Daily Inspiration 8-14-15

"Doubt is a 100% trust

in a belief that you don't prefer. 

You are never really actually in doubt, 

you are always completely trusting in something. 

The question is what do you trust in?" 

-- Bashar 

It's interesting that I have always thought of trust and doubt as polar opposites, that I was either trusting or I was doubting, and if I was doubting, then I wasn't trusting. Perhaps I wanted very much to trust, but I had lingering doubts, so trust was a slippery thing to try to hold on to.

Mira Kelley, in her book, Beyond Past Lives, awakened in me a way to see this more clearly and expanded my awareness of something I have dealt with poorly most of my life. She begins, "We do not need to learn to trust; we need to learn not to doubt." As Bashar says, doubt is trusting 100% in a belief that is not in alignment with our true self. For example, if you are out of work and doubt that you'll ever find a well-paying job, you're putting all your trust into the belief in scarcity--the belief that you're not enough.

Learning about this perspective on trust gave me a sense of relief. I did not need to learn to trust. There was no hurdle to overcome. I already knew how to trust; in fact, I was trusting in every moment. What I needed to understand was why I would trust in thoughts of scarcity--specifically, the belief that I would not be financially supported for work that fully reflected my passion. And the answer was clear: The evil I knew was less scary than the evil I imagined."

She mentions her previous career and how demanding it was and how many hours she worked and that it became the evil that she knew. She knew how to deal with it--even comfortably, but the thought of the new venture was far more frightening and it was the evil that she imagined. "Once I saw this, the question became, how would I allow myself to trust what I want to trust? I realized it was simply a matter of refocusing."

"We hypnotize ourselves into believing certain things. We pick out a point of view--or a point of view is supplied to us--and we take it for granted without questioning it. Meantime, we exclude all opposing points of view. This is so automatic that we don't stop and ponder the different steps. I decided that I already knew how to hypnotize myself to believe in one assumption to the exclusion of all other possibilities. It worked so perfectly that I simply had to go through the same steps consciously, but this time instead focus my concentration on the things I preferred to believe in. The difference was subtle--I was simply aware and awake. But the results were profound.

I now wanted to change the definition of who I was. I trusted that in its unconditional love and adoration of me, All That Is would support that creation, too. That is what unconditional love is--love and help without any restrictions or conditions. I chose to redefine what abundance meant for me. I chose to see that I am abundant not only in money but also in opportunities, friends, possibilities, and open hearts and minds.

I chose to trust the expansion of my being. I chose to trust the direction in which I was growing. I chose to trust that I would be supported for who I am. I chose to trust that I am loved for who I am. I chose to trust that the Universe was supporting me with its infinite abundance in every thought, in every idea, in every desire, and in every plan that I had. I decided to trust that this support was and is always appropriate and always right. I created a little mantra for myself: I trust myself. I trust my life. I trust All That Is."


Our Choosing And Our Choices Are Far More Important And Powerful Than We May Realize. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by just being you. You are joy. You are love. You are appreciation. So all you need to be is yourself.

Daily Inspiration 8-13-15

"Accepting personal responsibility 

is completely foreign to the ego." 

-- Albert K. Strong 

Does what we think and say to ourselves and to others matter? Do we have no control over our own lives physically and emotionally? According to the ego, that answer would be no. To the ego, we are always a potential victim of the indiscriminate actions of other people and uncontrollable circumstances. When life is good, the ego wants all the credit, and when life is going downhill, the ego has a long list of external things and people to blame. So, accepting personal responsibility would be completely foreign to the ego. The ego could not even consider such a concept, let alone a reality. 

Here's the good news. The ego has its place. It is a minor place. It has usefulness at certain times, but by and large, it is mostly talk. And, more important than this is that the real person that we are is far larger and far smarter than the ego ever could be. It's just that we as the smarter, larger entity need to take personal responsibility in owning up to our power and to keeping that ego in its rightful place. 

We keep the ego in its place by paying attention to what we are saying silently and aloud, and the best way to do that is by simply paying attention to how we feel. If it doesn't feel good, it isn't good for us. As we hold on to negative thoughts, self-talk, images, past hurts, we create within our natural well-being a discord or dis-ease. To the degree that we hold those thoughts and feelings, the dis-ease grows.

