Ever wish you could unburden your troubles? Thought about a knight in shining armour who will sort everything in your life out, perfectly. Well you are in luck! There is someone and that someone does sort things out perfectly. However a small thing is required of you before it can be sorted out. YOU, well more appropriately, YOUR complete and total surrender, to GOD.

I am aware of how difficult this small requirement god asks of us, is. It is no small feat to relinquish all desire to control even the seemingly uncontrollable in our lives. We think well if I do nothing then how is it going to sort out? So we do, and that doing has consequences and then we do more and then that doing also has consequences and so on and on we go, round the I am in control, delusional merry go round.

Now, there are situations where action on your part is necessary and then there are situations where you need to let go and surrender. In most situations I would say even when action, on your part is required, you would still be better off, surrendering all to god and then taking only the action that is absolutely necessary.

I am afraid there is something else that comes up, when you make the choice to surrender. There are always forces that come, to stop you from surrendering to god. These forces come in many forms. Your ego, will amplify negativity. This will arrive in the form of negative thoughts and emotions, hoping to cause you to engage in negative actions. All of this is nothing but fear based, and surrendering to god brings, nothing but peace.

The key when you feel stressed, anxious or just plain exasperated is to stop and just say these simple words, Lord I surrender all to you, yours will be done. Then leave it. Truly leave it, because if after you surrender you continue to fret and worry then you really haven’t left it all at god’s feet. When you truly surrender, you will not even think about that particular situation again. This requires a lot of practise, however it is possible to get to this space. It really is.

There comes a time in all our lives, when we come face to face with situations where we feel totally out of control and god steps in and lifts us to safety. You look back and think how was everything sorted, so perfectly, without me lifting a finger?! Well you let go, because you realized you were in waaaaay over your head. You surrendered and then at that moment god stepped in and all was taken care of.

Surrender is not something you do for god, it is the gift god has given you! If you only understood god’s perfection and the power of his gift to you, worry would end today. But we are humans, and so we need to learn the same lesson the hard way several times before we are willing to try things out, god’s way.

May you know and experience his gift for you, it awaits only, YOUR SURRENDER.

Today you see overwhelming situations such as violence and abuse against women, the gun violence issue, the racial issues, the terrorism issue, the wars, equality issues. When you look at each issue in isolation and look to someone else to resolve it, whether that be looking to the community you live in to resolve or your city or your government, you will always end up with sweeping actions that bundle up everything and everyone together, and give you the band aid approach. This never solves the issue because you are taking something that is about personal choice and responsibility and clubbing it into a collective solution which sweeps up the innocent and the guilty with consequences for both.

What allows clearly hurtful, harmful, disconnected, and hate filled action? A society is filled up of individuals who harm one another. The solution cannot be collective when the crimes are committed by individuals.

Behaviour is about learning that one’s actions bring with it reactions [consequences]. However we are now living in a society where there never seem to be any consequences for the heinous acts committed. We now blame everyone for the actions of individuals.

We are made to believe men or women, grow up and one day just decide to start abusing other people, or have ideas and assumptions of superiority over other races, or religions or that someone just decides one day to wake up and shoot and kill people, or that there are people who just decide when given positions of power to suddenly begin to take advantage of vulnerable people.

Who believes these things just happen and are not a pattern of behaviour, either from personal trauma from childhood or learnt and quietly permitted behaviour, that was ignored, belittled, kept silent on, or absolved?

Every time there is an outcry of injustice by this or that group, we want to blame  everyone within that group. We need to be alert to being coerced into this way of thinking and acting, because it then brings into effect more government controls.

When we ask for and allow collective solutions to individual actions, what we are essentially asking for is going to mask the problem, never to solve it. It will also allow us to be shackled further and further, all the while providing us with superficial solutions.

