Awake Within a Dream

Yesterday I had a discussion with someone about lucid dreaming, and we ended up discussing the different types of methods that people use to have outer body experiences. Now, I don’t usually discuss my personal experiences when it comes to some spiritual things, because most people don’t understand or some of them will assume that what I am saying isn’t true simply because they haven’t personally experienced it. Lately I have been starting to care less about what other people think when it comes to me discussing this subject, so on this day I told her about my personal experience.

When I was 11 years’ old I could remember going inside of my house to take a nap, because I had been outside playing with my friends most of the day. When I went into my bedroom, I had lain down because I was very tired. After I opened my eyes, I noticed that I was sitting on the edge of my bed and as I looked around my room there was nothing in it except for the bed that I was sitting on. As I stood up on my feet, I felt weightless, as if I didn’t weigh a single pound. I could see something beginning to appear on my bed, once I could completely see what it was; I realized that it was me. How could I be standing up and lying on my bed at the same time? I started to panic, because I honestly thought that I was dead. As I looked around my bedroom everything began to become visible, and it looked exactly how it was before I fell asleep.

I walked outside of my bedroom and I saw nothing, the whole house was empty, and all of a sudden everything and everyone in the house started to appear where they were before I went to bed, but there were a few things that were different. My aunt and my cousin were at my house, and they weren’t there before I fell asleep. My mother and father were watching a different show on television, and there were groceries on the kitchen table, which were not there before I fell asleep. I made attempts to get their attention, but nothing worked. I could even tap them on the arm and shoulders while attempting to get their attention, but nothing would happen, they just continued to talk as if they couldn’t feel or hear me.

I started to become frustrated, and at that moment, everything disappeared. Everything around me turned white, and I became trapped in this empty space with no way to escape it. A lot of numbers and shapes started to appear, there were so many that the white parts of this empty space that I was in became difficult to see. I closed my eyes and when I opened them I was back inside of my house. There was something coming out of me and it was colorful, but they were colors that I haven’t seen before, it was coming from me and going towards my bedroom. It was broken off in the middle and the other half was coming towards me from in my bedroom. It looked like mist, but it was, thin, spinning, and it was very colorful and bright. Both ends of this mist were about to come in contact with each other, and the closer they got to each other the more I could feel myself losing control. When both ends finally connected I shattered into a lot of pieces and I could see each piece as it sped towards my bedroom, and the light that was emitting from me was extremely bright and pulsating. After the last piece went away it pulled all of me in the same direction, and this colorful mist was connected to me and my body that was on the bed.

All of a sudden, I woke up and I could barely breathe. I walked through the inside of my house like I did when I was asleep, and everything looked exactly like it did in my dream. My aunt and cousin were there, the groceries were on the table, my parents were watching the same movie, and my aunt and cousin were having the same conversation. I never told anyone about this, because I knew that no one would understand. It would be almost sixteen years later before I had this experience again, but this time I learned how to have outer body experiences on my own without having to wait for them to randomly happen. Lucid dreaming was something that just started to occur regularly after I turn 26 years’ old, and they still continue to happen, but it wasn’t until I meditated during a lucid dream that I came to understand how to have an outer body experience whenever I wanted to have one.

I was in a dream that had a lot of people around me, and I made them all disappear, if you have been lucid dreaming for a while this is most likely an easy thing for you to do. I didn’t like the location of the dream, so I made myself appear at a beach. I changed the sky to yellow, purple, and dark blue, and the sun was green. I floated there, in the sky, looking down at the sand and the water, and then I closed my eyes. I did Isha Kriya meditation for as long as I could without losing focus. I was doing this for what seemed like a long time, and I started to see visions of me, but physically I knew that it wasn’t the person that I am now, meaning that it was a different body, but it felt like I was watching something that I saw before. I was with a child and a woman on a beach similar to the one that I was at while meditating. For some reason I started to become afraid. I felt like I was becoming trapped in this dream, and when I opened my eyes I was standing right beside my body, just like I was when I was 11 years’ old.

Social Media and Relationships

Love can be a beautiful thing, and when you are in love you want the whole world to know. People tend to get on sites such as Facebook and express how good or bad their relationship is going. Most people discuss the good things, while some speak of the bad ones. The thing that a lot of people tend to forget is that the statuses that they are posting will be viewed by hundreds, maybe thousands of people. First, I will break down how people view the things that you post about your relationship.  

