First and foremost God loves you and I love you.

What are you thankful for today?

And Why?

When businesses, families, countries, people, and decisions are led by the wisdom of God’s word, based on humility, patience, love, and faith, the fruit of the spirit, life, abundance, compassion, patience, understanding, love, and peace are the only possible outcomes, and when they are led by things like fear, lack, distrust, shame, and isolation they can only lead to pain, hatred, distrust, violence, and destruction.

You reap what you sow, where you sow.

Because God said so.

Whether talking about faith, emotional regulation, building lasting relationships, cold-calling prospects, losing weight, or creating a culture of empowerment, compassion, and growth in business or society, negativity, fear, distrust, disrespect, isolation, polarization, and animosity have no place in one person’s heart, let alone a million and if it’s allowed or encouraged to grow it can destroy everything that it touches.

Seeking connections, principles, and wisdom from teaching spanning from positive psychology, cognitive dissonance, sales and marketing, the laws of nature, principles of leadership, communication, and epigenetics, over the next several articles we will take a deep dive into taking a look at the spiritual condition of our country, based on understanding how faith and negativity affect the mind and spirit of people and how those things play out in our relationships with each other as people and as a nation, finding a new understanding of old ideas to hopefully create change in our hearts that build momentum into healing this country, our families, our hearts and our futures.

The purpose of this is not for me to voice my opinion but rather to find meaning in God’s word in the context, and spirit that he said it in to find a path towards the purpose and life he meant for us as individuals and a nation.

As you think about the words, remind yourself to stay patient, to seek the knowledge not rising to distractions. To see the concepts and ideas through the eyes of someone else, a son, a stranger, a friend.

Listen slowly and look around for the connections in nature, family, business, your social media feed, and society. Look for the spirit of ideas, the results of their influence, and where they could lead us as we sow into them or allow them to grow by ignoring them or minimizing them.

Resist the urge to jump to a conclusion.

Think.

Stay curious.

Look for a full understanding not just one that fits a narrative and confirms a story.

Commit to investigating the words in the word to get a deeper understanding and application of the word.

Breathe

First and foremost God loves you, and I love you.

What are you thankful for today and why?

What’s one thing you’re hoping to get from this time we’re about to spend together, building together, learning with each other?

Feel free to write that down somewhere or say it out loud; what’s 1 thing you’re thankful for today?

There’s never a bad time for thankfulness and gratitude family.

Breathe

Every company, family, business, country, or community is made of people.

And as people, anything that takes us away from God, self-esteem, love for other people, curiosity, patience, kindness, joy, grace, forgiveness, honesty, health, respect, service, consideration, and abundance is sin, and the wages of sin is death.

Sin is waiting at your door.

The moment that Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, sin entered their lives in a multitude, shaming them for their nakedness, not taking responsibility for their actions, blaming others for what they did, and hiding from each other and God.

Galatians 5:22-23 22 – But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such things, there is no law.

That fruit is the seed of everything good and joyful in our lives; everything that we do to sow those things into our lives, hearts, minds, families, actions, and intentions produces those things and also requires those things to be the result.

We need patience to be joyful. And self-control to be patient. And goodness to be truly loving.

Seeing yourself doing things that sow the fruit of the spirit is good for your brain, your energy, your self-esteem, your patience, your capacity to love, and your willingness to forgive and to trust.

Literally good for your brain. Like when you’re looking forward to seeing someone, and you’re excited all day, or when you’re working on something that you’re passionate about, hours feel like minutes, and each hurdle is a victory, and when you get done, you’re a good tired, but you feel like you could run 100 miles. That, amongst other things, is dopamine. That is your brain rewarding you with dopamine, the building block of adrenaline that fuels your brain.

Anything else takes us away from God, ourselves, each other, our purpose, abundance, and the world, multiplies in us, shapes our thoughts, words, and actions, and, left to itself, will destroy us.

What else is sickness? What else is hatred, shame, racism, rape, intimidation, oppression, poverty, what else is domestic violence, and toxic work environments but sin, evil?

Do you know how your brain responds to those things? The things that you want to avoid? The things that scare you? That make you angry? That make you nervous and feel insignificant or weak?

