“We want to remind you of the most important part of Deliberate Creation: Creating is not about making things happen through action. In fact, creating is not about making things happen at all. Creating is about allowing the thing that you desire to happen, and the allowing happens through Energy alignment,not through action.” – Abraham-Hicks

I don’t know where this came from – it says Author Unknown – but I love it:

The Difference

I got up early one morning
and rushed right into the day.
I had so much to accomplish
that I didn’t have time to pray,

Problems just tumbled about me
and heavier came each task
Why doesn’t God help me?
He answered, “You didn’t ask.”

I tried to come into God’s presence
I used all my keys at the lock
God gently and lovingly chided,
“My Child, you didn’t knock.”

I woke up early this morning
and paused before entering the day
I had so much to accomplish
That I had to take time to pray.

 This article was just sent to me:

http://www.newciv.org/nl/newslog.php/_v405/__show_article/_a000405-000018.htm

I thought you might enjoy it.

Great practical advice on getting out of the 3rd dimension and raising your vibration.

Emerson is the Master.

I’ve been reading his book of essays. My God! That mind! He’s brilliant.

Compensation is the original “The Secret.” The essay is about cause and effect. Seed and fruit. Crime and Punishment. Good deed and reward. About how every part is contained in the whole. About how the whole world is contained in a grain of corn. Emerson came long before Napoleon Hill. He came before Emmet Fox. He came before A Course in Miracles. He came before Einstein. My guess is that Einstein’s quote “God does not play dice” comes from Emerson’s quote “The dice of God are always loaded.”

Here are a few of my favorite passages/sentences from Compensation:

“Put God in your debt.”

“These appearances indicate the fact that the universe is represented in every one of its particles”

“The world looks like a multiplication table, or a mathematical equation, which turn it how you will, balances itself.”

“The death of a dear friend, wife, brother, lover, which seemed nothing but privation, somewhat later assumes the aspect of a guide or genius; for it commonly operates revolutions in our way of life, terminates an epoch of infancy of youth which was waiting to be closed, breaks up a wonted occupation, or a household, or a style of living, and allows the formation of new ones more friendly to the growth of character. it permits or constrains the formation of new acquaintances, and the reception of new influences that prove of the first importance to the next years, and the man or woman who would have remained a sunny garden flower, with no room for its roots and too much sunshine for its head, by the falling of the walls and the neglect of the gardener, is made the banyan of the forest, yielding shade and fruit to wide neighborhoods of men.

“There is a third silent party to all our bargains. The nature and soul of things takes on itself the guarantee of the fulfillment of every contract, so that honest service cannot come to loss. If you serve an ungrateful master, serve him the more. Put God into your debt. Every stroke shall be repaid. The longer the payment is withholden, the better for you; for compound interest on compound interest is the rate and usage of this exchequer.”

To read the full essay, click here:

http://www.emersoncentral.com/compensation.htm

I got a great comment today about my book:

wow there it is on page 36, Gorgeous for God… I am stunned, no one has ever said that to me: ” Where I finally found my freedom is in ….MY TOTAL ACCEPTANCE TO MAKE AS MANY MISTAKES AS POSSIBLE.”  I sat there reading the same paragraph over and over, I can not believe my ears.!!! Tears and I’d read it again, not ever had this occurred to me?? !!! Mistakes… make as many as possible, Oh my God that is Life-changing for me.. I can’t hardly breathe.  I keep reading it because it won’t stay in my mind. I can’t remember it but there it is… make mistakes. Someone has given my permission to make mistakes..no one ever did that for me before…I hid, I covered up, I became small, invisible under a mountain of fat, who do you want me to be today so I am safe? I hid behind all my labels..I don’t have to do that any  more.. OH God thankyou.. love Jayme

Thank you Jayme. This is a great reminder. I don’t try to be perfect. I am myself. I don’t monitor my behavior to what is my idea of “holy” or “perfection.” I allow myself to make mistakes because always the correction is right then, given immediately by the Holy Spirit.

The choice is to stay safe and comfortable (and not make any mistakes) 
OR
to start taking some risks, make mistakes, be willing to look like a fool … and have a new experience.

