Sad Ducks But We Are Champions Anyway

The college football national championship was a disappointment for those of us from Oregon who care about these things.  It can be hard to get your hopes up and then find out they were not met.  Unfortunately results that fall short are not a new experience for most of us.  Life tends to always be teaching us about attachments and letting go.  Sports are a great way to feel uplifted and to ride the waves of success and disappointment.  The good thing is that even in defeat there is no one who loses.  Every person who takes part is a winner when they do something as best as they can.

This game reminded me that doing things with passion and purpose fills us with aliveness and makes life so much more worth living even if you fall short of your goals.  The journey is what matters; the determination and the effort color the experience vividly. 

What championship efforts are you involved in these days?  Are you working on: being a great parent, making a difference in people’s lives, expressing yourself creatively, learning and growing in new ways, having more fun in life, being kind to others, moving up in your profession, planting a beautiful garden, expressing love to your partner, appreciating your pet more often, singing in your shower, finding your way to peace inside, listening more carefully to your intuition, being a better friend, taking more time to enjoy the moment, slowing down and being less stressed, and so many other activities/actions that can be so enriching to you and those around you.

The game was over and it was late when I sat down to write.  As soon as the writing started to flow my energy went up and this made me think that changing our energy is so important if you and I want to live a satisfying and rewarding life.  We can’t get to excellence by hanging out in mediocre energy. 

How often do you make happiness as your primary goal?  I will be back tomorrow to share some of my latest inspiration from a novel called The Daughters of Joy.   



The Shootings In Arizona Are About All Of Us

The ego-mind was at work inside the young man in Arizona who did the shooting.  Sometimes the ego-mind can drive a person out of his or her mind.  Other times people who are run by the ego-mind live in fear and hate and spend their days judging and attacking those who think differently then they do.  When the ego is in charge it turns some people into extremist in the political realm and you get people who strap bombs to themselves, or use guns to make a point and then you have those who incite them.  When ego driven extremist talk they usually cite doctrine and radical beliefs that make little sense to people who think rationally and are less ego-directed.  Please take the time to see how Arizona is a reflection of all of us.

Most of us have a full time job just trying to make it and spend little time sorting out what we are thinking.  If our survival is the main mode of being in the world then fear may be occupying a lot of space in our mind.  Once fear takes hold the ego grabs the stirring wheel and we head down the road towards reactivity and impulsivity.  In reaction our important values are pushed aside and our obsessive mind goes for doing whatever it takes, whenever we feel an impulse to do so.  This is how people rationalize all kinds of power grabs, greed, war, killings, bombings and other crimes against their fellow humanity.  This is a mind out of control with ego in the drivers seat.

Isn’t it time we:

Step back from the drama

Slow down

Go inward

Ask ourselves what we are thinking

Find out who is in charge of our own mind

Look at what beliefs we need to examine

See if our heart is open and engaged in our life

Look to see if we are living according to our values

Explore what really matter most to us

Ask if we are open enough to grow and change

Notice where anger is showing up in our life

See if we can be less judging and more accepting

Find ways to become a more aware and conscious person

Seek to make a positive difference in the world

What other questions come to your mind when you take the time to realize that what happened in Arizona is a reflection of all of us? 

We need to change the energy of fear, anger and hate and the ego driven mind to a healthy way of being in the world.  I will share more in the next few weeks about how to raise your energy and take more charge of your inner life.  On the January 4^th I wrote an article here at the blog that would be helpful in fine tuning who you are. 

Take some time today to find the peace within because your peace is so needed in the world.



Travels, Beauty, Healing And Other Realities

I have had an interesting morning so far.  On my OBE's (out-of body experiences) I traveled to Oregon and other places to bringing healing energy to those in need.  I flew like a bird over the ocean.  I awoke in the White House and consulted the president.  When I returned from my OBE I went out for a run and truck started as I ran by with no one in it.  I ran up into the mountains and had some amazing views.  Then a hawk circled above me.  My sister called as I got home and said she is having both breast removed due to cancer.  Now I am sitting here trying to make sense of this very odd mixture of reality and inner travels.

The OBE’s are fascinating and inspirational at so many levels.  The flying like a bird is so much fun and the consult with the president was interested as we talked about living by values in the midst of so many influences and ego agendas.  I felt compassion for his journey, which will help quiet my judging mind about the things he is not doing.  I realize as I write this that I probably sound pretty weird and that is ok.  If we are seen as weird because of who we are then others tend to give us a lot more leeway in our behavior. 

I don’t see myself as a presidential adviser on anything but if I had his ear I would have some ideas for his own peace of mind.  One of these days I will write a post about the consultation I would give him or any leader about mindfulness, consciousness and compassion.

