Having a Relationship with The Lord... -My thoughts

Before discovering that interesting article on Google these are the thoughts I had and still do have...

What makes a Christian a Christian? Using myself as an example... I'm sure I've mentioned this in a previous blog but I grew up in a Church and just don't feel like I am truly different than someone else that may have not been raised in a Church. I'm not trying to place blame on anyone, it isn't my pastor's fault and it isn't my parent's fault. It's my fault for not pursuing a person relationship with the Lord.

Anyone can read the Bible, anyone you ask could tell you about how Jesus died for our sins to enable us with eternal life. Anyone can gather these facts and tell you they know them and that they are a Christian because they believe them and live by them. Anyone can do this, but I am thinking that perhaps this isn't what a true Christian is. I honestly shouldn't even use the word Christian because they're are plenty of followers of a specific religion that think they are doing as the religion specifies them to do, yet totally misses the point of what Jesus Christ wants us to do.

If a friend mentions to you of a wonderful book they just read and goes on to describe the book and why it's so wonderful, you will base your opinion on that book by what the described to you. Before you can even read the book for yourself you're going to have the pre-formed opinion in your mind. I think for some of us that were raised in the church or around religious people, this may have happened to us. We have formed our opinion of the Bible and what the Lord is, based solely on what we have heard. Whether we have heard things from our parents, pastor, Grandparents or friends, if we haven't read the book for ourselves we are only basing our opinion primarily on what we've heard other people tell us. If you have not read the Bible entirely, yet consider yourself a Christian, I'm asking you; why have you let other people form your opinion on how you're going to succeed at living an eternal life in Heaven? You can know what the Lord has done for us by sending Jesus Christ to earth in order to redeem our souls, you can know the 10 commandments and apply them to your life but you will biased opinion until reading the book the Lord has provided to you.

If I still haven't made you question what you currently believe, I ask this. What is your conscience and where does it come from? Does our conscience come entirely from us? Do you think it could be possible for the Lord or satan to influence our conscience? If we don't have a strong grasp (knowledge) on our beliefs, it will not take much for our opinion (if you're basing it on what you've heard) to sway when being attacked. I've written previously about a dream I had and how I realized that our brain is the link of our physical body and our spirit. I believe out conscience is the main communicator between the two as well. Whatever we are putting in our heads will effect our mind, body and most importantly, soul. If we have a strong grasp in our belief, our conscience will not question and our conscience will also not be able to sway when being attacked from satan.

To have a personal relationship with the Lord is to study what he says in the Bible, first. We should continue to study and question everything we do not understand in the Bible. Research using other books or Google for other people's ideas and opinions. The more information we have about our Lord and Saviour the closer we will be to knowing the Lord. When we know the Lord our personal relationship will begin to grow.

The Lord gave us the capability to seek Him out. If we're too lazy that we just choose to be ignorant and believe what we hear, I wonder what He thinks our our relationship? I'm sure He still loves us but if we knowingly are too lazy to learn or study about Him, I really don't think we would please Him.

Koinonia: is what Christians need to have with The Lord

Having a Relationship with The Lord...

This has been on my mind tonight. I Googled this phrase and was quite surprised on how much it applied to what I was wondering and already thought about having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I will post my findings here and write the next blog on my own feelings and thoughts. So here is the article...

http://www.christinyou.net/pages/persrel.html

A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST

If you were asked to choose one of the following phrases to complete the sentence, which would you choose?

To be a Christian is...

(1) to believe that Jesus was born, lived, died, and was raised from the dead?
(2) to accept that God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ in order to reconcile all men with Himself?
(3) to receive Jesus and have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?
Option #1 - has to do with the historical Jesus and the events of His life in the first century.
Option #2 - has to do with the theology of Jesus which explains incarnation and Christology.
Option #3 - has to do with the personal, subjective experience of Jesus.

There really should be a fourth option: (4) All of the above. The objective historical foundation and theological formulation are essential prerequisites to the subjective relationship with Jesus. But if one's understanding of Christianity is comprised only of assent to the objective facts, and devoid of the subjective personal relationship with Jesus Christ, can such a person be considered a Christian?

What does it mean to have a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ"?