I have always remembered and loved a quote from Wayne Dyer from his earliest book. He said, "Anxiety doesn't attack." Of course, it is the ego who is thinking of having an anxiety attack, and it is totally open to that because it comes from the outside, but Wayne knew differently.

Let me share some very wise and important information from Abraham, Esther Hicks on this subject: 

"The first indication that you are disallowing your physical well-being comes to you in the form of negative emotion. You will not see a breakdown of your physical body at the first sign of negative emotion, but focusing upon subjects that cause a prolonged feeling of negative emotion will eventually cause dis-ease.

If you are unaware that negative emotion indicates the vibrational disharmony that is hindering the level of Well-Being that you are asking for, you may be, like most people, accepting a certain level of negative emotion and feeling no need to do something about it. Most people, even when they feel alarm at the level of negative emotion or stress they are feeling, do not know what to do about it because they believe they are reacting to conditions or circumstances that are outside of their control. And so, since they cannot control those unpleasant conditions, they feel powerless to change the way they feel.

We want you to understand that your emotions come in response to your focus, and under all conditions, you have the power to find thoughts that feel slightly better or slightly worse--and when you consistently choose slightly better, the Law of Attraction will bring steady improvement to your experience. The key to achieving and maintaining a physical state of well-being is to notice the indicators of discord in the early stages. It is much easier to refocus your thoughts in the early, subtle stages than after the Law of Attraction has responded to chronic negative thoughts, bringing bigger negative results. 

If you could make a decision to never allow negative emotion to linger within you--and at the same time acknowledge that it is your work alone to refocus your attention in order to feel better rather than asking someone else to do something different or for some circumstance to change to make you feel better--you will not only be a very healthy person, but you will be a joyful person. Joy, appreciation, love, and health are all synonymous. Resentment, jealousy, depression, anger, and sickness are all synonymous." 


How Are You Feeling? What Stories Are Going On Inside Of You? 

Spread Some Joy Today--by just mentally letting go of all of your cares and issues. Just let them drift away like putting them in a boat in a fast-moving stream, pushing it into the stream and watching it float quickly away downriver.

Daily Inspiration 8-12-15

"True forgiveness is when you can say:

Thank you for that experience." 

-- Oprah Winfrey 

When we carry negative feelings about an event, and especially when it involves another person or persons, it can and often does fester and become more profound in our minds, as well as negatively affecting our bodies. The act of forgiveness, or letting go of the rope as I like to say it, brings us relief, and to the degree that we let go, that relief can change our lives in a very positive way. But, we may become willing to forgive others and then have it not be complete because we fail to forgive ourselves.

I'm reading Mira Kelley's new book, Beyond Past Lives. I absolutely love it and I am finding some real gems of wisdom and expansion. One subject she addresses is to forgive yourself and others. I'll quote a few paragraphs that are in the book:

"We all know that it's important to forgive those who have wronged us. For most of us, it's a challenge to forgive, but once we do we feel lighter and freer. It gives us peace of mind and the ability to move on in our lives, rather than remain a victim of people and circumstances.

The first reason forgiveness is a challenge for people is because we assume it needs to be difficult. This is a cultural belief: "Everyone knows it is hard to forgive, so why would it be different for me?" We elect to hold on to our hurt egos--to the sad stories we tell--because that's what everyone else is doing and we think it's the right thing to do. It does not benefit us in any way, but we continue to do it. The solution is simple: Tell yourself it's easy to forgive. It's a good belief to have, so choose to hold it as your truth. You originate from a place of Oneness, a place where you have no reason to hold yourself separate from anyone else. It's already in your essence to forgive because there is no need to punish any part of yourself.

The second reason we find it hard to forgive is that we only focus on the first step of the process--forgiving the other. We were never told how important it is to also forgive ourselves. Forgiveness is a two-sided coin. No forgiveness is complete when we only focus on forgiving others. 

Forgive not because the other person deserves to be forgiven but because you deserve to be at peace. Forgive because you love yourself more than the need to be 'right.'"

