“The room was dark the way I like it. Quiet, except for all the voices in my head. Every day is a battle to keep from losing it again. Deep down I know I am good, just very misunderstood. Why was I even born when life is so hard? Schoolwork is easy, but school could not be any worse. It seems like anyone could say anything they want, no matter how untrue. If you do not like someone, just make up the most hurtful lie possible and post it on social media for everyone to see. Once it is online it must be true, no matter how deep the lie is. Another life runed with social media.”

“I know why Sissy ended her life. She just could not escape the lies. There does not seem to be any other way to make this stop. Parents cannot accept when this type of thing happens. They do not understand today’s pressure from hateful bullies. Bullies can ruin a life, and no one knows who is to blame. Bullies hate others because their fat, ugly, skinny, or just different, and many times for no reason at all.

I am so ordinary and I think it is what people see when they look at me. I am nothing special. My cloths are not special and I am not beautiful. My father is black and my mother is Mexican. I never knew my father’s parents. They live somewhere in the Midwest, Detroit, I think. I have only spoke to them on the phone. They both sound old. My father never said much about his childhood that I remember. When they call, he always tries to end the conversation as soon as possible. My Mother’s parents are somewhere in Mexico. They call from time to time but I do not know them. They only speak Spanish. I understand why I have no friends. I do not like me ether.”

“In earlier times kids would code computer viruses just to screw up as many computers as possible. The problem was that it was random and they could not see who they harmed. Now social media has made it possible to hurt people directly and see the pain they cause. The best outcome for bullies is causing someone to end their life. This is the ultimate prize. Schools and parents are helpless and shocked because they are clueless about what is happening until it is too late. They will never understand.”

“Today I am thinking about how much better I would feel if I just take the easy way out. The easy way seems so hard this morning.”

“I live about twenty miles from Compton in downtown L.A. Not the very worst, but not the beautiful part of California. Most kids in my class come from better circumstances than my family. This is one source of my pain. My cloths are not fashionable or new. My looks are very ordinary at best. My parents struggle with finances and about everything else. They are nice people, but so busy trying to keep up that they forgot about what I might be going through.”

“Today my clueless mother has decided I need to get out more and help some homeless person feel better by giving them a bag of cookies. Why doesn’t some homeless person help me feel better instead.”

“Off I go to the outskirts of town to deliver my mother’s cookies to the homeless. My trip from home to the freeway was less than five minutes by bus. I thought about giving the cookies to the people on the bus and heading back home, but that would not fulfill some sick notion my mother has that this experience will be good for me. When I arrive at an underpass covered on both sides by tents, boxes, trash, and human waist, I figure I must be in the right place. I have ten small bags of cookies in a sack, each tied with a red ribbon that includes a cheerful message my clueless mother dreamed up. I think I will give all ten bags to the first person I see and head home. This torture could not possibly make me feel better.”

“The first person I encountered looks dead laying on the sidewalk and he did not want my cookies. As I slowly moved on, I found a pleasant looking old man sitting cross legged with his eyes closed. As I approach him, he seemed to wake up and looked directly at me. His eyes were bright blue and very alert. When he saw me, he stood up bowed and offered me a pad off a broken chair to sit on. He made such a powerful gesture with the old pad it seemed like an order. I did not want to sit, but my next thought was, hay if this man murdered me my problems would be over, and my mother would be sorry and guilty for the rest of her life.”

“That would make me feel better. I am not certain she would care that much because she has other children that cause her much less grief than I do. One less child with a bad attitude would make thing better for everyone.”

“The old man introduced himself as Ron, the name of the person about to murder me. He seemed normal and not what I expected in this place. His clothes old, but he did not smell as bad as the environment around us. He was alert and seem agile for someone that looked so old. His long and unkept hair matched this palace perfectly. I looked for weapons he might use to end my life quickly, but I did not see any. He did not look strong enough to choke me, so I thought he would just use a stick or something to do his dirty deed. What did not match was his calm and pleasant voice. It was as if someone else was inside his old and tattered body. His voice reminded me of an old grade school councilor that I really liked. For some odd reason I felt kind of safe in this very unsafe place. It must have been the voice. I felt safe enough to sit of the old chair pad. This began a conversation I could never have expected.”

“You seem troubled. What is the problem? He patiently waited for my reply.”

“I said, I am in this sucking lowlife place that no one should be in, handing out cookies to people that need real food. What do you think is wrong Einstein? I was trying to provoke him to help get his dirty deed over with quickly.”