By helping you. Just like with the things you were excited about, but with the opposite effect. Instead of energizing you toward a situation, person, or idea,  It rewards you with resistance; negative or anxious thoughts, fear, tightness, defensiveness, shutting down, disconnecting, and cortisol.

If God’s desired heart posture for us is curiosity, wonder, appreciation, and love, what else is an assumption, disrespect, fostering fear, oppression, superiority, and separation going to lead to?

What else will it result in, sow into, and create?

What else is it but sin, evil?

Romans 6:23
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God [that is, His remarkable, overwhelming gift of grace to believers] is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The only thing that anything that leads from, starts from, encourages, exemplifies, glorifies, supports, and sows into anything that isn’t the fruit of the spirit, that puts walls between God, ourselves, our families, other people, different races, our peace of mind, our mental and our creativity leads to is sin.

Warping our identities, beliefs, inspirations, and motivations.

In the first 3 chapters, God showed us everything that we would ever need to know about life, business, conversation, listening, leadership, love, relationship, and goal setting.

Because he loved us when we were still sinners in those first 3 chapters, he not only showed us how to sow the fruit of the spirit, but he also showed us compassion, love, trust, process, intention, adaptability, principles, the laws of nature, and wisdom.

In separating light from dark, life from death, joy from pain, and love from hate, he created a distinction between good and evil and a clear path to righteousness.

Genesis 4:7 (AMP)
If you do well [believing Me and doing what is acceptable and pleasing to Me], will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well [but ignore My instruction], sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you [to overpower you], but you must master it.”

You must master it. Not only for yourself but for your kids when they keep asking you questions about kid things when you’re tired from work, thinking about the bills, and you’re working on your online degree, and you’d rather half listen or send them away, but they need your eyes and your interest.

For your future wife or husband when you have been through a tough relationship with an ugly end and it would be easy to associate them with the last relationship, punish them for the last person and deny yourself of love so you can’t be surprised by them hurting you, but you want your helper, your forever friend, your person.

For your business that needs your discipline, forethought, creativity, development, and attention.

For the people on the road who still haven’t figured out how to drive, don’t know how to drive, ride your tail, cut you off, and don’t acknowledge when you let them in that you want to cuss out, chase after, flip opp, or wish them ill will but you pray them, turn up the music and keep it moving.

Because sin is waiting at the door. And it wants you. And we want it.

As people, we are made in God’s image, capable of developing an idea into reality, changing the world, and destroying everything.

Breathe

God can’t be around sin and neither can we. If he is, it would destroy him, and he would destroy us. When we are, it destroys us, Genesis 4:7 and the people we’re around. In our shame, we project our pain, distorting the example we set and the way we teach other people to treat us, ourselves, and other people. It destroys us.

Have you ever thought about what God did for Adam and Eve? For us? He formed this universe with his mind in the perfect conditions to fill our lungs, this earth to be a platform to hold our dreams and the people we love.

He created things for us to study, learn, interact, and create with, blessed us with everything, and asked us not to do ONE thing.

Words.

God’s words, twisted by a deceiver, forgotten by someone who knew better, and ignored to please the wicked, selfish, sinful flesh.

Spiritual warfare.

Destruction and Endless possibility.

In charging us to be fruitful and multiply, God also told us that the things we did would spread because that was how he set it up. That the more we do something the easier it gets, sets examples, spreads ideas, and makes it possible for us to do things. Like after Moses parted the sea with a staff in Exodus 14:21, and after seeing Elijah part the water by striking it with his cloak in 2 King 2:8, Elisha parted the sea by calling on Elijah’s God and laying his cloak on the water.

The fruit of the spirit.

By following through on his promise of what would happen if Adam and Eve broke his one rule, he showed us self-love and self-respect, while also loving them and everyone they’d come across in life. For any of us learning that we can’t do and say whatever we want to whoever we want and still get what we want is an important lesson, one that is our responsibility to teach as parents and leaders by the way.

