Daily Inspiration 1-31-15

"Deliberately guiding your thoughts

is the key to a joyful life, 

but a desire to feel joy

is the best plan of all. . . 

because in the reaching for joy, 

you find the thoughts that attract 

the wonderful life you desire." 

-- Abraham, Esther Hicks 

Success is one of those strange single word topics that has trillions of words written about it, and it is also true that everyone individually defines it for themselves, even if they choose to use someone else's definition as their basis.

One of my favorite books I've ever read in my life is, Love Is Letting Go Of Fear by Gerald G Jampolsky. I've mentioned it many times because it is a very simple, short, concise book for people of any age to use as a common-sense guide for a happier life. In the book, Gerald talks about goals and rather than trying to juggle personal goals, business goals, and all manner of other goals, that it would be more productive and more effective to focus on just one goal that will help all the others to fall in place. He said that was the goal of peace of mind. Peace of mind is way beyond contentment. It is at the highest level of positive emotion.

In the reading of, The Law Of Attraction by Jerry & Esther Hicks, there is something identical, yet using a different word. On page 71, Jerry asks, "What do you see as success? What would you say is the mark of success?" Here is Abraham's answer:

"The achievement of anything that you desire must be considered success, whether it is a trophy, money, relationships, or things. But if you will let your standard of success be your achievement of joy, everything else will fall easily into place. For in the finding of joy, you are finding vibrational alignment with the resources of the Universe.

You cannot feel joy while you are focusing upon something not wanted, or the lack of something wanted; therefore, while you are feeling joy, you will never be in the state of contradicted vibration. And only the contradiction in your own thoughts and vibration can keep you from the things you desire.

. . . By paying attention to [your] Emotional Guidance System, and by reaching for the best-feeling thought that you can find right now from wherever you are, you will allow your broader perspective to help you move in the direction of the things that you truly want."

Peace of mind. Joy. Knowledge. Love. Freedom. Empowerment. Appreciation. All are at the top of the emotional scale, and what better place to aim for than this. The more joy I find in my life, or rather, it is better to put this way: the more joy I allow in my life, the more everything else follows suit.


I Am Practicing Until It Becomes Habitual. Yet The Joy Along The Way Is More Than Enough. 

Spread Some Joy Today--It takes one to know one. It takes joy to spread joy.

Daily Inspiration 1-30-15

"What monstrous absurdities and paradoxes 

have resisted whole batteries of serious arguments, 

and then crumbled swiftly into dust 

before the ringing death-knell of a laugh!" 

-- Agnes Repplier 

I'll never forget a short scene from the movie, Arthur, where Dudley Moore who played Arthur, is in the backseat of his limo with a female companion and they're both having a drink, and he all of a sudden bursts out in joyous laughter. The woman asks what that was all about and Arthur says, "Sometimes I just think funny things."

I'm not sure what has changed in me, but I find myself doing the same thing quite often throughout the day. I see something and it fills me with joy and I start laughing. I think it is just a build-up of my practicing my own deliberate creation of what I want throughout the day, and it is getting easier and easier.

Today started out that way. I'm typing on my computer, and all of a sudden my dog Charlie starts barking at me one bark at a time. I look over and he's staring at me. It's just too dang cute, so I laugh. He barks some more. He wants attention, love, petting, touching. I know this and love the fact that he has no problem saying what he wants, so I go over while laughing and give him some love, talking to him.

We go for a walk and across the busy street, there is a little dog yapping at us with his or her nose sticking out of a hole in the fence. It's just too dang cute, so I start laughing and telling that dog that we're coming for a visit. So, we cross the street and let them meet each other.

I'm stopped at the railroad crossing watching this freight train going 50-60 miles per hour go by and we're right at the crossing gate. It is all double-stacked containers on container cars. It must be five miles long. We're there for several minutes as it keeps coming and coming and coming. I'm laughing the whole way through. It was fantastic.

Now, it's true, most people wouldn't think any of this is funny, but it is just my joy leaking out. The washer in my joy faucet is allowing more and larger leaks. I don't have the time nor inclination to fix it. I'm enjoying it too much.

I see an ambulance ahead on the other side of the road coming toward us. I'm thinking, they are just turning on the lights and sirens to get to the lunch place without traffic! There isn't an emergency. They're just bored. So, I start laughing. Then I have a huge thought:

If you think that last elongated recession was big, it would not be a tick on a prize bull if all the people in the world began experiencing Well-Being. Just take a moment to imagine how many industries, businesses, products, services, and more are related directly and indirectly to the lack of Well-Being, commonly called dis-ease. This would be an unmistakable blip on the EKG of the entire history of human-kind. There would also be such a rush toward new businesses, positions, products, industries, and services that focused on more Well-Being. It would be flippin' amazing. So I'm laughing through that whole thought process and getting a rush of my own imagining everyone going around in total bliss!

Whatever has changed in me in the last many months, I eagerly look with excited anticipation of more of this because it is so empowering and feels so good. Laughter is only a symptom of a specific train of thought. I'm loving my thinking of late. If I could bottle it, I'd be a zillionaire (or is that gazillionaire?) If I could wish something for you, it would be some of this!


"When People Are Laughing, They're Generally Not Killing Each Other." -- Alan Alda 

Spread Some Joy Today--and laughter is one of the better ways of spreading it.

Daily Inspiration 1-29-15

"The greatest gift 

that you could ever give another 

is the gift of 

your expectation of their success." 

-- Abraham, Esther Hicks 

Since I was a small child, I have always been excited about learning. In fact, in all my schooling, my eagerness to learn was powerful, and I also experienced far more frustration from the poor teaching and the rowdy students who didn't share my enthusiasm. So, when I found a teacher that was a guiding light for me, it was a pure treat and I took leaps in learning at those times.

I have found the same thing with books. To me books are teachers. Many had knowledge but left me cold, and then others fired me up with passion for the subject. I'm sure that we have all had these kind of experiences in school, and in life at places we've worked and more.

It's also interesting how I can read a book a second or third time and see plenty that I obviously completely missed the first time around. Jerry & Esther Hick's book, The Law of Attraction wasn't their first published in book form, but it was first recorded on cassette tape and then to CD back in 1988. It finally made it to book form in 2006. I first "read it" as an audiobook and in the last couple of weeks began reading the printed version.

In much of the book, Jerry is asking Abraham questions on various subjects. One of those questions was, "which is more moral, giving or receiving?" I've often heard that asked this way: "Is it better to give or receive?" I will quote part of Abraham's response:

"Often when people speak of giving and receiving, they are referring to gifts of action, or material things, but the Law of Attraction is not responding to your words or actions, but instead to the vibration that is at the basis of those words and actions."

This part jumped off the page at me: "Let us say that you see those who are in need of something. Perhaps they have no money, transportation, or food. And as you see them, you feel sad (because you are focused on their lack and activating that within your own vibration), and from your place of sadness you offer them the action of money or food. The vibration that you are transmitting is actually saying to them, I do this for you because I see that you cannot do this for yourself. Your vibration is actually focused upon their lack of Well-Being and therefore, even though you have offered money or food through your action, your dominant offering is perpetuating their lack."

They continue, "It is our encouragement that you take the time to imagine those people in a better situation. Practice the thought of their success and happiness in your own mind, and once that is the dominant vibration that you hold about them, then offer whatever inspired action you now feel."

I've often shared books with people. In looking back at this thing I have done for the last 30 years or so, many times, I was trying to help someone find their way because I was seeing them as lost, or I was seeing them as in need of help. Very few of those people probably read any of the books I would give for two reasons. One, they weren't asking, and two, I was perpetuating their lack. I wasn't being helpful at all, I was just thinking I was.

Other times, I've shared just from pure love while uplifting them in general and this is the best place from which to give. It makes receiving more full, even if they choose to put it on the shelf. I sent our entire team Jerry & Esther Hicks's book, Ask and It Is Given, and I wasn't thinking of their lack in any way. I also sent a letter explaining why I was giving it and that if they had no use for it at this time, to feel free to let it go.

Since reading this section I've described, along with practicing and noticing, I love the message because I could go back in my mind and even feel how it felt to give things, whether it was a book, or money to a needy looking person on the street. I can feel it now, but then I wasn't paying attention. How we are feeling about giving whatever we give makes all the difference in how it is received and what that means to them. This also applies to every interaction we have with people.


"Which Is Superior, Uplifting Another By Believing In Their Success, Or Adding To Their Discouragement By Noticing Where They Are?" -- Abraham, Esther Hicks. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by allowing others to make choices for themselves.

Daily Inspiration 1-28-15

"The reward of a thing well done 

is having done it." 

