Daily Inspiration 3-14-13

"Judging yourself for what

you haven't yet accomplished,

is like finding fault with

a lion because it can't fly,

a bird because it can't swim,

or a tree because it can't leave. . .

well, you know what I mean."

 

-- Mike Dooley as The Universe

I've been receiving Notes From The Universe by Mike Dooley (www.tut.com) for many years and I love getting these perfectly appropriate and often funny, while always thoughtful daily messages. This is one of those "stand-out" ones for me, so I thought I would share it and some thoughts about it.

Stress. There's a lot of ways to adopt stress. It's not like we ever really purposefully attract it, and yet, we do. One of the ways that we attract stress that is high on the list is judging ourselves for what we have not yet accomplished. Let me repeat that: One of the ways that we attract stress that is high on the list is judging ourselves for what we have NOT YET ACCOMPLISHED. If you repeat that two or three or ten or fifteen more times, I'll bet that you all of a sudden break out in hilarious laughter because it sound so dang funny just to say that line with a straight face. Judging ourselves for what we have not yet accomplished. It's really silly.

A better path may be to be a real judge and judge ourselves on what we have already accomplished. That would even make sense to Simon Cowell, but to judge ourselves on what we have yet to accomplish or admonish ourselves for not yet having accomplished is ridiculous. And yet, we do this, don't we?

Well. Let's take a pact to stop it this minute, right now, today. No more judging ourselves on what we haven't yet done, or what we do not yet have, or any of that nonsense. Let us instead rejoice in what we do have, what we have done, and how we are, in fact, alive.


Living. Breathing. Moving. Loving. Learning. Enjoying. Sharing. Celebrate The Act Of Becoming. I Am Becoming. I Am A Work In A Constant Process Of Becoming--Ever Expanding. This Is A Joyous State.

Spread Some Joy Today--How can you express your inherent generosity today?

Daily Inspiration 3-13-13

"The difference between

what you were yesterday

and what you will be tomorrow

is what you do today."

 

-- Stephen Pierce

They used to be called motivational books, and that morphed into self-help books and now they call them self-improvement books. I do like the transition of those names because it becomes more what they are intended to do. Motivation doesn't help much and is often empty, and self-help seems like being your own contractor or doctor and not wanting to pay the real people. But, self-improvement is perfect. It is just right. Who doesn't want to improve? Of course, the only way anyone improves comes from within the self and in reality, the book can only be an inspirational tool toward the decision to change.

I've needed a lot of improvement, so I've read them since I found the first one around 1972, but somehow I always thought I would teach that kind of stuff and so I wanted to know more and more and to sample widely for a wise perspective, sort of like being a liberal arts major.

Today I went to buy a book for a friend and a memory of how I was teased and harassed about reading this genre of educational material and how they thought it was all about them making money from me buying the books. I ignored that because I didn't agree. And, you know the reason I didn't agree? Because I read the books and the people criticizing me did not. I don't know how they could have a valuable opinion when they didn't even have any knowledge of what the author had to say.

You may find as I have that there are plenty who are ready to be critical without any legitimate basis for it. Some people are threatened by your change. So be it. You can watch them guarding their ground as a fence post anchored to the earth as they fade away in the distance of your forward travel.


"Never Stop Investing. Never Stop Improving. Never Stop Doing Something New. Make It Your Goal To Be Better Each And Every Day, In Some Small Way." -- Bob Parsons

Spread Some Joy Today--Go and buy yourself a self-improvement book. If you need recommendations, let me know. It'll do you well.

Daily Inspiration 3-12-13

"Never underestimate the power of "casual"

conversations or your ability to serve as a link

in a chain of greater good. Also consider the power

of those who can support you when you ask for help.

Great things often happen in simple and unexpected ways."

 

-- Alan Cohen

As I grow in wisdom, I find that I go with the flow without complaint. It is amazing to find out who you will meet, how that meeting will spark something in the people in the meeting, or even beyond the meeting through others that they may influence. And, I find that it is often in the unexpected changes and circumstances that I find these meetings are more interesting and unique.

You also may never know how something that you will say or do or publish will affect another and inspire them to a positive change, to a renewed feeling and much more. I remember numerous instances of this kind of thing as I followed my heart at church when I was a worship leader and a series I wrote for men, as well as many songs that I wrote and sang.

It also happens now many years later in business dealings, being involved in the community, helping many non-profits, and much more. Sometimes you will know it and other times someone may tell you about it years into the future, but make no mistake, we all have some kind of effect on each other.

I have learned to actually look forward to changes that seem like they are out of my control. It is always interesting to see how things seem to work out anyway and the interesting people I meet as a result of the changes.


You Just Never Know. . .

Spread Some Joy Today--When things change, get excited! There is joy in change.