Wow. Tanja’s daily blog is so amazing. I read it every day. She posts in the afternoon. For those of you who are following along with the daily lessons of A Course in Miracles who want some more reminders, more reinforcements or additional simple practical advice, this is the place to go:

Tanja’s Blog – The Light Has Come

My friend Al over at View from a Mountaintop reminded me of a great thing I had forgotten:

Don Juan had another one that has stuck with me over the years. “Controlled Folly.” “Do what you do impeccably, as if it really means something, even though you know it means absolutely nothing.”

Oh my God. I love that.

Exactly. The other day I wrote that I go through waves and it’s the truth. I find myself often stuck between “going for something entirely (a worldly goal)” and “doing nothing, remembering the truth, knowing that my goal is God and it’s accomplished.”

When given the choice between money and going home, I choose going home.

I choose God.

And that’s probably the reason I never have any money.

A Course in Miracles says this path is not hard but it is different.

BOY IS THAT THE TRUTH.

My life, and the way I live it, is the OPPOSITE of everything I ever imagined for myself. It’s not difficult, but it is different.

I have no money but I am happy, healthy, at peace, joyful, creative, full of love, and a constant source of light. I laugh all day long. Nothing bothers me. Everything makes me happy.

Maybe this is how it’s supposed to work? I’m leaving the world behind and taking my rightful place in Heaven.

I only want to do the work that God has sent me here to do and then leave. Being in a body is not comfortable for me. I’m grateful to serve but I’m an alien here. I’m One with the universe – Mind, Spirit – One with all things and yet I find myself in a condition of separation. It’s beyond bizarre.

Does anyone else realize this world is not where you belong?

Does anyone else feel uncomfortable here?

Human beings are creatures of ADAPTATION.

We learn to adapt here. To get along in separation. To live in a body. To live with loneliness, boredom, sadness, sickness and depression.

What a place to be.

I dedicate my mind to truth because I want to go home. I want to end this dream of separation for everyone. I don’t want to delay and linger in time, procrastinating in illusions, when “every 5 minutes spent remembering the truth saves 1000 years, and 1000 minds awaken.”

This is the work I do, and unfortunately, it doesn’t pay money in dollars.

So when Al wrote that to me about “controlled folly”, it’s like a lightbulb when off in my head:

“Do what you do impeccably, as if it really means something, even though you know it means absolutely nothing.”

What do I love to do? I love to write and inspire people. I love to make people happy. I love to cook for friends and family.

What do I really want? I want to be active. I want to have money to pay my bills and do cool things. I want to travel. I want to inspire people to be their true self and get over their addictions. I want to be out in the world, a visible force, giving light to everything I see.

I watched Oprah’s show on Friday about Oprah’s Big Give and I was completely inspired and amazed by the contestants. I want to do what they do: to be out among people, giving of myself.

I want to be truly helpful.

I WANT TO DO IT IMPECCABLY, AS IF IT MEANS SOMETHING, EVEN THOUGH I KNOW IT MEANS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Lord, hear my prayer.

This world is so distracting.

Do you remember what it was like back in 1899?

Think about it.

No telephones, no tv, no music except when you went to the opera house or went out into the streets, and no internet.

You’d sit in the parlor or out in the grass with a book or with other people.

When in your day is there just QUIET? Undisturbed uninterrupted quiet?

You need to create this quiet. There is no other way. You have to make a decision to turn down the volume in your life, and to be “still an instant and go home.”

I’m wondering about the DISTRACTION LEVEL in your life.

Do you ever just sit on the couch reading A Course in Miracles?

For an hour?

Or two hours?

Do you ever just do nothing?

No goals, no plans … just pure being in the moment.

Do you sit down for dinner with people you love? At a table, with no distractions. No sitting there text-messaging or checking voicemail messages. No rushing off in the middle of a meal because your favorite tv show starts in 5 minutes.

Last summer I worked in a resort with 20-year olds and there would be a group of us standing around – like 10 people – waiting for the event to begin, and rather than talking to each other, everyone was in their own little bubble text-messaging other people. It was the most bizarre thing I’d ever seen.

No communication. Constant preoccupation with external things.

So, take yourself back in time. Better yet, take yourself OUT OF TIME. Make a decision to live in a space where there are no distractions.

