Daily Inspiration 4-14-16

"When are you going to grow up?" 

-- A question I've been asked by several in my life 

As I lazily got up this morning after sleeping until 6:30 am, I was reminded somehow about the idea of maturity. It's a crazy thought first thing in the morning, I know. But, there it was.

I remember my mother asking me when I was going to grow up a few times when I would do something silly. I guess she thought that I should have progressed more by then. I also heard it from my wife during my first marriage a few times. I guess a few bouts of silliness is all it takes to question whether or not I've grown up yet, become more mature.

Mature. It's interesting what images come to mind when I look at that word. I see a man who is serious looking, confident, controlled. The Bible even says that as a child, I did childish things, and as I grew up I let go of childish things. And, truth be known, I have let go of a lot of childish things. Not because I wanted to necessarily, but I'm way too big now to ride a tricycle (actually, I've been too big since I was five). Yes, there's a lot of silly kid things that I no longer do.

And yet, there are some silly kid things that I still do. In fact, it makes me laugh at myself whenever I do them because I can recall the first time I did them and it was during my childhood, or as a teenager. No, I'm not going to tell you what they are. I cannot blow my cover completely. Let it suffice to say that I do them proudly and in all fun when I am alone only. People would look at me in crazy ways if I did any of them in public. Of course, all those on the other side that are interested in looking down at me can see and hear them, but I can't seem to see them, so I imagine that I am alone and safe.

Here I am at 66 years of age, still immature in many ways. It's amazing. And, it's fun too. I mean, these things bring me joy, laughter, fun, and they have for well over 50 years now, and some even longer. So, if I'm not yet grown-up at 66, then what hope is there for me? Maybe 70 is when it happens, or 80. Hmmmm. I don't think it happens then either. I think there are just some things we hang on to simply because they feel good, make us laugh, that we find funny, and yes, silly too. It's okay.

I'm keeping mine, and frankly, I don't give a damn about maturity anymore. I hope you're proud and happy with your own private immature moments and actions. It's our own little private world where we can do those silly things, laugh at ourselves and our own immaturity, and wonder to ourselves if we will ever grow up. Nah.


I Know That I Have No Plans To Grow Up Anytime Soon. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by laughing often and much. It's a healing thing.

Daily Inspiration 4-13-16

"To be interested in the changing seasons 

is a happier state of mind 

than to be hopelessly in love with spring." 

-- George Santayana 

I laughed when I saw this quote about spring because it seems to me that this was the way I felt so much of my life. I couldn't wait until spring. Of course, when I was in school, it was always summer because then we would be out of school until fall.

I think it all started with driving. I played around with developing a different attitude when I was behind the wheel. My wife used to laugh at me and thought it was silly, but it worked like magic. I used to get pissed off when someone would make a stupid move near me while on the road. "Stupid driver! Get off the road! Go get some driving lessons! You idiot!" and such. Maybe you've heard some of that. I grew up with it from my father especially and my step father too.

Then, I heard a recording from some motivational speaker I cannot remember who suggested having a different response on purpose and then practice it. So, I did. It worked most of the time, then it worked all of the time. Now, I don't even think about it. He suggested that I say aloud, "Wow! That was an interesting maneuver. I wouldn't have thought of doing it that way. Nice. Something different," and variations of that. Now, I don't even think about it as I said, nor do I say anything. I just smile.

I believe that practice changed my life for the better. In fact, I think it was changed more than I had previously given it credit of doing, because I began trying it on other things. One of them was the weather.

Some days I would hate and some days I would love and I would hate more days than I loved because they weren't spring, or it was raining, or it was cold, or it was too hot, or it was overcast, or it was foggy, or it was fill in the blank. Weather had a hard time pleasing me. So I applied my new found skill and began saying, "this looks like a different kind of day. I wonder how I might enjoy it." Or, "Wow. Those clouds are interesting!" Over some time, I began to find something about every kind of weather to enjoy, to praise, and to delight in.

As with the driving, the weather no longer upsets me, in fact, it always delights me, whatever it is. In fact this week it was overcast and cooler and a few days were somewhat wet, and I was absolutely loving every moment of it. I now look forward to whatever the weather will be. I used to obsess over weather reports. In fact, when I used to watch TV, my favorite part was the weather on the news. Now, I could care less what the weather is. I know I'm going to love it no matter what it is.

