How to Help Yourself and Everyone Else at the Same Time

Would you subscribe to the point of view that there are problems in the world?

For that matter, would you agree that there are problems much closer to home, such as your job, your friends, and even your own household?

Most people would answer “yes” to both of those questions, and most people would also back up that answer by pointing out that a whole pile of other people are either the cause of those problems, or that they keep the “problem engine” running by not cleaning up the way that they handle any given set of circumstances.

You will get no argument from me that there are plenty of problems that need to be solved, and I’ll even put my own “stuff” out there by saying that there are plenty of things in my own circle of influence that I would like to see happen differently than they do.

However, what if everything that happens around you is actually your fault? Which, by the way, is another point of view that I subscribe to, at least on a “local” level, if not worldwide.

Awhile ago I put up a post about the self improvement system known as Ho’oponopono. Although Ho’oponopono is based on healing imbalances with others, it is actually a system that is completely internal, and practitioners of that art claim to be able to solve issues with other people without even meeting or talking to them.

There is some very convincing evidence that we have the ability to influence others by working on our own inner-thoughts, and I will recommend that you grab a copy of Zero Limits by Joe Vitale as soon as it is released, and I will also refer you to this excellent post by Steve Pavlina where he gives some examples of how this concept has benefited his life.

For my part, I want to take it one step further, however, and explain a vicious circle that you can find yourself in that will keep replicating itself over and over until you find a way to break out of it.

In a nutshell, Ho’oponopono and similar beliefs state that our surroundings are powered by our own inner beliefs and perceptions of the way that we think things are, or should be.

To keep it “local”, I will stick with the example of your spouse or your significant other.

If you expect that your spouse is going to get mad at you because you spent too much money, or you stayed out too late with your friends, or because you shirked your responsibilities around the house, there is a very real chance that is exactly what you will get because you expect it.

However, the real truth of the matter is that the anger or disappointment that you expect to see in someone else’s eyes is merely a reflection of what you are already feeling.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize that you won’t feel 100% happy with yourself if you allow yourself to succumb to a desire that you know for a fact is not in your best interest, or in the best interest of the people that you care about.

So, whenever it comes time to “face the music” with the person that you believe is going to be angry with you or disappointed, most of the time you will find that anger and disappointment waiting right there for you, just as you expected.

Then, to make matters worse, as you have already beaten yourself up (usually without even knowing it) because you know that you did something that wasn’t up to your own personal standards, your spouse or significant other reacts to you in a negative manner about what you did.

Does the term “rubbing salt in an open wound” mean anything to you at this point? Not only have you done something that you consider to be wrong, but then you have to face it out in the open, usually with people that you care about and whose opinions you respect.

It’s like stubbing your toe, and then falling over in pain only to hit your head on the wall on the way down!

Also, this concept is certainly not limited to when you have done something that you consider to be wrong. The same thing applies whenever you see things in other people that do not please you.

When you expect your children to not make enough of an effort in school, you are actually coming face to face with the fact that on some level you feel that your own education is not up to par.

When you expect your co-workers to find the most effective way to cause your job to be more difficult, you are actually choreographing their performance due to the fact that you feel your own work ethic is not high enough, or that you are unhappy about your career status.

When you expect your neighbors to be loud and obnoxious, what you are really coming face to face with is the fact that you have not achieved the level of success that will allow you to live in a big house on a private lot, or that you have self-limiting beliefs about money.

Fortunately, for every instance that you find your negative expectations of others to be 100% fulfilled, you are actually being given a wonderful opportunity. You can help them to be the kind of people that you want to be around, and help yourself at the same time.

All you have to do is start managing your expectations of yourself as well as the people around you in order to keep those expectations at a happier or more harmonious level.

It all starts with you being honest with yourself, and working on your inner beliefs.

The next time someone does something that you find displeasing, simply ask yourself why you find it displeasing. Dig deep and find the true answer, not the answer that you think is appropriate.

As is often the case with self-limiting beliefs, your reaction to the circumstances of your life can be colored by the self-limiting belief, simply because that is what you are used to.

However, by simply coming to terms with your own “inner demons” you will then start to project happiness, confidence, and prosperity to all who are in your immediate vicinity, not to mention the positive vibrations that you will be sending out into the universe as a whole.

So, the next time you get upset with someone, find out why you are actually upset with yourself. You will then have found the path to your own resolution, which will spill over onto every circumstance that is affected by your new level of understanding.

Think about how great it is to have control over every single moment of your life - even the circumstances that right now might seem hopeless!

Do you Make this Conscious Creation Blunder?

You make the efforts that you make towards self development because you want your life to improve in some manner, right?

As you learn more and more about the power of conscious creation, you also learn that you are the one who is solely responsible for the life that you lead - regardless of how good or bad you perceive that life to be.

It is likely that you are familiar with concepts such as positive thinking, visualization, affirmations, and the like. Each of those concepts has a place in your conscious creation efforts if those concepts have value to you.

However, the common mistake that a lot of people make is that they believe everything that they say or do is the “end all, be all” of their self development efforts. They believe that whenever something doesn’t go the way they expected it to, that their time was wasted, and that their self development efforts simply aren’t working.