About 50% of your Facebook friends will think it is nice that you are posting the good things about your relationship, or they will be truly concerned about the bad things that you post. Each of those Facebook friends might even be in relationship too. Those are the main ones that will like or comment on your status.

There will be about another 40% that will not see it or they will see it, but they will not pay much attention to it. This does not mean that they dislike you or that they are jealous of you, it just means that the status may not interest them or perhaps they did not get online that day.

Finally, there is one more group; this is the final 10%. This is the group that is jealous because you have something that they wished they had. They could be the ones that were single for a long time, and constantly see you updating your status saying how much you love your significant other, and how happy you are to be with them. Your happiness hurts them, because they want to experience true love, and knowing that you have found that before they did makes them want to ruin what you have going on with the person you love.

The 10% will do whatever it takes to put an end to your relationship or to cause problems for you and your significant other. They will also do whatever they have to in order for them to find out who you are in a relationship with, and they will ease their way into his or her life. They may start out by liking some of their statuses or pictures. They may comment on their page off and on. Eventually they will message the person that you are in a relationship with. They will pretend to only want to be their friend, like most people do when they first meet. Eventually, the person that you are in a relationship with may give him/her their phone number so that they can contact each other outside of Facebook. Most men are aware of the real reason that they are getting a girl’s phone number, and that she may want more than a friendship if he is in a relationship, because plenty of women want what another woman already has. Females on the other hand may not realize a man’s intentions, especially if they are approached while in a vulnerable state. I am not saying that all men wait until a woman is going through problems before they get to know her because it will be easier to get what they want when she is like that, but a lot of them do.

Once the person from the 10% gets your boyfriend/girlfriend to contact them outside of Facebook the next step will be for them to meet in person. Plenty of you may read this and say that your man or woman will never fall for that, but you would be surprised at how wrong you are. And if you think that way, you probably were already in that situation and were unaware of it. The 10% of people who are jealous of your relationship will go through a lot to hurt your feelings and end your relationship, but there are ways to avoid this.

1. Always be aware of statuses that people may make toward you without saying your name. Some people will make it known that they are jealous, but they will create a subliminal status to get it off of their chest, while keeping your name out of it. You can easily delete them before they even attempt to break up your relationship. 
2. Pay attention to the people who comment and like your status. Most of them may have good intentions, but some of them may comment or like your status only to be nosy, and to see all of the comments that you receive on it before they inbox and attempt to try to get to know you while you are going through relationship problems.
3. You need to understand that anyone can become jealous. Do not think that only your enemies and people who you do not know will try to sabotage your relationship, because a friend will do it too. Think about it, a friend sees you talking about your how good your relationship is online, and in person. If it is a friend that is not loyal they will eventually get curious about what he or she is doing to make you so happy. As time passes they will want what is yours. Even though you all may hang out together in person that might be too risky for him/her to try to talk to your man or woman when you are around. They may flirt with your significant other while you all are in public, when you are not paying attention, but they will not do anything to make you curious. Ask yourself, what is the easiest way for them to try to talk your boyfriend or girlfriend? The answer is by messaging them on Facebook or a similar social media site.
4. Be aware of a person pretending to care in order to get close to you and to separate you from the person you are with. Everyone needs advice sometime, but be aware of people that will try manipulate you to get what they want. We can easily say Facebook destroys relationships, but we as humans have free will so we are the only ones can mess up our relationships by giving in to temptation, and by not showing self-control.

Why are you afraid?

A wise man once said that fear is a form of insanity, because we fear situations that we have yet to experience. Think about it; you might fear that you are going to lose your job, you might fear that you won’t have enough money to pay your bills by the time they are due, you might fear that your boyfriend/girlfriend might break up with you, all of these things are scenarios that you have created, because you are letting external situations control you instead of you controlling those external situations.

These different scenarios that you create with your imagination are the type of scenarios that creates fear. How many times have you been afraid of what might happen only to find out that things did not turn out the way that you thought they were going to turn out, and you realized that you were afraid for no reason at all? This form of insanity has become acceptable, because most humans suffer from it. We believe that it is normal for humans to fear the unknown, but you can change this way of thinking.

