October, 2013
Russell Brand’s “Newsnight” interview with Jeremy Paxman has gone viral across social media, attracting over a million YouTube views a day since it first aired on October 23. The English comedian, actor, radio host, and author who is notorious for incorporating drug use, alcoholism, and promiscuity into his comedic material, was recently appointed as guest editor of this week’s issue of London’s political and cultural magazine, New Statesman. The interview began with the question: “Russell Brand, who are you to edit a political magazine?”
See what he had to say about that question and more in this video:
Wow, is he on to something here?
How do you feel about the fact that he has never voted, and encourages others not to?
Brand says, “It’s not that I’m not voting out of apathy, I’m not voting out of absolute indifference, and weariness, and exhaustion from the lies, treachery, deceit of the political class that has been going on for generations now and has now reached a fever pitch, where we have a disenfranchised, disillusioned, despondent underclass that [is] not being represented by that political system, so voting for it is tacit complicity with that system.”
How many other people feel this way, too, but don’t have the courage to say it? Do we actually, as a society, have influence or power in the way our current voting system is structured? Or are we willing to consider the possibility that if we want to see some significant changes in our current paradigm, we may be called upon to take some significant actions?
Do the ideas which Russell Brand shares represent the kind of revolution Humanity is yearning for? These certainly are the types of radical changes that will rattle powerful cages and cause the status quo to quiver in its tightly laced shoes, but is someone like Russell Brand too unrealistic, too “out there,” too unbelievable, too incredible? He has been criticized for not offering actual and practical solutions. But might it be possible that the solutions will unearth themselves in our choice to take the first step, which could be as simple as listening to each other?
For so many, “politics” has become a dirty, ugly word. The more divisive and complicated our political system gets, the more disenfranchised and disengaged large segments of our population feel. How do we get to a point collectively where the system we have in place excites and invites? According to Brand, “Imagining the overthrow of the current political system is the only way I can be enthused about politics.”
Is that what it’s going to take?
Are we ready for that kind of a revolution?
I think it’s just the beginning. What do you think?
(Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation. She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)
If we each took some time to dig through the archives of our family’s vacation photos, I would imagine many of us would be able to find pictures of us with our children at the local zoo or perhaps spending the day at an aquarium or enjoying an afternoon at the circus. Kids and adults alike love to see animals and many are quite fond of watching them perform the unexpected trick or two, and big corporations know this and are more than willing to make those opportunities available to us for a steep price.
But somewhere underneath the giggle-producing spectacle and the collective “oohs” and “aahs” and beyond the neatly pressed pages which hold our treasured family photos lies an uncomfortably nagging question:
Is this the intended purpose for the animals that we share our planet with?
In a recent controversial documentary titled “Blackfish,” director Gabriela Cowperthwaite, a mother who once took her own children to Sea World on a regular basis to see the shows, raises some thought-provoking questions about the safety and humaneness of keeping killer whales in captivity over the past 39 years at the wildly popular theme park.
The events surrounding the death of Sea World trainer Dawn Brancheau in 2010, when a 12,000-pound orca whale pulled her underwater during a live performance, became the catalyst to Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s film “Blackfish.”
“I remember asking someone why an orca — a highly intelligent animal — would attack its trainer or essentially ‘bite the hand that feeds it.’ We sometimes hear of dogs mauling other people, but in these cases we don’t seem to hear about them attacking their masters. So why would America’s lovable Shamu turn against us? How could our entire collective childhood memories of this delightful water park be so morbidly wrong?”
In an interview with CNN, Cowperthwaite said, “My hope is that we take the “Blackfish” momentum and use it to help evolve us out of animals for entertainment. These silly marine park tricks are of no social, educational or conservational value. We advocate, instead, for captive killer whales to be retired into sea sanctuaries where they can live out the rest of their lives in a dignified, sustainable manner.”
