A Fulfilled Life Begins With Fulfilled Days
Do you have personal code of conduct? A way you have consciously decided to be in the world.
I don't mean your long term goals of retiring with financial security, or getting a certain car or losing a certain amount of pounds. I mean do you have certain feelings or emotions that you want to experience everyday while on your way to your bigger long term goals.
Here are 7 elements that guide my thoughts and actions each day:
1. Love. I live from a place of love. Love is my essence.
2. Appreciation. I am grateful for everything in my life.
3. Curiosity. Google is my friend.
4. Excitement. I do what I want to do every day. If I'm doing it, it is my choice and I chose to do it with excitement.
5. Flexibility. I have decided to embrace change and spontaneity.
6. Confidence. I choose confidence over fear.
7. Cheerfulness. Being cheerful makes people around me happy and that adds to my happiness.
How about you? What do you want to experience every day? What thoughts, beliefs, language would you have to adopt to make that your reality?
Just a little food for thought.
Accessing the Treasure You Seek
Joseph Campbell famously said "The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek".
Could that be true for you? It was for me.
Of course there are lots of caves. Some very personal, some spiritual and some professional.
One of my caves was the fear of public speaking, and the treasure… well that was more than a million dollars in income, but it was also much more, much, much more than that, I'll tell you about the true treasure I received in a minute.
First, imagine this, me in 1977 I was a 23 year old salesman. Clean shaven, experiencing some initial success as I entered sales from my previous labor jobs of commercial fishing, being a longshoreman, a jackhammer operator and a masons tender… all tough jobs.
I was several months into my new sales job and I recognized that public speaking would allow me to dramatically further my career. Very reluctantly I joined Toastmasters, an organization designed to help people develop their skill and confidence in public speaking. After my first session I let more than a year pass before I could muster enough courage to attend another meeting. That's how terrified I was, and after the second meeting I just quit.
Have you ever had anything that you were so afraid of doing that you just absolutely wouldn't do it EVEN THOUGH you were certain that it would be good for you?
That could be the cave that holds the treasure for you.
Fast forward to 1988, I'm a marketing consultant to Tony Robbins. Tony invites me to attend one of his seminars. I have VIP seating, 3rd row center and at some point, and for a reason that only became clear to me many years later.
Anyway, I put my hand up in response to a question Tony had asked.
And I'll tell you, to this day I have absolutely NO IDEA of what came out of my mouth. When I stood up and was handed a mic, and realized that I was about to speak to Tony Robbins in front of 1,200 people I just went numb. Words came out, but I was in such terror I didn't know what I said at the time, and I still don't know to this day.
The week after that experience I joined Toastmasters again. This time I was absolutely, 100% committed and within 18 months I was public speaking regularly… often to crowds of 50 to 100 people.
In the following years I became a professional speaker. I have now spoken before thousands of groups and my audiences were often in the hundreds and even occasionally in the thousands… and I have been on TV shows where I was literally speaking to millions of people… and I have loved every minute of it!!!
Entering the cave called "the fear of public speaking" allowed me to find a true treasure, a treasure that has now been with me for decades.
Fast forward again, this time to last week- Week 2, August, 2014.
Monday- I was in a recording studio with a HUGE Hollywood sound engineer (the guy does a ton of work on the TV program Glee). I was recording an audio track, in a character voice that I created, to be used in a commercial for a cutting edge high-tec firm.
Tuesday- I had a small part in a stand-up comedy routine at The Ice House in Pasadena, CA with retired wrestler Mick Foley.
Wednesday- I went to a rehearsal with the choreographer for the commercial I was I shot on Thursday.
Thursday- I spent 12 and 1/2 hours on set as the lead actor in a major, 50 person, commercial shoot I mentioned.
EVERY ONE of these things came to me because I entered that cave and stepped from my comfort zone to my courage zone all those years ago.
Once my comfort zone included public speaking I was open to many, many more opportunities. Further steps into my "Courage Zone" allowed me to become comfortable being a performer and a voice artist.
Here's my truth… my experience…
The cave you fear to enter CAN hold the treasure you seek.
But not all caves hold treasure… some hold painful lessons, but in my experience those lessons can also pave the way to the treasure you seek.
