Finding Eden: Our Lost Paradise

I watched an ad on Facebook today. The message was that we each make ourselves up, that we get the chance to be who we want to be just because we want to be it. It was an ad for Make-up. The ad featured a very attractive woman who switched from role to role, whether it was business owner or fitness instructor or party-goer. In each scene, she was in control of the situation, all eyes were on her. Her make-up was flawless, and at the end of ad, text rolled across the screen reading, "You are who you make up." This is an idea that is consistent in our culture today. We fixate on the idea that we are not constricted by our position. We tell our children that they can be anything. Is this idea right? Is it healthy? We live in the land of opportunity. We love to tell stories of change, where drastic metamorphosis-style changes occur to those who are lost, broken, poor, desperate, and even the despicable. In our stories, they become anyone they want to be, leaders, rich, strong...

Music Listen to it, absorb it, digest it. Let it become one with your thoughts and flow through your body and exit your mouth with a breath of air from your lungs. What do you listen to? Pop? Classical? Rock? Country? Maybe a little bit of everything or nothing at all. Why? What is it that pulls your heart strings when you listen to your favorite genre? Speaking of favorites, what is your favorite song? Don't have a favorite song or can't choose? What song resonates with you most at this time in your life? Why? Why music? What about it makes us want to cry or laugh or scream or run or fight or worship? Sounds surround us at all times, even in the silence. Still yourself for a moment. Close your eyes and just listen. Listen to the sound of your breathing, feel its rhythm. Study the sound your saliva makes when you swallow. Hear the sound of your skin as it rubs against the cloth on your shirt or the desk you are sitting at. Meditate on the way the chair creaks as y...