Sea World has been critical of the film and released the following statement:
“Blackfish is billed as a documentary, but instead of a fair and balanced treatment of a complex subject, the film is inaccurate and misleading and, regrettably, exploits a tragedy that remains a source of deep pain for Dawn Brancheau’s family, friends and colleagues. To promote its bias that killer whales should not be maintained in a zoological setting, the film paints a distorted picture that withholds from viewers key facts about SeaWorld — among them, that SeaWorld is one of the world’s most respected zoological institutions, that SeaWorld rescues, rehabilitates and returns to the wild hundreds of wild animals every year, and that SeaWorld commits millions of dollars annually to conservation and scientific research. Perhaps most important, the film fails to mention SeaWorld’s commitment to the safety of its team members and guests and to the care and welfare of its animals, as demonstrated by the company’s continual refinement and improvement to its killer whale facilities, equipment and procedures both before and after the death of Dawn Brancheau.”
This story places before us an opportunity to talk about our relationships with these magnificent creatures and consider how we desire and choose to define that relationship. As I look around and watch humanity cage, maim, sell, slaughter, hunt, train, manipulate, mutilate, exploit, oppress, wear, and eat some of the most extraordinary life forms around us, I can’t help but wonder: Do we have this all “wrong”? Are we grossly misunderstanding the purpose of our furry, scaly, finned friends? And why have we give such names as “killer whale” to these beautifully majestic mammals who are simply doing what comes naturally to them?
Of course, there exists the possibility that the animals and mammals are here as supporting cast members, souls whose agenda is to simply play the role of “sacrificial lambs,” if you will, in the scenes of humanity’s play, existing for the common and highest good of all. But do animals even have souls? In one conversation I had recently, I was offered the matter-of-fact point of view that animals could not possibly have souls, pointing out that man was created superior to animals and that animals just simply cannot be equal with him, a belief system that some theologies hold to be true.
I suppose it is this level of thinking which creates a desire to capture and possess some of the most exotic and exquisite animals on earth and why we are also more than willing pay money, large sums of money, to people who are capitalizing off of their involuntary loss of freedom.
And while the possibility exists for anything to be true, I continue to return to that same uncomfortably nagging question:
Is this the intended purpose for the animals that we share our planet with?
And now I invite you to share your thoughts, your ideas, and your feelings about what may be one of our most misconstrued, yet most significant, relationships.
(Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation. She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)
(This week’s Addiction & Recovery column is hosting a guest article written and contributed by Nicole Lewis.)
“We know perfectly well how to be spiritual. It’s being human that we have trouble with.” – Renee Bledsoe
I used to be under the impression that addiction and spirituality were mutually exclusive. In the midst of another self-destructive moment, I could easily scoff at the idea that someone…anyone, with an addiction, especially myself, could have an iota of spirituality in their body.
Fortunately, I was misinformed about not only myself and others, but about spirituality as well. As someone who has several years of sobriety under her belt, I can stand on the sober side of addiction and say, unequivocally, that addiction and spirituality are inexorably intertwined.
I believe that we all feel the same deep sense of connection; a primal urge that pulls us toward community and fellowship, the desire to feel wanted and accepted by others, and the unwavering notion that there has to be something — more. I believe this is our spirituality beckoning to us. It is the part of ourselves which is connected to all of life. It is the aspect within us which compels us to seek an answer which, at times, feels just beyond our grasp. Addiction convinces the addict that this yearning is something within us which is broken. We crave an end to the longing. We await the feeling of relief which comes from the addiction, even if only temporarily. Caught in the cycle of addiction, we strive only to fill—repair—numb. It becomes easier to live in the certainty of the addiction than in the uncertainty of our spirituality. And so, as the vicious cycle of addiction wreaks havoc on us, we are nonetheless comforted in the brief periods when we have managed to suppress our eternal knowing one more time. We become strangely comforted by our despair and made whole by our torment, for they are certain. It is when the numbness fades and the deep pull returns that we are thrust back into the uncertainty. The cycle of addiction seeks to smother the very essence of what it means to be part of this amazing co-creative experience that we call life.
