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Most people have some kind of dysfunction i.e. obsessive, compulsive, impulsive, prone to all sorts of addiction, neuroses, depression, paranoia, anxiety and other kinds of disorders or dysfunctions. These may be caused by traumatic experiences in childhood or inherited in the genes. Sometimes these are exacerbated by family and community distorted values and ignorance and exposure to all sorts of stimuli that foster and deepen such condition. The dysfunction may be caused by a physical condition, sometimes an emotional or a mental defect or a combination of all three. The problem is when one is not aware of such a conflict in oneself or in another is that this could cause extreme danger to one’s family and the community at large, giving rise to damaged psyche, criminality, poverty and all sorts of unhealthy and humanly demeaning situations as well as life threatening diseases.

It is therefore vital for people to understand dysfunction within themselves and in others. But always we begin within ourselves. Sometimes it is seeing and experiencing the dysfunction in another person or in other people that trigger us to move towards finding the answers within our own selves. Sometimes religion unconsciously contributes to the dysfunctions by labels of “right” and “wrong” rather than the practice of “unconditional love and acceptance”. Dysfunctions are the main cause of a Co-Dependent relationship and that is why it is important for people to be educated about these conditions. Even in seemingly revered institutions like religious congregations and other similar religious or pseudo-religious or so-called spiritual movements are not exempted from having dysfunctional individuals within their group.

Many times people do not realize there exists a dysfunction when they have achieved a substantial degree of success especially financially and in their careers or even relationships. A lot of dysfunctional people are CEO’s or COO’s or successful businessmen , professionals or government functionaries or elected politicians. In most cases people are ignorant or clueless that the root causes of those who are prone to failure, sickness and accidents, and in unhealthy relationships is because of dysfunctions. The degree of the dysfunction can go from low, medium or high. In extreme cases the individual has to be institutionalized for treatment.

Sometimes it takes a very long time for us to realize that a dysfunction exists. Sometimes people die and never realize that they suffered from a dysfunction. It is, therefore, important for those of us who have attained a certain degree of understanding of dysfunctions to educate others that they may be enlightened and motivated to take the necessary step towards becoming healthy and whole and in doing so become a catalyst for growth for others within the family to follow suit and then to the community.

I discovered that the only way to deal with dysfunction is to first of all be Aware of it; then to Accept it and then to take Action to resolve the conflict and experience Wholeness and to Share and Educate others so that they too will go through the process of change and pass it on. However, this cannot be done without the necessary tools and guidance of mentors especially those with already a high degree of Spirituality.

One does not need to be a full-time psychologist or to earn a degree in psychology to be able to deal with dysfunction that is manageable. Though in general it would be good to consult initially a psychologist or someone with a high degree of spirituality to be guided in the right direction. A personal growth and awareness program is a good beginning. It is important though to be guided by a Mentor or Teacher who follows Universal and Divine Laws. In my case, I continue to subscribe to a Bible-based program to ensure that I am on the right direction but it is more spiritual rather than religious in its approach.

I have discovered two websites that have been invaluable in my journey of self-discovery and in understanding and dealing with my dysfunction in a healthy manner. These are the Higher Awareness of John and Patrice Robson and The Soul Journey of Andrew and Bonnie Schneider.

Note: (Please go to Friends and Links and click on these websites)