Then, this very successful practice moved into other aspects of my life. Much later, I would read Eckart Tolle and others who shared the same kind of values and ideas that I was practicing beginning with my experiences driving. It is fascinating to me how one can change ones thinking and have it change what goes on around them. As Wayne Dyer has said, "change your thinking, and change your world," and more specifically, "change the way you look at things, and the things you look at change." 


And So It Is, And So It Does. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by changing some of your thoughts to joy.

Daily Inspiration 4-12-16

"What comes at you comes from you." 

-- Bert Winn 

I woke up this morning thinking about my role in these Daily Inspirations. I think the best I can do is to share something that I've learned that moved me, point in the direction of that learning, and relax in the personal sharing of experience and thought toward something that is in some tiny or large way inspiring, uplifting, engaging, or enlightening.

Most of the time spent doing these is spent in contemplation of sharing something worthwhile. I like sharing my personal connection in spite of the fact that it often puts me out there on a limb so to speak because I like that personal touch from others as well. It's less like philosophy and more like trial and error.

So, that led me to what legacy I might like to have from all this effort and time. What would I distill from all that has transpired since 2009, where if nothing else was learned, what would I see as the most important and yet simple?

Then, almost immediately, I saw the quote above, "What comes at you comes from you." How simply that is said, and how accurate from my learning.

I think the most important thing I have learned is that we are creators and we create by our thought, and our emotions tell us how aligned with our Source those thoughts are, where feeling good is in alignment and feeling not good is away from alignment. And that we are connected to Source 100% of the time, and that Source seeks our joy, our best experience, which is why feeling good resonates with what our Source desires for us. It is the most simple and yet most profound concept of how to enjoy our lives that I have found. It is not religion, and yet far more grand than any religion could possibly be. It is control of our lives as we would like to control it and enjoy it. 

When a reader writes to me that they now know that they have control of their lives because of this simple teaching, it is so empowering to me to see them so empowered in themselves.

There are so many things that I've learned over my lifetime that seemed to ring true, but didn't hold true. In other words, it sounded good, but it didn't resonate and feel good. Often it was more like manipulation, where if you do these ten things, and each of those ten things have ten other sub-points, and so on and so on. It is so easy to get lost and forever confused in that kind of teaching. Yet truth is simple, not complicated. We are the ones who often complicate things, when in reality it leads us somewhere else entirely.

If I were to try to teach a child, or any other person something to be a perfect guide to their entire lives, it would be the bolded paragraph above--that they are creators, and that they are in control, and everything that comes, comes from themselves, because they are the creators of their life, and that this is something to rejoice in.


The Peace And Joy Of Simplicity And Understanding. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by choosing your joy as you will and sharing it as you see fit.

Daily Inspiration 4-11-16

"What's the difference?" 

-- A popular lament of children 

when I was a child 

It is way better than, "who cares?" Probably better than, "so what?" Then there's the, "whatever. . ." Light years ahead of, "who gives a _______?" The enlightened version by Eckhart Tolle might be, "Is that so?" The knowledge-seeker might say, "And, how is that important to me?"

Well, you get the drift. There are a lot of ways to respond to what others or some authority is saying is good for us, something we should do or be, advice in all forms.

And yet, there might be something to learn here that could be so valuable as to change my life forever. Then a helpful and insightful response might be, "that sounds interesting. Tell me more!" 

But, really, how often have we done that? Probably not very dang often--at least based on my own memory.

One is eager and open and all the others are suspicious, protective and closed.

Does it really hurt to listen and be interested in learning something? Generally not; however, we have so much going on within ourselves, who has the time?

I like the point of view of curiosity. "What can I learn from this? How can this be of value to me or others? I might find a tidbit that will lead me to something that has grand value.

What's the worst thing that could happen? I would spend some time. I might end up saying, "I can't think of anything that I can use here right now, but I came and I heard, and the value may become apparent later."


We Bring Our Attitude Or Point Of View Along With Us Everywhere We Go. But We Can Negotiate As We See Fit. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by listening to new ways to find joy. Maybe you'll find more than you knew was available.

Daily Inspiration 4-10-16

"When it feels to you 

as if someone is pushing your button, 

realize that you are the one 

with a great big button out there 

that is just begging to be pushed. 

