Fear or purpose

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The one and only you

The most effective way to compete is to ignore the competition. The greatest advantage comes to those who do not seek advantage. When you’re always focused on what the other guy is doing, it takes you away from the best of what you can be doing. When you’re fighting to gain an advantage, you’re ignoring the ultimate advantage that you already possess, which is your own unique perspective.

Do you realize how very much you are worth? You have thoughts, ideas, perceptions, skills, interests, relationships and experiences that combine in a way not duplicated anywhere else. Diamond gemstones are extremely valuable precisely because there are so few of them. You, on the other hand, are immensely more valuable because there is only one of you in the whole universe. When compared to you, there more than enough high-grade diamonds available to trigger a clearance sale.

So does it make sense for you to always be comparing yourself to others, judging your life by standards that are completely outside of you?

Consider an original painting by a talented artist. That original will sell for much, much more than even the best reproduction. Why? Because it’s the one and only original of that image. Do you really want to create value? Then don’t make a copy of what someone else has done. Make an original.

Yes, you can. How? By refusing to discount your ideas. By letting your true desires come to the surface. Challenge every one of them, by all means. But don’t disrespect them. They come from a unique and original perspective. They come from the essence of the one and only you.

No, it’s not being narcissistic to value and explore and express your own perspective. Narcissistic is going around thinking you’re better than everybody else. And if there’s one thing even more pathetic than thinking you’re worse than everyone else, it’s thinking you’re better than everyone.

The point here is, comparisons in whatever direction are futile and unproductive. Forget about comparing, and start fulfilling those possibilities that are your precious treasure. Don’t obsess over mere diamonds and other trinkets when you have something that’s incomparably more precious. You have life, from a viewpoint that’s never before been experienced, that grows more rich and interesting every day.

Don’t settle for merely gaining advantage over others. For when you have that, you really have nothing that will bring you true fulfillment. Instead, take it to a vastly higher level. Be you. Be that one and only, original expression of life and existence and thought and awareness who loves it all and lives it fully.

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Cloudy wine

Cloudy wineIt is an incredible evening. I’m sitting out by the pool in February and the temperature at 9:30 pm is 66 degrees. Perfect. A little while ago I grilled some sirloin steaks and we enjoyed a delightful dinner. Now I’m outside, writing.

A couple of weeks ago we visited a small winery in the Texas Hill County and purchased a bottle of Pinot Grigio at the steeply discounted price of $4.75. They were offering it at a discount because something had gone wrong during the winemaking process and the wine was cloudy. There was nothing at all wrong with the quality of the wine itself. It just didn’t look quite right. Because it was cloudy they could not sell it through the normal retail channels, so they were offering it to winery visitors at a deep discount. I bought one bottle. I wish now that I had bought a whole case.

Tonight, I am drinking a few glasses from that bottle. It is amazing. It is, without a doubt, the very best Pinot Grigio I have ever tasted. Yes, it is cloudy in appearance. Yet when I raise the glass to my lips and drink, that absolutely does not matter. It tastes so fresh and vibrant and wonderful that I could care less what it looks like. And actually, it doesn’t really look that bad. No, it’s not crystal clear like you would expect a white wine to be. But the more I look at it in the glass, the more appealing it appears, cloudiness and all.

We tend to think that perfection is something to be desired. But in fact, there are a lot of things that are not perfect that are nonetheless perfectly wonderful and incredibly delightful. This wine I’m drinking has a flaw in its appearance, but I absolutely don’t care because it tastes so great.

There was a very impressive and enthusiastic young lady at the winery who gave us a detailed explanation of why the wine had turned cloudy. I must say can I can’t remember all the details of what she said (we visited several other wineries that day). But I’m thankful she convinced me to buy that bottle.

We often demand perfection, but is that what we really want? It just may be that in some cases, perfection is overrated. I’m thrilled to be enjoying a magnificent bottle of wine tonight that, by any objective definition, is far short of perfect. And yet, it is perfectly wonderful. In fact, I’m beginning to think that its flaws are what make it so good.

Perfection is an admirable goal. However, even if you don’t hit it, you can have something truly marvelous. Do all you can to be your best. Even if it is not perfect, it can bring real enjoyment and magnificent blessings to life. Cheers!

 

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Dive in

Imagine a sparkling, blue sea, filled with life and color and beauty. Now think for a moment about how you can most fully experience it.

If you try to take it for yourself and keep what you have taken for yourself and no one else, all you end up with is a bucket of salty water. Yet when you let go of your need to possess, and dive in, immersing yourself in the sea and giving yourself to it, then you fully experience its magnificence.

Similarly, when you try to take from life and hoard a small bucket of it for yourself, whatever you get is not really worth having. It is when you dive in and give of yourself that you experience the real meaning and beauty of being alive.

