A Great Investment

"I could see changes coming so I invested in myself."

• David Remington
  

A Great Investment

There are lots of things that impact us from day to day. Some things impact us physically and some things impact us mentally. There are things we have control over and there are other things that seem to have control over us. But how do you tell the difference? After all, it appears as if most things happen to us, or around us, and all we can do is react after the fact, but I've found that that's not the case.

My daughter called me the other day and talked with me about having her wisdom teeth removed. "We spent a lot of money getting my teeth straightened and I don't want them to be ruined." She said.

So, we made arrangements for fly her out to our home in Utah and have Dr. David Remington, our orthodontist, remove them. I was pleased to have the chance to sit and talk with him for a while. We're good friends and I always learn a lot from our conversations.

I asked him how things were going in his business. I've always been impressed with the way he's operated his practice. When I was his client and he was straightening my teeth it was amazing for me to see how busy his office was. But, now things were different.

"Braces are a luxury." He said. "When the economy changed I could see that I'd be in trouble if I didn't make some adjustments to my business. So, I made an investment in myself. I updated some of my skills and knowledge; now I offer a whole line of new products and services so my business is good." He has been impacted by a changed economy but what he did through foresight has made a huge, positive impact.

So how do you tell if something has complete control over you? It's easy. You simply make a decision that it won't. Then you implement your plan to exercise your free will. We're all impacted by things that we can't control, but we can always control our reaction to what's happening around us. What you decide will have a huge impact on you as well as on those around you. Make an investment in yourself today. There is no greater investment!

Making Assumptions

"To 'change his future' is the inalienable right of freedom loving individuals."

- Neville Goddard

Making Assumptions

I woke up early last Wednesday and looked out the window. There was the snow Allison predicted would come. Shaking my head, I turned and walked away just in time to hear one of my dogs provide me with a whimpering request to go outside into the confetti falling from the sky. When I opened the door for her, the cold made me shiver a bit. But, I knew the shiver was caused by more than just the cold. I had a lot of business to complete this day and I knew that the icy roads would not greet me as a friend.

Still, the shivering seemed to awaken my senses and I remembered one of my favorite Neville Goddard quotes, "What you see when you look at something depends not so much on what is there as on the assumption you make when you look." I looked out the window again and saw something different. The snow was still there, but my relationship with the snow was changed.

Most people believe that what they see in the "reality of the external world" because they don't know how to focus and condense the powers of their mind to see something different. Strangely enough my experience with the snow showed me once again that it isn't difficult for anyone to change their view and awaken to a whole new sense of adventure as well as a new future that is easily available to them.

I've found the following steps to be very helpful in changing my future and creating a life full of self fulfilled freedom; they take very little effort and an application of imagination. If you'll simply try them, you'll find that your old world will vanish as you simply turn your attention away from it.

First, you have only to concentrate on what you want within yourself. See it! Give it reality in your mind. Make it an objective fact and then focus your attention on it until your desire appears to have achieved the distinctiveness and feeling of reality. When you've done that, then the form of your thought will have all the sensory vividness and form of reality. It will become a visible fact in your life.

Second, if you assume you are what you want to be, your desire is instantly fulfilled and, in fulfillment, you won't be longing any more. Believing and being are one. Your dream and the new you have become one and the same. In other words, what you have dreamed yourself to be can never be so far off as even to be near. That's because nearness implies a separation! Your dream isn't something you work for. It's something you already possess. It's assuming the feeling that you are already what you dream.

Finally, give thanks for the gift you've received. Since you haven't worked for what you've become, it's a true gift! And, if you choose, every day can be a gift whether the view out of your window is clear and warm or cold and snowy.

As Allison and I drove along, I smiled to myself knowing that although the day had started with my false belief that the roads would not greet me as a friend, the day I created gave me roads that led to fortune and renewed friendships. I had assumed a day filled with joy and success, lived as if it had already happened, and ended my day with deep gratitude for a wonderful day. May I assume you'll do the same from now on?

Sweet Adversity

"Self Pity is the worst possible disease that can affect mankind."

• John Huntsman
  

Sweet Adversity

I walked down the aisle near my office in the middle of the afternoon, just as the sun was beginning to wane. Just before I got to my office door I came across a colleague who also seemed to have the brightness of her eyes fading at the same pace as the sun. I stopped and spoke with her.

"What's wrong?" I queried.

"It's just been a long day. It seems as if every transaction is so hard these days." She said.

"I know." I said. "But the great thing is that over the past three years we've had the chance to become much better at what we do."

"You're right." She replied. "I think we've learned more in that time than most people learn their whole career."

I smiled and turned to walk away thinking, "isn't it nice to be able to change the way you think and instantly feel better?" And, I was reminded of something just as important.

