there's always hope

well, with the TV blaring college football and Rasputin snoring deeply on the couch, I wander through the cyber world for amusement and stimulation and items of interest… in my travels along the cyber super-highway today, via one of the meetup groups, I introduced myself to several new groups and for lack of a life to write about, I present the intros here along with other writings inspired there as today's entry…

art meetup intro:

Wish to explore and find friends (night shift work erases social life). Diverse interests. Open mind. Sensitive heart. Free Spirit. Old Soul. Hopeful child. Survivor. Seeking creativity, laughter, and fun in a world of stodgy, depressed conformity.

writers meetup intro:

I babble. I write the babble down in notebooks and letters and in recent years, online blogs, but that only makes me a writer to me and a few loyal reader-friends. I love written language and have lived several lives in it. If that makes sense, hi :)

paranormal meetup intro:

I believe that anything is possible and there is infinitely more knowledge that humans are not presently consciously aware of than can fill all the libraries of every civilization this planet has ever known. I used to know more, but I've forgotten...

as is usually the case, my brief intros expanded as I delved deeper into web pages and found something to inspire more babble… contrary to the usual flippancy we've come to expect from my babbling ways, this particular impromptu introductory messages just might hold the key to changing my way of life (and don't let the sun go down on me either)… it involves something called Avatar, a philosophy put together in 1986 that seems to make a lot of sense to me and probably channeled through my mind and writings long before the guy who founded it made it an organized effort or commercial enterprise… I did not delve too deeply, but latched on to one key thought…

your beliefs create your experience
or something like that… anyway, it makes sense and opened a brain cell that contained some vital information about my yeas of lonely apathy and faux-depression that i think i might have shared, or at least alluded to, in the following introductory email sent to the local Avatar Master cuz maybe she is the one or knows the one or simply might share perspectives and amusements along the way…

Hi Nancy,

I clicked on your address on the Avatar Master list and now wonder what words to put in this email. I found you through the meetup pages and after reading a bit about Avatar, it makes much sense and sounds much like what I consider my view of beliefs and philosophy and sociology and life among humans on this planet as I know it. I am secure in my beliefs, which are few, and aware of their effect on my experience in this life. Some beliefs I chose as a very young child and are still with me. I believe in honesty without harm. I believe that is the core of most, if not all, belief systems and I do not find a need for more of a 'system' of beliefs than that. That is as permanent for me as anything I've known since birth, though I remain open to change as I learn.

I am aware that a few beliefs come and go in this life. One belief that has developed over the last decade or so has contributed to my current sometimes lonely state. Sometimes I view it more as a fear as I do not want to believe it, but semantics does not change it';s effect much, changing perspective would. I wonder if people are as shallow and insensitive and afraid and selfish as they have appeared to me throughout this life. I fear that I am closer to giving up on believing in trusting people than I've ever been. I do not want to believe that people are too shallow, insensitive, afraid, selfish, unaware, and depressed to be trusted. I fear I may have started believing that.

That poses a major obstacle to finding true friends and meaningful intimate relationships.

I visit meetup with the hope of finding new friends as, after working night shift for almost six years since returning to Orlando in 2000, my social life has dwindled to a roommate couch potato who works nights and sleeps days or evenings 6 a week, his teenage daughter, and an occasional activity with a work friend. I am not in search of anything else in particular and am happy with my perspective, beliefs, and self other than people with whom to share life, activities, ideas, creativity, and the emotional roller coaster that life offers those of us who are open to the experience.

I'm not looking to buy anything I do not need and I am not looking for anyone to sell me anything. I am looking for people who actually care about themselves and others in their daily activities. I am looking for people who want to share activities and develop trusting relationships, friendships, and whatever might be closer on this physical or any ethereal plane of consciousness.

So this is a bit of an introduction to me unexpectedly appearing in your mailbox today. I'm not sure what to make of it either, except to say thank you and Avatar for inspiring me to ponder these thoughts and I welcome a response or friendship as you choose.

I hope this day (or whatever time of day you read this) finds you at peace within yourself and happy with yourself and your life. If this reading has inspired a positive thought for you, or a smile, than yay :)

ric

yeah, so what else is new… I think the reason all this mention of the Avatar thing is happening is the following bit exercise that i stumbled upon at another Avatar site (I used to own a house right near the person who created this site, for whatever that means)… and it goes like this:

Honesty with yourself leads to compassion for others.

Objective: To increase the amount of compassion on the world.

Expected results: A personal sense of peace.

Instructions: This exercise can be done anywhere that people congregate (airports, malls, parks, beaches, etc.).
It should be done on strangers, unobtrusively, from some distance. Try to do all five steps on the same person.

1. With attention on the person, repeat to yourself:
“Just like me, this person is seeking some happiness for his/her life.”

2. With attention on the person, repeat to yourself:
“Just like me, this person is trying to avoid suffering in his/her life.”

3. With attention on the person, repeat to yourself:
“Just like me, this person has known sadness, loneliness, and despair.”

4. With attention on the person, repeat to yourself:
“Just like me, this person is seeking to fulfill his/her needs.”

5. With attention on the person, repeat to yourself:
“Just like me, this person is learning about life.”

Love is an expression of the willingness to create space in which something is allowed to change.

Selected from ReSurfacing®: ©Copyright 1994, 1997 by Harry Palmer.

that is what i've been doing ever since i first had a conscious thought about interacting with others in this world… unfortunately, the most local Avatar site is a pure sales pitch, which is, unfortunately, pretty typical for Central Florida since Disney arrived about forty years ago… so that's some of what I did with the afternoon, the evening is another story we'll save for tomorrow…

hope you're having fun too :)