The truck had to have some kind of remote starting capacity and the hawk was showing me how to catch the updrafts when I am soaring like a bird in my travels.  I live in a beautiful place and I know one thing for sure, the long uphills are hard and going down is so much easier.  Today on the trails and road my run took me almost an hour up and 20 minutes down.  I think I need to figure how to make these runs more down and less up.

Lastly my sister sounded strong and determined.  She has already consulted alternative practices to support her through this medical procedure.  She is one thing for sure, she is very strong-minded and this will help her do well.  I feel positive about her healing nicely.

Well I am heading off to see how the rest of the day will enhance my experience of life.  There is so much out beyond where we might consider reality and it resides just one step off the beaten path of our ordinary mind. 



We Are Also Emotional Beings

One of the ideas in my awareness lately is that our emotions are powerful in more ways than we often realize.  Too often emotions especially in us mail types are ignored or undervalued. 

Here are some things I have learned about emotions as a mental health professional and observer of human nature:

Emotions are energetic forces, energy in motion (e-motion) 

Emotions can provide power for your passions

Emotions shape your experience of life

Emotions can push your purpose forward

Emotions provide you with direct feedback

Emotions and feelings are basically the same things

Emotions are almost always caused by your thoughts

Emotions can move people to action

Emotions can be very unsettling

Emotions indicate you are alive and not numbed out

Emotions when stuffed cause tension in your body

Emotions tell you when you are on track or off track in life

Emotions are either love based or fear based

Emotions that are positive (love, peace, joy etc) only arise when we are in the present moment

Emotions that are negative (fear, anger, anxious etc) only come up when we are thinking about the past or the future

Emotions can lift us up or take us down

Emotions occur within us and are not caused by others

Emotions can limit you when tied to faulty beliefs

Emotions can influence your decisions

Emotions can connect you to others or cause you to pull away

Emotions are not rational

Emotions are felt in your body not your mind

Emotions can speed you up

Emotions can bring you joy

Emotions are linked to your heart

Emotions are considered a weakness by men

Emotions are more accepted and valued by women

Emotions can be stuffed

Emotions can be expressed in healthy ways

Emotions can be forces of healing and forces of illness

Emotions that are acknowledged and accepted flow through us and make us feel alive 

There is much to appreciate about you as a feeling human being.  Take the time to get to know what your emotions are throughout your day.  Appreciate your emotions and you will have a positive self-esteem.  Feel your emotions and you will experience energy and aliveness. 

TGIF



Seeking A Greater Understanding

Lately I have been re-reading both The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success and Creating Affluence by Deepak Chopra.  There is great wisdom in these two books and I am trying to raise my consciousness to better grasp that wisdom.  My wife and I are ready for more freedom in life and we know a better flow of money would be very helpful.  We also have friends/family we want to help that need a better flow so I turned to Deepak Chopra because he obviously has opened to an amazing flow.

So far I now more clearly understanding that we and all things are created of the same energy and information.  That there is little difference in all of creation other than different thoughts, which seem to have a power to influence what is created.  This idea of the power of thoughts may seem directly contradictory to the idea I write about “that thoughts are not real. “  Thoughts appear to be both real and not real.

As best as I can explain this difference at this time is that there are the thoughts of our ordinary mind, which are rarely focused enough to realized their power to create.  Then there are the thoughts of our higher nature, which has an infinite ability to create.  Most of the time, you and I hang out on the ordinary level of thinking.  Thus the results we create are ordinary.

I want to significantly improve on these results and I suspect this would interest all of you who stop by to ready my blog.  I want to think at the level of extraordinary and to create from my higher nature.  To do that I will need to make a shift in consciousness.  So far I have yet to clearly figured out how to do this.  Therefore I have returned in search of the yet elusive wisdom that exists in the words of these books by Dr. Chopra. 

These books link quantum physics and consciousness in a way that offers a deeper understanding of how all things work.  Yet I still seem to lack the higher consciousness necessary to turn these theories into material manifestation.  I am however determined to find the keys and open to the flow.  Gratefully there is already a wonderful flow of love, health, inspiration and creativity in my life so I know part of the spillways have been opened. 

Please travel with me over this Year of Positive Changes on my journey to a more full realization of the flow, to abundance and prosperity, and to the personal freedom we all long for and know is our right as children of the Universe.  



Ego-Mind Or Open Heart

The eight inner keys to success in the previous post will permanently enhance your life is so many ways.  These are very exciting times and all we have to do is show up as fully as we can and the results will come pouring in.  On a personal level we have much we can influence in our lives.  This is reassuring because once we move on from our lives and look at the large picture optimism can be harder to find.  

