Memorial day challenge

On this Memorial day I have an extra special reason to be thankful and proud. As we know, this holiday is held in honor of all the military personnel who have sacrificed their own lives for a purpose. This purpose is one of united safety. Not only for all of us in America, but also for the safety and unity of all people on this planet who desire and strive for a free society where all are equal.

With a certain degree of expected bias, I feel as though the military of our country represents the standard that all others attempt to measure up to. Simply put, the United States military is an organization of well trained and dedicated individuals that are second to none. But today, I wish to draw attention to a specific member of the Elite Navy Seals. Lt. Michael P. Murphy was killed in action in Afghanistan on June 28, 2005. Also known as “Murph”, he was nothing short of extremely physically fit.

My focus in this story is to reveal how this hero has had, and still has a tremendous impact on many people in the world of fitness. I would guess that most of us have heard of the organization known as CrossFit. This is a wide spread workout and fitness institution with many locations across the nation. What many of you may not know is that every year during the Memorial weekend, the CrossFit workout centers have what they call “Hero WOD” (workout of the day). And they have been doing this in honor of Lt. Murphy for many years now.

There is no money to be made, no prizes to be won and no trophies handed out. What there is however, is the intense feeling of pride and accomplishment for those who participate. I learned of this annual event through my son Matt. Matt is a member of our local CrossFit center in Woodland, Ca. and has found this place to be much more than a gym to him. Up at 4:15 am just about everyday, he arrives at 5 am to join his extended family for the first hour of workout of the day.

The CrossFit organization was, and is, very committed to integrity and accountability and with this, they put in the effort to research what, and how, Lt. Murphy did during his routine workout regimen’s. All I can say is WOW! Listed here is just one of Murph’s favorite exercise programs:

Run 1 mile, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 air squats and finish up with running another mile!

And by the way, all this was done with body armor on that weighed 20 lbs. Oh yes, one more thing…the Seals are expected to do all this in under an hour!! It is reported that Murph did this routinely in 45 minutes!

So this very same workout regimen in honor of Murph, is put forth to any CrossFit member as a personal challenge on memorial day. My son made a commitment to himself to attempt this staggering feat, and just to make sure he was staying true to Murph’s regimen, he wore a 20 lb. vest the entire time. Matt turned 30 years old a couple of weeks ago and I must say he is now in much better physical condition than he was a few years ago. In his early twenties, he would top the scale at 355 lbs! There were many reasons for his rapid weight gain back then, but I’m extremely happy to say those are behind him now.

At just about 6 feet tall, Matt now weighs in at 240 lbs as the transition from being out of shape continues to move toward a much better overall condition. So you see, today I am very proud of our military and all they do, and wanted to draw attention to how one very special soldier from years gone by has impacted young people today such as my son. Lt. Murphy led by example. He is an example of tremendous perseverance, stamina and integrity and especially in today’s world, this is something that needs to be held up and praised.

Oh yes…Matt did achieve his goal of completing the Murph workout, and he did so in 1 hour, 22 minutes!

We all know the importance our military has to all of us with regard to national security. I thought I would take it one step further today, and show another importance as well. As with Murph, there are many military vets who may or may not still be with us in physical form that have remarkable impact on many people. So to all of us, I say…be thankful and be the example.

 

Timing is indeed……everything.

I am definitely not one to copy quotes that I hear elsewhere. I really do create nearly all of my own, however, with that said, there is a short statement that I actually heard in a movie some time ago that has stuck with me so profoundly, that I wish to repeat it here.

 

“Sometimes when we get to where we’re supposed to be…… it’s too soon.

 

This has proven to be true for me multiple times as I look back over my many years thus far.

 

Think about it…… really.         Think about how this has been a factor in your travels.

 

It is a big factor in mine……

The Neighbors Field

OK. This story is going to test you. It’s not going to expose a right or wrong answer, but rather a set of different perspectives. It is likely that you’ve heard the old statement…..“we’re judged by our actions“. Well, this is true some of the time, but as we will soon see, it is definitely not the case in every circumstance. In this story, I intend to show how the intentions of two different men made all the difference when it came to the type of judgement that was cast by those affected by the actions involved, even when their individual actions produced very similar results. If this sounds confusing at first, don’t worry, it soon will be as clear as……well, mud.

