TheLeaderInside.com

“You’ve got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
Don’t mess with Mister In-Between.

You’ve got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
Have faith or pandemonium
Liable to walk upon the scene”

~~~ Johnny Mercer / Harold Arlen

Do any of you remember that old song? It’s a great song. Bing Crosby made it famous. I’ve had that tune and those lyrics stuck in my head all morning. I don’t know where it came from — it certainly wasn’t on any radio around here. You can Google it to get the rest of those great lyrics.

I’ll keep the usual discussion of why I decide to write these articles to a minimum this week, although you’ll soon see that song buzzing into my brain had something to do with it. I’m also already a day late this week. There’s a great video I would love for all of you to see at the end of the post today. (Wait! Read the post first, okay? The video will mean more if you do.) So, in an effort to not take too much of your time, I’ll get on with talking about being positive.

What’s the secret recipe for happiness and contentment? Does anyone out there have one? If so, please pass it on. I’m asking that question because I so often see people who move through their life as happy as clams, yet their lives have not been blessed with all the things you’d think they’d need to be happy. Things like abundance, love, success, and prosperity. Even though they may not have all those blessings, they seem to have some wonderful ability to take whatever life has handed them and turn it all into something fantastic.

“If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear as it is – infinite”

~~~ William Blake

Isn’t the reason these folks can turn their misfortunes into something positive all about perception? Both delight and despair come from within us — not from something outside of ourselves. Our usual reaction to the events in our lives is that if we perceive them as being good, we’re happy, If we perceive them as being not so good, it makes us less than happy. Yet if we can look at all we have accomplished without dwelling on our perceived misfortune and make each new circumstance our own, the world as a whole becomes a brighter place. It’s just a shift in the way we perceive these things and altering our attitude toward them.

Let’s face it — the universe can be unpredictable and chaotic. And, for some reason that I can’t explain, we humans love to focus on the negative and put little of our energy into the positive. However, if you really put some thought into it you’ll see that life is no more and no less than what you make of it. If you really put some more thought into it, most of those “events” in our lives that we don’t care for, will have some positive aspects to them if only we would put our focus and energy into seeking them out.

“It is one of the commonest of mistakes to consider that the limit of our power of perception is also the limit of all there is to perceive.”

~~~ C. W. Leadbeater

Again, as we’ve talked about often in these articles, it’s all about choice. You and I make the decisions. If we choose to love life no matter what crosses our path, we can, through this perception we’ve chosen, create an atmosphere that is full of joy and that will be noticed and emulated by others. It’s just a change in perception — that’s all you need to do to change your world. It’s your choice. You need to choose to be optimistic and hopeful.

Imagine what it would be like to view life through the eyes of a child where everything is new and fresh? With this point of view you can make new decisions about what you perceive to be good or bad. You can get rid of all those old perceptions and start over. You can learn to be happy by accepting that you have all you need. Once you’ve managed this shift in perception you’ll be “spreading joy to the maximum and bringing gloom down to the minimum.”

“After sleeping through a hundred million centuries we have finally opened our eyes on a sumptuous planet, sparkling with color, bountiful with life. Within decades we must close our eyes again. Isn’t it a noble, an enlightened way of spending our brief time in the sun, to work at understanding the universe and how we have come to wake up in it? This is how I answer when I am asked—as I am surprisingly often—why I bother to get up in the mornings.”

~~~ Richard Dawkins

Namaste!

Here’s the video I mentioned … It’s called “Do You Realize?”

I know that it moved me and made me think about my perceptions about life. There’s one line in the song that says, ” … Do you realize that the sun doesn’t go down, that’s it’s just because of the world spinning round …”

And, as I always say in closing — remember these words …

You are the most precious gift you can give yourself. Every day look in the mirror and say, “I’m available to more good than I have experienced, realized or imagined ever before in my life!” Do this every day while you look into your own eyes.

You are special — and you are loved. You are the greatest gift you can be.

