Daily Inspiration 1-14-12

"You have to allow a certain amount of time

in which you are doing nothing in order to have

things occur to you, to let your mind think."

-- Mortimer Adler

Have you ever taken a break from work by doing something that requires almost no thought, or just relaxing, or lightly napping, and a problem you were working on or a situation that you needed an answer for was suddenly solved?

It seems that the harder I try to figure something out, it is in the letting go of it, relaxing away from any thought of it, that the the easy solution comes through without any effort on my part. I have practiced letting this happen and find it so valuable.

Next time you have issues that are bugging you, practice letting go of the issue and just relax, read a book, watch a movie, work in the garden or take a nap. With just a small amount of practice, I think you will find as I have that this special time is very productive no matter how it may appear to others.

No Need To Play Tug o' War, Just Drop The Rope.

Spread Some Joy Today--Have some fun. Enjoy yourself!

Daily Inspiration 1-13-12

Today, I want to share a little longer piece that I dearly love:

The Spirit of Opulence

by Thomas Troward

"It is quite a mistake to suppose that we must restrict and stint ourselves in order to develop greater power or usefulness. This is to form the conception of the Divine Power as so limited that the best use we can make of it is by a policy of self-starvation, whether material or mental. Of course, if we believe that some form of self-starvation is necessary to our producing good work, then so long as we entertain this belief the fact actually is so for us. “Whatsoever is not of faith”—that is, not in accordance with our honest belief—“is sin”; and by acting contrary to what we really believe we bring in a suggestion of opposition to the Divine Spirit, which must necessarily paralyze our efforts, and surround us with a murky atmosphere of distrust and want of joy.

But all this exists in, and is produced by, our belief; and when we come to examine the grounds of this belief we shall find that it rests upon an entire misapprehension of the nature of our own power. If we clearly realize that the creative power in ourselves is unlimited, then there is no reason for limiting the extent to which we may enjoy what we can create by means of it. Where we are drawing from the infinite we need never be afraid of taking more than our share. That is not where the danger lies. The danger is in not sufficiently realizing our own richness, and in looking upon the externalized products of our creative power as being the true riches instead of the creative power of spirit itself.

If we avoid this error, there is no need to limit ourselves in taking what we will from the infinite storehouse: “All things are yours.” And the way to avoid this error is by realizing that the true wealth is in identifying ourselves with the spirit of opulence. We must be opulent in our thought. Do not “think money,” as such, for it is only one means of opulence; but think opulence, that is, largely, generously, liberally, and you will find that the means of realizing this thought will flow to you from all quarters, whether as money or as a hundred other things not to be reckoned in cash.

We must not make ourselves dependent on any particular form of wealth, or insist on its coming to us through some particular channel—that is at once to impose a limitation, and to shut out other forms of wealth and to close other channels; but we must enter into the spirit of it. Now the spirit is Life, and throughout the universe Life ultimately consists in circulation, whether within the physical body of the individual or on the scale of the entire solar system; and circulation means a continual flowing around, and the spirit of opulence is no exception to this universal law of all life.

When once this principle becomes clear to us we shall see that our attention should be directed rather to the giving than the receiving. We must look upon ourselves, not as misers’ chests to be kept locked for our own benefit, but as centers of distribution; and the better we fulfill our function as such centers the greater will be the corresponding inflow. If we choke the outlet the current must slacken, and a full and free flow can be obtained only by keeping it open. The spirit of opulence—the opulent mode of thought, that is—consists in cultivating the feeling that we possess all sorts of riches which we can bestow upon others, and which we can bestow liberally because by this very action we open the way for still greater supplies to flow in. But you say, “I am short of money, I hardly know how to pay for necessaries. What have I to give?”

The answer is that we must always start from the point where we are; and if your wealth at the present moment is not abundant on the material plane, you need not trouble to start on that plane. There are other sorts of wealth, still more valuable, on the spiritual and intellectual planes, which you can give; and you can start from this point and practice the spirit of opulence, even though your balance at the bank may be nil. And then the universal law of attraction will begin to assert itself. You will not only begin to experience an inflow on the spiritual and intellectual planes, but it will extend itself to the material plane also.

If you have realized the spirit of opulence you cannot help drawing to yourself material good, as well as that higher wealth which is not to be measured by a money standard; and because you truly understand the spirit of opulence you will neither affect to despise this form of good, nor will you attribute to it a value that does not belong to it; but you will co-ordinate it with your other more interior forms of wealth so as to make it the material instrument in smoothing the way for their more perfect expression. Used thus, with understanding of the relation which it bears to spiritual and intellectual wealth, material wealth become one with them, and is no more to be shunned and feared than it is to be sought for its own sake.