If you don't put it out there, 

no one will push it." 

-- Abraham, Esther Hicks 

I've heard many people (including myself!) who have said things like, "He/she pissed me off!", or "That just pisses me off." or, "Who the hell do they think they are treating me like that?", and a long list of angry reactions to some stimulus from another.

But, it is never the other that is causing the reaction. That's the excuse we use because it puts blame away from us. Our ego loves to blame everything except ourselves. Yet, it is ourselves. The stimulus is only an opportunity for us to express what is already inside. 

As Wayne Dyer has remarked (my paraphrase), when you squeeze an orange, orange juice comes out, and when you squeeze a person, what is inside them comes out. The stimuli will allow us to release a reaction and that reaction contains what is already inside of us. That might be anger, hatred, disgust, prejudice, revenge, jealousy, guilt, or any number of volatile thought-based negative emotions.

It could also be different. Instead of a reaction, it could be simply awareness. Or, it could release compassion, tenderness, understanding, unconditional love, or any number of thought-based positive emotions.

In all cases--all cases--it is our thoughts within ourselves that are creating the emotions or feelings we are having, and all of that dictates a reaction, a response, or simply an awareness. We are totally in control at all times. And, because we are in control, we are choosing to think those thoughts and follow through with whatever actions or lack of action we are choosing. People can only push our buttons and get a reaction when we allow that to happen. They have no power over us except that which we give them. 

Next time you read something, see something, or hear something that pisses you off, remember that this reaction is from you, not them or it. Remember that it is what is inside you. Ask yourself if that is what you want inside you? Ask yourself if this is the person you want to be? Acceptance of that is fine, but blaming others or conditions for that is not because it isn't true. If that is not what you want, only you can change it, and you have the power within you to do so at any time.

One last bit from Abraham, Esther Hicks: "You can be happy or sad, it doesn't matter. You get to choose. You can go this way or that way. You get to choose. Figure it all out as you go. There's not one right path. There are many right paths. Do anything you can do--which means think it or speak it or do it--that makes you feel a little better." 


How Does It Feel? Do You Want To Feel Worse, Or Do You Want To Feel Better? Hmmmm. Good Choice! 

Spread Some Joy Today--by letting all that upsetedness go. Reach for a better feeling thought. Joy is in that direction.

Daily Inspiration 4-9-16

"He who would accomplish little 

need sacrifice little; 

he who would achieve much 

must sacrifice much. 

He who would attain highly 

must sacrifice greatly." 

-- James Allen 

A friend asked me to join her in a quest to lose some weight. I could have said, "what do your mean? Do you think I need to lose weight?" Instead, I eagerly accepted the challenge to lose 20 lbs. in 6-weeks. Though I could certainly benefit from a much larger weight of vacated flab, I thought it would be a piece of cake--or rather, less pieces of cake.

The first week, I dropped (I call it releasing mostly because I don't want to find any of the weight I might lose) 7 lbs. Wa-hoo! I drank so much water that I was in the bathroom every 45 minutes all day long one day. But, my zeal for the challenge, began to wane. The motivation seminar was over, and I was left with my own brain and ego again. The next week, I gained it all back, plus one.

The next four weeks, I did a lot of thinking--mostly while enjoying my favorite foods and drink. I re-watched Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead to renew my familiarity with juicing. I bought more vegetables and then threw them away after they went bad being ignored in the refrigerator. I know the benefits of success are worthy, but I was imagining missing those favorite things to never be enjoyed again. I was reminded how we beat ourselves up and encourage our own failures.

Then with the 6-week meeting on the horizon, I began again in earnest. I stopped drinking my favorite drink and ate smaller portions, and often less caloric meals. I didn't give up all my favorites, but I let go of many.

I ended the 6-week plan down 14 lbs. Not bad for one week, but to me it was sort of pathetic overall. Now the pact being renewed, the motivational meeting over again, I'm left to my own devices. Will I change my thinking?

What did I learn in the last 6 weeks? I learned that no matter what we want to change, and even if we want it changed badly, nothing will change until we change. I had to change me. Not the circumstances. Not the food. Not anything external to myself. I had to change my thinking. In one week I released 14 lbs., so I know what can be done. I want to do it. I want to feel better, sleep better, and look better. I want to wear that closet full of clothes that I haven't been able to wear for over three years (maybe four or five).

