Doc Meek

Archive for February, 2011

See the greatest water slide in the world (video at): http://www.microsoft.com/germany/aktionen/mach-es-machbar/

One of the tasks we face when there are so many “voices” in our modern world, is to learn to distinguish between fact and fiction.

What do you think?

Doc Meek, Mon, Feb 28, 2011, Calgary, Alberta, CANADA

Click on image to enlarge.

Image from: http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.lucid-minds.com/twitter/images3/dunce-cap-1.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.lucid-minds.com/twitter/kloren1/pop8.htm&h=787&w=491&sz=10&tbnid=7PbHQmL9NJx81M:&tbnh=143&tbnw=89&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522dunce%2Bcap%2522&zoom=1&q=%22dunce+cap%22&hl=en&usg=__UVEh275HTU12gOQetyi5J0YeM7g=&sa=X&ei=XVxqTfbKE4P78Aaixq2QCw&ved=0CDMQ9QEwBA

This is not a “religious” blog per se, although “everything” is “religious” through a certain lens. Even atheistic scientists have their “religion”: unsupported beliefs which are clung to, and defended, with the same tenacity as a “religious” zealot. This scientific zeal is practiced by scientists all unaware usually. They think they are totally objective. Their “objective” view that they are totally objective is, in itself, subjective.

Three examples:

(1) The “scientific” mythology of the single variable.

(2) The “scientific” mythology of the placebo.

(3) The “scientific” mythology of the anecdote.

More on this in a future post.

Robert Capon Farrar feels that dullness is a cultural issue.

http://alijohnson.org.uk/blog/monday-with-robert-capon-farrar?doing_wp_cron

Here is my comment I posted on the above blog:

Bravo, Robert Capon Farrar! Dullness is not only an issue in religion. It is an issue in our educational system, by and large. I am going to post an article on THE LEARNING CLINIC WORLDWIDE blog about “Dullness is not our calling.”

Doc Meek, Friday, February 25, 2011, Calgary, Alberta, CANADA

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually who are you not to be? You are a child of the universe. You were born to manifest the glory of the universe that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.”
 –  Marianne Williamson (born 1952); author, lecturer

Quote from: Values.com

Thank you, Marianne Williamson, for helping us reach for the stars!

Doc Meek, Thurs, Feb 24, 2011, Calgary, Alberta, CANADA

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*** Article: What To Do When Your Thoughts Take Over – By Angela Artemis ***
————————————————————

Damn! Why can’t I ever stop thinking?

This was my mantra at 7 am as I tried in vain to meditate.

Some days I’m able to get deep into the zone of a meditation where my thoughts slow and then stop for a while. These are the best meditations. I’m detached but present in the flow of Universal Mind. I feel a clarity and a sense that all is well – just the way things are. Perfectly imperfect.
I am aware of a connection to all life which gently gives way to a quiet joy. I ride the waves of this Universal flow as long as I can before thoughts get the better of me again. I take the quiet joy with me out into my day and go about my business.

Today I could not surf that wave. It was just one big thought after another knocking me off my spiritual surf board until I got tired of trying to climb back on and gave up. All I kept hearing was: I have work to do. I need to exercise. I’m running low on milk. Got to get to the ATM and deposit that check.

With each thought I squeezed my eyes tighter and said NO not now! But, they wouldn’t stop. I followed my breathing again and my thoughts slowed somewhat but not to the extent where I could make that connection to the soothing calmness I craved.

Later while journaling it hit me. I was trying too hard. You cannot force yourself to get in the flow – It just doesn’t work that way.

It reminded me of getting injections at the doctor’s office as a little girl. The idea that my little fanny was going to be pierced by a long shiny needle terrified me. And, no matter what my mother said, or the nurse about relaxing I’d tense up anyway which only made it hurt more.

It’s the same with those pesky thoughts. I was forcibly trying to resist thinking which makes no sense at all. The idea is to let them come and then go without reacting to the intrusion in your meditation. All pain comes from resistance. I knew this, so why wasn’t I doing it?

Resistance is a form of control. To resist your thoughts is the same as trying to control them. You can’t control your thoughts anymore than you can control another person or situation. All you can do is be present, observe and let them go, be it a person or situation. As soon as you start tangling with them it becomes a battle of the wills. Then the ego gets involved – and the ego hates to lose.