It is not money, but the love of money, that is the root of all evil; and the spirit of opulence is precisely the attitude of mind which is furthest removed from the love of money for its own sake. It does not believe in money. What it does believe in is the generous feeling which is the intuitive recognition of the great law of circulation, which does not in any undertaking make its first question, How much am I going to get by it? But, How much am I going to do by it? And making this the first question, the getting will flow in with a generous profusion, and with a spontaneousness and rightness of direction that are absent when our first thought is of receiving only.

We are not called upon to give what we have not yet got and to run into debt; but we are to give liberally of what we have, with the knowledge that by so doing we are setting the law of circulation to work, and as this law brings us greater and greater inflows of every kind of good, so our out-giving will increase, not by depriving ourselves of any expansion of our own life that we may desire, but by finding that every expansion makes us the more powerful instruments for expanding the life of others. “Live and let live” is the motto of the true opulence."

--Thomas Troward, from “Hidden Power and Other Papers Upon Mental Science”

Daily Inspiration 1-12-12

"The odds of going to the store for a loaf of bread

and coming out with only a loaf of bread

are three billion to one."

-- Erma Bombeck

Murphy's Law-isms. They're pretty funny and at the same time insightful and interesting. Recently, I became aware of a new Murphy's Law that I call the Murphy's Law of Shopping Carts. It goes like this: Wherever you stop your cart to look at something several feet away, someone will immediately come along who needs something your cart is blocking.

I noticed this phenomenon about a year ago and since I do a lot of the grocery shopping, I have found it fascinating to watch this law take place in a very high majority of the times I park my cart, no matter how carefully I try to find a place that would be safe. It almost always takes place in a minute or less even when there is no one visible in the aisle when I park. Now it is really interesting and funny to watch it happen, and as I go back to the cart, I smile at them with quiet laughter inside at how they succeeded in making the law true.

Murphy's Shopping Car Law. See how it works next time you're in the store. Park your cart on purpose and walk several feet away to look at something else. Just for the fun of it.

"A Bargain Is Something You Can't Use At A Price You Can't Resist." -- Franklin P Jones

Spread Some Joy Today--Make sure to keep humor close at hand and in large supply.

Daily Inspiration 1-11-12

"The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is

his success, his influence, his power for good.

Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom."

-- James Allen

I find myself fascinated more often as I realize that I am living and experiencing ideals that I have desired in my life, yet at earlier times seemed hard to attain. As soon as I realize that I am fulfilling one of my ideals, I have to pause for a moment and smile with joy. Many of these ideals may seem simple to many, and they really are, and at the same time so powerful. One of them is a calmness as described by James Allen.

It happened again today as my wife and I drove out to a favorite spot in the Suisun Marsh, just a couple miles from our house. We drive about three miles into the marsh and stop at a boat landing and watch boats come in and go out for a few minutes. We often stop on the way for a Starbuck's to sip on the way.

It's a very low traffic area, but sometimes people are in a hurry to get to the other side, so I had one such behind me, so I pulled aside momentarily and let him pass, then continued on. As I was driving I just realized how calm I was, how calm my driving was, how I was enjoying all of the scenery on the way out and on the way back. Time almost stood still. It was so peaceful and relaxing and wonderful. There was no hurry to get to the stopping point and no hurry to get back.

Another interesting thing I've noticed is that people say things about me always having a smile, not in a hurry, looking like I'm enjoying life, being very patient and so on. Many of these people are people who have seen me many times like store clerks and such. Each time I hear them say something like that it is a joy to hear that the outward me is showing off the inward me. It's also reinforcement that I am living those ideals of being calm, content, joyful.

I love how Lao Tzu expresses this idea by saying, "be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you." That is really how it feels to me.

I Am Continually Grateful And Every Day Expanding My Joy All The More.

Spread Some Joy Today--Don't you know that joy is so contagious. Want to make a difference? Find joy in your life and others will think it is pixie dust and want it as well.

Daily Inspiration 1-10-12

"Cease trying to work everything out with your minds.

It will get you nowhere. Live by intuition and

inspiration and let your whole life be Revelation."

