tonyjwash

[tonyjwash]

Discovery...

Imagine, if you will, that 90% of life is not what you think it is. If perchance you have lived a few years, then you have drawn some pretty solid conclusions about how this whole living life thing really works. You have caused and effected to the best of your ability and some things you simply accepted at face value. With that, there are also some parts of life that make no sense to you at all.…

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What I Meant to Say!

On Monday I sat down dutifully to write my blog. I began writing with a vague concept in mind and continued on until the first paragraph was completed. Then, it happened. I’m not sure if it was because I had not written a blog in several weeks or the subject matter I chose, but there I sat scratching my head. It dawned on me in the most profound way that by trying to help people solve their…

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Nothing to Look Forward To?

Do you feel as if you have nothing to look forward to in your life or do you have nothing to look forward to because you think you have nothing to look forward to? If you can get below the surface a little bit, you’ll understand that I’m not talking about your next vacation or your plans for the summer. I’m talking about your life. I’m talking about that hopeful glimmer; that anticipation for a…

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How Would You Live?

How would you live if you were the only person on the Earth? Would your life look the same? Would you make all of the same choices? Imagine if there was no society to judge you; to conform you; to tell you what is okay and what is not okay. Would it make a difference in how you greeted each new day? Or, what if you loved God, but not your church so much because of their insistence on telling you…

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Is Your Light Dim?

Everyone is telling you nowadays that you have to learn how to shine bright. “Don’t lose your shine baby!” “Don’t let them take away your shine, girl! I think the message is that we are supposed to shine. But, sometimes we don’t shine. Sometimes we haven’t shined in so long that we forgot what shining felt like. You know what I’m talking about. Those times when you felt like you didn’t have a…

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Do You Have Compassion for Yourself?

As I continue in my lifetime quest for good thoughts, it has occurred to me that there is a whole different category of unrecognized thoughts, specifically the thoughts you think towards yourself. And, as I continue to prove my maxim to myself, that life will be infinitely better by choosing only good thoughts, it appears an exposure is in order. Much of our thinking, unfortunately, is centered…

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Things Papa Taught Me Last Year...

There is nothing like a birthday to give you some pause in order to consider what happened over the course of the past year. Personally, this past year was a period of almost unequalled and unparalleled growth. God taught me so many important lessons, some very personal, others just to bless me. My Morning Pages time produced a perfect environment to seek and always receive such great clarity and…

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External Validation, Do You Need It?

Imagine a world existing where other people’s values and opinions mattered more than your own. Picture a scenario where your life is always under examination to see whether or not you measure up. Opine the possibility of forcing yourself to fit in with everybody because you are so desperate to maintain their approval. See the audacity of the crowd to determine whether or not you are actually…

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Believe for a Change...

As a bonafide purveyor of right thought, I’ve always considered it my personal mission to educate people concerning the importance of their thoughts and even more importantly, how those thoughts help form their beliefs. Yet for all that, there’s another piece. Simply stated, if you can get your thoughts together and keep them together long enough to form new, positive beliefs, those new beliefs…

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Blindspots...

I’m sure you’ve had the experience where you are peacefully driving your car and decided to change lanes. After a couple of glances in the mirror, over you drift only to be met with obnoxious honking and a very heated driver. You can’t really match that bad energy because you know you were in the wrong. Instead you sort of skulk away determined to check your blindspot next time. Sadly, our…

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Approval Seeking?

As a card carrying member of the approval seekers club, I can tell you a few things about the pitfalls of the game. Us approval seekers generally got our start early on trying to persuade some meanie to like us. Once we learned the game we could wield powers over people by making sure everyone we knew loved us. We were always very popular. How could we not be living life in cater mode? After all,…

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Craft Your Life

Sometimes I think we give too much credit to the work and not the belief behind the work. We’ve all been collectively schooled to appreciate the value of hard work and logically conclude that he who does the most work ultimately wins. Is that true? Is our expectation of life such that the only valuable commodity is work? The rest an unnecessary byproduct. And when do you finally get to sit down…

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Going It Alone?

I’m not sure if it has dawned on you at this juncture in your life, but this whole living thing is pretty complex. I mean it has lots of parts and pieces. It’s harder than golf. There’s about a million things you don’t know anything about. And finally, there’s this entire spiritual realm with a reported over four thousand variations in general, let alone in specifics. Yet for all that, there are…

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Are You Winning the Fight?

If I asked you if you were winning the fight? What would you say? When it comes to living the best life, there is really only one important fight you have to win. It’s not winning the financial lottery and having the security that money offers. It’s not the old adage, “He who has the most toys when he dies, wins!” It’s not living in a mansion or owning a beachside villa, though both would be…

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What is the Solution?

When I was a youngster living in the state of Maine, the radio announcer would say, Potatoes, problems and people, that’s the name of the game here in Maine.” Not all people have potatoes, but all people have problems. The reason something is a problem for us is because we don’t know how to solve it. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but there are a lot of things we do not know nor understand. A…

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The Great Paradox!

You know, some folks spend their whole life looking for something that never arrives. “When I finally get that part done I can enjoy my life!” They seek happy circumstances and pleasantness but it never seems to show up. They wish for another place, another climate, another house, another job, meanwhile disliking what they already have. Their heart yearns to be more free or maybe just free to…

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What are you Thinking?

Now you know as the world’s foremost purveyor of the importance of thought, albeit self disclosed, the topic of thought has always intrigued me. It is literally the difference between a good and a bad life. It is the only thing in this world that you can control. It is the gatekeeper to your heart from whence come the issues of your life. It is the one thing that human beings can do that none of…