The Art of Life

Ahhhh… So much goodness here.

First, some Walter Russell goodness from The Man Who Tapped the Secrets of the Universe (see Notes): “I believe that every man has consummate genius within him. Some appear to have it more than others only because they are aware of it more than others are, and the awareness or unawareness of it is what makes each one of them into masters or holds them down to mediocrity. I believe that mediocrity is self-inflicted and that genius is self-bestowed.”

Mediocrity is self-inflicted and genius is self-bestowed. That’s strong. :)

And on to the “acting as if” mojo. As I’ve mentioned before, I used to have an allergy to it but Wayne Dyer won me over in his great book Real Magic (see Notes). Imagine the greatest version of yourself—as a creator, husband/wife or boyfriend/girlfriend, parent, colleague, whatever.

How would that most enlightened version of yourself act on a day-to-day basis?

Sweet. ACT LIKE THAT NOW. :)

And when you’re ever wondering what the right thing to do would be, check in on your ideal self and ask him/her. Then act as if you were that version of yourself now!!

The image of the battle between dark and light (with light always winning) reminds me of this Vernon Howard mojo from The Power of Your Supermind (see Notes): “It is a mistake for anyone to think he has lived too long in his old, unsatisfactory ways to make the great change. If you switch on the light in a dark room, it makes no difference how long it was dark because the light will still shine. Be teachable. That is the whole secret.”

So, here’s to facing our fears head on, flipping on the light switch and acting like the masters we are.

We must become the master of our own thinking.

How?

By turning our minds away from the negative stuff and toward the positive.

How?

By MAKING ourselves do it.

Moment by moment by moment we train our minds so we can realize freedom and joy.

P.S. Here’s how the Buddha puts it in The Dhammapada (see Notes): “As irrigators lead water where they want, as archers make their arrows straight, as carpenters carve wood, the wise shape their minds.”

Here’s to shaping our minds!!!

Ah, the importance of giving our best to every passing experience.

It’s at the heart of living with virtue and the ticket to joy and en*thusiasm.

Reminds me of Don Miguel Ruiz’s fourth agreement (see Notes on The Four Agreements). He tells us: “There is just one more agreement, but it’s the one that allows the other three to become deeply ingrained habits. The fourth agreement is about the action of the first three: Always do your best…

Under any circumstance, always do your best, no more and no less. But keep in mind that your best is never going to be the same from one moment to the next. Everything is alive and changing all the time, so your best will sometimes be high quality, and other times it will not be as good.”

The Buddha echoes this wisdom (see Notes on The Dhammapada) when he tells us: “If anything is worth doing, do it with all your heart.”

So does Seneca (see Notes on Letters from a Stoic) who tells us: “There is nothing the wise man does reluctantly.”

And, finally, I just love the way Walter Russel puts it in The Man Who Tapped the Secrets of the Universe (see Notes) where he tells us: “There should be no distasteful tasks in one’s life. If you just hate to do a thing, that hatred for it develops body-destructive toxins, and you become fatigued very soon. You must love anything you must do. Do it not only cheerfully, but also lovingly and the very best way you know how. That love of the work which you must do anyhow will vitalize your body and keep you from fatigue.”

How are YOU showing up?

Let’s turn it on and do our best.

And watch the joy follow! :)

How’s your Mind garden?

Have you planted the kind of seeds you want to see come to fruition?

Pay attention!

Reminds me of Pema Chödrön’s wisdom from The Places That Scare You (see Notes) where she tells us: “This is the path we take in cultivating joy: learning not to armor our basic goodness, learning to appreciate what we have. Most of the time we don’t do this. Rather than appreciate where we are, we continually struggle to nurture our dissatisfaction. It’s like trying to get flowers to grow by pouring cement on the garden.”

Let’s plant the good seeds and remember not to pour concrete over our gardens! :)

“Only a two inch stream of water can flow through a two inch pipe. A gallon measure will hold but four quarts.”

Love that image.

There is an ocean of possibility.

How much are you allowing to flow through you?

…

Our #1 job needs to be allowing more and more of Life to flow through us.

How?

Through our thoughts.

By honoring our blissiplines.

By showing up moment to moment with a commitment to live from our Highest Selves.

Mental hygiene.

I just love that idea.

