Robin-Newman blog

Robin Newman

What Would Jesus Say?

I wondered how this would go over in my dysfunctional pretend perfect family. I imagined my sister cutting me off in a conversation because I dared to think she might want to hear about my life for a change. I held out my left hand and asked "What would Jesus say?" It probably would not be "I will turn you into a pillar of salt or a thousand loci will plague your home". I am not a Bible buff so I am winging it here. But I can imagine Buddha going "It is only in silence man will hear his true voice." My sister at this point however would be likely to assume I was either medicated or needed to be medicated.

Maybe I need different voices. I could try Yoda "You are listening to me my sister not' or at a meeting "All silly people who know nothing you are." Again, maybe not that productive but closer to what I actually want to say. I am not entirely sure though Jesus or Buddha would want a mini me them and I am pretty certain they would say "Speak your truth with respect and honor for the other person". You cannot go to far wrong with those words of advice.

I wish I was Wayne Dyer

Dopey and Grumpy

I don't drink, smoke or do drugs but not because I stand on any moral high ground. I don't drink because my parents were alcoholics and genetically I have an excellent chance of following in their footsteps. I don't smoke anymore because all around me people were having parts of their lungs removed and I wanted to stay on the planet a little longer. And I don't do drugs because I have no need to either numb myself so I don't feel or get high so I can feel.

Anyway last night there we were on a hill with thousands of other people enjoying a night of folk music. It was about 9 p.m when several couples about mid 30 ish came and sat behind us on their blue tarp. Pretty soon the sweet smell of dope drifting over us and I turned to see one man sneaking sips of a whiskey bottle obviously snuck in under a sweater to avoid bag checks. He looked like a 5 year old knowing he was doing something naughty and revelling in the thought he was getting away with it.

While they were all dopey I was getting grumpy mainly because I dislike arrogance when it steps on other people's toes. Then I started to feel sad for them. Here they were mid 30's having to get their kicks by sucking on a weed and a whiskey bottle. Did they really think the fact they were in designer clothes made them any different to the addicts and drunks in the back alley's?

It is the illusion a lot of people who take drugs and drink suffer from. They think because they have a good job, home and are successful they don't have a problem. But what they do not understand is they are one step away from becoming one of the street people.
You would have to be dopey not to know all the homeless people and drug addicts came from somewhere. They were not born into their situations they fell into them. You would be surprised how many addicts and drunks were not that long ago holding down jobs and living the suburbian life.

It is hard to see people still trying to hold onto their youth because they have nothing to look forward to. We were all a little arrogant in our 20's, probably thought we were invincible and lived for the day. But in our 30's we have discovered ourselves have gathered our experiences and shaped them into a future plan.

We have moved from doing into being. Moved from arrogance into wisdom and empathy. We move from being thrilled to be touched. We no longer need the high because we have the peace which comes with age and knowing.

We tuned out from the group behind us enjoyed the rest of the night packed up our tarp and headed home. And as I sit here a day later I wonder if they really know how to live with depth and passion or if they skim the surface moving onto the next drink, the next drag, the next party. And I wonder if the moment will come when every party will look like the one before, when they will look around and see they are the oldest person in the room, or whether they will need harder drugs and more booze because everytime they wake up the reality of their life stares them in the face.

Me I actually like my life it may not be perfect but then no one's ever is. I am grateful I don't need a drink to get through life or to enjoy it. I am thankful I can get high on life its cheaper and keeps my brain cells in tack.

My wish for those left on the hillside would be may you wake up and discover you need nothing more than an open heart full of love to enjoy the beauty of the world. May you step into the grace of aging and release the things of youth. And lastly may you find a spot at least 100 feet away from me next year. Okay so that probably wasn't very spiritual but hey I did say I wasn't perfect!