Daily Inspiration 3-11-13

"Our lives will only

ever always be

a balancing act

that has less to do with pain

and more to do with beauty ."

 

-- Shane Koyczan

 

After viewing this, I felt the need to share it today. This is so well done. Having participated in bullying and being bullied, and more the latter, along with the current emotional climate surrounding this school-aged behavior, it seemed appropriate to share. I will also point out that this doesn't stop with school, as I've encountered it in the workplace as much as anywhere. What a great presentation. Share it.

See more: http://tothisdayproject.com/


This Is Not About Being A Victim Or Needing More Rules Or Legislation. It Is About Self-Respect And Love For One Another, And Also Love For Ourselves.

Spread Some Joy Today--No more victim-mentality. Choose joy.

Daily Inspiration 3-10-13

"Give up trying to be good at stuff

that makes you feel bad."

 

-- Danielle LaPorte

We all know when we're trying to be good at something that causes us to feel bad. It might be something we just don't like to do and yet we feel that it is necessary that we do it personally. You might even be the son or grandson coming in to run the company that has been in the family for generations and you've always disliked it. I've seen that first hand, and the multi-generational business goes away.

How about doing your own marketing? Especially when you don't like marketing much, but you think you should be good at it because it's your business. In our business, we've seen a lot of that, and I bless all of them who let us help because it frees them to do what they do well, and us the same.

Sometimes we think we need to hold on to the "control" and be able to direct things like no other can do. Really? No other? Heck, I've found in my own business that even though I know how to do almost everything in our business, that there are those who are superior at it in comparison. My job is to learn to see that and let it go. I am always relieved when I get there and the funny thing about that is that this is when the growth spurt kicks in. By letting go and turning it over there is energy released.

I've heard some say, "well, I've been burned before and I'm not going to let that happen again, so I do it myself." That's a perfect strategy for status quo, and decline. We need to all do what we are good at and especially those things that we are really good at, and the only way we can spend more of our precious time there, we must let go of the things that make us feel bad because we aren't good at them and will never be good at them. I call it a jumping off point.


Let It Go And Find The Joy!

Spread Some Joy Today--Pull some favorite books from your library and give them to someone who you think might enjoy them.

Daily Inspiration 3-9-13

"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,

creeps in this petty pace from day to day."

 

-- William Shakespeare

When there is struggle, there is resistance and where there is resistance, there is lack, and that is such a poor foundation to build upon. This last week seemed as if I couldn't do much right, let alone well. I had long lists of things and intentions, and yet, I chose otherwise and I struggled with myself, created resistance and lack and feeling down about my self, my lack of accomplishment, lack of organization, lack of motivation, lack of success, well. . . you get the lack part now? Where there is lack, there is distress. It was a distressful week.

Yet, I also know full well that I'm being way too hard on myself. I can be my own worst critic, and often am, and I know this scenario, where it goes and how it ends. I shouldn't be in this space and I am. It was all my choice.

Now, my choice is to wallow in it, or get up and get out of it. I choose the latter. I have found only one successful way that is sure and true: Choose a slightly better thought, then another, then another, and another, until, pretty soon, I'm feeling pretty good.

Another sure way is gratitude. What can I be grateful about right now, this instant. What is going well? What is going right? What is working? It can't ever be all bad, so there must be something that I can be grateful for. And, the truth is here that this list is much longer than I anticipated. As I begin to tick them off one at a time, I find new spirit, joy, optimism, and acceptance of myself and where I am right now.

What it comes down to is this: take your eye off of what is not right, or not right yet, and focus it on what IS right, or WILL be right soon. Focus on how good you have it right now and if you need help, compare it to someone living in a hut in Africa or some other country far away. Being poor in America is being rich in much of the world.


Give Praise! Be Thankful! Share Your Joy!

Spread Some Joy Today--As you take a minute or two out of your busy day to thank someone, or give them an uplifting message, you are lifted far higher. Focus on the bounty.

Daily Inspiration 3-8-13

"I alone cannot change the world, 

but I can cast a stone across the waters 

to create many ripples." 

-- Mother Teresa 

Each of us has a ripple effect on the world around us. Each of us has more power than we think. Each of us has the power of influence in a host of ways. Some may be known and others unknown, yet the effects still exist. As an effect, you may not even be recognized as the source, but that isn't very important. We all have an effect.

When I first got into the auto business at age 22, within just a couple of years I thought that I wanted to do everything I could to change the business image by not following what then seemed like the typical path. I might as well had decided to move Guatemala to South Africa. What was I thinking?

Yet, I had an effect. It may have been a very small circle, but over time, I saw changes being made nearby. I had more of an effect in the commercial truck world and still have some effect and even a growing effect in some ways. As I look back, I see many changes that I authored and they became industry standards, but no one knows that, nor do they care. It doesn't matter. We each have an effect in whatever we do and the grander our vision of having an effect, the more ripples we may create.