Resistance can crop up in any area of our lives – not just morning meditation. While journaling I started thinking of all the other areas in my life where resistance had caused problems. I was reminded of how I’d clung to an unhappy relationship because of my resistance to accept that it was over. I also thought of how long it took me to stop resisting that it was time to sell my house and move on, and how I’d resisted following my heart in my choice of career for so long. This brought me full circle to realizing that the mornings that I got the most out of my meditation it came naturally without any resistance to my thoughts. They popped in – and they popped out.

I saw so clearly that resisting anything dams up the natural flow of our lives. The energy we expend to dam up the flow sucks the joy out of any experience in our lives. What a useless practice this is. Resistance is futile because in resisting we hope to avoid pain in some area of our lives, but what actually happens is the complete opposite – we create more pain that actually seeps into every area of our lives. Pain should be a warning that something is wrong, but when we dam up the feelings and get used to the pain it becomes all too familiar. No more of creating pain for me. After this realization I’m adopting new mantra in meditation and in life: Resist nothing.

Are there any areas in your life where you’ve been resisting change? Can you see how it has it affected you? How will your life change if you stop resisting and release the waters from the dam?

** To comment on this article or to read comments about this article, go here.
About the Author:

Angela Artemis is an author, and intuitive coach and counselor. She’s also a financial salesperson with 25 year background in financial planning, private banking and real estate finance. Her ability to navigate a demanding finance career while developing spiritually and psychically has given her a reputation as a very grounded and practical intuitive.

She’s also been a meditation instructor, devoted many years to practicing and studying with spiritual teachers, and to developing her intuitive abilities.

Her mission is to teach others to develop their own intuition in order to create success, abundance and miracles in their lives.

Image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laughter

Tuesday, February 22, 2011. Today I am grateful for those who teach us how to be happy internally no matter what our circumstances are in life. Such a one is Dr. Robert Henry Schwenk. ~ Doc Meek

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*** Article: Be Secretly Happy No Matter What Is Happening in Your Life – By Dr Robert Henry Schwenk ***
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Can you keep a secret? I mean, can you keep a really, really significant secret? If you can, then you have a big head start on holding yourself happy.

Tragedies of many “degrees” occur all the time. Happenings occur that are way beyond your control. How do you keep going?

Steve came through the door of my office looking as though he had been run over by a pickup truck and left for dead. He was literally dirty, clothes torn, blood dripping from his left nostril.

“What hit you?” was all I could manage.

“I just got mugged down town on my way to see you. That’s way it been going these last several weeks,” Steve said. (Not his real name.) “My life is a mess. I jammed up and my wife left me and took the kids. I was laid off the job that I had for 17 years. My mother died two weeks ago. Father was already gone. I am about to have my house foreclosed. I am just not happy.”

Pardon me, but I almost laughed when he said, “I am just not happy.” I managed to stifle the impulse, however. Steve didn’t say that to be humorous. He said it because it tallied up his entire life at that moment.

To read the rest of the story, see my P.S. below. – Doc Meek

Thank you, Robert Henry Schwenk, for teaching us the difference between external circumstances (over which we often have no control) and our internal life (over which we ultimately have great control, if we learn how)!

Doc Meek, Tues, Feb 22, 2011, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA

P.S. The continuation of Dr. Schwenk’s article about being “secretly happy” (commenced above):

*** Article (continued) : Be Secretly Happy No Matter What Is Happening in Your Life – By Dr Robert Henry Schwenk ***

We went to the restroom across from my office and got the bleeding stopped and his face clean. Then back to my office so we could talk. He told me the usual tale of how he had been raised to believe if he just had the right stuff, the correct job, lived in the proper neighborhood, drove a certain car, he would be happy. Instead, all these, plus his family, were gone in a few weeks time.

I said, “I’ll teach you a confidential way. It won’t heal your problems, but it will help you contend with them. Can you keep a secret?” I am sure this sounded much too light for him, but he was game for anything at that point.

I told him happiness resided on his inside, not his outside. I said to him that I was not making light of his circumstances, but the secret was he could be happy even in the midst of great discomfort or tragedy. He could always be happy if he remembered this secret and applied it in every circumstance.

“You have seen, unfortunately, first hand, that depending on outward situations does not bring happiness,” I said. “You need to develop an inward hidey-hole, an escape-room, where your happiness is locked away. Then nothing can ruin you.”

I told him all he had to do to have and keep this escape-room was to determine it was so. Decide that at the Core of the Universe, and therefore his own core, there was deep, profound and eternal Harmoniousness that nothing could trouble or destroy. He needed to latch onto that Harmony by being making contact with the Harmony daily. Taking just a few moments in a day to deeply center in on being happy on the interior. That he needed to see this happiness sending out rays to range over all possibilities.

