The Power Of You

February 14, 2019May 10, 2019 Mike (The Geek With Muscles)Leave a comment

Just this morning I experienced a huge epiphany and I had to share. I was having a conversation among fellow spiritualists and one of them, David Hanzel, a psychic medium, made the comment that we are special and magical no matter who we are. David went on to say that it didn’t matter if you were a galactic princess or a plumber, that everyone had the power to change the world. While we’ve all heard this type of grounding motivation before, today these words brought a new awareness to me. I’ve always believed them in theory, but this morning I actually saw and felt the potential behind them. It’s difficult to describe but I’ll give it my best shot.

Human beings are interconnected much in the same way trees and plants are in a forest. Simply by being your true self, you can affect the existence of those around you and even further.

For starters, power, as we know it, is basically an illusion. As humans we like authority figures because it comforts us and provides a sense of security. Since the beginning of our hominid existence we have looked to healers, wise men, village chiefs, tribal leaders and political figures for guidance and authority. While those figures help shape our society and we need them, the actual power they possess is no different than anyone else alive because in reality, they are a part of the same bigger plan as all of us. They are playing a role, just as important as yours, to get our collective species / consciousness to a certain place in time and space. Yes, this is waaaay metaphysical and philosophical but at the same time, perfect in its design.

Hello 2019 – Cleaning Out My Vibrational Closet

January 24, 2019May 10, 2019 Mike (The Geek With Muscles)Leave a comment

It’s been a while since I last cleaned out my vibrational closet, let’s see… what could possibly be in there? Oh yes, how could I’ve forgotten… that FaceBook post I wrote in August, I’m sure it’s still pissing off at least three or four people a day. Oh wow and look at that, a Yelp! review that will forever tarnish the reputation of a server I had at that new restaurant in town. Perhaps they were having a really bad day, but now the internet makes it easier than ever to reproduce that horrible experience like a karmic photo copier… over and over. Thinking about this might make you smile with satisfaction and rub your hands together like an evil villain in the original Batman TV series, or it just might make you realize that your actions are putting out bad vibrations over and over… that far outweigh any inconvenience or bitter cappuccino. Are you really making the world a better place? Or are you polluting the Universe with negative energy that will eventually find its way back to you? My bet is on the latter, which is why I’ve decided to clean out my vibrational closet as part of my New Years resolutions.

Perhaps God Doesn’t Work In Mysterious Ways

December 22, 2018May 10, 2019 Mike (The Geek With Muscles)Leave a comment

As a child I would often wonder with my limited view of the world, why bad things seemed to happen to really good people. My mom would often respond with the famous phrase “God works in mysterious ways” and then she would go about her business like nothing happened. This actually worked for me until I got older and learned to identify that as the biggest excuse ever for not saying “I don’t know, it seems kind of fucked up doesn’t it?” I mean it would make perfect sense that if there was a God, then he’d step in like a giant super hero and save us all. Organized religions have capitalized on this though, so if bad things are happening to you, it must mean you’re a sinner and have angered God. In some faiths, bad things happen to you because you did something bad to someone else and so you’re paying back spiritual debt or as it’s commonly referred to, karma. But what if God has nothing to do it and there’s a reason why these things happen… what if it’s you?

Your Book of Gratitude

November 20, 2018May 10, 2019 Mike (The Geek With Muscles)Leave a comment

There are many days when life just seems too much to bare, when everything seems like it’s working against you and you’re barely making it. It’s during these trying times when observing the things in your life that are actually working is most important. You might be thinking “nothing is working right in my life right now, that’s exactly the problem!” However truth be told, if you’re reading this then your eye sight is still functioning and you have access to an electronic device, whether it be a computer or hand held, and that’s something that’s working. Turns out, if you take the time to take inventory all the good things, however small, you’ll discover there’s much to be thankful for. And that’s what’s called “A Book of Gratitude.”

Your book of gratitude is a way of expressing your creativity and bringing the good things in your life into your awareness.

Like many things on my spiritual journey, I didn’t realize a book of gratitude was actually a thing until I started to make one. I called it my “book of light” and it was a way of cheering myself up when things in my life weren’t going so great. It gave me permission to express my wishes and desires, but also provided a place to document everything that was actually going great for me. I sat by myself and really thought hard about everything… the smallest detail…that was “working.” I could see, hear, taste and touch, I could feel emotion, I had some food in the fridge, I had some way cool gel pens, I slept on a pillow last night, I had shelter… I wasn’t going to pass up anything. I figured it was more than fair since when we’re upset about things, we tend to make mountains out of molehills. So I did the same, but in the opposite direction and this was actually real… and tangible.

Invalidating Affection

October 16, 2018January 22, 2019 Mike (The Geek With Muscles)Leave a comment

Cooking for someone is probably one of the most spritual and fundamental things you can do in a relationship. That warm and fuzzy feeling you get when enjoying a meal together prepared at home probably has some serious anthropological roots. Thousands of years ago ,when we existed as hunters and gatherers, we brought back our kill to the family or tribe and took pleasure in the consumption of an animal which would sustain us nutritionally and even possibly clothe us. Every part of the animal was utilized for our sustained existence and so it’s no wonder that sharing a meal with someone you care for, references some pretty ancient behaviors and feels pretty darn good.

