September 20, 2005 at 11:14:26 p.m.

What can be more frustrating than getting a roll of film back from processing only to find half of the shots are out of focus and no way to shoot them over again?

Just like your camera, staying in focus makes a difference as to how you view the final picture of your daily life experience.

There are a million distractions in life and most of them do nothing more than keep you from focusing on the important issues of your development.

I have long preached the importance of putting issues in priority, not so much for the sake of building a working framework as much as helping you understand where your focus should be.

The people in your life are all demanding your attention in one way or another and your attempt to satisfy their demands is fragmenting your life in such a way that it takes away your ability to move ahead and most of all, enjoy the experience.

It’s easy to get lost in this world. It happens when you step outside your front door because you are immediately at the mercy of everyone’s to-do list. And, unless you have the courage and tenacity to turn them off, you can kiss your own to-do list goodbye.

Great wisdom and great enjoyment in life comes from your ability to focus on those issues that are important to you. Sometimes that takes courage and tenacity and sometimes it takes a deaf ear to the ever increasing demands from those around you. Stop worrying about the feelings of others. Saying “no” or turning a deaf ear is as necessary to your happiness as a good, hot bowl of soup on a cold, blustery day. And just like that bowl of soup it activates you into getting on with the job at hand. Knowing what that job is should be the heart of your focus with spirit, mind and body working in harmony.

Life is short and minutes are the wealth upon which you can build your fortune. Don’t be afraid to gather them up and use them. They are yours as part of a Universal gift. Looking ahead or behind does not show you what is right at your feet. Focus on the NOW. In retrospect you will cherish the experience. – GT

September 20, 2005 at 11:12:34 p.m.

So, the first month of the last millennium has passed. If I can judge by the events in my life and those I hear about from my clients, it would seem that we’re in for one helleva rollercoaster ride between now and December 31, 1999. Fine. But remember, the Universe is not looking at a calendar and as far as the powers that be are concerned, this is just a blip in the ongoing cycles of development.

But there is a lot going on out there, and calendars notwithstanding, one cannot help but scratch the collective head while trying to make sense of it all. For one thing, your individual interests and your personal goals should be your primary focus. True, there are developments occuring that will have an impact on your life both for today and many days to come. But the Y2K issue has been pretty well covered; the geniuses working on cold fusion are making progress; the office of the President will end up covered in goose dung, but the country will survive; idiots will still swear that the answer to a better life is a bigger bomb; and each passing day will remind us that some very good people who have been a part of our lives, are no longer with us. In simple terms, life is apparantly going to be more complex than we could have ever imagined and if we don’t have something real to anchor ourselves to we will probably get swept out to sea.

So, more than ever you need to look into the mirror and see who is looking back at you. Do you like that person? Is that person being honest and fair with itself? Is that person putting out the effort it should or is it going along being satisfied with just surviving? One thing is certain and that is that if the end is near can you take satisfaction in having given life your best shot or, more optimistically, if the end is not near are you making an honest effort to reach down and pull out all of the wonders that you have in that bag called “you” and are using them to the fullest extent possible.

In a year fraught with so many variables and unknowns self identity is going to be essential. The scorecard will not count what you have given to others if you have given nothing to yourself. The most important hand up will be the hand you use to pull up your own boots. Perhaps there is nothing more advantageous in life than to be living at a time of crises. It brings out the best and the worst in us and allows very little space for fence-sitting. What needs to be done cannot be put off to the last day of this millennium. It needs to be done now and it needs to be done by you and for you. As it has often been said: If not now, when? If not you, who? – GT

September 20, 2005 at 11:10:43 p.m.

It was Mark Twain who said. “Everyone talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it.”

Well, that may be a fair observation, but the truth of the matter is that we can do something about it.

Every one of the millions of people who live on this place we
call earth, affect the condition of the planet as the collective
consciousness. Weather is an atmospheric blanket that surrounds us. Just as we can toss and turn or lay peacefully under a blanket on our bed, so it is that our mental movements affect the atmosphere. This is not a physical issue but one of consciousness. The blanket we live under is influenced by our attitude, moment-by-moment, day-by-day. If we are angry, upset, fearful, exhausted, or in any way upsetting the normal flow of universal energy, we affect our weather. Unfortunately, we don¹t necessarily affect the weather where we live. Our negative attitudes become accumulative and
builds a collective force in our atmosphere. That collective force will
seek out an area that is most receptive to it and that is usually the
weakest point in the atmospheric cover. Literally, a negative mass in our country can be the cause for a hurricane thousands of miles off our coast or, in some extreme cases be responsible for drought or disastrous rains in Europe. And, or course, that negative mass can stay at home and produce devastating weather patterns throughout the United States.

