3 Ways of creating......which one are you using?

The first way is by default. Sloppy thinking, reacting to your external experience or to beliefs that just are not true or do not serve you. We all do this to some degree everyday.

The second way is by deliberate thought. Knowing how powerful your thoughts are and being deliberate in your thinking........using your thoughts to stay in a good place and then allowing what is resonant with your good place to come into your experience. Not all people are deliberate in their thinking.

The last way is creating through the collective. Yep, just jump on the band wagon and get what you get.........kind of like the financial meltdown. We turn over our individual power to the consensus and roll the dice.........and we all do this to some degree as well.

Two weeks ago, someone made a formal complaint about me to our HR staff. A little background for those of you that have not worked with me. I love talking to people, my door is always open and I openly encourage anyone to come chat with me about anything. One of my standing intentions, is that beautiful, open people that are interested in a mutually benefiting interaction are attracted to me. Not only great friendships, but great lessons have been learned by this intention regularly manifesting both inside Discover Card and outside as well.

Okay, back to the complaint. The complaint was that I only talk to "young, skinny, cute girls" in my office. I had never really thought about it, but quite a few very attractive young women do approach me about coaching..........along with a few males. So the Employee Relations manager that the complaint was filed with is filling me in on the issue. She knows me very well and handled the conversation with the employee very well and actually pointed out that every employee has the same opportunity to talk to me............So why does she not approach me? because she is not resonant with my intention of a mutually benefiting interaction.

So at the end of the discussion, the HR manager said to me......."This doesn't even bother you does it, someone making a bogus claim". I just smiled and said "Are you kidding, apparently I get paid to have great conversations with Good looking women..........how good is that?"

Deliberate creating strikes again!!!! Ain't life grand!!!

How could this happen?....

I was talking with a few people the other day and the topic of the financial markets came up.  The question came up, "How in the world did it get to this point?", another question came up about "How could AIG, the worlds largest insurer get into so much trouble?"

Well, Its really pretty simple......and I say that at the risk of sounding a bit naive or simple, but hear me out.  Every action taken by the financial markets, be the mortgage industry, the investment firms, the insurance companies or the Fed itself.......every action was driven by one predominant concept.  Only One!!  The Illusion of Lack!!!  The illusion that there is not enough, which is driven by the illusion of Need.

This isn't some Pollyanna blah, blah that I'm professing.  It's fact, but you get to choose if you believe it.  What drove all the risking sub-prime mortgage derivatives that were offered by the mortgage industry?  The need to drive more volume of loans to people that couldn't qualify for traditional mortgages.....and investors flocked to scoop up these ridiculously risky instruments to cash in on.  The really disturbing thing is that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, both knew they were a house of cards and did nothing.........why?, because the powers to be were cashing in on the reckless thirst of investors that did not want to miss out on a new source of revenue.......because they were living in the illusion of Lack......and in a mentality of get it while you can.  AIG did the same thing, Insured and then sold the policies, then re-insured and were stuck holding a bunch of policies that had defaulted loans associated with them......They literally had to borrow $85 Billion on one day and pay the entire amount out on losses the very next day, then the following day, the Federal Government took them over to maintain the mere appearance of solvency.

So what is the answer?   Well in my mind, and while it will sound pollyanna, is to make decisions based upon peace.  When I put together this investment vehicle, does it bring me peace knowing it is based upon expansion.  I'm not talking about immediate funny money expansion, I'm talking about sustainable long term positive expansion.  Key word being sustainable!!  

The "collapse" of the financial markets was inevitable as a natural part of an expansive Universe based upon positive Energy, Love, Well Being, Divinity.  Greed and short sighted strategies for "me" getting my wealth while I can does not fit into the process of expansion driven by pure positive energy.   The approach the vast majority of investors and the financial industry took was steeped in resistance and contradiction........which brought more resistance and contradiction and fear and the pyramid crumbled.  The only way the stock market could fall as much as it did, was investors got scared and sold their investments even at a loss to prevent an even greater loss.........hmm, sounds like....like attracts like.

But the good news is this is the absolutely best opportunity for us as a collective to get a grip on how we operate....and yes it will be painful for many, but only if you are creating your experience in a very haphazardly way......so just don't do that.  Use every moment of every day to re-create the manner in which you interact with life in order to create the grandest version of yourself you have ever yet to think about.  Choose your thoughts very wisely and have them work for you not against you.......use Life for what it is......expansion.  And where does expansion come from.......pure positive thoughts and feelings, Love and Joy and a knowing that you create your every experience and you only have to choose what experience you want to have........your true self only desires Well being.  Know your true self......if you do not go within, you will go without...........Be Well, and Choose Well!!!

I hear you Matt, Thanks and much love to you....

My Nephew Matt, 22 years old passed away last Sunday.  My boys and I went out to San Jose for the burial and memorial service this past weekend, and it donned on me how much I have changed in the past several years....in a good way.  