It's up to me. It's always up to me. If anything is to change, I must change. I need to picture what I want as an end result to remind myself what it is that I want. If I can focus on what I want, I can get there. Along the way, there are plenty of things I do not want that will taunt me, but I have learned that the only way it will change is if I will change. I am changing. This next 6-week period results will be more indicative of that change.

That is the sacrifice. In James Allen's quote above, he talks about sacrifice. Doing little requires little sacrifice, and to accomplish much will require much sacrifice, while doing greatly requires so much more. We often think of sacrifice as losing something that we want in order to have something that we think we need or think is better. In this case though, sacrifice is not losing anything except thought. We must sacrifice our habitual thought for a thought that feels better and causes us to change for the better.

That sacrifice, though weightless in reality, can often feel heavy because we are so attached to it from the past. Yet, as we focus on what we want, and feel the good feelings of that, the sacrifice will feel more like an investment.


Here's To Your Own Successful Challenges! 

Spread Some Joy Today--by allowing yourself to learn from your own experiences, and those of others (just to save time and energy, of course).

Daily Inspiration 4-8-16

"The reason things 

always work out for the best, 

is because this is actually 

the highest of all spiritual laws. 

Any apparent exceptions 

are simply evidence 

that the work is still in progress." 

-- The Universe, 

aka, Mike Dooley 

As with so many things that we allow to be, the message above from Notes From the Universe (www.tut.com) came a perfect time with the perfect message for me today.

So much of life is attitude and perspective. The glass can be half full or it can be half empty and both would be correct; however, they feel very different, and each perspective leads to a different result. And, though I feel that I was brought up by my parents in a half empty mindset, I have endeavored throughout my adult life to have that half full life, and to live it and teach it.

One could say that the half empty mentality is living in and moving toward lack, while the half full mind would be in appreciation of what is already here on their way toward abundance. And so it is with all of us in how we choose to view our daily lives and activities. 

But, what if the highest spiritual law--that law that God insists we have owned from birth--is true? Then the second part of Mike's quote above is indeed, the glass half full attitude. "Any apparent exceptions. . . " Aren't there always exceptions? I think there are always exceptions, and it is how we see, think, and thereby feel about those exceptions that determines all for us. "Any apparent exceptions are simply evidence that work is still in progress." Amen to that! It's on its way! I asked and I received and now it is in progress! How cool is that!

It is such a powerful tool toward happiness to develop and practice the attitude that things are always working out. It is one of the perfect affirmations to state many times throughout the day, "Everything is always working out for me!" Or, "Everything is always working out for our company!" Or, "Everything is always working out in our world!"

This one is going on my wall this morning.


As I Remember To Remember This Perspective And Attitude, I Am Renewed And Regenerated. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by seeing your glass half full and glowing.

Daily Inspiration 4-7-16

"The wall of inability 

can only be built 

with one's mind." 

-- Edmond Mbiaka 

I was thinking about how we often limit ourselves without even realizing that we are doing so. We think they are external limitations, yet they are very rarely that. They are almost always internal, in our mind, based on our perceptions of our current reality, and our so-called lack of resources.

Indeed, we not only have set our own limitations, we argue for them. Richard Bach said, "argue for your limitations, and they are yours." Often we will argue angrily for our limitations with friends and anyone else who might listen. It is pretty easy to get agreement with a world full of woes. Everybody has some, and they are often shared with each other with the idea of getting them off our chest, but instead, we still get to keep ours, only now they are enhanced by the input of others.

I like how Abraham, Esther Hicks says that every morning when we get up we have been reset, and the only thing keeping us where we are is thinking the same thoughts we did yesterday. Every moment is a new reset if we choose it to be. We can stop our limiting thoughts and begin thinking God-like unlimited possibility thoughts any time we want to. Chris Guillebeau says that, "quitting is a valuable skill." We need not hold on to what has been unless we choose to.

Abraham, Esther Hicks acknowledges, "Once you've decided that you want something, the opposite of it is going to be very much a part of your awareness, too." And, so it is that we see wanted and unwanted in the same reality; however, they add, "To live in the what-is of your day, with wanted and unwanted, and to focus primarily on the wanted is the formula for a joyous life experience."

