Wednesday, February 21, 2018

HOW TO SOLVE PROBLEMS IN LIFE ~ Turn Pain into Comedy

 WAYS TO SOLVE YOUR PROBLEMS 
1. Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down  2. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, ask If They Want Fries with that.  3. In the Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write ' For Marijuana.'  4. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice! 5. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream 'I Won! I Won!'  6. When Leaving the Zoo, Start Running towards the Parking lot, Yelling 'Run For Your Lives! They're Loose!' 7. Tell Your Children Over Dinner, 'Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go.'  8. PICK UP A BOX OF CONDOMS AT THE PHARMACY, GO TO THE COUNTER AND ASK WHERE THE FITTING ROOM IS.
Once you gain control over the thoughts you think, your sense of injustice will subside and be replaced with the exuberance for life and the zest to create that you were born with. ~ Abraham Hicks Law of Attraction teachings.  
Your loving attention to something actually changes things in the physical universe. Your loving attention to a situation, relationship, problem or financial lack -- actually changes the situation or relationship. But the key is "loving" and "letting go of all resentment, fear and worry."  

You can't solve anything when you are in fear. The old primal 'fight or flight' mechanism comes into play and all you get are the material results of either fight or flight. In other words, you get the exact same thing you put out: fight means you engage in battle and risk getting physically or emotionally hurt. "Flight" means you escape and run away. 

Fight or flight are short-term, animalistic survival mechanisms. But where do these get you in the long run? You still haven't solved your basic problem. 

We have been conditioned to believe that the external world is more real than the internal world but it's actually just the opposite: what’s happening on the inside determines what’s happening on the outside. 

Our world is shaped by our thoughts. So your loving attention to something, literally alters the physical universe. This is scientific, but it is not easily understood.

"Great men are they who see that spiritual is stronger than any material force; that thoughts rule the world." – Ralph Waldo Emerson

I really want to be a virgin again in more ways than one. In this age, we’ve seen too much, done too much, been too naked. Mortal life is getting too extreme. There’s too much hard-core violence and porn in the airwaves. But is it possible to become innocent again? Can we put the Genie back in the bottle? There is nothing in the physical world left to want, do or imagine. I don’t want one more luxury gadget to make my life easier except maybe the newest iphone. Actually nothing in the material world impresses me anymore. Except seeing, actually seeing The Force, which some call "God" but which I often call Love. Imagine if love were a tangible force. What would it look like?

I was thinking about the tragedy and the terrorist bombings ~  Brussels, Paris, Boston, San Bernardino, Orlando, 9/11, Oklahoma bombings... and of natural disasters like Katrina hurricane and Indonesian tsunami – and how many bodies have rotted and evaporated – how quickly human life is snuffed out. It proves to me what I’ve always known: that this mortal life is but a dream, and man is not made of matter. Rotting flesh has no essence in and of itself, no matter how real the illusion seems. 

As a culture we put so much emphasis on the body: on cellular substance of the fetus, the death and burial of a corpse, the saving of an unconscious sack of flesh that contains no life force or spirit, as in the case of Terry Shiavo, who was brain dead, but not allowed to be taken off life support. This case became a political circus. We are focused so exclusively on the letter, not the spirit; the style, not the substance; the right hat, not the heart, the ritual, not the meaning — and the flesh which can be wiped out so easily — that it must make me wonder: is flesh man’s most important quality?

At the risk of sounding like a crackpot, I have to say here that I no longer believe in the physical universe as being primary. The invisible harmony is what's real. In other words, the things I know are valuable and real are the things I can’t see with my eyes – the invisible qualities of love, truth, wisdom, soul, principle, thought, harmony, wisdom, compassion, beauty, strength and character – things that cannot be physically touched or scientifically proven. Man is spiritual; we are linked to the Divine and to each other by the invisible fabric of love.

As Emerson said: "this is a spiritual universe and thoughts rule the world."

Imagine if the human pageant were just a tapestry — and God sees the complete, beautiful picture on the finished side — but from our vantage point beneath, we only see dangling threads that keep disappearing as they are woven in and out. As people pass on, certain threads disappear because they are part of a grand stitch that completes a beautiful landscape or picture on the other side. We can’t see the whole picture. We don't know the reason for death and suffering; we don't know what's on the other side, but I'm sure there are many mansions and colors -- and the weave creates a majestic tapestry.

One of my favorite books is MANS SEARCH FOR MEANING by Viktor Frankl, who overcame concentration camp torture through the power of his mind. This is a universe of thought. Thought is energy and it is swift.

