Peter Faulk's View

So first - let's define LENT Per Wiki - "Lent  (Latin: Quadragesima: Fortieth) is a solemn religious observance in the Christian liturgical calendar that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends approximately six weeks later, before Easter Sunday. ... Some Anabaptist and evangelical churches also observe the  Lenten  season." Per the BBC site, Lent has a more modern day flav  to it: "Lent  is a season of reflection and preparation before the celebrations of Easter. By observing the 40 days of  Lent , Christians replicate Jesus Christ's sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert for 40 days." OK, so it's a Christian thing, that should in theory impact 1/3 of the planet, 2.4 Billion People. In the USA - well over 2/3 of the people should in theory at least... will pause... and maybe reflect a little... as Jesus did. Re-connect with Source... uh... what is "Source"? What Science tells us:  OK - let's go geeky. Guys like Hameroff and Penros

A nifty tool - According to Wiki - The Serenity Prayer is the common name for a prayer written by the American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971). The best-known form is: "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,  Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference." Serenity with yourself, and with others and with some sort of higher power, giving us a greater purpose, a good formula for life. Serenity with me... Means looking in the mirror and smiling, being content with who and what I am, being humble to my limitations, and empowered by capabilities and relationships that enhance my experience. Serenity with others...  Means acknowledging there are 7 billions flavors of humanity, 7 billion opinions, 7 billion sets of fears and mine is just one of a vast collective. You gain knowledge and empathy by asking questions and listening, not by moving your own mouth. Serenity with God...  Or Buddha, or Allah, o

An interesting topic the other night. So the easy definitions are "a refusal to satisfy a request or desire" - or a "refusal to admit the truth or reality of something". Yeah - pretty much everyone does that at times. You get denied something - or when something doesn't go right - you are in denial of the issue or your involvement.  However - a much more serious definition is also had when it comes to the human mind. In psychology, Denial is defined as "a defense mechanism in which confrontation with a personal problem or with reality is avoided by denying the existence of the problem or reality" Simply put, your mind says - nope -  not dealing with that right now.   Left unchecked - these events fester and boil, causing fear and tensions - and we often self-medicate to alleviate the mental pain   The compartmentalized issues can linger for years. Interestingly -  the 12 Step program has a great way of dealing with this.  It's real

Some kids were playing soccer - and a new kid comes along.  He'd never played before.  They said the rules were simple - don't touch the ball with your hands or arms - get it in the goal.  The new kid played along - but was not as skilled and went home frustrated. The following day -  the new kid came back - with a trick- he knelt down, scooped the ball up with his shirt - into his belly, never touching it with his hands and arms, and ran to the goal with the ball under his shirt and dumped the ball in. Everyone laughed and cheered as he did it, it was really funny to watch. And his goal won the game... or did it?  He missed the intent of the game. Technically he followed the rules, the ball never touched his hands. But he did not know about or care about all the unwritten rules . He did not play the game the way the other kids did as he saw them playing. That was too difficult. Technically, the new kid got the goal... but soon after - the laughing stopped - no one was

In running SoberWorld.org one of the topics i read about almost daily is Alcohol and Laws. I see so many struggles. I see people looking for ways to have  laws help reduce harm. I also see people looking at ways around the laws to sell more alcohol and do more harm. Alcohol (C2H6O) occurs naturally in rotting fruit and other organic matter. About 10,000 years ago, someone figured out how to replicate this, and we were off. It has become part of culture, folk society, and one of the first miracles in the Bible was Jesus making wine for a party. It HAS to be good... so lets drink more! Zoom forward 9,900 or so years (about a century ago), and we in the USA tried making it illegal since excess in alcohol was hurting so many people in so many ways. Besides thousands dying, direct health issues, alcohol also impairs judgement both physically and mentally (why they give you free booze at casinos). With so many bad attributes, you would assume society would want  to make this toxin il

I knew it first as simply the capital of one of the smallest states with not much to claim for fame or glory. A place to pass through on the way to a more desirable location. In a time of emotional darkness - the physical location of Providence became a personal refuge of love and hope. I gained understanding of independence, and the start of a journey into a new life of spirituality. I learned from someone strong enough to let me go ... as hard as that was ... letting go was the only way to free me from decades of ignorance and a helped to eliminate void that was consuming me.  In celebrating Thanksgiving ... the compound word of Thanks and Giving.... yes, it is a thanks for giving. It is through giving that we receive the most in life. In the past few days, I have heard dozens of stories of gratitude. All shared the commonality of a deep sense of spirituality - and a different "Providence" ... the protective care of God as a spiritual power. That pure spirituality