Contemplations, Considerations                                From Marauder #3: Dec 2011

This month I've decided to focus on the self. The 'in the moment' short term memory machine self that wakes up in the morning brushes your teeth and immediately begins making instantaneous decisions that you aren't even conscious of, that make up your waking unique self. It's like a factory that needs to deal with all senses and emotions. It remembers what we prefer, what we don't prefer, it remembers what you have to do next and how to react at any moment to any possible situation. It is something that we often cannot but take for granted. This translates to stress or feeling 'tired' or not being able to sleep. It makes you unmotivated and sometimes just makes you lose the sense of balance that we all need to simply be happy. Even if things in the larger picture seem to be going well! This is why this is a part of ourselves that we need to, while awake, acknowledge, give creative freedom to, and more importantly rest from the external forces of
the rest of the world, planet, and inevitably universe.

"White Noise or Any Noise"

I say take a moment every day, at some point of the day to quieten the voices and noises in your mind, in order to hear your voice. To re-group from either the stimulation it has just gone through or prepare for the next set of stimuli. I'm not talking about sitting cross legged and trying to find the truth and reach enlightenment (although a recommended practice). I'm talking about while you are in a transition stage of the day or a moment, moving from one task to the other, make sure you are still aware of your surroundings and your current state of mind and body. We need to be self aware as much as possible and understand what we are being told by our own bodies and our own energy. Only then will our self be able to completely understand what the universe is truly telling us. There are so many messages that are flowing through that we don't even know where to look. But to be able to see, we need to find our eye that connects to our core. It's a little hard to read these words and not be turned off, who has the time? The problem with that method of thinking is that it fails to
acknowledge the fact that time is always running - we are in time and need to be part of it.

"Stereotypes & Consumer Time"

In any given minute of the day we are capable of so many tasks and decisions, constantly stimulated from all directions, why not take a moment to breathe? Don't say 'I always wanted to' say I want to! It is never too late for anything; It's our willingness to change for it that's different. We've accepted, from what people tell us and what people have decided is the 'norm', that once time has passed it's exponentially more difficult to do something 'new' - learn an instrument, start painting, learn a new language. But what is really the difference? Have we not learned more during our lives that will enable us to learn quicker? To understand more clearly? We turn thick headed, with too many obstacles that others have put in front of us and tell us 'you can't go around, just over'.

"There is always a way"

There's a way to change every moment of your day if you choose to do so, if you need to do so, to be Happy. Out of the non-stop Economically, Politically, Religiously unstable world we have created. The holidays don't have to be but are a good marking point to do what you never got the chance to do or more never had the guts to do. Step up to the edge, look down, JUMP! (figuratively or with a parachute only please!) Connect with yourself, make yourself happy and in turn naturally you will make people and your environment positive and flowing with the cycles that are happening in and around us. Tie up loose ends, end feuds, loose an enemy, give to someone who needs it and truly make the world a better place. Change but don't be changed. It's up to you; it's up to all of us.
Nothing is Impossible, Everything is Possible.
'LISTEN to the Music!'

- Written by Philip Al-Hajj