Month: May 2014

The Million Dollar Arm And The Disney Effect

Ok, I confess. I truly love just about every Disney movie I’ve ever seen. There is a simple reason for this and it has to do with something I like to refer to as The Disney Effect. No matter what Disney movie I’ve ever watched, there always seems to be a positive message and a level of hope and joy by the end of each of them. That principle held true even on my last outing to their latest film, which was titled The Million Dollar Arm, and I was extremely grateful for that.

I believe that we all need positive messages and a level of hope and joy right now in life. Our world is filled with so much pain and anguish and you can see that quite clearly every day in the news. With that being said, I’m not one to go to the theater anymore and see something that ends on a sad note because life is already filled with so much of that everywhere else. The reason why I go to the movies is to have an escape from what’s going on in the news, to feel good, and to also be uplifted. Thankfully, I can always seem to count on that with a Disney movie and The Million Dollar Arm was no exception to this.

The movie is a true story about a declining sports agent who reinvents his recruitment process by staging a pitching contest in a country (India) that is mostly known for its cricket players. There he seeks out the best pitchers who compete for the ability to try out for a Major League Baseball team. The story surrounds Jon Hamm as that sports agent, J.B. Bernstein, and the two protégés he finds in that contest, Madhur Mittal as Diniesh Patel and Suraj Sharma as Rinku Singh. While I’m not one to spoil the full plot of a movie for others, I think it’s fair to say that this film does have the typical Disney happy ending. And maybe it’s those happy endings that create The Disney Effect for me. Regardless, I’m just glad that Disney sticks to its formula. In a world that’s filled with so much negativity, seeing a Disney film like The Million Dollar Arm brings a breath of fresh air and sense of rejuvenation for me.

I enjoy leaving a theater feeling more upbeat then when I went in, especially on days when I’m really struggling to smile. I guess I can only wish that every movie that’s released were like The Million Dollar Arm. Maybe then our world might be more focused on creating love and light, then on promoting selfish interests and darkness.

I very much want to help create a world that’s filled with positive messages and high levels of hope and joy. The Disney Effect definitely helps with this and for now, I know I am going to continue seeing movies such as The Million Dollar Arm. At least then, I know I’ll be watching something that promotes this quest I’m on with my Higher Power and that’s to simply fill this world with a lot more of the love and light it truly deserves.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

A Prayer For Acceptance

Acceptance of what life sends our way can often be quite difficult to deal with, especially when it’s not in alignment with our ego. For those like myself who have suffered greatly from addictions, that acceptance tends to frequently be even harder to deal with. There is a great paragraph that I found in my recovery from those addictions that has guided my journey to embracing acceptance a lot more in life. It appears on Page 417 of the 4th Edition of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous and reads as follows:

“And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing, or situation – some fact of my life – unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing, or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing, happens in God’s world by mistake. Until I could accept my alcoholism, I could not stay sober; unless I accept life completely on life’s terms, I cannot be happy. I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and my attitudes.”

Finding acceptance with everything in life is a process for all of us though, whether we’ve suffered from addictions or not. By praying for it regularly, our lives can and will become filled with an incredible amount more of serenity. For this reason, I’ve rewritten the excerpt above into a prayer for everyone to use. If you should ever find yourself struggling with having this trait in any aspect of your life, I truly hope you will end up using this prayer to help you find more of it…

“Dear God, I know it’s said that acceptance can be the answer to all my problems in life. Well lately I have a problem that deals with __________________, and I haven’t been very serene because of it. I pray You help me to accept this problem as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this very moment. If nothing, absolutely nothing, truly happens in Your world by mistake, then please help me to come to acceptance by seeing and learning the lesson in this. I also ask that You help me to concentrate not so much on how I think this problem should be resolved, as on what needs to be changed in me and my attitudes. And thank you God for whatever path You end up guiding me on to get there. Amen.”

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

Facing Someone Else’s Control Issues

I have struggled throughout my entire adult life with control issues, but I continue to do my best in letting them go by drawing closer to my Higher Power. I’ve gotten much better with it in most areas of my life these days, yet there’s still one that challenges me the greatest and that’s when I have to face someone else’s control issues.

Quite often, when anyone is in that type of situation where someone else is being controlling, it can frequently drive him or her to try taking some of that control back. For a person like me who has battled control issues within for a very long time, this definitely becomes the case when a situation like this happens. I’ve realized though there is a way to overcome this. Unfortunately, it has been rather difficult to implement because it involves me allowing other people to keep their control and to not battle them for it. The reality is that’s what generally happens when two controlling people get in the same room, they go to battle over control of something and rarely do either ever back down. I’ve been trying a new path lately though and it’s one that doesn’t involve me going to that battle anymore. Instead, I’ve been forcing myself to sit in those uncomfortable feelings when someone else around me is controlling how everything has to be.

I had some good success with this on my recent trip to see my sister’s family. Normally, my visits to them never go that well because I regularly go to battle for control with her husband over way too many things. The two of us are truly mirrors for each other, except I’m not sure if he has been able to fully recognize that yet. Thankfully I have so I decided to see what it would be like on this visit by allowing him to maintain control for the entire time I was there. The biggest test I faced with it cane after I had purchased a birthday gift for one of my nephews.

The gift was a beginner’s metal detector that worked just like the ones a person might see being used on a beach. As my nephew spent the early evening going around his backyard looking for buried treasure with it, I silently watched as my sister’s husband made one rule after another with it until he had no place left to use the gift at all. Seeing the look of dismay and sadness on my nephews face was incredibly hard to deal with and I greatly wanted to take over control because of it. I didn’t though and that allowed me to see something I know I wasn’t able to see not too long ago. I saw quite clearly a situation that my own control has probably created time and time again throughout my life. And seeing it made me want to let go of control all the more throughout my life.

I’m grateful to my Higher Power for helping me try something new this past weekend when visiting my sister’s family. Facing someone else’s control issues like my sister’s husband’s was extremely challenging. I realize now there is only one way to work through this when it happens next in my life. It will mean going against my ego’s desire to battle for control and to just sit back and be a silent observer instead. It may not be easy, but in doing so; I know I’ll continue to see many more examples of what my control issues probably did to others over the years. At least then, each of them will be a great motivator to continue my quest to turn over control in every area of my life to my Higher Power.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson