The past is the past…..and no matter how much we worry and concern ourselves with what has already taken place there is basically very little we can do to change it. We can make amends, apologies and seek atonement for our acts but memories are etched in stone. The future stands before us like a blank sheet of paper, yet to feel one drop of ink. What are we left with? The given moment, where everything is centered and all our hopes and dreams exist. So few of us focus on the so-called “now”….most of the time we are engulfed with our mistakes from the past and overwhelmed by what awaits us in the coming days. It doesn’t have to be that way. The power for us is in the present…that is where we can truly make a difference in our lives. Like the championship sports team that wins the golden nugget, as they look back they see a string of victories that have led them to their moment in the sun. As we look towards the coming months the work we do today is our springboard into a fulfilling future. The first day that the championship team played its first game, the vision was firmly planted on the road towards the ultimate trophy. The link between the past and the future is the present. The present affects both, because the present becomes the past, and the present also sets the tone for the future. Each day truly is a new day…if you faltered yesterday, you can start anew today. Your dreams are not over, just merely delayed. Embrace the moment, it can change your life.

Take the time to love,

Jennifer Avalon
© 1998 Jennifer Avalon

Many days during the week problems arise. By the time you get to Thursday you begin to feel overwhelmed and looking for a way to escape the pressures and discomfort. It can be very easy to feel surrounded by fear and negativity…..but at those trying moments, that’s when who you are and what you truly want out of life comes to the forefront. It’s understandable why so many succumb to the problems and fade into the background of despair….does it really have to be that way?

Life sometimes can look baffling. We come into this world as naked children, looking hopefully to two people to teach us all we need to know and take care of our vital needs. Some call it the “luck of the draw” while others call it “destiny”. As we evolve as people other things come into play; economics, health, religion and education. If any of these links become weak, how we grow can be drastically affected. I know life is not fair. Fairness in many cases is determined by laws and policies of the countries a person is born into. Our happiness as citizens of this planet then can be influenced by who we love or who loves us. At that point hopefully we have amassed enough knowledge and well-being to pass it along to the next generation. Many feel powerless over these conditions, and it’s not hard to see why quite a few of us run into roadblocks.
If I’m a negative person in nature I could just say, “That’s the end of the story”….but if I’m not my mind must start to look for answers and solutions. How I arrive at finding these solutions is the search for the meaning of what life is all about. I don’t believe we were put here to be born, raise a family, collect a paycheck, and then one day die. The Creator who fashioned this existence with all this ability had to have something else in mind for creating Life. To truly overcome the problems of Life a person must assume at some point the power of his or her own existence. People are not perfect…but they can learn to be better. The human heart can rise to the occasion if it desires.
After a hard week at work many of us look to the week-end to recharge our batteries and in some cases lick our wounds. If the car breaks down, it must be fixed, if the refrigerator is empty it must be filled, when the heart runs dry it must be replenished. You have the ability to find the answers…there are some out there who may call you “fool”, but the true fool is the one who sees emptiness. Life doesn’t have to be empty. You have a choice in how you fill it.

May your cup runneth over,

Jennifer Avalon
© 1998 Jennifer Avalon

A magic show is something many of us enjoy watching and participating in. The magician’s sleight of hand and the ability to pull a “rabbit out of the hat” can truly be based upon the art of illusion. What is seen before the eye may not necessarily be what is real. So too in life do these concepts apply. Much of what we perceive as success and failure are based upon the information we absorb through our senses…well, at times those senses can be manipulated. The magician can also be at work on the television screen, movie screen and radio. The hand that can be quicker than the eye can pass before you hardly noticed….but the subconscious mind misses nothing…. that is where your library of personal information is stored. An accumulation of your thoughts, theories, and rules that you use to determine future decisions is all locked away in that part of you that is submerged. About twenty years ago a test was conducted on a television audience viewing a two hour movie. Every minute for one frame a picture of a container of popcorn smothered in butter was flashed upon the screen. Well, after about fifteen minutes the majority of that audience started craving buttered popcorn. When interviewed later many stated they didn’t remember seeing any picture of popcorn! Therein lies the subconscious mind. Many of us want to be successful in life…but what is success? That depends on who you ask. To some, being in the news and “famous” constitutes Many of us want to be successful in life…but what is success? That depends on who you ask. To some, being in the news and “famous” constitutes success. To others, it involves having large sums of money at their disposal. But our true opinion of what defines success is based upon the mass of information we have accumulated over the years, and how we have sifted through it to arrive at our definition. The question is, has all this information been accurate? It’s okay to re-examine. To look at things from a different angle. You may discover something you missed the first time around. What may have looked correct at first might be flawed upon second observation. Why is this important? Because it puts you firmly in the driver’s seat. It is your body, it is your mind, it is your soul. It’s important for us to see truth, not illusion.