Look at any issue and the legislation governments have brought into effect to essentially solve them. Have they? I would say no. How many issues have become worse in the ensuing years, even though legislations are increasing at a frightening pace? No forced legislation ever works and yet we are moving towards legislating every human behaviour, because someone is hurt or offended? We are heading at a rapid pace to forced behaviour modification. So the question i ask is, as a society are we better of today because of all the rules and regulations? Are we safer? Are we a more equal society, are we racially more cohesive because of all the so called solutions, governments have come up with or are things getting worse?

Band aid solutions are great at covering up wounds and sometimes allowing healing to take place, however they are never able to get to the root cause, as that is not the role they are there to play.

These days all you hear about is Artificial Intelligence, and its ability to take over most human jobs and everyday tasks and that’s supposed to be a good thing, freeing us to do other things.

Do you ever wonder what we are here to do? We work, have families, enjoy ourselves, go through struggles and eventually pass away. Is that all there is to this journey on earth?

I believe we are meant to be on a journey of spiritual awareness and higher consciousness.

We are currently advancing research into Artificial intelligence, which is ultimately looking towards merging AI with the human mind. I have learnt this is to try and avoid the unpleasant and unavoidable, at present, problem of human mortality. If AI is smarter than humans, and they are essentially robots, hence immortal, what will they need humans for anyway after a certain level of learning? We seem aware that we are creating and empowering that, which may well choose to make us redundant, and yet we seem unwilling to curtail it? Why?

Yet there is something else that comes up in conversations about AI, and that is consciousness. Will AI have the power to develop consciousness? Consciousness, is the ability to be aware of what is within oneself. It is this, that is special to us humans.

There are two things that make us humans extraordinary. It is our mind AND our heart. It is the connection between the two that guides our consciousness higher. If we want to achieve higher levels of consciousness, it is the mind that we must learn to quieten and eventually control. But it is our heart that must be our guide for our every action.

It is our mind we use to have thoughts and receive insights. These thoughts and insights create the emotions we experience, our thoughts and sometimes our emotions then flow into our actions. It is our mind that determines our reality. If we allow the tapping into of our mind, we are essentially handing over who we are and capable of being, as well as all of our experiences, to be placed into a computer.

Technology being created to merge AI with our minds is understandable, our minds are  extraordinary, but what makes the most enlightened human is always the merging of mind and heart. Our minds can be manipulated, deceived, decoded but that which keeps us, on the right path is our heart. That which is done from a pure heart can never be wrong. The mind without the heart is like flying an airplane without any navigation.

Are we ok with AI working and supposedly helping humanity, while only working from the mind and not the heart?  How will it play out if that which guides them, doesn’t come from a space of love?

Looking around, isn’t that what we have now? Political leaders making decisions that only come from the mind and not the heart. What about all the rules, regulations and laws being enacted, are they coming from a place of love, kindness, and compassion? Do we really want more of the same?

The ultimate Merging will be the enjoining of our hearts and minds, so that they work together, because you can’t have one work well without the other!

Most events happening in the world today are being used to play a game. The judgement and blame game. To play is to lose. Its purpose is to misdirect.

Every issue in the world, has been distorted. Everywhere you turn, there is the one who judges and it’s companion the one who blames, there is the oppressor and it’s companion the oppressed. Often times the oppressed become the oppressor. The world is only ever a larger reflection of you, your community, your city, and your country.

We have horrific things happening to innocent people constantly, yet the only thing we can control is our reaction to what is done to us. Simultaneously there are situations where we need to accept our role in the outcome of events.

Every situation follows the same pattern, whether it be the social issues of, equality, free speech, privacy. Whether it be political issues, of brexit, Nhs, transport, and every other government department. Whether it be religious issues, of divisiveness between religious sects and also differing religious ideas and ideals.

When you go through hurtful, harmful and inhuman behaviour, in anyway, blaming someone or something for your unhappiness is fine, should you choose to do so, however it will do nothing to change things around, for you. Should you engage in reciprocity of hate for hate, beware it has a tendency to spiral situations downward, as it comes from a place of hurt and pain. There is a saying, what goes around comes around, should you decide to go down this path, tread lightly.

