Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Having a life filled with 'More'

BAD! Kitty Art Studio
Topic for today...More
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Nothing can stay the same. Things do not stay the same. Things are always becoming. Becoming more or becoming less and if the individual seeks to interfere in this process by trying to artificially keep things at a predetermined level, then the whole order of life as it is meant to be becomes distorted. Things will naturally tend toward becoming less.

Life is intended to represent a natural process of exchange. Just as breathing itself describes an exchange of used air for new air, a lifestyle of rightness depends on a similar kind of flow. Clinging interferes with this process and creates aberrations. For example, if we try to cling to the inhaled breath. If we were to adopt the same kind of clinging in breathing as we do in life, one of two things would happen. If we succeeded in the clinging, we would eventually deprive the body of oxygen and we would die. Life depends on the exchange of the breath taking place. The other more likely thing that would happen is that the natural urge to exchange breath would become so great, that we would be forced to exhale and to take in more air.

The body is naturally equipped with mechanisms to ensure that exchange and flow occur and in the case of breathing it is possible to see that the mechanism is almost foolproof. However, in life we have developed the ability to override the natural tendency toward rightness and towards flow and exchange. We have enabled ourselves to introduce clinging and maintaining, which directly oppose a natural exchange.

With a lifestyle of having more, not only is the goal self-perpetuating, but the lifestyle is truly open to change and to the exchanges that must take place in order to have more. With an achieve and maintain lifestyle, we impose clinging against our natural will to be open and as a result, in endeavoring to maintain what we have, we instigate stagnation and certain deterioration and are enslaved more and more by having less.

In choosing to have more and making more a way of life, we imply many things. We can never reach the end of such a goal as the objective always remains relevant. We can always have more. Through the appreciation and acknowledgment of what we have now, we imply our ability to do the same and continue to have more. For example, in having a desire to be stronger, we imply that we are strong now and that we are stronger than we have been and that because of these two acknowledgments, our desire has every probability of success. We have proven it by what we have already done. If we have a desire to have more abundance, in doing so, we are naturally implying that we have a degree of abundance now. In other words we cannot deny our achievements to date, we cannot hate others for their abundance or we would be unable to appreciate our own and thus, we would also be prevented from wanting more. So wanting more depends on the acknowledgment of what we have now and indeed on the love and appreciation of what we have now.

Wanting some pinpointed goal or level of achievement encompasses more pitfalls. For example, wanting to be strong, to be wealthy, to be fit. These all imply an absence of them in one's life now. Wanting to be strong implies that we are not strong. Wanting to be wealthy implies that we are not wealthy. Wanting to be fit implies that we are unfit. These are of course falsehoods, because there are always degrees of achievement.

Wanting to be fit, for example, negates any fitness we might have. If we are able to walk and drive and climb, then we have a degree of fitness. We may not be as fit as we could be, or fit for particular tasks that we might want to undertake, but this is very different from the kind of blanket judgment of being unfit. Wanting to be more fit then, becomes a more desirable goal because it allows for the acknowledgment of what we can do, while also carrying a desire for more. Wanting to have more money implies an appreciation of the money we have, while carrying with it a desire to have more. Wanting to be stronger implies an acknowledgment of our present strength, while carrying with it a desire for more.

In wanting to be strong we also come up against the problem of deciding when we have achieved this goal. What is strong? How strong is strong? How will we know when we are strong? Or is it a goal that can never be achieved, because we have a vested interest in feeling weak and therefore the goal might always exist, but the attainment and use of the strength may always remain in the future. In desiring to have more, we do not set up goals that can never be achieved, because we are achieving them at every moment. We are experiencing a natural exchange of one for another. There is no end point to reach, no final achievement, the achieving goes on. Having more is a kind of fluid goal. In fact it is less of a goal and more of a direction. Having more is a way or direction for life. It is completely allowing, it is completely effective in producing results, it is completely foolproof.

We cannot have more if we do not have. We cannot have more strength if we are weak. We cannot have more abundance, if we are deprived. We cannot have more fitness if we are inadequate and so on. There is no way to fake a lifestyle of having more, because it is reflected in the life and the attitude of the individual. One cannot pretend to want more and maintain a vested interest in not having, or in hatred or, in weakness. It cannot be done. One can however, pretend or fool oneself into thinking that there is desire for happiness and prosperity and strength, because these are goals that can exist as goals while the individual is also able to retain aspects of not having these things.

An individual can spend an entire lifetime professing to want happiness, harmony, strength, compassion, love, the list goes on, and yet feel no requirement to do anything about having these things now. There is no implied requirement in these goals. They can go on being goals, yet the individual can maintain a deprived, weak, hateful, jealous existence with no motivation to begin any kind of process of change. Despite this, we could still be convinced that when the person talks about the things that they want in life, sometimes perhaps with great passion, their desire seems to be genuine. It can seem that they do indeed want these things and that they are working toward these things. However, if there is no willingness to express any kind of appreciation or acknowledgment for what they have, no willingness to be allowing of others, or to begin having what they want now, the goals for change are false. The only way to truly commit oneself to change in life is to make of it not a goal, but a direction and to adopt a desire for more and be prepared to embrace all that this entails.

*** To read More of this article just hit the link below!***
Wayfarer International, Copyright © John & Melody Anderson
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So, I was looking around the net for inspiration for writing on today's topic, and I found this website and writer. This is just a small part of the article and you should check it out in it's entirety.

The lifestyle of living with more is a powerful one, because of it not being a limiting way of looking at your present moment situations. It does not negate your NOW, it empowers you to continue, to change and grow.

I think this applies to every aspect of living a good life, and also applies my art creations. For myself, creating one work always leads to the next work...therefore the exchange of ideas and growth is always happening and I stay motivated and energized. Perpetual creativity.

It also helps to create a life where there is always room for change and the taking of risks, to achieve, to learn, to value what's in my now. I thought this was a good topic for discussion today, being that the last few days of the year are fast approaching and we all have the feeling of time speeding by, change happening and things to re-focus on...when setting your goals for the New Year remember the theory of living with More!
It'll make setting those goals much More fun and easy to accomplish!
These are my top three More Goals for the upcoming year:

1. Increase my fitness and strength.
2. Enhance my art career with More shows and sales.
3. Create More social connections and friends in my life.

What are your More Goals for the upcoming year?
To all I hope you have a More Wonderful day!
Heather
www.badkittyartstudio.com
Buy More Art!
(Sorry I just couldn't resist *Grins*)

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