Daily Inspiration 9-14-18

"Sell your cleverness 

and buy bewilderment." 

-- Rumi 

[Classic post from 7-28-14]

This is not just wonderful spiritual advice. Just imagine every day going through life at home, at work, in relationships with this awe and curious approach. The wonder of it all and the value of it all. The wonder of each other and the value of each one.


An Outstanding Bargain. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by simply enjoying yourself in whatever you find you are doing.

Daily Inspiration 9-13-18

"When it is dark enough, 

you can see the stars." 

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson 

[Classic post from 7-27-14]

It is fascinating to me what I thought of when I read the quote above. Of course, we all know that when the sun goes down and it becomes dark, and if it is a clear sky, that we can see thousands of stars at sea level. Even when we are at a higher altitude like four or five thousand feet, and away from the lights of the city, we can then see millions of stars with our naked eye.

Then, if we used a large telescope, we could see billions of stars, and then if we took the telescope into space out of the Earth's atmosphere, and took some time, we could see billions of galaxies of billions of stars, along with uncountable numbers of planets and other objects that we cannot see.

It's all there. It is always there. And, if we didn't go out at night and look, we would not even know it existed, but it does with or without our observation of it, or knowledge of it.

Everything that we think we might want is there. As we look deeper into space, we see no end to the abundance. It is there. It is always there. We may not be able to see it with our eyes right now because we are blinded by the daylight, or the circumstances, or the noise, but it is there with or without our observation of it, or knowledge of it.

It is not something we seek so much as it is something we open our awareness to. Then by believing it, and knowing it is there and has always been there, we may experience it.


It Isn't Lost. It Isn't Found. It Is. 

Spread Some Joy Today--Jump in with both feet. It feels great.

Daily Inspiration 9-12-18

"What you seek is seeking you." 

-- Rumi 

[Classic post from 7-26-14]

In all my years of learning, seeking, experiencing, there is one thing that stands out above all else other than virtues like unconditional love, joy, etc. It is this: The most powerful thing for a human being to have is the knowledge of what he or she wants. Expressed another, simpler way, it is desire.

We need to know what to move toward, look forward to, draw to us.

Sometimes we may not know what we want and it is telling in our lives. We lack enthusiasm, and we don't feel alive. We may feel lost. It isn't about feeling bad or feeling depressed, although that can certainly come as a result of this, but just a listlessness that is a great indicator that we have lost desire. Without desire, there is no life.

A good question expressed in the form of a desire is the best thing to grab onto here by saying to God or the Universe, 'I want to know what I want!' It almost sounds silly to say such a thing but saying it is important. It looks weird to write such a thing but writing it is important. It is important because knowing what I want is the life in the living and without it, a life not worth living.

What we want will always be a moving target. This is why it is called living. We may not even reach the desire before we have a stronger desire to replace it and that is perfection. It is, after all, the desire itself that is life.


"Everything In The Universe Is Within You. Ask All From Yourself." -- Rumi

Spread Some Joy Today--Seek and you shall find.

Daily Inspiration 9-11-18

"The components of anxiety, stress, fear, and anger 

 do not exist independently of you in the world. 

They simply do not exist in the physical world, 

even though we talk about them as if they do." 

-- Wayne Dyer 

[Classic post from 7-25-14]

When people say such things as, 'I'm having an anxiety attack!', or 'you make me angry!', or 'this job gives me so much stress,' or 'I'm afraid it's going to get worse before it gets better,' they all mean it I'm sure, and yet they are all victims at the same time.

Anxiety doesn't attack, others cannot make us angry, jobs cannot create stress, and all fear is generally a fantasy taking place in the future.

When we take control of ourselves and realize that, as Dr. Wayne Dyer states so nicely, these things do not exist in the world independent of us, or in other words, they are fully our own creation for our own purposes, we may find more peaceful and self-fulfilling lives. 


Choose Relief Instead. Choose A Better Feeling Thought. Baby Steps If Necessary. 

Spread Some Joy Today--be yourself--the real you.

Daily Inspiration 9-10-18

"Be hearty
in your approbation
and lavish
in your praise."

-- Dale Carnegie

[New post]

A couple of days ago I was looking at information on a new Redbox release of a movie and it had two reviews. I was amazed at one and laughed at them both. The title of the movie doesn't really matter, but it was Ideal Home. Redbox has a 5-star possible rating.