Hopefully, we are doing something that is of benefit to others and that we can be proud of or happy about. Because we will have an effect anyway, positive or negative. We get to choose. We cannot change the world alone, it is a group effort, but we can create ripples that help move it along.


1 + 1 = 3. This Is The Formula For Synergy. 

Spread Some Joy Today--Know that you will always affect those around you. Now choose in what way that might be.

Daily Inspiration 3-7-13

"To improve is to change;

to be perfect is to change often."

 

-- Winston Churchill

One of my favorite quotes by Jim Rohn, speaks to the issue of change extremely well. He says, "how long do you want your child to be in the fourth grade?" He goes on to say that about a year is probably the right length of time, but two years, four years, six years, that doesn't make much sense.

Yet, this is how I see many people in business. They get to the fourth grade and then they just stay there. They grow to a point and then they just stay there. Now, don't get me wrong, getting to a place and being happy there and hanging around is okay if you are really happy there, but I often hear the complaints of still being in the fourth grade, demonstrating their unhappiness with the place, but they don't want to change more than the complaints would indicate.

One business is on my mind the last few days where he is good at what he does and he is so busy. People want him to do more work and he frowns and sort or reluctantly takes on the work, but he never expands to compensate him or his expertise. Consequently, he loses customers, and over time, he will lose his business.

In this kind of case, I think that they would have been far better off to have an employer who values their skills, who brings them in and helps them help their clients and helps the business grow and expand, but he doesn't have to deal with any of that. This scenario is of course, a challenge to find. So, not finding smart, astute employers who see that picture, they go off and start their own operation. Skilled at what they do, except the "business" part. But, that is a critical part.

I feel for them, but there is nothing I can do for them. They have to want to change.


"When People Are Ready To, They Change. They Never Do It Before Then, And Sometimes They Die Before They Get Around To It. You Can't Make Them Change If They Don't Want To, Just Like When They Do Want To, You Can't Stop Them." -- Andy Warhol

Spread Some Joy Today--Maybe there is something you are ready to change. If so, make that decision and watch the joy that comes flowing in. As you move with that, it spreads about the area.

Daily Inspiration 3-6-13

"You must learn a new way to think

before you can master a new way to be."

 

-- Marianne Williamson

Ooooooh. . . this is a quote to savor, taste over and over again, drink it, pour it over yourself, and live. Consider how perfectly it answers questions about almost everything in your life. And mine.

It is so beautiful. It's a marvelous truth.


The Reason I Adore Quotes Is This Simplicity And Yet Incredible Depth In One Sentence.

Spread Some Joy Today--Choose your new thoughts, get a new result.

Daily Inspiration 3-5-13

"Keeping your commitment to your purpose

does not depend on other people keeping theirs."

 

-- Alan Cohen

Don't you think it is so much better and easier to be like the little kid who says, "well Johnny didn't do it, so why should I have to?" or some such nonsense. Wow. That line brought back memories. . . How many times I've either said such stuff or heard it from others who don't accept personal responsibility any better than I did. Go with the flow and all that rubbish.

In some ways we all live utterly alone in that we all have the same and equal power to make choices. Some may call it free will, but it has nothing to do with will and is more simply a decision of choice. We do have that freedom of choice, so let's call it free choice.

It's a good thing that we have that choice and that we can stand alone if need be in our choices, and our choices are our purpose. The commitment to follow through is where the will comes in. Once we go down that path, we may prefer company, but in the end, only our own determination will see us through.


I Get To Choose And I Accept The Responsibility Of That. At Least, That's How I Feel Right Now. . .

Spread Some Joy Today--Choose to be more loving today. Choose to smile more often. Choose to be kind.

Daily Inspiration 3-4-13

"The common eye sees only

the outside of things, and judges by that,

but the seeing eye pierces through

and reads the heart and the soul."

 

-- Mark Twain

I heard someone say through another that they would never buy anything from any company who misspelled a word on their website. I said, are they serious? They said that they were serious. I say, get a life!

Spelling is important. I endeavor to spell correctly and use the proper grammar rules, as I make up some of my own. I don't worry about it, but do intend for whatever I write or our company puts on the web to be excellent. Sometimes we miss that intention.

Indeed, I was just told that the word subscribe at the bottom of this email newsletter has been misspelled, missing the 's' in the middle. It has now been corrected and I am grateful for the person who informed me. This, after tens of thousands were sent out over a period of several years. Interesting.

If you see an error like that, it is a kind and generous thing to point it out, without any ridicule, of course. I've done it for others from time to time. I know that in doing these Daily Inspirations usually late in the evening just before bed, I have found in reading them in the morning that I missed a word or some other error. It's funny how it glares at me in the morning and evaded me only hours before. There's nothing to be done to correct that. It is sort of like cutting open the pillow at the top of the mountain on a windy day. It's out there.

