Daily Inspiration 1-2-16

"I couldn't wait for success, 

so I went ahead without it." 

-- Jonathan Winters 

Success is such a strange word, and has such a wide range of meanings that it is really hard to use with authority. I guess the simplest definition of success would be that things work out. But, I think that less than an end result, success is more like life in that it is a journey, and it is the journey that matters most.

Here are some words on success from Abraham, Esther Hicks to ponder for this brand new year, and for whatever value you may find in them:

"Life will always be working out for me. . . 

I like understanding that things are always evolving, and while there are many things that could be better where I am, it is not really a problem because "where I am" is constantly changing to something better. I like knowing that as I look for the best things around me where I am, those things become more prevalent in my experience. 

It is fun to know that things are always working out for me, and as I watch for the evidence of that. . . I see more evidence of that every day." 


What A Great Attitude To Make Use Of, Don't You Think? 

Spread Some Joy Today--by loving yourself.

Daily Inspiration 1-1-16

"I suspend 

my belief in opposites 

by seeing myself in all." 

-- Essence of the Tao Te Ching, 10th verse
by Wayne Dyer 

Alan Watts says it very simply: "Saints need sinners." After all, if you think about that amazing statement, it is so true. What would a saint be without sinners? In fact, what would sinners be without saints? What would hot be without cold? Long without short? Night without day? Positive without negative? True without false? What we want without what we don't want?

As humans living in societies, we have this tendency to put people on pedestals and also to throw others in the pit, and those tendencies change with the current tide of popular affairs.

So, here's a powerfully wonderful New Year's resolution for your consideration as I adopt it for myself:

This year, I will pay closer attention to anything that is not to my liking, or not what I think I want, and make better use of that valuable information. I will know that this is happening because I will be paying attention to how I am feeling. If I am feeling off, or bad, or down, I will know that there is valuable information I need to pay close attention to that is my internal guidance helping me understand in each such situation what it is that I don't want, and that automatically helps me understand what I do want, or what I would rather have, or how I would rather feel. From this awareness and enlightenment, I will pivot and focus on what I do want, all the while paying attention to how I am feeling about that. As I focus on what I want to see, what I want to do, what I would rather be, I will feel better and better. 

My goal, if it can be named as such, is to have joy, to love others and myself, to delight in the vast knowledge that I have within, to feel free and to feel empowered, to be passionate, and compassionate. If I experience anger, or frustration, or worry, these emotions will be welcomed as warning bells that I am currently off course of my objective, and this awareness and realization will allow me to use this information to pivot and focus on what I would rather experience, thereby putting me back on the path of my desire. 

In all of my travels this year, I intend to find things to appreciate, people to appreciate, situations to appreciate. I intend to be an uplifter, a joy giver, and a knowledge sharer. I intend to fully enjoy myself. I intend to love myself more, and to love my life more, and to love others more, and to love the world more. I am a creator, and I fully intend to create. I intend to create my world, to my liking, on every level for me, and by virtue of that, for others as co-creators with me, and for themselves. I am love, and I intend to love more fully and openly. 

Everything that I have experienced has led me to this place, and this new year will shine as the accumulation of all that has been molded into all that will be to come. I look on this new year with eager anticipation of all that I will now become. 

As New Year's resolutions go, this one will empower me very effectively into this new year and beyond.


Whatever Your Plans, I Wish You A HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

Spread Some Joy Today--Today is a new beginning of new joy.

Daily Inspiration 12-31-15

"When my cup is full, 

I stop pouring." 

-- Essence of the Tao Te Ching, 9th verse
by Wayne Dyer 

Hmmm. . . this seemed like an appropriate message for this day of celebration. Or any other day for that matter.


Happy New Year's Eve. 

Spread Some Joy Today--please. Everyone can use more joy, don't you think?

Daily Inspiration 12-30-15

"Such concerns had little effect." 

-- David McCullough 

from The Wright Brothers book 

I'm nearly finished with my latest audiobook, The Wright Brothers by David McCullough, and what an absolutely fascinating story this is. What I learned in high school about The Wright Brothers and their flying machine is so sad compared to what I've learned 'reading' this book. And to hear that familiar voice of David McCullough reading his book to me personally is a delight to say it mildly.