                Coexistence of wildlife

I currently live in a rural area which has an open field directly behind me. This area is occupied with many different types of wildlife including wild turkey and Blacktail deer. The field behind me is owned by a neighbor who does not employ any farming practices. These people are currently residing in a much more populated area about an hour’s drive from here. They use this piece of land, which includes a house and several out buildings, as a weekend home. In our neck of the woods the fire danger becomes quite extreme during the summer months, so my neighbor is very concerned about keeping the wild growing grasses cut to a very low height so the risk of fire is kept to a minimal.

In years past he has spent several weekends each spring tackling this task himself with his modest tractor and small mower. However, the past couple of years have found him giving the 20 acres of volunteer grasses to another neighbor for livestock hay purposes which also provides the desired fire protection once it is cut. The neighbor with the livestock is given the grass hay for no cost if he brings in his equipment to cut and bale the hay and haul it away to use as livestock feed. What the land owner receives in return is the fire protection he is looking for without the necessity to keep mowing the field himself with his modest mower.

So far, this sounds like a win-win situation, but there is more to the story. So now, (as Paul Harvey used to say) here is “the rest of the story”.

I have lived in and around this area my entire life and as such, I will tell you that the wild turkey population is nothing short of exploding these days. On the other hand, the deer population is holding its own at best. Turkeys are minimally affected by predators, primarily due to their ability to fly and spend the night roosting in the trees. Deer however, are at risk to the mountain lions, coyotes, and eagles in our area when they are young and also, as we all know, these animals are restricted to remain on the ground without the ability to escape into the air. A turkey will lay 10 – 14 eggs a year, whereas a deer will have one or possible two fawns per year.

So, why am I giving such detail about these two specific animals? Because it is precisely these two beautiful animals that this story is centered around. The field behind me will have the occasional visit of both of these creatures. Travel another 1/4 mile up the road, which brings us to the foothill’s bottom, and you would expect to see many more turkeys throughout the day in the spring months. Contrary, the deer sightings would remain at a minimal. The deer in this area have their fawns in May and June, which is when the turkeys have begun to nurture their eggs on the nest.

The Fish and Game department has created a hunting season for the male turkeys as a means of population control during the majority of April and the very early portion of May. This is when the mating ritual is primarilly finished and the females can lay their eggs and proceed to hatch them. The deer hunting season, which is for male deer only, is within the months of August and September so to allow the new born fawns time to advance to a strong state. Also, the gestation period for a deer is much longer than a turkey as the fawns that are born in the late spring and early summer months were actually conceived during the Fall months of the prior year. Thus, the Fish and Game department schedules the deer hunting season during the late summer months so to not disturb the mating season of October and November.

     One mans right is another mans wrong

This particular property owner has openly professed his participation in hunting pratices throughout the U.S. This is only relevant to this story as a means to express he is not against hunting in general. Now we will introduce an additional participant. This introduction brings us yet another neighbor who simply lives around this same field. This is where the story becomes confined to three people….the property owner, the livestock man cutting the grass for hay and the other neighbor who lives at one side of this field.

The live-beside neighbor had been waiting for a chance to harvest a turkey for personal meat consumption purposes during the spring when the hunting season was open. Unfortunately (I guess) this did not materialize until one day when the season had passed and been closed for 6 days. Even though the opportunity at a mature male turkey presented itself on the 6th day following the close of turkey season, this neighbor made the choice to harvest the animal. As a means of complete disclosure, immediately following the harvesting of the animal, the live-beside neighbor exposed his action to the land owner neighbor.

The land owner was extermely upset due to the legality of the seasons close 6 days prior!

Intentions vs. Actions (what really matters?) 

So now I will bring forth more detail for us to contemplate. It is quite obvious that the hunter intentionally harvested the turkey and we must assume that his awareness of the season dates were known (or should have been). Now lets shift our focus to the hay-cutting neighbor. This man only had one priority, and that was to cut the wild grasses for hay to feed to his livestock. The landowner did not ask for a fee simply because the added fire protection he would realize was his real concern.

One unfortunate reality that I haven’t exposed until now is that the female deer (doe’s) will many times give birth to their one or two fawns within the high wild grasses such as was found in this field. This particular livestock owning neighbor was not as diligent with his timing as one would expect and thus his cutting proceedure took quite a long time. In fact, he would only show up to cut an acre or two on any given day for more than a month. Well, as sad as this may seem, the reality is undeniable. Due to his extended cutting schedule, the field was not completely cut until well into the fawning time period for the deer.