"Nothing great was ever achieved 

without enthusiasm." 

"The creation of a thousand forests 

is in one acorn."

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Yesterday's 'train the trainer' commercial truck training event went very well. My joy was in the opportunity and in the doing of this. The reason I say that is because of the passion and enthusiasm at the basis, and as Emerson says, nothing great was ever achieved without it.

In addition, my joy is to share my perspective on this subject with any who would like to learn more and different ways to approach commercial truck sales and management. That is why I wrote the book, Commercial Truck Success. Within that acorn is a thousand forests.

One of my connections on LinkedIn sent me a complimentary message saying that I was "an influential resource in the work truck industry." Kind words, and I like kind words. I have endeavored to be of service, but I've also had people think I was crazy and misguided. What others think cannot guide me, I need to look within and operate from my own inner guidance or alignment. 

Yesterday began from a potentially negative place and I chose a different response. I chose laughter, being lighthearted. I began driving to the location 90 minutes away with a set of intentions. I intended enthusiasm, sharing my passion, teaching in a way that they want to learn and that they would enjoy their time. I intended to cover what was important and to fill them with more enthusiasm for what they do. I intended safe, efficient and enjoyable travel to and from all destinations. I intended to enjoy myself. That pre-paving of the day with these intentions made a difference as they always do.

The training was full day from 9am to 4:30pm, and I was a little hoarse at the end, but I was elated with the event. The thing that I felt the most joy in was in teaching enthusiasm and demonstrating passion. In the afternoon section, we were learning how to do an effective walk-around presentation of different truck bodies. They began with bland facts about the truck body and after some coaching, ended with some absolutely grand presentations full of enthusiasm, passion, interaction, and a better way to point out features. In fact, one of them might be the best presentation I've ever seen. What a rush it is to see that transition and the joy on their faces in having done it and felt the improvement themselves.

They left the training with a different outlook on what they do and some tools and ways to be more effective with their dealers. I left with the reward of having done it. It was a more than fair exchange.


Now I'm Ready For Ten More! 

Spread Some Joy Today--because there just isn't anything better than spreading joy. And, it's not about what others get, it's about us having done it. Of course, you have to have it to spread it, so you get the best of it.

Daily Inspiration 1-27-15

"This is my secret, he said. 

I don't mind what happens." 

-- Eckhart Tolle 

Eckhart Tolle said, "As soon as you honor the present moment, all unhappiness and struggle dissolve, and life begins to flow with joy and ease. When you act out the present-moment awareness, whatever you do becomes imbued with a sense of quality, care, and love--even the most simple action."

I mentioned this a long time ago, but a local owner of an auto repair facility had a little sign in his shop by the cash register. I'll never forget it. It said, "1. If you're gonna be a bear, be a grizzly. 2. Shit happens." These different observations all have a common theme: Don't worry, be happy!

I went to bed early last night because I'm doing some teaching this morning. It will be a fun experience because it will be my first 'train the trainer' class. I'm excited and eager. So, I got up early at 4am. I come out to my office to do the Daily Inspiration first since I procrastinated last night. Guess what happened then. . . my keyboard isn't working. I thought it might have been the program, but it is the keyboard. How often do you suppose a keyboard just stops working? But, I tried what I could think of by restarting, hard booting, changing USB portals, all to no avail. Good timing. . .

My laptop battery is dead since I use it so little anymore, so I plug it in. Then on startup, it wants to install a Java update. So I think, no problem, it won't take long. Then mid-install, it stops responding--locked up. I exit the update. Well. . . I don't need to go further, but there is much more for sure. When these kinds of things happen, it seems that they come in groups. And, as I type, there is still more going on.

By now, I am laughing with pure joy. I have a huge smile as I type. It is funny to me. At other times in my life, I would have been very upset, maybe even throwing things, complaining loudly, talking to the 'stupid machine,' and generally being upset. Now, I laugh, and that is so much progress in well-being for me that it is hard for others to imagine. When you don't mind what happens, and you honor the present moment, whatever is going on is fun, joyful, light. When you dishonor the present moment with frustration, disappointment, impatience, discouragement, blame, and a number of other negative emotions, life really is a struggle.

The best a negative emotion can do is for me is to be aware of it, and make a decision if those thoughts that created it are what I want or what I do not want. This morning, I decided that I do not want those thoughts. I want joy. So, I look at the very same shit that is happening, and it becomes laughter and fun instead. I think that is fascinating.

There is an old saying and a song from church that says, "when you're going through hell, keep going!" I say, when you're going through hell, don't keep going; instead, change your thinking so it is heaven, and there's no reason to hurry!


I'm Hoping Your Day Is At Least As Joyful As Mine Is Starting Out To Be! 

Spread Some Joy Today--It smells better. Feels better too.

Daily Inspiration 1-26-15

"What is the difference

between wanting and needing? 

How it feels." 

-- Albert K Strong 

I have often confused wanting and needing, and I have learned how to tell the difference by how each of them feels and I learned this from the Teachings of Abraham:

"When you want something and are thinking about how wonderful it will be to have it, your current emotion feels good because your current thought is a Vibrational Match to your true desire. But when you want something but are currently thinking about not having it, about the absence or lack of it, your current emotion feels bad because your current thought is a Vibrational mismatch to your true desire."

They continue: "The difference between wanting and needing is not just speaking different words. A pure state of desire or wanting always feels good because you are a Vibrational Match to what is in your own Vibrational Reality. A state of need always feels bad because you are a Vibrational Match to the absence of your desire and are therefore a mismatch to your Vibrational Reality."

Even though this explanation resonates perfectly with me and I understand it well, I don't even really need to understand it if I will pay attention to how I am feeling. Our own internal Emotional Guidance System is simply the best tool I've ever had, where I know that if I am feeling negative emotion that I am off track, and, if I am feeling positive emotion, I can feel that I am on track.

I like to call it being in alignment, or resonating. It makes perfect sense to me.

Any musician should understand resonance. For many years, I used a simple tone generator to tune my guitar. It would generate a tone for the E-string for example and I would turn the tuning machine until the string sound and the tone generator matched. It isn't just something that you hear. It is something that you can feel. The old way was using an A-note tuning fork which vibrated at 440 Hertz, as I tuned the A-string on the guitar, I could feel it as the vibrations were the same. The guitar string resonated with the tuning fork. Even being off the slightest amount makes a difference and is dissonant, not resonating, out of tune. It isn't a matching vibration. Most good tuners now use lights, green in the middle and red lights on either side of the perfect resonance place or the in-tune place.

It is exactly the same inside me. My inner being, inner knowing, higher self, or whatever label you choose, is my tuning fork, or my tone generator. Whatever thought I am thinking will resonate with or not resonate with my inner being. When it resonates, I feel positive emotion, or you could say, I'm in tune with my higher self. When I feel bad or any negative emotion, I am dissonant, out of harmony with myself, not resonating, out of alignment. When I am aligned, I feel good, when I am out of alignment, I do not feel good.


My Tuner Is Built In And I Have Grown Quite Fond Of The Value Of Resonance And Alignment. 

Spread Some Joy Today--You'll know it when you feel it. It resonates very positively.

Daily Inspiration 1-25-15

"I'm thankful to

all those who said no. 

It's because of them, 

I did it myself." 

-- Wayne Dyer 

Several months ago, I read Wayne Dyer's wonderful book, I Can See Clearly Now, and since it is essentially an autobiography up to the end of 2013, I learned a lot about Wayne Dyer, the person. Since I've followed Wayne since his first book in the seventies, Your Erroneous Zones, I have been not only following along with many (not all) of his books, but I've been growing right along with him. I find that sort of thing very interesting.

In almost every situation he discusses in that book, and there are so many, he found resistance and/or did not like the direction someone else was trying to guide him, and then he made a decision to take charge himself and take the power into his own control. One was his first book which the publisher refused to print more copies of because he was a first-time author and they didn't want to spend any money promoting the book at all. So he took control in some very interesting ways, You'll have to read to book to get that whole story, but he turned it into such a massive success that what he earned that first year was more than all his previous years combined.

I've done some of that myself by creating my own positions at some places that I've worked, building my first website not knowing a dang thing about it, and more. I rarely take no for an answer. In my wallet, I used to carry a quote written on the back of a business card that someone shared with me. It was from George Bernard Shaw, and he stated, "People who say, 'It can't be done,' should not interrupt the people who are doing it."

Sometimes I see people (I've even heard myself say it from time to time) who say that they can't succeed or do their job because they are not getting the support they think they need. Or, they are missing certain materials and such that, though they could be helpful, are not absolutely necessary, and indeed they can always be created by ourselves.