Shanti … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)

“If we have no peace,
it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”

~~~ Mother Theresa (1910-1997)

~~~ DBL-R

P.S. Remember, that if you have one of the “readers” — like My Yahoo, My MSN, or the Google Reader, or any of the others, you can get our blog sent to you automatically, whenever I post to it. Just click one of the buttons over on the left side to add it to your reader.
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As you know, I do practice sitting, silent meditation every day in my life. Recently, I did a podcast about this for another blog that I read. Take a moment and click this link to hear what meditation means to me and what it does for me.

My Meditation Podcast

In my meditation I use what I truly believe is the most powerful personal growth and mind development tool on earth. It’s the The Holosync Solution. I knew that meditation was a vital element to nurturing my soul — to opening myself to the universe — and this tool has allowed me to achieve and receive the benefits of deep, long-term meditation — and to achieve it much more quickly. If you’re having trouble “getting meditation to work for you” – then the The Holosync Solution is what you’re looking for.

Regular, daily meditation can give you …

(1) Increased intelligence and creativity.
(2) Lower stress levels — and with that — increased ability to handle whatever the world tosses your way.
(3) New levels of self-awareness and inner peace.
(4) The healing of emotional issues at the deepest levels —

— it’s definitely worth taking the time for this powerful practice every day.

With a One-Year 100% Iron-Clad Guarantee, you can now do so with no risk whatsoever — just click any of the links that say … The Holosync Solution

— The Holosync Solution

====================================================================

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[tags]peace, inner self, The Secret, Law of Attraction, dreams, spiritual energy, action, value, inner balance, enlightenment, destiny, manifestation, meditation, patience, gratitude, tolerance, acceptance, body balance, life cycle, beginnings, endings, positive thinking, ego, silence, consciousness, staying grounded, cycle of life[/tags]

“Making a wrong decision is understandable.
Refusing to search continually for learning is not.”

~~~ Philip Crosby

This is the day before the USA holiday of Thanksgiving, 2007. Sadly, I need to confess that this time of year is not ideal for me. This has been true for most of my life, but this year is even more-so. I see how we as a nation are so caught up in the commercialism of the holiday season, while at the same time, I also see more and more people having to foreclose on their homes and who are losing their jobs through layoffs. These foreclosures and these layoffs are the result of the greediness of our corporate leaders who will do anything for profits, even if it means hurting the people that got them where they are. Yet, there we are — spending our dollars for holiday gifts (often over and above our means) on products that are being produced in ways that put the workers in our country out of their jobs and out of their homes.

Please don’t get me wrong — I do wish all of my readers a safe and happy holiday season. I know that most of you are good, honest people who live their lives based on their beliefs. It just bothers me deeply to know that there will be so many of our neighbors and friends who will be facing tough times this holiday season because of how decisions are being made by others.

I don’t feel that there’s much doubt that most of us believe that those traits and characteristics that make us who we are are tightly connected with how we live our lives. When we think of who we are, we tend to define ourselves by the roles we play — by the actions we take — or don’t take — by our successes and by our failures.

Have you ever made a decision to do something and had it turn out to be a failure? Then, as time goes by, you’re faced with a similar circumstance where you’re being called upon to make a similar decision. Instead of accepting the challenge, you merely announce that you can’t do that — you’re not competent in that area. What’s happened here is that we’ve defined ourselves by our previous poor decision. That situation has caused us to define ourselves by our mistake.

“It’s not what’s happening to you now or what has happened in your past that determines who you become. Rather, it’s your decisions about what to focus on, what things mean to you, and what you’re going to do about them that will determine your ultimate destiny.”

~~~ Anthony Robbins

What I’m trying to say here is that your true identity cannot be defined by your choices. Your essence — what makes you a unique entity — exists independently of your decision-making process. Even though I may have made poor decisions in the past — for example — purchasing products that I knew were produced in such a way that my neighbors were put out of work or out of their homes — that decision doesn’t define who I am.

