Daily Inspiration 3-31-17

"The only way you can be happy 

is to decide to be happy."

-- Abraham, Esther Hicks 

[Classic post from 10-3-15]

Today, I'd like to share three paragraphs surrounding this idea of being happy and particularly as it comes to relationships from Abraham, Esther Hicks. To have learned this valuable information when I was much younger would have made such a difference in my own relationships.

"When you attempt to guide your behavior by paying attention to how someone else feels about your behavior, you are powerless because you cannot control his or her perspective, and therefore you cannot achieve any consistent improvement in your own vibration or point of attraction or how you feel."

Wow! The bold is mine because that part of the paragraph just jumped out at me. Of course. I cannot control how someone sees things, because I am not them. The only way I could control their perspective is by being them. They are in control.

"Really, there is nothing that you can do to prevent others from feeling bad, because they do not feel bad because of your behavior. There is no greater entrapment in relationships or in life than to attempt to keep others happy by observing their emotions and then trying to compensate with your actions."

Again, just a little phrase jumped off the page at me. They do not feel ANYTHING because of my behavior or any one else's behavior. Whatever they are feeling is a result of their thought either being in alignment with their inner being or inner knowing and would show up as feeling good, or being out of alignment indicating feeling bad. It isn't me. It is them. At best, it is a personal interpretation of what they think of my behavior. By this thinking and respondent emotion, they are in charge of how they feel about anything.

"The only way you can be happy is to decide to be happy. When you take upon yourself the responsibility of another's happiness, you are attempting the impossible and you are setting yourself up for a great deal of personal discord." 

As we learn how this works, we own our own feelings, and as a result of that knowledge, we are in our best position by allowing all others to own theirs. My emotions are a result of my thinking relative to my inner being, and everyone else is in that same position. This would never mean to stop communication, because I think it is now on much more solid ground that it would have been before. That's a place from which to build.


Now We Can Get To The Heart Of The Matter. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by owning how you feel, and deciding to experience joy.

Daily Inspiration 3-30-17

"People often move 

 from job to job, 

profession to profession, 

employer to employer, 

only to find the next place 

no better than the last-- 
and the reason for that is, 
they take themselves 

everywhere they go." 

-- Abraham, Esther Hicks 

[Classic post from 2-12-15]

Abraham & Esther Hicks continues, "When you go to a new place and you continue to complain about what was wrong with your last position in order to explain why you came to the new position, the same vibrational mix of resistance goes with you and continues to prevent the thing you want from coming to you.

The best way to accomplish an improved work environment is to focus upon the best things about where you currently are until you flood your own vibrational patterns of thought with appreciation, and in that changed vibration, you can then allow the new-and-improved conditions and circumstances to come into your experience.

Some worry that if they follow our encouragement to look for good things about where they are, it will only hold them longer in the unwanted place, but the opposite is really true: In your state of appreciation, you lift all self-imposed limitations (and all limitations are self-imposed) and you free yourself for the receiving of wonderful things."

Today I was talking with a salesman who was complaining to me about what the dealership is not doing that he thinks will make a dramatic difference and he is amazed that they have not done it. He was new to this dealership and I asked if I could give him a bit of advice. I told him to "stop complaining, especially since you're new and to focus only on the positive things about the dealership, what they are doing well, and to focus on what you can do with what you have to work with." He said, "I'm not complaining, it's just that. . ." I stopped him abruptly and said that he was indeed complaining and it won't help in the least.

It's interesting how people complain and yet deny they are complaining. Somehow they think they are pointing out the facts and that should be accepted that way, but it has nothing to do with facts because they are slippery things. It was complaining.

The best thing to do here is to begin appreciating, create a book of positive aspects and write the many appreciations down on paper and keep adding to it regularly. That is the solution to the issue. Focus on what is right and good and ignore the rest.

In the mid-1970s, I hired an experienced salesman, then within a few days, I overheard him complaining about the dealership to several of the other sales people. I called him into my office and fired him on the spot. He was a cancer in the organization, and I wanted him to take himself and all that he brought with him somewhere else.

Whatever we complain about, we create more of. Whatever we appreciate, we create more of. Whatever we focus on, we create more of.


"The Secret To All Success Is Keeping Yourself Happy." -- Abraham, Esther Hicks 

Spread Some Joy Today--by appreciating anything and everything that you can.

Daily Inspiration 3-29-17

"People are attracted to you 

by what they see in you; 

they remain attracted to you 

by what you see in yourself." 

-- Mark Amend 

[Classic post from 5-25-15]

The above quote is a fascinating one to consider. What does it mean "by what you see in yourself?" Consider this quote from Abraham, Esther Hicks: "The only thing that makes the difference in the way you feel right now is the thought that you are thinking right now. It doesn't mater how much money you've got; there are joyful people with no money, and there are unhappy people with lots of money. How you feel is about how you are allowing the Source that is You to flow. So when we talk about the Art of Allowing, we're talking about the art of living; about the art of thriving; about the art of clarity. We're talking about the art of being who you really are."

How we see ourselves has everything to do with what we think, and what we think has everything to do with how we feel. How we feel and how we think has everything to do with what we hear and see and read and experience and our interpretation of that. It has to do with the story we tell, or rather, the story we tell has to do with how things are turning out; that is, how we are thinking and consequently, how we are feeling. All of that has everything to do with how we are attracting.

Consider these stories supplied by Abraham, Esther Hicks, many of which are so familiar to me because I used to tell them, live them, and experience them repeatedly:

. . . things that have gone wrong.
. . . things that aren't the way I want them to be or think they should be.
. . . others who have let me down.
. . . others who have not been truthful with me.
. . . not enough money.
. . . not enough time.
. . . how things usually are.
. . . how things have been all my life.
. . . how things have been lately.
. . . injustices that I see in the world.
. . . others who just don't understand.
. . . others who don't make an effort.
. . . others who are capable but who don't apply themselves.
. . . dissatisfaction with my appearance.
. . . worry about my body's health.
. . . people who take advantage of others.
. . . people who want to control me.

Sound familiar? Some? All? Consider a new story, a new reality, a new way of life:

. . . the positive aspects of my current subject of attention.
. . . the way I really want things to be.
. . . how well things are going.
. . . how the Law of Attraction is the true manager of all things.
. . . abundance that flows abundantly.
. . . how time is perceptual and endless.
. . . the best things I see.
. . . my favorite memories.
. . . the obvious expansion of my life.
. . . the amazing or interesting or wonderful aspects of my world.
. . . the incredible variety that surrounds me.
. . . the willingness and effectiveness of so many.
. . . the power of my own thoughts.
. . . the positive aspects of my own body.
. . . the stable basis of my physical body.
. . . how we all create our own reality.
. . . my absolute freedom and my joyous awareness of it.

