Photo by: Nevit Dilmen

For the past several years I have been following Steve Pavlina’s Personal Development blog, www.stevepavlina.com. I first stumbled across his blog about three years ago after typing in the words, “what is my life’s purpose,” into Google, whereupon I landed at this blog post. I was amazed at the virtual poetry of his writing style and loved the simplicity of the actual advice, which he boiled down into four simple steps:

Here’s what to do:

1. Take out a blank sheet of paper or open up a word processor where you can type (I prefer the latter because it’s faster).
2. Write at the top, “What is my true purpose in life?”
3. Write an answer (any answer) that pops into your head. It doesn’t have to be a complete sentence. A short phrase is fine.
4. Repeat step 3 until you write the answer that makes you cry. This is your purpose.

After reading this article and getting inspired about the possibilities in my own life I found myself digesting reams and reams of his articles on a variety of topics that were unique, engaging, and enlightening. The most notable aspect of Pavlina’s blog is the sheer size of the thing. It has hundreds and hundreds of interesting articles. A lot of value for free. Pavlina inspired me to start this blog, and I used his suggestions and advice as to how to go about doing it.

Over the years, like many habits or interests, I found myself less mystified with Pavlina, especially when he took up a raw diet and seemed to post about his experiences in that area endlessly. Having a lot of experience with holistic nutrition and in the natural products industry, I’ve known many raw-foodists and my impression is that while consuming raw food should be an important component in our diet, going all-raw can be a bit extreme and the disciples of that mode of thought can at times appear a bit fanatical. Perhaps this was a warning sign.

That being said, I still read his other personal development articles with some level of interest and was reasonably excited when he announced that he would be publishing his first book in the fall of 2008. I even obtained an advanced press copy of the book, “Personal Development for Smart People,” in order to write a review of it on my blog. The enticing thing about writing a review of the book was that Steve promised to post links to reviewers’ blogs on his website, which receives many thousands of visits per day.

After getting my copy of the book I read it quickly and thoroughly. I can’t say it was easy to read quickly because not long after opening it did I realize that something within its pages wasn’t resonating with me. While I loved many of his personal development and entrepreneurialism blog posts, something was preventing me from connecting to his book and to this day I can’t exactly find the words to describe how I feel about it.

A former computer games programmer, Pavlina gives the impression that he lives his life as if it were some grand math problem or scientific experiment. That attitude towards life creates ample opportunity for writing about experiences and personal trials in a unique way, but ultimately in such a fashion that the replication of which would be impractical or impossible for many of us “regular people.”

An example: Pavlina writes several articles about the merits of “Polyphasic Sleep,” which basically entails abandoning the traditional method of sleeping 6-8 hours a night for a series of shorter naps throughout any given 24-hour period. The first thought I had while reading about this was, “cool,” given how he was able to come up with so much additional time to complete projects and be productive. The second thought I had was,”How the hell does his wife deal with him?,” knowing that my wife would never stand for me not going to bed with her and being up all hours of the night.

“Polyamory,” the Next Great Pursuit of Steve Pavlina

Which brings me to the point of my post. So Steve Pavlina’s wife, Erin, is also a blogger and the focus of her work is on Psychic Readings. He mentions her frequently in his blog and if you read Pavlina enough, you get the sense that you understand a little bit about how their relationship works.

Recently, however, Pavlina began writing about feeling unfulfilled in his marriage. That he had all of this “love” to give but felt that he couldn’t sufficiently express it within the context of a traditional monogamous marriage. This came as a surprise to me, but I was even more surprised when he announced to his readers this week that he was going to abandon his monogamous marriage for a “polyamorous” lifestyle, which basically entails opening up the marriage so he can have sex with other women. I mean, so he can share his “love” with other women.

On one level, I don’t want to be one to judge anybody else’s lifestyle choices, especially given the nature of my own blog, in which my objective here is to Quiet the Monkey Mind, the judgmental, chattering beast within who wants to make others wrong without seeing my flaws or lessons to be learned in my own life. On the other hand, I can’t help but experience some outrage and disgust, not necessarily with his choice, but with the blatant rationalizations and seemingly ego-guided reasons behind his decision. I am especially turned off by Pavlina’s justification of his decision to seek out sex (loving relationships) with women outside his marriage because he markets himself as a self-help guru who lives consciously and encourages others to do so, but this particular choice, when you dissect his rationalizations behind it, has very little to do with conscious living and just about everything do with trying to find ways to satisfy his sexual urges.

The other thing that really seems creepy about the whole thing is his unwillingness to accept that his two children (five and eight years old, respectively) might possibly be harmed by daddy’s new personal development project. Finally, there’s his wife, Erin, seemingly unwillingly placed in the middle of Steve’s latest escapade. He reports that she’s okay with his choice, but if you check out her blog here, you’ll find that she mentions nothing of this new “joint” decision to allow Stevie to wet his wick elsewhere. In fact, I would think that if his wife Erin were so on board with his latest endeavor, she would probably write a post about how she supports his choice and is excited about having sex with other men. But instead, what you will see is a post about her attempt to go on a raw-diet for 30 days (emulating her husband’s penchant for 30-day trials) with her apparent objective to shed some weight from her nearly 200-pound frame.

I mention Erin’s weight because this situation reminds me a bit of John and Elizabeth Edwards, in that there seemed to be such a mismatch in terms of physical appearances between these two that it seemed only logical that the better looking half of the partnership would be seeking out opportunities to share his “love” with women outside the marriage. When it was announced that John had in fact been involved with another woman, was anyone really that surprised, other than John-boy himself, who was probably so deluded by his own ego that he:

1) Thought what he was doing was okay, or

2) Thought he was so talented that he could get away with a clear no-no.

What does this have to do with Steve Pavlina and his wife, Erin? Well, if you’ve spent any time at all on his blog, you will notice that Steve writes frequently about diet, physical exercise, and overall nutrition. I wouldn’t exactly call the man a lady-killer, but he’s reasonably attractive and obviously physically fit. Then you see photos of Erin Pavlina, who clearly doesn’t embody the picture of personal fitness. I asked myself when I saw a recent picture of the two of them at some event with some other fauthors rom his publishing house, why this supposed master of personal development doesn’t coach his own wife to achieve a healthy weight? I instantly thought that there was a physical attraction mismatch within the relationship and it all suddenly made sense a few weeks later when Steve announced to the world that his next great experiment would be to spread his overwhelming love with other women within the context of sexual relationships.

My Take on What is Going On With Steve

The man is enjoying new levels of riches and fame with the publication of his debut book. He speaks all over the country at various seminars and events. Considering the demographics of the self-help market is dominated by women, undoubtedly he has inspired many women to change their lives for the better and has experienced the temptation of fulfilling his sexual desires with these many women who now look at him starry-eyed, as if he’s a master, a guru, with great knowledge and experience to endow upon others. I have seen this so many times, when men dispelling advice or coaching to women get caught up enmeshed in temptation. Fueled by his ego and the idea that he can do no wrong and justify all of his experiences as personal development challenges, he decides that there is a way to satisfy his carnal desires without having to go through a messy divorce, especially now that his assets are significantly greater than when he first hooked up with Erin. The classic “having your cake and eating it too” syndrome he could enact, masquerading as a noble desire to simply experience more love in the world, as if loving a wife and two kids were not enough. As if love could not be expressed by helping the homeless or ending hunger or starting a foundation, as if love expression only entailed penis insertion in new and exciting locales!