Evangelical Christians have often proclaimed and explained that to be a Christian is "to receive Jesus and have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ." Many who have heard that proclamation have not been able to understand what evangelical Christians mean by that phrase. Is it possible for the non-Christian, the natural man, to understand or comprehend the meaning of that phrase?

The natural man can understand "religion" ­ how religious organizations function, how they solicit finances, how they utilize propaganda to get their message out. The natural man can understand rational assent to religious tenets, propositions, principles, statements of history, theology, and doctrine. The natural man can understand adherence to a belief-system, or devotion to an ideology or an organization. The natural man can understand "spirituality" if it is defined as the serenity of "well-being", or devotion to a meaningful cause, or the recollection of an ecstatic experience, or conformity to a moral ideal.

But is it possible for the natural man, the non-Christian, to understand what it means to "have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ"? The Apostle Paul explained that "the natural man cannot understand spiritual things" (I Cor. 2:14). Is "having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ" a spiritual reality that requires the presence and appraisal of the Spirit of Christ to understand what it means? If so, is it possible to adequately explain the meaning of this reality to a non-Christian?

A philosophy student, with whom I had an acquaintance, was very brilliant, well-read and articulate. He was willing and desirous of considering the facts of Christian history and theology under the microscope of human reason. But with a sneer and derisive comments full of scorn, he would mock and make deprecatory comments about those who referred to a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ." Why? This was outside of his ability to understand on a purely rational, philosophical and scientific level.

In our attempt to explain the phrase and its meaning we will consider the individual words of the phrase: (1) Relationship. (2) Personal. (3) Jesus Christ.

RELATIONSHIP - In its broadest sense this simply means that one object has a connection or correlation with another object. The relation of this to that. Mathematically, it may be the relationship of x to y. Geometrically, it may be the angle of relationship between one line and another line. Mechanically, it may be the relationship of the clutch to the drive shaft of an automobile, or one part of a machine to another part. Cosmologically, it may the relationship of earth to the sun; or even more extensively it may be the relation or relationship of everything in the universe to a constant (such as the speed of light within a vacuum), which is how Einstein developed his "Theory of Relativity", which was essentially a theory of relationship.

The above mentioned relationships are all impersonal relationships. As it is our objective to understand a personalrelationship, we must explore what that means.

A personal relationship must involve at least one person. The first dictionary meaning of "personal" is defined as "how something relates to or affects a person." With this broad definition, a person can have a "personal relationship" with anything that affects or relates to them ­ a dog, a tree, a flower, a bottle of beer, etcetera ad infinitum.

An individual person might consider the historical evidence of a particular event or person, and then relate such to their own situation. Is that a personal relationship? An individual person might develop ideas into a logical explanation of how they fit together and function. Is that a personal relationship with a particular ideology? Can one have a personal relationship with history? ...philosophy? ...theology? If a person associates themself with, or relates to, a particular social unit, such as an organization like a fraternity, is that a personal relationship? Does loyalty, adherence, commitment and dedication to a grouping of other persons constitute a personal relationship? What is a personal relationship?

Surely the reader can recognize that I am questioning whether the phrase "personal relationship", as used in the evangelical terminology of contemporary religion, is but the personal affect that Christian history, theology and community have upon a person who consents and assents to relate to such. In its broadest definition this could be called a "personal relationship"; but are we content to accept that as the intent of the Christian relationship with Jesus Christ?

PERSONAL - How personal does the relationship have to be to be a personal relationship?

If you receive a loan from another individual, is there a personal relationship between the payer and the payee?

Is the legal and contractual relationship between an employer and employee a personal relationship?

Do you have a personal relationship with your great, great grandfather who may have died twenty years prior to your birth? Or is it just a biological and genealogical relationship of heritage?

Is it possible to have a personal relationship with George Washington or Napoleon Bonaparte?

Is there a necessary personal relationship between siblings within the same family? Does biological kinship establish a personal relationship?

Let me share a personal illustration: I have a sister. We are related. She is my relative. We have a genetic and biological relationship. Is that a personal relationship? I have not seen nor communicated with this sister for over twenty years, nor does she apparently ever desire to do so. Do we have a personal relationship?

