A very big aloha.
I'm Rev.
Cindy Palos,
And I wanted to do a talk today about what is really within our reach that we can accomplish.
I'm recording this on the first day of the year,
January 1st,
And so many people do New Year's resolutions,
And a lot of the New Year's resolutions are about losing weight and getting in shape,
Etc.
,
Etc.
But I have to say that a lot of the ones that have to do with physical stuff,
They're a little more challenging than the stuff you can do by setting intentions to really bring more appreciation and love into your life by being a little kinder,
A little more caring for others.
That is such a beautiful gift.
Now,
I know it's great to be in shape,
And it's wonderful you can lose 10 pounds.
I understand all that,
But the value,
The value of kindness is,
To me,
Much more important than the way you look or the physical aspect.
That kindness and that caring seem to supersede everything.
Now,
I've been on the metaphysical and meditation path all my life,
Since I've been 13 years old,
And it's so amazing when you want to get higher,
Go to bigger places,
You know,
Go to that highest source within,
And go to that light,
And all of that is great.
You know,
I've been doing that a long time,
But all of that is really not as important as when you come back to your everyday living and really explore how well you are caring for others and living your life.
And that's an interesting thing,
I think,
That we're evolving more into that awareness of that.
It is such a precious gift,
And as we're starting to see a little more caring,
A little more kindness,
A little bit more of just the goodness that can exist in people's heart,
And we start to follow that path,
We will see such changes that are so valuable within our life and within other people's lives as well.
And that is an amazing path to follow.
Now,
I'm a Buddhist,
I'm a Zen Buddhist,
I took my precepts a long time ago,
Long time ago,
But I'm also a mystical Christian,
You know,
I follow the tried-as-much-as-I-can follow path that Jesus actually talked about,
That were from what his teachings were.
And his original teachings,
As well as Zen Buddhism's teachings,
Have a lot to do with that core,
That inner core,
Which is at the source of who you are inside and how you live your life.
And that is such an amazing thing to be able to change your focus on just positive thinking or making a lot of money or being very successful,
To changing your focus instead to seeing how much good you can do in the world,
Seeing what ways you can really do offerings that can make a difference.
And the thing that's amazing to me is that there's countless ways,
There's so many ways,
And you can choose one of the ways that fit what you care about,
What you're interested in.
We have people who,
You know,
I love music,
I love art,
And there are people that love other things as well.
Whatever you love,
You can find some way to explore that,
What you love,
And ways to use that to help others.
And that,
Just that intent,
Just that intent,
And I'm not going to even say a New Year's resolution,
But the intent to do that is such a valuable energy force to set in motion,
To set into your mind,
To set into the way you live your life,
You know.
There's so many ways you can explore this and use that,
And I have to say that I'm really starting to see more people understand this.
And unfortunately we get in the news a lot of the bad news,
You know,
And sometimes we hear a lot of really hard things happening that are very difficult to hear about,
But we don't hear as much about the good things that are happening.
We don't hear about the kindness and the smaller things that sometimes don't make the news.
And that is sad to me because I think we need that inspiration.
I think we need that awareness.
I think we need to believe that people are good,
That there's more good in the world.
And that,
Unfortunately,
When we allow ourselves to listen to just the news,
A lot of people think,
Gosh,
What this world's come to,
What is going on?
It's a terrible place.
And as soon as we fall into that trap and start to buy into that,
It's kind of a downward spiral that actually manifests it in more ways.
And you start to do damage into the way you believe and think and act.
So you have to kind of guard against that.
You have to,
I'm not saying not to watch the news,
But you have to be aware of the influence it can have on you.
And you have to also be aware that there's other sources that you can go to that can bring you more of what's good that's going on in the world.
And that's so important.
It's so valuable and it can give meaning to your life and it can actually help the world in ways that is so,
That is so important right now.
It's so valuable.
So I'm here to encourage you to find the good,
To find the positive that's out there,
To support others doing positive things,
To find a way to examine that and bring that more to the light.
I think if we can do that,
I think we'll see a change in the attitude and a change in what we believe in.
And that can make a difference.
It's so valuable and so important,
My friend.
I really appreciate you taking the time to listen,
Taking the time to care enough to listen.
And I give you my gratitude,
A big bow of gratitude.
And I send you my love because this is an interesting path and time we're on.
And it's so important that we all do our best to do more good and to help in any way we can.
So God bless you always.