What bothers me most about his choice is again, not the choice itself. It’s the reasons behind the choice which I’ll go into greater detail now, addressing several of the points he makes in his lengthy diatribe defending his decision.

Dear Erin

He begins perhaps by speaking directly to his wife in a section labeled, “Hurt,” in which he celebrates hurt as a path towards greater love (so as to convince his wife and family that getting hurt by his choice will only lead to the expansion of their love):

Even when you’re faced with negative emotions, can you see beyond them and consciously choose to respond with love instead of reacting with fear?

Can you see how helpful this process is in the long run? The more you get hurt, the more you develop your ability to choose love.

Isn’t it better to accept the hurt as it comes, process it, let it go, and then move on? The human heart has a great capacity to heal. If you get hurt, you’ll recover. If you hurt others, they’ll recover too.

Translation: Honey, don’t you see that by allowing me to share my love with others, the hurt that you may experience is simply an opportunity for you to grow? Don’t you remember that you and I chose a path of growth, so shouldn’t you be excited by this new chance to expand your consciousness?

Allow the manipulation to commence. There is nothing conscious about intentionally hurting other people in the pursuit of your own growth.

Then, Steve goes further down this road, justifying causing others’ hurt as a method of staring down fear in the face, as if conquering fear, whatever the cost, is justifiable. Then he tips his hand a bit as to his true intentions, with a allusion to Scooby Doo that is simultaneously incredibly geeky and rather perverted:

It’s better to experience (or cause) one real broken heart than to fear a thousand imaginary ones.

But I can’t live my life cowering under the covers like Shaggy and Scooby. I’m gonna be kick-ass Fred.

You just know Fred was all over Daphne and Velma in the back of the Mystery Machine.

This guy is a self-help guru?

Next, Steve goes on to discuss the institution of marriage, which he refers to as a “consciousness-lowering bugaboo,” and “some sort of disease.” Then, in an odd turn, he half-heartedly celebrates his own marriage:

That being said, I’m actually glad I got married. Huh? The reason I say that is that being married for so long (almost 11 years) has helped me understand and relate to other people who are married. I rather like that I can share my thoughts about marriage as an insider. There’s just no way I could understand the realities of marriage if I hadn’t experienced it firsthand. Obviously with only one marriage under my belt, I may not be the world’s greatest expert on the subject, but it’s a lot better than having zero experience.

Translation: You’re cool and all, honey, but really this marriage has been nothing more than a bullet on my “self-help guru” resume. How can I dispel advice to others on relationships if I haven’t been in one myself? Now that I have that block checked, I ‘m ready to parlay this marriage in to greater opportunities to sell my personal development services.

Next, in one of his more sickening rationalizations, Steve talks about his kids and family, saying that people who criticize his choice don’t know what they’re talking about because they don’t personally know his five and eight-year old kids. He says:

Overall I expect that this change will be very positive for my kids.

Emily and Kyle are both very social and love meeting new people. Whenever we have house guests, my kids love interacting with them.

My son Kyle loves to say to people, “Come play Halo with me, so I can kick your butt!” He’s quite a trash talker when he plays, which is pretty funny to see from a five year-old.

Past experience tells me that my kids love it when interesting, open-minded people are brought into our lives. It just means more people for them to socialize with. The extra stimulation is good for them.

Do you have a clue what it’s like to have a personal development expert and a psychic medium as your parents? My daughter actually goes around telling her classmates, “My Daddy is the smartest man on earth, and my Mommy talks to dead people.”

Keep in mind that my kids share much of my DNA. First, that alone should scare you. Secondly, if you try to convince them they’re going to be damaged by my choices, they’ll just laugh at you. Then my son will proceed to kick your butt at Halo,

Translation: Honey, you know how much our kids like to meet new people, just think of much they’ll grow and learn from the litany of strange people that I’ll be bringing home. They will get a real kick out of coming into my bed in the morning and making a game out of trying to guess what kind of lady daddy brought home last night. Plus, my polyamorous friends will be great play partners for our kids. Just think, you could get a lot of work done while my sex partners play with our children! Oh and by the way, I’m the smartest man on Earth.

By the way, I know that Halo is a pretty intense, violent video game and it personally disturbs me to know that a five-year old is playing a game like that. The last line is the kicker: my choice is right and if you question my choice my kids will laugh at you, which only backs up that I’m right! It is stunning to read this coming from a person who teaches a pursuit of higher consciousness. And by the way, why exactly should be “scared” about the fact that your children share your DNA. Do you know something we don’t, that you are an ego-maniac whose genes actually shouldn’t be spread? Or are you just so scary smart that more of you on the planet will tip the balance of humanity and existence itself in favor of the super-race you are creating? Odd comment, to say the least.

Next Steve plugs his tiresome book, by breaking down Polyamory according to the “Univeral Growth Principles” he identifies in “Personal Development for Smart People.”

Truth - Polyamory can be practiced with total openness and honesty and no deception.

Real truth would be admitting to himself and the world that he is desperately trying to satisfy his sexual desires. Instead of practicing a little self-discipline (which he touts frequently in his other blog posts), he will create a situation in which he doesn’t have to lie or be deceitful to his wife about having sex with other women, and then gets to trumpet that noble decision as an expression of truth. In other words, he gets to dump his garbage on his wife and then call it being truthful, which he can later celebrate as an expression of virtue.

Love - Polyamory means many loves. Creating and maintaining authentic, loving connections is its very core.

Real love would be to set his wife and family free from his sexual cravings. The term “Polyamory” is one of the great circumlocutions or oxymorons in our language, like calling a nuclear missile a “Peacekeeper.” Yes, it may have kept the world out of some conflicts, but to call a nuclear arsenal that could destroy the Earth dozens of times over a Peacekeeper is a bit of linguistic gymnastics. Knowing how difficult it is to grow and maintain the loves in my life (my wife, child, unborn child, and extended family) the thought of complicating life with more people, emotions, and expectations is mind-boggling. The only way I could see it working is for it truly just be about the sex because there’s no real way for a man to fully be present and in the state of love at all times with multiple women. It’s hard enough to manage one’s job and one’s wife, or to juggle giving love and affection to both a child and a spouse. Steve essentially equates love with sex, and while love certainly can involve sex, it is perfectly possible to express love without intercourse. A guy with his influence and reach and many millions of readers could expand love in the world in a myriad of ways. Sleeping with other women is just that, sleeping with other women.

Power - Will polyamory be empowering? It will be a major growth experience to learn about it and practice it, so regardless of what degree of success I enjoy, it will empower me to grow. It will also require me to further develop my self-discipline, my communication skills, and more. This is a path that will surely build strength, not one that will feed weakness.

I honestly don’t know how to tackle this one, he’s just so off base. I’m not sure how sleeping around develops self-discipline. Weren’t many of the great masters celebate, anyway?

Courage (Love + Power) - Is this the courageous path or the cowardly path? It should be pretty obvious that going polyamorous, and especially writing about it along the way, takes Courage.

Real courage would be having the balls to divorce his wife and face the possibility of losing his wealth and his family in pursuit of his desire to have sex with many women. Steve is a skilled communicator (manipulator) for sure, who would rather attempt to convince his poor wife that this is a great choice so he doesn’t have to gather up the courage to make a choice that might be uncomfortable and costly, both financially and emotionally.

There’s a lot more to rail on about in his blog post, but I’ll wrap it up here for now. But first, one last point from Steve that simply can’t go without commentary:

My primary aim is to become as truthful, loving, and strong in character as I can (i.e. aligned with Truth, Love, and Power)… and to share what I learn as my legacy to humanity. We’ll see how far I can get before I’m assassinated.

Um, ever heard of messiah/martyr complex? Hey Steve, newsflash: living out your sexual fantasies doesn’t make you Jesus, Abraham Lincoln, Gandhi, MLK, JFK, or RFK. I guess literally spreading his seed is a legacy to humanity, perhaps in the form of more little Stevies running around as a result of this experiment, but come on, isn’t this comment going a bit too far in the category of adoration of self? Steve - you’re sticking your willie in lots of places, not feeding the masses!

Finally, a man supposedly dedicated to oneness, openness, and consciousness refuses to engage in any sort of debate over the merits of his decision. As if he knows the law and questioning of the law will result in expulsion from the school of personal development:

I recommend that the people who [disagree with his choice] should go back to my very first article (The Courage to Live Consciously) and start over from scratch, since obviously the message about living consciously hasn’t gotten through to them yet. Go back and chew on 2004 for a while. I’ll still be here when you’re caught up.

Translation: I know what consciousness is and you don’t. If you don’t agree with me, that just means you haven’t “gotten it” yet and need to start over on your path.

In some circles, we would call this type of thinking the markers of a “Cult of Personality,” wherein the Supreme Leader knows the laws and creates the laws by whatever actions he wishes to engage in. Disagreement results in ridicule, accusations of lack of consciousness, banishment, or worse.

The last thing I’ll say about this today is, Steve, there’s a resource for people like you and it’s not the “Polyamory” community. It’s called Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous, and their website is right here. And guess what, you don’t have to pay some self-trained personal development guru to help you. It’s absolutely free.

And if that doesn’t work, get a puppy.

P.S. Unlike Mr. Pavlina, I welcome debate on this subject. I look forward to reading your comments.

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Images by: Steve Knight and Miamiamia

If you happen to watch the news or read about current events on the internet on a daily basis you are exposing yourself to a large quantity of negative images, stories, and messages. A quick glance of the headlines on CNN.com right now reveals that out of 19 headlines, 6 are negative stories while another 4 articles are somewhat neutral stories about negative issues. And several of these negative stories are more than just reporting bad news; the details of a few stories currently gracing the headlines are downright horrific, but of course I won’t go into any further detail than that.

With so much negative stimuli, sometimes it’s difficult to maintain a positive outlook, even if we are not aware of outwardly carrying around these negative messages. The problem is that with continued exposure to negative or disturbing stimuli, the subconscious mind cannot help but store away those images and stories and create a mental blueprint that the world is a scary, threatening, and devastating place, and the best recipe for dealing with these negative stimuli is to simply fill our lives with substitute positive experiences, to include overeating sweet or fatty foods, taking a leave of absence from everyday life by watching excessive amounts of television, overconsuming alcohol or drugs, or engaging in other destructive behavior patterns.

Even for those of us who don’t habitually seek out these negative stimuli in the form of regular tv watching or internet news-reading, or mitigate the effects of bad news with the destructive behaviors described above, we can still unwittingly and unintentionally expose ourselves to negative messages. An example of this would be if you are logging onto an internet email service like AOL or Yahoo and you can’t help but notice a news story on the sidebar about some calamity or horrific event. For many of us it’s impossible to not click on the story, even for a moment, or otherwise avert our eyes from the negative stimulus. So the question is, what do we do once we’ve exposed ourselves to bad news and how can we return to a place of positivity?

This conundrum reminds me of a question I’ve heard from my two-year daughter at least a half-dozen times over the past several months.  We’ll be out playing or doing some activity and suddenly, out of the blue, she will ask, “Daddy what do you do when you’re scared?”  Sometimes I ask her if she’s scared currently in that moment, to get a gauge of what she might be sensing to urge her to ask a question like that.  Other times, I don’t focus much on the state of being scared and simply reply, “I think happy thoughts.” Usually that response is enough for her, and she seems to be able to return to whatever we were doing before her question was asked.  While over-simple, and perhaps trite, the answer I gave contains the fundamental truth not only in returning to a positive mental state from a negative mind trip, but also in manifesting positive outcomes in all areas of our lives.  As U.S. Andersen and others have boldly pronounced: “Thoughts become things,” so it only makes sense that the more we think positively, the more we create positive things in our life experience.

But how do we dispel negative images and messages?

The problem with disturbing images or messages is that they have an extremely “sticky” nature, oddly enough for many of us in stark contrast to positive images.  In other words, negative messages tend to stay with us, while positive images tend to be fleeting and ephemeral.

An example: you threw a great party at your new home.  Neighbors, family members, and other guests all graced your presence by attending.  All remarked on your wonderful new home, all commented that they loved the food that you prepared and served.  Throughout the course of the evening you noticed your guests enjoying themselves, chatting animatedly, engaging in planned activities, socializing, and otherwise making the affair a rousing success.  And yet, one guest or friend or family member appeared dissatisfied.  Didn’t positively comment on anything you served or planned.  Even had the gall to not say a single positive thing about your new home.  That night, as you and your spouse went to bed, the only thing on your mind wasn’t the success that the party was, but instead was the resentment and upset you experienced regarding that one guest’s lack of enthusiasm or otherwise explicit distaste for what you had to offer.  Here you are, on the heels of a successful gathering, wherein you received bountiful appreciation and recognition for your efforts, and the only thing your Monkey Mind can do is focus on the one person who wasn’t onboard the positive bandwagon.

This example shows just how powerful negative thought patterns can be, even in a relatively minor daily upset, especially in terms of their permanence and pervasiveness.  But don’t be fooled, even focusing on a series of minor upsets will eventually cascade into a deeper dissatisfaction with life in general. This is why in order to overcome negative messaging we must literally dedicate our lives and our waking moments towards expanding the positive.  We have our work cut out for us in this regard due to the ubiquitousness of negative influences in our world

Does this mean that the negative is powerful than the positive? 

I would argue no.  In fact I would posit that the two forces are equal and opposite.  It is just that the negative programming is so complete and thorough within our society and our consciousness that it takes intentional regular practice to overcome its influence and reorient our minds in a positive manner.

Steps to Take

1. Practice Awareness. This will always underpin all of our efforts towards living a more fulfilling and positive life.  Awareness is the key to everything because how will be able to fix our situation if we don’t even know we’re in it.  In a nutshell, the Art of Awareness is achieved in part through a daily practice of meditation, wherein we are able to temporarily shut down the Monkey Mind so as to connect to the present moment.  Very often when we connect to the present do we realize that at this moment in time, despite what’s going on in the Middle East or with our family or with our finances, everything is actually okay.  We are alive.  Breathing.  Conscious.  Once we’ve established even a rudimentary meditation practice we will notice that we are soon able to bring this awareness into our active life, into our interactions with others, and into our experiences in the physical world.