Yesterday while reading some articles I felt myself being very stirred up and decided it was time to do one of my political commentaries because it is necessary for things to shift at so many levels.  With the greed driven corporations and investors dictating much of the policy in our nation’s capital, the new Congress is going to try and dismantle the recent health care reforms.  This is so petty and small minded that I can hardly believe the pure greed of this move. 

After they attempt to rid us of healthcare, they will take on Medicare and Social Security to make sure no one gets anything they would call an entitlement.  This interesting use of entitlement, on most of us that make very mediocre wages and need reasonable help from the government, is what in psychology we would be called a projection.  Projection means to put onto others what is more true about you.  Those that have vast financial resources often feel entitled to have more and more and feel it is ok to take it from the people who they see as not as deserving as they are. 

This fear-based, ego-driven way of seeing the world is from the viewpoint that there is never enough.  They can have millions and millions of dollars even billions of dollars and live in fear of not having enough.  What kind of mixed up thinking is that?  That is called living in fear even though the circumstances are far from it.  This is the ego-mind at work.  The ego-mind makes us uncomfortable in the present and encourages us to worry about the future.  These are all thoughts that are not real but because we focus on what we are afraid of even in the midst of the great prosperity, fear takes charge.

If you have millions and still live in fear there is never peace, never time to enjoy, there is just the drive to seek more.  This drive means rationalizing money schemes like derivatives, setting up tax havens, firing employees to up the profit margin, shipping jobs overseas, bashing those that need government to make health care and old age something we can survive.  Where is the heart in all of this?  There is none because fear is in charge.

If a person lives in fear they are shut down in their heart.  Fear is the opposite of love, compassion, kindness and caring.  Fear is a contracted heart run by an ego mind. 

So a nation run by those in fear and guided by their ego-minds can only lead to a disaster.  That has been the truth of many governments over history and all of those governments created failure in the pursuit of greed. 

What is truly needed in all of us is an open and compassionate heart and then fear will shrink away.  There are no forces on this planet more powerful than love and compassion.  If we live according to these higher values then we as a people and as a nation can resolve all of our issues.   



Eight Keys For Amazing Success In 2011

Today I wanted to share with you what I think are the key ideas for creating the best results in 2011.  Many of these ideas will seem familiar if you read my blog often but I hope to bring to these ideas a greater clarity so you might benefit from them even more than you have in the past.  This greater clarity is because my own explorations have shed more light on these keys for success.

1. It may not surprise you that the first idea I share with you is the importance of being fully present.  If you are fully present each day to what you want to create in your life, you will have many options throughout the day leading you towards your desired outcome.  Clarity in the moment about what you want brings a clarity of methods to get there.  Being fully present allows you to be available to the guidance and possibilities in the now.
2. You must have an activated and open heart ready to energize your intentions, move energy to make things happen and have a passion for what matters to you.  You being fully charged with emotions and love for where you are going will get you there in powerful ways.  Having the heart of lion courageous against challenges won’t hurt either.
3. Inward there is this voice that must be listened to if you want to thrive in the world.  This voice is not the ego mostly run by fear.  This voice is the intuitive knowing of your higher nature, of the wise stillness within.  This voice is directly linked to the creative force of the universe, which know what it is up to.  When you allow yourself to be guided by this higher knowing success is guaranteed.  Intuition is your inner voice of wisdom, your guidance system to success. 
4. If you get stuck and don’t know where to go, the answer is, “you go towards joy.”  When joy is calling you, you have to be present to hear it.  Joy tells you that you are doing what is right for you and that is why it feels so good.  This act of wisdom was clearly stated by the late Joseph Campbell who said the key to a well-lived life is to, “follow your bliss.”  If it feels good it probably is just where you need to be. 
5. Personal freedom is a really good thing so your goal is to free yourself.  Freeing yourself is to strip away all the thoughts, ideas, beliefs and viewpoints that are holding you back or limiting you in any way.  This removal of blocks is complicated because it is best done by being able to step aside and watch you and what you do without judging.  If you watch with compassion your ways of living, you can decide what thoughts are working for you and which ones are getting in your way.  These insights have the power to totally set you free.
6. Push yourself to think big, avoid settling for less, for being less, for only showing up part way.  You have been given this ability to imagine without limits.  What you can imagine, you can create.  If each day you seek wisdom and awareness then you will keep growing in what you think is possible.  Big thoughts create big results.
7. Live each day with purpose and your life will be filled with meaning.  Your purpose is to more fully express who you are which will benefit all of us.  A purpose filled life is very satisfying because you are doing what you are here in this life to do.  The more you stay true to your purpose, the more success will flow in your direction.  Purpose often evolves over a lifetime so let yourself be guided as you go.
8. Lastly and maybe most important of all is to learn to dance with spirit.  Your spirit is you before this lifetime and ongoing after you leave this body behind.  Your higher nature/Self are one with your spirit.  To live in accordance with the guidance of your spirit empowers you to create the most amazing life.  Your spirit invites you each day to be more fully the greatness in you and if you listen and follow you will have a super life.  So doing the spirit dance means living life creatively, with boldness, love, passion, freedom, purpose, joy and peace as fully as possible each moment of each day.  This is a successful life and the rewards will be many.   