Through sobriety, I have learned that our spirituality is not something that can be quantified or measured. It is our essence. The longing within each of us is our shared connection to something grander than we can imagine. Admittedly, this can be a scary idea. Nevertheless, it is neither a void which needs filling nor a force which requires suppressing. I have learned to embrace this aspect of myself and by doing so, have become comfortable with the feeling. It is the exhilaration of knowing, at an innate level, that I am safe, connected and loved. Ultimately, the darkness of my addiction could not stand the light of this revelation.
(Nicole Lewis is a life coach. She is a grateful recovering alcoholic with 5 ½ years of sobriety. To connect with Nicole, please email her at theinfiniteiamllc@gmail.com)
I am going through a bit of change looking for a job and being scared of my full potential. I just finished my degree in homeopathy and what I would like to do the most now is to practice and help people. First, however, I need to help myself. I need funds to start my clinic (insurance, association membership, place to practice, the list goes on). Fear of failure keeps me procrastinating and in a fearful place. I want to move out of it and I need help… Ava
Dear Ava… Thank you for reaching out. I can see why it would be very daunting to open a brand new clinic. That’s quite a laundry list of things to do to get started, and looks to be quite expensive! Let’s see, though, if we can address these other fears you’re having that are holding you back, because an acronym for FEAR is False Evidence Appearing Real. And as one of our great American presidents, FDR, said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
You say you are scared of your “full potential”, but is full potential anything to be afraid of? Our Soul’s basic desire is to express itself fully, in the grandest version of the greatest vision it ever held about itself. In other words, to reach its Highest Potential. If you really knew and understood the truth of Who You Are, Ava, an aspect of God with its same unlimited power to create anything you desire, I think fear would not be an issue for you.
And about that “fear of failure”: did you know that Conversations With God says there is no such thing as failure? Anything that looks like a failure is simply Life’s way of course-correcting. When something we’ve planned doesn’t go the way our Mind thinks it should, it can only be because our Soul has a higher plan for our growth, and this is nothing to be afraid of, my dear! The Mind’s information is so very limited, but the Soul knows all, and will never steer us wrong. We may experience disappointment over a perceived failure when it first happens, but given the benefit of time and hindsight, we will always see the blessing and growth it brought us.
Would it be possible for you to offer your homeopathy services in a clinic that has already been established, so you wouldn’t have to start one from scratch? Or could you start working part-time out of your home, or perhaps in an herbal or whole foods shop, or at a massage or chiropractic clinic? In other words, see if you can find a way to start your practice on a smaller basis. Since you just graduated, it will give you an opportunity to dip your toe in the water and make sure you really love this line of work before jumping in with both feet! I would think you’d need a little practice too, before starting a clinic.
Fear is just a distortion of the One Emotion – Love. What do you love so much you’re afraid of losing it? Please look deeply at your fears and ask yourself this all-important question about each one of them: IS IT TRUE?
(Annie Sims is the Global Director of CWG Advanced Programs, is a Conversations With God Coach and author/instructor of the CWG Online School. To connect with Annie, please email her at Annie@TheGlobalConversation.com
(If you would like a question considered for publication, please submit your request to: Advice@TheGlobalConversation.com where our team is waiting to hear from you.)
An additional resource: The CWG Helping Outreach offers spiritual assistance from a team of non-professional/volunteer Spiritual Helpers responding to every post from readers within 24 hours or less. Nothing on the CCN site should be construed or is intended to take the place of or be in any way similar to professional therapeutic or counseling services. The site functions with the gracious willing assistance of lay persons without credentials or experience in the helping professions. What these volunteers possess is an awareness of the theology of Conversations with God. It is from this context that they offer insight, suggestions, and spiritual support during moments of unbidden, unexpected, or unwelcome change on the journey of life.
Namaste, Global Conversation Community. As we approach our thirteenth month since the launching of the site, we have seen our numbers grow substantially. BUT…as our site continues to grow, we still see the same problems in the world, repeating over and over and over again. Why, may you ask?