Awareness helps us realize that the image we are watching or the message we are listening to or reading is in fact negative.  Awareness provides us with the tools to start making healthy choices for our lives.  Only with awareness can we consciously come to know whether the situation we are current experiencing is positive or negative.  If it’s negative we can choose to change our surroundings, turn off the messaging or imaging, or otherwise to return to a more healthy and positive environment.

2. Turn Off the TV. If we can’t turn off the TV entirely, can we make a pledge to not watch any news?  You will be amazed out how much of tv news is comprised of negative messaging, especially local news.

But it’s not just the news.  Many of the shows we commonly refer to as “entertainment” contain abundant images and messages of murder, betrayal, violence, theft, lying, scheming, and a host of other negative concepts.

Are you TV addict or engage in “must-see” TV?  If so, perhaps you can commit to shutting off the TV for a single day.  Others might be able to take week-long break.  Several years ago my wife and I decided to take a month off TV.  At the time we were watching several hours per night, mostly political news and reality TV like “The Apprentice.”  By taking a month off, neither of us wanted to go back to TV and now don’t watch any shows on a regular basis and only watch political news on MSNBC perhaps once or twice a month.  The only thing I now watch regularly is coverage of the NFL, and possibly the NBA playoffs.

3. Change Your Internet Homepage.

For many of us, when we click on our internet browser icon to get started browsing, we often begin with a homepage that includes links to news stories (like Yahoo), or is an actual news website like CNN.com or Foxnews.com.  You can go to the Internet Options of your browser’s menu to change your homepage quickly and easily.  This prevents you from accidentally seeing negative articles or messages.  My default homepage is just google.com and I don’t have a customized google page anymore because I would find myself getting distracted with links there, even if the links weren’t neccessarily negative per se.  You can also seek out some kind of “positive news” aggregate site, like Dailygood.org or this one here called  Happynews.com.

4. Re-Direct Your Focus.

This refers to vignette I described about my daughter’s questioning about what do when she’s scared.  Redirecting our focus is key not only to discarding negativity but also for a positive habit we’d like to embrace or goal we’d like to accomplish.  It is essential that we frequently gauge where we are (Practice Awareness), so if we are in an experience or situation that doesn’t serve us, we can refocus onto our goals or desired destination if need be.  The Art of Focusing can be difficult if our redirecting muscles are not trained, so we can better serve ourselves by exercising these muscles on a daily basis so we can flex them when the situation arises.  This means adding a positive visualization and blueprinting practice onto our daily meditation practice.

I find that one of the most effective ways to redirect my focus is to use a variety of visualization tools in the form of audio tapes and CD’s to help keep me in track. I have some audio programs that are simply relaxing music, but I prefer certain programs that also include verbal messaging to help keep my Monkey Mind out of the equation and keep my intentions lined up with my mental focus. One series of audio programs that I whole-heartedly recommend (and describe in greater detail in a blog post here) is created by Melissa Zollo, in which the self-described “Imagist” uses powerful verbal cues to help listeners focus on the results of their desires.  I try to do this program every single day and I have found it to be a virtually unparrelled technique for redirect my mental focus towards the results of my desires.

If you can’t afford an audio program or it’s simply not practical for you, you can still enjoy the fruits of such a program on your own.  Simply place yourself in a relatively quiet, private location and focus your mental energy on the positive outcome you wish to achieve.  Don’t just think about what you want, try to urge your mind to actually recreate the emotional and “feeling” experience of already achieving your particular goal or desire.  What would it feel like, sound like, look like?  Who would you talk to about it if it occurred? 

Once you’ve secured a clear mental experience of your goal or desire, now’s when you begin the active process of mental blueprinting.  Actually speak outloud to yourself using the power phrase, “I AM…” to convey the new state you’d like to be in, filling in the blank with “rich, safe, secure, magnetic, attracting, in love, loved,” etc.  Choose a variety of states that you’d like to currently embody.  Do this long enough to feel empowered, rich, attracting, safe, magnetic, or whatever your heart’s desire is.

Results Are Virtually Immediate

If you practice these four steps on a regular basis whenever you wish to overcome negative stimuli, you will be absolutely amazed at how powerful and quickly effective these techniques are.  Just yesterday I used the audio program to redirect my mental blueprint towards prosperity and not five minutes later did I receive a phone call that I was to receive a completely unexpected (and much needed) sum of money.

My “bad news” is often fear of financial insecurity.  This is the challenge that Universal Mind is asking me to overcome.  I have used this four-step process to achieve a record month in sales, to acquire my dream home, to obtain funds for an auto repair, and most recently to acquire funds for an unexpected financial emergency.  The only times that I fall into a place of wallowing amid “bad news” is when I fail to take these positive steps to move towards my desired intentions.  Try these four steps for a week and watch the results come. 

The Monkey and I would love to hear your success stories! 

If you have positive experiences using these four steps or have other suggestions about overcoming negative stimuli, please email me or comment on this blog post.

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Images by: Sam LeVan, Lynne Lancaster

Last week I was sitting in the “pews” during our Sunday spiritual service and noticed a brass placard affixed to the seat in front of me. The seats to the right and left of the one in front of me also had brass placards, both of which were engraved with the names of so-and-so who evidently donated some money and received a undelible record of that fact. The one in front of me was different, however, and seemed to carry a message that was targeted specifically towards Me and the Monkey, and it read:

“Do what love is asking of you in this moment.”

Reflecting upon this message, I found it to be an excellent starting point for the process of quieting our Monkey so as to overcome everyday defensiveness and live a better life.

For those of us who suffer from the disease of the Monkey Mind called defensiveness, we often live life on the edge of a slippery slope, gaining control and serenity of the whims of the ego for patches of time, only to be thrown off the path of higher consciousness when we least expect it. Once off the path, gaining control once again can be Herculean task, like tires spinning in snow, losing traction, losing momentum and burning a lot of energy with little result, all the while slipping down the slope, in the exact opposite direction of where we want to go.

We become aware of a bout of defensiveness and then become defensive over that very revelation, spinning into a cycle of self-loathing and seething temperment that alienates others and only makes our predicament worse. How to stop the spinning wheels? How to slam a “monkey wrench” into the Monkey Mind and at least stop the bleeding before we self-destruct and/or cause ruin to our family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, and strangers alike?

The first sub-task to master in the overall campaign to overcome defensiveness is the art of awareness. It is virtually impossible to overcome defensiveness or any other malady of the mind without first becoming aware of its presence. The trick here of course is to recognize the swelling emotions of defensiveness before they spill out in the form of angry reactions towards those we love or our colleagues. How do we do this when we are in the throws of defensiveness? In other words, how do we increase our present moment awareness, especially when we are in the midst of triggering events?

The most effective way to increase present moment awareness is by dedicating time during each day, away from the world, ideally in quiet solitude, to focus on awareness. In this way, we are building up “reserves” of awareness that we may draw upon in times of need. By growing a reservoir of awareness in times of quiet or serenity, we may turn to these reserves when we are mentally, physically, and spiritually taxed during our everyday lives. Many of us do this in the form of daily meditation. There are many ways to meditate, but simple breathing and silence is a good place to start, if only for a minute or so the first thing in the morning before we do any of our daily tasks and routines. You will be amazed how much simply meditating on a regular basis will impact your ability to overcome everyday defensiveness, even if that’s the only thing you ever do to improve this area of your life.