Dear Dick Innes,
I have been a longtime subscriber of yours for many years now and reading the Daily Encounter regularly is as important to me as having breakfast daily. In your topic today, I am bothered about your comments on homosexuality. My youngest son is homosexual and though I too do not believe that homosexuals be allowed to get married, still, I cannot close my eyes to the reality of a homosexual and his relationship with another male. That when they acknowledge what they claim to be their true identity they are capable of being able to express love for another male in much the same way as heterosexuals do sometimes even deeper and long lasting that male and female partnerships. I can see that if they do not acknowledge this reality of theirs, then they become conflicted and the neuroses is exhibited in various ways, sometimes even violently. I have tried my best to understand the nature of a homosexual and to accept such a condition though I cannot totally comprehend, the where, the how, the origin, the cause of it. I am a Catholic, a Christian, and am more spiritual then religious so that I have a heightened consciousness of our differences as human beings but still I find it difficult to reconcile homosexuality as part of God’s Universal Divine Plan for humanity. I have learned to accept this condition though as part of their being different just as there are differences in race, religion, culture, beliefs etc. I love my son and accepting his being a homosexual is an expression of my love. Thank you for your ministry through The Daily Encounter and making it possible to relate the particular to the universal in your real life stories rather than through religious preachings and dogmas that stifles spirit rather than frees it for Universal Expression.
From a Concerned Mother in answer to the following:

The Daily Encounter, by Dick Innes, ACTS International

“We have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On
the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.”

If we distort the truth and keep repeating and promoting it for long enough, eventually it becomes more and more acceptable and we end up believing our own and others’ lies. It’s happened with abortion (which we now justify by
calling it freedom of choice), and with homosexuality (which we name an alternate lifestyle). The promoters
of gay marriage (which is so diametrically opposed to nature not to mention God’s design) know how this
principle works, so we can be sure that they will continue to keep pushing, glorifying, dressing up and
promoting gay marriage until it is eventually more widely accepted and believed in by the masses.

Unless we who call ourselves Christians–who are to be the salt of the earth–make a solid stand for truth and
stand against those who distort God’s Word, little by little, like the frog in the kettle we will eventually
boil ourselves to death. As I’ve been saying this week, the more dishonest we are, the more we will distort all
other truth, including God’s truth, to make it say exactly what we want it to say. For the sake of our
children and our children’s children, let us all take a stand for truth.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, again I pray that you will help me to be real and personally honest, to
understand exactly what your Word says and teaches, and abide always by your truth even when it means
swimming against the tide of the so-called politically correct masses. Thank you for hearing and answering my
prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”
By Dick Innes, The Daily Encounter, ACTS International.

Our greatest personal growth comes from shining light on our unconscious shadows. Unconscious blocks (repressed emotions, inner wounds, limiting beliefs, unexpressed grief, etc.) are unseen but they seriously interfere with our satisfaction with life.

It is only when we are conscious of our subconscious programs that we hold the power to release them. How do we become conscious of what is now unconscious? We can use questions to unlock subconscious secrets. SMART QUESTIONS.

Ask yourself the Smart Questions below. For each of your answers, dig deeper to uncover any limiting beliefs that keep you from growing and enjoying your life. Write down your answers:

1. When I am stuck in a situation, what excuses do I make to defend myself?
2. What are my pet peeves, dislikes and hates? What situations evoke strong emotional reactions in me?
3. What stresses me?
4. What drains my energy?
5. What challenges me in life right now?
6. What desired results are not showing up in my life? Where are my efforts not paying off?
7. How do I sabotage myself?
8. Who and what do I blame for my problems, e.g., family members, boss or co-workers, economy, government, nature, life, God …?
9. What am I afraid of?
10. What limits me from experiencing freedom and fulfillment in my life?

Review your answers and your insights into the limiting beliefs that are holding you back. Pick one of the most problematic beliefs and set an intention to become aware whenever it shows up. Plan and implement strategies that will support you in releasing it.

This is just one of 12 new sets of questions added to the Smart Questions resources on the Higher Awareness website. Check out our Smart Questions on Best Questions to Ask Yourself, Healing, Stress Reduction, Empowerment, Life Purpose, Higher Level Thinking, Creativity, Conversation Starters and Good Interview Questions.

Discover the power of the Smart Question series. Receiving a question, tip and quote daily creates a continuity of intention so you can experience more peace of mind and happiness.

