The Info Examiner

The King had a lot to say about his music:

“I’m not kidding myself. My voice alone is just an ordinary voice. What people come to see is how I use it. If I stand still while I’m singing, I’m dead, man. I might as well go back to driving a truck.”

“Rock and roll music, if you like it, if you feel it, you can’t help but move to it. That’s what happens to me. I can’t help it.”

“Some people tap their feet, some people snap their fingers, and some people sway back and forth. I just sorta do ‘em all together, I guess.”

“Rhythm is something you either have or don’t have, but when you have it you have it all over.”

“I don’t set any kind of bad example. My music appeals to teenagers because it’s strongly emotional.”

“My songs are a way of caressing people with my voice.”

“When rock-n-roll music dies out another type of emotional music is going to take its place.”

“I happened to come along in the music business when there was no trend.”

“I learned how important it was to entertain people and give them a reason to come and watch you play.”

“Man, I really like Vegas.”

Visit this site for more Elvis quotes.

There is a reassurance here, too. There is a sense of partnering, partisanship, and enjoyment, so to speak. At this point, there are various things that you can do. One of them is to now stretch it beyond the planet and out towards the Infinity of the Universe. And then, boy, if you’ve got the jets, let it go out to alien life forms, to all kinds of possibilities allow them to taste the steam and absorb it in whatever way they do. Then, allow their forms to dissolve into this beauty.

You expand the energy way out, and you let all form dissolve into it so that all that is left in the entire universe the entirety of perception is this is sense of ease of change. Just now, you have really enhanced a quality of being that has been within you. And you’re right, it’s going to challenge superstructures; it’s actually going to begin to change the way in which you perceive change. And, as in any great practice, it’s going to challenge, change, reduce, or alter reactivity. In some cases, it might even make reactivity obsolete as a way of behaving in certain situations because your previous strategies were based upon motivations that say, “I’m not being nurtured, I’m not at ease.” So when you replace those motivations with, “I am at ease in change, I am nurtured by change,” all of those strategies that were based on the old motivations aren’t any good anymore.

Now, an option that you have is, once you’ve expanded the mist the mist of your energetic sense of ease and nurturance in change beyond the boundaries of the universe, and once everything has dissolved into it, you can then bring it back. Bring those boundaries back into the heart of your being, with yourself as the Deity. Then, as it all gets smaller and smaller, just let it get smaller and smaller until it disappears. Just reside in that place of no sense of form for a moment, and you then take form with the vibration of the Deity once more, inside of you.

It is a deeper wave of personalization. In fact, in Tibetan practices, you go through the eight phases of the dissolution of the elements of being. In those practices, you basically dissolve into vastness, and reside in that vastness for a while. From that vastness, you would feel a sense of coming back into being within yourself as the Deity as the qualities that you have cultivated with the Deity. In a way, we did the same thing just now. Because of where you are at, I did not want to make it too complex right now.

Yogi Sean is the student of Swami Ramananda and a principle officer of the Sadhana Society.

Direct Answers - Column for the week of December 13, 2004

I’m in a long-distance relationship that is five months old; of those five months we have spent a total of 15 days together spread over a two month period. As in all relationships it was wonderful in the beginning. We spent long hours on the phone getting to know each other and catching up on what was going on in each other’s life.

About two months ago I noticed his calls were not as frequent as they used to be. He says it’s because he’s busy. I accept this because I know his job is demanding, but somehow I feel it’s not too much to ask for a phone call a day. As it stands now, we haven’t seen each other in three months, and if I don’t call him, I don’t think he’ll call until a week passes without a word from me.

He says he loves me. I want to believe he knows what love is. I’m willing to do what it takes to make our relationship work, but I feel I’m giving 95% and he is giving 50%. How can I make him open his eyes and see what his blasé attitude toward our relationship is doing to me?

Sydney

Sydney, in Dean Koontz’s novel “Odd Thomas,” a couple goes to a county fair. In the back of an arcade tent they find an unusual machine. The top of the machine is glassed in. Inside the glass is a realistic-looking gypsy fortuneteller complete with colorful headscarf.

Another couple stands in front of the glass. They feed a coin into the machine, and the woman asks if she and her boyfriend will have a long and happy marriage. The boyfriend pushes the answer button and a card falls into a brass tray. The card reads: “A cold wind blows, and each night seems to last a thousand years.”

