moments in the future.

Fred

Sticking to the Script

I’m sticking to my schedule today by posting this. I have a topic that I wanted to write about but I have a visitor staying with me this weekend and don’t have enough time to devote towards writing on that topic. So today it will be a quick post. Next week I’ll write about the topic that I planned on writing about today.

Getting ready to head out to the beach today, which is always relaxing to say the least. But, it is getting about that time that a vacation needs to be planned. I promised myself that I would vacation at least once a year and I WILL stick to that promise. A friend of mine keeps nudging me towards visiting the French Polynesian. That place is definitely on the list of places to go and I will travel there. Not sure when though. Regardless of where I will be going and when, I feel that it is important to travel as much as I can no matter how big or small the vacation may be. Traveling gives me the opportunity to experience new things outside of my regular routine and comfort zone. Which I feel is important for everybody.

Cheers to getting stamps in my passport soon!!!

Fred

Lets Take A Look At Our History...

I haven’t always been interested in history. In grade school I remember thinking many times, “what’s the point of learning about this?” As I have gotten older though, I have become more interested in learning many things, our history being one of them. What attracted me towards learning more about our history is the fact that many key historical facts are left out of our history books as children. The more I learn, the more I see how misinformed I was as a child being fed information that painted a picture which was not entirely accurate.

Recently I finished watching an amazing documentary called Slavery and the Making of America. This series is AMAZING! It opened my eyes and gave me a look into what actually happened with American slaves, which was not taught to me as a child (even by watching Roots). The documentary takes you through the beginning of slavery in the United States to the beginning of the Jim Crow laws.

Although there are many things that shocked me because they were completely different from what I was taught as a child, one of the biggest things that shocked me was the truth about Abraham Lincoln. As a child in the American school system our teachers paint this picture of “Honest Abe” as being the “Great Emancipator”, a friend to slaves, etc. But, this image of Abe is not entirely accurate.

As a child I was taught that the Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves in the United States. This is not true. The proclamation only freed slaves in the states which were rebelling against the union (confederate states). It did not free slaves in Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland or Delaware. It wasn’t until the Thirteenth Amendment that all slaves in all states were “free”.

Also, before Abe issued the Emancipation Proclamation he was seeking support for sending blacks in America to South America to form their own colonies. "For the sake of your race, you should sacrifice something of your present comfort for the purpose of being as grand in that respect as the white people," Abe said. Abe did not believe that blacks and whites could coexist in the union.

Needless to say, the image that I have of Abe is completely different now. I do believe that he played a major role in American history, but the image that I have of him now is not of this man who was a friend to slaves or a fighter for equal rights to all people black and white. I now see Abe as another politician seeking to please his constituency. Of course, I don’t know what Abe’s true thoughts and feelings were about slaves, but his actions hint towards him being more concerned with the rights of white Americans and the survival of the union than the rights of slaves.

I urge you to seek out this information for yourself as I have/will…

Fred

Emancipation Proclamation

Black Resettlement

Colonization After Emancipation: Lincoln and the Movement for Black Resettlement

Slavery and the Making of America

Emancipation Memorial