The end result produced a killed fawn as a victum to the unaware man who was opperating the hay cutting machine. He could not have seen the tiny deer laying in the tall grass as he drove the large machine through the field. His intention was not deliberate in the death of the baby deer, however, his actions produced the result.

So now I ask…..where is your judgement priority?

One man intentionally killed an animal to directly consume the meat. A law set forth by humans was violated based on the pre-established hunting season dates.

Another man also killed an animal, but did not intend to do so. Contrary, he did not consume the meat but rather left if for the scavengers, and, he did not violate any pre-established man made laws.

And, just to add another element for your consideration, the property owner made clear his disregard for other types of animals in the area such as the wild pigeons (which are few in numbers). He openly stated his lack of concern should the hunter have taken a pigeon rather than a turkey.

Result

One man intentionally killed, another man killed without the intentions to do so.

The end result is the same…..two animals are deseased.

You decide……is one… or both… or neither of these men guilty of a wrong in your opinion? Also, what about the property owner’s perspective? Do you feel he was justified in his approach toward distinguishing the importance of one animal vs. another?

I will tell you that the land owner was very upset with the intentional taking of the turkey, only because it was beyond the pre-established season date according to the Dept. of Fish and Game. He was modestly upset by the demise of the helpless deer fawn.

Actions….. both occurrences produced the death of an animal.

Intentions….. the only difference in this matter.

How do you judge…..is it the intentions or the actions that make the difference in your feelings and thoughts?

The hypocricies of the human judgement process will no-doubt reveal themselves within this consideration.

There is no real right or wrong answer…..there is only your answer.

Is your ultimate judgement based on intention or action?  We can learn a lot about ourselves with an honest assessment.

 

Remorse

To those of us with a conscious, this deeply pitted emotion will likely show itself once in a while as we progress through life. There can be countless reasons this nauseating feeling comes to infect our place of comfort, but for me, none are more debilitating than those rare times in which I have no legitimate reason for the actions that brought it on. Thankfully for me, these days at least, these occurrences are very few and far between.

Recently though, I have encountered one of the deepest forms of regret that I have felt for many years. I actually don’t remember ever feeling so sorry for an action I conducted when hindsight has shown that there was really no reason to do it in the first place. As always, my intentions were not harmful, but the result was very upsetting to others around me. Please understand, nobody was physically hurt or abused in a direct sense, but my action did cause emotional distress to them.

As I contemplate what it is that I am the most upset by, I find myself arriving at a place of integrity and benefit (or the lack there-of). My life’s priority, without doubt, has been and will continue to be, one of bringing benefit to those I touch. I am the healer, the example, the one that anybody can trust without question.

However, this position was briefly forgotten by me and as such, I became the cause of someone else’s disappointment in me. Although my action may be viewed as a big deal or not really a big deal, depending on ones perspective, to the one I impacted, it was a big deal and that’s what matters to me.

I encroached into his space, he did not come into mine, therefore I have judged my action as completely unnecessary and one in which a lack of respect for him was temporarily present. Immediately following my unfortunate decision which led to a rapid result, I approached this man face to face to try and gather enough guts to directly apologize without the attempt at any excuse. He was extremely mature in his response and acted in a way that I definitely admire.

I am somewhat embarrassed to admit, that even though I have published three books containing a combined total of well over 100,000 words on the subject of “Listening” to your inner thoughts and feelings, I was nothing short of completely ignoring mine for a brief moment not so long ago.

You see, I knew it.

For the few seconds right before I decided to act, I felt all the internal signs of “this is not a good idea“. Blinded by the physical elements right in front of me, I did not “Listen” to the feelings my intuition was screaming at me!

I “heard”……but I did not “Listen”.

I have learned a tremendous lesson as the recipient of the very things I have professed to others for a long time.

You may “Hear”, but you have to trust those invisible feelings that are always there to guide you toward the most beneficial decisions….. if you are to actually “Listen”.

 

A Birthday Tribute

I remember when I got the call. Matt was on the other end and said to me, “I have a favor to ask. I want you to do something for me that I do not want to do for myself”. I remained silent at first; mostly because I was caught off guard with this type of request coming from him. You see, to hear him say that there was something that he didn’t want to do for himself was extremely odd. These days, Matt is one of the most independent and confident people I know. He has no problem saying what he believes and doing for himself, while always being conscious of his surroundings. Although when his options are very limited, he will accept help from those personally close to him, he is definitely reluctant to do so.

