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Originally posted by TheRedneckBut surely you will agree that as financial and social pressures increase in our society, finding time for parenting becomes harder and harder? Ironically, as the father of two teens, I have found that a large part of that financial pressure is coming from schools, extra-curricular activities, graduation, etc.
With that increase in difficulty finding time to spend with the children comes the desire to find alternatives, safe alternatives, to make up for the difference. And what better way to instill priorities in impressionable young minds than to use this societal evolution to slip propaganda to the children?
Remember, one is not paranoid if everyone really is out to get them.
Maybe change the outlook you have.
1. Live the simple life.
To live the simple life is not to return to primitive conditions nor to decide to be satisfied with nothing, or next to nothing. It is possible to live the simple life in the midst of all the luxuries that wealth can buy, because simplicity does not spring from the quantity of possession but from the arrangement of possession.
2. Live the serene life.
Be calm, peaceful, quiet and undisturbed in all things and at all times. Confusion and hurry waste energy, and it is a well known fact that depression and gloom are produced, in most instances, simply by the energy of the system running low.
3. Be in love with the world.
He who loves much will be loved much in return, and there is nothing in the world that can give more joy and higher joy than an abundance of real love. The selfish love, that is only personal, and that must be gratified to be enjoyed, gives but a passing pleasure, the reaction of which is always pain. When we love with such a love we are always unhappy when not directly loved in return, and the purely selfish love never brings real love in return. When we love everybody with the pure love of the soul, that love that does not ask to be loved in return but loves because it is loved, we shall positively be loved in return; and not simply by a few here and there, but by great numbers.
4. Be useful.
"Give to the world the best that you have and the best will come to you." Hold nothing back. If you have something that you can share with the world, let everybody have it today. Do all that you can for everybody, not because you expect reward, but because it is a part of your nature. Be all that you can be and do all that you can do. Never say, "I will do only as much as I am paid for." Such an attitude has kept many a person in poverty for life. Reward is an effect, not a cause.
5. Think and speak the beautiful only.
Every word or thought that you express will return to you. Never say anything to make others discouraged or unhappy; it will come back to yourself. He who gives unhappiness to others is giving unhappiness to himself.
6. Forgive and forget everything that seems wrong.
We have spent many a weary day simply because we persisted in remembering something that was unpleasant. Forget the wrong and it will disturb you no more. Forgive others for what they have done and you will have no unpleasant memories to cloud the sky of your mental world. When people speak unkindly of you, never mind.
7. Be perfectly contented with the present.
Contentment, however, does not mean to be so satisfied with present conditions that we do not care to change them. True contentment not only appreciates the full value of the present, but also appreciates those greater powers in life that can perpetually add to the value of the present;
8. Seek the ideal.
Look for the ideal everywhere; live in ideal environments when possible; but if not possible in an external sense create for yourself an ideal environment in the internal sense. Live in ideal mental worlds no matter what external worlds may be. Associate as much as possible with ideal people, and if you are living an ideal life in your own mental and spiritual life, you will attract ideal people wherever you go.
9. Develop the whole man.
To promote an orderly growth throughout your entire being is highly important, and to establish perfect harmony of action among all the various members of mind and body is indispensable to happiness. Develop everything in your nature and place all the elements in your being in perfect harmony. You will thus ascend perpetually to higher states of being and greater realms of joy.
Much of the discord and unhappiness that comes into life is the direct result of one-sidedness and undevelopment, and these can be permanently removed only through the orderly development of the whole man. Body, mind and soul must be perfectly balanced in every sense of that term. The more perfectly you are balanced the greater will be your joy, because a balanced nature is conducive to harmony, and harmony is conducive to happiness.
10. Open the mind to beautiful thoughts only.
The world is full of thoughts, all kinds of thoughts, but only those that are invited will come to you. There is nothing that affects life more than the thoughts we think; and the thoughts we are to think will depend almost entirely upon our mental attitude towards that which we meet in life. When we resolve to receive only beautiful thoughts from everything with which we come in contact the change for the better in life will be simply remarkable. All things will become new. We will actually enter a new heaven and a new earth, and the joys of existence will multiply many times.
11. Be in touch with the harmony of life.
The universe is full of music, and happy is the soul that can hear the symphonies of heaven; he can find no greater joy. Every soul that has been in tune with higher things is familiar with that deep pleasure that comes to mind when the sensations of sublime harmony sweetly thrill every fibre of being; and we can all so live that we can be in tune with the music of the sphere.
12. Consecrate every moment to the higher life.
The mind that is ever ascending can never be sad. Perpetual ascension means perpetual joy. The happiest moments that come to you are those moments that come when you see yourself rising in the scale of sublime existence. You are then ascending to the heights.
They are both in school and so I understand the expenses. I hate having to tell them "no" to certain things, but I do.. I do it both because I refuse to succumb to the pressures of they "should have such and such" and realize that what they NEED is the necessities and my attention rather than being stuck in school and then daycare so that I can give them what all the rest of the kids have.
I have actually been blessed with a keen mind that has allowed me to figure out ways to earn enough $$ for extras while being here for them, but IF it ever came down to choosing between desires and being here for them, I will choose the latter. All they NEED is a decent (not a huge) roof over their heads, water to drink, food in their bellies, and clothes (not designer) on their back. Everything else is icing on the cake that will only be there so long as I can be there to raise them and teach them the important things in life as well.