There are no true right or wrong decisions. Every decision you or I make is a part of our own development as individuals. Every decision is a part of us as we evolve, but they are still separate from our ever-changing self. Even though a bad decision is not indicative of our character, it can play havoc with our self-esteem. One way to avoid becoming our faulty decisions is to write them off as another learning experience and make a different decision the next time around. I know I will.

“All we see of someone at any moment is a snapshot of their life, they’re in riches or poverty, in joy or despair. Snapshots don’t show the million decisions that led to that moment.”

~~~ Richard Bach

Last week I wrote about not lingering in the past or fantasizing about the future. Instead, treat each moment as it enters your life with your intelligence, with your inner strength, and with your intuition. This will help you to make your decisions mindfully, using the knowledge you attained from your past decisions. When you face your life situations in this way you’ll be able to move forward, understanding that you are not your decisions — you are, instead, a valuable human being.

“It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.”"

~~~ Anonymous

Namaste!

And, as I always say in closing — remember these words …

You are the most precious gift you can give yourself. Every day look in the mirror and say, “I’m available to more good than I have experienced, realized or imagined ever before in my life!” Do this every day while you look into your own eyes.

You are special — and you are loved. You are the greatest gift you can be.

Shanti … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)

“If we have no peace,
it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”

~~~ Mother Theresa (1910-1997)

~~~ DBL-R

P.S. Remember, that if you have one of the “readers” — like My Yahoo, My MSN, or the Google Reader, or any of the others, you can get our blog sent to you automatically, whenever I post to it. Just click one of the buttons over on the left side to add it to your reader.
================================================================
As you know, I do practice sitting, silent meditation every day in my life. Recently, I did a podcast about this for another blog that I read. Take a moment and click this link to hear what meditation means to me and what it does for me.

My Meditation Podcast

In my meditation I use what I truly believe is the most powerful personal growth and mind development tool on earth. It’s the The Holosync Solution. I knew that meditation was a vital element to nurturing my soul — to opening myself to the universe — and this tool has allowed me to achieve and receive the benefits of deep, long-term meditation — and to achieve it much more quickly. If you’re having trouble “getting meditation to work for you” – then the The Holosync Solution is what you’re looking for.

Regular, daily meditation can give you …

(1) Increased intelligence and creativity.
(2) Lower stress levels — and with that — increased ability to handle whatever the world tosses your way.
(3) New levels of self-awareness and inner peace.
(4) The healing of emotional issues at the deepest levels —

— it’s definitely worth taking the time for this powerful practice every day.

With a One-Year 100% Iron-Clad Guarantee, you can now do so with no risk whatsoever — just click any of the links that say … The Holosync Solution

— The Holosync Solution

====================================================================

====================================================================
[tags]peace, inner self, The Secret, Law of Attraction, dreams, spiritual energy, action, value, inner balance, enlightenment, destiny, manifestation, meditation, patience, gratitude, tolerance, acceptance, body balance, life cycle, beginnings, endings, positive thinking, ego, silence, consciousness, staying grounded, cycle of life[/tags]

“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”

~~~ Buddha

As usual, it was certain thought processes during the week that prompted today’s article. There were several times this past week that I found myself dwelling on all those years that I was a smoker and realizing the immense harm that giving in to that addiction has caused. Along with those thoughts came the further thoughts of wondering what the future holds now that the results of all that abuse of my lungs is taking its toll.

I soon began to realize how all that dwelling in the past and worrying about the future was affecting me — it wasn’t a positive feeling at all. It was the complete opposite. I was forgetting that our minds can function much better when we remember that each moment of our lives is filled with richness and a kind of magic.

“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.”

~~~ Buddha

I was forgetting that the passage from one second to the next is a miracle in its own right and is worthy of being savored. I was doing what we all do — and that is to let our minds wander away from the present. It seems, for some reason, that we prefer the unchangeable nature of the past and/or the uncertain character of the future. (Go figure!)

