What exactly does that mean?  Does it mean that we should not, in the literal sense, say “Damn” or “Dammit” after saying “God”?

No.

In order to understand what I mean by that, consider what God’s name is.

God’s name is “I AM”.  When you invoke the Lord’s name, you are saying “I AM”.

God does not intend to have us shame ourselves, or treat ourselves worse than we would treat someone else.

So, next time you say something to yourself like “I AM stupid” or “I AM fat” or “I AM ugly”, stop yourself, and think about how you could phrase that more appropriately and in a positive and healthy manner.

Instead of “I AM Stupid”, try “I AM still learning”

“I AM fat” can turn into “I AM perfect the way I am”.
“I AM Ugly”?  Instead try “I AM beautiful because this is how God made me”.

A good rule of thumb here is to ask yourself, “If I were talking to God right now, would God tell me I’m stupid, fat and ugly?”

I didn’t think so

Here is a great meditation my Aunt taught me:

“I am happy, I am healthy, I am great!”

say that at least 3 times, and it’s guaranteed to heighten your mood.  More often than not, I end up laughing with incredible joy when I do this.

Monday, February 11, 2008 10:37 PM

I’ve decided I’d like to focus on Internet Marketing again. Started looking at WarriorForum, which I haven’t logged onto in over a year. It’s time for me to get serious about this, because even though I really like the job I have, it’s still a J – O – B (Just Over Broke). My goal is to hit the $100/day level of passive income. After that, I’ll work on $200/day, then $500/day, then $1000/day.

Once I hit $1000/day that will be pretty significant, and I’ll probably celebrate in some fancy way. Maybe I’ll throw myself party, or maybe I’ll just get a nice bottle of Crown and sip that for an hour or so, really slowly, because Crown tastes best that way.

It’s not that I don’t like this job, it’s just that I know that as long as I work for “the man”, I’ll never be able to make my best contributions to the world, in line with what I now know my life’s purpose to be.

After a lot (32 years) of searching for meaning in my life, I finally had an interesting experience a couple months ago. I realized, somewhat to my surprise, that my “why” for being here is to “Be the catalyst for change that people need in their lives.”

I want to be develop my understanding and eventual mastery, if there is such a thing, of NLP and hypnosis, and conversational reframing. I think that will help me get the most effect toward reaching my goal.

If I can get up to $200/day, that will cover my current living expenses, with enough left over to be comfortable, that I could then devote myself full-time to the training/experience that I need to develop my skills as a communicator.

I think I may also join Toastmasters sometime soon. That might help somehow.

Has anyone ever told you “you should always have a backup plan, just in case something happens” or something similiar? It’s just smart thinking, right? Guess again.

As you may remember from my earlier writings, I am a firm believer in the Law of Attraction. Lenedra Carroll (mother and manager to the beautiful singer Jewel Kilcher) is quoted as once telling Jewel in her early singing career days that “if you have a fall back plan, you will surely fall back”. I agree with her, because by putting a backup plan into place “just in case”, you are activating the Law of Attraction to bring about the “just in case” situation.

On a side note, it’s amazing where I sometimes get the inspiration to write for the blog. I was listening to my favorite musical of all time, “The Phantom of the Opera”, the other day. Incidentally, it IS the Michael Crawford/Sarah Brightman version, which is the Original 1987 Cast Recording. Anyway, one of the most powerful lyrics in the entire thing is in the song “Point of No Return” when they both sing “The bridge is crossed so stand and watch it burn”. Each time I hear this line I get the image of someone literally standing and watching the bridge they’ve just crossed over as it burns. To me, this is a beautiful symbolic image because while we bless the past and respect it by learning the lessons it teaches us, we don’t try and get back across the bridge.

Does that make sense?

Basically, I guess it really comes down to living in the moment, but not haphazardly. The ability to keep ourselves focused on the present while allowing the past to help us make better decisions.

This also reminds me of something I heard on a cd titled “Never Accept Advice From Anyone More Screwed up Than You Are”, by John Addison, the co-CEO of Primerica Services.

To paraphrase him on the CD, he says “Decide is like the words homicide and suicide. In those words, somebody dies. I believe to Decide means the death of all other options.”

To me, this is one of the most AWESOME and SAGE pieces of advice ever given. When you decide to do something, give it all your energy. Do not focus on the possibility of defeat, but rather only on the probability of success.

In the next part of this series, I will ask the question “Who’s life is it, anyway?”