God cares about our spirit, how we are led, wanting the best for us which is turning to him. No matter what, to look at everything, circumstances, emotions and desires and turn to him anyway because like in meditation, that process, of getting off track and bringing your focus back to purpose, back to awareness, builds the skill of mindfulness, the ability to be present and in alignment with your assignment and intention. 

Imagine if we built a society on taking advantage of other people, taking people for granted, and violating their boundaries and rights for our own gain out of fear, selfishness, anger, jealousy, pride, or entitlement. Can you imagine the destruction that would create?

The unrest, discomfort, violence, and distrust it would create.

Imagine being in a relationship where you feel like you can’t be authentic, able to say, “I’m suffering” “I’m scared” or “I need help”. Where you have to be mentally and emotionally shut down to not feel the pain you’re in because of abandoning your morals to maintain the relationship, for money, status, safety, and attention. The feeling that being yourself isn’t ok and that as you are, you aren’t worthy of love can grow into attachment trauma, anxiety, shame, self-abandonment, depression and anger.

And that’s inside of one person, a nation is many people, interacting with many people, who bring their whole world with them everywhere they go and project it onto the rest of us through their attitudes, words, actions and example.

Breathe

Until God breathed the breath of Life into our bodies we were dead, it is also our nature to return to our dead selves, and anytime we step outside of his will, sin is waiting at our doors.

Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Breathe

In the first 3 chapters of Genesis God showed us the key to life, prosperity, connection, fulfillment, peace, abundance, leadership, joy, and everything is good.

He summarized it in The Lord’s Prayer, exemplified and left clues to it’s mystery, purpose and necessity in everything in nature from the law of entropy, principles of business and sales, and used the pollination of a fig tree to show us an example of sacrifice, leadership, relationship, growth and development.

He showed us how much he loves us by creating, planning and gifting us with this world and universe. Perfectly designed to support and sustain not only our life but the lives of the plants, animals, and people that sustain and support us.

He wove DNA, molecules, energy and breath together to create something that under the right conditions would go on forever. Interacting, interdependent and entwined with each other for eternity.

I think he showed off a little bit too family don’t you? In Genesis 2 God shows us his pride in his creation, in nature, in principles and in each other, basically playing show and tell with Adam, bringing him the animals to name. Walking together, showing Adam the trees, bugs, birds, and everything else to see what he thought, what he would call it, what he would do. The picture of a proud father.

And in making us in his image he showed us how to do everything that he did, to be like him, live a life according to his image and example, to create, to plan, to find and build relationships that would last. blessing generations to come.

26Then God said, “Let Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) make man in Our image, according to Our likeness [not physical, but a spiritual personality and moral likeness]; and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, and over the entire earth, and over everything that creeps and crawls on the earth.” [Ps 104:30; Heb 1:2; 11:3] 27So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them. [Col 3:9, 10; James 3:8, 9] 28And God blessed them [granting them certain authority] and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subjugate it [putting it under your power]; and rule over (dominate) the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every living thing that moves upon the earth.” Genesis 1:26-28

In this God said that we are like him, not physically, meaning we can’t be everywhere at once, in time and space, but we can think and our thoughts can take us anywhere and create anything that we are willing to put our minds to. And that that’s what he wants for us. To make ourselves, other people and everything he created into as much as it possibly can in a way that glorifies and honors him and serves other people.

Adding nothing to his word.

Breathe

He showed us what happens when we step off of that path. How being outside of his path brings, pain, shame, frustration, fear, and death and how quickly it multiplies. Tempting you, leading you towards more soul, relationship, and life-destroying behaviors, mindsets, beliefs, habits, depression, anxiety, sickness, hatred, fears, biases, stories, racism, trauma, rape, and war.

In this, he showed us what life would be like, full of opportunity, mysteries to be discovered, surrounded by distractions and deceptions meant to take you off, and KEEP you off the path. But also how to get back on the path.

He showed us that good or evil, every thought, word, action, and story is a seed, planted in the soil that its planted in, that grows roots, that grows branches, and leaves and flowers, and pollinates and multiplies, that bares fruit, with seeds capable of doing the same.

Shaping our futures and leading us toward life or death. Towards heaven or hell, joy or pain.

As individuals and as a collective, interconnected, influenced by, and reliant on each other.

