Wise and Just Ideas in a Chaotic World

The best things in life are, indeed, free. Maybe some great experiences happen because money bought us a chance to experience simplicity, but that simplicity has always been available. From Cheerios to intense board games in a park to a tickle fight…life is a ball. Listen to my judgment…

The seed is to plant one good habit a week for 56 years...guaranteed - fi you follow through - to increase your net worth by 56 times.

The lesson of the seed is “You reap your harvest after you
do the work.” You dig the soil and water the seed (effort),
wait a while (patience), and then you pick your beans.

Effort + Patience = Results.

This principle is often lost on people. They say: “If I
plant beans today, what will I get back tomorrow?” And the
answer is: “Wet bean seeds.”

The law of the seed says: “You plant today, and you
harvest LATER!” Plant beans now; pick beans in four months.

Back when everybody grew their own food, people probably
understood this concept better. But this is the age of
instant noodles.

Fred says: “If I had a decent job, then I would really work hard.
But all I do is wash dishes, so to heck with it.”

Wrong, Fred! If you become the best diswasher in town,
someone will notice you, someone will promote you, or
you’ll feel so good about yourself that one day you’ll go
and do something you really want to do.
~anon.~

A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a
precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another
traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag
to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious
stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so
without hesitation.

The traveler left rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew
the stone was worth enough to give him security for a
lifetime.

A few days later, he came back to return the stone to the
wise woman. “I’ve been thinking,” he said. “I know how
valuable this stone is, but I give it back in the hope that
you can give me something even more precious. Give me what
you have within you that enabled you to give me this
stone.”

Sometimes it’s not the wealth you have, but what’s inside
of you that others need.
~anon.~

Here’s a raw understanding of the intrinsic worth of things:

Years ago there was a group of brilliant young men at the University of Wisconsin, who seemed to have amazing creative literary talent. They were would-be poets, novelists, and essayists. They were extraordinary in their ability to put the English language to its best use. These promising young men met regularly to read and critique each other’s work. And critique it they did!

These men were merciless with one another. They dissected the most minute literary expression into a hundred pieces. They were heartless, tough, even mean in their criticism. The sessions became such arenas of literary criticism that the members of this exclusive club called themselves the “Stranglers.”

Not to be outdone, the women of literary talent in the university were determined to start a club of their own, one comparable to the Stranglers. They called themselves the “Wranglers.” They, too, read their works to one another. But there was one great difference. The criticism was much softer, more positive, more encouraging. Sometimes, there was almost no criticism at all. Every effort, even the most feeble one, was encouraged.

Twenty years later an alumnus of the university was doing an exhaustive study of his classmates’ careers when he noticed a vast difference in the literary accomplishments of the Stranglers as opposed to the Wranglers. Of all the bright young men in the Stranglers, not one had made a significant literary accomplishment of any kind. From the Wranglers had come six or more successful writers, some of national renown such as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, who wrote The Yearling.

Talent between the two? Probably the same. Level of education? Not much difference. But the Stranglers strangled, while the Wranglers were determined to give each other a lift. The Stranglers promoted an atmosphere of contention and self doubt. The Wranglers highlighted the best, not the worst.

Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship. ~Buddha~

“Mrs. Jones, you haven’t seen the room …. just wait.”

“That doesn’t have anything to do with it,” she replied.

“Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn’t depend on how the furniture is arranged, it’s how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. It’s a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do.

Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open I’ll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I’ve stored away, just for this time in my life.”

She went on to explain, “Old age is like a bank account, you withdraw from what you’ve put in. So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank. I am still depositing.”

And with a smile, she said, “Remember the five simple rules to be happy:
1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.”

Never ever surrender your spirit to anyone or any ideal. They both will change and no longer fully serve you - and you will change and no longer serve them.

“Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson~

I often have heard and have often said myself: “How lucky can you/I get?” These are the words of a person who believes that fortune is a happenstance event unrelated to our thoughts and actions.

Luck really turns on whether you are willing to fail often enough in order to carve out your success.

Buying an established franchise or marketing a product that is hot in the marketplace, for instance, does not insure your success.