Consider that. If there is any work involved (and it isn't really work at all), it is holding our focus, or constantly reminding ourselves to focus on what is wanted rather than what is not wanted. Somebody said, "no." Someone beat you to the deal. The clock ran out. You had to work late, and missed the opportunity. The list is endless of all the unwanted that can be within what-is our what we often call reality, but again, the work is only to turn from that and refocus on what is wanted while ignoring or letting go of what is unwanted.

We also limit ourselves by defining our goals to precision. Clarity can be good, but clarity can also point out how much more unwanted is out there.

The better way to concentrate on what is wanted and know we are there is by realizing how we feel. If we are focused on what we want, we will feel good. When we are focused on what we do not want, we are not feeling good. It's that easy to know. Our feelings are the best guide we have available to us. When we think of having no limitations, we will feel good, when we count and express our limitations, we feel crappy.

So, one could say, utilizing a popular phrase, when it feels like shit, it is. At the same time, with a different focus, one could say, when it feels like bliss, it is. When it feels like bliss it is wanted, when it feels like shit, how in the world could we want that? We don't. None of us do. Yet, that's how we feel when we are focused on our limitations, on what-is, on our reality, on all the problems and roadblocks, on our lack of resources, and more.

I am often reminded of that Indiana Jones movie where the gatekeeper says, "he chose poorly," because it reminds me that we all get to choose our limitations or to choose unlimited.


I Want Unlimited. I Have So Many Choices Every Day. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by releasing some of those limitations we put on our joy.

Daily Inspiration 4-6-16

"It is not because things are difficult 
that we do not dare;

it is because we do not dare 
that they are difficult."

-- Marcus Annaeus Seneca

(54 BC - 39 AD)

[Classic post. This is the most popular post from 2010]

This quote from Seneca the elder inspires me. It also helps me to understand the obstacles that appear in my pathway and how I have dealt with them in the past as well as how I might better deal with them today and in the future.

The very first thing that came to my mind when I read this quote was learning to build a website and to be more Internet savvy. In September of 2007, I had spent the last few years wondering about websites and wanting someone to magically appear and come do things for me and then I wouldn't have to learn anything about doing them. This is a common trait in my thinking from time to time wherein I create these huge thirty foot high walls that I expect I will have to climb over, but I don't have the energy and so, back to the couch I go to escape into much more pleasing thoughts. Every feel that way? It's not fun. Or maybe it is because that wall doesn't.

Once I decide that I really want to learn, it is so interesting how this thirty foot wall all of a sudden becomes more like ten feet, then 6 feet, then 4 feet, then 10 inches, then a 4-lane highway. Don't tell me you don't know what I'm talking about! I'm certain that I'm not alone. But, ain't it grand that this happens? Problem solved. Yesterday I couldn't spell it and today I are one! Success! That's what I'm talking about!

It seems that I should recognize this scenario each time that silly thirty foot wall appears. It's happened enough times, but I still feel that overwhelmed feeling. Yet, there is good news. I feel it less and less now that I am aware of how to deal with those walls. And the better news is that I am finding less and less thirty foot walls too. So, it's all good.

I've heard people say that, God doesn't give you a problem so big that you can't deal with it. I say, I'm glad he kept them under forty feet. . .

I'm Sharing My Daring For Difficulties Sake.

Spread Some Joy Today--Got walls? It's just a mirage! Walk toward it with a tinge of confidence and those walls come a-tumblin' down. Rock on!

Daily Inspiration 4-5-16

"It is very beneficial 

and also quite easy 

to learn from others 

by virtue of their example. 

It is far more beneficial; 

albeit, often a challenge 

to learn from my own example." 

-- Albert K. Strong 

As we see with our eyes, we are looking at what is in front of us, and if we simply pay attention to what is going on, especially in conversations and interactions with people, we learn by their example. What we learn has to do with what we are seeing. What we are seeing has to do with where we happen to be at the time. It's easy to learn from others if we are open to that idea. Not from their knowledge, but from their actions.

Learning from our own example is a bit more challenging, yet far more beneficial because it is representing an accumulation of our beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge. We often are not paying attention to our own example, but others are--especially children, co-workers, employees. So awareness of the example of others is valuable, and awareness of our own example is paramount.