It cracks me up how when reading or listening to a book how a phrase just leaps out at me. It also cracks me up what those phrases are. In the early portion of this book, the quote above totally got my attention: "Such concerns had little effect." I had to stop and write it down and ponder it further: "Such concerns had little effect."

In the book, David was talking about the new bicycle craze that hit the country in the early 1890's. The Wright brothers and their sister Katherine joined the craze and were taking long outings on their bicycles and having a wonderful time. David wrote that, "the bicycle was proclaimed a boon to all mankind, a thing of beauty, good for the spirits, good for health and vitality, indeed one's whole outlook on life."

In the next paragraph, he stated that, "Voices were raised in protest. Bicycles were proclaimed morally hazardous. Until now children and youth were unable to stray very far from home on foot. Now, one magazine warned, fifteen minutes could put them miles away." He went on with other reported concerns about this new bicycle craze with warnings attempting to scare people away from owning or riding bicycles.

Then he writes, "Such concerns had little effect. Everybody was riding bicycles, men, women, all ages and from all walks of life." And, it was in the spring of 1893 that Wilbur and Orville Wright opened their own small bicycle business and in a short time began designing and manufacturing bicycles as the Wright Cycle Company.

As I pondered that phrase, "such concerns had little effect," I thought of how many times in history in general, and in our own history in particular, that we have had concerns about something going on somewhere outside, or even within our lives that we have unfounded concerns about. In fact, a very high percentage of the news in a newspaper and even a higher percentage of the news online and on the television expresses concerns about events and especially potential events. It seems that the controversy is what drives the ratings.

The most popular blogs are popular because of their choices in controversial subjects. Everyone is seemingly concerned about all manner of things that may happen, especially those that are based on current events, whether accurately portrayed or not, and as in all of history based on my own learning, they are so often portrayed inaccurately.

To think that all of our own concerns, and those of millions of others might have little effect is to give hope to all. It seems that we worry and concern ourselves with so many things that never come to be. Isn't that true with worry in general? Being concerned about something that might happen is a complete waste of time and energy, yet it is a popular activity.

Today, when you feel worried or concerned about something, say this phrase aloud or to yourself: "Such concerns will have little effect. Almost all of my concerns will have little effect. I choose to let this go now. I choose to trust instead."


In All Of My Life, All Of My Concerns Have Had Little Effect. I Am Dropping The Rope. Now. 

Spread Some Joy Today--There is no joy in concerns and worry. Yet, as we let go of them, we instantly rise to a better emotional place.

Daily Inspiration 12-29-15

"To believe your own thought, 

to believe that what is true 

 for you in your private heart 

 is true for all men 

that is genius." 

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson 

These writings always focus on the end result potential of being inspiring in some way, and sometimes I take a roundabout way of doing that. Today will be that.

Yesterday, I had a Facebook debate with my step son about a video he posted showing a very poor town in the southern United States that had thriving manufacturing at one time and employed so many in the town, but has long since closed and the town sort of died with it. The survivors that stayed have a very hard time finding work and there is a lot of despair and powerlessness, especially in the men, the majority of whom left for parts unknown. The discussion with my step son was about history and technology changing the labor landscape of this country and the world.

At one point I stated that the only real change can come from a change in thinking. When you're down and depressed and even into powerlessness, that feeds on itself and hope is so far away, and joy is completely unknown. Though the mills closed, and the jobs it used to offer left too, if we continue to think the same way, we have little choice but despair and depression. Opportunities are all around us, but we cannot see them through the fog of despair. As Albert Einstein so aptly put it, "we cannot solve our problems with the same kind of thinking that created them."

In my argument, I was suggesting to focus on solutions rather than restate or analyze the problem further. He is so articulate and smart that I felt as if I were debating a Harvard professor. Eventually, I said, "thank you for the swim." Yet, I hold to the idea that in focusing on the solutions (plural), there is plenty of hope, while analyzing the problems simply shuffles the despair around slightly.

What it comes down to for me is thinking. What we think is what we get. I have learned this so well that it cannot be disputed anymore. And, as Vincent Roazzi said so well, "for things to change, we must change," and that change can only begin with thought. If our thinking doesn't change, the actions will not, the circumstances will not, and we will continually choose where we are again and again and again.

In this town, so many turned to drugs and crime. That is truly despair thinking. It is attempting to make change with action alone. If that really worked, the world would be a very different place. It doesn't change the thinking, so it doesn't change the reality. I know people who went to drugs for a solution. In fact, my sister died of a drug overdose when she was only 21 years old. It's a short lived affair. We must change our thinking, and then our actions will change. If we keep thinking the same things over and over, our lives go nowhere.