In every situation, interaction with others, and my interpretation of events, I get to choose love or fear. Which of those perspectives I view these from determines how I will feel. Forgiveness will always and only come from a perspective of love--the love of ourselves and our love for all others, and from that perspective, we become thankful for the experience because it brought us back to love--that which we truly all are.


I Forgive Myself. I Forgive you. I Release You. I Let You Go. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by making some letting go choices.

Daily Inspiration 8-11-15

"Being compassionate 

means being able to see 

beauty, greatness, and potential 

where everyone else sees 

lack and limitations." 

-- Mira Kelley 

A week or so ago, I gave what I thought was a better definition of compassion. Then, I began reading a new book by Mira Kelley and she offered something that jumped off the page at me.

Here's a better part of her quote on compassion: "We need not look to save anyone, or to feel responsible. Nor do we need to feel guilty that we're better attuned to abundance and support. Instead, we can find the possibility of being truly compassionate. Being compassionate means being able to see beauty, greatness, and potential where everyone else sees lack and limitations. We can see behind the masks of failure, sickness, and not-enough-ness to the true strength underneath." 


What A Perfect Vision Of Compassion. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by demonstrating your compassion for others.

Daily Inspiration 8-10-15

"Don't grieve. 

Anything you lose 

comes around in another form." 

-- Rumi

Time flies. I'm not really counting, but today marks the second anniversary of my wife Nancy's passing, so I felt like marking it. It is not from the point of view of loss. She is part of me and most likely always will be. From the first day, I've chosen to celebrate her life, and our life together, rather than lament any kind of loss. I do miss her, but I know she isn't far from me even now.

So, I thought I would share three photos I've chosen. The first shot above is one of my favorite shots of Nancy. It was taken sometime around 1989 at a Toyota dealership that she worked for in Vacaville for a short time as a fleet manager. What I like about this shot is that she is gorgeous and showing that smile that captured me the night we met, and it shows her as a sales manager at a car dealership because that was what she did when we met, except that she worked in southern CA in Van Nuys at a Chevrolet dealer, which is how we came together because she won a Chevrolet trip to Hawaii and so did I from a northern CA dealership. We did the same kind of work, so it was easy enough to talk shop with her.

The next two photos are the first photo together and the last. In between went 26 years of time. The first photo was taken at the Honolulu airport on May 1, 1987. We had only just met less than 15 hours before this photo. Nancy took her daughter, Alisa on the trip and I took one of my salesmen and friend Dallan. We were waiting for Dallan's sister to arrive from the big island coming to visit with us for a few days since we were conveniently located in Hawaii for a week. I'm sure Dallan took the photo.

We were on the north shore of Oahu at the Turtle Bay Hilton and we met in the evening of the first day at a dinner reception. The next day we were taking our rental car and going to visit Honolulu and see the sights as well as pick up Dallan's sister. In the lobby on the way to the car, we saw Nancy and Alisa about to get on a bus for a tour of Honolulu and suggested they might enjoy riding with us in a convertible. After some convincing by Alisa, they came along. Nancy and I, and often with Alisa too spent the rest of the time of the trip together. We decided to get married the next week.

The last photo taken together was on July 20, 2013 only 21 days before she passed. It was the wedding of Nancy's nephew, Stewart. She looked forward to this event for several months. The photo was taken at the reception and is also a beautiful photo of Nancy's granddaughter, Joslyn standing over us. Nancy was uncomfortable in the crowded room and her wheelchair was cumbersome, so she wanted to leave shortly after this photo was taken, but she got to see the whole wedding and the first part of the reception.

I have several hundred photos in between these first and last photos. I still have about 60 of them on display in my office, so I see Nancy every day. I find more love all the time because love grows when you allow it to prosper. It's not about living in the past, although all of the photos are from another time. Right now they are simply a reminder of how blessed I was to have shared a substantial bit of time with Nancy and her family. In my travels, I have learned and practiced unconditional love, and Nancy encouraged my expertise at that many times. I am thankful for all of it, for that time and this. 

And now, today, I am learning to celebrate myself. At another time, I might have thought this to be egotistic or selfish, but I have found that it is exactly what I need and I also know that it is a universal need and desire. As we celebrate others, and find even more joy in our time and experience with them, it is equally, if not even more important to celebrate ourselves. When we love ourselves unconditionally, loving others takes on a whole new dimension. This I am learning and I have Nancy to thank for a good deal of that.