We must admit that the broadest definition of a "personal relationship" allows for a unidirectional relationship whereby an individual person relates to an object, an idea, a cause, an image, a fantasy, a mental construct, or a person who is no longer living. A "personal relationship" also allows for a relationship of two or more persons that is merely contractual, biological or social.

But a "personal relationship" is also defined as a dynamic inter-relatedness between persons, an experiential relationship between two persons that involves subjective interaction and communication, a person-to-person relationship, the connection, correlation and interaction of at least two persons in what might be better termed aninterpersonal relationship.

I have an interpersonal relationship with Joe, for example. We are friends. We interact. We communicate back and forth. Since Joe is a Christian, I have a different kind of interpersonal relationship with him than I would have with a non-Christian friend. With a Christian friend I have something in common that allows for communion and fellowship (koinonia), a communication based on our spiritual commonality in Christ; a deeper level of interpersonal interaction and communication than I could have with a person who was not spiritually one with me in Christ.

But every other interpersonal relationship that I might have is not on the same level of experiential interpersonal relationship that I have with my wife. The interaction of our interpersonal relationship as husband and wife involves a connection, a "knowing", an intimacy, an "intercourse" (social and sexual) that is deeper than any other interpersonal relationship that I have. And the fact that she is a Christian wife allows a spiritual communion and oneness that makes our marital interpersonal relationship as deep as any human interpersonal relationship can be.

That is why the Apostle Paul uses the intimate interpersonal relationship of husband and wife as the best human and physical analogy to the interpersonal relationship of a Christian with Christ. (Ephesians 5:22-33). The closest oneness and intimacy of personal relationship on earth that can be used to picture and describe and explain the oneness and intimacy of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, is the marriage relationship.

JESUS CHRIST - What then is a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ"? Or would we be better served to refer, instead, to an "interpersonal relationship with Jesus Christ", in order to avoid any idea that we are referring to an individual person relating to an object, an idea, a cause, an image, a fantasy, a mental construct, or a person that is no longer living?

Is a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ" just a relation of our mental assent to an historical Jesus? Is a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ" just an ideological relationship of belief based on the circumstantial evidence of reports that we can read in the Gospels of the New Testament? Is it possible to have an interpersonalrelationship with an historical personage that lived hundreds of years ago? Is it possible to have a interpersonalrelationship with a logical construct of theological tenets about God and His Son, Jesus Christ?

Or does an "interpersonal relationship with Jesus Christ" necessitate an experiential, interactive relationship that involves an inter-relatedness, a oneness, a union, a commonality of identity, an intimacy, a "knowing" that can only be likened to the marriage relationship on earth?

That would necessitate the recognition that the Jesus of history, who walked around Palestine over 1900 some years ago, is still alive as a living Person, though in a different form ­ in a spiritual form, and capable of interacting in an interpersonal relationship with human persons today. That is the message of the Christian gospel ­ that Jesus lived, was crucified on the cross, and was raised from the dead in the resurrection, and having ascended to God the Father, He was "poured out" and made available in spiritual form, as the "Spirit of Christ" (Rom. 8:9), in order to indwell the spirits of persons in every age, becoming one with them in spiritual union, and becoming the basis of their new spiritual identity, as they engage in a dynamic interpersonal relationship with the living Lord Jesus.

At this point we need to admit that even the reference to an interpersonal relationship with Jesus Christ might be inadequate. The marriage relationship that Paul employs in Eph. 5:22-33 breaks down in illustrating the relationship of Christ and the Christian because the relationship between the Christian the the living Lord Jesus is also an intrapersonal relationship, involving the indwelling presence of the Spirit of Christ within the spirit of the Christian.

In order for the Christian to have a dynamic interpersonal relationship with Jesus Christ it necessitated that Jesus be a living Person. That was facilitated by the historic resurrection of Jesus when He was raised from the dead on the third day to become the every-living Lord Jesus. In order for the Christian to have a spiritual intrapersonalrelationship with Jesus Christ, it necessitated that Jesus be a Spirit-person. That was implemented by the Pentecostal outpouring of Jesus in Spirit-form when the Spirit of Christ became available to indwell the spirits of receptive individuals in every age as the life-giving Spirit (I Cor. 15:45).

