Daily Inspiration 1-20-15

"Control over the way you feel-- 

over your response to things, 

over your response to others 

or your response to situations-- 

is not only the key to your consistent happiness, 

but to everything you desire as well. 

It really is worth practicing." 

-- Abraham and Esther Hicks 

from the book, The Vortex 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


The Teacher Best Leads By Personal Example. 

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

Daily Inspiration 1-19-15

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." 

-- Leonardo da Vinci 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


What A Wonderful World. . . 

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

Daily Inspiration 1-18-15

"You can't help but feel emotions, 

and emotions will guide your life. 

There's only one question: 

Will your emotions guide you? 

Or, will you use your emotions 

to guide your life?" 

 -- Albert K Strong 

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

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

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

7.  Contentment

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

Daily Inspiration 1-17-15

"You can't depend on your eyes 

when your imagination is out of focus." 

-- Mark Twain 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

Daily Inspiration 1-16-15

"In our relationships we need to 

uphold that aspect of the person 

which is the real person and the soul 

beyond their own self-doubt." 

-- Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

Daily Inspiration 1-15-15

"To handle yourself, use your head; 

to handle others, use your heart." 

-- Eleanor Roosevelt 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

Spread Some Joy Today--Let go.

Daily Inspiration 1-14-15

"People take different roads 

seeking fulfillment and happiness. 

Just because they're not on your road 

doesn't mean they've gotten lost." 

-- H Jackson Browne 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

Spread Some Joy Today--Who wants worms?

Daily Inspiration 1-13-15

"People change 

and forget to tell each other." 

-- Lillian Hellman 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

Daily Inspiration 1-12-15

"We judge others by their behavior. 

We judge ourselves by our intentions." 

-- Ian Percy 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

Daily Inspiration 1-11-15

"Imagine that life 

is working in your favor 

even when it appears 

to be working against you." 

-- Alan Cohen 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

Daily Inspiration 1-10-15

"Generally I don't care 

about what people say. 

I have to be clear with myself. 

When everything goes well, 

people celebrate you, 

when you make mistakes, 

people criticize you." 

-- Sebastian Vettel 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

Daily Inspiration 1-9-15

"Our intention creates our reality." 

-- Wayne Dyer 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

Daily Inspiration 1-8-15

"The eye sees only what the 

mind is prepared to comprehend." 

-- Robertson Davies 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Our Thoughts And Feelings Are Our Ultimate Guidance System. 

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

Daily Inspiration 1-7-15

"Affirmation without discipline
is the beginning of delusion."

-- Jim Rohn 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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