Life is simply too grand and too magnificent for you ever to be able to take anything away from it. You can never take away and keep for yourself anything more than a mere token. When you really give is when you really live.

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Five key stages of fulfillment

Chart - increasing energy levelsFulfillment is a process in which you move yourself to a higher level of energy. It’s not the situation that determines your energy level. It’s you. The level of positive energy with which you live is your choice in any given situation. It helps enormously to visualize and understand the process, to feel where you are and to see where you can go.

At the lowest level of energy, there is pain. It is a choice, but it is more a choice of omission. You are choosing not to choose. It feels like the world is inflicting pain on you, and yet that’s just because you have not expended any energy to rise above it.

With a little more energy, you feel need. You feel the need to get away from the pain of your low energy level and to move toward a higher level of experience. Moving a little higher on the scale is desire. You have the feeling that you must do something. Now the energy of empowerment is starting to take hold.

As you progress beyond raw desire, you start to gather the resources and call upon the abilities you have to make a positive difference. You get yourself to the point where you can indeed get it done, you can indeed move solidly toward fulfillment.

Then comes action. This is where you actually do it. You make the effort, and persist in doing so. Your level of energy is high, and you are moving further and further away from your original state of pain. There is still some frustration and conflict because you are not totally where you wish to be. Yet the goal is in sight.

As you continue taking positive action, and then as you move beyond it, you reach the highest level, which is a level of peaceful being. There is no more striving. You are the fulfillment you seek. Your joy and fulfillment are authentic and indisputable.

This pattern repeats over and over again in your life. Something comes along to which you initially react with pain or dismay, confusion or frustration. Then you make the choice to transcend it, and work your way to a higher level of energy and awareness in relation to your particular circumstances.

As you move through life’s various challenges and opportunities, be aware of your energy level. Ask yourself where you are in the process, and know that you can move on up to the next step. Your awareness and choice to move forward can make the process much faster, so you won’t spend a lot of time stuck at low levels of energy and effectiveness. Accept where you are, see where you’re going, then make the commitment to get yourself there, and you will.

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Remember Christmas?

Christmas treeWhen packages under the tree held real treasures,
presents with love, and thought, and personality in them,
and not just glossy plastic gift cards with a magnetic stripe and a specific dollar value?

When you could smile and say “Merry Christmas” without worrying about offending anyone or being viewed as a religious fanatic?

When you worked and sacrificed and saved to pay cash for a gift you’d had your eye on for months, and no one borrowed money against their home equity to pay for it all?

When you went to gatherings to enjoy the friends and family who were there, not merely to impress them or to fulfill an obligation?

When each shop had something different and homemade Christmas cookies really were homemade?

When you got something you didn’t really want
but you treasured it so much anyway,
all because of who gave it to you?

When the cards in your mailbox had simple greetings of peace and joy
instead of elaborate family résumés?

When children in school would sing about baby Jesus in a manger
and no one hurried downtown to file a lawsuit?

Remember Christmas
when it was filled with real magic
and miracles?

When people didn’t rush back to the stores
on December 26th to exchange everything they had received?

When a single bright star
in the clear, cold night sky
filled you with a sense
of God’s pure and endless grace?

And even though you weren’t
the most religious person in the world,
and maybe you even skipped church more than you went,
or perhaps you didn’t even go at all…

Even so, at Christmas, somehow,
in a way you could not explain
and yet did not want to miss out on,
you truly felt a part of something bigger than yourself.

You felt connected to those around you,
to life, to creation and the Creator.

Remember Christmas,
when you heard the story
of that first Christmas so long ago and so far away,
and it seemed so near and so present
and so meaningful in your own life?

And though you wondered whether or not
all the details were entirely factual, that didn’t really matter,
because you knew, in the deepest part of your heart,
without the slightest consideration of doubt,
that it was unquestionably true.

The Christmas you most fondly remember was real.

It still is,
and will always be.

Would you like to feel it’s miraculous power again?

The fact is, if you’ve made it this far,
you’re already feeling it right this moment.

So in the true spirit of Christmas,
spread it to others.

For Christmas does not have to be watered down
into a meaningless “holiday season,”
because it lives in your heart.

And what you do with it
is what really matters.

fireplaceSo build a great big roaring fire in the fireplace.

Start with a sack of flour and figure out how to make some cookies out of it.

Smile and say “Merry Christmas” and don’t worry about what anyone may think.

Take delight in finding new ways to be generous and kind.

Look up at the night sky and find that star.
It’s still shining bright, even to this day.

Give away gifts that come from your heart.

And take some time to lovingly think
of the awesome, immeasurable gift of life,
a gift renewed in every moment,
transcending all boundaries
and existing beyond time itself.