Celebrate Someone You Love Today. Don't Forget Yourself. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by letting go of your need to be right.

Daily Inspiration 8-9-15

"Developing rapport is a one-sided affair 

where listening and asking questions 

demonstrates the leader." 

-- Albert K. Strong 

There is a habit that probably the majority of us have developed wherein when we are trying to develop a rapport with someone, we hear something similar to what we've done in our lives, or having had a similar experience, and then we share it as soon as we can. Having things in common are the places that we tend to focus, and then sharing stories back and forth becomes the desired conversation and friendly outcome.

I have known better for some years now, but the old habit is easily brought back to life, as I was recently reminded of last week with a potential client. The only saving grace for me now is that I have learned to pay attention to the other person--especially when I am talking. If I detect that they are not listening, and this is pretty obvious most of the time, then I often will stop talking, sometimes even mid-sentence, letting go of my attempted control of the conversation. More often than not, they don't even realize that I didn't finish, which is the confirmation that they were not really listening. 

Sometimes the habit is strong enough that I may inject two or three anecdotes, but it is rare that I get that far. What I've found that works best is to listen closely to them, participate by agreeing, nodding, or speaking really short quips of encouragement or confirmation. Then, I find an interesting question to ask from what I've learned, and ask it. This keeps them talking more, and rapport comes much faster, and more smoothly.

Larry King says it nicely: "The first rule of my speaking is: listen! I never learned anything while I was talking." He adds the secret to gaining more rapport: "You gotta ask 'why' questions. 'Why did you do this?' A 'why' question you can't answer with one word." 

Try it yourself. Pay attention to a conversation you are having going back and forth with stories or comments. Does it seem like they are listening or are they thinking about what they're going to say next? One way to tell is to stop in the middle of your story. If they ask you to continue, great. If they didn't notice, it's time to really listen to what they are saying, and start asking good questions.


"I Never Use The Word 'I' When I Interview Someone. I Think It's Irrelevant." -- Larry King 

Spread Some Joy Today--Go have some fun.

Daily Inspiration 8-8-15

"The world 'out there' won't change 

until the world 'in here' does." 

-- Deepak Chopra 

This quote I have found to be so true and simple. As singer-songwriter John Mayer expressed so well in one of his very popular songs, "We keep waitin' on the world to change." As we do, we will be waiting pretty much forever. The way to change the world is to change the way we see it.

Here's another Deepak Chopra quote that fits here from his book, The Way of the Wizard: Twenty Spiritual Lessons for Creating the Life You Want: ""If you could really see that tree over there," Merlin said, "you would be so astounded that you'd fall over." "Really? But why?" asked Arthur. "It's just a tree." "No," Merlin said, "It's just a tree in your mind. To another mind it is an expression of infinite spirit and beauty. In God's mind it is a dear child, sweeter than anything you can imagine."" 

Wayne Dyer makes it matter-of-fact: "If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." 

Others say, "That's a bunch of crap! This is reality. This is real. You're living in a fantasy world." But, according to Quantum Mechanics and Theory, every bit of energy is changed by our thoughts of it. Simply by observing it even. But, from a semi-practical point of view, I like it best how Abraham, Esther Hicks says it: "Never face reality unless your reality is just the way you want it to be." 

"Wait, Terry, are you suggesting that we be delusional?" Well. . . yes, of course. Although I might not use that particular word, I love to be delusional when I see reality that is not to my liking. I love to look at the newspaper and see other people's reality. It is certainly full of drama. Better yet, I love to not look at the newspaper, or the news, or any of that. But, whether I look or not is not the issue. It is what I see that counts. It is how I feel that counts. Do I get upset and worried? Heck no. That's other people's reality.

What is absolutely unique in each and every one of us ever to grace this diverse planet is that we all see through our own eyes, hear through our own ears, feel through our own touch and sense through our own non-physical knowing. There are no two that are alike. So, each of us has our own view of the world around us, and within us. Each of us has our own reality. We choose what we see when we see that tree. We choose what we feel when we read that report. We choose everything as an individual.