To overcome fear you have to step outside of your imagination, and live within reality. Your imagination will drive you crazy if you constantly use it to try and figure out what might happen in the future. When you are rooted in reality, and focused on the present, you will not worry about what might happen, and you will devote the energy that you were wasting on fear into regaining control of the situations that caused you to be afraid in the first place.

Life is too short to live it fearing things/situations that have yet to come into existence; it is a terrible way to live. Remember that we all have freewill and you can use that freewill to fear what might happen in the future, or you can use it to regain control of those external situations that are making you imagine what might happen. Do you want to live your life consumed by your fears or do you want to live your life to the fullest? The choice is yours.

SHE DESERVED TO BE RAPED?

A few days ago I was at a store not too far from where I live, and I overheard two guys, and a woman talking about another woman that accused a guy of raping her. I can tell that they didn’t believe her, it also seemed as if they personally knew this woman. The woman said that the girl was a liar and an attention whore. That is when one of the men said, "She is always dressing like a whore; if it did happen she probably led him on."

Lately, I have been hearing plenty of men saying that women deserve to be disrespected if they wear revealing clothing. In this particular case, the woman in the store agreed with them. Sometimes I think that men just speak without even taking a second to think about how stupid they are about to sound. I don’t care how revealing a woman’s clothing is, no woman deserves to be raped, or disrespected because of what they are wearing.

Men are known for making those ignorant comments, but it really baffled me to know that there are women that agree with them. If it was their sister, mother, or their daughter being violated for what they were wearing, I am positive that they would start to see things differently. It is a shame that it takes for a person to personally go through this, or for them to have a friend or family member become a rape victim before they realize how insensitive they were being by disrespecting those women that have been hurt by these animals.

When people say that women deserve to be disrespected because of what they are wearing, they encourage this type of behavior and make it acceptable by blaming the victim. These women aren’t asking to be disrespected; they are not asking these men -not men, more like sexual predators- to rape them. We need to hold these men accountable for their actions instead of demonizing the victim who had no control over the person that chose hurt her.

I don’t expect too many men to change their ways, because for years women have been trying to show them that they should be respected regardless of how they are dressed, and they are still blaming the victims. I hope that all of the women that have started to support the nonsense that some of these men have been spewing will realize that women have been through too much throughout our history, and to tear each other down by saying that some women deserve to be violated isn't conducive to all of things that women have been fighting for and are still fighting for.

The next time that any of my readers see a woman that is wearing revealing clothing; don’t be so quick to assume that she is a whore or a slut. Some women are proud of their bodies and they love to show it off, it doesn’t mean that they should be hurt because of it. There are some women that like to rebel against what most people consider to be normal, and by wearing what they want they are showing the world that they refuse to conform to what society views as being acceptable. I used to be one of those foolish men, judging women based on their appearance. Now I know that I should never do that, and maybe, one day, the majority of men in the world will see things the way that I see them.

Alone but not lonely

When I say that I feel alone, I don't mean that I physically feel alone. I feel that the way that I think and the way that I see the world is different from the way that a lot of people see the world. I feel like I am a prisoner being held hostage by my own thoughts. It doesn't matter how much I try to escape them, they always follow me and they will never let me get away. I often wish that I didn't have the urge to want to change the world. I often wish that I wasn't obsessed with finding out how humans came into existence, and what our purpose is in life. I often wish that people could see the world the way that I see it, and realize that by uniting, and setting aside our differences we could make this world a better place for us all.

If you saw the movie called the matrix then you could understand how I feel. I see people going to work everyday , and slaving their lives away only to continue to struggle. I see wars being fought, not for our freedom, but to benefit the wealthy and those that are in power. I see big pharmaceutical companies keeping cures from the public, because there is more money to be made by managing our illnesses instead curing them. I see people being forced to sell drugs, rob people, live on the streets, and live paycheck to paycheck because the monetary system is flawed, and designed to create these problems. I see people voting during election season not realizing that their vote means nothing at all. I see the media and the government manipulating the public on a daily basis. I see all of these things, but I see so many people that don't see them happening, or they see them happening, but they are too afraid to stand up and make things better.

As I said before, I am a prisoner being held hostage by my own thoughts. I used to be different and I used to think differently. Now I feel like I am trapped in a world surrounded by mental slaves, and I feel that it is my duty to wake up as many of them as possible. There are times that I want to go back to the days where I didn't care about any of these things, but if I had the chance to do that I am positive that I wouldn't do it.