Remember the magic of Christmas?

It’s here. It’s now. It’s alive in you.
And what a joy it is.

Have a Blessed, Merry Christmas
And let the living light shine brightly in you always.

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Exercise your imagination

The Internet and all our other amazing information technology makes it extremely easy for you to find any piece of information you seek. Perhaps it’s too easy. There was a time, not so long ago, when you would have to fill in the gaps in your knowledge with imagination. Now, many of those gaps have disappeared. With Facebook, for example, you don’t have to imagine where your friends and family members might be and what they might be doing. You can know all the details instantly, with pictures and video and precise GPS coordinates.

That’s all well and good, but what is it doing to your imagination? If you ever stop exercising your physical body, it becomes flabby and out of shape. In order to live your daily life, you don’t have to walk great distances of chop wood or carry heavy objects. There are machines that do all that work for you. Unless you intentionally make the effort to exercise your body, it’s probably not going to happen very much.

In the same way, there are now machines and systems to fill in all the information details you need to know. And if you don’t intentionally make the effort to regularly exercise your imagination, what happens to it? Does it atrophy in the same way as a muscle that’s never used?

Actually, information technology gives you the opportunity to be even more imaginative if you choose to do so. The possibilities for exercising the imagination are greater than ever before. But the thing is, you have to choose it. Imagination is no longer necessary to get by in life, but then of course merely getting by is not what life is about.

Make the most of the opportunities you have to make rich, positive and creative use of your imagination. Don’t just sit there and passively absorb all the information that’s being fed to you. Disconnect from what’s mostly predictable anyway, and dive into your creative, imaginative essence. Take one little possibility and build on it, entirely in your imagination, until it covers a significant part of your world. You may be a little rusty at first, but you were born to imagine and soon you’ll feel perfectly comfortable and natural exercising your imagination. Get your imagination in shape, and discover all the new and wonderful things it can bring into your life.

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Lifeline to your dreams

Closely examine a strong, hefty length of rope and you’ll discover that it is made of many thin, tiny threads, woven and braided together. Each individual thread would snap under the slightest force, yet when bound together in a large rope they can hold an enormous load.

You are constantly thinking, and each of your thoughts is like a tiny strand in the rope. By itself, it is fragile and easily severed. And just as a frayed rope is of little use, if your thoughts are scattered and without consistent direction, there is no useful strength in them. Yet when thoughts are joined together with other thoughts, over time, in the same direction, immense strength is created.

Your thoughts connect you, one thread at time, to whatever you think about. If you think about the limitations of your past, all those thoughts will soon create a strong rope which will tie you down and hold you back. When you consistently think about your positive possibilities, you create a sturdy rope which connects you to the best you can be. You’ll still have to climb that rope by the actions you take, but your positive thoughts will weave together to give you a clear way to reach the summit.

Use your thoughts to create a lifeline to your dreams, and then start climbing!

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Great perspective on abundance

Watch as private space flight pioneer Peter Diamandis puts our admittedly difficult challenges in perspective by reminding us of how innovative and creative we can be. This video is from the TED2012 Conference.

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Five ways to raise your awareness to a higher level

1. Replace judgment with acceptance. Remind yourself that what’s done is done, and no amount of assigning blame will change that. Furthermore, what’s here is here, and no amount of judgment will change that. Keep yourself grounded in reality while keeping your focus on the positive possibilities. Accept what is real right now and you also will be accepting the best of those possibilities.

2. Get out in front of your deadlines and obligations. Instead of always playing catch-up, and pouring much of your energy into resentment for what must be done, get proactive. Do what must be done long before it has to be done. Give yourself the luxury of working at your own pace instead of constantly having a deadline hanging over your head. Transform what you have to do into what you choose to do.

3. Inject gratitude into every thought and interaction. Operate from a place of genuine thankfulness. Be thankful for what is and for what can be. Be thankful for the opportunity to speak and work with others. Thankfulness redirects your awareness away from the frustrations and disappointments, and toward the positive possibilities.

4. Get involved in life. Don’t just think about it or speculate on what might or might not happen. Awareness certainly involves your thoughts, and yet it is much more than that. A large component of your awareness is your experience. Just thinking about experience is not sufficient. You’ve got to get out and experience that experience. A richness of whole-life experience will raise your awareness like nothing else can.

5. Embrace challenge. Instead of fighting against the challenges or running away from them, welcome them as opportunities for growth and enlightenment. In any challenging situation, your attitude makes all the difference. The challenge is what it is. However, what you make of it is up to you. Choose to use that challenge as a powerful prompting to raise your thinking and awareness to a higher, more effective level. And long after the challenge is over, you’ll continue to live more richly and effectively.

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