Giving & Receiving

There is only one way to truly receive, to truly enrich yourself and enjoy prosperity and that is to first give. It is just one of those universal laws, like the law of gravity and there is really no way around it.

If you went to college, you did not first seek proof of a job, but gave of your time and money to enrich yourself so that you would be ready when a job came your way. In the same way, you did not wait to be loved before loving, you gave love and in return were loved. You gave trust and in return were trusted.

“Giving is better than receiving because giving starts the receiving process.”

Jim Rohn

"One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered."

Proverbs 11:24-25

To See Opportunity, You Need A Clear Mind

I love the old tale about the two shoe salesmen going to a remote part of Africa. One, completely discouraged by what he saw, called his company and said: "It's a complete waste of time, bring me home, they don't like shoes here". The other, bursting with enthusiasm said "Get a shipment ready, you are not going to believe this, there is no competition here. Nobody has any shoes."

To really see opportunities we have to step away from our paradigm, the believe system we have created through our past experience. We have to clear our mind of any prejudice. Only then can we really see what is laid out before us.

"The golden opportunity you are seeking is in yourself. It is not in your environment; it is not in luck or chance, or the help of others; it is in yourself alone."

Orison Swett Marden

Happy New Year

As we see another New Year in, it is time to reflect on the learning experiences (or mistakes) we were blessed with the past year, to take ownership of these mistakes and responsibility for them, learn from them and look forward to a year of opportunities, armed with new knowledge and experience we didn't have a year ago.

It's time to pause, rest a while, then grit our teeth and walk out like a champion, ready to win spectacularly.

And here is some good advice from one of the greatest entrepreneurs who ever lived:

"Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better person."
Benjamin Franklin

A time for giving

At Christmas, what better time to reflect on the law of giving and receiving, on of the seven laws of attraction.

Deepak Chopra says this about the law : "The universe operates through dynamic exchange...giving and receiving are different aspects of the flow of energy in the universe. And in our willingness to give that which we seek, we keep the abundance of the universe circulating in our lives."

What better way to enrich our lives than to give heartily to somebody who needs it, for instance a child who has never had a toy before - and experience their joy in receiving that gift.

If you want to experience true happiness this Christmas, give heartily.

It's the Life in your Years That Counts

Paralysis through fear of failure is so widespread in our community that there is actually a medical name for it - Atychiphobia. While for a small percentage of the population, this is probably a very real condition that needs therapy, the problem with making it into a medical condition is that it gives many more an excuse for not moving on.

If you research the number of daily searches on keywords in Google, you will see ten times the number of searches for information on diseases as there are for cures for those diseases. People get their feeling of importance for having a medical condition and find out everything there is about that condition so they can relay that to their friends - that is everything except how it may be cured.

I think nothing would be more of a tragedy than the realization in your twilight years that you had forgot to live life - that you had been so paralized by the fear of failing that you had not tried anything

'In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years'-- Abraham Lincoln

'Live as if your were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever'-- Gandhiji

Ayurveda

Have we lost our way so much that we have really completely forgotten our reason for being on this Earth?

I came across this definition of health care while researching holistic health. It comes from an Indian health center called SOUKYA that specializes in their local treatment, Ayurveda. Have you ever heard a doctor of modern medicine talk about treatment in this way?

"The practice of ayurveda is designed to promote human happiness, health and creative growth. It is the science of daily living and this system of knowledge evolved from the sage's practical, philosophical and religious illumination which was rooted in their understanding of the creation. Ayurveda helps the healthy person to maintain health and the diseased person to regain health."

The quote came from the SOUKYA website: http://www.soukya.com/ayurveda.html and I have to say it is the best definition of health care I have ever heard.

You will find those you seek, everywhere

I live in the Philippines, because I like many things about the country - most of all, the people. I run a company here with fourty people and not a day goes by when I am not soundly impressed with their attitude and work ethics.

So it came as some surprise when another foreign guest married to a local, insisted that the people were not trustworthy and were out to get anything they could from foreigners. We later found out that this man behaved like a wealthy royal landowner from medieval England and treated those around him with complete disrespect.

The attitude of the locals toward him simply mirrored his attitude toward them.

Our attitude toward life determines life’s attitude towards us.

John N. Mitchell

When our attitude towards ourselves is big, and our attitude toward others is generous and merciful, we attract big and generous portions of success.

W. Clement Stone

The Ability to Engage In Passive Resistance Is The Real Measure of Strength

Having just been through a bitter business struggle where my opponents made the battle personal, I learned first-hand the power of passive resistance.

Time after time I was passed emails and chat transcripts with baseless accusations of criminal behaviour and boasts that I was about to be arrested, all attempts at ruining my credibility and driving me out of business - but instead of responding, I got on with my job.

Though my first instinct was to follow my emotions and respond in kind, friends and clients calmed me down and gave me good advice and the result: I ended up with a healthy business while my antagonists fled the country owing money.

It took everything I had not to react and I learned that the real measure of a person's strength is their ability to control their actions. As Gandhi once said: "All your scholarship would be in vain if at the same time you do not build your character and attain mastery over your thoughts and your actions".

And the reason I got good advice, was purely the company I had chosen to keep. The Greek philosopher Epictetus is quoted as saying: "The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best."

A candle loses none of its light.......

