As I become more awake and more aware, I notice that my past ways, habits, opinions and actions seem to fall by the wayside.  My opinions no longer have the hold on me the way they did in the past.  It truly doesn’t matter to me anymore who the best drummer in the world is; I no longer care to sit for hours in a dark, smelly bar arguing politics with a drunk stranger; I don’t care to go deer hunting and fishing anymore; I don’t care to extol the virtues of gun carrying and killing your own food; I don’t care to sit and complain about the government, the president, immigration, abortion or the price of  gasoline; I no longer care to weigh right against wrong, who’s god is the best and whether or not Osama should be hunted down and killed.  Terror, fear and worry no longer rule my life.  I don’t depend on the stability of the dollar, the stock market or the terror threat level to dictate my mood.  I have taken a vow to fast from the news and I feel better for it.  One only has to know oneself to understand the state of the world.  I no longer have a desire to be informed.  I know there are injustice, pain, suffering, murder, rape and cruelty occurring every second of the day.  “But we have to do something!” I hear you cry out.  So I say, “From within it manifests outward.”  In other words, we are our world.  Heal yourself as you work to help others.  Simply stated, a drowning person cannot help another drowning person.  When we are calmly grounded we can help with more power and stamina.  If we are in this for the long haul, we must constantly be preparing and powering up.  Clean your own house before you clean your neighbors.  Meditate on calmness, love, empathy and stillness, and then be an example to others as such.