This is why evangelical Christians employ the Biblical terminology of being "born again," to explain the living reality of the personal Spirit of Christ coming to dwell in the spirit of a receptive person in an intrapersonal relationship, and that to engage in a growing and developing interpersonal relationship whereby the living Lord Jesus functions in and through the Christian.

It is important to understand that a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is not just an objective relationship to the benefits that Christ allegedly made available by His historical actions of death, burial and resurrection. Protestant Christian religion, in particular, has tended to objectify the relationship of the Christian to God and Christ in a forensic, juridical and legal framework that posits the relationship as but the "justification" of a right relationship with God the Judge in the heavenly realm. As a corollary, the relationship of the Christian with God has been viewed as a static "reconciliation" that is no more personal that "reconciling" one's financial books.

The intrapersonal and interpersonal relationship of the Christian with Jesus Christ must be recognized as a subjective, internal, spiritual reality, whereby an individual in any age receives the living Spirit of Christ into his or her spirit (Rom. 8:9), thus becoming a Christian, a Christ-one. That relationship must involve a dynamic sense of ontological interaction and communion, a living and functional communication.

Granted, this explanation of a personal, intrapersonal and interpersonal relationship with Jesus Christ requires spiritual understanding that can only come by the presence of the Spirit of Christ within the spirit of a receptive person. (I Cor. 2:8-16). That is the difficulty Christians have in attempting to explain what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It cannot be understood until He, the Person of Christ, is received by faith.Then, we have the spiritual and relational understanding of regeneration and new birth (Jn. 3:1-6). Then, we can have the spiritual understanding of the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ within our spirit (Rom. 8:9); that the living Lord Jesus Christ is in us (Col. 1:27; II Cor. 13:5), and lives in us (Gal. 2:20) as our spiritual life (Col. 3:4). Then,we can begin to fathom that we are united in a spiritual oneness of union with Him (I Cor. 6:17). Then, we can begin to understand that we are new creatures (II Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10), and that our identity is only "in Him" as Christ-ones, Christians ­ that who I am can only be explained on the basis of Who He is. Then, we can begin to understand the dynamic function of the Lordship of the Living Lord Jesus, not just as an assent to His being Lord, God, Deity, but as the acceptance of the fact that my life is no longer mine to determine, but is entirely as His disposal and determination.

(Of course, my life was really never mine to determine, anyway. I was just deceived into thinking that it was, and that I was an independent self-determining self. I am convinced that one of the major reasons why the natural man, as well as most religion, including evangelical Christian religion, does not understand what a personal, intrapersonal or interpersonal relationship with Jesus Christ involves, is because they do not understand or accept that the non-Christian, the unregenerate person, has a personal, intrapersonal and interpersonal relationship with Satan, the Evil One - Jn. 8:44; II Tim. 2:26; I Jn. 3:10. cf. The Natural Man.)

So, how do we as Christians attempt to explain that the Christian life is a personal, intrapersonal and interpersonal relationship with Jesus Christ?

We do not want to "fake people out" and offer them "religion" instead ­ membership, involvement, commitment, dedication. In much of Christian religion today people are told about a relationship to "churchianity" rather than Jesus Christ. They are introduced to the "fellowship of excitement" whereby people can "get all excited about Jesus"; hyped up and "high" on Jesus. They are introduced to "programs", the success of which is evaluated by the numbers of buildings, budgets and baptisms. They are introduced to the "escape hatch" whereby the penalty of sin can be removed, and a "fire insurance policy" of eternal assurance in heaven is offered. The past can be forgiven, the future can be assured ­ such an offer provides an impersonal relationship to sin and an impersonal relationship to a future destiny, but it does not adequately encompass a dynamic and living personal, intrapersonal, and interpersonal relationship with the living Lord Jesus Christ in the present.

It is imperative that we, Christians, explain, as best we can by the empowering of the Spirit of Christ, how a personal, intrapersonal, and interpersonal relationship with Jesus Christ is initiated and functions. Only God can effect that relationship of Christ with another, as an individual chooses in the receptivity of faith to receive the living Spirit of Christ into his or her spirit.


--- This article looks very interesting as well. Leaving a link here for myself to read at a later time. http://www.christinyou.net/pages/natman.html

When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade!

