Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Sunday – Doing Things for God

Tags

Content, Detached, Discrimination, Eckankar, Forgiving, God, Humble, spirituality, Sri Harold Klemp, The Loving Heart, Tolerant

Do everything, large or small, as if you were doing it for God alone. That means the task will be done with love, joy, and (don’t forget) thoroughness.

Sri Harold Klemp – The Loving Heart

Each of us have our daily duties. Cleaning up, laundry, self-hygiene, taking care of pets, and so on. When we do these things for God, we open ourselves to a love that comes without strings attached.

The ego or what we call the “little self” is minimized when we do things for God. The ego is a much-needed part of us here in the lower worlds, because without it we would be trampled on like a door mat. However, it is also the source of most of our problems here. The ego can be insulted, slighted, and upset. It can be jealous, intolerant, unforgiving. It can be lustful, greedy, and vane. It likes to attach us to things like certain beliefs or ideas, foods, drugs, and causes all kinds of problems.

When we minimize the ego, it is harder for us to be upset at others, lust after things we want, but do not need, and all the rest. This minimization causes us less heartache over the long term and also helps us become more loving. If we lust after less, are angered less, are less greedy, less attached, and less vane, things tend to smooth out in life for us. We can begin cultivating the virtues of discrimination (making good choices), tolerance and forgiveness, contentment, detachment, and humility.

Do things in the name of God and your life will take a turn for the better.

May the blessings be.

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Reading, Watching, and Learning – Ancient Wisdom for Today and YouTube

Tags

Blogging, Books, Building Community, Courses, Eckankar, Learning, Reading, Watching, YouTube

I’m still reading the books I listed last week. I’m enjoying them immensely. I am also doing a lot of reading on Activision’s blog. This blog covers all things Call of Duty. One of the books I’d like to mention is a free book that is offered from ECKANKAR. It is written in layman’s terms, so it’s easy to understand. If any of you would be interested, here’s the link to get your free download or hard copy: https://www.eckankar.org/freebook/wisdom/

I watch a lot of YouTube, particularly to learn how to do things in Call of Duty and other games I’m playing. It is a great source of information. I watch videos on weapon builds, maps, all kinds of things that creators put together so others like me can learn something quickly that took hours of game play to figure out. It’s a great service.

I read another person’s blog post today about restarting her blog after finishing grad school. She expressed the same doubts about what to write about–one of the fears I had when I started Daily Ramblings in early 2016. Now, after 7 years, I write about what I like and care about. I’ve found that the people who enjoy my blog are kindred spirits. They like learning, they like interesting videos and articles, they have some spiritual inclinations, and they are politically agnostic–they realize politics is a reality in our lives, but choose not to participate or waste their time and emotions arguing fruitless points with one another.

I want Daily Ramblings to be a place where people can hear from people across history who offer great advice that is still relevant today. I want to share how I run my life, after a lifetime of military service and working in corporate America. I want to share my love of technology, video gaming, reading, writing, and sharing. I like sharing hacks I ‘ve come up with that make my life much easier.

In the end, I write this blog for me. It’s a nice “diary” if you will. I can go back to some of my earlier posts and remember what I was thinking at the time. I also enjoy the blogs I follow. There are artists, philosophers, environmentalists who love animals and nature, people who craft, authors I’ve come to know through their books, and so many others, just because they have interesting things to say that align with what I like to read about.

My advice is this: Write. The followers will come, if you are interested in building a community. Just write. There are a lot of people out there who are interested in what you have to say, because they think the same way you do. They’ll share the same interests.

Well, that’s it for today, folks. Have a great Thursday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Sunday – Self Sufficiency

Tags

Eckankar, God, ideas, Inner nudges, Intuition, Karma, Life, Self-responsibility, Self-sufficiency

Whatever path to God you follow ought to make you able to stand on your own feet here as well as in the inner worlds; here and now, in this lifetime, before you drop the body in death.

If the path isn’t able to do that, then you ought to keep looking until you find one that gives you this ability.