The last several days and weeks I've been paying much more attention. From all that I have learned from Abraham, Esther Hicks and many others, we often pay so much attention to 'what is,' or what is happening in front of us visually or otherwise, that we get further away from what it is that we want because of our focus on what is, which is more often than not, what we do not want.

Abraham said, "In your action, you lose sight of the vision, you lose sight of your trust in the process, and you just bang around in a sense of futility. Hold the vision and trust that the Universe will acclimate to your vision. Hold the vision and trust the process." They add, "Hard work is not the path to Well-Being. Feeling good is the path to Well-Being. You don't create through action; you create through vibration. And then, your vibration calls action from you."

I've noticed lately certain people around me talking so much about what is, what the problems are, all the roadblocks in the way, uncertain of how their desire will be accomplished in a steadily worsening atmosphere, where they feel somewhat powerless to make it happen as they would like. At every opportunity, they talk about the process they have been going through and all the issues that confront them, and yet, they keep trying.

I'm quite certain that you have heard, and experienced the same kind of thing from certain people in your field of awareness. If we are paying attention, and knowing there is a better, more effective way, we will not participate in these conversations. Yet, we often do. This is where the learning from our own example is more challenging than learning from the examples of others.

Lee Iacocca popularized a management statement: "Lead, follow, or get out of the way." If we are to be a good example to others, we must lead. If we are to be a non-example, we follow, and if we are loving, but uninterested in sharing the pain of others, we can simply and profoundly, get out of the way.

When someone around us is talking incessantly about 'what is,' and by being aware, we can easily see this is not a beneficial thing to them and those around them, the best example we can be is not to spend time or energy discussing 'what is' with them. We can't just start talking positive stuff because they're in a place where that is just an irritation. But what we can do is not participate. As we sit there, we can be sending loving thoughts, seeing them in the place that they want to be, and at the same time, if we are unable to move the subject elsewhere at the moment, we can find a way to get out of the way, excuse ourselves, go somewhere else, and continue our loving thoughts at a distance. 

It is so important not to keep discussing the problems and the questions that we don't have answers for. It is all for naught. It has zero value. All that does is keep us focused on what we do not want. If we are to move ourselves, and at least be an influence toward others, we must find ways to feel good by focusing on what is good, what is right, what is valuable, what we want. That will be our example.


My Grandmother Said It So Well When I Was Very Young And It Has Always Applied As An Excellent Example: Count Your Blessings. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by your shining example.

Daily Inspiration 4-4-16

"All people on the planet are children, 

except for a very few. 

No one is grown up 

except those free of desire." 

-- Rumi 

Spring is a statement of youth regardless of age. There is something about spring that causes me to have more of a sense of wonder, feel more alive. The leaves appearing and filling the empty trees, the freshness of the air after a shower, green grass growing all around, are all delightful signs of spring to me. It seems like everything is in bloom, and it fills my heart with joy and song.

Oliver Wendell Holmes said a couple things about age. He said, "To be seventy years young is sometimes far more cheerful and hopeful than to be forty years old." He also kept old age away from him with this quip: "Old age is fifteen years older than I am." I can relate to both of these in that I have more joy in my life now than I did when I was forty, and I just don't see myself as old as the number of years I've lived.

In 1953, Lyricist Carolyn Leigh wrote lyrics to a tune that Johnny Richards had put together as an instrumental. That same year, Frank Sinatra, the first to record it, made it a million-seller that year, with many recording artists even up to today who are still recording it. This song is like eternal spring to me because it applies to each individual alone as their own choice of how they will look upon and receive from life. Whether you're single or married, 50 or 90, it works for all who are willing to live by the powerful words and sentiment.

The first verse goes like this: "Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you, if you're young at heart. For it's hard you will find, to be narrow of mind, if you're young at heart." And the last verse reminds us all, "And if you should survive to a hundred and five, look at all you'll derive out of being alive! And here is the best part, you have a head start, if you are among the very young at heart." The song title is, of course, Young At Heart. When I hear it in my head, Jimmy Durante is singing it. He is the master of the talk-sing style of singing, and I just love his style.

