How do you use Free will?

If you have read my columns before, you have probably noticed how I bring up free will from time to time. I would like to dive into this concept a little deeper with hopes that others will grasp what I am talking about. There are many that cannot understand something that is really a simple concept. The biggest problem we have with “free will” is using it and understanding the ramifications and limits of what was meant when we were gifted it.

Everything we have or use has its limitations, this includes free will. I can choose of my own free will to hurt someone but I am now liable to the consequences of such an act. So there are limits to my free will. The old expression says “Nothing in life is free”. Pay very close attention because this is a very true quote and it includes free will as well.

Cell block B painted on block wall

The only thing you were truly given at birth is free will. (Some suggest life, spirit and soul. These three things were gifted at conception, not at birth). You have the right to be a good person or bad. You have the right to follow good or evil. You have the free will to pray to whom you wish. You may be persecuted for it or even killed but you still have the free will to do it. The United States is one country that allows you to follow what ever religion you wish by law however, if that means hurting someone else in the process, you will be jailed. You still have the free will to do it.

I am a Christian and I understand free will because it is explained to us in our teachings. There are many religions that don’t explain or except the concept of free will. That’s up to you and your church. The problem with alot of religions is they use free will to harm others that don’t follow their ways. As Christians, we don’t want to harm others. We do overstep our free will sometimes and have to except the consequences as well as anyone else. We believe that free will was a gift from God to humanity. This gift has been abused and caused all humanity to get ourselves into trouble more times then not.

God gave us free will because we are made in God’s image. He did not bind us. If we choose to follow him, then we have a set of rules to follow, one of these is the Ten Commandments. God also gave humanity the free will to follow whomever you wish to follow. The consequences of whichever way you choose will still be there but you have the free will to decide which consequences you will adhere to. I’m blessed to have a Father in Heaven [ my God ] whom is forgiving.

Man standing in rays of sunlight

So here it is in a nutshell. You have free will of spirit even though your body may be bound by things of this earth. These things may or may not be of your choosing. Free will may be free but consequences may cost you if it is not used with wisdom. Is free will free then? Is free will the only thing that is truly free? Do you follow spirit ( with free will ) or body with the world and it’s rules? Choose wisely and Remember, we are all in this together.

Memories are past / look to your future

    We all look back at what we have done but that is what it is, [ DONE ]!! What we have planned for the future is what matters most. Good or bad in the past is said and done. We must learn to put the past behind us. If we continue to live in the past, we can never see what future holds.

    I am reminded of this idea as we put this year behind us and look forward to the next. We should live life the same way so we can continue to grow. We have learned what we have learned already. Now we must look forward and continue learning. Remembering is one thing but don’t dwell on it. You must believe that your best days are yet to come so you can fulfill your life’s goals. If you have already met the goals that you have set for yourself, it’s time to set new ones.

    Life continues and we must continue with it. If we continue to live in the past, we will never accomplish what the future has in store  for us. Pictures show what has been but not what is about to come. So enjoy your pictures but don’t stand still with them. Continue to move forward in life and enjoy the journey. We only have one life to live on this earth. It would be a shame to miss out on all life has in store for us. Yesterday is over, today is now and tomorrow has yet to be. What are your plans for the future? Do you have a plan or are you just winging it and taking it as it comes? If you don’t have a plan, today is a good day to start one. Write down your plan so it won’t escape you. This is very important to help you stay on track and keep focus.

    We never know how long we have to create a legacy to leave behind for others to see and learn from. Don’t let time slip through your hourglass and disappear before you have accomplished everything you want. All too often people wait and their life is snuffed out before they can complete their life’s work. Don’t let this happen to you. Have a plan and push to the finish line. Don’t wait my friends. Life is short and the older we get, the faster time slips away. As we count down the end of 2021, you are granted another more prosperous year. Grab 2022 by the horns and hold on for the success you are about to receive.

    Make your New Years resolution to begin the rest of your life with a future full of success. May God bless you in your journey. Remember, we are all in this together.

Pay attention! Your inside voice is trying to help

Do you pay attention to that little voice inside you when it comes to making decisions? I have learned to do just that and it has saved me more times then I can count. Everyone has that little voice but most decide not to pay attention to it. “Am I just over thinking this situation or is my inner voice speaking up?” That is the question that usually comes to mind.