"Each and every component that makes up your life experience is drawn to you by the powerful Law of Attraction's response to the thoughts you think and the story you tell about your life. . . If you will let your dominant intention be to revise and improve the content of the story you tell every day of your life, it is our absolute promise to you that your life will become that ever-improving story."

I know this is true for me for I have experienced it and the resultant change within and without. My new stories; my own expansion; my learning of and practicing of the Art of Allowing, all have contributed to a completely different view. Now what I see in myself is far more attractive.


How Do Your Stories Cause You To Feel? 

Spread Some Joy Today--because freedom, love and joy are what you really are.

Daily Inspiration 3-28-17

"It's not love if it hurts." 

-- Chuck Spezzano 

I grew up in the 60's, and the popular music of the time that surrounded the idea of love was often a sad affair. The one that stands out and was recorded first by the Everly Brothers and many others long after that was a song called, Love Hurts, written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, a famous husband and wife songwriting team.

Some of those lyrics are: "Love hurts. Love scars. Love wounds and marks. Any heart not tough or strong enough to take a lot of pain, Love is like a cloud, it holds a lot of rain. Love hurts. . . Some fools think of happiness, blissfulness, togetherness. Some fools fool themselves, I guess. They're not foolin' me. I know it isn't true. Love is just a lie made to make you blue. Love hurts." 

Of course, I didn't know any better back then based on all those kind of thoughts about love, but I have found the eternal truth about love. Love doesn't hurt. If it hurts, it isn't love.

There is only Love with a capital 'L,' meaning the Love of God, that Love has no agenda, has no demands, has no requirements. That Love is pure joy, pure acceptance, pure empowerment, pure delight. It has no conditions. It simply is. It simply does, and it requires no one to accept it or not accept it. It simply is. We certainly may accept it, and as we do, we are connected with All-That-Is, which is Love. There is no pain here because there are no expectations. It gives freely and requires nothing in return.

All those other loves with the little 'l,' are imaginations and thoughts tied to the ego. They have plenty of expectations. They have plenty of demands, and the biggest is that that love must satisfy them. They expect conformity, passion turned on and off at will, my way or the highway, and thousands more. It feels good sometimes, and much of the time it does not feel good, and in either case, it is not Love. Instead, when it feels good, it can be likened to performance--the occasional matching of desires and expectations, subject to change in a moment without notice.

As we see someone or even think of someone that we say we love and feel pain, we do not love them. As we are feeling a loss, feeling sorry for ourselves, we are in charge of those feelings, and they are not love. Love doesn't feel a loss because Love is never gone. Love is empowering, not disempowering. Love is eternal.

Love does not reject. Love does not harm--ever. Love is freedom, appreciation, and joy. I especially like the word freedom in thinking about Love. It has no agenda that it wants me to follow. I choose as I will, but when it doesn't feel good, it is not Love. When I am in total freedom, I am in Love. As I am in appreciation, I am in Love. As I am in joy, I am in Love.


Think About The Love Of God. If It Doesn't Feel Good And Require Nothing, It Is Not Love, And It Is Not God. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by focusing on the pure Love of God, and as you do, Love like that all those in the world near and far. Feel how it feels to Love without any conditions.

Daily Inspiration 3-27-17

"Happiness is the art 

of learning how to get 

joy from your substance."

-- Jim Rohn 

Jim adds that "Happiness is not an accident. Nor is it something you wish for. Happiness is something you design." It's purely a choice of how to view whatever it is that we are looking at.

Gratitude is a way to joy. It is joy. Being thankful is the same as being in joy. Rabbi Harold Kushner suggests that this may help us get there:

"Can you see the holiness in those things that you take for granted--a paved road or a washing machine? If you concentrate on finding what is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul." 

With just a little bit of intention and practice, finding the magic all around us all the time in things we don't even see anymore will create a habit of happiness, a habit of being in joy.


Injoy Your Day! Happy Monday! 

Spread Some Joy Today--Remember the clothes that you didn't have to sew together, the toilet paper on the roll, the refrigerator with food in it, the heat and air conditioning at your fingertips, the smile on the face of the person in front of you. Those few things should bring enough joy to spread!

Daily Inspiration 3-26-17

"As we dabble in our life experience, 

even perhaps creating magnificent things, 

I think that the vast majority of us 

hasn't a clue how powerful we really are." 

-- Albert K. Strong 

As I was eating some delicious buttered toast and enjoying some Jimmy Dean sausage links, I had this thought: How can all these health experts, all these theories about what causes weight gain or loss, health or lack of it, and more be correct? One says, "don't eat wheat," and another says, "don't eat carbs," and another says, "eat carbs, more carbs," and yet another says, "sugar will kill you," and another says, "avoid fats," or "avoid calories," or "avoid protein, or avoid certain kinds of meat, or all meat," and having only barely touched the surface here, it is enough to drive a person crazy as we try to know which is correct.

Then, it came to me. It was clear as a bright sunny day to me. It's the Quantum Theory. They are all correct. They all speak the truth. I used to wonder, how can that be? But now I see it.

Quantum Theory in its simplest form is this: Whatever we bring to whatever we are looking at changes the thing we are looking at. Equally, whatever we bring to whatever we are experiencing, the thing we are experiencing is changed as a result of what we bring. 

This reminds me of one of Wayne Dyer's famous quotes: "Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change." I have accepted and understood that in a philosophical way for many years now, but after this morning, I understand it in a more practical way.

Look how powerful we are! We can and do change matter! And we do it with our thoughts! Beliefs are the most powerful thoughts, but really they are simply thoughts that we keep thinking and attracting more thoughts like it to reinforce and strengthen our own thoughts creating belief. 

It is so true that as we change the way we see, we change the things we see. So from a more global view, as we look at a thing, a subject, a person, a reality, we bring to it what we have accumulated in knowledge, and more importantly, beliefs and prejudices. This accumulation directs how we are choosing to see all of that.

It's easy enough to find facts to corroborate our point of view. We do it all the time. Real facts, alternative facts, it just doesn't matter. We see what we want to see, choose to see. And, they are all fine. They are all points of view, stories, conclusions.

So all of that nutritional information is not true or false, it is true and false depending on your personal view from your accumulated learning.

The only problem we ever really have in enjoying a delightful life is when we stop attracting what we want by focusing on what we don't want and then pushing against that with the idea that I am right and you are wrong. We are not right or wrong, we would be right and wrong as we choose our viewpoint.


It Is What They Say It Is For Them. I Will Make My Own Decision For Me. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by realizing that it is not joy or fear, but joy and fear. The only real question is where am I on that continuum.

Daily Inspiration 3-25-17

"Everyone has their ego. 

Everyone has their contribution. 

Which do you choose to focus on?" 

-- Alan Cohen 

I rarely write or talk about politics. No matter what, it can be a touchy subject with many. People carry a lot of emotional beliefs about politics and it matters not whether they are speaking the truth or even as people believe right is right and wrong is wrong, in truth--and I mean eternal truth--there is no such thing as right and wrong. There only is what is at the moment and my perspective of myself and others in those moments.

