POST HOLIDAY RE-RUN
Marion Pellicano Ambrose
I don’t know why, but I’m really into reading about psychics, past lives, and other new
age subjects lately. I’ve read Lives of the Rich and Famous (Sylvia Browne), Many
Lives, Many Masters (Brian Weiss), Another Door Opens (Jeffrey Wands) and various
books on Edgar Cayce and other fascinating people involved with this realm. These
books seem to place me into a kind of “dream world” where gemstones, crystals and
candles can give me control over my destiny. No matter how many I read, I can never
keep up with the flood of new books on the topic, coming out each day. I check my
horoscope and do my daily Tarot reading on Face book every day. Why are people, like
myself, so terribly interested in this sort of thing?
One reason could be the numerous TV shows, movies and stories that refer to this being
the “end times”. We all hear about the predictions of Nostradamus, the infamous Mayan
Calendar, the predictions of Medjugorje and other Marian sites, and of course, the
descriptions of the end of the world in biblical texts. People experience stress over the
possibility of nuclear war and the thought of its aftereffects. Somehow watching GhostHunters reassures us that there is something else after this. Perhaps traditional religions
haven’t eased our fears enough and we are seeking answers elsewhere.
Personally, I believe that people are in search of hope. They need to believe that things can and will get better. Politics, the recession, joblessness, disease and natural disasters have robbed us of the real “dream” our parents and grandparents believed in: If you work hard enough you can achieve anything. They had the depression, that’s true, but they also had wonder and delight in simple things. We’ve lost that somewhere along the way. Our super high tech entertainment and recreation leaves little to the imagination. Our games are virtual, violent and often solitary. We often are overwhelmed by hopelessness.
Our jobs require constant in-service training to keep up. What happened to being in one
career for life? Few people have that luxury; most must evolve as they go. Employers ask
more and more and give less and less. The attitude is “You should be grateful you have
a job.” I’m sorry, but this doesn’t give permission to overwork and underpay employees.
We’re given laptops and cell phones so we can work, answer questions or conference at
home and on our own time. If we don’t do so willingly, we’re not “team players” and our
evaluation suffers. What happened to the American Dream? We’re working harder than
ever before but we don’t seem to be going anywhere, except maybe backwards.
So what solutions can I offer for conquering these depressing situations? I say we employ
the only ones we have control over: Pray, keep as positive an attitude as possible, keep
dreaming and dream big, and most importantly, cherish the gifts you do have in your life;
Family, Friends and life itself. Move from complexity to simplicity wherever possible,
(As Mother Theresa said, “Love simply so others may simply live.”) and never, never
give up on the possibilities in your life.
As for me, I think I’ll quit reading the books that put me in that “dream world”. Believe
it or not, my horoscope for today says: “Your tendency today will be to stay in the cocoon
of your little dream world, deep in your own thoughts. Obsessive thoughts, in particular,
will try and drown out some more pressing issues from the past that need resolution once
and for all.”(Horoscope.com: March 4, 2011 Cancer)