How old are you in your heart? How young are you in your mind? The body changes, but the heart and the mind are free of the body. I'm not as flexible or trim as I was when I was 35, but there is my heart and there is my mind. Even in my forties and early fifties, I wasn't as prime in my body as I was in my heart, so nothing has changed there! The me that I am is not attached to my body at all. I am young at heart and joyful in mind and I intend to stay there no matter how old my body becomes, and I'm wishing you the same! 

Jimmy Durante rendition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9RchGMmizg 


We Are Only As Young Or Old As We Think. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by letting go of that old, tired, boring, contrary rope of resistance. Yes. Just let it go. Feel the joy filling all that space? Yes. It was there all the time, just waiting for you to let go of all those troubles.

Daily Inspiration 4-3-16

"Don't measure your readiness 

by what you don't know." 

-- Mike Dooley 

I woke up this morning realizing that I am still here in this time-space reality we call life and living, and what an interesting journey it has been thus far. I have no idea how many more days, week, months, years will come to pass for me to experience, but it is good to sometimes look at an overview of what has accumulated to date.

Then, at my desk, I saw the quote above that I had gleaned from a video that Mike Dooley had recently done. It caused me to think about our capacity for change, to brave the unknown, to find new things and new ways and new experiences.

Easily one of the most dramatic changes in my life was going into business in January 2008. We are now in our 9th year and that seems amazing to me. Who knew?

When it came to readiness, I wasn't ready, and then in some way I was. I felt like I had to make a change, and it would need to be a dramatic change. I didn't have time to figure it out. I couldn't wait for the perfect weather, or the complete knowledge and skill, but I knew I could learn. In fact, at the time this decision came about, I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but I knew for sure that I could do it. Naivete helped me to be bold enough to not know and jump anyway.

It has been a tumultuous journey, but I wouldn't change it for the world. As an experience it is alive and growing to me and it has worked out in interesting ways; albeit, far off the original idea of how it would play. I think this probably happens every time we do new things. We learn as we go, and that is okay.

How can one get ready for the unknown? Even with some ideas of how it will look and feel, the unknown will still challenge. And, that challenge--those challenges--will call us to grow and to become.

Conformity is death to growth. Following orders is the death to creativity. Each of us is unique, and yet, we often go with the flow of what we have been taught as the way to do things, all the while inside we crave acting out and sharing our uniqueness.

Are you acting out and sharing your uniqueness? If not, perhaps you need a little bit of the unknown to help you remember. I think there are a lot of ways to realize and share our uniqueness and they often do not require as dramatic a series of changes as I just briefly described. Nonetheless, I think that it is our uniqueness that is always craving to be expressed and when allowed to roam around openly with us, speaks volumes on growth, and loving life.


No Need To Worry. God Will Catch You. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by releasing that you that you've been keeping private. What a blast that will be to let that puppy out!

Daily Inspiration 4-2-16

"Seeing a murder on television 

can help work off one's antagonisms. 

And if you haven't any antagonisms, 

the commercials will give you some." 

-- Alfred Hitchcock 

It's funny sometimes how one thought sends me on a short journey that ends up in a different place, yet one that, although is freshly interesting, is also strangely familiar.

This morning the word peace came to my mind. I began to think of many ways in which the word peace has been used in my experience. That caused me to think of how peace comes about, and what it means. I thought that peace is a release, especially a release of conflicting energies. I remembered headlines in the newspaper at the end of wars that claimed, PEACE!, and then I thought this was not really peace because peace cannot come from violence. Yet in peace being a release, I suppose that fits well enough.

That led me to Thesaurus.com, where I typed in the word peace and saw a list of synonyms, as well, a somewhat shorter list of antonyms. Interesting mix of words, for sure. As I looked further, I found a phrase I don't recall seeing or hearing before: Conditional Antagonism. That phrase became my fascination for today's post.

Conditional antagonism. I guess that means being a part-time and picky antagonist. Maybe even a prejudiced antagonist. I wondered under what conditions my antagonism is expressed. I suppose that I am conditionally in opposition to certain things; albeit, realizing in my later wisdom what little value is gained in pushing against anything. But, I'm human, so I'm sure I have them from time to time.

Maybe I've been conditionally aggressive. It seems that in my business careers, I surely must have been aggressive from time to time. Then, I think not. Conditionally creative, yes, aggressive, not really.