To be in a place where you realize you are what everything is, and to know that your mind is part of God’s. You are very holy.

In this place, you realize there is nowhere to go and nothing to do – all goals have been achieved – and you are home in Heaven

This website is a place for transformation. That includes physical transformation, and the falsity sometimes with spiritual journeys is that they give the impression that one day you will wake up and all your troubles and addictions will have miraculously disappeared.

But in my own experience, it’s not like that.

In my own experience, you have to CONSCIOUSLY DECIDE to stop your addictions, and let your problems go.

You have to say, “Okay, that’s enough of that. Time to put my toys away”

So let’s turn up the heat in here:

Starting on Monday, I want you to let an addiction go. It can be anything. This gives you the weekend to prepare yourself.

You already know what it is.

For me, years ago, I wanted to give up drinking and cigarettes. I tried everything. I prayed about it every day. I couldn’t do it. I was powerless. I tried to find causes for the reasons I drank and smoke. I tried to quit, only to start again several days later. And then one day, a miracle occurred: someone told me to STOP IT and said that I COULDN’T DRINK OR SMOKE and that was 7 years ago.

Somehow, having someone other than myself telling me to STOP IT did the trick for me.

It’s a miracle. The desire to drink and smoke was lifted from me forever.

So here I am, offering you a miracle now.

STOP ABUSING YOURSELF.

I want you stop it.

Whatever it is you’re doing that is harming you, I want you to stop it.

I mean it. I’m not kidding. This is not a game. I want you to put your toys away and grow up.

You’re playing in the big leagues now.

It can be drinking, cigarettes, gossiping, overspending, overeating, sugar, soda, tv, cheating, lying, laziness, bitchiness. Whatever. You know what your stumbling block is … and I want you to let it go.

I’m not preaching on high over here because I have a huge huge huge addiction, and I’m about to give it up: SUGAR.

So, I’ll be right here with you.

You don’t need the thing that is holding you back. You don’t need years in therapy talking about it. You don’t need to look at childhood causes of WHY you overeat, drink, smoke, whatever.

You already know what your particular problem or addiction is, you’ve tried giving it up in the past, you’ve failed, and now is the new beginning.

Forget about your past failures. Ignore your fear. Step right into a new space.

Let go. Let God.

We’re taking this journey, together.

If you are doing the workbook lessons with me, it’s means that you want to be brand new. You want something to change in your life. You’d like to be different.

And now is the time.

We’re moving into new territory. We’re together. We’ll help each other.

You can write me anytime:

lisanatoli2@gmail.com

And for more simple (hilarious) advice:

Really funny Bob Newhart skit on Youtube, click to watch.

I love you.

These early lessons are a doozy.

First and foremost, A Course in Miracle is about responsibility. Total absolute responsibility that I am the cause of everything. In this sense, I become totally aware. I don’t ignore anything. I am responsible for what I see. So if a diaper needs changing, I change it. Happily. A Course in Miracles is about a change of mind. About learning to see everything differently. Before awakening, chop wood, carry water. After awakening, chop wood, carry water.

But in God’s grace, you will feel joyful, happy and at peace. Nothing will disturb you. Your husband could say anything, and you would be entirely unaffected. Your daughter will be kicking you and instead you will see it as love and start to play with her. You will respond differently, with love in your heart. This doesn’t mean you become super sweet, turning into nice nice, dancing around the good ship Lollipop.

Nice is an illusion, just as much as evil is. Nice is a false emotion. It is controlling, a way to get your needs taken care of.

I speak from deep deep experience on this one. I always thought being on God’s path was about being sweet and nice. Now I know that being AWAKE means being myself: my passionate joyful (and sometimes explosive!) self. I am perfect as God created me.

Sometimes I scream. Sometimes I walk out of a situation, and slam the door behind me (not so often anymore, but I think it looks great with high heels and a cute bag, the whole brunette bombshell thing, like i should win an Academy award for my performance .. haha)

life has become a fun game I play. I get to be myself.

So, really, you get to choose who you want to be, and what you want to be like. Obviously, you have in you a memory of a perfect idea of who you are at your best. This is God’s Will for you.

Did you buy my book? Gorgeous for God. I think it would be really fun for you, and give you some great ideas and reminders when you get stuck.