Nothing could be further from the truth!

In fact, quite the opposite is true. Tony over at the Success from the Nest blog¹ points out a very important fact - that if you don’t take action whenever you are inspired to do so, that you may very well miss that opportunity, and also that the longer you wait to take that action, the harder it will become to actually do so.

When using the Law of Attraction to consciously create your life, Inspired Action is exactly what you are looking for! By focusing on your goals via the aforementioned visualizations, affirmations, positive thinking, etc., inspired action is the “reward” that you get. It is the Universe telling you that NOW - not later - is the time to take action towards your goals.

However, just because you are inspired to take action, that does not necessarily mean that the action you take will lead you directly to your goal, which is where most people falter.

Whenever they take their inspired action, they assume that the action was put in place for the sole purpose of leading them directly to their goal. Yes, the action is meant to lead you towards your goal, however, that does not rule out the fact that you may have to work through other avenues of approach during that process.

It is often the case that the Universe will take you to places where you will learn things that are critical for you to know in order for you to attain whatever you are trying to manifest.

For example, my primary goal is to achieve time and financial freedom via the products, services, and free information that I post in various places on the Internet. Although I have a lot of knowledge about search engine optimization, web development, social bookmarking, etc., I had never previously attempted to actually make a full-time living primarily over the Internet.

As I have focused on my goals and aspirations, I have been led to some incredibly powerful resources that have taught me more about providing value to others, while also monetizing the process.

Although my primary goal is to achieve time and financial freedom by helping others, I have been led to resources that consumed a lot of my time doing what are affectionately known as “non-income producing activities,” also known as “getting the proper education.”

Just last night I had blocked off several hours to blog here on the Today is that Day site, as well as to comment on blogs owned by other people in the self improvement arena. However, starting with one stray link that took me to an article about creating catchy headlines, the next thing I knew I had burned through my entire block of time, and in fact had used more time than I had originally allotted.

Here is the thing, though. The education that I received by following links such as all of those listed below in the CopyBlogger² footnotes, I now have knowledge that will literally serve me for the rest of my life, and will drastically improve my chances of achieving massive success with my online endeavors.

So, even though my primary goal is time and financial freedom, I burned through more time than I had allotted, and I certainly didn’t get paid a dime for the hours that I spent reading through those articles.

However, I listened when I was inspired to read through that information, and now I am not only armed with a wealth of information that I didn’t have before, but my confidence in my ability to achieve my goals is higher than ever.

So, as you go through the efforts of achieving your dreams, and you don’t meet with immediate success, do not give up!

If you are properly focused on what you want to achieve, there will be a very real reason behind every action that you are inspired to take.

Do yourself a favor and listen to your intuition by taking that action!

Footnotes:

1 - Success from the Nest

2 - CopyBlogger Links:

7 More Sure-Fire Headline Templates That Work

Why Some People Almost Always Write Great Post Titles

How to Write a Killer “How To” Article That Gets Attention

Law of Attraction meets Taking Action

Even people who are “gung-ho” law of attraction junkies sometimes falter when it comes to what type of action they are supposed to be taking in order to achieve their dreams.

The Law of Attraction is not about just sitting on your butt and visualizing a glorious life, and then getting up to answer the doorbell whenever the delivery man shows up to bring it to you.

Yes, you can and will affect things other than your own personal interaction with life when you start to invoke the Law of Attraction, but that doesn’t mean that you personally are not supposed to get up and work towards your goals when you are inspired to do so.

On that note, many of the popular self development gurus have gotten together and made a movie that combines the power of your attitude with the power of your action. Here is a great preview, and it will be released in April 2007.

‘Pass it On’ movie preview

Enjoy!

Do You Deserve it, or are You Mistaken?

When thinking about your desires in life, there are 2 concepts that usually come into play. One of these concepts is obvious, the other is not, but both are powerful in determining whether or not you get what you want!

The most obvious thing that people think about is how they are going to accomplish any given task. This is probably the most self-limiting practice that you can consciously partake in.

Yes, it is a good idea to take action whenever you are inspired to do something that will take you towards your goal. However, if you constantly focus on how you are going to get something that you want, then you will easily fall prey to circumstances that take you off track.

Your only job in the process of creating what you want is to focus on what you want. The “how’s” will work themselves out by the simple fact of you staying focused on what it is that you desire.

The second concept is a bit more slippery to grasp, although it is equally as powerful in determining whether or not you are going to get whatever it is that you are after in life.

The concept that I am talking about is whether or not you believe - on the inside, where it counts - that you truly deserve whatever it is that you are wanting to attain.

As Antonio points out over at ThinkBanc¹, what you have in your life right now represents very specifically what you think that you deserve.

The beliefs that each of us have about our lives have been ingrained in us over the years and serve to dictate our lives on a day to day basis.

If those beliefs are positive and empowering, then you are good to go. However, if those beliefs about what we deserve are limiting, they are now coined as “self-limiting beliefs” and that is exactly what they do - they limit us to a certain level of success in life.