But this post isn’t about simply meditating, or about doing just one thing, which is why we’ll move onto to the next task, which refers back to quotation above about love. But the Monkey and I wanted to focus on meditation for a moment, because it is so essential to gain awareness before we can unlock the riches of this action, because without awareness we will be unable to even recognize our opportunity to love that moments of challenge are calling upon us to do.

A recurring theme in the lives of us dedicated to personal growth is that of the “call to action.” For those of us of on the path of growth, all situations and events are neither positive or negative. Instead, each event we encounter in our lives is a call to action, a summoning by the divine or the universe or the universal consciousness or fate (whatever verbiage suits your personal belief system) to raise our consciousness to the next level.

Viewed in this light, calamity and hardship are no longer treacherous, scary, or tedious encounters, but are instead divine opportunities for growth. But how do we know what the message is? How do we know how to react when we are challenged or triggered by a situation or an encounter with a stranger or a loved one? This is why going back to the message at the beginning of this post is so powerful, that in order to divine the reasoning behind our challenges and find the strength and direction to respond, we must: “Do what love is asking of us in this moment.”

This is where we learn that life is not about vindication or being right or pointing out the faults of others. The essence of healthy living is to break down each moment and simply do what love is asking of us. Your spouse on your back about being late home from work? Love asking you to hear their concern, and possibly redefine your relationship to work. A stranger driving erratically? Love asking you to slow down, back away. A customer complaining or treating you with disrespect? Love asking you to bless them and find a new way to serve them. A loved one behaving in a way that seems devoid of love? An opportunity for you to find something new and different to love in them.

This exercise is by no means easy, but know this: those of us who are the most challenged by defensiveness are the most blessed with opportunities to grow and expand our love. In other words, those of us who face the challenges of defensiveness on a daily basis perhaps have the most to offer the world, so long as we dedicate our lives to simple principle of doing what love is asking of us in this moment.

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Photo by: Robert Owen-Wahl

A few months ago I was in a really good space with my job, my relationship, my finances, my family. Satisfied with the direction my life was heading, I took a look around at my life and my habits and decided to draw a connection between my daily habits and the results I was enjoying. This may sound elementary, but too often have I noticed that when things aren’t going too smoothly in my life, many times I don’t seem to be engaging in the same daily positive habits I was doing when things were going well. Now, I am not entirely certain about which comes first: the habits or the results, but I suspect the connection between our actions and the results we experience is something akin to the timeless question of the “chicken and the egg,” in which action and result fuel each other in an endless spinning escapade like the dragon Jormungandr chasing its tail around the entire earth.

That being said, I felt it important to codify and reflect upon some of the fundamental habits I have observed during times of good, as much as a guide for myself to remember and with which to re-orient my path, as it is an offering to my readers to assist them on their journey towards a more productive and fulfilling life.

Without further ado:

12 Steps to Everyday Happiness

1. Remember to Breathe Everyday. This can be in a focused setting accompanying meditation and/or prayer, or it can be simply be accomplished while driving the car, walking, or knocking out a routine task like washing the dishes. When we become aware of our breath do we suddenly realize how seldom we truly take in long, sustained, and full breaths. As our breath is the medium for the inflow and outflow of all life and spirit, it makes sense that the cornerstone of any positive action and results in our life experience begins and ends with breath. Even one focused and sustained breath brings enormous benefits, so it’s not like we have to have some quiet meditation space and 30 minutes of private time to accomplish this absolutely essential function of life.

2. Connect to Silence Everyday. When we become more aware of our present moment do we sometimes painfully realize how overstimulated we are especially within the context of sound. Next time you’re watching TV, take note of how much louder the commercials are than the show you are viewing. During your morning commute, make a mental note of how loud the radio is and observe the caucophony of extraneous noises that often accompany morning talk shows. Only in silence are we truly able to connect to all that we are within the context of our surroundings. Only in silence are we able to connect to literally the only thing in this existence that we can ever have or be a part of: the present moment. External silence also reveals the maelstrom of internal sounds within our Monkey Minds, that we often go on completely unaware of, thinking that it is “us” that is doing the thinking and decision making, when in reality it’s the external/internal persona we call the ego that is running endless commentary within our brains. Only when we silence the Monkey, can we live a better life. Begin with literally five seconds of absolute silence and observe the miracles unfold.

3. Move Your Body Everyday. While we are in truth spiritual beings housed in physical form, our bodies are an important connector to happiness and serenity. It is with our body that we are given the tools and the means by which to experience the material gifts this life experience has to offer. In addition, our bodies are the “Temple” and vehicle for our spirit and hence the physical expression of what is going on within. So it would make sense to keep this chariot in working order, so as to ensure that our spirit can do its work in the external world without impediment. One way to do this is through the simple act of movement. The word “emotion” contains the word “motion,” and hence the most surefire way to alter our mood is to simply move our body. The good news is that we don’t have to run a marathon to derive benefit. If all we’re able to do for the say is reach down and touch our toes, then we’ve fulfilled the day’s requirement for physical activity. The point is to simply begin somewhere. Fortunately the Universal Law of Momentum states that an object in motion tends to stay in motion. Move your body everyday and watch where it leads you.

4. Take Care of Your Temple Everyday. We talked about the body as the Temple of the Spirit in the previous step and moving our body certainly falls under the category of caring for our Temple. The other component of caring for our Temple involves self care and “body care.” This includes mundane things like keeping our hands and face clean, brushing and flossing our teeth, using oils to sooth our skin, and general hygiene. This also extends out to our other Temple, our home, and doing small things everyday to maintain our sacred space. Only have time to do one thing? Put into place the simple practice of making your bed everyday, and observe the feelings of serenity you experience to return home at the end of the day to tidy bedroom. Or how about making a commitment to put your dishes in the sink or dishwasher after every meal? What about choosing to line your shoes up neatly near the front door? The key to success here is to just begin with one simple thing that is not difficult and doesn’t take much time. You will be amazed how the habit expands with time.

5. Focus on Your Dreams Everyday. When I was in the military, I amazed how easy it was to lose your way while conducting land navigation. Armed with an azimuth and pace count, it was always striking to me how enough small obstacles over time could throw me off track. The only way to deal with this is constantly re-orient one’s self, using a map and visual cues derived from terrain analysis. Much is the same in life. We have a dream or a goal, but enough small (and large) obstacles throughout the course of daily life can completely throw us off track to the point in which we don’t even know what we’re striving for anymore. I find it such a useful tool to frequently ask myself what it truly is that I am seeking so I can ask the follow up question of whether or not my current actions and habits will deliver me to my goal. Case in point: about a year ago I received a promotion in my previous job, with a substantial jump in pay and responsibility. What came with that promotion was a pretty hectic travel cycle that would have prevented me from spending much quality time with my family or working on any of my personal goals like building this blog or the website I run with my wife, www.organicgreenmommy.com. I made the decision to turn down the offer and accept another position at a different company that required less travel but offered less of a guaranteed compensation package. Over the course of the year, from time to time My Monkey Mind has caused me to question that decision, especially when circumstances erode my confidence in my compensation or in the quality of my resume. This exercise of re-focusing on my dreams is so vital because when I do this, I realize that I in fact made the correct decision and wouldn’t be able to engage in any of my “outside pursuits” to the degree that I would like if I had the bigger job title and responsibilities. It was just my ego, my Monkey Mind, telling me that I might have made a mistake. If we are in touch with our dreams on a daily basis, then we are able to constantly re-focus our daily habits, consciously and subconsiously, in order to accomplish our goals.