Here was the 3-star positive review:

"This movie is a heartwarming story, with lots of witty banter that makes you laugh. Touching, funny, well written. Even my boyfriend, who thought it was going to be stupid, [he] thought it was funny, and enjoyed watching it. Well worth the watch. I almost gave it a 4-star."

Here was the negative 1-star review:

"liberal rubbish."

I thought it was interesting that the 3-star was so positive and using words like heartwarming, touching, funny, lots of witty banter, and well written, and yet only gave it a 3-star rating. She even mentioned that she was on the fence of giving it a 4-star rating but chose not to.

The other review, of which I have seen so many on Redbox and elsewhere is so negative that it isn't worth any more than some laughter at the effort they took to put it down. How sad.

So, here's the message I intended. Why would we withhold praise? Why would we withhold approval? What are we saving those other two stars for? Why would you want to spread dung as in the liberal rubbish quote? What value is that coming out of our minds and fingers or mouth?

The joy of appreciation is in appreciation. The value of praise is in the praise or the upliftment. The value of approval is in approving. 

I have learned that to approve and appreciate and to praise openly and often has caused the most dramatic shift in my love centeredness. The Apostle Paul said to "pray without ceasing." This is to be in love, to be in joy, and to see the world with the new eyes of being "born again."

Years ago back in the 1970's, I studied Transactional Analysis. In that, there were those who stated that we have two bags with us at all times. One is a bag of warm fuzzies. They feel good to give and feel good to get and they are just delightful things to share with the world around us. The other bag had cold pricklies. These feel cold, harsh, and are not desired by anyone. Yet, somehow we came to think that the bag may become empty, and so we began saving our warm fuzzies for those special times and with special people. We never want to run out of warm fuzzies. They are so valuable that we must be careful not to empty the bag, and so we dip into the cold pricklies so that we at least give something. 

But, the underlying truth is that both bags are bottomless, and when we realize that we can pray without ceasing, praise lavishly, and be in love every moment of every day, we can then drop the cold pricklies bag and stick with the only bag we will ever really want or need.

The Choice Is Ours Alone. Knowledge Is Powerful. Awareness Is Supreme.

Spread some joy today--by being hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise. Give lots of 5-star reviews wherever you roam. You will notice the difference immediately.

Daily Inspiration 9-9-18

"The only limitation 

placed on our abilities 

is our inability 

to easily recognize 

our unlimited nature." 

 -- Jim Rohn 

[Classic post from 7-23-14]

Continuing with another post from Jim Rohn's wonderful book, The Seasons of Life, I think that I relate so well to the quote above. I do believe that we are unlimited beings and so often we see our limitations instead. It's part of the time and space thing, I'm sure.

He goes on to make it even more interesting: "It takes effort to become aware of our staggering and limitless abilities. It takes effort to become enthusiastic over a cause, or an occupation. It takes effort to continue when our results--as well as our friends--tell us to give up trying. It takes effort to feel right about everything that happens--the joy as well as the sorrows of life. And it also takes effort to learn to love ourselves above all others, especially when we are so consciously aware of our failures, doubts, and tragedies."

Jim continues, "It does not, however, take effort to fail. It requires little else than a slowly deteriorating attitude about our present, our future, and about ourselves. It is ironic that one of the few things in this life over which we have total control is our own attitudes, and yet most of us live our entire life behaving as though we had no control whatsoever."

Finally, he fills in the rest with, "By our attitude, we decide to read, or not to read. By our attitude, we decide to try or give up. By our attitude, we blame ourselves for our failure, or we foolishly blame others. Our attitude determines whether we love or hate, tell the truth or lie, act or procrastinate, advance or recede, and by our own attitude we and we alone actually decide whether to succeed or fail."

I have always loved how graphically attitude can be seen in an airplane, even if all you could see were the instruments. The picture above is called an artificial horizon and it graphically shows your airplane's attitude relative to the horizon. The yellow in the middle is the plane, the blue is the sky, the brown is the earth. Push the nose down, you see mostly earth, pull it up, mostly sky, turn right or left and it shows that visually.