Nor does thinking positive thoughts and having boatloads’ of capital to spend on a “Can’t miss!” business.

The real determinant is whether you are willing to fail most of the time in order to hit pay dirt.

A major league baseball player is unlikely to get a hit more than one out of three chances (and usually somewhat less), yet still makes a cool million dollars or more per season.

But they are swinging. They know the odds. They play the odds. And they get paid because they stay in the game even though they keep striking out until that magic moment when they get their inevitable one hit out of three or four at bats.  In the game of life we must shoot and then aim. A famous Internet marketer, Mike Litman, says it eloquently:

“Don’t get it right, just get it going.”

The competitive world we live in requires us to keep plugging away while others wave a flag of surrender and encourage us to do likewise.
Put your ear to the huge locust tree and hear the gentle grating of a bore worm. Just an insignificant worm, you say? What can that measly worm hope to do with that monster tree?

Grate, grate, grate! For years that almost imperceptible grating goes on, while the mighty locust lifts its towering branches in fancied security.

Finally, a storm comes and the locust hopes to brave it as he has many others; but behold, its strength is undermined. Its vitals are eaten away, and it falls — victim to the tiny worm.

Thus is the spirit of a success warrior when he steps to the plate one more time to get his one out of three hits. His or her determination can and will steadily eat away the sturdiest and most formidable of locust trees standing between us and our dreams.

Ready? Batter up.

TAKE THE TEST AND BECOME YOUR BEST!

One never knows when the lesson shirked will come back to bite you on the ass.

Every life experience must be grabbed with passion.  Learn and earn, if possible, from everything put in your path.

This advice is not just a nice-sounding bit of advice based on theory, it is premised by a very traumatic event in my life some 32 years ago.  That event could have put me in a federal penitentiary for a very long time.

I once heard a story of a would-be flight navigator who cheated on a major part of his written  exam.  His deceit went unnoticed for many years until an in-flight emergency left him at the helm.  As he was descending, he couldn’t recall the total sequence.  In desperation, he radioed ground control and half in tears told them that he drew a blank on how to land.  The calm ground control staff walked him through it and, by shear luck, he landed without a glitch.  He was fired on the spot.

Likewise, I was encouraged by my college teachers to keep a  journal, and my freshman teacher encouraged me to write with passion.  That lesson made me fall in love with English and when, in 1978, I stood at my arraignment and read my recognizance speech to the judge, he quickly reduced my substantial $500,000 baqil to a mere $500.

Unlike the navigator who fudged his way through, I was prepared adequately for the trauma I faced in the courtroom.

Let the judge tell the full story:

Scruffy old men were once upon a life young, egoistic and full of hope.

I believe  I heard the late, great Jim Rohn say, “You’ve got to touch people where they are.” Far too often, however, people dismiss people simply because they look and act differently than they do.

What a tragedy that we refuse to leave our safety bubble of peppermint sticks and good fairies in order to experience the seeds’  and seediness of life.

In the teeming hell fires of a Bombay or Mogadishu slum stand idle vagrants looking at you for a handout or busily rummaging through garbage for some rancid morsel or a tin can  to sell.

How disgusting and despicable these crumb bums seem  from our sterile world perspective.

In this energetic wisdom-packed live seminar, Jim will teach you the art of persuasion, controlling your emotions, becoming a true leader, reading other people, and being a team player in…

But if God’s sacred camera were rolling we would see acts’ of kindness beyond belief.  One starving vagrant giving his ration to another more-emaciated street mate.

The world is full of benevolence, and not only from those with a big wad of cold cash. This is a story about a brush I had with a scruffy old man, Jacques, whom I met in my more humble days on the streets of San Francisco.  Jacques was extraordinary under his scruffy beard.

Let the judge draw out this important personal story…

There are life-changing moments and then there are LIFE-CHANGING MOMENTS.

Being arrested and charged with attempted kidnapping and then facing a possible 20-year sentence was not something I intentionally wished to happen.

But sometimes you only change and grow when your life or your freedom is on the line.

You learn to improvise and to use your intuition the minute you realize that there is no cavalry coming to the rescue. Here’s the story of the judge facing the executioner:

Until you have that burning desire embedded in your eyes through finding a vision, you will sit on the sideline of life.