Not satisfied with the answer, they drop in another coin, and the woman again asks if they will have a long, happy marriage. This time the card reads: “The fool leaps from the cliff, but the winter lake below is frozen.” On the third try they get a card which reads: “The orchard of blighted trees produces poisonous fruit.”

Eight times the couple drop in a coin, and each time they receive a similar answer. They bicker and move away. Then the second couple, who clearly love each other, step forward and deposit a coin. A card falls which reads: “You are destined to be together forever.”

Sydney, we asked the gypsy fortuneteller your question. A card dropped down. It read: “A cold wind blows, and each night…”

Wayne & Tamara

Young Hemingway

I work with a girl, and this girl couldn’t be more different from other girls I’ve met. Besides her eyes, her personality is one of the best I’ve ever seen, and she is gorgeous.

I recently graduated high school. I didn’t date because I know how school relationships usually turn out, so I just skipped the drama. I also believe I matured mentally faster than most of my classmates. I am not trying to be cocky, but I am pretty charming and believe I know how to make a relationship work.

You might be thinking, “Why not ask her out?” That’s the problem. She is 24 and I am 18. Do you think asking her out is a good idea?

Brandon

Brandon, you have yet to handle the matador’s cape, but you feel ready to enter the bullring. We admire your bravado, but bravado gets many a novice bullfighter gored.

When you avoided high school relationships, you also avoided the experience gained from them. At 24, this woman has a third again your life experience.

If your bravado is sufficient to strut into the ring and face the bull head-on, ask her out. We just hope emergency medical technicians are standing by.

Wayne & Tamara

About The Author

Authors and columnists Wayne and Tamara Mitchell can be reached at www.WayneAndTamara.com.

Send letters to: Direct Answers, PO Box 964, Springfield, MO 65801 or email: DirectAnswers@WayneAndTamara.com.

My son’s bedtime ritual (like that of many young children) is written in stone. After reading a book or two, we snuggle into his bed and compare notes about the day. I ask him if today was a good day and being a cheerful fellow he always says “yes”.

After reviewing the highlights of the day — all the elements that made it a “good day” — I ask him which was the best part. Often the answer surprises me but after some reflection I decided this fact was due to something pretty wonderful. My child has his priorities in the right order.

Noah’s grandparents live in another state so when they visit there tends to be even more spoiling than might be expected from grandparents. One visit from my parents included several small gifts presented at the beginning of the visit, a trip to Wal-Mart with grandparents to purchase a new power ranger, and another trip to Wal-Mart with Grandpa to buy a new Spider Man bike and helmet (Noah’s first big bike). They also took him on several outings to the park, children’s museum, McDonalds and so on.

However after the grandparents had departed I asked Noah about the best part of the visit. He thought for a moment and said: “Going for a walk with Grandpa and seeing the dead possum.”

The dead possum is located on a route we follow pretty regularly for our walks and we have watched the decomposition process with interest. Whenever we see the possum Noah always mentions his grandfather and whenever they speak on the phone he updates his grandfather on the status of the corpse.

Just think about these stories. Noah was showered with gifts and lavish outings but his favorite memory is a simple walk to the local airport and checking out the sites along the way.

Why do we spend so much money during the holidays on expensive gifts that will most likely be forgotten or tossed aside or outgrown — sometimes before the tinsel is taken down. In the end it is lavishing our time and attention on our loved ones that is the greatest gift of all.

Not only is it a wonderful gift for our loved ones (who likely won’t require a dead possum for bonding) but it is also a wonderful gift for ourselves. The holiday season can be frantic and filled with crazy shopping malls and unjolly traffic jams. Taking time out to spend quality time with our loved ones is really what we should give ourselves this holiday season.

Sitting around the kitchen table making homemade Christmas cards with Noah means our holiday message will stand out from the pile of glitzy prepackaged cards and we will have spent hours together giggling over our work with glue, construction paper, and scissors. I don’t know about you but I’d much rather bond over glitter glue than a decomposing possum.

We are also working on his holiday gifts for various family members which I know will be lovingly appreciated by grandparents and cousins alike. More than crafting picture frames and holiday scarves we are crafting memories that I hope he will cherish his whole life. And I hope that I am teaching him that gifts from the heart mean much more than gifts from the wallet.

But then he may already know that as he snuggles down beneath his pillow and quilt — both lovingly quilted by his grandmother — for his afternoon nap.

You can enjoy more inspirational articles by Deanna Mascle at dawggone.net, justfolks.net, and officialwisdom.com.