For some people, this comes in the form of health and weight loss. They don’t truly believe that they deserve to be healthy and beautiful like other people, so they subconsciously manifest that result over and over again into their lives.

For even more people, this same concept manifests itself with regard to their financial status. If you truly believed that you were deserving of riches, and that you could handle the “wealthy” lifestyle, then you would be in the process of manifesting that lifestyle every day.

Although most people will say indignantly, “I deserve money!”, the truth is that there is a self-limiting belief underneath the surface that is feeding them just enough of the opposite thoughts to keep them from ever amassing any significant wealth.

However here is the thing that you should take away from reading this post that can literally cause you to start manifesting money - or anything else - right at this moment:

If you have a strong enough desire as well as a belief that you deserve wealth, health, or anything else, you will set the universal forces in motion that will bring those things to you - just because you want them and believe that you deserve them.

As Robert points out over at the My Self Development² blog, the Universe does not have any feeling either way about what you are trying to bring into your life.

In fact, the Universe doesn’t have any feeling about anything. It simply responds to the energy that you put out there.

If that energy says “I want this and I deserve it,” then you will get it. However, if that energy says “I want this, and I think I deserve it, but deep down inside I’m not sure,” then all the Universe will deliver is more reasons for you to be unsure about your level of deserving.

The universal powers that are literally at your “beck and call” are just as certain as those that cause the sun to set each night, and then rise each morning.

Whether you live on a polar icecap where day-time and night-time can seem endless, or if you are in an area that gets a light and a dark cycle every 24 hours, one thing is certain:

The sun will always come back up and the night will always fall.

The fate of your life is just as certain, and just as predictable based on what you believe.

If you want success, then believe in success. If you are not experiencing success in some area of your life right now, then on some level, you either don’t really want it, or you don’t really believe that you can have it.

Either way, YOU are in control of what happens next.

Footnotes:

1 - ThinkBanc

2 - My Self Development

Did you feel that Tapping?

As you go through your life, you are on a general quest to better yourself, right? I’m not necessarily talking about becoming “enlightened” or trying to become a world leader (although props to you if those are your goals), but rather I am referring to the simple concept of wanting your life to become everything that you dream it can be.

I know that I have personally never met anyone who felt that their life was complete and that they didn’t really have anything else that they wanted to be, do, or have.

So, unless you are one of those people (if they even exist), then you are trying to get something done. Maybe it is to make more money, perhaps you are wanting to excel in personal relationships, maybe you just want to catalog the many different species of dust bunnies in your house. Whatever your goal is, then that is your goal, and you are working towards it.

That being said, see if you agree with the sentiment of the following statement:

“In order to accomplish my goals, I have a clear plan of action that will take me from where I am now to where I want to be, and I will not stray from my path no matter what!”

True or False: That statement is the correct way to accomplish your goals, and that type of commitment should be commended.

FALSE!

What?!?

We’ve all been told for years, including right here on this blog, about the importance of making a commitment to our goals, and then sticking to that commitment over the long-term in order to see those goals turn into reality.

However, it isn’t the “commitment” part of the above statement that is incorrect, but rather the “I will not stray from my path no matter what” part.

You see, it is our human propensity towards needing to be able to see the entire journey before we even take the first step that tends to keep most people well inside a “safety zone” that resides far from the happiness, freedom, or accomplishment that they long for.

As Bob Proctor says in the movie, ‘The Secret‘, most people who have ever accomplished anything didn’t know how they were going to do it. Bob does not talk very much about that concept in the movie, although the message that he is sending is very clear:

Despite the fact that having a plan of action is a good thing, in almost every case, things happen along the way that you could not possibly have foreseen.

In fact, as you pat yourself on the back for sticking to your plan and attaining a goal that you have accomplished in your life, take a moment to think back on the journey. How often did your plan get modified - if even slightly - based on your evaluation of any given set of facts that were in front of you? Would the word “often” even cover it, or would we need to bump that up to something more powerful like every single day?

The point that I am making is that by only sticking to one direct path - and by refusing to get off of that path - you will be losing the benefit of one of the most powerful concepts behind the Law of Attraction and conscious creation, and that concept is called INSPIRED ACTION.

Inspired action happens whenever you focus on a very specific goal - money, relationships, dust bunnies - and the Universe taps you on the shoulder to get your attention, and then points you in a particular direction.

You are basically being told “Go over there, and you will find a way to catalog dust bunnies!”

The problem with inspired action is that most people don’t understand it. They look in the direction that they are being inspired to go in, they don’t directly see whatever their goal is, so they shrug off the inspired action, and keep right on going with their original plan of action.

Then, when they get to the end of the road that they had mapped out for themselves, but don’t quite find the pot at the end of the rainbow they had expected, they suddenly remember that one time when they had the hunch to go in a different direction, but chose to ignore it.

By then, it is too late. Inspired action depends very much on timing. When the Universe says to do something, you should do it. Do you remember that old series of E.F. Hutton commercials that were on in the 1970’s/80’s? The tag line was “When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen!”