101 Life Tips

1. Not everyone is going to like you..get over it
2. Stuff is going to happen.deal with it
3. Faith is not what you hold onto but what you are prepared to let go off
4. Ignorance is thinking you know, arrogance is believing you know and enlightenment is admitting you don't know
5. Man who buries head in sand will eventually get butt kicked
6. What you see on the surface rarely is what lies underneath
7. Parents eventually hand the decision making over to you after that all blame for poor life choices lies with the management
8. When arguing remember putting another log on the fire only fuels the flames
9. You cannot change the past but you can create the future
10. Assumptions are what we make when we already think we know the answer
11. Creator has a "you break it you pay for it" policy for mankind
12. The only things you take into the next life are those stored in your heart
13. It is people not possessions which give life meaning
14. Everyone you meet is a reflection of who you are so it's a good idea to look for the best in people
15. A wise man sits in silence only then can he hear his own voice
16. Without the destination there is no point to the journey
17. When you step into judgment you step into ignorance
18. Attitude didn't come with you when you were born it arrived later
19. The difference between a happy man and sad man is not what he has but what he believes he has
20. The greatest human need is the need to be heard the greatest human imperfection is the inability to listen
21. Completion is the fullness of a life lived
22. If you seek to control your life it will control you
23. To forget where you began may mean you will not know how far you have come
24. If all rivers lead to the same ocean mistakes are only detours
25. If you haven't found the missing piece of the puzzle consider the possibility it doesn't exist yet
26. To become attached is to give meaning and once this occurs nothing becomes something
27. Mother Teresa was in the now she was "I am" so gave that she was to those she met
28. The hardest things to let go off is our selves'
29. If you are in the now you are neither reflecting on the past or trying to glimpse the future
30. He who is medicine man comes from the stars to free us from the earth
31. I chose to believe humanity is not flawed but still learning
32. There can be no reality without belief
33. If you cannot walk in the shoes of another and feel his world you are still walking in the illusion of your own reality
34. If you walk a thousan d r oads in your mind you are going to get very tired
35. What is grace but the man women or child who stands in their truth and has no need to be bigger or smaller than anyone else
36. Turning back time wouldn't work because your adult eyes would see all the things your child eyes missed
37. There is something wrong when you both believe you are right
38. The difference between a child and a middle aged person is one is too busy living life to look at the finish line and the other is busy preparing for it
39. Celebrity is word made up by someone with too much time on their hands
40. Regrets are the weight in a fools pocket keeping him where he is
41. Emotions are your bodies way of telling you.you are not paying attention
42. It was the voices of the people which changed the world not their silence
43. I am not the echo of my fathers words I am the seed of our fathers love
44. The greatest gift you will ever give anyone is the knowledge they are not alone
45. Life should not be a fast food meal eaten on the run but a banquet with each mouthful savored
46. Contemplation can be a dangerous companion to loneliness
47. When change knocks on your door it won't go away just because you do not invite it in
48. Before you can be happy you have to figure out what makes you happy
49. If you are someone's better half does that mean neither of you were whole to begin with?
50. Love is not giving all that you are but accepting the other person and all that they are
51. When you are gone only memories of where you have been will remain so think carefully about the impression you want to leave behind
52. If you keep wishing you had someone else's life you won't make anything of your own
53. Life doesn't wait for us but time does stand still when we are enjoying what we are doing
54. It is easier to tear something down than it is to build it up
55. In a fight remember you have to have an ending before you can have a new beginning
56. You don't have to play with the hand life deals you..you can always shuffle the deck
57. Being a poor imitation of someone else is not greatness it is sameness
58. We celebrate the life of those we loved and loss by being all we can in the lifetime we have left
59. Sameness is the security blanket we drag along with us through life we use it to create the illusion we are in control of our world
60. Sacredness is not something to be defined but something to be felt
61. Your perfect partner may not be the one you never argue with but the one whose presence pushes you into growth and understanding
62. If you want to teach you have to practice what you preach
63. You cannot lead the way if you are standing still
64. sometimes it is easier to shift blame than accept it
65. Always assume the words you speak are being spoken to you then ask yourself how does this make me feel?
66. Balance does not come by motion but by stillness. When the water is poured into the glass it only becomes level when it is still
67. Love is not a band aid to fix wounded hearts
68. The past is a memory the moment has gone, the future is a dream the moment has yet to arrive, the now this moment is here and it will never come again
69. In the moment you need be nothing more because you will always be enough

75 Sometimes shifting our position is enough to shift our view Does the voice of a child have to be carried with the sound of a gunshot to be heard?

83 The moment you were born you were greatness'

84 Put your hand over your heart feel it beat feel it pulsate life throughout your body and know with absolute certainty there was a reason Higher Power placed you on this Earth

85 When you let go of expectations you open yourself up to all possibilities

86 Take a second to link to every other person on this planet because some where in the world some one is going through the very same thing you are so send a prayer of courage in their direction they need your help too

87 If you come to someone brandishing should have's and waving around statements of guilt and shame you are infecting the wound not healing it

88 If every person became a healer if every person brought out their gifts and used them the world would change.

89 madness or simply the Higher Power saying time to for a change?

90 It doesn't matter who writes the words the only person who can give them power and meaning is you

91 The only way through something is to take one step at a time one day at a time one moment at a time

92 Here is what happens when you take a step you close the gap between where you want to be and where you are.

93 on the other hand if the embarrassment of discovering you are human after all

94 Grace is the inner beauty that shines as a guiding light for those coming behind to follow

95 Sometimes we have to let go of what we believe to be true about ourselves and the world around us, in order to discover what we don't know about ourselves and the world around us

96 Remember your greatness is not one thing but many and dreams do not come with a limit or use by date

97 If someone said to you "if you only had today what would you fill it with" What would you say?

98 We have the capacity to step back before we step forward and this allows us a moment where clarity can be gained

101 Don't believe everything you read

• Previous Posts:

• What Would Jesus Say?
• I wish I was Wayne Dyer
• Dopey and Grumpy
• 101 Life Tips
• Choices and Confrontation
• Sisterhood of Stars
• In the arms of an Angel
• Let go and let God

• Related Posts:

• Are you always in a Rush? Over Working Yourself? Wish Stairs were Slides? Then Join the Club!
• Vanishing Point
• Digging Up Bones Part II, Something's Happening Here
• Digging Up Bones Part I, Childhood Scars
• The Twin Set
• Learning to Hear What Others Are Really Saying
• More Thoughts from the Reluctant Student of Depression
• Why (sort of) Seeing a Ghost/ Ghoul / Thing didn't make me any less Sceptical about their Existence

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