Yeah so it's been a while! You know something, when you're at a pleasant peak in your life and start sailing smoothly, there will always be something to throw a wrench in it! These wrenches are the things that test us, and make us stronger. I've been losing weight a a very nice pace and doing great with the tracking of what I'm eating and controlling my diet and working out 5 times a week! Well for the past 2 weeks I've been dealing with one wrench after another it seems. What's been going on isn't why I'm here writing, I'm here writing to remind myself that eliminating these wrenches from my life is what my actual journey is all about.

I was thinking to myself, I am so exhausted of spending so much of my time on other people, when they seem to think so little of me. I go out of my way to help people and yet they don't even show appreciation or seem like they actually wanted the help. They want the help, but they want someone else to do everything for them. I just have to remind myself that when this life is over I'll be judged for my good deeds. From now on I will start to not expect credit for anything, and I will not wish for anything in return for my good deeds. I never did expect much in return for when I inconvenience myself, but I did expect a thank you, or maybe for the person to at least remember me, some sort of sign that they appreciated me! I didn't think that was asking for much (BUT IT HAS BEEN) but it's something I expected and from now on I won't even expect that. I'll continue doing what I do and only think of my rewards I'll receive in the next life.

No longer will I worry about what or how I do something, I will only be concerned on if I did my best. If I do my best than that's all that mattered. If someone else can do better, get them to do it! I'm not going to feel like my work isn't good enough to at least get reimbursed for the time or money I spent to help you. I'm done thinking that way!

The moral of this blog, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade! When people give you nothing but $h!t all the time, continue churning out something beautiful and something you're proud and positive about! In the end it's not about what other's thought, it's about what you did.

P.S. For all the selfish people out there left standing with lemons in their arms, staring like a deer in the headlights, may the acid from my freshly squeezed lemonade splash you in the eyes! :o)) I don't hate, but I also won't tolerate...

How do you say Goodbye...

How do you say goodbye to the day?

How do you say goodbye to your friend?

How do you say goodbye to your family member?

How do you say goodbye if you knew it would have to last for an eternity?

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The BIG Continuation Of Gluttony

This isn't an official term for what I'm thinking of writing but it is a term that seems to make sense for what a family's generation after generation experience.

I have never been a history buff, I barely had to study History while I was in Home school. I honestly never cared for History, History is the past and why should we live in the past, right? Well perhaps this is just common sense but I never thought of the importance of knowing our history after I watched Gone With The Wind. Yeah I have been watching some old movies lately... I have to say though, the movies expose you to such a different time era. An era that seems so ancient to us but was only 100 or so years ago.

I talked about in my previous blog on how we all seem so preoccupied with something in our life and end up missing out on whats important. For some it's working all the time, for some it's simply not caring about life. What I never knew though, is just how much my ancestor's wanted to live a good life. They wanted to be free, they wanted to never go hungry, they wanted a big happy family. The only way they could obtain this is through blood and sweat. It's not like that now, now this is just automatically assumed to be one of an American's rights. We no longer have to pour our sweat and blood to have a family, to put food on the table, the two main staples of having a fulfilled like. We can live off the government, become obese, and collect unemployment for our disability! I wonder what our ancestor's from 100-130 years ago would think about this type of life? They would probably have their minds blown!

Our ancestor's wanted their children to have a better life than they did. Therefore they just about killed themselves on trying to obtain a better life. Generation after generation we don't know of this life someone had to live to get us where we are today! It's because of their work that we can now sit in our house (or government assist facility) 24/7 if we please. Their strive to live is what gave them LIFE! We no longer have to strive so what are we living for!?

Most Americans aren't living to make a better life for their children, they're just living to get to the next day. There's no long term thought in our choices, because we're comfortable knowing that whatever we do we'll still see another day. If we had the motivation to work because if not we would literally die, we could obtain just about anything we could dream of because this modern America offer's that possibility. What our ancestor's have set out to achieve has been met, and none of us even care or realize it. We take it for granted, something our ancestor's never would have seen coming.