Wayne Dyer invested in himself. When they said no to the book promotions and that they had unsold copies and wouldn't print more, he decided to create his own book store in his garage and dipped into his savings and bought all the remaining copies that the book publisher had, then he ordered more so they had to print more. Then he went out and sold them out of his trunk, went on hundreds of radio shows across the country telling people to go to the local book store where he had many copies on consignment, and much more. He knew what he wanted and he refused to take no for an answer.

But, here's the key and Wayne Dyer didn't speak of it, but effectively lived it: He didn't swim upstream very far with the publisher. He could have just complained and complained and complained, and instead, he knew what he wanted and took charge. In fact, he led the publisher, not the other way around. That is fascinating.

So when someone tells me that they are being held back because of this and that and they won't do this and that, and all that stuff, I just try to guide them to take the initiative themselves to make it happen. It starts in the mind. It starts with desire. It then morphs into inspired action. If the desire is weak, the thoughts are weak and all the action in the world won't bring the desired results. It's like trying to make a positive out of a negative. You have to begin with the positive: I want to succeed at this, I want to do this, I will do this.

I had a thought today (along with a few thousand more) about how one can be locked up in prison for life and be happy. No matter what the circumstances around us, and no matter what others might think about us, we have one power that is completely our own, and that is what we choose to think. We have the choice of looking at life with hope or despair. Viktor Frankl said that this was what made all the difference in whether he and others died in a concentration camp in Germany or whether they lived. It is our frame of mind, our focus, our choice of how we think. It always was and always will be.


I Am Blessed When Someone Says No, Or Says It Can't Be Done. They Have No Real Authority Over Me Anyway. I Choose. I Always Get To Choose. 

Spread Some Joy Today--in accepting your own power to choose your joy.

Daily Inspiration 1-24-15

"Our intention creates our reality." 

-- Wayne Dyer 

For 2015, I set forth numerous intentions. A few have already in the first 24 days of the year, come true. I am not totally sure why, but have an idea why, I am looking at this year with such joy and expectation of massive growth. My future looks so bright to me that it almost blinds my eyes. I am 65 years young, and have this outlook on my life, which I think is absolutely fascinating. I have such a thrill inside me with a smile on my face that feels ten feet wide as I think about with eager anticipation the brightness and delight of this year.

The law of attraction has always worked perfectly in my life. It is just that I didn't know it in the past, and so often, as a result, I would simply get more of what I already had. Probably the biggest and most powerful change in my entire life is learning the value of being aware or paying attention to this law and then deliberately making use of it for my benefit. It has and will always bring me more of what I am thinking about, and intentions are powerful thoughts.

One of my intentions for this year was to do more teaching in person. I made the intention and then just let it go. I have already had teaching opportunities come to me and I laugh with joy as they have come simply from my intention and the law of attraction doing the arranging of people, places, and all manner of things toward the achievement of my intention. And this, without me putting forth the least bit of effort. It is more a trusting and allowing thing than a make it happen kind of thing.

There is such power in intentions. Resolutions come and go. Goals are like work. But intentions are really what you want. There is no should in an intention. There is desire. There is focus. There is trust and allowing when you know the powerful forces that are available to do most of the work. There is passion because these are things or changes that you want. There is joy because they come from your joy. They feel good when you write them and they never, ever feel bad. They are not needs. They require almost no effort in coming into your reality. They are exciting, and create excitement.

And, they don't take very long typically to come into being. I've already experienced the fruition of several of those on my list. In addition, I am adding to the list as I have those desires. And last, it is just plain fun. Isn't that the way it should be?


A List Of Intentions Is A Very Powerful Attractive Tool. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by intending to be joyful. It really is that easy.

Daily Inspiration 1-23-15

"Wouldn't it be nice if we were older? 

Then we wouldn't have to wait so long. 

And wouldn't it be nice to live together 

in the kind of world where we belong?" 

-- First verse of the song, 

Wouldn't It Be Nice 

by The Beach Boys 

"I want to buy it, but I can't afford it. I want more money because I'm sick and tired of being broke. I want to find the right person because I'm sick of all these losers I've been dating. I want a better job because this place just doesn't appreciate me."

What is the issue with all these common statements? In sales, we call it selling and then buying it back. We state what we want, then we negate that statement by talking about what we do not want. It's sort of like wanting the solution, but then we continually discuss the problem over and over.

I'm sure we have all said these kinds of statements, or something like them not realizing that we are asking and then giving it back at the same time. Because this is a very common thing, of the 22 Abraham-Hicks processes to help us make use of the information learned in their book, Ask and It Is Given, one is called, Wouldn't It Be Nice... .?

The idea behind the process is to soften the resistance or potential resistance that has become a habit for many of us. When we get rid of resistance, we can then allow and be in the position of receiving the things and situations that we want. We need to focus on the what we want part and avoid completely how it will happen and all the other things that we cannot control. If we focus on what we can control--the thought of what we want--we can get out of our own way and get on with it.

The way they say when to use this process is "when you find yourself leaning toward the negative and therefore offering resistance, and you want to turn it around to something more positive, or when you are already feeling good, and you want to focus more specifically on certain areas of your life to make them even better, or when you want to gently guide a negative, or potentially negative, conversation to a more positive place for your benefit or to gently guide someone else."

"When you say, "I want this thing to happen that hasn't happened yet," you're not only activating the vibration of your desire, but you are also activating a vibration of the absence of your desire--so nothing changes for you. But when you say, "Wouldn't it be nice if this desire would come to me?" you achieve a different sort of expectation that is much less resistant in nature."

I've begun using this a lot in the last few months. There is no doubt that it helps me to stay on the positive side of expectation and I can feel that it softens my resistance. Plus, it is a great way to use our imagination and allow ourselves to think about the possibility of asking for things that we might have previously considered improbable or impossible in our mind. In addition, it is just fun and keeps everything so light.

Abraham offers a few sample questions:

"Wouldn't it be nice if I had a really productive day at work?
Wouldn't it be nice if I stumbled onto something that really worked for me?
Wouldn't it be nice if my metabolism began to cooperate with me a little more?
Wouldn't it be nice if I could reclaim the bodyweight I had when I was such and such an age? Wouldn't it be nice if I find someone, and we waltz off into the sunset together?"

I think this is a gentle and delicious game to feel better and to lean toward the positive, uncaring how it will come, which is the perfect place for allowing it in.


Wouldn't It Be Nice? 

Spread Some Joy Today--by planning to enjoy yourself before you get there.

Daily Inspiration 1-22-15

"I can't say this strongly enough, 

but our feelings about ourselves 

are actually the most important 

barometer for determining 

the condition of our lives!" 

-- Anita Moorjani 

Abraham Lincoln said, "It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels worthy of himself and claim kindred to the great God who made him." Another perspective of that idea comes from Shannon L Alder: "One of the greatest regrets in life is being what others would want you to be, rather than being yourself." There may be many of us who don't and haven't felt worthy, even some for most all of their lives, and living life according to what others have laid out as good is part of it. 

As I look on this subject of worthiness, and of being the real and true me, I see hundreds of influences that have endeavored, almost always with the best of intentions, to lead me where they think best. My mother, father, then step-father, grandparents, other relatives, church, school, employers, teachers, friends, spouse, and more. It seems in looking at this pile of influencers that so many had advice on how best to succeed (whatever that is), do well, become a better human being. Under all of that influence, it is incredibly easy to lose sight of our own inner power, our own inner knowing, our own guidance system. Instead, we accept and then seek even more from others to find our way, or to follow a so-called proven path.

I like how Elizabeth Gilbert claims it: "Never forget that once upon a time, in an unguarded moment, you recognized yourself as a friend." Instead, some even dip into and out of deep depression, as Margaret Atwood blatantly describes: "I don't want to see anyone. I lie in the bedroom with the curtains drawn and nothingness washing over me like a sluggish wave. Whatever is happening to me is my own fault. I have done something wrong, something so huge I can't even see it, something that's drowning me. I am inadequate and stupid, without worth. I might as well be dead."

It doesn't matter what is wrong. Indeed, there is nothing wrong. I know this now because I found my inner guidance, my inner knowing, my true self. The more I learn to allow, to appreciate, the stronger I get in insisting that I am fully in charge of my own reality, my own creative ability, my own worthiness, my own love of myself, and a real and genuine love of others which comes naturally from this connection. We all have it, and we were born with it, and we allowed others to influence us to give it to them which created the only real problem we have ever had. It was a problem because no matter how smart, wise, intelligent, or well-intended another is, they simply cannot be me, live my life, think my thoughts, create for me. We each can only exclusively do that for ourselves.