The problem is that we are sitting back. Being CONTENT and being PASSIVE. Reading, writing, and…..moving on with our lives.
I must admit that I am just as much a part of this as everyone else. For the past year or so, I have written my articles, submitted them, and have gone about my daily business. I have NOT added enough comments to our other delightful editors, I have NOT delved fully into getting discussion about my own articles going, and I certainly have NOT created as much spiritual change in the world as I desire to make.
BUT…things ARE about to change. A new version of my grandest vision is manifesting itself. As I’ve grown and changed, I’ve seen just how much I can be – and I can do. No more ‘self-imposed limitations’. No more ‘I can’t’. No more ‘I don’t have time for this’. Because, honestly, what could be more important?
As the current banner for The Global Conversation says, “When an entire culture refuses to believe that it has anything to do with what is occurring, it cannot do anything about what is occurring.” What we think is clearly not meshing with what we are doing – and NOW is the time to change that. IF we start thinking, acting, and being spiritual not just internally, but EXTERNALLY and INTERPERSONALLY, the world will feel the difference. For when we share, we grow. And when we grow, we thrive.
Let’s BE the difference makers. Let’s BE that thriving energy of the moment. Let’s BE that soul in Oneness – moving closer and closer together. Instead of day in, day out, my post, my article – share you voice, EVEN if you don’t think you have anything exceptional to contribute. Every moment spent invested in spiritual discussion and conversation is another moment of light shining upon the entire universe. And who doesn’t want more of that?
So yes, I WILL respond to every comment on my posts, every email I receive, and (guess who finally created a Facebook!) every friend request in my inbox.
Hit me up for some seriously amazing spiritual discussion. I’m here and ready to change the world. Ready to join me?
(Lauren Rourk is a Feature Editor at The Global Conversation and attends Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN. She can be contacted at Lauren@TheGlobalConversation.com)
The headlines say it all:
WAVE OF CAR BOMBS IN IRAQ KILLS DOZENS
GANG RAPE IN INDIA: ROUTINE AND INVISIBLE
REASON FOR HOPE IN CONGO’S PERPETUAL WAR
PIRATES ABDUCT TWO AMERICANS
This is from just one day’s front page of the International New York Times. Violence, violence, violence.
It is normal for the human race? Yes. Is it natural? No. “Normal” and “natural” are not the same thing. It is natural for humans not to be violent, yet the normal behavior for our civilization is extreme violence.
Why is this? And, is there no way to stop it? No way to turn this around? Will our species forever be relegated to the level of barbarism — even as it declares its own higher evolution and even enlightenment?
And why have all the acknowledged and extraordinary advances made by humanity in science, medicine, and technology not produced an end to its most primitive behaviors?
These are the questions that are not being asked nearly enough in the halls of our legislatures, in the corridors of our general assemblies and senates, and in the thickly carpeted offices of our world’s heads of state.
Sadly, there seems to not even be a forum for such a discussion. The United Nations is not it. That international body has proven to be utterly incapable of producing world peace, its members completely unable to even agree on simple resolutions — much less concrete actions — aimed at bringing an end to violence. Its discussions seem forever focused on who is right rather than what is right, and who is at fault rather than what is at cause in the matter.
There are those who say that violence is simply part of our nature; that it is, in fact, natural for us to aggressively attack each other, physically assault each other, and wantonly disregard each other’s well being when we disagree with each other. Could this be true? Is that the basic underlying and unchangeable characteristic and attribute of human beings?
What are human beings, anyway? Are we simply biological entities — essentially, chemical creatures born out of a process of chemical interactions initiated by other chemical creatures? Is this who we are at our basis? Or are we more than that…? Are we, at the level of essence, spiritual creatures engaging in a biological expression, for reasons having to do with spiritual realities?
Our answer to these questions will set the course of humanity’s future for the next several hundred years —- presuming that our species has several hundred years in which to experience a future. The way we are behaving today, that is far from a guarantee. It may not even be a probability.