Just be gentle with yourself. A Course in Miracles can be completely disruptive in the beginning. It’s dismantles the current thought system, which is why it’s great to do this together.

I hope this helps.

Love, lisa

Resolution Revolution: A Better Way to Start Your Year

December 28th, 2007 by Christine Kane

The regulars at the gym are already joking about it.

“Have a good workout now,” they say. “Cuz next week, it’ll suck in here.”

That’s because all the folks who have – yet again – made their New Year’s Resolutions will show up. They’ll stick around for a while. Then, around St. Patrick’s Day, the regulars get to have their old gym back.

Last week, I overheard a radio talk show. The hosts were discussing the most common New Year’s Resolutions and the average success rate. Among the most common were Get Organized, Be More Spiritual, Lose Weight, Quit Smoking, and Spend More time with the Family.

I don’t know about you, but this kind of To-Do List approach to life transformation does little to inspire me. And it doesn’t surprise me at all that the success rates were pretty depressing.

Why Resolutions Don’t Work

The reason most resolutions don’t work is that they address only one level of your life. The DO level. It’s the DO-HAVE-BE model. “I will DO this thing.” (i.e., Lose weight) “So I can HAVE this other thing” (Self-Esteem) and I can BE this thing. (Confident.)

The average New Year’s Resolution doesn’t address the core of the issue – the “BE” level.

The best order for creating positive changes in your life is the BE-DO-HAVE model. This means you start from the BE level. When you begin changing on the BE level of your life, then the DO level and the HAVE level follow more easily.

When you start only on the DO level, then all the blocks on the BE level will often become the obstacles you can’t overcome.

A Better New Year’s Ritual

Several years ago, my friend Kathy and I decided that, instead of making resolutions, we would pick a word that would guide us throughout the year. It would be our touchstone. It would remind us of living our lives at the BE level.

This didn’t mean that we didn’t take action. It meant that our actions were inspired from the BE level. In fact, I took more action than ever with this new approach!

Since then, I’ve included this idea in my newsletter at the start of each New Year – and the response is always huge. Last year, I blogged about it. Now, I regularly hear from people who have created big changes in their lives because they focused on one word.

How to Choose Your Word for 2008

Look through the list below if you need some guidance. Get quiet over the next few days. And pick a word for the year.

Just one word. That’s all.

Then, hold that word in your mind throughout the year, and let your word guide you to take action.

For instance, let’s take one of the examples above. Let’s say you are one of the many people who would normally choose “Get Organized.” You look around to see clutter and crap all over your life. You’re tired of the chaos. So, you think, “I need to get organized. That should be my Resolution this year.”

But then you read this blog. You decide to try it.

You sit with your clutter. You spend a few days pondering words that will inspire you. You realize in an “Ah-Ha!” moment that you tend to cling to lots of things. You’re scared to let go. So you choose the word “Release” because it inspires you in a bigger way than “Get organized.”

So, every time you approach your clutter you remind yourself of that word. “Release,” you say softly. You start to let the clutter go. Eventually, you realize that you’re still holding on to lots more than just physical clutter. You realize that you hold onto resentment at old relationships. “Release,” you remind yourself. You realize that holding on is affecting your diet and health. “Release” applies to some of the extra weight you’ve gained as well. Throughout the year, you can see clearly how much you hold on. “Release” is your touchstone. It grows you throughout the year. It becomes your guiding force, not your harsh standard.

Your clutter became your teacher simply because you shifted your intent towards it. This wouldn’t have happened if you’d opted only to “Get Organized.”

What word to choose?

Many people know immediately which word resonates with them. For others, a little contemplation is required.

I’ve compiled a list of possible words below. As you read through them, see if one stands out for you. It’s tempting to choose four or five, believing that you can do it all! (Or that you’re too messed up to narrow your flaws down to one helpful word!) I recommend that if you can’t choose just one, narrow it down to no more than three.

One is ideal. It gives you focus. If you master that one word, you can choose another one in June.