Here's the Catch 22: what you think about all day long, is what you become; what you focus on grows. So if you're thinking about how bad the world is, or how much you lack, you will get more of the same. Or as I wrote in the comedy film "Venus Conspiracy", "You can be attractive even if you're not good looking, because if you radiate love, you attract people." I know it's a silly line, but it is true.  Beyond "The Secret" the best metaphysical writers who really know the truth are Eckhart Tolle, Mary Baker Eddy, Emmet Fox, Depak Chopra, Neal Donald Walsch.. actually there are many. 

Whatsoever things are good, pure, beautiful — if we think on these things we will bring these into our life in proportion to our thoughts. Our thoughts create our reality, and as Shakespeare said, "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."

I have the profound sense that we can touch God everyday when we are loving to others, especially those who offend us and disturb us, and especially those less fortunate. Have you seen someone's face light up with just one kind word?

My sister went through open-heart surgery to replace a valve a few months after our brother’s death. Through the past few years, with the help of a pacemaker, she has gradually improved her heartbeat as she has became more spiritually attuned.

In December she started writing songs again. She wrote a song that was so beautiful, it had to come from the Source of love; it was pure inspiration. Her heart suddenly went into "sinus" or normal rhythm. The connection was clear.

When the troubles with her downstairs neighbor began to escalate, my sister developed debilitating pain in her feet, a form of arthritis. She could hardly walk. She was told not to hike anymore with her dog.

I believe her feet hurt because she was walking on eggshells. She was angry and hurt and unable to live freely in her own apartment because the downstairs neighbor kept harrrassing her about the noise upstairs with her dog.

The neighbor also harassed her because she was gay. This woman seemed completely malicious at times. What was more astounding was that she actually received mail from Trinity Broadcasting Network, the Christian evangelical station! We saw it in the mailbox. My sister tried to talk to her, but she refused. My sister tried to move, but couldn't find an apartment that took dogs and would double as a music studio.

She had to to work on this spiritually – seeing her neighbor through God’s eyes, as a child of love. She had to send love to her neighbor. This took a while, but she continued to return love for hate. Everytime the woman would rave and rant, or pound on the ceiling with a broom when my sister played music she was composing (in the daytime!) my sister would refrain from screaming back.

The situation turned around. My sister persisted in seeing the woman as a good person, and the woman became willing to talk. Now they actually wave to each other. This is nothing short of a miracle considering my sister was actually in fear of a hate crime at one point. She also thought her dog was going to be poisoned.

The Death of Adrienne Shelly: Neighbor vs. Neighbor

A few years ago, I was reading the list of Sundance films purchased for sale and was shocked to see that Adrienne Shelly, one of my favorite indie actress-turned-filmmakers, who directed "Waitress" had been murdered. She was murdered by a downstairs neighbor for complaining constantly about the noise he made. He finally marched upstairs and killed her. This was devastating, surreal.

I then thought of my sister and was grateful she had learned the spiritual lesson of getting along with her neighbor.

How to Solve Every Problem in Life ~ the Problem of Living in a Material World

So what is the code? Is there a formula one can plug in here for all problems in life? Yes.

What I've discovered is that the solution to any material problem is never at the level of the problem. As Einstein said: "No problem can be solved at the same level it was created on." You have to go to higher, smarter solution. You have to go to a diplomatic or spiritual solution. Problems are solved in the "gap" -- the space between. It always happens when you let go, or look away from the problem or get momentarily distracted. That's when you find your earring, or get the phone call. It's by “letting go."

No human power could relieve my alcoholism. It was not healed by dissecting the brain.

No military power can solve terrorism. We can’t fight fire with fire; we need to go above the problem and approach it from a different angle.

This hot-bead of hatred is something we actually started when we dropped bombs on Fallujah and invaded Iraq.  We fomented this hatred agains America years earlier when we got into bed with the Saudis and their oil oligarchy. 

But hating ones' enemies never resolves anything, as the Great Peacemaker said. 


All great spiritual leaders know that you must "keep your friends close, but your enemies closer." And "a soft answer turns away wrath." Withdraw our energy from the situation and the situation will solve itself. We must withdraw and take care of our own side of the street.

Energy consists of sub-atomic particles that in turn make up atoms and finally matter. This energy exists as waves spread out over space and time. They have discovered that down to the tiniest atom, there is only empty space. There is no solid matter. Everything is energy. Everything exists in waves of infinite possibility. Only when we focus our attention on an object does that object become a particle. We "particularize" an object by our attention to it.



