When you train a dog, or any animal really, you give them a healthy dose of positive affirmation when they follow direction and an equal amount of negative correction when they do not follow your guidance.  Over time the dog learns that when he does well he will get a treat … when he does not do well he gets nothing, and some scolding to go along.  It doesn’t take a lot of intellect to guess which of the two motivating forces will win out.

The same is true with humans actually … the difference is that we actually ALLOW others to train us.  A dog doesn’t really have a choice … they follow through or they don’t get to eat, or go outside, or whatever.  For men and women?  We have plenty of choices, we can pretty much do whatever we want … but still we cede our decision-making to virtually everyone around us … even complete strangers!

For a long time I have focused on getting myself to a point where other people’s negative reinforcements didn’t affect me.  The problem I have found in meditating upon this issue is that the negative and the positive go hand in hand.  We want SO badly to avoid people’s negative impressions … but we also desperately want their positive feedback as well.  You can try all you want to avoid the negative … but if you are panting after the positive??  You will eventually be stuck in the rut of their choosing.  To be truly free … we have to let go of our attachments to either element.

The ultimate goal in life, for me, is to live as a constant conduit for God’s Love.  When I am allowing other people to push or pull me this way and that way … that is impossible.  No matter what treat they are offering when I please them … and no matter what their negative goad is to force me into alignment with their way of thinking … I have to let go.

We are not here to be trained by anyone … we are here simply to BE; to exist as the beautiful creation God has designed us to be and to go wherever that takes us.  Right now … here … we are exactly that.  We have no clue what God has in store for our future, so any prognostication is simply each of us either trying to gain positive affirmation, or avoid negativity.

Be Love … and Let Go … those two simple things are what we should be dedicating our attention to … and however we emerge will be a more refined of our True Self.

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pic from NBC News

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Religion4All is an idea: that every human being (no matter their race, religion, sexuality, social status, lifestyle, or any other possible factor) is LOVED by God; just … as … they are.

We all are loved by God, and NO religion or person has a monopoly on it. Every single person on this planet is loved equally by God … SO many are cut off from God because they are told they don’t belong. God loves everyone … we ALL are beautiful creations … we don’t need to cringe when we hear the words “God”, or “religion”, or their judgments … God LOVES us all!

There is no requirement to change in order to be LOVED by God, or to LOVE God. God is LOVE, and LOVE is God … period. There is no one who God loves more than anyone else … there are only those who choose to LOVE more … to love God more, and consequently then to love each other more. In doing so, we grow closer to God … and know God.

By opening our hearts, and minds to God (free of boundaries like religion, or social trends); by LOVING God … we are exactly where we are meant to be. If we maintain that openness, never allowing any person or event to make us close our hearts, we will be guided by God to be who we are meant to be.

In that space of openness we can then live a life of LOVE, and be guided to where we are meant to be … forever in LOVE.

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