I have spent some time pondering the differences and similarities of connection verses significance. At first look they seem quite similar, but at their core they are diametrically opposed. Why I leaned into this musing was based on my own journey through life and where my struggles were and then working with others in their pursuit of their significance and connection and a pattern of behavior begin to appear. So what is the difference between connection and significance? Connection I believe has more to do with an investment in another, the development of rapport, the desire to bond with another who shares similar values and philosophy. There is a whole-heartiness’ and vulnerability (thanks to Brene Brown) that allows one to “connect” with another that is unique. I remember in the movie “Avatar” where the lead character was learning how to ride the animals of that particular world as a part of the bonding process he had to “connected” with...

Do you ever have one of those days when a series of unrelated thoughts, or seemingly unrelated, collide in your mind and you find yourself suddenly realizing a new proud truth (well, new to me that is) that draws upon years of reading, musing and life experiences. That was my experience today and I have been harassed by this intuitive nudge for most of the day, and the realization was simply this, life is just a series of questions we continually ask in a variety of ways, as we fervently seek to find meaning in everything we experience or wish to create. What does that look like you may ask? Well, when we get dressed in the morning and look in the mirror we are assessing ourselves to make sure we look presentable so the internal questions would be, “is my hair okay”, we bare our teeth and the question is, “is there any plaque in my teeth”, or we scan our clothing and ask, “does this look okay”? The assessments we make continuously are simply a...

When you want something, it presupposes that you are lacking in some way. It is okay to "want", more of something else, but the issues is with the emotions of "wanting".

We see in our culture there is a great amount of "wanting" in the form of achieving greater wealth, great health and greater status. The problem is in the feelings associated with "wanting". If we achieve what we have been "wanting" we are often dissatisfied because of the familiarity with the feelings of wanting, we set our sights on something else so we can return to the wanting state!!

The trick is to focus on the feelings of "having”, feeling the feelings of what it would be life would be like if we had it already, and once we achieved that end we would be able to take satisfaction of achieving that goal...

C. David Gilks Your Fellow Traveler

Over the years I have read references of how power of a word is, from the bibles caution of an unbridled tongue, to philosophers recognition of the power of the spoken word to literally create our world. But really now, they are just words, aren’t they? There are two points we can look at when it comes to explore this topic, one from the world of quantum physics, secondly from the study of the brain. Physics tells us that there is no true reality, that there only exist “waves of possibilities” and that reality only happens when we focus on a certain point in space, when we “decide” on one course of action or another, thereby eliminating all other possibilities for the one we focused on. The key here is there were other possibilities but we decided to choose “one over the other”, for better or worse. So how do we make these choices? Why do we make the bad ones over the good ones at times? It has been a question I have been asking myself for...

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."

Albert Einstein

I love this quote by my favorite historical figure. I look at the human organism as this mysterious creature, subjected to the pushes and pull from all variety of stimulus, reacting and responding, growing and dividing. When did we begin to revile this wonderful work of art? When did we start to hide in the dark, full of self-loathing? Fat or skinny, short or tall, you are a masterpiece of nature waiting to be sculpted into whatever you can conceive!

Stay away from your thoughts that you are less than another; rather look to the elegance and patience of nature, who sits calmly awaiting your command. You are who decided to become, no more or no less. If you wish to become more than you are now, simply think it into...

The marvel of the human brain, the wondrous capacity for dealing with millions bits of incoming sensory data (sight, touch, smell, auditory, taste). Over the course of our life we will have had thousands and thousands of experiences, which are composed of trillions of sensory bits of information, all which are brain has recognized, catalogued and stored for future reference.

Most of this is done without our awareness and only the new or novel experiences stand out in our subconscious minds. Here is the interesting part, we can take a memory from 20 years ago, pull it back in all its detail and relive it with all the feelings, with all the sensory information it was stored with. This can be a wonderful thing or it can be an anchor around our neck. How so? Most of us have had wonderful child, adolescent memories of holidays, school days, first kiss’s etc. There are also some of us that have trauma, physical or emotional, during the years when we were first exploring the world as...

I have spent the last couple of months reading a great book called Power verses Force. The author had gone through great lengths to show how the energy levels we live in can dramatically influence not only our lives, but has a resounding effect on the world around us. Dr. Hawkins in his book calibrated the energy of numerous emotional states that we often live in and provided incredible insight into the dangers of living in the lower energy states. Lower levels of energy existence such as apathy, grief and fear all are limiting states, which block growth. People living in these states are said to be “dependent” and require strong leadership to lead them out of the slavery of these low energy states. Most living in third world countries are found to be living in these lower energy level states. What I found interesting was the calibration of the energy for emotional states such as pride and desire. For first glance these energy states would appear to be powerful and...

The road to the enlightenment, the path to joy, the search for happiness, all these “quest’s” for something different than we are currently engaging in seems to be the “stuff” the world has been caught up for the last thousand years or so. Every teacher discusses their methodology on how best to make this happen, the right rituals, the right mindset, the right god(s) and even the right place. When I look at the hundreds of books that adorn my shelves, I see the search I have been on myself for the past two decades and wonder why I am not further ahead in my quest, or am I? Is the arrival at “enlightenment” supposed to be connected with the blaring of horns, the sudden deep sense of relief that I made it!! Or is the journey more about being “self aware” and having the mindfulness to realize when we are full of shit and just running our game, and that we can be “truthful” to our own motives and have the mental...

Over the years I have read references on how powerful words can be, from the bibles caution of an unbridled tongue, to philosophers recognition of the power of the spoken word to literally create our world.

But really now, they are just words, aren’t they? There are two points we can look at when it comes to explore this topic, one from the world of quantum physics, secondly from the study of the brain. Physics tells us that there is no true reality, that there only exist “waves of possibilities” and that reality only happens when we focus on a certain point in space, when we “decide” on one course of action or another, thereby eliminating all other possibilities for the one we focused on. 

The key here is there were other possibilities but we decided to choose “one over the other”, for better or worse. So how do we make these choices?

Why do we make the bad ones over the good ones at times? It has been a question I have been asking...

I have spent the last couple of months working my way through an amazing book called “Power vs. Force”. The author, Dr. David Hawkins is a psychiatrist, medical doctor as well as a spiritual researcher, and the content and messages derived from this amazing book seemed to pull together every book I have ever read on personal development.

The book was exploring the “maps of human consciousness” and the various levels we exist in is often called the “unified field” or the natural energy system we are all comprised of and connected to. There were so many amazing pieces that I strive to remember, but one that stood out in my mind above all others was this statement was that “ 85% of the worlds population is below the critical level of 200, which is the frequency of courage, for below courage exist pride, fear, anger, apathy, grief and desire.”

When we live in the low energy patterns of these emotions we cannot see the possibilities that...