I've been alive through 12 Presidents of the United States, beginning with Harry Truman, through to Donald Trump. And, I have found a love of history (when well presented) throughout my life, and it seems to be unceasing. In that love, and focusing on United States History, I have studied many presidents at length. This has been quite enlightening to me, and especially when it is expanded in the study of many others who were not presidents.

I am registered as a Republican. I did that because I admired with the greatest esteem, Abraham Lincoln. However, I have rarely voted Republican, nor do I even like the idea of having to choose sides in that way. Originally, I only wanted to vote in the primaries.

In addition, as I was eligible to vote beginning in the 1972 election, missing the 1968 election by a few days of age, and in all the presidential elections, I have voted many times for the one who lost the election. However, I have never let that stop me from supporting the one who did win. The country coming together behind whoever won can be a good thing.

All of these presidents and all of their "men" who all intended to put the country back together again had their own unique ego and disposition. If I were to focus on that aspect of them, I would not be able to see their contributions, which in each and every case was very many. And, many of them were grand, providing much value far into the future long after they have gone.

Of all the presidents in my lifetime to date, the only one I used to have problems with was Nixon, and over time allowing myself to see beyond the ego, I have been able to respect his many contributions as well. Even every president from this century and the last two, of those I have studied, I see the contributions through the facade of the ego and the storms that many were surrounded by.

All of this has taught me the most valuable lesson. That lesson is to look beyond that which I see, hear, read, and to contemplate that there is more below that noise. And, there is a lot of noise that surrounds those in the focus of the public eye.

Consider this quote by Dr. Albert Schweitzer: "If there is anything I have learned about men and women, it is that there is a deeper spirit of altruism than is ever evident. Just as the rivers we see are minor compared to the underground streams, so, too, the idealism that is visible is minor compared to that people carry in their hearts unreleased or scarcely released."

Each and every single one of us around the globe has an ego. Sometimes that ego is highlighted and debated into a cacophony of noise. At the same time, each and every single one of us around this globe is born of the Creator of All-That-Is, and in their essence--the 'stuff' that they were created with--is love.

Sometimes we might have to put on noise-cancelling headphones, close our eyes and ears because of the volume of noise and sporadic activity. But, in so doing, we open ourselves to the wonder of that which we can recognize as ourselves, seeing the more that is in the other person and recognize, the more that is within us, realizing that we are all the same in spite of our many differences.


There Is So Much More To See In Each Other AND Ourselves! 

Spread Some Joy Today--by loving yourself and those that are in this world with you. We are all on a journey to joy in recognizing that we are in essence all created in and by Love.

Daily Inspiration 3-24-17

"If you want 

to be somebody else, 

change your mind."

-- Sister Hazel 

Sounds pretty easy, and I can see that changing one's mind is the only way to become someone else, and yet something tells me this is one of the hardest things we could attempt.

I think it would be far easier to uncover the real me than to escape into that other person as me. Unless, of course, I had a strong desire to become a skilled and versatile character actor. Besides, finding the real me is the holy grail, after a lifetime of covering it up, smoothing it over, playing many minor roles that life seems to demand of us.

With all this, who has time and energy left to try to be someone we're not?

But then, if we haven't already figured out who the real us is, how do we go about that? I know that's an excellent question because I've asked it a thousand times at least. I've taken quite a number of tests, went through Strengthsfinder, and ten or fifteen others that are designed to draw out the real me. They weren't all that helpful.

Yet there is one that was helpful for me and it came from Dr. John Demartini and his book, The Values Factor, and then on his website at www.drdemartini.com, he has a 13-question process to determine my values. He has taught about how our values are what determine what we choose, not the other way around. Of the questions below, many are quite enlightening if answered in private.

The 13 questions that reveal your values are:

1. How do you fill your space?
2. How do you spend your time?
3. How do you spend your energy?
4. How do you spend your money?
5. Where are you most organized?
6. Where are you most reliable?
7. What dominates your thoughts?
8. What do you visualize most?
9. What do you most often talk to yourself about?
10. What do you most often talk to others about?
11. What inspires you?
12. What goals stand out in your life and have stood the test of time?
13. What do you love to learn or read about most?

What is most helpful in this process is that once we figure out who we are by figuring out what our values are, we uncover reams of insight into our life travels and results. As we choose to focus on our core values, we smooth out any rough spots in our travel too. And, in the end, if we still want to be someone else, this is the place to begin to change our mind by changing our values.


I So Value The Magnificent Teachers Who Help Me Along My Path--Even Those Whom I've Never Met Except Through Their Legacy In Ink. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by realizing that one of your core values is joy!

Daily Inspiration 3-23-17

"What is wonder?  

Wonder is a belief in what can be possible. 

Wonder is an imagining and a seeing, 

 and a process of expression of the senses 

when one is benefited from an image, 

a miracle, a thought that is so wonder-full 

that all one can do is express wonder in the face of it." 

-- Paul Selig 

When was the last time that you were awash in wonder? Few and far between? Rarely, if ever? Every day?

What I love about the quote above is how it expresses how and what wonder is and how we experience it, and more importantly, how we can experience it as we desire.

We all know that wonder is an amazing feeling. It may be brief, and yet it has a lasting effect on how we feel for as much time as we allow it.

"Wonder is a belief. . . in what can be possible." Dreams are wonder! A belief is a feeling of certainty. Wonder gives us the power to dream and mean it, to decide and do it, to live it.

"Wonder is an imagining and a seeing. . . " Does imagination just arrive willy-nilly or do we have the power to create imagination? As we imagine, we can see. I think of imagination as a visual thought.

". . . a process of expression of the senses. . ." All of our senses come alive in the expression, or it could be that all of our expression comes alive via our senses.

". . . when one is benefited from an image, a thought that is so wonder-full that all one can do is express wonder in the face of it." An image. Imagining. Seeing an existing reality, or imagining one. A thought. A whole train of thoughts, visual and non-visual. We can think ourselves into wonder. We can pay attention to the present moment, the present view, and we can choose to see it as we desire to see it, feel it, experience it.

The miracle. If we can believe that it is miraculous that we are even here, breathing, moving, experiencing millions, maybe billions of influences on our physical external self and our internal magical self in every moment. Once we accept the idea that just being alive is a miracle, virtually everything around us becomes miraculous too. If miracles are said to be only of the divine, then we are also of the divine.

I believe that each and every one of us has wonder constantly in our lives. It is not that wonder is or wonder is not, it is are we awake and paying attention or are we not.


Delight In All Your Wonder Today. It Is Exactly Like Walking On Air. 

Spread Some Joy Today--as you experience the wonder in your life. Joy is the recognition of the wonder in your life, don't you think?