Breathe

The rest of the Bible, studies, stories, research and resources in neuroscience, on language, learning, communication, joy, happiness, relationship, history, dictatorship, leadership, business, nature, war, mental and physical and health, principles of spirituality, love led religions, sales, marketing and business, point back to these lessons.

The challenge, and our assignment is to not just see these things as isolated incidences, but  as examples and reminders of how to do things his way, receive his love, and live a life of abundance, openness, curiosity, creativity and love.

Showing us that there is an order and optimum operating condition for everything and everyone and that anything that strays from that path, leads, away from that path, is based on the ideas that lead to that path are not from him.

The stories in the Bible of kings, judges, prophets, sinners, murderers, rapists, disciples, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus lay out examples of spiritual warfare, prosperity, peace, confidence, jealousy, patterns, habits, culture, and growth that can be applied to every aspect of life and are supported over in over from everything to the way that our bodies process and regulate emotions, to the way people choose leaders, trends spread and genocides start.

Breathe

Have you ever thought about why God put Adam in a garden?

In Matthew 13 when Jesus told the Parable of the Sower, he showed us:

Like a garden, before even planting a seed the condition of the soil, how it was prepared, and conditions have a major influence on what will grow there.

Like a garden, even when good seed is planted if its planted amongst weeds or weeds are allowed to grow, they will steal resources, and energy from what you were trying to plant.

That like a garden by the time you see a leaf start to sprout from the ground, that single sprout is built on a root system.

That like the plants in a garden, our root system, our foundation needs to be strong, planted deep, to resist the wind, rains and conditions of the earth.

That like a garden we have to be vigilant in cultivating our behaviors and thoughts.

That like a garden there is an optimal combination of preparation, influence, and care that produces an abundant life giving crop.

That like a mustard seed, the smallest and seemingly insignificant things can be the thing that provides protection and comfort to many.

The Bible isn’t a book on religion, it’s a book about not only reaping where you sow but recognizing that the conditions of the ground you sow, the seed you sow on that ground, how you nurture that seed on the ground, how you tend the ground to the garden also determine what you reap.

Myron Golden said that the Bible is not a book about religion, but instead a book about a King, and a royal family, and a royal family, and the culturalization of a foreign land called Earth.

When God put Adam and Eve in the garden he showed us an image of life, creativity, submission.

And meditation, manifestation, and destruction.

Of relationships, boundaries, growth, and development.

Of leadership, influence, patterns, habits, destiny, and design.

Of seeking the kingdom and sowing the fruit and that seeking the kingdom was sowing the fruit and that sowing the fruit built the kingdom.

He showed us how to protect our goals, mission, mindsets, and hearts so that wonderful things could grow within the boundaries and structures that protect them.

He showed us how to live lives of abundance and the requirements of how to do that in a way that is sustainable and good, not just for you specifically but for everything and everyone you came across.

He did all of that in the first 3 chapters of Genesis and used the rest of the Bible showing us those lessons and over, supporting his word with his word, and reminding us of the promise and parameters of his blessings.

He made us gardeners that are gardens, in a garden and put us there to protect it, learn to understand it, to grow and develop it, nurture it, prune it, prepare it, and use it to provide for us in a way that promotes life within it so that it can sustain us for eternity.

This is relationship.

This is the kingdom of God.

This is love.

This is good.

And what God meant for us.

Based on his plan, written and hidden in his word.

The Bible is not a book on religion. It is a book about relationship.

An instruction manual for fulfillment.

A promise of abundance.

And responsibility for our choices.

Breathe

3 Laws of proper biblical interpretation

The Law of First mention. God’s initial purpose for a thing is always the purpose for that thing.

Law of Comprehension. Move forward with understanding of the words that make up the sentences that make up the paragraphs, pages and chapters.

Law of Context. the interpretation of the verse has to be considered, in relationship to the words and verses around it, and throughout the Bible to search out meaning, and application and if it contradicts the meaning of another verse in the Bible you have misinterpreted it.

With these rules we have to slow down, search and seek out, think, find references and definitions to get a full picture, seeking God first, adding nothing to his word, aka anything that leads away from his true meaning or message, before we can say we understand.

