Category: Healing From Chronic Pain And Illness

The number one thing that people have often told me is how intense of a person I can be. Intense in my demeanor, intense in my conversations, intense in my spiritual walk, yup, that about sums it up. And yes, I completely agree, because I am intense and that’s ok, but for some it’s not, as I’ve experienced over the past five years or so.

While plenty of people simply like to hang out and just keep the topics of conversation loose and as far from serious as possible, I tend to be bored when that happens. Like I am when conversations surround sexual banter, political dissent, judgments about people in general, or on what money has allowed someone to experience.

Frankly, none of that interests me anymore, although at one point I must admit it did.

Nowadays though, what I enjoy talking about the most are things that many have said are too intense for them like holistic healing modalities, the mind/body connection, energetic climatic shifts, God “coincidences”, strange cultural changes I’ve been noticing in the world, etc. And to be perfectly honest, I’m also that type of guy who likes to really talk about feelings and emotions when hanging out with someone.

Except, none of that seems to be what many others enjoy doing when hanging out. Take for example when I go see a movie with a friend. While I like to reflect upon how it affected me spiritually, most of them only like to say whether they enjoyed it or not and leave it at that.

Does that make me an intense person, maybe so?

Or maybe it’s because I’m a man of integrity and return phone calls and messages promptly and want my friends to do the same.

Or maybe it’s because I enjoy talking about God a lot no matter where I am or what I’m doing and like when my friends do as well?

Or maybe it’s because I give very strong eye contact to those I spend time with and ask questions that are personal and not superficial and hope my friends do the same with me?

The reality is that it could be all of these things that make me an intense person or none of them. I don’t know precisely what it is that makes people say I’m an intense person, but I accept that I am and I know it’s not for everyone. Usually I find that out when people stop contacting me to make plans and don’t return my calls anymore. Because each time I’ve pushed the issue to find out why that’s happening, I’ve learned the answer is always the same, that I’m too intense for them.

Well, that’s ok. Because I am who I am. Sure, I could lower my vibration and talk about sex like I used to. I could talk about tops and bottoms and other sexual positions, but where did that get me? Nowhere but acting out regularly in addiction and feeling completely empty feeling in life.

And sure, I could talk about things like President Trump or any of the prior presidents with disdain and complain about the state of the nation, but where did that get me. Nowhere but feeling only more negative in this world that’s already filled with too much of that.

And let’s not forget about money. I could talk for hours and hours about what money has afforded me in the past, and all the places I’ve been to, and all the things I accumulated, yet doing so only ever caused me to covet more in life, especially the things others had done that I hadn’t yet.

So yes, my life has totally shifted to a much more intense type of person. One who cares about being spiritually healthy in both my words and all my day to day actions. And if that’s too intense for someone to hang out with me, I’m becoming more and more ok with that.

Because frankly, I want to be around those who spiritually challenge me to go higher. I want to be around those who see what’s happening in this world and want to talk about it, and maybe even do something about it. I want to be around those who are concerned with their energetic vibration, instead of how they can come into more money or who’s hot and who’s not.

Does that make me intense? Well, according to others, it does. But that’s ok and I accept that. I’m not everybody’s cup of tea. In fact, I’m truly a very select brand of tea that only a few seem to enjoy on any consistent type of basis. Accepting that reality has been an arduous process, yet important nonetheless.

Because accepting myself as an intense type of person, instead of constantly trying to change it to please others, has helped me to love myself far more unconditionally. And just as important, it’s also allowed God to bring people like Karen W., Robb D., Frank M., Steve F., and a few others into my life, who embrace my intensity with unconditional love, which is the very thing that I know Christ would do with me if He were alive today.

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

When I think of a vacation, it’s usually of somewhere in the tropics where I’m lounging on a beach and snorkeling in sparkling blue waters. The idea of heading out into the wilderness though, at least ten miles away from the closest sign of civilization, setting up a tent, and living off the land is definitely not. Yet for my friend Robb, that’s precisely the first thing he thinks of.

Even though my type of vacation would most likely never be to venture into the wild for several weeks of time to dine on things like mushrooms, turtle soup, and freshly-caught fish, I have learned to have great appreciation for those like Robb who do find spiritual rejuvenation in that sort of thing.

Regardless of whatever one thinks of when it comes to a vacation, I truly believe all of them are meant to be spiritually rejuvenating. Except for many individuals, they often aren’t, because so much of them become occupied with busyness while on them.

