“Gary-isms”

By Gary L. Clendenon
(Inspired by My Men's Group)
#1-10 (c) 2012 / #11-22 (c) 2017 / #23- (c) 2018

1. Life is messy. Attempts to ignore, change, or not accept this truth will lead to insanity (1).

2. Life, because it is messy, is best lived with an extravagent, abundance of grace towards ourselves and
everyone we encounter.

3. Perfection has already been achieved. Knowing this, we are free to be exactly who we are as we grow in
wisdom and maturity.

4. Black-and-white living is safe and easy, but limiting. Adding “shades of gray” helps, but why not embrace
and experience the full-rainbow-spectrum of beautiful, bold, bright, bodacious, bountiful colors life has to
offer?

5. There is a god, and I am not it! I get to choose my “Higher Power”, but thousands of years of History have
shown that choosing oneself as God doesn't end well.

6. Life is hard. God is good. Keeping these two truths separate can save one from a lot of confusion. (9)

7. It's easy to have expert answers when examining other people's problems. Be careful. Good intentions aside,
often what we are really saying is “Here's some advice that I'm not using. Why don't you try it out?”

8. Love is the answer. I triple-dog-dare you to show me any eternal good that hate, arrogance, power, control,
force, or domination have brought about. Without love, there is no good. Without love, what purpose has
life?

9. You will love your neighbor as yourself. For your neighbor's sake, please learn to love yourself well!

10. When you are by yourself and feel lonely, it may very well be because you don't like the person you are with!
[Pause for that to sink in] Yes, that's yourself, and the good news is that you can change that!

11. Cannabis is a nearly perfect solution for many, if not most, health problems! (It's cousin Hemp is a nearly
perfect solution for many industrial problems!) (2)

12. “Hell is a state of mind!” (Original quote: C.S. Lewis)

13. “Hell is a Satanic plot!” (3)

14. GOD will use any means necessary to get a message through to us—even if it's a dumbass—so . . . pay
attention! Look for GOD everywhere! (4)

15. There is only one set of beliefs in the world that contain the story of a Creator who loved the people He
created so much that He stooped so low as to become one of them just to show them how to live and love as
He intended. True or not, it’s a story I find worth believing; for in all my life, I have heard no better, no
greater, no more outrageous story of love than this! (5)

16. I played basketball for 30 years before I realized this powerful, yet simple fact: The reason I kept hitting the
front of the rim is because that is where I was looking! I know, life-changing, right?
17. Four things you would be wise to fully take in if you truly wish to understand what is going on in the political
world:
1. 1984, by George Orwell
2. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
3. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
4. Wag the Dog, 1997 movie

18. Whether you push it 10 times or just once, the crosswalk light will still change at the same time—and no
sooner!

19. Regarding the water in the glass, as a recovering “Misery Addict”, I have adopted the following affirmation to
counter my default negative tendency: “I choose to view the world as a wonderful place of joy, beauty, and
love.” (6)

20. The best way that I've found to maintain a state of True Peace and Serenity is to always forgive myself and
others. The Hawaiians call this state “pono” and the process “Ho'oponopono”. (7)

21. A person who believes in no conspiracy theories does not understand the Nature nor Reality of the World.

22. GOD's Name is: “I AM”. It is the most powerful name in the Universe. (8) Therefore, we would be wise to
think very carefully about what words we choose to use after the words “I am ____.” For with these words,
in GOD’s Name, we create our Future!

23. If God is “Our Father”, then He must also be “Our Mother”. For both Adam and Eve were created in “the
image of God”. Word!

24. The GOD of the Universe, Creator of Everything, has a poster on His wall that says, “If you love something,
set it free. If it comes back to you, it’s yours. If not, it wasn’t meant to be.” Ironically, this is also the answer
to the question: “Why does a God of Love allow evil and suffering in the World?”

25. Think your life boring, mundane, or uninteresting? Remember that all interesting and exciting stories are just
the highlights of other people’s otherwise boring, mundane, and uninteresting lives. The highlights of your
life told well will be miraculous story after story of GOD’s loving intervention! Something to think about (10)

26. Since Love is the answer (see #8), then we are teaching the wrong thing(s) in our schools and in our churches.
If Love is so important, then shouldn’t there be classes and sermons and weekend seminars and weekly
groups in our schools and churches all teaching us how to Love! (11)

27. I believe that since Love is the answer (see Gary-ism #8), then then the greatest songs in the world are “Love
songs”. Have you ever listened to a love song as if GOD were singing of His/Her Love for you and believed
it? Wow! And then try singing one back! Doing this changed my life!)

28. “No, I’m not picking my nose! I’m cleaning my air filter.” ;)

29. I have learned over the years that being “right” and making others “wrong” does not lead to loving
relationships. (12)

30. It is said that we live in the “Age of Information”. I am convinced that we have passed through that into the
“Age of Dis-information”.

Footnotes:

1. Just to be clear, by “Insanity”, I mean “Doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different
 results.”
2. I don't endorse smoking of Cannabis.
3. For an excellent biblical description of Hell, see Rob Bell's book: Love Wins.
4. See: Numbers 22:28, Luke 19:40
5. This is the “Short Version” of “My Creed”
6. Affirmation from Quantum Techniques
(https://www.quantumtechniques.com/what-quantum-techniques)
7. Ho'oponopono is best done daily. For more on this process,
(http://www.huna.com/process-of-hooponopono/)
8. God's Hebrew Name has been considered so holy and sacred that many won't speak it.
9. First 3 words of M. Scott Peck’s excellent book The Road Less Traveled are “Life is difficult”. Peck calls this
“one of the greatest truths”! (“Life is hard. God is good.” was also inspired by Pam Thum’s beautiful song!)
10. Inspired by “Deep Thoughts #42”
(See Facebook https://www.facebook.com/notes/gary-l-clendenon/deep-thoughts-42-remember-that-42-is-
the-answer-to-the-question-what-is-the-mean/437212151214/ )
11. I do know of an awesome weekend seminar that teaches “Love”. If you are interested, contact me or visit
http://foundations1.com/
12. I am most grateful to the Foundations Seminars for their very direct teaching of this principle.
http://foundations1.com/