Being like him in spirit, not body, but tasked with the responsibility and assignment, of fulfillment and fruitfulness, without patience, curiosity, openness, willingness, guided by his light, we would never create anything and what we create would be only temporary, based on shiny things, and fleshly desires.

Acknowledging that his ways are not our ways.

And that his word is hidden in his word and words are the essence of everything.

That we need each other, for connection, peace, purpose, belonging, guidance, inspiration, leadership and love.

I’d be willing to bet that nobody has ever been in the middle of a traumatic experience, in the midst of something frightening, mind-shattering, and life-shifting and thought,

“This is going to traumatize me for the rest of my life and show up in ways that I can’t even imagine and become so much a part of the way that I see and view the world that it changes the way I move, think, breath, act, listen, dream or hope.

It will stop me from setting goals, doing things that make me uncomfortable, let my guard down, hear new opinions or think I’m worthy of different and better.

Because of how I feel about this and learning to run from anything that’s familiar to this pain in my life, mind, relationships, body, viewpoints, and patterns I will start to practice embodying an identity that is defensive, sensitive, fearful, close off, shut down, repetitive, shame-led and divisive”

Most of that happens after that fact. Manifesting in our behaviors, responses and reactions, relationships and mindsets.

A government, company, business, or community is made up of people.

Trauma, negativity, and spiritual warfare destroy people.

When I said that I think that if elected Donald Trump could destroy America, its people, and potentially the world, if your immediate reaction was to think that meant that that meant that I support late-term abortion, high taxes, an unsecured border, or Kamala Harris you’d be wrong and you’d be proving my point.

These days with access to so much information, information, ideas, messages and influences we’re able to create opinions, form beliefs, take sides and speak our “truths” without having ever met the person or people we’re talking about.

Or be influenced by other people’s ideas, words, intentions, motives, content, and examples.

Or to say anything without accountability or fact.

Do you see anything like that in your community, on your timeline or in regular conversations?

People, uniformed, opinionated, saying words, making posts and spreading ideas? 

Do you realize how many of those ideas, even your own thoughts aren’t always even your own? In studying decision making in rodents and humans they have been able to see brain activity, starting before people are conscious of making a decision. In related experiments they studied how people could be influenced to make a choice based on pain, discomfort, pleasure or reward being connected with the experimenters desired decision.

Think about that family, how important that subconscious programming is. It’s influence on your actions when you don’t have time to think or have to make decisions, that feel uncomfortable or when something looks good.

Years ago a friend of mine was falsely arrested and accused of hurting a child. Within a matter of days he was exonerated completely. The child had lied. Within that time the internet rushed to assassinate his character. People commented under his picture and on posts about how they always knew he was a creep and all types of venomous words. And in a day he was found innocent.

I wonder if those same people rushed to apologize, recant their words and champion his innocence and upright moral standing.

Have you ever thought about why you keep doing anything?

Why you like what you like?

Agree with the things, people, ideas, mindsets and concepts you do?

Why certain foods, music, places, smells, pictures, people, situations, ideas, words, sounds or even just things that slightly, kind of sort of remind you of those things, can make you sad, happy, excited, scared, nervous, anxious, cause you to be overcome by intense and fleeting violence, or overwhelming love and bliss?

Or why we struggle to stay consistent at some things and can do others with our eyes closed and both hands tied behind our backs?

And like in Romans 7:15, why the things that are the easiest to be consistent at are often the ones that are harmful, take us out of God’s presence, are easy to slip back into and do without thinking but something as intrinsically necessary like drinking water, being discipline, thinking before we speak, being patient and kind when we’re tired or even breathing efficiently are things we struggle to stay consistent with, and let go of without even making a decision to stop?

Because we are always making plans, imagining scenarios, and visualizing outcomes, based on reality, faith or fear, we are always manifesting, and meditating even if we are unaware of it or making a conscious choice to do it. For better or worse, through repetitive thought, words, actions priming our procedural memory, we are always forming, and confirming our identity, training our mindset and showing our brain who we want to be,

The repetitive stories in our minds moving us towards that image planting memories in our heads, making us familiar with the actions it takes to make what we focus on in our minds appear in our lives.