This quote from Abraham and Esther Hicks helps guide us back to our self: "The key to. . . experiencing the absolute absence of resistance, of achieving complete alignment with all that you have become and all that you desire, and of bringing to your physical experience everything that you desire--is being in the state of appreciation. And there is no more important object of attention to which you must flow your appreciation than that of self." 

Those who have taught us, many with the best intentions, that to focus on ourselves is selfish, conceited, and wrong, that we are not worthy, that their way is the right way have a right to their opinion. And we, have a right to guide ourselves and judge for ourselves, make our own decisions, and to focus on our own inner knowing. We can reclaim this any time we choose to do so. The best thing that I can do from anything and everything that I have ever written in these Daily Inspirations is to inspire you to your own truth, your own inner knowing, your own inner guidance, as I have learned to do for myself.

The exercise that I asked you to do yesterday is a powerful exercise and is worthy of repetition regularly. I think it is of the utmost importance that we understand and appreciate ourselves, to love ourselves as deeply as possible, and to then from that solid foundation, love others in the same way because we know that they are worthy, even equally worthy as ourselves.


Taking The Time To Appreciate Yourself Is Among The Most Worthy Of Activities, The Results Of Which Will Speak Volumes To You, And Then Through You To Others. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by being in a constant state of appreciation.

Daily Inspiration 1-21-15

"I celebrate myself, 

and sing myself." 

-- Walt Whitman 

Yesterday I talked about the Book of Positive Aspects and doing a page or two on the Positive Aspects of Me. Did you try it?

Wayne Dyer said, "I cannot always control what goes on outside. But I can always control what goes on inside." The Book of Positive Aspects is such a perfect tool to focus on the things that are positive and good feeling and wonderful, which in the process, draws more of that kind of thing into our lives.

So, I highly recommend that you try it and see for yourself. Take one page and you can write more on the other side, and begin at the top of the page: Positive Aspects of Me! Then, spend a few minutes writing everything that comes into mind that you like about yourself. No one but you will see it, so there are no worries about someone laughing at you or making remarks. It's just you with you.

Here are some thought starters:

What do you love to do?
What are you passionate about?
What excites you?
How do you feel about what you do for a living?
How do you feel about your family?
What do you love about your body?
What are you generous with?
In what ways are you generous?
What is your connection to love?
What brings you joy?
How do you feel about learning?
How do you feel about knowledge?
What do you appreciate?

When it isn't flowing, stop for now and reread your list of positive aspects.


I'm Sure You Will Find That You Are Pretty Dang Special. How Perfect! Because YOU ARE! 

Spread Some Joy Today--Enjoy your day like it was Christmas morning and there are so many presents that it takes hours just to get to them all.

Daily Inspiration 1-20-15

"Control over the way you feel-- 

over your response to things, 

over your response to others 

or your response to situations-- 

is not only the key to your consistent happiness, 

but to everything you desire as well. 

It really is worth practicing." 

-- Abraham and Esther Hicks 

from the book, The Vortex 

Yesterday, I found myself feeling off. On the Emotional Guidance Scale, I would have to say that the closest thing that I think I was feeling was somewhere between irritation and doubt. I have no idea why I was feeling that as the day started out just fine. I noticed the jumbled feelings when my business partner and I talked briefly on the phone about a new client and I reacted to something said and blurted out some stuff that he did not need. But, the value of my blurting them out was for me to see where I was emotionally. I later apologized.

The issue with the client got resolved in less than 15 minutes, and I was grateful, but I still had these ugly feelings, mainly focused on myself. Isn't that often the case with you? I think we have a tendency to beat ourselves up for so many things.

I was determined to feel better quickly, so I got out my Book of Positive Aspects which I am practicing more and more with, and I wrote on the next blank page at the top: Positive Aspects of Me. I began with me because I was beating myself up for whatever, and I just started writing and with each statement of a positive aspect about myself, I felt a tiny bit better.

When it stops flowing, that is a good time to stop on that subject. You can always come back and write more later if you're inspired to do so. So I stopped, and then started another page: Positive Aspects of Upward Trend (my core business). Then, I was thinking about a couple of people slightly negatively, so I wrote out a page for each of them.

Within just a few minutes and with this wonderful tool, I was back up to optimism, and then into happiness, and back into joy. In other times, I would have focused on what I was feeling and ruminating about the issues, going over and over and over and over them, finding myself further down the emotional scale culminating in a solid feeling sorry for myself session. No more. I now have ways to affect the change that I desire and that I can practice and watch as it works rather than wait for it. I now have control.

The Book of Positive Aspects is a wonderful tool. Writing out positive aspects of myself (first time I've done that), was very interesting. You might try it and you'll see what I mean.

Yesterday a friend responded to my Daily Inspiration and here was part of my response that fits here about practice: "Anything we want to get better at, get good at, is worthy of study and practice. It is in the practice that life is. It is where the living is. It is the creating of the sculpture, and it is in the writing of the song, the helping to understand the needs of the prospect, finding solutions that provide the best value. The actual accomplishment is what it is. A moment of celebration and that is over and done with. It is in the practicing, the doing, the learning, the expanding, the becoming that is life itself.You certainly don't have to, but I know that is where you most enjoy yourself. Me too."


The Teacher Best Leads By Personal Example. 

Spread Some Joy Today--because life is meant to be full of joy!

Daily Inspiration 1-19-15

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." 

-- Leonardo da Vinci 

A couple days ago, I was by a park walking my little dog, and a man and three kids were at the basketball court. The two small kids were running around playing by themselves, but an older girl was sitting on a curb under one basket and it sounded like she was having a hard time. I heard dad yell, "Quiet!", then again a few moments later, "Quiet!" and two or three times more all in a loud, angry like voice while he was trying to put the basketball through the hoop on the other side of the court. I heard the young girl say, "How can I learn to get baskets?" Her dad answered, "Practice!" 

Well, I had heard enough of that conversation. It reminds me of so much of the motivational stuff I learned in the 70s and 80s. The girl was looking for support, understanding, and joyful assistance because she wanted to play, but dad didn't have the patience or the coaches heart for the task. Instead, he yells out that stupid answer, "practice."

I remember when I was a young salesman at the first car dealership I worked for. I walked by the general manager's office and he stood there and said, "Sell 'em!" It's amazing what some people do to attempt motivation. Fortunately in his case, he was helpful to me from the recorded material in his possession that I studied until I pretty much had them memorized.

I am happy to learn philosophical material. I want knowledge. What I want more is how to put that knowledge to work to make positive changes on purpose, with purpose, and with results and not if, come, maybe's. That's what I get from the Teachings of Abraham. I get simplicity, easily understood concepts, and practical application tools to begin right this minute to affect change. I've never had anything so powerful in my entire life as this. I don't have to wait for the right timing or circumstances, the economy, or any other person. It all comes down to one very, very powerful word to me: Empowerment. Personal empowerment.

Yesterday, I shared the 22 levels of the Emotional Guidance System, and with only this, I am empowered to see how I've been living and why I've been getting what I've been getting. This tool is something I use pretty much every day in one way or another now. I pay attention to how I am feeling on any subject or situation whether past, present or future, and as I notice how I am feeling, I know where I am and if I would rather not feel that way, I know what to do to change.

The simple place that we all want to be is to feel good. Everything that we do, at our job, at home, with relationships is because in doing so we think we will feel good, or feel better. Then, we also know that things change and we may find ourselves feeling poorly. By paying attention and holding my strong desire to feel good, I can play toward a better feeling place by simply choosing better feeling thoughts. I don't even have to have better feeling thoughts about this exact situation, but just focus on something that causes me to feel a little better. Then, I can move up the ladder so to speak to better and better feeling places by choosing better feeling thoughts.

An angry thought is considerably better feeling than depression. But the idea is to keep moving a little at a time. You don't go from being depressed to being joyful in one fell swoop. It takes a few steps and soon you can be there. I used to find myself in frustration a lot. Now if that happens, I focus on something that causes an improvement in how I feel. Boredom will feel a little better than frustration. Then again, even on the positive side of contentment, I can be hopeful and move into enthusiasm soon enough, then focus on something to appreciate and I can be right there in appreciation. The idea is in having a feeling of relief.

I love the fact that I have complete and total power over where I am emotionally. I'm no longer a pin ball in the machine of life. I am now a creator in my rightful place in charge of myself in creating the reality that pleases me. Much more to come.


What A Wonderful World. . . 

Spread Some Joy Today--by teaching that which you most want to learn.

Daily Inspiration 1-18-15

"You can't help but feel emotions, 

and emotions will guide your life. 

There's only one question: 

Will your emotions guide you? 