Some believe this to be unrealistic (even crazy) or that it is just an old wives tale. I can put to rest the second part with a simple question. When was that inner voice ever wrong? Once you decide to follow that voice, that’s when you have learned that voice speaks truth always and the wives tale no longer holds true. The first part is going to get a little tricky. Everyone has heard or seen a cartoon showing the devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other. Living through life is a constant battle between good and evil but it is up to us to choose which shoulder to lean on. If it brings joy, it is good and if it brings destruction, then it’s bad. Simple enough to understand right? Well if it is so simple, then why are there so many bad people out there? We are born as clean spirits with pure souls who have yet to learn what evil is.

Don’t judge just yet, stay with me, I’m still talking about that inner voice. I’m just going about it in a round about way for your entertainment and to get you to really think about this. Your true inner voice will never tell you to do anything bad. You heard me right, it’s always a helpful tool not a destructive one. If you feel your inner voice is telling you to do something that is not of good value, then that is your brain leaning to the dark side and not your true inner self.

Girl dressed as angel and boy dressed as devil
Choose your side. No gray areas….

There are no shades of gray. You are either working on the good side or the bad. If you feel like you are working in the gray, then you are on the bad side of things and convincing yourself that it’s okay. Your inner voice doesn’t work on the bad side. It will never lead you astray. Once you come to this realization, then it is easier to hear that inner voice. The problem most people have is figuring out if that is their inner voice or if it is their imagination at work. A simple way to test this is with small attempts of following the voice you hear. If it is your inner voice, all things will go right while following it’s advice. If this is not your inner voice, there will be problems while following it.

This is a hard lesson to learn for most because the world has taught us to listen only with our physical ears and not pay attention to our spiritual ones. However, if you will listen within, you will learn more than you ever will with those funny looking things on the side of your head. Just a reminder to those that haven’t heard me say this before; you are a spirit, you have a soul and you are incased within a physical body. Your inner voice is your spirit guiding you in a physical world. This is what your maker gifted you upon being conceived. It is truly a gift and will work wonders for you, if you will only pay attention.

You must take baby steps until you know that voice is your true inner voice (spirit) speaking. Once you are able to distinguish what your inner voice sounds like, it will be unmistakable and you can follow it with the certainty that it will not lead you astray. There is much more to this that I’m not getting to right now but if you would like to hear more about this, I would be happy to talk to you about it. You can email me at tailfeathers32@protonmail.com (if you wish to be anonymous) or leave a reply to this post for others to read. I wish each and every one of you the best in finding this inner self. God Bless and Remember, we are all in this together.

Who is your secret self?

Everyone has a belief of who they want and try to be, others see who they believe we are but we also have our secret self. This secret self is very important because it focuses on who we truly are. This self will show the good, bad, wants, needs, thoughts, happiness and the hurt we have had through life experiences along with what we will do for the remainder of our lives. This secret self shows your true heart. When I say heart, that doesn’t mean the blood pump in your chest, it means the center of you.

Love, hate, belief, faith and worry all fall within your secret self. These can show up in our outwardly self (what others witness) but only shows what we want others to see. Within is where your true feelings lie. We never truly show exactly what we feel inside because it is impossible to explain in words for others to understand. This is why it is called our “secret self “.

Lady with blank look shows reflection in mirror

No other human on the face of this earth knows who you truly are except you. This is why someone who commits a terrible crime always has people that knew him/her and are completely surprised by the act. Now I use the terrible crime as an example. This also shows up for people that do great things. The difference between the two is, the one that does great things usually shows sparks of brilliance before the act. The person who does terrible crimes doesn’t show the world who they really are until they get caught. Yet, even after being caught, their secret self is still hiding things that others will never know.

So, who are you really? Are you someone who wishes to hurt or help others? Are you following your spirit and doing good or are you following the world and causing harm to yourself and others? This only you and your creator know for sure.

If your secret self is having a battle within you over good and evil, you must decide which to follow. There are no gray areas in this. Your secret self is either good or evil. The good news is, you can change who your secret self is if you are not happy with what you are. Once you decide to make this change, glimpses of it will leak out to your outer side but still will not fully show who you are. If you are running on the evil side and decide to switch to the good side, a glow or shine will show up on your outside. If in turn you go from good to evil, your shine will disappear and you will start showing a dull appearance.

Switching from one side to the other will show others more about your secret self just by appearance alone. Yet your secret self is still only known by your creator and you. It’s time to ask yourself, “Who am I and who do I want to be?” This my friends can only be decided by you. You can find help on both the good and evil sides but the ultimate choice is yours.

I know this article is hard to understand by most but if you will focus on what I am saying, you will learn alot about who you are and if you are happy with what you find. Think about it and don’t be afraid to ask questions or state what your views are. For the best results, read this article over until it takes hold of your mind and you understand who you are. We all have internal things working inside of ourselves that we have trouble understanding. Not to worry… Remember, we are all in this together.