Daily Inspiration 3-22-17

"The universe 

always supports you 100% 

in whatever idea 

you believe yourself most to be." 

-- Bashar, Darryl Anka 

Continuing today on the subject surrounding belief and how we view that and how it controls our reality, Bashar introduces the idea that the universe is always bringing us what we focus on. So regarding the quote above, the phrase, "whatever idea you believe yourself most to be," this is the interpretation of focus.

I think our focus is based so closely with our beliefs that we cannot discern a difference. 

Bashar makes it clear by saying, "as you believe, that's what you experience in physical reality," and adds, "All you need do is be willing to recognize that 100% trust in the direction you prefer will create the reality you desire to experience."

What fascinated me about this was the idea of 100% in both directions. I can just imagine the arguments against this idea that we are trusting 100% and receiving something that we don't want, but letting go of that rope will make it clear that it is true. The universe supplied the results after we supplied the stimulus. We were the cause, and the universe is in charge of the effects, which means of course that we are in charge of it all.

Bashar talks of the 100% trust: "You have all always trusted 100% in something. What your society calls doubt is not a lack of trust. It is an absolute unshakable, unswerving 100% total conviction in a negative reality. You always use trust 100%. It's just a matter of whether you trust in something you don't prefer or trust in something you do prefer. Now, which do you prefer to trust in--what you prefer, or what you don't prefer?" 

Then he adds this very important message: "As soon as you decide, however, that what you really prefer you will do 100%, there is absolutely no reason, as far as the universe is concerned, to withhold any less than 100% results from you. You will get 100% of it when you act in that direction 100%. 

100% trust will always--I guarantee it; I promise--give you 100% absolute reflection of that reality. Absolute. You are always getting a 100% reflection of the reality that you define as the most likely reality you are capable of handling. Always." 


100% Trust. Fascinating! 

Spread Some Joy Today--I trust 100% that I will experience a whole lot of joy today from many sources of encouragement.

Daily Inspiration 3-21-17

"Always be honest with yourself. . . 

Acknowledge that you have difficulty believing. . . 

Don't deny it, as denial is the first step

to forgetting everything about who you are. 

Don't deny anything about yourself, 

including the fact that you have denial." 

-- Bashar, Darryl Anka 

Something brought me back to this book that I posted from yesterday on the subject of beliefs and how they are the cause of whatever reality we experience. The book is Bashar: Blueprint For Change, and there are so many golden nuggets in this book, I wanted to continue for a couple of days in the same relative area of our beliefs.

Bashar asked Darryl if he believed that he could have what he wanted, and asked if he was willing to make it that simple of an idea. Darryl answered that he did believe that, sometimes. Part of Bashar's answer is the quote above.

Bashar suggests that we allow ourselves to deal with the fact that we may be denying that we have a certain belief or beliefs and that we may buy into the ideas of doubt, fear, and self-invalidation. It is stated that it is all right to have those thoughts. In fact, the problems come from the denials or the blaming of it on others, and more than keep it out of our control.

Then Bashar states this: "You see, the whole issue is that once you own the right to think that way [that it is okay to have these thoughts], you have made it clear that it was your choice to choose the negative reality. And once it's clear that it was your choice, it's back under your control." 

"If you sometimes don't feel capable of doing what excites you the most, acknowledge that you believe that. And then get into a very honest discussion with yourself about why you would choose to believe that way. What type of beliefs would you have? What kind of definitions would you have to buy into in order to feel you couldn't do the thing that is most representative of who you are." 

I've underlined the parts of those two statements that raised their voice in my head. As we stop blaming outside circumstances, heredity, our childhood or lack of it, or anything we can imagine that can be at fault and accept responsibility for our own choice of thoughts, we are empowered. We have control. What we do with that control and power is always up to us. We can stay where we are, but at least accepting it is our choice, or we can choose differently. It is what we believe about ourselves that drives the reality we currently experience.


We Are Only Pawns In The Game Of Life As We Believe That. Truth Be Known, We Are All-Powerful. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by choosing joy or not choosing joy, but not giving reasons why it is not there. Joy, along with our reality is always a choice.

Daily Inspiration 3-20-17

"Situations are given to you 

by the universe automatically 

to show you exactly what your beliefs are." 

-- Bashar, Darryl Anka 

I thought that this was such a fascinating way to see what is in our current reality.

With this view, we can look at our current reality and then see what our beliefs about what is true for us, what we feel we deserve, and more is the cause and the reality is the effect. Cause and effect.

I've often thought of cause and effect, but not quite in that way. To see what is as an end result and then to open the book of our beliefs about ourselves is a really interesting and telling way to see exactly how we are the cause of our own effects. And, we can see this by looking at what we have.

I thought of this cute phrase as I awakened to this perspective: "You know where you're at when you see what you've got." As we awaken to the cause and effect of this, we can begin to ask some questions that will help us to create a different and more pleasing reality should that be desired.

What do I believe about myself today? What do I see as true about me? I can see that I have caused this to come to be, and I want to know what specific beliefs about myself and my views about life caused this to be true today. What are my beliefs about abundance? What are my beliefs about what kind of job or career I might have? What kind of beliefs do I have about marriage? Dealing with others? Business? Security?

As we examine our beliefs, we can see more clearly how the cause and effect have worked in our lives. It also gives us the opportunity to create new and improved beliefs that can open a new and more enjoyable reality for us. As an example, it is impossible to have abundance by having lackful thoughts. As we examine how we think about lack, and how that has played out in our lives, we can learn to let go of these limiting beliefs by turning our attention to how abundance is a mindset that creates that reality.

As we see how we create our own reality, we can see that it is our own beliefs that created it and can also change it as we are willing to see the correlation.


A Belief Is A Thought We Continue To Think Over Time. Maybe It's Time For A Change In Our Beliefs. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by seeing what you want before it becomes reality. Order up some joy. It's on pre-order special this week.

Daily Inspiration 3-19-17

"It's a strange thing love is. 

You can't get rid of it. 

If you try to give it out, 

you get more back. 

If you try to hang on to it, 

you lose it." 

-- Warren Buffett 

I've come to the conclusion in my long life that the only thing that is really real is love. Everything else is unreal.


Love IS. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by turning your thoughts toward love and find that joy and never ends.

Daily Inspiration 3-18-17

"What a strange thing! 

to be alive beneath cherry blossoms." 

-- Kobayashi Issa 

This February and March period remind me of a roller coaster in that February is the final stretch up the main hill, and March is the release that provides the momentum to the rest of the year. It is the time of promise of in the new and reborn.

Some winters are colder and wetter than others, and I always seem to long for the Spring and warmth coming again. Spring is without a doubt my favorite time of year. I love the mild and yet warm weather, and so I look forward to it after the mid-point of Winter. And, whether the groundhog will see his shadow or not see his shadow, I know that when March 20th comes, the new beginning is at hand and cannot be stopped.