Or, will you use your emotions 

to guide your life?" 

 -- Albert K Strong 

One of the most helpful things that I have learned in the last several years is to pay attention to my emotions and to use that information as a tool to guide my life to more joy, or far more good feelings and far less bad feelings. Most of my life prior to this was spent reacting to emotions. If I was feeling anger, I would be angry, if I was feeling guilty or powerless, I would spend time there. Now, if I were to feel those things, I would use those emotions to understand what I am thinking that is causing them and do some things to help change to better feeling thoughts and feelings.

Among the early things, I learned from Abraham-Hicks was the Emotional Guidance Scale. What is really helpful here to me was seeing these emotions listed so that I could see them and to understand the good feeling emotions and the bad feeling emotions and have a sort of graded scale of degree. Here it is from their book, Ask and It Is Given:

1.  Joy, Knowledge, Empowerment, Freedom, Love, Appreciation
2.  Passion
3.  Enthusiasm, Eagerness, Happiness
4.  Positive Expectation, Belief
5.  Optimism
6.  Hopefulness

7.  Contentment

8.  Boredom
9.  Pessimism
10. Frustration, Irritation, Impatience
11. Overwhelment
12. Disappointment
13. Doubt
14. Worry
15. Blame
16. Discouragement
17. Anger
18. Revenge
19. Hatred, Rage
20. Jealousy
21. Insecurity, Guilt, Unworthiness
22. Fear, Grief, Depression, Despair, Powerlessness

Contentment is the middle point, and once we get into hopefulness, we are in positive territory, and as we move below the middle line, we are increasingly in negative emotions.

What I loved about this was that I could see how often I was all the way at the bottom of the scale in fear. I could also see how much of my life I spent in the negative emotions. Blame was a regular companion, frustration was like a roommate, disappointment a frequent visitor, anger was nearby, and so on. I can also see many times I was in positive territory. I was all over this scale.

What has changed in me by learning more about this and other basic teachings of Abraham is that I now spend a great deal of my time above hopefulness. In fact, I don't often dip below that level, or if I do, it is only until I realize by paying attention to what I'm feeling, that I am where I do not want to be.

Then, I give thanks for the guidance telling me that I am thinking something that is causing a discordance within. Then, I can move back up the scale by telling a better story, or pivoting. I am grateful to have the guidance and since I have learned to love feeling good, spending much time in appreciation, joy, love and so on, I am eager to return. It's nice to visit for a short time, but so good to get back home, ya know?

Don't you think it is interesting to see these emotions on a scale like this? I think it is absolutely fascinating and incredibly helpful. I'll talk more about this tomorrow and in the coming days.


When I Know What Is Happening And Why, I Can Make Decisions To Change. 

Spread Some Joy Today--Joy is at the top of the Emotional Guidance Scale. What better place to be?

Daily Inspiration 1-17-15

"You can't depend on your eyes 

when your imagination is out of focus." 

-- Mark Twain 

A few days ago, I talked about how lovers, and other kinds of relationships can grow apart, not keep up to speed with one another, and statistically at least, break apart. You're in love with someone, or you're in love with your job, or what you do, and then something happens, then something more and more, until, you're not feeling so good and wondering what the heck happened.

How did it go from bliss to torture? Or how did it go from everything seemingly going well, to not talking much with one another, dealing with facial expressions and sighs that you don't really want to see or hear, anger, disappointment in the voice, having them seem to avoid spending any real time together?

I have experienced all of that in relationships and in my career, and I never could figure it out. What did I do wrong? Why are they being such and such? Why can't it be like it was? Why do things have to change?

I've finally found the answer to all of those questions and a thousand more. I can break it down to one word: focus. I'll explain.

When a relationship is going really well, both people are focused on what they like about each other. When people are head over heels in love, they are blinded because all they see is what they like and they focus on that and so they find more that they like and the Law of Attraction brings even more and more and there can be nothing wrong. If I didn't depend on my eyes as Mark Twain so perfectly says, my imagination could keep it going forever more. For me. Maybe not for them, but for me, yes. 

We see something, hear something and it is something we don't like. Maybe we don't hate it, but it isn't pleasant as everything else has been. So, right here is where the tipping point is. I focused on that thing that I didn't like. I didn't mean to, but there it was in my face. . . what was I to do? It is real and there it is. So, I didn't think I was looking for something else like that, but there it is--another thing that I didn't know about and don't really care for. Now there's two. OMG! How many more are there? Oh, and there's another. But, I love her (him, this job, this situation). But why do they have to _____? I wish they would not do that. I wish they would stop talking like that. I don't want to hear it. . .

It's focus. We moved our focus from what we liked, loved, adored, appreciated, to some perceived flaw based on our judgmental mind. Because we are judgmental, we focus on things like that. Now I'm losing the image of what I loved and seeing the image of what I do not love. I'm focusing on what I do not want, and losing focus on what I do want. My imagination is out of focus and I am now feeling poor about all this. I don't like it. I want it back the way it was. But, we cannot stop movement, and more important, we cannot focus on what is; that is, what we do not want and expect to get what we do want. It cannot be done.

The only solution is to pivot and change our focus to what we do want and let go of, ignore, let be, pay no attention to what we do not want. Whatever we focus on, we will get more of. When we focus on what is going wrong, more going wrong will be brought to us. When we will focus on what is going right or well, more of that will be attracted. The hitch is that so often, we pay attention to what is--the reality in our face, or we heard it from a friend, etc. We then give that our attention and that will bring more of the same kind of thing. Soon there is more and more and more.

We have to forget about reality, what is, the way things seem to be if they are not what we really want. We MUST focus on what we do want, and ignore what we do not want. Because reality is in our face, we must learn to use our imagination to help us focus on what we do want, while this that we do not want is trying to get our attention. We must choose. There is no one else who can do it. No one will help us. We are all creators. We create what we will and what we choose to focus on will be our creation.

Want to change the way things are going if they are not to your liking? Change your focus to what you do want, what you do like, what you love, what you appreciate, what you respect, what you are attracted to. Whatever else there is competing for your attention will have to wait. It may have to wait forever. Give it zero attention. Think of your attention, or your focus as food. Don't feed what you don't want to grow. Feed only that which we do want. Feed only what you love. Feed only what feels good. Watch amazed how your life transforms before your eyes.


I've Had This Power Forever. I Just Didn't Realize It Until Recently. Now I Know What To Do. Now I Know What To Focus On. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by focusing on that which causes you to feel joyous.

Daily Inspiration 1-16-15

"In our relationships we need to 

uphold that aspect of the person 

which is the real person and the soul 

beyond their own self-doubt." 

-- Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan 

With the thousands of thoughts going through our heads and all that is going on around us, and communicated to us via various media, and other humans, it's amazing that we do as well as we do. There is so many opportunities to grow, to become, to do, to love, to enjoy, to delight in, and there are also those opportunities to feel self-doubt, feeling broken, feeling self-pity, feeling small and insignificant, feeling unworthy. I also know for certain that we all make those choices ourselves. The only difference is that many times these choices are made unconsciously rather than deliberately. 

Here's a great quote to illustrate a bit of that contrast. It is said to be from Chippewa translated by Robert Bly: "Sometimes I go about pitying myself, and all the time I am being carried on great winds across the sky."

A Serbian Proverb states, "Be humble for you are made of Earth. Be noble for you are made of stars." It is easy to forget where we came from. It is wonderful to be reminded.

The most famous and often used quote, although not in its intended depth, by Marianne Williamson, is my all time favorite from her inspiring book, A Return To Love, so I delight in the opportunity to share it again:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

If we will remember (re-member) that each and every one of the humans on this planet, regardless of race, sex, religious affiliation or belief, all came from the exact same source. In this we are all equal. Yet, it is absolutely clear to me now that we all came here with different intentions. Once here, it doesn't take long in the constant distractions of living life with others to forget (dis-member) who we really are, where we came from and that all of us are part of the same Source, or God. Remembering just this one little yet powerful thing is so helpful.

Audrey Hepburn said, "People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone." With all the contrast and different intentions in this world, it is easy to see someone you don't like and throw them away, and it doesn't matter if they are in your office or on the other side of the world. Of course, the further away and the less like you, the easier it is to discard them. Yet, that is the darkness that Marianne talks about and that is not us. 

We need to uplift people, if only because we know that we all are from the same Source. Yet we cannot lift people up unless we are there, which is why we sometimes put people down. "It is our light that frightens us." However, if we will accept that we are a child of God, that we matter, that we are worthy, that we are powerful, from that remembered, renewed, revived, reclaimed, restored and redeemed place, we rise to our proper and designed level of being and from that place have the power and insight to uplift others. And, we will do so consciously, and unconsciously.