What are your answers to the questions just above? And what, if anything, do you think could change humanity’s present conduct? I am very curious as to your notions about all of this. Can we discuss it? Could this be at least one of the forums in which humans from all over the world exchange views, ideas, suggestions, and even propose solutions, regarding our violent and non-sustainable behaviors?
Let’s have a global conversation.
— NDW
Below is the first installment of a continuing series of entries from the CWG book Tomorrow’s God. If you have not yet read this text, and if you have even the slightest interest in your future and the future of your children and your grandchildren, you will find the ongoing postings here to be of utmost importance. I invite you to return to this space often to capture updates in the ongoing progression through this remarkable book.
— Neale Donald Walsch
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The book Tomorrow’s God contains the most exciting news of the past 100 years: Humanity is about to create a new form of spirituality on the earth. Our civilization stands at the brink of its greatest adventure and its most extraordinary achievement.
I want you to commit now to finding your place in that creation. This book is a look at Tomorrow’s God. It is about humanity’s future—but not some far-off distant vision. Rather, it includes a startling prediction for the next thirty years. It is about our near future, and the role that humans will play in creating it. It is about the role that you can play in creating it. It is about what will happen and how it will happen.
Like the other With God books, this text takes the form of a conversation with God, but it is not necessary to believe that I actually had such a conversation in order to benefit from it. All that is necessary is that you have an open mind—and this book even tells you how to achieve that.
But now, fair warning. You will find information in this book that is not new to you. Very little here cannot be found, cumulatively, in the sacred writings of all the world’s wisdom traditions. Very little has not already been spoken by all of humanity’s master teachers. Very little, for that matter, has not appeared in my own previous writing.
What, then, would be the reason to read this book? I suggest that it is not that it contains wisdom that we have not been given, but that it repeats wisdom to which we have not been listening.
And the problem is, if we do not listen to this wisdom now, we may not have many more chances to have it repeated.
We are at the edge, you see. We have gone as far as we can go in the direction we have been taking. We need now to change course if we wish to preserve life as we know it on this planet.
Humanity cannot afford any more temper tantrums. We have found a way to pack the end of the world into a briefcase. We can seal the death of civilized society in a spore-filled envelope and simply mail it off. Talk about our fate being sealed…
We have trained ourselves to be able to fly airplanes into buildings, killing thousands of people, without flinching. We have talked ourselves into believing that preemptive strike—shooting first and asking questions later—is a perfectly acceptable means of conducting foreign policy.
We have decided that to have dominion over the earth means to destroy it—and to pretend that we don’t know we are doing it. We have concluded that altering the basic genetic structure of our food is the way to improve it. We have chosen to allow 20 percent of the world’s people to receive 80 percent of the world’s income, and to call this the good life.
We are, in short, confused. Yet there is a way out of this confusion, and you can play a role in taking us there. This book talks about your role.
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THE ENTIRE TEXT of Tomorrow’s God is going to be posted here, excerpt by excerpt. I dearly hope you will read it, and allow it to change your life as it has changed the lives of thousands of people around the world.
— NDW
DON’T MISS, IN THIS ISSUE…(click on the headline to link to the article):…..Can the internet be counted as a fundamental and basic necessity for everyone in our world?…..Why not legalize all drugs?…..Seriously challenging corporate power….. AND, from a previous issue… Marianne Williamson running for Congress!
It is very exciting to all of us in the New Thought Community that spiritual author and messenger Marianne Williamson is a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives. You will see more here on this page in the weeks ahead about how you can help bring her voice to Washington, should you agree with her message.
On another note, the book that gave birth to this website, The Storm Before the Calm, is being posted here, chapter by chapter. I sincerely hope you will read it, as I believe its message can change the way our world is now experiencing itself.
AND…if you haven’t signed the petition from Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, you can do so here. See his open letter to Americans in What Others Are Saying.
Enjoy this issue of The Global Conversation, and come back often!