Even if clouds roll in and cold fronts keep trying, I know they are doomed. That is why it is like a roller coaster. March 20th, or close enough to that is the top of the first and most important hill, and once that hill is crested, the roller coaster cannot be stopped. Spring cannot be stopped. It is coming. It is coming. It is here. Done deal.

So this time from the ending of the Winter and the beginning of Spring is a magical time. It reminds me of being inspired, of seeing things anew like the look of a child in wonder. It's strange how the season can affect me as much as it does. It calls me to be outside more which feels like I'm alive and free. It calls me to new projects that I may have considered in the downtime of the Winter. It beckons me forward toward new opportunity. It is renewal.


Spring: The Season Of Promise. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by feeling that promise of Spring within you. It's only a day or two away!

Daily Inspiration 3-17-17

"We want to encourage you 

 to give more of your attention 

to what makes you feel good-- 

not something so radical 

that you must control every thought-- 

just make a decision that you will 

look for what you want to see." 

-- Abraham, Esther Hicks 

How many times do you wake up and find yourself speaking positive thoughts in your head? Or is it the unresolved worries from yesterday, or the concerns that you will face today, or other such thoughts?

A few years back I took an affirmative thought from Abraham, printed it out and put on my office wall, and now after a willingness to practice, I find myself stating it as I wake up. It is this: "Today, no matter where I am going and no matter what I am doing, it is my dominant intent to see that which I am wanting to see." I've shortened it somewhat to this: "Today, it is my dominant intent to see what I want to see." 

In Esther and Jerry Hicks book, Ask and It Is Given, in part II of the book, they give 22 processes to help practice moving toward more joy and less resistance. Process #8 is The Book of Positive Aspects. I love this one because it is fun to do. As I am writing down positive aspects that I find in life, I cannot be thinking about negative aspects at the same time, and as I practice this change of focus, I find more positive aspects showing up in my life.

I started doing this with this phrase at the top of a page: I love. . . . This caused me to consider things that I loved, however big or small, whether people or things, situations, sights, interpretations, you name it. I remember one on the first page was the smell on wet concrete on a hot day. Every time I think about that, I can smell that special smell. I smelled it when I was a young boy at the plunge laying on the pool deck that had been splashed with water and as I lay there face down in my arms, that smell was so unique that I've never forgotten it. Hosing down the driveway on a hot day will bring it back also. It's a silly thing, but I love it.

I don't need to write them down anymore because I am fully functioning in the habit of seeing what I want to see, enjoying what I am seeing all throughout my day, every single day of my life now. As I type this I am looking at a multi-colored ceramic alligator that was a gift my late wife gave me after she went on a magnificent adventure to South Africa with her son. It's always in front of me as I see my computer screen. I love it and it reminds me how much I loved Nancy and still love Nancy in her absence.

I see hundreds of books on bookshelves all around my office. I see the view of the courtyard as I look out the sliding glass door of my office. I see the beautiful blue sky today, and I will be enjoying a 4-mile walk a bit later, while I'm eager to get back to the spectacular audiobook I'm focused on now titled, Lucy and Desi by Warren G. Harris and their magical and adventurous life together. I love this book. I love them. I love their story.

If I run across, or being interrupted by something I don't want to see or hear, I bless it and move back to my loving thoughts of what I see and enjoy. It's all about deciding that I can, that I am worthy, that I have the power to feel good regardless of how any other chooses. It is all about my willingness to practice changing my gaze, and interpretations. It expands my desire to love all others as they are inside whether or not I approve of or like their behavior or choices.

As I find these things that I love, these positive aspects that are constantly all around me in so much quantity that I cannot even get to them all, I experience joy, peace, and my own expanding love.

Yes, I am still working every day, running a business, dealing with issues and challenges, but they are now full of positive aspects too. As I find something less than that, I bless it and move my gaze to what I want to see, to how I want to feel, and I am injoy again. And again. And again.


Awareness Is Great, But Practice Is What Makes It All Work. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by seeing what you want to see, making lists of things you love and like and want more of. The rest can be left where it is. Let others pay attention to that stuff.

Daily Inspiration 3-16-17

"Most of the things we do, 

we do for no better reason 

than that our fathers have done them 

or that our neighbors do them, 

and the same is true 

of a larger part than we suspect 

of what we think." 

-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. 

Probably the hardest lesson that I have learned in the last several years is how to be unique, to make my own choices, to see opinions and predictions, to see others acting as they may and remain in joy and peace. The only way I found this was by adopting the idea of unconditional love and acceptance.

As I see someone spouting angry words because the one they are angry at is saying or doing something that the angry one does not believe and disapproves of, I see myself as I was.

I wanted to be unique, different, set apart, and yet I clung as to a lifeline of my desire for conformity. This is a path to destruction. They are opposite ends of a stick. Of course, what I meant was that others should conform to what I think and not the other way around. I would exercise my uniqueness and difference by fighting, pushing against those who were in opposition to my beliefs and ideals. And, the reason I say this is a path to destruction is because in reality, I am fighting myself, opposing myself, beating myself up. All this and I get to feel fear through anger, resentment, struggle, and manipulation.

I just saw a post about the haters of the guy who refused to stand for the anthem. He could only be unique if he conforms to their beliefs and edicts. This is but one tiny example of the prejudice we can spread along with all the other fear-based sentiments and feelings. All for the sake of conformity. He's not like us. He's not worthy.

As we put others down, no matter who they may be, for saying or doing something that is in opposition to our own thinking or thoughts of how things ought to be, we are not only the accuser, but the accused. Whatever we push against we magnify. Whatever we condemn, we promote. The Law of Attraction is unerringly accurate in bringing us more of what we focus on.

Our ego is in charge of all of this too. But we are not our ego unless we allow the ego to rule. The ego has a purpose, but not ruling our lives. We only need rise above the ego and see it for what it is and take charge ourselves.

As we learn to accept others, to love others as they are, in all of their differences, without any insistence that they satisfy us, or that they conform to any of our beliefs or choices, we are there as well. As within, so without.

As we interpret what is without by what is within, we align as we will. What is within is either fear or love. If we are loving, we accept, and if we are in fear, we reject. It is all up to us to choose. It is never chosen for us. We always and forever have the choice in our complete command.


I Am In Love. If I Fall Out Of Love, I Turn Back Toward Love And I Am In Love Again. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by loving yourself enough to love your neighbor.

Daily Inspiration 3-15-17

"You must not lose faith in humanity. 

Humanity is an ocean; 

if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, 

the ocean does not become dirty." 

-- Mahatma Gandhi 

Things always become clear when we take a journey to a higher perspective.

As we allow ourselves to rise above and see everything from a higher perspective, we can see the divine in all things.


From Here I See Infinity. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by seeing from a higher perspective. As you do so, there is joy all around.