Well, that is YOUR job in the creative process - to listen. By staying focused consistently on your goals, by visualizing frequently what your success looks like, and by believing that you deserve whatever it is that you are trying to attain, the Universe WILL tap you on the shoulder and tell you how to get what you want.

However, if you shrug off that tap because it doesn’t make any sense, or because you can’t logically understand how taking that action could get you to your goal, then you will miss the proverbial boat.

The real irony to that fact is that had you taken action when you were inspired to do so, even though it didn’t seem logical at the time, it would have resolved into being based very much on logic and science once all of the pieces were in place.

Over at The Fast Lane¹, you can check out both a real-life story by Napoleon Hill that illustrates this concept, as well as a fictional story that also drives the point home. The take away fact from both of the stories is that a certain end result was desired, and the path to get that end result was shown, but not necessarily from the direction that it had been expected.

Brad Isaac over at Achieve-IT² has put together a very effective tool for getting the “creative juices” flowing in order to call upon the power of Inspired Action, and I highly recommend that you check it out. I have done similar exercises myself, and as of the date of this writing - January 22, 2007 - I was blindsided with my most recent inspired action less than 2 hours ago, and I wasn’t even thinking about the goal at the time!

And finally, Elyse at Choosing Prosperity³ has a post that includes definitions from Abraham-Hicks that illustrate the difference between motivation and inspired action. It is a critical difference, and one that many people frequently don’t recognize.

In closing, please know that inspired action is usually pretty obvious. Everyone has random thoughts, ideas, or musings about their lives and their goals, and that is more of a background noise that is simply part of who we are. Listen to it and enjoy it because it makes up your level of uniqueness.

However, inspired action that comes as a result of consistent focus and visualization is usually much more direct, and will normally come at you when you least expect it.

It is actually a pleasant surprise, though, because when it happens, you will realize that you have just been handed a key that will unlock the doorways into the future that you want.

Do yourself a favor and use it.

Footnotes:

1 - The Fast Lane

2 - Achieve-IT

3 - Choosing Prosperity

Star Light, Star Bright, Make this Star do My Bidding Tonight!

As I’m sure applies to many of you, the “Star Light, Star Bright” rhyme has been part of my life since I was a little kid.

If you’re not familiar with it, it is just a little limerick that people say when they see the first star in the night sky, and then they make a wish upon that star.

For the uninformed, the original version goes something like this:

“Star light, star bright,
First star I see tonight.
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Make a wish upon this star tonight.”

Well, since becoming educated about the amazing power that each of us has to consciously create our own lives, it has occurred to me that a lot of the beliefs and practices that were once a foregone conclusion, have turned out to have little or no meaning in the world of conscious creation.

Now, that isn’t to say that the “good ol’ days” are gone and that we shouldn’t honor and enjoy those traditions. However, the truly educated will modify their approach as they learn more about how it all works.

In this particular case, I got a good laugh (and a permanent change in my rhyming) when I was inspired to change the last line to “make this star do my bidding tonight!”

Because, friends and neighbors, not only do we each have the power to command those stars, but for those of you who have dipped a toe into the Quantum Physics realm, or gotten an earful about Ho’oponopono, there is a very real chance that the star you’re wishing on is only there because you are looking at it!

However, whether you are ready to bend your mind around those types of concepts or not, the fact that you are the one - and the only one - who creates your reality is a very real fact, and it is a fact that you should take quite seriously. If you want to have fun that is!

That is the whole point, right? To have fun? I mean, if you’re not trying to have a good time, and to be happy, then what are you here for?

We are all here to enjoy what this world has to offer, and the most effective way to do that is to give ourselves the resources needed to enjoy life in the manner which resonates with us most as individuals.

Here’s the thing, though: If you truly want to make positive changes in your life (positive from your point of view, that is), then you need to realize that the power to command stars to do your bidding is a power that has to be exercised in order for it to do you any good.

The classic line from the Spiderman comic books was “With great power comes great responsibility” and that sentiment very much applies to your life.

If you don’t take the necessary steps in order to improve your life, then guess what will happen?

And no, that is not a trick question.

Too many people go through life with this totally inappropriate belief that “things will just work out” or worse, that their destiny is governed by the actions of others.

Believing concepts such as that are what land people well on this side of what they truly want their lives to be. If your life is not what you want it to be right now, don’t you think that it’s time you started taking responsibility, and, more importantly, started taking action?

Over at the Renovate Your Life with Craig blog¹, Craig Harper has put together a Top 10 list of traits that he has seen from people who have been consistently successful over the years, and sitting on your butt waiting for life to bring you some goodies is most definitely not on that list.

If you do not take action in order to make your life everything that you want it to be, who do you think is going to do it for you? I don’t care how many friends, family members, and acquaintances you have, I guarantee that no one is as interested in your well-being as you are.

Karen has a great post over at the Live the Power² blog where she talks about the simple fact that simply “showing up” is one of most important keys to success.

