It all matters. Life matters. As the days turn into months and the months will soon turn into years, I have been searching for answers to our current world dilemmas. It is as though we have just awakened from a long slumber and can’t believe what has gone on while we have all been asleep, unconscious. It has all happened so suddenly. Or has it? It is like a modern day episode of The Twilight Zone. This episode is not far fetched but certainly far reaching because it is affecting millions of people in dramatic ways far greater than the horror one might have considered plausible. We don’t have the dramatic effect of extremes or the supernatural. What we have in this version is so subtle that it came from years of living unconsciously with the choices we made in our daily lives. Choices that are now echoing the consequences to our blind living. The awakening is offering an opportunity for re-evaluating and re-adjusting our values. We are being nudged to move closer to those things that we hold dear to our hearts. Read the rest of this entry »
By Mark C. Hughes, Life Coach for Parents & Teens @ The Karma Institute
I entered this Christmas Season with ambivalence. Ambivalent about the economy and those around me that are celebrating Christmas differently this year. In the years gone by, the Christmas trees were decorated with more than lights and ornaments. Beneath the tree an abundance of presents represented the love each family member shared for each other. For some, the bigger, the better. For others, it was the number of presents that represented their degree of love. Let’s be honest, isn’t that how it really is? As a father, I don’t expect more than a wallet and some new socks but engrained in me is the notion that love is communicated at Christmas by the “things” wrapped inside those decorated boxes. I have fallen victim to counting the presents to make sure that my love was evenly distributed. I made sure that one child didn’t get an imbalance of large boxes. I counted and recounted the money I had spent to make sure that one wouldn’t feel slighted by the inequities of their true market value. Read the rest of this entry »
On the wall, centered over the fireplace hung a family portrait. I loved those years. Oh, how the kids have grown. Propped on the couch was the worn teddy bear my daughter clutched in her arms each night when she went to bed. As I walked into my son’s room, I couldn’t help but feel the sadness remembering the countless nights I tucked him in bed and rubbed his back. With a deep breath, I recounted the many parties and social gatherings we had in the bonus room. Like most typical families, we always fought for the control of the remote. Almost real now, I imagined the many dance parties that left us sweating with perspiration but very satisfied. My smile quickly subsided as my eyes caught the four chairs tucked neatly under the kitchen table. Our mealtime was a time of playful laughter and joy. As I closed the front door behind me and headed down the porch, I looked back at our three-story, 3200 square foot house we designed and built with dreams of a future with lasting memories and happiness. Reluctantly, I had to accept that fact that my dreams would soon vanish with the pending foreclosure of my home.