Well, fast forward a few years to about 2000, and I was about 24 or 25 years old. I haven’t gone to a Baptist church in a long while, because I’ve become disillusioned with the whole notion that tithing is a requirement to get into heaven. They mean to tell me that I have to PAY to get into heaven? Something bothered me about this whole idea. But that wasn’t all that bothered me.

The Preacher, knowing of the personal life issues one of the single mothers, called her out to the congregation in a Dragnet-esque “names are changed to protect the sinners” type of thing. Basically, it was like “SOMEONE amongst us is living in SIN!” The whole time, staring directly at her, so everyone just knew who he was talking about.

Anyway, it’s safe to say that I am no longer a Baptist. And it wasn’t due to the “teachings” about paying tithes to get into heaven, and “believing in Jesus as my Lord and Savior”. To me, something about the whole thing was fundamentally flawed. It’s kind of like when you’re driving down the same road to work every day, and you get to the point that you don’t even remember going to work. You just remember arriving. One day, as you’re driving, you just KNOW that something is different today. It’s on the tip of your tongue, and you just can’t place what it is. That’s how it was for me.

So, in 2000, I had a copy of The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy. I had this particular copy of the book for about 2 or 3 years by this point. In the front cover of the book was a little “About the Author” note that said that Dr. Murphy had been a contemporary of Ernst Holmes. I had no idea who that was, and never found anything about Ernst Holmes.

So, In January of 2000, my stepfather passed away due to complications from an epileptic seizure. I went on Emergency Leave from my duty station to be there with my mother, and my aunt came also. She started telling me in passing about the Church she’d been going to for several years, which was the Church of Religious Science. After some digging, I found out that the church had been founded on the teachings of Ernest Holmes. At this point, I had one of those weird “deja vu” intuition moments. I told her, “That name sounds familiar”. About an hour later, I remembered the note in the Murphy Book, and realized that there had been a typo in the book.

This was a synchronicity for me, and ever since I’ve been gradually coming to a better understanding of the teachings of The Science of Mind (by Ernest Holmes, which serves as the textbook for the Church’s teachings and beliefs).

So, I guess, in answer to my own question, “I am a Religious Scientist and DAMNED proud of it!”

What interesting stories do you have behind your spiritual path(s) of choice?

The think I’ve been noticing more and more is the debate that has cropped up as to whether or not hard work is required to bring about manifestation. I first noticed this debate on Andy Wibbels’ blog post which was basically a rant about The Secret. The main focus of the post was about the marketing of “The Secret“. I’ll be the first to admit that, while I overall enjoyed the DVD, a bit of the marketing behind it is over-the-top.

What is interesting, however, is that in the ensuing comments thread on the post, the debate of hard work vs. affirmation/prayer cropped up. I’ve since noticed this debate being discussed on many other venues.

Basically, the debate is this: On one side of the proverbial fence, we have the group which maintains that hard work is the only way to bring about (manifest) change. I agree with this view, to a certain degree.

On the other side is the belief that prayer/visualization/affirmation is enough to bring about (manifest) change. I agree with this view, to a certain degree.

You may have noticed that I agree with BOTH views, to a certain degree. This is because, since I am a believer in the LoA, I must realize that both views are correct from their own points of view.

The reason that hard work is necessary for manifestation to occur on the one side of the fence is the BELIEF that it is necessary.

The reason that hard work is NOT necessary for manifestation to occur on the other side of the fance is the BELIEF that it is NOT necessary.

In my own experience, I have had situations where hard work was necessary, whereas other times, I have brought about awesome change with only mental work on my part. No physical action required.

Interesting how that works.

Anyway, please realize that my beliefs in this matter are just that…MY beliefs. You may not agree with my beliefs on this, but that’s OK. In the paraphrased words of Morpheus, “My beliefs do not require you to.”

For some interesting reading about the LoA:

Steve Pavlina’s posts about Intention & Manifestation

Andy Wibbels’ post about The Secret

I’m interested in hearing in the comments about YOUR experiences with the LoA and whether or not it works for you.

I’m excited because this book touches on a lot of what I believe about Beliefs and Habits.

I haven’t even finished this book yet, and I’m already adding it to my list of recommended books. I’m proud to say that my aunt is going to read it after I am finished with it.

Don’t worry, I plan to review it once I’m finished, and let you know what I learned from it.

How is it possible to quit one’s job and not feel guilty about it? Let’s find out A few years back, when I was confronted with the decision of whether or not to re-enlist (again!?) in the Navy, it was quite a quandry. I had all the thoughts mentioned above. I was in a job that I basically couldn’t stand any longer. The work itself isn’t particularly hard, unless you cound the occasional months-long time away from friends, family and any semblance of a “normal” life. I was ok with that part, because I was the one who signed up.

One thing that I find interesting, however, is that as you come up to decision points such as this, you will find out a lot about yourself, as well as a lot about the people in your life who care about you.

You will invariably be offered up truckloads of advice, whether it is asked for or not. Those in your life who care and want only the “very best” for you will give you their version of what is best for you.

Enough about that stuff. I could write a whole post just about that.

The question before us is “How can I, in good faith, quit the job I’ve got to pursue something BETTER?”

I just recently had the pleasure of reading Steve Pavlina’s post titled “Don’t Die With Your Music Still In You“. Basically, in this post, which I highly recommend reading, Steve talks about whether we really lose anything of value by dumping jobs or lines of work that are not in alignment with our purpose.

I’ve been planning to write this post for a few days now, and when I ran across Steve’s post, it sorta solidified the deal for me. I am focusing more and more on synchronicities and alpha reflections (his term) now.

So, the way I see it, there are really only two ways to quit a job. They are:

• Out alignment and congruence with your purpose, and
• In of alignment and congruence with your purpose.

In alignment

By this, I mean, the manner in which you leave your job, in my opinion, should match up with the reason you are leaving the job you currently have. I’ve known several people who quit their job(s) in a fit of passionate anger. Later on, they justified it to themselves with statements such as, “It’s the principle of the thing”.

They quit the job without having a clear sense of WHERE they were going or WHY they were going there. This is akin to jumping out of a boat when there is no other in sight, and no hope of ever seeing one. I’m not saying you should always have a job lined up before you quit, per se. What I am saying is that you should have an IDEA of what you would like to attract into your life. If you just quit your job willy-nilly, and couple that with the intensity of anger, you are sure to attract more situations that are in congruence with willy-nilly anger.

Out of alignment

Let’s say you’re not happy with the job situation you are in. By taking the time to find out what you are all about, you are more likely to be able to attract more of what you want, and less of what you do not want. Along with this, comes the notion of “Blessing where you are now, on the way to where you are going”.

So, basically, the “right” way to quit a job, is to first know WHY you are doing so, and not going through with it until you are at a sense of peace with the job. Recognize the job as a stepping stone, a learning experience. Feel genuine gratitude for the job for that reason. Treat it as a good friend that you are simply growing apart from, and release it, and let it go.

Successful People do what unsuccessful people are NOT willing to do.

I’d actually already seen this before, when reading Jeff Olson’s book “The Slight Edge”. Basically, the gist of this is best summed up in the famous quote, “I will do today what others don’t, to have tomorrow what others won’t.”

Successful People Perform Simple Daily Disciplines

This is also another concept from The Slight Edge”. Basically, each decision we make every day is either taking us CLOSER or FURTHER from our dreams, goals and desires. There is no middle ground. We either perform daily disciplines or daily errors in judgment. The choice is ours.

Successful People make Positive Use of the Infinite Network

This is a concept from a book co-authored by Mark Victor Hansen and Robert Allen called “The One-Minute Millionaire” (aff). I absolutely LOVED this concept when I first learned of it. Basically, the Infinite Network comes up because the average person personally knows about 250 people. If you made a list of everyone you know, including people like the mailperson, the guy across the street, and so on, you should be able to come up with about 250 people for your list.

Taking into account that each of those people on your list each know about 250 people, that gives you direct access into a network of people totalling about 62,500 people (250×250). Taking that one level further, and you have access to about some 15.2 MILLION people (62,500×250). It’s no wonder that there are only about 6 degrees of separation.

Successful People do not feel sorry for themselves or others.

Self-pity and pity of others falls into the category of sympathy, which I’ll cover shortly.

Successful People provide the road map for others to follow.

The path of success is often built on the shoulders of the giants who came before you. The cool thing about this is, as you become more congruent with success, you also become a giant to scores of future success stories.

Successful People question their way to the top.

If you don’t know the answer to something, or are in need of a solution to a certain situation, don’t be afraid to ASK. Sometimes you have to stand on the shoulders of other giants, too.

Success People have a mission statement, which they review daily, and perform their daily actions accordingly.

This falls squarely into goal-setting. I remember reading a book on Mission Statements written from a Christian perspective. In the opening chapter of that book, it is mentioned that in the military during certain campaigns of war, if a soldier approached his duty post, he was challenged to repeat the mission statement of the company. If the person approaching didn’t know the mission statement from heart, they were shot on the spot. Pretty effective way to keep out distracting influences. Always know where you are going in life.

Successful People know when to inspect what they expect.

This is a great tip for anyone building a business team. By constant checking and adjusting of the systems that are in place, the Successful Person is more likely to be able to walk away from that situation with full confidence that the team will stay on task. If you were building a house, would you give the architect blueprints along with the cash to build the house, and then leave until it’s finished? As for me, I’d feel much better if I did regular checkups on the progress, in case anything unexpected came up that needed some attention.

Successful People are masters of empathy, rather than sympathy.

The difference between the two is subtle. Sympathy is knowing how someone is feeling in a certain situation by becoming a congruent match for the other person’s state. Empathy is knowing how they are feeling without being sucked in with them. Sympathy is akin to trying to rescue a drowning person by jumping in with them. Empathy is rescuing them by offering a life preserver.

Successful People are masters of the mundane.

Every great venture or enterprise is built upon fundamentals. In order to be wildly successful in anything, you must first master the basics. In a marathon, a wild amount of training goes in to being able to run the long distances required. The basics, however, of the marathon are, one foot in front of the other, over and over. With time of mastering the basics of that, the training just serves to amplify and build on the basics.

Successful People make their primary associations with like minded successful people.

This is touching some more on the Infinite Network. For a more in-depth of some of the concepts behind this, read my article about the power of Mastermind Groups.

Successful People learn to model those that have the success they seek.

More about standing on giants, etc. Modeling is by far the most powerful success strategy there is. Rather than trial-and-error to get where you want to go, why not build on the already-done trial-and-error that today’s successful people have done?

And, lastly….

Successful People respect the value of their own dreams and goals.

When it comes down to it, who are we here for? Ourselves. I’m not talking about some ego-based devil-could-care attitude here. I’m saying that if we don’t take care of ourselves and serve ourselves, how can we ever expect to be able to serve anyone else? Keep yourself refreshed daily with a healthy dose of Personal Development.

Let’s say you are driving (life). You are going from Point A (where you are now) to Point B (your Goals). Every so often, you will find yourself in a pocket of traffic, surrounded by cars. You look down the road, and you can see where you are going. You alternate between matching the speeds of the surrounding cars. Occasionally, you notice an opening (opportunity) to jump out of the current pocket you’re in. You take it, and find yourself in another pocket. Relatively speaking, you are a bit closer to your Point B than the rest of the crowd of traffic. You’ve just made a conscious move to break away from the crowd. Congratulations.

This is the analogy of street driving. I equate it to be the non-competitive, and sometimes cooperative, approach to life. You are getting closer and closer to your goal, without messing up anyone else’s chances of breaking out of the traffic pockets.

Now, for track driving. You’ve seen the car races. NASCAR, and all that. These guys make a living out of getting from Point A to Point B, and doing their best to keep the other guys from getting there. Some go as far as running each other all over the track. This is more of a competitive in-your-face approach to travelling.

So, in life, I think there are really only two kinds of drivers. Street Drivers and Track Drivers.

What kind of driver are you?

I realized the other day, as I was observing this happen to me, that this analogy of traffic lights is a perfect illustration of how to keep the proper mindset if we expect our intentions to manifest as we intend. Let me explain.

I’m driving down the street (which could be taken to mean life in general), and I approach an intersection (crossroads, decisions, etc). I decide how I want the light to be (the intention). Ideally, as I get closer and closer to the intersection (decision), I should be able to keep the intention firmly in Mind, and simply KNOW that it will happen. This usually works. Sometimes, however, the light (life circumstances) doesn’t appear to be switching as soon or timely as I would like. I begin to panic (doubt my own intentions), and the Law of Attraction simply gives me more of what I think about. By allowing doubt to creep into my intention, I begin thinking of the very situations I do NOT want to happen. By thinking about these “negative” situations, I bring more of the same. I need to figure out HOW to stop doing that.
So, that’s the problem. But what’s the solution?
Rather than doubting my intentions, because of the APPEARANCE of what is going on, I should TRUST that the intention will manifest. This manifestation occurs, to borrow from the affirmation by Steve Pavlina’s Million Dollar Experiment, “in its own perfect time, for the highest good of all”. Just simply focus on the WHAT and WHY of what you are intending, and not so much on the HOW. If your WHY is big enough, the how will take care of itself.

As far as the traffic light analogy goes. Think of this way. If your desire about the intention is strong enough, then you must be resolved to the point that you are willing to speed through the intersection EVEN IF the light stays red. Once you can put yourself in that place of awareness and knowing, the light will change.

I’d be interested in hearing anyone else’s take on this, and also if anyone has some experiences which might serve as examples.