6. Focus on the People You Love Everyday. While we may or may not have that “special someone” in our life, most of us can say that we have people, whether they’re family or friends, to whom we can attribute the emotion love. I am blessed to be married, be the father of a daughter, and to have two living parents, so I have many people that I love and from whom I experience love in return. Connecting to the people we love often provides meaning and context for our life experience. It also allows us to step outside of the prison of the Monkey Mind and engage ourselves in activities that are selfless or in the very least, less self-absorbed. For me, love of my family helps me to remember why I work sometimes long and hard hours to provide financial security, on occasion doing things that are on the surface unsavory. Love fuels service with joy. But let’s not forget the importance of connecting to that other person we love: ourselves. By connecting to ourselves and loving ourselves through the actions of Steps 1-5, we enliven our spirits and make ourselves more fit to serve the world and the people we love. We can’t love another without self-love, and being kind and gentle to ourselves is a fundamental way to express love for ourselves. From there, it can do nothing besides spring forth towards others.

7. Plan Your Day and Live Your Plan Everyday. There are a million ways to plan the hours of our day, but one thing’s for certain, without a plan we are heading no where. The important thing is that a plan doesn’t have to be complicated or map out every hour of the day. In fact, the more simple our plan is, especially in the early going, the more direct positive results we will experience. Broad brush strokes are fine and encouraged, like: today I will call these two people and make dinner for my spouse when I get home. Simple. Tenable. As we forward, we can add on, and codify methods for tracking and adhering to our plan.

8. Embrace Rest, Recovery, and Relaxation Everyday. We all know the benefits of a good night’s sleep but many of us can’t seem to get to bed on time or have to wake up at odd hours due to our obligations. Beyond actual sleeping, restful and relaxing activitiy is just as important and vastly less time is required. Despite modern inventions and conveniences, this society is more on the go than ever, and having PDA’s and iPhone within an arms reach at every moment of the day isn’t always beneficial. Relaxation may involve five minutes sitting in the car in silence before entering the home at the end of a long day. It might be the daily practice of engaging some kind of hobby or reading a book, even if it’s just a page or two. Proper relaxation invigorates us, so it is likely that watching TV won’t do the trick. A few minutes of being present and enjoying the view from your favorite easy chair, or a warm bath or shower, or a full shivanasana spread out on your living room floor will go a long way towards enriching your life and preparing you for the challenges ahead.

9. Seek Growth and Consciousness Everyday. This might be the formal practice of meditation, but it could also mean reserving a few moments to contemplate a “thought for the day,” read a personal development blog or book, or simply to be always vigilant for growth opportunities within the context of your daily interactions with friends, lovers, co-workers, and strangers. Know this: we are here to grow and are always growing, either in positive directions or negative directions. Chances are that difficult circumstances or obstacles are simply opportuntiies for growth masquerading as turmoil. Careful application of the previous 8 steps will make you more aware of these opportunities, allowing you to see beyond the beguiling illusion of our external world.

10. Create a Little Something Everyday. Some of us are overtly creative: aspiring artists, writers, and musicians, while the rest of us are reluctantly creative, dismissing the notion that we have the ability to create something of value and consequence in the world. The key here is that we are all creative, whether we use that aspect of ourselves or not, and in fact it is the creative force that is inherent within our human DNA. Look around at the external world and you will see that 100% of it was created by somebody or something. Creation is as natural as breathing, yet we stifle creative force as often as we stifle our yearning to simply breathe. Through creation can we express our very existence and relevance within the external and internal worlds. Large or small, creation is the expression of humanness in its raw or most elegant form and it is our duty to ourselves and the nature of our being to constantly seek to express creative energy. For some of us, this expression will be easier than it is for others. Call yourself a writer? Write something everyday. A musician or singer? Play or sing at least once a day. If you don’t know what you “are,” you can begin by writing one paragraph per morning, as writing is the cornerstone of nearly all creation. The act of writing will lead you to what your creative expression will be. The important thing is to do it regularly and it just makes is more simple to do it everyday. And remember, writing an email to customer doesn’t count, unless the content of that message is the expression of a creative idea as opposed to simply a means of communicating a message. While creation is communication, not all communication is creation. Creation expresses feelings and creation inspires further creation. It’s that simple.

11. Listen to Music Everyday. Little else inspires creation and love like music. Sadly many of us abandon the joys of music as we grow older, and instead listen to talk radio or books on tape in our cars, or gab endlessly on the phone. Hearing music and exploring new music is a pathway to memory, to the present moment, and to creation. Personally I like to listen to many different kinds of music, depending upon my current mood or desired mood. This was a lot easier when I installed a Sirius Satellite Radio in my car, as I now never have to worry about losing reception on my favorite stations or being bombarded by radio advertising in between overplayed hits.

12. Do All of this With Joy and Gratitude Everyday. The key to happiness is appreciating the present because that’s all we have. Focusing on what we don’t want scares or distracts us, only calls up more of the same. The surest way to achieve sustained happiness is through the path of gratitude. Only by appreciating our gifts are we able to bestow gifts upon others and the world. Even the most desitute of us has at least one thing to be grateful for, and it might just be the simple ability to comprehend that idea, although we might fail at putting it into practice. An attitude of gratitude springs forth riches too numerous or magnificent to put into words.

Breathe, Connect to Silence, Move, Take Care of Yourself & Your Home, Dream, Love, Plan, Rest, Grow, Create, and do these things with song, joy, and gratitude; the many miracles of life will unfold for you and it can all be yours today.

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Photo by: Nauris Paulins

It is ironic to the Monkey and me that Thanksgiving, which in theory is one of the most important and powerful holidays of the year, and Black Friday, which is the purest expression of frantic consumerism in America, are juxtaposed so closely next to one other on our calendars. It is actually almost unbelievable that this country, so often criticized for our lack of culture, militarism, and disproportionate focus on consumerism, recognizes the simple act of “thanksgiving” as grounds for a Federal Holiday that is virtually universally observed, for the most part without rampant commericialism, except for references to the Shopapalooza which traditionally occurs the following day and of course to the granddaddy of all of the over-commercialized holidays, Christmas, which we need an entire month for which to prepare ourselves.

So before we head off to take part in the lavish sales events offered by American retailers and otherwise lose ourselves in the sea of consumerism made even more conflicting due to the economic turmoil this nation currently faces, we would be wise to reflect in a heart-centered manner on the lessons of this day and seek to draw the message of Thanksgiving into our consciousness so as to live in the this manner all the days of our lives.

And why is this? Why is giving thanks so important? Why is gratitude perhaps the most essential quality of and precursor to happiness and fulfillment in this existence? Understanding and then practicing the fundamentals of the Law of Attraction and the Law of Identical Harvest hold the keys to answering these questions and providing a framework for a happy and abundant physical life.

What is the Law of Identical Harvest?