Matt is a twin with his brother Daniel and I could never tell them apart.  They have an older brother Chet and you could not meet nicer young men, a true reflection on their Mother and Father, Lynn and Frank.  

During our stay in San Jose, I had some really great experiences that I just want to relate and you can take them as you will.  The first one was so clear in that I really do live what I preach within this Blog, at least to a small extent and it came from Matt.  I feel like I really connected with Matt the few days we were there and developed a way for me to stay connected to him whenever I choose, which will be often.  

The first came on Friday at the grave side service.  Matt is half Native American, and his uncle and some cousins sang the Coyote song which is a song of honor.  They sang the song with a drum.  And the emotions that flowed from everyone there I felt were very much elicited from the drum beat and song, but for me more the drum beat.  I work very hard at letting spirit flow through me and it was very prevalent then.  The message that I received, and not so much in words or thoughts, but knowing was that the perspective of being so much more than we are in this physical world is in fact the case.  My two boys stood in front of me and I had a sense of sharing with them as well as with everyone else there, knowing that for each of us it was different but at the same time the same.   The idea that we are in this world but not of it!!

The pastor presiding over the burial was one of Dan and Matt's football coaches from when they were younger and he was talking about conversations that he and Matt had.  He quoted a verse from the bible about when Jesus was asked who he was, and I knew exactly what he was going to say without even knowing the verse.  The answer that Jesus gave Thomas who had asked him was "I am the way, I am the light and no man shall pass through to the kingdom of heaven but through me".   I smiled when he read the passage and wondered if anyone else interpreted it the same way that I did......but heard the thought "it does not matter, it only matters what it means to you".....and then in succession the thoughts came "know thyself", "if you do not go within, you go without", and "nothing is more important than your well being".....nothing new to me in ways of thinking, but it was so clear that Matt was communicating to me that I was on track.  Palpable was the feeling of being connected with Spirit......In-spirit-ation, or inspiration!!

The next definite moment of connection came the next evening at my sisters house, and everyone was talking about the Memorial, and a slide show of pic's of Matt,  Chet said there were 309 of them.  One of Lynn's friends asked if they did that on purpose, choosing 309 because Matt and Dan were born on 3/9.  Everyone was so surprised, and Lynn commented "that is so wierd, we didn't count them we just kept picking pictures until we stopped".  I just smiled, knowing instantly it was Matt.  I remember thinking I couldn't wait to see the slide show, but as I was thinking this, Chet had pulled up a facebook page with pictures of Matt and asked if I wanted to look.......which of course I did.  I began looking at them, and almost everyone was with Matt and at least one very good looking girl having a great time partying......it only took a second for me to have the thought, Matt lived his life in "well being".  You could see it in his eyes and his smile.  

I tell people all the time, be selfish about your well being, there is nothing more important for you or those you interact with than your well being, that is where you are at your best and make the greatest impact on Life.  Looking at those pictures of Matthew was like, BAM!!!  there is nothing more important not just for you, but for everyone you interact with and then those they interact with and so on.......and Matt obviously made that kind of impact on the people he interacted with.  The comfort I felt looking at the pictures and having the thoughts flow is hard to describe.     

Next instance was at the Memorial which was held at Matt, Dan and Chet's high shcool gymnasium.  We got there about an hour early and I sat down with my Mom.  After talking and taking in the energy in the building for twenty or thirty minutes, I turned around to look for my oldest sister and there had to be 500 people that had come in unbeknownst to me.  I was blown away.  Both Dan and Chet, Matt's brothers spoke and each of them challenged everyone to live their lives in such a way that nothing is taken for granted.  They talked about keeping Matt close to their heart and living in a way that honored life.  It was very moving and a very proud moment for people.  As Dan was talking, the thought came into my mind so clear and prevalent that I knew it was Matt......and the thought was, at anytime that I want to pass judgement on anyone, be it someone that cuts me off in traffic or someone that is just annoying me or someone that is holding up a line in a store......to stop any ill feelings about them and send them Love instead.  And in doing so, not only does that enhance my well being, it enhances theirs and Matt is with me and them........everytime.  I knew it was Matt sending me the inspiration because I remember thinking it was funny that I would think about anyone cutting me off in traffic.....first because it rarely happens anymore and second because I think I am really good about catching myself and stopping any ill thoughts about them.........and the inspiration came that I can be better at it.......everyone can.  Another inspiration came through very clearly, that being "Teach through your actions".   It's easy to tell someone something, or repeat something you have read that is meaningful.......but to live it is something completely different, and at the risk of sounding trite, it hit me that I live what I profess.......but can always do better.