So, on to the inspirational portion of this. . . We have a tendency to want to help those people who are in circumstances that we find sad and depressing. We naturally want to help those in pain and despair. Yet, here's the reality--we cannot help them to change until they are willing to change their thinking. The best we can do is to uplift them in our minds, seeing them being the best they can be, and offering to be of assistance if they are ready to change their thinking. If all they want is a change in their circumstances, that will never last.

It is the same with us. As we think of New Year's resolutions, starting a new year with renewed goals and wanting changes by leaving things behind or by beginning things new, if it is the actions we are focused on, that will never last. However, if we will focus on changing our thinking, we have hope. As we have hope, the Law of Attraction will help bring us closer to joy.

The only person that we can change effectively is ourselves. Though we may want others to change, that is a zero sum game. If we focus on ourselves, in being that new thinking person, we may be an influence on those around us to follow. That is our best hope of changing others. We are of service in being our best, following our bliss, and seeing all others in theirs--wherever they may seem to be at the moment. At the same time, and from our better place view, we can offer to be of assistance should anyone desire that change toward better feeling thoughts.


I Will Change Me For Me For You. From This Place, I May Be Of Service. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by focusing on your own joy until you have it, then from that place, sharing it is a given.

Daily Inspiration 12-28-15

"Use this week to let go 

of all you do not wish to take with you 

into the new year, 

and to step into the truth 

of your highest potential." 

-- Alan Cohen 

Decisions, decisions, decisions. Isn't it fascinating how so many of us have this tendency to compartmentalize time by making a point in time a turning point, or a time of change, when in reality, change is constant and never-ending. We name time by seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, and within them, none has the magic of potential renewal as does New Year's Day, or January 1st of a new year.

But, since we do, let's make it easier on ourselves by this perfect message from Abraham, Esther Hicks:

"Make a decision and then make it right. There just are no wrong decisions. You could go this way, or that way, and either way will eventually get you to where you want to be. But in the moment you start complimenting yourself on the decision you've made, in that moment, you come back into vibrational alignment with who-you-really-are." 


That Was Easy. Now Let's Enjoy This Period Of Time Like It Won't Come Again.

Spread Some Joy Today--by letting go of all that baggage you've accumulated in your travels. Just leave it on the carousel. It will go to unclaimed baggage. Aren't you glad you forgot to put your name and address on that bag?

Daily Inspiration 12-27-15

"What is a weed? 

A plant whose virtues 

have not yet been discovered." 

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson 

And, so it is with everything we look at, including other human beings. Mr. Emerson takes it so far as to say, "Even in the mud and scum of things, something always, always sings."

In our negative judgment of a thing, situation, or person, our judgment is truly on ourselves for our ignorance, whether lack of knowledge, or lack of compassion. With sufficient knowledge and/or compassion, we would have no need of judgment.

Ian Maclaren said it well: "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle." As I consider that statement, and the people that I do know, I know that is often true, and so as we meet people that we don't know very well, it would be most beneficial to consider they may be going through things that has an effect on their demeanor as they move through their lives. Our kindness in consideration of such a possibility, whether it exists in reality or not, will go far in offering a compassionate point of view.


"There Is More In Every Person's Soul Than We Think." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Spread Some Joy Today--in your consideration of others.

Daily Inspiration 12-26-15

"Doing things "just in case" 

means doing them out of fear." 

-- Anita Moojani 

NOT! 

There is a vast difference between doing things 'just in case,' which is fear-based planning and doing, and planning and doing things because you want to do them. It is the difference between living in fear and living in joy.


Planning For The Worst Is Not A Very Good Plan. It Takes Us Where We Really Don't Want To Go. So, Why Plan For It? 

Spread Some Joy Today--by focusing on what you want.

Daily Inspiration 12-25-15

"But what about you?" He asked. 

"Who do you say I am?" 

Simon Peter answered, 

"You are the Christ, 

the Son of the living God." 

-- Matthew 16:15,16, 

The Bible 

Considering it is Christmas Day, it seemed so appropriate to honor the Christ of whom the day is supposed to represent--that of Jesus of Nazareth.