“He laughed out loud until a tear came to his eye. I am sorry you do not approve of my home, but I think what is bothering you is much greater than being in this place. Please tell me what is wrong.”

“My life sucks, but seeing you here makes me feel some better by comparison.”

“Then he asked, what part of your life is the heaviest burden to carry most of your days.”

“This was an odd question, and required some time for me to consider an answer. Then out of nowhere I shouted, bullies!”

“I am so sorry to hear you have brought bullies into your life. Why would you do that?”

“Shocked and offended, I replied loudly. I most assuredly did not choose to bring bullies into my life. Why did you say that? Have you been talking to my mother?”

“No one can make you feel anything without your permission. Do not allow a bully to change your attitude. When someone gives you grief, give them back love. Make certain they know they have not changed you in any way by their actions. The only reason they bully is to get a reaction from you. When they make others feel bad, they feel better. If they cannot make you feel bad, they will go to someone else that is easier. Obedience is the greatest threat to your life. Bullying requires your Obedience.”

“Well Mr. motivational quotes, that logic will not work on me because obliviously people much better than you have tried to stuff that crap down my throat. It all sound good on paper, but you need to try to live with this abuse every day and see how you turn out. It was then I noticed where I was and felt slightly bad about my reply.”

The internet is full of beautiful perfect people taking off their clothes to show everything they have for everyone to see. Most of the of boys in my class watch porn all the time. They try to make girls feel like to is normal to act this way. I do not fit this mold. No one in their right mind would want to see me naked anyway. In school I see girls texting naked pictures to boys to get their attention. I just do not understand.”

“What if I told you that you have created everything you are experiencing by the way you think. Would you believe me.”

“No, I would not believe that! This stuff is happening to me every day without my consent. I had nothing to do with it. Why would you even say that?”

“I am about to say something else that you will also not believe, but it is the truth. You have the power to change anything in your life by changing the way to think. You magnetize into our lives whatever you hold in your thoughts.”

“You are 100% correct, I do not believe that. What is a load of crap from a guy living in a tent, under an overpass. If you can change thing by the way you think, why are you living like this. If you were living in some mansion, with servants and a Ferrari, I would be more likely to think you know what you are talking about.”

“Once again, he broke out in hysterical laughter.”

“That is a great question, and I would like to commend you on how perceptive you are. I can tell by your response this is not going to be easy for you to believe. I will do my best to try to help you understand. First, let me say that it is my choice to live this way. Some of the people that need the most help live like I am living. My mission in life is to help others. Lecturing from a pulpit makes little difference. Believe me I tried for years to deliver my message that way. The reason the people here listen to me here is because I am one of them. I do not try to make them feel better with a bag of cookies.”

“Let me start by asking you a question. How do you know something is real?”

“What do you mean?”

“Let us take one of your cookies and place it in your hand. Now tell me how you know the cookie is real?”

“That is easy, I can see it and feel it.”

“That is correct. You are experiencing the cookie using you some of your five senses. Sight, Touch, Smell, Taste, and Hearing. Yes, you could hear a cookie break in half and in doing that you could use all five of your senses to experience the cookie. Is there anything else that would tell you the cookie is real?”

“Well, I guess not. Why do I feel like this is a trick question?”

“Tell me how else other than your five senses tell you something is real?”

“I don’t know. What is all this about a cookie being real?”

“Then I would assume you cannot think of any other way to know something is real, other than by using your five senses. Am I correct?”

“OK, what is your point?”

“In order to move forward I would need to know that you agree and cannot think of any other way to know something is real. Your senses only work in the present moment.”

“I really need to get home so let’s say I agree. Now what?”

“My next question is, can you think about a cookie if you set it behind you so you cannot use your five senses to experience it? Can you remember having the cookie in your hand?”

“Yes, I can imagine the cookie behind me and when it was in my hand.”

“So, would you say you are experiencing the cookie in your mind, or in thought, And not with your five senses?”

“Yes, so what?”

“So, tell me, if you are thinking about when the cookie was in your hand are you experience it using your five senses? Or are you experiencing the cookie only in thought.”

“I guess I am only thinking about.”

“Just so I am clear, the two ways to experience a cookie is to use your five senses which is how you know it is real. And the other way is to think about the cookie in your mind, or in thought. Is that correct?”

“I guess that is right. Can we move on? This is boring me.”

“Is there any other possible way to experience the cookie other than these two ways?”

“I am a bit distracted at the moment because of the dead guy laying on the sidewalk, but I guess I can’t think of one.”

“So, this applies to everything in your life the same way. You can ether experience it using your senses which makes it real or you can think about it which makes it a thought. If this is correct where is everything that has ever happened to you before this moment. Everything in your past. Can you experience it using your five senses or is it everything before this moment in thought? Let take something easy like what you ate for breakfast this morning. You can remember what you ate, but you cannot See, Touch, Smell, Taste, and Hear what you ate. But you can think about it. Correct?”

“I don’t think I like where this is going.”

“Oh Bella, we are just starting. Now tell me where is everything that is ever going to happen to in the future. Is it in thought or can you See, Touch, Smell, Taste, and Hear it?”

“I guess it is in thought. And how did you know my name?”

“It is on your backpack, and unless you stole it, your name must be Bella.”

“Moving on If all this is correct. Except for the present moment, everything that has happened to up until this moment. Everything in your past and everything that will ever happen in the future is in thought. You cannot use your five senses to experience anything in your past or your future. Am I correct? I am not asking you to like it, I am just asking you to answer the question truthfully.”

“It seems correct, so what kind of con artist are you?”

“Now take out just one cookie and experience it using your five senses. I want you to See, Touch, Smell, Taste, and Hear it. And when you are certain that the cookie is real let me know.”

“OK, it is real.”

“Now set the cookie down. Can you remember holding it in your hand?”

“Yes.”

“But you can no longer experience where it was by using your five senses. You can remember experiencing it when it was in your hand, but that moment has pasted into thought. Let’s see how good you are at reality. Once again hold the cookie in your hand and drop the cookie. How long did it take for the cookie to go from being real in your hand to moving to thought? The present moment that tiny spec of time when it left your hand is the only reality for the cookie”

“If all this is correct nearly everything but this tiny slice of time, we call the present moment is in thought. If this is correct then the thing you must care for most in your life is how you think.”

“You enter this life with your first breath and go out with the last one. When your life starts time begins for you. Time continues until that last breath. Each moment time moves forward is much like watching a movie. The movie looks real, but the movie is made from individual still pictures. The faster the pictures change, the more real it seems. Your life is moving along this time line and your five senses makes it seem real. Do you agree?”

“I guess that is right”

Everything outside yourself that seems real is just a projection produced by your beliefs. You are 100% responsible for everything that is happening to you in this life because you made it real by your thoughts. You are creating everything that you are experiencing”

“You know what, you really bug me. I am leaving now and will try to forget I ever met you. I think you are an evil sorcerer. You are screwing with me like everyone else in my life. Go to tell your dead friend on the sidewalk all your screwy theories. Good bye RON!”

“Before you leave, I would like to say on more thing. I am not evil. I may be the thing you have been looking for to help you get through this life. After you have time to consider everything I have said, and you believe what I said is true, then you are welcome back to my home for the rest of what I may have to teach you. But that is totally up to you. I hope you have a peaceful life full of blessings.”

“As I left to catch the next bus home I was shaking and I didn’t know why. This was the most unusual encounter I have ever experienced. Some freaking homeless guy seemed to care about my problems, and made some sense about some things, but I would never tell him that. I need time to consider if what he said mattered in my sucking life, but something told me it could matter.”

“In school the next day, I could not stop thinking about what had happened under the underpass with a homeless guy named Ron, if that was his real name. If I was planning to kill someone, I would not use my real name. Is it even possible that he may have something to teach me? He didn’t seem evil. If anything, he seeded kind and caring, but from what I have heard so did Ted Bundy. If I went back to the overpass, he would probably wouldn’t even be there. The police are always trying to move the homeless to where people can’t see them. It feels safer when you can’t see them. Should I go back. No way, this whole thing is crazy.”

“When the bus stopped at the overpass the next day, I noticed that the dead guy was no longer on the sidewalk. The police probably had someone pick him up and take him to the morgue. I recognized Ron’s tent, but no Ron. I knew this was a bad idea. Just as I was about to leave, Ron appeared from his tent.”

“What, no cookies?”

“Look I do not know why I came back. It doesn’t make any sense for me to be here.”

“Please relax and know this is your time.”

“What do you mean by that? You know nothing about me.”

“I know you are hurting, and I think I can help.”

“Why should I trust you?”

“Why not?”

“What you said the last time we met, about reality and thought. If that is true and after much consideration, I must admit it seems true. How will that make my suck life better.”

“The average person has about 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day. About 80% of our thoughts are negative and about 95% of those thoughts are the same as the day before, like: “I’m not good enough,” “I am overweight,” and “I’m not good looking.”

“A perfect beautiful body can be your worst enemy because you begin to believe you are what you look like. That can never last. Everything outside yourself is temporary. The only thing that lasts is what is inside and eternal.”

“Can you control your thoughts, Bella? Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Now, If I asked you to close your eyes and think about a perfect flower in a perfect meadow, in a perfect forest. What color is the flower?”

“Yellow.”

“What kind of flower is it?”

“A sunflower.”

“What are you doing?”

“Just looking around.”

“Are you happy and safe in this place?”

“I guess.”

“You have just created a special moment in your life that seems safe and pleasant.”

“Now, think about a bully confronting you at school. You now have an infinite number of choices to experience at this moment. What if you decide to feel happy and safe. Instead of afraid. Can you do that right now in your mind?”

“No, yes, maybe.”

“If you can think yes, you just took all the power away from the bully, and took back control. Is there a time in your life that you felt happy?”

“That is a hard question. I guess when I was six years old at Christmas time. I wanted a Barbie doll, but I know it was too much to ask for so I didn’t. That morning, I opened a beautifully wrapped gift to find the exact Barbie of my dreams. It was the happiest moment of my life.”

“Take that moment and really feel it in your heart. Make it real in your thoughts. So real that it is just like that morning. When your parents bought you that doll, do you think they did it because they loved you?”

“How do you think your parents felt when they saw how happy you were? Did you hug and kiss them after you got the doll of your dreams?”

“Yes.”

“Take the love you felt for your parents at that moment and make it real. Feel the exact feeling you felt at that moment. Can you feel the love?”

“You just took control of your life by taking control of your thoughts. Let’s keep going. When you felt happy and loved at that moment, did you feel safe?”

“Yes.”

“Now let’s go back to the bully. Picture the last time you felt bullied. Tell me about it.”

“It was yesterday when big Gale, bumped into me on purpose and knocked my books to the floor.”

“What did you fell at that moment?”

“Afraid, I just ducked down over the books and waited for her to leave.”

” Did she leave?”

“Yes.”

“She must have gotten what she wanted. What do you think that was?”

“To scare the hell out of me.”

“Very good. Now I want to play back what happened in your mind but change the emotion. This time see Gale coming at you and just let her knock your books to the floor. This time stand tall and look Gale in the eye. This time feel the love you felt at that time at Christmas and quietly give Gale that love. Make her feel the love in your heart. You can communicate this love with your eyes and your soft smile. Let Gale know it’s OK for her to feel bad about herself and want to take I out on others. Make the space around you safe and warm. Make Gale know everything is OK.”

“For some odd reason I began to understand that Gale might not be a bully. She was just expressing the same frustration with life that I am going through. She might not be a bad person.”

“I did not want Ron to see the tears in my eyes. I did not want anyone to think I am weak. I am strong and can take a beating.”

“Can you feel compassion for what Gale is going through?”

“Yes, sort of, maybe.”

“Can you have compassion for what both of you are going through?”

“Maybe?”

“The stronger you can make your love, the stronger you become. The more you feel safe, the more the people around you will feel safe. The happier you feel the more happiness you bring into your life. Life is a blessing. You can only make it a blessing by the way you think and feel.”

“Remembering the moments from your past that were happy, safe, and full of love. The stronger your happy memories, the more grateful you will feel for life. You can control any situation if you first control your thoughts and emotions.”

“Gratitude is powerful. When you are feeling grateful you cannot have an ego. For your ego to survive it needs to control, it needs to compare itself to others, and it needs to judge other. You cannot feel any of that when you are grateful for all you have. Your escape from the bad that is around you is to find things in your life to be grateful for, and if you look you will always find something that is a blessing. You can start small at first. The more things you see the more that will enter your life.”

“Gratitude is when you feel thankful for the good things in your life. This could be stuff you have taken for granted, like having a place to live, food, friends, and family. Gratitude is taking a moment to reflect on how lucky you are. I would suggest that you start a journal by writing about thing you are grateful for and do this each day. Start to notice more positive things about the people in your life and yourself. If you take the time to write these things down, you will be amazed at what you come up with. Develop a habit of Appreciation. Know that you are fortunate and blessed. Don’t forget to tell the people around you how grateful you are for having them in your life. When you first start this practice, it will be hard, but do not stop until it becomes easy.”

“In the world today about 80% of the people live in poverty, about 70% are literate, and 50% are suffering from hunger. If you woke up this morning in good health you would be luckier than one million people who will not live through the week. 500 million people are suffering the horror of war. If you have food, clothes on your back, a roof over your head, you are wealthier than 75% of the world population. Stop eating for just one day and you will begin to feel gratitude for the food you have.”

“I like to think of it this way. When you come into this life your given a boat to help you on your journey. Most people sit in the back of the boat looking at the wake behind them. The wake is the past and does not steer the boat. Most people live 90% of their days thinking about the past, just looking at the wake and no one is steering the boat. 90% of the boats are just drifting around aimlessly and people don’t understand why they are not going where they want to go. If you take charge of the boat and become the captain with a strong desire to move the boat in the direction of your dreams your life will change. The more detail and emotion you imagine about your destination the better you will be able to steer your boat. If you can forget about the past and focus intently on the future you will get to where you want to go. Others will always give you advise and tell you to change direction, but do not listen to the critics. Listen to our heart and you will know the truth.”

“The things most young people today desire most in life are wealth and fame. Both can be a horrible curse. Most wealthy people have many more problems than you have. Your life is simple in comparison. Famous people find that they sold their privacy for fame. Know that everything outside yourself is an illusion you have created by the way you think. Everything outside yourself is temporary. Mountains are temporary, skyscrapers are temporary and your body is temporary. The only thing that is real is what is inside. When you want the truth look inside. When you want the illusion look outside at what you have created. If you are wondering what you have been thinking about most of the time, just look around you. What you see reflects how you think.”

“When you go to school the next time, find Gale, and say hello in your most loving way. See what happens.”

“By the way, the last time you were here, Jack was not dead on the sidewalk. It just happened to be where he felt safe to take a nap. He is really a very strong and happy person. I should introduce you some time.”

“The bus ride home was like being a different person. How could a homeless person make me feel this way? I do not like old people. Ron is the first old person I have ever really talked with. On the bus home, I looked around and saw old people. I had never noticed these people before. It as if they were invisible. What if all these old people had necessary information about how to be happy in this life? I needed a nap.”

“The next day at school seemed different. I did not encounter anyone bullying anyone. It seemed like a different place. This was just a weird coincidence and had nothing to do with what Ron, or whoever he is. I know one thing; I was not going to look for Gale. It was then I noticed Gale with her head in her locker, looking very distraught. I cannot for the life of me know why, but I asked her if she was OK.

“She snapped back at me and yelled “What’s it to you freak?”

“I don’t know why I said it, but it just came out. “Because no one should have to feel as bad as you look.” It was then I noticed a tear in her eye. She looked at me with a hard mean look and said:”

“What do you care?”

“My reply seemed to come from someone else, when I said “because I feel bad most of the time.” She looked shocked. She looked shocked and slowly walked away.

I had the feeling no one had ever talked to her before. Probably because they were all afraid.”

“Later that day I overheard kids talking. Someone said Gale was in foster care because her father had never been in her life and her mother was struggling with drugs.”

“Again, I found myself sitting on an old chair pad and not knowing for certain why. Ron was his usual calm and cheerful self. He was not surprised at all to see me back.”

“How was your week?”

“Different, but I am not sure why.”

“Different how?”

“Everything seemed calmer and no so scary. I felt more comfortable.”

“That is good, yes.”

“I don’t know. It is like waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

“When you look at all the people that are struggling and the few that are not, you could ask yourself what is different about the ones that are not.”

“In the book “Mans Search for Meaning” by author Victor Frankl details how he survived the horrifying experiences in Nazi concentration camps to find meaning in his life. One powerful quote from the book is “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: The last of human freedoms-to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

“At every moment you have an infinite number of ways to choose your attitude. You can choose to feel negative or positive in numerous ways. One will make you and others feel bad, and one will make you and everyone feel good. What choices have you been making in your life Bella? Most of what I have heard from you since we met has been negative. Not only about yourself, but nearly everything around you. Would you agree?”

“If I said yes, it would mean I have been causing all my own problems, and I have no one to blame but myself. That could not possibly be correct because everything around me sucks.”

