Follow Your Dreams

Contrary to the opinion of some people, it really is not a bad thing to be a dreamer and follow your dreams. However, to clarify what I mean, of course I am not talking about “childhood fantasy daydreaming” as opposed to having a, “Marten L. King dream; which is what I am talking about being worthy of pursuit.

By definition, “Daydreaming” is a short-term detachment from one's immediate surroundings, during which a person's contact with reality is blurred and partially substituted by a visionary “fantasy”. However, having a dream you want to pursue, may involve a little daydreaming at some point. Nevertheless, the kind of dreams I am referring to is a much more reality based, and mostly conscious as far as your thought process. “Having a dream” is based on our “ideas, things we hope to accomplish in life”; usually our dreams of this nature are not only self-centered. Although, new and innovative ideas we may have, and want to accomplish, are sometimes thought of by others as fantasy, or wishful thinking. However, we cannot allow the negative opinions of others to discourage us to the point of giving up on our dreams. I think the greatest challenge anyone often has to overcome when it comes to following your dreams, is not being focused on other peoples opinions instead of our desire to accomplish our dreams. Of course every dream a person has is not going to workout, but it is my belief that it is always important to at least try to fulfill them.

Many people, who have been ridiculed and called dreamers, are responsible for making some of the greatest contributions to our world, to mention a few;

Leonardo Da Vinci – The father of many inventions, which are now the basis for many of our modern inventions.

Isaac Newton – Brought physical science out of the dark ages with not only his theories, but also his inventions

Marie Curie – An innovator in medical science, changed social & scientific views of medical treatment overall.

Thomas Edison – Responsible for inventing many of the first versions of our modern conveniences

John Vincent Atanasoff  - If it were not for this man, you probably would not be reading this article. Because, he invented the first digital computer

Albert Einstein – Because of this man’s genus (one of my heroes), we understand our world & our universe from a scientific point of view. Because of Einstein we have a space program!

Mark Zuckerberg - an American computer programmer, Internet entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is best known as one of five co-founders of the social-networking website Facebook.

These people were often miss-understood, ridiculed and persecuted for their for their ideas; their inventions were often mocked. Nevertheless, these great examples of dreamers, and many more like them, continued to follow their dreams; and I am thankful for that, because we all live in a better world because of their dreams and their fortitude in the pursuit of them.

Yes, I am a dreamer too. I have pursued many of my dreams; Some things I have ventured in my life I consider to be great successes; other things I have attempted I guess some might call failures. However, I do not look as my unsuccessful endeavors as failures, I just chalk them up to being a “learning experience”.  Nevertheless, a point I would like to make here is, I do not regret anything I have done to follow my heart and follow my dreams. I would however, regret never having tried; for knowing myself as I do, I know I would someday be left wondering, “What if…” that I could not live with!

It is my philosophy in life that it is never a waste of time, or a waste of my life, to try something new. I certainly not think it is foolish to stick to what I want to do, no matter how difficult the task. Even if I have to try different ways to accomplish what I setout to do, I approach my dream pursuits with the same mindset as my work ethic; I will not give up easily on a dream. If I do give up ona a dream pursuit, it is only after I have proved to myself by trying every option that, a pursued dream is “just not a productive endeavor”. As far as trying and/or giving up on something, the following about sums it up for me… I once read a parable quote which states;

“A fool folds his hands and makes no effort.

Therefore, he accomplishes nothing in life;

leaving himself only to waste away; (while thinking to himself)

“It is better to get just a little without much effort,

than it is to gain much from laboring all day;

to me, all that labor is just chasing the wind …”

Ecclesiastes 4:5 & 6 American Bible Paraphrased

The example given above, is what I think sums up true human folly, it is never trying. This kind of hopelessness, lazy, narrow minded thinking is not really living life, and that is a terminal disease.

Another serious problem which can rob us of the best of ourselves is being worried about what everyone else will think. Other peoples opinions can be a valuable asset at times. However, we cannot live our life based on what others think; that is not really living. Therefore, I will continue to be my own person and I will follow my dreams!

Author Dolly S.J. Piper July 2014

A positive mind and a good idea, is a terrible thing to waste!

My Journey begins here

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MY PERSONAL JOURNAL

THE PHILOSOPHY OF ME

    Life is a journey for all of us, and life does not come with a map showing us which direction to go. We are all travelers who must find our way one step at a time. Sometimes there are signs which guide us on our path; but they can often be easily missed. Therefore, I have always considered life to be a somewhat mysterious adventure. I have had many struggles to survive in life, and I have met many seemingly insurmountable challenges in my life. However, those challenges for me have been nothing but mountains for me to climb; and when I reached the pinnacle of each challenge, I have planted my flag of victory every time.

    To say the least, some of my life trials and experiences have left me dumbfounded at times. Some of my life experiences have even left me permanently scared to a degree. However, I am the kind of person who believes in keeping a forward momentum; not looking back with any regret. For it is my philosophy to carry with me the best of the past and try to gain wisdom from even my worst life experiences. Life its-self is often the best teacher, when we are ready to learn from it.