Sri Harold Klemp – Touching the Face of God

All of us are on our own unique way back to God. It doesn’t matter what path we follow. I’ve chosen ECKANKAR as my path, but I could just have easily chosen Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, or Islam. There are many religious paths including being an agnostic or atheist. Soul needs to experience every one of these throughout its many reincarnations.

In ECKANKAR we learn to trust our intuition. We tend to call them inner nudges. An inner nudge is like an idea. You wake up after a good night’s sleep and you get an insight to a problem or something troubling you in your life. This trouble could be another person, a financial issue, or even a physical ailment. Whatever the problem is, most people can figure out a solution to their problems.

One problem hinted at in this quote is the responsibility to self. We must carry our own load. There are some in this lifetime who need outside support. The disabled need help in this lifetime. The chronically ill need help. But for most of us, it simply means we have to find a way to make a living.

But there is more to standing on our own feet than just making a living. It is also about serving our societies, our families, and our friends. We must take responsibility for our actions in this life and previous lives.

Some religions profess to offer salvation by accepting a savior. You could be a mass-murderer and if you accept salvation, you are all good. This could not be more wrong. No one escapes karma. Many think they are getting away with doing wrongs. Sometimes this thought is supported by a life where a person just gets away with everything without paying the piper. This illusion is dissolved when they come back and have to pay for all their wrong doings in previous lives.

We have all hurt others and have been hurt by others. Karma does not forget, despite our inability to see what we did in a previous life. It is set up this way, because we must learn from scratch in each lifetime. Slowly, we start wondering why our lives are this way or that. Why am I cursed with such bad luck? You are not cursed. You are simply paying back things you did before. No one escapes this.

When we finally realize the truth of this, we start to live our lives in a more responsible way. We avoid hurting others if we can. We avoid selfishness. We begin to see that service to others, including ourselves, is key to resolving our karma, so we stop building our karmic debt. In fact, we start to clear up some things and make it easier on ourselves when we return yet again.

I hope all of you have a terrific Sunday!

May the blessings be…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Sunday – ECK Soul Adventure Podcast

Tags

ECK, ECK Soul Adventure, Eckankar, God, Inner Worlds, Podcast, spirituality

Many of you have very busy lives. You are busy with work and making a living. You have families to care for. You have pets to care for. You have a home to keep clean and care for. This post is for you.

There are many free books and other materials available to the public offered by ECKANKAR, but there is also a podcast. Here’s the link: https://www.eckankar.org/podcasts/

When you arrive here, you can scroll to the bottom of the webpage to find the app store that you use, whether it’s Google, Apple, or Spotify. I know I like having all my streaming services in one place. So, using Apple Music is my go-to.

These podcasts talk about all kinds of spiritual topics like life-after-death, reincarnation, karma, and God. If you’ve got a long commute to work and listen to music or the radio, why not give this a shot. It’ll add some variety to your listening experience and could potentially offer you some insight into your inner worlds.

I hope you enjoy these. They are terrific!

May the blessings be!

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Sunday – ECK Soul Adventure Magazine

Tags

Articles, artwork, ECK, Eckankar, Magazine, Soul Adventure, Spiritual, Spiritual IQ, spirituality

Howdy, all! Happy Sunday to you.

Have you ever had a spiritual experience or revelation? Something you know is real to you, but would be hard to explain to anyone else? Check out the free ECK Soul Adventure Magazine: https://www.eckankar.org/eck-soul-adventure-magazine/

It comes out four times a year and it costs nothing, other than subscribing with your email address. It is filled with stories of people around the world who have had spiritual experiences, artwork, and many techniques on how to increase your spiritual IQ.

You don’t have to join ECKANKAR or change your faith. We don’t sell your data, nor do we pester people. The only purpose your email address serves is a place to send each issue. The Soul Adventure Magazine is literally for anyone that needs answers to their spiritual questions and can’t find the answer on their own.

I hope all of you have a great Sunday!

May the blessings be!

