A Midwest Journal

(For part one, part two – visit those links. Meanwhile, we join our author after he just explained how he figured out how to make more money doing less on his grass fed beef farm…)

Now, this all doesn’t look like much money for having to go out and check our beef cattle twice a day, every day. Certainly wouldn’t pay your expenses if you think you have to make $50K per year to make a living. Practically, the Feds say you are below “poverty level” if you make less than $24K for a family of four (which is something like $16K if you are an individual – but they still take taxes out of almost every paycheck and hold it for you until the end of the year. Such nice folks we have in government.)

Means that most rural families are “poor” according to the government and are so eligible for massive handouts from the rest of the country which are comparatively “rich” and can afford to pay for everything we “need.”

But when you look at a lifestyle where you can raise everything you eat and if you don’t buy the hype that you have to have a color TV and a boat to take to the lake on summer weekends – or a 3,000 square foot house and all the latest gizmo’s which make life easier. When you look at life as a very simple operation (if you leave Madison Avenue and the Government out of the equation), then your actual cost of living is very small.

Once I got my credit card bills paid off and started working as a contracted laborer (freelance web design), I found out that I didn’t have the commuting expense to work and back so many times a week. I quit watching TV and suddenly didn’t feel “compelled” to buy this or that – or even see the latest movies which were coming out.

I started having more time to myself, and felt more at ease and secure and healthier.

No, I don’t “make” anywhere near the $50K slot. But I don’t have to work for someone else except every now and then – and I don’t have to leave home to do it. The quality of my food is completely under my own control. What vegetables and beef and fruit I eat are how industrious and efficient I am with my time and the resources around me.

True, my parents bought and paid for this farm with their own jobs and I am simply reaping this harvest based on their work. But I also keep the farm running and my Mother live a comfortable retired life, not having to fix things or simply rent out the farm because she can’t manage it.

My income is also taken out in non-taxable ways – such as barter and payment in other “currencies” than money. Working for my room and board is one example.

I then spend the bulk of my time on stuff I want to do, and am not taxed for thinking or writing or blogging. I give tons of stuff away that is really useful.

So I don’t really feel I need a lot to live on. My health is excellent and I don’t carry insurance. Don’t really need to. Isn’t insurance something a little counter-productive, since you are hedging a bet against yourself?  The taxes I do pay whenever I buy something or license something – all these go toward supporting the schools and hospitals and roads. Even though I mostly don’t use them.

I don’t need a lot of income, so don’t need to pay tax on it.

The result is that I can say that a farm which makes $16,000 a year from raising beef cattle is sustainable and outrageously profitable. At that rate, I could buy a used tractor every year. Or get a loan for more land and pay it off in a decade or so.  Or simply stockpile some savings instead of giving it away to insurance companies – so if I did have to get medical treatment, I could simply pay the bill that way. (Like I do with my dentist – I was paying more for insurance and the deductible than I was in just paying for the treatment when I needed it.)

That’s the Kool-Aid I make. Look at the incredible prosperity you are already surrounded with. And quit listening to people who say you have to buy this and that. Quit figuring that you need approval from others, or inflated ideas of security, or that you need to be controlled or control others. These three points – approval, control, security – Levenson’s Sedona Method says are the base for all the chronic thinking we have floating around our heads. Get rid of those base considerations and the thought can simply be let go, released. Keep doing that consistently or intensively, and your mind quiets right down. You aren’t habitually thinking so much – and can actually quit having to “think your way” through life.

And you can come up with ideas about how you don’t need to “make a lot of money” to be abundantly prosperous and fulfilled.

There’s also the benefits of going through the pasture, checking your cows, scratching them where they seem to like it – and getting the satisfaction from those simple actions. Raising calves and watching them grow – like any crop, but more mobile.

The point is that all your “pay” for living in this universe isn’t coming to you in a check or through an electronic account somewhere. And it doesn’t need some government approval or license. Take a walk in the early morning or at sunset and see if you are getting paid very amply for the little time you invest.

That’s the meal I cook, the Kool-Aid I drink . Join me.

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It’s not all that ridiculous for a big corporate scam to be taking place. But if the HSUS were the Red Cross – and the animals had an actual voice – you’d see that there would be some quick changes happening.

From just cursory investigation, I’ve found that:

1. HSUS spends less than .5 percent of what their online and television ads rake in on actually supporting shelters.
2. The bulk of it goes to lobbyists, political campaign funds, and fat executive bonuses with benefits.
3. There is an apparent organized mob connection.
4. They are under a RICO lawsuit for conspiring with other radical activist groups to do harm.

And it’s not surprising that farmers in Missouri are now concerned that their sponsorship of a puppy-mill bill (which is argued to be unnecessary, since existing laws already cover what they are proposing) is just a foot in the door to start regulating the Animal Husbandry industry. At least once source reports that they are radical activist vegans who are trying to get everyone to quit eating meat:

In Animal Rights and Human Obligations, the published proceedings of this conference, HSUS stated unequivocally that “there is no rational basis for maintaining a moral distinction between the treatment of humans and other animals.” It’s no surprise, then, that a 2003 HSUS fundraising mailer boasted that the group has been working toward “putting an end to killing animals for nearly half a century.”

And that is exactly why I’m taking a break from my work at a whitepaper on how to raise environmentally-responsible, heart-healthy grassfed beef cattle – just to tell you that there are some nuts loose among the squirrels.

So today I bring you a video and some links to share. Hope these bring you some food for thought.

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If you’ve found it valuable, please consider donating via PayPal to enable my continuing research.

Our latest upcoming release, “Freedom Is — (period.)”

All life revolves around order, prediction, simplicity.

And while I’ve started revolving my own life around the Sedona Method – amalgamating this into the earlier studies I started so long ago with “Go Thunk Yourself” – there are always so many lessons to find just in living.

The most recent one is that you really want to rid your life of things you are wanting to control, needing to approve, or that require your security. It isn’t enough just to release on how these are affecting you – there’s also where you are still working to do these on/for others.

These type of scenes are just holding you back.

Of course, this goes back to that 7th step of releasing - living your life as a Master would (which just brings out your own native Master abilities, doesn’t it?)

So you can take any of the historical Masters who have lived among us (and some say still do) – or just look within yourself to see how you would like to be treated.

It’s that simple. If you are involved in some sort of continuing mess where you feel you have to control someone else’s actions or activities, then maybe it’s time to let that go. It might mean you don’t have to deal with those people any more.

But it will mean that your life gets simpler.

And, like cleaning your room, if you start doing this on a regular basis (as I advise getting your releasing going on a continuous basis), then your life becomes simpler and simpler. You live with far less effort. Which then means that magic and miracles become more and more commonplace.

There’s far more about what Lester wrote that needs study and reflection. And I’m sure I’ll be continuing this as I simplify my blogging to comics and grass-fed beef. For me, those are easy subjects to talk about, much more rewarding than other areas.

But try this out for yourself and see if these make sense. See if you can’t work at getting your own life simpler by seeing what complicated subjects you can simply drop out of your active life.

Thanks for visiting my blog and reading this entry.
If you’ve found it valuable, please consider donating via PayPal to enable my continuing research.

Our latest upcoming release, “Freedom Is — (period.)”