Quotes and Tips:

“Believe that problems do have answers.
Believe that they can be overcome.
Believe that they can be handled.
And finally, believe that you can solve them.”
~ Norman Vincent Peale ~

“You have powers you never dreamed of. You can do things you never thought you could do. There are no limitations in what you can do except the limitations of your own mind.”
~ Darwin P. Kingsley ~

(Source: Personal Growth Resources from the Higher Awareness Website. Please click on the link under Friends and Links to connect to the Higher Awareness and subscribe to the free E-zine.

Ten years ago my sister gifted me with a mango seedling that has blossomed into a statuesque tree rising over the roof of my bungalow house. In years passed it bore fruit but one day my husband unceremoniously cut it up in the middle of the season when it was just about to bloom and so for many many years it rebelled and refused to bloom. Slowly, year in and year out, my helpers and I coached it back to bear fruit. Each time I go out the gate I would lovingly caress the leaves and talk to the mango tree. My helpers would painstakingly burn dried leaves under it to smoke out the insects and revive the dead parts of the tree and bit by bit (it took a few years actually) it again begun to bear fruit. I could see it heavy laden again with flowers that has sprung into small fruits and slowly growing bigger and bigger each day to eventually ripen to full maturity. It made me very happy!

Then I had to contend with street children coming into our street and picking the fruits while still very young and it takes a lot of vigilance to keep the children away. They would come with sticks and stones to pry the small fruits from the branches and we have to keep a very close watch and shoo them away each time. It takes so much effort.

I could understand the children that they lack the education to understand the importance of allowing the fruits of a tree to blossom to its full ripening stage before harvesting them but what has really shocked me and made me very angry when I woke up this morning was to discover that my next door neighbor”s adult boarders plucked the not yet fully ripen mangoes in the dead of night and used these as “pulutan” for their drinking session up to the wee hours of the morning. I felt totally devastated and violated. I felt even worse than when robbers broke into my house and carted away my handbag that contained important documents and some cash. But to have my mango tree raided and pillaged is another thing.

It was all I could to stop myself from barging into my neighbors house brandishing a weapon and threatening them while spewing out all sorts of invectives. But my training as a soul counselor prevailed and with patience and emotions in check I knocked on my neighbor’s gate and out came the lady of the house and I explained to her the importance of her boarders not to ever again pluck the yet unripe mangoes because it would stunt the flowering of the mango tree and worse will make the mango tree not bear fruit again for many years. I explained this in a even toned voice but with deep conviction and she looked at me with wonder and said “Ah is that so?” With total bewilderment that I would care so much for a mango tree and that the mango tree would in fact rebel if it gets to be violated again the way it did. It was indeed a mega major challenge to connect to the soul of a human being who blocks the connection with alcohol and ignorance. But I felt good about communicating in a way that would touch her beyond the surface. That, hopefully, I succeeded in educating her on the importance of the Tree – that provides oxygen to cleanse the air we breathe and fruits for us to eat and shades us from the scorching heat of the sun.

I will know if I succeeded only if there will still be enough mango fruits that will ripen to their full maturity. Indeed it takes a lot of time, effort, and energy to communicate and educate but for those of us who have experienced enlightenment it is our solemn duty to radiate a higher level of consciousness to help others overcome ignorance and to experience beauty and appreciate the value in GOD’s creation – even one as simple as a mango tree in one’s front yard.

ACTS INTERNATIONAL Today’s Daily Encounter
By Dick Innes

“Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load.”

Two of life’s greatest abilities are depend-ability and response-ability. Dependability is keeping one’s word. It’s being there when we say we are going to be there, and doing what we say we are going to do. It’s keeping the commitments we make.

Responsibility is realizing that I am totally responsible for what I say, what I want, what I feel, and for what I do or don’t do. True, I am not responsible for my background or my upbringing, but I am totally responsible for what I do about overcoming my background if it were less than desirable, for what I become, and for every area of my life. As long as I blame my past, my parents, my background, the
government, or anyone else, I will stay in a self-pitying and self-defeating mode going nowhere fast.