Don’t misunderstand — I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with revisiting our personal histories — there are lessons to be learned by doing so. I also don’t believe there’s anything faulty about dreaming about what we hope will occur as time passes. In fact, (although there may be some who will disagree) I believe that to live a truly balanced life we must simultaneously embody a past, present, and future self.

It is only when our ability to exist purely in the moment is lost, and the joys immediately in front of us are overshadowed by the joys or woes of the past and future, that we must reestablish our connection to the present. Living in the moment empowers us to discover and appreciate what is beautiful about this unique moment in time.

“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.”

~~~ Henry David Thoreau

We all have so much going on in our lives. We live in a complex world. This often forces us to focus on the big picture, thereby causing us to miss those little details that make up that picture. Those precious individual moments get lost in all the clutter of the burdens, tasks, and responsibilities we face every day. The natural result of all that clutter is that we become frustrated. So what do we do? We tend to spend our time recalling the blissful times of our past — or we dream about the blessings we wish for the future.

Believe it or not — that’s your choice — but even though life can be tough at times, those individual moments that get by us unnoticed have the potential to delight us. When we can recognize our moments we’ll become more sensitive to them — we’ll learn to relish them and then, just as easily, we’ll let them go.

Grounding ourselves in the present is simply a matter of practice. The best advice I can give to learn to do this is to spend some time every day in meditation. It doesn’t have to be for long periods of time — just ten or fifteen minutes where you focus on your breath and let the thoughts that intrude slip through your mind like the clouds floating in the sky. As they pass by, bring your focus back to your breath. The Buddhists call this their practice. Meditation is an excellent way to practice living in the present moment.

Oprah Winfrey sums it up for us with this quote …

“Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.”

~~~ Oprah Winfrey

Namaste!

And, as I always say in closing — remember these words …

You are the most precious gift you can give yourself. Every day look in the mirror and say, “I’m available to more good than I have experienced, realized or imagined ever before in my life!” Do this every day while you look into your own eyes.

You are special — and you are loved. You are the greatest gift you can be.

Shanti … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)

“If we have no peace,
it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”

~~~ Mother Theresa (1910-1997)

~~~ DBL-R

P.S. Remember, that if you have one of the “readers” — like My Yahoo, My MSN, or the Google Reader, or any of the others, you can get our blog sent to you automatically, whenever I post to it. Just click one of the buttons over on the left side to add it to your reader.
================================================================
As you know, I do practice sitting, silent meditation every day in my life. Recently, I did a podcast about this for another blog that I read. Take a moment and click this link to hear what meditation means to me and what it does for me.

My Meditation Podcast

In my meditation I use what I truly believe is the most powerful personal growth and mind development tool on earth. It’s the The Holosync Solution. I knew that meditation was a vital element to nurturing my soul — to opening myself to the universe — and this tool has allowed me to achieve and receive the benefits of deep, long-term meditation — and to achieve it much more quickly. If you’re having trouble “getting meditation to work for you” – then the The Holosync Solution is what you’re looking for.

Regular, daily meditation can give you …

(1) Increased intelligence and creativity.
(2) Lower stress levels — and with that — increased ability to handle whatever the world tosses your way.
(3) New levels of self-awareness and inner peace.
(4) The healing of emotional issues at the deepest levels —

— it’s definitely worth taking the time for this powerful practice every day.

With a One-Year 100% Iron-Clad Guarantee, you can now do so with no risk whatsoever — just click any of the links that say … The Holosync Solution

— The Holosync Solution

====================================================================

====================================================================
[tags]peace, inner self, The Secret, Law of Attraction, dreams, spiritual energy, action, value, inner balance, enlightenment, destiny, manifestation, meditation, patience, gratitude, tolerance, acceptance, body balance, life cycle, beginnings, endings, positive thinking, ego, silence, consciousness, staying grounded, cycle of life[/tags]