I'm not saying to start taking on more hours at work or to only live to work, we don't have to do that to be wealthy. If we use our mind and are wise about our investments and are professional and brave to accept new challenges we will be successful and still be able to have a life of our own, not of a corporation's. If we choose to accept a minimum job and just get by paying end's meet then that's what our life will be. A life of continued debt, a job we hate and a family we'll never really get to know. Our lives will be worse than the lives our ancestor's that were a living hell. I think our ancestor's lived full quality lives even if they didn't realize it. The quality our most of our lives now is very questionable if you ask me. We all can "live like kings" if we accept a life long debt.

I think about this and I think of a glutton. A person whom just keeps eating and eating becoming so fat they can't even move. The poor thing doesn't even know what to do because they've never had to work for anything in their life. No one taught them that a fulfilling life isn't going to be one they love all the time.

I am very interested when it comes to technology but technology is another aspect of our lives that's killing us before our very own eyes. Imagine life 140 years ago. No way of instant communication. We had to write letters, send telegraphs or travel a distance to see anyone. Now we can talk to a person on the other side of the world in a matter of seconds. We could send them pictures, videos, letters, in a matter of minutes, using the Internet. We're information gluttons and it's not even something we choose to participate in. I think this makes us more prone to not speaking to people as much because we do not sincerely miss them, how could we when we can see and talk to them at anytime we choose?

I'm thinking about the reason on why I'm writing this and I'm wondering... I am more knowledgeable than the average person on technology. I'm not saying I'm a genius but if anyone has access to data/information or any other benefit of using the Internet, it would be me. I could hack my cell phone to share a hotspot connection with my router. I could then share that connection with all the computers and telephones for world wide calling in my home. I could use that connection to download movies currently at theaters, I could download and watch any TV show or movie ever created. I could download any game for any game console ever made. I can get programs worth thousands of dollars that professionals use in Hollywood movies. All with a 25 dollar a month cell phone that's not intended to do any more than talk to someone locally and maybe browse a webpage or send a text message. There's so many other things I could do but my point is, if anyone has to have a cheap way to communicate with the world, I'd know or could learn how to obtain it.
I'm saying this because technology is corrupting human contact and natural experiences that we're meant to have with other people. All this technology some times gets me excited but at the same time I toss it to the side and am beginning to not be impressed with any thing. Some people wait in lines for a week to get the new Apple device. I don't even know on what these people do with their 800 dollar Ipads. Do they sit in their recliner next to their computer and laptop viewing that same webpages they could view 2 feet from them? Do they go to public hotspots and transfer personal information over an unencrypted network and realize what they're doing? Technology will continue to advance but I don't see a need for the average consumer to keep up with new technology any more. We can't get information any faster than instantaneously.
Here I've said all this while anxiously waiting for Virgin Mobile to activate my new Android cell phone, lol. It's ok to enjoy the benefits of technology but with EVERYTHING in life, you have to do it in moderation. If and when I have kids they will not be spoiled with technology. There will be one computer in the house in the main living area and they'll be allowed a phone when they reach a certain age of when I deem it as necessary out of their own safety.

You know of what I said I know for some people this will not apply, especially with my generation. in two more generations from now though technology will be necessary to live even more than it is now. I wonder if people will even have relationships or real world experiences very often without technology assisting them. I think for the poor this will even be more so true. If people can't work they'll be at home all their lives with no motivation to even go outside. Their food will continue coming from the government, access to the Internet will be completely free by then for any devices. Their life and stimulations will be sustained by the Internet. I find it scary because I predict that in a future generation it will come true. Imagine people only living until they're 40, well we'll probably have technology to replace organs at that time too. We'll literally be living on technology... I'm glad I'm living when I'm living, I hope this blog will remind people of what their life shouldn't be!

Work til Death...

I was thinking... Ever since our ancestors migrated to America, we have had the mentality that working hard will bring us success. America is the land of opportunity and you will become successful with hard work, but I have to wonder, how much work is it worth to try becoming successful?

Is it worth being a selfish person only looking out for yourself?
Is it worth spending no time with your family?
Is it worth waking up day after day and dreading what's to come for the day?
Is it worth working yourself so hard you think that perhaps dying will be you're one and only time of peace?