WANTS VS NEEDS

I often hear women say that there are no more good men in the world. When I hear that I instantly feel the urge to correct them. There are a lot of good men in this world, the reason that a lot of of women can’t find a good man is because they let their wants over power the things that they need in a man. This can easily lead to a woman giving her heart to the wrong man. The outcome is usually her thinking that all men are the same due to her poor choice in men.

These type of women think that they NEED a man that looks perfect, has a lot of materialistic things, or one that’s popular and makes plenty of money. All of those things are not needs, those are wants, and a great deal of women tend to confuse those two things.The only things that a woman “needs” from a man is for him to treat her like a queen, love her with all of his heart, have goals to become successful. He should be faithful and respectful, and he should always do what he can to keep her satisfied. Those things that I just listed are the only things that a woman  really needs from a man, but when you let the things that you want in a man overpower the things that you need in a man you tend to end up with a man that will only be in your life temporarily. 

I am not saying that you shouldn't look for a man that possesses some of the things that you want in a man, what I am saying is that you should put your needs first and realize that even if he don’t have the things you want in a man you could still build a strong relationship off of him being able to fulfill your needs. When you go for what you need in a relationship you will start to attract good men, and realize that you were wrong when you assumed that good men didn't exist anymore, and you will see that you were just looking for the wrong things, which lead to you finding the wrong type of men.

Suicide: Not the Only Choice

Imagine feeling so alone that you cry yourself to sleep every night. Imagine the feeling of being trapped, and whenever you attempt to escape, those invisible shackles that are holding you in place start to get tighter. Imagine going to school every day, and being bullied, and enduring that type of pain and torment on your own. Imagine the feeling of living paycheck to paycheck, and barely having enough money to provide for your family.

After you imagine that, I want you to imagine being stuck in that type of situation for the majority of your life. After spending many days and nights, racking your brain in an attempt to find solutions to your problems, you began to feel like there is no logical solution. Imagine having everything that you could ever want; now what if, one day, you lost all of those things that you cherish. Maybe you’ve never experienced any of those situations, but there are so many people that do experience those types of problems every day. Imagine if those situations or similar ones forced you to want to commit suicide. 

According to the World Health Organization, over 800,000 people, worldwide, commit suicide each year. Now, think about this, on average, one person dies by suicide every 40 seconds throughout the world. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention states that; “over 2.2 million people made plans to commit suicide in 2013, while more than 1 million people actually made suicide attempts that same year.” It is clear, by looking at those numbers that suicide is a serious problem. No one deserves to be bullied, and pushed to a point where suicide is the only option for them to find peace. And no one should have people in their life that insist that they care about them, but when they see that this person is on the brink of committing suicide, they ignore the signs until it is too late. It saddens me to know that we live in a world filled with so much hatred and cruelty, a world filled with so people that lack empathy.

There are many risk factors for suicide; some of those are certain mental disorders, depression, drug and alcohol abuse, and being a victim of bullying. Those are just a few of the things that force some people to live in a prison, not a physical one, but a mental one. And some of those people find it hard to escape that prison while they are alive, so they see suicide as a way to permanently escape the pain that has been inflicted upon them.

I had an in-depth conversation about depression, with a woman, prior to writing this article. She had attempted suicide twice, and when she is stressed, she cuts herself. I asked her, what a person can do to help her lose the urge to hurt herself. She told me that she had been abandoned by most of her friends and she feels alone all of the time. She proceeded to tell me that something as simple as a person speaking to her and asking her if she had a nice day could transform her mood from bad to good. Nowadays we tend to walk right pass people without even speaking to them, but speaking to them, as simple as it may seem, might be the one thing that would prevent them from hurting themselves.

I too was in that situation before. It was the summer time and the year was 2005. My friends and I weren’t as close as we used to be. I had lost my job, I was going through problems with my family, and I felt as if the whole world was against me. I tried my hardest to get back on track, but nothing was working. One night, as I sat alone in my room with my gun in my hand, I started feeling like death had to be better than living in this cruel world. I was extremely close to ending my life, but something inside of me was telling me that suicide wasn't the answer. I can't explain the feeling, but at that moment I started to realize that I had a lot of reasons to put down that gun. I will shed a little more light on what those reasons were, and hopefully it will help someone who is in a similar situation. 

