More musings after a year of ‘blogging’.

The greatest realisation that the last year has produced for me is that, in the end, it is our attitude to everything around us (that really means our attitude to everything within us) that is the most important thing in the world.

Yes, that’s a grand statement – everything in the world comes down to attitude.

Why?  Because our attitude drives our thoughts and behaviours.  Our attitudes are the manifestation of our internal energy.  Think about it! Your attitude to something fuels the energy that goes into that belief. And, as so many of the great teachers in life say, “We get more of what we think about most“!

Here’s Wayne Dyer in his book, There’s A Spiritual Solution To Every Problem:

Our institutions are built and organized around the idea of facilitating, regulating, and guiding human behavior.  You cannot go to schools, businesses, governments, or even churches, mosques, or synagogues to negotiate the presence of energy.  These institutions exist to deal with the material world and to keep human beings in line.  They vibrate to the lower energies of the material world and often are the source of, rather than the solution to, your problems.

Eventually, enough people will reach a higher state of spiritual vibration and form a critical mass.  Then you will see institutions emerge that are not designed to regulate, facilitate, or guide human behavior, but to access, implement, and teach a spiritual approach to life.  In short, the purpose of our institutions will shift from controlling to promoting bliss.

We can go back much further and see the same message.  Here’s an extract from Galatians 5:1:

Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.  For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law.

Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.  I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  There is no law against such things.

One can explore the writings of many other great thinkers and see the same message coming over time after time.

The peoples and creatures upon the face of Planet Earth are involved in one of the greatest experiments of all time.  How will we survive the next couple of hundred years?

We all truly know that our ‘institutions’ are not the answer, indeed they are part of the problem.  Conversely,  we also know that mankind has the ability, literally, to move mountains. The last year has shown, on a personal level, that a fundamental change in attitudes can also move emotional mountains.

It’s been an honour to publish Learning from Dogs for the last year – and I am very moved that so many of you have chosen to call by.  Thank you.

By Paul Handover