During the height of my 9-year experience at leading and being on the worship team at our church, I wrote a large number of songs that were simple and straightforward and expressed where my head and heart was during that time. I would often put a Bible quote at the top of the written song that stood as very appropriate for the song content. The quote above was used on a song from 2002 titled, I Know That You Are God. The two verses of the very simple lyrics went like this:

I want to know you more, but all I need, I have, in that I know that you are God. I want to see your face, but all I need I have, in that I know that you are God, I know that you are God.

Some people think that God began and stopped inspiring writing at the Bible. How sad that thought is. That would indicate that God no longer exists, and only wanted to talk to selected people. How sad that is too. I cannot possibly believe such a thing because I know that God IS life, is living, is constantly inspiring, and speaking in hundreds of tongues throughout the world.

From 25 centuries ago, by special request, Lao-tzu recorded the Tao Te Ching. It is a book of 81 verses that are so short, simple, and full of love and wisdom. Beginning at Verse 1: "I choose to enjoy living the great mystery. The Tao that can be named is not the Tao." And, so it is today. The God that can be named is not God. As it is, we have given hundreds of names to this that cannot be named.

I know that a writing is inspired because it resonates with me. And, at the same time, I know that all writing is inspired because it will resonate with someone somewhere. Kevin Hall's delightful book titled, Aspire, is one such book to me. It is the kind of book that I savor like a taste on my tongue that I want to play with and sense with unbridled joy, so I go slow and easy and relish each little bite. 

Here is where I learned what the word, Namaste (nah-mah-STAY) means. I've heard that word a lot, especially in New Age circles, but I never bothered to check into it. Kevin brought me the definition, or rather definitions, along with a whole chapter of how and why it is an important word. The image above shows the reverential way of expressing the word, typically with the head bowed, and the hands together touching the heart.

In the book, Kevin refers to a time when Albert Einstein learned of the word by watching Mahatma Gandhi greeting people in the streets of India. He said that Einstein wrote to Gandhi and asked what he was saying. Gandhi replied: "Namaste. It means I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides. I honor the place in you of light, love, truth, peace, and wisdom." 

Kevin goes on to say: "Imagine what impact this single word could have on the world if every day you looked each person that you passed in the eye and said, in effect: I salute the Divine within you. I salute what you do best. I salute your natural gifts. I honor your uniqueness and your specialness." 

So, to wrap this up (pun intended) as a Christmas gift to all who may like to receive it, consider greeting all you see today, tomorrow and beyond with the blessing and statement of Namaste: I see in you, God. I see in you, The Christ. I see in you Divine. I see in you Love. I see in you that uniqueness that is you alone. I see in you infinite possibilities. I see in you joy. I see in you, myself, for I cannot acknowledge you and not acknowledge myself. I join with you in choosing to enjoy living the great mystery. I choose to love you, because I too, am love.


Merry Christmas To All. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by letting go of that rope and relaxing in the mystery.

Daily Inspiration 12-24-15

"Everything exists for the purpose 

of joy in the moment." 

-- Abraham, Esther Hicks 

What a perfect time (as would any other) to share this message from Abraham, Esther Hicks: 

"Everything exists for joy. There is not one other reason for life than joy. We've got nothing to prove to anyone, because nobody other than All-That-Is is watching. In other words, we're not trying to get brownie points from some other galaxy. We're not trying to get someplace else; we're not trying to get it done, because there is no ending--we cannot get it done. Everything exists for the purpose of joy in the moment." 

Everything that we do, we do because we think that in the doing of that, we will feel better; feel good; have joy. We work to earn money so that the money will provide the things that we think will cause us to feel better; feel good; have joy. It's the way we choose things that we want--indeed, it is desire itself. That's the reason there isn't anything wrong with whatever someone might want, because, in their thinking of it, they imagine that it will cause them to feel better; feel good; have some amount of joy.

Of course, you know where this is going, right? There is a short cut. We can find ways to be joyous at the beginning instead of the end result. How brilliant! And, the way to take that short cut is via appreciation.

As you go through your day, the last minute shopping, the preparations for the feasts and parties, working to serve those who are doing their last-minute shopping, dealing with all the increased traffic, or whatever you are doing today, if you will find one thing to appreciate, that will lead to the second and the third and more. As your appreciation expands, joy flows. Appreciation and joy are the same vibration. Love and joy are the same vibration. Injoy your day today, in whatever you choose to do and wherever you choose to be.