What is it, about us humans, that if we can obfuscate our role in situations, we will. If we can remove our own accountability from situations, we will. I think it’s the ego within us, that deems us guiltless.

All religions teach us about not engaging in judgemental behaviour. The bible asks, why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brothers eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? My own faith teaches good thoughts, good words and good deeds.

We need to curtail this constant flow of judgement and blame. We judge because we crave power and control. We tend to want to be god and dole out punishment. We blame, because we have been hurt by someone’s words, emotions or actions.

Judging is all about trying to hold on to power and blame is used because you feel powerless and unable to control things the way you want and need. It is a seesaw. This behaviour keeps you unsettled, insecure and in constant uncertainty and unhappiness.

When we get preoccupied with judgement and blame, we get obsessed with the person causing us the pain and so get blinded by the situation, unable to see a different perspective. Perspective offers you the ability to step back from your thoughts and emotions and see things from a neutral space, instead of as the involved party. We dwell in darkness, unnecessarily forgetting that we can use the darkness to get into the light, by healing and thereby freeing ourselves.

You could spend your life, blaming someone all you want, however you cannot change their behaviour. The only thing you can control is yourself, your thoughts, your emotions and your actions. Harnessing the power within yourself, you can be the change, you seek to see in others and the world and thereby guide humanity, forward.

Your mind, do you control it? Are you able to get your thoughts to change direction? The unrelenting negativity, and the repetitive loop of thinking the same thoughts over and over, can you make them stop? If you answer no, you are not alone. This way of thinking, is unhelpful and tiresome, yet we think this form of thinking is normal.

Do you sometimes long to have a switch that would allow you to turn off your thoughts? When you cannot control your thoughts, you cannot control your emotions and you most definitely cannot control your actions, because they all work in tandem. Your thoughts dictate your emotions, and your emotions dictate your actions and it is this constant interaction between them that dictates your state of well being or ill health.

There are different ways to silence the thoughts in your mind, Meditation is one, another is to focus your attention on your breathing. Whichever way you decide, what you want is the ability to quieten your mind. When you gain the power to quieten your mind, you realize just what peace feels like, it’s the silence, you begin to crave.

What an amazing thing your brain is, you may think outside situations determine how you feel about your life. I don’t believe this is so. It is your mind interpreting what is happening to you that makes you feel one way or another about your life. Even with all the practice, when you begin your journey inward, towards your thoughts, emotions and actions, it takes a great deal of awareness and courage to admit your past thoughts and reactions to situations created the life you have now and your thought and reactions right at this moment are creating the future coming your way.

Your mind interprets everything, Without it we would not be able to interact with the world around us. Yet the entire spiritual journey from the very start is about detaching oneself from one’s mind and from one’s thoughts. Why? Well I think the reason is when you are focused on your breathing, you begin to work from the space of quiet mind, which means you are in the present moment and when you are in the moment you are able to be aware of your thoughts as they happen, your emotions as they occur and with practice are able to control more and more of your actions. This is the beginning of starting to live in recognition of the role your mind plays. It can be made to play a positive or negative role,  this is what you decide, in each and every moment.

When you start to change tracks in your thinking, be aware that you will be tested. It’s like you deciding from now on I am not going to get angry and the very same day you find every situation you encounter is exactly what gets you angry and you think to yourself what is going on, here? You made a decision and you will be tested, so get ready.

Life is occurring in each moment. There are situations you create for yourself and then there are situations that occur to test you. You can only navigate these with clarity of thought and mindful intention.

Words strung together can be used to deliver ideas, emotions, intentions and even deceptions.They can be used positively or negatively, They can help you awaken or discourage you. Words can be used to manipulate the way you think and feel.