Daily Inspiration 3-14-17

"Seeking perfection 

is more often than not 

an excuse for procrastination." 

-- Albert K. Strong 

We may think that when someone has achieved something we say we want, they did something special or had special help, or some other reason or asset or situation that we lack. We're waiting for something. Not sure what, but we're waiting for it to make the final decision to go. We're thinking about it, hoping for an answer, hoping for some sort of inspiration, enlightenment, energy. We may not even recognize it when it does come because we are not clear in our own desire.

Jack London said on the subject of inspiration: "I don't wait for inspiration. I go after it with a club!" 

Yet, we make it harder than it need be. We don't need perfection to begin. All those thin and healthy-looking people at the gym are that because they are at the gym rather than thinking about going to the gym. I'm clear on that one!

Check out what Abraham, Esther Hicks has to say about getting there:

"The things that we would be asking ourselves is, "What proportion of my day am I in vibrational harmony with my desires, which means, how much of my day am I happy, glad, eager, fulfilled, satisfied, complimentary? And what percentage of my day am I ornery, irritated, frustrated, or blaming?" And you don't have to do 100%, you don't have to do 90%, you don't have to do 80%. If you could even get around 55% feeling better, than not feeling so good--you'd have significant movement in what begins to happen in your experience." 

When I read that I thought, what a great couple of questions to ask. How am I doing? Am I even trying a little? Am I wanting it enough to decide to get going? To try? To give it a shot?

When we think we have to be so ready, we often fail to get going. I can't exercise because I don't have the right outfit, or I want to be positive, but. . ., or how can I have joy with all the crap going on in the world? It's always something! But, really, it's nothing. It's babble. Want or don't want. Do or not do.

Focus here: What is it that I want?

Don't give any attention here: All the rest.

Don't get hung up on how. What is my job. How is God's job. The decision is my job. The inspiration is God's job.


Even As Little More Than Half Is Good. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by cutting some slack on yourself. Find joy by finding what you want and giving as little attention to what you don't want as possible. I know it's a challenge, but from challenge comes decision and growth, from which comes joy.

Daily Inspiration 3-13-17

"Spread some joy today." 

-- Terry Minion 

This is Daily Inspiration number 2,722 and at the bottom of every single one since 2009 has been the phrase, Spread Some Joy Today. And after each one, there is a tag line of how we might do that, or what it might mean to do that.

I was thinking this morning the sheer number of them and that I have really tried to not have any duplicates. Even accounting for a small number of reposts, that's well over 2,675 ways to spread some joy today. How many could there be? I had no idea there were as many as I've shared, and it seems they are endless as I allow that to be true.

How many ways can you spread joy? How many ways can you express what it is to be joyous and to be a joy spreader?

I've taken to heart what Abraham, Esther Hicks has said so many times and in many ways on the subject of joy. Here is a really good one to share this morning:

"The standard of success in life isn't the things. It isn't the money or the stuff--it is absolutely the amount of joy you feel."

Since I began this path of finding and experiencing and spreading joy, I find it all throughout the day every single day that I experience. I find it in being happy for someone, watching the birds in my courtyard, driving my pickup, listening to an audiobook, crying during a wonderful movie, thinking of someone with love welling up in me, especially people who are far away that I know. I find joy in joyous memories, the magical projection of future joy via eager anticipation, enthusiasm, decisions, change.

All of this entices me to love more and as I love more I find more joy to feel and share. Frankly, I had no idea there was as much joy as there is and I feel as if I've only dabbled in the first layer of a very deep layered dessert.

And here is the most important thing that I have learned about joy: it is a choice. We get to choose to feel joy by how we choose to see and interpret our world.


What An Awesome Power To Wield. 

Spread Some Joy Today--as you move into the expansion of your own joy. You can only give something that you have. There is an unending supply available so grab what you will. The more you have, the more you have to give.

Daily Inspiration 3-12-17

"Prejudice is to prejudge. 

It means that we judge before we know. 

We choose or accept a point of view 

without care or concern, 

and we do that out of fear." 

-- Albert K. Strong 

We often think of prejudice as being about the color or our skin, the culture out of context with our own, and gender-related issues even within our own tribes--you know, big things. But, I think that prejudice is far more widespread than this, and it is spread in popular expressions and popular points of view.

No matter big or small, widespread or privately held, it is all fear-based, every bit of it. Facts are immaterial. Truth is immaterial in this realm. It is simply fear, and as we spread any of it whether, from our own point of view or ones that we align to, it is simply spreading and raising more fear.

I'll give you a small example I saw yesterday on Facebook. There was a shared post of a big scary roller coaster. The video was funny as all get out, so I made a posted a comment about how funny it was. Another commented that they wouldn't dare ride that thing because of the low-quality Chinese steel.

Now, I'm certain that this person has no idea which country the steel was made in or even the tested quality of it, and yet this fear is spread of Chinese steel. Not only that, all steel from China is lumped into one pot of being all low-quality, and obviously cheap or it wouldn't sell. This is fake news, and you can see it all around.

I thought about making a comment, but it isn't my job to correct that person, but only to correct my own thoughts expressed or hidden. Instead, I blessed this person and that comment.

From this perspective, it seems a given that each and every one of us is prejudiced in some manner, and it is most likely that we don't even know we are doing it.

It is well worthy of the small effort it takes to become aware of what we are saying vocally, in writing, and in any form of our communication. And, here is a very easy question to answer to help us to not prejudge:

"Do I really know what I am saying is true?" And then, "Is what I am saying coming from fear or love?"

That's it. Am I coming from fear, promoting fear, spreading fear, repeating things I heard from fear, sharing fearful thoughts and commonly accepted expressions? If the answer is yes. There is an opportunity to choose love instead.

There is so much negative news from most media sources, but we can choose to see beyond that. We can choose to bless those people or things, or ideas in the negative spotlight and we can see with different eyes.

I love these words from Paul Selig from his book, The Book of Mastery:

"What you bless you lift; what you damn, what you curse, you cast out. . . When you cast something into the darkness, you actually give it power. . . a blessing is the placement of God upon the thing you see. . . you bring the action of the Divine to bear on this very thing, and it transforms . . ." 


We Are Choosing Love Or Fear Every Single Day. 

Spread Some Joy Today--as you choose love. Again. And. Again.

Daily Inspiration 3-11-17

"A tiny change today 

brings a dramatically different tomorrow." 

-- Richard Bach

If we have a ship just outside of San Francisco Bay pointed to Japan, and we turn the wheel only a half of a degree left, we would never reach Japan, but we might reach Figi instead which is quite a distance off the intended track. The smallest course change can lead to a major life change.

This is true in everything. Change what you eat for only one meal of the day and that small change will lead to a different body in time. The smaller the change, the longer it may take, but it is still change.

Dorothy Day is quoted as saying this: "People say, "What is the sense of our small effort?" They cannot see that we must lay one brick at a time, take one step at a time."