We must remember that we are the masters of the land on which we live. However, the essence of that land will always conform to the laws of nature and will, when necessary, react to rebalance the state of harmony that we, the inhabitants of the planet, have disrupted. The act of re-balancing will in almost all cases, be the source of what we call “natural disasters.” The state of planetary well being is not effected by “an act of God.” It is now and always a reflection of the state of our mass consciousness. It is very much a thermometer that indicates whether we are well or ill and whether we are taking care of our land the way we are supposed to.

Remember how much power you have and how important it is that you handle it wisely. Maintaining harmony in your individual space contributes to the harmony of the planet. Do not ignore your role in the quality of life here on earth. It is your input that contributes in determining whether tomorrow will be a beautiful day. – GT

September 20, 2005 at 11:04:39 p.m. (Note: This was a repost of a piece written in 2000.)

The nominating conventions are over with and we can look forward to an avalanche of political rhetoric for the next couple of months. Each candidate will have their feel-good message and each party will be beating whatever drums they think will garner the most attention.

Around mid-October I will publish my analysis of each candidate as taken from their individual chart work. It might help you make up your mind if indeed, you are undecided at that point, or it may help support your personal convictions about the candidate of your choice.

In advance of that report, I have some comments to bring to your attention. I have been around since the early days of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, so exposure to the political system before and after election day is something I’m familiar with. But much has changed since the 1930’s and what goes on in Washington and specifically the oval office is, in common parlance, a whole new ball game.

Regardless of the man (and hopefully in the future- the woman) who is sitting in the most powerful seat in the world, decisions will not be influenced by his convictions or the convictions of his party. The shift of global power no longer injects national leaders with the means to lead or effect the course of history. That element died with the completion of Harry Truman’s term of office. Big business, which always had some reasonable influence in national issues, has now become the absolute director of global developments and the decisions that bring them into reality. National governments are no longer autonomous, but serve to fulfill the needs of international markets. There is no escape from this condition. The high-tech atmosphere in which we live and the application of the systems it spawns will not support nor favor the issues of independent governments. If business fails, nations fall and there is no leader of a major country that is willing to undermine that format.

This is neither a positive or negative reality. It is nothing more than the unavoidable progression of a changing economic structure. Nations who decide they will not cooperate with this system will find themselves out on the global street selling pencils. Every major country knows this and every political party knows this. Therefore, the man elected to lead that country must also know this and be willing to find the ways to cooperate with this undeniable reality. The best person for the job is the one who can help guide the internal needs of his country without sacrificing the support from the directors of the global economic machinery. I cannot help feeling some sense of disappointment that we can no longer apply the conviction of Teddy Roosevelt: “Walk softly and carry a big stick.” But then, Teddy only had San Juan Hill to attack. How would he have done in front of a dozen computer screens? – GT

September 20, 2005 at 11:01:59 p.m.

In about a week we will be moving into Daylight Savings Time and will move our clocks ahead 1 hour. This is a ritual that has been with us for more than 50 years and was installed to provide a longer daylight enhanced work period during the summer.

However, moving the clock ahead does not change our individual circadian rhythms and no matter what the hands on the clock say, your body is going to say something different. Body circadian rhythms are as individual as ones fingerprints and there are no two exactly alike. These circadian rhythms act like an orchestra conductor, keeping all the body parts operating in harmony with each other. Many things disrupt circadian rhythms; traumatic events, illness, work deadlines, etc. The body tries very hard to adapt to these changes and for the most part, it will succeed. In doing so it puts us back into harmony with ourselves and the world around us.

The change in clock time is an event that disrupts individual circadian rhythms even more dramatically than any emotional event we might encounter. This disruption effects everyone so everyone around you is struggling with the same issue. In this case, more is not better. Everyone is out of sync with themselves and of course, out of sync with other people. Tempers are short and confusion becomes more the order of the day. Your body knows that someone has been messing with Mother Nature and it doesn’t like it!