Because of this that I have come to know for sure, I celebrate your delusions. I celebrate your choices. I celebrate your own individual view. I celebrate your life and your ability to shape it as you desire. I celebrate you. You are in control whether you think you are or not. It is all about your own power to create. And create, you do.


And, I Celebrate Myself Too. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by expanding your awareness to all the good that surrounds you today. Don't forget to pay attention.

Daily Inspiration 8-7-15

"A desire to appreciate 

is a very good first step." 

-- Abraham, Esther Hicks 

This image is funny. I've never had anyone ever say such a thing, and it is laughable that anyone might say it. Maybe there's some who really, really like being negative?

Yesterday, I walked into the bank to make a deposit just before 5 pm. I walked in and the bank was empty except for two tellers and I announced, "Happy Thursday!" The girl that helped me said, "You always have such positivity. I find that hard to do. How do you do it?" I said with a smile, "It's an acquired taste." My transaction was done, so I said goodbye, then halfway to the door, I stopped, turned around and asked her, "would you really like to know how to do it?" She said, "Yes."

I went back to her window and I said, "It's really simple and really easy. It's not about being positive. Just find something to appreciate. You know how I might compliment one of you about your nail polish color or something else about you? I am appreciating that. Or, you can look out the windows and see the blue sky, or a bit of it, and appreciate that. You simply find things to appreciate, and then you will find more and more and more things to appreciate until your day is so full of appreciation that there isn't any space left for any negativity."

During the last couple of weeks on my perpetual calendar, Ask and It is Given, the message is about appreciation and the value of it in our lives. I began with a brief one line quote above from the August 4th message. Here's the whole message: "A desire to appreciate is a very good first step; and then as you find more things that you would like to feel appreciation for, it quickly gains momentum. And as you want to feel appreciation, you attract something to appreciate. And as you appreciate it, then you attract something else to appreciate, until, in time, you are experiencing a Rampage of Appreciation." 

Here's another from July 29th: "The more you find something to appreciate, the better it feels; the better it feels, the more you want to do it; the more you do it, the better it feels; the better it feels. . . the more you want to do it. The Law of Attraction assists with the powerful momentum of these positive thoughts and feelings until--with very little time and effort--you will find your heart singing in your joyous alignment with who-you-really-are." 

It is as easy as I have said. Just find one thing. Then one more. Then one more, and pretty soon you'll be looking for things to appreciate on purpose. And, because it feels really good, you will want to keep doing it. Then, within a relatively short period of time, people will ask you how it is that you are so positive all the time.


Then You Can Pay It Forward. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by discovering the ROI of appreciation.

Daily Inspiration 8-6-15

"The defining factor is never resources; 

it's resourcefulness."

-- Tony Robbins 

I just watched a TED talk by Tony Robbins from 2006 again. I love this talk and highly recommend taking the 20 minutes it requires to watch it. It is called, Why We Do What We Do and you can see it here. You can also access the transcript if you like.

In the early portion of the talk, he says, "We've got to remind ourselves that decision is the ultimate power. When you ask people, have you failed to achieve something significant in your life? [They will say, yes.] But if you ask people, why didn't you achieve something? Somebody who's working for you, or a partner, or even yourself. When you fail to achieve, what's the reason people say? What do they tell you? "Didn't have the knowledge, didn't have the money, didn't have the time, didn't have the technology. I didn't have the right manager."

He continues, "What do all these have in common? They are a claim of missing resources, and they may be accurate. You may not have the money, but that is not the defining factor. The defining factor is never resources; it's resourcefulness."

That is such a fascinatingly true line. It is never the fault of not having the resources, it is the lack of resourcefulness.

This caused me to think of my father-in-law who just passed in the last few months at 90 or 91, I can't remember. I heard all sorts of stories about him growing up during the depression in the '30s and how they lived and how he was able to do so many things because of his resourcefulness. All his life, from that early time of needing to be creative, he found ways to get what he wanted and needed for himself and his large extended family. He found a way. He never sat around complaining about resources. Instead, he created the resources out of his head.

I know in my business, Upward Trend, it is not the resources that have helped us make it this far, it is our resourcefulness. The resources we needed were created out of thin air much of the time. There are tens of thousands of businesses that are only here for the same reason.

