Category: Words To Live By

Yes, it’s true, I didn’t vote in the November elections this year, but I’m totally 100 percent ok with my decision not to and I’ll tell you why, but before I do, let me go back to the last time I voted, which was back in 2016, during that very heated Presidential election.

By the time that election rolled around, I was exhausted from all the fighting and arguing between friends and loved ones about who should be in office. I was tired of all the debates going on no matter where I placed my attention in any given moment. I couldn’t escape it in social media, or in the news, or in day-to-day conversations. Everyone seemed to have become so darn polarized.

Republican versus Democrat. Left versus Right. Labels were thrown. Judgments were placed. Tempers and anger flared. And I so desperately wanted it all to end. Sadly, when that election was finally over and our new President came into office, it didn’t end and the polarization only grew worse. One side became extremely angry that the popular vote once again didn’t matter, bringing back discussion around when Al Gore lost. They said the voting system was rigged from the beginning. While the other side simply gloated and threw pop-shots at the opposing side’s demise.

Frankly, I didn’t care either way who made it into office back then, as I have never felt the work that’s needed to make our country a better place is done at that level. Rather, I’ve always believed that it’s up to all of us to simply becoming more unconditionally loving and accepting of each other, as the more of us who do, the more we will see our country move in a much healthier and brighter direction, one filled with greater Light.

Nevertheless, zoom forward two years and people are still spending more time arguing about how messed up our political climate is here in the United States. Each side continuing to blame the other and pointing the finger. Every television show I watched was flooded with smear campaigns during the commercial breaks for the past few weeks and all I knew after seeing it constantly thrown in my face, was that I was sick and tired of it and knew nothing about any of the candidates, except for the judgments people were making of them, which is precisely when I made the decision not to vote in this election.

Because ultimately, when it comes right down to it, beyond the fact that many of the promises that are often made by candidates who make it into office (or remain there), never come to fruition, my life still goes on, regardless of whether I vote or not. I still am going to walk the same spiritual path I have been, regardless of whether I vote or not. And I’m still going to do my best to keep being an unconditionally loving, caring, kind, and accepting person of everyone as I can, regardless of whether I vote or not.

I’m not a Democrat. I’m not a Republican. I’m not anything political and I don’t ever want to be. Because in all honesty, I don’t like how people have become with each other in the political arena these days, nor do I like how people all seem to be treating each other now, especially when they find out their political views and supported candidates are different from those they’re communicating with.

That’s why I truly don’t care who one votes for, or supports, or what party one is from, or what platform one believes in, or any of one’s political views anymore, because what I truly care about when it comes to everyone else is simply doing my best to love them all as Christ would, which was unconditional and had nothing to do with voting, or being Republican, or Democratic, or any other political thing for that matter.

Some might say I’m being un-American by not voting, but I say I’m walking my own spiritual path just like Christ and His disciples once did, and I’m totally 100 percent ok with that, because in the end, I think it’s how we love each other that really matters and not what political stance one takes…

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

What is the point of life? Do you ever wonder that? Does life often seem to you that it’s an endless chase after things that never bring any long-lasting fulfillment?

Take those who are single. Many often feel so darn lonely and crave a relationship, only to be disappointed when they finally find one, yet still feel alone when all is said in done, only to eventually find themselves either single again or constantly day-dreaming that someone else is better out there for them.

How about those who are in jobs that often feel like what they do is pointless? That all it serves is getting them a paycheck. They’re sick of their bosses, their co-workers, the “system” there, or something else. So, they crave a position elsewhere and place all their energy in looking for one, only to ultimately find themselves in similar frustrations once they find it.

How about those who feel like their homes, their cars, their clothes, or any other possessions aren’t exactly what they need? They think a different home somewhere else or a newer car without any problems or nicer clothes that aren’t so worn out or outdated, or the latest electronic gadgets will end that craving, only to see that once they get it and the newness of it wears off, that the fulfillment is gone.

How about those who feel like some type of award or achievement will make their life become more meaningful? They strive so hard to achieve it, and when they do, it’s still not enough to fill the void, leaving them striving for even greater recognition.

How about those who feel that some type of change to their outer appearance is all that’s needed to be content? Changes such as a tattoo, a cosmetic surgery, or a product to reduce the appearance of aging. But, when any of which is completed, they find the desire for something else to change with their appearance arising.

And of course, how about those who seek greater income because they believe the income they have isn’t able to support the life they feel they need, yet even when they get greater income, their problems tend to multiply, often driving them even further on a quest for even greater income.

I have had plenty of experience with all these illusions. No matter what person, place, or thing I ever chased after, thinking it might bring lasting satisfaction, contentment and fill that emptiness I had within, once I got it, I still became empty again at some point. Sure, each brought me temporary happiness, but it ultimately always eventually evaporated, leaving me in the exact same place of longing for something else. When I found life in recovery from addiction, I thought that maybe finally there I would rise above this endless cycle of seeking fulfillment, as there I was told that helping other suffering individuals would remedy my lack of fulfillment in life. But, even with the many ways I’ve reached out to help others over the years, I have remained unfulfilled more than not, which has left me wondering.

What if life isn’t meant to be in any of the things we think we need to have or do that we end up seeking with such voraciousness? What if life is really meant to be exactly the way it is for us right now and that it’s only our ego that tries to make us believe it’s not? Can fulfillment truly be found by not chasing after the things our ego tells us will end our suffering?