When people are contemplating suicide, they are usually only thinking about themselves, and their pain, and they are being driven by those negative emotions. You should stop and think about how your death will hurt those people that love you. Think about your mother, father, brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews; imagine how much pain they will feel if you ended your life. Even if suicide was to solve your problems, would you really want to leave your family stuck in this world, hurting, because of your actions? These are some of the thoughts that crossed my mind.

Nothing in this life is permanent; things are always changing; remember that, and realize that those negative feelings will only exist temporarily. You must gain some sort of self control, so that you can prevent your emotions from consuming you. This is not easy at all, but it is possible.

Practice meditation, there are many different forms of meditation, but I highly suggest Isha Kriya yoga/meditation. A simple Google search will lead you to many videos that will guide you while meditating. Devise a plan that will help you get from where you are in life to where you want to be. Try to accomplish something every week that will help you turn your plan into reality. Please, realize that you can't turn your life around overnight, but if you are patient and determined, nothing in this life will stop you. 

You are unique, and one of a kind; look around you there is no one else that is exactly like you in the entire world. Not only that, but you have been given a gift, the gift of life; don't throw away the gift that you were given by ending your life. You should also know that we were all put here for a reason; we all have a purpose in life, which means that you are just as important as anyone else walking this earth, and never let anyone tell you that you are not.  

To the children are that are being bullied; talk to someone. Even if you can't talk to someone that is close to you, there are many websites that can direct you to people that are willing to help you overcome the way that you are feeling. There are many suicide hotlines that will offer you help. The worst thing that you can do is keep those feelings to yourself, because one day you will get tired of holding it in, and it may lead to you hurting someone or hurting yourself.

Even if you are not suicidal, but you are reading this, I have something to tell you. If you see a person that might be showing signs of being suicidal, don't ignore them, talk to that person. If talking to them is not working, try discussing the issue with someone close to them, so that they may convince them seek professional help. And last but not least, parents teach your children about bullying and the negative impacts that it could have on the person that is being bullied. And I would suggest that you teach them to help those children that are being bullied. Even if it is their friends doing the bullying, teach them to do what they can to stop it.

Being able to identify a person that is suicidal is very important. I will list some signs that you should look for, and if you encounter someone that is showing one or more of these signs, you should get them help immediately.

·         Talking about dying and how easy things would be if they weren’t alive anymore

·         Isolating oneself from society and losing interest in the things that they once enjoyed

·         Constantly talking about being a burden to others and how easy life would be if they weren’t around anymore

·         Sleeping too much or too little

·         Changes in behavior, such as becoming violent, or taking risk that could result in them losing their life

·         Becoming emotional for no reason, and randomly crying or showing signs of sadness

·         Making comments on social media about being tired of living or how life has become too much for them to handle

After reading this article, ask yourself if any of your friends or family members is suffering from any issues that could lead to them harming themselves. If someone that you know is suicidal, or even if you think that they are suffering from a condition that will make them want to harm themselves, reach out to them. Show them that you care, and try your hardest to show them how they can benefit from getting some sort of counseling. If they are refusing your help contact the suicide hotline immediately. Call 800-SUICIDE (800-784-2433) or 800-273-TALK.   

Try to remain friendly when you are out in public, and speak to as many people as possible. Remember, by speaking to people in public and being polite, you could possibly save a life. It would be illogical for me to think that we can prevent every suicide, but I know that there are many suicides that can be prevented, and together we can save a lot of lives. 

Fighting For Equality-Fighting Against Discrimination

African Americans, Feminists, and the LGBT community all have one thing in common; they are all fighting for equality. For years, there have been people from different walks of life, organizing, forming groups, and fighting for equality. Most of those groups have seen a substantial amount of progress in their fight for equality, yet the fight for equality seems like a fight that will never be completely won.

Numerous groups that are fighting for equality have condemned the criminal justice system for their unfair treatment of African Americans. According to a report drafted by the sentencing commission, African Americans were given sentences that were 10% longer than whites who committed the same crimes. According to Project America: “black males have experienced the highest rate of imprisonment—6.5 times that of white males and 2.5 that of Hispanic males—of the three major races in the United States.” One in six black males has been arrested as of 2001, and those numbers are rising and are expected to change from one in six to one in three.