-- Eileen Caddy

I love this quote by Eileen Caddy and deep inside I know it to be true, yet externally, I've had so much practice at trying to run things that it has become challenging to let go of command. And, letting go is a great way to look at it. Lao Tzu said it this way: "By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try, the world is beyond the winning."

Of course the biggest issue is that we are not taught to let it go, but to pick it up, run with it and make the touchdown without looking over our shoulder. I have found there is a certain amount of unlearning that goes with learning something new. Oops, there's that letting go thing again. . .

I do have to say that I am very much into practicing the idea and activity of putting the oars in the boat and relaxing in the inspiration of release, and even though sometimes it may be moment to moment, it is powerful when I allow it. I think that is also another key component: allowing it by letting go of resistance.

In any case, it is working bit by bit and I find joy in the successes.

The Stream And The Row Boat Is A Perfect Way To Visualize This Theme.

Spread Some Joy Today--by trying to determine when you're rowing upstream. Even though you may not know it is happening all the time, whenever you do, relax and let it go and you will have immediate joy.

Daily Inspiration 1-9-12

"Imagination rules the world."

-- Napoleon Bonaparte

"Set your sights high, the higher the better.

Expect the most wonderful things to happen,

not in the future but right now.

Realize that nothing is too good.

Allow absolutely nothing to hamper you

or hold you up in any way."

-- Eileen Caddy

 

"Live The Life You've Dreamed." -- Henry David Thoreau

Spread Some Joy Today--by being your natural joyous self by releasing all fear.

Daily Inspiration 1-8-12

"The living moment is everything."

-- D. H. Lawrence

 

This has probably happened to you as well. I'll be reading something, watching a movie or video, listening to an audiobook, and the vast majority of the time, I find things of interest and learn from them. But, sometimes, something jumps out at me as if it is screaming for me to remember it. It might be part of a line, a quote, a line in a book, yet what makes it different is how it stands out.

This happened a few nights ago watching the movie, The Adjustment Bureau with Matt Damon. It's a pretty interesting movie, and at one point, David, the lead character played by Matt Damon said this phrase that jumped out at me: "All I have are the choices I make."

That is a great phrase to contemplate. That is what sets us apart, isn't it? It is what makes life worthwhile if you think about it a bit more deeply. It is also our history, our destiny and our present all in one answer as to how things are or have been, or will be.

Some years ago, I sat down and wrote a long piece about choices I had made in the earlier portions of my life and how those choices were consciously made and each one created, or had visible results. It was fascinating to do this because it made me so much more aware of the power of NOW. It is our now or the present that we make all of our choices.

If I look back and regret my choices, I can't do anything about what has been other than to think about it differently; however, I have the opportunity every moment of every day to consciously make a different, better, more appropriate choice, or just a new choice. And that is the hope that we all have no matter where we are. This is something we all share in common. We all have hope if we want it and that hope is formulated by the fact that we can choose a different thought, a different action each and every moment.

Next time we might be lamenting where we are compared with where we might rather have ended up, the best thing to do is this:

1. Realize that our own choices have brought us here regardless of circumstances that surround us. Realize or be aware of it and then accept responsibility for those choices. Others did not make them for us.

2. Get excited about the hope that we all share in by being able to make choices today, right here, and right now that have the power to change and shape what is. Whether it is a change in the way we view something, or an action that will cause a change makes no difference. They are both choices and our same hope.

"Nothing Is Worth More Than This Day" -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Spread Some Joy Today--Don't be concerned about other people's choices, only your own. Take joy in your own power!

Daily Inspiration 1-7-12

"At college age, you can tell who is best at taking tests and

going to school, but you can't tell who the best people are.

That worries the hell out of me."

-- Barnaby C Keeney

People have devised all sorts of tests, such as, I.Q. tests, personality tests and you name it to find out if someone is qualified or is to be a fit in a certain place. No matter what, they are limited in what they can tell us and yet we tend to give them far more value than they deserve. That reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from Albert Einstein: "Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."

I remember becoming a brand new sales manager at a car dealership at age 25 in 1975 and sometime during the next year, the general manager bought into a personality testing program to help determine the right candidates for positions in the store. So, I took the test to test the test. It came back that I was not recommended for the job of sales manager.

Have you ever known when you felt like you had a calling to do something and then did it? That was me in the sales manager position. I felt like I had a calling to it and I think I was pretty good at it, in spite of the personality test opinion. After that episode and a couple more for good measure, the test went bye-bye.