Well, we can’t change what everyone else in the country is doing but you should give some serious consideration to your own issue. The best way to deal with this forced circadian change is to enter into it in phases. Try to stay on your original time plan initially. That is, on the first day of change, get up one hour earlier than the clock time and go about your morning ritual as you normally would. Do this for 2 days, then add 15 minutes to the start time so now you are rising only 45 minutes earlier than the clock. Keep adding 15 minutes to your schedule every 2 days. At the end of 8 days you will have let the body make a reasonably smooth transition to the current clock time.

This method reduces the hard shock that the body normally undergoes when the clocks are changed for DST. However, in the Fall when the clocks are returned to their normal relationship with the sun, you need not make any adjustment. That relationship is primary to your body and it will make a smooth adjustment. In reality, the summer months of DST is a forced circadian in which your body is doing something it would rather not but unless you want to miss planes and be the only one at work, you need to comply. It may not be what you want but it is just another one of those things that we are forced to do that is not necessarily good for us….what else is new??!…..GT

September 20, 2005 at 10:58:53 p.m.

America is a courageous country, but it is not tough in handling its internal issues. And there is a real difference between courage and toughness. I have seen men in battle do courageous deeds and not be able to deal with other people on a common basis. Our lack of toughness is no more evident then in our handling of domestic issues, especially that of rampant crime.

The answer to this overwhelming problem is not more police or more prisons, neither of which can possibly deter the criminally inclined. But there is an answer and it will need a toughness that this country has been more than reluctant to demonstrate. To meet crime and the criminal, we must be willing to initiate the same system of law by which the Universe operates. Nothing less will work.

Universal Law works on the reality of equality-cause and effect. That law states that nothing initiated can bring greater or lesser result than the intensity of the cause that started the event. From this Universal Law comes the simple code of Life. Good begets good and evil begets evil-and always in equal response. Like it or not, it finds its way into many religious writings as “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.”

Granted, that seems to be a tough approach. But that’s the point. To answer evil with good (yes, there is a phrase that says, “turn the other cheek”) is an exercise in futility. Ask the Jews of the European ghettos during Hitler’s reign, or the starving children of Africa, or the innocents of Sarajevo. Giving criminals a warm bed, a TV, medical attention, legal access and a basketful of other perks in return for their criminal activities is never going to effect the pattern of crime in America. Murderers, rapists and drug dealers are living a better life in prison that a good portion of our society enjoys in a state of social freedom. There is no way that one can make a case for this being right!

Violent crime must be met with a deterrent equal to the crime. The person who commits a violent crime should have no rights to a shield of democratic protection. Our overemphasis in protecting a “system” we believe in has now developed a society whose use of that system against its worse internal cancer will eventually insure its destruction.

In the Universal Law, retribution is swift and just. Again, the punishment fits the crime, no more, no less. It would take a good deal of dedicated change for this country to develop a criminal justice system that would meet the criteria. It would be difficult, but it is not impossible. But it will never happen as long as bleeding-heart constitutionalists and dreamy do-gooders are allowed to slap white paint over this ever-blackening fence.

Tough situations require tough action. And so far, there has been no move at any level to implement such a program. Perhaps it is time to take a lesson from history. When taxation without representation became too oppressive to the Colonists, we had the Boston Tea Party and the resulting Revolution. The violence of crime in this country cannot be met with anything less than a Revolution, and if it doesn’t come from those who can Constitutionally and legally effect it, then it will come from the people. The difference is equality by law and order or equality by guns and bloodshed. Universal Cause and Effect works everywhere and cannot over time be denied or avoided. – GT

September 20, 2005 at 10:57:28 p.m.

Conditions are chaotic out there. So let’s take a lesson from our forefathers when they crossed the plains a couple of hundred years ago.

When you’re under attack circle the wagons!

Good advice. In our case we probably don’t know where the attack is coming from and it doesn’t matter. The advice is still valid. Circle the wagons!

Bring your family closer together. Your home is your wagon so tighten up; get rid of junk, make sure you have the essentials and keep your eye on the neighborhood. If something you see appears to be clearly out of place from the normal, report it. Many people are frightened right now, especially the elderly. Be kind and helpful. Stress bounds, so don’t add to it. Take the TV news with a grain of salt and don’t believe everything the media is telling you.