You see, “showing up” means consistently doing whatever it is that you are supposed to be doing. It doesn’t mean exercising like a mad man for 7 days straight and then taking 3 weeks off. It doesn’t mean curbing unnecessary spending for a month, and then blowing your savings in one weekend at the mall. It certainly doesn’t mean doing something nice one time for your significant other and then expecting to have a blissful on-going relationship because you got off your can one time and thought of someone other than yourself.

Consistency is the key! Consistency. Consistency. Consistency.

Did I mention consistency?

It doesn’t matter how much of a rocket scientist, brain surgeon, relationship wizard, financial guru, or fitness fanatic that you think you are. If you don’t consistently apply your knowledge towards self improvement, you’ll never make any permanent headway.

One of the problems that a lot of people have is that they think they have to “figure it all out” before they get started. As human beings having a 3-dimensional experience here on planet earth, we tend to think that if we can’t see the direct path from start to finish, that we shouldn’t even make the effort.

However, as Brian Kim so eloquently points out in his post entitled ‘You Don’t Have To Get It Perfect The First Time’³, experience is the key to learning how to attain success:

“Experience is a far greater teacher than knowledge simply because of the fact that experience shows you exactly what knowledge you need to pick up that you’re missing.”

So, at this point, you need to ask yourself which type of person you are. The type who wishes upon distant stars and hopes upon hope that the star will send you a miracle, or are you the kind of person who designs your own constellations?

Regardless of your answer to that question, you’re right.

Footnotes:

Renovate Your Life with Craig

Live the Power

BrianKim.net

The Power of Intention - Attraction via Attention

What did you focus on today?

No, what did you REALLY focus on today?

Does your answer to that question sound something like “I thought about work” or “I focused on the project I was working on” or “I had my hands full taking care of my family?”

Or maybe you would say something like “I didn’t have time to focus on anything. My day was just hectic! I can’t even remember most of what happened because it was such a blur.”

If your answer was similar to either of the 2 paragraphs that you just read, consider these details from what *I* focused on today. These aren’t just random musings, but the actual thoughts that I focused on several times today.

I thought about visiting my kids who live in Seattle (I live in Florida) and we went shopping at this huge mall that they have there. We spent large sums of money on food, clothes, toys, and at least one trip to the local Starbucks for a round of very unhealthy drinks. We also took a ferry ride, and ate at our favorite restaurant on the coast of Whidbey Island.

I also thought for quite awhile about standing on the back porch of my beach house in St. Augustine, on the east coast of Florida. I watched the kids play in the sand and we also hung out in the shade of the porch and listened to the ocean. I kicked back in the hammock for awhile with a very over-priced PDA and answered a few emails and read through some of my favorite blogs.

I also spent some time visiting my family who live in upstate New York. I had a blast playing in the snow, and then laughed when I got back to Florida and put my winter jacket back in the long-term storage closet.

I took a relaxing train ride to visit some friends in Texas. During the trip I alternated back and forth between working on my laptop, handling some minor business tasks on the PDA, and then I spent the rest of the time sleeping, reading, or just staring out the window enjoying the scenery.

I went to Daytona Beach and stayed at a favorite hotel right there on the coast. Not because it was the most expensive or the least expensive hotel, but because it was the one that I wanted to stay at.

I also visited one of my friends who lives in Key West, Florida, and stayed on for awhile to enjoy the summer weather, even though it is January-cold everywhere else.

I spent a huge amount of time driving around in my favorite Mustang, which happens to be brand-new, and is now parked in my driveway next to my SUV, my motorcycle, and the trailer that has my boat on it.

Have you figured this out yet?

None of these things actually happened today. In fact, most of them have never happened at all, at least not with the amount of free time and cash to spend that I had while I was thinking about them today.

What those last few paragraphs describe is my “dream life.” It is the life that I will lead (sooner, rather than later, thank you very much) once I have attracted everything into my life that I want to attract.

I don’t know how I am going to get the time and the money to do all of that stuff, but I do know that it is going to happen, because it is my Intention.

Sure, I have some business ideas and other financial concepts that may or may not power the lifestyle that I described. However, being an avid user of the Law of Attraction, I know three things that are critical to the process of attracting the life that I want:

1) I know that in order for me to get what I want, I must state very clearly my Intention to get those things.

2) I must focus on the things that I want on a daily basis, and I must practice those visualizations as powerfully as possible, and always in the present tense.

3) I do not focus on “how” it is going to happen. “Reality” has programmed my subconscious far too efficiently for me to be able to envision the path that will take me from where I am now to the lifestyle described above.

You see, the problem that a lot of people have with their self improvement efforts or their dreams of success is that they try to come up with some “master plan” in order to make it all happen, and then they just focus on the drudgery of the multitude of “tasks” that their plan calls for.

Who wants to focus on tasks? That’s like getting up on a Saturday morning and saying “I can’t wait to clean out the garage today! In fact, I think I’ll scrub the kitchen floor with a toothbrush while I’m at it, and then I’ll go clean up my teenager’s bedroom just for good measure!”

Could you get excited about doing all of those things? Okay, maybe there are a few of you who could (freaks! ), but most people have no desire - or ability - to get excited about the tasks that they have to do in order to accomplish something.