We are always submitted to our view of the future based on the spirit, mindset, character, identity, story, feeling, fear, or motivation behind. With our thoughts, actions, words and example we are always confirming, supporting, submitting to and moving towards the future we have taught our brain we want.

Our brains are habit forming, pattern recognizing machines.

Left to its own devices it will show up the same way, driven by the same emotions, mindset and identity, in as many places as possible in as many ways as possible with whatever tools, and resources are available.

As people in families, in neighborhoods, in jobs, on streets, in restaurants, in schools,

With brains.

Everything that God said isn’t good for us are the same things that aren’t good for brains, relationships, futures, companies, families or countries, business, bodies, digestion, mindsets, mental and physical health.

Everything that causes separation, shutdown, fear, disobedience, anger, violence, rage, division or derision is from the devil and only creates more.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.

When you do your research into the word “is” you see that “is” can be defined as “becomes, is a result of, turns into,  requires, creates, etc.”

When you think about a fruit, “having seeds inside it to produce fruit of its own kind” you see that a fruit needs other fruit to become itself and in that becoming Itself it also has the assignment and ability to produce more fruit like itself continuously and endlessly.

The question again is what kind of seed is being planted on what ground, under the condition it’s in when the seeds are planted, how the seed, and ground are nurtured, monitored and conditioned while that seed takes root?

And based on all of that, what kind of fruit will it produce?

Or will it produce weeds?

Anything that encourages, influences, rewards, glorifies, spreads, or supports violence, fear, hatred, assumptions, slavery, subjugation, defensiveness, is not from God.

When God created the world he showed us everything we needed to know about love, creativity, joy, and fulfillment. Within these things he packaged everything that we would ever need to live the amazing life I believe he meant for every single one of us to live.

A life of openness. Connection. Of abundance. Of abundance together. Working together. Looking at every other human being with love, peace, well wishes, and curiosity.

We are horrible at curiosity these days. Our lazy, sinful, lizard brain, hates curiosity. Curiosity could get you killed. Curiosity could mean that you lose what’s yours. Or have to admit you don’t know as much as you thought you know. Or admit you’ve been making choices, spreading beliefs and embodying stories, based on misinformation and led by fear meant to steal, kill and destroy.

Curiosity, that willingness to change and grow is what’s necessary for growth, change, intimacy, and peace.

Because without curiosity, ordered by purpose, protected by boundaries, nurtured by joy, led by and leading to God, we are dead.

We resist curiosity daily, jumping to conclusions, worrying about anxieties and worshiping false idols. Yet, without curiosity we are closed off, mindless, fearful, and short minded survivors, focused only on our desires, avoiding discomfort and having our way.

Without continually looking at all of the options, minute by minute, choice by choice and still choosing God’s way we are dead.

As people and as a country the quality of our lives is based on the quality of our relationships.

I said before that the Bible is a book on relationships and a handbook for a healthy brain.

The separate research, methodologies, of Dr Daniel Amen and Dr Gabor Mate support the idea that mental illness is actually brain health issues, affecting our mental health and relationships, and according to Dr Gabor Mate metastasizing the trauma that creates all of our illness, brain health issues, depression, anxiety, fear, discomfort, and isolation.
https://econugenics.com/blogs/news/signs-of-healthy-brain
https://theconversation.com/gabor-mate-claims-trauma-contributes-to-everything-from-cancer-to-adhd-but-what-does-the-evidence-say-207144#:~:text=To%20Mat%C3%A9%2C%20trauma%20is%20a%20contributor%20to%20%E2%80%9Cillness,how%20we%20behave%20and%20alienation%20from%20the%20present.

The quality of our lives as a people and a country will not rise and fall based on our goals but by the quality of our habits.

And our habits are based on the words, actions, ideas, goals, dreams and desires we constantly repeat, emulate, embody, integrate and automate.

Our habits train our subconscious, our mindset, our identity.
Proverbs 23:7 As a man thinks in his heart so he is.