It’s a hard question to ponder I know, but I have thus far in life never found any long-lasting fulfillment in any of the things I sought and obtained in this world. Contrary, the only time I’ve ever experienced any type of lasting fulfillment came from when I meditated on a retreat into a very deep state years ago. For many months after it, through repeated meditation, I found myself experiencing a level of peace and joy I never imagined I could in this life, even in the midst of suffering and my ego telling me what it thought I needed. Unfortunately, when life threw me a few curve balls, I allowed addiction to rule my life again, which brought back a stronger ego and a fall back into the illusion that some person, place, or thing would somehow bring that lasting fulfillment back. It never did, nor have I been able to find it through daily meditation either, which has led me in recent years to take a different approach.

Almost as if I’m doing a living meditation now, I’m sitting through all my sufferings, and doing my best not to listen to what my ego thinks I need to end it and bring fulfillment back. Instead, I’m waiting and observing, and channeling all my energy into remaining spiritually healthy as I do, which has precipitated some into telling me they think I’m living in insanity, doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result.

But maybe that’s the illusion right there, thinking that we have to change something to make our suffering less and our fulfillment greater. Maybe true fulfillment in life will only come when we finally stop trying to chase after something, when we stop giving into to all those endless cravings for the things our ego’s think we need, and instead sit through our sufferings. As maybe it’s in those moments when we do, we’ll meet our Maker the greatest and maybe then it’s also when we’ll experience a much more lasting fulfillment and possibly even learn a little more about the point to our lives…

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

There has been a repeating lesson in my life lately, one that has been extremely difficult to learn. It continues to manifest in different ways, but the message is quite clear. I need to fully let go and let God, and for someone who has spent their entire life trying to control everything, I find myself struggling to give up the last bit of perceived control I think I still have.

I began to notice this with my yard actually. It got a bad disease this summer, a fungus, that essentially started back in late May when the high temperatures first hit here in Toledo. When they did, I observed one morning this cotton candy looking substance in a certain area of my backyard and wondered what it was. The next day, the same area where it was had turned brown and the grass had died. As the days moved forward, I saw this fungus pop up in other areas, so I began to spray various things on it, hoping it would prevent it from spreading any further. Unfortunately, none of my efforts worked, so I called in the cavalry, that being a yard company that does my fertilization bi-monthly treatments. They proceeded to apply a fungicide, not once, not twice, not even three times, but four in total, as it kept coming back, and spreading even more throughout my yard, killing everything in its wake and leaving a wasteland of brown dead grass in the process. I tried everything after that to restore my yard. I planted seed, I aerated, I watered, but anything that came up kept dying off, even when the summer came to an end. Sadly, the disease travelled into my front yard as well along the way and none of my efforts there accomplished anything either. When my neighbor told me one day as he observed my frantic efforts at controlling it, that I should just trust mother nature and let go and let God, I almost hurled a few obscenities his way in frustration. When the fall season began, much of my yard started to return to its former glory, until a few days ago when the temperatures spiked to the mid 80’s, bringing the disease back all over again and with it, the death of parts of my yard once more. At that point, it became overly clear that I wasn’t going to be able to control this and that it was out of my hands. Ironically, not a single house on my street, or even in my subdivision got this disease this year, which left me wondering, if maybe I was the only one meant to experience this, simply to learn this lesson of letting go and letting God, once and for all.

You see, this yard thing has been just another example of something I feel the Universe has continued to try to show me, of my remaining attempts to take control to make things as I think they need to be. Take my health for example, which is at the top of this pile. I have been fighting my health issues for a very long time now and have done everything I can to restore my health by staying as active as I can, through holistic treatments, by eating well, by getting out and helping others, and by repeating various spiritual and energy routines every single day. Yet, none of that has improved my health whatsoever at this point in time, at least from my conscious perspective, causing me to throw my hands up in the air and question if God even exists, which has only led to my ego searching for any further ways to grasp some control back.

But, it’s become pretty clear, if not abundantly clear, to me now. I can’t control my yard, my health, or my partner, or anyone or anything for that matter. As all attempts to do so seem to be failing these days, making me even more miserable in the process. Most recently, I have had a few skin issues going on to prove it, as I have put one topical thing after another in affected areas, only to see the spots go away and come back shortly thereafter in the very same spot or just above it, almost as if it was mocking me and saying, “Hey Andrew, don’t you get it yet? You need to just let this and everything else go as well, and trust that God’s got it under control!”

But, for a guy like me, who was abandoned by his parents through their tragic lives and deaths, and for a guy who used addictions to make his way in this world for several decades, control has been my only means for survival for much of my life. Thus, truly trusting God has got my back and that it’s safe to fully let go of control of ALL things to Him, has been an exceptionally scary thing.

I need to do it though, and I’m praying for the strength to do so on a daily basis now and am asking for all of you to pray for that for me as well. I’m ready to move into a new phase of my life, one that fully does let go and trust God with everything including my yard, my health, my partner, and anything else that my ego thinks it needs to exert control over.

So, please pray for me. Pray for the release of my fear of letting go of any areas of control I still have left in my life. Pray for me to truly trust in the Lord, and pray that it comes soon, because I know what’s on the other side of this is a peace and joy that is going to be far better than the misery that’s been with me for far too long, all because I haven’t fully let go and let God…

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