I should know, as I grew up in a family where every moment of our vacations was planned out before we even got to wherever we were going. And sadly, I carried this behavior into much of my adulthood, going on each of my getaways with huge agendas to be accomplished where the result was me always returning home feeling the polar opposite of spiritual rejuvenation, that being spiritual depletion.

Thankfully, that’s changed quite a bit in the past few years though, as I’ve opted to throw out any type of itinerary on my vacations and instead, just spend a lot more time being still. And although my health issues have been a thorn in my side during some of them, I still found enough spiritual rejuvenation from not having to constantly go and do anything at any particular time.

That’s why I have such an appreciation for my friend Robb and his type of vacation, because even though it’s not on a tropical island, I can see that it’s still in a place where he’s able to experience his own form of rest and renewal.

To be perfectly honest, if I had Robb’s skillset of living in the wild, I’d probably enjoy a vacation in the middle of a forest as much as he does. Unfortunately, I have next to no survival skills and that was confirmed even more so when I did one of those questionnaires once that said I’d last a mere three days if I was alone in the wilderness with nothing but my wits.

Robb, on the other hand could last years, if not a lifetime out there, as he can hunt, fish, and spot all the things in the forest that are safe to eat. He also enjoys sleeping in a tent, bathing in natural streams, being still and watching the creatures move about the forest all around him. And through all that, he experiences the presence of God, thus finding the spiritual rejuvenation he desperately seeks when on a vacation.

In my case though, sitting on a beach and reading a good book, taking long walks with my feet just at the edge of the ocean, picking up pretty seashells, and watching marine life swim in and around coral reefs below me, is what brings me a lot closer to God and provides my own form of spiritual rejuvenation these days.

So, although Robb and I have very different ideas of what a vacation looks like and how we achieve spiritual rejuvenation when on them, we do share one thing in common and that’s how neither of us want any specific type of itinerary or agenda to guide our lives while on them.

But even more importantly, we also share something else in common as well and that’s the desire to grow closer to God on our trips away, which the both of us have found in various forms of nature by just being still and taking in the beauty that God has placed so beautifully in the world all around and beneath us…

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

Today’s inspirational story is titled “The Gift Of The Obstacle In The Road” and is one that speaks quite a bit to how many of us often choose to avoid overcoming the obstacles that come across our paths in life, instead looking for ways around them, which in turn only cause us to miss out on the gifts that tend to arise when we actually conquer them.

There once was a very wealthy and curious king. This king had a huge boulder placed in the middle of a road. Then he hid nearby to see if anyone would try to remove the gigantic rock from the road. The first people to pass by were some of the king’s wealthiest merchants and courtiers. Rather than moving it, they simply walked around it. Then many others began passing by, loudly blaming the King for not maintaining the roads, not one of them attempting to move the boulder either. Finally, a peasant came along. His arms were full of vegetables. When he got near the boulder, rather than simply walking around it as all the others had, the peasant put down his load and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. It took a lot of effort but he finally succeeded. The peasant gathered up his load and was ready to go on his way when he saw a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The peasant then opened the purse, which was stuffed full of gold coins and a note from the king. It said the purse’s gold was the reward for moving the boulder from the road.

 I related very much to each of the characters in this story. For much of my life, I was one of those wealthy merchants and courtiers who flaunted the money I had and generally used it to surmount any obstacles that ever got in my way. Thus, walking around those obstacles became the norm for me, especially during my addiction-laden years.

During other periods of my life, I was like those other characters in the story, who simply just complained about things like the boulder being in the middle of the road. In fact, it was pretty common for me to point out all the things wrong in this Universe, rather than ever choosing to focus on ways I could help change any of that.

In both cases, I missed out on the many beautiful gifts that could have come from working through the obstacles that came across my path in life. Eventually though, through a lot of pain and hardship, mostly caused by avoiding those obstacles time and time again, I became that peasant and actually began working on moving one boulder after another from my spiritual path. The gold that has come from continuing to do this has been largely rewarding, in that my heart feels far more open in life, my friendships much closer, and my desire to serve the Lord way deeper than ever before.

And while I’m still working on overcoming the largest boulder I think I’ve ever faced on my path in life so far, that being the health issues I’ve had to deal with for some time now, I know that by continuing to place all my efforts in surmounting it and by holding onto my resilience, my fortitude, and my faith in God, that I will eventually reap a reward that will be far better than choosing to walk around it…

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson