The Meaning of Life with Dr. Bob

When it is about meaning and happiness, you are a being-in-progress. Everyone is.

There is nothing necessarily wrong with instant gratification. It feels good to want something, say a filling meal, and be able to consume that food almost as the words to order it come out of your mouth.

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Besides, it saves time. Time you could use doing something more important than eating.

Of course, there is the downside of instant gratification. We expect everything to come to us very quickly. Not everything can or should. Take relationships for example. Perhaps it is far better for relationships to develop slowly, over time.

At the very least, effort must be put into a relationship to maintain it and help it thrive. That usually cannot be done instantly.

There are other things that take time as well. Not the least of which will be the discovery and maintenance of meaning and happiness.

Don’t get me wrong. Happiness and meaning are there, right there, waiting to be plucked from the tree. All ripe and ready to go. But you need to take your time in cherishing that fruit.

If happiness were an apple, all you would have to do is wait for it to ripen on the branch. When it is all nicely red, simple pick and eat. Almost instant gratification.

But of course, happiness is not a ripe, red apple. It is fruit of a different nature. And the harvesting of it takes a different approach.

Here’s how it works.

You need to employee the meditative arts. Some form of prayer or meditation needs to be used. There are many types and practices. You need to explore your way to one that is right for you. This can be part of your in-progress work – finding a method that suits you.

You can begin by just being quiet for ten minutes and letting your mind quiet down too by concentrating on your breathing. That in itself is a start. Then you progress from that simple start to something that moves you toward enlightenment.

Along the way to enlightenment you will discover meaning. You see, enlightenment is probably a ways off, maybe even lifetimes. But meaning can be found in this lifetime and only some small effort away.

When you have found your life’s meaning, which I believe is to happy, you will have found your connection to the Divine. You can name that Divine anything you want. You could call it “Joe” if you wish. You get naming rights.

Call It Divine Consciousness, the Universe, the Source of All That Is. Any name you wish. You can name It right now, if you want. The point is to make the connection real and your own through relevant meditation or prayer on a regular basis – best every day.

You will pick up the other benefits of meditation along the way, automatically, as well.

But here is the part that is the essence of this article. You will always be in progress. If you do not like this “always being in progress,” then I suggest you not undertake to find meaning and happiness, for they are long-term projects.

Yes, you can and will find happiness and meaning relatively quickly. But the maintenance of them in your life is always in progress. Just as the maintenance of your life is always in progress.

You cannot maintain your weight without vigilance. You cannot maintain your health without watchfulness. You cannot maintain your happiness without exercising your meditation muscles in a steady-going way.

Meaning, once it is found, does not easily atrophy. Happiness needs reinforcing on a regular basis by letting it spill over into the world. Helping others. The energy to do that comes from invariant and constant progress of your self through meditation.

There you have it. Your simple guide to your being-in-progress. Get to it.

This has been Dr. Bob 4 U, and I invite you to change your life for the better by claiming your Free Instant Access to a Force-Source-Resource including a monthly newsletter titled The Force-Source-Resource Newsletter. Just Click Here. Remember, one bit of information can give you a lifetime of satisfaction.

My Vlog: http://themeaningoflifewithdrbob.com/drbobslifephrases

One Person Can Change The World

Mitch said, “I am restless, Dr. Bob. I wake up in the middle of the night and am wide awake. What could be happening with me?”

“Do you get physical exercise?” I asked.

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“Three times a week to the gym, each time about an hour and a half in aerobics and resistance training. Pleasantly tired when finished each time,” Mitch said.

Mitch did look physically fit. He was medium height with a solid build. Perhaps he was thirty five.

“Everything O.K. at home?”

“I am not aware of any major problems. Oh, the small things with work and kids. Nothing to keep me awake that I am aware of.”

He looked at me. I looked at him. I took a shot in the dark. “When was the last time you expressed yourself?” I asked.

Mitch asked in return, “Expressed myself? I don’t get what you mean, Dr. Bob.”

“I mean when was the last time you wrote a love poem to your wife? When was the last time you made up a bedtime story for your three kids? When was the last time you air-directed a symphony orchestra?”

“Whoa,” he said. “Where are you going with this?”

“I am not sure, just a hunch. But what about the answers to my questions?”

Mitch thought for about 20 seconds and then said, “I haven’t done any of those things in a long time. I still don’t know where you are going with this.”

“We all have spirits that need expression, Mitch. If we don’t exercise that expression, those spirits become restless. Some people just go along until their spirits become dull and empty, no longer asking to participate in life. Sometimes this non-participation leads to restlessness. Awake at odd hours. No forward life-progress. Sounds like maybe you have this affliction.”

“Affliction? You mean I am sick?” asked Mitch.

“No. I mean that live was meant to be lived. To be happy is to know you are alive by trying to expand your life. By trying to change. By trying to grow. Life is overcoming obstacles or dangers. Life is getting out of your comfort zone. Sound interesting?”

Mitch developed a small smile with his lips and eyes. Maybe I had hit a resonating chord within him. It was only a guess. It was a place to start.

“You think I am restless and can’t sleep well because I haven’t expressed my spirit enough?” he asked.