And. . . Don't Forget To Breathe! 

Spread Some Joy Today--via a trip to the State of Appreciation.

Daily Inspiration 12-23-15

"Can't see the forest for the trees." 

-- Common and very old phrase 

I was looking at the phrase, can't see the forest for the trees, and generally, it is intended to mean that someone is paying so much attention to the details that they cannot see the bigger picture.

Dan Miguel Ruiz says something similar in this: "We are not aware of what we really are because our attention is so focused on what we are trying to be."

I love how Abraham, Esther Hicks puts it in perspective in living a happy life: "A happy life is just a string of happy moments. But most people don't allow the happy moment, because they're so busy trying to get a happy life."

I'll let that last one sink in. . .


Happy Is A Choice, Not A Destination. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by deciding to be happy and joyous. There is no need for the season to assist; however, assist it very well may.

Daily Inspiration 12-22-15

"One of the illusions of life

is that the present hour

is not the critical, decisive hour. 

Write it on your heart 

that every day 

is the best day of the year." 

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson 

We have a tendency to look forward to something, many things, things being better, an event that is coming, loved ones arriving, Christmas presents to get and open at the specified time. That's all good. We need things to draw us, and our anticipation is often exciting.

Yet, as we do that, it is all too easy to think of today as simply a stepping stone on the path to tomorrow, or to that time we are looking forward to. This would be a good definition of wasting time.

As we become more aware of our life as a journey and that the real value is in fully living the moments as they come, regardless of what they contain, that awareness leads us to a joyful life, by en-joying ourselves and all that is going on in and around us.

That's the life I am coming so much closer to living. Eyes wide open, seeing what I want to see, feel what I want to feel, enjoying anticipation but not being carried off with it.


"We Have No Idea What Tomorrow Will Bring, But Today Is Overflowing With Potential." -- Allan Lokos 

Spread Some Joy Today--by bringing it along with you as you're out and about getting ready.

Daily Inspiration 12-21-15

"The invariable mark of wisdom 

is to see the miraculous in the common." 

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson 

There's only a few more days of shopping, but there is still time to find the miraculous in that, while bringing your kindness and peace along for the ride.


Happy Monday! 

Spread Some Joy Today--by simply enjoying yourself fully today.

Daily Inspiration 12-20-15

"Perception is a mirror, not a fact." 

-- A Course in Miracles 

Alan Cohen says, "The universe is simultaneously infinite in its capacity to support you, and ingenious in the ways it can find to do it." It might be difficult, even challenging for us to really believe something like this from our perspective of living in a finite world.

So. . . it is really good, I think, to take a little bit of time periodically to see just a morsel of the vastness of the space that we live in.

Seemingly unending galaxies, each with billions if not trillions of planets with millions if not billions of stars like our own Sun. Even the closest ones with us traveling at the speed of light would take more years than we have to give to get there. Of course, we currently have no way to travel that fast, so the vastness remains. The other perspective is that the light that we are receiving in our view is light that left those galaxies millions of years ago. It's just mind-boggling to consider how big and vast this all is.

Closer to home, we have the oceans and why our Earth is called the Blue Planet. Some years ago, this photo was taken by my late wife, Nancy as I gazed at the vastness of all that I could see of the Pacific Ocean at Muir Lookout above San Francisco. I can only see a few miles of ocean, yet even that is so vast that I can't get my head around it. As I consider the number of drops of water in that space, my brain cannot do it. I just have to accept this view as it is.

The planet has many vast deserts, some covered with so much sand. Consider the number of granules of sand in this one view. It's a crazy number that we may not even be able to write, let alone the whole of that one desert. You could walk for days and not find anything more than more of this.

So. . . it is really good, I think, to take a little bit of time periodically to see how small we are, how small our problems are, in relation--in perspective to the vast space that we live in. Then, when we turn our focus back on our much more limited views of our lives, a bit of the magic of that vastness may remain to help us to feel oh so good about where we are in our lives. It's a great way to add more joy to your life. I know it does for me. When I contemplate these vast things for a few minutes, I feel refreshed in my perception, giving me a delightful perspective by knowing that I am simultaneously significant and insignificant and that all of my so-called problems are not that at all.


Whatever Problems We Think We Have Completely Disappear In The Vastness Of The Creation Around Us. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by letting go of your current perceptions for just a little while until your joy returns.