This concept is especially pertinent to Thanksgiving Day, as Thanksgiving in the United States and Canada are traditionally harvest celebrations, a day or a time that for the last 400-500 years was set aside to give thanks for the abundance of the harvest and all of the life-giving gifts that a healthy harvest would provide. The Law of Identical Harvest has its origins in the Christian Bible, but its lessons can be applied to the lives of anyone, regardless of religious affiliation of spiritual belief. In fact, its powers are constantly in full force, regardless of whether we believe in the law itself. Ironically, even the act of the not believing in the law is in essence the practicing of the law, as the law simply states: “our reaping will be as our sowing.” So if we don’t believe in the power of this law to bring riches, fulfillment, consciousness, and goodness into this physical existence, then we will get exactly that. And while in this case we may be disappointed with the results of the Law, we shouldn’t be surprised as it delivered exactly according to and proportionate of our belief of the law itself.

Assuming we wish to believe in the power of the law, let’s look a little closer at what it says so we can better understand it and apply its power in our daily lives. The law states: “our reaping will be as our sowing.” In other words, it is the reaping, the gathering of the harvest that is the initiator of the cycle of creation, contrary to traditional or logical thought that would state the converse of the law: “you reap what you sow.” While this converse model of the law is oddly enough not incorrect, neither expression of the two sides of the law adequately surmises the power of the law without first understanding why the word, “identical” is used in association with this law.

In essence, these concepts of reaping and sowing are in fact identical, and therein lies the power of the law. We’ve all heard that like attracts like. The term identical tells us that reaping and sowing are in actuality the same action. Clearly the two acts most often occur at separate points in time and we usually think of the sowing occurring first, and only after we sow seeds may we reap a harvest. But in order to move beyond mediocrity and into a position of power over our lives and our lot in life must we realize that it is entirely possible and in essence necessary for the reaping of the harvest to occur before the sowing, and it is in fact the positive energy that we create around the anticipation and expectation of the harvest, fueled by profound gratitude, that creates the harvest itself.

And gratitude is the glue that binds together these two sides of the same coin. By giving thanks for the harvest before it actually occurs we create space in our minds for the possibility of the harvest to come into being. Gratitude creates feeling. Feeling is an expression of energy. Energy is the singular creative force in the Universe. By being the fountainhead of our desired feelings we are aligning ourselves with creative energy, which is always in motion, always at work, aligning with our thoughts.

Think this doesn’t apply to you? That some people have certain luck while others are dealt a shoddy hand? Look around at your life. Everything you currently have today is a physical manifestation of some previous thought. Your entire life is a result of thoughts.

Perhaps it is overwhelming to think of the entirety of our existence, so to better observe the law in action, look instead to physical objects in your immediate foreground. How about the computer on which you are currently reading this article. What thought prompted you to acquire this computer? Did you tell yourself, “time to buy a computer,” and then later gathered the funds to make the purchase? Or did you tell yourself, “I sure need a computer,” and then somehow receive the computer as a gift? Or did you wish for a computer, but soon find yourself in a situation in which you had obtained access to someone else’s computer? Or did you tell yourself you’d like to go online and then simply transport yourself to a public library where you went online for free? However you obtained access to the computer you’re currently working on is not important. The how is not important. The how is never important, and quite frankly none of your business. The business of the how is the exclusive business of the Universe, God, the Creator, energy, whatever you wish to call this persistently creative force. All that is important to you directly is the what: the desire to be online, which fueled the energy to call the universe to action to manifest some form of computer into your physical space.

Thus, what the Law of Identical Harvest means to us is that there is an identical relationship between the internal world and the external world. Our physical reality is simply a mirror of our thought system. So as we think, we experience, in identical fashion. Understanding this law allows us to utitilize the law to serve our interests, make real our dreams, and expand our consciousness. All we need to do to change our life is “simply” change our manner of thinking.

Gratitude and the Law of Attraction

By now many of us are familiar with the Law of Attraction, made popular by the film, The Secret. While the Law of Indentical Harvest can perhaps be considered the “operating law” within the realm of consciousness, an expression of the ever-creating machinery of Universal Consciousness, the Law of Attraction provides us with the means to intercede in the creative cycle and manifest things and experiences that we desire. Put much more eloquently by U.S. Andersen:

…the Law of Attraction is the law of choosing thoughts. Whatever we choose to think we will think; and whatever we think becomes real in our lives. Choose to think only that which you really desire; refuse to entertain thoughts of what you fear; and you will find you are unerringly guided to your goals by a power greater than you are.

That’s great, the Monkey says, but what role does gratitude play in all of this? Gratitude might be thought of as a “cheat-code” for speeding the process of altering our thoughts. We could simply choose to focus only on things we want, but we may become sidetracked and dismayed by the concept of time, which creates the illusion that results are not delivered immediately, or instead be delluded by persistent and ingrained negative thought cycles that simply cannot be overcome (or more accurately avoided) by mere willpower alone. So we may use gratitude as a helping mechanism for turning our thoughts towards the objects of our desires, which of course will always result in the physical manifestation of those thoughts. When we practice gratitude, not only for things we currently possess or experience, which by law will exclusively result in more of the same, but also for things we don’t currently possess or experience in the physical world, we create emotions, which cause action to occur.

The word “emotion” comes from the Latin “emovere,” which means to stir. In essence, emotions stir the boiling creative pot of the universe, causing things to come into being. When we attach emotion to the objects of our desire, we kick the universe into overdrive to deliver those objects from the mental plane of consciousness into the physical plane of consciousness. By accepting and then thanking the universal creative force for the things we wish to have or wish to occur we send a message that those things already exist, which in turn literally calls those things into being, as the universe, according to the preceding Law of Identical Harvest, always casts a reflection between the world of thought and the world of form.

Thus today, on this only day our culture officially sets aside expressly for the purpose of practicing gratitude, may we focus our energy on giving thanks for all that we have, all that we are, all that we wish to be, and all that we wish to occur. Armed with this creative power may we extend gratitude to all of the days that we walk on this Earth, and practice Thanksgiving each and every day.

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Four years ago, on Election Night, I was in a hotel in Columbus, Ohio amid a throng of celebrating Republicans. As I had to keep a professional veneer up through the filming of my documentary, I wouldn’t shed actual tears until the next day, driving to the airport with my wife, listening to Kerry’s concession speech on the car radio, holding hands somberly.

We were disgusted and afraid. Disgusted with the outcome and afraid of what more calamities another four years of hard right-wing rule would bring to this nation. From a political perspective, the four years intervening the elections was a nearly endless span of time, finally culiminating last night in a flourish and celebration I have not seen before in my entire lifetime.

Four years passed and again, on Election Night, I was holding back tears. This time my tears were of joy and sadness. Joy that we as a nation could come this far. Not only that in just four years the people decided to elect a man that will hopefully reverse the negativity, incompetence, and harm that this corrupt and criminal adminstration has wrought upon its citizens and the world, but also that we have come this far, since the dawn of this nation, born intertwined to the horrible scourge of slavery and the hatred that this most vile of institutions has caused, to finally elect a black man, a truly African-American man, to the highest office in the land. Now is the time for African American men and African men all over the world to look at themselves and realize that all is possible: healing, success, and prosperity. And to the people on the planet who viewed America with suspicion, resentment, or hostility, know this: ours is nation of new beginnings, of hope, of possibility, of consciousness.

The sadness I felt in my tears were feelings of regret that so many who worked so hard never had the opportunity to witness what I witnessed in their lifetimes, particularly Obama’s mother and grandmother, but certainly including the millions who lived, suffered, and died under slavery, apartheid, and bigotry, who never saw a glimmer of hope for their calamity.