Our own internal compass, or rather, artificial horizon, demonstrates our own attitude relative to other things. It may not be earth and sky, but you get the idea. Straight and narrow is good. Feeling good is good. How we feel is our true artificial horizon. By knowing how we feel, we know where our attitude is and what to do to correct or improve it. All we need to do essentially is pay attention and be interested in feeling better.


They Say, 'Attitude Is Everything.' I Think That Is A Fair Statement. A Better One Is, How We Feel Is The Best Indicator Of Our Current Attitude. 

Spread Some Joy Today--Choose to feel good today. Make a conscious choice.

Daily Inspiration 9-8-18

"What we have been
is an established and unchangeable fact. 

What we can yet become 

is an unlimited, boundless opportunity." 

-- Jim Rohn 

[Classic post from 7-22-14]

Continuing the quote by Jim Rohn above, he says, "Therefore, do not allow your awareness of past difficulty or failures to adversely affect your current and future possibilities." This is a quote from Jim's great book, The Seasons of Life. This little gem of a book is only 125 pages and almost all of them have art on them, so it is short, yet is full of sparkles of wisdom from a so-called and self-professed failure who found a mentor who led him in a completely different and far more productive direction.

The chapter these quotes came from is The Effect of Environment on Circumstance. At the beginning he says, "All of us, whether rich or poor, young or old, educated or not so educated, is the sum total of all those people and events that have touched us since first entering this world." He says that every thought we've had, movies we've watched, TV shows, and books we've read have had their effect. "Every disappointment, triumph, doubt, dream, and love for someone each had their effect. What we are and what we have, we have slowly brought upon ourselves. It is the human tendency to blame someone or something else for our lack of progress--we blame government, competitors, managers, inflation, pay schedules and even the traffic and weather for our circumstances."

But, he says, "Those people and events which have left their mark--whether favorable or unfavorable--are now behind us. What happened even as recently as yesterday is no longer of any consequence unless we choose to allow it to be. What is of great importance is who and what it is that leaves its mark today, and each day thereafter."

You know, I think it is so important to understand that every second of every day, we are beginning anew. We have certainly gathered a lot of experience and influences along our path, and yet, we get to choose what we do with that mass of information. If we are to use that information gathered all of our lives to our best advantage today, it would be to love it all, not feel that anything should have been different, and accept it as it was and how it was would have been full of value and benefit.

The only time we have that we can do anything with is this second, so often called the NOW. What was has been. It all had value. It all had benefits. If you didn't see that, it may be worth another look. Then, we can make choices here and now for whatever we want today. We do get to choose all of that. There is nothing and no one to blame. However, there may be plenty of people, events and circumstances to thank once we see the value and benefit, and I can absolutely state as fact in my life that being thankful for all that has been is the best and most sure footing for moving forward today.


Wherever You Are Now Is A Perfect Place To Begin. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by blessing the path you have been traveling while learning to enjoy the view.

Daily Inspiration 9-7-18

"A great many people 

think they are thinking 

when they are merely 

rearranging their prejudices." 

-- William James 

[Classic post from 7-21-14]

What a wonderful and insightful quote. You can tell someone is rearranging their prejudices whenever you hear them say, "yes, but. . ."


"The Greatest Weapon Against Stress Is Our Ability To Choose One Thought Over Another." -- William James 

Spread Some Joy Today--by letting go of your prejudices, it becomes second nature.

Daily Inspiration 9-6-18

"The only man I know 

who behaves sensibly is my tailor; 

he takes my measurements anew

each time he sees me. 

The rest go on with their old measurements 

and expect me to fit them." 

-- George Bernard Shaw 

[Classic post from 7-20-14]

Often we may not realize how much people change unless we periodically see a child at two and then four and then six and ten. How easy it is to see how they change physically from that perspective. Yet, we are all constantly changing, rearranging, becoming, modifying beliefs, maturing or not, and of course, adults change physically plenty though it may not show nearly so easily as in the child.

It's good to catch up and see how things are now. We know that we are changing, and we may assume others are not because we may not be around them much. They are.

Time to measure anew.


Also, Time To Accept, Love And Appreciate Anew. . . 

Spread Some Joy Today--by putting down the rope every time you feel that you have picked it back up. Joy is always letting go.