Under stress we fall back to our lowest level of training.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-forensic-view/202201/how-we-process-under-pressure-stress-and-automatic-behavior

Our habits define our automatic set of rules that we teach our brain to follow when we are distracted, tired, angry, scared and stressed.

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” –Victor Frankl

Attention goes where energy flows.
Our attention is what God is after. Our heart posture and our faith.

The entire Lord’s Prayer is a reminder and prayer about attention and intention

Our Father who art in heaven – a reminder to be faithful and not looking to earthly things and false idols as our god.

Hallowed be thy name – Whole, holy, and good is his name, capable of healing and wonder.

Thy Kingdom come thy will be done, on earth as in heaven – Our mission is to bring God’s word and example to the world and to people who need his salvation by submitting to his will, sacrificing for and serving his people, with their growth, contentment and fulfillment in mind.

Give us this day our daily bread – Everything we need for today is in the day, even if we have to search it out. That today has enough in it. That like manna the lord provides that nourishes and grows me may not look like what I think it will.

And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those he trespass against us – like the manna, that if stored up, would rot and fester, we pray knowing that because of our faith in Jesus, God doesn’t hold our transgressions against us, and we pray for his help to do the same for ourselves and other people, because it would destroy us.

And lead us not into temptation – because I am weak without him, I ask him to keep evil things that would tempt me away from my mind, sight and life.

But deliver us from evil – save us, rescue us, protect us, show us the way, and walk with us as we move away from everything that could destroy us.

For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory – God’s way is the only way to the light, to glory to power, God’s path to power and glory is through seeking his Kingdom, looking for love, kindness and truth.

Forever and ever Amen- Let this be the way that things are always done, because it has always worked, still works and will continue to work for God’s people and his purpose, according to his word, his will and his ways.

In our relationships, shaped by those habits, we are always teaching, learning, leading, creating, meditating and manifesting. Showing ourselves, and our brains, the person we want to be and setting an example for the people we’re around of ways they could show up and expect to be treated.

So what is the state of relationships in this country, and what are our habits as a country?

And based on those relationships, habits and current conditions, what would be a reasonable prediction about our future?

And why would I say that Trump could destroy the US, its people and the world?

Relationships and habits.

People with brains, and bodies that deteriorate under negativity, fear, anxiety, isolation, and stress.

Now more than ever we have the ability to be more informed, connected, prosperous and more importantly we have the ability to spread our words, mindsets, ideas and motivations all over the world with the click of the button.

Relationships and habits.

Without breaking down a detailed timeline it is safe to say that as much as I love this country, am thankful for the men and women who sacrifice their lives daily for our freedom, and am hopeful for a better tomorrow, this country has a history of taking advantage of people for their, labor, resources and land, supported actively and passively by systems set up to divide and conquer. To keep us from trusting, sharing and loving each other fully.

Keeping us always on guard from the ominous “they” and rallying its citizens to play an active role in spreading the fear, controlling the masses, and protecting the country.

Willing to sacrifice our humanity, for gain or to avoid loss, destroy our futures based on a quick path to a future we want, using labels and rationalization to justify treating other people as less than, for better taxes, or to not be the ones cast out into the woods.

Relationships and habits.

So why?

The history of this country was built on taking, subjugating, manipulation, desperation, separation, fear and death. Over history, as we have fought our way forward, innovating, creating and growing we have been weighed down, and shaped by death, hatred, racism, sexism, government lies, ulterior motives and misinformation.

From the first words Columbus said about the natives already inhabiting this land when he stumbled across it looking for Asia, conquest, and riches, which basically said that because the people were trusting, defenseless, unaware, and not their mental equal they would be easy to enslave, rule over, use and put to work, to the words outlining the rules of slavery that would shape and define this country in An Act Concerning Servants and Slaves, exonerating police brutality against slaves, using religion and the threat of loss and destruction of property to encourage distrust, hatred and fear between races, defining enslaved Africans as less than human beings, their lives, language and traditions without value, and a threat to Christian Americans to stop and frisk, Jim Crow Laws, to the Irish famines that sent 2 million Irish to the US in 1845, and 255 people, mostly freed slaves in Seneca VillageSeneca Village being displaced, from their homes to build Central Park so rich people could have a place to walk, the motivation to take, a desire for power and more has been driven and supported by creating enmity, fear and hatred between its people.