Be wise enough to know that attacks can be psychological and spiritual as well as physical. Reinforce your own sense of self. Don’t spread rumors. Don’t embellish information to make it sound more interesting. Listen more closely to what your children are saying because they are at the center of the propaganda and they haven’t had the experience to know how to separate fact from fiction. If you have family living outside your area make a phone call and just have a chat with them. It will make them feel wanted and provide comfort. Keep to your normal schedule. Changes now are difficult to deal with and only add to a sense of disruption. Disagree if you must with our leadership but don’t be insulting or discouraging with your remarks. In short, be a good citizen. If we have to have a fight, so be it. Circle the wagons and stick together. – GT

September 20, 2005 at 10:55:57 p.m.

Historians, I am convinced, would have us believe that the study of the past provides us with a clear understanding of our triumphs and a litany of our mistakes. In this manner, we are told, we can learn to control our experiences and become masters of our future.

I have never been able to understand this logic. If true, then we would never have seen anything but the first war, or the first murder, or the first plague. I always thought that leaning from one’s mistakes meant not making them again and again. Instead, history is a smudged line drawing of man’s inhumanity to man. Although there have been some triumphs, the succession of repetitive horrors continue.

From the metaphysical view the problem is twofold. The first lies with Universal Law. The second with our unwillingness to follow that law.

In the outworking of an infinite universe, there is no such thing as repetition. In this context, repetition is meant to mean “an exact duplicate.” There will certainly be similarities, but exact duplicates do not exist. To what value then, would history be to the Universe? If each action is “new” and there is not duplication, a review of what has gone before would serve little, if any purpose, relative to moving forward. In more mundane terms, “done is done.” Within Universal movement, all action is complete within itself and life goes on.

It is our unwillingness to follow that Law that lies at the heart of our travails. Humans are collectors, rememberers, holders of the past. Our reluctance to give up one old pattern, one old thought, one old memory, is so deeply a part of our make-up, that the ability to move forward is already impeded beyond any further action.

Our momentoes become an historical prison, dooming us to the repetition, or near repetition of our past. What we believe worked no longer works, because we cannot go back to where we were. A memory is nothing more than than a myth of what we wish to believe, not a record of what really happened. What we recall is what we want to recall and the longer we are removed in time and experience from the original experience, the more distorted the picture.

This is one reason we keep repeating war. In time, no matter how horrible the war has been, we outgrow it. Instead of seeing the horror we change the picture to heroics and weave strange and mystical tales of our victories and conquests. And when the stories begin to lose their meaning, we have another war. We refresh our heroes and reinforce our political beliefs and continue to do this until the next generation repeats the historical mayhem.

But, it’s easy to lose sight of the eye of the needle. Everything we do within our individual experience is either a move forward or an attempt at a repetition of something from our past. The photos in our albums, the keepsake on the mantle, nostalgic conversations of better times, all contribute to the attempt to go home again. Perhaps there isn’t any harm in these things, except that one cannot grow and reach the level of experience intended for this lifetime, while carrying the chains of yesterday.

The will of God, to which many people love to refer, in no Will at all. The Universe doesn’t have any plans, because it is not dependent upon its experience. It is happening, now-not later, nor retrospectively-NOW! To the extent you can make your life work the same way, you will be able to tap into the unlimited Universal power that surrounds you. – G.T.

September 20, 2005 at 10:54:02 p.m.

Sometimes we forget that we have five physical senses, even though we use them all every day. And when conditions around us get disruptive we seem to get confused about which ones to use and how much. So consider this…

Years ago, research discovered that the average person knows and talks to no less than 5 people per day. Now if each one those people also talked to 5 people that day, then 25 people would have had been privy to the subject of the conversation that was held with the original five. But wait (as they say on TV) Each of those 25 people will talk to another five people and so on and so on. On any given day, any subject can reach a few thousand people before nightfall. Nerve racking, isn’t it?

Well, that’s the problem right now. With so many issues of failed business, and chicanery and the economy, and the weather, and so on, and so on, the ethers are jammed with talk, most of which is not uplifting, nor doing anyone any good.

But wait (love that hook) suppose the first five people had something good to say, and the next 25 also had something good to say and by the end of the day thousands of people would all have heard and said something good and uplifting. Naw…too easy. Sure. But that’s how you turn the world around!

Remember your metaphysics. Earth is a “sound” planet. The word is all powerful and just like fire it can warm you or burn you to ashes. The choice is yours. So, what’s the good word? Remember, you’re spreading power! – GT