As I listened to the details of his request, I soon understood the root of his reluctance to perform this task for himself. Now it made complete sense.

Matt wanted something written about himself personally to use in a professional endeavor within the printed material and felt quite uncomfortable writing about himself in a self-promoting manner. His humbleness was getting in the way of being able to honestly talk about himself. He felt it might sound like he was bragging.

The deep personal side of him is one that few really know and I must say, it is very likely that nobody knows this side better than I do. This is one favor that I felt absolutely qualified and also quite pleased to do. I completed his request in late 2015 (about 6 months ago) and produced a paper for him to use as a description of his qualities. Now, in a much more public exposure, I would like to share a few things that make him so special and today is the perfect time to do so.

Today…..May 7th, 2016, is Matts 27th birthday.

He is a remarkable young man with a truly genuine care for others who possesses a real desire to be beneficial to those he comes in contact with along with the whole of society.

This man is extremely complicated and yet also very simple. His maturity and wisdom do not reflect the typical person of his age. He is well beyond the average in his generation when it comes to emotional and mental awareness. Matt was born to lead. Not just in an ordinary managerial position somewhere, he has done that already and has been very successful.

There is a huge difference between a true leader of people and one who has been awarded a managers position.

Matt is already a genuine leader based on his integrity and willingness to help those he can with or without any expressed recognition of his deed. He is driven by an intense desire to be the example of positive change and not the follower of a status quo. To him, simply doing what everyone else is doing, is lazy and lacks leadership.

But probably his most impressive attribute, which also explains his reluctance to carry on about himself, would be a history that has revealed a fascinating journey thus far. Simply put; Matt is not interested in just telling people about how to improve and better themselves, he would rather show you.

In high school he was the only senior who was able to win the popular arm wrestling contest and not only beat all of his classmates but the P.E. teacher as well. He was very fit to say the least. Three years later he was unhappily married and weighed in at 355 pounds!

He remained at this weight and in a very unhealthy position for several years. He drank moderately during his time off of work and had a terrible addiction to tobacco. For those of us close to him who witnessed this demise in his physical and emotional condition, it was truly hard to watch.

Today, Matt has lost well over 120 pounds (without any preassembled diets or fads) rarely drinks alcohol and has completely rid himself of tobacco use. Among other things, including a very busy work schedule, he is well on his way to becoming a certified personal fitness trainer with an emphasis on balance, mobility, strength and nutrition.

At 18 years old he walked into the area supervisors office of a global oil company and sat down to apply for a job. Two hours later, after a diligent attempt by this supervisor to scare him off, he was hired as a “Bulkie”, which is as low of a starting position as there is in this type of work. Six months later he was the top requested Bulkie among a team of several dozen in that location. Another year later and he was promoted to a much more advanced piece of equipment and was trained by the best there is in the business. His mentor at that time was a thirty year veteran who had continually avoided the managements request to train others. To the surprise and incredible delight of the management, this man personally requested to train Matt one-on-one, which was something he had never done before and has not done since. After a year at that position, Matt transferred to the north slope of Alaska where he spent 3 years as one of two of the top operators of this equipment. He would humbly tell you that driving an 80 foot long, 120,000 pound truck on the frozen ice roads over the Arctic ocean is an experience you will never forget. Twenty four hours of solid darkness for weeks in temperatures hitting  -80 degrees below F. can cause a relentless form of claustrophobia, even in wide open spaces, according to his accounts of this experience. Another promotion to a crew supervisor found him transferring to Australia where he would spend a year as the responsible person on site of oil rig jobs valued in the millions.

As we all know due to the cheap gas prices, the oil industry is currently in a state of extreme down turn which caused massive layoffs globally. Matt was offered one of the few positions remaining in Saudi Arabia when the entire country of Australia basically stopped wide spread production. With an extreme pay cut for a lateral transfer of position and due to the unsettledness of that region, Matt declined the offer and left the industry.

Since then, he has driven heavy haul semi’s with loads so big it’s hard to imagine  how they were maneuvered through the freeways of downtown L.A. and San Francisco, just to mention a few.