Be The Uplifter You Were Born To Be. It Must Begin With You, First. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by remembering who you are and connecting with that inner Source.

Daily Inspiration 1-15-15

"To handle yourself, use your head; 

to handle others, use your heart." 

-- Eleanor Roosevelt 

Dealing with myself is about my thinking. It's in my head. Dealing with others lovingly is about compassion. It's about the heart.

We have all sorts of prejudices. Some might say that they have no prejudices, or that they aren't prejudice, but that wouldn't be accurate. We cannot help but prejudge. Until, of course, we feel what that instance is and then we come to an understanding of it by dealing with it in our head, and if the prejudice is about another, perhaps we will be at a place where we can offer compassion, put them in our heart, uplift them where they are, and just love them without prejudice.

Someone on facebook made a note about how they really liked and cared for a person and then they spoke out in a way that caused this person to feel strong enough disappointment to write it out and that they could no longer respect this person because their remarks were so inappropriate. I don't write comments very often, but I said, "Or, you could just love them the way they are. . ." He responded that what I said was not mutually exclusive and that he could love someone despite their flaws even though he has lost all respect for them.

I thought that very short conversation was interesting. I can love them even though I can no longer respect them? I can love them with all their flaws? I can love them even though they piss me off all the time? I can love them even though I hate the things they say? I can love them even though I don't like them at all? I can love them even though they scare the hell out of me? I can love them even though they _____? Do you think? Hmmmm.

There is a line I crossed some years back. It is an imaginary line like the International Date Line, but it was different on the other side of the line. It was accepting the idea of love and in particular unconditional love. Most love we hear of like on popular music lyrics and movies is all conditional. If you do this, I will love you. If you don't I will be sad. It's all about being unconsciously controlled by what they other person does, says, becomes. How we feel is conditional to that, and because it is such a popular way to think, the other feels the same only opposite. That is the love I grew up with. When I was a good boy, life was good, when I was a bad boy, life was hell.

All that transferred to everything in my life. My job, money, relationships, all were affected by this idea that what the other does, says, or becomes. If the boss was pissed off, it was a bad day. If I came home complaining about my boss, my wife had a bad day. But I loved her. But I loved my boss. But I. . .

Wayne Dyer is a natural leader, uplifter, teacher. He has been this all of his life. I am continually inspired by his learning to himself, and his teaching of compassion and unconditional love. I have often used his definition of unconditional love: "Love is the ability and willingness to allow those that you care for to be what they choose for themselves without any insistence that they satisfy you." Ability is easy. Willingness is sometimes a challenge, and both are there. We allow them to choose for themselves, and the key phrase, "without any insistence that they satisfy us."

This is, of course, exactly what I meant when I wrote, "just love him. . ." And what came back was the love that we see all the time in the world: I love you, but. . . I would love you more if. . . I can't love you because. . . I don't love you because. . . I want to love you, but. . . It is all about satisfying me. All of it.


Can You Let Go? Can You Allow? Can You Accept? Can You Love Regardless Of Condition? 

Spread Some Joy Today--Let go.

Daily Inspiration 1-14-15

"People take different roads 

seeking fulfillment and happiness. 

Just because they're not on your road 

doesn't mean they've gotten lost." 

-- H Jackson Browne 

Continuing a few more yards on the past two posts, the question was asked, what if I change and my spouse doesn't? What if I decide that feeling good is very important to me and they don't agree?

I can talk about this from very personal experience, but before I do that, look at the questions in the previous paragraph. I would still be wanting the other to act the way I want them to so that I can be free or happy. If I change and they don't, I imagine that I will not feel good, and I can imagine arguments and all sorts of disagreements. If I pay attention to my own alignment so that I benefit myself and it is also intended to benefit them, what if it doesn't?

Here's the answer: It isn't about them. It's about us or me. Marriage is simply a relationship of two people, and so there will always be something we disagree on. Nothing new about that. But, if I'm not focused on feeling good and being in alignment with my higher self, what real value will I be to the other anyway? Not so much.

About six years ago, I saw no future on the path my wife and I were on. So, I made a decision to change. She was not in agreement with it but didn't want to hear about it either. Maybe she hoped I would give it up, but I was not interested in that. I've lived that for too long. I had to change me and risk the rest if that is the case. I cannot change her, and she cannot change me. We can only change ourselves.

I will make a much longer story very short to just say that her resistance gave me a grand challenge to change myself and deal with this not pleasing her. And, here is the result of that: I found more love and understanding and caring and especially the unconditional love that allowed me to love her, care for her, support her choices and still expand into my own. I became larger, my love grew stronger and was spread wider to affect everyone I came in contact with, including my wife.

My wife was on a road making her own choices and I couldn't stop her. She was determined. Though many times she did all she could to disrupt my calm and peace, I just loved her and she knew that I was loving her and she appreciated it inside while often on the outside being resistant.

If it gets to the point where one will not tolerate the change to such a degree as to cause leaving one, that is okay. People take different roads as H Jackson Browne stated and if I am to be the loving person I have become, I will support and never stop loving regardless of the other. When you are in alignment, love is the most natural place to be, and when you are there, you cannot stop loving just because the other chooses something they think they will like better, or help them to feel good.

Often we might make excuses, rationalize why we should stop growing so that we don't outpace our significant other. If we are to be the authentic person, that person who is in alignment, the rewards will outweigh the risks by thousands of pounds. I know it from experience and I would never go back after having seen the place I am in now.


Personal Choices Are Always Personal, Yet They Can Also Be Far Reaching As Well. 

Spread Some Joy Today--Who wants worms?

Daily Inspiration 1-13-15

"People change 

and forget to tell each other." 

-- Lillian Hellman 

An interesting quote, don't you think? Another way I might say it is "we grew apart." Relationships, whether a marriage, a work relationship, or any other kind of interaction with another human being can be helpful or hurtful depending on our most current point of view, or point of attraction. 

Yesterday's topic was so big, that I felt the need to expand more. Last night I was listening to some "standards" music and the masterful Tony Bennett. One song was, It Had To Be You, written in 1924 by Isham Jones and Gus Kahn. It was in several movies, the most popular was probably Casablanca. Here are just some of the lyrics: "I wandered around, and finally found, the somebody who could make me be true, and could make me be blue, and even be glad, just to be sad, thinking of you. Some others I've seen, might never be mean, might never be cross, or try to be boss, but they wouldn't do. For nobody else, gave me a thrill, with all your faults, I love you still. It had to be you, wonderful you, it had to be you."

If you listen to popular music, whether it is older music, or new music, whether country, pop, or hip-hop, you will hear the way a lot of people deal with each other in relationships. "And even to be glad, just to be sad, thinking of you," is a perfect example along with, "with all your faults, I love you still." That last one is classic. Wouldn't you just love your significant other to say to you that regardless of all your faults, I still love you? Please. . . go deal with your own faults, right? Leave my faults alone. And, what do you mean about faults? What's wrong with me? Well, you might imagine how this night is going. . . Of course, this is sort of lightweight. I've been through far greater drama than this. 

Remember how you were so in love and could find no fault, then you moved in together and then saw what a slob he was? Or he farted in bed, or she nitpicked about something just a little too much? What happened? Life happened. How does it go from that to this? Thinking. Nothing physically changed other than location, but now you're not blinded by your good feeling emotions, and now you may be seeing things you don't like and so the thinking takes over and the emotions change based on the thinking.

This all comes back to seeing what is and reacting to that. It is about imagining that someone else can fulfill you, constantly delight you, never see faults. In other words, as long as the other is doing everything that you expect and want them to do, all is well, and when they don't, you feel lousy and wish they would change, be better, learn how to cook, weren't such a slob, paid a little more attention, and the list goes on.

On the surface, these things irritate us, and then we find a way to stuff it, ignore it, try to look at the good things and try to make the best of it all. The problem still is that we are wanting the other person to make us feel better. It's obvious it is them, not me, because anyone would feel that way after seeing this. . . if only she (he) would change. If only my boss would change. If only the economy would change. If only the world would change. If only I could feel good again. If only. . .

Then there are those who actually learn to "even be glad, just to be sad, thinking of you." There is a reward for sadness, self-pity, feeling down. I know this because at times in my life, I not only became skilled at it, but excelled at it. Looking back on those times (I can recall several in detail), I see the Law of Attraction bringing me bucket loads of sadness and feeling down and expecting and wishing the other would change. It's a zero sum game.

I have learned to pay attention to what I am feeling to help guide my life. I want to feel good. That is now my mantra. I want to feel good. I want to feel good.