That message has been spread by newspapers, TV, music, radio, social media, by our mouths and in our hearts.

That history has led us to today, where the American family is in decline, politics are once again becoming arenas of violence, fear is high and encouraged, anxiety is high, shame leads us, people are dying if “only” in their minds and the familiar threatens to destroy us.

Where hatred, and fear are casually spread, taught to our children and assimilated in trending posts, and political slogans.

Multiplied in DMs and speeches.
Death, laughed about over dinner tables.

The science of epigenetics and studies on generational trauma show that that’s not the case.

That the trauma and pain that people experience can affect their gene expression and the gene expression of their offspring for generations.

That experience, trauma, the environment can affect the way that certain genes respond in society, life and culture and those adaptations can change the way pain and fear is responded to generations.

That’s without influence or assistance, we’re made that way, to adapt.

But a significant trauma, that is constantly triggered, constantly denied, constantly reinvented, reinforced and revisited, becomes chronic and complex ptsd.

That is our war.

And that’s where we are as a country.

Living out a societal complex PTSD response for over 500 years as a country and even longer as human beings.

https://allstarparent.substack.com/p/dr-gabor-mate-on-childrens-essential
Causing us discomfort, shame and cognitive dissonance over our past, seperation, animosity and fear in our present and shaping our future.

In America we have had slavery, revolutionary and civil wars, lynching, school shooters, a pandemic, 9/11, sexism, tension between races, classes, genders, religions and more.

None of that is from God, which means anything that supports, grows, spreads, and ignites those mindsets is from the devil and will not work.

It hasn’t worked.

Currently in America fear is high.

We’re almost at the top of the world in childlessness a trend which looks to keep rising,

And we have one of the lowest baby per family averages in the world.

Divorce is down but that may be because marriage is also down.

Findings from a 2021 – 2022 Mental Health America study showed that nearly 60 million American adults had experienced mental illness that year, 12.8 million people seriously considered suicide, 13% of teenagers had serious thoughts of suicide, 1 in 5 teenagers having a major depressive episode in that year with 3 million kids not receiving any treatment.

We are living in an extended sympathetic response to covid, what seems like almost daily school shootings, hyperpoliticized information and media and a polarizing society.

Honestly, I can’t say that I think either candidate is the best choice. But Trump has seen people commit violence for him. That kind of power, can be intoxicating. That kind of influence, can have massive consequences. When listening to his nominee acceptance speech he spoke about taking back DC, and Chicago, areas occupied by mostly black people, paroting the fear mongering familiar ideas and racist rhetoric that this country is familiar with. Playing the hits about what “they” would do and how we won’t let “them” get away with stealing another election, raising taxes, stealing the country and eating our pets.

The story of rulers oppressing the masses for personal gain, oppressing races, targeting babies, and ruling through fear is as old as Exodus where Pharoah literally told the Egyptians that they had to enslave the Israelites because they were thriving, healthy, strong, and their blessing made them a threat.

I know that story.

I won’t pretend that Kamala is the best candidate for this country.

And I won’t try to tell you who to vote for.

What I can do is recognize a pattern, a familiar mindset of fear, power, subjugation, separation, and control that has been an underlying driver of our country for centuries, playing out in our relationships, in the peace of mind and development of our children, and contributing to the decline of our peace of mind and prosperity as a country.

If we move forward, ignoring the destruction that we know we will cause because we have a habit of this same behavior, what fruit these spirits will bare, the best we can do is take peace in making a decision that is thought out and informed, choosing and accepting everything that comes with our decisions, not just the rewards but the consequences as well.

And pray.

In the upcoming volumes we’ll dive deeper into these topics of learning, mindset, creativity and the power of words and expand our investigation more into what lessons of life and fulfillment can be found in business, sales, leadership and more.

Until then, a question,

Is it worth it to save a country if it leads its people into more chaos, isolation, distrust, anger, separation, isolation and conflict?

Love yall.