How’s yours? :)

Reminds me of Tim Sanders and his commitment to being a healthy-thought nut. Here’s what he tells us in his great book, Today We Are Rich (see Notes): “You should be as careful about what you put into your mind as about what you put into your mouth. Your mind is a machine. When you ingest a piece of information, your mind goes to work, chewing on it, digesting it, and then converting it into a thought. When good stuff goes into your mind, good thoughts emerge. People who maintain purposeful mind diets of positive stimuli think healthy thoughts.”

He continues: “In my personal experience, positive thinking is the key to health. I believe my own health is shaped by my thoughts the way a sculpture is shaped by its creator. I am very careful about my mind diet and consider myself a healthy-thought nut.”

It’s time to turn our mental showers on and give ourself a nice, deep cleaning! :)

Sounds good to me!

And, reminds me of Will Bowen and his 21-day complaint-free challenge. (Check out the Notes on A Complaint Free World where Will challenges us to give up our complaining, criticism, and gossiping. Powerful stuff.)

Will tells us: “Less pain, better health, satisfying relationships, a better job, being more serene and joyous … sound good? It’s not only possible, it’s probable. Consciously striving to reformat your mental hard drive is not easy, but you can start now and in a short period of time—time that will pass anyway—you can have the life you’ve always dreamed of having.”

Marci Shimoff (see Notes on Happy for No Reason) tells us we need to “incline our mind to joy” and shares this classic story with us:

“One evening a Cherokee elder told his grandson about the battle that goes on inside of people. He said, ‘My son, the battle is between the two ‘wolves’ that live inside us all. One is Unhappiness. It is fear, worry, anger, jealousy, sorrow, self-pity, resentment, and inferiority. The other is Happiness. It is joy, love, hope, serenity, kindness, generosity, truth, and compassion.’

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, ‘Which wolf wins?’ The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.’”

Marci also tells us: “Have the intention to notice everything good that happens to you: any positive thought you have, anything you see, feel, taste, hear, or smell that brings you pleasure, a win you experience, a breakthrough in your understanding about something, an expression of your creativity—the list goes on and on. This intention activates the reticular activating system (RAS), a group of cells at the base of your brain stem responsible for sorting through the massive amounts of incoming information and bringing anything important to your attention. Have you ever bought a car and then suddenly started noticing the same make of car everywhere? It’s the RAS at work. Now you can use it to be happier. When you decide to look for the positive, your RAS makes sure that’s what you see.”

Here’s to seeing more of the good stuff today and rewiring our brains!!

Love that.

Reminds me of Russell Simmons and his wisdom from Do You! (see Notes) where he tells us: “Your purpose is to act on the resources God gives you. If God gives you a bucket of fish, you have to distribute those fish. If you don’t, they’re going to rot, attract a bunch of flies, and start stinking up your soul.”

In Spiritual Economics (see Notes), Eric Butterworth tells us: “The law is exact: If you give, really work in a giving consciousness, you must receive.”

While Deepak Chopra tells us this in The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success (see Notes): “Practicing the Law of Giving is actually very simple; if you want joy, give joy to others; if you want love, learn to give love; if you want attention and appreciation, learn to give attention and appreciation; if you want material affluence, help others to become materially affluent. In fact, the easiest way to get what you want is to help others get what they want.”

Here’s to sharing our good and embracing the law of giving!

Isn’t that fascinating that animals can pick up on our fear?

So can everyone. :)

It’s time to do some mental hygiene and wash off that scent of fear!

Let’s do it with a nice wisdom bath on the subject, shall we?

In The Science of Being Great (see Notes), Wallace D. Wattles tells us: “You can never become a great man or woman until you have overcome anxiety, worry, and fear. It is impossible for an anxious person, a worried one, or a fearful one to perceive truth; all things are distorted and thrown out of their proper relations by such mental states, and those who are in them cannot read the thoughts of God.”

His remedy? “Fix upon your ideal of what you wish to make yourself.”

In The Selected Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson (see Notes), Emerson tells us: “Fear is an instructor of great sagacity and the herald of revolutions. One thing he teaches, that there is rottenness where he appears.”

His remedy? “Always, always, always, always, always do what you are afraid to do.” Plus: “Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain.”

And, finally, in Creative Mind and Success (see Notes), Holmes tells us: “Fear brings failure; faith brings success. It’s just that simple.”

Well that sums it up.

Our job is simple.