What if typically getting no exercise, we walked around the block once a day, parked further away from the store on purpose? Those two small changes would have profound changes in the body.

What if instead of some potato chips as a snack, I ate some olives? Big change, and more satisfying in general too.

What if I called one client per day five days a week? In a month I would have talked with 20 clients, and in a year, 240. And if I kept that up, in five years it would be over a thousand. Even if I cut that in half, it would achieve profound results.

How did the tortoise beat the hare in that story? One step at a time.

I'm reminding myself of the sheer value of small efforts in writing this. I can always use the reminder myself.


Baby Steps Become Giant Leaps. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by finding joy in doing what you can do without stressing over the rest of the stuff on your plate. Just do what you can, even if it is small. Even a little smile can cause joy.

Daily Inspiration 3-10-17

"No one has ever 

become poor by giving." 

-- Anne Frank 

No. That's just not possible. If one gave everything one owned they would not be poor. They might be broke. But, to be poor is not about things or money or status. It is a mindset of lack. From a mindset of lack, there is no desire to give, but only to get.

When someone is a giver, they have a certain sense of abundance within them. It matters not what we may or may not have because to give is to have a mindset of enough, and actually, better stated as enough to share.

Even deeper than this surface view, poor is about fear, and giving is about love. Therein lies the real difference.


I Am Enough. I Am Enough To Share. For I Am Love. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by feeling your way to your God-given abundance. Joy, love, abundance, empowerment, appreciation, freedom. They are all the best of friends.

Daily Inspiration 3-9-17

"I could see at least for a moment 

how if you ever took truly to heart 

the ultimate goodness and joy of things, 

even at their bleakest, 

the need to praise someone 

or something for it would be so great 

that you might even have to go out 

and speak of it to the birds of the air." 

-- Frederick Buechner 

Have you ever felt that way? So full of joy, wonder, love that you wanted to jump up and down, put your hands in the air, move around the room, thanking God, thanking the Universe for the emotional bounty within you. What a rush. What a bit of magic in what might be a regularly common life.

I was in such joy just reading Frederick Buechner's words. He said what I have felt from time to time very effectively and poetically. And, the more important part to me is that he was saying this while in a situation where most of us might only scream complaints. In the midst of his uncomfortable physical situation, he had a beautiful insight into the glorious power of choosing a perspective--one that serves and sees beyond the current so-called reality to a wholly different one.

What is fascinating to me is that we all have probably had many of these glimpses into a different reality, whether from a current reality of struggle or not, and yet they may be few and far between. But, I believe and have practiced choosing them on purpose rather than waiting to stumble across the next one.

I love Frederick's line changed to a personal point of view: "if I ever took truly to heart the ultimate goodness and joy of things, even at its bleakest. . . the need to praise. . . " could not be contained. And what is wonderful about that line is that we can take charge of it in this way: As I truly take to heart the ultimate goodness and joy that surrounds me though I often may not see it outwardly, I have the power to lift that veil and see as I choose. We then may see our so-called current reality as merely and exquisitely contrast.

Abraham, Esther Hicks shares this insight: "It's not necessary for you to exacerbate your contrast with struggle in order to get it into a higher place. It is not necessary to suffer in order to give birth to desire. But when you have suffered and you have given birth to desire, so what? You've got a desire. Turn your attention to the desire. Think about where you're going and never mind where you've been. Don't spend any more time justifying any of that stuff."

In other words, focus on what you want and not what you have. Don't reject what you have. It is a blessing in that it has led to the desire for something you prefer. Bless the situation, and turn your attention to what you want by seeing the ultimate goodness and joy in your life and all of life. 


We All Have The Power To Choose Our Perspective Regardless Of The Current Reality. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by finding joy not fault. It's all in the view.

Daily Inspiration 3-8-17

"Do you want to be happy, 

or do you not want to be happy? 

It's really that simple. 

Once you make that choice, 

your path through life 

becomes totally clear." 

-- Michael A. Singer 

Yesterday, I wrote about finding a flow in life by awakening to being in the here and now which is where all life is. So many of us have these deep-seated beliefs that we can control circumstance and other people and/or their behavior, but once awakened, we realize that while we have the force of will in our own life, we do not have it for any other. All we can do is to choose for ourselves, and in that choice, we live our lives and in that living, we can then influence or give permission to others to live as they choose without any insistence that they satisfy us. That is unconditional acceptance or unconditional love.

Happiness, to be that which makes our path through life totally clear, must be without condition as well. Michael A. Singer in his wonderful book, The Untethered Soul, has a whole chapter on practicing unconditional happiness. He adds, "You just have to really mean it when you say that you choose to be happy. And you have to mean it regardless of what happens." 

We often have so many rules about how we allow ourselves to be happy, and that sadness, grief, depression, or some other thing gives us permission to disconnect from happiness. We think that we don't have any control over these things, but it isn't any event or situation, but only our choice that rules. Unconditional means without any condition.

To say, I want to be happy, but. . . or I want to be happy, except. . . is to choose not to be happy. People might say, "Of course I want to be happy, but my wife died, or my husband left me, or I got fired, or I'm deeply in debt, or someone crashed into my car, or I can't pay all my bills," or fill in the blank. There's always some reason we can come up with when we only allow ourselves to have conditional happiness by saying, yes, but, or yes, except.

I love how Abraham, Esther Hicks discusses the subject:

"We are really advocates of just getting as happy as you can be--which takes care of everything. Even if you don't have reason to be happy--make it up. Fantasize it. Make a decision that you're going to be happy one way or another--no matter what. "No matter what, I'm going to be happy! If I have to ignore everybody; if I have to never watch television again; if I have to never pick up a newspaper again, I'm going to be happy. If I never have to see that person's face again, I'm going to be happy. If I have to see that person's face, I'm going to find something to see in that person's face that makes me happy. I'm going to be happy. I'm going to be happy. I'm going to be happy." 

Some people say, "well, you just can't be happy all the time because there is a lot of ________ all around." OK. That's a choice to be happy when we think it is acceptable or appropriate to be happy. Fine. Have it that way, but the statement that we just can't be happy all the time is purely opinion. We can be happy all the time. We can respond to events without reacting to them. We can decide to be happy no matter what goes on outside, no matter what anyone else thinks, no matter what. All we need do is choose--and mean it.

Once we choose, our path is clarified. We see life with different eyes, different emotional responses, different perspectives. We can choose and allow ourselves to be happy regardless, and as we practice that, life takes on new meaning. I know this to be true because I made this choice and practice it daily, hourly, constantly. When an old habit of how I should feel comes up, I see it for what it is: an old habit. I then choose to let it pass as I choose to be happy and at peace anyway.


We All Get To Choose As We Will. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by pausing just long enough to choose a response rather than simply reacting as we have often done. It is in that pause that our choice resides.