However, using the same examples from above, if someone were to tell you that by Saturday night all of those things would somehow get done without you doing them, you’d get pretty excited about that wouldn’t you??

That is the way that the Universe works whenever you use the Power of Intention to get what you want. Your job - as Mike Dooley¹ puts it, is to “always and only focus on the end result!”

Your job is not to decide how something is going to get done. Your job is only to state the intention that you want it to be done.

Is that to say that the Universe will work some magic and you will never have to lift a finger to attain your goals? Maybe or maybe not, but there is no way to tell for sure.

The Universe will show you the doorways to your dreams via inspired thoughts, but you have to walk through those those doorways by taking inspired action.

By consistently and powerfully focusing on and visualizing the things that you want - from a parking space up through world peace - you set the Intention, and you will then attract whatever it is that you need in order for your Intention to become a reality.

Here’s the “rub,” though. You have to believe it. If you sit around saying to yourself that the notion of some “miraculous” force coming to show you the path to your dreams is a bunch of rubbish, then you’ll be 100% right.

Why? Because that is what you are focusing on!

Flip that around to say something more along the lines of the fact that your faith in the delivery of your dreams is only a matter of when - not if - they will arrive, and you will once again be 100% correct.

Always remember the golden rule about life in general - YOU are in charge. Whether you want to be in charge of your life, or whether you believe that you are does not matter. You are creating your life, and you are doing it with your Intentions.

Footnotes:

Mike Dooley - Thoughts become Things

The Birthday Day

Are you one of those people who says that you stopped having birthdays after a certain point? Are you the kind who has turned 30 like 15 or 20 times?

Or are you the opposite? Do you celebrate your birthday with gusto? Do you think that ALL the world should sing, just because its your birthday?

I am more of a "gusto" kind of person myself, and since my birthday was this past Sunday, I thought I would share some thoughts on the whole "birthday thing" and also toss out a few pictures from the celebration, starting with this one of yours truly, hanging out with some of my friends who showed up for the party:

Apparently some of my REAL friends decided that we needed some more bodies at the party! :)

Now, as far as whether or not you should celebrate your birthday is - in my humble opinion - a no-brainer for anyone who who practices positive thinking and the deliberate and conscious creation of their life.

Whether you have been exposed to teachings about conscious creation¹, the Law of Attraction, and the like, or if you are just a firm believer in positive thinking, then you should be familiar with the concept of treating every moment as a gift.

Every single moment of our time is a glorious gift that we can do whatever we want to do with, and that attitude should permeate your life. By actually living your life that way, you automatically attract things worth living for.

Have you ever known anyone who celebrated their life with a passion, yet had nothing but horrible things continue to happen to them? I know that I never have!

Every single person that I've ever met who truly enjoyed every moment of their life and who were grateful for the opportunity that each of those moments represented was also repeatedly given reasons to continue to be happy and grateful!

Much like these people who showed up at the bar where we were having the birthday celebration:

Apparently these Amish folks were on vacation and decided to enjoy some of the spoils of modern civilization

You see, the secret to being successful is feeling good about your life and having FUN! If you are happy and confident that you are walking the path that truly resonates with you as an individual, then the people and situations that are needed for you to realize success will simply come to you, almost unbidden.

Or, if you are one of those people who just thinks that you are getting old, that you waited too long to get started on a successful career, health, or relationship path, and that birthdays are "just another day," then that is exactly what you will attract. More days in your life that are "just another day."

So, if every moment is a gift (and it is), and you can create success and happiness by cherishing and celebrating every moment (which you can), then imagine what you can accomplish by taking one day - your birthday - and making it extra special!

For me, although I work very hard at the many things that I do in the self improvement community, and although I frequently work 10 to 12 hour days, I also realize the need for balance. Just working hard will not bring you happiness unless you also take the time to enjoy your life in the process. Kind of like these girls, most of whom were part of the birthday bash:

Your birthday is a wonderful opportunity for you to take some extra time to focus on the wonderful people that you have in your life. Whether your circle of influence is huge, or if it only consists of a few very special people, the people that you deem to be a quality part of your life are most definitely something that you should feel gratitude for on a regular basis.

In my case, I am well aware of the fact that the people in my life are a very large part of why I smile so often, and even if I don't call or email as often as I maybe should, the feelings of gratitude that I have because those people are in my life are something that I feel on a daily basis.

In fact, sometimes you'll even put on a dorky hat and let people laugh at you all day long - just because the friends and family asked you to. My wife is no stranger to me looking like a dork, but SHE was the one who remembered to bring the hat that I tried to "accidentally" leave in the car:

So, the answer to the question of whether or not to celebrate your birthday as if you were happy simply to be here on this earth is a resounding YES!

Every day of your life has been and will continue to be a wonderful gift to you. Celebrate your very existence by celebrating each and every birthday - whether you are 9 years old, or 90!

Oh, and if your view through the camera lens looks like this by the end of the night...

...go to bed! :)

Footnotes:

1 - Energy Harmonics

How was your Day?