The idea of having all you need to get a job done exactly the way you want it done is a fantasy. I certainly agree that it would be nice; however, I know from personal experience that this may not be the best thing for the growth of the business anyway.

In the talk, Tony talks about what he calls, six human needs. The first he says is certainty. We all need certainty. We know what causes what, we know what to do, we know what to expect. Certainty is something we need in our lives. Then, he says that the second need is uncertainty. Yes, we need pluses and minuses both. We need to count on things and we also need to experience the unknown. It is the uncertainty that causes us to know what we want.

It is never the resources; it is resourcefulness. It is nice to have certainty and we need it, but we equally need uncertainty. Interesting points of view, don't you think?

Watch the talk and let him fill in all the spaces, but even without that, these thoughts might get the juices flowing.


There's Always A Way For Those Who Know Lots Of Ways. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by simply enjoying yourself. Practice it often.

Daily Inspiration 8-5-15

The Path To Compassion: 

"People are doing the best that they can 

from their own level of consciousness." 

-- Deepak Chopra 

I was briefly thinking about compassion, and at the same time, I saw this quote from Deepak Chopra above, and I thought, how perfect this quote is to help understand compassion better.

I think compassion is one of those things that seems to get confused with sympathy, empathy, a desire to help; to be of service; to appreciate. When I hear people talking on compassion, I see this confusion, and I thought how nice it would be to clarify it more.

Everyone is on their own path, at their own level of consciousness as Deepak describes, and basically, as we appreciate their position, we can understand them just a little better and offer our love as a fellow traveler. Though we may be on two diverse wavelengths or vibrational points of view, we are different and yet we are one.

It's not about agreeing with their position, but it is about appreciating where they happen to be and blessing them where they stand. It's not about being above or below them on the road to more enlightenment, it is simply appreciating where they are right this moment, appreciating them for who they are, sharing our love with them in this respect.

It means that I am where I am and you are where you are and I appreciate where you are and respect where you are and love you where you are, and at the same time if I can be of any service that is meaningful to you, this I am prepared to do as I am able. It's not about saving them from anything. They probably don't need to be saved. And, that is a judgment call anyway. It is the awareness of them, the respect with their current place and loving them where they are right now.

Compassion is expressing dignity. I like how Rick Bragg said, "Every life deserves a certain amount of dignity, no matter how poor or damaged the shell that carries it." It's really easy to be compassionate when people are in need, and a bit more of a challenge to be compassionate about people who we are in disagreement with, or even complete disagreement with. It's harder to be compassionate about someone who is acting like an enemy.

It's not about help, although help might be desired, and if we are able, then helping is how we can be of great value. It is so much more about respect, acknowledgment of another as part of the whole. Dignity is a great way to honor it in another. Equality in life, though not necessarily circumstances, yet the circumstances may not be in pursuit of change. And finally, and overshadowing all is is simply and delightfully love. And in the case of those disagreeable ones especially, it is a matter of unconditional love. That would also be compassion.


Having Compassion For All Others Knowing We Are All One. 

Spread Some Joy Today--Delight in your appreciation of all that is around you.

Daily Inspiration 8-4-15

"Me is not in control of I. 

I am in control of me. 

But, is control the right word?" 

-- Albert K. Strong 

What a silly quote this is from Albert Strong, yet it does put it in a perspective that can be more easily seen. Who is in control? Who is in charge?

Some people say, "why do these things keep happening to me?" That would be the "me". Yes, the "me" is in control of the "I". Deepak Chopra says it nicely: "Owning your own feelings, rather than blaming them on someone else, is the mark of a person who has moved from contracted to expanded awareness." And, that would be "I". Yes, I am in control of me.

But is control the right word? Abraham, Esther Hicks shares this beautiful and enlightening sentence: "Without making the correlation between your thoughts and feelings and the manifestations that are occurring, you have no conscious control of what happens in your experience." Awareness might be a better word. Or knowledge. Rather than control. It's less about control and more about becoming aware of how the Universe works and how to enjoy more of this wonderful life we get to experience. Of course, that certainly does give us more control, so control might be a good word after all.