African Americans are also trying to put an end to the racial disparities in the unemployment figures. Recent reports compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statics, states that: the unemployment rate for African Americans is 11.0%, while whites have seen their unemployment rate drop to 5.1%. Hispanics are caught in the middle, with their unemployment rate currently at 6.9%. Please, remember that the unemployment rate is always higher than the percentages released by the government, due to the exclusion of those people that have dropped out of the workforce, because they were unable to find employment, retired, or they are in school and not working. To make matters worse, African Americans are still becoming victims of racial profiling, which has become a serious issue in the black community. By looking at those figures, we can clearly see why African Americans are constantly fighting for equality, while fighting against discrimination and racial profiling.

Women are fighting for equality and battling discrimination. This fight has been occurring since the 19th century, when the first wave of feminism was created primarily to fight for equal political rights and to show people that women deserve to be treated like human beings, instead of being treated like property that could be owned and controlled by men. The fight for equal political rights for women started with the American Women’s Suffrage Movement, which ended in 1920, the year that women were granted the right to vote.

Second wave feminism came alive in the 1960s. Second wave feminism focused on more than political rights; women were fighting for equality in the workplace, and at home. They brought awareness to the economic doctrine of comparable worth, which was also known as equal pay for equal value. The concept of comparable worth is that jobs which require similar abilities, skills, and educational backgrounds should pay the same wages. A person’s gender, age, or race should not be a factor when it comes to comparable worth. Second wave feminism also focused on reproductive right, issues involving domestic violence, rape marriage laws, and education. Second wave feminism ended in the 1980s. Getting the equal pay act passed was one of the greatest accomplishments of second wave feminism.

By the time that second wave feminism had ended, feminism had spread world-wide, and women from all over the world were seeing a substantial amount of progress in their fight for equality. Third wave feminism started in the 1990s, and it is still active today. It focuses on eliminating gender roles, and stereotypes, while shedding light on atrocious treatments of women of color, and transgendered women.

LGBT is an acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered. This movement was created in the 1990s for the sole purpose of achieving equal treatment in a world where they are judged for their sexual orientation. Throughout history there have always been people that fought for equal rights for those that were a part of the gay community. They have came a long way, and accomplished a lot over the years. In 1779, Thomas Jefferson created bill 64, part of that bill made it illegal for men to engage in sexual intercourse with other men. Men who engaged in such acts were to be castrated as a punishment for their actions. Here we are now, in 2014, and politicians are supporting same-sex couples on their journey for equal rights. And one issue that the LGBT community has been advocating is the passing of laws that will make same-marriage legal. Their hard work has paid off tremendously. Same-sex couples are currently allowed to marry in 16 countries, and in 30 states in the United States. Their fight for equality is still going on, and every day they have to deal with being discriminated against, because some people let their ignorance lead them to judge people without really understanding them or the problems that they are faced with.

How can we rid the world of these problems, and create a world where all people are equal? First, we need to realize that creating groups isolates those people in that group from everyone else, and that will usually create more problems. People that are excluded from those groups, the ones who are deemed as being the oppressors, will usually form their own groups to attack and degrade the group of people that are fighting for equality. There is the NAACP and then there is the KKK, Feminist groups and anti-feminist groups, the LGBT community and religious groups that are constantly causing problems for them. These situations make reaching the highest level of equality close to impossible. Every step that they take to progress, there is always someone trying to stop them.

Groups that are fighting for equality should consider uniting and taking on their problems as one large group. Imagine black men and women standing side by side with white women, and they are all fighting for equal rights together. Imagine some of those black men, and women of different races that are religious, standing side by side with members of the LGBT community, and they are all fighting for equal rights together. This will show the world that a person’s race, gender, or religion should not prevent them from having the same rights as everyone else. By forming one group, comprised of people that are facing similar issues, each of them will have the opportunity to see what everyone else is dealing with, and it will give them a chance to see beyond their differences and realize that we are all human and deserve to be treated equally.

As the people in this group learn about each other’s struggles, they will be able to go out into the world and educate those people that they have a lot in common with; I am talking about the ones discriminates against other people, and contribute to the high level of inequality that has infected society.