As you are sitting here reading this post at whatever time it is for your place in the world, ask yourself the following question, and give yourself a brutally honest answer - not the answer that you WANT to believe:

“Did I spend the last 24-hour period being happy with my life, motivated about the future, and excited and grateful just to have the opportunity to take the next steps in my life?”

If you honestly can answer that question with a resounding “YES“, then kudos to you. Your life is on track for monumental success - don’t change a thing.

Most people, however, cannot honestly answer that question with a Yes. Sure, they may have had a few bright spots, maybe even some moments when “all was well in the world.” However, as a general rule, very few people are able to consistently maintain the proper state of mind to ensure success for even a single 24-hour period, let alone over the long-term.

I was inspired to write this post after yet another bit of wisdom from Seth Godin’s blog¹ where he talks about the failure of some politicians in his town. Turns out that in the very small town that he describes, some of the local politicians had a chance to win some votes and some support by using quality face-to-face time with the locals, but the politicians dropped the ball in a big way.

They missed a big chance whenever you think about it, because in that particular instance, they weren’t even being called upon to make a consistent effort on behalf of their supporters, but rather just to put on a good show for a small amount of time, and they couldn’t even do that.

Now, discussions about politics aside (can’t we all just get along?), the situation described by Seth is the same situation that we all find ourselves in day after day. We have a chance to consistently do things that will take us in the direction of our goals, or a chance to consistently drop the ball and let our lives keep on going in the same manner that has gotten us to wherever we are right now.

We tend to think of positive changes in our lives as something that can only be accomplished by some huge effort on our part, and that anything less than a massive accomplishment isn’t worth our time.

For that reason, whenever we fail to see massive success on a day-to-day basis, we tend to fall back into “default mode” and we then simply attract the energies into our lives that will keep us exactly where we already are.

Life, however, is made up of moments, not massive successes. Your moments can - and will - lead to every success that you could possibly imagine, but only if you consistently stay in the right frame of mind that will allow you to consciously create your life, rather than attracting “stagnation” by default.

People who are really successful continually remind themselves of their goals so that they can consistently say, do, and feel the things that will lead them to the success that they want.

Just knowing about a self improvement concept such as positive thinking, the law of attraction, goal setting, etc., will not do you any good unless you consistently apply that knowledge to as many moments of your life as possible.

Every single day you are presently with 86,400 seconds in order to be happy, to be grateful for what you have - thus attracting more of it - and to say, do, and feel the things that will take your life to where you want it to be.

So, whether you are a politician with a golden opportunity to shake hands and kiss babies, or if you are simply needing to keep a genuine smile on your face in order to keep your own stagnant attitude from reasserting itself, remember that you have 86,400 opportunities each and every day to do exactly that.

Then, looking once again at this question…

“Did I spend the last 24-hour period being happy with my life, motivated about the future, and excited and grateful just to have the opportunity to take the next steps in my life?”

…you can answer it with a resounding “YES,” and then you will truly be on the fast-track to success!

Footnotes:

Seth Godin’s Blog

50 First Dates...

I just got done watching the movie ‘50 First Dates’ with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, and I saw a great opportunity to share a lesson with my readers!

The premise of the movie is that Drew Barrymore’s character gets a head injury that causes her to only be able to remember one day of her life at a time. Each morning when she wakes up, she thinks that her life is exactly as it was before her head injury - same date, same job, same things to do that day, etc.

Adam Sandler meets her at a cafe in Hawaii and is immediately smitten with her. They agree to have breakfast at the same cafe the next day, but unfortunately for Sandler’s character, Drew doesn’t remember who he is!

So, the movie goes on with all of these hilarious and heart-warming examples of how he tries to get her to fall in love with him every day. Eventually it gets to the point where they find ways to remind her every morning about her situation, and she realizes that she only has until she falls asleep that night in order to live her life to the fullest. By the next morning she will not remember anything that happened the day before.

A very cute and pretty funny movie, but it is the message that really struck me, and I immediately saw how others could benefit from that message.

Imagine what it would be like to wake up every day, and realize that you only had that one day to enjoy your life. To realize that when you went to bed that night, anything that you wanted to enjoy in the world had to have been enjoyed that very day, because you wouldn’t remember anything the next morning, and you would have to start all over again.

Do you think that you might work harder than you presently do to enjoy each moment of your life?

Do you think that you might spend more time with your family, or your loved ones?

Do you think that you might put forth more effort at having fun, and less effort at working?

Do you think you that you might enjoy that day simply for the sake of enjoying it, rather than because you might be worried about what tomorrow is going to bring?

As human beings doing our time here on planet Earth, we tend to define ourselves in two ways:

1) What we did in the past

2) What we plan to do in the future

When you think about it, that is pretty sad, considering that the only moment that we can totally control is this moment - the moment that we are living in right now.

The past is completely chiseled in stone and can never be changed. Whether you are talking about what happened 60 seconds ago or 60 years ago - it’s done, and there is nothing that you can do about it.

The future, although more in our control than the past, is still in the future, and given the fragility of the human condition, the future may never come at all.

The only period of our lives that is completely, 100% in our control is the NOW.