Unless some think I am an armchair-theorist coming from a highly privileged background telling others what they should do, they are mistaken. I came from a very dysfunctional family background, was not allowed to attend high school, made to go to work fulltime
when I was still 13, and came overseas to get an education without any help from anyone (worked my way through college and worked three jobs at once during the summers). I made up my mind while still a teen that I wanted to fulfill God’s will for my life, and for my life to amount to something so I did what I needed to do to make it happen.

What I did have going for me was a firm belief that God had a purpose for my life. I didn’t know what it was at the time but I knew that I needed to prepare myself for whatever it might be. Sure there were obstacles to overcome and challenges to meet, but these made me all the stronger. Today it has paid off tremendously. I count it a tremendous privilege to be able to publish the gospel and Christian message and be communicating it around the world to multiplied thousands of people. There is nothing better in life that I could have wanted or wished to do.

The point is, every one of us needs to discover what our life purpose is and then employ all of our powers (with GOD’s help) for the achievement of that purpose. God will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, but he will never do for us what we can and
need to do for ourselves–otherwise we end up being irresponsible, immature and over-dependent.

Note: Click on Acts International and be inspired by Dick Innes messages and stories on The Daily Encounter. Also he guides you to be spiritual rather than religious.

I am soul-spirit, body-ego-personality, integrated as one whole, made in the image and likeness of the One God Spirit with life purpose to LOVE and SERVE in accordance with Universal/Divine Laws, living my life in TRUTH, BEAUTY, GOODNESS, and radiating to all qualities of the Divine, LOVE-POWER-INTELLIGENCE.
I am love. I express love.
I live my life authentically.
I aspire for Wholeness, Oneness, Inclusiveness.
I live in the present moment.
I live to learn, give and serve.
I connect to others as soul-spirit.
I practice unconditional love and acceptance.
I come from purity of intention.
I have faith and trust in Divine Providence.
I am balanced – Being and Doing.
I am in harmony with nature.
I believe and adhere to Universal/Divine Laws.
I am imaginative and creative.
I am responsible for my own life and I commit to help others be empowered to take responsibility for their own life.
I am unique and I recognize each individual in the Universe as unique but I believe in Unity in Diversity.
I am loving wisdom, compassionate and caring.
I recognize the dualities in my personality and accept the shadows and defenses that exist but in my life journey I continuously
develop awareness and soul consciousness and move towards wholeness and transformation.

I have been journaling daily the past twenty years and this practice has been instrumental in making me discover more about “Who I Am” as Soul-Spirit and experience more meaning and fulfillment in my life even in the midst of so much challenges.

One important discovery I made is the importance of reviewing on a weekly, monthly and annual basis what I had journaled on daily. This is important to synthesize the learning, insights, and identify unconscious beliefs and defenses that block the experience of a better quality life.

Another discovery is the importance of asking myself questions that make me go deeper within my unconscious and reach higher in experiencing connection with Soul-Spirit.

I would like to share the following weekly review questions that I journal on to attain synthesis.

1. What was my peak performance for the week? What was my main challenge?

2. Insights, and learning for the week. What were the identified limiting beliefs/blocks to soul expression? What was soul needing to express? What did I learn about myself, others, my experiences and situations this week?

3. Feelings/Motives/Motivations for the week? What negative thoughts and emotions affected me during the week? What gave me the most meaning this week?

4. Imagination and Creativity. How did I use imagination and creativity to meet daily challenges and see the bigger picture?

5. How did I express gratitude? What was my experience of giving and receiving? How did I experience ABUNDANCE? What blocked it? What do I need to BE to experience it more?

6. Relationships. Which relationships need further development? Who needs my acceptance and forgiveness? Who or what do I most appreciate? What am I willing to BE and do to have healthier, nurturing and interdependent relationships.