When I look back on my life it is clear to me that I've grown most when facing challenges. But, it's just lately that I've begun to see adversity as a friend rather than a foe. Perhaps that's why I was so inspired when John Huntsman said, of his mother, "She died very young of cancer and her mother before her died of cancer. But on my mother's tombstone in a little Utah town are etched these words by Shakespeare: Sweet are the uses of adversity."

If you're like me, there are times when you've felt alone; perhaps in your own heart, in your job, or family. And, you know that you'll be tested and retested by adversity again and again as long as you live. But, you can bounce back if you can keep telling yourself, I know I can make it, I know I can make it. Then without hesitation go out and do something for someone else and put your arm around them. If you'll do that then you'll be able to defeat self pity, you won't feel sorry for yourself. You'll be doing just the opposite, you'll be feeling love, and you'll have God's feelings with you at all times.

All From One Seed

"Seeds from Tooele Valley Nursery"

• Wade Anderson
  

All From One Seed

I spent a lot of time this last summer keeping up with my friend Jeff Geer. I loved talking with him on a regular basis because of his excitement. He's one of the most avid gardeners I know. In fact, his wife Linda said, "I think he's torn every plant in our yard out and has replaced it with a vegetable."

When I'd talk with Jeff his whole face would light up as he'd tell me of how his plants were growing large and producing much more food than he ever imagined. "I love coming home at night and walking outside into my back yard. I grab some of this and some of that and then walk into my kitchen and make a fresh salad for dinner! I don't even have to go to the grocery store much anymore."

I've been thinking about this for the past week or so because another friend, Wade Anderson, was kind enough to give me some vegetable seeds. He knows I'll store them carefully over the winter and then put them in the ground this spring. I love getting the seeds for two reasons. First, they'll provide us with fresh food to eat and to share over the spring, summer and fall. Second, they remind me of the real meaning of the "Law of the Harvest."

I love the Law of the Harvest. You know, it's that little saying you've heard over and over again, "You reap what you sow." But it's much more than that! Its real meaning is, "What you do comes back to you multiplied."

When you think about what can come to life as a result of one little seed, it's truly amazing! One small tomato seed can produce many more tomatoes and hundreds of more seeds. But don't forget, this applies to more than just gardening.

It applies to everything we do in life. It's a law you and I should keep in mind all of the time. Every word and every action is like a small seed that can produce many more actions and many more seeds. And, it works both ways. You can produce seeds to produce both good and bad results in your life. I don't know about you, but I prefer to have tasty vegetables growing in my garden. The weeds just don't make me happy at all.

We can all be happy if we simply keep the Law of the Harvest in mind. Just live its tenets: First, make sure you're starting with the seeds you want to grow. Second, place them in the environment where they'll have the best chance to grow well. Third, cultivate them on a regular basis. Fourth, harvest them when they're at their very best. Finally make sure to enjoy your harvest with as many senses as possible so you'll get the most satisfaction you can.

Loving Life, Gaining Satisfaction

"I'm doing what I like to do, not what I have to do."

• Allen L. Smith
  

Loving Life, Gaining Satisfaction

I was in a meeting trying to concentrate on the matters at hand, when one of the men at the table made the comment, "I've retired now three times. I came out of retirement to do this because it's what I want to do; not what I have to do." With that statement, my whole focus shifted.

I was now listening for more wisdom to come out of his mouth. I wasn't disappointed.

"The primary purpose of life is to help mankind." Allen said a few minutes later.

I've spent the better part of two weeks just thinking about what he said and wondering how many of us really understand what he was saying. Do I?

I was sitting at another table with a teen aged boy less than a week later. I was getting to know him. "What is it you'd like to do more than anything else in the world?" I asked.

He was having some trouble and I wanted to know what he really wanted to do with his life. I didn't want to know what he thought I wanted to hear and I didn't want to know if he could recite what his parents wanted him to do with his life.

He didn't have an answer right off. I think he was caught off guard.

"What are you willing to give your life to? I continued.

"I want to help people." He replied.

"Everyone says that." I said. "That's not enough! It's too vague. What I really want to know is what you want so much that you won't let anyone or anything stand in your way as you work to get it."I persisted.

"I always thought I wanted to play in the NBA." He said.

"That's not true! You let yourself get kicked off the school team this year. So, you didn't really want it. You were pretending to want it."

He looked across the table at me with a thoughtful stare. I could see the answer working from deep inside his mind and heart getting ready to crystallize and reveal itself.

"I want to be a doctor!"

There it was. He knew what he wanted all along, but he didn't know what to do to get there. So we spent the next hour or so creating a plan with steps he could take to get there. I watched the excitement build inside of him as his map to become a doctor grew before his eyes. It's a wondrous thing to watch an idea change the world!