Do yourself a favor, and consider this:

If you lost the ability to judge yourself on the mistakes that you made in the past, and you knew for a fact that you weren’t going to remember any mistakes that you make today, what would you do today?

I sincerely hope that you answered with nothing less than “I would live my life to the fullest, for these moments will never come again!”

Start living your life with that attitude right now, and you will be amazed at how quickly life starts giving you everything that you need to keep right on doing exactly that.

Everybody's been the dog...

For any of you Star Trek fans out there, you will undoubtedly agree that the writers for all of the different Star Trek television shows as well as the movies had their thumb as much on the pulse of humanity as they did on the joys of science fiction.

The trials and tribulations of the many different characters in the Star Trek universe certainly had the space-faring, phaser-blasting aspects that people enjoyed, but they also kept the general “message” of many of the shows and movies to be one that either acknowledged or taught about some aspect of simply being human.

In one such episode from the Star Trek Voyager series, Captain Janeway and the crew have a run in with the all-powerful beings from the “Q” continuum.

For you non-fans, the “Q” as they call themselves are a race of beings that have unlimited power to do literally everything and anything that they can imagine.

Readers of this blog, my articles¹, or any of the products² that I have put out there will recognize that same theme as something that I encourage every “mere human” here on planet earth to believe - that their power is limited only by their imagination.

In this one particular episode - and there is a point here, so stay with me - there are two “Q’s” that visit the crew of Voyager. One of them the famous Q played by John de Lancie, and another Q who has decided that he wants to “end it all” and commit suicide.

The members of the “Q” continuum are as well known for their arrogance as they are for their unlimited powers, so the notion that one of their number would want to die is simply beyond their understanding.

So enters Captain Janeway and the crew to act as moderators to this dispute between the two Q’s. Since the Voyager crew are “mere humans”, they play the part of the impartial observers who are charged with making a decision about whether or not the wish of an omnipotent being to end his life should be granted.

Since our human crew on Voyager have no idea what it is like to be all-powerful, the Q played by John de Lancie decides to take a handful of them to the Q continuum itself so that they can see what it is like to be all-powerful, and thereby showing that the idea of giving up all of that power and committing suicide is ludicrous.

At the time of the original airing of the episode many years ago, Star Trek fans around the world waited with baited breath for the next commercial break to be over so that they could see what it looks like to be all-powerful!

So it was that when the next scene materialized (sorry - Star Trek humor!) many people were confused to see the two Q’s, Captain Janeway and the rest of the gang to be standing in a place as non-remarkable as someone could possibly imagine.

They were standing on the side of a long and desolate road in the middle of the desert, with the road stretching off for what looked like eternity in either direction. Directly across from them was an old gas station, a few people sitting around looking very bored and very non-committal, and even an old dog who seemed to share the apathy of the humans at the gas station.

Janeway and the crew are a bit confused as this scene is boring at best, and hardly seems what they had expected from the realm of a species of beings who literally hold power over time and space itself.

Q goes on to explain that this scene was the easiest way to envision the life of a “Q”, where the entire universe is your playground. That you can go anywhere and do anything - represented by the road stretching off in both directions - or you can stay in one spot and play with your power to have, do, or be anything that you can imagine.

The Q who wants to commit suicide goes on to explain that he has done everything that there is to do. He has seen what is at the end of the road in both directions, he has been each of the individuals at the gas station, he’s been the building itself, and, he has even been the dog!

The other Q, who doesn’t believe that suicide should be allowed, says with disgust, “Everybody’s been the dog”!

---

The moral to this little trip down Star Trek memory lane is that you - mere human who is just this side of enlightenment - have NOT been the dog.In fact, you haven’t been any of the other people, you haven’t been the building or the gas pump, and you most certainly haven’t traveled to the ends of both stretches of that long road in the middle of the desert.

Truth be told you probably haven’t even fully experienced who you are!

However, here is the moral to all of this (and thank you for the non-S/T fans who made it this far):

You CAN be the dog. Or the road. Or the building. Or the desert. Or the gas pump. Or the…. INSERT WHAT YOU WANT TO HAVE, DO, OR BE HERE.

You ARE a “Q”, and your time here on planet earth is simply a choice that you made to be here. Since you made that choice, the next choice that you can ask yourself is to decide what you are going to do with your time.

Are you going to exercise the power of the universe that is at your fingertips in order to make your life whatever you want it to be, or are you going to just lay there on the sand being the dog, and thinking - quite inappropriately - that your lot in life is to just lay there and be limited by whatever you see around you at any given moment.

Because here is the truth of the matter, my faithful omnipotent reader, the life that you see around you is not what limits you, but rather what you have created.

You are not surrounded by a sea of solid matter that is keeping you restricted to certain rules that will only allow you to have, do, or be certain things.

To the contrary - you are surrounded by a liquid mass of moving energy that you can manipulate in order to create whatever life it is that you want to be living.

Later on down the road, after you have been and done everything - including spending your time as the dog - then maybe it will be time to move on to something else.

Until then…let’s see what’s out there!

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