Matt is not a thrill seeker despite how all of this may sound. In fact, he is quite cautious in his approach when there is moderate risk involved. What he really is though, is someone who prides himself on “getting it done”. He wants to be the unique one. The guy who will step up and do what needs to be done without a lot of whining and complaining.

There are plenty of those who spend a lot of time telling anyone who will listen how good they are. Matt isn’t much for carrying on about his experiences and abilities…..he would rather just do it and let his actions speak for themselves. There is much more I could mention here concerning the triumphs of his travels thus far at such a young age, but were I to continue, then even I might consider it going too far.

I have watched this little boy turn into the man he is every step of the way. If you think I’m a little over-the-top with my interest in exposing the personal setbacks and triumphs of this young man followed by his determined unwillingness to give up and settle for the status quo of normality, well….you might have a point.

But then again, what father wouldn’t be proud of a son like this?

 

 

Lashing Out……

It can be said that those closest to us can also cause us the most emotional grief at times. Many times, the people who we consider to be our closest family members and/or friends are indeed the same people who give us the most grief (at least once in a while). It can happen this way for several reasons but probably the most common reason is nothing more than a felt level of comfort. Quite simply, we are the most comfortable with those we are the closest to. Although an irony for sure, never-the-less, it is the very people we hold the dearest to us that we tend to attack with the most regularity with our personal aggressiveness without stopping to realize just what we are really doing in most circumstances.

What we are doing…..is lashing out at something.

Most of us will not walk up to a stranger on the street and completely unload! We tend to save this level of frustration and venting for those we have routine exposure to, such as our family or closest friends. Again, this may appear ironic in some sense, but it is completely understandable if you stop and think about it. The comfort we have with these people allow us to “let our hair down” and say what is on our minds, even if it’s in the form of a severe lashing out about a circumstance or problem with someone or something else. In many, if not most cases, the best thing for the recipient to do is…..listen. That’s it. Just give them the availability to let it out. A good listener has many friends.

However, there are those times when only listening is not where it will end. Sometimes we will respond. This may be good…..or it may not be so good, but in some cases we simply can’t help but to throw in our “two-cents“. If the one who is letting it all come out is someone we are in-turn also very comfortable with, we may find our self responding to their verbal lashing out with our opinions of what needs to take place and how to deal with what is troubling them. Again……this may or may not be the best thing we can do, but if it is what feels right at the time, we will indeed let our thoughts on the subject be known.

If you find yourself occasionally, or maybe even routinely, lashing out at those around you about your current frustrations of life, ask yourself……what is it you expect them to do? What would you do if the tables were turned? If these verbal expressions of complaining about this or that are indeed routine, how is it that the listener should be continually interested in what is being said? There comes a point when the talking (complaining) is worn out and it becomes time for action. If a life circumstance has you down and you have been wearing out your verbal rendition of what’s wrong with it to those around you, yet your actions toward any remedy is non-existent, do you truly expect them to take you seriously the next time you unload your verbal delivery of the same problem to them?

We all need true friends. A true friend will always be honest…..first with themselves and then with us. These are the people we should really cherish in our lives. One who only says what is popular in an attempt to gain our approval is not a true friend, but rather just someone looking to jump on our proverbial band wagon of popularity.

Shallowness……. delivers a lack of sincerity by the vague attempt to be popular.

True concern for others…… can only come from a depth of honesty and integrity.

One is short-term, the other is long-term.

Which is more respected and which do you want to be known for?

Dedicated to the class of 77

My emotions run deep as I write this. I have found myself in a place of reflecting on a distant past. This place encompasses the specific time of my senior year in high school…..1977.

I didn’t expect this, yet I guess I shouldn’t be surprised either. I say that I shouldn’t be surprised because I have taken myself back to this era intentionally. You see, I’ve recently started a new project that is causing a lot of past emotions to resurface. But it is condensed within my personal memories of my final year in high school where I find the most felt rush of emotions.

This current project I refer to is the writing of a new book. I love to write. I feel I can communicate at my best within this format. I have published several books already that I am very proud of, however, this endeavor represents something extra special to me.

I suppose this new book has been waiting for the right time to show itself. It seems as though it surfaced rapidly and, at least to this point, has been flowing out with little effort. The subject matter of this book is inspired by true events within the travels of my family. Upon its’ completion, we will have encompassed 100 years that began with my grandparents and will end with my adult children, as most of them are now parents themselves.