Over the next 25 years of doing that job, I've run across other tests and none of them were really very helpful. Part of the problem is that a large percentage of people seem to tense up on taking tests and it skews the results to say the least of it and can make it worthless in others. Frankly, I think throwing a wet noodle against a wall and seeing if it sticks is just about as accurate.

The best judge that I've found so far is if people like what they are doing. If they enjoy the work, they will want to learn more about it and improve their skills at doing it and then they will enjoy it all the more. Another judge is how they seem to fit in how they communicate, handle themselves and such. Another is how they respond to encouragement and guidance. Then again, some are seriously good at the interview and not so good at the position. All in all, it is as my mentor Jim Rohn has said: "the reason for training is to find out who you have."

Don't Need No Tests To Tell Me What I Can See With My Own Eyes, Hear With My Own Ears, And Feel With My Own Feelings.

Spread Some Joy Today--Feeling good and feeling good about yourself is the most important thing you can choose to do today and every single day of your life. It doesn't matter who says otherwise. You deserve it, so just do it.

Daily Inspiration 1-6-12

"The world we see that seems so insane is the

result of a belief system that is not working.

To perceive the world differently, we must be

willing to change our belief system, let the

past slip away, expand our sense of now,

and dissolve the fear in our minds."

-- William James

I heard something today that I've heard and seen so many times in my business life and I immediately got tense, upset and wanted to blog about it and expose it and make mayhem with it, and. . . Well, I'm sure we've all felt that way from time to time. And, what good would come of that? Would the problem as I perceive it vanish in fear of my anger? Would my urge to write it out cause enlightenment on the situation or people involved? The answers would be none, no and no. In truth, about all I may get is someone else upset and then we could create a club, elect officers and create a mission for the betterment of _________, by eradicating ___________. Of course, we know how many thousands of those already exist saving mankind from mankind.

Then we get into the right and wrong. Albert Strong says that "right and wrong are just two perceptions of the same thing." Calling a thing right or wrong doesn't really help except to create some more clubs and fund raising opportunities. The worst deception is that I'm right, so surely they are wrong. That's a rather dangerous place to get to, if you know what I mean.

Our belief system is more a fluid state than we may realize. A belief is just a thought we keep thinking, so we can certainly choose to change it anytime we want. The key word there is 'can.' I understand the not wanting to part, but then the problem is still wagging the dog.

I can't change what other people think, let alone what they do. I've tried that for a lot of years in every way I can possibly think of and with extremely spotty and poor results. I didn't even consider much through that how it was that I even had the right to do so had it worked as I had hoped.

No. Since I've finally realized with clarity that I cannot change others, I learned that I can however, change me any time I want and as often as I want with almost perfect results. I call that my enlightenment.

So, now back to today when I was feeling that tense emotion, I only experienced it very briefly because now I know that it cannot possibly help, so I immediately turned to changing how I was perceiving the situation, or my thoughts about it, and then thinking about thoughts that caused me to feel better and I instantly felt better.

It is in my allowing of others to be whatever they choose to be and do for themselves that maintains my own well being. Besides bringing me more happiness and joy, it keeps me out of so many of those clubs.

Violence [mental or physical], Even Well Intentioned, Always Rebounds Upon Oneself." -- Lao Tzu

Spread Some Joy Today--Be cool. Chill. Let it go. Think about beautiful things, lovely things, and happier thoughts.

Daily Inspiration 1-5-12

"Owning is not nearly as interesting

or exciting as wanting to own."

-- Albert Strong

I was looking around at many of my possessions, most of which are small, but make up space in numbers. I was thinking that most of them I haven't even touched in years and would not really miss them if they were no longer here. That made me think of what is important in the things we own.

If there were an emergency of some kind where we had to evacuate fairly quickly, what would be important enough to want to take? Of course it may be different with a certain amount of time, right? So play the game with me if you feel like it. . . To keep the focus on possessions, I'll say that the family is safe and away already, animals are out, and it is just you remaining. What would you take if you had an hour to get out of your house? What would you take if you had only 15 minutes? How about 5 minutes?

It seemed to me that the rest of it is rather insignificant.

I was thinking back to when I was 21 and just got married and lived off base in Delaware in the Air Force. We lived in a furnished 40' trailer in a trailer park and we ended up leaving there for California with only one piece of furniture that we owned and I still have it and use it today, but all of our possessions fit in a small U-Haul trailer towed behind my car. Most of that was accumulated while we lived there however minimal. We weren't really lacking anything important then, nor am I now, but there is a vast difference in the number of possessions.

