Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...

Imagine there's no countries,
It isn't hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...

Imagine no possessions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer,
but I'm not the only one,
I hope someday you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Written by: John Lennon
© Bag productions inc.

Love the music! But I sure can't go along with the words!!

"Imagine there's no heaven" - then what comes after this often difficult life filled with problems? What happens to our soul when this earthen vessel has served it's purpose... nothingness?

"No hell below us" - that's probably very easy for those that do wrong all their lives. What is the need for conscience, kindness, understanding, the lessons we have to learn in life that make us more than just mere robots?

"Imagine all the people living for today..." - ...going about doing as they please regardless of consequences. People living like nomads wandering around without a home or roots.

"Imagine there's no countries" - ...no cultural differences, no beautiful color differences in people's skin, nothing to learn from others that share this world with us.

"Nothing to kill or die for" - no wrong, no right, no passion; indifference.

"No religion too" - no Satan, but no God of love, either. Again, no wrong, no right, no passion... just INDIFFERENCE; the height of apathy, lethargy and unmindfulness.

"Imagine all the people living life in peace..." Peace... or apathy and indifference to each other. In other words, "STAGNATION."

"Imagine no possessions" - no cars to go from one place to the other. No homes; roofs over our heads to keep out the elements, no sofa's or chairs to sit in, no beds to lay our heads when we need to rest, etc., etc., etc.

"And the world will live as one." - It will, but not before evil is vanquished, which means a war to end all wars. There will still be a government, etc. but that's in the future. We are in the now, or at least, we're supposed to be.

To expect no conflict, no differences of opinion, no crises, no downs to counteract the ups is unrealistic and unhealthy. To expect people to continually be supportive, understanding, caring, even tempered is expecting people to be God and even God gets exasperated with us as individuals as well as a whole.

Something else I learned in my extensive years of therapy; sometimes there needs to be a crisis before there is any change or movement in one's life. How many crises do we have to go through before we take ourselves by the boot straps, lift ourselves up, dust off and continue trudging up that hill or mountain till we reach the top? Granted, it's a journey, a process, but standing still is not an option if you ever expect to reach some semblance of "normalcy." That's not to say that we can't take a break now and then, but while we take our break, we need to be thinking of what our next step will be and in which direction other than backwards.

Those of us that are on the move will and do get impatient with those that are stuck simply because we've been where they are. We point the toe holds, perhaps a very narrow and indistinct path and our outstretched hands go ignored. Not all of us are meant to forge roads or crossings or to smooth out the way. Some of us are meant to follow. Some of us fall asleep along the way. What will happen to those if someone doesn't come along and nudge them, sometimes quite strongly, and say "WAKE UP! It's dangerous to stay here for too long!" ?

When I posted "What I've learned...," it was never meant to be a judgment call as it appears some have taken it. It was simply a reminder for those that have forgotten the lessons. May I dare say that there are those that don't even know that a particular lesson needs to be learned? I posted what I have learned because that was a path I took that brought me out of the depths of depression/anxiety. It's one road, not THE road. It worked for me! It could possibly work for you.

Being as life and it's lessons is a journey that isn't finished until we breath our last, I need to remind myself of these lessons over and over. My journey isn't finished. I haven't reached "perfection" and neither has anyone else here... or there... or anywhere!

If what you are doing now isn't working, then take a different road! Change your perception of things! Leave behind your "victim role" and fake your strength until it becomes a reality! All of us that suffer from mental illness have stores of strength that we are not aware of or that we refuse to acknowledge! From personal experience I'm all too familiar with the thought "I'm sick of being strong. I want someone to do it for me for a while." No one can do it for you, but you can sure reach out for that extended hand that offers "help and support." But you have to meet that help half-way. You need to put out some of the effort! It won't get done for you. Even if someone comes along and physically picks you up and sets you in a standing position, you have to lock your knees so that they don't bend under you and you wind up sitting in the mire again!



<font color=blue>"Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt" --Shakespeare</font color=blue>