So be it. I say, do the best you can at the time you're doing it and move on. If you have time and money for an editor, great. If you don't, just go with it. It is the intent and the feeling, or as the quote says, the heart and the soul that is important. I know this and so if I do my best there, I am satisfied with the result in it's written perfection or imperfection.


Do Your Best And Keep Your Sense Of Humor. Don't Worry, Be Happy!

Spread Some Joy Today--Go encourage someone today. Anyone will do. It is the best gift you can give. It is love.

Daily Inspiration 3-3-13

"One's real life

is often the life

that one does not lead."

 

-- Oscar Wilde

Yesterday, one of my thousands of thoughts and scenarios going through my head was me picturing someone who knows a little about me talking to my business partner and he was asking him, "is he for real?" And, my partner said, "Yep. He's the real deal."

As I watched that little movie in my mind, I felt so good about it that I was amazed. To me, that statement about being the real deal is the epitome of my desire. It would be a fitting epitaph. I just can't think of anything better or more appropriate of who and what I want to be.

e. e. cummings said, "It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are." I know that some times that is very true. At the same time, what I truly am is a moving target. I am constantly changing in many ways, even having long held beliefs change overnight. This causing me to remember that a belief is just a thought we keep thinking until we decide not to anymore. Yet, there is still, regardless of the morphing changes, the real me that I refuse to let go of.

I like how the late Jim Morrison said it: "The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are." It is freedom. It feels free. It seems that the world around us is trying so hard to make us into someone else using standards, rules, and social etiquette, and we can often become a watered-down version of ourselves, or even worse, a clone.

One thing that I have lately found so true was said well by Terri Guillemets. She said, When you dance to your own rhythm, life taps its toes to your beat." It does as we allow ourselves the permission to be real, or true to ourselves.

Be that unique, one-of-a-kind you. Change as you desire to allow change, but this should never change the unique, one-of-a-kind you. It just means your growing and becoming. There is nothing as wonderful as being the real deal.


"All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was. I accepted their answers too, though they were often in contradiction and even self-contradictory. I was naïve. I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer. It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: that I am nobody but myself." -- Ralph Ellison

Spread Some Joy Today--Be the real deal.

Daily Inspiration 3-2-13

"To get love

you have to start with love."

 

-- Robert Holden

If I am paying attention, I am learning something every single day and many times several things. Today I was paying attention and trying to be of service without upsetting the egos of others. I think I was successful. It is often a challenge.

I dealt with two clients today teaching them to do things differently than they had planned for a better result. Both had to do with communication via the Internet and via two different mediums.

It became clear to me in our conversation that they were trying to tell people their story. It was the story that they wanted to tell. It was information that they wanted to communicate. What I was doing my best to teach was to send a message that others would like to hear rather than a message that you want to send. In other words, to think more of the receiver and what would be interesting to them. Talking about our own business is less important.

It also means to leave out the lingo that means nothing to others because they don't understand. Speak simply, as a person talking to another person as if you are a friend. That strategy is effective and meaningful.

In both cases, it seemed to go well and they were grateful to learn. To get love, you have to start with love. There are so many ways to apply that statement.


What Was That Golden Rule Thing Again?

Spread Some Joy Today--If you're in business, how are you communicating with your clients and potential clients?

Daily Inspiration 3-1-13

"Is thankfulness a survival skill?

Most of us have probably already

solved the necessary problems of survival.

But, let me give you this key phrase,

"Learn to be thankful for what you already have,

while you pursue all that you want."

I believe one of the greatest and perhaps

one of the simplest lessons in life

we can learn is to be thankful for what

we have already received and accomplished."

 

-- Jim Rohn

This is a powerful lesson that took me the majority of my life to agree with and participate in. Wanting, I understood. Grateful when things went well? It's a no-brainer. The rest was so much more of a challenge.

I've adopted Jim Rohn's philosophy about thankfulness so much that I can look back and not want to change anything because everything was perfect and I accept it all with gratitude as if it were the best creation I could have imagined.

Instead of looking back with any kind of regret, or wishing anything were different, the power is allowing all of it to be as it was with gratitude for being allowed to experience it. At the same time, if I decide to do things differently now, which I've done many times, I make the new choice and focus on it, celebrating it as what is now without any real reference from the past or what was.

I don't want to go back. I bless what was and live now. I find myself almost obsequious in my thankfulness as it is happening. I am vocal about it. I am grateful. It's interesting that a lot of people aren't used to hearing it, but it is absolutely real regardless. And, I find my gratitude is increasing the more I get hold of this simple idea of being thankful for what I have now, what I have had, and where I have found myself consciously or unconsciously.


It Is Pure Joy.

Spread Some Joy Today--Do that. See what happens to you. It won't necessarily change anyone else, but it will change you.