I'm not thinking of getting rid of them and like many of them, but it is interesting to consider that they are not really very important after all. They just seemed important at the time.

 

How Did I Ever Live Without All This Stuff?

Spread Some Joy Today--Next time you watch a movie, watch all the credits and mentally thank each and every person listed for their efforts to bring you the joyful experience of seeing it. Realizing there are so many working to bring you joy is so cool.

Daily Inspiration 1-4-12

"My father taught me to always do more than you

get paid for as an investment in your future."

 

"We get paid for bringing value to the marketplace.

It takes time to bring value to the marketplace,

but we get paid for the value, not for the time."

-- Jim Rohn

We all need mentors and they are so much more easily found than people imagine. Jim Rohn, who died a short time ago, was and IS one of the most profound mentors I have and I can remember the first time I ever heard one of his tapes back in late 1980. The reason they are easy to find now is the magic of the recorded voice and books. Jim has done quite a few of both and I can recommend them to anyone without reservation and state without hesitation the value is hundreds or thousands of times the cost.

This idea above about providing value and doing more than you get paid to do is not a new idea, nor was it new when Jim Rohn said it, and I think that it always is worth repeating what I think are fundamentals such as this concept.

Many people think they make so much an hour and that they are selling their time, but it isn't the time they provide that means anything at all, it is the value. However, the idea I want to elaborate a bit on here is not just the value, but what the first quote about giving more than you get paid for speaks to. It is the very last few words: "an investment in your future."

Although I believe that to be valid and true, I think in a deeper sense that the greatest reason for doing more than you get paid to do is not for the employers' benefit, but our own. Not just about how you may grow from it and become more in the future, but focusing on the present, how you will feel about yourself by that act today, right now.

From my own experience, I adopted this idea very early and with rare exception have always provided more value; albeit, that more value often benefited me somewhat more than my employers.

I'll give you an example of what I mean. For 25 years of my life, I was in the car business and spent the first two and a half years as a salesman on the line. I was eager to do well, to improve myself, learn the craft. It was so common for the sales people to hang out and shoot the breeze, most often complaining about something or another. While they were moving the air around, I was studying the cars on the showroom, watching a movie about them, reading a brochure from cover to cover for the tenth time.

I wanted to learn how cars were ordered, so I watched and learned and then asked if I could do some, and very shortly ordered all the cars for the dealership and didn't ask for, nor receive a dime for it, but all of these things not only provided value to the dealership and my employer, but they gave me more experience, confidence and skill which made me the sales manager of the store at age 25, while the other sales people were still shooting the breeze and complaining.

This same fundamental is with me today, and now the only difference is that I am the employer. . .

 

Invest In Yourself For Your Own Benefit First As Others Will Benefit As A Matter Of Course.

 

Spread Some Joy Today--Love yourself today, just because.

Daily Inspiration 1-3-12

"The war was a mirror; it reflected man's every

virtue and every vice, and if you looked closely,

like an artist at his drawings,

it showed up both with unusual clarity."

-- George Grosz

Ever get in an argument with someone with accusations going back and forth, with the familiar, "you always (never) (should) (didn't) (etc.)______," or you this or you that? I know that I have. Then today, something told me to look at that differently. . .

Suppose as you were making those accusations, the person in front of you became a mirror and all you saw was yourself? Wouldn't it be interesting to say the same exact things but be saying them to yourself?

One thing is clear. We might not feel so strongly about it--what ever it is--and we may very well feel that what was said was really unnecessary and pointless.

 

Sometimes It Is Really Good To Talk To Ourselves. Maybe Even Prior To Talking To Someone Else. . .

Spread Some Joy Today--Is there anything better to spread than joy?

Daily Inspiration 1-2-12

"As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth,

so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind.

To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again.

To make a deep mental path, we ust think over and over

the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives."

-- Henry David Thoreau

Just a bit of encouragement for your resolves. . .

"Those Who Remain Unmoved By The Wind Of Joy Silently Follow The Path." -- Bodhidharma

Spread Some Joy Today--What you find joy in, you do.

Daily Inspiration 1-1-12

"One resolution I have made,

and always try to keep, is this:

To rise above the little things."

-- John Burroughs

Sounds like a good idea to me . . .

Happy New Year!

Spread Some Joy Today--Enjoy your holiday weekend!