None of us are born hating anyone, or judging people simply because we think that they are different. These types of behaviors are learned at a young age and they become ingrained in the minds of children that grow up in aberrated environments. This also means that humans have the power to unlearn those behaviors. We can’t force parents to raise their children a certain way simply because the negative things that they are learning is wrong in the eyes of most people. What we can do is redesign the educational system, and teach children how to relate to other cultures. Students in grades K-12 should be learning about discrimination and why it is imperative that they do not condemn people for being different.


Bullying is a huge issue in schools throughout the United States, and being a bully as a child can lead to becoming an adult that causes the types of problems outlined in this article. Many of those incidents involving bullying force the victims to commit suicide, or hurt those people that are bullying them. The only way that we can combat this behavior that students are learning at home or in other environments outside of their home is to teach them how discrimination and inequality hurts others. We need to show them that being different don’t make you a bad person, but it makes you unique, which is an amazing thing. Students should be able to learn about the problems that people went through in the past, because society chose to degrade those groups of people that didn’t fit the image of what they deemed as being normal. They must learn from our mistakes, because if we don’t teach them these things while they are young, we will minimize our chances of breaking this vicious cycle of inequality, hatred, and racism that has taken over the world.

The power of prayer

When I was younger I always wondered why prayer only worked for certain people. Think about it, a person in a poor country will spend their life praying for a better life, and they will die living in a worse situation than they were in before they started praying for a better life. Now a person in the United States will pray for a job, car, a house, and many other things, and their prayers will eventually be answered. 

Why does prayer work like this? Does god choose specific people to help, and ignore others? What makes Americans better than people that reside in poor countries? Now that I am older, and wiser, I understand how prayer works . . . it doesn't work. Well, it doesn't work in the way that most people assume that it does. I will explain.

People act as if our creator is a genie and their prayers are wishes that are granted whenever they ask for something. God, can you please help me get a job, can you please help me get a car, and can you please improve my failing health. After you get a job, a new car, and your health improves, you will say, thank god, he answered my prayers. Prayers work based on the type of environment that you live in, the amount of hard work that you put into what you are trying to accomplish, and it really depends on if you make more right choices than wrong ones. And most importantly, the people around you and their actions will have a huge impact on you getting the things that you prayed for. With that being said, prayer works, but not in the way that we think it does. Prayer works because we manipulate ourselves into believing that an unseen force is working just as hard as we are to help us accomplish the things that we set out to accomplish. Prayer motivates people, but that doesn't mean that your prayers are being answered.

Why doesn't god answer our prayers? Well I hate using the word god; I used the word creator. Our creator gave us freewill to make our own choices in life. Our choices will decide how things will turn out in our lives. The choices that you are making, along with the effects of the good and bad karma that you accumulated while in this lifetime, and previous lifetimes, will determine how good or bad your life will be.

If our creator intervened every time we asked for help it would stunt our spiritual growth. Our overall purpose in life is to rise to a higher level of consciousness, the highest level, which is super-consciousness, is a level of consciousness that all souls must attain. At this level we will become one with our creator again, and escape the cycle of reincarnation.

Prayer is a way of talking to our creator and meditation is a way of hearing our creator. Prayer should not be used to ask for things that you could get on your own if you worked harder and made better choices. Prayer should only be used as a way to connect with our creator, and to talk to our creator, that is it. If you see a person in need of something, don't just say that you will pray for them, offer to help them. If you want a car, house, or a job, don't bother our creator with that, work harder, make better choices, treat others good, and avoid negative karma, and you will see things in your life change for the better.

It may seem as if your prayers have been answered after you’ve have asked our creator for help, but the truth is, you are the one that will be answering your own prayers after you ask our creator to physically intervene in your life. That is hard for some people to comprehend because they only see things the way they was taught to see them, and they can't see beyond that. Just know that our creator gave us free will for a reason, use it to your advantage, but also use it to spread love, and help others. If we all followed these methods we could change the world, while changing ourselves.

Why do men cheat?

Most women want to know why men cheat, and some of them feel as if there is one single answer, and that answer is that he is not satisfied. Honestly, some men do cheat because they are not satisfied, but that is not the only reason why men cheat, there is no single answer. 

 One of the reason that men cheat is because they enjoy the thrill of cheating. The excitement that comes along with cheating pushes a lot of men to constantly cheat on their girlfriends. I once was friends with a guy that had the perfect girlfriend, but he cheated on her all of the time. I did my dirt back in the day so I could not judge him, but when I had a good woman I didn't cheat, so I could not understand why was constantly breaking her heart. 