There needs to be a balance of work and time for life. I know some people from the Philippines and they don't have a lot of worldy possessions but they do have a lot of friends and family. They value the natural things in life, laughing, loving, family, friends, natural no trill foods, they seem to live below their means. Now this isn't only Philippine people that live this way, there's many cultures and ethnicities that value the more "natural", "free" things of life and not so concentrated at being rich with money. I remember reading that the Japanese have a psychology of everyone working together as a team rather than against each other. They help one another, even if their strangers they still respect everyone and willing to help. Their mentality is actually why car makers like Toyota and Honda have such great reputations over there and here. Their employees value their work like it was their own company. I feel that Americans are more likely to stab someone in the back to get a promotion if required. Of course this doesn't apply to everyone but I think anyone who is too obsessed with being successful may become corrupted in it.

What made me think of this is watching the movie, Cool Hand Luke. I normally don't mind a depressing movie if it had a good story, but this movie was only about someone unwilling to conform to the way of working and living to work trying to become successful. Now I commend him for thinking this way, thinking of expecting something more from his life other than working for all of it. What I also got from it was a glimpse into someone else's way of thinking. They said it was one of their favorite movies and this is why I was writing this blog. I was wondering on why someone would consider this their favorite movie. Perhaps they related to this movie which is why they liked it so much. I mean think of your favorite movie, surely there is something you can relate to it about. I think this old "American Dream" is a sickness we've gotten in our minds, it's something that had repercussions we weren't aware of. If we don't learn from our mistakes and get some sort of balance in our life, we're going to live a life we regret. The only part of our life we're going to enjoy is our death. That's a horrible way to spend your time here on earth and not how our time on earth was supposed to be spent.

Close To The Core

So in my recent blog, "A New Angle" I mention about finding the motivation to start working out. What I mention in that blog is what  I believe finally got me to start. What's enabling me to continue is my long time obsession with wanting to look in shape. It's never good to be obsessed with anything but in my case the obsession is helping me to continue working harder toward my goals. There's actually a term for an obsession with the male physique and it's named, "The Adonis Complex". I believe people become obsessed for different reasons and in my situation I think it's because I've never known what it's like to be in shape and have missed a lot from being overweight. Maybe not really missed out, but lacked the confidence to live a typical/average life.

I write this blog (and all of my blogs) for other people that may be going through the same thing as I. For the person whom may have no one else to talk to about it and wonders if they're "normal". I know a guy that has been through this very same situation and it's messed with his mind. I'm not going into specifics here but if you're not careful obsession can lead to corruption. If you wanna talk about being obsessed with anything feel free to get in contact with me! Knowing you're "normal" and others might think the same way as you can be the first step into handling your problems. Anywho...

This might seem strange but I'll sometimes project my thoughts and self into a different person I'll see who might be in the shape I'd like to be in. I'll try to imagine living their life and think of the things I'd have the confidence to do. When I "remove" myself from them, I notice on how they don't realize their own capability. Perhaps they have created insecurities that prevents them living a fulfilled life, just like myself! I was looking at old pictures of myself from about 6 years ago and realize on how much better and actually attractive I looked. Yet at the time, all I was thinking was how fat, ugly, stupid and how much better everyone else was around me. I wouldn't let myself live. To be honest, I'm probably doing the same thing right now. I may be attractive to some people but I cannot let myself become close to anyone because I still feel insecure about my body. When I reach my goal weight though, and reread this blog, I'm going to remember... No matter what I think of myself, I LOOK GREAT! Stop obsessing and accept the fact that the goal has been met and I am no long morbidly obese!

I think if everyone thought this way about themselves we would all have so much more confidence and accomplish so much more in our lives! I already think you're perfect so why should you be worried on how other people may perceive you? In my most recent blog I mention on how I feel like I had an "epiphany" over the weekend. I think this feeling comes from finally realizing that we are all truly human. We all have most of the same thoughts, we all want the same things in life and some of us cannot always control or stop the extreme obsessive ways our mind may think. Realizing that your MTP (Mental Thought Process) is slightly out of whack, is the first step in defeating it. I'm almost 26 and it took me this long to figure it out. You might wonder if something happened to finally make me realize and yeah something did happen. I met someone I'd normally feel super insecure around and by realizing and applying what I just wrote about, made me feel at ease. Might sound easy to those who know nothing about being morbidly over weight or socially anxious but to those who do, you know the excruciating feeling and can imagine having it disappear.