But gee, who would have thought I could find a spiritual principle from observing a computer? Just goes to show that truth is everywhere.

If that’s the rule, then I choose to love it rather than fight it. Sure, it can be scary; the unknown always is. But it can be really fun, too. Turn and face the strange.

Ultimately, self-acceptance is the key to moving from self-judgment to self-love. We can be conscious of qualities that we don’t like about ourselves without devolving into abuse, and we can challenge ourselves to improve with encouragement and compassion.

We are all a perfect work in progress. Paradoxical, yes. But perfection and evolution are not mutually exclusive; both can exist within the same space if we can open our hearts to the beauty and value in all phases of our existence.

However, the piece de resistance: the remote control for the stereo. I had planned to use a song to finish the blog, and I needed to use the remote to play it on the stereo. I tested it to make sure it would work at the right point in the blog, which was at the very end. It did, for every single rehearsal. But Murphy’s Law was in full effect, and as I pressed play on the remote to cap a perfect 4 ½-minute speech, it decided to freeze up like a 5-year-old with stage fright. Take 103 ruined. I pressed again. Nothing. I walked over to the stereo, and I could tell that it was registering the signal from the remote. It just wasn’t working. I checked the batteries. They were fine. I pressed more buttons. Nothing. I called my next-door neighbor, who’s a wiz with anything audio/visual. He wasn’t home. More frantic button-pushing, more silence. Finally, I knelt down in front of my stereo with my remote control in hand, and started to talk to them. I explained that I knew there was nothing wrong with them and that they worked just fine, and I needed their assistance to get this blog done. I sent them positive, healing thoughts of encouragement, and focused on what I needed to accomplish. I pressed the play button, and music piped through the speakers.

I believe this is an example of something that a wonderful psychic named Melinda Hess mentioned to me in a conversation a few days earlier. She said that we are living in a time of instant karma, where the consequences of our thoughts and behavior manifest almost instantaneously. This has been demonstrated by the numerous recent anecdotes recounted to me by friends and acquaintances, all with the same basic story of how they put out an intention for X, and X showed up very shortly thereafter. I myself, besides the cooperation of my home appliances, have been able to conjure necessities and opportunities in miraculous ways.

Karma is a Sanskit word meaning “deed” or “act”, and it essentially refers to the Law of Cause and Effect. Everything has a cause, and everything has an effect. If we pull back and look at a specific act, we would see everything that led up to it, and all of its consequences, just like dominos falling in sequential order. We all have an instinctive sense of this concept, as evidenced by sayings like, “What goes around comes around,” and “You reap what you sow.” With instant karma, the resulting effect is extremely obvious and rapid, and it seems that our minds are becoming a primary cause of change in our environment.

We can only hypothesize about why this is so. Maybe our solar system’s migration to the center of our galaxy is causing time to speed up, compressing the lag time between events. Maybe the increasing solar emissions are altering the magnetic field of our planet, consequently making it possible to attract things to us more easily. Or maybe we are experiencing an evolutionary shift in our consciousness that brings with it a greater ability to manifest with our minds. Whatever the cause, elevated awareness and an increased sense of responsibility are both necessary if we are to take advantage of this curious phenomenon. Any tool carelessly used can be harmful, and it would be a shame to waste the wonderful opportunity we have been given to create in ways we could only previously imagine.

And so I advocate that we reclaim the right to heal ourselves, in addition to seeking assistance from others. We all have the ability. Now it’s a matter of giving ourselves permission to use it.

Our tendency to compare can be attributed to the way we perceive information. Our brains distinguish differences in shapes and patterns to create an impression, which is why we experience our environment as objects that are separate and distinct. We use this ability to analyze the world around us to form opinions and conclusions that direct our thoughts, actions and behavior. It would be difficult to navigate our lives without this skill. The problem arises when we engage in the process of evaluation without also including the process of appreciation.

The word “evaluation” has at its root “value,” so when we evaluate we are determining the worth of the object being studied. Depending on our conclusion, we judge that something is valuable, or has little or no worth. However, it is important to realize that everything has worth if one can appreciate it. To appreciate means “to grasp the worth or significance.” Many people are able to turn tragedy into triumph by using painful circumstances as opportunities for personal growth. They have the wisdom to take advantage of these situations by comprehending their inherent value and importance. Expressions such as “Every cloud has a silver lining” and “Turn lemons into lemonade” remind us that every obstacle and setback has within it the possibility of great benefit if we can change our perception by focusing on the positive aspect instead of the negative.

The word appreciate has a second usage, which is “increase in value,” such as, “The price of the antique will appreciate over time.” This tells us that altering the way we relate to the event may not only lead to recognition of the potential blessing in disguise, but also to a transmutation of the very nature of the situation from negative to positive. Like the science of alchemy, which sought to change lead into gold, appreciation has the power to transform the essence of something seemingly worthless into a precious and valuable commodity.