Positive Possibilities and Upsetting News

This is Monday day three of 2011 and it is time to get back at it.  I feel certain that this year will be full of positive changes.  However my first significant news I received is that one of my sisters has been diagnosed with breast cancer.  I come from a family of six kids and she is the youngest of all of us.  This news is both upsetting and a clear reminder that life is to be lived as fully as possible because you and I never know when it is our time to be knocked off the saddle heading down the path of our life. 

Fear is a very natural response to this both for my sister and for us who care for her.  I however do not sense fear inside but rather lots of love, which I want to send to her daily.  Love and fear cannot both co-exist in us in the present moment so I suspect that is why fear is not residing in me now that I have this news.

If you have a few moments please send my sister a compassionate message from your heart so that she may gather together within her the healing resources necessary to have a full recovery.  We are our own best healers and the doctors lend a hand.  She has a very strong spirit so healing will come in powerful ways.

What matters most to you this upcoming year?  How are you going to bring your focus to making what matters happen?  If you woke up tomorrow and what you want most came together in amazing ways, what would you have done to create such results? 

For my sister, her full return to health matters most.  For me it is making the most positive differences I am capable of making toward a peaceful, compassionate and highly conscious world where everyone matters and health, well-being and prosperity flows freely to all.  What will it be for you?

This week I will share with you ideas to encourage the best possible results for you in 2011.  Have a great start this week to the New Year.



2011 The Year of Positive Changes, Part 2

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU!!!

What kind of positive changes do you want to see in 2011?  Yesterday’s post was about inner changes now let’s talk about changes in the world.  There are many things that could change for the positive that would enrich all of us.  Here are the ones on my mind today:

That we put down our weapons of war and start resolving our problems from the place of compassion and understanding

That there be full health-care for all that is more comprehensive then the present reforms

That we all slow down the judging mind so that we can see solutions and find the positive in others

That we the people are the power of this nation not those with the most money

That compassion replaces greed as the driving force of humanity

That higher consciousness replaces the ego dominance in the world

That the criminal justice system shifts from imprisonment to treatment

That those run by false beliefs and false rationalizations be seen for their lack of consciousness and no longer paid attention to

That financial prosperity becomes the reality of all citizens of the world not just a very small number

That religious mega organizations be replaced by spiritually guided inquiry, generosity, compassion and kindness

That the ego minds fear based reality be replaced by the wisdom of the heart and the spirit within each of us

That education becomes alive with learning based on creativity, being a more realized human being, about lessons in consciousness and caring, about making a positive difference in the world, and about seeking real solutions to the challenges of our time.

That the 40 hour work week by reduced and revised so there is much more time for self-care, for time to contemplate, for time to travel and seek a deeper understanding of life

That there are support groups all over the world that mentor anyone who seeks to be a more fully realized human being

That the intuitive knowing within all of us be more fully accessed and through this inner wisdom we are all guided to our highest expression

That a fully focused program be designed and implemented for the health of the planet for future generations

That profits not longer be the guiding force of this nation but rather the well-being of all its citizens

That election and political reform come along and eliminate all money influences so our elected officials serve us, not the flow of money

That politicians act with wisdom toward the greater good

That we all explore being fully present so that we can experience the love, happiness, hope and peace that resides in the now

There is much more to add here.  What else is important to you? 

2011 is rich with potential for positive changes.  What will you do to make a difference?



Together We Can Make 2011 – The Year Of Positive Changes

Today is New Years Eve and I feel very excited about 2011.  I have so much I want to do, give, explore, create and be fully present to in this coming year.  It feels like 2011 is a transformative year.  I have no facts to support that but a very strong intuitive sense.  What is your intuitive sense for this next year?  What are you looking forward to experiencing?  What intentions are you setting for yourself?

I have a comfortable clarity about my intentions and they are more inward focused then outward.  The inner focus will produce the outer results I would like to manifest.  What follows are the inner intentions I want emphasize in 2011:

One is to be fully present as much as possible each moment of each day.  The present is where all the action is and where love, joy, and peace arise naturally.