My belief is that we come into this physical life for a specific purpose and it manifests in different and strange ways many times in ways that are not realized by those around us.  And it's likely that its up for interpretation by each of us what other's purpose is.......my interpretation of Matt's purpose was the importance of our own Well Being, and Matt and his purpose are not gone, they will be with me way past my time in the physical experience known as ToeMaas.........because my well being, your well being and Matt's are only different in our interpretation......ultimately they are all the same as we are all the same........One!!!  God, Source, Life energy, whatever you represent ultimate reality to be.......we are it, ONE.......only perceived to be separate.

Be Well, Be Love........live with the illusion of being separate, not in it!!

Living Affirmatively...

I AM surrounded and I AM part of an infinite intelligence which reacts to my thoughts.

I realize that the creative power of this Divine intelligence is with me now and always, and know that I AM using this Power through my thoughts and words, and operating through It will cause It (ME) to bring into my experience the good which I desire.....

Believing in Divine guidance, I know that my mind is continuously impressed with images of right action.

I know that everything in my life is directed by the action of Truth and Love.

I AM led, guided and inspired by living Spirit, that which I AM.

I AM compelled to move in the right direction always to know what to do and how to do it.

I know that at my essence, I AM perfect in complete happiness and I experience an abundance of good.  Love, Joy, perfection and abundance are what I AM.

I am success in all endeavors.

If you can get behind even a portion of the affirmations, get yourself into the feeling of IT....and remember I AM are the two most powerful and creative words you can utter......do not take that for granted!!!!  We either embrace the infinite intelligence and creative power that we are or we deny ourselves of it, and we choose to embrace or deny every moment of every day.

CHOOSE WELL!!!

Habitual ways of Thinking.....

Physicist David Bohm used to say "Normally our thoughts have us rather than we having them".  How true is that?  Better yet, How scary is that?  

And why is our thinking habitual?  Well, two reasons, one is biological.....yep, biological!!!  your thoughts create the emotional state that is determined by the neuro-peptides that create the feelings you have.  And you are addicted to those states and most of the time, you are not even conscious of those thoughts......because they are having you rather than you having them.  The second reason is conditioning.  An analogy of what I mean is a meeting in a business environment, or even a social environment, but a meeting is better for the example.  Most meetings have an agenda which is efficient because it keeps the meeting on task and the participants focussed, or should I say "conditioned".  

Now most people tell me, "well yeah, we need to keep focus, otherwise nothing would ever get done!"  Okay, I'll entertain that......but what is lost?  Creativity?  Innovation? Self Awareness?  To a degree alot, and we are not even aware of it.  Here is one of my favorite stories, and a true one as well about self awareness and how far sideways we can get without even knowing it.

A Jamaican man named Fred that worked for the World Bank was diagnosed with a terminal disease.  He went through the typical stage of denial for several weeks, but gradually with the help of friends came to grips with the "idea" that he was going to only live for a few more months.  At that point, he decided to stop doing everything that was not essential, or that did not matter.  He started working on projects with kids which he had always wanted to do, he stopped arguing with his mother, and started spending more time with his family.  He didn't get upset with things like getting cut off in traffic, because he knew he did not have the time to waste being in those states that were not bringing him joy and meaning.  

As he did this, of course, those things that took him to states of being he did not want to waste time in, stopped coming into his experience, and he met a wonderful woman that a relationship just blossomed with.  She suggested that he get some other medical opinions about his disease and he came to the states and met with doctors who conducted a series of tests.  Several days went by when he received a call from one of the doctors who told him they had a different diagnosis.  The doctor told him that he had a rare but very curable disease.  When he heard this, Fred said he cried like a baby---because he was afraid his life would go back to the way it used to be.  Of course it did not, because he had changed, but it took the idea that he would live only a few months to decide to live the life he wanted to live.

So how Self Aware are you and are you living the life you want to.  Think about it!!!  and the next meeting you attend that has an agenda, just for grins, direct the discussion away from the agenda just to see what emerges.    

What is your potential?

When I ask that question, for the most part the response I get is "What I am capable of....or the performance level I am able to attain".  So, I then ask, "what it is it you are capable of?"......to which I get two responses, 1.  I'm not really sure.  and  2.  A very specific, defined outcome.

The second response is much better than the first with respect to actually achieving or creating something, but the interesting thing is that the defined specific outcome is generally woefully short of the person's true potential.  So, I usually ask the person, do you believe that you can be, do or have anything you want......and the vast majority answer with a yes.....and a BUT!!!  So in essence, they don't really believe that they can be, do or have anything........but why?

Because of a belief that we are separate individuals made of flesh and bone, an individual personality......oh and an ego!!!  This is who I am, because everything else is clearly different and separate from me.  And in my desire to be liked, loved and accepted, I adapt to the perceived expectations of who and what are in "my life"........and we use words like life as a noun, as a thing or place.....which creates a perspective of being separate.....ie; "My Life" and "Your Life".