Have you noticed words have a way of coming into the collective conscious so quickly sometimes it’s hard to ignore them. Politicians sometimes all seem to use the same words to describe an event or a policy. Groups will force into the mainstream a certain terminology that they want to be used.

Often when I read a news article or watch a news program , I force myself to pick out the most important word in what i am reading or in what the person is saying, this helps me pinpoint what is most important in what is being mentioned rather than on what they want me to focus on or what they are trying to hide from me. In headline reading, it is a very useful tool and also when listening to people who speak in such long sentences that by the time they finish you have forgotten the question or the point?!

Words can often be used a certain way which allows for obfuscation.  There are certain people who are very good at making you feel like they are agreeing with you However once you walk away and think about exactly what they said, you realize they were not saying what you thought they were, In fact they were in disagreement with you but you did not realize you got played, through their use of word manipulation.

Words have the power to persuade. The same words repeated over and over have an impact on us subconsciously and unless we examine our thoughts and feelings on issues, we may fall prey to these manipulations. Simplistic viewpoints are repeated so as to negate further investigation on the issue.

Data seems to be the buzzword of our time. Words you put down on social media have follow on ramifications. They may be used to analyze and psychoanalyze you through your thoughts, views and opinions on issues. Information collected on you can be used to change and manoeuvre your perceptions and beliefs.They can be used to alter your emotional state of well being.

There is also a new form of speaking that seems hell bent on creating confusion in our minds. When you listen to these people and they are saying things that make absolutely no sense and sound incoherent, be alert. This is done to cause you to you question your ability to process the information and make sense of the issue. I believe this is being done, to stop us from understanding the deeper issues and thus keeping hidden away the real information.

Words have power. They can inform, heal, transform and uplift us or they can be used to hurt, manipulate and divide us. We have to be alert to words thought, spoken, and voiced by us as they linger longer than we know.

I do not get the fascination with using them. I understand they are very helpful in bringing awareness to a particular topic quickly. However once that has been achieved, then what?

I am also aware of the latest #me too campaign. The awareness of violence against women is important and this campaign is bringing it into the limelight once again, so it is seemingly a good thing. The issue for me is, if we are to be against violence, should it not be that we are against violence for all human beings whether they be male, female or a child? Why pigeon hole it as only an issue that affects women? If I am for women’s issues, does that mean I am against men, as men seem to be most often the perpetrators of violence against women?

Men versus women seem to dominate the political spectrum too. Political #hashtags were all the craze with the US Presidential campaign. Bernie had his #Feel the Bern, Trump had #Lock her up and #Crooked Hillary and Then there was the #Basket of deplorables. Hillary had # I’m with her. All this and I don’t quite see what was accomplished apart from each side getting further and further divided which I suppose could have been the plan all along?!

I feel the biggest and probably the strongest hashtag from last year was the #Black lives matter movement. I am in no way a statistician to be able to tell you whether police brutality disproportionately affects the black community. However I do think anything that divides us, is often used to control us. Brutality has been and is used as a form of control, and no matter who gets affected by it, they never forget it.

Speaking of brutality we had all the #PRAY FOR, and #Je suis, after each of the terrorist attacks. What after the prayers and the solidarity? We move on and yet for those who have had to bury a loved one or have been injured forever by it, they have to find someway to continue on. So what are these #hashtags meant to do? You post it and it feels good to acknowledge that you are on some level connected to their pain and suffering, yet are we?

Can we be really? If i say to you John’s wife or husband passed away, you may feel some distress and sadness, if they were a distant uncle. However if that were changed to your husband or wife has passed away, that would be a whole different picture, and that is because of these little words, ME and MINE divide me from YOU and YOURS.

I am not a fan of anything that divides us and puts us into a little boxes with a neat little labels on it. Why should we be? We are human beings, with souls that will continue on forever, long after our bodies die. We are as David Icke likes to say infinite consciousness having a human experience.

Division crumbles when consciousness rises!