Two is to be much less judging and instead be in my inner place of stillness.  The mind is way too full of judging which gives it little space to be super conscious and extraordinary.

Three is to be more open in my heart and let compassion expand each day inside of me.  A loving heart spreads kindness, light and love everywhere it goes and that is what I want to do most of all.

Four is to listen to my intuition throughout the day and be guided by this my higher nature.  When I follow my higher Self through this inner voice I will create a wonderful life for myself and the world around me.

Five is to each day seek more consciousness.  Higher Consciousness is the key to a better world both personally and globally.  As I wake up more so too does the collective “we” and that is a very good thing.

Six is to do a great job of self-care.  Self-care means to nurture my mind, care for my body, be accepting of my feelings, and expand my connection with my spirit.  If I care for myself, I can better care for others.

As I commit to act according to these intentions each day, I expand my capability to fully express my purpose, to act from compassion, to open to the prosperous flow of the universe, and to make a positive difference in the world. 

Would you join me in this endeavor in any way that expands you? Please feel free to add or subtract from my six intentions and together we will power 2011 into The Year of Positive Changes.



What Have You Appreciated About 2010?

A big chill is working its way into Colorado today with cold temperatures and snow predicted.  We have been very dry and mild all Fall, which means the trails are clear and the bike riding safe.  I am an outdoor exerciser and this fall has been super for running, hiking and biking.  This could all change and I hope the forecasters are wrong. 

2010 is quickly coming to an end, what do you feel grateful about this year?  What has been positive about 2010 for you?  I have been very blessed and have much to be grateful for:

I have my excellent health and good working body

I have a wonderful loving partner

My work has gotten much more interesting over the past few months

I feel my experiments with out-of-body experiences have already enhanced my life is very significant ways

My car is running well

My dog is healthy and a great friend

The people I work with are a joy to spend time with

My clients have brought out the best in me

I have made a difference in people’s lives

My inspiration for my blog continues in amazing ways

My blog has a steady readership

I have a wonderful family with my dad, his wife, my brothers and sisters and their families, my cousin Sharon and her husband and daughters all enrich my life and I hope to spend more time with them

I am grateful for each breath and the precious moments of life

I sense my heart has opened more and feel filled with compassion

I am writing this on my new MacBook, which is lots of fun and a great tool for me

I have become a more conscious and aware human being

My cooking has been a creative and enjoyable expression

My teaching opportunity and my students this Fall were a joy to work with and to get to know

I have had lots of inspiration for some new projects

I feel like I have become open to a rich flow of prosperity in my life

I have become more mindful and less judging

I have some good friends

My Apple Shuffle has been a great source of music and inspirational ideas

I have been very inspired by the podcasts at Sounds True, at OnBeing, the Moth Podcasts, This American Life, and Brain Sync at others free resources

I have enjoyed my deep connection with nature

I greatly value my nightly meditation walks

I appreciate the sense of humor of the people I work with in a stressful job

I appreciate the benefits and the pay I receive working for Boulder County Public Health

I enjoy the world-wide-web and the infinite resources it makes available to me

I am thankful for all the good books I read this year

I am grateful to the creative force of the universe that looks after all of us and is the source of many of my blessings

I am optimistic because more and more people are raising their consciousness and opening their hearts

And so much more

What do you appreciate in 2010?  I look forward to 2011 being even more fantastic. 

In Search Of The Watcher And Beyond

It has been a very long day.  As I sit down to write the first draft of this post it is 10:45pm.  I don’t know what I will write about yet but I have total trust that if I get out of the way I will be shown.  Sure enough an image has arrived.  Yesterday in my treatment program I was sharing a perspective about the nature of who we are and I found myself writing up on the board three levels of awareness. 

                  Divine

                       l

                 Watcher

                       l

            Ordinary Thoughts

Ordinary thoughts are the noise that flows through our mind most of which is with little awareness, repetitive, and focus on obsessing about the past or worrying about the future.  This is the state we are in almost all of the time unless we can step back and observe our thoughts, feelings and actions.

The watcher is our capability to observe our thoughts and behaviors impartially, without judging.  This observing rises beyond the mind and is a knowing beyond ordinary thinking.  This aspect of who we are might be called our higher self, Self, our true nature, spirit, our soul or by other names. 

What separates Ordinary Thoughts from the Watcher is a matter of expanded consciousness.  Without an expanded consciousness the watcher remains unrealized. 

The Divine is the creative force of the universe, God, Source Energy, Allah, or whatever it is known to us as.  This Ultimate Source is rarely identified as a level of awareness we are capable of realizing.  This however is the deep calling within which is our Divine nature seeking to be expressed

The separation from the Watcher and the Divine is not as large as we might guess. Actually the distance between knowing our watcher and knowing our Divine Nature is only a slightly more expanded level of consciousness.