So what is the greatest treasure that I have personally gained from entering this cave of the "fear of public speaking"?
It hasn't been the money, even though public speaking has earned me a lot of money. the true treasure is the contentment, the fulfillment and the sense of contribution I feel when I know I have reached millions of people with information or entertainment that has enhanced their lives.
I'm a bit awestruck to think that this adult version of that scared young man is now doing things that he NEVER, EVER, could have even imagined doing, and today I'm doing it with SHEER JOY and absolute GRATITUDE. I'M LOVING WHAT I'M DOING… That is the true treasure that I found in that cave, and it's the treasure I have carried with me for decades.
And the reality is I'm entering new caves in my life all the time, challenging myself with new ventures into my courage zone.
What is your cave? How great could your treasure be? What would it take to move you from your comfort zone to your courage zone?
Would you like a little help? A little encouragement? Call me let's talk- 541-941-4840
Selfishly Strengthening Your Faith
As I mentioned in Gift 7 developing my Faith was a difficult Gift for me to receive.
I'm not talking about accepting the dogma or scripture of religious faith; I'm talking about developing my personal faith in Spirit.
Now what do we do when we need to bolster our faith? When we get knocked for a loop and need to find a way to see clear again?
My practice and my advice is to seek knowledge that challenges or reinforces our core beliefs. Faith is built through certainty and certainty is developed through education.
Here's some information that I hope will either build your faith… or challenge your current beliefs.
Enjoy…
Once you have watched this video read this:
http://www.quantumconsciousness.org/documents/enlightenednext.pdf
Here are 2 excerpts:
Let’s see if I’ve got the gist of your theory straight. Essentially, you’re saying that at least some basic degree of consciousness is woven into the fabric of spacetime itself, and it’s the coherent quantum activity among the microtubules in our brain that allows us to amplify or strengthen the basic universal consciousness that’s already there?
If you ask me “Does God exist?” and you mean “Does God exist in the sense of the white-bearded guy who handed tablets to Moses on the mountain?,” the answer is no. But if you ask me “Does God exist in the sense that consciousness, awareness, and purpose exist in the most basic fabric of the universe?,” I would say it’s a distinct possibility that the answer is yes.
Getting Juiced by Massive Impact
What gets you excited, I mean totally juiced? What charges you with the energy to wake-up early and stay-up late so you can charge forward in the direction of your dream? Maybe the word I'm looking for is passion.
3 words come to mind for me… Massive Positive Impact.
For many years I have had sought to live my life in ways that would allow the work I do to have a significant positive impact. Having a massive positive impact ignites my passion and it has for decades.
For many years an Internet marketing consultant I felt that I was having a positive impact and as I became a professional speaker I felt that my impact was multiplied. Rather than impacting 30 or 40 or 50 businesses per year as a consultant I was impacting 1,000, 2,000 or even 4 or 5,000 people. I loved that.
I'm now on a mission to bring smiles and happiness and keep the Spirit of Christmas alive ALL year long.
What lights your fire?
Our Resourcefulness = Our Resources
I believe that our resources are determined by our resourcefulness and how resourceful we are is determined by 3 things:
#1 Our focus. For example do we focus on ourselves or others? Do we focus on lack or abundance?
#2 The meaning we give things. Does this mean we're doomed or is this a unique opportunity to try something new?
#3 What we do. Do we give up, do we continue forward or do we try something different?
What do you think?
Do you ever feel energetically fragmented?
Do you ever feel energetically fragmented? I have found the singing bowl helps me center my energy.
Find Your Inner Smile
"Most of the time, I don't have very much fun, and the rest of the time I have no fun at all," quipped Woody Allen.
There are times when life can get so crazy, busy and demanding that we end up setting our sights on getting through the day rather than genuinely enjoying the day.
We run on autopilot. We are reactive rather than creative. We get into a mode. Life becomes a daily blur.
Be Jolly Exercise: Studies show that most people who score higher levels of happiness do not experience markedly better life circumstances. So why are they so happy?
Well, one answer is they know how to enjoy their life. The word "enjoy" means to bring joy to something. Today's assignment is to find your inner smile by reminding yourself
- What energizes you
- What you love
- What inspires you.
Memo to self: Remember to enjoy the miracle of existence today.