Preview the new CWG book What God Said now at www.WhatGodSaidbook.com. Released Oct. 1, this book explores and expands on the 25 most important messages of the 9-installment Conversations with God series and offers practical suggestions on how to apply each message in every day life. To read the first seven chapters and hear a one chapter sample of the audio book, click here.
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Conversations with God dared to place before humanity what it has called “The New Gospel.” That gospel has been referred to as “15 words that would change the world.”
We’re going to explore that New Gospel here. The New Gospel is:
We are all one. Ours is not a better way, ours is merely another way.
That gospel was first introduced in Friendship with God, the fourth book in the CWG 9-book cosmology.
If the first four words of that gospel are true, they carry with them an important implication—a remarkably important implication—that would amount to a major expansion of humanity’s previous understanding of the relationship between God and Man.
The implication, of course, is that if everything is One Thing, and if we are part of everything (which we obviously are), then we are part of God, unless God is not part of “everything,” but stands outside of “everything”—in which case “everything” is not everything at all.
This is, in fact, what many, many people believe. They believe that there are, essentially, two things that exist in ultimate reality: (1) Everything That Is, and (2) that which created Everything That Is.
In this cosmology, God stands outside of Everything That Is. In order to conceive of this, many people define “everything” as only that which is physical, and define God as that which is spiritual. Yet this is an unfair delineation, because it gives an altered meaning to the word “everything.”
It also forces us to assume that we are not spiritual . . . or that if we are spiritual and physical, the part of us that is spiritual is not part of “everything.” Because, by simple logic, if the part of us that is spiritual is included in what we call “everything,” then a God who is spiritual must be part of “everything” as well.
This leads some of us to take all sorts of twisted pathways and to use every kind of tortured logic to explain how a God who is spiritual is not part of “everything,” even though the part of us that is spiritual is.
Presumably, God’s spirit is a different kind of spirit, a different type. Not simply grander or bigger or more powerful, but a different type altogether—a type that does not fall within the category of “everything that is.”
It is the first big challenge of the New Spirituality to coax us away from this fractured reasoning and gently guide us into considering that there may be a pattern to life’s Essential Energy (that some people, including myself, call “God”) that allows it to express as both physical and spiritual at the same time, even as we clearly observe that we, as humans, are doing.
In other words, we may wish to consider the possibility that what we can do, God can do, and that even as we are both spiritual and physical, so, too, is That Which Is Divine.
This would make Humanity and Divinity one and the same, except as to proportion. God is All Of It, whereas we are part of that which comprises All Of It.
Does this not make much more sense?
And have not major religions declared that we are “made in the image and likeness of God”?
We will continue our exploration of The New Gospel in upcoming installments of this front page feature in the global conversation. I invite your contributions in the Comments Section below.
My life is in a period of transition, and I couldn’t be happier. Change is inevitable and oftentimes met with resistance. Spiritual teachers profess that happiness can be maintained through life changes by letting go of our resistance to them. Suffering is the result of our unwillingness to accept the transformations as they occur. Mastery is the result of intentionally inviting change into our lives.
Suffering is the result of our unwillingness to accept the transformations as they occur.
I have reached the point of mastery in my trade without really even knowing I was doing so. 18 years ago, I had my own business subcontracting window treatment installations for decorators and designers in a highly affluent area of New York. I was very good with my hands and was very successful as a drapery and blind installer. I had trained to be an interior plantation shutter installer and fell in love with doing those installations. The pay was fantastic, but it was the physical challenges and rewards I really loved.
Very quickly I became the number one installer in the greater New York area, receiving recommendations by the top shutter manufactures and their wholesalers. Shutters where not terribly popular in the Northeast back then. And to this day, they still are not nearly as sought after there as they are in the southern and western states of the U.S. But it was my dream to be just a shutter installer full time.
My business was very successful and financially rewarding. I enjoyed being my own boss. At the young age of 30, I was doing pretty well.