This fatalist philosophy leaves the poor poorer and the rich ever richer. Perhaps, however, the real missing link between the haves and have-nots in our universe is plain-and-simple passion. And passion is built on incremental success.

The problem lies in having no vision of what the good, successful life could look like for us. If you had or have it, then putting yourself in the picture and letting the subconscious mind find the path to a goal line becomes a breeze.

Until that point, there is nothing to anticipate other than spinning wheels’ of self-doubt and balls’ of confusion.

Hear Ye Hear Ye…the judge has a verdict —

When you come from a dysfunctional or violent family, you are fragile and can easily drop off the deep end of life. Criticism is something which is reacted to violently or by walking around with your imaginary tail between your legs.

Everyone at some time is vulnerable to manipulation by a “loved” one or a manipulative person or group. While most do not end up in a religious cult or following some violent, radical underground group, I joined the former.

In a recent episode of Boston Legal, the lawyer took advantage of a woman who he was to defend and engage in sex in the office. The scene was down-played for the remainder of the show, but what kind of message was it sending to the viewing public…exploit the weak and vulnerable?

Wherever you are in your life – the master or the slave position – remember that some day without doubt you will be vulnerable and the master may use you shamelessly.

Yes, be understanding and respectful of people living in darkness and searching for the light. Though they may seem powerless and easily exploited, there is a karmic law at work. Eventually the tide will turn on you in unexpected and tragic ways.

The judge is ready to weigh in…

So much of marketing is aimed at yanking or jimmying open the gateway to the mind.

Words – hypnotic ones – can make dead souls rise and fight for the glory of the fatherland or for    the honor of the father. They can also make us purchase products, services, or propaganda wholesale without a care.

Yet the combination of words, phrases and visions artfully implanted can also lead to uncompromisable creativity, blissful peace and endless tolerance.

Ah, if only most language was only used to such positive effect, then the need to warn others to watch carefully over the gateway to the mind would diminish immensely. We could live with child-like curiosity and experience the newness of each day without ever needing to utter, “What’s the catch?” or “What’s in it for me?”

The Judge weighs in…

“Merely through the constant need to ward off, one can become weak enough to be unable to defend oneself any longer.”
~Friedrich Nietzsche~

Don't Let Anger Possess You!

Feeling traumatize by a parent in childhood can leave a lingering, festering wound that never heals.

We are defenseless against a verbal or physical brute when small, but eventually we reach an age when we challenge the oppressor to a fight or at least a reason for their aggression.  The parent either relents or ignores you from that point onward.

I often heard people say, “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me.”  Not so.  Being ignored by a parent or parents is more painful than a daily belt lashing.

The judge finds the defendant guilty as charged.  For the sake of inner peace of the victim, the judge rules clemency.  Parents do the best they can which isn’t always much.

“Look up and not down. Look forward and not back. Look out and not in, and lend a hand.”

~Edward Everett Horton~

There are thousands of gurus and wannabes telling you to get focused.  Then – in the same breath – they tell you to write down a gazillion goals for seven or eight categories, then narrow them down to a half-dozen or so and focus on them.

So now you have, let’s say, 40 goals that you are supposed to focus on.  The only trouble is that the 39 sitting on your hard drive are screaming for your attention.  When a stumbling block arrives – as it always does – you jump to another and then another, and then it’s lunchtime, then it’s siesta time, then it’s dinner time, and finally it’s Miller time.

If you snooze, you lose in this high-pace world we live in.  But the whole tamale does not consist of 40 appetizers to choose from, rather from one entree to nibble at until it is consumed.

The judge calls this court to session:

“To err is human, to forgive is divine”.
~Alexander Pope~

Your Number One Hero Is You!

Who are the heroes in your life? Maybe that question gives you pause in this age of put-downs and cynicism.

In the modern world, we love to idolize people and then cut them down to size.  To watch others pain and comeuppance gives us a false reassurance that we are lucky to be less.

Ultimately, our heroes must teach us lessons of how to act and and how not to act.  We must not hero worship at the expense of striving to be a person of excellence ourselves.

The judge brings this court to session (and turn down the volume a tad):