Daily Inspiration 9-5-18

"The single biggest problem in communication

is the illusion that it has taken place."

-- George Bernard Shaw

[Classic post from 7-19-14]

I smiled when I saw this quote because its truth has been shown in some recent so-called communications. How many times have we told someone something and later they have no recollection of it. My late wife, Nancy used to say so often how she told me about this or that and I thought for sure I was hearing it for the first time.

It might remind us that communication is not only something we sometimes take for granted, and also that it requires more than one participant. Like the radio or television signal, there is a transmitter and a receiver that makes the whole thing work. So too then, is paying attention when transmitting and receiving.


Memory Can Be A Tricky Thing. . .

Spread Some Joy Today--Pay attention to how joy is all around you today. Let it be yours!

Daily Inspiration 9-4-18

"What we profess,

what we think,

and what we do

may all be in different camps"

-- Albert K Strong

[Classic post from 7-18-14]

Have you ever seen, or been in a loving family where brothers, sisters, parents, children get angry with another and then hold on to their own righteousness as if it is the correct response? Obviously, one is making choices that are upsetting the other, but the real question is why? And an even better question is where is the love?

I can totally understand that someone else's choice is not one that I might make, but to disagree and call it wrong, and then to hold on to it at the expense of the relationship is absurd. They might even say that we are selfish in our choice, but the true selfishness is not in making the choice but trying to get others to live according to our own opinion.

What is the downside to loving people where they are and for who they are and celebrating their choices, whatever they may be? The only downside is our own bruised ego. But, how can we love and not actually love? How do we define love? Would that be how we would want to be loved? Obviously, much of what we call love is conditional love. If you do what I think you should do then I will love you and if you do not, and I cannot change your mind, then I don't want to have anything to do with you.

The best answer I have ever found is loving unconditionally. As Wayne Dyer taught me so well with this quote, it is a choice. It is not automatic. We get to choose each and every time. "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." Love is the ability and willingness. . . Some are not so willing it seems. Allowing others the respect, dignity, and authority to make their own choices, and then let me love them no matter their choices, no matter their agreement with or disagreement with my own. It is the only way that makes any sense if we want to call it love.

Yet, as important as this is to learn a better definition of love and how to love people, it is the willingness to actually practice it that will have it become part of our lives. We will always have things in other people we will disagree with no matter whether it is family, or outside of the family, but we can learn to let them be as they choose without any insistence that they satisfy us. Insisting they satisfy us is the height of selfishness so we can practice letting go of our resistance to what the other thinks and does by remembering that it isn't really them at all. It is us. We are creating the resistance in ourselves. It is our own thinking that creates the divide or learns to love.


How Important Would Your Disagreement Be If The One You Disagreed With Were To Die This Afternoon?

Spread Some Joy Today--Just let it go. Joy is downstream.

Daily Inspiration 9-3-18

"Habit is habit, and not to be

flung out of the window by any man,

but coaxed down-stairs one step at a time."

-- Mark Twain

[Classic post from 7-17-14]

Yesterday, I heard myself saying something about a business and its leader that after it fell out of my mouth, a few minutes later upon reflection of what I said, I wrote down on my notepad this remark: Stop that!

Knowing how I want to be can help me to become that and yet as Margaret Atwood said so well, "Every habit he's ever had is still there in his body, lying dormant like flowers in the desert. Given the right conditions, all his old addictions would burst into full and luxuriant bloom."

The big advantage for me now is that I am paying attention to what comes out of my mouth and how I feel about that, and this helps me to make choices from my thoughts of what actually comes out of my mouth. There is a substantial improvement over years past, yet the habits remain and from time to time become vocalized.

What to do? Realize the progress, feel good about the awareness, bless it and let it go, and live to enjoy another day.


Sometimes The More I Think I Know Something, The Less I Really Know.

Spread Some Joy Today--Bless it and move on.

Daily Inspiration 9-2-18

"I wanted to change the world. 

But I have found that the only thing 

one can be sure of is changing oneself." 

-- Aldous Huxley 

[Classic post from 7-15-14]

It's really kind of interesting how we can see how things can be so much better if only the other person would make the changes we think will make all the difference. Why in the world can't they see it? Even when I try to show them with facts and figures, along with plenty of dialogs, they proceed to do things the way they've been doing, or if they change, so often they are listening to the wrong people and all of it is a big mistake. Are they blind? Can't they see the reality of the situation? Surely, they should be open to the wisdom of how to do things right or better. Why won't they listen? I don't get it.