Is there such a place within each of us? Oh, yes. Make no mistake, we are hardwired to the Core of Harmony of the Universe.

So, I told Steve, the world can be falling apart around us, yet we can remain enveloped in our happiness. Not as a means of permanent retreat from the substantial world. But as a place of evacuation where we can refresh our spirits and reach our strength for the disturbances in life. Steve left my office a little bit better off than when he appeared dirty and bleeding. As I communicated with him over the weeks to come, he was feeling much better about himself and his world.

You, too, can feel much better when you evolve and hold this secret base of happiness within you. It takes just a few minutes each day to retreat to this site of safety, to reequip yourself for whatever is happening in your corporal world. Does it solve problems? No. But it surely helps you contend with them. Decide now, right now, that you have this secret of happiness within you.

** To comment on this article or to read comments about this article, go here.

About the Author (Dr. Robert Henry Schwenk):

Working with me through blogs, emails and newsletters you will be uplifted, given ways and means to make yourself even better than you are. You will be able to solve the problem you may have of low self esteem, knowing your own worth, feeling as if you deserve the best. Life is too short, I believe, not to be able to find someone to help you solve the problem of the meaning of life. I am here 4 U. In my works you will find the way to happiness, which is the meaning of life. I will help you find a way that leads you to happiness that is ever-present and everlasting.

To that end I have a few credentials: 40 years as a life coach; B.A. from Baldwin-Wallace College, M.Div. from Wesley Theo. Seminary, D.Min. from United Theo. Seminary. Have published two books, several ebooks, many blogs, over 150 articles on EzineArticles.com.
Sometimes named “The Maven of Meaning,” or “The Harbinger of Happiness.”

If you would like to contact me you can do so at drbob4u@gmail.com

http://themeaningoflifewithdrbob.com/blog

http://themeaningoflifewithdrbob.com/drbobslifephrases

Image from: http://www.amazon.com/Grieving-Pain-Promise-Deanna-Edwards/dp/1577341732/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1298265141&sr=1-1

Below are the front and back covers of the book entitled By Grace of Mourning, authored by Corry Roach:

ByGraceOfMourningFrontCover.jpg 502K   View Download

ByGraceOfMourningBackCover.jpg 488K   View Download

Monday, February 21, 2011. Today I am grateful for those who know the terribleness of pain and the promise of pain. Such a one is Deanna Edwards (and also one we reported in a previous article, Corry Roach). ~ Doc Meek

Deanna Edwards’ husband, a writer, said:

“We don’t know what we know until we write it down. We think in pictures and we need to translate those pictures into verbal symbols. Writing is learning!” – Grieving: The Pain and the Promise, page 178.

Creative effort can awaken and challenge the sleeping giant within us.

Thank you, Deanna Edwards, for helping to awaken the sleeping giant within each of us!

Doc Meek, Mon, Feb 21, 2011, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA

P.S. For those of you who may have missed my previous article on the great value of mourning, here is the link:

“Talking vs doing.” ~ Doc Meek

This article features Corry Roach, http://www.ByGraceOf Mourning.ca

Below are the front and back covers of the book entitled By Grace of Mourning, authored by Corry Roach:

ByGraceOfMourningFrontCover.jpg 502K   View Download

ByGraceOfMourningBackCover.jpg 488K   View Download

Click on image to enlarge; image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart

Friday, February 18, 2011. Today I am grateful for those who know that good brain health requires good heart health. Such a one is my wife Jeannette. She says:

“For brain health, ensure heart health” (short video):

http://www.amiraclemolecule.com/themeekteam

More on heart health http://www.themeekteam.info

Ph (801) 971-1812 (Jeannette); Fax [801] 282-6026

Than you Jeannette for reminding us to watch our heart health if we want to ensure good brain health!

Doc Meek, Fri, Feb 18, 2011, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA

Image from: http://www.amazon.com/Defeating-Depression-Real-Those-ebook/dp/B00193GAII%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAIPB46KRSKGCAFBEQ%26tag%3Dtheshoseaeng-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB00193GAII

Above reader comment from: http://helpwithdepression.goldmint.in/defeating-depression-real-help-for-you-and-those-who-love-you/

Here are additional posts/offerings from the above website:

• You Can Choose To Be Happy: Rise Above Anxiety, Anger, and Depression
• Treating Chronic Depression with Disciplined Personal Involvement: Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy
• Vitabase L-5-HTP 100 mg 30 Capsules Dietary Supplement
• Sculpting the Heart with Art Therapy eBook
• How to Win Over Depression
• Coping with Depression in Young People: A Guide for Parents
• Depression : A Cognitive Approach with Dr. Arthur Freeman
• Healing Depression the Mind-Body Way: Creating Happiness with Meditation, Yoga, and Ayurveda
• Help A Business – Offline to Online Money
• Depra : Living With Depression

Thank you, Howard W. Stone, and others who labor to help those who are lost!