“If you agree then what can you do to change this? Dr. Wayne Dyer says “Change the way you look at things and things around you change”. This is your super power. When you smile, your brain releases tiny molecules called neuropeptides to help fight off stress. Then other neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin and endorphins come into play too. The endorphins act as a mild pain reliever, whereas the serotonin is an antidepressant. The cure for depression is to take a 20-minute walk every day and smile the entire time. This will trick all the cells in your body to release happy chemicals. When is the last time you were happy and smiled?”

“Would you do something for me to test if what I am saying is true. Every time we meet, I would like you to smile, and I will do the same. Then on your way home smile at everyone you see. Do the same at school. The next time we meet tell me if you noticed a change.”

“As weird as it seemed, I did notice a difference. I hate it when someone else is right. I never realized how hard it is to smile. Some people I smiled at look stunned. Some smiled back, some look surprised. The people that were most shocked were my family. They kept asking if I was alright. My mom keeps asking me if I am on drugs. I tell her yes; I am on endorphins. She immediately googled endorphins. She is still confused. That was when I realized how little I smiled. Stupid Ron could be on to something.”

“Sitting on the pad the next time we met and smiling was very difficult. I was acknowledging that Ron could be correct. I have never told anyone about Ron, but now I felt like telling other depressed kids to visit a homeless guy by the underpass. I am not sure any one would believe me. This time Ron did not ask about my week. He went directly into a whole new thing.”

“Since you were born you have taken in everything around you to create your belief system. Until about the age of 6 or 7 you could not distinguish between what was true and what was untrue. About this age you began to form your critical mind. You can now think about what information you believe is correct and what information is wrong. This is how you develop your personal belief system called your personal paradigm, your left-brain, and your ego, but it does not matter what you call it, because it becomes how you see the world around you. The two sides of your brain function very differently. The left hemisphere controls speech, comprehension, arithmetic, and writing. The right hemisphere controls creativity, spatial ability, artistic, and musical skills. A simple way to think about this is to say the left side looks at things outside yourself and the right side looks at thing inside yourself like emotions. If you look to Eastern religions, they believe that everything outside yourself is temporary, and everything inside is eternal and unchanging. We are all surrounded by billions of pieces of information, but our nervous system is only capable of processing a tiny portion of this information. So, how does the nervous system know what information to process. It relies on your belief system or your paradigm to filter information that you believe and the information that gets through this filter is how you see the world. Everyone has a different paradigm. This means we are all living in our own world of our creation. Everything you have chosen to believe becomes your reality. You are creating the world by your thoughts and very few people know this.”

“When you think loving thoughts and smiled, you were able to refocus your thought to positive instead of negative. The more you change your thoughts to positive the happier you become. Test this all you want.”

“When I arrived home, I had plenty to think about. How could this change other people in my life. Should I tell my parents? Then I remembered what Ron had said. “It is your responsibility to change yourself first and you will see other around you change.”

“The pad was becoming an old friend instead of a dirty thing someone through away. I really did feel like a different person and not just someone waiting to be murdered. Instead of losing my life I found it. Ron seemed more serious today. He was pleasant but not smiling. I never felt this serious side of him before today. I waited for him to begin his usual rant about me creating everything in my life. It took some time for him to begin.”

“Bella, up until now I have not asked much from you. Today is different. I need your commitment that you will take time each morning to do what I am about to teach you. Will you do this?”

“I guess I will, I’ll see how it goes.”

“I would like you to close your eyes and imagine sitting beside a small lake surrounded by large pine trees. No one is around. You are totally alone in this perfect place. You feel warm and safe. You can see and hear the water washing gently on the shore. Now take a deep breath and as you release the breath see the lake become calm. Take another breath and the lake becomes even more still. Take a slow deep breath and this time the lake becomes perfectly still. It looks like a mirror reflecting the sky, trees, and everything around you.”

“Once you have calmed the lake, you now notice the perfect yellow sun flower from the meadow you imagined earlier. The flower is right in front of you. Now focus your attention on the yellow sun flower. Notice the dirt and understand that the dirt provides everything the flower needs to grow. See the stem and leaves that bring the nutrients to the beautiful blossom. Now notice the petals. Look at the shape of each one and notice veins providing life to the flower. Notice how each pedal is different. Now look even deeper and see that there are an infinite number of things to notice about this simple perfect flower.”

“Each new thing you notice in the flower is a lesion for you to learn. Everything I have taught you brings you to this greatest teacher.”

“Remember that you are enough. You are responsible for everything around you. Your super power is to make your thoughts beautiful, safe, and above all happy. You are the lake and the flower. Perfect in every way.”

“Allow the flower to teach you each day. Be open to what you may learn. Write down what you have learned because you may need to teach others these lessons someday. Know that you are loved. Be kind to yourself and others. Everything you need to be happy is right before you. Happiness is the meaning of life. I need to make a distinction here about happiness. This is really the wrong term. Happiness seems to require some situation outside yourself that will make you happy. I should use the term bliss. Bliss is being happy for no reason at all. May your life full of bliss.”

“As Ron suggested I now began my day visualizing the calm lake and the flower. Each time after doing this I felt calm, safe, and happy. With that I returned to my life with a different perspective. I felt in control. I now know that I am responsible everything in my life. No one is to blame but me.”

“The next week when I returned to the overpass everything was gone. No mess, no tents, no trash, no Ron. It was as if all that I had been experiencing in the past had just disappeared. The only thing that left where Ron’s tent used to be was an old tattered book. I picked up the book and read “Illusions” by Richard Bach. After what ever happened to clear out all these homeless people, Ron must have returned to where is tent was located and left the book where he knew I would find it. Hand written on the inside cover was this quote:

“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. - Albert Einstein”

“After reading this book many times, I wondered if Ron was ever really there, or was he an angel sent to help me solve problems in my desperate life.”

“I never asked Ron his last name. I never asked his first name. He just introduced himself as Ron. The only thing I know for sure is that Ron the homeless guy saved my life. I think I spent a total of about five hours with Ron during my trips to the underpass.”

“How is it possible that five hours with an old homeless man could change my life? I don’t know what happened to Ron, but I am certain if he is alive then he is changing lives to this day. When I look at what I learned during my five hours, I learned everything is in thought and if we can control our thoughts, we can change our life. I learned that Gods voice is very small and hard to hear until you tune out the noise from the outside world. Releasing the ego chatter and in this calm state you hear that still small voice that is always there waiting for us to listen.”

“After meeting Ron, I took my education seriously and graduated from college. The one thing I know for certain is college taught me less than the five hours I spent with Rom.”

“After college I found an insane partner who thought I was perfect. Yes, I know he must be blind and stupid, but were very much in love. Then along came two children who helped me learn patience. I find that everyday changes my belief system if I am open to learning new things. I have learned that everything I thought I knew was wrong. I am on a path to learning new things that will prove to be wrong in the future. I try to never be certain of anything until I trust the truth on the inside and not the outside world. This has become my lie detector. Everyone has one.”

“After meeting Ron, I became obsessed with knowing more about the truth about life. The lesions Ron taught me are not taught in school. He said that when the student is ready the teacher will appear. Sometimes the teacher will look like a poor, unkept, old man with nothing to offer. I try to stay open to this lesion. I also know that what I have learned is just for me and everyone is different. The lessons others need most will be different from my lessons. This tells me we can only point towards the truth and not try to teach the truth. The only truth is inside each of us.”

“I am no longer full of hate and anger. I can truly say that I am happier now than I have ever been. I know that my real super power is my ability to choose your attitude in any situation.”

“Meeting Ron motivated me to continue to learn more about how to control my attitude. I began searching for more information. Once I found my first Wayne Dyer recording at the library, the flood gates opened. More motivational information seemed to come from all directions. Even my dad who I never listened to in my life became wise when I gave him a chance.”

“If the meaning of life is to be happy then I am on course to graduate. A nice home, a crazy husband who thinks I am perfect, and two wonderful children have blessed me beyond anything I could have imagined. Yes, my children do not think I have much to offer right now. I hope that someday they will be open to learning what Ron taught me. I will try to be patient for that day happen.”

“I now try to pay forward, but I do not look for someone to preach to about all I have learned. I wait for someone to ask, and then I offer any help I can. This seems to be working.”

“There is an old saying that man should only use his words for three purposes, to "heal, bless or prosper." What man says of others will be said of him, and what he wishes for another, he is wishing for himself.” - Florence Scovel Shinn”

“Your body is not who you are. The mind and spirit transcend the body

- Christopher Reeves”

“There are many other things I have learn that keep blessing me in my life. One of the most powerful is that I am not my body. We are all aliens to this planet. Our bodies are a transport mechanism we are blessed with that allows us to live in this alien world temporarily. It is a very real space suit. It is not who you are. I understand what a blessing it is to have a body, even if that body your damaged in some way it is still trying to keep us alive to experience whatever time you may have on this incredible planet.”

“Never take this blessing for granted. Everything outside yourself in this alien temporary world is just here as a lesion to teach what we need to learn. I think of it as Gods school. If we fail to learn we can always try again in a new life. Your eternal true self is not this body. Everything that describes your true self cannot be proven by science. Things like love, happiness, sadness, consciousness, and all emotions. They are more real than anything in the outside world.”

“The body does not directly respond to the environmental signals derived from the outer world. It is feelings within the body that controls the behavior of the body’s cells and organs. The body’s internal environment is controlled by the mind’s interpretation of the outside world. Science does not recognize “consciousness” as the creator of our reality. Do not try to tell the universe how it should work. Just relax and the universe will deliver the result.”

“I do not attend church, not because I have anything against organized religion. It is because religious beliefs are to constraining. By limiting beliefs to a few books, it creates a limited belief system. There is much to learn from the Bible and other religious texts. I found each religion has good things to teach. Jesus Christ said: "Why are ye fearful, oh ye of little faith?" (Mat. 8:26) Very wise teachings. But there is so much more to learn outside of religious text that is inspirational.”

“If there is a good correlation between fear and faith it could be to regard faith as a belief in a higher power, and fear in a belief in a lower power. Faith is going to the end of everything you know and taking one more step.”

“What I do believe is never stop looking for truth no matter where you find it. Always trust your heart to tell you what is true. I take responsibility for everything in your life. No excuses! No blame!”

“A belief system is an ideology or set of principles built up over a life time that helps us to interpret our everyday reality. Beliefs are filters to how we perceive the world. Beliefs are like commands to the brain to represent what is happening around us. A person's beliefs act as filters for the sensory information that guide the brain's response. A paradigm is your belief systems way of thinking about life. You have the power to change your paradigm. Your paradigm is not permanent. Everything is in thought. You can change the way you think about any situation.”

“Research shows us that what we see on the news can significantly impact our mental health. While negative news may influence our thinking through multiple mechanisms, one important consideration is how it interfaces with our cognitive biases, keeping our focus on everything that is going wrong while blinding us to all the good things around us. If you just watched a news report on local robberies, and then ask about problems in your town, you might say that robberies are a major issue, even if they were, very uncommon. If you are constantly watching negative news, the availability bias means your brain may be more likely to remember horrible events and then believe that these relatively infrequent occurrences represent the general state of things.” - Psychology Today

Further 64% of Americans say social media have a mostly negative effect on the way things are going in the U.S. today.”

“When you wake up every morning, are you happy or sad? This freedom to choose determines what you will experience that day. Life is for your education and entertainment. Do not take it seriously. Chose to be happy.”

“Happiness is a state of mind that you control. You are all powerful, and in control of everything. You are the only one that can make you happy”

“Here are some quotes I keep in my journal.”

“The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” - Albert Einstein

“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” - Albert Einstein

“All thinking, knowing, perception, space-time, occur in consciousness. You are a non-local consciousness. The world is in you.” - Deepak Chopra

“The ego is only an illusion, but a very influential one. Letting the ego-illusion become your identity can prevent you from knowing your true self. Ego, the false idea of believing that you are what you have or what you do, is a backwards way of assessing and living life.” - Wayne Dyer

“It’s so important to know that you can choose to feel good. Most people don’t think they have a choice.” - Neil Simon

“The mind is everything. What you think you become.” Buddha

I Believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy. From the very core of our being, we desire contentment. In my own limited experience, I have found that the more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being. - Dalai Lama

“I would like to end with a short exercise called one wish for what you want.

If a magic genie gives you one wish that is sure to come true. Your wish must be for you and not someone else, it must not cause harm to yourself or others. You must answer within 10 seconds and you must write the wish down immediately.

99% of the time most people will answer incorrectly.”

“Is your wish outside yourself? Like money, fame, property, etc.

If your wish is about something outside yourself, it cannot create happiness.

Expectations are happiness killers, because they are based on external circumstances.”

“If your wish is about an inward state "love, joy and peace then you have a 98% chance of becoming happy.”

“My wish for you is a happy life.”

Bella