“I think it a real possibility. When was the last time you took some time and did express the fact that you are happy to be alive?”

His smile grew wider. “I can’t remember. I used to invent stories for the kids all the time. How did you know I air-directed symphonies? I can’t remember the last time I pushed the walls of my comfort zone in any way. Wow.”

“All of us need to embrace our lives and take every opportunity to expand them through the expression of happiness. The Very Spirit of the Universe seeks to express itself through you and your reaching beyond the ordinary.”

“My fidgetiness may be because I haven’t told my kids stories recently? That simple,” Mitch asked.

“Well, not quite that simple,” I said. “But making up stories is a way of giving tongue to your spirit. It can be gardening, photography, videography, learning a new language, Tai Chi, skydiving, lifting the next heavier weight. Express yourself.”
Mitch said he would try my suggestions. I reminded him he was the best developer of his own spirit; he needed to think of his own ideas to fulfill his spirit. We made an appointment for two weeks in the future.

When Mitch came to see me again, I could tell immediately he was much more rested than when I had seen him last. He told me he was developing his spirit and was sleeping better. He felt happier as well, he said.

I bid him come again if he needed more. To this point, he is doing fine without further help, as far as I can see.

Dear reader: the Supreme Spirit seeks manifestation through you and your spirit. When you leave this aspect of your life unfulfilled, you will find yourself restless. The very phenomenon of being alive and happy is to participate in enlargement, variety and advancement. Do so beginning now.

This has been Dr. Bob 4 U, and I invite you to change your life for the better by claiming your Free Instant Access to a Force-Source-Resource including a monthly newsletter titled The Force-Source-Resource Newsletter. Just Click Here. Remember, one bit of information can give you a lifetime of satisfaction.

My Vlog: http://themeaningoflifewithdrbob.com/drbobslifephrases

The meaning of your life, which is to be happy, is a work in progress.

I still slip up and fall, sometimes quite heavily, on my proverbial rump. I am not the way I want to be, yet. I argue with my wife when it is not necessary. I get angry too often. I still lack the compassion for others I want to have.

How about you? Are you where you want to be yet? Have you slipped up recently, to your own embarrassment?

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We both need to keep in mind that we are works in progress. My work is not finished. Your work is not complete. Unless you have reached complete and total enlightenment, you are yet a being-in-progress.

Everyone who thinks they have arrived at the total of … something, is mistaken. Yes, some individuals, perhaps Buddha and Jesus of Nazareth, have reached complete enlightenment. But I have not and I am all too well aware of it.

You need to be aware of it as well. Yes, definitely you can find meaning almost immediately by a relationship with the Source of All That Is. When you find you are unconditionally and eternally loved and accepted just as you are, you will find meaning.

From that meaning you discover your purpose which is to experience on behalf of the Source of All That Is. You experience in rapport with everything and everyone you come across. Some of those affiliations are deep and some are shallow.

But each liaison reinforces the purpose of your life. Its pathway shows the following mile-markers: meaning – purpose – happiness; or sometimes meaning – happiness – purpose. When you reach the mile-markers of meaning and purpose, you will quickly find yourself at the “happy” milepost.

But continuing down the path, along the way, you blunder. We all do. You cannot and need not expect yourself to be perfectly enlightened in one lifetime. Rejoice in the capacity you have developed thus far. Time enough to gain more.

Time enough? You have all your future lifetimes ahead of you. In each one you will grow even closer to total enlightenment. There is no hurry.

As a matter of fact, hurry may be the enemy of enlightenment. You can possess meaning and happiness, greater than you had, beginning almost immediately. This is done through meditative contact with the Source of All That Is. But enlightenment will come to you when it will.

Trying to quicken the pace of enlightenment by force will not make it arrive any earlier. Awakening comes to you when it is ready – when it knows you are ready. Yes, it could be done in a lifetime. But the masters through ages have declared that it may take many life times to fully achieve enlightenment.

So, you are a work in progress. You will indeed be happier than you have been beginning right now as you make and keep association with the Source of All That Is. You will remain a work in progress.

In that you very much need to rejoice for you have begun. You may already understand that “begun is half done.” Beginning is the most difficult part of any journey. To develop the will and determination to start down any new road is a significant achievement in and for your life.

Be not discouraged when you stumble. The stumbles are part of the process and, therefore, part of the progress. Without the mistakes you would be lulled into the false sense that you have achieved all. When you realize you have not yet summited, you can add the continuing effort you need to reach your goal of complete enlightenment.

Welcome the challenges as you welcome all else that occurs in your life and mind on the track. They keep you hungry for the end.

Allow yourself to be a work in progress. Knowing that you are working and progressing is great reinforcement in your meaning and happiness. Progress – more – beginning today.

This has been Dr. Bob 4 U, and I invite you to change your life for the better by claiming your Free Instant Access to a Force-Source-Resource including a monthly newsletter titled The Force-Source-Resource Newsletter. Just Click Here. Remember, one bit of information can give you a lifetime of satisfaction.

My Vlog: http://themeaningoflifewithdrbob.com/drbobslifephrases