Doc Meek, Thur, Feb 17, 2011, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA

Wednesday, February 16, 2011. Standing at the bus stop I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the sun, “for no reason.” – Doc Meek

Image from: http://spaceweather.com/

I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the sun the other day, “for no reason.”

I was standing on the sidewalk in front of a bus stop the other morning here in Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada. Being winter, it was cold. I happened to be facing south, with the morning sun in my face.**

I gradually became very aware of the distant reality of this incredibly humongously overwhelmingly destructive boiling churning “out-of- control” fiery inferno.

Feeling the gentle touch of this “distant disaster” on my face, I was overwhelmed with gratitude that it was placed at precisely the right distance away from me not to destroy me with its boiling cauldron fury. In fact, it was sustaining my very life, my earth.

The sun’s distance is so precise* that it keeps me from freezing to death in Canada’s north and yet is far enough way not to destroy me.

“What a miracle,” I thought.**

You do not have to give God the credit [even though I do personally]. You do not even have to believe in God to know that this precise placing of the sun is miraculous, accident or no accident.

Thank you Universe [and  God] for your precisely distant placement of a vaporizing power so great I cannot comprehend it!

Doc Meek, Wed, Feb 16, 2011, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA

*The distance of the earth from the sun ranges from 91 to 94.5 million miles (146-152 million km),  depending upon where the earth is in in its orbit around the sun. I learned this from my grade 5 teacher I think, and I re-learned it just now from:

http://www.windows2universe.org/kids_space/distance.html

I read somewhere that the nuclear (actually fusion) energy at the sun’s core takes a million years to reach its surface. This is mind-boggling.

Here is a quotation about that timeline from Wiki: “The high-energy photons (gamma rays and x-rays) released in fusion reactions take a long time to reach the Sun’s surface, slowed down by the indirect path taken, as well as by constant absorption and reemission at lower energies in the solar mantle. Estimates of the “photon travel time” range from as much as 50 million years^[5] to as little as 17,000 years.^[6]“

Quotation from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_core

**I have recently learned from a reliable and trustworthy colleague that if I keep my eyes open in the sunshine (with no glasses and no contact lens, and not looking directly at the sun of course), that the sun’s energy directly affects for good more than a dozen endocrine and other biological and chemical subsystems in the human body, profoundly affecting both physical and mental health.

Image from: http://mysite.cherokee.k12.ga.us/personal/susan_barker/site/Reading/Forms/DispForm.aspx?ID=4&RootFolder=/personal/susan_barker/site/Reading/1

Image  from: http://chinegrade2.blogspot.com/2010/12/liams-story-aubut-math-3-under-sea.html

Tuesday, February 15, 2011. Today I am grateful for humorists who lighten our day, with maybe grains of truth even. 😮

“Fifty Years of Math 1957 – 2007 In the U.S.” – Anonymous Humorist

Last week I purchased a burger at Burger King for $1.58. The counter
girl took my $2 and I was digging for my change when I pulled 8 cents
from my pocket and gave it to her. She stood there, holding the nickel
and 3 pennies, while looking at the screen on her register. I sensed her
discomfort and tried to tell her to just give me two quarters, but she
hailed the manager for help. Why do I tell you this?

Because of the evolution in teaching math since the 1950s:

1. Teaching Math in the 1950s
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is
4/5 of the price. What is his profit ?

2. Teaching Math in the 1960s
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is
4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?

3. Teaching Math in the 1970s
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is
$80. Did he make a profit?

4. Teaching Math in the 1980s
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is
$80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20 …

5. Teaching Math in the 1990s
A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and
inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the
preservation of our woodlands. He does this so he can make a profit of
$20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class
participation after answering the question: How did the birds and
squirrels feel as the logger cut down their homes? (There are no wrong
answers, and if you feel like crying, it’s ok.)

6. Teaching Math in the 2000s
If you have special needs or just feel you
need assistance because of race, color, religion, sex, sexual
orientation, age, childhood memories, etc., then don’t
answer and the correct answer will be provided for you.
There are no wrong answers. ……………………………………………………………………………….

Thank you, “Anonymous,” for making our day!

I think I would want to be anonymous on this one too. 😮

Doc Meek, Tue, Feb 15, 2011, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA