I was recently talking with my friend,  Jo Barns, another excellent Mentor  and we got to talking about all the places we have lived and how lucky we were to have experienced some really beautiful places. And she was expressing how lucky she is to live on her island that is so beautiful. Her daughter gets to go to school with kids from 27 different countries and that their evenings relax time is a walk on the beach or a swim in the pool just like mine was when I lived in Hawaii all those years. 
 
“What luck that I landed here!” She stated.  But is it pure luck? Is it just lucky
that she lives there or do we make our own luck?
We all know the answer to that really,  don't we. As a follow up from last
week’s message about our needs vs. wants and how we create them, you know deep down we create our own luck through the choices we make.

I'm not saying that stuff isn't going to get in our way. Oh boy, will it! Things
will happen that will sway us off our path, that will slow us down, that may
even stop us in our tracks altogether. Life will always be throwing some kind of
challenge at us.

But it really is the way we choose to react or deal with these challenges that
determines the outcome and how we move forward.
An extreme example of this is a guy who I think is an incredible inspiration in
life - Nick Vujicic. If you haven't heard of him or seen him speak, check out
one of his videos here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snDQe3tWwRQ
He had a choice in life. He could have chosen to be a victim. Feel bad for the way
he is, taken up drugs or alcohol to ease his pain and spend his life just
feeling sorry for himself. My goodness, if anyone had a good excuse to be like
that he did!

But instead he chose to take his situation and create magic with it. Reach out to
other people, help people, lift and inspire people and make a difference the
world over. Life sure threw a challenge his way, but how he dealt with it determined the amazing life he (and probably millions of others) now lives!

As I said that's an extreme example. Please don't mistake me for being flippant
about your life. I understand that each and every one of us face real problems
and challenges that can turn our lives upside down.

I think I just wanted to convey the message that you do have a choice as to how
you deal with, react to or face a problem, no matter how big or
small. Just as I had a choice back in 2003 to sell everything I owned and jump on a plane with my fingers tightly crossed behind my back, you have a choice as to how you feel, the actions you take and the future you determine.

You have a choice on a daily basis to feel happy or sad. You have a choice to create ridiculous expectations of yourself or give yourself a break and make it easy to succeed and feel good. Life is hard enough already, don't make it harder for yourself. Make good choices!

I hope you have a great week!

”I am so tired of being happy.” or “I am so tired of finding ways
to turn a bad situation into something fun and playful” ~ said by No One, ever.
 Remember the Universal Law of Polarity. You are never given a problem without also being given the solution. So, take a look at this cute video to see if you can get the feeling of what it’s like to turn a bad situation into something good. If nothing else You will start your Monday with a smile. 

When we talk about creating or manifesting what we want in our lives,
one of the key factors is being in your flow.  Some people call it “Being in the
Zone”, “Being on Fire” or “Being in the Flow”. Look back through your life for
the times when everything was going exactly as you wanted and tap into the
feeling you were experiencing. Perhaps you were even amazed at how good you were feeling in the moment as things were working out perfectly. 

When you want to create or manifest something in your life, try your
best to get into that same frame of mind, draw that feeling into your mind and
body. This is what is meant by “Acting as if”. When you can act as if things are
going perfectly, that you have money, you have great connection with family,
friends and co-workers, that you have already succeeded on the project you are
working on or that goal you are striving for, that energy of Being in your flow
will come naturally and you will get what you want. It is a matter of knowing
that it is there and coming to you as you call it forth by “Acting as if”.

And it is just as important to really FEEL the emotions when acting as if...Emotion = Energy in Motion and its the very stuff that signals the Universe to bring what you want into your reality 

Note the important aspects of the process…Be, Act , Feel and Receive. 

 Victor Hugo said “He, who every morning plans the transactions of the day, and follows that plan carries a thread that will guide him through a labyrinth of the most busy life.” 

As Mentors we teach and encourage our clients to visualize what they want to accomplish in their lives, how they see themselves and their relationships, what makes them feel successful, prosperous and happy. It is very different for each person. But, what is not different is the process to achieve their goals. One must have the ability to visualize the future. Even if the vision is one for the next day and  not 6 months or a year later. Then, there must be some sort of plan, ideas and  steps necessary  that will bring them closer to achieving the goal/s. And the most important part is they must take action steps every day without fail toward their desired goals. Without the action steps, the vision is just a day dream.

"I think anything like that - which is contemplative, silent, shows a person alone - people always feel sad. Is it because we have lost the art of being alone?"

                          ~Andrew Wyeth

Work addicts or other folks who do an excessive amount are individuals who can seldom be alone. Being alone often instigates personal awareness, thought, reflection, contemplation of self and people we love.

Given that we populate our days and nights with activity, we are never alone. Aloneness brings us too near to ourselves, the very person many of us try desperately to lose.

Only in the event that we confront our fear of being alone will we have the ability to begin our own healing process.




~~~~~~~~

Today is a good time to spend some time alone,

thinking and feeling and not running.

"I'll be damned if I'll be a public utility.:

          ~HENRY R. LUCE

We're all so afraid of failure, especially if our short comings should be in any way public. That's why we seek moderation in so many things that we do. If we are committed to rediscovering what is important to us, we will recreate a system by which we can live, and not live out our days as a public or private utility.

                                                                                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We who do too much are, to a greater degree shamed based. I need to be aware that my failures teach me as much as my success, and that obsession with work masks my pain.

We all have hopes and dreams and wishes for things in our life. We wish
we had more money, more time for the things we love to do, or time for people we
love to be with. We wish we had better cars, better homes, more of this or that.
Too often we waste time wishing, hoping, praying and dreaming instead of doing
what needs to be done to actually acquire our desires. We are watching mindless televisions shows, playing games on the computer, surfing the lives of our  friends and family on Facebook, or whatever we can find to do that distracts us  from accomplishing what we really want in life. Perhaps it is fear, or lack of  knowledge, lack of discipline or whatever. The truth is, it all boils down to the strength of your desires. When I was growing up, several phrases were  repeated by my parents all the time. 1) “If you can conceive it in your mind and  you can really believe it than you can achieve it.” 2) “Those who really want  something find a way, those who don’t find an excuse.” and two of my favorite I
read in a Richard Bach's book…”The best way to avoid responsibility is to say “I have responsibilities”  and  possibly one of my all time favorites…

”Argue for your limitations and they are  yours.”

So, the next time you notice yourself sitting there wishing, hoping or dreaming
about a better life or a better you; stop and look at yourself and see what YOU
are doing to create the life you love to live.

"By letting go, it all gets done; The world is won by those who let it go!"

               ~THE TAO TE CHING




That may be what so much of our compulsion is about: it isn't "natural" for people this day and age, in this culture, to "let go". We keep old models of achievements, and sometimes to disastrous methods of seeing things to aggravation. How often have we clung to what we thought was the life raft of sanity, of our work, or our desire to complete a task, for the sake of the task, not for what it brings us.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It will be of importance to me to keep my real goals in perspective today. I will need to be mindful of what makes me and those I love happy, not simply what keeps me busy.

Walter Lippmann once said that “ It requires wisdom to understand
wisdom: The music is nothing if the audience in deaf. “

Many of us fail to seek out improvement because we get so caught up in
our daily lives that we don’t see not only that WE CAN improve, but what improvements we can make. Take some time out of your  day today and look at yourself and your life. What in you would you like to make  better? What desires do you have that can be addressed by a little self  improvement? Would you like to have better communication with family and  co-workers? Would you like to be able to concentrate more on the things you love to do? Do you need more organization in your life or even in your mind? Really ask yourself what needs you have not met yet that will improve something about  you, then take action to meet those needs. Take a class, go to a seminar, and especially…Get a Coach.

Recently I was looking at a pond that has
several Lotus flowers growing in it. I’ve admired their beauty many times in the
past but, this morning, while enjoying the rising sun I noticed that the flowers
were closed. It wasn’t until the actual rays of light from the sun kissed the
Lotus petals, that they began to open right in front of me. I guess I have been
too busy in the past to really notice this. As the flowers opened, I realized
that the outside of the white leaves were bruised a bit and had little brown
spots. They weren’t really pretty. However, as each pedal gently separated from
the others, their true beauty was exposed on the inside. Inside, the petals
appeared to be flawless, soft and bright.  

A gradient yellow color started bright in the flower’s center and became
lighter and lighter as it rose toward the petals tips. One by one, the flowers
many layers opened. The flower appeared to have it’s own light coming from
within its center. So beautiful! 

I did some research on my phone while
watching this amazing flower bloom before my very eyes and found that:  the lotus flower signifies a flawless
and timeless divine beauty. It’s opening petals, the potential for the soul to
expand and blossom into beauty and divinity. They symbolize the surrender of the
mind to the powers above and an openness and submissiveness even as the roots
are mired in muddy worldliness and sin. It is said they also symbolize not only
creation, but the timeless and continual process of birth and rebirth. And to
me, this morning, they represent how no matter where our roots are planted, if
we carry our fire and light inside, we can shine no matter where we are. 
We carry our lives in our own hands. 

What symbols do you have in your lives that remind you of who you are and where you are going?