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From the mind of critic: “If life is full of cycles and balances, how do we keep those cycles in balance so we don’t run off the road into a ditch? Do we ignore all signs in front of us, which enhances each cycle because we aren’t acknowledging their existence? Do we become hyper aware of society, and see what feeds these cycles by over analyzing our actions, which divulges the cycles design, but inherently puts us out of balance because we’re acting not like humans, but robots? Can we figure out how these cycles work, that they can be positive or negative, and how we can influence them, without taking away all the joy and splendor of life’s beautiful moments? Learning lessons, means being open to learn something we didn’t know before. However, if our take away is to delete humanity in favor of scientific theory, we’ve missed the whole point. Losing weight, bad relationships and failures all have cycles attached, that will catch us in their spokes if we’re not paying attention. Success in life, love and joy are also cycles whose spokes can suck us in. There are positive cycles and negative cycles, both can cause us despair by way of apathy and complacency. The way we balance these cycles which balances our life, is self-knowledge through gratitude for everything we have. Building ourselves up and not tearing ourselves down, is how success is born.” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If we know who we are and what we want, is it harder to get? Does the confusion and lack of self knowledge that surrounds most of the population, bleed into our thinking, making us question the authenticity of our character and our dreams? Does all our hard work, diligence, knowledge and determination to acheive our goals make people notice, and then help us acheive, helping them to acheive as well? Does our lonliness yearning, longing and hope of finding love and success, hurt our chances because we’re blocking opportunities? Does not being completely honest with how we feel, make these feelings worse when they become blatantly obvious? Being honest with ourselves is the first step, being honest with what we want is the second. Putting in the hard work and paying our dues to acheive our dreams is the third. The fourth is tricky, this is the step where other people need to help and guide us, because we can’t do everything ourselves. However, sometimes they steer us away and block us from our dreams. The discernment in knowing the difference, can only come from being an expert on step one and two. If we want to find love, we can’t force somebody love us. On the same token, if we want success, we can’t force somebody to praise us or buy our product. If we haven’t acheived yet but still want to, we guarantee failure by thinking it will never happen. We acheive by being open and honest, atleast I hope so.” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If true unity is to be acheived, can there be any seperation? For us to truly see ourselves as equal to each other, do we have to admit we’re different? Do we truly have to respect our differences before we respect our sames, or do we belive unity is only acheived if we’re all exactly identical? While it’s true the term unity is subjective, humanity is not. Our view on what unity means can differ depending on our background, and what people have ingained in us. However, that doesn’t excuse treating others as non-human. Once we see each other as having the same basic wants and needs, we’ll realize that although we come from different places, with different beliefs, skin tones and opinions, we’re all the same by virtue of each having unique experinces. True unity is realizing our differences don’t tear us apart, but bring us closer together.” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If the object of any business is to crank out as much money as possible, are the employees nothing more than a business expense? Do the owners realize the employees are integral in making profit, but can be easily replaced because so many are hurting for work, therefore negating the need for humanity in all desicions? Do the employees know they’re integral but easily replacable, so they refrain from speaking up when wage and labor issues arise, even though those issues affect the employees, and therefore profits? Are people just numbers, when the people at the top only see numbers? Most corporate envirnoments are designed to make money, as are all other businesses. Problems arise when so much profit is squeezed out, that quality suffers. Why does quality suffer? When employees are not viewed as people, but interchangable robots, living wages, benefits, even simple human kindnesses are seen as unnecessary frills. Once we realize that happy employees are more productive, which in turn makes the company more money, we’ll see that not only will treating employees like humans make the company more money, and stimulate the economy because employees have more money to spend, but it will close the ever widening wealth gap between rich and poor. Capitalism does work as a system, but only when it works for all of us.” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If fear dissappears when we have nothing to lose, does it reappear when we have everything to lose? Does fear permeate all the nooks, crannies and pores of everything and everybody we love, because it feels like it’s a part of us, and if we lose it, it feels like we’re losing part of ourselves? Do we believe this fear only permeates because we allow it, knowing worry only serves to make matters worse? Fear and worry are completely normal, just like love and excitement. Part of the balance of life is being thankful for what we have, because we know it can be taken away at anytime by infinite variables, that constantly reinvent themselves the second we get a handle on them. Not letting any emotion permeate is the key, by not holding any of them to tightly, we’ll recognize what they are, and be able to tell which build us up, tear us down and which will stunt our progress. If we want emotions to be real, we have to feel them, and let them teach us what they have to teach us. Recognizing our emotions can be scary, but become an enlightening act when we realize it’s another step in our conscious and collective evolution. Fear will never fully dissappear, because we always have something to lose. Fear can be shrunk and made much less significant however by simply feeling gratitude. Don’t believe me, just try it, you’ll see you have nothing to lose, and everythign to gain.” