Yesterday Was Our Today

By Jim Koury

As I sit and enjoy this marvelous evening I reflect upon time and how it is passing by so quickly like the sand in an hour glass. Yesterday was our today. Memories of so many past todays flip by in my mind and bring smiles to my face.

At the same time they cause an emotional burn upon my heart, as I yearn to reach back through time and bring those happy memories of a bygone era back to life to experience just one more time. I long to embrace those family members who have crossed over once again and tell them one more time how much I love them and to tell it to those that I did not say it to all that much.

The passage of time brings change and sometimes rips every last vestige of our safe and secure worlds from us that leaves an enduring scar upon our souls that never really heals. The pain and the longing for something that once was is always ever present within our conscious minds. However we know we can never reclaim the past but we keep it alive through our memories of people that once walked among us and of places and events that we enjoyed with those that now have gone to a realm of consciousness that we cannot comprehend.

I embrace my today, as I know it will become one of my yesterdays as quickly as the blink of an eye. It will be cast into the darkness of my memory, to be retrieved and looked fondly upon in a not too distant time and place.

The consolation is that we have the opportunity to experience more todays to create memories that we will grasp onto when they crumble into dust tomorrow. Do not waste precious time creating memories that will cause regret and sorrow later in life. Do today what will foster happy memories in our days of tomorrow.

Discernment

By Jim Koury

From our earliest days as a child the primary cognitive ability we begin to develop is our power of discernment.  As children we naturally wished to discover new things and understand the world around us.  As we grew older our power of discernment became more refined and this desire to discover and understand expanded to a much broader plane as our mental abilities developed. 

As adults we are faced with more complex situations in our planes of consciousness.  In our relationships, jobs or whatever life event we are faced with, we often times feel we have had challenges discerning a particular situation for exactly what it was.  These challenges can be rooted in our tendency to allow our discerning abilities to become clouded with other people’s perceptions and ideas of how others should live their lives.  When we begin to examine situations we are faced with jaded with the conclusion of another person’s discernment, then we have lost our innate ability to effectively discern qualities and aspects of ourselves and how they relate to the world around us on our own terms as individuals.

We must cast off the shackles of judgment of another within our own thought processes.  We need to allow ourselves to simply “let go” of that judgment and just be in a state of “being” present and allowing any situation we are faced with to just unfold.  This is a challenging feat but it can be done.

We all have a driving force within us that if tapped into can jettison us far away from the influences of of someone else’s judgment and to allow things to just “unfold.”  This driving force is the energy of our higher selves that begins to bubble to the surface and pulsates even more profoundly as we increase our awareness by just “being.”  Tapping into the force of our higher selves can allow us to reject someone else’s worldview and the influence of that worldview on our way of thinking.  We no longer need to embrace false assumptions created by others and overlay them into our life’s journey.  We have found our ability at this point to shape our own worldviews guided by what we feel is right for us.  When we set out on our own path, ignited by the power of our higher selves, we will ultimately discover our true life’s purpose – our destiny -- that was always just out of reach and never fully graspable.

Make a decision to set yourself free and journey within yourself.  There you will find reconciliation with your true purpose in life.

Reflections

By Jim Koury
eyeswideopentothesoul@gmail.com
(C) 2015 Eyes Wide Open. All Rights Reserved

Jim Koury is a seeker of inspirational forces. His spiritual journey of self-discovery has revealed many secrets hidden within him related to the very essence of who he is. He has unleashed the power of divine energy that is within us all and shares this through his column entitled, “Eyes Wide Open.” He embraces opportunities that enable him to learn about his higher self and the inspirational forces that prod him forward to new plateaus of enlightenment and self-revelation.

Lately I have often found myself in a reflective mental state where I seem to just wander to places long forgotten and that have been tucked away in the recesses of my mind -- hidden from sight and memory.  I have no explanation really for these reflective periods, as they come out of nowhere and sometimes very quickly.  I will be in a very outgoing, gregarious and fun mood only to be quickly focused inward.  During these moment of inward focus, I am seemingly quite content on the outside but there is such trial and tribulation within myself and sometimes such inner unrest that it scares me sometimes.