What this is all means is that as we expand our awareness we can dissolve the separation between ordinary thought and the watcher.  If we have employed the watcher in our life we experience a great deal of personal freedom from the conditioning of the past and the anxiety producing force of the ordinary mind. 

The next step, which is not a big leap is to then realize our Divine Nature, which means we are one with the creative force of the universe.   We have the same capacity to create as the Source of the Universe does.  This potentiality within us is what many of the great metaphysical teachings are guiding us toward.  If we are fully able to realize this knowing our life will be magical. 

These levels of awareness came very clearly yesterday as I was sharing ideas with my clients in treatment.  As you may be able to sense I am still integrating this new clarity.  Is this perspective helpful to you?



Compartmentalization Or Unity

So how do you view the world?  Much of humanity is made up of compartmental people who judge and place people, ideas, beliefs in their “proper” compartment.  Once people, places and things are compartmentalized, it may feel less confusing but is it? Each of us was raised to be a judging machine placing everything into one of two major categories either “good” or “bad”, with lesser categories like: with us or against us, acceptable or not, right or wrong, ok or weird, etc.  We judge therefore we are, is the mantra we have been taught.

If you doubt the truth of this try not to judge anything or anybody today and see how well you do?  Notice how often you label and categorize your actions and those of others.

The opposite of this is unity consciousness or the realization that we are all connected to each other.  No matter the idea or beliefs we have, we all share this small dot of a planet in a great big universe.  What we do, what we think affects everyone.  In the full realization of unity we see everyone as our brothers and sisters and even more accurately, we see everyone as us.   In this state of unity consciousness everything is as it needs to be and if we allow it, things work out well. 

If you want to explore the truth of this, take time today to feel your connection to all that is around you. Start by noticing how connected you are to your family and friends and then expand outwards.  Sense the knowing presence that emanates from all living things and tune in to experience this wisdom.   See the threads of similarity that flows through you and everyone else.  Enjoy the peace that comes from being in a connected world.

We are all one but if we insist the ego-mind will be glad to shape our thoughts towards our differences and all that is wrong. 

So what will it be: will you argue for your differences and insist on setting yourself apart from others or will you seek to find the common ground and build relationships with your fellow human beings?  Either is ok, but one is really true and a lot more fun. 

One other thought, if you stop all the judging and compartmentalizing, you will liberate you mind to create a much richer reality in the now.   



Notes To The World, Part 20 - You Can Make A Difference

I have it on good authority (thousands of near death experiences across many cultures) that there are two questions asked of us when we die.  What did we learn about love?  A great question and already talked about in my N2W series. The second question was, what have you done to make the world a better place?  That is the topic of this post. 

All the work you do is of little matter if you do not use your talents, skills and potential to make a positive difference in the world.  You have a special set of strengths that you are unique to you.  What you do with what you have been given will define your life.  How big of a difference are you willing to make?  Are you playing small or large in your life?  Where are you holding yourself back?  What do you know you need to do but have not yet done?

These questions are important because you have to answer them in your own way.  Settling for less is not what you are here to do.  Arguing for your limitations is below who you are.  Playing it safe isn’t for you unless you lack a courageous heart.  You have been given all you need to succeed if only you are willing to go for more and take the necessary risks.

Look around, there is so much that needs your attention, so much that would benefit from your ideas, you energy, and your heart.  What activities, ideas etc call you?  What makes you feel most alive?  Where does you intuition want to guide you?  Pay very close attention and you will be guided from within.

Yes you can join with others.  Yes it is ok to seek guidance.  Yes you can try things out and figure what is right for you.  You make up your own rules but a major part has to be action.  It can be quiet action.  It can be bold action.  It can be just doing what you know you need to do.  What you are to do is not a passive activity but is vibrant with life.

What has been calling you deep inside and are you willing to listen, plan and act?  The time is now.  Your impact on the world is needed.  Without you at your best the world will stay more troubled.