Compassion
Delight
Generosity
Effortlessness
Wealth
Gratitude
Abundance
Creativity
Willingness
Change
Growth
Freedom
Mastery
Kindness
Health
Presence
Acceptance
Courage
Confidence
Self-Love
Action
Forgiveness
Forgive
Release
Trust
Knowing
Patience
Friendship
Fun
Grace
Laughter
Love
Expansion
Exploration
Adventure
Openness
Discipline
Awe
Awareness
Risk
Gentleness
Choice
Spirit
Prayerfulness
Power
Allow
Artfulness
Attention
Beauty
Joy
Focus
Ritual
Heal
Order
Clarity
Pioneer
Peace
Laziness
No
Yes
Deliberateness
Commitment
Savor
Integrity
Listen

written by Christine Kane

I’m reading Joan Crawford’s autobiography “My Way of Life” and it’s excellent. It was published in 1971 and I’m learning a lot.

Joan Crawford is someone who had a vision and went after it. She didn’t let anything slow her down, and she was always cheerful. She felt that if you are going to be in the world, you should always be at your best. You should always put on a smile. You should always be helpful. You should not gossip.

Here’s Joan:

“With a little organization a woman can excel as wife, homemaker, mother, career woman, and gracious hostess, be lovely to look at and to be with – and still have time left over to be a good friend to a lot of people. And a HAPPY friend. Of course, we all have our problems. But I don’t inflict mine on my friends. At least I try not to.

“How many people call you saying, “Oh, I woke up so tired this morning … I had such a terrible weekend … the day’s awful outside.” Being cheerful on the phone is part of giving. Sure we all have our problems, but why inflict them on our friends? I think I can count on the fingers of one hand the people who call up with a cheery, happy voice – and keep it that way.”

“People with problems seem to find the telephone irresistible. When they’re happy they just don’t think about sharing it with other people.”

Ha. Isn’t she incredible? I love it. How these books drop into my life is a complete mystery to me. It’s like God ships them in from Heaven specifically for me. I mean, what other explanation is possible that I’m reading a 1971 autobiography of Joan Crawford??

It looked interesting on the library shelf. It gave me a chuckle and thrill when I randomly opened a page … and that a good enough reason for me to read a book.

I like this part also:

“I do desperately regret not having had a formal education. I tried to make it at Stephens College in Missouri, but I was completely unprepared, and when midterms exams loomed up I ran away. I knew I wouldn’t be able to answer a single question. In the short time I was there, though, I made one of the dearest and most valuable friends I’ve ever had – the president of the college, Daddy Wood. He understood why I had to leave, but before I left he gave me 3 rules for living that may have helped me more than four years of classics would have done.
They’re very precious to me:

1. Never quit a job until you finish it.
2. The world isn’t interested in your problems. When your problems are the greatest, let your laughter be the merriest.
3. If you can find you can do a job, let it alone, because you’re bigger than the job already, and that means you will shrink down to its size. If the job is impossible, you may never get it accomplished, but you’ll grow in trying to accomplish it.

I love rule #3 the best. If you find you can do a job, let it alone. That’s so great. Go for the big problems that are impossible.

Good advice.

Stretch your mind a little.

“You don’t have to work at being in the high vibration that is natural to you, because it is natural to you. But you do have to stop holding the thoughts that cause you to lower your vibration. It’s a matter of no longer giving your attention to things that don’t allow your cork to float or don’t allow you to vibrate in harmony with who you really are.”
- Abraham-Hicks

I am totally in love with E.B. White. I’m reading “Elements of Style” by William Strunk and E.B. White. I’m also reading “On Writing Well” by William Zinsser. These were college books of mine, that I totally forgot about. They are classics, not only about writing … but life in general.

This is E.B. White.


William Zinsser is amazing.

He writes:

On Simplicity:

“Clutter is the disease of American writing. We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous thrills and meaningless jargon. The answer to clear writing is a clear head. The answer is to clear our heads of clutter. Clear thinking becomes clear writing: one can’t exist without the other. It is impossible for a muddy thinker to write good English.”

On Style:

“First, then, learn to hammer in the nails, and if what you build is sturdy and serviceable, take satisfaction in its plain strength.”

“But you will be impatient to find a “style” – to embellish the plain words so that readers will recognize you as someone special. You will reach for gaudy similes and tinseled adjectives, as if “style” were something you could buy at a style store and drape onto your words in bright decorator colors. Resist this shopping expedition: there is no style store.