7. Time management. How did I make use of my time? What new choices might I make?

8. Financial management. What soul qualities must I manifest to BE a good steward?

9. Health/Reflections. What soul qualities must I manifest to experience Truth, Beauty, and Goodness and overcome body-ego-personality defenses. How did I experience stillness, relaxation, fun, love and nurture myself?

10. Goals and Plans. What are my most important short term goals? What responsibilities, commitments and goals need more focus, effort and re-commitment?

11. Essence. What was my essence this week?

SOUL QUESTIONS

Service – must be loving, understanding and empowering.

a. What am I currently doing to overcome some specific ignorance and gain understanding?
b. What am I currently doing to overcome some specific selfishness and become more open?
c. What choices am I currently making that serve to empower others?
d. How would I describe my current service in life?

Note: I would like to give credit to Higher Awareness and The Soul Journey (please see my Friends and Links below) for the valuable lessons I learned in journaling the right way and in the importance of asking myself questions to journal on rather than just keep on writing without synthesizing. Somewhere in my website I have already shared the questions to ask for daily journaling.

How often have you asked: ‘what should I do next’?

There are only two possible directions in which to look for taking the next step. One direction is toward the form side of reality – our daily life on the physical, emotional and mental planes. One of the significant tasks of soul is to ground the universal energies of spirit, to make them specific and functional.

Ask these questions to guide you in taking your next step:

- Do I need to be more practical, down to earth, efficient, or organized?
- Do I need to learn something about some practical area of life about which I do not have sufficient knowledge in order to act appropriately or make wise decisions?
- Is there some area of my daily life and well-being that I am neglecting – such as health or economy – which are potential hindrances to the smooth functioning of my life?
- Are there emotional issues that keep getting in the way of having loving relationships?
- Am I in denial about some personal realities that I am unwilling to face?
- Do I speak in a way that is constructive and helpful, or do I gossip and express myself negatively?

These kinds of questions are important because they address the areas of life where we need to express our purpose. This side of our life is always demanding our attention in one way or another. It is always asking us to improve relationships with others and with ourselves. This is essential. However, just addressing the form side of life, the practical, is not sufficient.

The next step might be in the direction toward spirit. What this means is that soul might be prompting us to deepen our awareness of the qualitative side of our life. We may be needing to add more quality or express some particular quality in some area of our practical life.

In this case, the questions might be:
- Do I need to focus more on the spiritual side of my life?
- Do I need to be more present?
- How can I manifest more love in this situation?
- What do I need to understand in order to fulfill purpose in this circumstance?
- How can I empower that person?
- What quality can I focus on that will bring about the finest results?
- What attitudes and actions would support my honouring the divine presence in this relationship?

The next step we need to take is always either toward the external and practical, or toward the inner and qualitative dimensions of our life. Every challenge in life, and therefore our purpose, always involves bridging the higher and lower, the inner and outer, the spirit and form that we are. By doing this we engage in the transformation of ourselves and life, we develop soul consciousness and express the soul self that we are. We know what we should do.

Practice making more appropriate choices and decisions by using the questions above on specific situations or relationships in your life.

Ref: Soul Perspectives on The Next Step by Andrew Schneider. We invite you to visit The Soul Journey Website of Andrew Schneider. Click on the column under “Friends and Links” below.

If thoughts are seeds than what seeds are you planting? What you harvest will depend on what thought seeds you plant.
I look at this individual. It doesn’t matter if he is husband, son, daughter, friend, relative, business partner or acquaintance. This individual is an obnoxious control freak, manipulator, obsessive, compulsive, impulsive, egoistic, selfish, irresponsible, lazy, and insensitive co-dependent. But he is a human being. View full article »

In his Daily Encounter series in ACTS International, a Christian Ministry website on how to be spiritual without being religious, Dick Innes wrote about the importance of Personal Honesty as Key to Effective Relationships. View full article »

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