Here are things to keep in mind as you venture out into empowerment:

Find your center

Sense your energy

Be willing to jump into the unknown

Listen carefully inside

Be mindful

Have a brave heart

Spend time in stillness

Let nature be your guide

Feel you connection to all things

Be aligned with your inner peace

Push fear away by loving what you do

Move your mind from limited to limitless

Clear away lurking limiting ideas

Let go and open yourself up

Go with the flow

Be optimistic

Express your passion

Live with purpose

Say yes to life

See things free of judgment

Have a relaxed intensity

Open to the unity consciousness

Have more fun

There is always more to explore and express

You can spread love, compassion, kindness

You can teach new ideas

You can awaken consciousness in yourself and others

You can work to keep our streams clean

You can help the homeless and hungry

You can lend a hand to those in need

You can bring people together

You can be an explorer

You can invent solutions

You can lead with compassion

You can raise money

You can show others the way

You can give of your time

You can lend your support in many ways

You can be thoughtful

And much more but it has to be you doing you not you doing what others think you should do

Make January 1, 2011 your launch date and go full speed ahead until you cross the finish line of you life.



Is the Bible the most important book?

Because I’ve had a week off, I have found myself a little mixed up about what day it is.  Now I am clear it is Sunday and maybe this is why I have found myself thinking of my brother’s 4y/o twins and hearing them say like parrots we love Jesus and the Bible is the most important book over and over again when we visited their new home.  I felt unsettled about seeing them with their cherubic smiles sounding like little recorders playing back the beliefs of their programming.  This seems wrong to me but maybe it is just a reaction because it is such the opposite of my writing about questioning all of our beliefs.  As long as they are also taught to question things, everything will work out just fine.

Is the Bible the most important book?  For some it seems to be and they live according to what they think it says.  I know many who are wonderful human beings.  To me it isn’t even in my top 20.  There are so many religions based on their own interpretations of this book, some kind and respectful of others and many filled with judgments towards those who believe differently.  How can the Bible be the word of God when it was written by men?   The idea that it was inspired has lost any real value since it has been interpreted by so many who seem to understand it in so many different ways and use it to support their own agenda.  These so called words of God have been used to rationalize hatred, to go to war, to kill, to reject others, to act superior, to gain power, to build mega churches and so much more that is so less then compassionate and kind. 

My experiences of life have taught me that compassion and kindness are two qualities that seem essential to humanity.  If we are giving, if we care for each other, if we are accepting even if they are different than us, if we have an open and inquiring mind, if we seek to express who we are as fully as we can, then we are heading in a positive direction. 

Everyone is welcome to their own beliefs but isn’t it a good idea to objectively look at what thoughts are running through our mind and see if they are real, see if they are valid, see if they are compassionate, see if they make the world a better place, see if they open us up to the infinite possibilities of being human. 

What are you most important books?  Here are 10 of the many books that have awakened compassion and consciousness in me:

The Power Of Now – Eckhart Tolle

Old Path, White Clouds – Thich Nhat Hahn

Illusions – Richard Bach

Be Here Now – Ram Dass

The Writings of Rumi

The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success - Deepak Chopra

The Artist Way – Julia Cameron

The Way Of The Peaceful Warrior – Dan Millman

The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho

Intention – Wayne Dyer

These same authors have written other excellent books that are worth reading.  What are you most influential books?



Merry Christmas To You

I just returned last night from my six days in Oregon visiting my family.  It was a wonderful trip and a great way to get into the holiday mode.  This holiday season has become a time to hang out with people I care about.  I don’t feel a connection with the religious part of it but I do feel the deeply spiritual part of love and peace that is available when I spend time with my heart open and my mind at peace. 

Have a peaceful and joyous day today and I will return tomorrow to my daily blog posts.  This next year is going to be an amazing one in so many ways. 



A Day At Cannon Beach

Wow it seems like forever since I had been to the beach.  I grew up on the West Coast.  As you know Colorado is not a coastal state and I miss the healing calmness of living near the ocean.  My wife and I got married at Ecola State Park in Cannon Beach so of course we went to this amazingly beautiful place where we made a commitment to each other.  After a tour down memory lane we found ourselves both staring in silence for a long time just enjoying the play of the ocean against the rocks below us.  The busy world falls away in these moments of being fully present.  There is really nothing else beyond the present except the stories in our head.  If the stories quiet down we can actually fully enjoy the now.

 In the town we had the pleasure of visiting with my niece Erin who is the editor of the local paper.  She gets to live at the beach and be young.  I felt a moment of wishing I could be in her shoes.  She is beautiful and thoughtful human being and we enjoyed the visit.   She writes on the side for enjoyment and you can read her fresh perspective here.

It is now time for my morning run.  I have eaten so much holiday sugar that I need to run to Boulder and back to Oregon today.  I am sure I won’t realize that goal but I will enjoy moving and burning off some of the accumulated sweet stuff.   Exercise is a wonderful antidote for overdoing it during this holiday season.

I am back from my run on a trail that went through a small old growth forest nearby and this too added to the feeling of healing that often come form running.  As I have enjoyed hanging around my brothers and sisters, dad and other family I noticed how much I have missed them.   I need to spend more time here where my family lives.  I find this all very nurturing even though there are family dramas.   Family is family and nothing else matters in quite the same way. Unconditional love is just a great place to hang out. 