If I feel bad about something, that is a warning bell that I am out of alignment with my inner knowing, the inner being, the God within, or whatever words you might care to use. As I realize I am out of alignment, and since my goal in life is to feel good, I now know what to do. I will find a better feeling thought, then another and another and another. I will tell a better feeling story about this. I will take the seriousness out of it. I will find the silliness in it. I will move up the emotional ladder from sadness to better feeling places until I reach my destination of feeling good. From that place then, and only that place, will I deal with any problem I thought I saw in my sadness.

I am in control, not another. Though I feel attraction and a desire to be with someone, I will not allow them to dictate how I will feel and what I will or will not do. I will remind myself of my desire to feel good, and from that good feeling place, we can move forward. In this place, I see no faults. I see that continuing in-loveness because I am paying attention to my own alignment.


Decide To Be In Charge Of How You Will Feel. It Is And Always Has Been In Your Control. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by not making assumptions. Say what you want. I want joy. I want to feel good. When I am there, it is only from this place that I can now spread some joy and share my joy with others.

Daily Inspiration 1-12-15

"We judge others by their behavior. 

We judge ourselves by our intentions." 

-- Ian Percy 

Easily one of the most important things I have learned in my entire life, I have learned only in the last five years. Abraham-Hicks says it so well: "A belief that the behavior of others must be controlled--so that your observation of that good behavior will make you feel good--leaves you feeling vulnerable to their behavior."

I have learned that the other cannot make me angry or unhappy. Those feelings are mine and they did not create them. I did. Likewise, they cannot make me feel happy or good. Those feelings are mine and I created them. So for me to be angry with the other and lash out is not the least bit appropriate. I can feel my anger and then I need to decide what I will do about that feeling. For sure, it usually causes me to want to feel better. The job of moving myself there is purely up to me and cannot be achieved by another under any circumstances.

This knowledge is so powerful. It is tantamount to realizing that the Earth is round and not flat. Once I learn and can understand that concept, it is impossible to go back to believing it is flat. Same here. I can never go back to my old way of thinking, which was that other people caused me to feel good or bad and it wasn't my doing at all. If they felt good, I felt good. If they felt bad, I felt bad. If I felt good and they were angry, I would get angry or hurt, and so on.

Holy smokes! I look back on my two long marriages and I see me feeling crappy, trying to give some of that back by trying to be right (what man doesn't want to be right?), then feeling worse for striking back. Then of course, there were the good feelings of being in love and feeling good and thinking that my wife was causing me to feel good, and then something changed and it wasn't feeling so good, and well, you might relate to some of that.

It is my own alignment with my higher self, my inner being if you will, the God within me that is causing the feelings. If I am feeling bad or down it is because I am at odds with my internal knowing. If I am feeling good, I am in alignment. It is my emotional guidance system and now I know about it, understand how it works so masterfully, and that I am now able to know what to do so that I can feel good as much as I desire to and never have to go through those crazy, illogical peaks and valleys of emotion again.

I can't do anything about the past two relationships, other than love them now, but if and when there is a next, I will be in a completely different and far better place emotionally because of this knowledge. As Abraham-Hicks points out: "While it is nice to find things in your physical environment that enhance your good-feeling alignment with your Inner Being, your understanding of why you feel good will make it possible for you to feel good regardless of the behavior of others."

It is ultimately a position of unconditional love. If I understand myself, I am then able to choose to love others without them having to please me in any way, shape or form. When I can choose to feel good regardless of another feeling bad, that position of unconditional love will be the best that I could possible offer. And, even if they are not ready at the moment, it is there as a solid foundation of connection within.


Knowledge Is As Powerfully Positive As Appreciation, Joy, And Love. I Am Empowered In My Knowledge. 

Spread Some Joy Today--Reach for a better feeling until you reach joy. Then give it away. As you do so, you will get more to give away.

Daily Inspiration 1-11-15

"Imagine that life 

is working in your favor 

even when it appears 

to be working against you." 

-- Alan Cohen 

Yesterday I was thinking about how when things that don't initially feel good may happen whether expected or unexpected, in a few nanoseconds of time, will reveal a glimpse of their value, and if we even do just a little bit of scratching there, we will see value far beyond anything we may have imagined.

As a sales manager for most of my life, I have had several experiences of having to fire people that I really had a hard time with. I liked them, but I felt that I failed to help them get to the level they needed to in order to survive in the pack. Of course, I cannot make people do anything. They can only create in their own life. The best I can be is a good influence. If I failed it was only in not achieving this that I can control.

Yet, there is great value in firing people sometimes, because it releases them to find something they love, would excel at, and become more. It also releases me to create a better team. It is a win-win situation in every case that I can recall. And, even though it may feel crappy to begin the process, joy is on the horizon.

Of course, more people leave of their own accord. They know how it doesn't feel right to them, and so they leave to find that which feels better and works better for them. I say, High Five to their courage to choose and wisdom to pay attention to how things feel to them.

I've seen people let go that have been at an organization for more than 20 years, and in every case that I can think of, they perform far better in the new position and enjoy life more.

We might see in the newspaper how people were fired, the company downsized, and a number of other scenarios that create challenge for those involved and though the newspaper loves to focus on the negative aspects, there cannot be challenge without reward. It would be a more enlightened world if the newspaper reported how so many of those people found new and far better jobs that satisfied them in more ways than they could have imagined.

I also know this from personal experience. I've been fired from jobs three times in my life and each and in every case, I should have sent them a thank you note for they helped change my life dramatically for the better.

Whatever is going on in our lives, we have created it in one way or another and it helps us to believe that as creators, we are finding ways, even by ignorant default, that more and better is on the horizon at all times.


Enjoy It While You Enjoy It. Allow Growth And Expansion. Don't Worry About The Rest. It's All Good. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by feeling how smart and special you are. You are controlling your life more than you may have thought. And, guess what? You can choose joy as easily as anything else. I recommend choosing joy.

Daily Inspiration 1-10-15

"Generally I don't care 

about what people say. 

I have to be clear with myself. 

When everything goes well, 

people celebrate you, 

when you make mistakes, 

people criticize you." 

-- Sebastian Vettel 

Walt Whitman said, "I celebrate myself, and sing myself." This is so perfect and a delightful perspective, because as Sebastian Vettel clearly and accurately points out, that people celebrate or criticize you based on their perspective or their measurement of your performance. Their perspective, not yours. Their perspective.

Of course, if you're pleased with and agree with their perspective, accept the celebration with joy and the criticism with humility. Based on my own experience those perspectives match up from time to time with similar depth and width, but much more of the time, they do not, and the criticism never resonates. It always feels crappy.

I did a book review on Goodreads.com and a lady sent me a message that she got to chapter two of the book and she thought that to dis-identify with her ego as the book suggested a need for, that she felt that without the ego, there could not be physical life itself. I thought, "wow, that's an interesting perspective." My answer was a bit longer, but essentially I said that the ego is the culprit in every single war ever thought up, along with every single disharmony with other human beings, and that one cannot have real joy without dis-identifying with the ego.

The reason I bring that aside up is that it ties in to this subject. You cannot have joy without maintaining your own counsel and perspective of yourself, what you do, how you do it, and exactly what success means to you, what you measure, and how you measure it. If you lined up ten people, they would each have a different perspective on this and that would be perfect. We are individuals in this respect, so it seems more than appropriate to have our own perspective regardless of what others think.

You can hear a person's ego when they are bragging about what they have achieved. Many times there is exaggeration attached to the telling. Their perspective is that they are doing well, but the way they say it clearly demonstrates that the ego is in charge. Sometimes we may criticize another and in so doing, our own ego is in control. We are right, they are wrong, I know how and you do not, I can help you because you are not doing it as well as I can, etc.. That is the mantra of the ego.

Just based on what I've said so far, having a perspective of celebrating yourself and singing yourself can get all mucked up (I chose that phrase with purpose) with all the other things going on all around you. 

Yesterday, I was driving and celebrating. I know that I was celebrating because there was a joyous smile filling my entire being while in such appreciation of the thoughts I was thinking. It's a high that cannot be achieved with drugs. I was celebrating myself and many others as well, singing my own joyful praise while uplifting several people that I know, and even now as I write this many hours later, I am celebrating again because I can feel that joy on my face right now, along with the energetic, uplifting feeling throughout my body.

If people want to criticize or try to keep what they will celebrate about you in a tiny box, don't stop them. You cannot control what others do. However, you have the ultimate and sole control of yourself. Make your own decision of what you celebrate, call success. Maybe you will celebrate on the way home from work, and just imagine how that will play when you walk in the door!