There is a lot of diversity woven throughout my history and there has also been many hardships to deal with in each generation. I bring a culmination of many struggles which have taught me so much that I believe many will benefit from this exposure.

It is my goal to have this story touch many people in ways that have true meaning.

Since I began with the first words of chapter one in January of this year (2016) I have seen 70,000+ words come spilling out of me that have led me on a journey of feeling the pains, successes and setbacks of my heritage since the early 1920’s.

Now, as I progress with this endeavor, I have come to the times of my high school experiences and it is here that I am deeply engulfed in very emotional memories. As I have recently relived the days of my junior year as they appeared on the pages before me, I laughed and cried many times while my fingers produced the words on the screen…. transcribing what my heart was feeling.

These were tremendous times for me. As a 16 year old with an emotional overload of destructive childhood experiences, I used this school year to rebel and scream out for some control in my life. As most in our small community were unaware, my home was violent and in constant turmoil.

So now I have engaged the beginning of my final year of high school only to realize the importance of this time has been something I have kept hidden from view until now. This is very difficult and yet somehow, quite necessary. Maybe I can finally heal some of my 40 year old wounds that I have kept hidden behind the façade that I created for the rest of the world to see.

I have often thought of myself as the loneliest person among a crowd of people. Sadness is the emotion I feel the most at this specific time.

To all of my classmates…… I wish to say that I am sad our senior year came and went without my complete understanding of the importance to capture each precious moment and gather up all that comradery from each of you who shared that time with me. I was indeed present with body and brain, but my heart was battle-scarred from the burden of surviving my personal childhood. After nearly four decades of space between then and now, I once again long for those days, because I now know how special they were.

For the little more than four dozen of us who were part of that special year, I wish to openly say…..I miss you.

Even though I know where some of you are, I feel like I abruptly left all of you and your company without understanding the reality of what lay ahead. We would quickly engage a new path and as such, most of us would not speak again. When in school we had developed our individual social structures that divided us into certain little groups which kept many of us at a distance from each other….. even while we shared such a small environment.

If there was one thing I could do over, it would be to truly know as many of you as I could, regardless of peer pressure or social status. This would be my priority because I realize that many of you did not truly know me. My damaged self esteem as a teenager would not allow me the confidence to open myself up to many of you.

For those of you who still find yourself driving by the old high school we once claimed as our own, I wonder….. while passing by do you still hear all our voices talking at once while the constant banging of locker doors echo off the hallway walls? Like me, can you still feel the energy and emotions we all created as one family? Although the outside of this place looks different these days, the inside will always remain as I remember it to be.

 

This short personal note I have written here today is delivered with a selfish intent. In these current times of mass social media, I see that I have more than 31,000 ‘likes’ on my Facebook page. But today, instead of writing something for the masses, I focus my attention on myself….. because I have a need to address my friends and family from a very special time and place.

I am not sure if any of you who shared this special time with me will read this, but if you have, I would love to hear from you. A cup of coffee….. talking about old times….. or just a quick note would be very welcome.

Until then, I would like to thank everyone of you for your part in creating the memories that mean so much to me and the class of 77 at Esparto High.

Thoughts to consider

Occasionally I will revisit some of my previous writings and in doing so it seems I always find things that strike me with renewed impact. Every single day we all change and continue to mature. I have found it very beneficial to remind myself of where I’ve been in days gone by and how much has transpired since those past times. I find purpose in everything that takes place, whether I realize it immediately or somewhere down the road. Many times I remember the emotion I felt during a specific event that, at the time I considered to be very difficult. For me, it is now predictable that I will have a much different perspective toward those particular difficult events, once I have put a little distance between those happenings and my current place.

With an open mind, I will nearly always be understanding of something that has happened in my life, which may have seemed bad at the time, but now reveals a purpose in my travels.

Everything has reason and purpose….it is only our judgement of each event that decides its value.

As I scanned through a few of my personal written archives recently, it occurred to me that perhaps a simple list of some of my favorite short statements could bring benefit to some of you. So, this is precisely what I wish to do here. Below is a revisit of a few of these short statements. I guess we could call them the “punch lines” of some of my previous thoughts and feelings.

As always, my purpose in re-exposing these are to:

Inspire feeling……Promote thought……Encourage responsibility.

I truly hope each of you find something in these words to brighten your day.