What if you WERE Life?  You! Me, and everything else for that matter!!  We are not our bodies, or our personalities, or our EGO's, or our material accumulations.  We are Life force, Spirit, Source Energy manifested in the physical world of matter.  And where did matter come from?  From us, from our ultimate state of consciousness......actually words are not able to accurately describe our essence, but we know it.......you tap into it every time you listen to your intuition, or you are inspired from the heart.  And you move away from it every time you operate from the EGO and judge or fear something.

IT is how a mother can lift a two ton car to save her child.  IT, YOU is in this world, but not of it!!!  It's what Jesus taught, that life force, source, spirit, or God is within you, me and every one of us, not to mention everything.  

This is exactly what this Blog is about......using every moment as a moment to re-create or reconnect or tap into your true essence and divine spirit.........going way past any contrived labels from this physical experience.......ie; christian, muslim, catholic, atheist or agnostic.  

Try this to reiterate to yourself that you are much more than the "You" we operate as most of the time.  Think about something that brings you a sense of Joy, or utter enjoyment!!  Maybe it's a two month old baby smiling, maybe its a five year old giggling uncontrollably, or maybe its squirrel's in the yard.  Maybe it's strangers on the street smiling at you as you pass each other.......whatever it is, think about it and get into the feeling it brings you when you experience this thing for you........try to experience this feeling for a minute or maybe two, then smile and release it.......go about you daily activities...........and watch not only how quickly that thing comes into your experience, but how often.........and realize that YOU, just showed YOU what you what your potential is.........INFINITE!!!!

For four months I have been basking in fabulous feeling of the Harley Davidson that I ordered in April....

It shipped from the factory on the 31st. I began getting anxious about it arriving last Tuesday and I let that anxiousness build until Thursday when it dawned on me that "this does not feel good" so I let it go.........let go of the attachment to a specific outcome.

Well, what do you think happened then? Yep, Friday afternoon my phone rang and it was Les at the Harley dealer letting me know the truck just came and they were unloading my bike. He said it probably would not be ready for me to pick up until late in the week for a number of reasons.............none of which bothered me one bit. I was just basking in the awesome feeling of having my Harley Davidson in such close proximity to me.

So I sent texts to some friends that know I have been expecting my bike to arrive and I was amazed at the consistent reaction to the bike being here, yet not picking it up until Wed. at the earliest.........."That blows" "That sucks".....or some other derivative...........one friend even expressed that they would be so pissed off they would camp out at the dealership until they got the bike to them.

As I reflected on the experience, I got this big ass smile on my face.......knowing what my favorite mentor means when they say "It's not about the stuff!!! It's about the feeling!!! The only meaning of your physical reality, The only meaning that it has is........the degree to which you are connected with your True Self.....Your Source!!" If you feel good and good things are coming into your experience, then your in better alignment.........and if you don't feel good and things are not working in your experience, your out of alignment......pretty simple!!!!

So on Saturday, I took my boys over to the Harley Dealer to take a peak at my bike. I had seen the model I bought, but not in the color that I ordered it in.........Black Pearl!!! OMG!!! It is ridiculous how beautiful it is!!! My 11 year old son, who has been as excited about getting it as I have been, was standing next to me sharing the feeling when he asked me, "How come you never got one before this Dad?" I looked at him and just said, "because this one wasn't built"...........The Universe conspired perfectly on my behalf with this one!!!

So how do you deliberately get into that feeling? Let me tell you a story. One of my favorite and dear friends called me in tears Friday. She was sobbing to the point I could hardly understand her.........I got her to calm down enough that I could understand her. She said that her brother was getting married today and because she was not active in the church (LDS) she was not allowed to be in the temple during the service. She vacillated between crying and being pissed off. So I let her go off a little and she said, "it's so stupid, and it pisses me off!!!!....they piss me off!!!!" I had to jump in and tell her "Whats stupid, and you know this......is that you let other people piss you off and make you upset. Trust me they are not upset, just you!!"

She agreed, and asked "so how do I get out of this ugly feeling?" my reply, "Get a paper and pen and start writing about what you appreciate about the church, like while you don't agree with some of the philosophies, your grateful for the peace it provides your family and the direction that it provides in their lives and the meaning and purpose that they receive by being a part of the organization.........whatever, just write about the appreciation you can feel for its existence in your families lives. You don't agree with it, but you don't have to, and you don't have to let it's rules bother you or upset you!!!! Write for 60 seconds or better yet for 90 seconds, that's all it takes, then let me know how you feel"

She did, and she was back to the mystical friend I adore.........I could feel the Love that she is. At the end of the day, who cares about a particular room you were allowed to stand in, or if you are part of the club!............At the end of the day, or this physical experience, there are no rooms, and definitely no clubs!!!..........Choose your thoughts, change your perceptions and live the life and experience you choose........don't defer to external circumstances!!!