Forget about criticism entirely. There is no point in criticism that holds any value. Not for you or for those who are giving it. Certainly if you have a task to do and there are known ways of doing it, guidance is helpful and can be accepted in that way, as you might guide a child to not burn themselves on the stove. But, I recommend accepting ZERO criticism from others or from your own ego, who is a master at it and will do so with more vigor than anyone outside of yourself.


Celebrate Yourself. Make Your Own Rules. Keep Your Own Counsel. Growth Is A Natural Result. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by disidentifying with that ego. It releases your joy!

Daily Inspiration 1-9-15

"Our intention creates our reality." 

-- Wayne Dyer 

It's interesting how our intentions have an effect on the outcomes in our life. Those intentions can be positive, based on what we want things to be, or can as easily be negative, focused on our past experiences and generally on things we don't want. Sometimes we even do this unconsciously.

Often these intentions are long term intentions, and can easily turn to disappointment, as time has a way of challenging the process.

Enter Segment Intending, another Abraham-Hicks process to help me define what I want in short segments, so I can keep things focused and have what I want come to pass. I find myself using this more and more all the time. It can even be used all day long.

Each action, however short or long, can be called a segment. Driving a couple miles to the bank is a segment, a short drive to the next town, the next half hour of time, receiving a phone call, making a phone call, each of these are segments. Going into a meeting is a segment, going to sleep is a segment, beginning your day is a segment.

I use it most often when I am travelling. I say to myself, "I intend to have safe, efficient, and enjoyable travel on this trip." At first I thought that this was a little silly, then I tried it and all I can say now is that it works in ways that might surprise you. Sometimes I've not allowed enough time and yet after the intention, I arrive on time, without any anxiety or stress, or speeding tickets. Red lights turn into green lights, traffic is not a hindrance either. It just works and this is why I now do it most of the time unless I forget for some reason.

Yesterday I made two trips, one short, one longer. I went to see a client and do several short videos, and then on to a prospective client to close a deal. I intended safe, efficient, and enjoyable travel each time, then I intended how I wanted each appointment to go, and the travel was perfect, and I was even early, and the appointments went exactly as I intended. These positive results happen far too often to call them coincidental. It works, and it seems to work every time

Whenever we intend things to be a certain way, it is amazing how often our intentions are realized. What a wonderful little game or tool Segment Intending is to create a great day and a joyful experience.


Having More Of What I Want Come True Is Within My Power. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by not giving a rip what other people think.

Daily Inspiration 1-8-15

"The eye sees only what the 

mind is prepared to comprehend." 

-- Robertson Davies 

Today, after spending a lot of money every day, I have become a millionaire. Now, the truth is that I have earned over two million in my careers, and I spent it all and then some. Of course, it wasn't there all at once, and though it could have been different, I think with where my mind has been over the years, it would have gone away in a similar way. 

A few weeks ago I shared a game by Abraham-Hicks called The Prosperity Game, and that I found an iPhone app of the same name where it gives you $1,000 and then $1,000 more each day. Today is day 73 and so this morning, I received a deposit of $73,000. The idea is to spend the money any way you choose. The idea of the game is to change your thinking and change the way you feel about money.

I have found it extremely interesting what I have spent the money on and how little in comparison I have spent on myself. After a few days I began tithing, giving a tenth away to two favorite organizations. After a few more days, I began double tithing, or giving a tenth to each. Then later, I've added a third. The first money spent every day now is over $20,000 per day to those three. In the last two weeks, I decided to leave the rest because I wanted to have a million dollars set aside for a large project, or to just have it. Today, after my tithing, I have $1,019,900. It feels good to me.

I told a friend about this and he said, "it's not real, it's just a game." I have to disagree. Everything begins in the mind. We all know why people can make a lot of money and still be broke. It is because they don't believe, feel wealthy and they have all sorts of baggage surrounding the idea of money. Maybe even from childhood, such as, "money doesn't grow on trees." How many times I heard that! "We can't afford that." That phrase was almost welded to my mind. People win lottery money that could have them set for life and they are broke quickly enough. It is not the money, but the mindset. We all have ways of sabotaging ourselves when our beliefs don't match our actions or circumstances. 

I can feel within me how this game is changing the way I feel about money. It has renewed within me some goals of businesses that I wanted and then let go of. It has caused me to be more lighthearted about money instead of making it such a hard thing to achieve. It has provided a bright outlook ahead for me. Changing how I feel about money is such a blessing to me and feeling that change is empowering.

I will leave you this morning with a quote from Abraham-Hicks from the Ask and It Is Given perpetual calendar for today's date:

 "You were born with an innate knowledge that you do create your own reality. And, in fact, that knowledge is so basic within you that when someone attempts to thwart your own creation, you feel and immediate discord within yourself. Within you, today, lives the knowledge that you are the creator of your own life experience: that absolute freedom exists as the basis of your true experience; and that, ultimately--the creation of your life experience is absolutely and only up to you."


Our Thoughts And Feelings Are Our Ultimate Guidance System. 

Spread Some Joy Today--Let go of the rail. . . Let go of the rope. . . Relax. Enjoy. Find things to appreciate. Pay attention to the good things and don't give attention to those other things.

Daily Inspiration 1-7-15

"Affirmation without discipline
is the beginning of delusion."

-- Jim Rohn 

Yesterday, I shared one of the most important pieces of knowledge I have learned for positive change and deliberate creation is to tell a different story.

A popular way that some try to do that is through affirmations. I have sincerely tried this on several occasions. In fact I learned about affirmations way back in my mid-20s. Knowing what I know now, I have the knowledge of why that didn't work. They were big changes and I didn't believe, but merely wanted. Wanting is wonderful. It is life itself. We see things we don't want and that causes us to learn and know what we do want and our life grows through a series of desires.

Here's the key to making affirmations work: I have to feel good when I am saying it and I have to believe that it can happen and that it is merely a matter of time. Positive emotion must be behind them and the stronger that positive emotion whether it is passion, enthusiasm, eagerness, expectation, appreciation, and others like it, the faster and better it will work.

Affirmations is one way of telling a better or different story. I found one recently that I love from Jerry Hicks that says, "things are always working out for me!" I use it personally, and in my business: "things are always working out for us! We just keep growing, getting better, becoming more." I use this as often as I feel that, and feeling it is the only way it really works.

Sometimes the steps are too big, meaning it is too large of a jump from being depressed to appreciation. Moving in steps works, trying to jump the canyon doesn't. One way to tell a different and better story here is to just move to a better feeling place. Anger is a better feeling place from depression, overwhelment is a better feeling place than anger, and hopefulness is a better feeling place than frustration and so on. Soon enough we can move fully into appreciation.

One way to do this is to talk yourself through it. "I don't have to figure all this out right now. Others have stood right where I am and have made it, and if others can do it, why not me? Each day is a new opportunity and I can find ways to feel better, and if I don't, it's no big deal because each day is a new opportunity, and soon I will feel better. My life isn't so bad. It could be much worse. I know I can change and focus more on what I want. I've spent so long focusing on what is wrong or on mistakes I've made and I'm done with that. My life isn't so bad. In fact, it is often very good and I know now that I want it to be very good more often, and so as I talk to myself about myself, I can see that I am more and I am better than my self-talk has been saying. I need to turn away from that kind of talk and deliberately say things that cause me to feel better and feel good and feel wonderful. I love the idea of being in joy. I love the idea of my own personal freedom. I love the idea of appreciating things and people around me. I love the idea of being my own counsel and paying attention to when I am not saying things to myself that I want to hear. I love the idea of creating deliberately and I love how this feels to just think about it and the more I think about it, the more the Law of Attraction helps me to think about it more by bringing more and better thoughts for me to ponder. That place I used to be is so far away now, I feel so different here. I love this place and I love these feelings. I wonder where they have been all my life, but that doesn't matter, because I have found them now and they feel so darn good that I never ever want to leave them. I am in love, and I am in joy, and I am feeling good!

You should have felt what I was just feeling by writing that last long paragraph. This is another tool from Abraham-Hicks and it is called the Rampage of Appreciation where you do exactly as I have done, but in your own choices of words to move from this place to that place. If you're depressed, it is maybe too much of a jump, but if you will move up the emotional scale a ways, then it will be magical in how this works and how it changes how you feel about yourself and your environment. And, that is what it is all about: finding ways to feel good.


I Am Loved. I Am Worthy. I Am Smart. I Am Loving. I Am Successful. I Am . . . 

Spread Some Joy Today--by loving yourself. Even if you tried to keep that to yourself, the joy will spill out to others, so you need not focus on them. Just love yourself and it will all work out. Things are always working out for you.