One day, my then wife came home with the news that she had a great offer to work for a large entertainment company in Orlando, Florida. She asked me if I was willing to move, and without hesitation, I said yes! I had never really considered moving from New York, especially to Florida, but I knew that Florida was a good market for shutters. Three months later, I was living in the Sunshine State.
As soon as I hit the ground in Orlando, I cracked open the phone book and started calling shutter companies to see if any of them needed an installer. I landed a job the very next day.
My time at that job was very short, as I did not resonate with the owner and the product they were using. I had grown accustomed to working with the very finest shutters in the business and found my standards to be above what that company was used to. So I turned to the company that had been recommended to me and I gave them a call. Two days later, I would start working for them.
It has now been 18 years for me with that company and I feel blessed beyond words to have had the opportunity to do what I truly love doing. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I manifested my desires and the universe was more than willing to oblige me. I have mastered my trade at the highest level because I followed my passion and truly believed that it was possible for me when the opportunity to move presented itself.
I have now come full circle with installing shutters. I have worked in every aspect of the shutter industry and feel that my time here is nearly complete. A little over a year ago, I went to my employer and told him that I was beginning to prepare for my next career and that I would likely only be with him for another year. Now, that year has turned into almost 2, but my plans have not changed. I told him that the one last thing I wished to accomplish was training a suitable replacement for myself.
I can feel the universe lining up once again in my favor as I invite this change fearlessly into my life. For the last two weeks, I have been training a new installer, and it appears that he may, in fact, have the very same drive I had over 18 years ago.
A dear friend once told me that he would much rather initiate change in his own life than have life impose its changes upon him. I couldn’t agree more. I understand that sometimes change comes in uninvited.
All change is for the better, and even though we may not see that, time will always reveal this great truth. Today, when I was remembering my decision to move to Florida, I saw the perfection in life and knew that it wasn’t simply luck or coincidence; it was the result of pure desire and passion. If time has not revealed the gift of your change, you are simply not ready to view it yet.
I eagerly await the transition that I am currently under. At times I think, “Why isn’t this coming faster?” “What am I doing wrong?” And then I look back and realize that it just isn’t time yet. I am doing all the right things. How do I know this? Because once again, I am following my passion and my desire, and experience tells me this works.
I try to do something every day that moves me in the direction that I desire to go. I surround myself with people who will support me in my journey. I have taken courses to expand my knowledge of the industry I am choosing to be in and feel prepared to seamlessly transition into my next career. Indeed, I am already doing it!
We are powerful creators as human beings. Many times we do not credit ourselves enough for the things in our life that bring us joy. Without having the belief that these things can be ours, we will never have them.
Join us Path to Peace recovery retreat in Orlando, Florida, October 24 – 27th. JR Westen and myself are taking the messages found within the ”Conversations with God” Cosmology, along with our combined 53 years of personal recovery from alcohol, drug, and food addictions, and offering these retreats as a means of returning people to their authentic selves. We understand the difficulty people face with overcoming these challenges in life and offer a simple, compassionate, and effective means of living a happy, joyous, and free life. These retreats are not simply a weekend long reprieve from our troubles. Each attendee will be introduced to past and future participants through our community Facebook page. In addition, any past participant can attend any future P2P retreat for any donation they wish to make. You read that right – any donation, from $1 to infinity. We have seen the lives of people change and remain changed from these retreats. If this is for you, click here to register.
We understand that there may be financial hardships keeping you from attending this retreat. If you feel you would benefit from this retreat but cannot afford it, please contact Will@cwg.org and ask about our scholarships. It is our deepest desire to help those who truly seek change and we want nothing to stand in the way of that.
(Kevin McCormack, C.A.d ,is a certified addictions professional and auriculotherapist. He is a recovering addict with 26 years of sobriety. Kevin is a practicing auriculotherapist, life coach, and interventionist specializing in individual and family recovery and also co-facilitates spiritual recovery retreats for the CWG foundation with JR Westen. You can visit his website here for more information. To connect with Kevin, please email him at Kevin@TheGlobalConversation.com)
