On Sep 6, 4:10 am, *nemo* earthlink.diespam.com> wrote:

We should never find happiness in destroying others belief systems.
Nor can we find peace in the destruction or hatred of others nemo.

When I posted this before Raven brought up the Nazis and should we
just let the Nazis belief systems flourish?

Whatever I write about has to be balanced with practicality and some
wisdom. When I write "We should never find happiness in destroying
others belief systems." I am mainly referring the ongoing battles that
evolve between theists and atheists or theists and other theists.
These groups take pride in destroying others belief or lack of belief
systems many a time.They should put their pride in education for the
love of humanity and not in the former of ego gratification by hurting
others...if they desire to be at peace within.

As far as Nazis and the like?

My words do not mean we have to not be concerned with danger to our
well being by another, but, it also reminds us we will never be at
peace by fostering hatred for another. Sure protect yourself, but find
no happiness in killing other living beings even if the killing is out
of self defense, if you wish to be at peace within.

The thoughts you foster encompasses all that you are nemo.

"A mans mind may be likened to a garden which may be intelligently
cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or
neglected, it must and will bring forth. If no useful seeds are put
into it, then an abundance of useless 'weed seeds' will fall therein
and will continue to produce their kind." ~ James Allen

French psychotherapist Emile Coue (1857 - 1926) came up with this
famous saying; "Every day, in every way, I am getting better and
better." He wrote "If our unconscious is the source of many of our
evils - it can also bring the cure. You have in yourself this
instrument of your cure."

Sometimes this simple technique of Coue's, worked miracles in cases of
health improvement for persons using this daily suggestion.

We are all born with a clean and sterile "garden" of a mind.
Everything we plant in this garden is from our own efforts and
thoughts. And as the good book said - "as yea sow - so yea reap."

You many times hear a phrase thrown around in 12 step circles,
"Stinkin Thinkin" which is another way of describing negative self
talk. I often hear addicts beating themselves up with their own mouth
continually programming themselves with many of these comments:

"I am no good"
"I'm a failure"
"Diets don't work for me"
"I can't lose weight"
"What's the use in trying"
"With my luck only bad will come out of it"
"I'm too old to try"
"I can't stand the snow"
"I can't remember anything - my brain is sh*t"
"What do you expect - I'm just a drunk?"
"I'm too fat to do it"
"I'm in a daze all the time"
"My marriage is on the rocks"
"I'm a mess"
"My house is a mess"
"I am always late"
"I'm sickly"
"There is something wrong with me"
"I'm a screw-up"
"I feel like I'm dying"
"What a pain in the ass"
"I'm always bouncing checks"
"I can't help myself"
"I always get sick this time of year"
"I always pick out an abuser"
"I'm always upset"
"I'm depressed"
"I'm stubborn"
"I feel like sh*t"
"Everything I touch turns to crap"
"I can't remember anything"
"I shop till I drop"
"I can't do any thing right"
"I'm no good with directions"
"I always hurt the one I love"
"I can't read a map"
"I can't cook anything - I burn water"
"No one likes me"
"I'm no good with names"
"I never win anything"
"I'm not very smart"
'I can't figure it out"
"It's my cross I have to bear"
"I'm not too sharp"
"I'm no good with computers"
"I'm always late with the rent"
"I can't balance my checkbook"
"I'm unlucky"
"I can never get any sleep"
"Whenever it rains I feel blue"
"I wish I was dead"
"I can't save a penny"
"I'm no good with numbers"
"I know it is good for me...but I still wont do it"
"This is a pain in the neck"
"My back is killing me"
"I can never figure women / men out"
"It's my Karma"
"My head is splitting"
"Everything I eat turns to fat"
"I don't like fruit or vegetables"
"Why doesn't anything ever go right for me?"
"I'm so stressed out"
"I'm always hungry"
'Why does (it) always happen to me?"
"I always end up offending people"
"My boss always ends up hating me"
"I'm no good at sports"
"I'm a klutz'
"I hate to exercise"
"I'm always making the wrong choices"
...and on and on.

Notice anything repetitive about these statements?

Many are in absolute terms that specify always, everything, every
time, never. While many of these statements can apply to some of us
one time or another, few of them are hard and fast 100%% rules in our
lives.

Yet, we are working overtime to make sure they do become us 100%% at
every turn.

This type of thinking just programs our minds and our bodies to
accomplish these tasks as we ask our subconscious to do these things.

Sometimes this programing starts passively by another's offhand
comment to us or even when we are kids and our parents or other adults
tell us such things. Then little by little they creep into our mind
and take hold.

Now we don't have to be perfect with changing our talk or our life,
but we can be aware of how we talk to ourselves and make an effort to
change our thoughts so they can work for us instead of against us.

To develop a desire to change, we must first recognize there is a
problem or sickness in us. Recognition or awareness is the fist step
leading to the desire to change.

An important thing to remember with change is the 3-D's: Desire,
Determination and Diligence.

Desire:

Desire is the foundation for all recovery quests. You cannot help
someone without the desire in them to be helped. Desire is what gets
us taking that first step in the right direction when all seems
hopeless.

Have you every tried to give advice or help someone in need and they
respond: "I don't care." They lack the desire or at least this is what
they say. Desire must come from within, you cannot force someone to
change, they must change themselves.

To develop a desire to change, we must first recognize there is a
problem or sickness in us.

Recognition or awareness is the first step leading to desire. After we
recognize we are sick or an area of our lives is out of balance, we
can start accepting the fact that we need to take action in this
area.

When we label addicts or people as "in denial," we are saying the
person is not able to recognize there is a problem in their lives that
needs addressing.

Now some people recognize there is a problem in their life, but still
don't develop a burning desire for change, but at least they have a
somewhat true picture of things and just haven't made the crossover to
developing the desire to change bad enough.

Whether their block is out of fear, laziness or staying in a
comfortable place, they will have to figure out what is blocking them
before they can take the next step. As I said, we cannot force someone
to change, they must change themselves and it must be from the inside
out.

Determination:

Determination serves two purposes here. When something is "determined"
it is accepted as fact.

We have determined that we are powerless over our addiction and our
lives are unmanageable. We have determined we must abstain from
certain people, places or things that we cannot comfortably have in
our lives.

We are in the process of determining a new set of rules on how to
live. We have also determined what injuries we have caused and what
needs to be repaired through taking personal inventory.

Determination serves a second purpose and that is it keeps us on the
long road to recovery. We cannot keep on this long road without being
determined to change our lives day in day out.

Whether it is debt recovery, clutter, restructuring our complex lives
or losing weight it all takes time and determination to stay on the
path of recovery.

Many distractions, detours and set backs along the way, but we should
always be determined to keep pointed in the direction of recovery.

Diligence:

Diligence keeps us from going backwards once we finally arrive at the
recovery place we are aiming for.

It takes diligence once we get to where we want to be to maintain that
serene spot, otherwise we fall back on our old "natural" ways of
living.

Once you lose the fat, once you pay off your debts, once you lose the
clutter, once you get sober and abstinent from your drug of choice it
takes diligence to keep you that way. James Allen calls this
watchfulness.

"Victories attained by right thought can only be maintained by
watchfulness. Many give way when success is assured and rapidly fall
back into failure."

As A Man Thinketh by James Allen.

Take care,

V (Male)

Agnostic Freethinker
Practical Philosopher
AA#2