I can internalize these reflective periods quite well now and not really change my outward demeanor at all.  Sometimes life and all its nuances and the people in it just get so arduous and tiresome that I just want to scream and tell the world to shut the fuck up and go away and then curl up in a desolate, solitary place. Then I ground myself, put that happy face on and forge ahead despite all that swirls about inside and around me. It's just what needs to be done.  I carry on with life.

Most times I am much stronger and more resilient when I emerge from these reflective moments in which I grapple with  the internal firestorm of my thoughts and memories.  I seem to be able to fondly remember things from my past and overcome my longing to return to those more secure and comfortable days with relative ease. I realize the past is the past.  While we can return and reflect upon the memories that bubble to the top of our consciousness we cannot remain there indefinitely.  Life is to be lived and we need to forge new paths and experience new things that complement the lessons learned from our past experiences.

I have seen many people entrapped within their memories of the past struggling with regret and shame.  They incessantly wish they had not done something or did something they wanted to do but did not.  These folks do not have a sense of their future.  They lack the vision to realize that the power to change the course of their destiny lies within themselves.  It actually saddens me to watch them wallow in their self doubt and their fear in trusting their instincts and intuition to forge a path yet untrodden.

Reflecting on the past is a good thing in that it allows us to regroup.  We can strategize on what worked and what didn’t and if necessary create a new paradigm in which to function.  However, we must be aware of the danger in remaining in the past and denying the existence of the present.  We must live in the NOW and do what we must do in order to achieve our personal greatness.  Happiness and contentment lies in our passions and doing whatever it is that makes us happy and fosters internal peace aligned with our higher selves.

Roaming In Nowhere

By Jim Koury, Seeker of Inspirational Forces
© 2015 James R. Koury.  All Rights Reserved.

As we progress through our lives certain situations are presented to us that are meant to teach us invaluable lessons about ourselves.  However, the value of the lesson is dependent upon our willingness to embrace the knowledge to be gained from the experience.  By living the lesson learned and implementing it in our daily lives it creates self-assuredness and confidence. We are propelled forward to decisive victories that bring us one step closer to unison with our higher selves,

There are times however, where we feel we are trapped by our circumstances at the moment or we just feel like we are stagnating and not really moving forward and are simply roaming in nowhere.  However, while it may not seem like  it, It is at this time that the most personal growth and self-reflection is occurring.

A friend of mine posted the following quote on my Facebook wall that really rang true with me,

“Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere and sometimes in the middle of nowhere you find yourself.”

This quote made me realize even more the importance of using these times of “nowhereness” to our advantage by capitalizing on our gifts that we were born with.  To do so will bring us closer to finding ourselves and knowing our higher selves.  But I hear some of you saying, “But I have no gifts.”  This is an erroneously false statement!

We all have gifts that we utilize each and every day that we were born with and into which we place all our heart and soul.  The issue lays with recognizing the gifts and deciding to use them to our advantage to become the best person we can become.

Whatever the gift may be – healing, tarot, intuitive thought, art, writing – we must make a decision to use it to better those around us as well as help others realize their importance in society.  To not do so will create a degree of internal conflict that will be ever present until we consciously decide to embrace our gifts and use them to make the world a better place for all human kind.

So while it may appear that we are wallowing in a void of nothingness and feel like we are in the middle of nowhere with no visible clear direction in sight, it is our feelings of loss and confusion during this time that will bring forth many of the answers we seek.  We must explore all facets of ourselves and decide which of our gifts we are to focus on the most and will, as a result, be the predominant force and overriding energy in all that we undertake.

Do not lament your period of time in the land of nowhere.  Seize it, live it, and explore things you would never have thought of doing before.  It is a time that the universe accords all of us to enjoy ourselves a bit more and to use the creative energy that is within us all to the benefit of the broader good.