So thoughts really are things. And 85% of all disease is caused by stress -- which means worry, fear or misplaced thoughts that become ingrained habits of negativity. There is now scientific proof that loving thoughts actually create a thicker brain cortex. Monks who meditate on love regularly have no disease.


If all you did was just look for things to appreciate, you would live a joyous, spectacular life.

 In Quantum physics, scientists have proven that our loving attention to an object actually changes the object in the physical universe.

Dr. Christine Northrup says "Hope is a biochemical state in the body that promotes healing."

Laughter heals. And we know that love heals everything. 

~ Love, Lydia 
















FREEDOM FROM FEAR

Freedom from Fear 
by 
Lydia Cornell

(Originally published in Script Envy Magazine)

In March, during the storms after my divorce, faced with looming book deadlines, I had been avoiding work, sitting in a catatonic state, staring at the TV, watching episodes of Agatha Christie’s Poirot. I must have watched forty episodes in a row of the brilliant David Suchet and his mustache. Now I have to enter a 12-step program for addiction to this detective mystery that plants clues backwards and rarely has a linear plot. Poirot of all things!

For the love of all that is holy,” my son said in his best imitation of Family Guy “stop watching that boring show Mom. Aren’t you supposed to be writing your book?”

Teenagers are not nice people. 

After a horrifying, week of watching the Japanese nuclear reactor meltdown, our TV finally stopped working. The rainstorms had knocked out both Internet and cable —  and now I had no excuse not to write. It would have been a good thing if I had only used the storm properly. The day started out gray and cloudy and perfect! A wonderful, dark, rainy writing day. I was so excited, I kept repeating to myself: “I’m going to start writing in a minute... any minute now I’m going to start writing.”


It was hours before I came out of the garage, having gone on a berserk treasure-hunting binge. We were out of red licorice (the 96 oz size) so I decided to go to Costco in Van Nuys, the end of the civilized world. I was so tired by the time I pulled into the parking lot that I climbed into the backseat of our minivan and took an hour-long nap.
Somehow, despite my son’s judgmental nagging, the writer’s block brought us closer. He actually hung out with me that week, did his homework in my room, and succumbed to the strange pull of Poirot. I think he liked the fact that I surrendered to TV-watching like a zombie, a droid, a neurosis-free blob of a mom.



“Okay, I’ll start after I get another cup of coffee.”

That’s when I accidentally wandered into the garage and found another set of unwatched DVDs buried inside a box of Christmas gifts I had forgotten to return.

“Okay, I’ll start writing after one more Poirot episode. 

It’s a good thing he didn’t know the truth: I was so deeply depressed and in such a dark place, I was losing faith in myself. What made it worse was that there were people in Japan who had lost everything, but they had more enthusiasm for life than I had.

At that moment, I sat up in bed and heard a voice, an inner voice, as if it was the most important question in the universe: What are you afraid of? 

Writing is a spiritual process of letting go of fear of being judged. Embrace your defects; they are your greatest teachers

So now I view writer’s block as an important part of writing itself. Maybe we should rename it “gestation.” Thinking, going to the fridge, musing over ice cream flavors, watching Poirot it’s all part of the birthing process.

But in the mortal realm, here is some practical advice: when you’re on a deadline, just sit down and turn on a kitchen timer. Set it for 20 minutes, and do not move until you’ve written a sentence, a paragraph or a page. Act as if a benevolent force of love exists that is always guiding you. Ask this force, the Universe, your Source, your loving higher Power, your inner-self, for the next indicated sentence. Write down the first thing that comes into your mind. 

Heaven for writers must be a place where we get all our unfinished projects done in peace; a place where no ego exists, no burden of self, where we can write without worrying about selling our work. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? All the scripts, novels, plays, and children’s books left in closets and drawers that have been haunting us could be set free, if we could write without fear of being judged.


AFI Best Actress nominee and People's Choice Award winner Lydia Cornell is best known for her starring role on the hit ABC series Too Close for Comfort. She is currently working on a series of books, which will be out in 2018.  She wrote, produced and directed the film Venus Conspiracy, a short version of her longer script, which will soon be a feature film. Recently seen on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm and starring in the new Kelsey Grammer Comedy Hour, she has her own channel and live talk show. Cornell is an award-winning blogger, writer, comedienne, talk show host, teen mentor and inspirational speaker. Her articles have appeared in A&E Biography, Huffington Post, Editor & Publisher, Macon Daily, and Lone Star Icon.