 

• I know some of you are experiencing difficult circumstances in your life as you read this. Although the reality of your felt experience is very real to you at this point in time, I simply suggest that you consider a purpose is known somewhere. We physically live in the current and can only remember the past….this is our known reality thus far. However, somewhere and for some reason your existing situation has come to be with a purpose. Because we cannot know all of the futuristic “why’s” in advance, as humans we are left with a faith and trust that there is a purpose for everything.

• These days, managers are abundant…. true leaders however, are rare. There is a huge difference. If you possess a title of control, do you conduct yourself as though you were also as one under your control?

• Balance your travels with emotion and logic. Emotions give you the passion and motivation to pursue your life’s endeavors. Logic provides you the balance of planning your methods. One without the other will only have you going in circles.

• To be a “normal individual”, as so labeled by society, is somewhat an oxymoron, for there is little individuality involved with blending into the crowd. The “collective normal” simply equates to anything the masses believe and/or participate in at any given time. To be “normal” one needs little personal originality…..Given this analogy, I consider myself to be abnormal; how about you? Do you simply conform as a means to fit in?

 

• Brilliance is not an impressive degree from a predesigned protocol; it is to be the designer of the protocol itself. Brilliance should not be confused with genius. Genius is the ability to comprehend difficult problems and demonstrate massive intellectual capabilities. True brilliance brings lasting benefit to the human condition by having the presence of mind to integrate with genius.

• Should the human being ever come to actually know “all that is” while in physical form, the product of a physical being would cease. Within the human makeup, the only actual “ultimate truth” is indeed that the same is nonexistent…..all else is our illusion of perceived truth.

 

• It is only within the confines of our human misconceptions and illusions that any separation or competitions are ever introduced.

 

• Competition among the people is humankind’s greatest blunder.

 

• It is only due to the created illusion of separateness that the human being is requiring itself to search for a right or wrong answer. This search is endless. There is not a right or wrong….there is only the search itself.

• Force of anything is only temporary and cannot continue indefinitely.

 

• We do not see what we look at directly. We do however, see things that are around our peripheral. Could it be that found within our indirect view is where we may indeed see beyond?

• Extreme career devotion is many times a disguise of denial. There are a large number of us who realize “exterior success” as a result of “interior failure”. Exclusive focus on your job may be a subconscious distraction to prevent attention toward your inner struggles.

 

• Facing our fears is something we all must do. Those who do it best, realize the most satisfaction of personal control.

 

• Stay committed to the true desires that take up residence in your heart. If you do, it will only be the timing of their reality that is left to be discovered.

 

• Integrity is silent….. It cannot be spoken, it can only be revealed.

 

• We all see the world through our own eyes…..others do not possess our eyes.

 

As mentioned at the beginning…..I truly hope you find benefit somewhere within these short statements…. that present large meanings.

 

 

 

When it’s Time

Finally…… I’ve been waiting and wanting to do this for a long time and now I finally am.

Have you experienced something similar? Is there something out there that you have felt you would do / accomplish someday, but weren’t sure when or possibly even how, but then, it just kind-of began to happen.

…….Or…….

There must be something else for me…… but what? I can feel it, but I don’t know what it is or how to pursue it?

Maybe you feel like there’s more to life than what your current direction is giving you. You might even really like what you’re up to at the moment, but there is just something missing? You have a deep sense that you will be somewhere else and / or doing something else someday, but as of this moment, you have no idea of what, where, when or how….. yet somehow you just know it will happen.

One of the most difficult things for us to remember and practice is to have confidence within the intangible. And, this seems to get even harder as we age.

Our broad belief system has conditioned the masses to accept the tangibles around us as truth with very little credence given to the area of intangibles. We all build an ongoing log (memory) of physical experiences and quickly adopt those experiences as our personal basis of truth. This continually growing library of experiences is our model of the world.

There is one big problem with this concept however. By the time we experience it, it has become past tense. Therefore, our personal tangible truths that guide our beliefs are never geared toward tomorrow, instead, we assign our assumptions of our tomorrows’ reality, based on what has already happened. What is nearly always left out of this very restrictive formula is the huge amount of things that are not detectable by our 5 physical senses, which are associated with everything that we believe represents the whole picture. Of all the energies that are constantly in motion simultaneously at any given point in time, we actually consciously recognize a tiny fraction of this movement within our extremely limited comprehensive awareness.