“Style is organic to the person doing the writing, as much a part of him as his hair, or, if he is bald, his lack of it. Trying to add style is like adding a toupee. At first glance the formerly bald man looks young and even handsome. But at second glance – and with a toupee there is always a second glance – he doesn’t look quite right. The problem is not that he doesn’t look well groomed; he does, and we can only admire the wigmaker’s almost perfect skill. The point is that he doesn’t look like himself.

“This is the problem of the writer who sets out deliberately to garnish his prose. You lose whatever it is that makes you unique. The reader will usually notice if you are putting on airs. He wants the person who is talking to him to sound genuine. Therefore a fundamental rule is: be yourself.”

“No rule, however, is harder to follow. It requires the writer to do two things which by his metabolism are impossible. He must relax and he must have confidence.

“Telling a writer to relax is like telling a man to relax while being prodded for possible hernia, and, as for confidence, he is a bundle of anxieties.

“What can be done to put the writer out of these miseries? Unfortunately, no cure has yet been found. I can only offer the consoling thought that you are not alone. Some days will go better than others; some will go so badly that you will despair of ever writing again. We have all had many of these days and will have many more.”

Isn’t this great? I love this book. So simple: just be yourself.

There is another nice section in this book that says you actually need to HEAR the sentences, because they are not words on a page but sounds. You hear a sentence, and that’s how you write. I do this constantly. I hear myself talking to myself, and my fingers simply transcribe the conversation. It’s not channeling, but it’s me listening to myself talking to myself and writing down what’s being said.

On The Audience:

“Soon after you confront this matter of preserving your identity (in recognizing your style), another question will occur to you: “Who am I writing for?”

“It’s a fundamental question and it has a fundamental answer: you are writing for yourself. Don’t try to visualize the great mass audience. There is no such audience – every reader is a different person. Don’t try to guess what sort of things editors want to publish or what you think the country is in a mood to read. Editors and readers don’t know what they want to read until they read it. Besides, they’re always looking for something new.”

“Don’t worry about whether the reader will “get it” if you indulge a sudden impulse for humor or nonsense. If it amuses you in the act of writing, put it in. You are writing primarily to entertain yourself, and if you go about it with confidence you will also entertain the readers who are worth writing for.”

That’s William Zinsser. On Writing Well.

It’s exactly why I find this blog to be such a joy – i write to amuse myself.

It’s all for me.

I find that most people do not do well with “This is the first and last day” kind of teaching. It gives them the liberty to be careless. It makes them eat whatever they want, do whatever they want, say whatever they want … but without commitment or dedication. It doesn’t really give them time to think about what they really want.

It produces a kind of “fuck it” mentality.

The fact is TODAY IS ALL YOU HAVE.

The fact is THIS MOMENT IS ALL THERE IS.

But, no matter.

Let’s get practical and have some fun.

Let’s go deep into the core of your thought system.

What if you had six months to live?

Try to have fun with this exercise. Don’t think about lack of money or your job, and don’t make excuses like you’ve used up all your vacation time. Just go for it. Have fun.

If you had six months to live, what would you do?

Come back tomorrow and I’ll tell you what I’d do.

I like my horoscope today because it goes along with something I was saying yesterday:”Your thinking takes a philosophical turn today and you may decide that it’s time to re-evaluate your goals or ambitions for the next few years. It’s all positive, so face it with an open heart.”

I was teaching A Course in Miracles on Paltalk yesterday, and I asked everyone listening to go get a sheet of paper and a pen.

I asked them to date the sheet of paper – so if you are doing this now, go get a sheet of paper and date it November 12, 2007 – and I asked them to write down:

TODAY IS A NEW BEGINNING
SETTING THE GOAL

I asked everyone to take some time during the day to write down 5 things you wish for, desire, want to be. 5 Things you want to have, be or do.
You don’t want to get to the end of your life and find there are regrets. You want to become fully alive, and to GO FOR IT. Stop waiting for the time to be right, or for circumstances to improve, or to settle for what is thrown to you like scraps to a dog.

The point of this exercise is to move you into action, from being a spectator to being an active participant in your own transformation.