As I drove him home I had to ask myself, "Are you doing what you really want to do with your life?" I looked at the young man in the seat across from me and answered with an emphatic, "Yes." Many times we don't get paid money to do what we really want to do. Our pay is something much more valuable than that. It's a deep sense of satisfaction that can't be obtained in any other way.

Moosages

"Moooooo!"

• The Pillsbury Dough Girl
  

Moosages

It's the first snowy morning of the season! It's real cold outside with blowing snow. I know it's time to get up and out of bed, but I'm not really feeling it. I don't want to leave the warm comfort of my bed and I definitely don't want to go outside, so I just pull up the covers and close my eyes to savor the comfort. But, my bliss isn't long lived!

A noise begins to tickle my ears. It's faint at first; but it grows in frequency and volume quickly.

"Moo. Mooo. MOOOOO!"

I know what it is immediately. It's a moosage.

The Pillsbury Dough Girl is telling me that it's time for her breakfast. I roll my eyes contemplating my situation. I never dreamed that I'd be taking orders from a fat cow at this stage of my life! But I've learned a lot from the personal moosages delivered by my cow. Today's moosage is about learning to be selfless.

This is a lesson that isn't a very easy lesson to learn for most of us and my experience is that most people can't learn it without making a strong commitment to a personal principle or to someone else. It's that commitment that makes us see beyond ourselves and expand beyond our present capacity. Such stretching doesn't come all at once, it comes a little at a time. It comes mostly because we have no idea of the growth we're about to bring upon ourselves.

After all, when we make the largest commitments in our lives our vision isn't real clear. We're blinded by the fact that, "it's just such a cute little calf and it's so adorable." We know that it will grow in to a huge, hay gobbling cow, but we just can't see it at the time due to the excitement of the moment.

For example, when I purchased this cow I never took the time to consider the genesis of the traditional cow name, "Old Bossy." Oops, I'm sure I have that wrong, I think it's "Old Bessie." But I'm pretty sure I've heard of another cow named "Bossy the Cow." Oh, never mind, you get the point; that's my cow's nick name now.

I hear her calling. I'm not happy about having to go out into the cold. Still, the moosage is clear: next time you find yourself doing something you don't want to do, but you're doing it because of the commitment you've made or because of your love for the other person, know that you're stretching to become a better person as a result. Then, get a little smile on your face knowing that you've got it better than I do. At least you're not being bossed around by a cow!

Overcoming Obstacles

"There was something in the road."

• Annie Butterfield
  

Overcoming Obstacles

My daughter Annie is in the process of learning to drive and a couple of nights ago, just after she had driven home from the barn where she was riding, she told me that she'd seen a pile of dirt in the road. "It wasn't a large pile and I knew it wouldn't be a problem for me or the car so I just drove right over it." She had done the right thing in not allowing an insignificant obstacle to slow her down and it reminded me of the old saying, "Don't make a mountain out of a mole hill."

Many times, a person without a lot of driving experience will see a small mound of dirt in the road and panic; not knowing what to do. That can cause a whole new chain of events that may prove to be of much greater danger than the one originally faced!

Sometimes, even those of us with a lot of experience find small bumps in the road of life that tend to derail us. I've found this to be true in my work; especially when I'm faced with a task that I don't really want to do or that will take a great deal of time and effort. It's not that I don't know what to do, or that I can't do the work, it's just that my mind begins to grow the task into what appears to be a huge mountain that I can't possibly climb. And, that alone causes a chain of events that can become a much larger problem than the task itself!

I was thinking that if I faced this issue, you may face it at times as well so here are some steps that I've found to be helpful:

First, I try to recognize that I've become trapped in front of a "gopher hill." (I use the term gopher hill because I'm involved in a war with gophers in my yard and they've become the bane of my life!) I also use that term because their mounds are instructive to describe what I think is happening. A gopher mound has a sort of semi circular shape. So, if I was very small and stood in front of it, I could easily believe that I had become encircled without a way to escape. I must recognize that what in my mind appears to be true is simply an illusion.

Second, I've found that my largest hurdle is always just getting started. Once I begin to work on the task, that has been overwhelming me, I find that it isn't nearly as daunting as I had imagined. Since I know this about myself I've posted a sign in my office that says, "It's the job that isn't started that takes the longest to complete."

Finally, once I start I make sure I stay the course and focus on the task to get it knocked out and put it behind me. When I've completed it I allow myself to feel the relief and warm sense of accomplishment. That's also when I remind myself that I'll see many other gopher mounds in my life and that I am skilled at not letting them derail me.

As I keep following these steps I hope to become more and more like Annie. I hope to see a small bump in the road and just drive on past it as if it doesn't exist. And, I hope that what you see in your life will be small bumps as well!