 One day I asked him why do he cheat on her so much, and he looked at me and said that he know that has a good woman, but he was addicted to the thrill of cheating, because of the feeling that he gets when he sneaks around, doing something that is forbidden, such as cheating. A lot of men never stop seeking that thrill until they realize that they are constantly losing good women by making poor choices. Remember this, you CANNOT change a man that think like that, the best thing that you can do is distance yourself from the relationship, because he will not change until he wants to change.

 Another reason why men cheat is because their so called friends influence them to do so. Some men feel as if they can't say no to a woman when they are in a situation where they are around their friends, and they have a woman coming on to them. They might want to say no, but when they have their friends in their ear constantly telling them to go for it, they are going to do that, because they don't want to feel like they are less of a man for saying no, and they also want to impress their friends. These type of men are weak, and easy to influence, so they cheat to protect their image. It sounds childish, but these things do happen.

 Then you have those men that cheat because it gives them a sense of freedom, because deep down inside they are afraid to commit, so cheating gives them the opportunity to have the best of both worlds. They are able to be in a relationship with one woman, but they are also able to do their thing on the side, and this helps them to eliminate the feeling of being tied down. These men will continue to do this until they grow up and overcome their fear of commitment, and realize that being with one woman, and being faithful can be an amazing thing.

 As you can see there is never one specific reason to explain why most men cheat, there can be many reasons. Now, I don't believe in giving second chances even though a lot of women give these cheaters a second chance. Most people that cheat will end up cheating again, especially after being caught and getting a second chance to do it again. This happens because some men see a second chance as a woman being weak and desperate, so he feels like she need him and without him she can't function. Men feel like it doesn't matter how much they cheat because their significant other will never leave them, and she will keep forgiving them; the sad part is that it usually works out like this. 

Take this from a man that used to cheat, and a man that knew a lot of men that cheated, a lot of us do change our ways, but do not expect that man to change his ways while he is with you. This can happen, but there is a stronger chance that he will continue to hurt you until you get fed up and leave him. He might continue to mess up future relationships, until he realize that he must force himself to be faithful and gain some self-control, so that he can finally settle down for good. Believe it or not all men eventually get tired of being a player, but there is nothing that you can do to make him become tired of it.

F@#K Valentines Day

I believe that the worst times of the year to get in a relationship is the months of January and February. This is the time of the year that people start to prepare for valentines day. I am against valentines day for a lot of reasons. I will explain my reasons in the next few paragraphs. 

I believe that valentines day just like a lot of other American holidays; it is just another holiday used to manipulate people into thinking that they need to buy a bunch of materialistic things that they don't need. Companies make consumers believe that spending all of their money on materialistic things to give to another person will make that person love them more. If you are in a relationship, whether or not you choose to buy your significant other gifts on this day should not dictate whether they will love you more or less. 

I applaud those women that can see how much this holiday is a waste of time. If you have  a good man everyday that you are with him should be like valentines day, because he should always show you how much he loves you. If a person feelings would change because you didn't buy them  gifts for valentines day, you need to ask yourself if their feelings were really as strong as they claimed that they were. 

This is another reason why I am against Valentines day, and this is the reason why I said that you should avoid getting in a relationship around this time of the year. This day makes a lot of single women feel as if they need a valentine because they want the gifts that comes along with celebrating valentines day, and they also don't want to be alone on that day. Men see this as a chance to get sex from the women that they will be showering with gifts. This leads to a lot of men and women getting into relationships because of this day, most of these types of relationships tend to end a few weeks to a couple of months after valentines day is over. Is it really worth it?

This day forces many men to spend money that they don't have buying materialistic stuff to show how much they care. This day forces some females to get into temporary relationships, and  have sex with men just so they can get gifts and have someone to spend valentines day with. This day causes a lot of relationships to end because the woman may not get a gift, or she may not be happy with the gift that she had received and decide to leave her man, and end the relationship. This day is the day where companies get richer off of our ignorance. If you are going to celebrate this day do it without buying gifts, there are many ways to be romantic without wasting your money to prove your love. And I need all women to remember that if you are single do not stress over this day and do not give your body to a man just to have someone to spend this day with, it is not worth it.