Take the time,

Jennifer Avalon
© 1998 Jennifer Avalon

Here we are about halfway through the year. Many of our New Year’s resolutions have fallen by the wayside, but perhaps some of them took hold and came to life. Each year we make promises to ourselves to implement changes that are necessary for us to lead a more fulfilling and productive life. Each succeeding month we are met with a barrage of reasons to abandon our goals and somewhere inside we seek to find the strength to fight the negativity. Well whatever it is you’ve been trying to accomplish with your life this year, “keep on truckin”…with the right amount of persistence and energy the walls that try to stop you do start cracking. There are basically two ways to look at life….either it is within your power to bring about changes to better your life, or sit in a chair and do nothing and let the world dictate the changes for you.

I call this essay “Keep on Truckin” because like the trucker, he or she has to press on through the darkest of nights through all kinds of weather to get the job done. If you know some truck drivers you’ll know this is not always an easy task. The trucker knows that he can only drive a certain amount of hours a day before a rest is needed…..but along the road there are many other “compadres” who battle the same elements. Well as you battle to accomplish your goals in life you will find you too have “compadres” who share your vision. We all need fuel and the ability to take care of our “rigs”… sharing information at “rest stations” we recharge each other’s batteries for the next leg of the journey. Faith is a necessity, for without belief there can be no end to the road, the accomplishment of the mission. For me that entails Faith in Myself, Faith in Mankind, and Faith in God.

We’re all really not so different…there are those out there who capitalize on building barriers between people, but most of us really want a little fulfillment, to take care of our families, and leave behind a little love. Some of us have been so beaten down by life that we wonder, why bother? Well the obstacles only win when you quit. You can be a winner. If your truck breaks down, or gets a flat tire, there is help, and once the repairs are made it is possible to turn the key, start the engine, and get right back on the road.

Have a great trip!!

Jennifer Avalon
© 1998 Jennifer Avalon

It seems very easy in life to allow darkness to creep into the picture that represents us. The darkness is a place of no answers…a place full of confusion, negativity and despair. To arrive at this place sometimes all it takes is making the wrong turn along the winding road of destiny. When one is surrounded by darkness the senses are impaired…the direction to proceed becomes vague. It’s easy to get lost.

I know all of this may sound bleak, but many live with these feelings everyday. Some of us, including myself, at some point in our lives know far too well this touch of emptiness. But it can be turned around. The one thing that darkness fears more than anything else is Light. Light reveals, Light uncovers, and Light heals. The world of darkness is an atmosphere full of smoke and mirrors…once Light penetrates, the illusions have nowhere to hide. In your home tonight go into a room with a flashlight and turn off all the lights. Once your eyes soak in the darkness turn on your flashlight and shine it around the room. The beam cuts through the darkness like the blade of a knife, and the darkness recedes. The same rules apply in life. Once we allow Light to engulf our surroundings, over time the brightness grows stronger. The pupils of our eyes begin to adjust and take in more information. In our world there are truly for us different forms of Light. Physical Light, which includes electricity, fire and sunlight; Mental Light, which represents knowledge, information, wisdom and determination; and Spiritual Light, the relationship between the human being and God. These are our weapons against the darkness. At certain points in our lives we call upon these components, individually or collectively to help us find our way. They are available for the asking.

Each day there are always more than one reason to dive into the pool of darkness. Every morning we all must turn on our Lights to show each other and those beyond this world that separately and collectively we can shine a Light bright enough to be seen throughout the Universe. As our eyes become adjusted to the Light we will be able to see the bigger picture.

Take the time to love,

Jennifer Avalon
© 1998 Jennifer Avalon

Have you ever experienced “mortgaged love?” An emotion that is offered to you with conditions and strings attached. If you have, you’re not alone. Many of us as we walk through the corridors of life see trinkets and seductions disguised as Love, but True Love is something that is supposed to be given freely and unconditionally. There are some out there who have not learned this.