Daily Inspiration 3-7-17

"Then I realized something. 

I'd spent my whole life 

only recognizing my lucky breaks 

after they were gone." 

-- Ray King, played by J. K. Simmons 

from the movie, The Accountant, 

written by Bill Dubuque 

What does it mean to be present, to live in the now? It means you can see your lucky breaks as they are happening. You delight in them in your presence. You find joy in the situation. You fulfill them as they were intended to be of service to you.

More often than not I think so many of us see the lucky breaks by looking backward and having some distance between the event and now. We weren't even aware at the time of the blessings in store.

Many of these lucky breaks came from pain, sorrow, defeat, failure, and even depression. Then one day, we awaken. We see our lives, our journey with new eyes. We see our many, many lucky breaks however they came, and we can now rejoice. Better late than never. Better to awaken than to sleep all the way through.

You've heard or read about people who said that cancer was the best thing that ever happened, or divorce was the best, or a business failure, or a house burning down, or any millions of other calamities or roadblocks. Nowadays, I see those as having to come to a head in order to get even a little of my attention.

I know for a fact that divorce was a humongous blessing in my life though I vowed it would never happen to me. I know being held up at gunpoint was a turning point for me. I know that my grandmother teaching me phonics when I was very young was a turning point. I know that winning a trip to Hawaii changed my life. I know reading a book changed my life. And many after that. I know that the death of a loved one changed my life. I know that doing a consulting job during the big recession in 2009 and seeing salespeople more discouraged and desperate than I had ever seen them and starting these Daily Inspirations to them changed my life. And changed the lives of many others too. As we are blessed, we bless others with or without knowing this. Such is the value of a life lived.

Good or bad are just words we associate with an event or behavior. They are decisions we make based on past training and other things. They are judgments. Lucky is a judgment. What is more truthful I think is that we are guided and encouraged--not like being a puppet, but via our changes and alignments or misalignments with the vibration of our own soul, our inner knowing, our inner being, the God within, or whatever label pleases you.

We all know that there is a far greater power within us, and as we awaken to the recognition in the knowledge of this, we can see the entire world with new eyes. This is one great way to see the blessings as they come rather than viewing them in the rearview mirror.

As we open ourselves to be present here and now, and learn to flow with things and let them flow in and through us without holding on to them, we can know the inner joy that is ready to flow within and out of us as a way of life. No more lucky breaks, but a flow of life here and now.


Lucky Break Or Manifest Destiny? 

Spread Some Joy Today--by awakening to all the life that is flowing in and through you all day every day.

Daily Inspiration 3-6-17

"You can't discover light 

by analyzing the darkness." 

-- Wayne Dyer 

I was thinking how easy it is to blame, to criticize, to condemn. I mean really, it takes no effort at all. One does not even need facts. We can just as easily make something up as to point something out. Not only is it easy for us, but by expressing it, this makes it easy for anyone to join in. None of us need facts. Facts are immaterial. None of us need to know anything about anything. All of us can justify that point of view with bullshit.

Then I was wondering what comes of the blaming, criticism, and condemnation. A picture of a high powered kitchen blender came to mind as if it were only partially filled with liquid and some fruit or some other food to be mixed and turning it on full speed with the lid off. The stuff goes all over the counter in a flash.

Then, we say, what was I thinking? Same with analyzing the darkness, finding fault, seeking blame, accusing people without any facts, and in public without a fair shot at any kind of explanation, assuming one was even offered. Whirring immediately into a frenzy of stuff all over the counter or all over the Internet that needs to be wiped up and discarded.

Of course, it is easy on the counter, even if it slopped over onto the floor or the wall or even the ceiling, but the Internet is a different thing altogether. It will pass, but it will take longer.

Then I was thinking about looking for the light instead of flailing around in the darkness. What if we instead of seeking someone to be at fault, found someone to compliment, approve of, praise, find harmony in, stand up and cheer for, pour out our appreciation and gratitude for and on? What if we responded as if we were focused on the light instead of the darkness? What then?

What if the lid to the blender was off in this situation? Can you imagine praise, upliftment, appreciation, gratitude, support, and joy went all over the counter? What if it hit the walls and the ceiling and the floor? What if it went viral on the Internet? What if the light ruled? What if our joy led? What if our appreciation was full? What if everywhere we looked we saw the light of love?


Hmmmm. . . . 

Spread Some Joy Today--by focusing on the light. There is joy in the light and every good thing too.

Daily Inspiration 3-5-17

"Do not waste time bothering 

whether you "love" your neighbor; 

act as if you did. 

As soon as we do this

we find one of the great secrets. 

When you are behaving 

as if you loved someone 

you will presently come to love him." 

-- C. S. Lewis 

It's interesting how this quote correlates with the past week posting on the subject of enthusiasm. Particularly on Frank Bettger's famous lesson that he learned from his failure as a baseball player. He was fired because he lacked energy and enthusiasm, so when he went to another team, he vowed to be the most energetic and enthusiastic player that ever played the game. It changed his life. By acting as if he was full of energy and full of enthusiasm, he became those things in reality.

It's quite wonderful to see the same idea being applied to love, and we can extend that idea to anything that we think we should do that we don't feel like doing, or following our heart instead of our childhood and/or peer training. We simply decide to pretend that we are what we want to be or to become, and in the process, our life is changed in such a way as to become that.

It reminds me of getting out of the Air Force in the summer of 1972 and taking a chance at applying for a job at the old S&K Chevrolet as a salesman. I had never done anything like that. I was scared, but I thought I could learn it and do well at it. So, I acted the part of how I wanted it to be. I had to ignore the advice from my peers and forge ahead in my own mind because they were filling my head with all manner of baloney. I succeeded, won a few contests, and more.

Then, my real desire came to me early in my sales efforts. I wanted to be the sales manager because I saw that as like being a teacher, which was something I always admired--at least the ones who were good at it and loved teaching. I made that position having just turned 25 and I was scared and thrilled again. The youngest person on the staff was 36. I not only succeeded but excelled at being a sales manager which I did for over 25 years.

So many times in my own life, and even in my own business today, I acted as if to make it happen. I think especially this business I started, Upward Trend Management Services, LLC, and Commercial Truck Success is the most perfect example of not knowing hardly anything about what I was going to do, but acted as if, studied, and it became me. And, I'm still learning every day and I still know very little in comparison with what there is I could know.

We don't need all the answers. What we need is a decision, and then to act as if until we figure it out. Then maybe after we figure something out, we see a new squirrel and we're chasing that one.

It is he or she that waits to know that never gets going I think. The most powerful force in the world beyond desire is decision. We can do pretty much anything that we can imagine if we desire enough to want to make a decision.


Act As If You ________ And It Will Come To Pass. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by acting as if you had so much joy that you needed a wheelbarrow to move it around. Now go spread it to everyone you meet today.