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If we know that we can agree on 90% of things, but get caught up on the small 10%, do we realize it’s the identical concept as focusing on our differences, instead of our many sames? Do we believe fighting the hard battles first will get them out of the way, because fighting the easy ones last, will provide smooth sailing on the road to tranquility? Do we believe fighting the easy battles first is like taking the esy way out, by finding a solution that involves as little work as possible? In most of life, making things harder or easier than they need to be, can delete our critical thinking skills. When there are things we must do, starting with the hard and moving into the easy, can be very sensible. However, if we’re trying to fix complex generational problems, that are only complex because we’ve made them that way, doing the opposite is how we build sustainable and long lasting change instead of fleeting change, where we once again kick the can down the road. Once we realize that if we start conversations from the 90% where we agree, then move to the 10% where we don’t we’ll solve problems much more often, because we’re talking to each other like humans, we’ll see that putting somebody down for their differences, is like pointing out the difference between snowflakes, while failing to recognize it’s all snow. Starting conversations from the 90% where we agree, will give us a head start everytime in the race for unity.” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If we create our own realities by learning or not learning from life’s experiences, how do we prepare our mind, body and soul for the best possible experiences? Do we open up to everyone and everything by looking outward, deleting the words no and can’t from our vocabulary? Do we close up to everyone and everything by looking inward, deleting the words yes and can from our vocabulary? Do we find a happy medium where we’re open but have a filter, so we keep the good, lose the bad, and most importantly, learn lessons of what’s hapening in front of our face, so we can keep joy flowing through us, instead of hanging on so tightly to happy moments, that their inherent definition changes? On this day of giving thanks, may we remember the true history and context of the 4th Thursday in November, by feeling immense gratitude. Not because we’re taking pleasure in others misery and despair, but because we’re thankful for what we have. Things can always be better, but they can always be worse. When we strive to bring ourselves joy specifically to bring others joy, we finally understand the true meaning of Thanksgiving. Our realities vis-a-vie our perceptions change for the better, when lessons are learned and adversity is overcome. Staying open means building ourselves up, not tearing ourselves down.” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If whatabout-ism is how we respond to being accused, are we responsible for anything? If we think total control is the only control, are we controlling anything? If we belive we’re never at fault, are we admitting to being pawns? We all know black and white flat out denials are usually an explicit plea of guilt, because we’re trying to prove to ourselves beyond a reasonable doubt that something is true or untrue, while knowing it’s the complete opposite. Getting over ourselves is how we evolve, the first step is admitting we’re not perfect. Being human, means being fallible. If blaming our accusers is our default solution, we’ll forever be stuck in a cycle of low self-esteem on the inside, and sad clown on the outside. If our true life is goal is joy and fulfillment, taking resposibility for our own actions is how we start.” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If we’re all just dust in the wind, what do we do in a sandstorm? Do we duck for cover and hide, letting all the dust and dirt do what it’s gonna do, except to us? Do we run in the opposite direction, hoping we can out run the dust before it affects us? Do we keep moving forward knowing the dust will hit us, but will only stop our forward progress if we allow it to? Flight or fight frequency greatly rises, when we realize all of us struggle. We all want to have a good, prosperous and fulfilling life, while taking care of ourselves and our families. Many things, people and events will effect us positively and negatively along our journey. We can’t always change what happens, but can always change our reactions. Are we gonna spend our lives running from negativity, endlessly floating from place to place, while telling ourselves we’re looking for something, but really aren’t ready to find it even if we did? Are we going to make a stand, finding our passion, our place and our purpose, and move forward within it? Sandstorms can grind us down to a nub, but only if we don’t know who we are, what we want and what kind of mark we want to leave.” 🙂

From the mind of critic: “If one of the secrets to life is balance and moderation, how come so many of our actions seek to unbalance and unmoderate? Are we scared of giving up instant gratification and short term happiness, because our low self-esteem won’t allow us the courage, stamina and determination required to acheive seemingly insurmountable goals? Are we lazy from everything being handed to us, that we believe out thoughts and actions are only unbalanced, because everybody elses are unbalanced? The best and brightest path toward authentic peace of mind, is the realization that life is never perfect, and won’t always work out as planned or designed. Over-indulgence happens when we hang onto happy moments to long, hard and tight because we think they won’t happen again. How we finally found something or somebody that makes us happy, so we hit the repeat button over and over and over again. Once we realize how not to death grip happiness, but simply recognize it when it happens, we’ll see all the beauty of the world continously flow through us, because we recognize happiness is stagnating, and joy is fluid. Balance and moderation are acheived when we realize we can’t control everything that happens, but can control our reactions to them. The world can be as dark and/or light as we choose.” 🙂