Tag: russia

OUR NEW MISSION 🫶

If you live in the United States, you are no doubt suffering from election and political burnout. In my mailbox, I received so many political ads I lost count. Most of them were filled with warnings of doom and gloom. The world ending if we voted for the wrong candidate. I wish I was being dramatic, but I am not. Couple this with radio ads, television, YouTube ads and the list goes on. Fear and hate were spread by both parties in abundance. I get it. Fear motivates people to take action. Now that the election is over, it is time for us to move on.

Even if you do not live in the USA, there is plenty of negative in the world. There is the wars in the middle east. There is the war in the Ukraine. Plenty of hate and negativity to go around. I am part Armenian. Lots of problems in that corner of the world. In short, there is grave shortage of love in the world. At least that is what we are told. If you spend your days with your eyes glued to the news, even the best of us can walk away disillusioned. What is the cure? Go out and talk to your neighbors. Not about recent political events. Not about war and what country is to blame. Talk about your favorite recipes. Talk about the dreams for your kids if you have any. Talk about your dreams and aspirations. Here is what you will find – your neighbors are not that different from you.

I am sure the people of Russia and the Ukraine wish the war was over. Families are being torn apart, economies are suffering. The only thing worse than global conflict, is to allow it to become generational conflict. Do not let the hatred of the few corrupt the love of the many. Find the beauty in those who are different from you. Yes, it can be hard. Yes, some may not deserve it. The truth is that we will never find peace if we continue to hang on to hate. It is a virus given to us by those we seek to divide us. Love can unite us and keep us moving forward. I am reminded of two quotes by great men. The first is by Martin Luther King Jr. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Eventually, someone has to have the compassion and bravery to forgive. We need to use love to drive out hate. That is the only way in which it will work.

The second quote is by Buddha. He said, “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.” Our anger only succeeds in destroying us. Even if we can inflict some damage on the party we are angry at, it does not come without a cost to us. If we fill ourselves with love, again not always an easy task, it will only serve to help us. The first step to filling ourselves with love, is to practice forgiveness. Not only to others, but to ourselves.

It is apparent that in many areas, anger is spreading faster than ever. Instead of focusing our energy on ‘stopping the anger’, let us focus on spreading the love and joy. Let us begin by learning how to forgive those who hurt us, including ourselves. If hate can spread this fast, let us show one another how fast love can spread.

AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR EVERYONE! ⚠️

This is an important message for today’s world. We need to shift from placing blame, to creating solutions. They only way to do this is by working together. It can be simple to say, but I know it is not easy to do. Hurt, years of oppression, violence, and division have been going on since the dawn of man. How can we hope to reverse this trend?

If you listen to what you hear from politicians, world leaders and the media, it is as soon as we Conquer the opposition. That is a lie. The solution lies in forming mutual respect with the opposition. This requires both sides to admit the wrong they have done and pledge to work together to create a solution to prevent those wrongs from occurring in the future.

What does this have to do with you and I? Plenty. We cannot wait for world leaders and those running out country to remove their thinking apparatus from their sitting apparatus. That may never happen. We have to start with us. Work on eliminating our prejudices. At the very least, stop speaking hate and division and start thinking of solutions. Vote for those who do the same instead of those running on a ticket based on fear, blame and revenge. Most importantly, raise children who respect others and want to make a difference in the world.

It is not to late to save the world and the people who live in it. The change has to start with someone. Why not let it start with us and why not start now?

WEEKEND ADVICE FROM A PLANT 🪴

For my younger readers, this here is Robert Plant. He sang for a rock band you may have heard of – Led Zeppelin. I am not sure if he really said the quote above or not. It doesn’t really matter. It is great advice we should put into action this weekend. Monday through Friday we are so inundated with news of the world. This can come from coworkers, family, friends and is even sent directly to our phones. There is war between Russia and the Ukraine. There is one now in the middle east. There are politicians fighting to outdo each other in looking asinine. It is never quite clear who is winning. I suppose it changes depending on the day. Do you know what being up to date on all of this information gets us? Not much. We can carry on a conversation in the office. It also seems to foster a feeling of hopelessness for the human race and a feeling of disgrace for humanity. Sounds fun, right? Not hardly.

This weekend, turn off the news and turn up the music. Do you know what you will lose by not being up to date on the world’s conflicts and the fools often put in charge of them? You will lose stress and a disturbance to your inner peace. Instead, do what Bob Marley advocates, and let the music take the pain away. In my first two books, A Happy Life for Busy People and Living the Dream, I advocate creating a ‘happy playlist’. Songs that lift your spirit and fill you with good vibes. It is my firm belief we should expose ourselves to positive influences at least 51% of the time. Far more than that if you would like an amazing life. Since you are reading a website titled “Secret2anamazinglife” I would surmise this to be the case.

The more we balance out the negative influences we are exposed to with positive ones of our choosing, the more inner peace we will experience. In today’s crazy world, being able to exist in peace is nothing short of a super power. Turn off the news and put on some Led Zeppelin, Bob Marley or music of your choosing. Let the music carry you away to somewhere happy. I know I will be as I celebrate my lovely lady’s birthday. How about you?

TIME TO REFLECT 😔

In the United States, today we recognize Memorial Day. Originally called Decoration Day, from the tradition of decorating graves with flowers and flags. It is a remembrance of those who have died in service to our country. It is sad that after thousands of years on earth, humans have not learned how to avoid war. As I write this, the terrible situation in the Ukraine rages on. Soldiers from both sides are perishing every day. Not because they personally dislike each other, but because of decisions made by their governments. Not only is this true of the soldiers sent to war, but the innocent families torn apart for political gain.

Here in the United States, we have seen our share of casualties. In the civil war alone, 620,000 soldiers lost their lives. That occurred between 1861-1865, when the population of the country was a lot lower. In World War II, an estimated 70-85 million people perished. At the time, the earth’s population was only 2.3 billion. That means roughly 3% of it was killed as a result of war. These numbers may seem to big to fully appreciate. Let us just take one. How does it affect your life when someone you care about passes away? Does it just affect you, or is there a ripple effect? Think of how painful that is. Now, can you imagine multiplying that times 70-80 million? Each person we lose to war is someone’s son, brother, father, mother, daughter or sister. The pain is felt by everyone they know. Each loss could be someone who could have a great impact in the world. It could be someone who could help us cure disease, feed the poor, or even feed our spirit.

No matter what country you are reading this in today, I ask that you take a second to offer thoughts and prayers for not only those we have lost to war, but to the friends and family they have left behind. Pray for the human race that we may better appreciate the value of human life. If we all do this, perhaps we can heal the hearts of nations.