WAS THAT AN ANGEL, OR WHAT? Spirituality as opposed to religion

    I have my own personal views as far as the spiritual world. Although I became an ordained minister in 1987, now; organized religion is no longer a part of my life; mainly because of the conflict between organized religion, science, and the truth about spirituality in general. Nevertheless, I live a life full of rich spiritual experiences.

    My background in regard to the spiritual is, I was raised by a mom who had very traditional Christian beliefs. However, my mom also had some not so traditional spiritual beliefs, abilities and experiences in her life, as did I. Therefore, I grew up accepting traditional religious views, but also supernatural activity as being a "normal" part of life. Generally, most of my family on my mom's side attended church. Therefore, until I was old enough to make my own life-style choices, "Sunday school" was a regular part of my life.

LOOSING MY RELIGION

    What really turned me off to organized religion in general are three things;

        #1. When I studied Biblical Theology, I also studied the Hebrew and Greek languages so that I could read bible text originally written in those languages (most of the bible was written in those two languages). There are original bible texts written in two more languages now considered to be “dead languages”, however those are not available for study purposes. My point here is, that I found the most commonly used versions of English language bibles, have too many inaccuracies in their interpretation of the original texts. There are two main reasons for this, but I am not going into this as I do not want to bore anyone.

       #2. The deeper I affiliated with religious groups (churches); the more it became clear to me that generally they are just another version of politics… A way of controlling groups of people, by lauding the power of a “chosen few” over those groups… The problem here being that the decisions made by those “chosen few” (some being very corrupt); rarely had anything to do with true holiness and spirituality! Therefore, during my somewhat short stint as a “Pastor”, not only did I become disillusioned with “church life”, but I also observed too much injustice committed against other individuals whose spirituality and faith was nearly destroyed by this. Therefore, that eventually became the end of organized religion for me!

       #3. Finally in this matter, a very important reason I left organized religion; is the religious system as a whole was often in conflict with the spiritual principals I know to be true, because of my own personal life experiences. I learned fairly quickly why this is true; “spiritual” in religion means “lack of human control”, it also means a loss of  “human deification” in other words, no more glorification of human church leadership”. After all, the spiritual minded person realizes that human beings are “not immortal”, therefore if we recognize that even “religious leaders” cannot become gods, they have lost their authority to “rule” over us! So, that’s the end of that!

NOW MY SPIRIT CAN BREATHE! Finding my life path... seeking wisdom

    I must first say before moving forward in this section; that just because I am finished with being a part of religious sects, this does not mean that I completely reject ancient spiritual and historical documents.

    As I mentioned above in this section, I have lived a life full of rich spiritual experiences. In addition, in my life as it is now I have gained a deep, unmovable, sense of peace, and find great joy in living my life. I live life with an unshakable faith and a positive outlook for the future ahead of me. I have confidence that I am a being whose best is eternal; and as long as this body lives I know that I am covered by the unseen canopy of divine, unconditional love, which is grace.

    Those who know me personally know that I love to study the Natural and Metaphysical Sciences. The focus of my continuing to research of the previously stated topics is to learn more about the world around me for the purpose of personal growth. In addition, world history is another favorite subject. Having stated my lifestyle here; brings me to the following point…

    Fact and truth are always the foundation for my lifestyle choices and my spiritual beliefs. In my opinion, knowledge, (fact and truth) alone is ‘not’ power. Instead, it is wisdom which gives us “personal power”; not power over other human beings, but the power to make the most effective, productive choices in ones own life. As far as I am concerned, it is wisdom, which brings a balance into ones own life; balance brings peace and joy into living. Nevertheless, a person would be a fool to think that wisdom can be had without an education. Education does not have to be formal per say, providing the information one learns draws on proven facts.

    Even spirituality must be based on the physics of our universe or it makes no sense, it has no foundation. Even the original biblical texts and many other religious texts state that “God/the Creator is a god of order…” (New American Standard Bible Hebrews 11:3) interestingly enough this text section also states “the order of what is visible has it’s origin in that which is invisible”; (the last portion of this text lends credence to my statement in regard to spiritual beliefs). Science has now proven that our universe does have a definite order. For example, science has proven what is called, the “Golden Ratio”, that is the proof that our entire universe has a consistent order and form. This Golden Ratio order can clearly be seen in the basic shape of flowers, tree trunks, seashells, crystals, molecular structure, our universe, and galaxy shape. Some religious scientist, believe the Golden Ratio proves a form of “Creationism”. However, I do not; I think those scientists are barking up the wrong avenue of science.

AS MADONNA SAID, “EXPRESS YOURSELF!” About my Art & writing

EXPRESS MYSELF, well I certainly do, any way I can! Sometimes it seems strange even to me, the things which inspire me; it could be anything from a tiny nail head sized flower to papers & cans in a gutter. I have even been inspired by a sound or a single word.
    ART MATERIALS ~ Of course I use all standard art supplies for painting, sculpting & such; but those who know me well are not surprised about my trips to the dump, junk yards, hardware stores & so on...
Currently, I am focused on Digital Graphics & Animated Arts (sometimes building computer  programs so that I can create what is in my head).

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