All we must do is simply decide to awaken to our gifts with a humbled heart, and play a role in bettering society for all its people for generations to come.  Awaken today…

Vacation Within Yourself

By Jim Koury, Seeker of Inspirational Forces
© 2015 James R. Koury.  All Rights Reserved

While perusing Facebook one day as I usually do I noticed a post by a friend of mine that said “Taking a trip inside of your own mind is the best vacation that you can take.”  I shook myself when I read it, sat back in my chair and said “Wow!”

After thinking about it more after my initial exposure to it, I would have to say it probably is one of the most profound statements I had ever seen on Facebook.  It just rang so true with me given this amazing journey of self-exploration I have been on the past 19 months. 

The key to understanding who we actually are and finding the ability to connect  with our higher selves is discovering the knowledge that the answer to who we really are has been inside us all since the day we were born.  What better way to get inside ourselves and begin to set in motion the journey of self-discovery that awaits us all if we choose to embrace it is to vacation within ourselves!  Such an amazingly simple concept but yet so hard to understand and accept.

Many of us at one time in our lives looked outward for life’s answers thinking that living life would produce the knowledge we seek.  Most times this quest ends in a disappointing fashion with our frustration levels increased and still having not found that which we set out to find.

At some point many of us are influenced by someone or something we read or listened to that sparks the fire of self-knowledge that begins us on an amazing path of self-discovery.  Once lit the fire cannot be put out.  Once the flames are fanned by this initial burst of energy, there is no stopping our progress toward the ultimate goal of knowing our higher selves.  We begin to take vacations within ourselves because we understand that the knowledge we outwardly sought had been inside us all along.

Sadly some live their lives without ever getting on this journey within themselves.  They have opted to stay home and not vacation because they are comfortable with their familiar surroundings.  Their sense of discovery has been muted.

Once we begin to embark on the path that has been revealed to us many people will be presented to us along our way to help us to understand an issue, find a solution to a challenge or just provide further knowledge and wisdom about life and its many wonders.  I have spoken at great length about many of these people and how they helped me.  Recently I have met yet another individual that would help crystalize my vision more about my life’s purpose.

I have been unclear as to what this purpose is and how I begin to embrace it.  We cannot embrace something until we know what exactly it is we want to embrace!  Additional information we seek will be presented to us once we make an expression of desire to embrace our purpose.  I expressed that desire and it was not long before my newest experience was placed before me.

As a result, more detailed information about my purpose has been revealed to me in a most amazing fashion.  While I will not get into the details of this newest vacation within myself, I will say that it has profoundly impacted me and has given me additional direction on the steps I need to take to achieve my ultimate purpose – one that drives me and is burned so deeply into my heart that nothing can compel me away from it.

I am excited to embark on this next phase of my journey equipped with this new knowledge I have garnered.  Since leaving my position at City Hall 19 months ago, I have never been afraid to step out of my comfort zone and try new things.  My departure from a well paying municipal job was a huge, if not the hugest, jump out of any comfort zone I had ever known.  The risks have been minimal but the rewards have been great.  I have done things that I would probably never have done if I had stayed in the job I was in.  The vacations I have taken within myself most likely would not have happened either.  Therefore, I have no regrets, as this point in my life ignited a new spark of enthusiasm to learn much more about my direction and life’s purpose.

Yet another new beginning awaits me!  I am charging forward without hesitation, as I know deep in my heart that I am very close to meeting my higher self – the person that I could never have imagined being just a few short years ago.  I can only hope you all can awaken to what is within you and take the steps necessary to find your higher selves as well.

Happy vacationing!

The Power of Universal Inspiration

By Jim Koury, Seeker of Inspirational Forces
© 2015 James R. Koury.  All Rights Reserved

It is a characteristic of human nature that we tend to sometimes lament the lack of inspiration as well as rely on others to inspire us. We seek inspiration to undertake tasks and join movements from sources outside ourselves. When that inspiration does not come we tend to sit back and get comfortable again. We go on about our lives waiting in hopes that someone will come along and inspire us to do what we need to do.