At the very top of everything that I have learned in my entire life, making the correlation between my thoughts and feelings and the manifestations that are occurring, is without a shade of doubt the most powerfully enlightening and empowering knowledge I could have found. I see it in operation every day in others, and I see it in operation every day in myself.

Here's a bit more insight from Abraham, Esther Hicks: "The only thing that makes the difference in the way you feel right now is the thought that you are thinking right now." It's interesting to hear others who may be having a hard time at something argue that it has nothing to do with thought and that it is just the way it is, that they didn't bring this on themselves, but it was thrust upon them and they don't understand why, and more. It's interesting because I can see the correlation now. I know that it is strictly their thoughts. It is clear as a bell.

Of course, it is all thoughts. Many people claim to not be in control of this that truly no other person can ever have control of. It is the "me" in control of the "I". When "me" is in control of "I", it feels crappy. That concept covers a lot of territory including, being depressed, grieving, feeling powerless, jealousy, insecurity, guilt, fear, despair, revenge, anger, and more. Thinking that these feelings are happening to us rather than us creating them from our thoughts leads to more of the same. Sometimes, it is trained from what are called accepted norms, traditions, beliefs. In other words, I should feel this way, so I will, and when I do, others encourage me with sympathy, concern, and attention.

Yet, all of this is thought. Depression is simply depressed thinking or negative thinking about ourselves. Revenge is negative thinking about someone else. Grief is thinking thoughts of loss--our own loss. It is depressed thinking too, but it is all, in fact, 100% of it is a thought with other like thoughts added. It is the Law of Attraction at work. As we think a thought, the Law of Attraction helps with like-minded thoughts and it stays on that path until the "I" gets back in control of "me".

Once I is back in control, or even in control for the first time, we understand the correlation between our thoughts and our feelings and the manifestations that are occurring, giving us conscious control of what happens in our experience. The "I" exercises choice to purposely choose better feeling thoughts, while the "me" blames the resultant feelings from the thoughts on others, on tradition, or other accepted norms.


I Celebrate The Knowledge That "Me" Is Not In Control Of "I" Unless I Am Not In Control Of Me! 

Spread Some Joy Today--by electing to choose joy. Only you can choose it.

Daily Inspiration 8-3-15

"Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. 

They're in each other all along." 

-- Rumi 

Interesting. In each other all along. . . and that explains perfectly why when you look in their eyes, there is a connection that moves your heart and clears your mind. Of course, that is true as long as we are paying attention.

So often, we may be off on our own thought journey, or past thought journey and we aren't really in the present and able to notice. That's why the best way to find a mate is letting go. It's not the desire, the wanting, the needing. It's the sheer confidence that it already is, and in that release, we draw it and him or her.


We Simply Allow It To Be. Because It Already Is. 

Spread Some Joy Today--Yes, mindless, thoughtless joy. Like a child.

Daily Inspiration 8-2-15

"It is better to light a candle 

than to curse the darkness." 

-- Eleanor Roosevelt 

Today might be a good time to take stock. Where are we at? What do we see? Where is our focus? What are our results? Just for today, of things going on in the world and around us, how often do we curse the darkness? How often do we light a candle? Just for today, of the thoughts and feelings going on inside us, how often are we cursing the darkness, and how often are we lighting a candle? 

My life is in constant change in that I am continually evolving and becoming. Though this has always been true, it is in the last ten years that I've really begun to get hold of having more of the feelings that I enjoy, and in that, there was a huge increase beginning about 2008.

There is a single thing that I learned that bore many offspring. That single thing is looking for things to appreciate. Wherever I am, whatever I am doing I now look for things to appreciate and then I do just that--appreciate them.

All day, every day, I have the opportunity, and even lots of encouragement, to curse the darkness. It's in the paper, on the news, on many people's lips, and there is group after group to curse and fight the darkness. It's easy to go there, do that, become that. You might even think that based on this, it is normal. It can be seductive, but you can tell by how you feel inside that it doesn't really feel good, regardless of the group or how many are on the same wavelength.

However, when you light a candle, you see better, feel better, and find more of the same. It begins with appreciation.