Have a good day and peace and joy to you.



Is It Time Yet To Release What Has Been Holding You Back?

Hi everyone who tunes in here.  The family Christmas Party was so much fun yesterday.  I have missed my brothers and sister and their families, my Dad, and my cousin Sharon and her family.  When you live a ways a way these visits happen infrequently and times like this I realize how much I miss.  There is nothing quite like the unconditional love of family.

In the last few posts here at Explore Life Journal I have shared affirmations that would be helpful to your self-esteem and the idea of stepping back or stepping aside to grow your ability to be objective and impartial.  These are great tools to enhance you life as this year comes to an end and as 2011 sits in the wings in waiting for an endless number of possibilities.

What are you getting certain about, what do you want to make happen or create in 2011?  What do you have to do to make things turn out the way you want them to?   What self-doubt or what limiting story about yourself do you need to relinquish?  In the next 10 days or so, what is in you that needs to release, what is holding you back from having the life you want?

It has never been the circumstances that hold you back, it has always been you, your thoughts, you criticism, you sense of not being ok in some way.  Maybe 2011 is the year to remove yourself from your own way and allow yourself the life you want.  What if this game of life is up to you not anyone else? 

A careful self-examination would serve you well and has the potential to greatly enhance your experience of living.  10 days to go to let go, to release the mental binds that tie you.

Back to visiting with family and I will return to writing and posting here soon. 



True Experience To The Rescue

"All conditionings are based on belief. And my whole effort is that experience should be the only criterion, not belief." Osho 

I came upon this quote today and I wanted to share it with you because its message is an important one if you want to enhance the experience of you life if 2011.  This represents a major shift in how you and I both look at the world and the experiences of life. 

Most of the time, your life is shaded by your beliefs so much so that you don’t actually see the truth of the moment.  Everything is colored by the beliefs and ideas you hold.  Pure experience is exceptional because usually what you think about and your past experiences keep you from seeing what is. 

For the next few days try this experiment: Every event or situations you find yourself in, take the time to step back and see what is really going on free of you onboard biases.  This may seem complicated but here is how you do it.  You imagine yourself back from the situation or off to the side.  Notice your reactions, notice what you expect, notice what you wouldn’t see if you hadn’t stepped aside, notice your thoughts, notice the judging mind and in the midst of all of this do your best to be impartial, free of criticizing what is going on. 

This stepping aside or stepping back (or even imagine rising above the situation) allows you to be an observer, allows you to see beyond your ordinary sight, calls upon your intuitive seeing also, and calls on you heart sense of what is going on.

This is a powerful practice because it allows you the distance and objectivity you need to really see and sense what is going on.  This practices removes you from the habit driven and conditioning of your life and allows you to see from your higher nature.  In doing this, awareness is expanded and you awaken higher consciousness into your life.   With higher consciousness, all your world begins to change.     



Follow Up To Last N2W On Feeling Positive About Self

The list in the previous post is a good one but do not hesitate to add more affirmative phrases.  The list is for you to try these affirmations each day and to begin to reshape your own inner view of self.  The best way to do this is to print the list in the yesterday’s post and tape it to the wall in your bathroom and begin each morning by repeating one of these affirmations while you look into your eyes via the mirror. Allow yourself to feel what it feels like to appreciate who you are.

The mirror is not just there to shave in front of, for flossing your teeth, or to enhance the beauty of your face.  The mirror is a great tool for growing a positive sense of self.  Too often your mirror is used by the inner critic to beat yourself up. This way of self-judging is from your past and needs to be discontinued from day one of this inner practice toward a more positive self-esteem.   Mirrors are a reflection of you but you must be open to see your full beauty, to offer yourself words of encouragement and to affirm you as an OK human being.   

Daily with positive statements and compassion towards yourself, you can begin to feel much better about who you are.  You really are amazing but for too long you have been blinded by your own limiting and critical thoughts. 

Please take the time to do this Winter practice for A Positive Sense Of Self (APSOS) as a way to enrich your self-esteem and your life.  If you are interested and willing to do this, you are invited to begin on the first day of Winter on December 21^st and go until early Spring in late March.  During this colder and darker time of year you will grow a warm sense for self and bring more light into your life.

Today is Friday, Sunday I will be on a plane to visit my family in Oregon.  My blog posts through Christmas Day may not be daily but I promise to keep the ideas flowing.  Also the New Year is quickly approaching and take some time to set at least a few clear intentions for 2011 and I will share ideas that will help you be very successful.