Simple Pleasures

Independance Day 2008 - Fireworks going off, streets deserted for the most part, stores closed, the feeling of a deserted ghost town.
Kissed my pony's nose and gave her a carrot. Then took a walk out by the water. The sky was amazing, laced with silver grey clouds of every shade, thick sultry air with a warm breeze and puffy white clouds smattered across the sky with bright blue peeking out inbetween. The birds were twittering a happy summer song, the tide all the way out which added yet another color of grey to the already stunning landscape. Miss Morracca and I ventured a couple of miles out and back. Then we went home for an enjoyable sit on our front stoop. Actually, I sat while she knawed on a bone bigger than her head. Made me chuckle to listen to her making all of her funny, happy gurgling eating sounds as the bone all but disappeared.
Here I sit writing, being thankful for the day and all its simple pleasures.

Procrastination…that which stands in the way of our own greatness!

As I travel and facilitate human learning, I am continually faced with wildly talented people who allow procrastination to stand in the way of achieving their dreams and goals. They each have the innate ability to form those dreams in thought, image and feeling, yet when it comes to putting one foot in front of the other to achieve what they image they are coming up short. Many create a flourish of distractions to “keep” themselves from having the time to even step forward toward those heart felt dreams and desires.

If each person took the amount of effort it took each day to procrastinate about anything they aspired to achieve, and put it in a bottle, put the bottle on a scale, they would find that the amount of energy spent in this wasteful way would fuel many goals to a successful end with the greatest of ease and satisfaction.

If we only realized that the image of success we see in our minds was only an accumulation of tiny steps, instead of one monumental, gigantic leap, then more of us would take those tiny steps and realize they are not so scary. What is worse than not stepping forward with purpose in our lives is getting to the end of our lives and looking back wishing we had actually stepped toward those dreams and fulfilled them as best we could. Best to give a valiant effort for what we believe, desire and dream of, rather than in not even attempting we instantly are fulfilling the “image” of the possible failure we fear

More Perspectives

These are the keys to changing what surrounds us in any given situation.
Thoughts or internal dialogue, the imagery that is formed from the first mentioned, and finally the emotions that we attach to them. When we quantify how our beliefs and self image are created, they are a complilation of these three things. What we focus on is brought into our lives by these things.

Mother Teresa knew of just this when she said, "I will not participate in a march against war, but if you have a march for peace I will come."

Align yourself, your thoughts/self-talk, imagery and emotions in a fight FOR what you want, not against what you do not want!

Refocus

What is it within us that cause us to see only what we are looking for? It amazes me that we, human beings, have not for the most part learned the fascinating power of "refocus" and what that allows us to do for ourselves in any given moment!
When we have ordained that things happen a certain way, when we have a strangle hold on what we believe should happen in our lives and we are leaning our whole being into making that happen...things begin to do what we call "fall apart." Isn't this only a perception of one possibility of what is happening? If we have not trained ourselves to refocus and see that there are a million possibilities that lie beyond the one we have our sights on, we then begin to fall apart ourselves. We lock our thoughts and focus on "falling apart" instead of breaking this strange vortex of energy, refocusing on the "other" multitude of possibilities at hand.
I ask you, next time this begins to happen to you, catch yourself. Refocus. Ask yourself why these seem stumbling blocks cannot be fashioned into a path that is leading you to a better place, a grander outcome. Just because it is different from the concrete image in your mind and is not unfolding just as you decided it should, can it not be better. If you can train yourself to let go of your control on the situation, you will see that these blocks are actually arranging themselves into a path that is far beyond what you expected...and it changes the tide of destiny in an instant. The instant that you allow yourself to have more than one view of the situation!

What we have

As I am blessed to work with wonderful people that cross my path, on a daily basis, the very visual understanding of human nature that I receive so many times causes me pause.
I am uplifted to act as a guide to these amazing beings in their journey closer to themselves. It is a gift to watch the unfolding of another's magnificence. The realization of what they are capable of in their lives. This is not what causes me pause. What does, is no matter what status or career skills they may have aquired, or even mastered, what objects they have gathered around them, there is one thing they all need and seem to lack in their lives, love and appreciation. To hear that someone actually "sees" them for the brilliant beings they truly are moves mountains! Have we become so caught up in our lives that we have neglected the power in a word spoken with compassion that lifts another up? Two glasses are filled when you do this, yours and theirs.
Make it a focus to share your compassion on a daily basis and you will be gifted with an amazing abundance of love.

Breakthroughs in thinking

Read an amazing story about a man on a cruise. Sick for four days. Every time he ventured from his stateroom, within minutes was hanging over the rail gasping for air. What a way to spend a 7 day cruise. Luckily on the fourth day after trying every remedy, meditation, and eating method, he again ventures topside. Again to find himself hanging over the rail. Only this time to his surprise the captain appears next to him, seemingly out of nowhere. "Not feeling so well," he says. The man thinks one thing and then says, "no, not really." The captain offers a rememdy and asks him to do a small test. The man agrees reluctantly, as he has tried everything he knows of, but is willing to try anything that may relieve him of this sickness. The captain deftly takes the man's sunglasses off and asks him to look at him and breathe. To the man amazement he begins to feel better in only moments. His head is clear and he actually feels well in only a minute or two. He asks the captain what he did. The captain smiles and says he has seen this sort of thing many times...the glasses he was wearing had a green tint to them that cast on everyone he looked at. Without the man knowing his subconscious interpreted as everyone being sick...so he should join them. Strange how we view our lives through "colored glasses" and are unaware many times of the hue it casts and what our inner mechanisms interpret them as, even though when examined from a clear perspective we find the information we based our decions on was not factual at all...only a perspective we had in a moment.
I challenge myself daily to become aware of these sorts of "views" in my life. Only through the learning of what "breakthrough thinking" is do I begin to grasp on deeper levels what changes these. Breakthrough thinking asks us to consider a situation we want to change and first raise our expectations to higher than we have previously believe is possible. It is only then that the creative subconscious will engage to find a way to solve this new challenge...and solve it it will!

A Latte

As my life grows and expands to include more information from around the world, due to my goals, I have been made more aware of the poverty that claims the lives of so many millions thoroughout our world. The effects of this extreme poverty are more vast than we here in the US even can comprehend. Our lives are insulated from this information unless we are looking for it! Agencies such as the World Food Programme, operated by the United Nations puts forth a monumental effort to deliver only grains to the third world countries in need. The efforts that are taken to assist these people have become extremely difficult facing the food shortage and the inflated cost of fuel, which is causing the need for an extra $700 million dollars more funding this year than last to deliver the same amount of food. The families this organization focuses on feed their whole familiy on less than $2.00 per day.
As we sit in our favorite coffee house sipping our pipping hot latte or fancy coffee concoction our thoughts would rarely venture down the path spoken about above. With the publication of my new book "Seed for Change" just a couple of weeks away, my mind has ventured to this place many times. I wonder if a tiny book with a lot of heart can make a difference in some way in our vast world. I know it can with the help of all of you. I have committed to donating 2% of the proceeds to The World Hunger Project. www.thp.org an amazing organization that "empowers women and men to end their own hunger." This book will be available on my website for pre-purchase June 1st. Together we always can make a difference!