I had the pleasure of taking part in a beautiful wedding ceremony for two good friends on the weekend and as the bride & groom lit that special candle with two smaller candles, I was reminded of the saying "A candle loses none of its light by lighting another candle." meaning that we lose nothing by giving to another person, especially the three things we crave most: happiness, freedom, and love.

"We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give."
Winston Churchill

"It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

A fire from within

"Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly."
Stephen Covey

"When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bounds. Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world."
the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

A piece of good news

"The real power behind whatever success I have now was something I found within myself - something that's in all of us, I think, a little piece of God just waiting to be discovered. "
Tina Turner

"Everyone has inside him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don't know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!" Anne Frank

The key to success

"The key to success is for you to make a habit throughout your life of doing the things you fear."
Vincent Van Gogh

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly"
Robert F Kennedy

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."
T.S. Eliot

Take The First Step In Faith

Throughout our lives, we hear people say "I'll believe it when I see it, because seeing is believing" - we hear it so much we accept it as truth, when in fact the opposite is true.

After Walt Disney's death, his brother Roy spoke to a journalist at the opening of Disney World in Florida. The journalist reflected that it was a shame Walt hadn't lived to see the marvellous spectacle. Roy replied: "Walt saw it before any of us - that's why you're seeing it today" Walt Disney had created it in his mind and had faith in his ability to manifest what he imagined.

"Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe".
St. Augustine

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.”
The Bible (Heb. 11:1.)

"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."
Martin Luther King Jr.

Build Your Wings On The Way Down

The Harvard Business School defines entrepreneurship as: “The pursuit of opportunity beyond the resources you currently control.” - Meaning of course that entrepreneurs don't wait until everything is just right before they pursue opportunity, they take risks - otherwise, they never get to pursue anything at all.

The same could be said for life - unless we're prepared to take chances, we're just observers on the sidelines - we never get to truly live.

"You've got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down."
Annie Dillard

"If you take risks, you may still fail. But if you do not take risks, you will surely fail. The greatest risk of all is to do nothing."
Roberto C. Goizuet

If you wouldn't write it and sign it.....

A friend just sent me an e-mail with a wonderful little prayer in it I wanted to share with you: "Please God, put your arms around my shoulders and your hand over my mouth." It's a prayer I personally wish I would have thought to have said on many occasions.

Another beautiful little quote from an unknown author goes "The kindest word in all the world is the unkind word, unsaid."

Even Winston Churchill, famous for his witty insult to Bessie Braddock MP ("And you, madam, are ugly. But I shall be sober in the morning."), once reflected "By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever harmed his stomach."

But probably the best advice comes from the late US newspaper columnist Earl Wilson - "If you wouldn't write it and sign it, don't say it."

Have a wonderful week

We are the sons of our own deeds

In today’s fast-paced world people seem quick to take offense and respond angrily to real or imagined affronts, leading to arguments in the home or work place, or even to road rage. Often we reason that "He (or she) made me so angry". But do other people really have such power
over our feelings?

“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way”
Viktor Frankl

"In most encounters we can determine the kind of experience we are going to have by how we respond"
Wayne S. Peterson

"Good actions ennoble us, and we are the sons of our own deeds."
Miguel De Cervantes

The Best Day Of Your Life

“The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours - it is an amazing journey - and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins.”
Bob Moawad

"Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart."
Confucius

"As you stay on the right path, the reward at the end of the journey is well worth the moments of adversity you experience along the way".
Ben B. Banks

When you're arguing with a fool....

An old saying goes "When you're arguing with a fool, make sure he isn't doing the same thing". Native Americans say "Listen or your tongue will keep you deaf" and a quote from the book of Proverbs in the Bible goes “Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise.” (Prov. 19:20.)

A wise father once said “I do a greater amount of good when I listen to my children than when I talk to them.” and I'd have to agree, though I wonder why it took me so long to realise that. The sad thing is that very few people do listen and if you do take the time to really listen to someone, it may be the first time anybody's done that, in a long time.

"I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen."
Ernest Hemingway

"A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he knows something."
Wilson Mizner

A lesson from the Socceroos

As Australia follows the gutsy performances of our football team 'the Socceroos' in the world cup in Germany, we are constantly reminded of what it takes to win, to succeed.

Our team has succeeded because they understand that the game is not over until the final whistle has sounded. In both games against Japan and Croatia, they trailed until late in the game, but persisted until they had scored again and won or achieved the outcome they needed.

We could learn much from our soccer heros. How many of us give up before the final whistle? How often do we succumb to temporary defeat and let it become our undertaker rather than our teacher?

"Some men give up their designs when they have almost reached the goal; While others, on the contrary, obtain a victory by exerting, at the last moment, more vigorous efforts than ever before."
Herodotus

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”
Calvin Coolidge

The Blueprints Of Our Ultimate Achievements

Visions and dreams are emotionalised goals. They are goals that are truly in line with our core values and they are deep within our heart and soul. They get us out of bed every morning, excited at the prospect of moving closer to them. To really live life as it should be lived, we have to ignite those visions and dreams and keep them alive - They are the blueprints of our ultimate achievements.

"Get excited and enthusiastic about your own dream. This excitement is like a forest fire - you can smell it, taste it and see it from a mile away."
Denis Waitley

"Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that."
Norman Vincent Peale

"Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead."
Louisa May Alcott