Don’t Tell Me I’m Wrong

October 1, 2018October 14, 2018 Mike (The Geek With Muscles)Leave a comment

Astrology is the practice of observing the movements and positions of celestial bodies and making predictions based on this information. For example, a new king will be born and a new era will begin when this star appears in the East. Sound familiar? Heaven forbid you actually practice the very art form that foretold the coming of Christ. They just needed astrologers for the story and then they were all stoned to death I’m sure.

The level of hypocrisy I’m seeing with organized religion is astounding and it’s only getting worse. Common decency and morals are thrown out the window when convenient, sexual predators are adored with a cult like following and serious crimes are dealt with internally and not referred to law enforcement.

Within its own construct, religion itself can’t even come to a conclusion. There are over 800 versions of the Christian bible in English alone! Does anyone remember the violence and discrimination in Ireland between Catholics and Protestants? Seriously? Their small differences in beliefs, although for the same God, were enough to justify murder. Once again, all morals go out the window when it’s convenient.

You Either Have Freedom, Or You Don’t.

September 4, 2018October 14, 2018 Mike (The Geek With Muscles)Leave a comment

Last weekend I made myself a really nice grass fed steak dinner and then sat down with a bottle of wine to watch a movie. I would normally do this with my partner Eric, but since he was working on Saturday I resorted back to a ritual coined in HBO’s Sex and The City as “secret single behavior.” This is a practice you perform over and over again when no one is around, and cooking myself a really nice dinner is one of those things I love doing… even when alone. I was really in the mood for the something British, as I often am, and while scrolling through NetFlix I discovered a film called “The Duchess.” Starring Keira Knightly, this movie chronicles the marriage of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, to her husband William Cavendish, the 5th Duke of Devonshire. Early in the film, the Duchess states during a dinner party “One is either free or one is not, the concept of freedom is an absolute.” This in response to a statement made by one of the Duke’s guests. It got me thinking… and it’s still working its magic on me days later.

The Lesson iPhones Teach Us

August 17, 2018October 14, 2018 Mike (The Geek With Muscles)Leave a comment

If you find yourself with nothing to do one day, take a little fiber optic field to trip over to ebay and do a search for Commodore 64 computers. Some of you might not even know what a Commodore is, because by the time you were able to suck your thumb, they were stashed away in your family’s garage or attic, like some heirloom, sharing space with wedding dresses and photo albums. It’s also quite possible that your parents don’t even know what a Commodore 64 is, since it’s been 35 years when they first appeared on store shelves, being one of the first affordable home computers of their time at around $600. The 64 doesn’t stand for bit or gigs by the way, it stands for kilobyte. To put that in perspective for all the Glee kids out there, it would take over 120 of them to have enough RAM to store an average song from iTunes, or 256,000 of them to have the same memory as a pathetic 16GB iPhone. Like OMG WTF? Like, who buys a 16GB iPhone anymore, like whatever. Yet the most interesting fact about these 35 year old machines with lots of moving buttons and springs on their keyboards, is they still work as good as the day your family brought one home. Which is why you can still buy one and they’re pretty popular as collectibles.

Around the end of the millennia (holy fuck I’m old), I was attending a training class in Melbourne, a racist part of Florida otherwise known as the Space Coast, for a new content management solution we were deploying at work. During my initial visit I learned that many people there were connected with the aerospace industry in some way or another, which made perfect sense considering their proximity to Kennedy Space Center. After all, that’s where most of the Space Shuttle missions were launched. I also learned that Taco Bell in Melbourne closed at 9 PM on a Saturday night and that yes, I do look Latino, so much so that the very smiley and very nice lady at the Deli counter in Winn-Dixie stopped being so nice when she turned and looked at me, angrily asking “can I help you?” When I took my purchases prepared by racist white lady to the young cashier, I was told in a creepy horror movie sort of way “you’re not from around here are you?” Okay so I’m losing myself here… where was I before this took a Stephen King turn… oh yes… I also learned that NASA was buying old IBM PC computers on our friend ebay, because they needed the chips for the fleet of aging Space Shuttles. Yup, they needed spare parts and turns out, computer chips last a pretty darn long time.

When Mom Gets Old

August 7, 2018October 14, 2018 Mike (The Geek With Muscles)2 Comments

I’m getting to be that age, you hear it often around the office almost on a weekly basis, someone’s parent is ill or has suddenly passed away. I’m very blessed because my mom is still around, about to have her 81st birthday. My mom isn’t in the best of health, and I often worry about her and how’s she feeling. It’s difficult for her to catch her breath and she’s constantly connected to a variety of oxygen machines, concentrators they call them, and they sustain her life. When she walks out the door, the gentle hum of the machine she’s carrying can be heard underneath her words. She’s a talker like me, that’s where I get it from, and I often have to stop her and say “breathe through your nose” so she can get some O2. You can probably guess I love my mom very much and I don’t know what I’d do without her.

Instant Pot Whatever You Have Geek Stew

July 19, 2018October 14, 2018 Mike (The Geek With Muscles)2 Comments

The first time I made this delicious and hardy beef stew recipe, I barely had any vegetables on hand. I decided to go for it anyways, inspired by one of my favorite childhood stories Nail Broth. So this recipe will vary slightly depending on what you have. The basics are the same though… kind of like making vanilla ice cream. Using organic veggies increasing the flavor exponentially.

Thanking the cow for its service to you is also and awesome thing to do. 🙂