I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine who was telling me of an elaborate plan that her mother used to extract money from her. At first it would start with comments like “You know I love you, and I would do anything for you”. This would then progress to “I’ve been having problems lately…I’m not happy, but I know that people who love me want me to be happy, and I know what I need to be happy. The only problem is, it costs $5,000.” Do you get the picture? Eventually my friend felt so guilty that she had to send a check for $5,000 to her mother, or she believed her mother would think that she didn’t love her. My friend explained to me that she could guarantee about 2 to 3 phone calls like this each year, every time for a different amount of money. Each time she would go through the process of putting money on the side for her mother’s needs, making sure that her husband would never see a trace of what she was doing. What started out as “love” turned into a form of emotional extortion and betrayal. I know sometimes people we love hit a bump along the road, and need to borrow something, but usually that ends up being a one time occurrence. When it becomes habitual, we’re talking about something entirely different.

Each one of us has to, in one way or another, find the balance between spending and saving. Too much of either is no good. Individually it is up to us to find the right allocation. It’s important not to develop the habit that when in trouble, “so and so will bail me out”, because whether we like to admit it or not, every time we ask, we attach more and more negative baggage to that relationship. My friend Mark entered into a partnership in a glass company with his buddy Sal. After about 6 months he discovered Sal was lifting money from the company checking account. Upon discovery Mark confronted Sal and asked him, “Sal, why did you do this?” Sal’s response, believe it or not was, “There’s a sucker born everyday.” Where on earth do people learn to do such things? Mark told me Sal had been a life-long friend…he was totally devastated. It’s obvious Sal mortgaged his friendship with Mark. There are some wonderful people in this world who will go out of their way to help others. But there are also some who will go out of their way to take you for everything you’ve got. One of the most important lessons to learn in life is to know the difference.

Take the time to love,
Jennifer Avalon
© 1998 Jennifer Avalon

As many of us are creatures of habit, who go about our lives that are surrounded by adventure, risks, beliefs and convictions, much of what we do is affected by the information and experiences of our today and yesterdays. Many of us think that the thoughts and ideas that our minds generate on a daily basis come directly from ourselves, with no intervention or influence from the outside…..we are who we are. Well, sometimes it isn’t that simple. Our minds, for a lack of a better word, are like little sponges absorbing much of what we take in through our senses, and the scary part is we’re not always aware of what’s coming in. The subconscious mind takes over where the conscious mind leaves off.

Everyday our minds are continuously bombarded with information from people, places and things like television and radio. The substance from these influences have a direct impact upon how we react and how we see the world. Our job is to continually be aware that self-monitoring is vital for every one of us to stay in control and balanced. Recently there’s been quite a few cases of children killing children. When interviewed, many of the accused have a reoccurring sentence in their interviews. When asked why they did such a terrible thing, their eyes become blank and they speak the words, “I don’t know.” Nowhere in our lives are we more vulnerable and exposed then when we are children. We listen to EVERYTHING. Our habits and responses are developed at this crucial juncture. Here in America I know we live in a free society but each one of us has a responsibility to personally monitor that freedom within ourselves and our children. The children look to us for the guidance that is needed to help develop their minds. No man or woman is an island. We all share and interact with each other daily. What happens down the street or around the corner is important to us, not just what happens in our own homes. If not addressed, those problems down the street one day ring our doorbell.

Have you ever gone to the movies and seen a picture that was so disturbing that as you left the movie theater your mind was haunted by the images? Two or three days later you still were in the process of getting over the shock of what you saw. Well, life works the same way. As we wear coats to protect ourselves during winter, and open umbrellas to shield ourselves from the rain, so too we must remember to wear a helmet of awareness to protect our minds… A helmet that is made from Love, Insight, Compassion, Faith, and Healing. I’m not saying to shut ourselves off from the world….but it’s very important to process the information coming in with objectivity. What’s the benefit from all of this? You start to see that the filtering system makes us become healthier…and as we become healthier we become better people, not only for ourselves, but for others too. The energy that you put out becomes more positive and more fulfilling. You begin to feel like part of the answer, not the question.

Take the time to love,

Jennifer Avalon
© 1998 Jennifer Avalon

If you look at small birds a couple of days after they’ve been born you will see them flapping their arms, trying to imitate their mother, who can easily fly around at will. Over time they develop wings but still they need the training and guidance to fulfill their dream of enjoying flight, just like mom. In the early days of airplane development people like the Wright Brothers tried over and over again to build a machine that could sustain flight. One day in a field the Wright Brothers were able to make their small man-made craft accomplish flight for just a few minutes. What’s rarely mentioned is the amount of time that was put in to create those few small minutes. Yes, it takes work, dedication and belief to get wings.