Alas the inspiration sought from others usually does not come or if it does it is a false inspiration because it is based upon someone else’s vision and code of conduct. Inspiration must come from within oneself; from the depths of the soul that resides in each and every one of us. True inspiration, unique to each of us, is grounded in every individual’s internal framework. We just need to dig deep inside and find it and tap into its power.

Inspiration is “a divine influence or action on a person believed to qualify him or her to receive and communicate sacred revelation.” True inspiration is that which will carry us to heights of achievement and greatness. It is grounded in divine influence. It must be ignited by tapping into the stream of universal power that surrounds us and links us all together as one entity that shall serve the common good. When our inspiration is grounded and motivated by universal power it is an unstoppable force and can benefit humanity in unimaginable ways.

Conversely when one’s inspiration is grounded in harming others to achieve selfish ends no good can come of it and only creates bad karma for the one utilizing negative inspiration. We have all been impacted by these types of people. When we come in contact with those whose inspiration is not grounded in divine influence it does not take long to figure out that this type of person is not who we want to be associated with or have inspire us and motivate us to action. It will only create internal conflict and harm others that come in contact with the aura of this negative inspirational influence.

It takes perseverance and a certain degree of strength to find the inspiration that we need that resides inside us. However, once found and we tap into its power we can use it to inspire others to action and to give them hope and confidence in themselves to achieve that which they do not believe they can undertake and achieve.

Having such influence on others is a powerful responsibility and one that should not be taken lightly. Once others sense and begin to rely on the aura of inspirational forces centered in divine influence surrounding us we have a duty to fulfill the mission that is being brought forth from within us and to impart it to others. Once the fire of divine inspiration spreads the face of humanity can be changed forever for the better.

Existential Purpose

By Jim Koury, Seeker of Inspirational Forces
© 2015 James R. Koury.  All Rights Reserved.

We are born unto this world with an inherent vision of our destiny embedded deep inside of us.  It lays dormant for many years until a fire is lit and crescendos into a steady burn within us to discover it.  Our quest to know our existential purpose begins.

The ensuing journey toward that goal certainly will be an enlightening experience.  It will challenge us to think differently about ourselves and what our mission in life will be.

Sadly, some never embark on a journey into the inner recesses of their minds to truly know who their higher self is.  It is my hope that something is sparked within all of you who read this that will propel you to the point of no return in your journey forward to becoming the outward manifestation of your higher self.

Over the past 18 months I have made many journeys into the inner recesses of my mind.  I have discovered some amazing truths about myself along with many discoveries that sometimes scared the hell out of me.  But once over the shock of the discovery, I began to think more rationally about a solution and what the course of action should be.

There is one thing that I have been challenged with of late and it is related to the perennial question of “why” -- the “why” being that which drives us toward discovering the elusive existential purpose that we all seek  Answering why will come by knowing our existential purpose.  Discovering the path to that end is the challenge. Knowing our purpose will answer all the whys.  But to know the purpose we must know the why’s.  This is the classic and very challenging “Catch 22.” 

Some have said that I think too much and that I should just “be.” I certainly do concur with that.  However, part of my state of just “being” is a need to think about such things in such a deliberative fashion. It allows me to balance each of these differing components to arrive at that “live for the day” attitude that is appropriate for me.

With that said, after much thought I recently arrived at a conclusion from this reflective period related to understanding “why.”  We must all simply embrace the journey to discovering the existential purpose and don't focus on the why’s.  The universal energy that swirls about us will direct us to each answer of “why” when we need it.  Each answer that comes will propel us toward answering the next question of “why” and ultimately to the state of being that is the full outward manifestation of our higher selves.

Have you thought about your existential purpose?  If not, I hope you eventually do.  If you have begun to embark on a journey into your mind’s inner recesses, then never look back.  Simply forge ahead with the desired goal always ablaze before you.  The universal power that swirls around us shall take care of the rest.  As long as you always continue to have an open mind and accept the results of your lessons learned, the power of unseen universal forces shall direct you to the next level in your state of being.  Your higher self awaits you!