Fantasy vs Reality

The fastest way to get over a fantasy is with a dose of reality. This can be good or bad depending on the circumstances. An example of the bad is with a marriage starting with a fantasy and then real life hits you in the face. You realize that marriage is hard and love must be present for it to work. Just because your partner likes what you like or is good looking does not equal love. Alot of divorces come about because fantasies were started but love was left out. Of course there is the ultimate betrayal of one partner leaving a love for a fantasy.

Man and woman kissing in a dream

We all have our fantasies but, are they beyond what we should imagine? A child’s fantasies are a part of growing up and it can determine how far we go in life. If you see a child playing with a toy fire engine, he is probably saving lives and becoming a hero in his mind. The same child picks up his daddy’s cigarettes and the fantasy can become harmful in later years.

An adult who has fantasies about a co-worker can have a hard time focusing on his or her job. These same fantasies can also create a unemployment status for this person, if not a lawsuit for stalking.

Man and woman looking at each other in a fantasy setting

So when are fantasies a good thing and when do they cause harm? Most fantasies come upon us without much thought put into them. The important thing is to monitor these fantasies and ask ourselves the important question, “Is this fantasy going to cause harm to me or others?”

Fantasies are different then dreams, we have little control what we dream about in our sleep but, we do have complete control to stop a fantasy in its tracks. Fantasies are normal and you are not weird for having such thoughts in your life. How far you take them is up to you and carrying a fantasy too far can cause a tremendous amount of problems for you and others.

Don’t be afraid when a fantasy comes upon you. Just remember, you are in control of it. Have you heard the saying, “that person is living in a fantasy world?” You must be very careful in using such a sentence because their is a distinct difference between someone who fantasizes to someone who is a dreamer. A dreamer is thinking on something to better their lives while fantasy is usually a fairy tale.

Fire engine

Do you remember the boy playing with the fire engine? This may start as a fantasy and end up being his dream. I myself started at a young age with a fantasy of driving the big haul trucks in a mine. This fantasy turned into a dream of mine and later in life became a reality for me. These are good fantasies. I have also had fantasies of women I have known and I have had to shut them thoughts down because they were going to cause bad things to happen in my future. These are bad fantasies and need to be put to rest as soon as possible before a problem arises.

I hope you are catching what I am pitching. You are in control of you. Even though thoughts may come to you, you have the ability to continue to focus on them or completely destroy them in your mind. Please be careful of how you allow your mind to wander. Take care my friends and Remember, we are all in this together.

Good person (after dead)

I’m going to write about something that I have always had a problem with. Why is it, no matter what kind of person he or she was, people always say the one that died was a good person? Maybe it is proper during the funeral for the families sake but, if this is so and you don’t think this was a good person in life, then why are you at the funeral to begin with?

Tombstones at cemetery

How about the people that worked with said individual and knew they were a horrible person? When they hear of this person passing away, they always say they will be missed and what a great person he or she was. “Oh, it’s so sad that James passed away. I remember the time he waved at me and smiled.” Well, you knew him for forty years, I hope you can remember the one time he smiled and waved to you. Let’s face it, he was a horrible person in life and death only helps because you don’t have to deal with him anymore.

Maybe people say how great a person you were after you die just for their own peace of mind. Maybe there is more to it. Just possibly it’s because we see ourselves in that coffin and don’t want anyone to talk bad about us when it’s our turn. There are alot of theories out there but, I haven’t heard anyone trying to figure it out. I can say, if you plan on attending my funeral, you best speak truth. If you feel I was a terrible person, don’t hold back. Tell it like it is! I will have more respect for you if you tell the truth rather than lie to everyone.

One thing I will say is, once I’m gone, it doesn’t matter anymore. If I was a horrible person in life, then that is what I should be remembered for. If you feel like you need to say something but can’t think of anything nice without lying, then just say that I was what I was and leave it at that. Either show up at my funeral and speak the truth, be quiet or don’t show up at all.

Lady consoles another at funeral.

One thing I will say on this subject that does throw a wrench into matters is if you are related to the dead person. Sometimes we are required to show up at funerals and show our respect just because we are family. If we tell what a horrible person he or she was or if we don’t show up, we may be black balled by the rest of the family. This is the only excuse there is that is reasonable for a lie.

I will put this in print so if you need to, you can show the family members that I have given you permission not to show up or to tell exactly how you feel about me. Make sure you print this post so you have a record of it if you feel it may come in handy.

I wrote this post just to cause a question to be asked and answered. Why are people always good after they die? Can you answer this question? I look forward to your thoughts. Take care out there and Remember, we are all in this together.