I often say perspective is what it’s all about.  It’s what we all come here for, to gain different perspectives and aid in the expansion of me, you, and everything or “the all.”

So that being said, I can fully admit that I’m am guilty of trying to win others over to my perspective, which would potentially cause the least amount of overall expansion. Why do we do this, try to cause everyone around us to have the same perspective?

We are raised (most of us) in a socially rich environment filled with other people.  Through the majority of mainstream schooling practices, we are taught from a very young age to look to others for guidance and acceptance.

We could even take this back farther than schooling to the home life.  Parents and siblings are helping us as we grow, teaching us the vital processes to function in modern society.

This is not a bad thing at all.  We are such social creatures it’s amazing.  Try and map out your person web once, all the people that are connected to you through daily life.

All of those connections are vitally important to our successes, failures and ultimately our happiness.

Just as they are important to us, we are equally important to them whether we realize it or not.  We are one in many, many ways.

Now, keep in mind throughout this discussion, other people really cannot control your emotions without your consent.  We give others permission to effect us through their actions, verbal and physical for a very good reason.  Contrast.  Contrast has been said over and over again, to cause the most amount of expansion possible, personal and global.  It is through experiencing and seeing what we do not want that gives rise to the preference of what we do want.

I personally have to give a huge shout out to the internet for speeding this along in my own life.  I meet so many wonderful individuals I cherish that constantly try to convert me to their point of view.

And I love them for this because it makes me question myself, what I do and how I think on a daily basis.

They provide an extreme amount of contrast and thusly personal expansion.  But their point of view is their own just as mine is my own.

If I adopt their preferences without experience, I would be lying to myself by conforming to a thought process that is not earned through personal experience.

I have to catch myself, as I think we all do, and be careful not to do this to others.  It is programmed in early on and we must practice constant vigilance to break this neuron pathway, if that is indeed desired.

Although, if you came here to provide contrast for others and yourself than more power to you. Keep up the good work.

Let’s all be perfectly honest here.  This isn’t always a fun process.

People can be pushy, annoying, rude and downright disrespectful with their opinions.

I have met people that run around with their opinions like a weapon, ready to attack and interject their thoughts at a moments notice.

Generally you can tell when this is going on;  the person is constantly thinking of what to say next the whole time you’re voicing your opinion.  I like to think of this as a proverbial sword fight with pool noodles.  It really funny to watch and imagine both parties fighting with noodles while they have a debate.  I strongly recommend it.

Other times the process has a flow all it’s own, very beautiful in nature and almost like a dance.  These encounters are defiantly more enjoyable and sought after.

For a time I had considered moving across the country just to be in a more fostering supportive atmosphere.

Yes it would be nice, I would have lots of friends who like the same things I like and we could live in bliss-ville together and ride off into the sunset.

But the more I think about it, the more I come to realize that’s not what I came here for. I came here to have contrast and to grow from it. To have friends with different beliefs than mine so we can all learn from each other. To be resourceful and have to think about what I need versus what I want thusly appreciating everything I do have so much more.

I came here for me, for you, and for all of creation. It is my sincerest wish that my writing aid in the expansion of all that read it, especially if you don’t agree with me. Everything is as it should be and we have everything that we NEED at any given moment.

Namaste Friends.

Jamie Mortinson, self proclaimed renaissance women extraordinaire, tackles life with the same fortitude as her handicapped house duck.  Together they fly through the realms of spirituality and self expression in almost every way possible.  From organic gardening and duck farming to painting and crochet, no part of life’s “creation-fest” is off limits.  Interior design, wild edible foods, reading, writing, cooking, self-sufficiency, photography, meditation, yoga and a general love of life encompass nearly all of her time.  Those moments not promised to her passions are extended to her husband, and their celestial children: a dog, two cats, and lots of ducks and chickens.  She resides in Wisconsin but her home is the world and all the people in it are her family.