That led me to the word resistance. It is such a great word, and such a great expression of actions and feelings. It is struggle. It is fear which causes us to be very conditional about what we allow in that might challenge our comfortable notions. It is opposition. It is pulling on the tug-o-war rope. It is pushing against the door so that it won't open. It is an antonym of peace, although Thesaurus.com failed to list it.

There is peace. And there is resistance. What is not peace, is resistance. What is resistance, is not peace. Peace is the absence of resistance. That is the main reason that war will never cause peace to occur, as there will still be resistance on both sides because nothing was solved to cause that improvement, only involuntary conformity. And, of course, wars don't have to be with guns and bombs, or even across oceans. Wherever there is resistance, more focus on that resistance creates all kinds of conflict between individuals and groups of individuals.


In All Cases, Large And Small, The Answer Or Solution Is The Release Of Resistance. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by releasing it. It is always there, ready to be released.

Daily Inspiration 4-1-16

"There is no reason 

to deliberately stir up problems 

in order to stir up solutions." 

-- Abraham, Esther Hicks 

Sometimes a friend, or loved one is, in our opinion, going off course, and we want to be of assistance to help get them back on track. They are focused on problems and we want solutions, but often, the problems are the dominant discussion in our communications with them. It is what is, after all. It is easy to discuss what is. We often call that reality, truth, what is real, what is. Yet, regardless of how adept we get at discussing or analyzing the problem, the solutions can only come by turning away from the problem and on to the potential solutions.

We want to help. It's a friend. It's a family member. It's a loved one. It's natural to want to help, but again, what is typically done here is discussing the problems at length.

Abraham, Esther Hicks explains, "If you allow yourself to be the sounding board for your friend's problems, your power of influence will be paltry, and you will be of no value to your friend." 

"You are of no discernible assistance to your troubled friend unless you are able to focus in the direction of the solution. In the direction of what he wants, or in the direction of what you desire for him. If you are determined to feel good and are able to focus in the direction of improvement for him despite his continual prodding at this problem, your power of influence toward improvement will be powerful." 

They continue: "It is important to realize that the negative emotion that you often feel when you are worried about a troubled friend is actually present because your focus is pulling you apart from yourself. Your friend may be the reason for your focus, but your friend is not the reason you are pulling against yourself. Your focus is the reason for that. Looking for positive aspects and expecting good outcomes for your friends is the only way you can be of value to them, for there is no action that you can offer that is strong enough to buck your current of negative attention." 

Without a doubt in me, the most important and depth-reaching part of the Teachings of Abraham, is what they call the Emotional Guidance System. In simple terms, when we are feeling positive emotions, we are in alignment with our inner being, the God within, or whatever terminology for that you prefer. They prefer Inner Being just to keep it simple. And, when we are feeling negative emotion, that emotion is an indication of being out of alignment with our Inner Being. You could also use the term Inner Knowing, or God Connection.

Sometimes people say to me that feeling good is not the end all. No, that would be constant negative emotion. But, what they mean is that the emotions are not a guidance system at all, but only something we feel. Yet, if you were to test it for a time in earnest, I am convinced you will find that what they are teaching and I am expressing is a perfect and accurate description of how to control our own lives, and how to be an influence on others.

When we look at a friend or loved one--in fact, whatever we focus on--will cause us to have thoughts about what we are seeing or experiencing. And those thoughts as compared to our Inner Being's thoughts about us, are either a match or within a similar vibrational vicinity, or they are not. When they are, we could be said to be following God's will for us, being guided by Angels, or the Universal Mind. When we are not in alignment, we are resisting, struggling, and the negative emotion we are feeling is that indication.

As we see a friend or relative in a place that looks painful for them, and it is also for us if we focus on where they are, we are pretty much helpless to be of assistance, but when we focus on our own alignment first, as in the airline instructions to put your oxygen mask on first, then help others, we can be of service. Then from our own alignment, we can imagine the friend or loved one in the place that is in their best interests for themselves, or in our best imagining of our vision of that healthy, and joyous, whole person.

As we pay attention to this guidance, our lives get better and better and better, and those around us get better and better and better. Those that don't, disappear.


Being Helpful Means Focusing On The Help, Not The Hurt. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by creating your own joy, then sharing it with the world around you.