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Sunday – The Soul Adventure Seminar

Tags

Covid, ECK, Eckankar, Freedom, God, Happiness, Love, Soul, Soul Adventure, Worldwide

All, ECKANKAR has a worldwide seminar that is available to everyone, whether you are an ECKist or not. When COVID hit, ECKANKAR began recording events for the public who could not attend. This year we finally had an in-person event (I did not attend), and in November they offer the public to watch key parts of the event online.

If you’d be interested in hearing Sri Harold’s talk, you can attend the event here:

https://www.eckankar.org/html/ECKSoulAdventure/index.php

Make sure you click on guest. The organization will need your address to send you the password to the event, and that’s it!

I hope all of you are having a terrific 2023. I am. It’s been a great year so far.

May the blessings be!

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Reading, Watching, and Learning – Deep Mind, Blackbirch 3, A Deadly Influence, ECKANKAR: Key to Dreams, The Matrix Resurrections, Discord, Canva, and MS Excel

Tags

A Deadly Influence, BlackBirch 3, Canva, Deep Mind, Discord, Dreams, Eckankar, MS Excel, The Matrix

Deep Mind is turning out to be really good. The story this time around involves an AI called Konstantin. I won’t spoil the story in case you want to read it, but boy, it is getting exciting. Blackbirch 3 involves the same characters from 1 and 2 and has our group searching for a box that will allow the characters to resolve a problem. A Deadly Influence still has our characters searching for an abducted little boy. Some clues have led to a local cult, but no one is talking there. ECKANKAR: Key to dreams is a book that explains how our dreams have many purposes, one of which is helping us learn to live a better life.

On the learning front, I am closing in on the end of the Canva and Discord courses, still plugging away at MS Excel, and starting to look at next courses. I’m thinking I am going to get another of the Officenewb’s courses on MS Word. His courses are terrific.

My sister and I watched The Matrix Resurrections. Wow! It was a great 4th movie. Many online have rated the movie poorly, but I really liked it because it closed the loop on so many things from the initial trilogy. The characters were great.

I hope you have a great Thursday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Sunday – Spiritual Stress Relief

Tags

angst, Eckankar, Finances, health, Loved ones, Morning Commute, News, Relationships, Stress, Stress Relief, Worry

All of us experience stress from time-to-time. We experience stress on the job, in relationships, even with money. When we get sick we experience stress. When we watch the news we experience stress. When we commute to work we experience stress. Where do we go to get relief?

Some rely on pharmaceuticals. Others rely on mental health professionals. Still others rely on a friend or family member. There is also another avenue we can take. We can seek a spiritual solution to our stress. In this free e-booklet, provided by ECKANKAR, you can read about some of the techniques you can use today to relieve some of the stressors we all experience.

Here’s the link: https://www.eckankar.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Spiritual-Stress-Relief_ebooklet.pdf

Have a great Sunday, folks!

May the blessings be!

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Sunday – The Power of Gratitude

Tags

comfortable, Content, Contentment, Eckankar, Grateful, Gratitude, Happy, spirituality, Sunday

Happy Sunday!

Gratitude is one of the acts that can bring us huge rewards. Gratitude brings us to a place of contentment where we realize we have enough. We’re okay. We have enough clothes. We have enough food. We have a comfortable living space. We have a reliable way to get around.

Here’s another free e-booklet from ECKANKAR that discusses the spiritual aspects of Gratitude. Enjoy!

Click to access The-Power-of-Gratitude_ebooklet.pdf

#Free booklet

I hope you enjoy this one.

Have a great Sunday, everyone.

May the blessings be!

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Sunday – Finding Your Life’s Purpose

Tags

e-book, Eckankar, family, Free, Friends, Life, Purpose, Spiritual Sunday, Weekend

Happy Sunday, all! I had a terrific birthday, yesterday. Thank you again for all the comments and well wishes. I appreciate that!

Anyway, for those of you that are interested, here’s yet another free e-book from ECKANKAR. This one is titled Finding Your Life’s Purpose. I hope you enjoy it: https://www.eckankar.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Finding-Your-Lifes-Purpose_ebooklet.pdf

Have a great Sunday!

Until next time…

Dave