I have a quote on my wall in my office that I see every single day. It is from Abraham, Esther Hicks: "Today, no matter where I'm going, and no matter what I am doing, it is my dominant intent to see that which I am wanting to see." It's been on my wall for at least three years, and now I find myself saying it as soon as I wake up in the morning as my intention for the day. And, I find so many things to appreciate, and appreciate some more, and appreciate again, that my days are rather crowded with appreciation of some kind.

I praise the weather. Like this morning. It is simply glorious, and the interesting thing about that is that I praise the weather every single day. No matter what the weather is. Whatever it happens to be, whether clouds and sun, rain, heat, cool, windy, still, it is glorious. I feel like God created a beautiful new day for me personally to rejoice in. And I do rejoice.

I praise the birds in the birdbath, the blossoms on the trees, the leaves on the ground, the colors, the sounds, you name it. I have a perpetual calendar, Ask and It Is Given from Abraham, Esther Hicks and it never fails to inspire me. Today's message for August 2nd is, "Every time you appreciate something, every time you praise something, every time you feel good about something, you are telling the Universe: "More of this, please." You need never make another verbal statement of an intent--and if you are mostly in a state of appreciation, all good things will flow to you." 


And So It Is. And So It Does. Light Your Candle! 

Spread Some Joy Today--by pulling up instead of putting down.

Daily Inspiration 8-1-15

"Treating a symptom 

is often a misguided attempt 

toward a cure." 

-- Albert K. Strong 

I have a back problem. My back demonstrates the problem through various symptoms, and especially lower back pain from doing even mundane activities where I am bending over even just a little bit, as in doing the dishes, vacuuming, yard work. I take Ibuprofen and that helps a lot, and I even take it ahead of time if I know I will be doing something that will create back pain. I'm not looking for any sympathy, I assure you. I have been to the Chiropractor periodically for the last 30 years, and that helps a lot too.

But, the problem is not my back. That is only a symptom. I can treat it as I've described above, and get temporary relief, but not a cure. No, the problem is not with my back. It is in my front. In recent years (that sounds shorter than it really is), my front has grown. In fact, it has grown to the point that I'm sort of lopsided. It is the front that is the cause of the back, and so by treating the symptoms, though there is temporary relief, there is no cure. To move toward a cure, I must focus on the front and treat that. And, of course, I love treats, so that will be easy for me.

I tell you this dreadful story because so often we are treating the symptom of something and the cause is somewhere else entirely. I'll give you a real-life example from my own life.

I didn't have the money to buy something that I wanted, so I put it on a credit card. I valued credit so much that the more credit I had, the richer I thought I was. I was somebody when I had a $10,000 limit on a credit card. I had made it. I was playing in the big leagues. So I got more. $6,000 on that one, $4,500 on this, $2,500 for that chain store, and on it went. It got up to just over $80,000. So I bought, my wife bought, we played the game well. Then, the symptoms got worse. The interest was eating up almost all of the payments and the balances weren't going down. I placed my value in the wrong place for sure.

The cure was somewhere else entirely. It was in changing my values; changing my thinking about money and what it meant to me, how I no longer wanted it ruling my life because it certainly was. The merry-go-round was spinning faster and faster and I was dizzy and sick to my stomach. I jumped. And, it changed my life. Though I walked around still dizzy for a while, the road ahead became clearer and brighter, and most important of all, loaded with joy.

For so many years, I was treating the symptoms. Too many cards with high balances? Get a second mortgage and pay them all off. A fresh start. But, the symptoms remained. I still had the cards and now they had lots of credit available. Heck, I've bought the house I've lived in for 28 years at least six times, maybe more.

I was insane, which Einstein so aptly stated is doing the same things and expecting a different result.  Until I truly decided to focus on a cure, I was hopelessly lost in a sea of misguided attempts at a cure. The symptoms were easy to deal with. There were so many people that would help with that. They offered all sorts of misguided cures, but all they really had was Ibuprofen.

It might seem that this change would take courage and stamina. Not really. What it took for me was allowing myself to feel free again. I thought that I was free because I had money and lots of credit, but in that I was mistaken. Freedom is not without, nor is it an action or a thing. It is a feeling, and allowing is the way to feel it. I decided that I loved myself enough to make the changes so that I could love so much more.


And, Now I Do. So Much More. More Than I Can Say. 

Spread Some Joy Today--look for your own cure rather than treating the symptoms.