Candidate Obama was often criticized over the last two years for being more style than substance, for waging words instead of action, and for being underqualified and inexperienced. As a Literature and Philosophy major, I have always argued that words mean things. Words create worlds. In many ways, words are all we have when it comes to transferring enthusiasm, inspiring legions, and stimulating imagination. Without words, Lincoln wouldn’t be the Great Emancipator or Reagan the Great Communicator. Without words, King wouldn’t have been able to describe his dream. Without words, the Great Teachers like Jesus would have faded into the fabric of the past like “tears in rain,” forever unknown, forgotten, and meaningless in our current days.

Obama’s mastery of the language will inspire hope, move people, and create change through the promise of prosperity and greatness. He need only assemble a brilliant team of accomplished states-men and women, economists, and the most creative and industrious thinkers of our times. His words will provide the passion, his ideas the energy, his vision the goal. Words are everything.

Beyond the policies that Obama and his adminstration will put into place over the next four years, which we all hope will live up to the expectations and excitement generated by his historic campaign, what the election of Barack Hussein Obama tells us is that once and for all, truly anything is possible. Anything.

What his election tells us is that the mantra of hope, of positivity, of affirmation, of attraction, of inclusion, of union, of simply “yes,” is a mantra that we can we take to the bank, literally and figuratively, to heal ourselves, our pocketbooks, our relationships, and our world.

Yes, he will enact policies that will be progressive in nature, a return to the promises of Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Kennedy, but from an energetic perspective, his election is just as much an affirmation on a spiritual and personal level as it is a forum for a positive progressive political agenda.

That a man born to a Kenyan and a white woman, with Hussein as his middle name, who was virtually unknown outside of Illinois just four years ago, could not only pull himself up by his bootstraps, a result of sheer willpower, confidence, and positive thinking, in order to achieve an Ivy League education and begin a promising political career that should make any free-market conservative proud, but also ascend to the Presidency so quickly, instructs us that the only thing that should guide our individual actions on a daily basis are our dreams, aspirations, and hopes.

If Barack Obama could achieve what he did in just four years, what then is impossible? Can this economy turn around quicker than it crashed apart? Can the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan be ended with dignity, strategy, and poise? Can our healthcare system finally be reformed? I answer yes to all of this, guided by the example of President-Elect Obama.

But more important than political policies existing in the external world, are the promises of change on a more intimate level, in the internal world of each of us that his success no doubt portends. Can I heal my personal finances? Get that job I desire? Heal my relationships? Achieve lasting prosperity, health, consciousness, or whatever else I desire? Yes, yes, yes.

The lasting refrain from President-Elect Obama’s campaign is of course the slogan, “Yes We Can.” I can recall no other mere campaign slogan that is as applicable to any person’s personal life experience than this one. In the case of adversity, challenge, fear, obstacles, pain, hurt, and even death, we can persist, we can succeed, we can overcome.

Obama’s win is as much about us as it is about this country or him as a man or President. The lesson in his victory is that all things are possible, if only we apply unyielding confidence, affirmation, and positivity. There will be time to be disappointed later, so why project failure, loss, discomfort, or disease? If we expect the best, the best will certainly come, in time. And it is always darkest before the light of day. In this way, we had to experience the shame and horror of the Bush Presidency. We had to experience darkness so we could appreciate the light.

Thank you, Mr. Obama, for showing us the way towards creating a greater, more expansive life experience, if only we choose to accept it. All is available. All is flowing to us. All that is required is a resounding, “YES!”

Oh, and thank you, Pittsburgh Steelers.

Thought for the Day 11/5/08: You Are Who You Are Looking For

I, Lord, went wandering like a strayed sheep, seeking Thee with anxious reasoning without, whilst Thou was within me. I went round the streets and squares of the city seeking thee; and I found thee not, because in vain I sought without for him who was within myself.” – St. Augustine

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“Though the slogan on America’s silver coins says, “In God we trust,” we deny this as we set out to collect as many of these coins as we can.” — U.S. Andersen, “Three Magic Words,” page 181.

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Photo by: Revati Upadhya

Thought for the Day: 10/4/08:

“There are only two things you can do for yourself. One is conception and the other is conviction. All the work of creation rests with another than you. For no [one] is responsible for anything in this life except [their] thoughts and [their] beliefs.” – U.S. Anderson, “Three Magic Words,” page 49.

Yesterday, as I drove into Boston to once again put the laws of “Intentional Creation” into practice, this time to negotiate with a car dealer to be compensated for some damage to my car that was undetected until after I purchased it, I was overwhelmed with the realization that this latest challenge was nothing more than an opportunity to manifest even greater abundance for myself and my family.

Granted, thoughts were swirling around in my mind all week about what I would do if I weren’t successful in receiving compensation to cover $3000+ worth of damage that we discovered during a routine inspection, and my Monkey Mind also focused on points I would make within the negotiation itself: arguments I would raise, objections I would counter, instead of simply focusing solely on the desired result: a repaired car back in my hands. Then, in the final hours, I began to redirect my focus solely on what I wanted, constantly overcoming the Monkey Mind’s desire to focus on the difficulty, the problem itself, the enigma of the negotiation. In fact, the image that came to my mind was one of my shining, fixed car spinning in front of my eyes, like a glossy car commercial inside my mind.

Look for the Light In Others and Circumstances

During that beautiful ride into Boston, driving purposely through the crisp October air, a huge smile crept across my face. Not only was I going to be successful in manifesting my intention, but I was also going to have fun in the process. Right then and there I decided to shift my perception of the owner of the car dealership. Instead of assuming that he was a swindler, a typical “used car salesman” who sold me a lemon, I instead envisioned him as a successful, balanced entrepreneur, no different than myself, who was also in the midst of a problem (i.e. selling a valued customer a damaged product), and that he would do everything in his power to resolve this problem fairly. I made a choice to look only for the light in him, to approach the situation calmly, and to allow a space within our negotiation for the Universal Mind to be able to exist and provide the answers for our right-minded thinking.

Over the course of the week as I thought about this problem, I realized that too much of my thinking was oriented towards the problem itself as opposed to the solution. I thought of all the things I would say, the merits of my case, and what I would do if I didn’t get what I wanted. Looking back, I realize it is literally insane thinking within the context of any perceived problem to do anything else besides constantly focus on a positive result.

And why is this true? Well the answer is simple. We have a choice in every given moment of our day as to how we wish to perceive external stimuli. The choice is ours and ours alone. So why not assume the best? If we assume the worst and the worst manifests, our only reward will be to have been “right.” If we assume the best and the best happens, we will be rewarded with the desired outcome and the “benefit” of being “right.” But what if we assume the best and the worst happens? Or we assume the best an outcome we didn’t plan for occurs, or we assume the best and something somewhere between best and worst manifests?

Persistence Pays

This is such an important question because it brings about one of the most important concepts of prosperity consciousness and success, and that is the concept of persistence. The easiest way to truly understand persistence is to view it as simply a refusal to accept negative outcomes as final. In other words, when things appear to be negative, these occurences are merely reminders that more opportunities exist to once again realign ourselves with the Universal Mind. The old adage, “It ain’t over ’til it’s over,” simply means, it