You need to know where you are going, in order to get there. You need a map. You need to set the goal. You need to know what direction you are heading, otherwise you will just float along aimlessly waiting for a “miracle” to happen to you. But what “miracle” could happen to you, if you don’t even know what you want????

WHAT DO YOU WANT?

Many people, once they find a spiritual path, get a little lazy in the concepts. They think they are “above” doing things now because they are “holy.” They spend their time meditating, or listening to other spiritual teachers, or teaching their spiritual ideas. Their whole life is suddenly about helping other people “wake up.”

I am laughing how everyone has a blog nowadays, and how everyone is a self-help teacher, and believe me … it does not escape my attention that I have written a book that falls into this category … along with a blog, a clip on youtube, and my own MySpace.

haha.

I cannot believe how many spiritual teachers are out there now, all with advice on how you can improve your life.

It is a little overwhelming to see the sheer number of bloggers. I think it’s also funny see how much time they spend on DESIGN and APPEARANCE, but there is NO real content. We used to make our bodies look good to make people like us – pretty packaging with nothing inside – and now we make our blogs look good to make people like us, but there is nothing inside. No real content.

Also annoying is the overload on links. In order to be a successful blog nowadays you need tons of links. You need tons of friends. You scratch their back and they will scratch yours. Blah. So I click on links on beautifully designed blogs, which lead me to other BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED blogs with tons of links, but again … with very little interesting content. So I click on the links on that blog … HOPING TO FIND SOMETHING WITH A LITTLE SUBSTANCE … and I could spend all day long clicking on links.

It’s gotten a little ridiculous.

I’ve realized the best place for real substance is in my own mind. If I want fresh content or to read something interesting, I realize I have to write it myself.
(or I e-mail my friend Evan, who is pure inspiration and his writing flies off the charts – 5 STARS – but he doesn’t have a blog, so I have to e-mail him direct to read his stuff).

I don’t care about how to make this a more succesful blog. When I see “delicious” or “digg-it” on a site, I know the site was thrown together to draw traffic, and not necessarily because there is a “GREAT NEED” to write.

I need to write.

If I wasn’t here on this blog on the computer, I’d be sitting over there on the couch with my pen and journal. I need to write, like an athlete needs to move his muscles. I really don’t care how many people show up here. I don’t want advertisers. I don’t want links I don’t care about.

I don’t care about being successful.

I simply want to be an inspiration – to myself and to you who is reading this.

In Field of Dreams, there is a great line “if you build it, they will come.”

It was a baseball field!!! not something fancy. Not something based on what was hip and cool. Not the latest fad. Not some big technological advanced spectacular thing that the world had never seen.

It was a baseball field out in the middle of nowhere.

And if you have seen the movie (you should!), you realize he built it thinking it was for other people to come, but in the end it was only for him.

He built a baseball field, because HE needed to build it, because the spirit was moving him to do it. He didn’t really have a choice in the matter.

He wasn’t thinking how to be successful. He was simply out there building a damn baseball field like Noah building an ark.

Do you see?

That’s the value of the sheet of paper and pen today. You stop being spiritual. You look squarely at what desires, wishes and needs you have in your own mind. Be honest. You can say “oh, I am above wanting things in the world” and “there is no world” … but I am finding there is a whole lot more energy in CREATION. Of actually allowing your mind to be totally present.

There is no energy in trying to be ethereal.

So, today is the new beginning. Draw yourself a map. Have fun with this list. It’s okay to write things like “I want the peace of God” and “I want to be happy” but also put some worldly things on that list too. Okay? Shoot for the stars. If you want to write a book, or travel to Europe, or live in a big house, or win an Academy Award … just put that down there, okay?

The other reason you need to re-evaluate your goals is because everything is changing all the time. The last time you wrote down a list of things you want … that was a totally different time. You have changed. Your priorities have changed. Most likely you have accomplished some of your prior goals.

So today, we are erasing all our old ideas. Coming squarely into the present moment. Forgetting all of our failures. Forgetting all of our mistakes, and we are letting ourselves SHOOT FOR THE STARS.

Have fun.

ps: my list is gooooooood. I put it off till last night, but it’s really good. It’s got me all excited and fired up.