I believe each one of us were born to fly. I know, humans can’t fly…physically that is, but who knows what wonders of flight can be accomplished by our souls and minds? It isn’t simple to just fly….just like the Wright Brothers, it can involve many hours of set-backs andfrustrations. Like small birds, we stumble, shake our heads, and wonder, “Why doesn’t this just come easy?” You’re not alone feeling this way…many of us out there battle the same obstacles everyday. The world is not a kind place to learn to fly, but it’s not impossible. You can find a way. Why is all this talk of wings important? Because for our dreams, hopes and beliefs they need a means of flight. That falls on our shoulders…the very place where wings take hold. Once the weight is removed from the shoulders, the wings have no impediment to flight. Like airplanes, when we become airborne we run into things like turbulence, wind-shear, and mild storms, but after awhile the air becomes smooth and peaceful. As our wings become stronger we learn to fly above the storms, and in some cases be able to see them coming. What a wonderful sight to see the sun, gaze at the moon, and feel the Heavens. A Oneness with everything.

Spread your wings,

Jennifer Avalon
© 1998 Jennifer Avalon

As long as mankind resorts to violence, he has not learned his true path. The human consciousness must evolve beyond violence to solve its problems. If not, we are admitting to ourselves that we are nothing more than a stone’s throw away from the caveman. On a planet that has more Ph.D.’s then ever, when diplomacy fails, the only solution we see is war. In war, there are no winners, only motherless children, families without food, rivers of blood. Hate rules over the ruins of Love. In the aftermath all that is left are wounds that take years to close, and populations that return to prayer to try to understand “why?” We live in a world where many people of different faiths on different continents weekly visit churches, temples and mosques to give up praises and thanks to God, each group choosing a different path to that one God. No different than children in dispute in a schoolyard, we often see the ultimate answer as violence. Surely, we can find a better way to end our differences than that. Yes there is a price for peace, but what is that price, and for what kind of peace?

The same thing occurs in the home. A husband and wife have a disagreement and eventually it deteriorates into violence while children watch, and neighbors hear. At some point hopefully the two sit down with a counselor to discuss their problems, and they discover that the violence resulted from lack of self-love, fear, and anger. A relationship where communication broke down. War not only takes place on the battlefield….but also at home.

Could it be that there is a similarity between the disputes that occur between nations and those that occur in personal relationships? Should we tell a couple who are having problems that if they don’t work it out, kill? The world is made up of human relationships on a planet that is getting smaller. Is there still room left for violence? If violence begets violence, then who wins?

In Prayer,

Jennifer Avalon
© 1998 Jennifer Avalon

The minute you sit down and initiate changing something within you or around you, the world that surrounds you instantaneously will start to react to those changes. Life always involves changes…but the power to change thought and events is one of the gifts that each one of us possess. As we evolve in our lives we develop patterns and habits that over time feel very comfortable…almost like a security blanket. Then lo and behold you wake up one day, you look in your closet, and see a collection of clothes you no longer desire to wear. You look in the mirror and see a hairstyle you want to change. It may seem like mundane things but even these simple adjustments are going to cause a reaction. In our minds we develop mental images of the people that we come in contact with on a regular basis…so too do they of us. They expect us to look a certain way, behave a certain way…to do what’s “expected.” All remains tranquil and calm as long as things go “accordingly.” For many of us the minute we make changes all hell breaks loose. Mental images have to be adjusted, perceptions have to be rearranged, the expected becomes the unexpected. We look around and we wonder, “What the heck is going on?” I recently saw the movie “The Truman Show”….Truman woke up each morning at the same time and went to work the same way to the same job. All looked fine and rosy and perfect until one day Truman decided to go to work a different way. He started to become aware that life and the people around him were not always what they seemed. To him, he was the same person….little did he know his life was really a world-wide T.V. show with everybody watching his everyday movements. His town was a T.V. set. I know our lives may not be like Truman’s, but there is a similarity to the expectations that we allencounter each day.

Once you sit down and say to yourself, “This is going to change”, forces will come to bear upon you to either quit or change your mind. Sometimes the force can come with good intentions, but from fear of you becoming someone else. Other times, the force can come from someone not wanting you to move forward in life. You may have set-backs, but if you continue to press forward the changes that you’ve implemented will begin to take hold. I’m talking about good changes…ways to improve life. Isn’t it interesting….that many good thoughts and ideas have been met with tremendous resistance. Take the Internet and computers for instance. How many people do we know are absolutely terrified by them? Yes there are some people using this technology to do bad things, but look at how many of us talk to each other every day a half a world away. Don’t be afraid to challenge yourself. Embrace change…..it can be your friend.

Take the time to love,

Jennifer Avalon
© 1998 Jennifer Avalon