What Super Heroes Teach Us About Personl Growth

I have always enjoyed super heroes. Spiderman, Batman, The X-Men, and many others. My favorite of all time would have to be Superman though. Superman always amazed me because he is one of the few super heroes who has to put on a costume to be normal. He also has the ability to have anything he wants, including complete rule over the earth if he so chose, but instead decided to use his powers to help people. There is one major flaw in almost every single super hero though. That one flaw is complete selflessness. Let me explain.

In our society we believe that anyone who is selfish at all is a bad person. For some reason we have picked up the idea that anytime someone does something selfish that they are commiting a sin. Now I am not saying that people should be selfish all the time and never give, however, there needs to be a balance. We should give of ourselves in any way we can to help others live better lives. However, if we don't first take care of ourselves, and if we always have others in mind with every thought, word, and deed, we will never get what we need to live a happy fulfilling life. If you only have ten dollars left until next Friday, it would be silly to give half or all of it to someone else who needs it.

It is not a bad thing to be selfish as long as that selfish is not effecting other people in a negative way emotionally, menatlly, or physically. Each and every one of us has to take care of ourselves as no one else will do so. If you give away your last meal, you will starve to death. If you are always focused on making others happy, you will never express yourself in a way that makes you happy. If you are always doing for others, when will you have the time to do for you. You need to take time to make sure you are providing for yourself on a mental, emotional, and physical level. It is the only way you will ever get closer to your goals and dreams, and hopefully you are providing for others by getting closer to your goals and dreams.

No one does anything for nothing. There is no such thing as a completely altruistic act. The return may be smaller than what is given, but nothing is done for nothing. When you donate money to a non-profit organization you don't do it completely void of emotion. You do it because it makes you feel good for one reason or another. When you stay over time at your job when you don't have to you don't do it so others can benefit. You do it because you feel a sense of duty, or you like to move forward, or for a million other reasons. Nothing we ever do is without some form of self serving reason. We tithe at church because we believe it is the right thing to do and we want to support our ministry. So be willing to be a little more selfish. Superman saved thousands of lives, but at the end of the day he had little left for himself. Often times he pushed his own happiness away so he could help other people. None of us are super heroes, but we can accomplish super hero deeds, as long as we remember to take time for ourselves.

A Life of Truth - Keeping Love Sacred

"Love is the ultimate guru. Where love does not exist, life cannot exist"

Tired, frustrated, overweight, addicted, overworked, stressed with anxiety, driven by obsession, out of balance? If yes, this article may provide you with an amazing insight.

Human spirit is another word for energy. There is no ghost or spirit controlling our vitality. What controls our vitality and energy is our love for life. When our mind, our heart or our spirit withdraws from something, so our energy withdraws. We begin to feel tired, exhausted, angry or simply disappointed.

Tired is physical but its real origins are in the human heart.

The soul thinks in pictures and when the pictures become fuzzy, so the soul goes on holiday. Soulless living means the dream is lost, the love is gone, and there's nothing you can do about it.

Love is food for the heart, energy for the spirit. Really, when you find an exhausted, tired person, you find a person who has lost love. They might even be in a relationship, but the love has gone out of it. They might be in a job, but the love has gone out of it. Because we are so afraid of change, sometimes we stay in relationships and jobs when the love goes out of it. We do it because our culture, society values staying higher than going. Then, if the love goes out of it, we have to find substitutes.

Love cannot be forced. If love goes out of a relationship, it becomes a soulless union. Anything done, where the human spirit is lost, is done without soul. Then it is purely mechanical. There are allot of people who can deal with this mechanical life on the surface, but below the surface they have found a coping mechanism, a substitute for love, a way of supporting their spirit while it dies.

The four substitutes are:

Food


Greed


Sex


Righteousness

Food as a substitute. This obsession reveals itself in obesity, preoccupation with flavour and cooking, eating disorders, and substance abuse including alcohol, drugs, cigarettes and sugar. Food is not limited to what we consume by mouth. Infatuation and upper emotions are food as well.

Sex as a substitute. This obsession reveals itself in so many ways. Flirting, seeking approval, appetite for physical sex, masturbation, fantasy, affairs to name a few. Sexual drive rises as a substitute for love, not always as a mirror of it. This can include the pleasure lust for spiritual enlightenment.

Greed as a substitute. When love goes out, and therefore human spirit – energy goes out of someone's life, greed comes in as a substitute. This greed is an appetite seen in blind ambition, obsessive saving, status and power in the form of cars, success, and righteous aggression. Holding onto children, living vicariously.

Righteousness as a substitute for love. The human ego thrives on blame. It wants to be right. The human ego is what grows to replace the human spirit when love is missing in a persons life. The human ego defends the individual from what they fear, creating a feeling of identity and self importance, energy.

To change a circumstance in our life, it is wise to deal with cause, rather than effect. The cause of the need for substitutes is that LOVE is not held SACRED. When love is gone, Sacred is gone, spirit dies and we are left with no option but to fill our empty space with a substitute.

Substitutes are responsible for: affairs, arthritis, arm ache, gangrene, heart attack, gum disease, ulcers, obesity, chronic fatigue, depression, suicide, car accidents, premature ejaculation, impotence, cancer, tinea, acne, bad moods, domestic violence, low productivity and more….

Do what you love, love what you do.

The loss of the human spirit is an epidemic that's spreading fast. Have you caught it. Are you going through the motions of a relationship that's dead, a job that's about money, an exercise program that's about how you look? Are you hooked on substitutes, righteousness about the world, greed about wanting, sex about acceptance, food about consumption? If so, it can all change if you prioritise love. Where love doesn't exist – substitutes do.

Be you

Cultural norms make us stay where we don't need to be. They make us leave where we don't need to leave. Cultural conditioning make us think our parents are important after the age of 15. Cultural norms suggest the length of our relationships are more important than the quality and integrity of them. Where love stops, hearts stop.

The soul thinks in pictures. Can you see? With your inner eye? Are your dreams alive?

Remember, tiredness, ageing, stress and frustration are just signs that love is gone and substitutes have crept in.

Live with Spirit