The point is that all things, including everything and everyone are connected. Nothing, I mean absolutely nothing is singular or solitary.  

Your experiences, including all of your futuristic unknown realities, are indeed connected in some way to everything and everyone else which is simultaneously and continuously moving. So even if you have no idea of what, where, when or how at this point in time, there will come that point in time in which you will know and realize all of these things…… if you allow it.

Unfortunately, many people do not allow this to mature and materialize in their future simply because they will not believe anything they can’t see or understand right now. Another common unfortunate for many who have aged a bit, is that the pattern of their “personal normal” has been accepted as their only course of expected direction.

Within both of these categories of people we find a self-imposed barrier. The first group only accepts what is proven in a tangible sense, therefore these people are always basing their future expectations on what has already happened. The second group has become “set in their ways” and have essentially succumb to the routine that a long history has revealed. With these folks, their “personal normal” is one of continuation along a similar path without the likelihood of moderate change.

There is so much more that goes in to our personal future experiences than what we individually create on our own.

If we understand and accept this principle as legitimate, even without a tangible means of measurement, we will indeed realize our future in ways that may be more incredible than we can grasp at this current moment in time.

The opening statement in this article suggests an individual who has kept a positive attitude toward their future. This person has kept their belief of a desired goal or reality even while they did not yet know when, where or how it would materialize.

The second scenario at the beginning of this article suggests an individual who has not yet realized a tangible means to their desired result, but is remaining confident and “Listening” to their quiet intuitive feelings. This person will very likely come to realize a positive tangible result…… when it’s time.

They key element is to understand and accept that…. we only consciously know a small part of all that is in the process of taking place.

We are indeed all one.     Could it be that there is merit to the idea of positive energy outward will attract positive results?

 

 

On the Verge

Winston Churchill said: “Success is going from one failure to another without a loss of enthusiasm”.

Consider this: A major league baseball player who fails in the batters box 70% of the time is considered to be among the best.

It is not just the solitude of your individual efforts that contribute to your success.

We do not occupy this world one at a time, it is a joint effort all the time. It will be however, our own devotion of energy that we will monitor regularly and with the most diligence. Because we do not directly think it, plan it and engage it, we do not always consider the importance of all the other energies and efforts that are constantly in motion around us. The baseball player with a 300 batting average cannot achieve this degree of success without a lot of involvement from others. So much goes into that players’ experience each time he steps up to the plate that we could not reasonably outline it all within the confines of this short article. With only his own efforts involved, this batter never gets a single hit.

The top income earners within the direct sales arena know that with every denial they are now one closer to an acceptance. If it typically takes 10 appointments to achieve 2 sales, it is the remaining 8 that are so important. These 8 rejections are really where the greatest level of growth will be found. The optimist will look forward to these 8 for two main reasons. First, the sooner they appear, the sooner they disappear and second, the best among us are never finished with learning. Contrary, the pessimist will struggle with finding value in the 8 appointments that bared no immediate monetary reward.

If it is the curveball that has you striking out the most, it is this same pitch that will receive the focus of your attention while in the hitting practice cage.

Put forth your best efforts and place yourself in a position of engagement. Go out and be a participant in a direction that you can manage with the most optimism. Create a rational plan that reveals patience and thought and most importantly, desire. Then allow all of the energies involved to contribute their influences into the grand matrix of our existence.

Everything is in motion always.

Our travels will take us on a crooked path. We do not walk straight at success, we arrive there by taking many turns along the way.

Many times people give up on the eve of a breakthrough. Emotional fatigue can lead to unfortunate decisions of wavering on your dream.

You will always know in your heart if you should continue in your pursuit. This awareness is not a tangible knowing…..it requires you to “Listen” to yourself at a deep level.

It is our inability to see the results of tomorrow, today, that many times cause us to prematurely give up on our passions.

We are always on the verge of a new day, which brings opportunities far beyond what we could create individually. You simply cannot possibly know all that is in motion out there, so do not obstruct your own future with self imposed tunnel vision. Your job is to remain open and willing and involved within a sphere of positive surroundings. You must routinely put yourself within an environment of good energy. Constant negativity is like an anchor to a sinking ship. If you find that your dominant influences are those of pessimists, a change of environment may be in order.

Stay committed to the true desires that take up residence in your heart. If you do, it will only be the timing of their reality that is left to be discovered.