Well. . . I cannot tell you how many times I have said that exact dialog or some more expressive version of it. It seems that everywhere I have worked in my life, I could see things that needed to be changed that would make a big difference and the owner or manager just didn't seem to agree or even be much interested.

Heck, I call it swimming upstream now, and I did a serious amount of swimming upstream most of my life. Yet, everything that all of us wants is downstream. Changing the world, changing the company culture, changing others is serious work and all upstream. And, it only leads to unhappiness and loads of frustration. In some cases, it leads to quitting and leaving the company, only to begin the process somewhere else again.

Then I learned the answer to all that stress. Let it go. Let go of the tug-o-war rope. Leo Tolstoy said it well when he said, "everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."

We cannot change anyone. Not a company, nor the boss, the workers, our spouse, sons and daughters, no one. We can only change ourselves. If others are open to influence, or open to opportunities to change, we might influence them or guide them in some way, but it will always be they who change themselves. So, it is a total waste of time and energy to even try. Just let it go. Drop the rope.

The best thing is to accept the situation as it is without any more judgment about it. Then, get to work on doing what we do best and changing ourselves to be the best that we can be within the accepted situation where we find ourselves. If we are working for a company, then be the best employee we can be, and do all we can do within the parameters allowed. Leave the rest alone. That is not our work. Our work is ourselves alone.


Doing This, Life Will Take On A Whole New Feeling Of Confidence And Joy. 

Spread Some Joy Today--Who needs the stress of any kind? It serves only to wake one up and that is all. Let everything go. Be not concerned. That will spread some joy.

Daily Inspiration 9-1-18

"Be careful how you interpret the world. 

It is like that." 

-- Erich Heller 

[Classic post from 7-13-14]

There is a movie in my collection that I haven't seen in a while, so I watched it again. Isn't it interesting how you may have seen something several times and each time see something different or differently? That fascinates me.

The movie is New In Town with Harry Connick, Jr. and Renee Zellweger, and it was filmed in one of the coldest places on earth, Winnipeg, Canada. What I saw differently this time began at the start of the movie when Renee's character, Lucy, was in a meeting with her boss and coworkers (all men), and the boss was talking about a manufacturing plant in remote Minnesota that they needed someone to go in and cut the workforce by 50% and turn the plant into a mechanized, robotic plant. Lucy said that she saw the numbers and she thought that the plant should just be shut down and that it was a lost cause. But, the boss wanted her on site to get the work done, so she went.

Then it happened. Lucy met the people who run and work at the plant. She learned about their goals and dreams and how they lived and played and soon she began caring about them. This change brought her to the point that she staked her entire career on making the plant successful and eventually when the company wanted to sell the plant, she arranged to buy it with the employees.

Wars and hate are like this scenario. We are not in touch with actual people and merely see ideologies, strangely different modes of living, different beliefs, maybe different color skin, different climates, dress, languages. The further away we are, the easier it is to not only not care about them but to not even see them as people. We dehumanize them just as Lucy did in the boardroom at the beginning of the film.

I remember that I was told by my manager as I became a manager under him, to not get close to people because it will make it hard, later on, to let them go. The further away we get, the easier that is. That reminds me of another movie I love called Up In The Air, where the lead character goes all over the country firing people at large companies. It is easier to pay someone to come in from the outside than to do it in-house.

I've seen this in jobs that I've had, I see it in the government, the newspaper, TV. If you don't know them, it is easy to not care. I remember when I was a young boy and my grandfather took me up in a Piper Cub airplane over southern California when most of that was farms. The people were so small you couldn't even recognize them as people and the cars were even like dinky little toys.

Yet, the good news is that we don't have to view the world this way, though so many around us may choose to. We get to see it however we want. We can see love. We can care about people, pray for them, lift them up, send loving thoughts whether it is across the street or the other side of the planet.


This All Begins By Loving Ourselves. In That Space, We Automatically Love Others. 

Spread Some Joy Today--Lift two or three people up today. In person, or in Spirit.